Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

"Boss, remember this time we can't eat people during the battle, otherwise all these clothes will be ruined, and the brothers will be starving again." Behind the giant bandit, a bandit dressed in a wolf-head-like outfit appeared in Lin Yi's line of sight. He was holding a long-handled musket with exquisite patterns, looking completely out of place among these bandits.

"Heh heh, Your Excellency, if you know what's good for you, hand over all your valuables! And you too!" The weasel-faced man pointed his crossbow at Leonard, grinning savagely. "Take off this iron suit too! If our boss's in a good mood, he might even leave you with a whole corpse!"

The bandit leader, known as "Boss," greedily scanned Lin Yi with his copper-bell-like eyes, seemingly very interested in the clean and well-made fabric of his clothes.

He let out a strange "ho ho" laugh, like a bellows being pulled, and easily lifted the huge spiked club with one hand, casually slung it on his frighteningly broad shoulder, as if weighing where to smash it to get the most "meat patties".

[Comparing intelligence attributes of both sides... Comparison complete. Our intelligence attribute far surpasses the enemy's. We have obtained 100% of the enemy's data.]

Giant Bandit (Aberrant Variant)

Category: Subhuman/Mutant

Health: 100%
Mana: 2000/2000
True Power: 91
Agility: 45
Real physical strength: 93
Intelligence: 21
Charisma: 2
Skill 1: Thick Skin (Passive, Lv.35): Skin as tough as old cowhide, physical defense +50%, greatly increased resistance to toxins and diseases.

Skill 2: Close Range Shot (Active, Lv.20): Use close-range shooting to attack enemies, increasing damage by 50%.

技能3：鞭挞之雨（主动，Lv.25）：用鞭子对周围5米内敌人造成（力量×0.7）点范围伤害并附加1秒眩晕。

Skill 4: Bite (Active, Lv.20): Bites a nearby target, dealing (HP x 0.8) physical damage and inflicting the 'Bleed' effect.

Wolf Head Bandit (Elite)

Category: Human

Health: 100%
Mana: 800/800
Power: 65
True Agility: 82
Stamina: 55
Intelligence: 45
Charisma: 10
Skill 1: Precision Shot (Passive, Lv.30): Greatly increases the accuracy and effective range of long-range weapon shots.

Skill 2: Weakness Insight (Active, Lv.25): Briefly increases perception, with a chance to discover the target's weak point in defense, increasing the damage of the next attack by 30%.

Skill 3: Dwarven Gun Mastery (Passive, Lv.40): Proficiently use and maintain dwarven relic guns, reducing malfunction rate and increasing reload speed.

When Leonard saw the strangely shaped gun in the wolf-headed bandit's hand, his face instantly turned extremely ugly, and cold sweat seeped from his palms as he gripped the sword.

"Dwarven firearms! These bandits... are probably not just ordinary brigands; they are most likely outlaws who have defected from the private guard of some great lord."

In a world where technology has experienced several terrible technological setbacks, well-preserved and still usable firearms like these are a true strategic deterrent.

They are incredibly powerful, far exceeding ordinary bows and crossbows, and can even penetrate heavy armor.

Ironically, most people in this world, including these bandits, only know that pulling the trigger fires a deadly bullet, but they have no idea about the physical principles involved, let alone how to replicate or mass-produce it.

They are like monkeys with magical artifacts, knowing what to do but not why.

In the pharmacy cabinet of some remote clinic, you might find exquisitely packaged morphine injections, purified nicotine patches, and even see doctors using mysterious medicines to cure rabies and the Black Death, diseases that strike fear into the hearts of many.

However, when faced with a seemingly ordinary fever, they may be helpless and can only pray that the patient is physically strong enough.

A smug grin spread across the wolf-headed bandit's face. He skillfully checked the hammer of the spear in his hand, and the dark muzzle of the gun was slightly raised, seemingly casually, but it was subtly locked onto Lin Yi's chest.

