Starting with a Show of Force

Bang!

A few drops of warm liquid splashed across Zhu Zeyu’s face.

He had just steadied himself on the ground and could feel that the soles of his shoes were standing on earth that was soft and muddy in places.

Bang!

This was Zhu Yan’s second shot.

The human figure formed from 【Mist】 had been standing several meters away from the group, but the instant the bullet was fired, it dispersed once again and silently vanished into the air.

Both shots had been far too fast.

At that moment, the thin mist surrounding them had yet to fully dissipate. Three meters away, a stone engraved with the words “Fenghe Village” appeared and disappeared through the haze.

Their arms were still locked tightly together, forming a solid circle.

But—

“A-Zhi!” Pot Lid suddenly screamed, his voice trembling with disbelief. “A-Zhi! Little White!”

Within the circle formed by the seven people, two heads hung lifelessly. Blood mixed with brain matter dripped slowly from their foreheads, splattering onto the ground.

Patter, patter.

Pot Lid’s face turned pale.

The military doctor lowered his thick brows, reached out, and touched the back of the uniformed man known as A-Zhi.

It was covered in blood.

“Dead. Gunshot wound.” He delivered the verdict succinctly, then raised a hand and pointed in a certain direction. “The shot probably came from over there.”

“But—but Little White…”

Ma Dong stood opposite the military doctor, with Little White’s corpse slumped beside him.

Everything had happened too suddenly and too quickly. Ma Dong clearly had not yet processed it.

“Little White is dead too. Little White and A-Zhi were standing directly opposite each other, yet both gunshot wounds are in the backs of their heads. Then…”

He glanced at Jin Rongxu’s cold face before turning toward Zhu Zeyu, who was visibly terrified.

Who could take this?

The instance hadn’t even begun, and seven people had already become five. Who could take this?!

“Could there be more than one person shooting at us?”

“To move from here to here in such a short time…”

He pointed behind the military doctor, then pointed behind himself. “To circle around such a large half-circle—and still move that fast—is far too absurd, isn’t it?”

Zhu Yan controlled his puppet, Zhu Zeyu, and made it breathe rapidly.

The witch’s potion could help him fabricate three hours’ worth of memories and thoughts after waking up.

So for now, he wouldn’t expose himself under Jin Rongxu’s watchful eyes.

For the first time, Zhu Yan found himself in a rather difficult situation.

Damn it… The ability 【Mind Reading】 was far too troublesome.

How was he supposed to make sure he slept ten hours every day inside the instance?

“Enough.”

Jin Rongxu’s expression was terrible, and his mind was filled with irritation.

His level-seven ability, 【Mind Reading】, had been active the entire time. But apart from the terrified thoughts of several teammates, he hadn’t heard anything else.

A gun.

This weapon was the same as the one the Seer had seen. It should belong to the 【Hunter】.

And yet, he couldn’t read a single thought from the 【Hunter】.

Had the other party fled, or…

Jin Rongxu nearly lost control of his breathing.

Or was the 【Hunter】’s level actually higher than the level-seven player assessment made by 【The Human Alliance】?

Opening fire before the instance even began was clearly a warning aimed directly at him!

“It’s either one of the horrifying creatures here, or it’s the 【Hunter】.”

Though he was furious, Jin Rongxu knew this was not the time to keep things hidden.

That damn 【Hunter】.

The other party had already snatched the three abilities he had his eye on. Now, he had even launched an attack right in his face.

Although the Seer’s prophecy this time said that the 【Hunter】 would not suffer an accident, one day he would tear that monster limb from limb.

Jin Rongxu forcibly restrained his tone.

“In any case, they haven’t attacked again. We should go in first and see what’s happening. Ma Dong, military doctor, come over here and share.”

His hatred remained, but a thin layer of cold sweat still broke out across his back.

He was thankful that he hadn’t hurriedly activated 【Blood Bar Chain】 before the teleportation and shared the damage with everyone.

Otherwise, he might not have survived.

Ma Dong and the military doctor exchanged a glance before walking over cooperatively.

With no one supporting them, the corpses of A-Zhi and Little White fell heavily to the ground.

Zhu Yan understood now.

Oh.

Although Jin Rongxu hadn’t explained it, Zhu Yan had investigated this man’s abilities and knew that “share” most likely referred to sharing damage to their health bars.

He had brought Ma Dong and the military doctor into the damage-sharing link, but not Pot Lid or Zhu Zeyu.

Was it because he considered Zhu Zeyu and Pot Lid the weakest, and therefore the most likely to become burdens?

Zhu Zeyu pretended to be frightened and moved closer to Pot Lid. Summoning his courage, he said, “Captain, I have an idea.”

Jin Rongxu frowned.

By now, the thin mist around them had dispersed.

Behind the stone engraved with “Fenghe Village” was a damp dirt road, with old wheel ruts still visible on its surface.

It wound toward the mountainside. Looking into the distance, Zhu Yan saw a small cluster of self-built houses huddled together beneath the gray, gloomy sky.

No one noticed that a thin veil of 【Mist】 was rapidly flowing toward the end of the road.

This was Zhu Yan’s true body. He intended to scout ahead before Jin Rongxu and the others entered the village.

At the very least, he had to find somewhere he could sleep, right?

“Go ahead,” Jin Rongxu said, turning to look at Zhu Zeyu. He stopped walking up the road. “What’s your idea?”

“I think the 【Hunter】 is also one of the players in this game.”

“…What are you talking about? Isn’t that obvious?”

“It’s not nonsense.” Zhu Yan controlled the puppet, making Zhu Zeyu’s expression appear like that of an awkward student. “Captain, there are seven people in this instance, and our team also happens to have seven people.”

He very casually drew a distinction between Zhu Zeyu and the 【Hunter】.

“If you count the 【Hunter】 as well, that makes eight. That exceeds the limit.”

Jin Rongxu no longer stopped him. He only furrowed his brows. “You mean the 【Hunter】 has to kill one of us before he can enter the instance?”

Hook, line, and sinker.

“Yes.” Zhu Zeyu nodded firmly. “Captain, do you think he fired twice because he wasn’t confident in himself?”

“After all, what if the first shot missed, or happened to hit someone with high defense…”

Zhu Zeyu sounded utterly sincere.

He wasn’t actually lying. When he fired those two shots, that had indeed been one of his considerations.

Of course, there was also the fact that if he could kill more people, he would.

From Jin Rongxu’s perspective, this speculation was indeed quite reasonable.

He glanced at Zhu Zeyu but said nothing more, simply continuing forward.

“Let’s enter the village. This is indeed a clue.”

“If your guess is correct, and the 【Hunter】 has joined the game as a player as well, then…”

Jin Rongxu let out a cold laugh. “He’ll have player missions to complete, too.”

“Either way, I won’t die. I can use that to search for him slowly and wear him down.”

The Seer’s prophecy was right there.

No matter who died, it would not be Jin Rongxu.

Moreover, according to the prophecy, he would be able to seize another one of the 【Hunter】’s cloaks in this instance.

Although that was still far from his ultimate goal, it was at least a modest gain.

Besides, he could also use this opportunity to plunder some of Zhu Zeyu’s possessions.

The group followed the dirt road inward, with Pot Lid walking beside Zhu Zeyu. The lower layers of his thick bangs were damp with sweat and clung together.

“Captain, I remember the mission for this dungeon still hasn’t been announced.”

“Also, did anyone else appear in the prophecy? Can we get in touch with the Seer now? I was thinking…”

A glimmer of yearning flickered in Pot Lid’s eyes. “We can all make it out, right, Captain?”