Chapter 289: Silver Butterfly

Yang Bo woke up to find that it was already noon. His whole body still felt uncomfortable, as if he had overworked himself the day before in his past life.

While brushing his teeth, Yang Bo ordered several boxes of milk online. By the time he finished, the milk had been delivered to the door. He took two buckets of milk and logged into the game.

In this world, milk comes in large containers of 10, 20, and even 50 kilograms because superhumans have huge appetites.

Most superhumans avoid consuming nutrient liquids. It’s said that nutrient liquids contain some addictive elements, and once you get used to them, you’ll need them regularly.

“Captain, why are you just now getting online? We were so bored these past few days,” the smaller girl quickly sent a voice message when she saw Yang Bo log in.

“Got delayed by something.” Yang Bo replied.

Hearing this, Xiao Huang immediately asked, “Captain, what do you do for a living? Are you a mercenary or an assassin?”

“Why do you ask?” Yang Bo was a little confused. Why did Xiao Huang think he was either a mercenary or an assassin? “We saw your blade mastery, and it’s amazing. You’re probably an assassin,” Xiao Hong added.

Yang Bo chuckled, “Couldn’t I be a chef instead?”

“We have a chef at home. No way do they have your aura!” the older miss said on the side.

Yang Bo pulled out the map, casually responding, “We’re headed out on a mission to kill a few people. Today, our target is these two farms.”

When Yang Bo casually mentioned this, no one believed him.

Seeing that the farms were infested with zombie sheep, several people became excited. This kind of large zombie gave higher bounties.

“Captain, have you seen the leaderboard?” Xiao Hong quickly asked.

“What leaderboard?” Yang Bo wasn’t aware of this.

Xiao Hong briefly explained it and then suggested Yang Bo officially register their team with the game officials. This would allow their team to appear on the leaderboard, which also offers rewards.

“What should we name our team?” Yang Bo listened as the group debated what to call the team.

“Team A-Qi!” the smaller girl immediately suggested.

“Don’t name us after a pet! We’re people, not pets.”

“Team Wu-Lu.” the older miss quickly added.

Xiao Huang also told the older miss not to use cat names for their team.

Yang Bo realized that the older miss and smaller girl were really girls—one loved cats, and the other loved dogs.

“Captain, what name do you think is good?” Xiao Huang asked Yang Bo again.

“Anything’s fine…” Yang Bo responded while summoning the leaderboard.

He noticed his nickname was still occupying the leaderboard, both on the wealth ranking and the monster-killing ranking.

Below the wealth ranking, most spots were held by his own team members.

Yang Bo topped the monster kill ranking, though he had his nickname hidden. He had killed over 40,000 monsters, while the second-place holder had only a few thousand.

“Let’s get to work!” Yang Bo still felt off and needed to quickly improve his physique.

“The game officials are shameless!” Yang Bo grumbled while traveling, checking the latest update details from the officials.

In Yang Bo’s opinion, things like faction wars and team competitions were purely nonsense to entice players.

The rare materials that players painstakingly gathered were turned into equipment, which would then be consumed in these competitions.

Yang Bo suspected that the upcoming competitions and faction wars would soon become actual game events.

The gathered materials were essentially being taken by the game officials.

“Looks like my chance to get rich has arrived,” Yang Bo thought. This meant he could sell his materials at a higher price than the officials’ buyback price.

“But my core focus is farming monsters.” Of course, Yang Bo wouldn’t forget his main goal.

In the end, their team name was registered as ‘Qi-Lu!’ after the girls’ pets. Initially, Xiao Huang and Xiao Hong didn’t agree, but they were threatened with blackmail. Yang Bo didn’t care.

However, when setting the team leaderboard display, Yang Bo chose to hide the rankings.

The group walked for another hour and a half. The terrain here was difficult; they had to clear the way as they went, and the distance was far.

In an hour and a half, while Yang Bo controlled his avatar, he finished drinking two large buckets of milk. Along the way, he dealt with some zombies using a machete.

The plants on both sides of the road were dense with tall grass and shrubs, making it difficult to use longer weapons.

