Fatal Shot

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

A few minutes later, as Feng Luo was about to step out of the wooden sliding door of the rustic room, he suddenly stopped in midstep, turned, and said to Haruko still sitting seiza-style on the floor, “Right, Miss Haruko. I still have something I’d like to ask.”

“Please ask, Mister Kudo.”

Haruko, clad in her snow-white sakura kimono, had a calm expression. Her black, waterfall-like hair, as a backdrop for her face, had a unique taste of serenity.

“The mission this time is a solo mission, isn’t it?” Feng Luo said, looking at Haruko who had her forehead slightly creased. “But apparently, some people have violated the rules. They have been gathered by an organization named Hound, sharing mission information, then accumulating the joint mission rewards on a few people, allowing the few people to have very high points. They also communicate offline. Is this considered cheating and being unfair to other players?”

Feng Luo looked hard at Haruko. Asking this, he had actually already thought of Haruko’s reaction—she would assess just how high of a level of intelligence the War game mastermind had reached, or whether the game company had regulatory measures regarding such behavior.

It was obvious the split-second that Haruko had appeared stone-faced after hearing his words—presumably undergoing data exchange with the system mastermind. Thereafter, her face quickly regained life, and she said, looking at Feng Luo with a pair of deeply enlightened eyes, “Thanks for Mister Kudo’s reminder. The investigation team has already been informed regarding this situation. As for the people who have violated the rules, they will naturally receive their punishment…”

******

In the dimly-lit lounge on the first floor of a system-replicated “Night’s Charm” Bar.

“Hurry up, hurry up! I want a bottle of Special Design 1915 Chatour. And one roasted large mutant snail, one 70 percent steamed sandstone turkey… Yes, serve up all these.”

While walking past the waterfront’s wooden corridor, Feng Luo heard Big Pineapple’s gruff shouts from within with his extremely acute hearing.

A smile was uncontrollably revealed on his face! Thereafter, he walked straight out of the white stone steps of Night’s Charm Bar and mounted an automatic hovercraft summoned using his terminal.

“The Exchange, Southern Square!”

After stating his desired destination, Feng Luo sat into the automatic hovercraft engaged in one-way vision, put on his Agent Glasses, and checked out the mission just released by Haruko.

“Dongsang City Army Captain Aoki Kazuo has arranged to meet two bargirls at ‘Sakura Court,’ a luxurious lounge of “Seduction Night” Bar tonight at 8:15. According to the exact report, he is Yamamoto Ichiro’s absolute confidant, responsible in secret-liaising with the intelligence officer of the rebellion…”

Mission Requirement: Assassinate Aoki Kazuo before 12 a.m. tonight. Mission Completion Rewards: 1. 200 points (Assassination Success); 2. Extended use of the second profession Biochip (Investigation Mission Limited Use).

“Assassinate! Second profession biochip…”

Feng Luo scanned through the Hidden Mission requirements. To him, such an assassination mission shouldn’t be very hard. Having the assistance of 24K and a Scout Beetle—regardless of whether they were assassination missions or intelligence missions—he would definitely have it much easier than other players. Of course, more importantly, he had a clear and meticulously thoughtful head!

If it wasn’t for the Hound Organization interfering, he wouldn’t actually have had much difficulty in attaining the top three or even the first position in points in this hidden mission. After all, up until now, it seemed that overall, the amount of brainpower required by this mission was obviously much more than the players’ own abilities!

Of course, considering the consistent mission balancing by the system, perhaps there would also be ability requirements in the followup missions! But in terms of ability, his ability definitely had qualitative improvement compared to before entering Night Charm’s Bar. He had already injected the temporarily obtained second profession biochip only for this hidden mission!

Compared to the competitive players who did not have or did not know about this mission, he clearly had an overpowering advantage.

What about this second profession? What was it?

Feng Luo looked at the message from not long ago in the system log.

You have obtained the “Scout” second profession biochip; the Biochip will instantly take effect upon injection into the body. Effective Duration Countdown: 4h 32 min (extension after completion of “assassination” mission till mission completion).”

That’s right—his choice was the Scout! And not his most desired Light Armor Warrior.

Regarding the choice of his second profession, Feng Luo had contemplated for some time. Machine Gunner, Earth Manipulator, Wind Manipulator, Heavy Armor Warrior… These were, to a certain extent, complementary to the Sniper profession. But, in the end, his sight still fell on the two syringes of the Scout and Light Armor Warrior second profession biochips.

