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Kobayashi Nobukazu's cautious nature likely came from his mother's womb. From the moment he was conscious, he was meticulous. From middle school onward, whether in class, on exams, or in extracurricular projects, he always did everything well and thoroughly, considering everything, never letting anything slip, and never allowing for even the slightest mistake.
With good habits and extreme self-discipline, it was hard for him not to excel. So naturally, at the age of twenty-five, he was trained as the family's heir.
In reality, his first half of life wasn't as glamorous as it seemed. His parents weren't directly related, and his mother was even his father's mistress. For a lowly illegitimate child like him, simply being acknowledged was a struggle.
When he was seven years old, he returned home from school and witnessed his mother being stabbed to death in their apartment. The killer, while disposing of the body, told him to stand still. He stood motionless against the wall, not crying or speaking, simply watching silently. When the killer cleaned up the crime scene and was about to take him away, he said, "There's a neighbor's surveillance camera outside the hallway. It should have captured your face." Even the killer was stunned for several seconds.
He'd long wanted to escape his current life. He didn't want to live in a shabby apartment. He wanted to buy action figures, comic books, and video games like his classmates, wear new shoes, and eat hamburgers. But his mother, almost thirty and still with a baby face, insisted on showing off, working multiple jobs and running around, persevering despite the hardship. The phrase he'd heard so many times was: "Xiaohe, the future will definitely get better! Keep going!"
The murderer sent him to his father's large house. His father's wife was infertile, so he was their tool for inheriting the shares. His father was the second child, far less capable and talented than his elder brother. No matter what he did, he could not compare, so he was crazy and wanted to work hard on the younger generation.
Whenever his father was dissatisfied with something, he would throw him to the ground and beat him with a belt, punishing him severely for small mistakes. By the time he was ten, he almost never made mistakes and could complete everything exactly and perfectly.
When his father asked him to be gentle, he was gentle; when his father asked him to smile more, he smiled more. In the eyes of outsiders, he almost became a perfect young man: knowledgeable, friendly, elegant and polite.
Only after he takes a shower can he see the look of the person in the mirror, which is actually cruel.
For several years, as if cursed, the Kobayashi family suffered a lot of bad luck, especially on the younger generations. They were disabled in car accidents, disappeared, murdered, and had mental illness. There were not many healthy people in the family.
Finally, after the unexpected death of the talented and capable Kobayashi Misa, her cousin Kobayashi Hanegi lost his composure. He had long suspected the illegitimate child, but he was unable to find any evidence, and even hiring a private investigator couldn't uncover any flaws. He was terrified and anxious, fearing he would be the next to die.
As a last resort, he forged evidence.
At Misa's funeral, while the pastor was reading the eulogy, Kobayashi Yuyi took the microphone and unveiled the evidence in front of the entire family, unmasking the murderer. The evidence was overwhelming, interconnected, and it wasn't just Misa Kobayashi; every accident that had happened to every member of the Kobayashi family over the past few years was linked to Kobayashi Nobukazu.
"In order to get the inheritance rights, he killed his brothers and sisters who had always taken care of him! This bastard!" Kobayashi Yuyi angrily threw the microphone in the face of Kobayashi Nobukazu who was mourning in front of the coffin.
The head of the Kobayashi family, Kobayashi Kyoichiro, who is nearly ninety years old, asked, "Did you do this?"
"It's me." He rubbed his cheekbones, and when he answered, the corners of his mouth curled up as if it had become muscle memory.
Suddenly, the uncles, aunts and other aunts in suits were struck by lightning. They rushed forward in anger, wrestling and tearing each other, turning the solemn funeral into a mess.
Kobayashi Yuyi watched the fire from afar, hiding his inner ecstasy.
He looked at his sister's portrait and burst into tears.
Amidst the throng, Kobayashi Nobukazu calmly pulled a pistol from his suit pocket and pulled the trigger. After the gunshot, the funeral quickly returned to silence. Kobayashi Yuyi fell back heavily, his eyes fixed in disbelief.
