Chapter 156: Fighting a Path to the Future!

After nightfall, Lu Kuan tried his best to stay away from the orc camp, found a water puddle, set up his tent, and lit a campfire.

Every night for the past few days, Lu Kuan had spent it in the wilderness. Fortunately, he had Dimi, which saved him from having to endure the long, solitary nights all by himself.

Lu Kuan was holding a fishing rod, taking advantage of the campfire's glow to fish by the water puddle. Dimi lay beside him, staring fixedly at the water's surface, looking even more serious than Lu Kuan.

While fishing, Lu Kuan chatted with Dai Guang via the communicator.

Dai Guang and the others had all reached level 16 by this time and were preparing to try out the 15-player small dungeon, full of enthusiasm every day.

"How is that pet of yours doing anyway? I see the forums are completely in an uproar, everyone is guessing whether that little dog is a one-of-a-kind custom pet."

Dai Guang chuckled and said, "Especially on the foreign forums, quite a few people are clamoring that yours is a fake, and our domestic netizens are furious~"

Hearing this, Lu Kuan smiled, knowing full well this must be old man John's psychological warfare: "Let them guess. Do you really expect me to go over there and explain to them? Whether it's a fake or not will be clear later on... By the way, how is Ah Kui's progress going?"

"Hehehe~"

Of course Dai Guang understood what Lu Kuan meant, and after chuckling foolishly for a moment, he said, "I don't know either, but I've come to terms with it somewhat. Anyway, we're together every day in the game, so there's no need to rush. There has to be a reason for someone to fancy me."

Lu Kuan was a bit surprised at this: "Not bad for you, kid, you've grown~ Haha, just remember, be bold, meticulous, and shameless, and you're already half-way successful~"

"Yeah, yeah... But don't just talk about me, what's your deal with Wu Xiaoxiao? How come I never see you make a move?" Dai Guang was in a good mood and began to gossip.

"What deal? Isn't it pretty good just like this~"

Lu Kuan said indifferently, "Sometimes, just watching something beautiful from afar is also a kind of enjoyment. Why rush to drag it by your side?"

"Tch, I don't get you," Dai Guang said helplessly.

At that moment, Dimi nudged Lu Kuan with its head. Lu Kuan looked up and saw that the fishing float had sunk God knows where. He hurriedly hung up the communicator and reeled in his line.

10 minutes later.

A fragrant roasted fish was set over the campfire. In his right hand, Lu Kuan held one piece and gnawed on it himself, while his left hand held another piece lowered down so Dimi could munch on it beside him.

Man and wolf were eating with great relish when Dimi suddenly raised its head abruptly, staring vigilantly straight ahead.

Lu Kuan couldn't help being surprised. Following Dimi's gaze forward, all that met his eyes was a sheet of thick darkness.

Dimi possessed darkvision, meaning that in complete darkness, Dimi saw clear black-and-white images. Enhanced by its semi-demonic bloodline, Dimi's nighttime vision range was currently startlingly large.

Lu Kuan wore a smile, gently stroking the back of Dimi's neck, and whispered, "Tell me when they get closer."

The savanna under the moonlight was quiet and beautiful. Lu Kuan leisurely ate his roasted fish, acting as if he hadn't noticed a thing, while uncontrollable memories from his previous life began to surface in his mind.

Back in Torrent Bay, Blue Spear and Dark Haven each held a side, and at the height of their power, their guild membership reached 20,000! However, the styles of Blue Spear and Dark Haven were exact opposites—arrogant and domineering, taking particular pleasure in bullying casual players.

At that time, Lu Kuan was just a low-tier Ranger in his 30s. Once, out in the wilderness, he had finally waited for a decent B+-grade rhinoceros to respawn. Just as he was preparing to tame it, members of Blue Spear who arrived later maliciously ninja-stole the mob.

What was even more outrageous was that because Lu Kuan had already begun taming the pet, other players couldn't interfere. The opponents actually attacked directly and killed the rhinoceros, arrogantly mocking Lu Kuan afterwards.

Given Lu Kuan's age and temper back then, he naturally fell out with them and fought immediately, only to get ganked and killed by a mob. For the next week, Lu Kuan was hunted down and ambushed by Blue Spear members, dropping all the way from level 31 back to level 25.

The atmosphere of the Blue Spear Guild was just like that; those who couldn't accept such an environment would often leave the Blue Spear Guild quickly, and then even more "like-minded" people would join in.

Thinking of these things now, Lu Kuan could maintain a blank face and a calm expression, but the rage and humiliation he felt in his heart back then were forever carved into his memory, never to disappear.

People who had never played games would scoff, thinking it was just a game, so why take it so hard?

However, Lu Kuan's practical experience told him that it very much mattered.

It wasn't until Dimi stood up on its hind legs and let out a low whimper that Lu Kuan snapped out of his memories and slowly raised his head, his gaze cold and sharp.

"Activated skill 'Mind Link', remaining duration 20 seconds."

At this moment, the scene before Lu Kuan's eyes instantly changed. The originally dark wilderness turned into a black-and-white contrast, just like infrared imaging in reality, clearly displaying everything within Lu Kuan's field of vision.

He saw a total of 10 players hunching over and slowly creeping closer toward this side. The two in the absolute front were even crawling flat on the ground, terrified of making the slightest sound.

Lu Kuan turned around to look behind him. In the opposite direction, another 6 or 7 players were quietly closing in from an even closer distance, seemingly intending to pull off a pincer attack from front and rear, leaving Lu Kuan no way out.

Clearly, these people already knew the identity of the human Ranger before them. Lu Kuan smiled, thinking to himself that he had finally received the attention he deserved.

"You guys are out of luck today. Who told you to be members of Blue Spear?"

Lu Kuan muttered to himself, then stood right up, took off his bow and arrow, and lowered his head to fiddle with them for a few moments, looking as though he were inspecting his weapon.

The players in the dark immediately halted their movements, afraid of startling Lu Kuan. After all, although the Ranger class was universally recognized as weak, it was still an agility-based class; if the opponent managed to create distance and kite them, chasing him down would still be somewhat troublesome.

Right at that moment, Lu Kuan, who had been completely calm all along, turned around without any warning, unleashing two Bone-Shattering Arrows back-to-back, triggering the ring's special effect to activate Arcane Shot, and following up with yet another arrow!

The entire sequence of actions flowed like moving clouds and flowing water, cleanly executed in less than 2 seconds.

The poor sap closest to Lu Kuan from behind didn't even have time to react. His teammates only saw three massive damage numbers pop up above his head, including one critical hit, followed by a pillar of white light soaring into the sky.

"Haha~ Blue Spear grandsons! Come and kill your grandpa!"

Lu Kuan laughed heartily, quickly moving out of the campfire's illuminating radius. In the dark, a column of light made of feathered arrows tracked Lu Kuan's frantic sprint through the darkness like a dancing silver snake, pouring forth toward the front!

In just these few short seconds, another player was pierced through by a myriad of arrows and dropped dead on the spot.

"Damn it, charge!"

"Rush up and surround him, don't let him get away!"

Shouts rang out all at once. The people in the rear could no longer bother with hiding, rushing out to sprint forward frantically. At the same time, light representing arrows of their own shot toward Lu Kuan—the enemy Rangers had made their move.