Don't mess with that necromancer; his summoned creatures level up on their own!

Tianbei City, headquarters of the Mad Shark Guild.

The lobby was dimly lit.

Zhao Tianling, a burly man, sat in the center of the sofa.

He was wearing a black vest, which was unbuttoned.

His chest was exposed, revealing a patch of skin covered in tattoos.

The most eye-catching tattoo is the ferocious shark with its gaping maw right in the center.

Two men were sitting opposite me.

The one on the left wears gold-rimmed glasses, has his hair neatly combed, and is dressed in a dark gray suit with a perfectly tied tie.

His Mandarin was spoken somewhat awkwardly, with a slight upward inflection at the end.

The one on the right is a middle-aged man wearing an ordinary jacket.

He kept wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, rubbing his palms repeatedly on his trouser legs, fidgeting restlessly, his eyes darting left and right.

They just didn't dare to look directly at the faces of the two people opposite them.

The man with gold-rimmed glasses – Kenichi Yamamoto.

He turned the laptop screen in front of him toward himself and slid his fingers across the touchpad a few times.

Looking at the information and videos on the screen, a smile slowly curved his lips.

He exclaimed in his somewhat broken Chinese.

"Wonderful, truly wonderful... Is this the top student in your Dragon Kingdom's Azure Dragon Class this year?"

"Not only has he mastered wind and blood, but he's also proficient in lightning? To achieve this level at level 20, in the Empire, it would take at least level 30 to reach this level."

"What an... truly enviable talent."

He swiped his finger across the touchpad again, and the video paused on a particular screen.

The scene shows the moment when Lu Zhixing simultaneously unleashes both wind and thunder elemental skills.

Blue-purple lightning and bluish-white whirlwinds intertwined and swirled in his palm.

The middle-aged man's voice trembled slightly as he spoke quickly and urgently, as if afraid that he would run out of time if he spoke too slowly.

"Mr. Yamamoto, I've given you the items, including detailed files of everyone in this year's Blue Dragon Class, as well as battle videos..."

"There are a total of forty-seven files, seventeen combat videos, and an Excel spreadsheet listing each person's skill predictions and attribute tendencies."

"I secretly exported all of these from the system... You promised that if I gave you these, you would release my wife and daughter... and 50 million."

"And please send my family to Japan... I beg you, please arrange it quickly! If the higher-ups find out, it's a capital offense! I can't stay in China any longer!"

"Every second is torture for me! Yesterday, even when I went out to buy groceries, I felt like someone was following me."

Kenichi Yamamoto stood up with a smile, his leather shoes making no sound on the carpet.

He walked behind the man, placed his hands on his shoulders, and gently kneaded the man's tense shoulder muscles with his fingers.

"Mr. Chen, don't be anxious. As you Chinese often say, 'Those who understand the times are the heroes.'"

"You are able to resolutely abandon those vague and illusory national righteousness for the safety of your family."

"Loyalty and dedication are just things to fool children."

"This spirit of sacrificing the greater good for the sake of the family is truly moving."

"Don't worry, your wife and daughters are safe now. They're in a place only I know, and they're being looked after by someone."

The middle-aged man's tense nerves relaxed slightly.

He forced a smile, a smile full of ingratiation and a desire to survive.

"Thank you for your understanding, Mr. Yamamoto. I was forced into this situation. Everyone has to look out for themselves... Anyone can spout those platitudes, right?"

"But when it comes to life and death, the only people you can rely on are yourself and your family. I did this for my family; I had no other choice—"

"Pfft—"

A large hand suddenly pierced through the man's back and reached in front of him.

The fingers of that hand were pressed together in a cone shape, the fingertips piercing into his back and exiting from the front of his chest.

It was covered with a layer of dark red liquid.

The middle-aged man's voice abruptly stopped.

His eyes widened, his pupils shrinking to two pinpoint black dots as he looked down in disbelief at the hand that had pierced through his chest and was still dripping blood.

His lips moved, and he made muffled "uh... gurgle..." sounds in his throat.

His body twitched a few times, and his fingers unconsciously clawed at the air twice.

Then the light in his eyes quickly faded.

He collapsed, his body going limp, into a pool of blood.

Kenichi Yamamoto pulled out his bleeding right hand.

He disdainfully pulled a neatly folded white handkerchief from his suit pocket.