Some zombie animals would suddenly leap out of the grass, and only the machete could respond quickly enough.

When they arrived at the farm, they saw a herd of zombie sheep. Yang Bo began pulling the monsters and killing them.

Upon arriving, Xiao Hong went back to buy bullets while Yang Bo started killing monsters.

He lured them out and snapped all their necks, then the other teammates gathered valuable parts from the corpses. Yang Bo then tossed the remaining bodies aside.

Too much contact with these corpses would poison characters, as remotely controlled bionic humans could be corroded.

It wasted time, and clearing the area also prepared it for the next wave of monsters.

After killing 500 zombie sheep, Yang Bo no longer felt out of sorts.

“So refreshing!”

“My cute little sheep,” Yang Bo thought these zombie sheep were adorable now.

“I wonder how big I can get?”

“But the Charging Skill has a limit.”

“I need to see if there are other skills that can increase my physique.”

“As long as I find new physique-boosting skills, my body won’t have a limit.” Yang Bo was very clear about his body. Only through these skills could he enhance his strength.

While practicing, he also familiarized himself with the powers he already possessed.

After six more hours of grinding in two farms, Yang Bo added another 5,600 monsters to the leaderboard, though his name remained hidden.

The two farms had two lead sheep, which granted +4 to his Spirit Control.

Players in the game were astounded. How could one person possibly kill 5,600 monsters? What did 5,600 monsters even mean?

There weren’t actually 5,000 monsters in the farm; most were found during the journey there.

A little here and there, and it added up to 5,600.

When the others saw the team kill ranking, they also noticed an unknown team had killed 5,600 monsters.

There was also a mission ranking where this anonymous team appeared.

Soon, players realized that a team could farm that many monsters with two to three people transporting supplies while two or three hunted the monsters in concentrated areas.

Within no time, registered teams in the game skyrocketed, and the amount of mission materials greatly increased.

Meanwhile, the military behind the game company smiled from ear to ear, watching the constant stream of materials pouring in.

After returning to the respawn point, Yang Bo logged out of the game. Standing up and stretching, he felt his stomach growling and went to make some food.

While eating, Yang Bo sat in front of his computer, noticing a message from Zhou Rui in his wristwatch.

Yang Bo hadn’t expected his physique to recover so quickly. He originally intended to rest up before heading to the Bounty Hunter Guild.

But now, since he could transform into a giant, he needed to prepare some appropriate gear.

For example, high-tech weapons he previously found inconvenient to carry could now be transported using his identical-source ring.

Zhou Rui’s message advised him not to go out for a while as the danger hadn’t passed yet. She also asked about his meals and what he’d been doing. Yang Bo, normally polite, found himself chatting with her. Who knew they’d end up talking for over an hour?

“Something’s off with this woman,” Yang Bo thought, realizing they’d talked for over an hour.

Yang Bo opened the news and saw that on March Planet, a police chief was passionately giving a speech, describing their fight against the Red Earl Extremist Organization.

They had discovered a mecha production lab and several destructive bombs.

Yang Bo recognized it immediately. This was the place where he had killed people, but now it looked completely different.

The news footage showed injured police officers, a ransacked basement, and four wrecked mechas lying there.

“These guys really know how to tell a story,” Yang Bo muttered to himself.

But Yang Bo knew this was the best choice for the Bounty Hunter Guild and Zhou Rui—it was the safest option.

The Bounty Hunter Guild wasn’t obligated to fight an unknown force head-on. After all, the Guild was simply a platform for doing business.

And any force capable of hiding four mechas and establishing a factory was certainly no small fry.

Building mechas entailed facing numerous challenges in terms of technology and materials. Most of all, many materials for mechas were heavily restricted.

After watching the police chief brag, he saw the planetary security chief and even the capital star’s chief boasting about their achievements.

Then Yang Bo noticed the Fat Boss was trying to reach him.

“Yang Bo, are you alright over there? I saw this huge story on the news,” Fat Boss asked from the other side.

