FYN Was Chapter 78 good?
Was Chapter 78 good?
Not only did they respond, but their attitude was also strangely quite good.
This isn't like him at all...
Li Xingzhu raised an eyebrow in surprise.
unless……
He watched as "himself" stood up and walked towards the group of people.
Li Xingzhuo didn't actually know which of these faceless people was the so-called "Brother Liu"; after all, apart from having only a mouth on their faces, these people were all dressed in a rather disheveled state, their clothes covered in bloodstains and holes, almost unrecognizable.
Fortunately, once he got closer, "Brother Liu" spoke up. Li Xingzhuo tried hard to remember, and the faceless man sitting at the front, whose clothes still showed a little bit of their original color, was "Brother Liu".
"Hey, newbie." Brother Liu's only mouth opened and closed, "The dungeon is now in its late stages..."
"So before the final mission is officially announced, we plan to explore this house thoroughly tonight."
"We did a preliminary search last night, and there was a room with the lights on. We've decided to go check that room out tonight. You'll come with us."
"But..." Li Xingzhuo heard his own hesitant, somewhat troubled voice: "Didn't the housekeeper say that we can't leave our rooms at night?"
"Sometimes, what NPCs say isn't always true..."
Although his expression was unseen, Brother Liu's voice sounded very amiable; to Li Xingzhuo, it was full of coaxing: "Furthermore, the more dangerous the environment, the more clues there are, and the closer you are to the final victory."
"So many days have passed since we entered the dungeon, you must be tired of staying here any longer, right?"
"Old Liu, why are you wasting so much breath talking to him?! We kindly invited this newbie to come along, and kindly shared clues with him, but he's still dragging his feet like this. Why don't we—"
"Hey—" Brother Liu interrupted the person next to him, his tone full of disapproval: "Dayong, how can you say that? Since we've entered the same instance, we're all teammates, and teammates are supposed to help each other."
"Of course..." Brother Liu turned his blank face to Li Xingzhuo: "I did this for my own selfish reasons. The fact that you, a newcomer, have survived until now without losing any limbs means you're quite lucky."
"We'll bring you along; maybe we can get some of your good luck..."
"You'll find out later that in this horror game (in the instance), luck is also a form of skill."
Oh~~
Li Xingzhuo understood in his heart: So it turns out one is playing the good cop and the other the bad cop... I must say, this little routine is quite "perfect in both performance and acting".
But what exactly is this "horror game"? It sounds... kind of like a game?
"So, have you made up your mind?" Brother Liu asked with a smile.
"but……"
Li Xingzhuo heard his own timid voice say, "Isn't it especially dangerous at night...? Um, I don't have any protective gear..."
Li Xingzhu thought to himself, "Wow!"
Sure enough, both "him" and "him" are very clever!
Upon hearing Li Xingzhuo's words, Brother Liu was not angry at all. Instead, he nodded in a very friendly manner: "Of course, as payment for your nighttime expedition with us, we will give you some props for self-defense."
As he spoke, he conjured up several strange little trinkets out of thin air. Li Xingzhuo glanced at them with considerable curiosity. There was a toy bear missing an ear, a tattered brooch whose color had almost completely faded… It looked like Brother Liu had just pulled out a bunch of junk to fob him off, but “he” sounded quite excited. “Thank you, Brother Liu!”
He reached out and picked up the pile of junk, then walked away happily.
As they walked away, they could even hear the guy named "Da Yong" asking Brother Liu why they were wasting props on that arrogant newbie. They should have just tied him up and taken him away.
As for what Brother Liu said, Li Xingzhuo didn't listen anymore. According to his guess, it was nothing more than a matter that could be dealt with by using a few junk props, so there was no need to cause any more trouble.
As for why Li Xingzhuo knew these were "junk props"?
Because when "he" picked up those broken props, the descriptions of those props immediately appeared before his eyes.
They were all the lowest-level D-grade items.
Furthermore, the props only have one or two uses left.
After "he" chose to put these D-grade items into his backpack, Li Xingzhuo saw that "his" backpack was full of A-grade, B-grade, and at the very least C-grade items.
great!
