Chapter 34: The Curse of the Truman Undead

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

The coffin lid revolved in the air for a few rounds before it landed heavily on the ground. The screeching sound of the lid dropping onto the ground was amplified multiple times in the empty hall, its echo making one’s eardrums throb.

A dried and rotten palm appeared on the edge of the coffin, followed by the whole body. The monster’s body was covered in patches of dark yellow moldy spots. There were two eyeballs fixed onto its skull, and it carried a black colored book. A series of eerie sounds were heard as it moved its jaws.

Dark Summoner Lesse: Level 9 Elite, Health Points: 1900.

“Dgagh…” (Language of the Undead: Revival of the Dead!)

Light Empathy!

Lin Jie activated the skill that came along with his alias. Holy Light flashed across the Dark Summoner’s body. The summoner laughed coldly—it was not affected by the Holy Light at all.

In The New Age, when the dead were revived with vengeance, they would be considered as ‘Fallen.’ The stronger their faiths in their past lives, the more powerful they would be once they had fallen! Some examples included the Fallen Angels and Fallen Paladins. Dark Summoners were classified as the Elite tier as they were strong believers of their faiths when they were alive. This type of creatures was immune to Lin Jie’s interruption techniques.

The creaking sound of the bones sent chills down one’s spine. One after another, the Undead rose up from underground beside the tightly packed weaponry racks in the hall.

‘Run!’

A Dark Summoner which could not be interrupted was even stronger than a Dark Gold Boss!

Lin Jie took a brief look at the book the Dark Summoner was holding on to. His eyes narrowed, and he simultaneously activated Hunter’s Forward Charge and Wild Charge, increasing to double of his movement speed. Like a gust of strong wind, he ran past the Dark Summoner and disappeared from its vision.

The book also disappeared together with him.

——————————————————

At the Weaponry Hall.

“Old Qing 1 , you will be returning to teach one month later right?” Wine God Elder spun his hammer around casually, bringing up a gust of wind which blew off the monsters surrounding him. “Do remember to visit me on your weekends. I will die of anxiety if I can’t move around for a whole week.”

Wine God Youngster’s eyes turned red. “Don’t worry, I will bring you around when I visit you every day.”

“Su- wait, what sound is that?”

Dong——

Dong——

The sound of a series of concentrated footsteps startled them. A wooden door exploded the next second—tens of rotting Undead barged into the place from the doorway, carrying all sorts of weapons. They looked around with their blood-red mouths opened and ran excitedly towards the Wine God Brothers once they saw them.

“Old Qing, run!” Wine God Elder shouted. ‘Where the hell did this group of monsters come from?!’ He used his body to attract the attention of the Undead before turning back to call his brother.

A gleam of cold light flashed past Wine God Youngster’s eyes. Sparks flew out from his spear as Wine God Youngster struck it out against an Undead carrying a heavy ax. He grabbed his brother’s right arm and retreated quickly.

The Undead swarmed towards them like tidal waves!

The two of them escaped in a panic, and soon they were out of the main hall and approached a corner of the Weaponry Hall.

“Hey, where are the monsters?” Wine God Youngster was stunned for a moment. He probed his head ahead cautiously, and his pupils constricted when he saw the scene inside.

A figure stood holding a copy of a dark colored book in front of the whole army of Undead, donning a messy black armor suit and carrying a rusting heavy sword, his greyish-brown Rune’s Cape floating in the air.

Lin Jie stroked the book with his right hand. Ripples of air radiated outwards from the place where he stood, and the Undead cowered backward in fear.

“Come and help me.”

“Sure.”

The pair of brothers threw a look at each other and took their positions besides Lin Jie, one on the right and the other on the left. The Undead caught the scent of new living bodies, and driven by their desire for flesh, they dispelled the fear in their hearts and rushed forwards, screaming loudly.

“Weaken!” Stroking the book lightly, several black halos of light surged outwards from where they stood.

Wine God Elder stomped heavily down, creating a fissure on the ground surface!

Consecration!

