Digging a Hole

The Alpha Wolf's instructions!

Zhu Yan's body tensed up.

Fortunately, the female voice did not keep him waiting long. Its bouncing tone drew his attention.

"The Alpha Wolf places great importance on fun and a sense of participation."

"You are the Hunter. The Alpha Wolf believes that your identity is the perfect bait to attract the attention of the human players."

Wait.

What did that mean?

Bait? That didn't sound like a good thing at all!

Zhu Yan pricked up his ears, focusing all his attention, not even daring to breathe too heavily.

"In order to lure the rest of the players into moving around at night, making it easier for the horror creatures to feed, and also to make it easier for you to complete your task..."

The female voice drew out its final syllable.

"The Alpha Wolf has decided to issue a player quest to all players on the evening of the first day."

"The quest objective will be: Kill the Hunter."

"Fuck," Zhu Yan cursed.

The Hunter—wasn't that him?

The implication was glaringly obvious.

The Alpha Wolf actually wanted the players to band together to find and kill him!

Zhu Yan's heart skipped a beat.

In the eyes of the human players, the Hunter was an absolute traitor.

Once the existence of the Hunter was announced, the panic and anger of the players would be unimaginable.

With everyone else on high alert, the difficulty of Zhu Yan's survival would naturally skyrocket.

Zhu Yan clenched his jaw, his attention entirely focused on the rest of the broadcast.

"As long as they kill the Hunter within three days, the players will be rewarded with 48 continuous hours of daylight."

It was as if a drop of ice water had been pressed to the center of Zhu Yan's forehead; he instantly understood.

In the quest issued by the Declaration Stand, the duration of this instance was 3 to 5 days.

If the players failed the quest to kill him, they would have to reach Xishan University within 3 days.

If Zhu Yan was successfully killed, they would gain 48 hours of absolutely safe travel time.

The air conditioner was still humming, blowing air, and Zhu Yan felt a chill creep over his body.

Zhu Yan took out a cup of hot milk tea to warm his hands, leaned closer to the sunlight, pulled out his phone, and opened the map.

From Anwu North Station to Xishan University, the total distance was...

27 kilometers.

Walking at a steady pace under completely safe conditions would take nearly 7 hours.

Zhu Yan subconsciously rubbed his forearm, finding his skin covered in goosebumps.

The Floating Clock announced the time with absolutely no regularity, which meant that the total daylight hours over the three days might not even add up to 7 hours.

Even if they could scrape together those 7 hours, the players would still need to search for human-run shelters and carefully guard against the night that could fall at any moment.

Finding and killing him seemed to be the players' only reliable way to reach the finish line.

A cold current poured down from above his heart, and Zhu Yan gave a slight shiver.

He hadn't forgotten.

He was the Hunter, but as a freshman at Xishan University, he was also a player.

He had to complete both quests at the same time!

Under the condition of insufficient daylight, if he wanted to complete the player quest, he would have to kill himself to obtain those 48 continuous hours of daylight.

This was a paradox!

Carnival Paradise probably wasn't just thinking "I want Zhu Yan dead"...

Well, humor always came at the most inappropriate times.

Zhu Yan looked at the light and shadows on his blanket and couldn't help but chuckle.

A tuxedo cat jumped onto the bed, affectionately rubbing its head against Zhu Yan's hand.

Zhu Yan absentmindedly scratched its chin, hearing the female voice giggle stiffly and coldly in his ear.

He pricked up his ears, ready to receive more information.

But this time, the female voice didn't speak immediately.

The cold laughter came to an abrupt halt. It fell into a meaningful silence for a moment before continuing its pleasant broadcast.

"Alright, dear Hunter."

"Do you have any objections or other suggestions for the instance?"

After saying this, the female voice fell silent again, clearly waiting for Zhu Yan's response.

No, this wouldn't do.

The Alpha Wolf was completely hidden, while he was completely exposed.

He had to force the Alpha Wolf to expose itself a little too...

Zhu Yan stared at his phone screen. Group chat messages were still popping up one by one, showing no signs of stopping.

"We've already called the police."

"The police station said we should set out first."

"Set out first or not set out?"

"Set out first, just go. Fuck, is this really happening?"

Zhu Yan slowly scrolled down the page, reading the latest messages one by one.

The police doing this would lead to a surge in the number of people participating in the instance.

Zhu Yan's mind raced.

Could he use this as an excuse, find a reason to lure the Alpha Wolf into exposing itself more?

If he was going to gamble, he might as well gamble big.

The female voice had said earlier, "The Alpha Wolf places great importance on fun and a sense of participation."

If he turned this instance into a game where the Alpha Wolf could participate more...

"I have an interesting suggestion," he said, his voice very steady. "We need to exploit the psychological flaws of humans."

"I suggest modifying the player quest. Don't just give them the single option to Kill the Hunter."

Zhu Yan held his breath, trying his best to express his thoughts clearly.

"Humans all have a herd mentality, not to mention I just got news that there will be a lot of players."

"If you only ask them to Kill the Hunter, there will always be a significant portion of people who rely on luck, or wait to reap the rewards of others' labor, and thus take no action."

"They will drag the whole group down!"

Zhu Yan was making this up as he went. He adjusted his speaking speed and tone to make himself sound more credible.

"If too many people take no action, it would be very easy for them to unite, overthrow the human operators, and occupy the spaces. In that case, the setup of shelters in this instance would not only fail to challenge the players, but would actually become a free benefit."

"Consequently, the food that the horror creatures deserve will also decrease."

The female voice laughed like a silver bell.

"Please continue," it said cheerfully. "Later, Carnival Paradise will seek the Alpha Wolf's opinion."

Could the Alpha Wolf hear this personally?

Zhu Yan maintained his vigilance, choosing his words very carefully.

"I suggest—"

"The player quest could be modified to: Kill the Alpha Wolf or the Hunter."

"This way, it will give the players the illusion of an increased margin of error, heighten their sense of control, and reduce their fear of failing the quest."

"They will be more willing to take action!"

Zhu Yan suddenly shifted the topic.

"Then, provide relevant clues. The clues should point to the Alpha Wolf, but you must make sure the players know—"

Zhu Yan revealed a faint smile.

"—that the Alpha Wolf is very powerful and cannot be killed."

It couldn't be killed by other players, but it could be killed by him.

"They will have no choice but to shift all their focus onto me."

Zhu Yan's voice also carried a hint of a smile.

He didn't care how the players targeted him; what he cared about was whether he could make the Alpha Wolf expose its tail.

"Understood," the female voice replied joyfully. "Please wait a moment."

Zhu Yan patiently waited, feeling a thin layer of sweat form on his palms.

About two minutes later, the female voice resounded through his world once again.

"The Alpha Wolf believes that your strategy increases its sense of participation, enriches the players' reactions, and lowers the difficulty for the horror creatures to obtain food."

"It has decided to adopt your proposal."