In several teams, some people were conspiring in slightly loud voices, “They have too many good things. Just getting one would be enough for us… and, there’s something much more important than cultural products.” As these few words were spoken, more and more people fell into contemplation.
The sky had darkened at some point. A portion of the people quickly formed an alliance and walked out with unfriendly expressions. More people who were still hesitating chose to follow, hoping to get some benefits.
Crossing the threshold, they approached step by step, not fast, but like the probing before hunting a beast. Several dozen people, possibly more, formed an encirclement. As the players closed in, the people inside were like trapped beasts.
Yuan, who was queuing, had a cold expression. “Not good.” In essence, this was no different from a team battle instance. A bloody battle could occur between players at any stage.
Hearing the commotion, Red Hood turned around directly and also saw these people. Seeing her scarred face, the players in front were first stunned, then a determined look quickly flashed in their eyes. It seemed this woman was seriously injured.
“Trying to get something for nothing?”
Looking at this group of ill-intentioned players, and seemingly thinking of her own injuries, Red Hood’s tone changed, and her attitude shifted slightly. “I can tell twenty of you the types of popular cultural products for free. Anyway, the quota is limited, and there aren’t that many cultural products.” She was clearly trying to divide them.
However, the man at the very front remained unmoved and said calmly, “She wants us to kill each other. Let’s work together. I don’t want the cultural products, I just want the tickets.” The first batch of players who entered the instance were now the most anxious. At first, they thought seven days was plenty of time for the mission, but now there were only a few days left.
Compared to the choice of popular cultural products, they needed the VIP tickets that allowed them to visit continuously. As for the cultural products, they could always kill and loot later. If they could intercept and kill Zhou Qi’an and his group, after these people were divided into groups, at least each team could get one ticket, and not everyone would have to wait outside.
Yuan said in a low voice, “They don’t even have VIP tickets. It’s probably hard to negotiate with this group.” The dumber they were, the more uncontrollable they were. The capable ones were either viewing artifacts now, or had been screwed by the rules after snatching the limited copper coin earlier. In the eyes of the remaining dregs, they were lambs covered in treasures.
The college student also saw Tian Tian among them. Their eyes met, and the latter plucked up her courage and said, “Did… did you guys kill He Yang?”
It’s over. The college student closed his eyes, finding it hard to imagine what Brother Zhou must have felt when he first saw him.
Seeing that they were scared, the man who had spoken earlier let out a ferocious laugh. “Actually, we can negotiate terms, as long as…”
Before he could finish, a curved blade appeared without warning, directly slicing off half of his head. The man stood stunned for a long moment, his mouth agape as he fell to the ground. By the time a large amount of blood spurted out, he hadn’t even reacted.
After a small half-circle, the hilt of the blade returned to Red Hood’s hand.
Ying Yu, who had been silent all this time, also struck with lightning speed. Dazzling items unfolded one by one in mid-air, and blood instantly bloomed on the bodies of the first few people.
The two teammates next to the man saw how miserably he had died and subconsciously took half a step back. Who knew that a black dog shadow would pounce from mid-air first. The hound was surrounded by a strange, illusory flame. Anyone touched by it would have their movements involuntarily slow down.
This slowness was met with fangs. His calf was almost bitten through. One of them immediately threw out a high-level hallucinogenic item to confuse the hound, while the other took the opportunity to slash at the hound. “Come back quickly!” Yuan commanded the hound.
The man struck even more viciously, rushing forward and shouting angrily, “Kill… kill them!”
They had just suffered a major loss, mainly because no one had expected that when they were outnumbered, the heavily scarred Red Hood, instead of offering benefits, would directly go for the kill. Now that they had reacted, the advantage of numbers immediately became apparent. Two fists are no match for four hands, and they had never been short of items to deal with people. For a time, all sorts of killing moves were unleashed.
The sun had disappeared at some point. The blood splashing on each other’s faces was of unknown origin. Red Hood and Ying Yu were caught in the encirclement. Some people were already injured. The college student was sandwiched between them, occasionally casting a healing skill.
In the fierce melee, no one noticed that the red cloth outside the goat cart had been lowered. The young man who emerged from inside did not immediately join the battle. Instead, he first activated the presence-lowering item he had asked Ying Yu for earlier, then quickly retreated to a further spot.
Zhou Qi’an’s speed was incredibly fast. In two or three steps, he climbed a tree and stared fixedly at the scene below, his eyes not blinking at all. When he saw a teammate get injured, his expression turned extremely cold. His icy gaze quickly swept over the people below, capturing the players’ expressions. Greed, excitement, fear.
From a high vantage point, the expression on everyone’s face was clear. Finally, his gaze settled on certain people.
Zhou Qi’an’s gaze first locked onto a slender figure, and his lips moved. “One.” Members of the Whalers’ Association could only kill players through the logic chain of viewing artifacts; they couldn’t directly attack. Red Hood had also said that when He Yang was snatching the copper coin in the water, he had used a strange red thread to entangle and control the surrounding competitors, not kill them.
Among these people now, there must be association members who were taking advantage of the chaos to muddy the waters. Among a group of players who had already gone berserk with killing intent, it was clear at a glance who hadn’t truly made a killing move.
“Two.” Zhou Qi’an memorized the second suspicious figure. Under his scrutinizing gaze, that person had been using control-type abilities, never getting close, and on his face, there was only the expression of watching a show, without any excitement or other desires.
Speaking into the skull ring, he quickly described the target’s appearance and clothing.
