Chapter 1 The Title

Although the title "A Blade that Can Overturn a City" sounds ordinary, any title grants the player abilities that are mostly practical. Just like Little Tan's [Panicked Ambush], which sounds much worse than A Blade and A Sword, its title skill [Quick Retreating Slash] can still give him a lot of room to maneuver in battle.

Regardless of whether a player's title is weak, strange, or even wretched, the practicality of the title skill is beyond doubt. Even the weakest title will be accompanied by a skill that fits the player's characteristics and is definitely useful; there will never be a useless move. Of course, "practical" and "powerful" are two different concepts, and powerful titles will naturally have more powerful skills.

The [New to the Blade Sect] title skill [Heads Will Roll] is naturally the same.

[Name: Heads Will Roll]

[Special Ability Type: Active]

[Effect: Instantly appears behind the target and delivers a heavy slash to their neck with five times the player's own strength limit. (Cooldown time: two hours, can only be used on humanoid monsters, skill must be activated within three meters of the target)]

[Note: This move was created by Guan Xiaoyu, a great hero of the blade. In his eighteenth year, Guan Xiaoyu already had a fierce face and a bristling beard. After three years of apprenticeship, he became an executioner for the imperial court. At that time, the court was corrupt, and eunuchs were in power. Guan Xiaoyu beheaded countless loyal people within a few years, and his heart was filled with resentment. At the age of twenty-three, Guan Xiaoyu resolutely decided to step into the martial world, seeking vengeance. He created a set of "Head Chopping Blade Techniques," which became a peerless skill in the world. "Heads Will Roll" is the first move.]

A Blade that Can Overturn a City suddenly rushed forward, and when he approached General Zaroff to within three meters, the limit of his skill, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, as if the boss's head was already in his pocket.

A second later, A Blade that Can Overturn a City briefly disappeared from everyone's sight, and then instantly reappeared behind Zaroff, his blade slashing down towards the back of his neck.

Then there was a dull thud.

Zaroff, as if he knew in advance where the opponent would appear, elbowed him, hitting his ribs almost as soon as A Blade appeared.

The blade in A Blade's hand hadn't even touched Zaroff's skin before he was sent flying by the boss's blow, crashing into the wall, and a large mouthful of blood spurted from his mouth. A Blade's eyes widened, and surprise and pain completely robbed him of the ability to act further.

The impact of that blow was extremely strong, causing severe damage to A Blade's internal organs. Although he had no wounds on his body, almost all of his ribs on the left side were broken, and the displaced broken bones caused severe internal bleeding, giving him the [Bleeding] effect.

A Blade's survival points dropped directly to 5% and were still decreasing. It was too late for anyone else to save him, because Zaroff had already stood between them and said in an unquestionable, cold tone, "Look at your companion, how reckless and impolite he has been." He didn't even look at A Blade that Can Overturn a City, who had collapsed to the ground. He knew very well that this player would not be able to stand up again.

"If he weren't so easily defeated, perhaps I would save him, heal his wounds, give him the best food, sufficient rest, and exercise, so that he would have another chance to participate in my hunt. Unfortunately…" Zaroff gestured.

Ivan saw the general's command, immediately walked to A Blade that Can Overturn a City, pulled out his revolver, and aimed it at the target's brow.

"Sav…" A Blade found it difficult to even speak. He only had time to utter one word before his head was blown apart, and his body immediately turned into white light and disappeared.

[Team Member: A Blade that Can Overturn a City, has died.]

All of this happened so quickly that A Blade's presumptuous and impulsive behavior left the other four with no way to help him, even if they wanted to.

In Feng Bujue's view… it was no different from suicide. Feng Bujue knew very well that at the beginning of the script, any attempt to quickly clear the level in a short time with simple and crude methods was impossible to succeed. Unless this person had the protagonist's halo and kingly aura, taking some clever adventures with a fluke mentality would undoubtedly lead to his own demise.

A Sword saw his friend die in an instant, and his face turned pale. In fact, he had similar thoughts to A Blade, believing that these two bosses were not very strong. Compared to the monsters and demons encountered in past scripts, these two guys, who looked like ordinary humans, were simply goodwill ambassadors. Ivan looked a little fierce, but General Zaroff was not scary at all.

But A Sword didn't have a skill like "Heads Will Roll," so he didn't directly attack. He had originally wanted to quietly discuss it with A Blade, and the two of them would launch an attack together, but he didn't expect A Blade to want to make a name for himself, relying on his title skill to support him, and suddenly rushed up.

What he didn't expect was that this boss could actually "break the move," interrupting the effect of a super-fast skill before it could be unleashed, and almost instantly killing A Blade with one blow.

Feng Bujue sighed helplessly, but he immediately came up with a plan, wanting to use A Blade's death to gain more information: "That's right, General, my companion is indeed very reckless. If it were me…" As he spoke, he took out an M1911A1 pistol from his bag, but he didn't raise it to aim, but held it in his hand as if he was playing with it, "…I would try with some more advanced weapons." He gave the general a probing look. "You can't possibly even catch bullets, can you?"

