Dead End Hollows Entering the Decline Phase
After slaying the Dead End Butcher, Sam Li instantly gained 20,000 system points, along with a 1% increase in his roleplay progress.
An unexpected windfall.
At this moment, his system points had reached a total of 37,500, as displayed on the character panel.
Eager to see what he could purchase, Sam Li immediately opened the system shop.
"System, open the shop."
[Ding! Shop opened. Based on the host's current system points, the following items are recommended—]
[Food – Teyvat Fried Egg]: 2,000 system points
[Treasure Compass – Geo Treasure Compass]: 15,000 system points
[Fishing Rod – Long Line Tethering the Moon]: 5,000 system points
[Relic – Adventurer's Pocket Watch]: 5,000 system points
[Relic – Flower of Merit]: 50,000 system points
[Relic – Feather of Martial Glory]: 50,000 system points
[Serenitea Pot]: 70,000 system points
[Jade Chamber]: 100,000 system points
[Statue of The Seven – Geo]: 200,000 system points
...
Over 30,000 system points might sound like a lot, but when Sam Li saw the actual prices in the shop, he realized it barely covered anything.
A single piece of the Tenacity of the Millelith set cost 50,000 points.
And the Statue of The Seven – Geo was an absurd 200,000 points.
Looks like in the future, he'd need to take down more targets like the Dead End Butcher—or even stronger Ethereals—if he wanted to afford the top-tier items.
For now, he could only afford some food, tools, or low-tier relics.
The Treasure Compass seemed quite handy—it might be worth picking up.
But Sam Li wasn't interested in bottom-tier relics. His plan was to save up system points and go straight for the Tenacity of the Millelith set that suited him best.
With that in mind,
Sam Li closed the system shop and prepared to leave the Dead End Hollows to search for Nicole and Billy.
Just as he was about to move—
Suddenly.
Sam Li sensed something. He looked up at the streets and rooftops around him.
One Ethereal... two... three...
Dozens of ordinary Ethereals had appeared—at the end of the street, on top of buildings—they were everywhere.
All of them had been drawn by the earlier battle.
Sam Li shook his head with a sigh.
"Some Ethereals are desperate to escape, others can't wait to die. Let me send you all off, then."
With those words,
Sam Li once again summoned the Vortex Vanquisher from his inventory and strode toward the swarming Ethereals.
The next moment—
He swung his weapon. A golden flash engulfed the frontmost few enemies.
It was like mowing down grass.
Wherever he passed, no Ethereal was left standing. Sam Li eliminated every last one.
The system notifications echoed in his mind nonstop:
[Ding! Congratulations, Host. Successfully killed low-level Ethereal x1. Reward: 10 system points——]
[Ding! Congratulations, Host. Successfully killed low-level Ethereal x1. Reward: 10 system points——]
[Ding! Congratulations, Host. Successfully killed mid-level Ethereal x1. Reward: 100 system points——]
...
While Sam Li continued reaping waves of low-level Ethereals...
At that same moment—
Not far from the Dead End Hollows, inside a temporary outpost observation station...
Two security officers and an observer were busy recording daily monitoring data.
They were logging critical readings from inside the Dead End Hollows: Ether concentration, Etheric activity, threat level assessments... all of it compiled and sent to HQ.
After working for half the day—
They finally finished logging today's data.
The observer sat back in his chair, sipping coffee. He raised his hand above the keyboard and casually tapped the send key.
Data transmission complete—today's work was done.
"What a breeze. Back when I was stationed at Scott Outpost, there was no way I could just kick back with coffee like this."
"Quit slacking off. Did you send the data to headquarters yet?"
"Of course I did. That little bit of work? I could finish it in an hour, easy. Not to brag, but if I could set up a game console here, I'd totally crush the Snake vs. Snake record and snag the top spot on the Soul Eater leaderboard."
"Cut it out. If HQ catches you gaming on duty, you're toast."
...
Just like every other day.
After sending the data, the observer sipped his coffee and bragged to the security personnel about his supposed gaming prowess.
If he hadn't ended up as an observer, he was sure he could've gone pro in Snake vs. Snake—or Soul Eater.
He hadn't even finished his coffee when—
Suddenly.
A loud alarm blared through the temporary observation outpost.
One of the security personnel called out, "Hey, the alarm's going off. Quit spacing out with your coffee."
The observer yawned, unfazed.
"Must've bought a bad batch. Still sleepy after drinking it. I'm definitely switching brands next time."
The security officer repeated, more seriously, "The alarm's going off."
The observer finally put down his cup, rubbed his eyes, and muttered,
"Yeah, yeah, I hear it. Probably that damn Dead End Butcher causing trouble again—Etheric activity spiking like always. That guy never gives it a rest. Really wish Section Six would send someone to finally take care of him."
With that,
He took another sip of coffee and glanced at the monitor in front of him.
But the moment his eyes landed on the data—
He froze.
Mouth agape in disbelief.
And then choked on his coffee.
Pfft!
Instead of going down, the entire mouthful sprayed all over the keyboard.
The security guard beside him looked confused.
"What happened? Did the Ether activity hit the upper limit?"
The observer finally came to his senses, dazed as he replied,
"No… not the upper limit. It's the lower limit. The readings just dropped to the minimum threshold for a B-class Hollow…"
That wasn't normal.
The numbers never behaved like this.
Before he could even process what was happening, the data on the screen shifted again—dropping below B-class.
It was now registering as a C-class Hollow.
And what truly stunned the observer—
The drop didn't stop there. The numbers kept falling.
At this rate, it wouldn't be long before it slipped below even C-class… becoming a D-class Hollow.
The change was happening far too fast.
Completely outside the norm.
According to standard Hollow behavior, this kind of drop could only mean one thing:
A high-ranking Ethereal had been eliminated—or worse, a notorious Ethereal had been killed.
If the instruments weren't malfunctioning…
Then the Dead End Butcher must be dead.
Either way—
It had to be reported to headquarters immediately.
Not daring to delay, the observer quickly placed his hands on the now-soaked keyboard, typed up a summary of the abnormal readings, and hit send.
Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
That had been too close.
The security personnel beside him asked again, still puzzled,
"So what's going on?"
The observer raised a hand and wiped the sweat from his brow.
"I think… something happened to the Dead End Butcher. He might be dead…"