Chapter 42: Crisis Resolved

“Hmm, the Shangri-La Hotel…” Ye Feng, wearing sunglasses, pulled open the sliding door leading to the balcony. Right in front of him was the Shangri-La Hotel. Having learned that Pearl had scheduled meetings with several drug lords that day, Ye Feng had booked this room, which was ideal for sniping, as it had a small balcony facing the hotel.
The detector, functioning like a telescope, clearly observed everything happening inside the building across from them. Seeing Pearl enter the reserved room with four drug lords, Ye Feng smirked.
“Pearl, why not discuss this in your office building? Why come all the way here?” one of the drug lords couldn’t help but ask.
“It’s not safe there. You must have heard that Boss Zhang died there the day before yesterday. Although it might have been a murder for revenge, I still think it’s much safer to discuss things here. It’s for your safety as well as my own. Even my subordinates only know that I’m at the Shangri-La; they don’t know which room. Only the four of you and I know this room number, and I’m using a fake name, so the hotel doesn’t know it’s me,” Pearl said cautiously.
“Truly worthy of being an old hand in this business,” said a drug lord with half-shaved hair, appearing to be in his fifties.
“Too kind, Boss Song. Compared to you seasoned professionals, I’m still too inexperienced!” Pearl laughed brightly.
“We’re just businessmen. We can’t compare to you guys who work in the underworld. You risk your lives for money, so of course you know how to protect yourselves. We’re far behind…” said a middle-aged man with a large belly and dark complexion, waving his hands repeatedly.
“Four!” Ye Feng took out his M21, aimed at the head of the man on the far left, and pulled the trigger. Before the man could react, he fired again, killing the second man on the left.
At that moment, the three people in the hotel finally panicked and tried to flee. The middle-aged man with dark complexion slipped on something bloody on the floor and was also killed by Ye Feng.
Soon, only the middle-aged man surnamed Song and Pearl were left in the room.
“Damn it! That guy must be after me!” Pearl hid behind the sofa and pounded the floor furiously.
“What exactly happened?” The middle-aged man surnamed Song looked at Pearl in panic. In just an instant, the three men who had come with him had disappeared completely, leaving him feeling utterly helpless.

“It’s okay, I’ll handle it.” Pearl took out her phone and dialed a number. “Go investigate that building east of Shangri-La right away—all rooms on the 15th floor and above with windows or balconies facing this way. Bring back any suspicious people immediately!”
Ye Feng watched quietly everything happening on the screen in front of him, including Pearl making the call. He didn’t leave but chose to stay put and wait.
In less than two minutes, someone knocked on his door. Four or five men in black suits pointed guns at Ye Feng as he opened the door.
“Sorry, we need to come in and check it out,” said the leader. After ordering his men to rush in, he pointed his gun at Ye Feng, waiting for their report.
“Boss, there’s a sniper rifle on the balcony…” The men saw the sniper rifle on the balcony and immediately shouted toward the door.
Before the man in front of him could react, Ye Feng ruthlessly broke his neck and then used his gun to eliminate the other four men.
After closing the door, Ye Feng took the communicator from the man’s waist.
Hearing the communicator being activated, Pearl asked anxiously, “How is it? Did he escape?”
“No, we killed him!” Ye Feng’s lips curled slightly upward.
This result was clearly beyond Pearl’s expectations. She was stunned for a moment. Meanwhile, the middle-aged man surnamed Song let out a deep sigh upon hearing this news. He stood up, patted his pants, and walked over to the table in front of the sofa, wanting to drink some water. “Finally safe. I need something to calm myself down…”
At that moment, Pearl also poked her head out slightly and glanced at the other building. She faintly saw a young man waving at her from a balcony. She quickly shouted at the middle-aged man surnamed Song, “Hide quickly!”
Before she could finish speaking, she heard glass shatter again, along with the sound of the middle-aged man collapsing to the ground, his brain and blood splattering all over the wall.
“Damn it, he really came for me.” Pearl retracted her head and gasped for breath. What had just happened made her roughly understand the other party’s intentions.
Having achieved his goal, Ye Feng put away his gun and left with a swagger.
After finding another hotel to stay in, the dialogue box appeared in front of Ye Feng.
Number of deceased spirits absorbed: 9
Total contribution value: 23, Total evil value: 2,092,684
Domain value available for exchange: 2,092,707 points
Do you want to exchange domain value?

