Nine Star Burden

Sniff… sniff…

Second Last sniffled and kept her narrow eyes fixed on the dense snow forest in the distance, stepping on the white snow and advancing forward quickly.

Jiang Xiao was a little bewildered.

Am I disabled? 

Why can’t I see anything? 

Or smell anything? 

Or hear anything? 

Jiang Xiao crept forward while following Second Last. Due to the fact that he had given the camouflage suit to Second Last, Jiang Xiao was wearing a torn cashmere sweater. He felt extremely cold under the freezing temperatures.

Jiang Xiao really couldn’t stop his teeth from chattering and so had no choice but to clench his jaw. Clearly, after exercising vigorously, his warm body would gradually cool down and what awaited him would be a cold and fever.

 Jiang Xiao wanted to give himself another Blessing, but when he saw Second Last, he decided not to alarm her.

Finally, he heard the sounds of something getting ripped apart, which gave him a great shock. He then continued to advance forward, only to see four White Ghouls biting a human.

The human did not retaliate and seemed to still be unconscious.

However, even then, the fangs of the White Ghouls still could not pierce through the human’s skin, which seemed to be abnormally hard like iron.

At this time, Second Last did not release her Star Map and instead, touched it lightly with her claw-like hands while setting her foot down on the snow, which made a loud creak. However, the sound was soon drowned out by the sounds of the White Ghouls.

1Whoosh!

Jiang Xiao saw Second Last’s body being flung out immediately while her sharp claws ripped the necks of the two White Ghouls from behind. At the instant that she landed, she grabbed the remaining two and smashed them against the ground.

She grabbed another White Ghoul with her left hand and twisted its head to break it, after which she stepped forward and crushed another White Ghoul’s skull with her foot.

Jiang Xiao swallowed his saliva and thought, This is too bloody and violent. 

Cutting and slaying? 

Reducing damage? 

Jiang Xiao tried his best to beat the White Ghouls, but he could not kill them effortlessly.

Second Last turned around and looked at the mercenary beneath her feet to see that his clothes were long ruined and torn, leaving behind only his body.

What made him feel miserable was the fact that there were no scars or wounds on her body at all.

Second Last could sense what was going on with her body. She then sent a flying knee towards the mercenary’s chest, clenched her fists, and hit his head mercilessly.

Jiang Xiao was finally free. He gave himself a Blessing to warm himself up.

However, he kept thinking about Second Last’s sneak attack, which was an impressive fact, considering they were in the snowfield. Besides, she had already detected the changes from afar.

Jiang Xiao couldn’t be more familiar with her hand. She didn’t have long nails, which meant that the claws that cut the head of the White Ghouls were not nails. Was it some kind of Star Technique?

One that could make her fingers as sharp as knives?

He thought about the time when she attacked the mercenary and produced a sharp sound of friction between metals together with sparks. He reckoned that she should have relied on this magical Star Technique.

Jiang Xiao snapped out of his trance and watched Second Last strike the mercenary in the face mercilessly, producing metallic sounds at the instant that her fist and his iron-like body collided.

It was a battle of two metal objects!

 This world is too scary. 

Jiang Xiao didn’t see Second Last’s iron fist destroying the mercenary’s defensive layer, but he saw the shape of his skull slowly becoming deformed, as there were dents on both sides.

Due to the fact that the mercenary’s defense was way too strong, she could not slide downwards.

This lunatic.

She was punching her iron fist left and right like it was a hammer.

Jiang Xiao thought to himself, 80! 80! 80! 

While Second Last was punching, Jiang Xiao commented in his head and began doing what he was best at when he found the White Ghouls’ corpses.

Nothing else was more gratifying than picking up corpses!

 If there were any, it must be collecting the loots left behind by the enemy…

Jiang Xiao harvested three Star Beads from four White Ghouls and turned around to see that the crazy Second Last was still punching.

The sudden silence was not the most terrifying bit.

It was the fact that the sounds of metal were the only things that could be heard at night.

Jiang Xiao carefully started talking about a topic. “Thank you for saving me from the collapsing cave.”

Second Last sat on top of the mercenary and continued to throw punches rapidly as if she did not hear Jiang Xiao’s voice. She then continued to hit the corpse beneath her.