For a moment, screams and cries merged as bodyguards rushed over and snatched the gun from his hand. In the chaotic crowd, he was pushed to the ground, keeping a smile on his face as he silently endured the tugging, grabbing, punching, and kicking.
The white-haired old man banged the floor with his cane and said, "Stop it. He is the only heir now."
"What skills do you want to start with?" Tao Sai asked.
"S-level magical skills." Kobayashi Nobukazu showed his signature smile, then signaled with his eyes to the four commandos who came with Tao Sai. "Ms. Tao, as I said just now, you equip them with the S-level magical skills, and leave the rest to me."
Tao Sai hesitated, feeling rather embarrassed. "Actually, I lied to you. I only have one S-rank skill, a gift from the system after I topped the leaderboard in Season 1. You killed that top player, and his skill is with you."
As if he had guessed it long ago, Kobayashi Nobukazu was not surprised and nodded slowly, "S-level magical skills are indeed not that easy to draw."
He extended his hand and made another "please" gesture, indicating that Tao Sai should equip the skills on the commandos.
"Wait a moment, I have a few questions to ask, do you mind?" Tao Sai said.
A hint of dissatisfaction flashed in Kobayashi Nobukazu's eyes, but he still nodded gentlemanly, "Miss Tao, you ask."
"Is Drifting Mist an S-level divine skill?"
Being within the range of the diffuse fog can render skills ineffective. To be honest, this is a bit unbelievable.
"It's just A-level." Kobayashi told the truth.
"So, in the dense fog, all skills will be ineffective? Including S-level skills?"
"yes."
"No." Tao Sai denied it firmly.
When Kobayashi Nobukazu heard this, his expression froze.
"S-level divine skills can be immune to the diffuse fog, because I just verified it."
Tao Sai continued, "You don't know, right? You haven't verified it, because the S-level skills snatched from the top players are not in your possession. You are not the one in charge of Jiange, or is there someone behind Jiange?"
There was a long silence, and Kobayashi Nobukazu had a hypocritical smile on his face, and his real expression could not be seen.
But silence was actually his attitude, and he accepted it.
Tao Sai felt inexplicably depressed, as if an invisible hand had descended from the sky and covered him.
Player Minghao, the person in front of him, other players in Jiange, and even countless characters like Cheng Li who only have bodies but no souls, they are all just tools, tools to grab skills and serve him.
So who was the owner of this huge hand, and how powerful was the power behind it? She knew nothing.
After a while, Kobayashi Nobukazu waved his hand and said, "That's not important, Ms. Tao, let's get to the point. It's getting late, and it's good for the skin for ladies to get some beauty sleep."
Tao Sai nodded obediently, thinking that this information was enough.
Her eyes suddenly lost focus, and she pretended to be operating the game interface. She caught a glimpse of his figure out of the corner of her eye, and then suddenly exerted force, turned around and kicked him.
He was thin and had no protection, so he was the perfect choice as the breakthrough point.
Anyway, the "Deep Sea Fish" and "Twilight" have already left, and she has no baggage.
Just do it and it's done.
Since boarding the Ureshino, Tao Sai had been observing the situation discreetly. She'd spotted about thirty unconscious tools on board, scattered across the deck and the bridge, all armed with submachine guns and wary expressions. Without the ability to use skills, surviving the hail of bullets was a real challenge. As the saying goes, "Shoot the horse first, capture the thief first." So, her first thought was to subdue the man before her.
In the last second, Kobayashi Nobukazu was still smiling, but in the next second, his eyes became fierce, and he took half a step back to avoid the kick.
He is very fast and has quick reactions.
This was within Tao Sai's expectations. It couldn't be that easy. Although he looked thin and frail and had no weapons, he actually possessed strong combat power. Otherwise, why would he not have a tool man to protect him?
Kobayashi Nobukazu retreated to the door, his expression still calm.
"Ms. Tao, I've already let your family and friends go, but you've gone back on your word. Isn't that unkind? If..."
