Chapter 41 Breaking the Rules

After eating, these people finally regained a significant amount of strength.

The middle-aged man spoke, "Every three days, that minotaur appears and forces us to participate in a death game. The one who loses dies."

"It takes the dead person away, and then every alternate day, we have to play a food game. The winner gets to eat."

"That minotaur gives you food? There doesn't seem to be any food around here," Liu Shiyun said.

"If I'm not mistaken, the so-called food is the meat of the person who died in the death game, isn't it?" Lin Yu took over the conversation.

Everyone fell silent.

Obviously, they knew what the food was, but they had no choice; they didn't want to die.

They had no alternative but to eat human flesh!

"The monster said that as long as we can hold out and stay alive for thirty days, it will grant us freedom."

Is it raising pigs?

Lin Yu thought of a certain kind of dark entity.

They could absorb the purest emotions of despair, growing stronger by devouring the aura of despair.

At this moment, Lin Yu understood completely.

They had encountered a dark entity that fed on emotions of despair.

The dark entity trapped these people here, making them participate in games every day to release the despair in their hearts.

At the same time, it offered them the hope of escape, repeatedly breeding the aura of despair in this cycle.

"If this entity were a mutated beast, it probably would have entered the city long ago, where it could harvest far more power of despair."

"Yet right now, it guards this tunnel, which means it cannot leave. It is a plant-mutated dark entity!"

In just an instant, Lin Yu figured out almost everything.

He voiced these thoughts aloud.

"How do you explain the different time flow, then?" Liu Shiyun asked.

"It's simple. These people were locked here, cut off from the outside world, and trapped in constant fear. Naturally, they believed whatever the minotaur told them."

Lin Yu replied.

"What you said reminds me of something."

A refined-looking man suddenly spoke up.

"Do you remember that every time a newcomer came in, the minotaur would say there was a game every day, but it never explained the rules?"

"That's right, so we subconsciously assumed there was one game a day, and every time we participated in a game, a day had passed."

The others also realized the truth.

There was no day or night here, and everyone's mental state was constantly strained. Even if they played three games in a single day, they had no way of perceiving the passage of time.

"What do we do now?"

The group seemed to regard Lin Yu as a straw to clutch at in their desperation.

"In illusions condensed from emotions like this, the only way to break the illusion is to find the spellcaster and kill them," Lin Yu said.

This kind of illusion was quite troublesome and usually required killing the caster to dispel it.

Alternatively, one's power could vastly exceed that of the caster, allowing them to shatter it by sheer force.

"Is the caster that minotaur? Or the monster in the fog?"

"They are too terrifying! We can't kill them!"

Some despaired.

"Don't listen to his nonsense. Anyone who breaks the rules dies! Have you forgotten those who didn't follow the rules before?"

At this moment, a man in his sixties spoke up.

"This person just arrived today and doesn't know how terrifying the monsters are. Do you want to follow him to your deaths?"

Hearing his words, the people present indeed shrank back, their eyes filled with fear.

That's right!

There had been powerful eighth-tier evolvers before, as well as gifted individuals with water-噴射 abilities. They had resisted the monsters, and in the end, they all died.

This person had just arrived; who knew what hidden motives he harbored?

Earlier, they had simply been clutching at straws in their panic. Now that they had calmed down, no one dared to echo Lin Yu anymore.

Whether Lin Yu was right or wrong, they didn't know, but they knew that defying the monsters and breaking the rules meant death!

No one could be an exception!

"Brother Yu, what should we do now?" Liu Shiyun asked.

"To leave this illusion, we must find the caster and kill them."

A cold glint flashed in Lin Yu's eyes; he didn't have much time to waste here.

"As you said, the dark entity's goal is to absorb despair, so finding it shouldn't be difficult."

Liu Shiyun pondered for a moment.

She then said, "As long as we prevent it from absorbing any more despair, it will naturally show itself."

Lin Yu glanced at her. This woman was indeed clever.

Given just a tiny clue, she could figure out a way to break the deadlock.

Lin Yu thought for a moment and said, "Take out ten boxes of instant noodles, ten cases of water, and some other supplies."

Liu Shiyun complied.

Immediately, a pile of edible supplies appeared beside the two of them, instantly drawing the gaze of everyone present.

Their faces all revealed expressions of longing and greed.

"Those willing to help me kill the monster, come over here. I'll share food with you," Lin Yu said, looking at the crowd.

As long as these people were given hope for survival, they wouldn't feel despair, and the dark entity wouldn't be able to harvest any dark emotions.

When that happened, it would naturally emerge on its own.

"Don't listen to him! Resisting those monsters leads to death!" The old man shouted again.

His words suppressed the inner impulse of many present.

"Heh!" Lin Yu sneered.

In the end, three people still walked over to Lin Yu's side.

"Can we eat?" The woman from earlier asked cautiously. They were truly starving.

Ever since she arrived, she had eaten three meals a day—or rather, gone hungry through nine meals across three days—having eaten nothing at all.

"Eat!"

With Lin Yu's permission, the three of them were overjoyed, tearing open the instant noodles and devouring them hungrily.

This made the remaining eleven people across from them drool with envy.

"Everyone, we don't have to fight the monsters, but we can snatch this person's food, right?"

Someone spoke up abruptly.

They didn't dare confront the monsters, but seizing things from their peers was something they feared not at all.

"That's right! Those supplies belong to us too, and we deserve to eat them."

With someone taking the lead, a group of people revealed fierce expressions.

Among them, several had actually tasted human flesh before.

"They're planning to rob us!" Liu Shiyun frowned.

"Heh! I know an even faster way to lure out the dark entity," Lin Yu said.

"These people are not worth pitying."

Liu Shiyun understood what method Lin Yu meant.

At first, the two of them had planned to use the gentlest approach by cutting off the dark entity's source of power.

But at this point, such trouble seemed unnecessary.

"Mirror Flower, Water Moon!"

Liu Shiyun was no bleeding-heart saint.

Watching the leading few charge forward aggressively, she raised her right hand and gently snapped her fingers.

A strange ripple spread from her fingertips like spreading water waves.

The bodies of the five people running in the front instantly froze, their ferocious expressions locked in place.

The next moment!

Cracks appeared across the bodies of the five people, like shattering glass.

Then, with a loud "bang," that section of space directly exploded, tearing everything apart, leaving only floating trails of blood.

"Ah! Murder!"

Screams rose and fell in succession.

Those following behind found their faces and bodies splattered with countless drops of blood and fragments of flesh.

"Shut your mouths!"

Flames condensed in Lin Yu's palm, transforming into a massive flame blade, fifteen or sixteen meters long.

Of course, fifteen or sixteen meters wasn't his limit, but rather the spatial limit of this stone chamber.