Falsely Accused, I Started Plundering Monster Traits

A crow crossed beneath the moon.

The fog had thinned the moonlight into a diffuse silver haze over the streets, softening the outlines of rooftops and half-buried buildings below. The bird passed through it as a black silhouette before dropping onto the edge of a nearby roof.

"Caw—! Caw—!"

The sound was harsh enough to carry through the otherwise quiet street.

Lin Yan watched it through the convenience store window for another moment before drawing his gaze back inside.

Two backpacks and several bags had been packed with food, water, medicine, batteries, and whatever else they could carry. Lin Yan sat on the floor behind the counter with a bag of beef jerky, while Marcus ate crackers across from him.

Outside, the occasional dragging foot scraped across the pavement. By now, neither of them paid much attention to it.

Lin Yan lowered the strip of jerky in his hand.

"What’d you pick last time?"

Marcus looked up with his mouth still full.

"Huh? What do you mean, Boss?"

"The reward."

"Oh. That."

Marcus picked up a bottle of water and took a drink, only to cough twice into his fist.

Lin Yan gave him a helpless look.

"You don’t have to answer that fast."

Marcus cleared his throat, waited until his breathing settled, then said,

"I picked the physical enhancement."

"How much?"

"About twenty percent overall." Marcus thought for a moment. "That’s roughly what the tests came out to."

Then he grinned.

"I can break ten seconds in the hundred pretty consistently now. That’s international-final territory, Boss."

"What were the other two?"

"One was called Center of Gravity Adjustment. Better balance when you take a hit, block something, or change direction too fast."

"And the third one?"

"Three Burst Serums. According to the description, each one could moderately boost physical ability for ten minutes. You’d feel a little weak afterward, but that was it."

Lin Yan leaned back against the counter.

Enhancement, skill, item.

Same three reward types he’d been given. Maybe the categories really were fixed.

And the gap between first and second place was bigger than he’d thought.

Earlier, while the authorities were still clearing the area, Lin Yan had slipped into a gym and tested himself with every trait unequipped.

Before the subway, a hundred-kilogram bench press had been about his limit.

This time, he had loaded two hundred kilos onto the bar, pressed it cleanly, and still felt like there was more there.

He stopped at three hundred kilos on the squat and four hundred on the deadlift, and neither felt like his true limit. That already put his three-lift total at nine hundred kilograms.

He could have kept adding weight, but there was no point risking an injury just to get an exact number with the Convergence still hanging over Fairmont.

The sprint had been just as ridiculous. One hundred meters, under ten seconds.

And all of that was just the F-rank physical enhancement, without Brute Force or the Trollblood trait.

Lin Yan took a small bite from the strip and chewed slowly.

Brute Force alone doubled his strength. Add the Trollblood transformation on top of that, and even he wasn’t sure where the ceiling was anymore.

At this rate, a few more upgrades and he might actually earn the right to say, I’m stronger, I’m smarter, I’m better. I am better.

The thought brought a grin to his face.

Looks like he’d have to take first place every time from now on.

Clink—

Lin Yan stopped chewing.

The sound had been so faint that he wasn’t even sure he’d heard it. He waited, listening past the occasional scrape of dragging feet outside, but nothing came again.

Marcus noticed him staring toward the storefront.

"Boss?"

Lin Yan raised a finger for silence and moved closer to the glass.

For a while, there was only the fog outside, pale beneath the scattered moonlight, and the slow shuffle of a corpse somewhere across the street.

Then another faint clang reached him from somewhere beyond the buildings.

This time Lin Yan was sure. Something metallic had struck a hard surface, far enough away that the fog and distance had reduced it to little more than a thin echo.

Marcus came up beside him and listened, but after several seconds he shook his head.

"I don’t hear anything."

"I do."

Marcus gave him a doubtful look, leaned forward, and pressed one ear against the glass. Lin Yan left him to it and continued listening.

Another faint impact eventually carried through the fog.

Marcus remained there a little longer before straightening. "Boss, you sure you’re not hearing things? I’ve got nothing."

Apparently the F-rank enhancement had sharpened Lin Yan’s hearing as well.

Before he could answer, another sound drifted through the distance. This one wasn’t metal. It rose and fell too irregularly, blurred badly by the fog, but after listening for several seconds Lin Yan was certain it was a human voice.

He couldn’t make out a single word.

But there were people out there.

"System, no rescue task?"

[No.]

"Why?"

[They are not inhabitants of Earth.]

Lin Yan frowned. "So they count as part of the invasion?"

[Destroy the Convergence Anchor to terminate the invasion.]

"...Keep playing the Riddler, asshole."

No answer.

"Marcus, gear up. We’re taking a look."

Marcus went for his rifle while Lin Yan gathered one of the packed backpacks. His eyes settled on the M2A1.

Take it?

He stared at it for several seconds before finally looking away.

...Better leave it.

The damn thing made too much noise. He had no intention of bringing that dragon back.

He left the machine gun where it was.

"How are you with a knife?"

Marcus thought about it.

"I cut a mean cucumber."

Lin Yan sighed.

"Stay behind me. Don’t shoot unless you have to. The moment you fire, we’re coming straight back here."

Marcus nodded. "Got it."

Before leaving, they shoved one of the freestanding shelves across the glass entrance, blocking the front door from the inside. Lin Yan had no intention of coming back to find zombies wandering around inside.

When they slipped out through the back door.

Clang.

Another faint metallic impact carried through the fog.

This time, Marcus caught it too.

"Let’s go."

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