Kill one monster, stack one poison, and I alone will poison my way across the world!

"Don't move."

Just as Su Chen was preparing to command the snake guards to attack, a clear, cold female voice came from the shadows a dozen meters away.

A pungent smell of deodorant wafted through the air, masking human body odor.

Su Chen didn't look up. The [Exploding Staff] in his hand glowed faintly, and his mental energy remained locked on the direction from which the sound came.

"Oh dear, I didn't mean any harm."

The shadows twisted, and a short-haired girl emerged.

She wore dark gray, tight-fitting leather armor with obvious repair marks on the edges. A strand of hair on her right side was braided into a tight braid and tucked behind her ear.

What's eye-catching is the unique badge she wears on her chest.

It has a round silver base with a ring of star trail patterns engraved on the outer edge.

In the center is the silhouette of a six-pointed star tower, with a cross star floating above the spire.

【Song Xin】

【grade:???】

[Class: Shadow Assassin]

……

The reconnaissance techniques only provided basic information.

The question mark indicates that the other party has special items to conceal their identity.

Su Chen glanced at the badge on her chest, lost in thought.

A few seconds later, he asked, "What's up?"

Song Xin stopped 15 meters away, which is the safe distance for outdoor professionals to meet by chance.

Approaching directly like the previous five people is no different from declaring war.

Her gaze passed over Su Chen and landed on the several pools of corpses on the ground that had turned into green water. Her throat bobbed almost imperceptibly.

What kind of poison is this?! It can directly poison a human corpse?!

"Hey classmate, can I ask you something?" Song Xin pointed to several puddles of green water on the ground, so indistinguishable from human bodies. "These people are on the wanted list, and their bodies are worth three thousand gold coins. You killed them, but you're not a registered bounty hunter, so you won't get the money. Sell the bodies to me, and I'll give you five hundred gold coins."

Su Chen glanced at the three pools of dark green poisonous water on the ground, then at Song Xin.

Are you sure it can still be recycled?

"Don't worry, I have my own methods."

"..."

Su Chen pondered for a moment.

A 3,000 gold coin order, buy it for 500?

These middlemen are really greedy, making a huge profit off the difference.

"Not for sale."

Su Chen refused decisively.

Although he didn't actually get the bounty, who knows what she was really up to?

Song Xin gritted her teeth, seemingly in pain: "Eight hundred! That's the most I can do. The guilds behind these people are very troublesome, and I'll also be taking risks when I handle the corpses."

"Not interested."

Su Chen twirled the staff in his hand. "If you want to take it by force, you can try."

The tip of the [Exploding Staff] glowed with a ghostly green light, and the surrounding air temperature plummeted.

Song Xin's eyes sharpened, and her hands instinctively reached for the dagger at her waist.

She took a deep breath, released her grip on the dagger, raised it to her chest, and made a gesture of surrender.

Although the man in front of me is only level 10, he can kill several professionals of higher level without taking any damage, which is definitely strange.

That faint sense of danger made her hesitant to make any rash moves.

"Fine, if you won't sell, then don't. Fighting and killing will only damage our relationship." Song Xin shrugged. "Since the corpse business isn't working out, how about we do some other intelligence trading?"

Su Chen didn't speak, he just looked at her.

"The location of a secret realm," Song Xin offered, "a difficult-level secret realm for levels 10 to 15. I discovered it the day before yesterday when I passed by, but unfortunately my level was too high to enter. This information could be sold to the big guilds for at least two thousand gold coins. I think you're a good match, and with these corpses... let's make friends, how about a trade?"

Su Chen raised an eyebrow slightly.

Hard difficulty dungeons for levels 10-15?

In this world, dungeons and secret realms are two completely different concepts.

Dungeons are fixed spatial folding points. As long as the level and number of players meet the requirements, you can enter at any time. The monsters and loot inside respawn at fixed times.

But the secret realm is different.

The secret realm is a randomly generated temporary spatial rift, and its existence time is not fixed.

Most importantly, each secret realm is unique.

