Zhu Zeyu hunched his neck and obediently nodded.
One of the keys to acting without going out of character was remembering what information the character actually knew.
Zhu Zeyu had been standing guard outside in the corridor the entire time.
In his current identity, Zhu Zeyu had no idea that Director Jin had watched the surveillance footage, much less what the Seer had said to Director Jin.
When he had just tested the waters by asking about “the Seer,” he had merely been checking whether he could steer the conversation toward the “connector.”
Once he successfully guided the topic there, Zhu Zeyu would be able to lead people upstairs and, quite naturally, put on the spectacular show of rescuing the players from the dungeon and clashing head-on with the [Hunter].
Unfortunately, Director Jin was impervious to both persuasion and pressure. He had refused to reveal even the slightest bit of information about the Seer, offering nothing but a complaint.
Zhu Zeyu pretended to ponder for a moment before speaking again.
“Director, I took a careful look at this segment of information, and I think there are a few points worth noting.”
“You see, this [Hunter] claims to be Hunter No. 3. That’s one point. I thought the one we fought earlier was No. 1… Ah, never mind. In any case, it was the first [Hunter].”
Director Jin heard him, but didn’t take it in.
“And what does that have to do with the situation now?”
He was deeply displeased. “All you’re saying is that there’s a new [Hunter], and that the [Hunters] have accomplices. We already knew that!”
“Director Jin, that’s only the first suspicious point. There’s a second.”
Zhu Zeyu lowered his head in feigned deference. “I remember Captain Zheng saying in the vehicle that we were immune to… immune to the dungeon.”
It would have been better if he hadn’t said that.
The moment he did, Director Jin felt even more as though his authority had been challenged. He narrowed his eyes slightly at Zhu Zeyu.
What was that supposed to mean?
Why bring up exactly what he didn’t want to hear?
Zhu Zeyu paid no attention to what his superior might be thinking. He only wanted to keep the performance going.
“Director, what I mean is, based on the principle Captain Zheng explained to me, the dungeon’s arrival must require some kind of medium, right?”
“I think they either used some method to damage our equipment, or they brought some kind of object inside.”
That was an interesting idea.
Director Jin suppressed his irritation and gestured for Zhu Zeyu to continue.
And Zhu Zeyu did not disappoint him. He immediately got to the crux of the matter.
“If we destroy that thing at its source, Director, how likely do you think it is that the dungeon will be destroyed along with it?”
The suggestion struck the nail on the head.
Director Jin immediately thought of the surveillance footage he had watched in his office.
In the footage, that young man had indeed bent down and touched a small device. Only then had the sudden change occurred.
But…
Director Jin shook his head, his brows still tightly furrowed.
“You have a point. But what if the device is destroyed and those people don’t come out? What if they all die inside the dungeon?”
“If the higher-ups find out, it’ll be classified as a major accident.”
At that, Director Jin’s gaze sharpened.
“If something really goes wrong, who’s going to take responsibility? You?”
Zhu Zeyu once again put on a troubled expression and fell silent.
The identity of “Zhu Zeyu” was still too inexperienced. In front of Director Jin, he occasionally found himself at a loss for words.
Controlling the [Walking Dead] “Medic,” Zhu Yan raised his head and joined the discussion.
“Director.” The “Medic’s” tone was steadier. “What if we coordinate with Captain Zheng and have his side try it first?”
“You mean we should rescue Captain Zheng’s team first?” Director Jin understood.
Under Zhu Yan’s control, the “Medic” nodded.
“Director, they’re an elite team to begin with. They have far more experience and methods for dealing with dungeons.”
“Right now, the [Hunter] is definitely upstairs. There are no terrifying creatures or [Hunters] down here, and the overall environment is relatively simple.”
The “Medic” laid out his reasoning in an unhurried manner.
“More importantly, they’re our own people.”
Internal problems were much easier to handle than external ones.
Their own people wouldn’t cause trouble so easily.
If this “rescue experiment” failed, the deaths could be treated as sacrifices. If it succeeded…
“If it works, we can go straight upstairs and destroy whatever is up there.”
“And Captain Zheng has experience fighting the [Hunter], so it’ll be easier for us to capture them.”
The players around them were swayed by his words.
Someone agreed. “That makes sense, Director Jin. If it doesn’t work this time, we can still send the situation back to Headquarters’ Strategic Analysis Division and have them analyze it remotely.”
Ma Dong asked, “Should we send part of the group over to try first?”
This was a last resort, but under the circumstances, it was also the safest option available.
Director Jin nodded, not daring to be careless in the slightest.
“Upstairs has already descended into chaos, and Liu Lei’s side is barely managing to maintain order.”
This was only the beginning. There was still a long time before the open-beta dungeon descended.
If something truly happened to the shelter this time, the Human Alliance’s trust rating would fall along with it. The higher-ups would absolutely hold him accountable.
“This rescue…”
Director Jin looked toward the end of the corridor, where a vast expanse of white stabbed painfully at his eyes.
“…I’m going with you.”
There was no way he could feel at ease unless he saw this through with his own eyes.
…
In the corridor.
Captain Zheng withdrew his hand. The color had drained from his not-quite-pale face, and his chest heaved violently.
This space could no longer be called a “corridor.” The walls on either side had been crumpled like discarded newspaper, while the lights had changed from white to a deep green.
At first, they had still been able to stand upright here with ease. But in just a few minutes, the ceiling had pressed directly down against their heads.
The oxygen in this place even seemed limited. Captain Zheng felt increasingly short of breath.
“Captain, what do we do?” one of the team members asked uncertainly.
“We’ve tried everything we can think of,” said another player with a scholarly appearance. “There’s no way. This place is like a swamp. The harder we struggle, the more it twists.”
“It’s shrinking, too.” Captain Zheng nodded.
The players wore solemn expressions, and no one spoke.
This dungeon was far more severe—and far more ruthless—than anyone had imagined.
There were no monsters, no rules… nothing at all.
Captain Zheng suddenly slammed a fist into the wall, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.
“Damn it. I’m not willing to die here for nothing!”
Despair spread rapidly through the cramped space.
None of the players spoke. They exchanged glances, yet in one another’s eyes, they all saw the same despair.
And above their heads, Zhu Yan was drifting around gleefully in his [Mist] form.
The more despair, the better.
The more despair they felt now, the happier they would be when Zhu Zeyu appeared later.
Wouldn’t that shining, saintly persona be perfectly established this way?
…
Two minutes later.
A group of people cautiously approached the corridor outside Room 1356.
Zhu Zeyu, walking at the front, made a hand signal and carefully stopped the others behind him.
“Look,” he said. “There’s a metal pull ring on the floor.”
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
nce】【Lighthearted Comedy】【Ultimate Gentleman's Novel】【Viewer Discretion Advised for Under 16】 The mightiest human hero, Sharen Morian, is resurrected after a thousand years by his wife—the Demon King. This is not your typical hero-vs-demon-king tale.
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
