### Chapter 3: Wiped Out in One Move
What in the world were those hundred people showing up right in front of her?
Dressed in pure white outfits that screamed traditional Xianxia, complete with blue floral patterns on the sleeves, the group was led by a tall, handsome, and aloof figure.
Each of them gripped weapons dripping with bl**d, and their gazes toward her were full of confusion and restraint.
At that moment, Lin Nan was more convinced than ever that she had been tricked by the system into entering the wrong door.
And here she was, just a level 1 sad-sack villainess, yet to commit a single evil deed—was she really about to be stomped into the ground by them?
No, no, no. Stay calm.
Right, just treat this like a coincidence. Let’s not bother each other, okay?
If she could sneak past them without any confrontation, they might overlook her due to her harmless appearance.
“Cold Value +10!”
“Cold Value +10!”
“Cold Value +10!”
“……”
Score!
So it turns out that just by acting aloof and not initiating conversations in a crowded space, her Cold Value would increase like crazy.
“Ding… Your Cold Value has exceeded 100, and your passive talent has been activated. As long as you don’t make any moves that diminish your Cold Value, this talent will continuously provide you with experience bonuses.”
Awesome! These righteous disciples were just as easy to deal with as she remembered in her past life.
She casually walked by them, and they didn’t even flinch. They even added to her Cold Value—talk about being a live saint!
Lin Nan had made up her mind; once she forcefully logged out, she would definitely contact the game company to file a complaint.
The righteous sect was her cup of tea! If these guys from the Immortal Gate were really as harmless as they appeared, she would already be scattered to the winds otherwise.
“Boss, what should we do?”
The assistant whispered into Tang Tong’s ear as the Black-Clothed Woman walked coldly past their group.
Tang Tong gritted his teeth, “Better to avoid trouble; I don’t want any hiccups with my leveling mission. The map exploration is already at 100%. Once she passes, we’ll retreat immediately.”
“Understood!”
But just as she was about to pass the last person, right before the Spider Cave, a crossbow bolt suddenly shot out from the crowd, heading straight for the back of her head.
In the split second before impact, it was as if her head had eyes; she merely tilted it, and the bolt “whooshed” by her ear, a few strands of hair fluttering in the air.
This all happened in a flash. By the time Tang Tong reacted, the woman had already turned around, her bright eyes veiled in a layer of a thousand-year-old ice.
“cr*p! Who the hell is going rogue?!”
Before Tang Tong could even shut his mouth, the Black-Clothed Woman vanished from sight. When she reappeared, she was standing right in front of the crossbowman who had just attacked her.
“Teleportation! It’s teleportation!” The crowd erupted in uproar.
The audience in the live streaming room collectively gasped.
The leveling system in “The Way of Inquiry” was quite similar to “Heavenly Domination,” so anyone who had played “Heavenly Domination” could pick it up quickly. This type of blink-like skill was something only high-level NPCs possessed in “Heavenly Domination.” Players needed both skill and luck to learn teleportation.
Until the servers shut down, there had never been more than a thousand players with teleportation skills in “Heavenly Domination,” and the conditions were incredibly strict. Top players treated it like a treasure to be used only at critical moments.
And now, after the Black-Clothed Woman was attacked, she immediately used teleportation. Based on “Heavenly Domination” experience, she was at least an 80-level NPC boss.
Among this group, Tang Tong was the highest level, but he was only at level 10.
A bunch of under-10-level guys were nothing but fodder in front of an 80-level NPC boss.
Yet some people didn’t seem to realize this.
The crossbowman, facing the suddenly appearing Black-Clothed Woman, shouted, “Take her down! She must have good gear!”
Some newbies who had never played “Heavenly Domination” ignored the warnings and charged forward, and at that moment, the terrifying scene unfolded.
All she did was raise her right hand, and gentle snowflakes began to fall from her fingertips—only these snowflakes were black and white.
In the next instant, the crossbowman, who was attempting to distance himself from her, was suddenly lifted into the air, as if an invisible hand was choking him. With a “crack,” his head tilted, and in less than a second, his lifeless body dangled in the air before vanishing.
With ease, the Black-Clothed Woman had killed her attacker, then turned her icy gaze toward Tang Tong.
In that moment, he felt a palpable murderous intent.
He knew that the instant the crossbowman took his shot, they had provoked an unwelcome and powerful boss, successfully drawing her attention.
It was the textbook definition of aggro, just unfortunate timing.
Based on past combat experience, even without any system prompts, there was no doubt that this gang of Outer Door Disciples had already been marked as targets by her, and escape was impossible. In front of all these live viewers, the only thing left for them to do was to carve out a bloody path.
“Listen to my command. Tanks, brace yourselves; healers, fall back and keep your distance. Crossbowmen, h*rass her! Anyone with fire charms left, throw them at her! Swordmasters, get ready to charge with me! We’ve got over a hundred people, maybe a miracle will happen!”
Though even he didn’t really believe the last part, there was no turning back now.
The audience in the live streaming room was beyond excited.
Oh my gosh, they were actually going to fight a hidden boss! Not just any boss—it was a teleportation boss! Not only did it have a massive level advantage, but they were also clueless about its skills. It was like taking a bunch of noobs into a raid for the first time.
