Demon Chapter

Chapter 11: High Risk, High Reward

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Sitting on the floor of that “room,” Gavin Lin was gasping for breath.

What had just happened was incredibly dangerous—one misstep would have meant instant death. After calming himself, Gavin Lin summoned his attribute panel. Seeing that his health had dropped to a mere 6 points, he let out a laugh.

This was exactly why, after leveling up, he’d allocated all 3 attribute points to Strength. And as it turned out, every bit of preparation had been worth it. Had he invested even one point less into Strength, he would have died.

Moreover, Gavin Lin had also calculated that the enemy wouldn’t allow both ranged attackers to target him simultaneously. The reason was simple: they feared he might land the killing blow on the monster first. Because of this concern, it was highly likely that the female mage—the one with the highest damage output—would keep attacking Griswold, while the archer, who dealt lower damage, would focus on him. That calculation had literally saved his life.

After setting down the dagger, Gavin Lin began examining the few pieces of equipment Griswold had dropped.

There were three items: a staff with a gem set into its head, a belt, and a pair of leather boots.

These were the rewards Gavin Lin had risked everything to obtain—and in doing so, he’d thoroughly antagonized those senior Contractors. But he didn’t care. He was certain they were worth far more than their cost.

Of the three, the belt was white-quality gear, equippable at Level 1. It granted 2 Defense, had 12 Durability, and—most importantly—provided 4 inventory slots for Contractors.

Gavin Lin equipped it immediately. Instantly, he understood what “4 inventory slots” meant.

With a light touch on the belt, a translucent panel appeared before his eyes, displaying four empty slots. He focused his thoughts—and the leather boots and staff in his hands vanished, reappearing in two of the slots.

He grasped it at once:

This belt functioned as storage. Each item occupied one slot, and with only four slots available, it could hold up to four items. A second mental command brought the boots and staff back into his hands.

“This is incredibly convenient!” A smile spread across Gavin Lin’s lips. He didn’t yet realize that in the Demon Chapter world, any kind of storage item was extremely rare—and such items fetched exorbitant prices in the Auction House.

The next piece was the leather boots. Upon inspection, Gavin Lin found them quite impressive:

Light Leather Boots

Type: Armor

Quality: Blue

Defense: 3–4

Required Agility: 7

Durability: 24

Bonus (Blue Quality): +5 Defense, +15% Movement Speed

His eyes lit up immediately. Without a doubt, this was excellent gear. Blue-quality items were vastly superior to common white-quality ones—the key difference being that blue items came with additional stat bonuses.

Without hesitation, Gavin Lin equipped the boots. Instantly, his body felt lighter. When he sprinted forward, his speed was noticeably faster. A 15% boost was significant.

The final item was the staff:

Fire Staff

Quality: Green

Damage: 12–21

Required Level: 4

Required Strength: 6

Class Restriction: Mage

Durability: 35

Bonuses: +30% Magical Damage, +15–27 Fire Damage, +20 Mana

Set Piece (1/3): Staff of Fire, Fire Ring, Fire Breastplate

It was a green-quality set item. Gavin Lin quickly compared it to similar listings in the Auction House. He found only a couple of other green set pieces for sale—and their starting and reserve prices were outrageously high.

“I’m rich!” The thought popped into his head. Of course, as good as the staff was, it could only be used by a Mage.

Right away, Gavin Lin listed the green-quality Fire Staff on the Auction House through the Demon Chapter interface. Using comparable green items as reference, he set the starting bid at 12 hours and the reserve price at 48 hours.

This price was already 5% below market rate, so he wasn’t worried about finding a buyer. He could have asked for more—but right now, he desperately needed time, so he wanted to sell it as quickly as possible.

He also listed his unused plate armor for 3 hours, and Wirt’s Leg for 4 hours. Then he checked his Clock.

“With the 48-hour reward for killing Griswold, minus the 2 hours deducted for the failed ‘Turn Over Corpse’ task… I now have 29 hours and 18 minutes remaining. Time to return.”

Following the method described in the Demon Chapter, he spent 30 minutes to open a teleportation portal.

On the other side lay the real world.

Gavin Lin stepped through without hesitation—and in the next second, he appeared in a narrow alley.

It was still the dead of night, but the rain had stopped.

Time in the Demon Chapter world was synchronized with the real world. Since he’d only completed two tasks over a little more than three hours, real-world time was just past midnight.

All his equipment had vanished—a rule of the Demon Chapter. Items from that world couldn’t be brought into reality, and stat enhancements didn’t carry over to his physical body.

However, injuries sustained in the real world could be healed inside the Demon Chapter.

Gavin Lin touched the spot where he’d been shot earlier—and sure enough, it was completely unharmed. His wounds had been fully restored upon entering the Demon Chapter.

After slowly walking out of the alley, he hailed a taxi.

Back at his temporary residence, Gavin Lin performed his usual security check: a single strand of hair placed in the door c***k—a precaution known only to him. If the hair was missing, someone had entered the room.

Given that he was planning to assassinate Owen Xu, extreme caution was necessary—especially since the police already had his information. In this situation, vigilance was his best defense.

The hair was still in place. Relieved, Gavin Lin quietly opened the door and stepped inside.

After a relaxing bath and a light meal, he had no urge to sleep. Instead, he turned on his computer and went online. He first searched for news about Owen Xu—and, as expected, found nothing. It seemed the authorities had no intention of making Owen Xu’s death public.

“Local underworld…”

Originally, Gavin Lin had no quarrel with Rowan Long. But if the police could access his data, then Rowan Long could too. And once that scoundrel learned his brother had been killed because of Ryan, his nature guaranteed one outcome: he would go after Owen Xu’s only daughter.

For that reason, Rowan Long couldn’t be allowed to live.

But Rowan Long was far harder to deal with than Owen Xu. He had no fixed residence, and due to his many enemies, he was always surrounded—even while sleeping—by a dozen armed guards. These were hardened mercenaries, not easily eliminated.

“Tomorrow, I’ll go find Uncle Li’s daughter first,” Gavin Lin decided.

As his gaze lingered on the computer screen, he paused, then typed “Demon Chapter” into the search engine.

He clicked search—but the results page remained blank. The all-powerful internet held no trace of the Demon Chapter world. It was truly mysterious.

He tried several related keywords. Still nothing.

Leaning back in his chair, chin resting in his hand, Gavin Lin fell into deep thought.