Chapter 28: Showdown in the Devil City (5)
After rushing for more than ten minutes, Tang Cuo’s group of three finally caught up with the main force.
The first thing that reached their ears was still the voice of the little imp: “Whoa, whoa! Look at our Number 4, it really is superb! Look at that agile posture, look at those ferocious moves! It’s rare for our Devil City to have such a fantastic pet—its bloodline must be exceptionally pure! Number 8 isn’t bad either! Don’t be discouraged! When you get knocked down, scramble back up and bite right back! You can do it!”
Meng Yufei was still resisting.
One of his arms was already wounded, and cuts covered his back and legs. Gasping heavily for air, he was utterly wretched. As an arrow from Jin Cheng shot toward him, he hurriedly dodged and threw himself into the mob of monsters, using the swarming mobs as cover.
Closing his eyes, his mind was filled with the scenes of being sent to prison by Jin Cheng the previous few times. But this time was a true matter of life and death. He couldn’t die; even if he truly had to die, he could never die at Jin Cheng’s hands.
The mobs howled and lunged toward Jin Cheng. Individually, their lethality wasn’t high, but their sheer numbers were overwhelming. As far as the eye could see, the end of the road was densely packed with mobs; for every one killed, a whole swarm surged forward to replace it.
The players could barely maintain their footing on the road, at risk of being surrounded if they made the slightest misstep. At this point, the rocket launcher of No. 6 in the ghillie suit became the ultimate monster-clearing weapon.
Boom—! Firing a shot without even needing to aim, a swath of mobs collapsed.
His teammate, Number 3, scavenged kills right beside him, stepping up to finish off whichever ones fell to the ground but hadn’t died yet. The girl at Number 10 was considerably fiercer; her ability was the common fire-element superpower. Hurling fireball after fireball, her monster-killing efficiency was remarkably high.
Numbers 2, 9, and 11 couldn’t compare to the three of them. Somewhat flustered, they had sustained injuries, though none faced immediate mortal peril. That was, until Tang Cuo’s group of three arrived.
“The mobs behind have started respawning!” Qian Wei yelled at the top of his lungs.
The other players’ hearts skipped a beat. They hadn’t cleared the mobs ahead yet, the finish line was nowhere in sight, and now the mobs they had just wiped out behind them were already respawning?!
A pincer attack from front and rear—how were they supposed to play this?
“Pick up the pace!” The girl at Number 10 reacted in the exact same way as Tang Cuo. If the mobs from the rear were closing in, their only choice was to push forward at full speed.
If they didn’t advance, it was death. Even if they weren’t beaten to death by swarming mobs, they would be worn down to exhaustion. Pushing forward at least gave them a fighting chance.
Everyone hastened their slaughter.
Tang Cuo lagged behind. He had only one gun, and only a single bullet remained in the chamber, so naturally, he wouldn’t push himself recklessly. His current weapon was a broadsword picked up from the ground, dropped by a goblin. Cutting down one per strike wasn’t fast, but it was better than nothing.
Compared to the dilemma of being caught in a pincer attack, his thoughts drifted a bit off-track. He suddenly remembered Meng Yufei’s blade intent and Qian Wei’s sword qi. Zhang Xing had once said that top experts possessed abilities of their own, while small fry like him could only rely on consumable items like cards in battle.
Yet even now, Tang Cuo hadn’t crossed the threshold.
He had no superpowers, nor did he know magic, let alone blade intent or sword qi—he had jack shit. So what was the trigger condition? Did one need to acquire some secret manual, or apprentice under an NPC to learn?
Lost in thought, Tang Cuo dispatched another mob with a slash and took a step back.
Up ahead, Jin Cheng was practically dancing atop the heads of the mobs, leaping from here to there. Turning around, he unleashed a volley of rapid shots like flowers scattering from the heavens—swish, swish, swish—and a swath of mobs collapsed.
Jin Cheng’s arrows possessed formidable armor penetration and lethal power; a single mob couldn’t stop them at all. Piercing through one, the arrow’s momentum remained undiminished, instantly striking a second. And with the mobs packed so densely, a single arrow from Jin Cheng often claimed two or three lives.
