138. One-Click Disconnect: Remake

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After Chen Shang finished speaking, he dashed out from behind the tombstone.

To heighten the atmosphere, Chen Shang had the livestream moderator, Black Calis, temporarily switch to a more rousing battle soundtrack.

Amid the grand, booming symphony, Chen Shang snatched up a portable chainsaw and launched a sneak attack from behind the ghoul.

“Holy crap! Now this is getting exciting!”

“The Planner’s going to one-shot the monster!”

“Dad!”

The viewers were instantly swept up by the soundtrack, becoming immersed in the thrilling battle. Not one of them felt the slightest fear at the ghoul’s grotesque appearance.

Just as Chen Shang was about to strike the monster, time stopped around him.

[Rolling for a sneak attack: 1d100 = ???. A result higher than 55 succeeds.]

Chen Shang rolled the die. It landed on 62. The check succeeded.

The ghoul seemed to sense Chen Shang’s attack, but Chen Shang’s chainsaw moved faster.

Before the monster could react, Chen Shang slipped behind it and drove the saw straight into its backside.

“GRAAAH—!” The ghoul bared its teeth and howled, flailing both arms wildly in the air.

The rapidly spinning blade plunged into the softest part of the ghoul, reducing flesh and blood to pulp. A mixture of red and yellow fluid gushed from the monster’s wound.

Chen Shang abandoned the weapon in time and dodged aside, narrowly avoiding being splattered from head to toe.

At the same moment, the livestream chat erupted in a sea of question marks.

Most of the viewers were not particularly surprised by the Planner’s tactics. After all, his fighting style in the Grand Arena Tournament had always been the same: he fought as underhandedly as possible. He rarely confronted an enemy head-on, relying instead on ambushes and outrageous tricks to win.

Although this style had left the Planner with the fewest fans among the three members of the Phantom Thief Team—and with the most complicated mix of followers—most of those who liked him could accept his methods. In mercenary circles, a tactic known as the “Planner Style” had even emerged. Its essence could be summed up in a single word: underhanded.

“This fighting style really is worthy of the Planner!”

“Still the same old sneaky bastard tactics. Ah, youth restored.”

“I won’t let you call my dad a sneaky bastard!”

The mood in the chat immediately turned cheerful, and the Abyss’s atmosphere of terror vanished completely.

[After five checks, you dealt 9 points of damage to the ghoul.]

Having landed his blow, Chen Shang retreated decisively. The ghoul spun around and slashed at him, but Chen Shang dodged by the narrowest margin.

Even so, the powerful gust raised by the ghoul’s claws left two fine cuts across Chen Shang’s face, making his skin burn.

“Don’t just stand there. Get over here and support me!” Chen Shang promptly issued an order to Jon through the private communicator.

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Seizing the opportunity, Jon pulled out an ice axe and charged forward, driving it hard into the ghoul’s head.

Although the ghoul filled him with bone-deep terror, as a battle-hardened adventurer, he clearly would not retreat at a moment like this—especially not in front of all the livestream viewers.

The ghoul noticed Jon’s intentions and immediately raised an arm to block. But its fur and bones were no match for the climbing axe. One blow punched a bloody hole straight through its limb.

“Get out of the way!” Chen Shang suddenly shouted. He pulled a portable incendiary grenade from his backpack and hurled it at the ghoul.

[Preparing to roll for the throw...]

Several strings of bloody text appeared in Chen Shang’s mind, and a new die materialized in his hand.

[Check failed—]

“Damn it.” Chen Shang cursed casually, then pulled three more incendiary grenades from his backpack.

After fighting a ghoul once before, Chen Shang naturally knew its weaknesses. Thus, in preparation for the most dangerous monster in the cemetery district, he had cleared out half his backpack and filled it with incendiary weapons. He had even brought along a small flamethrower.

He threw the three incendiary grenades in rapid succession and made three more throwing checks. At last, one of them struck the ghoul squarely in the head.

“GRAAAH—!” The grenade shattered, and the ghoul’s head burst into flames. Fire and blood flowing from its wounds blinded the monster, causing it to lose sight of its target.

Chen Shang swiftly pulled out the flamethrower and sent another torrent of fire at the ghoul.

Just as the ghoul prepared to turn and flee, Jon quickly drew a shotgun and fired three blasts in succession. Its thigh was blown into a bloody ruin, leaving it unable to move.