Li Xingzhuo watched with satisfaction as "himself" closed the backpack.
Good news: He is not a clueless "newbie" at all.
Bad news… oh, it seems there isn't any bad news. Because no matter which "he" it is, they're all so clever, resourceful, and love to play dumb to outsmart others.
Having confirmed this, Li Xingzhuo immediately relaxed, adopting a mindset of watching a holographic movie, and waited to see "himself" perform.
Time flew by and it was evening.
These veteran players weren't lying about this; late at night, only one room in the house was dimly lit.
Li Xingzhuo watched as "himself" followed the group of veteran players to the front of the room.
"you go!"
Feeling a sudden shove, Li Xingzhuo looked up and saw Da Yong, who had always been hostile towards "him," fiercely ordering "him," "Go open the door!"
"Then tell us what's inside the house!"
"But—" Li Xingzhuo only managed to utter one word when Da Yong impatiently pushed him to the front.
"Hurry up, stop dawdling!"
Li Xingzhuo saw "himself" turn his head, seemingly wanting to say something, but before he could speak, a knife was pressed against his waist.
It's Brother Liu.
"Newbie, huh..." Brother Liu's tone shifted from his previous amiable demeanor to a sinister one. "You've already accepted so many props from me, and now you're going back on your word—"
The cold, sharp dagger thrust forward, easily slicing through Li Xingzhuo's already less-than-perfect clothes. "This doesn't seem right..."
Da Yong chimed in, "You're a newbie, so you might not know, but in S-rank dungeons, there aren't any rules about players not killing each other..."
"Sigh... okay..."
Li Xingzhuo sighed, adopting a resigned expression that said, "I'm on a sinking ship, so could you guys back off a little? At least leave me a way to escape later... What if there's a dungeon boss right behind the door...?"
The other veteran players exchanged glances, but none of them disagreed with this point.
Since they've already tricked the newcomer into coming, and with them blocking the newcomer's escape route, there's no need to worry about the newcomer running away at the last minute. Besides, retreating is actually safer for them, since the newcomer is blocking their way, they don't need to worry about being the first to be in danger.
So, the veteran players seemed to back down rather easily.
"A little further back, a little further back... Hey, Brother Dayong, don't glare at me. I'm not looking for trouble. Okay, okay, let's stop here..."
When the veteran players had retreated two meters and their impatience was evident from their words, "Li Xingzhuo" finally called a halt.
"Then shall I... begin?" He turned to ask the veteran player for his opinion.
Brother Liu raised his chin, signaling "him" to stop talking nonsense.
"Oh well……"
"Li Xingzhuo" shrugged, but instead of pushing the door open as the veteran player expected, he jogged a few steps, suddenly pushed off the ground and leaped up, stepping on the eaves pillar next to the door. With his feet lightly touching the crossbeam under the eaves, he flipped upwards and cleanly climbed onto the roof.
Although the roof was covered with tiles, not a single tile was moved or stepped on. By the time the veteran players realized what was happening, "he" was already crouching on one knee on the roof ridge, leaving them only a silhouette against the light.
And a pair of eyes that, even in the darkness, held a sly smile.
"Damn, we've been scammed!"
After a few seconds of stunned silence, the veteran players finally realized, "This kid isn't some newbie at all!"
How could a newbie have such good and skillful movements!
This kid didn't survive this long because of good luck at all!
They've been tricked!
The veteran players felt their blood rush to their heads, and their bald faces turned bright red. Even the leisurely smile on "Li Xingzhuo's" lips was interpreted by them as mockery, which made them so angry that they immediately clenched their fists and were about to go up to the roof to settle scores with "Li Xingzhuo".
"Hey hey hey—"
Li Xingzhuo heard "himself" click his tongue in disapproval a few times, "Are you sure you want to come up now?"
"The boss might be inside the house~"
"If you make too much noise coming up, you might alert the Boss inside!"
The veteran players stopped in their tracks, their anger subsiding.