When these two or three collapsed, they knocked down another one or two, making the casualty count remarkably substantial.
Meng Yufei seized every opportunity to flee.
Twang—! Jin Cheng unleashed a technique, and the powerful sonic attack knocked the mobs flat one after another. Meng Yufei also stumbled, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
He immediately drew his blade and spun around. Clang!
The scimitar slashed diagonally against Jin Cheng’s arrow; this time, it failed to sever it.
Meng Yufei was already near total exhaustion. Sweat and blood mixed across his face, stinging his eyes. Forcefully hurling his final ball lightning, Meng Yufei spotted an opening and actually bolted backward.
Though driven to a dead end, his mind remained relatively sharp.
Charging forward was out of the question; the finish line was completely unknown, and so many mobs would inevitably drag down his speed and drain his stamina—being caught by Jin Cheng would be a matter of minutes.
Better to retreat backward.
Meng Yufei refused to believe that among so many players, every single one was Jin Cheng’s accomplice. Didn’t Jin Cheng love championing the weak and suppressing the strong? Wasn’t he so noble and great? With so many players tangled together, let’s see how he dares to strike.
Seeing Meng Yufei suddenly fall back, the other players indeed did not step in to intercept him. Knowing neither Meng Yufei nor Jin Cheng, they naturally wouldn’t act rashly.
Qian Wei hesitated for a moment, and that very hesitation nearly put him face-to-face with the tip of Meng Yufei’s blade.
A blade suddenly flew in from an angle, intercepting Meng Yufei once again. Turning his head, Meng Yufei saw it was Tang Cuo again—that detestable Number 12.
Tang Cuo threw one blade, picked up another, stabbed a goblin with a thrust, and looked up to ask: “Are you trying to take hostages?”
As soon as the words fell, the other players grew instantly vigilant.
With a single sentence, Tang Cuo exposed Meng Yufei’s intentions and pitted him squarely against every player present, infuriating Meng Yufei to no end. Without a word, he lunged toward Tang Cuo. If he couldn’t escape today, he would at least drag someone down to hell with him.
“Watch out!” Qian Wei scrambled to intercept.
Tang Cuo wasn’t slow either. Having the distinct self-awareness of a straggler, he grabbed a goblin and shoved it right onto the tip of Meng Yufei’s blade.
Killing with bloodshot eyes, Meng Yufei drew his blade and slashed down without hesitation. In the next instant, another mob flew straight at his face; before he could even think, he cleaved it down with another strike.
“#¥@#!” What crashed into his eardrums wasn’t a goblin’s shrill shriek, but a torrent of furious curses.
Meng Yufei’s blade froze for a fraction of a second. Looking closely, he realized this wasn’t a goblin mob at all—it was a monster spectator from Devil City! That detestable Number 12 had dragged it right out of a window!
In an instant, all of Devil City erupted in wild outrage. Waves of sound surged toward the central thoroughfare like a tsunami, shaking all the players into a daze, their heads nearly splitting open.
The monster spectator dragged out by Tang Cuo hadn’t been killed by the slash. In a mad, berserk fury, it threw itself at Meng Yufei, its bloody maw sinking into his arm and tearing off a mouthful of flesh.
“Contestant Number 8 has gone mad! It actually attacked our esteemed lords of Devil City, violating its basic principles as a pet! Heavens, what a shocking and heartbreaking scene!” The little imp flapped its wings and flew over, sounding exasperated yet laced with gloating amusement.
Pivoting sharply: “Our darling Number 12’s actions are also rather thought-provoking! Let’s see what it really intends to do!”
Tang Cuo didn’t intend to do anything; it was merely a sudden spark of inspiration.
Jin Cheng could attest that Tang Cuo’s flashes of inspiration carried immense unpredictability—life or death hung entirely on a whim. He was a little bastard, but also an ingenious little rascal.
In the end, Meng Yufei still slaughtered the monster spectator—in for a penny, in for a pound. And although the uproar along both sides of the road was overwhelming, none of the spectators actually charged down to brawl.
