American homeless people, surviving in the city

Chapter 171 Killing Mission

While the three rewards offered by the system this time may not be 100% more powerful than the previous rewards, they are certainly more practical and imaginative in some respects.

The [Basic Recovery Potion], which can directly regrow fingers, has a touch of science fiction: the [Basic Pain Shield] also has a more fantastical feel than the skills I've acquired before.

All three rewards looked extremely tempting, and Lin Qi began to think carefully about the three options.

The [Basic Recovery Potion] can almost be seen as a convenient and highly effective medical kit that you can carry with you. In a critical moment, just one bottle of this potion could potentially save a life.

As the system reward description states, the [Basic Pain Shield] ability allows one to be unaffected by pain during duels between experts, saving considerable energy. This energy can then be focused on the enemy, maximizing one's strength.

[Constitution +2] goes without saying. Lin Qi had previously selected Constitution +2 once. With these 2 points of Constitution, he not only achieved a three-game winning streak in the underground boxing match, but also rescued Sylvia in Maple Valley and completed a desperate counterattack against the Rainbow Body Society.

After carefully analyzing the pros and cons of the three options, Lin Qi felt even more hesitant.

In the past, when he received system rewards many times, he was able to clearly distinguish which reward was the most reasonable to choose, and after analysis, he could easily make a choice.

But all the rewards this time are so excellent that he really can't figure out how to choose!

This is the first time I've felt my decision-making phobia has hit so hard.

After much hesitation, Lin Qi finally decided to forgo the seemingly cooler futuristic technology potions and fancy skills, and instead choose the most practical, yet most down-to-earth, [Constitution +2].

The reason for choosing it is quite simple.

His near-death experience in Maple Valley that night made him deeply realize the importance of physical fitness.

He imagined what would happen if he had received one of the three reward options earlier that night in the valley.

Even if that bottle of [Basic Recovery Potion] hadn't been lost during the car accident and fall off the cliff, it could only heal one person, and then it would have no further effect on the situation at that time. If someone were injured again afterward, as a one-time consumable, it would be useless.

If Lynch had possessed the [Basic Pain Shield] skill in the valley, he could have escaped more easily. However, he relied solely on his willpower to withstand everything, and the pain shield skill was merely icing on the cake, not a lifeline.

On the contrary, the most basic one is [Constitution +2]. You should know that an ordinary person only has 5 points of Constitution, but if he can gain two more points of Constitution, his Constitution can reach an amazing 9 points!

Physical fitness is a comprehensive statistic that represents multiple aspects of a person's strength, speed, endurance, and stamina.

In other words, his overall physical abilities will be nearly twice that of an average person!

If he had that kind of physical fitness, Lin Qi felt that his fighting and running in the valley wouldn't have been so miserable.

If he had enough energy and concentration while driving through the woods, he might have been able to go much further, and he might not have ended up in the river with Sylvia, hanging by a thread, and having to rely on luck to climb out of the water!

Your health is the foundation of everything; if your body can't handle it, all your skills are useless!

With that thought in mind, Lin Qi finally stopped hesitating and chose option A!

The rewards panel vanished instantly, followed by a long-lost, crisp sound, and Lin Qi's character panel changed accordingly:

[Constitution: 6/7] Up! → [Constitution: 8/9]!

A warm current instantly surged into his limbs and bones, causing Lin Qi to let out a soft, comfortable sigh. Along with that warm current, he could clearly feel his muscles, bones, and internal organs trembling slightly.

His muscles seemed to have been completely reshaped. He didn't develop the exaggerated, explosive muscles of a bodybuilder; instead, his muscle lines became smoother and clearer, and his bones seemed to have been reshaped, becoming harder and more flexible.

An 8/9 physique means that once his body is fully recovered, he can unleash twice the physical strength of an ordinary person!

Feeling the surging power within him, Lin Qi was quite excited.

However, knowing that his body had not fully recovered, he did not rush to test his strength in any way, but silently suppressed his excitement.

When the time is right, there will be a time when this power can be put to use!

Subsequently, following the new rules after the system update, after Lin Qi selected the task reward, the system did not wait for him to actively claim a new task, but immediately and automatically issued a new task:

[Survivor has completed the previous mission. New mission issued: Major Assassin!]

[Mission Objective: Kill a large animal!]

[Survivor, you have now largely adapted to life in the wilderness, but the environment is constantly changing and becoming increasingly treacherous.]

Therefore, relying solely on hunting small animals, fishing, and gathering berries to obtain food is no longer sufficient to accumulate resources. You now have the strength and the need to hunt a large animal to obtain its fur, fat, and plenty of meat!

Upon seeing the requirements and description of the task, Lynch fell silent.

In Seattle, there are basically only two types of large wild animals that can be found: black bears and black-tailed deer.

The former might be seen in the suburbs of the city, as they like to rummage through trash cans in the city, but they are by no means easy to find; while the latter only lives in the woods and wilderness on the outskirts of Seattle.

Hunting these two animals is far more difficult than Lynch's previous attempts at hunting rats. Not only are they hard to find, but they are also protected by various laws. In today's American society, recklessly killing a large wild animal might be more dangerous than secretly killing a person.

However, if we broaden our perspective and don't focus on troubling these wild animals, there is another type of large animal that can be found everywhere in Seattle.

That's a person.

In other words, the mission objective can be interpreted as: go to the outskirts to find a large wild animal to kill, or kill a person!

Lin Qi swallowed hard.

He wasn't inexperienced in killing; just a few nights ago, in the cabin of Maple Valley, he personally murdered several cult members in order to survive.

But at the time, he only acted out of desperation. If Lin Qi were to kill someone on his own initiative to complete the mission, he still wouldn't be able to do it.

Lin Qi thought it over and over, and finally could only shake his head helplessly: "...Sure enough, the difficulty of the mission has increased. This mission is definitely not as easy as the previous ones, which could be completed on the same day they were accepted."

"It seems we can only take it one step at a time. After we resolve these current issues, perhaps we can look into whether there are any hunting clubs in Seattle? Maybe then we can legally hunt deer in the countryside and complete our mission that way."