In the luxurious private ward of the hospital, after seeing Leo off, Ethan kept browsing rental listings on his phone.
Now that he had quite a bit of money in hand, there was no need to keep living in a sunless, cold, and damp basement. It was time to improve his living conditions.
He briefly contacted a real estate agent, set up an appointment to view a place at eleven o'clock the next day, and then shifted his attention to the dedicated"Dawnfall Online" forum.
He wanted to see if there were any suitable spots where he could hunt new monsters and earn new Intel rewards.
But as he scrolled through the threads, Ethan noticed that on the 9527 Safe Zone player forum, most people weren't talking about game strategies. Instead, they kept bringing up his game ID.
[Coffin Guild Suffers Heavy Losses—All Because of a Newbie Player?]
[Breaking News! Coffin Guild Offers a Public Bounty—Anyone Who Kills the Player with the ID 'Windchaser' Can Claim a 50,000 Yuan Reward with Proof!]
[Looking to Team Up With Windchaser! The 50,000 Reward—I'll Settle for 10,000!]
[Place Your Bets! I Bet Windchaser Will Be Found by Coffin Guild Within Three Days and Spawn-killed Until He's Back to Level One!]
[Strategy Guide: A Must-Do Quest for New Players—Clearing Mutant Rats from the Sewers...]
Ethan read through the forum posts, especially focusing on the bounty quest from Coffin Guild. Fifty thousand wasn't a small sum. It spoke volumes about [Overlord]'s grudge against him.
Ignoring the threads about himself, Ethan clicked on the guide post and started reading it carefully.
...
Inside"Dawnfall Online," in Safe Zone 9527, Ethan's figure appeared quietly.
The moment he logged in, his wristwatch vibrated. When he checked it, he saw that [Lucas] had sent him a bunch of messages, mostly warning Ethan not to leave the safe zone for the next few days.
Ethan replied casually. He already had a plan in mind.
When Ethan lowered his gaze from his watch, he could vaguely sense the other players around him casting glances his way, whispering among themselves:
"Hey, check it out, doesn't that guy look just like the Windchaser from the Coffin Guild's bounty?"
"Yeah, he really does look like the Windchaser from that wanted poster Coffin Guild put out!"
"Wait a second—isn't that the leader of Coffin Guild over there? What's he doing here?"
The onlookers started looking past Ethan, their eyes shifting to the space behind him.
Ethan turned around on instinct, and immediately locked eyes with [Overlord] and [Daydreamer], both wearing dark, stormy expressions.
Their faces were twisted with anger and resentment as they glared daggers at Ethan. If it weren't for the fact that this was a safe zone where fighting was forbidden, they would have already drawn their weapons and attacked him on the spot.
[Daydreamer] slowly stepped up to Ethan, took a deep breath, and growled through gritted teeth,
"[Windchaser], if you know what's good for you, hand over the weapons, gear, and items you took from our guild members—along with that purple-grade Intel reward!"
[Overlord] took two steps forward, putting himself face-to-face with Ethan. The way he looked at Ethan was sharp and cold, almost like he was trying to cut him down just with his eyes.
Then, [Overlord] spoke in a low, menacing tone:"Kid, the boss we spent so much time and effort wearing down—you snatched the kill. And then you looted every drop our guild members left behind. Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you've just brought on yourself?"
"I'm telling you now: if you don't hand those things over, you can forget about ever leaving this safe zone again. You'll spend the rest of your life hiding here like a coward!"
The crowd around them started murmuring again. Most of them only knew about the bounty Coffin Guild put out for [Windchaser], but had no clue what the real story was.
Nobody expected the infamous Coffin Guild to actually have their boss kill stolen by someone else.
Someone whispered,"Man, I gotta admit, what [Windchaser] did was pretty satisfying. I've had monsters stolen by Coffin Guild before—they're just shameless."
"Shh, keep it down. Coffin Guild has three hundred players. If they really go all in on hunting [Windchaser], he's done for."
