Shùn Yǐng Liú Hén
Cunning School Active Skill
Requirements: Possess the ‘Shadow Dancer’ profession, complete the quest ‘Nightingale’s Farewell Song’
Consumption/Restriction: 1% - 100% Stamina, 1% - 100% Acuity, 1% - 90% Health, equipped with a melee weapon.
Effect: Shùn — Instantly moves behind a designated target within 10 meters, dealing double weapon damage and having a very high chance to trigger a ‘Chain’ effect. After hitting the target, this skill transforms into: Yǐng for three seconds; Yǐng — Deals a critical strike to up to two targets within 2 meters simultaneously and has a certain chance to trigger a ‘Chain’ effect. After hitting the target, this skill transforms into: Liú for three seconds; Liú — Instantly moves behind any target within 3 meters and performs a bare-handed choke, causing a 100% silence effect, with a lower chance to trigger a ‘Chain’ effect. After hitting the target, this skill transforms into: Hén for three seconds; Hén — Enters the shadows, dealing a linear cutting damage with a radius of 1.5 meters in a designated direction. The distance is determined by the total value consumed when the skill is activated, 100% triggers a bleeding effect, with a very low chance to trigger a ‘Chain’ effect. After hitting the target, this skill transforms into: Yǐng for three seconds; If ‘Yǐng’, ‘Liú’, or ‘Hén’ are not cast within three seconds, the skill reverts to: Shùn, with a cooldown of 12 hours.
※Hyperlink※
1. The Health you consume will grant you additional damage bonus proportionally.
2. The Acuity you consume will grant you additional critical strike bonus proportionally.
3. The Stamina you consume will grant you additional defense bonus proportionally.
4. Each time a Chain is triggered, it adds a new effect to the next Shùn: Triggering once reduces the cooldown to 6 hours; triggering twice reduces the cooldown to 3 hours, and increases damage by 5%; triggering three times reduces the cooldown to 1 hour, and restores 10% of maximum Health and Acuity upon activation; triggering four times reduces the cooldown to 10 seconds, and increases damage by 1.5 times.
【Note: Tears silently flow, blood not yet cold, resentment fills the window, a mournful song sung silently, scoffing at eternal sorrow. Broken bones pave the green frost, do not praise, do not grieve, hatred leaves the branch, the lingering sound still echoes through the beams.】
This is a powerful skill… from every angle, it is an exceptionally powerful skill…
Despite having an extremely long initial cooldown and a rather luck-dependent chain mechanism, these still cannot obscure the terror of the skill Shùn Yǐng Liú Hén. Yu Ying’s instantaneous slaying of six Mutants just now is the best proof!
Even if these enemies were not too powerful, even if Yu Ying was lucky enough to trigger ‘Chain’ three times in a row, even if those Mutants did not know how to protect their vital parts, these still could not hide the dominance of that combo just now!
Shùn Yǐng Liú Hén originated from a hidden quest chain that Yu Ying received not long after she started playing Innocent World. Although that series of dangerous and depressing quests kept her in a dark dungeon for three days (game time), the final rewards were incredibly generous. Not only did it directly grant her this extremely potent skill, but it also directly unlocked the ‘Shadow Dancer’ profession for Yu Ying, giving her a significant head start compared to most players.
This special skill, composed of four independent moves, can be said to be tailor-made for assassin-type players. Its controllable damage and consumption, sharp additional statuses, and extremely strong burst potential—if skills also had quality tiers, these points alone would be enough to place Shùn Yǐng Liú Hén among the Epic ranks.
If you add Cordova’s absolute luck, *sigh*… that would be a bit terrifying.
Of course, no one is that lucky, so that was also the first time Yu Ying fully executed the entire ‘Shùn’, ‘Yǐng’, ‘Liú’, ‘Hén’ skill set. She had used this skill three times before: the first time it stopped at ‘Yǐng’, the second time it stopped at ‘Liú’, and the third time she used ‘Shùn’ but failed to land the next attack.
“Ha, what does this count as?” Yu Ying, whose Stamina was depleted from shouting, gave a bitter smile and clenched her hands, only to shiver violently from a sharp pain: “It’s only a ‘simulation’ like this, so in reality, wouldn’t it be a hand-chopping level? Hmm, speaking of chopping hands, I remember Xiaoxi’s jewelry store seems to be releasing new products tomorrow…”
Two dry wails from not far away suddenly pulled the girl’s thoughts back from their tangent.
