Hunters Get No Damn Privileges, Bro

The Boss's body froze—

The golden key on its little finger stopped swaying, coming to a subtle halt.

Those bloodshot eyes fixed on Yang Zhanbai. The Boss's tone rose at the end, like a guillotine hoisted high.

"A [Hunter]?"

They were dead.

Zhu Yan wished he could rush up right now and beat Yang Zhanbai to a pulp.

Damn it.

If this idiot hadn't courted death, The Boss would have assumed he was a player.

Then, a player bringing another player down here to use human lives to gather bone coins to buy items and clear the level—that would make sense.

But, a [Hunter].

Why would a [Hunter] bring another player down here?

The excuses Zhu Yan had thought up earlier to fish for information were now hovering on the brink of turning to ashes.

Not only that, but The Boss would very likely use "rule violation" as an excuse to just kill Yang Zhanbai and eat his flesh!

With one sentence from this bro, both their lives were going to be forfeit here!

"A player playing tricks."

Zhu Yan spoke without hesitation, his voice low and his tone weird.

"I checked his palms, and I know who the real [Hunter] is."

He had to make The Boss drop these unwanted thoughts and continue sharing the clues it knew.

Moreover, he couldn't let Yang Zhanbai, who was opposite them, hear their conversation and realize that he, Zhu Yan, was lying!

"Him? He's just afraid we'll make a move on him. What a liar."

Zhu Yan's nerves were stretched taut. The tip of his knife pressed forward threateningly.

"Tell him how many people three hundred bone coins are worth, show him where the entrance to the third level is, give him some hope."

The first sentence wasn't important; the second one was.

"Hurry up, I'm waiting to eat."

But The Boss remained unmoved.

It turned its head, speaking fast and urgently.

"As soon as he goes up, he'll look for the [Hunter], because killing the [Hunter] is easier than killing the Alpha Wolf."

Damn it.

The chain of events had been shocking enough that it had only just thought of this.

If that player hadn't claimed to be a [Hunter], it really wouldn't have remembered.

This stupid Captain actually wanted to use this as bait.

The Boss's tone became bizarre, filled with gnashing teeth.

"You know me, bro? We can only kill him right now."

Kill the player, and then kill this ungrateful Captain!

"Let's play with him first."

Zhu Yan said immediately, glaring fiercely at Yang Zhanbai.

Fuck.

Once he successfully got the information, the first thing he'd do was scare Yang Zhanbai to death!

"Just killing him for meat is so boring."

The level-five table knife slightly pierced The Boss's flesh, and Zhu Yan could feel the area where the knife tip poked contracting nervously.

He began to lie to the extreme.

No matter what, he had to coax out the information about the entrance to the next level!

"Give him some false hope first. Tell him he cleared the level. Take him to see the entrance, and then—"

Zhu Yan faced Yang Zhanbai, his mouth corners pulling stiffly to the sides, revealing a rigid, twisted grin.

"Kill him immediately!"

The Boss turned its head slightly. Its facial skin was severely rotted and had begun to peel off.

How could a low-level thriller creature have such sick tastes?

It didn't understand, but it could feel the oppressive weight of the sharp knife against its back.

In any case, it didn't have the upper hand going against this bizarre Captain right now.

It had to wait for the Captain to drop his guard to deliver a fatal blow!

"Alright, alright." The Boss compromised.

It tried hard to raise the corners of its mouth at Yang Zhanbai and shook the key in its hand again.

"Since you are a [Hunter], I can take you to the entrance of the next level to see the Alpha Wolf. Come, child."

In an instant, Yang Zhanbai's tense body grew even stiffer.

This wasn't right.

This was different from what he had imagined!

He was a [Hunter], the [Hunter] who delivered food ingredients to thriller creatures!

Why weren't they letting him go up to catch players, but instead making him enter the next level?

Yang Zhanbai gripped his knife, the cold sweat on his palms already making the hilt slippery.