He was clearly much more dangerous than those lousy lackeys who only knew how to shout. After being locked onto by that gun, Lin Yi actually felt a faint sense of danger.

"Priest, this is your last chance." The wolf-headed bandit's voice was icy, filled with undeniable killing intent. "Put down all your valuables and surrender! Otherwise, I won't hesitate to use this weapon to pierce a hole in you. Let's see if your divine magic can outrun my bullets!"

The crossbowmen and other henchmen around him also shouted threateningly in unison, and the bandit leader let out a low growl of annoyance, taking a heavy step forward, causing the ground to tremble slightly.

Seeing that Lin Yi and Leonard showed no intention of surrendering, the wolf-headed bandit, who was acting as a "strategist," had a cold glint in his eyes and decisively waved his hand, signaling the people behind him to attack together.

"boom--!"

A muffled gunshot rang out in the rainforest, flashes of light tore through the rain curtain, and blue smoke billowed.

The gun muzzle spewed out scorching flames and thick blue smoke as a uniquely shaped metal bullet tore through the air, leaving an afterimage almost invisible to the naked eye, and shot straight at Lin Yi's chest.

Unfortunately, Lin Yi was prepared. With a cracking sound, the third layer of shield in front of Lin Yi fluctuated violently, caved in deeply, and made a cracking sound as it was overwhelmed. The surface was instantly covered with spider web-like cracks.

The bullet's kinetic energy was finally exhausted. Like a flattened lead block, it fell with a scorching heat into the muddy puddle in front of Lin Yi's feet with a "plop," splashing up a small, murky spray.

"Hey, looks like he's actually a bishop-level priest. Maybe we can really get some good stuff this time." The wolf-headed bandit showed no disappointment; instead, he grinned even more greedily, his eyes gleaming with ecstasy.

The dwarf's musket failed to kill in one shot, which instead proved the "value" of the young priest before them—something that no ordinary priest could achieve.

The valuables carried by such "fat sheep," and even the secrets they might know or the "holy objects" they possess as "high-ranking clergy," are priceless!
"Kill him! Don't damage anything valuable! Capture him alive if possible!" the wolf-headed bandit roared, completely shedding his last shred of pretense.

"Roar!!!" The bandit leader could no longer suppress his bloodlust. The moment the wolf-headed bandit fired, his massive body started moving like an out-of-control chariot.

Having received the clear order to kill, it let out a deafening roar, and its heavy spiked club, carrying the force to crush mountains, slammed down towards Lin Yi.

At the same time, the weasel-faced crossbowman also pulled the trigger.

This time, he targeted Lin Yi's relatively weak side waist, intending to deliver a fatal blow under the cover of the troll's frontal assault.

The surrounding henchmen, like hyenas smelling blood, howled and brandished rusty swords and clubs, flanking him from both sides, their target being Leonard, who had just gotten up from the ground.

They attempted to use sheer numbers to entangle this troublesome knight and prevent him from interfering with the siege of Lin Yi.

Facing the spiked clubs whistling down from above and the poisoned crossbows attacking from the side, Lin Yi didn't even move a step.

Lin Yi stretched out his left hand, and several ethereal dark soul threads appeared above his head, instantly weaving into an invisible and intangible yet extremely tough net, precisely appearing in the path that the spiked club would inevitably traverse.

The bandit leader's fury froze instantly, replaced by utter astonishment.

It felt as if its all-out attack had not struck any solid object, but rather had slammed into an incredibly viscous swamp.

At the junction of the mace's thick hardwood handle and its menacing metal head, a sudden, ear-piercing sound of metal twisting and wood fibers snapping erupted.

Under the watchful eye of the troll leader, the connection between the hammerhead and the wooden handle broke silently. Then, the tough wooden handle, like a rotten branch, was cut and pierced by unseen threads, instantly breaking into several pieces.

Faced with the sneak attack of the crossbow bolt, Lin Yi extended two fingers of his right hand and clamped the middle of the bolt shaft just as it was about to hit his body.

The crossbowman with the shifty face froze completely, like cheap paint frozen in time.

