Survival in an apartment, starting with a stroke of luck on a plane

Whoosh!

The crossbow bolt shot out swiftly, her intention clear—not to kill Lin Yu, but to wound him, hindering his movements and making him bait to attract the crocodiles' fire, thus buying them time to escape.

"Better to sacrifice your fellow Daoist than yourself?" That's a good idea.

Upon seeing this, Lin Yu's eyes instantly turned icy cold.

The crossbow bolt was extremely fast, but just as it was about to hit Lin Yu's leg, the [Heavenly Cloak] behind him seemed to have its own consciousness and moved automatically without wind, suddenly rolling downwards.

Snapped!

The vicious crossbow bolt was deflected by the sturdy cloak.

Lin Yu's reaction was lightning fast.

While using his cloak to deflect the crossbow bolts, he had already raised the Azure Rose, which spewed out deadly tongues of fire.

boom!boom!boom!boom!

Four shots were fired in quick succession! The target was the two ungrateful players.

The male player never expected Lin Yu's reaction to be so swift and ruthless. He tried to dodge or defend in shock, but his speed was far from keeping up with the bullets.

His seemingly decent leather armor was torn apart instantly, like paper, by the overwhelming power of the Azure Rose!

puff!puff!

Blood burst open on his chest, his face contorted in disbelief and terror, his body trembling violently, before he fell straight backward, dying instantly.

The female player was clearly more cunning and reacted faster. The moment she fired the crossbow bolt, she sensed something was wrong and suddenly accelerated, pulling the male player running in front of her behind her. At the same time, a flash of light appeared in front of her, and a semi-transparent energy shield emerged.

The male player became her human shield, blocking most of the bullets.

The few bullets fired at her were barely stopped by the shield, which flickered violently, clearly reaching its limit.

"Wait! It's a misunderstanding! We can cooperate..." The female player's face turned pale, and she hurriedly begged for mercy in a shrill voice.

But Lin Yu couldn't be bothered to listen to her nonsense. His principle with people who were so ruthless and willing to kill him was to retaliate in kind, showing no mercy whatsoever.

He raised his left hand, and blue-white lightning crackled wildly between his fingers!

stab-

A blazing chain of lightning shot out instantly, striking the already crumbling energy shield directly.

Clap!

The shield shattered instantly, and the lightning, undiminished in its force, struck the female player hard.

"Ah—!" The female player let out a shrill scream. Her whole body was charred black from the electric shock, her hair stood on end and was emitting blue smoke. She convulsed and fell backward to the ground.

Just then, the enormous, deformed crocodile caught up. It clearly didn't distinguish its targets, and with its gaping maw, it bit the female player who was lying on the ground, her lower body still twitching.

"No! Help! Help..." The female player's screams came to an abrupt halt!

The crocodile suddenly swung its head, unleashing a terrifying bite force.

Click!

A sickening sound of bones cracking rang out as the female player was bitten in half at the waist, her blood and internal organs spraying everywhere. Her upper body was still desperately crawling in vain, making hoarse, spitting air sounds. The scene was incredibly bloody.

The crocodile took another bite, swallowing her upper body whole, chewing a few times before swallowing it.

Then, its cruel little eyes immediately locked onto the only living creature in the room—Lin Yu!

"Roar!" It roared, its mouth full of blood, and pawed at the ground, charging towards Lin Yu like a heavy tank.

"You're courting death!" Lin Yu's eyes were icy cold, his killing intent from earlier still lingering.

Without flinching, he raised the Azure Rose and fired continuously at the charging crocodiles.

boom! boom! boom!

The powerful magic bullets struck the crocodile's thick skin, which was covered with deformed bony armor and pustules, blasting open bloody holes, with dark green blood and yellow pus splattering everywhere.

But this crocodile was extremely resilient; the pain only made it more frenzied, and its charging speed did not decrease at all.

Lin Yu calmly calculated the distance, and just a second before the crocodile was about to charge, he suddenly leaped up!

The [Heavenly Cloak] provides assistance, allowing him to easily leap into the air.

He adjusted his posture in mid-air and continued firing at the crocodile's weak point on its back!

Charged Shot 2.

Bang! Boom!

A bullet imbued with even more demonic power was fired, exploding into a massive burst of flames on the crocodile's back.

The demonic fire burned wildly, scorching its flesh and pustules, emitting sizzling sounds and a burning stench.

"Agh!!" The crocodile howled in pain, frantically rolling around in the mud, trying to extinguish the flames on its body.

Lin Yu charged up again, gathering energy at the muzzle—Charged Shot 3.

But just as he was about to pull the trigger, a heavier, slower tremor came from the swamp behind him.