A big wave of 40 plus damage points floated up and was being absorbed by the Undead. However, Wine God Elder was surprised when he saw that each of the Undead could only cause around 10 plus damage points in return. Their attack power had been weakened!

Taking the chance to drink a Health Potion, Wine God Elder felt more refreshed. He immediately struck out his Hammers of Discipline and started killing off the believers one by one.

Meanwhile, Lin Jie remained at his spot. He stroked the book in his hands from time to time and emitted rounds of queer halos from where he stood.

Clang-

Clang-

The Undead dissipated into the air and dropped their weapons onto the ground one after the other.

There was a huge increase in Lin Jie’s EXP bar simultaneously. He was about to reach Level 6!

“Thanks a lot,” Wine God Elder saluted to him. As the common saying goes, ‘one should be flexible to change and adapt to different circumstances.’ Wine God Elder could look down on Lin Jie before due to his skills, but he was also flexible enough to accept the fact that Lin Jie had saved them, and thus, he thanked him sincerely.

Lin Jie grinned widely. At the same time, his eyes fell upon the book in his hands, his thoughts racing fast as he tried to process what happened a while ago.

That “Curse of the Undead” was the book he snatched from the Dark Summoner. The moment he flipped open its pages, Lin Jie’s health bar dropped by 30 points. In exchange, he learned the Language of the Truman Tribe Undead. This was a small tribe within the whole species of Undead, but they were skilled at cursing people and casting the Dark Grudge spells.

Curse of the Truman Undead (Dark Gold)

No job restriction, Assisting Accessory.

Requires: Level 5

Attributes: None

Additional: You are allowed to use the skills of a Truman Curse Master. However, you will not be able to move during the period of time you equip this book.

The spells Lin Jie used just now were known as the “Weaken Grudge” and “Dead Grudge.” That was a very special type of equipment. The longer one equipped himself with it, the more skills they could learn from the book. However, just in that few seconds of battle that had passed, Lin Jie had noticed that his Endurance points had decreased by one! That was something he had not expected.

Only the Undead and Mages which pursued extremity would use such equipment.

“Rare equipment?” Wine God Elder took a look at the book and smiled. “You can just address me as ‘Old Mai’ 2 .”

Wine God Youngster chuckled. “My bro’s very thick-skinned. He most probably had forgotten how impolitely he treated you previously. Please don’t mind him.”

Lin Jie couldn’t help but smile. This pair of brothers were indeed very frank.

As they sat down and replenished their health with bread and water, Lin Jie asked politely, “Are you guys mercenaries?”

Though Lin Jie would really prefer to drink potions, he still joined them and attempted to make small talk.

“Mercenaries?” Wine God Elder raised his brows, “you can say that. We just established a two-man workshop recently… But I do like the sound of mercenaries. Okay, I have decided, I will be a mercenary from today onwards!”

Lin Jie blinked his eyes, feeling rather dumbfounded. ‘What, you mean they were not mercenaries from the beginning?’

‘Erm, did I just lead them on their destined paths before the stipulated timing…?’

In the midst of their conversation, Wine God Youngster had picked up and stored the weapons dropped by the Undead away.

“There are a total of 27 pieces of Level 5 Bronze Sets. Their attributes are much better than those sold in the shop, they should be quite popular.”

“Give all the weapons to Fu Sheng.”

“But, Brother Wine God…”

“Just call me Old Mai, I can’t get used to the sound of my username.”

“Sure. Old Mai,” Lin Jie relented in. “I don’t have enough space in my bag for storing. Maybe the two of you can have them instead.”

Old Mai took a look at the equipment’s attributes. “Well, I didn’t expect the monsters to spawn so much equipment at a go. I guess we can most probably earn a few thousand dollars by selling them off. How about this, I will transfer you $1,500. The rest will be counted as the labor fees for our efforts.”

“Sure.” Lin Jie did not bother to reject this kind gesture. It was definitely good to be able to earn more money.