“I was just eating when I saw it. This planet is so chaotic!” Yang Bo said, pretending he’d just found out.

“This is all leftover from last time—the incident when you were kidnapped. Make sure you don’t go out. You can shop online if needed. I’ll be delayed here a bit longer,” Fat Boss said.

“Boss, where’d you go?” Yang Bo asked curiously.

“I’ve come to the Crimson Federation. Damn Wu Bing and his buddies got into trouble here, and now we’re in the middle of a lawsuit,” Fat Boss sounded frustrated.

“Isn’t the Crimson Federation far away?” Yang Bo asked, surprised.

“In the galaxy, it’s not about actual distance; it’s about whether there’s a warp passage. It takes at most 20 days from March Planet to the Crimson Federation by the fastest spaceship. Last time we took a passenger-freight mixed ship, which was slow and had to use a warp passage for large crafts. But anyway, you be careful and don’t go out.” Fat Boss added, watching the news on March Planet and getting a bit frightened. Although he knew there was more than meets the eye here, the involvement of mechas, especially in a wealthy district, was astonishing.

Curious, Yang Bo asked, “What happened with Wu Ge and his buddies?”

“They got trapped by someone after fooling around with women, and now they owe a great sum of money. Remember, if you ever come to the Crimson Federation, only trust official platforms when ordering such services. Don’t trust random people who approach you,” Fat Boss warned.

Yang Bo asked with curiosity, “There are official platforms for this?”

“A few administrative stars in the Federation have scarce resources and aren’t in great condition, so certain things have been legalized. There are professional platforms, and all relevant details, including potion usage, are clearly listed. These administrative stars rely largely on tourist taxes to improve their conditions.”

“Ah… got it.” Yang Bo felt a bit intrigued. After all, as a grown man, he appreciated the straightforwardness of these money-for-service arrangements. The only thing to worry about was making sure there were no… issues that might cause trouble.

“Keep that in mind. I’m about to head into a no-signal zone,” Fat Boss said as he ended the call to meet up with his date.

After finishing the call, Yang Bo stopped watching the news, figuring it was all nonsense he already knew about. Instead, he logged into the game forums.

Sure enough, a bunch of people were acting out, blaming the officials for creating leaderboards that encouraged killing, claiming they had a terrible influence on children.

Some were even demanding rights for zombies… and there was an absurd amount of support for these arguments.

“What a bunch of crazies,” Yang Bo was disgusted. He couldn’t understand how these people even came up with such nonsense. Were their brains just not functioning?

While Yang Bo browsed the forums, the March Planet officials matched biological samples from the scene and discovered the true identity of the felons.

“Brotherhood?” March Planet’s officials were shocked by the results of the biological analysis.

The Brotherhood was a famous assassin organization that existed back on the original home planet before the intergalactic era. Originally a mutual aid association, it was eventually disbanded by the Federation due to its shady dealings, with the remnants fleeing to the Azure Blue Empire. The Empire then funded the Brotherhood as a dual-purpose assassin and intelligence organization.

One of the casualties was a gold-level assassin with the code name Silver Butterfly.

Silver Butterfly got his name from his infamous weapon, the Crack Void. It was said that when the Crack Void flew through the air, it looked like a silver butterfly. Silver Butterfly’s greatest notoriety came when he killed the very forging master who made his Crack Void, earning him a galactic-wide bounty from the Forgers Guild.

The March Planet officials were overjoyed! The reward from the Forgers Guild wasn’t money or materials but the establishment of a guild branch on the planet that killed Silver Butterfly.

The establishment of a new branch of the Forgers Guild required strict qualifications, specifically a large population with the potential for forging talent. Once established, the guild would begin training new apprentices each year, providing free education.

This news sent shockwaves throughout the galaxy. Silver Butterfly was a well-known, veteran A-class powerhouse, reputed for his formidable superpowers and his band of subordinates who all possessed mysterious abilities. And now, he had died in the rural backwaters of March Planet?

The Forgers Guild prepared to send a specialist to verify the claim.

Yang Bo finally looked into the Crack Void to see how it was made.

Second update complete.