Chapter 2 First Task

  Moving slowly forward, with the scent on the mantis's body attracting the shield bug.

  Unfortunately, Zhang Feng had walked back and forth on this street three times, and there were no more beetles that could be attracted out.

  Zhang Feng sat down in a corner, pulled out a bottle of water and a piece of bread from his backpack, and replenished his energy.

  At this time, he suddenly found that in the depths of a small alley not far away, a figure wearing a black cloak was walking slowly.

  Zhang Feng's eyes lit up, he picked up his bag and stood up, saying loudly: "Wait."

  He met people again, which made him very happy.

  Although he was betrayed by his classmates, in this world, he still hopes to have companions to go with.

  After all, a person's world is too lonely, these ten or so days without anyone to talk to, almost drove him mad.

  The man in the black cloak heard Zhang Feng's shout, turned his head without any surprise and bowed deeply to Zhang Feng: "Respected warrior, are you calling me?"

  Under the black cloak, except for a pair of silver eyes, this person was shrouded in darkness all over his body.

  The movements of the black cloak were not like those of ordinary people, and the etiquette was somewhat similar to that of ancient Western styles.

  Zhang Feng slightly stunned, using reconnaissance against the black cloak.

  Mysterious merchant.

  Rank: Zero

  Status: Invincible.

  Merchants wandering in the corner of the battlefield, they have all kinds of goods. You can sell your spoils here and get the merchant's goods in exchange for spoils.

  Zhang Feng saw this attribute and rubbed his forehead in distress, sighing inwardly: "It's getting more and more like a game."

  Isn't this just the merchant in the game?

  The merchant saw Zhang Feng remain silent, so he opened his mouth and said: "Respected warrior, are you planning to sell your goods?"

  "Yes."

  Zhang Feng nodded and said: "Excuse me, is there anything else here?"

  "I'm just a novice merchant. I sell battlefield maps, monster guides, storage rings and some ordinary weapons, appraisal scrolls."

  "Storage ring? Is that a ring that can hold many things?"

  The merchant bowed respectfully and said, "Yes. As I mentioned earlier, I am a novice merchant, and the Storage Ring's grade is also the lowest. It can store five cubic meters of items, which should be enough for you."

  "How much is it?"

  "One hundred Earth dollars."

  "What's the exchange rate for EarthCoin?"

  The merchant glanced at Zhang Feng's backpack and said, "A damaged item dropped by a level one monster is worth five Earth coins. An intact one is worth ten Earth coins. Iron-grade items are twenty Earth coins, while bronze-grade items are one hundred Earth coins."

  Zhang Feng took out all the useless things he had collected in his backpack and said, "How much are these worth?"

  This is what Zhang Feng collected after killing insects. He knew that he might use them in the future, but he didn't think they could be sold.

  There are several iron weapons and some intact insect limbs.

  The merchant looked at the thing and said: "It's worth a total of 230 Earth coins. Do you want to sell it?"

  "For Sale."

  The merchant waved his sleeve on the ground and everything was collected into his sleeve.

  "I want a storage ring. Hmm, what's the battlefield map like?"

  "The battlefield map records the maps of level 1 battlefields and comes with the attributes, abilities, and activity areas of all ordinary monsters in level 1 battlefields. Of course, a small number of elite monsters and rare monsters are not included. A battlefield map requires thirty earth coins, are you sure you need it?"

  "Alright, one storage ring and one battlefield map." Zhang Feng nodded repeatedly upon hearing this.

  The storage ring can store things of five cubic meters, which is too important for him.

  Things that can be hit can be stored inside.

  The monster map can make him more aware of the distribution of monsters in the first-level battlefield, so that he can avoid danger. Such a thing cannot be abandoned.

  "One hundred and thirty earth coins," said the merchant, from whose sleeve fell a black ring and a folded map.

  Zhang Feng took it over and put the ring on his left little finger. Using reconnaissance immediately obtained the usage method.

  As long as you hold an item with your mind control, you can move the ring in and out.

  Zhang Feng immediately put down his backpack and took out the items, preparing to put them all into the ring. This backpack weighed at least twenty kilograms, filled with food and water, which somewhat hindered his movements.

  As Zhang Feng was taking everything out of his backpack and putting it into the ring one by one, he suddenly found that the merchant had been staring at the ham and canned goods.

  Zhang Feng's heart moved, he grabbed a few strips of bacon, took two cans and stood up to hand them over to the merchant, saying: "You've been trading here for a long time, you must be very hungry. I'll give these things to you, if you like them, I'll be very happy."