Step by step, he approached the pale light behind the bar counter. In his vision, the hideous faces of the Captain and The Boss became increasingly clear.

Was this the preferential treatment a [Hunter] received?

While other players were still fighting and bleeding out on the surface, a [Hunter] just needed a single sentence to easily enter all the high-difficulty levels, meet the dungeon BOSS, and chat merrily with it?

Yang Zhanbai sneered in his heart.

What a traitor to humanity.

If he could return to the surface, he would definitely show no mercy to the [Hunter]!

Zhu Yan continued to press the knife against The Boss's back, watching it inch forward, signaling Yang Zhanbai to come behind the bar.

"Come here, child."

The Boss struggled to maintain its smile, slowly lowering its hand and crouching down.

The bar counter was very long. Yang Zhanbai cautiously and slowly circled to the side. Zhu Yan divided his attention to keep an eye on his position while also slowly crouching down to watch The Boss's movements.

The keyhole was under the marble slab of the bar counter.

The Boss quickly inserted the key and gave its wrist a gentle twist. A floor tile not far away instantly disappeared, revealing a downward passage.

Now!

Zhu Yan didn't hesitate and struck immediately.

Under the high bar counter, the level-five table knife viciously pierced through The Boss's body.

And The Boss happened to turn around and lunge at him, its sharp, gleaming nails stabbing toward Zhu Yan's heart, aiming to deal a fatal blow—

"You piece of shit!" Zhu Yan activated his skill and cursed loudly, twisting the table knife in his hand viciously.

His free left hand grabbed The Boss's wrist firmly at a tricky angle, feeling a sticky, slippery sensation.

That wrist was melting!

Zhu Yan stared at The Boss's hideous face; its flesh and blood were pouring down.

A rich, rotting sweet smell of spoiled candy suddenly exploded.

The flowing muscles and tendons putrefied and blackened at a visible rate, and then the exposed bones also quickly turned brownish-black.

It was just like a chocolate fountain on a Halloween chocolate statue, Zhu Yan thought inappropriately.

He pulled out the level-five table knife and put it away. The relief of surviving a disaster made his heart race, and his vision darkened slightly.

Yang Zhanbai was still on the other side of the bar counter. The commotion just now wasn't small, and it seemed he had stopped because of it.

That was perfect.

Zhu Yan's heart beat like a drum.

The Captain was already useless, while The Boss had the key and authority.

Now!

With a thought, Zhu Yan used his skill to take on the appearance of The Boss.

He supported himself against the marble countertop to stand up, pulled open the cabinet under the bar, and quickly kicked the dirty black skeleton inside.

As long as he hid the remains of the real Boss and prevented Yang Zhanbai from discovering any clues, everything would be fine.

Having done all this, Zhu Yan looked up.

Yang Zhanbai was indeed standing vigilantly not far away—

Everything just now had happened under the bar counter, which was in his blind spot, so he hadn't seen it.

He could only deduce that these two thriller creatures had started fighting again over something.

In this situation, it was best for him to stay put and pray they both ended up severely injured!

But this time, the Captain who had the upper hand didn't reappear; surprisingly, it was The Boss who stood up.

The Boss was looking at him under the moon lamp—

This time, the corners of its mouth split all the way to its ears, revealing an incredibly exaggerated smile.

Yang Zhanbai swallowed hard.

So in the end, did The Boss win after all?

How was he supposed to coax The Boss into tossing him back down to the ground?

"Yo bro," Zhu Yan mimicked flawlessly, "that was just a minor interlude, peace and love."

Looking at that pair of heavily bloodshot eyeballs, Yang Zhanbai thought of an excuse.

"The Boss," he tried his utmost to suppress the tension and trembling in his voice, "I am a [Hunter], but I still have an unfinished mission to harvest human lives."

This was the "mission" of the [Hunter] announced over the broadcast, so it shouldn't be a problem.

"There is so much food down on the ground. Let me go back, and I can bring you more, fresher ones."