“This is… seven digits?!” Ye Feng widened his eyes and counted again. “Units, tens, hundreds, thousands… two million nine hundred thousand…”
Unbelievingly, Ye Feng clicked confirm.
“Exchange value successful. Debt settled: 922,900. Remaining value: 1,169,807!”
“Debt settled — Special reward: One instance of Level 1 Amnesty!”
“Value exceeds one million in one go — Special reward: One instance of Level 1 Ultimate Privilege!”
Seeing the three pop-up messages in a row, Ye Feng was overjoyed.
“Have I really paid off the debt?” Ye Feng looked utterly incredulous. “What can 1.1 million in value be used for? To boost strength? To increase strength from 100 to 200 points requires 1,638,400 units of Level 1 value, not to mention improving mental power and speed. Clearly, such pills can’t be used for further strength improvement later on.” With that thought, Ye Feng completely gave up the idea of exchanging value directly for pills.
“Boi! Boi!!” Ye Feng eagerly entered the Virtual Realm, wanting to share the good news with Boi. But after searching everywhere in the realm, he found Boi nowhere.
“Boi, where are you? I’ve paid off my debt! I’m not going to disappear!!! Come out!” Ye Feng shouted loudly in the empty Virtual Realm. “Come out!!!”
“He won’t come out anymore, and you’ll forget him too…” A familiar voice came from behind Ye Feng. He turned around and saw the same face as his own, wearing the same clothes.
“It’s you!” Ye Feng glared coldly at the projection in the Virtual Realm. “Why are you here? Where’s Boi?”
“Boi… he… violated the rules of the Virtual Realm for you. As someone who signed a guardianship contract with the realm, violating the rules means death!” The projection said expressionlessly.
“For me?” Ye Feng didn’t quite understand what the projection meant.
“Yes. The fact that negative values in the Virtual Realm result in erasure was a secret of the realm. Only the realm master, who has experienced it firsthand, is qualified to know. Telling you this is already a capital offense!” the projection said coldly. “But it doesn’t matter. It makes no difference whether he’s here or not. You’ve almost mastered the First Realm, haven’t you? Besides, after he’s erased, his memory won’t remain in yours either. It’s as if you never met him. Isn’t that good? Anyway, you won’t feel guilty then…”

“Speak up. What conditions do you want before you’ll let him go?” Ye Feng tried to stay calm. He had already lost Brother Long and didn’t want to lose Boy too.
“It’s not up to me to decide. It’s the rules here that determine it… I can’t do anything…” The projection shook its head.
Ye Feng’s heart sank instantly. That annoying sense of powerlessness returned. “Why? I’m never strong enough to protect those around me…”
“Although I can’t help, you can save him—if you’re willing!” the projection suddenly said.
“How?” Ye Feng immediately raised his head to look at the projection.
“Weren’t you just granted a Level 1 Pardon Power? You can pardon his crimes!” the projection reminded him.
“Is that enough?” Ye Feng was skeptical.
“That’s right. But think carefully. The Level 1 Pardon Power allows you to waive one of your own crimes before you advance to become the master of the second domain. If your domain value turns negative again and you can’t repay it, the Pardon Power can reset your domain value to zero and save your life. Using it here means losing one layer of protection. Are you sure you want to use it?” The projection stared quietly at Ye Feng, waiting to see his reaction.
“Of course! Tell me how to do it.” Ye Feng answered without hesitation.
“It’s simple. Open your character stats panel, select Level 1 Pardon Power, enter Boy’s name, and confirm.” The projection casually stuffed its hands in its pockets, a smile playing on its lips.
Ye Feng followed the instructions given by the projection and clicked on Level 1 Pardon Power.
“Enter the name of the person to be pardoned!”
“Boy!”
“Confirm pardoning Boy?” As this dialog box appeared, a projection of Boy’s current state appeared below. Ye Feng saw Boy tied up by chains and roasted above flames. Boy’s feet had disappeared…
“Confirm!” After a brief moment of hesitation, Ye Feng made his choice.
The scene Ye Feng had seen in the projection appeared in the void. The flames on the ground gradually dimmed, the light screen formed by the flames slowly faded, and the crisscrossing marks on the ground disappeared as well. The transparent screen above also shattered into pieces and vanished into the air. The chains that had appeared from nowhere around them also broke into pieces and disappeared. Boy fell from the air, and Ye Feng rushed forward to catch him.

“I knew you would come back…” Boy said before passing out…