BANG!!!
With a deafening gunshot, the silver-grey giant wolf, whose shoulder height reached the chin of an adult, crashed onto the barren land full of withered yellow grass.
Its body, riddled with bloody holes and long, narrow gashes, charred and smoking, quickly vanished into the air like smoke, leaving behind three figures on the barren land: one close, two far, and large stains of blood everywhere.
The closest was a young man lying on the ground, face up. He had already lost consciousness, tightly gripping a deformed and chipped short knife in his right hand. His clothes were completely torn, revealing deep gashes in his flesh from the wolf's claws. The only sign of life was the slight rise and fall of his bloody chest, indicating he was still alive.
About ten meters away from the young man lying on the ground were two individuals showing expressions of having survived a disaster.
One was a young man wearing a cowboy hat. He shook the revolver in his hand emitting a bluish-white smoke from its barrel and turned to the woman nearby, leaning on a long brown magic staff with a pale face, and said:
"We finally made it... Who would've thought a Level 2 monster would be this hard to kill? I almost ran out of bullets."
The young man in the cowboy hat spoke with a tone of relief, knowing full well the dire situation a gunslinger like him would face if his bullets ran out.
"Yeah... We owe it to the Warrior teammate in front this time."
The female player, who appeared to be a Mage, nodded and then, with the young man in the cowboy hat, stepped forward to check on the condition of the young man lying on the ground.
"He's not dead yet, just wounded and comatose... Do you have any Healing Spells or healing potions?"
The young man in the cowboy hat quickly confirmed that the young man on the ground was still alive, albeit in poor condition, and asked if his Mage teammate could offer any assistance.
"I don't have those."
The young female Mage player shook her head in response.
"Let's hope he can pull through on his own... As long as he can regain consciousness briefly, he can return directly to the real world and fully recover his physical state."
Just after the female Mage player finished her reply, a sparkling square chest appeared out of thin air next to each of them, and a box outline emerged next to the young man lying on the ground. This marked the exciting loot chest opening phase after completing the instance.
Without any contention, the two standing individuals quickly knelt down to open their chests and eagerly checked the rewards of clearing the instance.
"A box of ordinary bullets... an ordinary dagger... sigh... barely adequate."
The young gunslinger sighed upon inventorying the contents of his loot chest, disappointed by the lackluster items, offering no surprises at all.
However, when he turned to the female Mage player, who had also finished opening her chest, he found her very pleased, placing a faintly glowing ruby ring on her right index finger.
"Did you just get...?"
The gunslinger player's eyes flashed with a hint of envy, but for certain reasons, he quickly suppressed this emotion.
"It's a Fine Layer ring that happens to enhance my Fireball Technique."
The female Mage player wasn't worried about her teammate stealing the treasure and demonstrated the ruby ring on her right index finger to the gunslinger player, explaining its purpose, as such items' detailed properties are invisible to those who don't possess them.
"You're really lucky to get a Fine Layer item, and a rare ring type at that..."
The gunslinger player couldn't help but express some envy, but then his gaze turned to the ground, namely to the loot chest beside the distressed Warrior player lying there.
"I must say, don't think about taking his chest prizes. He's still alive, and taking his stuff would certainly get you into the Punishment Zone."
The joyful female Mage player, reveling in her Fine Layer ring's discovery, immediately noticed the suspicious intent of the gunslinger player beside her and warned him.
What she referred to, the Punishment Zone mechanism, was well-known and unequivocally proven to exist among players, which is why she opened her chest right there without any worry of being robbed by her gunslinger companion.
"Of course I know that. I just wanted to see what his reward is."
The young man in the cowboy hat spoke without turning his head and came to the last unopened chest on the ground, bent down, and opened its lid.
Simply opening another player's chest without any intent to seize is entirely permissible, as many players believe in good luck and would ask so-called "red-hand" players to open their chests for them.
As this final chest opened, its contents were quickly revealed, and the opener exclaimed in surprise:
"Hmm? Why is this chest empty?"
He wasn't mistaken. When he opened the chest that wasn't his, he found it completely empty, with nothing inside.
"This... can't be possible..."