Before he could finish his words, another kick came again. Tao Sai didn't say a word and launched a series of fierce attacks on him.
All the kicks were nimbly dodged. Tao Sai threw a punch and shouted, "Cheng Li, come help me!"
Kobayashi Nobukazu did not dodge the punch, but reached out to catch her fist. He pushed her hard and pushed her more than a meter away.
Tao Sai stumbled back two steps, regaining her footing. She realized what had happened belatedly. She had thrown a punch with all her might, without holding back, and yet, with her strength at over twenty, she was caught barehanded and even bounced back. This was unnatural.
He couldn't use any skills in the mist, so he relied solely on his own abilities. This showed that his strength and agility were both higher than Tao Sai's.
Cheng Li also rushed forward. He was faster than Tao Sai, but he still couldn't touch Xiaolin Xinhe's hair. She quickly called out to the other three commandos: "You also come up, get your guns!"
The three men immediately and resolutely carried out her orders, took out their submachine guns, and aimed at Kobayashi Nobukazu who was dodging Cheng Li's attack.
Cheng Li caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of his eye and took a half step back. The three commandos immediately pulled the trigger in tacit understanding, and a long string of flames instantly spurted out of the muzzle of the gun.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Kobayashi Nobukazu did a backward somersault, pushed himself hard against the ground with both hands, and bounced himself out of the room.
All the bullets hit the floor and the wall, and none of them hit anyone.
Cheng Li gestured and was about to lead three commandos in pursuit when Tao Sai shouted, "Don't chase! Back off!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Cheng Li, who was running in front, took a step towards the door, and a fire network woven by countless bullets instantly covered the entire doorway.
Fortunately, Cheng Li reacted quickly and retracted his foot. The submachine gun bullet almost grazed his shoe. If he had been a second slower, his foot would have been completely shattered and no bones would have been found.
Fire suppression, crushing shooting.
Dense bullets were still flying in from the doorway, hitting the metal floor and metal walls, shrapnel flying everywhere, making clanging sounds, and all the furnishings in the room were full of holes.
A blasting bomb with the ring pulled was suddenly thrown in from outside the door. Cheng Li quickly grabbed a chair and swung it, knocking the rolling blasting bomb out.
At the same time, Tao Sai moved with his back against the wall, stretched out his legs and hooked them, then slammed the heavy metal door shut.
The moment the door was completely closed, there was a loud bang outside and the blasting bomb exploded.
The room suddenly became dark, the light from outside was cut off, and the dense gunfire stopped.
From the moment he entered the room, Tao Sai had been observing the secret room. The floor, ceiling and walls on all four sides were not made of ordinary materials, but some kind of special synthetic metal, which was extremely strong. Just before the door was closed, Tao Sai noticed that countless bullets had been fired at the floor and walls, but there was not even a bullet hole, only some slight scratches on the surface.
It was absolutely impossible for anyone to escape from such a solid and airtight chamber. Furthermore, they were shrouded in fog, making it impossible to use their skills.
That's why he invited me into the secret room in the first place, and while dealing with me, he set up a crushing firepower network at the only exit.
But there are always unexpected things. What he overlooked was that the S-level magical skills were not affected by the fog, and Tao Sai's S-level magical skill [Collapse] could just solve the current dilemma.
While still on the Deep Sea Fish, Tao Sai was thinking about how to respond when a long, heartbreaking cry suddenly came to his mind.
She was so frightened by the crying that she wanted to curse, so she blurted out, "You're making so much fucking noise!"
Because it interrupted her train of thought.
Just a few hours after feeding him, he's hungry again, and he doesn't know how to choose the right time to be hungry!
But at this moment, her eyes lit up and she suddenly realized: [Collapse] is a skill, it is calling, and it doesn't seem to be blocked?
She tried to equip herself with [Collapse] and activated it. Sure enough, she was not affected by the fog and could freeze the position of the singularity normally.
As for why [Collapse] was not affected by the mist, Tao Sai certainly didn't know the reason. Perhaps it was the bloodline suppression of the S-level skill over the A-level skill.
