Back when Death Game players first entered the game and could still be called "newbies," they often relied on their Class and one or two core items to handle various situations, so they usually had all sorts of shortcomings.
For example, a "Soldier" was usually useless except for frontal combat, a "Teacher" would be doomed if someone got close to them, and a "Veterinarian" could barely function if they didn't encounter any animals...
However, after going through more and more dungeons, meeting more players, completing Promotions, obtaining various privileges, learning skills from the Ten Realms, and becoming veteran players...
Even though their originally strong areas might still be their longest strengths under the consensus summarized by players—"prioritize enhancing strengths over fixing weaknesses"—when it came to their original weaknesses... no matter how weak, they wouldn't be too weak anymore.
Take this moment for example—whether it was Good Night's "Corporate Drone" or Paper Kite's "Assassin," both were classes with relatively low mobility.
Typically, Corporate Drones and Assassins wouldn't have many movement-type items either, because neither was a type that particularly needed to "run away."
But...
Having both reached Third Tier, Good Night and Paper Kite each had their own methods.
Good Night pulled out two suction cups and stuck them to the wall, then climbed up the wall like a gecko, just like in spy or superhero movies.
Seeing this, Good Night couldn't help but comment.
"Shit, I haven't heard of any realm in the Ten Realms having a Doraemon. Where did you score this good stuff, Old Qi?"
"I had a friend from Night Valley craft it for me," Paper Kite replied. "The prototype was indeed inspired by Doraemon. It works pretty well."
Good Night nodded. "Can it carry people too? How about carrying May May? Shit, he might be a genius, but he's still a newbie. It's hard to say if he can..."
As he spoke, Good Night glanced down, but then spoke with some surprise.
"Huh?"
Paper Kite followed his gaze downward and then saw that on the ground below the hotel, Lin Yu had already disappeared.
"Where is he?"
Paper Kite and Good Night were both shocked, their hearts racing.
Had he been ambushed?!
Had someone approached silently and attacked "May May" down below?
Or... was this simply a "setup" by the Free Alliance?
Their minds raced with countless thoughts, running through many possibilities.
But finally, a faint cough from the rooftop broke their train of thought.
There was Lin Yu, already crouched on the air conditioning unit outside the third-floor garden perimeter, smiling at them.
"Shit... you're fast, aren't you!"
Good Night breathed a sigh of relief, then quickly climbed up.
Paper Kite also flew over to Lin Yu and asked curiously, "How were you so fast? How did you get up here?"
Of course, it was by jumping up first and then activating the Corner of the Gloomy mid-air to find a blind spot and come up in one go...
That said, Lin Yu had no intention of exposing this highly recognizable and somewhat unique item of his, so he said, "I used a short-distance teleportation scroll."
"Shit, you're that extravagant?"
Good Night looked at Lin Yu in surprise.
Lin Yu put on a serious expression. "This is a major matter. What are my measly personal gains or losses compared to that? Being able to quickly pinpoint the Master Thief's location is the key!"
Lin Yu said solemnly, and Paper Kite nodded as well.
"What great decisiveness... Did you see the Master Thief?"
"Of course, she's sitting on that bench over there playing on her phone."
As Lin Yu spoke, the three of them squeezed onto the small air conditioning unit, all holding onto the upper edge of the semi-enclosed wall of the terrace, stealthily poking their heads out to peek at the scene inside the garden.
In the middle of the night, the open-air garden had only Li Nian, a small girl half-lying, half-sitting on a chair at the other end of the garden, her face lit by the glow of her phone screen, looking very comfortable.
From the rapidly changing, colorful glow and the faint noises coming from the phone, it wasn't hard to guess what Li Nian was doing.
"Shit, short videos are really ruining the flowers of the nation! Ruining our next generation!"
Good Night said indignantly.
Paper Kite glanced sideways at Good Night. "Are you from the same country as her?"
"Shit, I've been a permanent resident for ages, I'm getting citizenship next year," Good Night said angrily. "Besides, no matter what country I'm from, if I had a daughter, I definitely wouldn't let her play on a phone at this age."
"That depends on the situation," Paper Kite said upon hearing Good Night's words, seeming to have a different opinion but ultimately not arguing with him. "Anyway, the Free Alliance members are a bit lacking in quality, scrolling through short videos with the speaker on in the middle of the night."
Upon hearing this, Good Night instead retorted to Paper Kite, "You can't say that either. After all, there's no one around."
Listening to the two of them arguing about "minors shouldn't scroll through short videos" and "short videos shouldn't be played on speaker," Lin Yu felt helpless.
"Aren't we going off-topic a bit?"
"Anyway, she's not on guard right now... Should we take her down directly?"
Lin Yu asked in a low voice.
Of course, he didn't want to capture Li Nian directly; he was only asking to probe Good Night and Paper Kite's intentions.
"If she doesn't show any sign of 'trading' for now, then there's no need," Good Night said. "From what the Professor means, while ensuring the Free Alliance doesn't get another Fourth Tier is one thing... on the other hand, he wants to use the Master Thief as bait to fish, to see who in the Free Alliance is about to advance."
"After all, although the Professor deduced some conditions for their advancement to Fourth Tier, he really doesn't know much about their personal information."
Good Night said, and Lin Yu nodded, understanding in his heart.
These two really weren't here to capture Li Nian.
"But keeping up surveillance like this isn't a solution either..."
Lin Yu said again.
Paper Kite sighed. "There's no helping it. It's a mission issued by headquarters, unless some variable comes up..."
Just as he finished speaking, Good Night and Paper Kite's pockets simultaneously emitted the faint vibration of a phone.
The two took out their phones at the same time, and their expressions changed.
"Hey, shit, there really is a variable?"
Lin Yu was also a bit surprised. "What's the situation?"
"We just received a message from Henan Province, and we've verified it with the Night Watchmen," Paper Kite said, his expression not looking good. "The Free Alliance and the Psychological Society are suspected to have publicly cooperated—at least, this Master Thief seems to have established close ties with the Psychological Society."