Lin Yu's heart tightened, and he temporarily abandoned shooting, manipulating his cloak to flutter backward a short distance as he looked around warily.

The enormous mud monster had somehow moved to a short distance away. Its two muddy eyes were staring blankly at the deformed crocodile that was rolling around in the mud trying to put out the fire, its flesh mangled and bloody. It seemed to be... in a daze?

Lin Yu frowned and subconsciously moved further away from the mud monster, wondering what this big guy was up to.

The mud monster seemed to only then notice Lin Yu's wariness. It slowly turned its head, looked at Lin Yu, and asked in a slow, hesitant tone, "Human—can—you—give—it—to—me—I—exchange—something—with—you—?"

"Change?" Lin Yu raised an eyebrow, a thought flashing through his mind.

Killing this crocodile would only give him some experience points, but since this "customer" wanted it, exchanging it for some benefits seemed like a good idea.

"What can you give me?" Lin Yu asked.

The mud monster seemed to think about it seriously for a moment (though it looked like it was in a daze), and then opened its huge mouth again.

After a wriggling motion, a card shimmering with a faint light flew out of its mouth and slowly floated in front of Lin Yu.

Lin Yu reached out and caught it, then stared intently at it:

[Skill Card: Summon Mud Monster]

Category: Active Skills

Rank: Bronze

Effect: Consumes 50 mana to summon a Bronze-tier Sludge Monster to fight for you for 1 hour. Cooldown: 30 minutes.

Usage Requirements: Spirit Attribute > 10

Description: Slow-moving, but resilient enough. Note that it may not be very intelligent.

A bronze-level summoning skill! Quite good! Although the summoned creatures might be a bit silly, they can act as meat shields and control the battlefield in crucial moments, so they're quite valuable.

"Deal!" Lin Yu thought for a moment, agreed to the deal, and put the skill card away.

On the other side, seeing Lin Yu accept the card, the mud monster slowly moved like a mountain, heading towards the deformed crocodile that was already on the verge of death.

It stretched out its huge muddy arms, grabbed the crocodile's tail that was still struggling weakly, lifted it up, stuffed it into its massive body, and merged into one.

Having done all this, it seemed to have accomplished a great task. It slowly turned around and gently sank into the huge mud pit, disappearing without a trace, leaving only a few bubbling bubbles.

Lin Yu stared at the spot where the mud monster had disappeared, his eyes narrowed, lost in thought.

"These intelligent monster NPCs... seem to have quite a few good items on them..." A thought flashed through his mind.

"Should we...?"

But he quickly suppressed this slightly dangerous idea.

The consequences of "killing customers" are unpredictable and may lead to system penalties, factional hostility, or other more troublesome issues.

Perhaps... we can observe further and see if any other "daring" players will try it out first and see what the feedback is.

Lin Yu walked to the spot where the two players had died.

The male player's corpse was relatively intact. Lin Yu expressionlessly stripped off the tattered leather armor from his body, then searched his backpack and found some loose game coins and a small bottle of low-level healing potion.

Finally, a faintly glowing [Apartment Key] emerged from the corpse; this is a guaranteed drop upon a player's death.

The female player, apart from the apartment key she dropped upon death, had everything else, including her body, swallowed by the crocodile; nothing was left.

After putting away his spoils, Lin Yu quickly left the swamp and returned to his electric scooter.

He got on his bike and checked the time.

He then opened his phone, ready to accept his third order of the day.

However, when the order list refreshed, one particular order caught his attention.

The other orders were the same as always: raw meat platters from the Rotten Mine, bones from the Bone Mill... but the third order was completely different.

This is a delivery order.

The task is simple: retrieve an item from [Maze Community - Building 3 - Unit 1 - Room 102] and then transport it to [Happy Circus].

According to the deliveryman's manual, errand orders are different from regular food delivery orders, and usually have higher pay. Some urgent or special errand orders may also have additional charges.

These orders are generally only assigned to "high-quality riders" with high ratings and good reputations.

For example, the distance between the pickup point and the delivery point for the order in front of Lin Yu is not very far, but the order clearly states that the points reward will be doubled upon completion (the doubling will be calculated based on the five-star review)].

The customer also wrote in the order notes: "Delivered within one hour, 5-star review guaranteed, plus a generous tip!"

The returns are quite high.

But Lin Yu also instantly realized that the higher the returns, the greater the difficulty and risk would be.

However, the bigger the waves, the more expensive the fish.

Lin Yu only thought for a moment before decisively accepting the order! The order was close enough that it would give him a significant advantage in his quest for the "King of Orders" title. As for the risks? He had enough confidence in his current strength and equipment.

According to the navigation, the [Maze Community] is very close to his current location, only about three kilometers away.

