novelraw Chapter 68: The Beginning of the Legend (3)
Chapter 68: The Beginning of the Legend (3)
The storm raged on.
Chen Qi stepped through the black sludge, approaching the corpses of Black Rabbit and the bald man.
These two were worth far more than the others.
Both were wealthy second-tier superhumans who naturally carried convenient storage backpack cards.
The implanted armor couldn't be sold, so Chen Qi took their backpack cards instead.
One was a 1*1*2 space backpack card, the other a 1*1*3 space backpack card.
Even without considering their contents, just these two backpack cards alone were worth over a million shell coins!
What a haul!
Chen Qi marveled.
Not long ago, he'd still been honestly fishing to earn money as a fisherman.Robbery paid pretty well too!
Backpack cards were scarce and valuable - you could never have too many.
Recently, his existing backpack cards had been getting somewhat crowded.
Next, Chen Qi opened the backpack cards to inspect their contents.
The most valuable item was an unused skill card.
A gray epic-tier skill card depicting a flamboyant man standing on a tightrope, twisting his waist to dodge bullets on its reverse side.
[Balanced Stance Lv1:
Usage Requirements: 15 Agility and mastery of Breathing Technique
Description: A technique using qi to enhance balance. After learning, significantly increases personal balance while improving agility.
Note: Footwork, footwork, flashy footwork!]
Balance...
Chen Qi examined this unused skill card.
Balance was crucial for maritime combat. With this skill, sprinting across water spirits on the ocean's surface would no longer be just a dream!
His fingers trembled slightly as he held the skill card.
He'd been using skill cards at a rather high frequency lately.
But there was no helping it - he was acquiring them faster than expected.
"It shouldn't have reached the point of damaging my spirit yet."
"It's fine."
"I can do this!"
Chen Qi clicked to activate it.
Between daily missions and saved spirit points from previous instances, he still had over 600 spirit points left.
After spending 500 to upgrade it to Lv2, a flood of knowledge poured into his mind. Following waves of pain, he sensed subtle changes in his body.
This was a special technique - by circulating his qi, he could perform many seemingly anti-Newtonian maneuvers!
He could basically run up walls now... Chen Qi thought to himself, then clapped his hands and turned to the other items.
There was also the large shotgun carried by the Blackfin Crew's bald man, manufactured by the major arms company Magic Bullet, capable of loading heavy large-grain ammunition.
Magic Bullet Company was a renowned firearms manufacturer from Beiguo, its products famous worldwide.
This gun could probably deal effective damage to a Coastal Apex Predator's scales.
Too bad it's a close-range shotgun... Chen Qi stored it away. He was already starting to resemble a melee-focused player.
Without gun-fighting skills, shotguns didn't suit him.
Chen Qi continued rummaging.
The backpack cards mainly contained various firearms and blades, some high-damage grenades, private items for intimate activities, and 1.5 million in cash.
There were also ten bottles of potent healing potions, ten standard antidotes, and ten berserk potions with significant side effects.
Plus a special type of incendiary ammunition - 100 rounds total, relatively rare with each shot worth about 500 shell coins.
He could keep the healing potions, ammo and grenades - the rest could be sold on the black market...
Chen Qi did some calculations.
These unwanted items totaled about 3 million shell coins in value.
Next, he waded through the sludge to collect anything from Black Rabbit Gang members that couldn't easily identify them, storing it in his backpack cards.
The underlings' belongings weren't valuable - most just wore basic bulletproof vests.
Counting it up, there was probably another million shell coins.
Combined, that made 4 million in total earnings.
Four million was enough for even a second-tier hunter to purchase an extremely luxurious set of equipment.
Factoring in the skill cards, backpack cards, potions and cash,
this trip's total haul approached 10 million shell coins.
An enormous sum indeed.
If he got greedier and sold the ship's parts, he could earn even more!
But that would risk exposing his identity.
After careful consideration, Chen Qi decided against it.
"Not bad earnings."
Chen Qi walked to the bow, removing his hunter's hood to feel the sea breeze.
Unconsciously, he'd accumulated quite substantial savings.
