Chapter 1042: Chapter 41: Heart Ape
[Name: Heart Ape]
[Type: Weapon]
[Quality: Perfect]
[Attack Power: High]
[Special Effect 1: Stubborn Iron. Passively triggered, reduces the user’s sanity value by 300 points when held]
[Special Effect 2: Shake the Mountains and Fill the Seas. Passively triggered, automatically pacifies surrounding natural disasters when held]
[Special Effect 3: As You Wish. Actively triggered, inject spiritual power to change volume and weight. The more spiritual power injected, the greater the change.]
[Special Effect 3 Consumption: At least 100 spirit energy points]
[Special Effect 3 Cooldown Time: None]
[Equipment Condition: Strength Attribute greater than or equal to 15 points]
[Remark: Demons are easy to subdue, but the heart ape is hard to tame]
This stick named [Heart Ape] comes from an anonymous seller.
The seller posted the related information of this equipment within a small circle of intelligence merchants, asking for a price of exactly twenty-eight thousand game coins, and left a message that no extra bargaining attempts would be accepted.
Due to the overall increase in the number of players recently, more game currency is circulating on the market compared to before, leading to a slight rise in prices.
Now, a perfectly functional perfect-level weapon without obvious shortcomings,
its transaction price,
has risen to between fourteen thousand to eighteen thousand game coins.
The asking price of twenty-eight thousand game coins from the anonymous seller is nearly double the average price!
It’s more outrageous than robbing a bank.
The circle of intelligence merchants is neither too big nor too small,
all intelligence merchants have close connections with powerful organizations and private guilds,
twenty-eight thousand game coins, for individual players, is indeed a huge wealth that is difficult to amass,
but for large organizations, it’s not an unattainable astronomical figure.
Other intelligence merchants, who received the news, turned to contact organizations to see if there were potential buyers there,
while Mule decisively contacted Li Ang through a friend link, and the latter hesitated for less than five seconds before transferring the game coins to Mule’s account.
By the time the interested organizations had confirmed their willingness to purchase this equipment,
it was already too late.
Mule bought [Heart Ape] for Li Ang and handed the equipment over to him at the Immaculate Furnace Shop.
"Twenty-eight thousand game coins... If it were before the Gate Competing Battle, it would be enough to buy two or even three pieces of perfect-level equipment."
Li Ang looked at the eyebrow-length stick placed in the backpack slot and clicked his tongue.
This [Heart Ape], as a perfect-level weapon, has quite peculiar characteristics,
the first of its three special effects automatically reduces the user’s sanity value by 300 points when held, effectively applying a negative buff right from the start.
The sanity value is less affected by the player’s personal attributes and depends on the degree of willpower,
even Li Ang, whose psychic abilities have reached level six, only has a total sanity value of 1600 points,
for slightly weaker players, picking up [Heart Ape] might halve their sanity and cause madness on the spot.
The second special effect, Shake the Mountains and Fill the Seas, can automatically pacify nearby natural disasters, including but not limited to avalanches, mudslides, earthquakes, etc. In some situations, it might be effective, considered as an extra.
And as the only active special effect, [As You Wish] allows for changing the stick’s volume and weight.
Such a strong sense of déjà vu effect instantly makes one associate it with the legendary Monkey King Bar—
To become as large as the universe, or as small as a needle. Ubiquitous in subduing tigers and dragons, thoroughly effective in purging demons. Raising to point at the sun, causing all heavenly ghosts and gods to tremble.
Of course, despite [Heart Ape] resembling that Golden Cudgel, or Heavenly River’s Precious Iron, in appearance and special effects,
there’s a considerable gap in effectiveness.
Firstly, [Heart Ape]’s normal state is eyebrow-thick, nearly two meters long, and it requires spiritual power to change size,
Even with the infusion of 2000 spirit energy points, it can’t reach the level of the Golden Cudgel from Journey to the West, becoming a sky-piercing pillar capable of crushing countless monsters with a single roll.
As for shrinking it to fit inside the ear, that’s even harder, not only does it consume a large amount of spirit energy points,
and if [Heart Ape] isn’t infused with spiritual power for a period, it will return to its original state,
If placed in the ear and not careful about the time limit,
the result would be the stick suddenly reverting, piercing through one’s head.
Adaptation is not random creation, dramatization is not utter nonsense,
though [Heart Ape] falls far short of the authentic Monkey King Bar and can’t mimic the classic style of that monkey,
Li Ang is still quite satisfied.
His biggest problem now is that ordinary weapons can’t keep up with his body’s strength after lifting the divine power constraints, they break easily, making fists more practical.
