No Tricks Left, Really

Qi Yinming was startled and stopped the video recording.

The video was sent over in its entirety, but he couldn't care less about Guan En's reaction. He rushed over to pull the two people on the ground apart.

Someone nearby let out a whimper.

"M-murder..."

Zhu Yan was covered in blood, and the bloody gash near his neck was slowly expanding.

With Qi Yinming's support, he sat up, then crawled over to nudge the motionless Li Huisheng.

The dining knife was still lodged in his chest, its handle drenched in bright red.

Qi Yinming had never seen such a scene before.

Like the others, even though he rationally knew the world could never go back to the way it was, seeing someone kill another person still inevitably drew his thoughts to the punishments of civilized society.

"Zhu Zeyu, you..."

With a soft schlick, Zhu Yan pulled out the dining knife.

"He's dead."

He pulled Li Huisheng's right hand over and brought the knife down!

A level-five dining knife was still quite sharp.

With a crack, the bone was severed. Zhu Yan, looking pale, grabbed the severed hand and stood up under everyone's dumbfounded gazes.

He could no longer suppress the surging thrill in his heart.

He could only hold back the urge to laugh out loud, forcibly controlling his muscles to just slightly raise the corners of his mouth.

"Have you guys recovered yet?"

No one spoke.

Most people looked at him with eyes full of terror and dread. Someone with red-rimmed eyes bent over and dry-heaved.

Yang Zhanbai asked, "Do you still have any healing potion left?"

Zhu Yan didn't answer. He merely held up the stiff, dead hand and waved it at them.

Euphoria was practically drowning him.

If he didn't get out of there soon, he really wouldn't be able to control himself and would burst into roaring laughter right on the spot!

"Yang Zhanbai, give me the yogurt bowl. I'm going back underground to check the checkpoint."

The curve of Zhu Yan's mouth widened. "I don't seem quite normal right now, so don't follow me for the time being. Stay here and wait for my message."

Yang Zhanbai could tell. "How about I still fol—hey!"

Zhu Yan snatched the yogurt bowl he had placed on the table and stumbled out the door.

He sprinted wildly in the direction of the [CC Flower Shop].

Only when he was far enough away from [David's Kitchen] did Zhu Yan slow his pace and erupt into a fit of maniacal laughter!

Who could understand?

It felt so damn good!

...

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Qi Yinming and Yang Zhanbai looked at each other in dismay.

Beside them, the Bespectacled Man finally couldn't hold it in anymore and vomited with a loud gag.

"I-I don't know..." he said, looking at his other pale-faced companions. "Fuck, the impact of seeing someone killed is too much..."

Zhu Zeyu's strike just now was indeed terrifying.

His move was so clean, directly hitting the vitals. Even if it was self-defense, anyone could tell he was truly a ruthless guy.

Not to mention, after the person died, he could still react so quickly to chop off the hand.

An ordinary person really couldn't do that.

That was why all the other novice players had been scared into absolute silence just now.

Thinking of that strike, Yang Zhanbai couldn't help but feel a lingering fear.

"Just celebrate. If Li Huisheng had succeeded and Zhu Zeyu died, there's no way we could have dealt with the Alpha Wolf."

As if remembering something, he cursed again.

"Holy shit!"

Qi Yinming was waiting for Guan En's reply.

He patted the Bespectacled Man, keeping an eye on the others' conditions while turning to ask Yang Zhanbai, "What's wrong?"

"God damn it!"

Yang Zhanbai was so anxious he was spinning in circles. He squatted down to dig through Li Huisheng's corpse.

"What do I mean 'if Zhu Zeyu died, we hardly could deal with the Alpha Wolf'?"

He rummaged through Li Huisheng's pockets and pulled out a bottle of [Universal Potion], but unsatisfied, he kept searching.

"Fuck, even with Zhu Zeyu alive, we still might not be able to deal with the Alpha Wolf!"

"Holy shit, I forgot he's a novice player. What kind of bullshit was I just saying?"

Qi Yinming fell silent for a second.

"I also forgot he's a new player just like us."

He looked at the ashen-faced corpse on the ground, feeling like he was about to throw up too. "What are you looking for?"

Finding nothing, Yang Zhanbai stood up with a frown.

"A weapon," he said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "This Li Huisheng's condition was very abnormal. He had direct contact with thriller creatures and even knew about the [Hunter]'s mission."

"I was thinking, could that thriller creature have also provided him with an item to complete the mission?"

But there was nothing, only a new bottle of [Universal Potion].

It was little, but still counted as a gain!

Yang Zhanbai sighed and walked outside.

"I'm going to go look for Zhu Zeyu. You guys stay here and don't move. With your strength, you'll die if you go out."

It somehow gave off a strong deja vu of the Eldest Brother and Second Brother from Journey to the West.

Qi Yinming nodded and said nothing more, watching Yang Zhanbai walk into the dark night.

On the [Player Forum], Guan En had already replied to him. This time, it was just a short sentence.

"Take Li Huisheng's right hand and go down to check out the third level first."

Guan En appeared calm, but in reality, he was out of ideas.

Damn it, what else could he do?

At first, he did suspect Zhu Zeyu.

This guy was ruthless and had quick reflexes; he was probably the strongest new player in this game.

But in the video, what did that crazy Li Huisheng say?

He said the [Hunter] mission he received was to kill Yang Zhanbai and Zhu Zeyu!

Guan En closed his eyes briefly.

That actually matched up.

Both Yang Zhanbai and Zhu Zeyu had the [Hunter] mark appear on their hands.

It was highly likely that the person used these two marks in an attempt to make them the targets of public criticism, but failed.

That was why they incited Li Huisheng to aim at these two innocent players again.

But something still felt off...

The more Guan En thought about it, the more confused he became.

Right now, apart from having them take the right hand to try that one and only path, there seemed to be no other way!

Guan En raised his hand to rub his head and added a sentence.

"Tell Zhu Zeyu to log onto the [Player Forum] and keep in touch with me at all times."

Qi Yinming replied with an "Okay" and looked down to message Zhu Yan.

When the phone vibrated with a notification, Zhu Yan had already happily returned underground.

He poured a bottle of [Universal Potion] over his head, forcefully suppressing that abnormal euphoria, and incidentally healing his wounds.

He walked to the very bottom of the stairs. First, he placed the [Berry Flavored Yogurt Bowl] into the corresponding groove, then sequentially put in The Boss's curled-up, stiff corpse and that rigid dead right hand.

A cheerful female broadcast voice abruptly sounded in his ears.

"Wow! Player!"

It was so sudden that Zhu Yan jumped in fright.

"Congratulations on collecting the three items requested by the Alpha Wolf in such a short time."

"We will now open the express entrance for you!"

Holy shit, what a surprise!

Zhu Yan stared nervously at the stone door ahead.

Under the pale light, the stone door slowly retracted into the ground.

He heard a clumsy nursery rhyme. The child's voice chipped away at his heart bit by bit, and that little bit of euphoria completely vanished.

"Welcome to you, welcome to you."

"Please take a seat, we are departing for the happiest place!"