The Newcomer

The Toad's scarlet eyes narrowed into a smiling slit, its throat bulging happily.

"What do you think?"

"If you suffer financial loss together with Mr. Frog, Mr. Frog is willing to generously share a portion of the spoils with you—"

Squelch.

A sharp branch pierced through the Toad's throat from behind at extreme speed.

The Treant made no further sound, but more thorny branches thrust forward, frantically trying to pierce through the Toad's body.

"Ahhhhhh—!"

The Toad let out the angriest scream of its life.

It did not struggle; instead, it used its webbed toes to strenuously grab the branch at its throat.

It allowed the Treant to completely envelop it, and then the bulges on its body frantically sprayed venom.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you too!"

The translucent black liquid quickly soaked into the branches.

The tree was not to be outdone.

Although the branches touched by the venom quickly withered and lost their luster, even more branches pierced into the Toad's body, trying to suck away more nutrients.

In the darkness, the Toad visibly shriveled a bit, while the tree's main trunk became increasingly shiny.

Squelching sounds continuously rang out; the Toad was like a target hit in the bullseye by countless javelins.

Its webbed toes gripping the branch finally let go, its head drooped weakly, and it stopped moving.

The Treant let out a burst of sharp, eerie laughter.

It desperately sucked dry the flesh and blood beneath the Toad's skin, only then snapping off its own withered branches. It twisted those twigs together and retracted them, simulating the shape of human hands, and straightened the torn red robe on its body.

The Toad's skin lost its support, wrapping around that bundle of dead firewood and collapsing to the ground.

That pair of scarlet eyes was staring at the tree trunk, surprisingly still maintaining the appearance of smiling eyes.

"One after another, how unlucky." The tree couldn't see these bizarre eyes and merely complained coldly.

It didn't notice at all that a pure black little spot had appeared on its trunk, and it issued orders to the air on its own.

"I want to issue a Bounty. A Bounty to capture the Hunter!"

...

Ding!

Zhu Yan groggily opened his eyes and rolled over in bed, feeling very annoyed.

What is it?

He had been asleep for less than ten minutes, why the hell was Carnival Paradise making a broadcast?

Zhu Yan pulled the blanket over to cover his head.

To hell with it, he didn't want to listen at all.

"Attention all players and thriller creatures. Due to Mr. Toad's unfortunate death in combat, the Toad's Bounty has been voided."

What?

Zhu Yan suddenly sat up, not fully awake yet.

What did he just hear?!

"Repeating. Due to Mr. Toad's unfortunate death in combat, the Toad's Bounty has been voided."

The Toad... died?!

Zhu Yan rubbed his eyes, fully awake now.

He quickly pulled back his bed curtain, locking eyes with the five people below who hadn't gone to bed yet.

"Who died?"

Qi Yinming swallowed hard: "The Toad. The one who wanted to catch the Hunter."

A surge of joy suddenly rose in Zhu Yan's heart.

His plan had worked.

The Toad really died too!

The female voice, however, did not stop.

"Next, we will announce a new matter. Please listen carefully, players."

"The Calamity Tree has decided to issue a Bounty against the Hunter."

Zhu Yan's heart skipped a beat.

No way.

He hadn't even had time to be happy for long.

The Calamity Tree, is that the Treant downstairs?

Why did it also learn to be bad?

"The contents of the Bounty are as follows."

The female voice broadcasted cheerfully.

"The Hunter stole an important treasure guarded by the Calamity Tree. The Calamity Tree is willing to pay 900 bone coins to bounty a captured, live Hunter."

Damn, is it crazy?

Zhu Yan fell back onto the bed, feeling like life had no meaning.

His net worth was already several thousand bone coins, and the bounty price was a mere nine hundred?

"Of course, if the one who catches the Hunter is a player, the reward will be more generous."

"Also, the Hunter's characteristics announced by the Calamity Tree are as follows."