  The merchant didn't hesitate, and with a sweep of his sleeve, he gathered up everything in Zhang Feng's hand. His tone unchanged, he said: "Thank you for the warrior's generosity, I'm indeed a bit hungry. However, I won't casually accept other people's gifts. If you have the ability to hunt down a rare shell insect on a level one battlefield, you'll obtain a bone knife. I can help you appraise it for free as a thank you gift."

  "It's my honor."

  Zhang Fengqiang suppressed the excitement in his heart, knowing that he had received a task in the game.

  Only he could see the silver text floating in front of his eyes.

  Mission: Hunt and kill rare shell insects.

  The mutated beetles have a strong ability to dig into the ground and hide underground, attacking humans and posing a threat to human survival. The mysterious merchant hopes that brave warriors will hunt down and kill this strongest beetle, weakening their power.

  Reward: Get a chance to appraise an item for free once. Reward 1000 Earth Coins and gain 100 experience points.

  This is a very rich reward.

  "Respected merchant, if I complete the task, where can I find you?"

  "There will be a yellow dot on the battlefield map, that's where I am, you can find me on the map."

  "Alright."

  Zhang Feng packed up the remaining food and then bought four more appraisal scrolls with the remaining Earth Coins from the merchant.

  The badge I got turned out to be an unidentified item after inquiry, and a scroll of identification is needed to unlock its properties.

  After finishing all this, Zhang Feng bid farewell to the merchant and first identified the badge.

  Mantis Badge:

  Material: Steel.

  Properties: Can summon a level 1 mantis to fight for the wearer and gain a mantis aura, increasing agility by 10%.

  Thirty-five percent flexibility, Zhang Feng now only has happiness left.

  Having one more battle partner will make you safer on the first battlefield.

  The first-level battlefield is divided into seven large areas, located in seven non-adjacent positions of the city, separated by secondary battlefields in between.

  Areas outside of the first battlefield are all displayed as unknown.

  There is a yellow dot moving constantly above. A green dot remains still at one point.

  Zhang Feng looked at the map and found that the green dot represented himself.

  The first-level battlefield where I am located is a university-centered radius of ten kilometers.

  Above, some places where monsters appear are also marked with different insect marks.

  The street where I live has signs of beetles and mantises.

  The beetles and mantises occupied three streets, and the one he was on belonged to only a small street on the edge.

  "Since it's a rare beetle, it should be in the beetle's active area. Should go check the other two streets."

  Zhang Feng said, tightening his grip on his weapon, then summoned a praying mantis to walk ahead and attract the beetle.

  ……

  A tall and majestic figure, a slender and elegant silhouette moving through the streets, constantly scanning in different directions.

  At last, the tall figure saw the mysterious merchant walking in the alley and exclaimed with joy: "Sister, you're here."

  "Hurry up, I've finally found you." A slender and elegant figure flashed by, quickly blocking the mysterious merchant.

  This figure is none other than Chen Yu, whom Zhang Feng had met before, and the other one is Chen Yu's third brother.

  "Respected warrior, what is it that you need?" The merchant said in a tone that never changed.

  "We want to sell some things."

  As they spoke, Chen Yu and Da Han took out all sorts of things they had hunted.

  "Total value is 360 Earth coins, are you sure you want to sell?"

  "Yes."

  Chen Yu and Da Han nodded quickly, with a slight curl at the corners of their mouths.

  "I want two storage rings and two battlefield maps." Chen Yu seemed to be very familiar with the merchant's goods, not even asking what the merchant was selling, but directly pointing out the items.

  "Two hundred and sixty Earth dollars."

  The merchant held out two rings and two folded maps in his hands to the two people.

  Chen Yu and Da Han hastily put on the rings, then took out a lot of food and started loading it into the ring.

  Just as he was about to finish, Da Han grabbed a handful of food and stood up, handing it over to the merchant: "Respected merchant, you must be hungry too. These are for you, I hope you like them."

  The businessman didn't move and said: "Thank you, I'm already full, no need."

  The big man was stunned on the spot, like being struck by five thunders, his whole body stiffened.

  Chen Yu furrowed his brow and said worriedly: "This is terrible. It seems that someone has taken a step ahead of us. Is it the Li family or the Zhang family?"

  Dahan interrupted: "The Zhang family? Little sister, I remember that the young man you met not long ago was named Zhang Feng. Is he a member of the Zhang family?"

  Chen Yu shook his head and said, "No, he's just an ordinary person. His physical stats have always been pretty good, so it's also a bit of luck that he's managed to live until now."

  "This is troublesome. The task was snatched away, and now we'll have to pay several times the price to kill the bug. The Chen family's current power can't afford to suffer any more losses."

  "No choice, it has to be this way. Let's go, go back and tell Third Uncle." Chen Yu sighed and nodded.

  Dahan said reluctantly: "Why don't we try killing that beetle in this way?"

