The Black-hearted Penguin Catches a Thief

Mary stood waiting quietly.

Less than ten minutes had passed since her Sir had vanished from the dance hall, but she was already growing anxious.

The power that had taken him was far beyond her imagination. It carried a sense of oppression that dwarfed even the descent of the Spirit Venerable of the Sea of Desire.

In the instant he vanished, Mary had been frozen, completely unable to act. It was as if time and space had locked her in place.

Whoosh!

Just as her anxiety peaked, a blood-red doorway materialized in the exact spot where Wu Wang had vanished.

The next second, the door swung open.

An arm emerged first, caked in blood and filth and reeking of a foul, fishy stench.

It was followed by a humanoid monster that seemed to be cast from fresh blood. With every step, strange organs, scales, and even feathers sloughed off its body.

The monster stumbled out of the doorway.

It looked at Mary, still clad in her fiery red dress, and its mouth split into a grin.

"Holy hell, you little brat, where the hell did you bring me? Are we still in China? Huh?"

"Welcome back, Sir."

Mary said softly.

Though she couldn't make out his appearance or discern his form, she was all too familiar with that despicable, trash-talking manner of his.

In the five days they had spent together, she had heard more trash talk from Wu Wang's mouth than in her entire life.

Wu Wang complained, physically and mentally exhausted.

"Please take me to the nearest bathroom. And stop peeking at my little brother. You're not going to accuse me of sexual harassment and throw me into the sea to feed the fish, are you?"

His clothes had long been turned to ash by the searing heat of the 【Flame of Judgment】. If he hadn't put the 【Heilan Home Brooch】 into his backpack in time, he would have been heartbroken for who knows how long.

Now, naked and covered in blood, he could only hope this wouldn't be classified as sexual harassment of a crew member.

Mary let out a light chuckle.

"I won't, Sir. I'm no longer a crew member, and you are no longer an ordinary guest."

"You are now the owner of the Mary. It doesn't matter if you walk around the ship stark naked."

"Also, you are very well-endowed. Your future wife will be very fortunate."

With that, she turned to lead the way to the bathroom.

Hearing Mary's teasing, Wu Wang shrugged helplessly.

How did this woman learn to talk trash too?

Who taught her! How infuriating!

Soon, they arrived at a vast, top-tier bathing pool easily large enough for swimming.

As he washed the blood and filth from his body, Wu Wang looked at the Abyss God's Mark and couldn't help but curse.

"You motherfucker! Can't you ever give a guy a normal path to walk?"

He shivered as he recalled the flesh and blood stairs. That damned staircase was nothing like the Audience Ladder.

On the Audience Ladder, the eyes had just been decorative, existing on another layer, impossible to touch. But the Flesh and Blood Stairs were horrifyingly real.

The moment he stepped on them, Wu Wang felt a viscous, squirming softness under his feet and knew this was bad.

With every step, bizarre flesh and organs crawled up from the stairs, latching onto his feet and climbing up his body.

They drilled into him in a nauseating display, becoming part of his body. New organs hung from his frame, frantically draining his life force. This continued until he was transformed into a monster, a walking pile of organs.

Wu Wang had walked on the flesh and blood stairs for a full ten hours before he finally saw a blood-red doorway.

In that time, he had died ninety-nine times.

【Game Rating: Alpha】

【Main Quest Completed】

【Side Quest 1, 2, 3 Completed】

【Hidden Reward Condition Met, Personally Kill the Mole】

【Instance Reward and Hidden Reward have been distributed】

【Please check and receive your rewards in a timely manner】

【Instance Summary: With a course of action that completely disregarded your teammates' lives, you rigidly and abstractly turned William into The Joker. We hope you can be this hard in other places too.】

【Given that you, with your pitifully low Charisma, successfully obtained Mary's Favor, it proves you are completely different from those high-Charisma sluts. Clearly, your personal charm far outweighs your looks. I shall call you a Mental Succubus!】

After washing off the blood and filth, Wu Wang leaned back, comfortably enjoying his bath.

Just then, the system's voice suddenly rang in his ears.

