Delta: Mandel Bricks drop right at the start!

At 9:55 a.m. the next day, Lin Rui saw "Awei the Slacker" avatar light up in the team-up interface of the game lobby. Right on time, even five minutes early.

He sent a team-up invitation, and the other person accepted it within half a second.

The two characters stood side by side at the entrance of the armory in the safe zone. Awei's operator character was dressed in tattered level 2 equipment and held an unmodified original UMP45 in his hand, with the magazine not even full of bullets.

The voice channel connected, and Ah Wei's voice came through, his excitement barely contained: "Brother Rui! Good morning! I checked the equipment three times last night and fixed everything that could be repaired."

"Put your equipment in the warehouse."

"what?"

"The Class II Class A dam was there to deliver vegetables."

Lin Rui made a few moves on the armory's trading panel and threw a set of equipment onto Awei's character: a level 4 armor, an MP5 with a modified grip and scope, five magazines, and two first aid kits.

It was all the extra inventory he had scavenged from various boxes in the previous rounds.

Ah Wei's character remained rooted to the spot, his breathing sounding somewhat heavy in his voice.

"Rui... Brother Rui, this set is worth at least 800,000 Haff coins."

"Yeah, it's taking up my storage space."

"You just gave it to me like that?"

"This is borrowed from you. Don't cry when you die."

"I won't die!" Ah Wei's voice rose half an octave. "Don't worry, I'm here. I've been doing the support role for years. I know how to call out enemy positions, gather information, block roads, and throw grenades. You just focus on attacking, and I'll take care of your back."

"There are a few rules once we go in." Lin Rui selected the map: Dam Zero, two-player matchmaking.

"First, follow the path I tell you to take; don't take detours on your own. Second, I'll open the crates first, then you can go up and collect the rest. Third, if we encounter anyone, I'll shoot first; you're responsible for finishing them off and watching behind us."

"receive!"

"fourth."

"besides?"

"Don't stop at the green and blue boxes on the ground; those are junk and not worth wasting your time on. Follow me, and I'll take you to get the good stuff."

"Scrap? How is the green crate scrap? At least the green crate has bullets and medicine..."

"You'll know what junk really is once you come with me on this trip today."

Matching begins.

As the countdown ended, the two were simultaneously teleported into Dam Zero.

The spawn point is the cooling tower complex on the west side of the dam.

Five towering cooling towers are arranged in an arc, with the gaps between their bases filled with abandoned industrial equipment and metal shipping containers.

The wind blew down from the opening at the top of the tower, bringing with it a cool breeze and moisture simulated by the virtual engine.

After landing, Awei crouched down and checked his surroundings, making a semi-circle with the muzzle of his UMP45—a standard opening move for someone from the youth training team.

His tactical skills were indeed different from those of a complete novice; he moved lightly, kept a low profile, and used the muzzle of his gun to probe the way when turning corners.

"Brother Rui, there's a green box to the west..."

"Never mind it, come with me."

Lin Rui's X-ray vision had already scanned the distribution of materials throughout the entire cooling tower complex.

There are seven green boxes and two blue boxes, all containing ordinary supplies, not worth the time.

But in the underground pipes of the third cooling tower, there is a red confidential box, and next to it is a hidden safe without any markings.

He led Awei around the three green boxes. Every time Awei passed a box, he couldn't help but take a second look, and his feet would unconsciously veer towards the box. But he resisted and obediently followed behind Lin Rui.

The base of the cooling tower has an inspection door that is so rusted it's almost impossible to open.

Lin Rui tapped the hinges twice with the butt of his gun, and the door opened a crack, allowing the two of them to squeeze in sideways.

Inside is a circular maintenance walkway, at the end of which is a vertical iron ladder leading to the underground pipe layer.

"Get out of here."

As Ah Wei climbed down the iron ladder, he looked around and said, "I've never been to this place before, and it wasn't mentioned in any guidebooks. How do you know there's something here?"

"I've been running around too much." Lin Rui followed down, his footsteps landing on the concrete floor of the pipe layer.

After walking about twenty meters, a locked iron gate appeared ahead, with a mechanical combination lock commonly seen in games.

He crouched down to examine the lock cylinder, and through the X-ray vision, the internal paddle mechanism was clearly visible.

He reached out and turned the lock a few times, and with a click, the lock opened.