“I remember that you paid the most attention to me when I was imprisoned. I thought that you were suspecting me. Why did you save me?” Jiang Xiao asked.

Second Last suddenly stopped and turned around to look at him while her fist trembled, keeping her eyes fixed on him menacingly.

Jiang Xiao shuddered in shock and frantically said, “Be friendlier to me. Cat, I saved you just now and even gave you my clothes. I’m freezing in this snowfield.”

1Second Last stopped looking at him so sinisterly and turned to look at the corpse beneath her, before punching it again.

Jiang Xiao had a peculiar expression on his face and he felt that her punches must have hurt greatly. Had she not used her Star Technique, her hand would have been damaged.

Why did she save me? 

Is it because criminals are entitled to human rights too?

Staring at her menacing demeanor, Jiang Xiao didn’t think that she had done it because of that reason.

Is it because I’m the prime suspect, so she might be able to find out something from me? 

Forcing someone into a corner and then interrogating them seemed to be something that Second Last would do. 

Or did she… purely gave me a hand because it was convenient? 

Jiang Xiao felt thankful to have earned her trust and affirmation, which were evident from the fact that she had saved him earlier on.

The incident that happened this time was definitely due to a coincidence. The bunch of people sneaked into the snowfield and tried to cause it to collapse while Jiang Xiao’s team happened to enter the restricted area at the same time. Hence, it was no wonder that there would be such a misunderstanding.

Staring at Second Last who was continuously slamming her fist into the corpse, Jiang Xiao continued to ask, “Is he Russian? He seemed to have spoken in Russian.” Jiang Xiao was afraid that she would lose control.

“Yeah,” the maniacal Second Last finally answered.

“I had always thought that China and Russia were on good terms. At least, there seems to be less tension compared to China’s relationship with the US,” Jiang Xiao asked.

“They’re just mercenaries who have no religion and attack regardless of nationality and race,” Second Last answered. She finally seemed to be in a better mood. There was already a huge indent on the right side of the mercenary’s face, and he reckoned that he probably would never wake up again.

“Do you guys know…” Jiang Xiao was rather startled and a series of information flooded his mind.

–

 One dead. Skill Point +1.

Skill Points: 3

 –

 One dead? 

What does that mean? Killing an Awakened gives me Skill Points too?

Back when Jiang Xiao’s team hunted and killed White Ghouls, he was given a Skill Point for Brass 10 Kills. There would also be Skill Points awarded for Brass 100 Kills.

He and Second Last could be considered to be in the same team now, and after Second Last’s maniacal punching, they seemed to have finally killed the mercenary.

–

 Galaxy First Kill. Skill Point +5.

 Skill Points: 8

–

 Impressive. Only five Skill Points are rewarded? 

Jiang Xiao, who was cursing in his heart, stopped abruptly because…

 –

 Leapfrogging. Skill Point +5.

 Skill Points: 13

–

 Oh my god. Five is just right. 

How were those five points obtained? How did Jiang Xiao try his best to rescue the imprisoned Second Last? How did he brave his life to protect the dying Second Last? Five points did seem too little.

A total of 10 points would be enough to upgrade any Brass Quality Star Technique and Basic Technique to Silver Quality.

Overall, it was okay.

 After all, it was a team battle and not Jiang Xiao’s individual effort.

He wondered if there were any bonuses.

Although Jiang Xiao had been using a dagger during the battle just now, his Basic Technique, Dagger Mastery, was still Brass Quality Level 5 and had yet to be upgraded.

It did make sense, after all. Jiang Xiao didn’t feel much improvement in his dagger skills. Although he held the dagger in his hand, he still used more of his Freehand Combat.

 If the battle were to go on, Jiang Xiao might splurge by spending five Skill points on “Dagger Mastery” in order to have greater lethal power against his enemies and the White Ghouls.

If the battle would end quickly, Jiang Xiao would inevitably be frugal. After all, Brass Quality was the most basic level. As long as he worked hard, he would definitely be able to upgrade his Dagger Mastery level.

“The information says that you only lit up three star slots,” Second Last said abruptly in a hoarse voice.

Jiang Xiao recovered from the shock and stared at Second Last who was still punching the head of the mercenary, feeling an ominous hunch.