Perhaps it was the echo in the bath chamber, but this time, it sounded even more like Sadako in a public toilet.

How strange. He hadn't left the Instance and returned to the reward space yet. How did the settlement notification arrive so early?

And why was it attacking my Charisma again!

What did my Charisma ever do to you!

Fuming, he checked his stats panel.

【Charisma: 2 (Your actions caused panic among nearly a thousand people on the cruise ship. Combined with your taste in masks, your Charisma is in continuous decline. Friendly reminder: You are approaching the lower limit for human Charisma.)】

Wu Wang was rendered speechless.

His Charisma was 3 when he entered the Instance. How did it drop again?

What's wrong with my taste in masks? Isn't Decade cool?

Dammit! Next time, I'll wear an Ultraman Zero suit just to show you!

Resigned, he began to check his gains.

【Clearance Rewards: 5000 Calamity Coins, one Epic-grade item, one Myriad Treasures Auction Warehouse Lottery Chance, one opportunity for an Audience.】

He had just dealt with the Audience. He decided to look at the Epic-grade item first.

【Sand-blowing Yellow-skinned Rat (Epic): Designate a player from your friends list to forcibly join their Instance. Alternatively, have them join your Instance mid-way. Not restricted by the Duo Queue limit, but inviting a friend requires their consent. When joining mid-way, the friend's personal time flow will be adjusted for the Instance.】

【Uses: 3】

【Remark: Ψ I'm here to help you!】

"Hm? This thing is interesting. Forcibly join someone else's Instance?"

Wu Wang raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

But then he scrolled through his friends list.

【Baili Dao】, 【Xiezhi】, 【Hungry Fist】.

Hahaha, just these three, and that was it.

As he laughed, his smile faded.

Fuck! It looks like I have no friends!

What the hell is the use of this item then!

Despite his complaints, Wu Wang knew the item was incredibly valuable.

The ability to have someone join his Instance, unrestricted by the Duo Queue limit, was especially potent. It was practically a life-saving tool for calling in backup.

If this were listed on the Spirit Calamity Game app, countless wealthy players with mediocre combat skills would fight tooth and nail for it.

To them, a life-saving measure was far more valuable than improving their own abilities.

Putting the Yellow-skinned Rat back into his backpack, Wu Wang turned his attention to his main prize: the 【Myriad Treasures Auction Warehouse Lottery Chance】.

It's the one I'm thinking of, right? That Black-hearted Penguin's auction warehouse?

"Heheheh..."

A sinister grin spread across Wu Wang's face as he activated the lottery.

As expected, the Question Mark Box appeared right on cue, followed by the Abyss God's scarlet tentacles.

I'm coming in~

Mine's really big, you'll have to bear with it~

Once again, the tentacles filled the box completely.

This time, however, the Question Mark Box didn't struggle much. It was hard to say if it had resigned itself to its fate or had simply gotten used to it.

If it was the latter, then it was a truly terrifying box.

Duang!

A round object was dragged out by the Abyss God. A slip of paper was stuck to the tentacle that held it.

【You little shit! You dare to steal from me again! It's only been a few days, you bastard!】

【This is the last straw!】

【Just you wait! I'm coming for you!】

The next second, the slip of paper burst with a dazzling golden light.

Wu Wang's left hand began to itch.

Looking down, he saw a faint, cane-shaped mark had appeared on the inside of his left wrist.

The Abyss God's Mark thoughtfully displayed the information for him.

【Auction Item Tag: Myriad Treasures Chamber of Commerce President Teng Xun Adolf has locked onto you.】

Wu Wang's face darkened.

You bastard! Who are you calling an auction item!

The good news was that the thief had succeeded in his heist again.

The bad news was that the owner had planted a tracking device on him.

He had no doubt that if that Black-hearted Penguin caught him, he really would be sold as an auction item.

He'd be so screwed.

He'd be forced into slavery for a few hundred years, at the very least.

He sighed. Since things had come to this, he might as well see what he'd stolen.

He looked at the piece of equipment the Abyss God had rolled out.

His eyes instantly lit up.

"Holy shit! This thing is... incredible..."