Ah Wei held his breath behind him, "You...you even know how to pick locks?"

"The structure of this old-fashioned combination lock is very simple. The position of the dial and the resistance feedback can determine the correct number."

Lin Rui pushed open the door. He had prepared this explanation in advance; it was half true and half false.

Behind the door is a small storage room.

A red confidential box was placed against the wall, its electronic indicator light flashing red on and off.

There was also a hidden compartment covered by an iron plate in the corner of the floor.

"You stand at the door and keep watch. Call me if anyone comes."

"Received." Ah Wei turned around, holding up his MP5 player and aiming it at the corridor, looking very professional.

Lin Rui opened the red confidential box first.

After inserting the Class B decoder, the progress bar moved for ten seconds, and the lid popped open.

Red light spilled out from the gaps, illuminating the entire storage room.

Ah Wei couldn't help but glance back: "Red light? Red quality?"

"It's up to you to walk."

The box contained a level 5 armor and an AK-74M with rare attachments, featuring a unique red-quality pattern on the gun.

This set is worth over two million HAF coins.

Lin Rui put his level 5 armor and AK into his backpack and turned to the hidden compartment in the corner of the floor.

Lifting the iron plate revealed a small safe embedded in concrete, its surface gleaming with a pale golden sheen.

[Guaranteed Big Gold Coin mechanism triggered. Guaranteed item this time: 5 Mandel Gold Coins, estimated value 4,500,000 Haf Coins.]

When the safe was opened, golden light seeped out, turning the dark walls a warm yellow.

Ah Wei turned around again. This time he stumbled, his shoulder hitting the door frame, his eyes fixed on the safe, motionless.

"Gold...golden light? That's a gold-quality item? Where did you get it from? Under that broken iron plate?"

"I'm done picking them up and I'm leaving." Lin Rui put the five gold coins into the special items section of his backpack and dusted off his hands.

Ah Wei turned back to keep looking at the road, but his hand holding the gun unconsciously clenched so tightly that his knuckles protruded.

"Brother Rui."

"Um."

"I used to work as a bricklayer at Dam Zero for seven months. The most valuable deal I ever made was opening a blue chest and getting a modified Glock, which I sold for 20,000 Halfrules. I was happy all day."

His voice tightened, "In the time it took you to open two boxes, you produced more than I could earn in seven months."

"That's why I told you, stop collecting those junk items." Lin Rui walked to the door, patted Awei on the shoulder, and said, "Come with me, I'll take you to get some goods today."

Ah Wei paused for a second, then nodded vigorously.

His posture had clearly changed; his back was straight, the muzzle of his gun was raised to a standard defensive angle, and the distance between his steps had changed from a casual stroll to a trained tactical movement.

"receive."

The two men crawled out from the underground pipe layer of the cooling tower and advanced into the central area of ​​the dam.

Lin Rui led the way, stopping to open boxes at each hidden supply point. He skipped all the green and blue boxes, only opening hidden boxes and safes of red quality or higher.

Ah Wei watched from behind, responsible for observing the rear and flanks, occasionally reporting things like "footsteps on the left" or "someone firing shots in the distance, about 200 meters northeast."

His information reporting method is very standardized, using the reporting format of professional teams: location, distance, and behavior.

Midway through, they encountered a three-person team searching for items in a factory building.

Lin Rui used his SCAR-H to shoot down two people through the window. The third person tried to flank them from a different direction, but was caught red-handed by Awei at the corner of the corridor with his MP5.

"Kill x1!" Awei's excited shout came through the voice chat, "Rui-ge! I hit someone!"

"Stop shouting, get more ammunition."

"Oh, right, reload." He frantically changed the magazine, dropped it on the ground and picked it up again, his knee hitting the corner of the wall, and he gasped in pain.

Listening to the sounds coming from the earpiece, Lin Rui realized that the man's marksmanship had indeed deteriorated. He had only hit seven out of twenty bullets in that burst, but his positioning and timing were correct.

If it were a complete stranger in that position, they would most likely be the first to show their face and get knocked down.

They continued their advance, clearing out two more groups of lone individuals and one hidden room within twenty minutes.

Lin Rui's experience bar is steadily increasing, and the progress bar for level 14 has reached 92%.

"Almost there." He checked the data; one or two more shots would be enough.

