Worlds’ Apocalypse Online

The black-faced man shook his head and sighed: "So that's what it was. Unfortunately, you picked the wrong promotional mission"

Gu Qing Shan replied: "It's not wrong"

"Not wrong?" the black-faced man asked.

Gu Qing Shan replied: "Dual Talons Eagle, Torturous Band of Five, Poison Wolf, and Peeling Heart Demon Thorn. All of you are my mission targets, but I didn't know where to find you, nor how to understand your abilities, so I posted a bounty at the Hunter Guild and made a trip here myself"

The sword was clear as a river in autumn, giving off a cold gleam in this dimly lit area.

The black-faced man's expression slowly changed and questioned in a heavy tone:

"Wait a minute, aren't you a Hunter?"

"Ah, of course not, I'm a Hitman" Gu Qing Shan replied.

It was now that the black-faced man finally understood.

This Hitman is in the middle of his promotional mission.

He wants to kill me.

The black-faced man gazed at the sword in the other party's hand and slowly said: "Then, there was no such thing as treasure in this world in the first place. You posted that bounty at the Hunter Guild just to gather all of us here"

"Very sharp" Gu Qing Shan praised, "Are you done preparing? You can die now"

"Wait a minute! Wait!" the black-faced man abruptly shouted: "Don't kill me, we can reach an agreement, I'll give you all of my wealth, as long as you spare me"

"That's won't do" Gu Qing Shan sighed, "As long as you can form a contract with another person, not only would you be immune to being killed by them, you could even one-sidedly violate the contract without issues"

The black-faced man's pupils contracted.

He drew two sharp thorns and rushed straight at Gu Qing Shan.

Gu Qing Shan simply stood still.

At the very next moment, just as the black-faced man tried to step forward, his figure was stuck in the void of space, unable to move forward.

Gu Qing Shan moved--------

His sword-wielding hand seemed to vanish for a split second, but he didn't do anything other than that.

A gust of wind suddenly came by.

The howling storm wind went straight towards the black-faced man and curtly blew him away.

The wind whisked the thick inky blood out of the structure, painting a spot in the sky above a deep shade of red.

Bright red.

Light red.

Faint white.

Under the faraway greyish sky, everything was scattered away into the wind.

Clack clack!

Two sharp thorns fell to the ground, giving off a chiming noise.

Gu Qing Shan let go of the sword in his hand, allowing it to fade into the void of space behind himself.

He then took out a job description letter and carefully examined it.

"One, two, three… eight people in total. There, that's the promotional mission over with"

…

At another location.

The Hitman Guild.

Knock knock knock!

"Come in"

"Guild Master, sir, Fear Fiend King's promotional mission has been completed" Qin reported.

"Oh?" the one-eyed old man felt interested, "So quickly? How did he do it exactly?"

"He drew the job issued by the Bounty Hunter Guild" Qin replied.

The one-eyed old man pondered a bit, then replied: "That's part of the Bounty Hunter Guild's self-cleansing operation, they were determined to eliminate the Grey Hunters who liked to act against their own allies"

"Yes sir. After Fear Fiend King accepted the job, he was lazy with having to kill so many people, so he went straight to the Bounty Hunter Guild and issued a highly specific treasure hunting bounty, then went straight to the destination to wait for his target" Qin explained.

"Ahahahaha, what a mischievous little one, using such a low-effort method-------- so in the end, he killed all eight of them by himself?"

"No sir, he only killed a single person, the others killed one another off"

"…Is that so, then it seems he had estimated accurately from the beginning. Nicely done, very nicely done, let him be promoted"

"Yes sir"

"From now on, you may tell him all the benefits and provisional measures provided by the Guild"

"Understood"

…

The bar.

In front of the bar counter, Crow and Gu Qing Shan were sitting with each other, drinking while talking.

"Looks like today is going to cost you quite a bit" Crow commented.

"It's ok, I still have to thank you for taking me during the large-scale joint mission" Gu Qing Shan raised his glass.

"Ahaha, don't mention it, I'm never taking you with me on one of those again" Crow chuckled.

"Why not?"

"When you enter God mode, the others won't even have scraps left to pick up, so forget about it" he teased.

Gu Qing Shan shook his head helplessly.

The two of them cheered.

The bar was considerably crowded, various monsters of all shapes and sizes had taken human form to enjoy themselves here.