“Damn it, could it be those few with broken legs crawling over? Wouldn’t it be better to debut as an idol with such strong arm strength?!”
Yu Ying muttered in a low voice, grinding her teeth. Her body was trembling…
Wait a minute, trembling?
The girl blinked her eyes in surprise. She felt that she shouldn’t be that cowardly.
【Could it be?!】
Yu Ying strained to turn her head, pressing her ear to the ground, and as expected, heard a series of roaring sounds that were gradually growing louder…
“This is… horses? Around four hundred and fifty people… Knight Order?!”
The pebbles on the ground also began to tremble. The neat, drum-like sound of hooves was clearly audible, and the neighing from not far away was also getting closer and closer.
“Rather than having my head bitten off~” Yu Ying began to roll expressionlessly towards the direction of the hoofbeats. Yes, she was rolling stiffly like a human log, muttering as she rolled: “I’d rather die from garbled code.”
Quite cute…
“Ah ah ah ah ah ah!!”
Just then, a ‘Mutant’ with both legs severed at the knee suddenly rushed out from behind a nearby bush. Its blood had dried, and its black-and-white arms were covered in scratches and wounds, with some places even exposing raw bone. Yet, the monster seemed to be completely oblivious to pain, continuing to frantically flail its arms and ‘crawl’ towards Yu Ying… at a speed of at least twenty miles per hour!
【It’s over~】
Yu Ying, whose rolling speed did not exceed two miles per hour, sighed and instinctively closed her eyes.
Then…
She felt several gusts of wind sweep past her, followed by a powerful shout. It was a human voice!
“Dawn above, that evil is worth fighting!”
“In the name of the God of Justice, let’s go together!”
Crackling, clanging, squelching…
Yu Ying heard a not-so-pleasant sound coming from not far away, and then found herself being lifted by a pair of warm hands.
【I hope it’s a young, handsome, eloquent, polite, slightly mischievous, wealthy human or elf riding a white horse… 】
The girl quickly recited her five-year-old wish in her heart, then slowly opened her eyes.
“Yo!” The other party greeted her warmly, smiling as he asked, “Were you calling for help just now?”
It was an elven woman in a magnificent priest’s robe, with a cross on her back. She had a beautiful smile, and the hand resting on Yu Ying’s shoulder emitted a golden glow.
Not far away, at least ten burly, square-faced men were desperately hacking at a Mutant. They wore heavy armor and wielded broadswords or greatswords, and their faces were generally squarish.
Yu Ying nodded, then sighed silently. She felt she had been thinking a bit too much just now.
“I am Xia Lian Zhuye of the Dawn Sect. Not long ago, I encountered a group of civilians who were reportedly being chased by monsters.” The elven woman slightly narrowed her eyes, pointing to the Mutant not far away, which had been completely reduced to pieces of pork belly, tenderloin, and ribs. She asked Yu Ying in a deep voice, “Is this it?”
The latter was stunned for a moment, then exclaimed softly, “You are Xia Lian Zhuye? The Saintess?”
Xia Lian nodded: “You know me?”
“No, but there’s a very important piece of information I must tell you.” Yu Ying, having recovered some Stamina, slowly stood up and looked back at the monster that was no longer recognizable as human: “Information about them.”
……
Ten minutes later
Temporary encampment two kilometers from the ‘battlefield’
Seventy-two anxious B尼斯镇 civilians were receiving treatment. Yu Cheng, with her Calm Aura activated, stood timidly in the center of the crowd, constantly soothing their bodies and minds with divine magic. Occasionally, she would apologize and cast a healing spell on the grim-faced Black Vatican next to her, then continue to quietly comfort the surrounding townspeople.
High Priest Furman and several paladins were boiling soup for the refugees nearby, while the remaining hundreds were neatly guarding the encampment.
“If only you had arrived sooner.” The female assassin, wearing a red scarf (spare), squatted on top of a carriage, sighing with a complex expression.