He felt like he had kicked a hornet's nest this time; anyone capable of such a feat was definitely not an ordinary person in the eyes of the crossbowmen.

Just as the bandit leader was stunned, a cold light flashed across his neck.

Then, it felt as if its vision was...falling away.

The world suddenly flipped and tilted in its eyes.

It saw a gray, rain-drenched sky.

They saw the ground was muddy and littered with the bodies of their comrades and fragments of weapons.

He saw his own enormous body still standing there—above the neck, it was empty.

The cut was incredibly smooth and even. The dark red blood, like a fountain that had been suppressed for a long time, hesitated for a moment before being forcefully gushed upwards several meters high under the pressure of the heart's pump, forming a terrifying column of blood.

"Thump... gurgle..."

The enormous head, covered in sparse hair, crashed into the mud, rolled a few times, and became covered in filth and decaying leaves. Its left eye remained open, frozen in the bewilderment of its final moments, staring blankly at its headless corpse that was beginning to tilt backward.

Pfft!
The enormous headless corpse, like a felled giant tree, crashed heavily into the muddy water, stirring up a cloud of murky water and blood, and the earth seemed to tremble.

[Defeat the bandit leader and obtain 0.8% of the World Source.]

As the bandit leader fell to the ground, Lin Yi heard the notification sound from the Paradise of Reincarnation.

It's clear that the Source of the World in this world is indeed difficult to obtain; it should only be obtainable by elite-level monsters like bandit leaders.

"The...the boss is dead! The boss is dead!!" A henchman closest to the headless corpse, his head and face splattered with warm, bloody blood, finally regained his voice from extreme fear and let out a heart-wrenching scream.

That scream was like the last spark that ignited a powder keg!
"Run!!!"

"A devil! He's a devil!!"

"Don't kill me! Spare me, sir!!"

The battlefield, which had just fallen into a deathly silence due to the troll's instant death, was instantly engulfed by even more frantic and desperate cries and screams.

The bandits besieging Leonard were like ants being doused with boiling water; all their courage and greed crumbled in the face of absolute death.

They dropped their weapons, pushed aside their companions, and scrambled and crawled, wishing they had two more legs, as they fled desperately into the dense forest on either side of the road.

The scene was a hundred times more chaotic than the attack, reduced to a pathetic display of pure survival instinct.

"Hmph! Dream on!" Leonard spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, a sneer of a veteran spreading across his face.

He was not a soft-hearted man or woman, nor would he show the slightest pity to an enemy who tried to kill him.

He didn't even glance at the henchmen who had collapsed and fled into the depths of the forest. Those small fry would be dealt with by the poisonous insects and beasts in the forest or by the traps they themselves had set in their panic.

His target was very clear—the wolf-headed bandit he had pierced through the chest with his sword, who lay in the mud.

This guy is the most dangerous of the bandits, but also the most valuable.

Leonard strode over to the wolf-headed bandit's corpse, stepping on the still-warm chest to prevent it from slipping into the mud. At the same time, he reached out and precisely grabbed the dwarven musket whose barrel was still emitting a faint wisp of smoke.

The cold, metallic texture carried the scent of gunpowder, and the intricate and mysterious patterns on the gun shimmered faintly in the dim light.

Leonard's heart skipped a beat—this was real stuff.

Even if it is not used, simply taking it to the black market or presenting it as a "generous gift" to some powerful figures is enough to exchange for an astonishing amount of wealth or favor.

He carefully carried the precious musket on his back and secured it with a leather strap.

Immediately afterwards, his large hands, covered in mud and blood, began to grope rapidly across the wolf-headed bandit's corpse.

A money pouch? It's heavy, I'll take it!

A few rings set with cheap gemstones? Take them off!
A necklace with strange metallic runes around her neck? Tear it off and stuff it into her clothes!
A leather ammunition pouch at the waist, reeking of a mixture of gunpowder and grease? That's part of the set! Quick, take it off!

