After steeling herself, Lily crossed the street and approached Anya and the two Hooligans.
"Are you two alright?"
Anya shook her head, "What about you, Boss?"
"I'm fine, but..." Lily turned to the two Hooligans, "I have some bad news for you. On my way out, I saw your boss cornered by those Outsiders in a dead end. I didn't stay too long because I was worried about what might happen."
With that, she sighed deeply.
"Your boss is probably in a lot of trouble. Speaking of which, how exactly did you guys provoke those Outsiders?"
The two Hooligans immediately started to complain upon hearing this.
"Who could have known? We usually do... no, the boss usually does so many bad things they're countless."
"If these Outsiders dare to kill our boss today, I don't even dare to imagine what they'll do tomorrow."
"Sister Fu, now we can only rely on you."
The two bickered back and forth, giving Lily a headache.
She quickly waved her hand, "Where are your other two companions? Where did they go?"
Hooligan B's voice trembled slightly, "They're dead. Their injuries were too severe; they died on the way while escaping."
"What?" Lily's eyes widened, "What a pity, what a real pity. How could good people just... sigh, it's all those Outsiders' fault."
If she had come out earlier, if the players had been a little gentler, she might have gained more experience.
Her appearance in the eyes of the two Hooligans finally put their minds at ease.
Lily would sigh with regret upon hearing of their companions' deaths, so she definitely wouldn't trouble them over their previous conflict.
That's great!
Relaxed, they now only wanted to sleep soundly, to sleep until they were dead, the kind where they wouldn't dream at all.
It wasn't that they were tired, but that they had developed psychological trauma. Just thinking about what had just happened made them tremble all over.
Those Outsiders were truly too brutal. They were almost beaten in half yet still laughed maniacally, saying they would kill them all. The evil horror films passed down from the old era weren't even this terrifying.
"Come with me."
Lily called out, and the two Hooligans quickly followed.
They seemed to be a bit talkative, discussing their treatment as they walked.
"I heard that Doctor Linn in Backwater Bay is a psychologist. Let's go see him in a few days."
"Will it work? Don't waste money for nothing."
"We have to do something, right? Do you want to be tormented by nightmares your whole life?"
"Who the hell wants that? But even if we get better this time, if we encounter those Outsiders again next time, won't the problem just reappear?"
"I... this is truly a sin. Who exactly brought those Outsiders here?"
After a long sigh, the two fell silent.
What more was there to say? Just thinking that they might have to spend their lives healing the trauma brought by the players made them feel depressed.
"Actually," Lily, walking ahead, broke the silence, "if you trust me, I can help you."
The two Hooligans were stunned, "Ah, Sister Fu, you?"
Lily smiled confidently, "I'm a Spiritual Energy Prayer Master after all. Treating a psychological illness is a piece of cake, isn't it?"
That seemed to make sense, didn't it?
The two Hooligans' eyes lit up.
"We trust you, we trust you! How could we not trust you, Sister Fu?"
Lily pointed at Hooligan D, who was closer, "Then let's start with you. Anya, cover your eyes."
Although she didn't understand what Lily meant, Anya obediently covered her eyes.
Lily walked towards Hooligan D with a satisfied look. When the distance between them was only two steps, she suddenly raised her right hand.
Her slender fingers, with lightning speed, landed on Hooligan D's neck. Under the impact of the immense force, Hooligan D was directly slammed against the wall behind him.
Bang!
Along with the jarring sound of his head hitting the wall, blood splattered.
The next second, Lily, holding a dagger in her left hand, mercilessly stabbed it into Hooligan D's chest.
'-5' "-24!"
Fatal attack.
[You killed a Hooligan (Ordinary), gaining 120 experience points]
Only then did Hooligan B react. He stammered, "Sis-Sister Fu, didn't you say you were going to help us with our illness?"
Lily pulled out the dagger, "I only said I'd help you with your illness, I didn't promise you'd still be alive. Now he no longer has to worry about being tormented by nightmares, so tell me, did I cure him or not?"
Hooligan B's face turned pale with horror. He made a move to seize Anya, who was also stunned nearby.
Lily had already seen through his escape route.
If she hadn't been afraid that one of the two would run away in a two-on-one fight, she wouldn't have needed to resort to a sneak attack with her current strength.
Her agility, like Hooligan B's, was 3 points, but Hooligan B was injured, and his stats had dropped a notch.
She pursued him, knocking Hooligan B to the ground with a Savage Charge.
