The clear stream ran red with blood.
Heavy breathing echoed through the forest.
Drip… drip…
The sound of fresh blood hitting the stone.
After a brutal battle, the Mystic Shadow War Tiger finally collapsed into a pool of blood.
Its gaze turned toward the northwestern forest, full of sorrow and reluctance.
In the end, the light in its eyes faded, and its body slowly went cold.
Zhang San silently turned to Li Jia, face filled with grief. He bowed deeply.
"Brother, rest in peace."
Behind him, the three companions relaxed their grip on their weapons, letting them fall to the ground with a metallic clang.
"Big Brother Li, go peacefully."
The three of them lowered their heads and bowed.
Suddenly, Zhang San spun around, a cold gleam flashing in his eyes. His spear slashed through the air—blood splattered. The three bodies fell silently.
"W-why…"
In times of chaos, human life is as cheap as grass.
To survive, one must be ruthless.
If he could bring back this tiger, he could shake off the identity of a mere spearman—maybe even be promoted to a centurion!
And deeper in the forest, there was a newborn tiger cub.
This credit alone was enough for one man.
Share it with these three losers?
Heh…
"Why? Because you were stupid."
With a cold laugh, Zhang San looked toward the forest.
Suddenly, the sound of rushing wind came from behind.
Zhang San tensed up, alarmed.
Turning back, he caught a flash of cold steel—then, a familiar figure appeared in his sight.
That's… my own body?
Thud. His headless corpse collapsed, blood flowing.
Liu Yuan stood in front of him, holding a butcher's knife, silent.
The scene before him gave his mind a massive jolt.
After a long while, he exhaled heavily and cursed with a wry smile:
"Damn, these goddamn devs! The plot's way too realistic—I almost got tricked too!"
He then stashed the butcher's knife into his backpack and began rummaging through the corpses for loot.
After a while, Liu Yuan actually found a decent haul.
First, silver coins—fifteen taels.
According to the in-game currency system:
1 tael of gold = 10 taels of silver = 10 strings of copper coins (1 string = 1,000 wen).
So fifteen taels of silver was no small fortune.
Besides that, there were four standard-issue spears and a round disc.
[Weapon: Spear
Level Requirement: None
Attack: +2
Attack Range: +1
Durability: 40/100]
A decent weapon.
Good enough for now.
Liu Yuan then turned to inspect the disc.
It came from Li Jia's corpse.
From earlier interactions, Liu Yuan noticed the group only looked like brothers on the surface. In truth, Li Jia was the leader, and Zhang San was more of a second-in-command.
Technically speaking, Li Jia could be considered a squad leader.
[(Flying Wild Goose Formation Disc) (Damaged)
Type: Formation Disc
Level Requirement: None
Requirement: Five people to activate
Effects:
+30% Attack Speed
+20% Attack Power
+10% Defense
+40% Movement Speed]
Now that's a good item!
Seeing the disc, Liu Yuan's eyes lit up.
At last—his luck had turned!
After carefully storing the loot, Liu Yuan looked at the Mystic Shadow War Tiger's corpse and added it to his game inventory.
Then, his gaze turned toward the direction the tiger had looked before dying, and he slowly headed that way.
Moving northwest, he soon found traces of blood among the trees.
The war tiger, despite its weakness from childbirth, had charged with all its might and left this trail.
Liu Yuan followed the blood trail forward.
After roughly half an hour, he arrived at a cave overgrown with weeds and littered with bones.
Was this the tiger's den?
He examined the cave, eyes flickering, and stepped inside.
The cave was dry, filled with a nauseating stench.
Deeper inside, a stone platform came into view.
Or rather, a stone bed.
Atop it sat a skeleton, cross-legged.
At the foot of the bed was a still-blind tiger cub.
A corpse?
Liu Yuan narrowed his eyes, a strange feeling creeping up.
Great misfortune, great fortune to follow.
Having survived this far, perhaps it was time for some blessings.
He gave the tiger cub a glance, then lowered his eyes to the base of the skeleton.
There, on the cobweb-covered bed, lay a roll of parchment.
He brushed the cobwebs away and unfurled it—it was a letter.
It revealed the skeleton's identity, and that of the Mystic Shadow War Tiger.
{
To the one who finds this letter:
If fate has brought you here, you are destined to know my identity—and receive my legacy.
I am Cao Fen, an armored warrior of Great Wei, one of the Tiger & Leopard Cavalry!
My real surname is Chen. My lord was benevolent and granted me the surname Cao.
I served under Inspector-General of Cavalry, Lord Cao Ren.
Three months ago, turmoil broke out in Xuchang. My lord fell gravely ill.
He entrusted me with a secret letter to deliver to Hou City, but I was ambushed en route and fled here, gravely wounded and dying.
Thus I leave behind this blood-written message, hoping it will reach someone worthy.
Whoever you are—if you hold the Tiger & Leopard Medallion, you inherit the Tiger & Leopard Cavalry legacy.
But you must also deliver the secret letter to Hou City!
I have embedded a slow-acting poison into this very parchment.
If three months pass and the letter remains undelivered, the poison will activate, and you will die without a trace.
If it comes into contact with Shadow Ghost Powder, you will die immediately.
}
Liu Yuan's smile froze.
A blessing?
To hell with that!
Dead and still scheming? Poisoning the letter?
These damn NPCs are all backstabbing tricksters!
Liu Yuan cussed the devs out with the foulest language he could muster.
First day of launch, not even 24 hours in, and he'd already been screwed over by NPCs multiple times!
He opened his player status panel and checked his current condition.
[Player: Liu Yuan
Status: Poisoned (Dark Sakura Red)
Level: 10 (0%)
Class: None
Personal Weapon: Butcher's Knife
Faction: Liang City
Rank: Executioner
Public Weapon: Nine-Ringed Ghost-Head Blade]
[Dark Sakura Red
Type: Chronic Poison
Summary: A slow-acting poison concocted from scorpions, snakes, and toads. Causes no symptoms until three months later—then, instant death if no antidote is found!
Triggers immediate death if it comes into contact with Shadow Ghost Powder.
Note: This poison cannot be removed, even through player resurrection!]
Well, there goes the last hope of cheesing the system…
Reading the fine print, Liu Yuan collapsed in despair.
Now he had two choices:
Obediently deliver the letter.Delete his character and start over.
Screw it—might as well deliver it.
He was already acting like a courier anyway.
He checked the treasure location Cao Fen had marked and followed it until he found a large wooden box.
Inside was a sealed letter—undoubtedly the secret missive.
Curious, Liu Yuan reached out to open it.
Just as he picked it up, he noticed a slip of paper underneath.
Startled, his hands trembled, and he dropped the letter.
[Note: The letter contains Shadow Ghost Powder. Do not open!]
Liu Yuan: "F**k your whole family! You old scheming bastard!"
Cursing nonstop, he carefully put the secret letter away, not daring to touch it again.
Then he looked at the other items in the box.
A medallion—and a manual.
Tiger & Leopard Medallion!
[Ding!]
[Congratulations! Player Liu Yuan has obtained the Tiger & Leopard Medallion and inherited the Tiger & Leopard Cavalry legacy!]
[Ding!]
[Player level meets Class change requirements. You are eligible to transfer to Tiger & Leopard Cavalry. Proceed with job change?]