Besides helping his client rank up, he even had to suck up at offline events. As a power-leveler, Wang Wei was truly in a league of his own.
But hey, it’s for money. Nothing shameful about that!
Is life ever easy for an adult?
’Good thing I wore this Face Armor. If Wang Wei saw me, it’d be instant social suicide.’ Chen Jue breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He decided to keep a low profile and focus on hunting today, to avoid being recognized by Wang Wei.
...
As the water level in the river was pumped lower and lower, the muddy riverbed slowly began to emerge. Onlookers on both banks started to cry out in alarm.
"There’s fish in the water!"
"Look at those fish! Why are they all covered in spots and patches? They’re hideous!"
"Holy crap! What the hell are those things?"
The forms of Cleaner Fish began to appear in the muck. The sight of their patterned bodies, enough to trigger trypophobia, made the onlookers feel sick to their stomachs. It was even more overwhelming than the stench rising from the sludge.
Over on the hunting party’s side, someone had already set up a livestream camera. The group members, having finished tuning their gear, were all eager to get started.
The offline event was sponsored by a wealthy member of their group. There were cash prizes for the top three people who killed the most Cleaner Fish, with the first-place prize being a whopping 8,888 yuan.
However, before anyone made a move, all eyes in the group fell on the Brother of Special Skills, the one wearing the Face Armor.
"Hey, how about you give us a demonstration?"
"You know, just to kick things off for everyone, give us the signal?" Guo Shao suggested from the side.
More than half the group members at the event had come specifically for Chen Jue. They were all itching to see his legendary Nail-throwing skill in person.
Seeing their anticipation, Chen Jue gave a slight nod. He pulled the box of Nails out of his pocket, pinched a three-inch round Nail between his fingers, and aimed at a Cleaner Fish thrashing in the mud about five or six meters away. Then, with all his might, he threw.
THUNK! The gleaming three-inch Nail struck the Cleaner Fish’s hard, bony armor. But instead of piercing it as Chen Jue expected, the Nail simply ricocheted off and plopped into the mud!
As for the Cleaner Fish, it continued to thrash about wildly in the mud, as if mocking Chen Jue with a message: "Failed to penetrate their armor."
"???"
"What the heck was that?!"
"I thought this was supposed to be some legendary Nail-throwing skill?"
"That’s it?"
It wasn’t just Guo Shao and Yang Fan who were stunned; the thirty-odd other group members were completely baffled too.
Chen Jue’s aim was spot-on, but the Nail just didn’t have enough power behind it.
The Cleaner Fish was covered in a thick, hard shell. An ordinary person might not even be able to kill one with a single hammer blow, let alone with a lightweight Hidden Weapon like a three-inch Nail.
"Hey man, maybe... try another Nail?" Guo Shao asked quietly.
He’d put a ton of effort into organizing this offline event for the group.
Ever since they filmed the video of him nailing that rat, Guo Shao and Yang Fan had been bragging nonstop in the group chat, hyping up how incredible the Brother of Special Skills was.
They had finally managed to get Chen Jue to come, but his very first demonstration was a total flop. It would be much harder for them to act like big shots in the group and rally so many people for an event after this.
Chen Jue just shook his head. "The Nails are too light! They can’t pierce the Cleaner Fish’s armor!"
’He was a Lv5 Master of Hidden Weapons, after all. He had seen the problem instantly.’
’With my current Strength, I can’t use a Nail to break through the armor of this bony fish.’
He then pulled a Short Sword Dart from his other pocket. He asked one of the group members for a piece of Fishing line, threaded it through the tail of the dart, and once again, threw with all his might. The gleaming silver dart let out a sharp WHINE as it sliced through the air.
The sound, tinged with sharpness and a hint of killing intent, instantly drew everyone’s attention.
The dart struck home. Blood splattered as the Short Sword Dart punched clean through the still-thrashing Cleaner Fish. Red blood streamed from the wound, mingling with the black sludge.
Chen Jue gave the Fishing line a gentle tug, reeling his first prize onto the bank.
"Holy shit!"
"Okay, I’m a believer. I can barely pierce these Cleaner Fish with a Crossbow Arrow, and he punched right through it with one throw!"
"That’s a special skill! A genuine special skill!"
"This trip was totally worth it!"
The thirty-odd group members who had witnessed this amazing feat of Darts with their own eyes erupted into thunderous cheers along the riverbank.
Some took photos, others recorded videos, and a few even used their own gear to test the hardness of the armor on the Cleaner Fish Chen Jue had pulled ashore.
Aside from a few custom-made Crossbows and high-poundage Compound Bows that could barely pierce its armor, nothing else worked—not mud pellets from a slingshot, not even arrows from traditional bows could break through the invasive species’ shell.
Remembering that Chen Jue had made the kill just by throwing the dart by hand, the group members couldn’t help but marvel at his skill. The initial failure with the Nail was all but forgotten.
As for Chen Jue, he didn’t let the group’s enthusiastic praise go to his head.
Instead, his eyes widened slightly at the new notification that had popped up on his panel:
——————
[Ding~]
[You have completed a perfect practical application of a Hidden Weapon, successfully hunting a rare prey with exceptional survivability.]
[Hidden Weapon Throwing Skill Level +300]
——————
’I can’t believe this thing is basically a mini-boss out in the wild. No wonder it gives so much Skill Level!’