Xia Lian, squatting beside her, nodded slightly: “I’m sorry…”
“Don’t misunderstand, I’m not blaming you, just stating a fact. Let’s continue our previous topic.” Yu Ying waved her hand, then turned to the Saintess beside her and said in a deep voice, “These monsters have no consciousness, no fatigue, no humanity. Even theoretically severe injuries are unlikely to make them lose combat effectiveness. Besides cutting off their heads, even piercing their hearts might not 100% kill them.”
Xia Lian nodded, then softly asked, “You just said they were living people not long ago?”
“Not all of them, but I personally witnessed three ordinary civilians suddenly turn into monsters.” Yu Ying shook her head, frowning as she replied, “We were originally a group of over a hundred people. A few hours ago, three people suddenly transformed into that appearance. After I killed them, I led everyone towards Hofur City. On the way, we encountered about ten more. Judging by their clothing, they were likely also human before.”
Xia Lian’s eyes narrowed, and she immediately looked up to confirm with the girl in front of her: “So, it’s not just people from B尼斯镇 who can turn like that, but others can also transform into those mad monsters due to some reason, right?”
“That’s right.” Yu Ying nodded slightly, then said with some uncertainty, “I personally think that all the people who turned into monsters have one thing in common.”
Although she wasn’t sure about the situation of the monsters they encountered later, she knew every person in her own team well. And including Marcus’s wife, those three people who underwent a second transformation all seemed to be…
Xia Lian thought for a moment: “They all got the Plague?”
“Alright, I forgot, so that’s two.” Yu Ying was stunned for a moment, then said in a deep voice, “What I wanted to say wasn’t that point, but that those people were all very weak… the kind of weakness that comes from being terminally ill.”
The elven Saintess thoughtfully tugged at her ear, then gestured for her to continue.
“There were three people who turned into monsters. Among them, Mr. Marcus’s wife was in the most serious condition. Her body seemed to have been unwell to begin with, and she was also among the first to contract the Plague. From the day before yesterday, she had become so weak that she couldn’t even walk by herself.” Yu Ying paused here, then suddenly lay down on her back, closed her eyes, and continued to recall, “And the carpenter Gates had been vomiting blood since this morning. That uncle, who originally weighed at least 160 pounds, had lost at least half his weight on this journey, and his body was covered in sores. He couldn’t even lie down when he slept. He was a hardworking good man; every time the team set up camp, he would carefully check every tent and even made many toys for the children… I personally cut off his head.”
She suddenly fell silent.
“May the Goddess protect their souls.” Xia Lian took down the scripture hanging from her waist, held it in her arms, and bowed her head in prayer, then looked at Yu Ying apologetically: “I’m sorry… Although I don’t want to force you to recall those sad things, but…”
Yu Ying shook her head: “It’s fine, I’m not that sentimental… Lastly, there was an nameless orphan. Everyone called her Bell, so I didn’t know her very well. That quiet child had a high fever since the day before yesterday. After turning into a monster, she wasn’t very strong either, and never got up again after being stabbed through the heart.”
【Side Quest Completed, Completion Rate 130%, Gained 2000 Assassin Experience, 150 Dawn Sect Reputation, +60 Reputation with all neutral organizations except Tian Zhu Mountain】
“I understand.” Xia Lian stood up after a long silence, gestured to Tairo who was standing nearby, then turned to Yu Ying and asked, “Hofur City has been sealed off, but we will escort the surviving townspeople to Mida City. Want to come along? We’re short a scout.”
Yu Ying stretched, sat up, and shrugged: “Alright, consider it returning a favor.”
……
Five minutes later
“That’s roughly the situation. Tairo will lead 30 men to escort the B尼斯镇 civilians slowly forward.” Xia Lian stood before the four hundred and eighty neatly lined-up Paladins, thrusting her heavy cross into the ground: “The rest follow me.”
Mo Tan sat on Little White’s back, frowning as he processed the information Xia Lian had just conveyed to everyone.
Infected individuals, like zombies, devoid of humanity, only knowing indiscriminate attacks…
Unknown habits, unknown causes, no significant weaknesses, and strength and speed far exceeding ordinary people, though not overwhelmingly powerful…
The situation, which was gradually being brought under control, became turbulent once again.
Was it another mutation of the Plague? Was it the Darkness Goddess’s revenge from behind the scenes?
Or was it something new?
Mo Tan was not clear about this, but at least one thing he understood…
【Mida City, surrounded by Plague infected, is very dangerous!!】
Chapter 182: End