Out of Options

Zhu Yan's lips curled into a faint smile.

Here it comes. Yang Zhanbai was still too naive!

He glanced at Auntie Jin in front of him.

The creature was humming a hoarse, out-of-tune little song, vigorously pulling noodles.

One insect leg slapped the dough onto the side of the cutting board, while another quickly pinched off a fresh lump and began stretching it. Zhu Yan could even see the afterimages of its dancing legs.

Very good. Nothing unusual, and its speed was even much faster than before!

Still smiling, Zhu Yan continued to reply to Yang Zhanbai.

"Based on your description, the [Hunter] has appeared twice in total."

"The first time, he was running outside, which Chen Zhaoxing witnessed."

"The second time, he disguised himself as a frog and went out to deceive the horror creatures."

That was indeed the case.

Yang Zhanbai nodded and asked, "And then?"

"The [Hunter] must have had a purpose, otherwise, doing so would be too absurd."

Zhu Yan deliberately paused for a moment before sending out a new message.

"Don't you think that his disguising himself as a relatively high-level horror creature like a frog this time was to extract information from other lower-level horror creatures?"

"It's just that according to the description from that Qin Yang you mentioned, he must have been seen through by the supermarket boss, leaving him with no other choice."

Yang Zhanbai carefully read these few lines and understood Zhu Yan's meaning.

The [Hunter] had indeed been exposed as a player by the horror creature outside.

This point had been witnessed by Qin Yang and another surviving player, and they had both told them about it.

Bang—Crack!

Accompanied by a teeth-grinding noise, panicked screams and cries echoed outside the door.

Fine beads of sweat oozed from the tip of Qi Yinming's nose.

"Another dorm room has been broken into," his voice trembled slightly. "What level is this boss?"

Qin Yang and the other survivor hurriedly backed away, but Chen Zhaoxing took a step forward instead, narrowing his eyes with great interest.

"Oh, oh! What if I feed it Mexican super spicy cockroach chocolate!"

"Don't mess around." Xu Tongguang shook his head. "I... I don't want to die yet..."

Yang Zhanbai stared warily at the door, playing with the level-four dagger in his hand.

If this door couldn't hold, they would definitely not survive either.

However, even if he died, he would drag a horror creature down with him!

Downstairs.

Looking at the light red dough that had already shrunk by nearly half, Zhu Yan explained eloquently to Yang Zhanbai on the other end.

"If there are no errors in Qin Yang's description, then judging from the final conversation between the [Hunter] and the supermarket boss..."

"The supermarket boss left entirely because the [Hunter] tricked it, saying the [Hunter] was downstairs."

"The boss's level is higher than his; this is a strategy to lure the tiger away from the mountain!"

Making sure Yang Zhanbai had read it, Zhu Yan then sent the most crucial message bit by bit.

"However, after luring the tiger away, the [Hunter] asked for the password the boss mentioned before leaving."

"Yang Zhanbai, if he truly knew the floor password, he would have left before turning into a frog."

"I suspect the [Hunter] just wanted to fish out that password."

"Waiting until the boss realizes it's been fooled and comes back to wreak havoc on you all, he would then head to a safe floor."

Staring at Auntie Jin's back, Zhu Yan smiled as he typed the final three lines.

"Yang Zhanbai, you said that this time he has no background, just like us."

"Go tell the boss the whole process and say he is downstairs. Remember, whatever you do, don't open the dorm door."

"This is one of our few remaining chances!"

The supermarket boss was stupid and held grudges.

Zhu Yan had merely tricked it a bit and emptied its shelves, and it was ready to smash up the perfectly good Xishan University cafeteria floor.

Smash his ass, if it smashed everything, where would he steal food later?

Zhu Yan wanted to let the Treant smash the supermarket boss to pieces!

He looked at Boss Jin's increasingly fast hand speed and the ever-shrinking dough, and absentmindedly offered another compliment.

"Daddy, your craftsmanship is truly unparalleled!"

The next step was to steal the keys from Auntie Jin.

The timing for this step had to be controlled perfectly.

It would be best to do it after Auntie Jin opened the door, but before she entered.

This way, after stealing it, he could appear under a new identity and completely shift the blame.

He could also use the new identity to egg Auntie Jin on to complain in front of the Treant, making the Treant move out too!

"Really?"

Auntie Jin even squinted her insect eyes and, with a smack, slapped the last bit of dough onto the cutting board.

She had never been so happy to be praised!

When she was happy, she would work with even more vigor.

Looking at the thrilled Auntie Jin, Zhu Yan stared somewhat nervously at Yang Zhanbai's reply.

Please don't let him down!

...

On the other side.

Looking at the private message on the Player Forum, Yang Zhanbai subconsciously stopped spinning his knife.

Zhu Zeyu had provided another completely different answer.

But it was reasonable, very reasonable.

He looked up into the mirror, where the image of the supermarket boss was gradually appearing.

It was already very close to this door—

Yang Zhanbai stared intently at the white shirt stained with blood streaks, flesh, and saliva in the mirror, his heart tightening slightly.

"It's here," Qi Yinming said with a pale face.

The door's soundproofing was good, but the sound of hard objects being crunched outside was very clear.

That thing was chewing on human bones!

Chen Zhaoxing stared at the door and narrowed his eyes.

He rushed over in a few quick steps and shoved the thin red cockroach in his hand into Yang Zhanbai's hand.

"The latest model. I've never even used this ability before."

"Once the door opens, you shove it into the horror creature's mouth... Oh oh oh yeah yeah..."

Chen Zhaoxing even looked a trace excited.

Yang Zhanbai shook his head. "We won't open the door—"

Bang!

The door shuddered under the impact, and a muffled boom like thunder made Qin Yang take another step back.

Yang Zhanbai let out a breath and stepped forward.

Bang!

He brought his head as close to the edge of the door as possible and yelled out his first sentence.

"We know who you're looking for!"

The supermarket boss's anger did not diminish: "I'll eat you all!"

This time it was an even more violent muffled boom.

The door didn't budge an inch.

Feeling a slight sense of relief, Yang Zhanbai held onto the door frame and raised his voice.

"The player who tricked you is the [Hunter]!"

"Sir, we saw the whole process and can tell you the [Hunter]'s whereabouts!"

The door stopped banging.

Qi Yinming looked nervously at the mirror. The supermarket boss was still standing in place, unmoving.

He asked quietly, "What kind of arrangement is this?"

"Zhu Zeyu's arrangement," Yang Zhanbai said in a low voice.

He felt a bit clammy, and the hand holding the door was trembling slightly.

"Let's try it. What he said makes a lot of sense, and it's better than being cowards or dying anyway."

Outside the door.

The supermarket boss was so angry that its chest felt tight, yet it still stopped its attacking movements.

It wanted all the players dead!

That player who stole things, especially, should be torn to pieces.

It stared coldly at the door, and after a few seconds, it finally let out a cold sneer.

"I'm all ears," it said grimly. "If what you say makes sense, then I might consider letting you live for a few more minutes."