He wiped each finger clean, from the thumb to the index finger to the middle finger, making sure every crevice between his fingers was spotless.

His smile turned sinister.

"Although I admire your sensibility, the fact that you were able to make the decision to betray your own country shows that you are at least a smart person who knows how to seek advantage and avoid harm."

"But I really hate traitors."

"A person who can betray their own country can betray their country today and betray me tomorrow. It's disgusting."

He casually tossed the blood-stained handkerchief onto the still-convulsing corpse, and when the handkerchief landed on the man's face, it covered his still-open eyes.

He said lightly.

"As for your family... a family should be together, they will be going down to join you soon."

"I've already sent someone to pick them up, so you don't need to worry about them being lonely."

Zhao Tianling, the guild leader of the Mad Shark Guild, frowned slightly.

Although he was also a ruthless killer.

The number of lives he has taken is too many to count on two hands.

However, Kenichi Yamamoto's approach of smiling and comforting him to his face while directly exposing his true intentions behind his back still made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

That was a cruelty that was even more unsettling than mere brute force.

He raised his hand and waved it, his voice filled with impatience.

"Someone, drag this trash away and clean the floor. Don't let the bloodstains seep into the carpet; the blood on that carpet last time wasn't completely cleaned, and it still smelled after three days of airing out."

Two henchmen immediately emerged from the shadows, one raising his shoulder and the other his foot.

They quickly cleaned up the corpse and the area covered by the still-spreading bloodstains.

Someone brought a bucket of water and a rag, and squatted down to scrub the floor.

A moment later, Zhao Tianling sat back down on the sofa, picked up his wine glass, and took a sip.

"Yamamoto, you've got what you wanted, now get out of here. The crackdown has been intense lately; since last month, the Dragon Guard's activities in this area have increased at least threefold."

"If it's discovered that our Mad Shark Guild has connections with your Japan, I'd be lucky to escape with nine heads. Don't stay here, go wherever you want."

Kenichi Yamamoto smiled dismissively, folded the handkerchief, and put it in his pocket.

"President Zhao, don't be so nervous. There's nothing we can do about it. Your country is too closed off; the internet and communications can't transmit data."

"Satellite monitoring can't get through, so we have to rely on human labor. This trip was arduous, so it's worth it to get enough of what we need."

A cold glint flashed in his eyes.

"In the upcoming Battle of All Nations, our Japan and your Dragon Kingdom will be assigned to the same battlefield. This information is of utmost importance to the Empire."

"If we can figure out the true strength of this year's Azure Dragon Class, it will be a tremendous help to our Empire's 'Demon Gods'. Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated."

Zhao Tianling snorted coldly.

He impatiently slammed his wine glass down on the table.

"That's your problem, don't drag me into it. You've got the information, now get out of here before I change my mind."

The door was pushed open, and a refined-looking man strode in.

Zhao Tianling glanced at it and frowned slightly.

This person should usually be guarding the rocky wasteland, so why did he suddenly appear here?

"Third brother? Weren't you supposed to be guarding the wasteland? Why are you back?"

Without wasting words, the third brother quickly walked to the sofa and stood in front of it, speaking twice as fast as usual.

"Big brother, we're in trouble. Yu Xiaogang from the Dragon Guard has appeared in the Rocky Wasteland. He's probably taking the students from the Azure Dragon Class there to run a dungeon."

"They also chased our people away, half of the barbed wire was removed, and the brothers who were guarding the entrance and collecting money were also driven to the outer perimeter, too afraid to approach."

Zhao Tianling was taken aback and sat up straighter from the back of the sofa.

"Yu Xiaogang? That guy from Kyoto University? What are you doing here in the Azure Dragon Class grinding dungeons?"

"Isn't Kyoto University enough for them to grind? Why would they come all the way to this godforsaken place?"

The third brother replied in a deep voice.

"Guild leader, I remember that the coordinates for opening a temple dungeon are in the middle of a pile of rocks in the northwest corner of the Rocky Wasteland. Few people know about that coordinate point, but it definitely exists."

"I think they came for the temple instance, not just passing through."

A glint of greed flashed in Zhao Tianling's eyes, a light that flickered and disappeared in an instant.

But he quickly suppressed that greed with reason.

"Really? Since they're from the Azure Dragon Clan, then forget it. Don't provoke them. Just pretend you didn't see anything. Get the brothers back and keep them away."

Although he was fierce, he knew his limits.

