There Must Be Something Wrong With This Game!

Because his Talent was [Hunter], Lone Ranger had tailored his build around it, and Evil’s Chalk was one part of that setup.

"This chalk was originally a whole box, but I nearly used it all up dealing with the Front Wave Gang. Use this last half-piece sparingly."

"Don’t worry. You weren’t spotted, were you?"

"Nope. I’m still hoping to make a killing off Icefield Walker. But they’re so petty. How much could your pay from last night have possibly been?"

"It just goes to show, Icefield Walker has really been pushed into a corner. But what the hell do I care? Acting all high and mighty while welshing on a payment... there’s no way they’re getting away with that."

As a freelance game tester, Duan Fei’s early career experiences hadn’t exactly been pleasant.

It was common for companies to delay final payments. Some even tried to claw back the initial deposit. They were shady as hell.

Of course, this was also related to the number of bugs Duan Fei found. After all, they paid per bug, and Duan Fei reported far, far too many.

Duan Fei’s Reaction to people like that was simple.

He just gave them what they deserved.

If you don’t want to pay the final balance, fine. You want the deposit back? I’ll send it right over. Then, on the day your game goes live, I’ll silently log on and run bots for an entire day.

No company could withstand that kind of overwhelming assault.

Not a single one.

If the servers stayed up for fifteen minutes straight that day, I’d eat my hat!

For every day the final payment went unsettled, I’d run my bots for another day!

It didn’t matter for single-player games, either. Duan Fei would just compile a detailed list of all the bugs in their precious game, making it easy for major streamers to turn it into a spectacle and guaranteeing the game would become a laughingstock.

After he did this a few times, no company dared to pull a stunt like that again.

Unless they truly wanted to be blacklisted from the gaming industry.

In terms of holding a grudge, Duan Fei and Lone Ranger were remarkably similar.

Sensing this similarity, Lone Ranger stared at Duan Fei. "Suddenly, I’m starting to like you."

Warily clutching his collar, Duan Fei glared at Lone Ranger and asked, "You wanna... do it with me?"

"Don’t use my own meme against me, okay? Anyway, I’ll launch some sneak attacks from the shadows, and I’ll only strike when they can’t spot me. But Icefield Walker won’t be easy, and this is their home turf, so it’ll be tough for just the two of us to make them pay. Knowing you, though, you’ve probably got something else planned, right?"

"Mhm, I called three friends."

"You actually have friends!"

"More than you do. Actually, I didn’t even call them. They said they saw people trash-talking me on the forums and volunteered to come."

They were currently near the Black Tower. Just as Duan Fei mentioned his friends were coming over, an uproar erupted in front of it.

A tall man with long bangs, a cold expression, and the unmistakable aura of an expert stood beneath the Black Tower, silently watching the people before him.

Several members of the Icefield Walker guild blocked his path. They were clearly intimidated by his presence but still performed their duty, saying, "Cuihua, we don’t know where you got a key, but Icefield Walker is handling some internal affairs right now, so we can’t let any players in."

Being stared at by so many strangers only worsened Cuihua’s social anxiety, making his expression grow even more severe in response.

After struggling for a long moment to form the words, he finally managed to force out, "I..."

"’I’m a top-100 player, who the hell do you think you are to talk to me like that?’ Is that what you were going to say? Cuihua, you’re way too arrogant!" an Icefield Walker member immediately retorted, his anger flaring.

"N—"

"’Scram if you don’t want to die?’ You’re all alone, and you dare talk like that!"

"That’s n—"

"’Useless trash. You’re not even worth my time. Get lost.’ Cuihua, you’re too domineering!"

Watching the members of Icefield Walker, who were now bristling with rage, Cuihua looked up at the sky and sighed, on the verge of tears from sheer frustration.

’Duan Fei, where are you?’

’Hurry up and save me!’

Finally, a melee player couldn’t hold back any longer.

His Profession was "Berserker." The angrier he became, the more powerful his Skills were.

Now, his fury had been fully stoked. The "arrogant" Cuihua had become his greatest enemy, the perfect target for his rage.

Filled with rage, he quickly pulled a Hand Axe from his backpack. His anger transformed into Power, sending the axe whistling through the air straight toward Cuihua.

The Berserker, already picturing Cuihua’s gruesome demise, broke into a smile. It would be his last.

But then Cuihua drew a still-steaming, wide strand of noodle. With a flick of his wrist, it transformed into a long, flexible staff.

The staff was incredibly supple, yet it moved in Cuihua’s hands like a living python. The combination of his [Long Stick Art] and his Chef passive Skill had raised his power to a whole new level.

On top of that, the Pseudo-human Extract he had taken earlier made him even stronger.

Cuihua’s Flour Stick shot out, wrapped around the flying axe, and with a flick, sent it careening into a nearby tree trunk.

Then, the tip of the Flour Stick swiveled. The end of the noodle coiled in the air like a snake’s head before lashing out and striking the Berserker’s forehead. His head instantly exploded, and he collapsed to the ground, the smile still frozen on his face.

’The fight has started. No need to hold back anymore.’

His weapon flew out, moving like a soaring dragon.

Before the three surrounding members of Icefield Walker could even react, Cuihua popped each of their heads in turn. They collapsed, unable to log back into the game for an hour.

The last surviving member of Icefield Walker stared blankly at Cuihua, unable to believe the gap in their strength was so immense.

They had Professions, too. They thought their skills in the game were pretty decent. They might not be able to guarantee a win against a top-100 player, but they should at least be able to put up a fight.

’It absolutely shouldn’t be like this.’

Watching the expressionless Cuihua walk toward him, his terrifying presence made the man forget he was in a game. He lost control and burst into tears.

"Please don’t kill me!"

"Eat..." Cuihua unfurled the wide noodle in his hand and offered a piece to the man.

Perhaps it was a flash of insight born from terror, but in that moment, the man finally understood Cuihua’s true meaning.

He quickly stuffed the noodle into his mouth and said through his tears, "It’s delicious."

And then, he was poisoned to death.

Staring at the poor soul, whose face had turned ashen as he foamed at the mouth, Cuihua couldn’t for the life of him figure out why his cooking turned out this way.

’My cooking in the real world isn’t even bad, so why does it poison people in the game?’

’I followed the recipe step-by-step, so why did this happen?’

’Is the Dark Chef Profession really this bizarre?’

Not far away, Lone Ranger, who was hiding in the shadows with Duan Fei, watched Cuihua’s performance. "As expected of a real-life master of stick fighting. This Cuihua is incredible. And he didn’t even waste food at the end, casually poisoning the last guy. I like that ruthless streak."

"Lone Ranger, just admit you’re gay already."

"Screw you. Anyway, that’s just one of them. Where are the other two?"

As they were speaking, a slightly chubby player ran out of the Black Tower.

He hopped onto a nearby planter, threw an arm around Cuihua’s neck, and declared smugly, "Cuihua, with the two of us together, we really are invincible! These guys were so weak!"

Watching the shameless player, Lone Ranger couldn’t help but comment, "This Little Fatty... he’s just as obnoxious as ever."

"...Actually, I only had two friends coming. Who’s Little Fatty? I don’t know him."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!