“…Three.” Immediately after, Zhou Qi’an’s gaze locked onto a baby-faced person slacking off on the periphery. The association members hiding among the players were now basically all outside. They weren’t here to leave the instance, so naturally, they wouldn’t be properly viewing the artifacts.
When he discovered the fourth one, the dark clouds overhead cast a shadow on his face. A calm and terrifying killing intent appeared in Zhou Qi’an’s eyes.
At the critical moment, the duration of the presence-lowering item was up. Among the players below, someone immediately sensed something. The slender figure that Zhou Qi’an had first picked out suddenly looked up.
Their eyes met. The woman’s sharp gaze was naturally oppressive.
Zhou Qi’an was still standing on the tree branch, looking very oppressive in the shadows. His gaze looked down from above. Just before the woman was about to speak, he suddenly extended his finger and inexplicably began a countdown— “Three.”
A strong sense of crisis arose in the woman’s heart. She had no time to think about what the other party was going to do, nor did she want to waste time thinking. She shouted, “There’s still someone in the tree!”
A host of murderous gazes suddenly looked over. Something dripped on his forehead, bringing a hint of coolness. Zhou Qi’an suddenly smiled. “Two…”
…
Risheng Pavilion.
A player had just finished viewing the eighth exhibit with trembling. In this day and age, there were still people who forcibly made others do missions. Was this a restoration of morality or the glory of humanity?
Just a short while ago, a cold and terrifying man had suddenly appeared behind him, forcibly making him view the exhibits. If he didn’t, he would be killed.
“Is… is it okay now?” the player asked with an uncertain tone. The notification sound had already said he had finished viewing. Now he could go and buy the cultural products.
Shen Zhiyi didn’t speak. He had already finished viewing the Risheng Pavilion. It was easy to lead people through the reference answers. The difficult part was timing it. The skull ring was transmitting the situation on Zhou Qi’an’s side in real time. He had to leave enough observation time for the latter, but it couldn’t be too long, otherwise the others would die in the siege.
“It’s about time.” Shen Zhiyi’s eyes narrowed. As long as a player obtained the qualification to purchase a cultural product, the limited copper coin battle would begin.
In no time, a downpour poured down from the sky, and an even colder system notification came: “[Limited Copper Coin *1] has appeared in the well. Picking it up will grant one opportunity to communicate with a resident of the Silent Town.”
Just like last time, a minute after the downpour began, the sky outside was covered with dark clouds, and then the last bit of light between heaven and earth was deprived.
…
“One.”
The young man outside lightly parted his lips and uttered the last number.
At this moment, the sky… completely darkened.
After darkness fell, everyone’s vision was instantly plunged into nothingness. In the environment where one couldn’t see their own hand in front of their face, the players no longer had their previous aggressive momentum. Someone came back to their senses and let out a low exclamation, “Limited copper coin? Damn, why did it have to start at this time.” This luck was too bad!
No one had thought that all of this was planned in advance. In the darkness, a faint light suddenly flickered. It was unknown which player, in a moment of panic, had used a lighting item. In the darkness forcibly imposed by the game, the effectiveness of lighting items was much weaker than usual, like a small cluster of flames that could be extinguished at any time, but instead exposed the player’s location.
A terrifying curved blade came through the air. In the whistling wind, a few quick-reacting people felt the cold glint of the blade and subconsciously dodged. One of them even disregarded their image and squatted down on the spot, holding their head. Only the player who had used the lighting item first, who lacked the ability to react to a crisis, was still standing there in a daze.
With a “pop,” the light bulb of the lighting item was shattered by the tip of the blade, and the flying glass fragments accurately embedded themselves in their carotid artery. “Ugh…”
Blood choked the scream. The moment the world returned to darkness, the player fell to the ground, clutching their neck. They desperately reached out their other arm, wanting to grab the person next to them. “Save… save me.” They had no healing items. But the person next to them quickly scattered like birds and beasts.
With the first player falling victim, the others immediately dared not to use lighting items again. Red Hood retracted her curved blade and thought to herself: “It’s just as Zhou Qi’an said.” A small head start was enough for them to turn the tables.
Back in the Silent Town, they had already discussed the plan, waiting for the moment it got dark. Red Hood had carefully noted the coverage of the dark clouds and at the same time, continuously memorized the real-time positions of the surrounding players, just waiting for the opportunity to come, and decisively kill one to warn the others.
After successfully getting the first kill in the dark, a second scream soon came. It was clear that a teammate had also taken action.
“Ah… dog, watch out for the dog!”
Humans rely on vision; dogs don’t. The hound followed the scent, not having to worry about accidentally injuring a teammate. It opened its mouth and bit, flexibly weaving through the crowd, specializing in surprise attacks.
Having a large number of people wasn’t always a good thing. Once chaos broke out at a time like this, a terrible sense of panic formed almost instantly.
In the crowd, the slender woman who had been first locked onto by Zhou Qi’an no longer had her previous leisurely air. In her light brown eyes, there was a faint killing intent. The screams rose and fell one after another, but the woman remained calm, knowing that she had to make a quick decision.
There were only two choices now: pull Zhou Qi’an and his teammates into the artifact world, or give up and retreat. The latter was meaningless. Now that the identities of the members hidden among the players had been exposed, their first-move advantage was mostly lost. If they retreated, once the situation calmed down, Zhou Qi’an might have a way to expose their identities in public, which would be even more disadvantageous.
This was what it meant to be caught between a rock and a hard place.
A faint sense of fear suddenly arose in the woman. If they lost this round this morning, they would have lost almost a third of their people.
The sound of killing in the darkness continued. It was unknown if it was an illusion, but the slender woman seemed to hear a light laugh, full of thick mockery, exploding in her ear.