[After 22 checks, Jon dealt 15 points of damage to the ghoul with his shotgun. Your incendiary weapons dealt 19 points of lethal damage to the ghoul. The ghoul is dead.]

Watching the monster burn to a charred husk, Chen Shang switched off the flamethrower and let out a quiet breath.

He picked up the livestream equipment again and flashed the viewers a triumphant victory sign.

At the same time, moderator Black Calis appropriately switched the stirring battle music to the lighthearted tune that played after winning a battle in a video game. Quite a few viewers genuinely felt as though they were watching a game-adventure livestream.

“Just as the rumors say, quite a few monsters do wander through the Abyss. But an excellent warrior must know how to make proper use of experience and quickly assess the situation in their favor...” Chen Shang explained to the camera.

“Although this monster is tall and intimidating, its appearance completely gave away its weaknesses. Let our great adventurer explain them to you~”

With that, Chen Shang handed the camera to Jon. Jon had no choice but to recite the prepared script:

“Generally speaking, monsters with thick body hair fear fire, while large monsters tend to have relatively weak defenses around the groin. As long as you seize those weaknesses, even a dangerous monster like this is nothing to fear.”

After Jon finished explaining, Chen Shang gazed at the chat, where the screen was filled with comments like “Amazing!” and “I learned absolutely nothing,” and nodded in satisfaction.

Amid the cheerful, relaxed music, the two continued onward. The surrounding mist gradually thinned, revealing a dilapidated little town shrouded in red fog in the distance.

The reason Chen Shang wanted to return to the Abyss was his curiosity about this town.

Regardless of why it was identical to the town of his childhood, the most important thing was that he wanted to see what it had become after the great fire.

“What is going on...?” The moment they stepped into the town, Chen Shang stopped dead and murmured unconsciously.

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The little town was still the familiar place from his childhood. Yet strangely, everything within it was perfectly intact. The buildings were old and shabby, but there was no trace of having ever been scorched by fire—as if the disaster he had experienced that day had been nothing more than a dream.

“What’s wrong, Planner?” Jon noticed Chen Shang’s grave expression and turned to ask.

“Nothing. My mind just wandered for a moment.” Chen Shang brushed him off casually.

For the time being, he had no intention of dwelling on the mystery of the town. After all, this was the legendary Land of Demon Sealing. Here, no matter how absurd an event might be, it was entirely possible.

As soon as they entered the decrepit town enveloped in red mist, Jon began exploring curiously, while also explaining the surroundings to the livestream audience:

“It looks as though no one has lived in this town for a long time, yet the buildings show no signs of decay or collapse. Even the store shelves are stocked with modern products, though they’ve all rotted away...”

The moderator seemed to switch the music at just the right moment, replacing it with the soundtrack of a mystery film. The viewers suddenly felt as though they were following detectives as they solved a case.

After rambling at length to the audience, Jon reached a conclusion.

“Conservatively speaking, this town was abandoned no more than three years ago.”

“Oh, right, Mr. Jon.” While Jon was still chatting with the viewers, Chen Shang suddenly spoke with great seriousness.

“I think we should stop exploring for today.”

“Huh? We’re ending already?” Jon glanced at his watch. Their livestream had indeed been running for nearly four hours, although more than half of that time had been spent interacting and chatting with the audience.

“No way, don’t end it!”

“Stay on a little longer!”

“It’s only ten at night. Are you trying to live like a monk?”

The chat suddenly filled with pleas for them to stay. Some viewers even sent large donations, hoping the pair would continue broadcasting for a while longer.

Chen Shang ignored their requests. Instead, he drew a pistol and pointed it at his own temple.

Amid the viewers’ astonished comments, Chen Shang asked Jon with an air of solemn curiosity, “Come to think of it, I heard that no one can die in the Abyss. Is that true?”

“According to the rumors, yes.” Jon could only give the answer specified in the script. “They say that when a person dies in the Abyss, both their soul and body return to the world they came from.”

“If that’s the case, couldn’t we simply kill ourselves and return to our original world?” Chen Shang asked with a beaming smile.

“Well... yes.” Jon remembered that the script required him to answer “yes” at this point.

“Then I’ll go first?”

As he spoke, Chen Shang pulled the trigger.

“BANG—!”

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