Once someone completes the dungeon, the secret realm will disappear permanently.

This means that the resources in the secret realm are for exclusive use.

The first-clear reward, experience points, and top-tier equipment are all monopolized by one person.

"make a deal."

Su Chen nodded.

Song Xin breathed a sigh of relief, quickly took out a tattered piece of parchment from her backpack, drew a simple map on it with a charcoal pencil, crumpled it up, and tossed it to Su Chen from a distance.

Su Chen took the crumpled paper, unfolded it, and glanced at it.

[Hint: Obtain the special map item 'Coordinates of Broken Wind Valley Secret Realm']

"It's yours now."

Su Chen took the parchment, glanced at it, and after confirming that there was nothing wrong, stepped back a few paces and made way for him.

Song Xin's eyes lit up, and she quickly stepped forward, skillfully taking out several small, crystal-clear bottles and neatly filling them with puddles of green water.

The whole process was smooth and efficient, clearly indicating that this wasn't the first time they'd done something like this.

After collecting her spoils, Song Xin let out a long sigh of relief, sat down on a large rock nearby, took out a hard piece of dry food from her waist pouch, and took a big bite.

"This job is absolutely inhuman."

She complained in a mumbled, indistinct way.

Su Chen also walked to the other side of the tree roots and sat down, maintaining a distance from which he could strike at any time.

He took out some water and dry food from his backpack and ate a few bites.

"You're a student at Sky Dome Academy? A top student from a prestigious university, out working part-time collecting corpses in the middle of the night?"

Su Chen looked at the school badge on her chest and finally asked the question.

This is one of the reasons why he was willing to make the trade.

No one dares to forge the emblem of Sky Dome Academy.

Song Xin rolled her eyes, swallowed the dry food in her mouth, and gulped down a mouthful of water.

"What high achiever? At Sky Dome Academy, poor bastards without connections have to be careful even to breathe."

She patted the potion bottle at her waist. "At Sky Dome Academy, everything is based on credits. Skill books, advanced equipment, and time spent in the training room all require credits. Without credits, you can't even go up to the third floor of the cafeteria."

"credit?"

Su Chen was taken aback. "So you've become a bounty hunter?"

"Don't even mention it." Song Xin sighed, her tone tinged with helplessness and frustration. "Our mentor is a madman, who calls it 'teaching according to aptitude.' He said that an assassin like me, without the support of family resources, can only grow quickly by walking on the edge of life and death. So he just threw a bunch of bounty posters at me and told me that this was my final assessment."

She pointed to the body bag that had just contained the body.

"These people were part of my assessment list. Who knew you'd beat me to it? If I weren't outmatched, I would have snatched them from you already."

Song Xin speaks very frankly.

In the wild, such openness is actually a sign of safety.

Everyone is in it for their own benefit; as long as their interests don't conflict, they can coexist peacefully.

Su Chen took a bite of the dry rations.

This professor is something else, forcing freshmen to commit murder and robbery.

However, this Sky Dome Academy is quite interesting. It implements the law of the jungle so thoroughly; no wonder it can become a top-tier institution.

"That secret realm."

Su Chen pointed to the map in his hand, "What's the situation inside?"

"I don't know." Song Xin shook her head. "I only glanced at the entrance with a detection spell. It's difficult level, level restriction 10-15. The entrance is below a cliff in Broken Wind Valley. There are a few level 14 elite monsters guarding it, so I didn't get too close."

"Oh, goodbye then."

After saying that, Su Chen ignored Song Xin, clapped his hands, turned around and walked into the night, heading towards the direction of Broken Wind Valley on the map.

The secret realm... I hope it will drop some good stuff for me.

"..."

Beside the fire, Song Xin ate dry rations in silence.

Is this really a high school student?

He left as soon as he got the information, without any hesitation or lingering, showing no mercy, more like a seasoned veteran.

"Are all high school students this cunning these days? They even know how to dispose of a corpse. I was originally planning to take the body away after he left and reap the benefits."

"However... heh heh, still a bit green!"