Bullying professionals without connections is one thing.

But provoking the Dragon Guard and the Azure Dragon Squad is simply asking for trouble.

Although he had never directly dealt with that old man Yu Xiaogang.

But the stories he had heard were enough to send chills down his spine.

Kenichi Yamamoto turned the laptop screen around, revealing several candid photos taken from a distance.

The resolution isn't very high, but you can still make out the outline and general appearance of the person.

He tapped his finger on several faces on the screen.

"Were these the students you encountered?"

The third brother leaned closer to the screen and examined it for a few seconds, scanning it from left to right.

Then he nodded very firmly, pointing his finger at Lu Zhixing's face on the screen.

"That's right, it's these people."

"I recognize the girl in the white shirt in the middle, and the girls next to her; I saw them clearly at the entrance."

Kenichi Yamamoto gently closed his laptop, looked at Zhao Tianling, and wore that unchanging smile on his lips.

"Guild Leader Zhao, if I remember correctly, your guild should have some 'Random Encounter Scrolls' in your warehouse, right?"

"I remember you mentioned it once during a casual chat, saying that you got the goods from some channel and hadn't been willing to use them."

"That scroll can forcibly send users into the same instance during instance opening, without any limit on the number of users or distance."

Zhao Tianling's eyelids twitched suddenly.

What do you want to do?

Kenichi Yamamoto shrugged.

"What else can we do? Kill them, of course. Such a good opportunity is right in front of us, it would be a shame not to seize it."

"They're currently inside the instance. Yu Xiaogang is guarding the outside and can't get in, and messages from inside the instance can't get out. This is the perfect time to make a move."

Zhao Tianling jumped up from the sofa.

The voices were much louder than before.

"What? Are you crazy? That's the Green Dragon Clan! And there's Yu Xiaogang guarding outside!"

"That old bastard could take down half of your guild's elites by himself! If you want to die, don't drag me down with you! I'm not done living yet!"

Kenichi Yamamoto's tone remained calm.

"President Zhao, if we can kill the strongest fighter of the Azure Dragon Class here, the merit will be enough for me to be ennobled in the Empire."

"I've worked hard in the empire for over a decade, and what I lack is just one significant achievement. After being ennobled, my status in the upper echelons will be completely different."

Zhao Tianling snorted coldly, his voice shifting from excitement to sarcasm.

"That's your achievement, what does it have to do with me? All I know is that if I make a move, my head will be rolling tomorrow!"

"You think the Dragon Guard's intelligence network is nothing? Taking action against a student from the Azure Dragon Class is more serious than taking action against a city lord."

Kenichi Yamamoto's lips curled up slightly.

"President Zhao, even I, a Japanese, know about Yu Xiaogang, the Dragon Fist Master. He's a notorious killer and famously hates evil."

"Now that he knows you've been forcing people to buy and sell goods and bullying the weak in this desolate wasteland, do you think you can still survive?"

"He doesn't take action because he's busy with students running dungeons and doesn't have time to deal with these miscellaneous tasks."

"Once his students finish the dungeon and come out, do you believe he'll turn around and lead the Dragon Guard to massacre your Mad Shark Guild?"

"By then, you won't even have the strength to resist, nor the time to escape. A three-story headquarters will be surrounded by the Dragon Guard Army; not even a fly can get out."

Zhao Tianling's face turned deathly pale instantly.

Although he didn't want to admit it, he knew in his heart that Kenichi Yamamoto was right.

That old bastard Yu Xiaogang can't stand these kinds of things. Today, he saw the barbed wire fence and those people who had been beaten to the ground in the rocky wasteland.

The reason we haven't started yet is because we need to take care of the students running dungeons.

By the time they have a free hand, it will be a certain death situation.

Kenichi Yamamoto continued, speaking a little slower.

"But if you help me kill those students, I have a special evacuation route. My men have already prepared vehicles and backup outside the city."

"I can take you and your core members away from the Dragon Kingdom."

"Once you arrive in Japan, I guarantee you will not only survive, but also enjoy wealth and luxury that you could never spend in several lifetimes."

"With your skills, rebuilding a guild over there would be far better than being a local tyrant here."

Zhao Tianling stared intently at him, his eyes full of wariness and scrutiny.

The image of the middle-aged man's gruesome death was still flashing before his eyes.

While he was laughing, a hand pierced his chest from behind.