As the Dark Summoner was revived, there were no monsters refreshed in the Weaponry Hall for the time being. They sat down and talked for a long time. Wine God Elder kept trying to find out more about the Mercenary Association, but Wine God Youngster just sipped on the wine he brought along and at the same time kept on correcting the wrong words used by his elder brother in his speech. Lin Jie told all he knew of about the Mercenary Association to the two brothers. He even told them the secret tactics they could use to level up their own mercenary team. With those tactics, their mercenary team would be able to level up to Level 2 immediately, which could save them a lot of time.

“Wow, I can’t wait for this.” Wine God Elder laughed. “It’s been a while since I got real action. I have just been trying to level up this whole time since the game was launched.”

Wine God Youngster chuckled. “Fu Sheng, if you are interested, you can stay here for a while with us. We can bring you around and help you level up. At the level you are at now, you might be looked down upon by arrogant fellows who don’t know you well.”

Wine God Elder coughed dryly. “True, true…”

Lin Jie shook his head. His primary goal for this trip was to get the Sub-Legendary equipment. Even though those two players had good reputations, it was best to be more cautious when it came to the matter of getting Sub-Legendary equipment.

‘Better to be safe than sorry.’

“I will give this book to you.” Lin Jie placed the “Curse of the Truman Undead” book on the ground. He added, “The Weaken Grudge can decrease 15% of the monsters’ stats, Old Mai will enjoy a good time killing monsters with it. But do remember to put it away immediately after the spell, or else it will decrease your own Stats.”

“Wh-this is Dark Gold equipment, I cannot keep this!” Old Mai was just about to push the book back to Lin Jie, but he was already gone.

——

“Giving gifts and leaving dashingly”—this was the swankiest act that was well employed by players of the Bandit jobs.

Imagine this scene: before a great war, a gallant knight gritted his teeth, plucked a bunch of fresh roses and handed them silently to the maiden of his dreams, without giving a damn to his bleeding palms caused by the flowers’ thorns. He activated Stealth mode and left the lady, while she gazed at his back longingly with her bright and watery eyes, now brimming with worry and anxiety. Her long hair flowed in the light breeze, while his blood and tears dripped down on the battlefield far away…

Many male players had attempted that stunt before. The next moment, their Friends Column would light up, and tons of questions would rain down upon them, all of them from the girl: were you confessing to me or just kidding around? If you were serious about this, come over to my house instantly. All my family members—my father, mother, and my distant relatives—were all waiting for me to bring a guy back home…

——

Lin Jie went back to the crossroad. Since the Sub-Legendary equipment was not found at the Weaponry Hall, where could it be?

The Main Hall? Or the Library?

‘The Library doesn’t seem a likely place for storing equipment. Better check out the Main Hall first.’

Ding~

Ding~

Lin Jie opened the system’s notification bar. One was from the bank. Wine God Elder had transferred $4,000 to him. That included the price of the Dark Gold equipment he wanted to give them for free.

The other notification was a reminder from the outside world.

‘Seems like Mother is calling me for dinner…’

Chapter 35: Elder Cousin Comes To Visit

Lin Jie took off his helmet, flattened his messy hair and went out of the room.

Lin Jie’s house was very small, but with his mother’s diligent housekeeping skills, the house did not seem squeezed at all. The old sofa occupied about one-quarter of the space of the small living room. The 28-inch television was broadcasting a program from China Central Television (CCTV). His sister, Lin Xiaoxue propped up her chin with the back of her hands. She was responding laggardly to another person’s questions, her eyes wandering off to the television from time to time.

Lin Jie’s father was still at work, while his mother was cooking dishes in the kitchen. An uninvited guest was sitting in the living room, and that person was Lin Jie’s elder cousin. His name was Zhang Shu, and he had just come back from his overseas studies. Zhang Shu was a pretty boy, and his status as an overseas returnee earned him great admiration from his relatives.

“Xiaoxue, what’s so nice about this program?” Zhang Shu shot a look at the “Law-Online” program which was broadcasting on the television. He pretended to be surprised as he pressed on the television remote control. “Wow, this does bring back lots of memories. I haven’t used such an old-school television remote control since ages ago.”

