Chapter 3: The Golden Cheat Is Activated

Sensing the danger emanating from behind, the bloodthirsty creature turned and struck at the flying kitchen knife with a heavy slap. The knife was sent spinning through the air, embedding itself halfway into the distant wall, its blade trembling violently.

The bloodthirsty creature halted, turning its icy gaze toward Lin Huang, murderous intent slowly diffusing through the air. Seeing that his opponent didn’t turn to retaliate, Lin Huang swallowed hard, his throat issuing a low, grim shout, “If I must die, so be it!”

A second kitchen knife flew from his hand, once again targeting the bloodthirsty creature. He worried the creature would ignore him and continue attacking Lin Xin, so he chose to provoke him further.

His maneuvers worked; the creature was thoroughly enraged. After swatting away the knife, crimson energy began to surge from its body. The blood-colored aura spilled out like a scarlet mist, rapidly enveloping him, making his already massive frame swell even larger.

Lin Huang’s breathing grew heavier—the creature was now using blood energy openly for the first time, and the pressure was immense. Once blood energy was activated, such a creature was no longer within the realm of humanity, but a true monster.

What Lin Huang saw next plunged his heart into despair.

From the creature’s spine, two blood-red energy projections unfurled to either side, resembling long, flattened wings that stretched out nearly two meters each.

“Damn! This monster isn’t Iron rank—it's Bronze!”

Lin Huang recalled distinctly: Iron-ranked bloodthirsty creatures could only manifest one energy projection; only at Bronze rank could they produce two.

All color drained from Lin Huang’s face. He had never imagined that the one invading his home was a Bronze-level bloodthirsty creature—an existence hundreds of times stronger than himself, so powerful that even ordinary firearms posed little threat.

“No, if this creature really is Bronze rank, when I smashed him with the desk lamp upstairs, the high temperature from the shattered white-light stone shouldn’t have hurt him enough to release his prey.” Suddenly, Lin Huang remembered that when he struck with the lamp, the creature had let go.

He focused on observing the bloodthirsty creature and soon discovered two obvious wounds. One was on the right shoulder blade, deep enough to reveal bone; the other pierced through the left side of the chest, missing the heart by less than two centimeters. Both wounds were already rotting, and judging by the decay, more than an hour had passed.

Earlier, because most of the creature’s body was outside the window, covered in blood, and Lin Huang hadn’t examined closely, he’d missed these injuries. Now, seeing clearly, he finally understood why this Bronze-level creature’s combat strength was even less than an Iron-ranked one.

“He must be extremely weakened now—it looks like even his heart is infected by septic agents. He won’t last three hours, no wonder his fighting ability has deteriorated so drastically. As long as I keep my distance and avoid attacks from his blood energy wings, I should be safe!” Realizing the severity of the creature’s injuries, Lin Huang’s fear vanished completely. Now, he had only one thought—wear him down!

The bloodthirsty creature stared fiercely at Lin Huang. His wings suddenly elongated, transforming into sharp blood pillars that lunged toward him.

Lin Huang had anticipated this. He darted to the right and leapt onto the dining table several meters away.

The attack missed, and the blood-colored wings lashed out like long whips, smashing cabinets and chairs to pieces along the way.

Had that strike landed, Lin Huang doubted he would have survived, at best left with barely any unbroken bones.

He leaped again, grabbed the second-floor landing, flipped over the railing, and rushed upstairs. Almost simultaneously, the creature's wings shredded the dining table to splinters.

Standing by the second-floor railing, Lin Huang didn’t flee—he worried the creature would turn to pursue Lin Xin. He grabbed a nearby ceramic flowerpot and hurled it at the monster below.

With a loud crash, the giant wings smashed the flowerpot to bits. The creature roared furiously at Lin Huang. Realizing Lin Huang was beyond the range of his blood energy, the creature gathered his strength and leaped toward Lin Huang’s position.

Seeing this, Lin Huang immediately turned and ran.

The bloodthirsty creature landed atop the second-floor railing. Seeing Lin Huang escape, he kicked off forcefully, sending the railing crashing down, and rushed after him.

Lin Huang spun into his own room, crossed to the bedside in a few steps, and rolled underneath it.

Beneath the bed, he reached for a nearly foot-long wooden box, opened it, and found a silver-gray handgun inside.

