Chapter 66
Chapter 66
Yu Lingling could feel more and more eyes settling on her and Tongyu. Even the viewers in the Livestream Room who had voted for them grew excited.
“Whether Wu Bin is telling the truth or not, this works in my favor!”
“What those siblings had in their hands used to be hot potatoes, but now they’ve become rare treasures.”
“If I were the streamer, I’d push the little brother out first. He’s nothing but dead weight.”
Yu Lingling calmly swept her gaze around the group. She drew a rough floor plan of the Circus on the ground, then pointed to the locations of two tents, one red and one black. “I got some information from an anomaly. These two tents are crucial.”
Wang Hao and the others all looked at the crude map on the ground. They knew how valuable a map was, and they knew even better how much they stood to gain if they found the key to clearing the instance.
What none of them had expected was for Yu Lingling to reveal something like this. In their eyes, she and Tongyu were already as good as dead. The only question was whether they would die sooner or later.
Xu Chao had never expected Yu Lingling to be hiding such an important secret. His expression darkened.
The guild had sent him into this instance to gather information, yet he had completely failed to notice what the siblings were doing.
If the Vice Guild Leader and the others found out, he would have even less chance of being entrusted with anything important in the future.
But on second thought, Wang Hao and the other two had concealed such a vital lead from him. If something really went wrong, Xu Chao would probably be the one they abandoned.
Wu Bin wanted everyone’s attention focused on Yu Lingling and the others so he could find a chance to launch a sneak attack on Xu Chao. His situation would only become safe once Xu Chao and that monkey were eliminated. He immediately said, “Who knows whether you’re telling the truth?”
Yu Lingling ignored him and looked directly at Wang Hao. “I assume the Abyss Guild already knows about this.”
Wang Hao narrowed his eyes at her.
He did know about these two leads. This was not the first time the Abyss Guild had sent people into the Happy Circus instance. Although no one had successfully cleared it, the information previous players had paid for with their lives gave Wang Hao a high chance of both clearing the instance and obtaining the special item this time.
After all, the previous team had already discovered how to clear the instance. They had only failed because they tried to obtain the special item.
And according to their deductions, the special item had to be inside one of these two tents.
Yu Lingling met Wang Hao’s gaze. “My guess is that the punishment will take place inside one of these tents. I’ll make a deal with you. Tomorrow, Tongyu and I won’t collect a single flower. We’ll accept the punishment, then tell you what we find inside the tent afterward.”
Wang Hao did need someone clever to enter the tent and scout it for him. After all, they had very little information about what was inside.
The Abyss Guild’s priority when sending players into an instance was naturally to clear it. They would never deliberately have someone accept a punishment.
Punishments in instances were almost always a death sentence. The previous team had come the closest to succeeding. They had discovered the pattern for taking flowers from the audience without letting their animals get hurt, but they had never found any clues about the special item.
That was why they had taken the risk of entering the tent specifically used to punish players. Every last one of them had died inside.
Those players had been carrying special items, but the last sounds they transmitted before their deaths had been their agonized screams.
Wang Hao asked bluntly, “What do you want in return?”
Yu Lingling cradled the kitten in her arms. It seemed to have stopped breathing. “I want you to guarantee our safety for three days. Even if our animals are gone, I’m sure you have a way to keep us from being eliminated.”
Because of Yu Lingling’s and Tongyu’s unusual circumstances, the Special Department had assigned personnel specifically to analyze and monitor intelligence about their activities inside the instance.
Song Siyuan had yet to recover from his injuries and had not entered an instance. As the person currently believed by outsiders to understand Yu Lingling best, he had also been invited over.
Upon hearing Yu Lingling’s words, Song Siyuan said, “He fell for it.”
Everyone present was sharp. After a moment’s thought, they understood what Song Siyuan meant. In particular, once they saw Wang Hao hesitate, his eventual answer no longer mattered.
The members of the Abyss Guild were also watching Wang Hao’s team’s Livestream Room. As observers, they had an easier time seeing through Yu Lingling’s intentions. The instant Wang Hao looked thoughtful, the Vice Guild Leader couldn’t help cursing, “Idiot.”
That brief thought and hesitation had already told everyone there was indeed a way to remain safe even if their chosen animal died.
As for what that method was?
It was obvious.
If your own animal died, you simply replaced it with another. As for what would happen to the person whose animal was taken?
Inside an instance, players could be cooperative teammates, tools, or even enemies.
That was especially true in a B-rank Instance, which also served as a contest between them and foreign players.
The long-haired young man sitting beside the Vice Guild Leader sighed. “Things are about to descend into chaos. Much sooner than usual this time.”
On the first day after entering an instance, players generally focused on gathering information and testing one another. It was rare for anyone to attack outright. But because Wang Hao had foolishly walked straight into the trap, the chaos would begin ahead of schedule.
The long-haired young man switched over to Yu Lingling’s Livestream Room. “Wang Hao won’t agree to three days, but he will agree to one. And that was her real objective all along. Wang Hao’s group will guarantee the siblings’ safety on the first day. On the second day, since the siblings will voluntarily accept the punishment, the other players won’t attack them either. That buys them at least two days of safety.”
“Two days is more than enough time for the relationships between the players to be completely reshuffled.”
“If Wang Hao can’t keep the others under control, then even with three people in his group, they’re unlikely to come out of this well.”
The Vice Guild Leader had seen through it too. “Good thing I wasn’t pinning my hopes on Wang Hao and his group.”
The long-haired young man lowered his eyes slightly. “If she can bring her younger brother out safely, I suggest we recruit her.”
Although the Vice Guild Leader secretly resented Yu Lingling’s scheming, it was impossible to deny that her mind alone made her more valuable than Wang Hao’s entire group, even without a skill. “We can’t keep Xu Chao around any longer.”
The long-haired young man looked at the voting in Yu Lingling’s Livestream Room. “He was always meant to be a sacrificial pawn.”
The Vice Guild Leader, however, kept staring at Yu Lingling. “Her weakness is far too obvious.”
She was naive and still had compassion for other players. More importantly, she had a blind younger brother who could only be a burden.
The long-haired young man chuckled. “Obvious weaknesses are better. If someone like her had none, who would dare use her?”
As he finished speaking, the pen in his hand snapped in two, and the smile on his face twisted into naked hatred.
The Vice Guild Leader pretended not to notice his lapse in composure. “I told you to investigate these players. Why haven’t you finished compiling their files yet?”
As soon as the instance opened and the identities of the participating players were confirmed, the Vice Guild Leader had ordered subordinates to investigate them.
One subordinate lowered their head. “I’ll go hurry them up again.”
Meanwhile, someone in the Special Department asked, “By showing how much she cares about Tongyu, isn’t Yu Lingling making both her own weakness and Tongyu’s far too obvious? To the viewers in the Livestream Room, it also looks as though she only warned Chen Xue because Tongyu is kindhearted.”
Song Siyuan glanced at the speaker. The student had been specifically selected for having genuine training in psychology. “Other than her feelings for Yu Huan, don’t believe any emotion you see Yu Lingling display.”
The student’s Professor, however, held a different opinion. He sighed, removed his glasses, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “As long as Yu Lingling continues to believe Yu Huan is alive, you shouldn’t believe the emotions she displays – but you can trust them.”