33

Chapter 140: Casualties of the Nerf

Battle Royale of the Sinners

At the royal bath hall, Liu Ping stared at his status menu. He was depressed to the point that he wanted to scream but no voice came out of his mouth.

…

*******************************

**Status**

Name: Liu Ping

Age: 17

Lifespan: 8,020 Years

Shopping Pass: 0

[Super Human] Cannot be leveled up

- Multiply the host physical strength, vitality, dexterity, agility and stamina by 100 times.

- Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespan per year.

[Banned]

- You cannot personally kill any native in this world.

- Violation means death.

- Upkeep: 2,000 Lifespans per year.

*******************************

…

His skills took another big nerf yet again. Two skills were no longer with him. Only his lifeline [Super Human] skill remained. In addition, all skills had absurd upkeeps, including the useless [Banned] skill from the system.

Liu Ping stared at his skill menu in a daze and noticed a new button beside the [Banned] skill. It was a delete button.

He pressed it without thinking. As soon as his finger touched the button, a new system message popped up in front of him.

<<Will you delete this [Banned] skill?>>

<<Yes/No>>

Liu Ping pressed "Yes" without a second thought.

<<Your [Banned] skill has been deleted>>

He narrowed his eyes and locked his sight on the message. His facial expression changed from a deep frown into a smile, then it changed back into an angry face again.

'Two thousand years upkeep? Are you kidding me? At this rate, I'll die in 5 years!'

'Should I delete this skill, too? But if I do, then I'll be no different than ordinary human here.'

'I still need this to put Dong Zhuo under my control.'

Liu Ping raised his head and looked at the ceilings. He said to himself.

"System, can I use the system shop now?"

[Yes. You can!]

Noticing that the system no longer held grudge or bias against him, Liu Ping was delighted. He opened the shop to check the contents for the first time in his life, only to be disappointed by the pricing and the restrictions of items.

"This is a scam! Damn it all!"

He tossed a handful of water to the menu screen in annoyance, which the water passed through the screen as if it was an illusion. Liu Ping changed the menu screen into his quest list.

…

*********************************************

**Soulmate Mission No.2**

Clear Condition: Kill Zhang Jiao or Sun Jian.

Failure Condition: You are dethroned or time limit exceeded.

Clearing Reward:

- 10 Shopping Tickets for completing the main objective.

- 1,000,000 Lifespans for killing Zhang Tong, Hua Shi, Sun Fang or Li Jing.

- 100,000 Lifespans for killing Zhang Jiao or Sun Jian.

- 20,000 Lifespans for killing an enemy general.

- 20 Lifespan for killing each enemy soldier.

Time Limit: Midnight, December 31st, 190 A.D.

Mission Failure: You will die.

*********************************************

…

Even after he had canceled the soulmate contract with Wang Li, the quest was still ongoing, but the mission failure punishment changed, which was harsher than the previous one.

"I have to kill Zhang Jiao or Sun Jian to live now. Damn it all!"

Liu Ping spent an entire two hours in the bath hall, thinking of a plan to kill the two historical figures.

He walked out of the bath hall and called the guards.

"Go tell Wang Yun and Dong Zhuo. Tell them to prepare all information they have about Zhang Jiao and Sun Jian. I want their intel tomorrow morning!"

Liu Ping gritted his teeth while he was thinking. It was the time to invite someone into his clan.

'Should I get Dong Zhuo or Wang Yun first?'

'Wang Yun is guaranteed, but...'

'If I can get Dong Zhuo as my lapdog, I can command his subordinates as well.'

'Who to pick...'

...

Nan Pi City.

Jiang Man, the former bandit leader and the boss of Zhang Yan, collapsed on the road in front of Nan Pi city gate. He had four skills with him at the moment, so the backlash damages from the system nerf were neither serious nor light. But it was enough to cripple him for a few months.

'2,000 years upkeep for each skill. Are you serious!?'

'The system is insane! It was already trolling me enough, now it wants to kill me!'

'8,000 lifespan upkeep a year? I have only 22,000 lifespans left. I'll die in 3 years!'

'Fudge! Do I really have to delete my skills?'

While Jiang Man was coughing blood and crawled on the ground, a burly man silhouette stood up in front of him.

"Oi, brat! If you want to die, die somewhere else! Don't you just suddenly drop dead on the road! It's blocking my goddamn path!"

Yan Liang grabbed the robe collar of Jiang Man and lifted him up like a kitten. Before Yan Liang could throw this reincarnator away, a voice of a haughty man came from behind.

"Stay your hand and bring him to me."