"Why did you decide to become a Hitman?" Crow casually asked.

"Penniless, I needed some quick cash, how about you?" Gu Qing Shan asked.

"I only know how to do this" Crow shrugged and replied.

He pondered a bit, then continued: "I'm not trying to investigate your abilities, but I suspect that power capable of wiping out the entire enemy force isn't something you can easily unleash"

"Indeed, it isn't" Gu Qing Shan admitted.

"Then I think this much needs to be said: Void City is a place of many organizations and countless Combatants, innumerable kinds of unexpected abilities need to be expected everywhere, even if you've been promoted to an Unsolvable rank Hitman, I hope you won't grow complacent" Crow said.

Gu Qing Shan seriously listened and raised his glass: "That's exactly what I've been thinking. In truth, I feel like I've been constantly walking on thin ice, afraid of running into some sort of unique abilities and falling, never to stand up again"

"Oh? You seem to be particularly emotional" Crow said, a bit surprised.

"I am. Today, I ran into a Hunter, his combat strength was nothing much, but his abilities made it very easy to ambush people" Gu Qing Shan replied.

Still a bit fearful of it, he explained Peeling Heart Demon Thorn's ability.

Crow also trembled a bit from imagining it.

While the two of them continued to drink, their surroundings suddenly turned silent.

Most of the people around them took out their own information receivers to take in the newest intel.

Crow and Gu Qing Shan's medals also gave off a signal asking for a telepathic connection.

The two of them exchanged glances, then turned their respective medals on.

A piece of information quickly appeared in his mind:

[Breaking news:]

[Dependants of the Eternal Abyss are falling in battle at great numbers, the Wraith realm is currently marching deeper into the Eternal Abyss]

[Through our investigations, the Eternal Abyss has been found to still remain in slumber]

Everyone began loudly discussing among themselves.

Crow also frowned: "I really can't imagine what those humans at the Wraith realm are thinking"

Gu Qing Shan asked: "Why exactly are they trying to invade the Eternal Abyss?"

"Who knows, Eternal Abyss is the strongest known monster in the space vortex. Never mind the Eternal Abyss, even some of its stronger dependants would not fall short compared to anyone else"

Crow took a sip, then muttered: "Everyone just feels like the Wraith realm is going mad"

"Not a single person knows about their true intentions?" Gu Qing Shan asked again.

"None. They're too closed-off, each and every last one of their members are under the restraints of talisman hexes and their masks, it's impossible to obtain any information from them at all" Crow replied.

Gu Qing Shan fell silent.

What exactly is the Wraith realm trying to do?

After using the seven sacrificial sword strikes, I once entered a brief 'Spirit Wanderer' state and saw visions of the future.

In that future, the Wraith realm humans have taken over the 900 million World Layers, plundering, killing, and collecting the Samsara fragments from all over the place. In the end, they were even aiming for my homeworld.

Gu Qing Shan clenched his fist.

How could I let such a future occur?

"Crow"

"Hm?"

"How did you become a Titled Hitman?"

"That huh? In truth, the highest you can reach through completing Hitman jobs is the rank of Unlivable" Crow thought a bit, then continued: "To become a Titled Hitman, your codename must first be renowned to living beings and recognized by the infinite worlds, at which point it would become reinforced by the Laws of reality and become a Title------- a Title contains unique power that can help you improve your strength"

"In other words, my 'Fear Fiend King' codename needs to evolve into a Title?"

"That's right" Crow affirmed.

Gu Qing Shan thought for a bit, then paused.

Wait a minute.

The codename Fear Fiend King certainly did have the factors to be upgraded into a unique Title.

But those factors had already been absorbed by my left eye, manifesting as the [Fog Realm Descent] World Technique.

-----in other words, the Hitman codename Fear Fiend King has lost its possibility of becoming a Title.

Gu Qing Shan's heart tightened and asked: "Crow, can we Hitmen change our codenames?"

"Of course we can, what? Do you not like the codename that the old man personally gave you?" Crow asked.

"There's a different reason, but in summary, I want to change my codename into a different one" Gu Qing Shan replied.

"Oh? Then have you thought of one? What do you want to change it to?" Crow asked, intrigued.

Gu Qing Shan paused.

That's true, what codename should I change to?

He fell into thought.

Over 15 minutes later.

"I… really don't know"

Gu Qing Shan worriedly replied.