In short, after closing the singularity, Tao Sai suddenly became more confident.
In the dense fog, when no one can use their skills, I have an S-level magical skill in my hand, how can I be afraid of you?
So she let everyone go, leaving only the four commandos with the highest combat power. On the one hand, she pretended to use them as a carrier to exchange skills, which was what he suggested anyway; more importantly, she wanted to keep helpers for herself.
After seeing off the Deep Sea Fish and the Twilight, she suddenly felt enlightened and fearless. The heavy shackles on her body were removed, and her self-confidence was stronger than ever before.
She could single-handedly challenge nine ships and hundreds of men from Jiange, yet she was no match for them. The barefoot were not afraid of the shod, a desperate struggle!
It’s better to win.
If she really couldn't do it, she would unload [Collapse] and all her skills before she died, leaving these bastards with nothing. If she still had a breath of energy left, she would crawl behind the cover, spend gold coins to buy as many explosive mines as possible, and then calmly pull the ring.
The secret room was completely quiet. The sound insulation was so good that no sound could be heard from outside. The room was filled with the smell of gunpowder from bullets, which was a bit pungent.
Towse pulled at her collar, covered her nose to breathe, then turned on the flashlight, shone it around, and finally fixed the beam on the ceiling.
Tao Sai was familiar with the structure of the fourth-level shelter ship. If she remembered correctly, the top of this secret room should correspond exactly to the corridor on the second floor of the bridge. Breaking through it should achieve unexpected results.
Activating [Collapse], she froze the blue light spot against the ceiling, and the synthetic metal near the singularity immediately deformed.
The metal matter was sucked into the center of the singularity little by little and collapsed into nothingness, but it would take a lot of time to collapse into a hole that people could crawl out of.
The shrill cry finally disappeared from my mind.
Tao Sai ignored this for the moment, moved the flashlight beam away, and was alert to possible situations in the room.
Kobayashi Nobukazu sat in the chair, took a sip of black coffee, leaned back, rested his head on the cushion, and let the bitter taste spread on his tongue.
He glanced in the direction of the doorway, his expression calm.
There were 50 elite soldiers on board the "Ureshino". At this moment, they all surrounded the ship, on the ground floor, upstairs and downstairs, with the muzzles of their submachine guns pointed at the doorway. The front row held bulletproof shields, and the back row prepared explosive bombs to ensure that there would be no accidents.
In the dense fog, skills are ineffective and the only two things you can rely on are firearms and melee combat.
And these two things are what the elite soldiers are best at, and they train tirelessly day and night for these two things.
Of course, this deal was fake, a plot he'd concocted. From the moment she entered the secret room, or even the moment she stepped onto the deck of the Ureshino, he could have had someone take action. Without her skills, she wouldn't survive the hail of bullets.
But he didn't do it because - [Player Resurrection Card].
She had this game item, which she obtained after completing the hidden quest "Hunting." The rewards for the hidden quest were clearly displayed, so of course he knew about it.
The [Player Resurrection Card] was a very tricky item. One of his capable subordinates had suffered a loss from it before, but he also learned its effects:
After a player dies, resurrection will be back to 30 minutes before death.
If you had shot her at that time, even if she was beaten to pieces, she could use the [Resurrection Card] to go back to thirty minutes ago.
After resurrection, she knew exactly what would happen in the next thirty minutes. Although she might still have no chance of winning, she could escape and make the wisest decision to sacrifice the rook to save the king.
If she escapes, she will be like a tiger returning to the mountains and become a big trouble.
Kobayashi Nobukazu had actually been paying attention to Tao Sai for a long time, starting from the moment he dealt with the player's public enemy. His scalp tingled, his whole body trembling as he watched the death announcement on the world channel. It took him a while to recover, and then he emphasized the nickname Cx330.
He could fully foresee that this player would become a serious threat to them in the future!
At that time, there were almost no people on the world channel, and the player public enemy was rampant and arrogant.