This Gray Eagle 17 was the latest model from Desert Eagle Company, with astonishing firepower, nearly matching Iron-level weaponry. Lin Huang couldn’t afford such a weapon; it was a reward for being the academy’s top graduate.

He deftly retrieved the pistol, stuffed the remaining two magazines into his left pocket, flipped the safety, and aimed at the doorway just as the creature burst in.

Bang!

A flash erupted under the bed, followed by the explosive crack of the gun, and the creature let out an enraged howl.

The shot didn’t wound him, but the unexpected attack dimmed the layer of blood energy on his body.

Bang! Bang! Two more shots rang out.

The creature’s blood energy shield grew even dimmer; he angrily swung his massive energy wings, smashing at the bed.

Lin Huang had foreseen this. He braced his feet against the wall, used the recoil to shoot out from under the bed, flipped upright, and dashed to the balcony. Grabbing the railing, he vaulted down.

The creature, blinded by rage, chased after him, leaping from the balcony as well.

Below was Street 101, one of the main arteries of the settlement. Streetlights crowned with moonstone cast gentle white light onto the pavement. The street wasn’t brightly lit, but everything was visible.

After landing, the creature scanned around for Lin Huang but saw nothing.

By then, Lin Huang had climbed back onto the balcony. He’d only pretended to jump; his fingers had hooked onto the balcony floor, suspending himself below. After the creature leapt down, he quietly climbed back up.

On the balcony, Lin Huang’s gaze was icy as he aimed his pistol at the creature below and squeezed the trigger.

Bang! Bang! Bang...

In the dark, flashes erupted from the muzzle, and the creature howled up at him.

Gunfire and beastly roars echoed through the night. Nearby houses, once lit, went dark, leaving only the gunshots and howls resounding across the empty street.

Under the streetlights, the creature’s decline was evident. Repeated impacts from the bullets thinned the blood energy shield, until even the wings on his back finally retracted.

Driven by hunger, the creature’s mind cleared; realizing his body was in dire straits, he turned and staggered away.

Lin Huang, wary of a trick, didn’t pursue immediately. He emptied an entire magazine—twenty rounds—before seeing the creature over two hundred meters away, then swapped in a fresh magazine and jumped down to chase.

Were it not for the Gray Eagle 17’s effective range of only 300 meters, he might have waited for the creature to flee even farther.

Under the silent night sky, gunfire thundered, mingling with the creature’s angry roars and agonized screams. As the blood energy shield weakened, bullets began to pierce it, striking flesh. Not enough to cause mortal wounds, but painful nonetheless.

Lin Huang maintained a distance of about two hundred meters, squeezing the trigger again and again like a true, well-trained hunter stalking his prey.

Bullet after bullet hammered the creature’s energy shield, which soon became intermittently transparent under Lin Huang’s relentless barrage. When the second magazine reached its eighteenth round, the blood energy shield finally dissipated completely.

Lin Huang smirked, firing the last two bullets straight at the original wound in the creature’s left chest.

He swapped magazines for the last time, aimed, and just as he was about to fire again, the creature suddenly stumbled and collapsed. He tried several times to stand, but his wounds were too severe; he could only crawl feebly away.

Lin Huang ceased firing, jogging over and stopping about fifteen meters from the creature. He’d already calculated—the blood wings couldn’t extend beyond ten meters, so fifteen was safe.

Still cautious, Lin Huang aimed at the back of the creature’s skull and fired twice. Watching the skull burst, brain matter and blood spraying out, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Beep!

A notification sounded in Lin Huang’s ear, and a semi-transparent page appeared before him, displaying several lines of information.

[Golden Finger activated!]
[Host has completed first kill—reward: one monster card!]
[Host has completed cross-rank kill—reward: one advancement card!]
[Host has completed double cross-rank kill—reward: one random card draw!]
...
[Establishing host-exclusive card]
[Host: Lin Huang]
[Gender: Male]
[Age: 15]
[Combat ability: None (below evaluation threshold)]
[Skills: None (mastered basic skills not within evaluation range)]
[Summoning privilege: Unlocked]
[Summonable quantity: 1]
[Assessment: Utterly weak!]

Lin Huang’s expression twisted oddly. “So my golden finger is activated, but what’s with this ridiculous assessment?!”