He surfed through the channels, stopping at the English channel finally, and added enthusiastically, “Oh, now this is a familiar sound! Xiaoxue, I bet you don’t know, these English programs are the ousted programs overseas, one can only watch them in this country…”

Xiaoxue rolled her eyes, her soft, petite face full of resignation.

“It’s been such a long time since we last met, Elder Cousin.” Lin Jie sat down beside Xiaoxue, made a gesture to her with his right hand secretly and smiled brilliantly at Zhang Shu. “Xiaoxue, get up, I want to talk to Elder Cousin for a while. You go and watch the TV.”

Xiaoxue made a face, held the television remote control and quickly moved to another spot in front of the television.

“Xiaoxue…” Zhang Shu was about to get up when Lin Jie hugged his shoulders and pulled him down. The enormous strength on his shoulders startled Zhang Shu. Lin Jie had been long known within his relatives for his weak physique. When did he develop such a strong grip?

What he did not know was the influence Lin Jie’s past life had on him. When Lin Jie went offline every night, the memories from his past life would flood his mind and made him unable to fall asleep. He would start exercising whenever that happened and could only lie down when he was totally exhausted and perspiring all over.

“We brothers haven’t met for so long. Come, let’s catch up about the good old days.” Lin Jie poured a cup of tea, sipped from the cup in a sagacious and elegant manner, and after which he quietly slipped a few pieces of rock candy into his cup. “How was your life overseas? I heard you’ve dated a few Caucasian girlfriends.”

Zhang Shu chuckled and puffed out his chest. “Oh, they are fine, just okay. Girls overseas have fiery tempers, but I guess you won’t ever get to know them, hahaha…”

“What are you talking about?” Lin Jie’s mother walked out from the kitchen, wearing an apron with specks of oily prints on it. She was delighted at seeing the two of them engaged in conversation.

“Jie, your Elder Cousin came back from overseas to manage some business. He’s an overseas returnee now. You should learn from him and listen to his experience so that you might have a chance of going overseas when you finish your college.”

Zhang Shu bowed his head down shyly. “Auntie, you are making me feel shy with your praises. Saying that though, indeed, not everyone has the opportunity to go overseas. I will help cousin achieve that.”

“Aye, that’s comforting to hear. Come, let’s have dinner first. Your uncle will be returning home late.” Lin Jie’s mother took off her apron and led them to the dining table.

“Xiaoxue, come over and have your dinner!”

“Mum, I want to watch the TV. I will have dinner later.”

“That’s ridiculous, come here now. Your Elder Cousin is here already, how can the hosts be away from the dining table when guests are taking their meals?”

“I am watching the Outlook English program [1. Outlook English was an educational television program broadcasted by CCTV’s educational channel from the years 2001 to 2011 in Mainland China. This program aimed to expose the audience to the Western culture and English language].”

“Oh, okay then…”

Frankly speaking, the whole point of having dinner with relatives was just to boast of each other’s achievements over the years. One would share ‘inconspicuously’ over dinner about their recent accomplishments, like how great their achievements were, so on and so forth. In turn, they would be congratulated with ‘surprised’ and ‘envious’ responses like “oh that’s great to hear, wow, nice, and oh by the way I have also made an accomplishment, did something great, etc…”

Seeing that Xiaoxue had managed to escape from this ‘trial,’ Lin Jie asked in a small voice, “Mum, I want to watch Outlook English too…”

He was hoping his mother would take pity on him and spare him from this ordeal.

His mother glared at him. “Do I not know your English standards? That TV program has no Chinese subtitles at all! Sit down and have your dinner with your cousin!”

Lin Jie felt like crying. Resigned to fate, he sat down at the dining table.

Zhang Shu rapped on the dining table, sighed and commented, “Ah, those were the days…”

“Hmm. I will send Xiaoxue’s dinner over to her. By the way, I will accompany her to watch Outlook English.” Lin Jie’s mother took a bit of food from every dish and left…

‘She left… left!’