Of course he also had his eyes on him, but he couldn't do anything to him for the time being. Even though he set up an ambush and lured him to a certain coordinate under the pretext of forming a team, he still ended in failure.
The player public enemy was a very tough opponent, which might have been due to the fact that they were still in the novice stage of the game and had not yet mastered enough. In that ambush, not only did they return empty-handed, but more than 30 assassins were also killed - most of those assassins had now been transferred to her ship T.
Kobayashi Nobukazu had a head-on fight with the player's public enemy. He was holding a katana, and no matter whether he was chopped, stabbed, or hacked, he was safe and sound. Even if one of his arms was cut off, it would grow back in an instant.
The player's public enemy frantically grabbed the sharp sword with his bare hands and shouted, "I have 99 points of resistance and immortality. Do you fucking understand the value of this? Fuck!"
The assassin rushed forward, holding his head with a submachine gun, and the bullets shot into the back of his head, every bullet hitting its target. He locked the assassin's throat with his backhand and tore off his collarbone, leaving a bloody mess. Then he patted his head and shook out the bullet casings one by one.
So, when the hidden mission was triggered, Kobayashi Nobukazu didn't take it immediately. He knew very well that it was already a monster, and going to find it would be like giving it away.
Instead of giving away kills, it is better to continue developing and improving your training level.
How did she kill the player's public enemy?!
After the information about the player's public enemy's death was announced on the world channel, he rushed to that coordinate point, searched everywhere, and finally found a deep pit on a cement road by the river.
The pit sunk several meters deep and there were still traces of blood inside.
He couldn't guess what specific method was used, but it must be as violent as Mars hitting the Earth.
Considering the player's public enemy's 99 points of resistance and super-fast recovery ability, it can be imagined that in order to successfully kill him, he must be crushed into minced meat.
She really hates him...
Later, for two consecutive nights, Kobayashi Nobukazu even had nightmares, and the thought of the shredded meat made his whole body shudder.
Therefore, Kobayashi Nobukazu takes his opponent seriously and is cautious enough to make sure he is fully prepared before taking action. Once he strikes, he will kill with one blow, showing no mercy and leaving no chance for a comeback, because her revenge is extremely terrifying.
It was part of his plan to let the two refugee ships go. As soon as they emerged from the fog, he had someone mark them with a skill outside the fog. Once things were resolved here, he would catch up and kill them all. It would be the same. After all, the mark only lasted 24 hours.
Now, all they had to do was trap her in the secret room, hold her for thirty minutes, and then kill her.
Because as long as she delays for thirty minutes, even if she uses the [Player Resurrection Card], he will still be in the secret room and nothing can be changed.
The secret room is actually a whole, and the material is extremely special: the skill [Stress Control] is used to squeeze the atoms of the strongest metals "cobalt", "chromium" and "tungsten" together to create a material called "super cobalt-chromium-tungsten alloy".
This new type of super cobalt-chromium-tungsten alloy is stronger than any material on Earth. Even the mouthparts of those insects can only leave scratches on it.
He had someone conduct an experiment in which a one-ton super cobalt-chromium-tungsten alloy was thrown into a swarm of insects. After the swarm passed, the shape of the alloy was almost the same as before, and it weighed 950 kilograms, with only a loss of 50 kilograms.
Unfortunately, the "super cobalt-chromium-tungsten alloy" could not be put into mass production. After much thought, he decided to use this alloy to build a safe house for himself on the "Ureshino".
If anything unexpected happens, he can hide in the safe house, which is made of extremely strong material and is bulletproof, explosion-proof, fireproof, waterproof and radiation-proof.
Of course, such a safe house can also be used to trap people to death.
The safe house was airtight, with no windows or vents. The only opening was the door. After thirty minutes, if the door was sealed, the person inside would suffocate to death from lack of oxygen.
Of course, he still has one last layer of insurance.
Letting the two refugee ships go was intentional. Skills are equipped on characters, so if the distance is too far, the player can no longer switch to their own. He saw with his own eyes that the two ships escaped using [Space Warp], and the coordinates were hundreds of kilometers away.