Lin Yu drove the electric car and quickly arrived at his destination.

He encountered a few minor troubles along the way, but they weren't difficult for him and he resolved them easily.

However, as soon as he arrived at the entrance of the residential area, he experienced the first "difficulty" of this errand order.

The gate to the residential complex was crooked and looked even more dilapidated than an unfinished building, and most of the surrounding wall had collapsed.

But right there at this dilapidated entrance stood a security guard who was obese and bloated, wearing an ill-fitting security uniform, and had the head of a giant hippopotamus.

The security guard, nicknamed "Hippopotamus," immediately stretched out his burly arm to stop Lin Yu's electric scooter, saying in a gruff voice, "Stop! Outsider vehicles are affecting the image of the community! No entry!"

Lin Yu glanced at the "community" in front of him, which was comparable to ruins. He wondered whether he should spit out his grievances, as this community was even more dilapidated than an unfinished building.

He then glanced at the serious-looking hippo security guard.

Does this place even have an image to speak of?! You'd be more damaging to its "image" than blocking my electric scooter!

He took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to complain, and looked coldly at the hippo security guard: "I'm a food delivery driver, I need to go in to pick up an order."

The hippo security guard shook his enormous head, his expression stern and unyielding: "Rules are rules! Cars aren't allowed! People are!"

Its massive body stood firmly in the doorway like a wall.

Lin Yu narrowed his eyes and glanced around the interior of the community, confirming that it was within the "safe zone" and that violence was not an option.

He was too lazy to waste any more words on this NPC, who was clearly part of the rules.

"Fine," he said coldly, pushing the electric scooter to a relatively secluded corner by the roadside.

He still had his shadow clone stand guard to the side.

After making the arrangements, Lin Yu walked towards the gate of the residential area.

This time, the hippo security guard did not stop him, but just watched him walk into the community with his small eyes.

However, the moment Lin Yu stepped through the gate of the residential compound—

He felt the scenery before his eyes suddenly blur and distort, as if he were passing through an invisible film of water.

The next second, the scene before his eyes completely changed.

The dilapidated neighborhood scene I just saw from the outside has vanished! In its place is an enormous complex of buildings, consisting of countless identical residential buildings arranged in a completely random pattern.

Between these buildings are numerous oddly trimmed bushes and trees that resemble walls.

The roads are intricate and complex, with numerous intersections, and many stairwells and alleys look almost identical.

The entire space was filled with a dizzying sense of chaos.

"Maze...no wonder it's called Maze Community!" Lin Yu instantly understood the meaning of the name and why the rewards for errand orders were so high.

Just finding the right building in this godforsaken place can take up a lot of time.

"Trying to trap me? Not so easy!"

Lin Yu snorted coldly and activated the [Heavenly Cloak] without hesitation.

The cloak billowed, providing lift, and he was lifted off the ground, rising to a height of more than ten meters.

From an aerial view, the maze's layout remains complex, but at least the general division of areas and distribution of buildings are clearly visible.

At the same time, he swung the [Demon Sword] again, summoning all twenty ghosts.

"Spread out! Find Building 3, Unit 1, Room 102!" Lin Yu gave the order.

The ghosts immediately scattered silently, like efficient scouts, disappearing into the maze-like corridors and alleys to begin a thorough search.

Lin Yu hovered in mid-air, maintaining his flight while taking out the [Basic Mana Recovery Potion] he had previously exchanged and drinking it, slowly recovering the mana consumed by flying.

The ghosts were extremely efficient at searching; in less than five minutes, one of them sent back a message—they had been found.

Lin Yu immediately flew in the direction indicated by the ghost, while simultaneously summoning back the other ghosts.

After zigzagging through the air, he landed in front of a residential building that looked no different from the others. The address was indeed "Building No. 3".

I found a unit, went up to the second floor, and arrived at the door of room 102.

Lin Yu straightened his delivery vest and knocked on the door.

knock knock knock.

"Hello, I'm starving and here to pick up my takeout."

The door creaked open.

The person who opened the door was extremely strange-looking—he had two heads! Sharing one body.

One head wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, looking refined and smiling, while the other head had a face full of fleshy muscles, fierce eyes, and some kind of suspicious bloodstains at the corner of its mouth.

The refined-looking man looked Lin Yu up and down, then smiled and said in a gentle voice, "Thank you for your hard work, young man. The things are ready."

He turned to the side and picked up a small, beautifully packaged gift box from the shoe cabinet behind the door, handing it to Lin Yu.

Lin Yu took the box; it was very light.

He instinctively wanted to open the delivery box and collect the contents.

"Wait." Just then, the refined-looking head suddenly called out to him again.