Lin Jie almost puked blood. ‘Mum, that’s really smart of you! Now Zhang Shu’s only left with me, and I have to endure all his crap, alone!’

“Cousin, do you play The New Age?” Zhang Shu suddenly asked. “This was the hottest game overseas! This is the result of rapid economic developments, no doubt…”

“I do,” Lin Jie put a piece of diced chicken into his mouth and munched on it.

“Which level are you at now?”

“Level 6.”

Zhang Shu laughed heartily, “Oh, that’s not very high. It’s a pity we are not at the same lands (players from different countries are sent to different planes of land), or else I can help to train you.”

Lin Jie shrugged and continued eating.

This was perhaps one of the most depressing dinners ever.

Zhang Shu felt depressed because he was unable to boast to his contentment during this rare trip back home. Lin Jie felt much worse. Who in their right mind would like to hear a ‘radio’ that kept repeating the words ‘those were the days…’ when having dinner?

In the living room, Xiaoxue and Lin Jie’s mother were having the time of their life enjoying the cartoon ‘Boonie Bears’ [2. Boonie Bears was a series of cartoons broadcasted by CCTV kids’ channel from the years 2012 onwards in Mainland China]. When they saw that the pair of cousins had finished their dinners, they even shooed them out of the house, with the excuse that Lin Jie should bring Zhang Shu around to let him reminisce the city’s night view.

Out of no choice, the pair could only stroll along the streets, knowing full well that they disliked each other mutually.

“Hey? There’s a gym there?” Zhang Shu jabbed Lin Jie’s chest and pointed to a small gym nearby surprisingly. “Let’s go over and take a look.”

Lin Jie furrowed his brows, as he had long noticed the female attendant at the reception counter in the gym. She was dressed scantily in a spaghetti straps top and an ultra-short skirt for the summer. She could be considered rather pretty with the thick makeup on her face.

That girl was Lin Jie’s first girlfriend, Wei Lu.

Everyone was once young and ignorant before, and Lin Jie was no exception. Wei Lu had been one of the most popular girls in his class during high school. Lin Jie had gotten attracted to her, and hence naturally viewed her as the girl of his dreams. During one of the examinations, she had asked Lin Jie to provide her with the answers, and both of them had been caught. The then hot-blooded Lin Jie had admitted sole responsibility for their misdeeds. He had received all the demerit points, while Wei Lu had gotten away.

As a form of compensation, Wei Lu had agreed to be Lin Jie’s girlfriend for three days. They had barely held hands for a few times before Lin Jie was dumped. Thinking back, the whole incident was just like a comedy.

Moreover, Wei Lu had also been flirting with other guys within those three days. What’s more ridiculous was when Lin Jie had written her a note to ask if they could be together for real before they graduated. In an attempt to shame Lin Jie, Wei Lu had announced it to the whole world. Lin Jie’s perseverance to wait for the acceptance from this ‘girl of his dreams’ for that few years was thus gone to naught…

At Zhang Shu’s insistence, both of them went into the gym.

“Welcome…” Wei Lu made a deep bow, her fair breasts almost popping out from her top. Zhang Shu’s eyes were dazzled briefly by this scene. She raised her head and was rather astonished when she saw Lin Jie. After which, she remarked impatiently, “Lin Jie, don’t come and bother me anymore, you are not worthy of me.”

Zhang Shu puffed out his chest and smiled politely. “Hi gorgeous, I am sorry, I just came back from overseas and wanted to find some place to exercise. I didn’t know of your past grudges with him. I am so sorry about this.” Then, he held Wei Lu’s right hand and planted a brief kiss, trying to show his gentlemanly manners.

Wei Lu scrutinized Zhang Shu, turned back to look at Lin Jie, and the despise in her eyes became more obvious.

“Oh, it’s alright, I don’t mind. Do you want to apply for a gym card?”

