Chapter 61: The Mysterious Buff Unleashed

“Power outage?” Chen Yun cried out in his heart, inexperienced as he was. In his mind, whenever the electricity was cut off suddenly, it was either a blown fuse or a blackout—there simply could be no other reason. But with an establishment of this scale, hardware issues were unlikely to be the cause. What Chen Yun could imagine was, of course, just a power outage.

Before Chen Yun could puzzle further, a beam of multicolored light flashed to life in the center of the banquet hall. It circled the hall once, then shone directly at the entrance.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the birthday banquet of Miss Shen Qi, daughter of the mayor of Blue Rhyme City. Now, please welcome tonight’s princess, Miss Shen Qi!” A host in a tailcoat, microphone in hand, announced from the center of the hall.

As soon as he finished speaking, lively piano music began to play.

“Damn, so the banquet’s starting!” Chen Yun cursed inwardly, embarrassed that he’d assumed it was a blackout. How rustic—what sort of high-end hotel would let something so undignified as a sudden power outage happen?

Bathed in the colorful lights, a girl in a pristine white dress walked in slowly. Her silky hair draped over her shoulders, her pale face adorned with delicate makeup, making her look pure as snow. Crystal shoes sparkled, reflecting countless colors under the lights.

Chen Yun was briefly dazed; so far, Shen Qi was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen.

But when Shen Qi stepped out, Chen Yun keenly caught the soft sigh from Chairman Jiang beside him.

“Next, let us welcome the guardian of S City, Mayor Shen Qiang, and Madam Zhao Li, chairwoman of Azure Group! Please welcome them.”

As soon as the host finished speaking, a stern-looking man in his forties entered with his wife. This was Shen Qiang, mayor of S City.

Seeing the mayor for the first time, a system prompt suddenly appeared in Chen Yun’s mind, and its contents made his face change dramatically!

“Player Chen Yun has triggered an A-grade rescue chain quest…”

“A-grade rescue chain quest, first stage: eliminate the evil faction NPCs attempting to assassinate NPC Shen Qiang. Protect Shen Qiang’s family and all righteous faction NPCs present. For every righteous NPC killed, player Chen Yun’s reward decreases by ten percent. If any member of Shen Qiang’s family dies, quest fails, player level minus five, reputation minus five hundred thousand.”

Someone wants to kill Mayor Shen Qiang of Blue Rhyme City? Chen Yun shivered at the thought, his heart racing. Was this a joke? Who would dare attempt murder here—did they have a death wish?

Suddenly, Chen Yun realized a grave problem.

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Any faction capable of assassinating the mayor must be formidable—in other words, at least elite-level NPCs. But he himself had a combat power not even reaching five—how could he possibly save anyone?

Damn, that’s a real problem! The punishment for failing this quest made Chen Yun’s scalp tingle.

Calm down, calm down quickly. Since the system issued this quest, there must be a way to complete it. So where is that way?

“Mysterious buff activated. Player Chen Yun will, for the next five hours, gain one-tenth of the personal power and equipment strength of Li Xiaoyao, headmaster of Shu Mountain from ‘Legend of Sword and Fairy V.’ Player Chen Yun can freely switch between his own form and Li Xiaoyao’s form. Buff countdown: 4 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds.”

Whoa! Hearing the system prompt, Chen Yun was astounded. One-tenth the strength of Li Xiaoyao from Legend of Sword and Fairy? Good heavens, that’s incredible! Just as he thought, heaven never closes all doors—this mysterious buff was too powerful!

Dressed in a tailored suit, Shen Qiang took the microphone from the host with a smile, clearing his throat.

Seeing the mayor about to speak, everyone in the hall fell silent in unison.

“Friends, tonight is my beloved daughter Qi’s eighteenth birthday banquet. On behalf of myself and my family, I extend my heartfelt thanks to all the distinguished guests here tonight…” Shen Qiang stood on stage, speaking eloquently.

While Shen Qiang spoke, Chen Yun used his scanning technique to investigate everyone present. To his surprise, he uncovered several problems.

The guests were all fine—righteous faction NPCs. But among the staff, especially the host and the braided pianist, the system identified them as evil NPCs!

In the banquet hall, there were eight servers, plus two at the entrance—ten altogether. Including the host and pianist, that made a full soccer team of evil NPCs, and these were just the obvious ones. Chen Yun guessed that anyone bold enough to kill the richest man would surely have more hidden accomplices.

“Chairman Jiang, my stomach’s a bit upset. I need to go to the restroom,” Chen Yun quietly told his mentor.

“Go ahead. If you don’t know the way, ask a server to guide you,” Chairman Jiang nodded.

“Yes, that’s what I was thinking.”

Chen Yun slipped out of the crowd and approached the nearest ‘evil NPC,’ saying, “Excuse me, I don’t know where the restroom is. Could you take me there?”

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The evil NPC paused, then nodded. “Of course, please follow me.”

“This is the restroom,” the evil NPC said as they reached the door.

“Thank you.” Chen Yun walked in, grinning. “I never thought you’d be so bold—trying to assassinate the mayor?”

The evil NPC’s expression changed dramatically, and he quickly stepped into the restroom, pulling a dagger from his pocket. He whispered in shock, “How did you know?”

“Come closer, and I’ll tell you,” Chen Yun retreated two steps, smiling.

“Hmph, I don’t care how you found out. Since you know, I’ll send you on your way!” The evil NPC raised the dagger and lunged at Chen Yun.

Chen Yun didn’t dodge. With Li Xiaoyao’s one-tenth strength, this evil NPC was nothing—a weakling whose attack couldn’t even break his defense!

With a clang, the evil NPC stared in disbelief at the broken dagger.

“Player Chen Yun was attacked by evil NPC ‘Author Couldn’t Be Bothered to Name #1.’ You have thirty minutes to counterattack in self-defense.”

“Oh dear, your dagger is such poor quality—it can’t even scratch me.” Chen Yun reversed his grip, snatched the dagger, and drove half of it straight into the evil NPC’s chest.

“Player Chen Yun dealt a fatal blow to evil NPC ‘Author Couldn’t Be Bothered to Name #1.’ Evil NPC ‘Author Couldn’t Be Bothered to Name #1’ lost 2,800 HP and died. Player gains 1,000 experience points and 500 copper coins.”

“Player Chen Yun has reached level 9.”

Watching the evil NPC dissolve into white light, Chen Yun clicked his tongue. “Such frightening damage—this is just one-tenth of Li Xiaoyao’s strength? My god. When will I ever possess such power myself? Sigh, enough daydreaming—let’s keep going!”