This money could easily buy a small Western-style house in Moonstone City.
Doing justice paid as well as bullying Ghostfire Fish!
Saving up, he might really afford a medium-sized ship produced by Steam Hand Workshop.
Chen Qi smiled, then his expression turned serious.
"Now, I need to lay low."
Originally, he planned to visit White Tree Shallows to harvest Ghostfire Fish and practice "water running" with the Deepsea Water Spirits.
But plans had changed!
Black Rabbit might have already exposed this location's information through Navigator's Eye.
There was a chance Black Rabbit or Blackfin Crew would send investigators to the wreck site.
If it were Black Rabbit Gang members, no problem.
But if the navy or Blackfin Crew came, things would get complicated.
He couldn't return until things settled down.
Chen Qi watched the stormy skies.
Damn it! His Ghostfire Fish farming project would have to pause too!
The Ghostfire Fish would soon be free!
Hopefully they'd grow well and produce new Ghostfire Oil by his next visit.
After thoroughly cleaning the crime scene and removing bloodstains,
Chen Qi reasoned the disappearing bodies could be blamed on the black sludge and Coastal Apex Predator!
At White Tree Shallows, he used supernatural bait to feed the Coastal Apex Predator and Ghostfire Fish as farewell.
After saying goodbye, he returned to his small houseboat.
Now that his Breathing Technique and Body Forging Technique had reached mastery, plus the abundant supplies from Black Rabbit,
it was time to prepare for a new dimensional rift expedition.
Some black sludge seemed reluctant to let him leave.
Chen Qi struggled to remove the wriggling black substance clinging to him.
"Goodbye!"
Then he started his houseboat's engine, taking a detour back to Moonstone City.
Inside, Chen Qi toweled off rainwater while glancing in the mirror.
This incident might attract attention from high-tier superhumans.
Gazing at the distant sea, he wondered:
"I wonder which expert will receive that Navigator's Eye information..."
...
Hours later, at Black Rabbit Gang headquarters in Moonstone City's Third Commoner District,
the gang's deputy leader and remaining members sat on a sofa.
The bespectacled man lit a cigarette, wearily leaning back as he meaningfully watched the projector.
It kept replaying footage from the sea:
The gloomy ocean, storm, vicious Blackship Sea Dragon, scattered corpses, tidal waves of black sludge, the ruined ship, and a fleeting shadowy figure.
Gang members repeatedly watched this brutal footage.
"Boss! Boss! Fight back! You're about to get split in half by the sludge!"
"Rewind! Show the boss and that damned bald Blackfin Crew guy again!"
"Boss looked pretty cool dying!"
"Deputy leader, this is our gang's shame! We must avenge him!"
"We Black Rabbit Gang value loyalty! We can't let this go!"
"Glasses, if you lead us to vengeance, you'll be our undisputed leader!"
"Glasses! We believe in you!"
The bespectacled man faced his members' passionate, expectant gazes.
He shook his head inwardly:
"We're done for. Only these idiots are left - the gang's hopeless."
Apart from him, only reckless fools had stayed ashore.
Me, take revenge on a Coastal Apex Predator? What nonsense.
Why don't you ask your grandfathers to do it... Taking a deep breath, he calmly explained:
"Everyone, we must accept that our boss and Black Rabbit won't return or be resurrected.
Encountering a Coastal Apex Predator and black sludge was an act of nature - not something vengeance can solve through passion alone.
Our priority now is explaining this to Blackfin Crew and handling remaining assets."
Time to disband... He sighed heavily:
"By the way... replay that footage and give me another cigarette. I need to think how to explain this to Blackfin Crew."
"Sure thing, little glasses rabbit."
The bespectacled man accepted the offered cigarette.
"Thanks."
Then cold sweat broke out.
As the gang's second-in-command, who dared call him "little glasses rabbit" besides the boss?
Moreover, the voice was female - confident and androgynous!
Who was it?
After lighting the cigarette, he slowly turned around.
A young woman with messy short blonde hair grinned at him while holding a camera.
"Hehe."