Yet at this moment, Meng Yufei’s rage toward Tang Cuo instantly eclipsed his hatred for Jin Cheng.
Just then, from among the mob of monsters blasted flat by No. 6’s rocket launcher, a small green pixel cube suddenly rose, hovering about five or six meters above the ground.
Tang Cuo, Qian Wei, and Peng Mingfan were baffled, but the others seemed to know exactly what it was. Number 3 dashed forward, kicked off the wall with a powerful leap, and slammed his body into the cube.
The pixel cube shattered instantly, scattering into motes of light, while a floating text reading “+20%” flashed above Number 3’s head.
“Is this Super Mario?!” Qian Wei’s eyes bugged out as he roasted the setup.
Peng Mingfan, on the other hand, quickly grasped the game’s mechanics. An endless track, densely packed mobs, and an estimated 15 to 20-minute mob respawn timer dictated the grueling nature of this road. The quest required surviving for at least three hours; they had spent roughly an hour on the first two stages, which meant the remaining two hours would be spent on Stage Three.
Hidden among the mobs were special monsters; slaying them triggered pixel cubes. These cubes could restore health or provide other buffs, ensuring the players’ sustain.
Number 3 and his team had fought all the way here, so they must have triggered it a few times already.
The scimitar slashed in once more. Tang Cuo sidestepped to evade while swiftly snatching two blades off the ground, spinning around to parry. Crossing the two blades, he locked Meng Yufei’s scimitar in place. Meng Yufei gritted his teeth and pressed down with all his might, yet couldn’t budge him.
Tang Cuo excelled at close-quarters combat. His fighting skills had been personally drilled into him by Jin Cheng, leaving him with few rivals among his peers. Exerting slight force to lever the blade upward, Tang Cuo delivered a vicious kick right into Meng Yufei’s stomach.
The mobs swarmed in at that exact moment.
With a side-step, Tang Cuo cut into the mob, mimicking Meng Yufei by using the monsters as cover. Meng Yufei glared fixedly at him. He had originally intended to take hostages, but Tang Cuo’s combat prowess far exceeded his expectations.
This was practically another Jin Cheng.
At this moment, Tang Cuo’s and Jin Cheng’s silhouettes seemed to overlap, making Meng Yufei involuntarily feel a trace of dread. He swiftly switched targets, charging toward Peng Mingfan instead.
Peng Mingfan’s ability was peculiar.
As a gun-wielder, his marksmanship was terrible and his melee combat was nonexistent. Yet just as Meng Yufei’s blade was about to cleave into him, his pupils abruptly contracted, and the blade tip froze in midair.
Peng Mingfan rolled across the ground immediately to dodge.
Having suffered setback after setback, Meng Yufei looked thoroughly hideous. Looking back toward Jin Cheng, he found the man wasn’t pursuing him at all, but rather carving a bloody path at the very front of the pack.
The entire player cohort began advancing at full speed.
Did Jin Cheng not give a damn about him at all, or did he trust the trailing players far too much to stall him?
Meng Yufei could hold back no longer, unleashing his ultimate move directly. A whirlwind coalesced at the tip of his blade; gritting his teeth, he swept his blade in a full arc. The blade intent exploded to two meters long, launching an indiscriminate attack in all directions.
This technique was called Whirlwind Slash.
“Dodge!” Tang Cuo snapped.
Qian Wei, Peng Mingfan, and the others looked on in astonishment, diving sideways one after another. The unlucky Number 9 took a hit, cut down like wheat alongside the surrounding mobs. However, being a player after all, the blade only sliced an open gash across his waist without completely incapacitating him.
“Fuck!” he cursed involuntarily, not daring to retaliate.
Meng Yufei was simply too terrifying at this moment.
Another pixel cube—a red one—rose from among the mobs. Meng Yufei rushed forward to claim it; in an instant, the blade intent on his scimitar turned as scarlet as blood.
Tang Cuo frowned. Did the red cube boost combat fervor or attack power? He made an immediate call: “Forward!”
Qian Wei and Peng Mingfan had reached the point of following his every command. Without a second thought, they scrambled up and charged forward, heedless of the sea of mobs ahead.
