Thrilling Creatures Have Their Own Hot Potato

Meanwhile.

The moment Zhu Yan heard the landlord drag Guan En up, he had already slipped out the window.

He had to finish all of this before Guan En came upstairs, timing it perfectly to ring the front doorbell again the exact moment Guan En entered the room.

If the landlord took Guan En to the next room, Guan En would still be able to see his back through the window as he left.

He very carefully closed the window from the outside, hung onto the empty air conditioning unit with both hands, and cautiously reached for the next foothold.

He had to move fast, no stopping!

Fortunately, the exterior of this villa was deliberately designed as a rough European-style house, so the window ledges and sills were uneven and protruding.

Since there was bare grass below, Zhu Yan didn't have to worry about getting scratched by bushes when he jumped down.

He quickly dropped onto the lawn, sprinted outside the front gate, and hid at the base of the wall.

...

The landlord, dragging Guan En, climbed the final, dust-covered step.

The hunger in its eyes was practically overflowing; it looked at Guan En the way one looks at a freshly cooked meal that is still too hot to eat.

It was truly starving to death.

Could it eat the players early?

But the instance hadn't started yet.

If it ate the player now...

The landlord swallowed hard. That wouldn't do.

It would be punished by the Carnival Paradise!

Guan En did not miss the landlord's gaze; those cloudy eyes, like frosted glass, made him shudder.

He instantly heightened his vigilance, but the landlord merely jerked him forward, making him stumble, and cursed as it pulled a key from its pocket to unlock the door.

"Get in!" it roared angrily, shoving Guan En into the room.

Seeing Guan En fall awkwardly onto a carpet so dirty its original color was indistinguishable, the landlord sneered and turned back.

"Behave yourself, kid. If you go looking outside, you're dead meat."

Guan En paused as he was getting up.

If you go looking outside, you're dead meat.

This was a command, one that had nothing to do with the instance or with food.

Staring at the clumps of dust clinging to the carpet fibers, Guan En suddenly realized something.

What was so important about looking outside?

When he was sitting in the living room, right beside him was a window overlooking the entire lawn.

But back then, the monster landlord hadn't warned him against looking outside!

It was only after going upstairs and coming back down that it dragged him up and issued this warning.

It had clearly received a specific instruction from the mysterious player—

This mysterious player wanted to escape but didn't want to be seen by Guan En.

Perhaps because they were worried their player level was lower than Guan En's ability level.

In just those few seconds, Guan En felt a wave of relief and almost laughed out loud.

Watching the monster landlord's back as it opened the door, he called out, "Wait!"

...

Outside the courtyard wall.

Zhu Yan recalled the demeanor of the fake human manager he had seen in the Hall of Mourning while pulling out the book Coexisting with Taboo Objects to look up information on Plague Demons.

There actually was something, though only a short paragraph.

"Plague Demons, formed from those who died in massive plagues, prefer filthy and sweltering environments. They are selfish, greedy, and paranoid."

"Low-level Plague Demons are extremely foolish, while high-level ones are incredibly cunning."

Zhu Yan remembered that the Lease Contract labeled the landlord Walter as low-level.

He chuckled and continued reading.

"Plague Demons will unknowingly transmit lethal plagues to humans. If strange symptoms suddenly break out in your area, please be careful!"

Oh?

In that case, he must have already been infected.

But compared to the current instance, this problem had to take a back seat.

He continued reading to the last sentence.

"The names of Plague Demons are rarely known, and they will never offer them voluntarily."

"This is because most Plague Demons originated in the Middle Ages, and the theology and philosophy of that time dictated this trait."

Zhu Yan's heart stirred as he remembered something.

He quickly hid the book, entered the Player Center, and purchased two human legs from the online store.

These things were a greeting gift for the landlord and the perfect props for his next act!

He was running out of time.

He had to ring the doorbell quickly and not give Guan En any time to communicate with the landlord!

If they managed to compare notes, all his hard work would be ruined.

Zhu Yan stood up carrying the two human legs. With a thought, he activated his ability Roleplay once again.

Inside the room.

The landlord froze. Its head, dragging its neck along, cracked as it twisted to an impossible angle.

Guan En looked straight into those lightless eyes and picked himself up off the floor.

"Are you facing some kind of difficulty?"

According to his deduction, this mysterious player was using a fake identity to pose as a horror creature and manipulate the landlord.

However, the mysterious player was not without flaws, nor were they impossible to expose.

The landlord's level was Lv. 4-5.

And the mysterious player had at most a level five non-offensive ability and a player level of two.

If the landlord attacked, he would be exposed instantly!

Guan En preferred to believe that this mysterious player had used some sort of observation or trickery to glean key information and exploit the monster landlord's weakness.

He raised his eyes. The monster's pale, folded skin was trembling slightly, its brow ridge lowered, and its long, sharp claws clenched into fists. It looked furious.

"None of your damn business! If you dare to—"

Just as he thought.

"I can help you," Guan En said immediately.

It didn't matter what methods the mysterious player had used to deceive it for that information.

What mattered was that he could try to pry it out of the landlord.

"I know the background of the next player because my ability is Investigation."

Guan En stared intensely into those non-reflective eyes and lied.

He didn't have Investigation, but he could deduce.

The landlord narrowed its eyes.

"Let's cooperate. I know the other player is already here, pretending to be a horror creature to trick you—"

Guan En couldn't finish his sentence before a ringing doorbell cut him off.

He paused for a moment and shook the cup in his hand.

"Horror creatures don't drink this. I found it under the flowerbed outside your front gate."

The room was unlit, but through the gloomy night and the faint light from outside, Guan En saw the landlord's face twitch violently.

Its eyebrows lowered, its brow furrowed, and the muscles around its eyes contracted stiffly.

It was an expression of suspicion.

Guan En kept his eyes glued to the landlord's face.

To think that monsters and humans shared the same expressions.

This was the critical moment that would determine the success or failure of his mission. He couldn't afford to miss a single detail.

"The one who came in before me is actually a player. The one who just—"

Guan En gritted his teeth and took a gamble.

"The one who just pretended to be a high-level horror creature to deceive you."