Because Li Xingzhuo was right, they didn't seem to have the same skills as him, and they couldn't climb onto the roof without making a sound like him.
...Thinking about it this way makes me even angrier!
They could only stand on the ground, glaring menacingly at the people on the roof and threatening, "Go ahead and stay up there if you dare!"
"We have plenty of time."
With so many of them, they can take turns guarding this place. As soon as "Li Xingzhuo" comes down, they will kill him immediately!
So what if they're skilled? With so many of them and so many items, I refuse to believe they can't take down one player if they all attack together!
"well……"
The person on the rooftop let out a long sigh, their tone dejected. "So, it seems there's no point in talking about it..."
The veteran player below immediately curled his lips into a smug smile: "If you honestly go and check the house now, and tell us the clues inside, we might choose to let bygones be bygones—"
But before they could finish speaking, the person on the roof slumped, as if talking to themselves, and said, "Then I can only—"
"It's best to strike first!"
The veteran players below: "???"
Before they could even react to what the kid meant, they saw the person on the roof muttering, "Sigh, I didn't want this to happen..." while carefully picking up a tile with their fingers.
Just as the veteran players were wondering what he was doing, they saw "Li Xingzhuo" pick up a tile and throw it in the direction they were standing.
"But thank you for telling me anyway—"
"In S-rank dungeons, there are no rules against players killing each other..."
A short, sharp whooshing sound came from below, and the veteran players below frowned, reacting quickly to avoid the thrown tiles.
After dodging, Dayong instinctively wanted to mock his opponent for their childish, make-believe-like attack, when he heard a shout of "Oh no!" in his ear.
Brother Liu was turning around to catch the tile that was about to fall. He suddenly realized what "Li Xingzhuo" was trying to do, but unfortunately, he was too late—
There was a crisp sound of tiles shattering, "crack," and the thick tile broke into several pieces on the ground.
The sound of shattering was especially loud in the quiet night.
Then, everyone present heard a very clear "click" coming from the only room in the house that was lit.
It was as if the homeowner, disturbed by the noise outside, gently placed what they were holding on the table.
So, after putting everything away, the next step should be...
"run!"
Brother Liu was the first to turn around and start running back without hesitation. The other veteran players didn't seem to understand what was happening yet, but at Brother Liu's command, they reacted quickly and followed.
Unfortunately, they were still not fast enough.
"boom--"
The tightly closed door burst open, and countless streaks of scarlet silk gushed out of the room like a tidal wave. Though merely soft cloth, they shot towards the fleeing veteran players like sharp arrows.
The last player had barely turned around when the red ribbon was already wrapped around his ankle.
"Ah—!" He screamed in agony, kicking his legs desperately to break free, but the red silk wrapped around his knees, waist, chest, and so on, until his whole body was wrapped into a twisted, writhing red cocoon.
Hearing the chilling scream, Da Yong instinctively turned around. In that instant, the red silk whistled through the air—first wrapping around his throat, then immobilizing his struggling limbs. Through the fabric, one could even see the terrified contours of his facial muscles and the bulging shape of his eyes. But quickly, these contours blurred and disappeared as the red silk wrapped around him layer by layer.
The hissing sound of the red silk tightening was fine and cruel, like a venomous snake slithering across the sand. And the screams wrapped in the cloth no longer sounded like human voices.
"well……"
Li Xingzhuo squatted on the rooftop, looking at the carnage on the ground, watching "himself" hypocritically shed two crocodile tears, "It's truly too tragic..."
Then, "he" decisively withdrew his gaze.
After all, this was precious time that the veteran players below had bought for him with their lives, so he had to take advantage of the house owner's busy time to look for any clues inside.
Li Xingzhuo saw "himself" quietly choose a spot on the roof, then carefully squat down and begin to remove the tiles.
one slice.
Two pieces.
……
When he finally saw the light coming from inside the house, Li Xingzhuo saw "himself" slowly leaning over the "hole" he had made. Just as he was about to look into the house, he suddenly heard a faint female voice in his ear.
She asked, "Is it pretty?"