Chapter 49: Carnivory (Part 21) Conclusion

"Yilin, we must work together to kill Chang Xu next," Zhu Ling said, looking intently into Zhou Yilin's eyes inside the room.

The trajectory of the situation was already clear enough. Chang Xu had first formed an alliance with Zhao Feng, then killed him and shifted the blame, and was now able to casually try and win over Zhang Licai without batting an eye...

He was a lunatic, a scumbag, a beast! Without a doubt, he was a dangerous individual!

The mere thought of the young man in the white shirt sent shivers of lingering fear down Zhu Ling's spine. Previously, her focus had been almost entirely on Yang Yundong, causing her to nearly overlook other opponents and commit a grave mistake...

"It is very likely that Chang Xu is a massacre-type player who wants to kill all of us..."

Before she could finish, the rest of her words were choked off in her throat. Zhu Ling felt as though her windpipe had been tightly gripped, unable to utter a single sound.

She struggled futilely, watching with growing terror as playfulness and mockery flickered in the eyes of the girl before her.

Before she could react, the girl pulled a thin silken thread from her pocket and swiftly whipped it toward her right hand.

As her pinky finger was ensnared by the thread, her consciousness instantly blurred, and her limbs slipped out of her control, leaving her like a puppet on strings.

Before her, Zhou Yilin was smiling—a smile of profound satisfaction, akin to someone who had just finished watching an absurd farce.

"Sister Zhu, have you ever heard of the shooter game theory? Only fools expose their own strength, while the wise are adept at feigning weakness... Oh, and an eye for an eye, blood for blood. I bring you greetings on behalf of 'Raziel'."

"You..." Zhu Ling's eyes widened in shock as a sudden recollection flashed in her mind of her experience in the previous instance.

Back then, she had allied with a young boy, using psychological probing to trick him into revealing his identity as a "member of Raziel." After much inner torment, she had ultimately chosen to push him out to be executed.

That had been a team instance, yet the players had suspected one another due to the so-called "minimum death toll" mechanic. That execution of the Raziel member had perfectly induced them to drop their guards and unite under her call...

"Didn't you love playing the good person? Didn't you love judging the wicked? Have you ever considered that one day, you would become the one being judged?" The girl suddenly leaned in close to Zhu Ling, reached out to grab her hair, and pressed her lips against Zhu Ling's ear with an eerie intimacy, whispering softly, "Don't worry, Sister Zhu, I'll design an exquisite ending just for you."

Zhu Ling's lips trembled as she tried to apologize, to express her helplessness, to beg for mercy, but she found she could not produce a single syllable.

She could not even control her own thoughts, expressions, or movements. She could only submit to the girl's manipulation, assuming various bizarre postures...

...

"...Passing the level by following the standard route is impossible; she can only trigger the minimum death toll mechanic and kill all of you."

Inside the room, Qi Si concluded his speech, a radiant smile blooming on his face.

Zhang Licai opened his mouth, hesitating before asking, "Chang... Chang Xu, since you already have a way to crack the worldview, why not make it public?"

Qi Si looked at him as if he were an idiot. "Naturally, because—I don't want to."

Urgent knocking suddenly sounded at the door, and Zhou Yilin's tearful voice rang out intermittently, "Sister Zhu... she... she seems to want to kill me! I'm so scared..."

These words undoubtedly aligned with Qi Si's earlier statements. Subconsciously, Zhang Licai connected the acquired information, forming the inference that "Zhu Ling wants to kill the others."

And this was precisely the perception Qi Si had intentionally instilled in him.

"Don't panic, lass, come inside first!" Without a second thought, Zhang Licai pushed the door open, gesturing for Zhou Yilin to enter.

However, Zhou Yilin shook her head slightly and said, "Sister Zhu's state is a bit strange. I... let's go subdue her together..."

Suspecting nothing, Zhang Licai allowed himself to be led out the door by the girl.

A few seconds later, Qi Si heard the sounds of a struggle echoing from the next room, his eyes narrowing into thin slits.

From the very beginning, upon learning that there were two veteran players who had entered the instance for the third time, he had lurked in the shadows like a vulture, waiting for the right moment to deplete the player count.

Yang Yundong and Zhu Ling were targets he had planned to eliminate all along. Although, for reasons of capricious amusement, he had occasionally considered sparing Yang Yundong's life, everything ultimately proceeded according to the original plan.

Now, only Zhu Ling remained as the sole target that needed elimination. By cooperating with both Zhang Licai and Zhou Yilin separately, he had secured an absolute numerical advantage. Even though Zhu Ling had cleared one more instance than them, as long as she wasn't a formal player, she ultimately wouldn't be overwhelmingly stronger...

The sounds of fighting ceased. Qi Si pushed the door open and saw Zhu Ling lying unconscious by the doorway.

His gaze lingered for a moment before shifting to the panting Zhang Licai nearby. He commanded, "Go find a rope in the woodshed and tie her up. That will be safer."

Zhang Licai hesitated for two seconds before complying.

From his perspective, Qi Si, who "mastered the crucial clues," deserved to hold the right to speak and command.

Nearby, Zhou Yilin's eyes were red-rimmed as she continuously wiped away her tears. "I'm sorry. Earlier, she made me stay and alter your travel guide, threatening to drive me out at night otherwise... I was too scared, I had no choice but to obey her..."