Therefore, even if something unexpected happened and she escaped from the secret room and jumped into the sea, she would not be able to use [Space Warp] and would be drowned in the vast ocean after a long time.
He has considered and patched up all possible loopholes. The only uncertain factor is the S-level magical skills.
He really didn't know that the mist would not be effective against S-level magical skills. He had never come into contact with skills of this level from beginning to end. The magical skills that Minghao seized were directly given to Mr. Liu.
He is not worthy of having his own S-level magical skills.
Kobayashi Nobukazu glanced at his watch and saw that 15 minutes had passed.
One of the assassins brought a large bucket filled with water and towels. They would use the wet towels to block the cracks in the door, as water can penetrate any hole, and soaked towels are the best sealant. By laying down the towels one by one, they could achieve absolute isolation.
He rubbed his temples, wondering what the S-level magical skill in her hand would be.
It must not be a miraculous skill like [Matter Decomposition], otherwise, she could crush them all into powder with this skill alone.
It shouldn't be a combat skill, otherwise he would have used it on him when he was in the secret room.
Probably other functional skills.
Five minutes later, Minghao felt uneasy, fearing the night would drag on. He raised his hand and gestured for the two assassins to seal the gap with a wet towel. The air inside the safe house would be enough to hold out for a while, and the death would be limited to thirty minutes.
Once the order was given, the death squad immediately carried it out without hesitation.
They took out wet towels from the bucket, and without wringing them, they laid them tightly on the gap in the door, layer after layer, and lay at the door, pressing it with their hands to block it.
Just like that, another hour passed and Kobayashi Nobukazu finished the cup of black coffee. The bitter coffee was quite refreshing and he was now in a very good mental state.
He stood up from his chair and suddenly realized that the kill information had not yet popped up on the system panel in front of him.
He had a bad feeling. The secret room was only a few square meters in size, and there had been no ventilation in the room for a long time before he came out. There were as many as five people in it, and the air should have been exhausted long ago after such a long time.
Could it be that... she felt suffocated and killed those four assassins in advance to ensure she could breathe more oxygen? No, she shouldn't be that kind of person.
He held his chin in his hand and pondered, could it be that suffocation to death didn't count as a kill? He had never tried such a killing method before.
But it seems that this is the only explanation that makes sense. If that's the case, it's a bit of a loss because I didn't directly steal the skills from her.
But it doesn’t matter. After the player dies, the player’s identity will be transferred to the first mate, and the skills will be with the new player. You can get the same skills if you kill him again.
Anyway, the coordinates of the "Deep Sea Fish" have been marked by them.
After waiting for another ten minutes, Kobayashi Nobukazu felt there was no need to wait any longer, so he asked people to remove the towels and then knocked on the door.
The door was knocked open by a few hits of a battering ram, and a few blasting bombs were thrown in first. After the muffled sound of the explosion, the death squad with bulletproof shields went in first, and the others followed with submachine guns.
Kobayashi Nobukazu was strolling leisurely at the back.
There was no sound of fighting inside and the assassins did not fire any shots, proving that everyone was dead.
He stepped into the doorway of the secret room and looked around, his eyes gradually becoming fixed. Finally, for the first time, shock appeared on his calm face: "Where are the people?"
The secret room was empty except for the dead men.
When he looked up, he suddenly saw a round hole in the ceiling with a diameter of about 70 to 80 centimeters. The hole was regular and without any flaws, as if it had been perfectly cut out by a machine.
"Chase her! Shoot! Kill her!!!" Kobayashi Nobukazu roared at the loudest volume of his life, furious to the extreme.
The assassins obeyed the order and acted quickly. Some of them climbed up the round hole in the ceiling nimbly, and some ran out of the door. All fifty assassins on the "Ureshino" took action.
Only Kobayashi Nobukazu was left in the secret room. After everyone left, he suddenly saw a line of large words left on the metal wall, written in bright red lipstick.
"You're dead."
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