The nearby female Mage player was immediately somewhat surprised upon hearing it. The reason was simple: she knew how incredibly rare it was for a treasure chest to be completely empty, and it was said to be even less likely than dropping a Fine Layer item.
"It really is empty! There's nothing inside!"
The Gunner player immediately stood up and lifted his head to assure the nearby female Mage, who then quickly approached and confirmed that the box they checked was indeed empty.
"Oh... he's really unfortunate... He almost lost his life to fight that monster, and in the end, all he got was an empty treasure chest."
The young man in the cowboy hat felt extreme sympathy for his teammate still lying on the ground beside him. Initially, he was planning to naturally inherit his unfortunate teammate's belongings after his death, but now those thoughts had entirely vanished.
"There's nothing we can do; sometimes luck just plays tricks on people."
The female Mage player, seeing this, also felt a bit regretful. She knew all too well how much effort the unlucky teammate had put into the recent battle, yet the result was so tragic. When he finally regains consciousness, he might even die from anger upon discovering that his treasure chest was empty.
"Let's go... We'll team up again next time."
"Alright, goodbye."
The young man in the cowboy hat and the female Mage player quickly bid each other farewell and left the dungeon, disappearing directly into the air of the wilderness.
This was actually them using a feature available to all players, allowing them to return home after completing a dungeon. As long as a player retained a certain level of consciousness, they could use their mind to control their player panel to leave the current world. No matter how dire their previous situation was, they could return to a restored state, a free benefit universally available to players.
Thus, this wilderness filled with withered yellow grass only had the pitiful young man lying on the ground and an opened empty chest beside him. As for the other two chests, they vanished completely once their items had been taken.
This situation continued for another quarter of an hour, looking as if the unlucky young man might die at any moment. Suddenly, he slowly opened his eyes, revealing a look of shock within them.
"It hurts... Am I... transmigrated? Have I become some sort of player?"
Wang Zhifan now felt extremely surprised. He was originally an ordinary employee of the Blue Star Celestial Dynasty, but unexpectedly, during overtime work, he was transported to this strange place, replacing a same-named youth from the Otherworld, becoming a cannon fodder Warrior player who failed his first dungeon.
"What are these in front of me... Please choose your dungeon rewards?"
After confirming that his current physical condition was quite miserable and not suitable for immediate activity, Wang Zhifan shifted his focus to other matters. That was an intangible screen that appeared out of thin air in front of him, displaying dense rows of text.
[Please choose your dungeon rewards (You may select up to 3 items)]
[Normal Grade (98% probability drop)]
[Long Sword (Normal) X0~3, Handgun (Normal) X0~3, Dagger (Normal) X0~3...]
[Wolf Hide Armor (Normal) X0~3, Wolf Hide Hat (Normal) X0~3, Wolf Hide Shoes (Normal) X0~3...]
[Boxed Handgun Bullets (Normal) X0~3, Boxed Rifle Bullets (Normal) X0~3, Boxed Sniper Rifle Bullets (Normal) X0~3...]
[Ruby Ring (Normal) X0~3, Emerald Ring (Normal) X0~3, Sapphire Ring (Normal) X0~3...]
[Warrior Skill Upgrade Scroll (Normal) X0~3, Mage Skill Upgrade Scroll (Normal) X0~3, Assassin Skill Upgrade Scroll (Normal) X0~3...]
…
[Fine Layer (1% probability drop):]
[Long Sword (Fine) X0~2, Handgun (Fine) X0~2, Dagger (Fine) X0~2...]
[Wolf Hide Armor (Fine) X0~2, Wolf Hide Hat (Fine) X0~2, Wolf Hide Shoes (Fine) X0~2...]
[Boxed Handgun Bullets (Fine) X0~2, Boxed Rifle Bullets (Fine) X0~2, Boxed Sniper Rifle Bullets (Fine) X0~2...]
[Ruby Ring (Fine) X0~2, Emerald Ring (Fine) X0~2, Sapphire Ring (Fine) X0~2...]
[Warrior Skill Upgrade Scroll (Fine) X0~2, Mage Skill Upgrade Scroll (Fine) X0~2, Assassin Skill Upgrade Scroll (Fine) X0~2...]
…
[Rare Layer (0.01% probability drop):]
[Wolf-Slaying Blade (Rare) X0~1]