With a swoosh, the bed curtain of the bed next to Zhu Yan's was also pulled open.

Yang Zhanbai's fluffy red head popped out, accompanied by an exclamation.

"Holy crap! There's additional information!"

Qi Yinming made a shushing gesture at him.

Zhu Yan went numb.

He hadn't shown any flaws in front of the Calamity Tree.

What was revealed shouldn't be anything important, right?

He slowly lay back down on the bed, but the female voice abruptly changed the subject, catching everyone off guard.

"Ah, very sorry."

"The Calamity Tree absorbed the poisonous flesh of the Toad and has now completely withered."

"The Calamity Tree's Bounty is declared void."

What?

"What?" Yang Zhanbai cursed.

Below the bed, Qi Yinming and the others silently exchanged glances, their expressions not looking too good either.

"Voided." Zhu Yan pressed the corners of his mouth down, his tone heavy.

Hahahahahaha!

He came alive again and sprang up from the bed once more.

The Toad's poisonous flesh?

The Toad indeed did not disappoint him!

The only minor regret was probably not turning the toad meat into toad porridge.

"In addition, we will announce another important matter."

The female voice's pitch was very high.

Although it was still an electronic voice, Zhu Yan bizarrely heard a hint of schadenfreude in it.

"Because a player has satisfied certain entities, we are making an exception to let that player become a Hunter, with the remaining rules unchanged."

The female voice struck Zhu Yan's eardrums crisply, word by word.

Certain entities.

Besides those spectators in the Court of Multitudinous Performances, what entity had such great power?

Who in the Court of Multitudinous Performances?

Did he know them?

Zhu Yan gripped the corner of the blanket tightly, his abdomen contracting involuntarily due to tension.

The situation seemed to have become complicated.

"That is to say, there are currently two Hunters in the game."

"If players capture either Hunter and throw them into the main trunk of the building, they will be able to know the specific floor information where the key fragment is located."

"However, please pay attention, players."

"Since the difficulty of this action is reduced, therefore, if players only capture one Hunter and throw them into the building's main trunk, we will only announce one piece of specific floor information."

"If two Hunters are captured and thrown into the building's main trunk, we will announce all specific floor information."

Damn.

Zhu Yan lowered his eyes, his eyebrows involuntarily pressing down.

If considered from a player's perspective, Carnival Paradise was insidious, too insidious.

Having obtained two Key Fragments, he had seen things clearly.

What use is just having specific floor information?

What is really useful is the specific floor transformation command.

Even if players know the specific floor number, how can they quickly learn the floor transformation command?

If they don't learn the command in time, then once the floor where the Key Fragment is located changes, this hard-won information becomes useless.

Unfortunately, Zhu Yan is a Hunter, and he also took the supermarket boss's red telephone that can inquire about floor commands.

He doesn't need to care about who the other Hunter is.

Anyway, it doesn't affect his snatching of the fragments, does it?

It would be best to find out where Dorm 106 is as soon as possible.

...

Inside Dorm 106.

A curtain had been drawn across the center of the ten-person dorm room, partitioning off a relatively spacious area.

Tu Shan sat on the edge of the bed, staring almost obsessively at the newly formed bow and arrow mark on his right hand. A gleaming, spotless long saber leaned quietly against his leg.

Behind the curtain stood two silhouettes—his "subordinates" assigned to keep watch for the night.

"Your [Hunter] mission is to prepare the ingredients for the [Monsters' Feast]."

"We will notify you of the specific ingredient list shortly."

"Please note that the spectator [Gospel of Flesh] has placed a wager on you. It hopes you will continue to fulfill its desires and win the game."

"Please cooperate with your seniors, and remember that your player mission remains unchanged."

Tu Shan smiled.

The ingredients that these horror creatures loved were nothing more than the flesh of leveled players.

Zhu Zeyu, Yang Zhanbai, and Qi Yinming.

These three ranked players who had a grudge against him were, of course, the prime choices for ingredients!