Upon hearing Zhou Yilin's explanation, Zhang Licai spat on the unconscious Zhu Ling and cursed, "This stinking bitch has ill intentions. If Brother Yang hadn't lost an arm at night, nothing like this would have happened..."

"It's all my fault, wuwu..." Zhou Yilin cried with utmost sincerity and heartbreak. "If it weren't for me, Brother Yang wouldn't have died... Wuwu..."

The truth did not matter. In the late stages of the instance, scapegoats were constantly needed to fill the death quotas. If the others wished to avoid becoming fish on the chopping block, they were bound to first control the veteran player most likely to dominate the group.

The current situation was nothing more than a tacitly understood slander and a mutually convenient conspiracy, with the perpetrators standing on the moral high ground to judge an imperfect victim—all for the sake of self-interest.

Qi Si looked toward the west; the sun had tilted downward, and afternoon had arrived.

He interrupted the emotional performance of the two people beside him, saying, "I previously extracted some intelligence from Old Granny Su. Based on that, we can tentatively judge that the divine corpse within the instance's lore is located in the west of the village, and the dangers of the coming days originate from the evil spirits suppressed in the ancestral hall."

He repeated Old Granny Su's words out of context, lowered his eyes, and said in an unquestionable tone, "I suggest we split up. Zhang Licai, grab a wooden bucket and come with me to the ancestral hall. Given that those evil spirits are 'constantly hungry,' leaving a bucket of meat outside might buy us some time."

He made no mention of any arrangement for Zhou Yilin, yet the implication was glaringly obvious.

Zhou Yilin cast a timid glance at the young man and whispered, "I think I left something at the ancestral hall... Brother Chang, let me go with you guys. Three people can look out for each other..."

"Together?" Qi Si sneered. "If danger strikes, it will simply depend on whose luck is good enough to be favored by the 'minimum death toll' mechanism."

"Then... should I go with Brother Zhang?" Zhou Yilin cautiously proposed. "Brother Chang, you are much more capable than either of us. You'll know what to do if anything happens..."

She had clearly made up her mind not to explore the west of the village.

After all, Yang Yundong and Allen—the only two who had ever been to the west of the village—were both dead, and no one knew what conditions awaited there.

Qi Si seemed persuaded as he slightly lowered his brow and said, "In that case, make haste and return promptly. Once we gather a few more clues tomorrow or the day after, we can consider checking out the west of the village."

"Mm-hm! No problem!" Granted a reprieve, Zhou Yilin reached out to tug at Zhang Licai's sleeve.

Although clueless about the underlying currents, Zhang Licai was pulled out the door by her, muttering complaints, "What's the big rush? It's not even dark yet..."

Qi Si smiled as he watched the scene play out, perfectly reading Zhou Yilin's psychology.

Zhu Ling and Yang Yundong, as experienced veterans, were targets that had to be eliminated first; but what about him, Qi Si, who currently stood as the leader? Wasn't he just as much of a target?

After all, Zhou Yilin had no inkling that he "possessed the key clues" and was therefore unkillable. Even if she later learned of this from Zhang Licai, it would already be too late.

Splitting up was merely a ruse; Qi Si's true objective was to send the two of them away.

Watching Zhou Yilin and Zhang Licai exit the courtyard one after the other, their figures shrinking until they were swallowed up by the interlocking maze of houses in the east of the village, Qi Si's gaze grew tinged with a gentle warmth.

Silently counting the time and estimating that the pair had traveled far enough, he hoisted the unconscious form of Zhu Ling, crossed the courtyard threshold, and headed toward the west of the village.

Both Zhou Yilin and Zhang Licai suffered from a cognitive blind spot: they failed to realize that the instance could end early, nor did they anticipate that a player's allegiance could diverge from the human camp.

Qi Si had indeed intentionally reinforced their misunderstanding to create a sufficient temporal and informational gap, forging tonight into the optimal moment to break the game.

The path in the west of the village was shrouded in a thick, grayish fog. Dry dust was whipped into the air by an unknown wind, dispersing, breaking down, and re-forming as it mixed with the mist to form a towering curtain.

The grayish-white sunlight fractured and reflected, casting a hazy glow as the sky and earth in the west began to fade in visual clarity, gradually merging into a vast expanse of blank whiteness.

Dragging Zhu Ling, Qi Si walked deeper into the dense fog. After walking for an unknown duration, until the outlines of scenery and objects were no longer discernible around him, he finally came to a halt.

The sun had not yet set, and the perils of night had not yet descended; yet the dangerous entities had long since half-closed their eyes, awaiting the arrival of night to perform a long-planned ritual.

Devoid of horizons and reference points, Qi Si lifted his pocket watch high, holding it to his ear.

Listening to the steady, even "tick-tock," he fancied he could hear his own heartbeat, though perhaps it was merely an illusion.

Countless boundaries blurred and dissolved amidst the vast fog, transforming into mountain mists that dissipated in the wind and frost.

Qi Si's eyes drooped in a state between wakefulness and slumber. He reveled in this chaos, blankness, and tranquility, much like one dozing in a dark room filled with malevolent spirits, pretending to be a member of the non-human collective himself.

Amidst the dead, grayish-white stillness, he heard the "click" of the hour hand snapping into place, distinctly sharper than the movement of the second hand.

It told him that the sun had set.