Leonard fully demonstrated what it means to be a true thief who never leaves empty-handed. If Lin Yi hadn't been standing right there, he probably would have stripped the wolf-headed bandit naked, not even sparing the relatively intact wolf-headed leather armor.

Lin Yi glanced at Leonard and the conspicuous dwarven musket on his back, but didn't pay any attention to his unauthorized looting.

Admittedly, this well-crafted and powerful dwarven musket would fetch an enviable price on the black market of this world, but it was worthless in Lin Yi's eyes.

Equipment that hasn't been certified by the Paradise of Reincarnation cannot be taken out of this world; to him, it's nothing more than a pile of smoking scrap metal.

"Let's go." Lin Yi's voice broke the brief silence. His gaze turned to the end of the muddy road. The rain was gradually stopping, but the sky was still gloomy.

“Yes, sir!” Leonard responded immediately, as if a switch had been flipped.

He straightened his back and strode back to Lin Yi's side, his posture respectful and his sharp eyes scanning the surrounding forest, looking every bit like a loyal guard.

As a seasoned veteran who had been through the crusades, Leonard knew all too well when to be greedy and when to be absolutely obedient.

The unfathomable lord before him was clearly not someone he could fool with his cleverness.

His only thought now was: perform well, survive to get that hefty commission, and then... do everything in his power to prevent this lord from having the slightest ill will towards him.

The two trudged through the mud, avoiding the wreckage of overturned carriages and corpses, and continued along the road.

The air in the forest after the rain was particularly damp and chilly, mixed with a nauseating smell of decaying soil.

From the depths of the surrounding dense forest, the faint roars of unknown wild beasts and the startled cries of birds could be heard, seemingly disturbed by the fierce battle that had just taken place.

After walking for less than a quarter of an hour, the road ahead suddenly opened up.

A huge, clearly man-made town came into view.

In the center of town, a magnificent castle rises from the ground.

The castle is built entirely of basalt, which is dark in color like congealed blood. It has been eroded by wind, frost, rain and snow, and dark green moss and vines have crawled in the cracks of the stone.

The castle's shape is not the usual square or round shape, but rather has a sharp Gothic style. The towering towers are like black claws piercing the leaden sky, and the windows are small and deep, like cold eyes peering at visitors.

The entire castle resembles a giant beast crouching under dark clouds, while the so-called "town" that grows at the foot of the castle exudes an even more oppressive atmosphere.

It was less a town and more a slum struggling to survive in the shadow of the castle.

The low, crooked shacks and the shabby houses that could barely be called stone buildings were crammed together haphazardly, with the walls plastered with mud that smelled of mildew.

Apart from the "main road" leading to the castle gate, which could barely be seen to be paved with gravel, the rest of the so-called streets were nothing more than muddy ditches trampled by countless feet, mixed with garbage, sewage and animal excrement, emitting a nauseating sour smell.

The residents were like walking corpses, huddled under leaky eaves, staring blankly at the muddy ground.

Or they hunch over and slowly move through the sewage-filled alleys, numbly searching for something to eat.

Lin Yi and Leonard, two outsiders whose attire was clearly out of place, stepped in without even attracting a curious or wary glance from the others.

They were as if they were just two fallen leaves drifting across a muddy swamp, unable to stir up even the slightest ripple.

A deathly stillness is the only underlying tone here.

Just then, two women approached Lin Yi and Leonard.

They smeared thick layers of cheap rouge on their faces, trying to cover up their tired and malnourished sallow complexion.

The so-called "clothing" they wore was nothing more than a few thin, exposed pieces of cheap fabric, barely covering their vital parts. In the cold, damp air, their skin turned blue and developed goosebumps.

One of the women tried to take Lin Yi's arm, but was intimidated by his aura, her fingers hovering in mid-air, not daring to actually touch him.

"My lord, you must be exhausted from walking such a long way. Would you like to find a warm place...to relax?" She forced a seductive smile onto her bright red lips, but deep in her eyes lay emptiness and a barely perceptible fear. (End of Chapter)