Yan Liang came to a pause. With obedience, he turned around and dragged Jiang Man to the haughty man.

Jiang Man managed to catch a glimpse of the person. He was riding the best warhorse among all soldiers behind his back. He wore a golden robe with golden armor on top of it as if he was the Emperor, yet he was not.

The golden armor man looked at Jiang Man and asked.

"What has happened to you? Why are you having those injuries?"

Jiang Man looked around. It seemed that this person was their boss, which was the reason why all of them stopped moving and paid close attention to himself. This man should have been someone with a high official title or rank in the imperial court.

This area was in Nan Pi territory which Yuan Clan dominated. Then, this person should be someone related to the Yuan Clan. Jiang Man could ride the coattail of this clan for his ambition or he could reside here to heal up his internal injuries first.

A brilliant idea came to his mind.

"I led a volunteer force and fought the bandits at Ganling City. My injuries came from the bandit boss, Zhang Yan."

The man in golden armor, Yuan Shao, gazed at Jiang Man in an admiration.

After Liu Ping took over the power in the Imperial Court and was acknowledged as the new Emperor, Yuan Shao fled the Capital with his families and smuggled out the former Empress and He Jin out of the Imperial Palace.

On the way of their march, they passed through the fork-road which could lead them to Ganling. His army also deployed the scouts and spies into the city, and the reports they received indicated that the city remained unchallenged by the neighbor lords or local oppositions.

Instead, Yuan Shao's scouts detected Zhang Tong Army which was heading toward Ganling. Therefore, the only force that confronted the Ganling bandits was Zhang Tong Army.

"What happened to Zhang Tong Army? Why have you come here alone?"

Jiang Man was taken aback by the sudden question. He left the city long before Tong even marched out of his city, so Jiang Man had no idea what Yuan Shao was talking about.

"I'm sorry. I got separated from my men. I don't know what you're talking about."

Yuan Shao narrowed his eyes and looked at Jiang Man in suspicion. If Jiang Man was part of the volunteer force, he should have joined with Zhang Tong Army. He seemed to be a deserter rather than a routed soldier.

"Oh, that can't be helped then. You can go. Yan Liang, let him go."

"Yes, my lord."

Yan Liang tossed Jiang Man out of the way while Yuan Shao ignored this otherworlder as if he was a simple rock on the roadside. Deserters of an army were something that Yuan Shao despised, and Jiang Man's excuse was nothing but an excuse of a deserting loser.

Being ignored and tossed away like a rag, Jiang Man was half-relief and half-angry. He swore that once he recovered, he would get back on these guys.

…

Meanwhile, at Sun Jian's camp.

Both Li Jing and Sun Fang coughed and spat out black blood. Sun Fang staggered for a moment, then he gazed at Li Jing who was in worse shape than him.

Li Jing bled from all of her face orifices, but she did not show sign of panicking or despair. She simply sat down and meditate to regulate her breathing.

"Damn it, system! Why is the nerf happening at this time!?"

Sun Fang cursed the system out loud in frustration. They were so close at their target and was about to siege the city in secret in that midnight. Because of the sudden nerfs and the injuries they received, they had to postpone their plans.

*Cough*

Li Jing coughed out more black blood. Her condition was getting worst each minute passed. Yet, she was as calm as tranquil water.

"Hanfang, *Cough* your blood, please."

"Ugh, I hate this skill of yours."

Sun Fang complained. He cut his wrist, and his blood gushed out from his wound. He extended his injured wrist to Li Jing, who slowly covered her mouth on his wound and started drinking his blood.

<<Your skill [The Feast] is activated>>

<<Recovering your vitality… 30%...35%...40%...>>

Li Jing continued drinking his blood. As she was drinking, her complexion got better. The injuries within her body healed in a speed that could be seen with naked eyes.

<<Recovering completed>>

Li Jing let go of Sun Fang's wrist. She opened her eyes to look at him again, only to see that he was as pale as a white sheet. It seemed that he was at his limit.

"[Self-Heal]!"

The moment she let go of his hand, Sun Fang immediately used his life-saving skill. All of his lost blood and his injuries healed in a few seconds.

"Wifey! Please don't rely on that skill too often. I'll really die at this rate. It's also disgusting."

Li Jing frowned the moment Sun Fang said "disgusting". It reminded her of someone in her previous life. A complicated expression appeared on her face.

She closed her eyes and reminisced of her close obnoxious friend. A playful perverted woman in a nurse uniform appeared in her mind. She was the embodiment of her love and her hatred.

'I wonder if you're an angel now, or you're still in Hell... Sunday.'