One gym card cost $1,500. It was something like a membership card, and frankly speaking it was just cheating money.

Lin Jie took out $60 and placed it on the table. He commented smilingly, “Wei Lu, we have after all been classmates for so long. How about giving me a full discount and waiving off my fees? Elder Cousin, let’s go in.”

“I am sorry, he… doesn’t have a lot of manners,” said Zhang Shu apologetically, his eyes fixed on Wei Lu’s exposed thighs and plump boobs. He gulped down his saliva secretly.

After both of them went in, Wei Lu commented coldly, glaring at Lin Jie’s direction, “Hpmh, still that stingy after all this time.”

“Darling little Lu-lu, are you in a bad mood?” A manly-looking thug came into the gym. He had tattoos of the Green Dragon and White Tiger on his bulging muscular arms, and his hair was all dyed white. The moment he came in, he hugged Wei Lu’s shoulders, and his fingers pinched the tips of Wei Lu’s breasts through her clothes. He chuckled satisfactorily when he heard her gave a coy moan.

Wei Lu shot a glance at Lin Jie. “My admirer has come to bother me again. Ay, Brother Ben, don’t touch me… Mmm, let’s wait ’til the night, I am still at work here.”

“Admirer?” Brother Ben continued caressing Wei Lu’s body and gave a cold sneer. “I will help you get rid of him. As compensation, heh, heh…”

Inside the gym.

Zhang Shu took off his shirt. His carefully maintained tanned muscles attracted the attention of many girls. In an attempt to show off his strength, he gave a low and deep cry, and punched heavily onto the boxing machine!

240kg!

A huge figure appeared on the machine’s indicator. This was an impressive amount of strength.

As technology advanced, the physical strength of human beings improved by heaps and bounds too. The strength of 240kg was comparable to the strength of the Fighting King decades ago.

Wei Lu was rather surprised when she saw the score from the reception counter. The records in this gym were set by the gym owner. The gym owner was a famous kick-boxing coach and was especially well-known in this district. ‘This overseas returnee isn’t too bad, hmm. He looks good and has a robust figure too… Maybe I should get his contact later?’

“Cousin, you try.” Zhang Shu was pleased with his own performance. He flexed his muscles, and several guy-crazy girls screamed a little at this action.

Lin Jie shook his head. “Forget it, I don’t like doing such assessments.”

“Hehe, then I shall continue.” Zhang Shu was on a whim and decided to go for the different tests. He got rather remarkable scores from all the tests, including the leg strength, speed, and elbow strength tests. Those scores were comparable to that of an amateur kickboxing coach. Although much worse than that of a professional competitor, it was still quite impressive when considered among normal people.

Lin Jie hugged his arms, leaned casually beside the boxing machine and looked around the gym boringly.

Brother Ben clenched his fists tightly and smiled cruelly. His huge muscles sent shivers down one’s spine. As he walked towards Lin Jie, he began to muster up his strength. Though it was fun to fight with people, he considered ‘exercising’ with girls in bed far more thrilling. As such, he planned to knock Lin Jie out with a punch from the back, and then carry Wei Lu off to bed to satiate his lust. Thinking about her petite waist just made him feel more hot-blooded.

Hoo-

A big gust of wind was brought up by his fists as he punched towards the back of Lin Jie’s head! If this punch landed accurately, Lin Jie’s head would be smashed up!

Boom!

A large bumping sound was heard. Lin Jie’s left elbow knocked ruthlessly towards Brother Ben’s jaw. The sound of bones and teeth cracking in his mouth sent shivers down everyone’s spine. Lin Jie clenched his right fist, and every landing spot of his fist seemed to come with the sound of a death knell. With a loud cry, Lin Jie punched onto Brother Ben’s chest!

This scene was totally unexpected!

Duang!

When Brother Ben’s body hit the boxing machine, a huge figure appeared on the machine’s indicator.

345kg!

Another sound rang out in the gym. It was an electronic pre-recorded voice which announced, ‘Records Broken!’, making the scene seemed even more comical!