"Hahaha…" Zaroff laughed again. "Of course not, my friend. How can a person catch bullets?" He tapped his chest with his hand, and a thick, muffled sound came from under his tuxedo. "So I wear some protective measures under my jacket." He paused for a second and added, "But I know you are an excellent hunter, and your marksmanship must be good. If you can shoot me in the head with one shot, I will face death calmly." As he said that, he glanced at Ivan beside him. "But I don't recommend you do that, because Ivan will definitely avenge me at any cost. Without a commander, he is no longer a soldier, but the most ferocious beast in the world."

Feng Bujue got what he wanted, so he put the gun away and replied with a smile, "Thank you for your kind reminder, General. Then, I think we should say goodbye."

"Hehe… see you later, my friend." Zaroff smiled heartily. His friendly and polite attitude combined with his inherent cold-bloodedness made him a rather charming villain. His performance was so effortless that he seemed to have no weaknesses, which was simply chilling.

Feng Bujue winked at his three remaining teammates, meaning… let's get out of here.

Five or six minutes later, the four of them returned to the stone steps outside the castle. Along the way, everyone didn't dare to breathe loudly, didn't dare to run, and even had to think twice before making a slightly louder sound.

It could be said that General Zaroff, who appeared at the beginning of the script, showed an almost desperate power and suffocating pressure. From Feng Bujue's perspective, excluding the Time Master and Samodir, whom he only heard and saw their shadows, only Oink from the previous script could give him a feeling of helplessness. A boss like the Ashford Doctor mutant could probably be dealt with by General Zaroff with a dagger.

Finally, Feng Bujue took the lead in breaking the silence with a summarizing tone: "Obviously, General Zaroff's humanoid appearance doesn't mean anything. From the game's perspective, he is a monster, a hunter with more than ten times our physical abilities, meticulous thinking, rich experience, and extremely strong execution. And we are his targets… or rather, prey."

"No kidding, we could see that without you telling us," A Sword said.

"I don't know if you realized it after listening to my conversation with Zaroff, or after A Blade that Can Overturn a City was knocked down with an elbow… Anyway, Brother A Blade must have realized it after that, but it was too late," Feng Bujue said. "Fortunately, we still have a chance now. Let's discuss it first…"

"Wait a minute," A Sword that Can Overturn a City interrupted. "I wanted to ask just now. At first, I thought you were the type of player who was particularly 'into the scene,' so you were chatting with the boss, but later I found that you seemed to know what this Zaroff was going to do. What's going on?"

"Well… actually, explaining this question now is just a waste of time, but it seems that if I don't explain it, you won't listen to what I'm going to say next…" Feng Bujue's words, coupled with the expression on his face, could be completely imagined by others as… "Since you sincerely asked, I will answer you mercifully" lines.

"If you're done showing off, hurry up and say it," Si Yu said unexpectedly from the side.

Feng Bujue smiled after being exposed: "Okay, the plot of this script should be taken from a novel called 'The Most Dangerous Game.' The story itself is not long, and it's roughly about the protagonist… uh… a hunter, who was designed by Zaroff to come to the island, and then became the prey, starting a three-day hunting game.

The protagonist used his jungle survival skills and hunting knowledge, using hiding, setting traps, and other methods to deal with the general, successfully survived the time limit, and sneaked back to the castle on the third day, winning the game."

He paused at this point: "However, judging from the content of the novel, Zaroff could have killed the protagonist as early as the first day. He just wanted to enjoy the fun of hunting and let himself exercise again on the second day, so he let the protagonist go.

In the subsequent encounters, although Zaroff lost several hunting dogs, he himself was able to escape from the protagonist's traps at the last moment, at most suffering some minor injuries. As long as there was an excuse, he would temporarily let the protagonist go, stop chasing, and return to the castle to rest before coming again."

"He wants to make the hunt as fair as possible?" Si Yu asked.

"Judging from the disparity in strength between the enemy and us, this can only be a beautiful wish…" Feng Bujue smiled bitterly. "The general just doesn't want his entertainment to end too quickly." He paused for a moment and then said, "But Zaroff is indeed a gentleman. Even though what he is doing is similar to serial murder, he will not deceive us or go back on his word after failing. The advice about the Death Swamp is also very sincere. It seems that he sincerely hopes that we can be 'difficult to catch,' otherwise his hunt will become boring."

"Well… let me talk about some practical situations." Feng Bujue said at this point, leaving the stone steps, and the others followed him to the side of the jungle.

In the open space, the moonlight could achieve the effect of lighting, but near the bushes, the three people besides Feng Bujue took out lighting equipment. Si Yu used a lantern, and A Sword and Cai Bupa used flashlights, but the models were slightly different.

