Open Fire

Zhu Yan didn’t believe it in the slightest.

What did “not yet recovered from severe injuries” even mean?

It was true that he had been stabbed in the dungeon, but he had healed long ago.

Jin Rongxu certainly didn’t look like someone who made baseless claims.

Had his distorted thoughts been read, or did Jin Rongxu have some other way of probing his condition?

After all, he was currently “playing” Fog.

Fog’s condition was shattered and scattered. Strictly speaking, it could indeed be considered “not yet recovered from severe injuries.”

Zhu Yan kept that in mind and merely smiled. “Oh, is that so?”

“What did you think it was?” Pot Lid asked with a smile.

Zhu Yan was most wary of smiling people who revealed nothing about themselves.

When he had used an alternate account to probe people online, he had discovered that these types were actually the hardest to deal with.

In other words…

Zhu Yan cast a subtle glance around the room.

The cafeteria was noisy and bustling. The fragrance of food and the players’ chatter gave the place a lively, almost homely atmosphere.

The people at this table appeared no different from the other players.

But over the past few days, Zhu Yan had also noticed that they received better treatment behind the scenes.

For example, players would take the initiative to greet them.

For example, when they went to the serving window, the people dishing out the food would be much more attentive, giving them larger and better cuts of meat. Sometimes, they would even prepare special meals just for them.

That was enough to prove that these people were Jin Rongxu’s trusted aides. There probably wasn’t a shortage of grease to be squeezed from them, either.

In this dungeon, Zhu Yan couldn’t kill Jin Rongxu, but he could find a way to kill Jin Rongxu’s assistants one by one.

Killing these people would weaken Jin Rongxu’s health-lock cheat by half.

Oh, and he could replenish his own coffers in the process.

That wasn’t excessive, was it?

After all, in the scene the prophet had seen of Zhu Yan collapsing, only Zhu Zeyu and [Hunter] had been present. Jin Rongxu had only appeared later.

There was a good chance that Zhu Yan had already killed the other members of the team one by one.

“…I don’t really feel anything myself.” Zhu Yan lied with just the right amount of hesitation. “The knife wound on the surface has indeed healed, but…”

Seeing that everyone at the table had taken an interest, Zhu Yan twisted his words and decided to test them.

“But these past few days, I really haven’t been in as good a condition as before. Every morning, it’s been a struggle just to get out of bed.”

That part was true.

After learning that he didn’t need to train or face Jin Rongxu, Zhu Yan had already spent several days sleeping in.

The witch’s potions were something extremely special.

The puppet’s body showed no reaction after drinking the mental-enhancement potion or the physical-enhancement potion. Yet after drinking the witch’s potion, it could actually modify memories as normal.

The potion seemed capable of seeping directly into the brain and soul—something Zhu Yan found difficult to explain.

Considering that there might be surveillance cameras in the dormitory, he had altered his memories concerning the potion so that it was recorded as a reward from [Manic Happyland].

After saying that even getting out of bed was difficult, Zhu Yan silently observed everyone’s reactions.

Unfortunately, none of them said much. Only Ma Dong reminded Zhu Yan to take care of himself.

Zhu Yan asked, “Do you have a doctor here, or someone with a similar ability? I’d like to get checked out.”

“We do have someone, but he isn’t a doctor, and he doesn’t handle medical matters,” Ma Dong said. “Just sleep. You don’t need to worry about tomorrow’s dungeon, anyway.”

Zhu Yan understood.

If they had someone like that who didn’t perform the duties of a doctor, then within the [Human Alliance], he most likely served as an observer of some kind.

It seemed he would have to be even more cautious.

Zhu Yan shoveled a few mouthfuls of food into the puppet’s mouth.

“I’m a little sleepy.” He gave an awkward laugh, picked up his tray, and left. “I’ll head back first.”

“…Haha, what a useless piece of trash.”

Pot Lid watched Zhu Yan’s back and suddenly spoke in a low voice.

“Did you see the surveillance footage from his dormitory? He drinks three kinds of medicine every night, and he still hasn’t gotten better. No one even knows what the third one is.”

Ma Dong curled his lips.

A uniformed man beside them picked up the conversation, sounding somewhat disdainful.

“Captain Jin already said there’s no need to worry. He said he hasn’t had time these past few days, but once he sees this guy tomorrow, he’ll know whether he’s good or bad.”

“Who cares whether he’s good or bad?” Pot Lid sneered. “He’s nothing but a piece of meat waiting to be carved up. Hey, isn’t he supposed to suffer severe injuries in this dungeon?”

Ma Dong shrugged. “How many times are you going to chew over that? Didn’t we already agree on how to divide everything? Are you trying to change the arrangement again?”

“The boss said he wants eighty percent.” Pot Lid looked irritated. “The key issue is that no one knows how much money this little player has.”

“I heard he’s been number one on the rankings several times. He should have at least a few thousand Bone Coins in his account, right? And with all those items and things, he’s probably accumulated quite a lot as well.”

Ma Dong said with certainty, “Definitely. There’s no need to think about it.”

The group exchanged knowing smiles.

The uniformed man patted another man in uniform beside him and said, “Then I’ll be counting on you, army medic. When he collapses like he did in the prophecy, I’ll chop off his hands, and you’ll regenerate the limbs immediately. Make sure he gets enough anesthetic. Don’t let him feel a thing!”

The man known as the army medic smiled. “Don’t worry. General anesthesia.”

…

The next day.

Zhu Yan climbed out of bed feeling refreshed and gave his outfit one final inspection.

It was a new uniform issued by the [Human Alliance], but they had clearly been careless with him. There were still unwashed bloodstains on it, suggesting that it had quite a story.

His [Savings Silver Ring] contained the pistol modified by Dragonfly, a real knife, a fake cloak, and some potions and food.

A milk cow-patterned cat had transformed into Fog and attached itself to his clothes. The little thing had remained in Fog’s form these past few days, sometimes drifting around on its own as if it were foraging to keep itself alive.

Zhu Yan arrived at the parking lot beneath the White Building at the agreed-upon time.

It was only six in the morning. The sun had not yet risen, and the sky was still overcast and gloomy.

Jin Rongxu, whom he had not seen in some time, stood in the middle of the group.

The moment Zhu Zeyu came downstairs, he raised his eyes and coldly scanned the new player from head to toe.

Hmm. He hadn’t sensed anything unusual.

Based on Zhu Zeyu’s thoughts, the third potion he had been drinking these past few days was merely a reward from [Manic Happyland]. It could invigorate a person and make them appear healthy.

That explained perfectly why Zhu Zeyu had suffered such serious injuries yet still looked radiant on the surface.

“Captain,” Zhu Yan greeted him.

Jin Rongxu impatiently gave a single nod.

Useless trash.

If he hadn’t needed to nurture Zhu Zeyu’s ability, he would never have brought someone who couldn’t withstand even the slightest damage into a dungeon!

“Hold on to your teammates.”

Jin Rongxu glanced down at his watch, then gestured for everyone to hold hands and form a circle.

“Ten seconds. [Manic Happyland] will begin the automatic teleportation.”

This was it.

Zhu Yan prepared himself to separate part of his body.

The pistol was ready to be drawn at any moment.

No matter what, he would use the [Hunter] part of himself to fire first at the uniformed man with the weakest defenses.

After all, Dragonfly had added the attribute “never miss” to it…

If I didn’t give it a try, wouldn’t that be a shame?

“Five, four, three, two—”

The ground suddenly gave way beneath Zhu Yan’s feet!