The Light Armor Warrior undoubtedly was technically the most complementary profession for the Sniper. With this second profession, the Sniper could be said to be truly proficient at long and short distances alike—having the furthest attack distance as well as the strongest short-distance combat power!

At the same time, due to the attack power of the Light Armor Warrior already being energetically enhanced and similarly also being enhanced in agility (but with a relatively weaker enhancement system), it could allow the enhancement of the agility-specialized Sniper to take effect.

In addition to the Light Armor Warrior’s higher initial defense and HP enhancement, as well as highest assured “Charge” skill, there would be a definite explosion in survivability!

The Scout profession was similarly a great match with the Sniper.

As Gunner-related professions, the advantages of both the Scout and the Sniper were very close, and, after switching professions, one could straightaway fight without even the need to change equipment.

The Scout’s “Detection” skill and strong hiding and sneaking abilities were extremely useful for any profession!

Adding onto the Scout’s similarly strong close-range combat power, one could battle to a certain extent with the Light Armor Warrior (although considered a round of explosive attacks due to stamina)! Therefore, the Scout was definitely the number one most suitable choice for a Sniper.

All in all, Feng Luo was biased toward the Light Armor Warrior. After all, he had a Scout Beetle, already possessing strong scouting ability; if the Scout beetle had evolved into a Commander, it could even shield Scout skills within a range (see the previous chapter on the city-building mission).

It could be said that the Scout beetle already replaced the Scout’s biggest advantage! Therefore, compared with the Light Armor Warrior with the godly skill of “Charge,” the Scout Profession inevitably declined quite a bit in meaningfulness to Feng Luo.

However. The second-profession biochip of this mission was only of temporary use and would be straightaway reclaimed at the end. Thus, the choosing of a second profession should be determined based on the circumstances of the mission.

Compared to the Light Armor Warrior, which he had yet to completely familiarized himself with, the Scout was similarly under the Gunner profession branch and had strong assassination abilities. It was obviously able to be more effective in an assassination-related mission. Hence, he had, at last, chosen the Scout!

“Switch to second-profession biochip!”

Feng Luo commanded on the system panel.

You have switched to “Scout” Profession.

You have obtained this profession’s Basic Specialization: General Gunner Proficiency…

You have obtained this profession’s Basic Specialization: Scout-Use Proficiency…

The system continuously sounded messages.

Please select your third profession specialization.

“Close-combat specialization!”

You have selected close-combat specialization: increase in your attack power, attack speed, and stamina recovery speed when in close-combat!

Yes, the system messages ended here. Because the rest of the skill columns of the Scout second profession were still a complete blank.

“The system sure is inexplicable, not providing even a cheap general skill.”

Feng Luo smiled feebly. He had wanted to go to the Exchange to purchase Level-15 to Level-45 Scout general skills. If not, this second profession would actually have been less than it seemed!

“At least, compared with rare chips, the normal skill chips of the respective professions are all ‘cheapo.’”

******

Two minutes later, a levitating hovercraft stopped at the square beside the players’ Exchange, and an NPC carrying a silver-colored business case walked to a nearby shop. A minute later, a Sniper player in casual attire walked out of the shop and into the 100-leveled domelike building of the bustling Exchange nearby.

Half an hour later, another automatic hovercraft flew from a position near the players’ Exchange in the direction of Kabukicho. Five minutes later, this automatic hovercraft stopped at the entrance of “Seduction Night” Bar. A bespectacled, middle-aged man wearing a leather jacket walked down and was welcomed in by a group of women dressed in beautiful, flowery clothing.

15 minutes later, a shrill female scream from Kabukicho’s Seduction Night Bar tore through the night.

The Dongsang City Guard Bureau and the Federal troops stationed outside all went on emergency dispatch!

Lieutenant General Yamamoto’s confidant Captain Aoki Kazuo had been found naked and dead in a private room in “Seduction Night” Bar with his throat slit by a sharp object, his bath towel stained with blood.

Based on inspection of the wound on Aoki Kazuo’s neck, the experts of the Guard Bureau made a preliminary judgment that the killer had used an “ATAK” type of high-grade tactical army knife, with an extremely precise angle of the knife, delivering… one fatal slice!