Chapter 57
Chapter 57
Yu Lingling, Tongyu, and Song Siyuan added one another as friends, but that alone wasn’t enough to enter a dungeon together. They needed a party item.
Party items weren’t expensive, but unfortunately, both Yu Lingling and Tongyu were penniless souls without any Game Coins to spare.
Yu Lingling did some quick calculations. “If we have to spend Game Coins every time we form a party, we might as well create a permanent squad. A five-person squad costs the least, and members of the same squad can enter dungeons together.”
Creating a squad was different from establishing a guild. A five-person squad cost one hundred Game Coins, while a party item cost ten Game Coins and could only be used once.
Song Siyuan asked, “How many Game Coins do you two have?”
Yu Lingling generously showed them the screen of her phone. “Six.”
Unexpectedly, Tongyu had five hundred Game Coins. Apparently, the Special Department did pay him for every assignment. Even after deducting the Game Coins he needed each time to avoid entering a dungeon, his appearance fee was still rather high.
Song Siyuan had even more Game Coins than Tongyu.
Yu Lingling fell silent.
So she was the only pauper among them?
Looking at Yu Lingling’s pitiful balance of six Game Coins, Song Siyuan used his phone to purchase the item needed to create a five-person squad. “You have so many friend requests. Aren’t you going to accept them?”
Yu Lingling hadn’t accepted any, but she had already checked which guild each applicant came from. “I’ll accept them when I need them.”
Song Siyuan gifted her the squad creation item. “You’re the one who wants to form the squad, so you can be the captain.”
Yu Lingling checked how to use it, created a squad, and invited Song Siyuan and Tongyu.
Song Siyuan stared at the squad name, his expression twisting. “Yu Lingling, explain to me why we’re called Make-Do.”
Yu Lingling had no desire whatsoever to experience a festive family atmosphere here. “Tongyu, don’t learn from him. Adults these days really can’t stand hearing the truth.”
Weren’t they all just making do together?
Yu Lingling leaned back against the couch. Since they were now teammates, she decided to reveal part of the truth. “My Exclusive Skill is Snack Street. I can allow other players or monsters inside, but they have to follow my rules. It can serve as a temporary safe zone, but it can’t open for business yet because there aren’t any employees inside.
“There’s no limit to how many times I can activate it during a dungeon, but I can only keep it open for one hour a day. Unused time doesn’t carry over.”
Song Siyuan carefully committed the information to memory. “I won’t tell anyone about your skill.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Since Yu Lingling had chosen to tell them, she wasn’t worried about it. “I’ll have to use it sooner or later. I just need to become stronger before anyone figures it out completely.”
Tongyu asked curiously, “Once you have employees, does that mean you can open for business?”
“Yes.” Yu Lingling got straight to the point. “Now tell me about your skills in detail.”
Tongyu explained his Exclusive Skill to her. It had awakened when he was hovering between life and death.
Yu Lingling looked at Tongyu. “I actually have an idea about your skill. Since it’s called Puppet Threads, aside from letting you track the condition of bound players inside a dungeon, couldn’t you also use it to control players – or even monsters? Any of them could become puppets under your control.”
Tongyu considered it seriously. “I’ve never tried.”
Yu Lingling found Tongyu utterly baffling. He possessed a spirit of self-sacrifice that she simply couldn’t understand. “As for Injury Transfer, why not transfer the injuries onto evil people? Or onto monsters? You could even transfer a monster’s injuries to a player.”
Song Siyuan sucked in a sharp breath. If that was possible, Tongyu was definitely a secret weapon of devastating power.
Yu Lingling clasped Tongyu’s skeletal hand. “The more evil people you kill, the more of the people you want to protect will survive. If you keep doing things the way you did before, you’ll lose half your life just to save one person – and even the person you save might still fail to clear the dungeon afterward.”
Tongyu’s lips trembled. “B-But what if I hurt the wrong person?”
