Journey to the Eye of the Abyss

“Either he has some other way in, or there was a problem with the [Carnival of Joy]’s teleportation,” Zhu Yan replied perfunctorily.

His tone was far too relaxed, as though Zhu Zeyu’s failure to appear in the instance were nothing worth worrying about.

“Either way, he’ll come back eventually. And even if he dies in the instance, so what?”

Qiu Lingkai hugged the severed head to his chest and fell silent, weighed down by his thoughts.

Zhu Yan tried to listen in on his thoughts, but all he heard was a buzzing jumble of noise, as if countless disorderly sentences had been mashed together. He couldn’t make out even the slightest detail.

What on earth was this man thinking? How could his thoughts be this chaotic?

All Zhu Yan could do was lean back against the soft sofa and wait, never daring to let his guard down for even a moment.

In theory, he should eliminate the threat at its roots and kill Qiu Lingkai as well. This was an excellent opportunity to do so.

But he hadn’t asked [Square-Inch Mountain] for an extra puppet.

If he killed Qiu Lingkai, the No. 2 [Hunter], it would probably only create trouble. Without a puppet to replace him, [Carnival of Joy] would soon notice that something was wrong and follow the trail back to Zhu Yan.

After being called out for “slacking off and shirking responsibility,” and having even his [Hunter] mission rewards slashed to nothing, Zhu Yan certainly couldn’t expect [Carnival of Joy] to turn Qiu Lingkai into a [walking corpse] for him to use.

That would be pure wishful thinking!

“Qiu Lingfeng, I think you should go to [Carnival of Joy] immediately. Right now.”

Qiu Lingkai turned around and saw that “Qiu Lingfeng” had already changed back to his original appearance. He let out a sigh.

“This is much more comfortable. When you were wearing Zhu Zeyu’s face just now, looking at you made me uneasy no matter how I tried.”

He placed the head back on the coffee table and urged him, “Go on. I’m still worried. What if that Zhu Zeyu really did die in another instance and someone picked up his head? That would create yet another string of problems.”

That was true.

From Qiu Lingkai’s perspective, even if the head in their possession was the “real” one, they would still have to waste a great deal of time arguing with the horror creatures when the time came. There was no need for that at all.

Zhu Yan understood Qiu Lingkai’s reasoning, even if it was entirely unnecessary.

He picked up the head and rose from the soft leather sofa, deliberately tossing the intact pair of handcuffs onto the carpet.

“I’m leaving. If you ever put these things on me again, I’ll kill you.”

Since he couldn’t kill Qiu Lingkai right away, Zhu Yan would rather err on the side of caution.

“Breaking free of the handcuffs” was a detail that seemed suspicious.

Bringing that detail into the open and dispelling Qiu Lingkai’s doubts outright was far better than hiding it and leaving behind a loose end.

“When did you—”

“An item,” Zhu Yan explained simply. “Don’t forget, we got everything belonging to the No. 1 [Hunter].”

Qiu Lingkai, as expected, asked no further questions.

He waved Zhu Yan away, urging him to get to the [Recitation Stage] as quickly as possible. Then, after a moment’s thought, he added, “It would be best if Zhu Zeyu were dead. Since we collected the bounty on his head, that head can’t show up in front of any other players or horror creatures.”

Qiu Lingkai paused.

“He’s very strong, but he’s still just a child. His guard is too low. He’ll be easy to kill.”

Zhu Yan was silent for a moment.

“Then we’ll wait until he comes back and decide.”

…

As if hell.

Aboard the [Monster Tram], Zhu Yan pinched the bridge of his nose and sentenced Qiu Lingkai to death in his mind.

For one thing, “Zhu Zeyu” was an identity he had painstakingly cultivated all the way to this point. How could he let it die just because someone said so?

“Oh, my Yueyueyou.” The Doppelganger sat across from him, addressing him in his uncle’s tone of voice.

“You’ve been distracted ever since we got on the train… What’s wrong?”

An hour earlier, Zhu Yan had hidden in the restroom of the Silver Bay Research Institute and messaged the Doppelganger. It hadn’t taken much effort to trick it into telling him where to collect the rewards from the [Abyssal Eye Club].

The reward-collection location was on the fourth floor of the [Hall of Mourning], a place Zhu Yan had always been curious about but had never been qualified to enter.

He tugged at the hood over his head. To his surprise, he could read an intense, almost worshipful admiration in the Doppelganger’s cold, hungry black eyes.

“Ah, this…” Zhu Yan sighed. “That’s a very long story.”

What Zhu Yan was thinking about was a very practical problem.

Qiu Lingkai had to die, without question, and Zhu Yan would have to ask [Square-Inch Mountain] for a replacement puppet.

But after making one outrageous demand after another, would [Square-Inch Mountain] really agree?

Even if it did, Zhu Yan would then be controlling three [Hunter] skins at once. That was essentially the same as one person carrying out three [Hunter] missions.

Puppets could use inherited memories to react to everything around them, but that didn’t mean they actually possessed intelligence.

Could these things really clear instances on their own?

The voodoo doll brought over a cup of black coffee filled with eyeballs and reeking of dead rats, then slammed it down in front of the Doppelganger.

“Your drink,” it said unwillingly, then muttered under its breath, “Look at you, evolving into a rotten ginger.”

“What did it call me?” The Doppelganger hadn’t heard clearly.

“Nothing,” Zhu Yan said.

The Doppelganger then began gulping down the disgusting-smelling drink. “Oh, I never imagined… You were actually willing to bring me to the [Abyssal Eye]! I like you so much, little demon!”

The Doppelganger still hadn’t realized that before it volunteered the information, Zhu Yan had had no idea where to find anyone there.

Twenty minutes later, a human and a monster followed the manager of the [Hall of Mourning] through the grand front lobby and onto a corridor lined with luxurious carpeting.

The entrance to the corridor was extremely well hidden. They had to go around behind the service counters, then pass through a small lounge packed with monsters.

“There are more and more humans here,” the Doppelganger remarked beside Zhu Yan. “Did you see that person missing an arm?”

It was referring to one of the players who had just been conducting business in the lobby.

“That man?” Of course Zhu Yan had seen him.

Unlike the others, the man seemed to have suddenly arrived here after escaping from somewhere. He had screamed in terror in the lobby just now, and the blood pouring from his arm had drawn the attention of the surrounding horror creatures.

But this had nothing to do with Zhu Yan. In a situation like this, he couldn’t simply rush over and rescue the man.

Zhu Yan curiously examined the crystal chandeliers hanging above the long corridor.

Each crystal had been shaped like a human eye. They blinked constantly, their pupils swiveling to follow Zhu Yan as he passed.

“I’ve heard that some horror creatures, just for fun,” the Doppelganger continued gossiping beside him, “will link an instance to places in [Carnival of Joy], like the [Hall of Mourning]. Players think they’ve escaped through the exit, but they actually haven’t.”

“If he chooses to go straight up through the [Hall of Mourning], the system will judge that he left the instance before the game ended. It’s a dead end!”

“Who comes up with something that twisted?” Zhu Yan muttered casually.

“What was his name again? Ji… Ji… something-ting?”