A hundred meters ahead, a lone player was moving in their direction.

Level 4 armor, wielding a fully modified M4. Not top-tier, but not someone to be trifled with either.

"The one in the back is mine." Lin Rui adjusted the scope of the SCAR-H to four times and mounted it on the windowsill.

"Roger that, I'm sealing off the right corridor." Ah Wei quickly moved to the flank, aiming his gun at the side exit.

The SCAR-H's crosshair was locked onto the target's chest.

Lin Rui deliberately avoided the weak point; there was a gap at the armpit connection of the level 4 armor, but he moved the crosshair to the thickest part of the front of the breastplate.

Data noise begins with this shot.

He pulled the trigger.

The SCAR-H's 7.62mm bullet accurately hit the front of the chest armor. The first shot failed to penetrate, the second shot hit two centimeters away from the first, and the third shot finally broke through the armor plate's durability threshold.

Three bullets penetrated level 4 armor. The opposing player's reaction after being hit was to roll to the right to find cover.

The fourth shot caught up with his rolling trajectory and hit his shoulder. The fifth shot landed on his leg. Kill.

Five bullets, zero weak points hit.

The kill replay data shows that this is the performance of a normal player with an above-average skill level, with no statistical anomalies.

The system popped up a notification he had been waiting for two days.

Congratulations! Your level has increased by 15.

[Entry theft feature is now unlocked.]

Lin Rui tapped his fingers twice on the butt of the gun.

Ah Wei asked over the voice message, "Rui-ge? Why did you stop? Is anyone else here?"

"Nobody's here." Lin Rui put away the SCAR-H and stood up. "Prepare to evacuate."

"Wait, there's another green box up ahead..."

"I told you not to collect trash."

"oh."

The two walked towards the evacuation point.

Lin Rui's pace slowed slightly as he reviewed the detailed instructions for the keyword plundering function.

The text unfolds line by line in the field of vision:

[Affix Looting: After defeating a designated high-value target, you can extract one core skill affix from them and claim it for yourself. High-value targets are defined as: top 100 players on the in-game leaderboard / Boss-level AI opponents / professional players. Each looting attempt costs 1 Looting Point. Current Looting Points: 1.]

[Recorded traceable entry: "Armored Train's" "Steel Armor Mastery" (reduces armor wear rate by 20%). Should the looting be traced back?]

Lin Rui glanced at the line of text but didn't rush to confirm.

"Steel Armor Mastery" is a defensive stat; it's useful, but not what he needs most right now.

What he wants more are offensive abilities—keyboard skills, movement skills, and reaction speed-related attributes.

These entries can only be obtained from higher-level targets.

The player pool at Dam Zero is too shallow; most of the top 100 players are active in Longbow Valley and Space Base.

He closed the window to trace the plunder, keeping a backup plan.

When the evacuation helicopter landed, Awei's character backpack contained some extra supplies that Lin Rui had given him, worth about 300,000 HAF coins.

For Awei, this was the income he hadn't seen in seven months of bricklaying.

"Evacuation successful."

"Brother Rui," Awei called out in the voice chat.

"Um."

"Are we playing again tomorrow?"

Lin Rui's gaze fell on the golden number "Level 15" on the settlement screen, and the red notification dot jumping next to the stat plunder function icon.

"Fight. But it's not Dam Zero anymore."

"Where to?"

Lin Rui exited the settlement interface and opened the map selection panel.

The cover image of the second map is a winding valley stream with iron suspension bridges and abandoned mine tunnels spanning the cliffs on both sides.

Longbow Valley. Level requirement: 20.

He was still five levels away from level 10, but the attribute plundering was activated, and his physical enhancements were continuously accumulating.

He has almost exhausted the resources of Dam Zero, and further exploitation will result in diminishing marginal returns.

He needs more advanced maps, stronger opponents, and more valuable chests.

"Rui-ge? Where are you going?" Awei asked again.

Lin Rui closed the map panel and exited the game.

When I took off the VR headset, the light from the rented room shone on the crumpled piece of paper on the table.

He picked up the note, wrote a line on the back, then opened the door and slipped the note into the crack of the door across the hall.

The note read: "Tomorrow at 10 AM, bring enough water and snacks, we'll be playing all day."

A muffled cheer came from across the room, followed by the sound of a chair overturning.