Chapter 64
Chapter 64
There was one more thing Yu Lingling had not said. Tigers, leopards, and the like were carnivores. Even if players could use their System Inventory to bring supplies in, how much could they possibly carry?
Once they entered an instance, the shop became unavailable.
If they wanted to keep both themselves and their chosen animals alive, where were they supposed to get meat?
Sun Jian and Li Na realized this as well. Both of them had chosen animals that were large and meaty but in poor condition. Sun Jian’s elephant had not only lost its tusks, but its trunk had also been cut off.
Where had the severed trunk gone?
Yu Lingling did not speak loudly, but everyone in the tent heard her clearly. “Let’s pray that when noon comes, they’ll provide food for us and our companions.”
Tongyu noticed that Yu Lingling had called them companions, not animals.
Given Yu Lingling’s personality, it could not have been a slip of the tongue. There was only one possibility: she was reminding them to treat the animals well and protect them.
Tongyu reached out and gently stroked his puppy’s head. He had known all along that Yu Lingling was kind at heart.
Xu Chao also realized why Yu Lingling had deliberately shown everyone that she was not to be trifled with. She had anticipated the conflicts that would later break out among the players, so she had demonstrated her capabilities in advance.
Yu Lingling’s true strength, however, was not her ability to handle the Paper Effigy. It was her ability to gather and piece together information.
Inside an instance, that kind of ability could sometimes be even more important than a skill.
A lack of skills could be compensated for with items. A lack of intelligence could not.
Just as Yu Lingling had predicted, no one came to distribute food at noon.
Not only that, but she had the distinct sense that their bodies’ need for food and water was increasing.
Yu Lingling and Tongyu had both eaten before returning, yet after such a short time, she was already feeling hungry and thirsty again.
She simply could not tell whether the sensation was physical or psychological.
Yu Lingling was not the only one who felt hungry. It was evident from the expressions of Xu Chao and the others. Sun Jian and Li Na looked the worst of all.
Zhao Peng suddenly came over. He was not bad-looking, but he had such an unremarkable presence that he was easy to overlook.
As Zhao Peng approached, Sun Jian and Li Na both shot to their feet and hurried to the elephant and black bear. They had clearly taken Yu Lingling’s earlier warning to heart and were now jumping at shadows.
Zhao Peng did not seem to mind. “Brother Hao wants you to go see him.”
Yu Lingling noticed Tongyu lift his head slightly when Zhao Peng spoke.
Tongyu was sitting right beside her. He traced a few words across her palm.
“I forgot he was here.”
Forgot he was here?
Xu Chao studied Zhao Peng for a moment before suddenly saying, “So it was you.”
Zhao Peng’s gaze swept over Yu Lingling and the others. Like a dutiful lackey, he said, “Don’t keep Brother Hao waiting.”
Chen Xue and the others looked toward Xu Chao. Putting on a displeased expression while acting as though he did not dare protest, Xu Chao rose to his feet. “Fine. I’ll go over and see what they want.”
Zhao Peng turned and left.
Xu Chao picked up his little monkey and headed out of the tent.
Yu Lingling gestured for Tongyu to get up. Carrying their kitten and puppy, the two of them followed Xu Chao.
Chen Xue led her goat after them. Her body stiffened as she passed Sun Jian and Li Na, and she quickened her pace to catch up with Xu Chao.
“Going by the newcomer’s warning, the real danger should be Sun Jian and Li Na, not Chen Xue.”
“Oh, I get it now. Wang Hao and his people don’t know whether they’ll be punished for attacking recklessly, so they definitely won’t make the first move. But Li Na and Sun Jian won’t just sit around and wait for death either.”
“The rules never said they couldn’t steal someone else’s animal.”
“From their perspective, the animals the streamer and her little brother chose are doomed anyway. Besides, they’re so small that they barely have any meat on them.”
“Sun Jian, Chen Xue, and Li Na are roughly equal in strength, so they’ll definitely target Chen Xue. Whether they steal her goat or kill it, it would be enough to feed the tiger and leopard for a day or two.”
“Did that newcomer figure all of this out as soon as she noticed there wasn’t any fodder?”
“Definitely.”
“I think Wang Hao and his people came prepared too. They took out some meat to feed their animals just now.”
Yu Lingling skimmed the chat and picked out the useful information.