Lin Yu paused and looked at him.

The refined-looking man continued to smile, but his tone held a strange undertone: "Young man, remember this. Make sure to... give the item to the real Happy Clown."

He emphasized the word "real".

Immediately afterward, the menacing head beside him lunged forward, adding in a vicious voice, "That's right! If I delivered you to the wrong person... I would absolutely eat you! I would chew your bones to pieces! Chew them to pieces!"

After saying that, both heads shrank back at the same time, and the door slammed shut with a "bang".

Lin Yu stood there, holding the light gift box, his brows slightly furrowed.

He immediately took out his phone and carefully checked the order details again.

The recipient's name was written as: "Happy Circus - Happy Clown".

"Should we hand it over to a real clown?"

Lin Yu rubbed his chin, his eyes becoming wary. He didn't believe that the other party's reminder was just a casual remark; there must be a deeper meaning behind it.

"Could it be... there's more than one clown in the circus? Or is there something special about this 'Happy Clown'? There's probably a trap here..."

He put the gift box into the delivery box and turned to leave the eerie residential building.

In my mind, I've already raised the risk level of this order by another level.

"The Happy Circus... looks like it won't be too 'happy'."

He muttered to himself and quickened his pace.

The order notes stated that for a five-star review, the item must be delivered within one hour, so his time was limited.

Lin Yu drove his electric car at breakneck speed toward the [Happy Circus].

The navigation system showed that the distance wasn't too far, but the road conditions were complicated, so we needed to race against time.

However, when he reached a wide intersection, he had to slow down.

At the intersection, there were not monsters blocking the way or ruins obstructing the path, but rather a group of seven or eight players gathered there.

They stood in small groups by the roadside, seemingly engaged in a heated discussion, their faces showing anxiety and frustration.

Their electric vehicles were also parked haphazardly to the side.

Lin Yu frowned. He didn't want to have too much interaction with other players, and he didn't want to waste time getting involved in potential trouble.

He planned to turn right directly and take another road around the intersection.

But just as he was about to turn and leave, a burly man who seemed to be the leader of the group of players noticed him and shouted, "Hey! You rider brother! Don't waste your time taking a detour! If you want to get to the other side, this intersection is the only way, there's no going around!"

Lin Yu paused for a moment, but did not stop completely; he simply slowed down the car. He suspiciously scanned the empty intersection but found nothing unusual.

Seeing that Lin Yu seemed unconvinced, the burly man shrugged helplessly and added, "Believe it or not! We've tried it! No matter which direction you go around, as long as your goal is to get to the other side, you'll inexplicably end up back at this intersection."

Lin Yu frowned, but did not stop the car. Instead, he continued driving. The person on the other end, seeing that Lin Yu was not listening, did not make any other move, but just shrugged.

About five minutes later, Lin Yu returned to the intersection, his brows furrowed even more deeply. He had clearly changed his route just now, so why was he back here?

He glanced at the navigation and tried to plan other routes, but found that after taking a detour, the navigation seemed to malfunction, and no matter what he chose, it would eventually reroute back to the same intersection.

He drove closer to the group of players, his gaze sweeping over them, and asked in a low voice, "What's going on here? Why can't we get through?"

The burly man who had just spoken sighed and pointed to the seemingly empty area in the middle of the intersection: "It seems to be a mandatory game."

You need to drive across the center line of the intersection to trigger this, and then a "traffic policeman" will appear. He will ask you ten questions, and you can only pass if you answer them all correctly.

Answering incorrectly... will teleport you back to the starting point of the loop, and you'll have to start all over again.

Lin Yu looked in the direction he was pointing, but the intersection was empty; there were no traffic police officers in sight.

"Traffic police? What kind of traffic police?"

A female player wearing glasses, who seemed calm, chimed in: "You can't see it now; it will only appear when you drive into the intersection area."

It looks...like a humanoid zebra? Wearing a traffic police reflective vest.

"Is there a penalty for failure?" Lin Yu pressed, knowing that based on his understanding of this world, it couldn't possibly be that simple.

The burly man shook his head: "So far, each of us has only tried once. After failing, we were simply teleported back without any additional health or item loss."

But whether there will be penalties for failing a second or third time... we don't know.

His tone was filled with uncertainty and worry.

Lin Yu rubbed his temples, feeling a bit tricky: "What specific type of question are you asking?"

Knowing the scope might allow for better preparation.

Upon hearing this, the burly man revealed a sly smile and rubbed his fingers together: "Brother, there's no such thing as a free lunch in the game."

I've already shown you so much by being exceptionally lenient, considering we're both players.

Want to know more specific information? Like the scope of the question bank? Well, you'll have to pay a 'price' then.