As they rushed forward, Jin Cheng swiftly fell back, the two sides swapping positions in the blink of an eye.
Swoosh! Jin Cheng loosed an arrow as he arrived, his gaze sweeping over Tang Cuo. “Fall back.”
Tang Cuo retreated.
Moving like lightning, Jin Cheng disassembled his longbow into twin blades, chasing Meng Yufei and forcing him back dozens of paces. Their battleground swiftly distanced itself from the main group, with continuous bangs and clashing blows ringing out without pause.
And now, the respawned mobs finally closed in from behind.
Jin Cheng narrowed his eyes, slamming another strike against Meng Yufei’s blade as the two locked in a contest of strength. In the next second, Jin Cheng abruptly lunged forward, ignoring all of Meng Yufei’s resistance and shoving him like an artillery shell right into the swarm of mobs.
Pfft. Meng Yufei spat a mouthful of blood across his blade. How had he forgotten? Jin Cheng’s instantaneous burst power was practically unsolvable. A sudden strike like that could punch straight through a steel plate.
Meng Yufei could almost distinctly hear the sound of his ribs snapping. His entire back slammed heavily against the ground; within his field of vision, there was nothing but Jin Cheng and the blades of the mobs.
In the nick of time, an object resembling a grenade suddenly materialized in Meng Yufei’s palm.
Jin Cheng retreated at lightning speed, but it was already too late.
Boom—! The shockwave of the detonation whipped the hems of his coat. Blasted gravel and grenade shrapnel slashed across his thigh, and an itch rose up in his throat.
Smoke and dust billowed everywhere.
Jin Cheng wiped away a smear of blood from his face, narrowing his eyes slightly. Suddenly, a gust of wind brushed past his ear.
Meng Yufei’s blade tore through the wind.
Jin Cheng sidestepped to evade, taking two paces back, not daring to lightly touch that frenzied blade intent. Meng Yufei had truly gone berserk, slashing wildly with a ceaseless barrage of various items and props.
The other players didn’t dare approach at all. Qian Wei clicked his tongue in wonder, having no clue where the man had acquired so many items. Even if players in Zone F ran instances daily, they surely couldn’t hoard this much, could they?
Tang Cuo didn’t know how many people Meng Yufei had murdered or how many items he had plundered either, but from this spectacle, one could easily deduce the scale.
“Where are your tricks?! Are you planning to grind it out with me to the bitter end like this?!” Clutching his chest, Meng Yufei glared venomously at Jin Cheng.
All around them lay carpets of corpses. Neither deliberately targeted the mobs anymore, but under such an intense duel, not a single mob could survive the crossfire.
Jin Cheng said nothing. As he had said before: don’t talk nonsense while fighting.
Yet Meng Yufei refused to accept it, grinding his teeth: “I don’t understand.”
Why do you insist on hounding me to death?
Those trash—if they die, they die! But I could have lived all the way to the end!
Clatter! Jin Cheng shot an arrow straight through his wrist. Meng Yufei’s blade clattered to the ground, one arm rendered completely useless. Yet Jin Cheng gave him no room to breathe, following up arrow after arrow.
Taking advantage of the opening, the mobs swarmed in. Stretched to his limits, Meng Yufei finally exhausted every usable item on his person.
Yet he still couldn’t halt Jin Cheng’s advance.
For the final blow, Jin Cheng strode forward and drove his blade straight down.
The moment blood spurted forth, Meng Yufei collapsed, with nothing left before his eyes except the pale, dreary sky of Devil City. Jin Cheng held the hilt firmly, specks of blood splattered across his stern, icy face.
Only now did he take the leisure to tell him: “They are weaker than you, so you kill them—that fits your logic. Then I am stronger than you, so I kill you—it is completely justified by the laws of heaven and earth.”
The entirety of Devil City erupted in wild frenzy, roaring like rolling tsunamis.
“The most devil-thrilling scene has arrived! This is exactly what a competition in our Devil City should look like!” Veins bulged in the little imp’s throat as it shrieked: “Number 4! Remember Number 4! Everyone, give it your most enthusiastic cheers! The absolute championship favorite: Number 4!”