However, the hardness of Heart Ape itself eliminates the issue of natural wear and tear,
The effect of increasing weight upon infusing Spiritual Power is very suitable for Li Ang’s style.
After acquiring the equipment, Li Ang tested it slightly over the sea, and it indeed fit well.
He went to find the mule, wanting to inquire about the specific information of the anonymous seller, asking clearly which script world this equipment originated from, or if it was opened from a treasure chest.
The reply he received was that even the mule didn’t know the seller’s details—after confirming that the mule had enough money, the opposite party borrowed the auction system of the game mall to privately sell the equipment to the mule,
the delivery of the Game Coin was completed by the auction house.
As such, the mule didn’t even know the other party’s personal nickname or player ID.
"Why make it so mysterious?"
Li Ang, while maintaining the exercise of Spiritual Energy, followed behind Chaichai, walking on the commercial pedestrian street, casually pondered: "It’s impossible that this equipment was swindled by the seller,
that’s why they’re hiding their identity,
to prevent the original owner who got conned from discovering and settling accounts..."
As Li Ang was thinking, he suddenly sensed several somewhat familiar mind waves in his Spiritual Sense.
"Hmm?"
He looked up ahead, only to see several classmates from the high school class of the Experimental Middle School walking toward him.
There were boys and girls among them, dressed in fashionable casual wear, walking and chatting happily,
The final exams of the Experimental Middle School finally ended, and having welcomed the holidays, it was natural for them to find a time to go out and play.
Li Ang noticed them, and the classmates noticed Li Ang too.
"Li... Classmate Li."
They stood still, mouths open as if to speak but stopping, awkwardly greeting him.
"Hmm."
Li Ang nodded in acknowledgment, his Spiritual Energy constantly vigilant and clearly perceiving their thoughts.
After the Yin City mutation, Wang Congshan became a player, Li Ang’s identity was exposed, making it impossible to return to campus life.
The Special Affairs Bureau said they would help settle everything,
finding the teachers and students in the school to blockade information about Li Ang and Wang Congshan.
The class permanently lost two classmates, and coupled with the Special Affairs Bureau agents constantly asking questions, even fools knew what happened to Li Ang and Wang Congshan.
While they were still immersed in the joy of finishing the final exams, Li Ang and Wang Congshan had already embarked on a completely different path.
"Out shopping?"
Li Ang smiled kindly at his classmates, "Semester ended?"
"Ah..."
A male classmate hesitated until the person next to him gently poked his waist with a finger, then he reacted, awkwardly saying: "Yes."
Li Ang didn’t mind the other’s awkwardness, casually asked, "How is Teacher Shi doing?"
"Teacher Shi is doing well, his fracture has completely healed, he even participated in a teachers’ sports event a few days ago."
The classmate’s tone was slightly halting,
From their perspective, Li Ang had always been a high-performing, strange, reclusive, difficult-to-communicate-with, rarely befriended, unappealing eccentric.
Despite being classmates for two years, they were hardly familiar, merely ordinary classmates.
"That’s good."
Li Ang nodded; he still had an emotional bond with class advisor Shi Qingsong. When he first started looking for part-time tutoring jobs, Shi Qingsong provided a lot of help, assisting in contacting families in need of tutoring.
After saying these things, the atmosphere at the scene became awkward once again,
The classmates stood still, not knowing what to say.
Only Chaichai, carrying big bags, continued chewing on sugar-coated hawthorns, making a crunching sound—Li Ang had given her quite a lot of pocket money,
with Liu Wu Dai even giving her a dozen unlimited spending bank cards, letting her buy whatever she wanted.
Fortunately, the awkward atmosphere did not last long.
Xing Hechou sent a friend message, [Brother Li, are you free? Where are you now?]
[I’m free.]
Li Ang sent the address to Xing Hechou, asking through the friend link: [What’s the matter?]
Xing Hechou: [There was previous news about the Mayotte Archipelago, there’s a special situation at the Star Gate there again. Can you come over and see what’s going on? We’ll send someone to pick you up.]
[Okay.]
After sending the message, the sound of helicopter blades stirring the air, coming from afar, was heard in the pedestrian street sky.
A completely black helicopter, with the Special Affairs Bureau’s badge, gradually approached and hovered above the pedestrian street,
with several heavily armed Mobile Detachment agents, carrying long and short firearms, seated in the cabin.
The helicopter hovered mid-air, the rotor blades whipping up a strong wind, the surrounding pedestrians quickly retreated,
Li Ang smiled at the dumbfounded classmates in front, stepped onto invisible steps, and together with Chaichai, entered the cabin to sit down.
Taking the helicopter, flying toward the Special Affairs Bureau headquarters.