Feng Bujue casually picked up a branch and started drawing on the ground: "In the study, I was standing closer to the front, and I saw a map on Zaroff's desk. When he showed us his 'ship trap,' the lights at sea illuminated the coastline very clearly. After comparing it with the map, I can confirm that the island on the map is the island we are on." As he spoke, he drew an irregular shape on the ground that was similar to an olive. "This island is probably shaped like this. The castle is in the center, built on a high place, and can basically overlook the entire island." He suddenly raised his head. "Can you find north?"

"Um…" A Sword looked up at the sky, seemingly preparing to guess a direction at random.

Cai Bupa pointed to the night sky on one side and said, "Is that the North Star?"

"Very good," Feng Bujue responded, pointed to the sketch on the ground with a branch, and continued his narration, "Here is north, here is south, and the swamp is here…" He pointed to one end of the olive and said, "Before determining an escape plan, I have to mention a few differences between the novel and this script."

Feng Bujue always seemed very reliable and steady when reasoning and laying out plans. At this time, there was no trace of the casual and frivolous feeling in him, and his conversation revealed a unique appeal and persuasiveness.

"First of all, the protagonist in the novel, if I remember correctly, is called Rainsford… his game time is a full three days, and we only need to evade pursuit for five hours. It seems easier to achieve in terms of time, but it may not necessarily be a good thing. As I mentioned just now, General Zaroff let Rainsford go several times because he didn't want the hunt to end too early. Our situation is different. Zaroff will definitely attack after he finds us.

In addition, the novel doesn't mention any other animals on this island, but when I was trying to get information from Zaroff in the study, he clearly stated that there are pythons, wolves, tigers, etc.… Even wild boars are quite aggressive. So, in addition to avoiding the general's pursuit, we also have to beware of the threat of those animals in the dark.

The third point, you've also seen it, that guy is unreasonably strong. In the novel, he is also described as being very strong, but that is just a thriller novel based on a realistic setting, not a story depicting science fiction, superpowers, or the like. But the General Zaroff we are facing can kill people with an elbow. He belongs to the kind of tactical boss that absolutely cannot be confronted head-on. Just from the content of the main quest, you can see that the main theme of the script is how to successfully evade his pursuit."

A Sword interrupted at this point: "But when you took out the gun just now, didn't Zaroff also reveal in his words that he would die if he was hit in the head? If the gun was in my hand, I would have shot him directly at that distance. The hit rate is very high."

"If you did that, you, and us… would all be dead…" Feng Bujue shook his head and said, "I took out the gun at that time just to see Zaroff's reaction to this thing and to get some useful information from him." He raised his head, with an expression of disapproval. "As far as I know, the prototype of modern body armor appeared in the 1950s, and the author of the original novel, Richard Connell, died in 1949."

He changed the subject: "Despite this, Zaroff calmly stated that he was wearing something similar to body armor, and he didn't care about the M1911A1 pistol I was holding. So obviously, those few words he said at that time were the system directly giving us a hint through the mouth of this boss."

"Attempting to kill Zaroff with firearms is not going to work?" Si Yu reacted the fastest and was the first to answer.

Feng Bujue snapped his fingers, "Correct." His gaze swept across the faces of A Sword that Can Overturn a City and Cai Bupa. "The system generates scripts based on the actual situation of the players. I think… none of the four of us here, including A Blade that Can Overturn a City, who has already died, is a shooting specialist, or even has any shooting weapons."

He was right. Of the four people present, only he himself had a pistol, and there were only four bullets in it. At the same time, he was also the person with the highest shooting specialization level here.

"Actually, the last few words I got out of Zaroff, from the game's perspective, can be interpreted as… if you have to use a gun to deal with him, hitting the body is useless, you must hit the head.

Normally, we can only do this in two situations: first, as you said, launching a sudden attack at the distance just now; second, at some point in the future, in the dark, relying on a terrible specialization level, hitting the incredibly vigilant Cossack by a stroke of luck…

Obviously, the first situation is more reliable, but even if it succeeds, it is futile. Because next… as the general said, the mute named Ivan will transform into a berserk state.

I estimate that he will immediately replace Zaroff's boss status and launch a crazy pursuit of us. At that time, the setting of this script may not still be similar to the 'real world.' I wouldn't be surprised if that Ivan turned into the Hulk after going berserk. Once this situation occurs, we won't even be able to get out of the castle alive."

"Hoo…" Feng Bujue exhaled a long breath. "In short, the theme of this script is one word—run."

"Then what are we waiting for, hurry up…" Before A Sword could finish speaking, Feng Bujue waved his hand to stop him and said, "I'm just about to tell you how to run."

"How to run?" A Sword asked.

"Run separately," Feng Bujue replied.

"Why?" Cai Bupa looked nervous.

Before Feng Bujue could answer, something happened in that second that disrupted his entire plan.

Si Yu's figure suddenly turned into white light and disappeared, and the system's alert sounded: [Team Member: Si Yu Ruo Li, has disconnected.]