Although the peanut gallery didn’t have much faith in this team of misfits, they were still ready to cheer them on.
After all, the scene where the boss teleported and instantly killed the crossbowman was still vivid in their minds.
It was simply badass!
The boss barely lifted her right hand, and that guy was hanging in mid-air like he was on a noose, twitching before he died. It made you wonder who had the gall to sh**t at her, thinking a simple crossbow made him invincible.
While Upgrade Maniac was devising a strategy for the assault, the Black-Clothed Woman seemed to find the entire situation absurdly funny, standing frozen in place, her cold gaze observing everything.
At this point, the black-and-white snowflakes began to grow even larger, gradually shifting to entirely black.
Though she didn’t know what would happen when the snowflakes turned completely dark, Tang Tong knew he couldn’t delay the boss fight any longer.
With no way out, he had to charge at the boss, hoping his subordinates would follow his orders and throw any remaining fire charms to cover their advance.
But just then, his movement suddenly came to a halt, as if a heavy hammer had pinned him to the ground.
Not just him—everyone froze in disbelief.
d*mn, this had to be the boss’s area-of-effect terror skill.
Sure enough, right when their movements stalled, the Black-Clothed Woman leaped high into the air, drawing out a pitch-black sword.
“Illusory Sea!”
The sky was filled with black snow, swept away by the sword’s wind. The formerly gentle snowflakes transformed into sharp darts, and those just regaining their movement skills couldn’t dodge in time. The ones who got too close were instantly riddled with holes, turning into clouds of dust.
In just one move, they lost a third of their forces.
The Black-Clothed Woman appeared to be toying with them, not continuing with whatever skill she was using to manifest the black snow but instead gently landing back on the ground.
Tang Tong, who narrowly escaped d*ath, breathed a sigh of relief.
However, in the next second, the ground covered in black snow suddenly trembled, and countless rotting hands shot up from below, clutching everyone’s ankles.
Panicked, they waved their weapons, trying to break free.
But it was obvious that their struggles merely prolonged their suffering, as more and more hands emerged, and for every one they chopped off, another would spring up, eventually dragging everyone’s arms helplessly to the ground.
Thus, a bizarre scene unfolded.
Aside from the still-cold Black-Clothed Woman standing at the center of the crowd, everyone else lay face up, arms and legs pinned down, barely able to move.
Then, the Black-Clothed Woman just blew a breath.
The black snow gently settled upon them, then ruthlessly tore their bodies into a brutal mosaic.
In an instant, everyone dissipated into a wisp of white smoke.
When they regained consciousness, they found themselves back at the town spawn point.
This entire spectacle had been recorded in full by a bunch of onlookers.
Needless to say, from that moment onward, two narratives emerged in the world of “The Way of Inquiry.”
“This… this hidden boss is way too awesome! Killing people is like an avant-garde art performance—so freaking thrilling!”
“Black clothes, black hair, black sword, and black lips—oh my! Don’t you think there’s something uniquely beautiful about her? I’m totally a fan now!”
“She’s just too aloof; I haven’t seen a single change in her expression. Good heavens, I can only imagine what kind of hardships she endured to become this way.”
“Ha! She’s just an emotionless NPC—stop trying to force a story onto her, will ya?”
“Exactly! Dressed like that and killing like a pro—I really don’t get why you guys are so smitten.”
“It’s just bullying a bunch of under-10 level scrubs. If she faced the Purple Dress Fairy of the Heavenly Sword Sect, she’d probably be crushed in seconds—no time to act all tough!”
In short, the first poor soul to complete the leveling mission, Tang Tong, found himself losing half his experience points due to his untimely demise.
Now level 5, he’d have to grind again to qualify to report back to the inner sect elder who issued the mission.
He was about to go crazy with frustration.
Thankfully, due to the appearance of the hidden boss, he skyrocketed to fame as the most watched streamer in “The Way of Inquiry” world, earning a hefty profit, which did ease his mood somewhat.
You win some, you lose some.
But he still couldn’t wrap his head around why an 80-plus level hidden boss would appear in a level 10 mission map. If players stumbled upon it—poof! Instant wipe!
Tang Tong’s post quickly shot up the forum’s hot topics list.
Players were still buzzing with excitement and shock over the Outer Door Disciples of Thousand Bird City being wiped out by the hidden boss in one move.
Immediately, someone replied in the thread, “The boss wasn’t even going to bother you guys, but one dumbass had to go and pull aggro. This was totally avoidable, yet here you are whining. Do you think we didn’t watch the stream?”
“Exactly! But we do owe you some thanks; if it weren’t for you stepping in, we wouldn’t have gotten to enjoy the boss’s style—haha.”
“Seriously, do any of you have a heart? The dude turned level 5, can’t he complain on the forum a little? Let me laugh for a moment longer.”
At that moment, an unexpected response appeared from the official game planner.
“We cannot control NPC movements, as they are designed to be living beings with their own thoughts and judgments. Perhaps that day, she happened to be wandering near the Spider Cave, or maybe she was in a bad mood and decided to go on a rampage. In summary, everything in the game is chaotic and random, seemingly coincidental yet inevitable. So, we can’t answer your question but hope you think twice before making any future decisions. That is all.”