“I’ll teach you how to tell good people from bad people.” Yu Lingling’s voice carried a powerful conviction that came straight from her heart. “Besides, once we reach the B-rank Instance tier, we won’t have to go through this much trouble anymore.”
From the B-rank Instance tier onward, they would encounter not only players from their own country, but foreign players as well. In addition to clearing the instances, there would also be conflict between players. Cooperation was possible too, of course, but they would have to rely on their own judgment.
But as far as Yu Lingling was concerned, she would spare neither the people nor the countries that had plotted against her brother.
There was something innately convincing about her voice. “It doesn’t matter if you can’t judge people at first. We’ll start with the Bounty Board. It lists all the evil things they’ve done.”
Tongyu tightened his grip on Yu Lingling’s hand. His palm was icy cold, but it did not tremble. “Okay. I-I want more people to survive.”
Despite being younger than Tongyu, Yu Lingling praised him. “Good boy.”
Tongyu nodded vigorously.
Song Siyuan let out a long breath. “I do believe you really lied to me about quite a lot.” Before Yu Lingling could ask, he continued, “My Exclusive Skill is called Spider.”
Only after he finished explaining his Exclusive Skill did Song Siyuan give a bitter smile. “You think you’ve already guessed most of it.”
Yu Lingling nodded. “Your skill doesn’t even have venom, and you can’t summon little spiders either.”
Song Siyuan lowered his eyes. “I’m so sorry to disappoint you.”
Yu Lingling couldn’t quite understand it. “Why do all of you insist on using your Exclusive Skills in such positive ways?”
Song Siyuan fell silent.
Tongyu spoke before he could. “Because though we die a hundred deaths, we will never retreat. We will protect all living beings to the end and never regret it.”
Irritation rose within Yu Lingling, but she slowly forced it back down. “Since you can use your spider silk to tell whether someone is lying, couldn’t you also use it to control their thoughts? Maybe even implant your own thoughts in their mind?”
Song Siyuan frowned. “Mind control and hypnosis?”
Yu Lingling looked at him solemnly. “You might even be able to trap them in an illusion and amplify their fear. Inside a Horror Game Instance, even setting aside instances built around Fear Value, you should already know what happens when someone succumbs to fear in an ordinary instance. You’re a C-rank player, after all.”
Song Siyuan had considered it before.
Yu Lingling saw straight through him. “Do you think manipulating people’s minds is too terrifying, so you’ve never dared to try?”
Song Siyuan said nothing.
“A weapon is neither good nor evil. Good and evil lie with the person wielding it.” Yu Lingling looked at Song Siyuan. “Skills are the same. You don’t actually think my Exclusive Skill is inherently good, do you?”
Song Siyuan exhaled slowly. “I’ve never thought that. Yu Lingling, you’re a master at manipulating people. Does your brother know this side of you?”
Now that Song Siyuan believed Yu Huan was still alive, he no longer had his previous reservations about mentioning Yu Huan.
Yu Lingling spread her hands. “Of course. My brother even wrote a study manual specifically for me. It strictly forbids me from manipulating my classmates into doing bad things. He also wrote another book about how to fight back against bullies within reasonable limits. My brother was so worried I’d get locked up, but how could that ever happen?”
Tongyu had only just breathed a sigh of relief when Yu Lingling smiled.
“If I wanted to do something, why would I leave any evidence behind? You don’t need to kill someone yourself. A few words are more than enough.”
Tongyu nearly choked on his next breath.
Yu Lingling continued unhurriedly, “Besides, I do have a mental illness, after all. But I wouldn’t actually do any of that.”
After a moment of silence, Song Siyuan said, “Your brother really has it rough.”
Tongyu whispered, “Your brother is amazing. He loves you very much.”
The smile vanished from Yu Lingling’s face, but the corners of her lips soon lifted again. “Yes. My brother loves me very, very much.”
That was why she would never become that kind of person.
Good and evil made no difference to Yu Lingling. In that case, there was nothing wrong with being a good child who listened to her brother.