To put it bluntly, in the eight worlds since he arrived on Earth, Han Xiaodong has been one of the most threatening enemies to Jiang Ran.

Just as Han Xiaodong believed Jiang Ran must have a trump card, so did Jiang Ran.

But thinking about it carefully, there are very few contracted monsters of the [King of Monsters] level among all the ghost storytellers in the world. Even the monster that helped Arceus back then was just the Monster Scythe with the individual number 069, which was also only of the [King of Monsters] level.

[Near God] level, is that really an existence that can sign a contract with ghost story tellers?

Furthermore, signing a contract isn't simply a matter of the supernatural agreeing. If that were the case, everyone would likely have a contracted supernatural being. If they couldn't find the "King of Supernatural Beings," wouldn't they at least be able to find the "Elite" and the "Supernatural Beings"? The supernatural world would then become a chaotic free-for-all, where everyone's contracted supernatural being would be the most powerful.

To complete a contract, there must be a "medium," such as a contract scroll or something else that serves as the carrier of the contract.

Such things are extremely rare and hard to come by. Jiang Ran didn't know how Han Xiaodong got his hands on them, but it must have been no simple feat!

An extra [Demon King] could indeed disrupt the current battle!

Jiang Ran sidestepped and kicked Borough to the ground!

"He fucking switched places with you! Go ahead and kick him!"

"I will do that."

Jiang Ran's figure disappeared and reappeared on the chessboard!

"Jiang Ran!" Han Xiaodong smiled. "Do you still have cards to play? I'm very curious!"

Previously, Han Xiaodong had not revealed his contractual abilities because Jiang Ran possessed the talent to kill these abilities. Everything Han Xiaodong had done before was to deplete Jiang Ran's opportunities!

"Curiosity killed the cat—" Jiang Ran squinted, "and so did you!"

Yu Cheng's ability is to consume physical strength to create items. Although Han Xiaodong didn't know why Jiang Ran could create items so easily, he could keenly detect the reduction in Jiang Ran's physical strength after each creation, no matter how insignificant it was.

"After you created the fireflies, you also created an anesthetic, right?" Han Xiaodong's confidence grew stronger. "If you used any more, you wouldn't have the stamina to continue fighting. And you can only use this anesthetic on John, because you don't dare gamble that he will turn against me, and you can't bear the consequences of him shooting Planck!"

"And now, you no longer have that ability!"

Han Xiaodong said no more. The dark shadow danced on his arm and suddenly pounced on Jiang Ran, like a large net!

If the Holy Serpent doesn't stop him, then Han Xiaodong will kill Jiang Ran right here!

Conversely, he would immediately turn around and snatch the other [Sacred Fruits]!

Jiang Ran flicked out an anesthetic injection!

"Is it possible that I didn't need to administer the full dose of anesthesia to John?"

Taking advantage of the moment when the grinner was momentarily distracted, Jiang Ran drew his holy weapon and rushed toward Han Xiaodong!

"Is there still such a trick up your sleeve?"

Jiang Ran swung his knife at Han Xiaodong, but Han Xiaodong did not dodge, because he knew he couldn't.

"Do you think I always play it safe?" Han Xiaodong revealed a crazy smile. "Actually, I'm a gambler, a big gambler!"

"Look! How fascinating and intoxicating is the unpredictability of fate!"

The Holy Serpent stood between the two!

"You can't kill him yet for the sake of the game."

"Jiang Ran, it seems you've lost this bet."

Once the Smirk wears off, he can act as an extra unit, leveraging a single point to disrupt the entire battlefield!

Strangely, Jiang Ran ignored Han Xiaodong and instead leaned closer to the [Holy Serpent] and whispered something to it.

The Holy Serpent remained silent.

"This level is acceptable, isn't it?"

Jiang Ran bypassed the [Holy Serpent] and knocked Han Xiaodong to the ground with a single punch!

"Go ahead and fight, it doesn't matter, Jiang Ran. You can't kill me, and you can't make me lose consciousness."

"I really want to ask you, why do you always want to kill me?"

"Does this need a reason?" Han Xiaodong chuckled. "There are just too many people who want to kill you right now! But I'm different from them. I enjoy the process, haha, Jiang Ran, I'll probably never forget you for the rest of my life!"

Jiang Ran sat on the ground, feeling somewhat weak, perhaps due to excessive physical exertion.

Han Xiaodong looked like he'd seen a ghost when he saw this!

How could this be?! Based on all the details and his judgment, Jiang Ran should have lost his ability to speak by now! How could he still be constantly expending his energy?!

"Jiang Ran... what exactly did you do?!"

The ability of the program is to consume a certain amount of physical strength to create items. The amount of physical strength consumed is linked to the items created. As long as enough physical strength is invested, the abilities of the items are entirely at the user's discretion.

What is the best way to reduce the physical effort required to craft an item without diminishing its effectiveness?

It adds some negative effects; in other words, it adds a "restriction" to the item.

The anesthetic needles that Jiang Ran created do not provide a temporary anesthetic effect, but rather a "permanent" anesthetic effect!

The unit hit by the anesthetic needle will fall into anesthesia, which will then continuously consume Jiang Ran's stamina until Jiang Ran's stamina is exhausted, at which point the anesthetic effect will stop. Because of this effect, it does not require much stamina to manufacture the anesthetic needle.

Han Xiaodong noticed this and naturally thought that the strength of the crafted item would increase with the consumption of physical strength. The fact that so few items were consumed meant that Jiang Ran's physical strength was exhausted, which also meant that the item itself was not very strong.

Several minutes passed, and the fighting around them was already in full swing. The man with the creepy smile was still under anesthesia, which kept Han Xiaodong on edge. His confidence was replaced by a serious expression.

Ultimately, he didn't know the specific principles behind language processing abilities; all the information he gathered was based on guesswork.

John finally played his hand, using the [Elite] to hold off the big black dog and prevent them from taking advantage of the situation to kill the Laughing Man. Old Bull alone couldn't break through his defenses.

If Han Xiaodong doesn't even get a single [Sacred Fruit], he'll still die. So given the circumstances, he has no choice but to help him!

"Boss! I'm here!"

Sloth has finally returned to the battlefield!

The balance of power in the arena has been restored.

20 minutes are up! Deal the cards again!

A final glint of light flashed in Han Xiaodong's eyes!

If their hand is good enough this round, they still have a chance to turn things around!

We must at least retrieve one [Sacred Fruit]!

"Alright, ever since you decided to make your move in the last round, you yourself didn't want to drag it out, so how could you convince yourself that you could turn the tables?" Jiang Ran revealed a smile and showed his hand!

"Once you master the true gameplay of this game, you'll find that things like the [Sacred Fruit] and the strange occurrences don't matter at all!"

[Near God Level - Holy Serpent]!