He was silent for a few seconds before speaking in a hoarse voice.

"Why should I believe you? That guy surnamed Chen was just fooled by you in the same way, and then you exposed him."

"How can you expect me to believe you won't do the same thing to me?"

Kenichi Yamamoto sat back down, put his legs down and turned them around, watching Zhao Tianling with great interest.

"Ha, Chairman Zhao, you have no choice. What that Chen fellow can offer me is limited—just some documents and files, which he'll discard after he's done using them."

"But you are different. You have a guild, manpower, scrolls, and underground channels that have been operating in China for more than ten years."

"You are worth a hundred times more to me than that Chen guy, so why would I kill you?"

He paused, his tone becoming even softer.

"Are you willing to sit here and wait for the Dragon Guard to come knocking, or do you trust me and take a gamble? The decision is yours."

Zhao Tianling fell silent.

His gaze swept back and forth between the wine glass on the table, the shark-themed painting on the wall, and the gentle-smiling Japanese man across from him.

He knew it in his heart.

Kenichi Yamamoto is right; he's in a dead end.

No matter where they flee to in the Dragon Kingdom, the Dragon Guard's intelligence network and tracking capabilities will allow them to be tracked down.

He will be dug up.

There is only one way now, and that is to escape from the Dragon Kingdom.

Kenichi Yamamoto's special evacuation route was his only chance.

After a long while, Zhao Tianling suddenly raised his head.

"Damn it, let's do it! Kenichi Yamamoto, I hope you keep your promise, otherwise—"

His voice dropped half a degree.

"I'll fight you to the death. Even on my deathbed, I can take half your life with me. You better remember that."

Kenichi Yamamoto smiled.

"President Zhao, please trust me."

"As long as we successfully kill those students, everything will proceed as planned."

"I've already reconnoitered the evacuation route twice, and the people who are there to meet me are all trusted old subordinates."

"Your accommodations in Japan have been arranged; it's a detached house by the sea, not far from the city, with beautiful scenery."

Zhao Tianling snorted coldly: "Hmph, you better be."

He then looked at the third brother and spoke faster.

"Third brother, what's the level requirement for that temple instance in that area? I need the exact number."

The third brother blurted it out without hesitation.

"Guild Master, according to available information, the temple instance at that coordinate point has a level restriction of 20 to 25. Players above level 25 cannot enter, and those below level 20 also cannot enter."

Zhao Tianling nodded: "Okay."

He stood up with red eyes, speaking very quickly, gesturing with his fingers in the air about the allocation plan.

"Fortunately, the random access scroll doesn't require you to be near the dungeon entrance. As long as you use it within the designated area, you can see all the active dungeons nearby. Otherwise, it would be really difficult to get past Yu Xiaogang."

"Gather all the elites in the guild who are between level 20 and 25, give each of them the best equipment and weapons, and take out all the high-level potions from the warehouse and distribute them."

"The random rolls are too precious. We only have three. We'll divide the people into three teams, and each team will take one roll."

"Use the most elite troops to launch a relentless attack! Three scrolls, three waves of assassinations, equipped with the best gear. If one wave fails, there's a second; if the second fails, there's a third. I refuse to believe we can't kill him!"

The third brother accepted the order, turned, and ran off: "Yes, Big Brother!"

Zhao Tianling called out to him, "Wait."

"Tell the brothers, whoever kills Lu Zhixing will get a reward of one hundred million!"

"I'm taking him to Japan to enjoy a life of luxury! Hurry! We have to get him in before they clear the dungeon! Every second counts!"

The third brother's voice came from outside the door, growing louder and louder as he ran further away: "Yes!!!"

Kenichi Yamamoto smiled with satisfaction, picked up the wine glass on the table, and raised it towards Zhao Tianling.

"President Zhao, it was a wise choice. The Empire will not forget your contributions."

Zhao Tianling did not answer.

He walked to the window and looked at the gray sky outside.

Inside the underground warehouse of the Mad Shark Guild, more than a dozen elites were quickly collecting equipment and weapons.

Three dark brown scrolls were handed to the captains of the three teams respectively.

"Captain, are we really going to kill the Azure Dragon Squad? They're...they're monsters handpicked from across the country, what are we going to do..."

The captain did not answer.

He put the reel in his pocket, fastened the zipper, turned and walked towards the door, his voice echoing back from behind.

"Just follow along, don't ask so many questions."