Hooligan B rolled twice on the ground, enduring the pain to pull out the dagger hidden in his clothes. As Lily approached, he suddenly turned around, roaring as he thrust the dagger towards Lily's abdomen.
This was a sneak attack. He believed Lily absolutely couldn't dodge it.
With Lily's current reaction speed, she indeed couldn't dodge it and could only use her right hand to block.
Pfft!
It struck.
The dull sensation of a blade piercing flesh, as imagined, did not occur. Hooligan B's eyes widened. He clearly saw the dagger strike Lily's hand, yet it didn't even break the skin, only drawing a little fresh red.
Bare-handed blade catch!
"Impossible, two days ago you couldn't even block the boss's punch, why now..."
"Surprise, surprise?"
Little guy, this is the charm of full Constitution stat allocation and the Hardening buff!
Lily extended her other hand, grabbed the back of the blade, and easily pulled the dagger away.
Hooligan B saw Lily take a step forward, looking down at him, filling his entire vision.
It was the first time he realized that Lily, who was much shorter than him, could appear so tall. He felt extreme fear, but he no longer had a chance to scream. Lily stabbed the dagger into his throat.
"Gurgle..."
Hooligan B clutched his neck. Until his death, he couldn't believe Lily had become so powerful.
Damn it, there's an actor!
[You killed a Hooligan (Ordinary), gaining 120 experience points]
The experience gap was now filled.
"After raising Psionic Apprentice to Lv5, I'll put all the bonus stat points into Constitution. I wonder if I'll be able to catch bullets from those low-quality pistols with my bare hands."
Lily was very much looking forward to it.
She walked over to Anya.
Only two people died. In the chaotic Abandoned Cooling Plant, such things were too common. Anya wasn't scared at all; she just nervously grabbed Lily's hand to check her.
"Boss, it's so good that you're alright."
"What could happen to me? Let's go home."
Anya hummed in agreement, then asked curiously, "Boss, how did you know that Outsider could call a large group of companions to gang up on those old geezers?"
Lily said, "It's a secret."
"Oh, alright." Anya quickly shifted her interest to another matter, "Boss, although these Outsiders are quite powerful, they all seem crazy and aren't even afraid of death. I think we shouldn't interact with them anymore in the future."
Lily explained, "Don't worry, they like to act crazy, but it's not the same kind of crazy you're thinking of. Acting crazy is just their way of expressing emotions. They are essentially kind, at least their moral standards are higher than the average here."
Anya opened her mouth.
Boss, we're already at rock bottom here. 'At least higher than us' doesn't sound very reassuring.
"And they are very hardworking and diligent. As long as you give them a little benefit, they work harder than an ox. If you smile at them while you're ordering them around and say a few words of praise like 'warrior,' they might not even ask for payment and will even give you things."
"Huh?"
Anya was a bit confused.
Paying to work? Do such people really exist in the world? Should I try to find some Outsiders next time?
"As for not being afraid of death, that's even easier to explain. They are the Undying, and they can revive after death."
The death penalty in Above the Stars isn't actually low. Players lose a certain percentage of experience based on their level upon death, and there's also a resurrection cooldown period that increases with the number of deaths, ranging from 0 to 6 hours. Resurrection times reset every Monday.
This effectively curbed the bold ideas of some players.
However, this mechanism is completely irrelevant for new players who are only Lv1. You can't lose experience and make an already zero experience a negative number, can you?
"Ah, the Undying?"
Anya was stunned.
She found it hard to believe, but assuming it was true, then all of those Outsiders' words and actions seemed to make sense. It also made sense that the boss said the value of these Outsiders was far higher than the bounty offered by the Wildfire Gang.
"Boss, we might get rich!"
"Hmm?"
Anya excitedly said, "Boss, look, aren't those Outsiders able to revive? We can cooperate with them, send them to the Wildfire Gang to collect the bounty, and after we get the reward, we'll split it five-five... no, seven-three! One Outsider is worth 200, so a hundred Outsiders means we can earn... fourteen thousand!"
Her eyes began to sparkle.
With so much money, they could take a private car and leave this place, heading to Linn, the nearby super-large settlement.
Lily was shocked.
She recalled what she had done these past two days and always felt like she was being a bit inhuman.
After all, she was constantly thinking about how to exploit the players, but she never expected Anya to have quietly fast-forwarded to the triangular trade version.
Anya, so you were the true scoundrel!