Target Reached

Zhu Zeyu nodded and gave Guan En a grateful smile.

“Thank you, Captain Guan.”

He smiled at Guan En because he had to. Otherwise, holding it in would have been far too painful.

“My emotional intelligence is a little low, and I’m not very good with words, so Captain Jin must be unhappy with me, right?”

Deliberately acting like you had low emotional intelligence probably counted as low emotional intelligence too, didn’t it?

Guan En smiled. “Captain Jin is just like that. When you’re in front of him, you have to know your place and watch your attitude.”

Know～your～place～

Zhu Yan mimicked the words in his head in an exaggerated tone, keeping an eye on Director Jin’s movements.

In a little while, Captain Jin would probably lose his patience again.

At that moment, Director Jin, already dressed in protective gear, had boarded the vehicle.

A wisp of 【Mist】 clung to the hem of Director Jin’s clothes. The rest of the 【Mist】 pressed invisibly against the roof of the combat vehicle, drifting along with them as they leisurely headed toward the 【Hall of Mourning】.

“...Director.”

A man in an operations uniform sat beside Director Jin.

Zhu Yan had seen him before. Just yesterday at dawn, he had thrown Jin Rongxu’s left hand at the man’s feet.

The man spoke in an extremely low voice. Zhu Yan had to move closer before he could hear him clearly.

“Are you really planning to go down there? If you ask me, there’s no need. It could be very dangerous below.”

Inside the combat vehicle, which was practically an iron barrel, Director Jin sat shoulder to shoulder with a row of players, each wearing a different expression.

He gave the man a slight nod and confirmed, “Captain Zheng, I’m going down personally.”

Captain Zheng was not one of his most trusted subordinates, so Director Jin did not tell him all of his concerns.

For one thing, Guan En had a point.

He did not trust the Seer’s prophecy. And with so much wealth at stake, he had to go there himself.

For another, Guan En had failed to notice something: there might be a flaw in the Seer’s prophecy.

She had given them a forty-eight-hour period during which they were not to act. If they could endure those forty-eight hours, 【Hunter】 would be forced into a passive position.

But that did not match the time it would take to check the accounts.

The students were going to check the accounts today. With so many windows in the 【Hall of Mourning】, they would be able to finish by midnight at the latest and return.

Either 【Hunter】 would be found, in which case everyone would be happy, or they would find nothing and return empty-handed.

In that case, the time limit should not be forty-eight hours. It should be ten or fourteen hours. Once the students had finished checking everything, wouldn’t the truth be revealed?

What, then, was the significance of forty-eight hours?

Director Jin frowned.

Since the Seer had announced that 【Hunter】 would definitely appear if he went there, he might as well go and see for himself.

If it really showed up, they had plenty of experts there today, along with specialized high-adhesion aerosol designed to prevent 【Hunter】 from using its invisibility trick again. Everything was fully prepared.

Could 【Hunter】 really escape a second time?

...

After several days apart, Myriad Forms Plaza had changed once again.

It no longer resembled a luxurious modern shopping mall.

Something had burst through the glass exterior from within, splitting the entire square-shaped building open with a long crack down the middle.

A massive black shadow lurked inside. Long strands of hair grew outward through the tiny cracks in the walls like vines.

Zhu Yan could see the emergency lights inside flickering from time to time. Outside, twice as many uniformed players and heavy weapons had been deployed.

“...Is it really this serious?”

Zhu Zeyu couldn’t help exclaiming in astonishment. He turned to Guan En.

“Are any of our people still inside?”

Guan En pondered for a moment.

“They are,” he said. “But this thing keeps growing like a bamboo shoot. Eventually, it’ll probably absorb and replace the entire mall.”

“Absorb?”

“Right. Eat it.” Guan En’s expression turned grim. “It devours everything. Every building in 【Frenzied Happy Land】 will be consumed.”

The vehicle stopped before the first checkpoint.

Guan En patted Zhu Zeyu on the shoulder and emphasized once more, “Let’s go. Get out. You’ll be the first one checked.”

Director Jin’s vehicle should arrive in about five minutes.

Zhu Yan anxiously estimated the time, deliberately slowing his pace as he followed Guan En into the much dimmer mall.

“Um, are there any of our people beneath the 【Hall of Mourning】?”

The place was truly eerie.

The WE Café had grown upward without restraint like a tree, already reaching the mall’s second floor.

The entire 【Hall of Mourning】 was a gigantic head of a weeping person. By now, half of the head had emerged, pushing the WE Café upward.

“Come on.”

Led by several heavily armed players, Guan En brought Zhu Yan up the escalator, which had long since stopped operating.

“Luckily, it didn’t grow in the open space between floors,” Guan En joked. “Otherwise, to enter the 【Hall of Mourning】, we’d first have to climb onto the top of that head. We’d need to learn rock climbing.”

Under these circumstances, Miss Doppelganger was still dutifully standing at the café entrance, greeting customers.

When they approached, Guan En raised a hand to stop Zhu Yan.

“Wait here.” He grinned. “That was a good question you asked earlier. We’ll wait here for the advance team, then go down with them.”

Zhu Zeyu knew that Director Jin’s vehicle had stopped outside.

“They should be here any moment,” Guan En said. “I wonder where they are now.”

Right outside.

Zhu Zeyu repeated the thought to himself.

The 【Mist】 was attached to Director Jin. Following Captain Zheng, Director Jin advanced steadily with the rest of the team.

Their clothes rustled in unison in the silent air. Soon, the sound of their footsteps reached Zhu Zeyu and Guan En’s ears.

“They’re here,” Guan En said.

Sure enough, they were. Zhu Zeyu peered over and saw Director Jin at the escalator, fully armed and wearing a helmet and protective goggles.

What a joke.

In a high-level operation like this, Guan En might not even recognize Director Jin face-to-face.

Zhu Zeyu immediately drew his head back and put on a timid, harmless expression, allowing the group of players to come closer.

Captain Zheng nodded at Guan En. “I’m leaving half my people upstairs. The Hunter is very cunning. You’re responsible for taking the students down in the lift, so be especially careful.”

Guan En nodded.

He followed Captain Zheng with Zhu Zeyu. After thinking for a moment, he waved to signal Yang Zhanbai over.

“I’ll take these two students down first,” Guan En said. “They’re ranked first and second, and they’re relatively strong. Objectively speaking, they’re unlikely suspects.”

“If nothing turns up during the inspection, let them stay below. They may even be able to lend you a hand.”

A discreet gaze swept across Zhu Zeyu’s face. He could feel it.

It was Director Jin.

Director Jin probably knew how much Jin Rongxu detested someone named “Zhu Zeyu.”

After everything that had happened today, what kind of impression would he have now?

Captain Zheng nodded, accepting the arrangement.

He cleared his throat and recited the password to Miss Doppelganger.

“Destruction is completion.”

Miss Doppelganger smiled professionally. “Guests, please follow me!”