"Yeah, the second [Windchaser] steps out of the safe zone, he'll have a target on his back."
"Hold up, did [Daydreamer] just say something about a purple-grade Intel reward? Are you serious, or did I mishear?"
The players who were just saying Ethan would never be able to get out of trouble with Coffin Guild suddenly shifted their focus to the purple-grade Intel reward.
A lot of players now looked at Ethan in utter disbelief. Scoring a purple-grade Intel reward was something every player dreamed of.
In"Dawnfall Online," Intel rewards had the lowest drop rate. Players in Safe Zone 9527 had only ever heard of one lucky guy who got a blue-grade Intel reward—and that was bought by the rich player [Lucas] for a hundred thousand yuan.
No one could even imagine how much a purple-grade Intel reward could be worth.
Ethan, now the center of everyone's attention, remained completely calm. This was the safe zone—Coffin Guild's members couldn't lay a finger on him here.
Ethan looked at [Overlord] and [Daydreamer], and at the Coffin Guild players standing behind them, and said coolly:
"Everything you just said is useless noise."
"I told you before: you guys shouldn't have messed with me."
The regular players nearby were stunned by Ethan's response. How could a newbie be this gutsy?
Brazen! Absolutely brazen!
A rookie being targeted by a three-hundred-member guild should have no way to grind or quest normally.
Everyone had expected Ethan to cave in, hand over the loot, and apologize to Coffin Guild. No one thought he'd be this defiant.
[Overlord] couldn't hold back any longer. He let out a furious roar and shouted:
"You've got some nerve! If you hadn't gotten lucky and showed up right when we had the boss on the ropes, I'd have sent you back to the respawn point ages ago!"
"Just you wait—I'll kill you so many times you'll lose your mind!"
Lose his mind?
Ethan just laughed. He laughed and said,"I'm looking forward to it."
The surrounding players were once again shocked by Ethan's answer.
In their experience, any solo player threatened by Coffin Guild would already be bowing their head and backing down by now.
Some players couldn't help but get curious about Ethan's background, asking people around them if he'd joined some other powerful guild—that would explain his confidence.
No one could answer that question, since hardly anyone knew anything about Ethan's background up to now.
Soon, since he couldn't do anything to Ethan in the safe zone, [Overlord] just left a few Coffin Guild members behind to keep an eye on Ethan, and then left.
Ethan knew perfectly well that every move he made was being watched by Coffin Guild players.
The moment he stepped outside the safe zone, he'd be facing a horde of enemies.
If he wanted to fix this situation, he'd have to get stronger.
But if he couldn't leave the safe zone, he couldn't go hunt monsters outside, and that meant he couldn't gain any power.
Still, Ethan didn't look the least bit anxious. He strolled around the safe zone at a leisurely pace, as if he'd already given up on leaving.
Not long after, [Lucas] reached out to Ethan, asking if he needed any help. He offered to stick with Ethan, since [Overlord] wouldn't dare mess with him around.
Ethan turned him down flat and replied: [No need, I don't need to leave the safe zone right now.]
After reading the message, [Lucas] looked over at [Flying Fish] and told him what Ethan had said.
Then he asked,"What's that supposed to mean? Is he planning to just stay in the safe zone forever?"
[Flying Fish] nodded at first, then quickly shook his head, and said uncertainly:"My bro wouldn't just sit around and wait for death, right? I mean, he's the guy who made Coffin Guild's top players take such a loss!"
[Lucas] gave [Flying Fish] a weird look. Since when did [Windchaser] become [Flying Fish]'s brother?
[Flying Fish] answered boldly:"Didn't I say before, if [Windchaser] wasn't bluffing, then he's my big bro! Even if he hasn't accepted me as his little brother yet."
[Lucas] was left speechless. He'd never met anyone quite this shameless.
Just then, [Lucas]'s watch vibrated again. He glanced at the screen and saw a new message.
[Boss, Coffin Guild is making some unusual moves.]