  Chen Yu shook his head and said, "It's useless. Third Uncle didn't say that only by receiving a task to kill can you 100% explode the Piercing Bone Knife? If it's like this, even killing ten times may not necessarily make it appear. Moreover, there is only one rare shell insect, who dares to try lightly?"

  "Alright, go back and tell my third uncle."

  ……

  Just as Chen Yu and Da Han had just left, three more people excitedly found the mysterious businessman. The same transaction, the same result, the three men stormed off in a huff, muttering to themselves: "Damn the Chen and Li families, this isn't over between us."

  ……

  Qingyang Second Street, in a small alleyway, Zhang Feng pressed down hard on the head of a beetle and stabbed a serrated knife into its mouth.

  The beetle, in its dying moments, unleashed its greatest strength and sent Zhang Feng flying out, then struggled a few times before gradually coming to a stop.

  A light burst forth, and two objects shot out from within.

  Speed belt:

  Material: Bronze.

  Increase strength by ten points.

  Special Property: Lock

  One of the Speed Suits: Collecting five pieces of speed equipment can unlock hidden attributes.

  Collected four pieces of Extreme Speed Suit, opened first attribute, second attribute and third attribute.

  Agility increased by 5 points, physical flexibility increased by 5%.

  Active Skill: Hard Shell - After use, wraps itself in a hard shell that resists 10% of physical damage. Cooldown time is half an hour.

  "It's all set." Zhang Feng buckled his belt around his waist and looked at his outfit, which was almost as rough as a barbarian's.

  A suit of leather armor with sleeves and legs fully exposed outside.

  At the end of December, this is usually the coldest time of the year.

  However, the earth is changing and the weather is as warm as spring, wearing these does not feel any coldness at all.

  On the ground there was also something else, a bone knife.

  But unlike the weapon in his hand, this bone knife had a more intense blue light.

  Bone Knife of Armor Breaker

  Material: Bronze.

  Sharp value: four.

  Attribute: Increase strength by five points.

  Special Effect: Easily pierces the hard shell of insect-type enemies, increasing damage to them by 50%. Has a 20% chance to trigger a "Break Armor" effect, increasing Sharpness by 2 and increasing damage to insect-type enemies by 100%.

  "Good stuff."

  Zhang Feng didn't think twice and threw the serrated knife in his hand into the ring, replacing it with this bone knife.

  This bronze equipment should be considered a small extreme product in the bronze category. Not only does it increase strength, but it also comes with armor-piercing damage and additional damage.

  The most important thing is that Sharpness has been increased to four.

  As the number of insects he killed increased, he could already determine that the sharpness was like the sharpness of a sword blade.

  As well as the difficulty of weapons cutting through objects.

  The sharp value of four is absolutely a one-shot kill for ordinary shell insects.

  Zhang Feng tidied up his equipment and found a large supermarket nearby.

  This supermarket is quite large and with an endless supply of electricity, the quality of food preservation in the refrigerators here is not bad.

  It had been over a dozen days since Zhang Feng last had a good meal, so he took out the frozen meat from the refrigerator and started boiling it in an electric rice cooker.

  All kinds of seasonings are available, and in a short while, a pot of fragrant meat is steaming hot.

  Zhang Feng sat down and began eating the meat chunks in big mouthfuls with crackers.

  Just then, footsteps came from outside the store, and a girl with a long sword in her hand walked in.

  This girl was also wearing a suit of bronze-level leather armor, with fair skin and a youthful face, but her expression was somewhat cold.

  Zhang Feng pointed at the pot and said: "There's still a lot left, if you want to eat it, you can take it away."

  The girl looked at Zhang Feng and said "thank you."

  She then sat down beside Zhang Feng without hesitation, picked up a piece of meat and started eating. The girl looked like she was very hungry, but her eating manners were still very elegant, unlike Zhang Feng who was gobbling down his food.

  Two pieces of meat went down her throat, and the pale face of the girl gradually became rosy. Only then did she stop, wipe the corner of her mouth and say: "What's your name?"

  "Zhang Feng."

  The girl frowned and said: "Zhang's family?"

  "Did you know my parents?" Zhang Feng asked in surprise.

  Li Qian shook her head and said, "That's wrong, you just share the same surname."

  PS: The question raised by classmate 214 is good, this is indeed my setting. I've been a bit busy these two days, I'll sort it out later and answer your questions, thank you for classmate 214's attention. Give me a reward!

  First, take out the equipment and item level settings for the first four tiers: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold.

  Equipment above Bronze is divided into five stars, with Bronze 5-star equipment being equivalent to White Silver's 1-star equipment, and White Silver 5-star being equivalent to Gold 1-star. There are also three thousand chapters at ten o'clock tonight.