The King of Black Fog

"I'm going alone!" Li Changzhou turned to Li Qianxia amidst a sky full of fire meteors.

The Snowy Owl flew over, its wings slapping his face directly, much like the big goose in "Honey Pot World."

"You, a grown man, squabbling with a woman!" the Snowy Owl scolded.

"I believe in gender equality," Li Changzhou waved her off and pulled the Emerald Bee Sword from the bus fuel tank.

"You're the brother!"

"Now you remember I'm your brother? Go pick up the Identity Card; don't stay on me."

"Humph!" The Snowy Owl gave him another wing before flying toward Devil City.

"Don't forget the equipment!"

"I know—" Li Qianxia dragged the last word, pretending to be dissatisfied.

Li Changzhou chuckled and walked towards Yang Qinglan, who also held an Emerald Bee Sword, her long hair flowing down to her slender waist.

There were corpses on the ground, the surrounding fires still burning, and the two of them facing each other looked like a scene in a martial arts drama where the male and female leads squared off.

"All good?" Li Changzhou asked her cheerily.

"You killed all the players, when am I going to level up?" Yang Qinglan raised her hands, gathering her silky black hair and sliding the Emerald Bee Sword back in place.

"Next time, next time I'll leave them all to you," Li Changzhou also retracted his Emerald Bee Sword into his sleeve.

The three of them collected all the Identity Cards, making sure none were missing, carrying props and equipment too many to fit in their inventory, and hurried to the station in the car.

This game had extra restrictions for bus players; just in case the bus broke down midway, the unmatched Li Changzhou would starve to death in Devil City before dying of frustration (the instance leaving behind "Honey Pot World").

At the bus station, only after confirming they could return did the three start tallying up the Identity Cards.

Yang Qinglan had nothing much to say, only having assisted Samurai, and odd men and women.

Li Qianxia was similar, but she had the "Twins," sharing her brother's Value Experience and Game Coins, practically a carriage hooked onto the locomotive, doing nothing while dragging two iron wheels, even a pig could fly.

[Li Changzhou Settlement Report]

[Survived, rating +1]

[With the aid of others, killed life "Battojutsu Hashimoto", "X-Sound Motion Capture", "Black-haired Rakshasa", rating +1.5]

[Killed "Zebra", "Fierce Monkey", "Blood-sucking Ground Finch", "Giant Forest Spider"... rating +21]

[...]

[Li Changzhou Settlement Report 2]

[Killed 24 strugglers, rating +24]

[Special privileges detected, rating doubled, rating +48]

[Summation: Li Changzhou rating +71.5, final rating 'S+']

[Gained full purchasing rights for this tournament]

[Rating largely exceeded; extra rewards acquired, one A-level or above item, one B-level or above Skill, Game Coins *2000]

[Total Value Points acquired 200... two Identity Cards detected, please assign—]

[Total 2300 (300+2000) Game Coins... two Identity Cards detected, please assign—]

[Bus tickets *4, Subway tickets *2, Ship ticket *1]

"Remember to assign all the Value Points and Game Coins to the White Card," Yang Qinglan reminded him.

Li Qianxia pouted pitifully; she couldn't get any of the stuff assigned to the White Card, completely detached from the locomotive.

No, she had become the locomotive!

The pitiful amount of experience she received was to be shared (divided) with Li Changzhou's Black Card!

(Assigning Game Coins—Black: 0 coins; White: 2300 coins)

(Assigning Value Points—Black: 0 points; White: 200 points)

The 200 Value Points of experience were just enough for the White Card to level up and get two Attribute points.

Li Changzhou tried it out, indeed unable to assign it to the maxed-out "Strength" Attribute, only to "Perception."

"Perception" increased to 9 points, just one point away from maxing out all four attributes.

With this experience from Li Qianxia, Li Changzhou's Black Card needed only 154 more points to level up to Level 4 and obtain two more Attribute points.

If Yang Qinglan hadn't exchanged Attributes during Prague activities, she would be far behind the siblings; but without her, Li Changzhou wouldn't have gotten stronger so quickly, and Li Qianxia might not have survived the first game.

"Is the Black Mist reacting?" The two college girls stared intently at him.

As long as Li Changzhou could endow others with Skills without side effects, their strength would skyrocket immediately, and their Skill configuration could catch up with the national team.

"Don't feel much, but there should be changes after leveling up; who wants to try?" Li Changzhou asked both.

Li Qianxia shook her head emphatically, her ponytail swishing back and forth like a cat's tail.

"Stop playing," Yang Qinglan said resignedly, "just try it quickly."

They had already discussed this experiment beforehand.

Li Changzhou took out an Identity Card—a card seized in Prague, selecting one from an animal.

Black Mist reached out, grabbed a Skill from a deceased's Identity Card, and placed it on the selected card, reducing the Skill level by one.

All three watched intently; three minutes later, the Identity Card still hadn't turned into a valueless deceased's card.

"You— " Li Changzhou looked at them, "who's next?"

According to the plan, it was their turn now.

Li Qianxia pursed her lips, silent, still afraid.

"I'll do it." Yang Qinglan spoke up.

"Qing Lan!" Li Qianxia grabbed her, "Let's try another player on the spot."

Yang Qinglan smiled reassuringly at her and handed her Identity Card to Li Changzhou.

"Let's forget it," Li Changzhou didn't accept it.

"We agreed," Yang Qinglan looked at him.

"Changed my mind," Li Changzhou said calmly, "I'm afraid if something happens, I might never see you again."

Yang Qinglan tied her hair behind her ear, her tone flat: "Two votes against one, let's practice on other players first."

"Right, that's the safest!" Li Qianxia eagerly agreed, "It's really scary!"

"Alright, let's stop here; check what Skills you want to exchange, I'll enhance your purchasing rights with the extra Identity Cards." Li Changzhou felt a bit sheepish, hoping it wasn't noticed.