There was another reason she believed Chen Xue would be the first one eliminated: Yu Lingling and Tongyu would definitely clear the instance and make it out.
Chen Xue had not reached a dead end yet. If she could recognize her situation and team up with either Sun Jian or Li Na to deal with the other, she would be safe for the time being.
Besides, whatever Wang Hao’s group planned to do would surely require manpower. They would not allow too many players to be lost on the very first day.
Unfortunately, Chen Xue had chosen Xu Chao. Based on Yu Lingling’s deductions, although Xu Chao was a D-rank player with a skill, his skill was probably only an ordinary support-type ability.
Yu Lingling had noticed that Xu Chao sometimes tilted his body slightly, and his ears were unusually mobile. It was the telltale posture of someone listening in.
There was a high chance that Xu Chao’s skill was related to eavesdropping.
Xu Chao was on Wang Hao’s team, yet he had been assigned alone to a tent full of unfamiliar players who were comparatively weak. Clearly, Wang Hao did not value him highly, and the two of them were not particularly close.
If Yu Lingling could see that, there was no way Xu Chao had failed to notice it himself.
On top of that, Xu Chao was clearly trying to win Chen Xue over. Chen Xue had looked visibly more relaxed after returning, so Xu Chao had probably told her something about the instance in private.
For him to do that despite already having teammates suggested that he harbored some resentment toward Wang Hao’s group as well.
Chen Xue was capable of thinking for herself. That much was clear from how she had chosen the goat, then realized what mattered after seeing Xu Chao give the monkey water and taken out medicine to treat her goat.
But after Chen Xue agreed to act with Xu Chao, Yu Lingling had deliberately observed her while taking Tongyu outside. Chen Xue devoted most of her attention to Xu Chao, trying to read his thoughts instead of gathering information about their surroundings.
Not only that, Xu Chao and Chen Xue had also chosen somewhere they could talk privately.
Yu Lingling could afford to act this way because she had the Four Dolls helping her. Chen Xue, however, had unconsciously placed herself in a subordinate position to Xu Chao.
There was nothing wrong with Chen Xue wanting to choose someone strong who knew more about the instance. It was simply a shame that she had failed to see Xu Chao’s true character.
Xu Chao had concealed the most crucial fact from her: he and Wang Hao were teammates.
Wang Hao did not care which of the five of them died first. In his eyes, all five were nothing more than expendable resources he could use to clear the instance and obtain whatever he wanted.
Yu Lingling glanced at Tongyu and quickened her pace slightly.
Xu Chao entered the tent first. Just as Chen Xue was about to follow him inside, Yu Lingling suddenly called out, “Sister Chen Xue, since you’re E-rank, why aren’t you staying with the other two E-rank players?”
[What’s the streamer doing?]
[Is she trying to warn her?]
[She’s got a savior complex. She doesn’t even know if she’ll survive, yet she’s still trying to save someone else. What a joke.]
The moment Yu Lingling approached, Chen Xue moved between her and the goat. At Yu Lingling’s question, suspicion entered her eyes. “What business is it of yours? If I don’t stay with Brother Chao, am I supposed to become cannon fodder like all of you?”
And by that, Chen Xue meant not only Yu Lingling and Tongyu, but Sun Jian and Li Na as well.
Ever since learning that Yu Lingling and Tongyu were F-rank players, Chen Xue had only given the siblings more than a dismissive glance twice: once when she emerged from the tent after choosing her animal, and once just now, when she overheard Yu Lingling’s analysis.
A look of sudden understanding appeared on Chen Xue’s face. She assumed Yu Lingling had remembered the dispute between Wang Hao and Xu Chao and had come over out of meddlesome kindness to warn her not to get too close to Xu Chao.
She leaned close to Yu Lingling’s ear and said spitefully, “Little girl, you may be pretty smart, but you’ve got no more vision than that blind brother of yours. Worry about yourself.”
With that, Chen Xue entered the tent, smiled at Wang Hao and the others, and sat down beside Xu Chao.
Yu Lingling narrowed her eyes as a possibility suddenly occurred to her.
So that was it. Xu Chao had not told Chen Xue anything about the instance. Instead, he had told her that he, too, belonged to Abyss Guild and had entered the instance on the same team as Wang Hao’s group.