Chapter 89
Chapter 89
Whether anyone believed him or not, Zhao Peng offered no explanation. He took responsibility for it.
Yu Lingling suddenly spoke. “Actually, there’s no need to kill the pigeons.”
With that one sentence, she drew everyone’s attention back to herself.
Yu Lingling pointed at Wu Bin and Li Na. “We only need to kill the two of you. The rest of us already have partners.”
Once they were dead, the extra pigeons would naturally be of no use.
Wu Bin’s expression changed drastically, while Li Na went rigid.
Yu Lingling had not forgotten the malice Li Na had shown toward her and her brother. If the siblings really had been ordinary F-rank players, then even if they managed to survive, they would have been forced to constantly watch their backs.
Some ill intentions couldn’t simply be ignored and forgiven just because the other person had failed to act on them.
At the very least, Yu Lingling couldn’t do that.
It wasn’t that Li Na hadn’t wanted to harm them. She simply hadn’t been capable of it.
Yu Lingling and her brother had been stronger and seized the initiative, forcing Li Na to give up.
Yu Lingling’s voice was no longer as pleasant as it had been when she first entered the dungeon. Her injuries had left it slightly hoarse, making her words sound even more like a demon’s whisper. “There’s no penalty for killing players in this dungeon. You can even earn a Little Red Flower.”
The Little Red Flower made the whole thing sound like some kind of morbid joke, but no one could deny that Yu Lingling had a point.
Wang Hao paid no attention to the matter of Li Na and Wu Bin. Instead, he turned to Zhao Peng. “You still remember our mission, don’t you? Have you found any clues?”
Of course Zhao Peng remembered. “No one knows what’s actually inside the Black Tent.”
Yu Lingling had said it was an operating room, but now that the Red Tent had disappeared, the Black Tent was the only unusual place left. There was a good chance the special item they needed was hidden inside.
Wang Hao suddenly lunged at Yu Lingling. Zhao Peng tried to stop him, but he was already a step too late.
Yu Lingling reacted even faster. She produced a black button and asked, “Do you want to take that gamble?”
Wang Hao’s hand stopped in front of her throat, his fingertips already brushing the gauze wrapped around her neck.
Yu Lingling remained perfectly calm. “You’re trying to grab me because you suspect I’m hiding information related to your mission. After all, I’m the only one who ever entered the Red Tent.”
In a single sentence, she laid bare the reason Wang Hao had attacked her.
Her finger rested on the button. “So, do you want to gamble on how many explosives I brought into this dungeon? Do you think I have enough to reduce the entire Circus to rubble?”
Wang Hao recalled the explosion from the previous night, as well as the Red Tent’s inexplicable disappearance.
Yu Lingling scoffed, an innocent curiosity in her eyes. “Even if the explosives can’t kill you, will you still survive after nightfall if there are no tents left?”
Zhao Peng knocked Wang Hao’s hand aside. “Even if she did obtain the special item, that’s because she had the ability to get it. Wang Hao, what we need to do right now is clear the dungeon.”
Sun Yao also moved to protect Yu Lingling. It wasn’t out of any sense of camaraderie, but because Yu Lingling was the only one among them who held the key to clearing the dungeon.
Wang Hao withdrew his hand. “Fine. We’ll clear the dungeon first.”
This dungeon differed drastically from the intelligence they had obtained. Their highest priority was surviving and clearing it. There was no point thinking about rewards unless they could make it out alive. Besides, information on how to clear the dungeon would itself be extremely valuable once they escaped.
When Wang Hao attacked, Zhou Ming had immediately moved to protect both their animals.
Now that Wang Hao had made his choice, the two of them resumed caring for the animals.
Wang Hao drew a deep breath and looked at Yu Lingling. “What do we do now?”
Less than three days ago, everyone had dismissed Yu Lingling as a worthless pawn to be sacrificed. Now, she had already become the one calling the shots.
With his back to Wang Hao, Zhao Peng shot Yu Lingling a meaningful look before sitting down beside her.
Yu Lingling lowered her eyes slightly. Without keeping them in suspense, she said, “We walk out.”
Wang Hao grew even angrier when he heard that, convinced Yu Lingling was toying with him. “Walk out? There’s dense fog outside the dungeon. Wouldn’t walking out be the same as courting death?”
“This is a Circus, not a prison,” Yu Lingling said bluntly. “Besides, hasn’t the dungeon already given us a hint?”
Zhao Peng frowned as he considered her words. “Those eerie spectators… Are you saying we need to blend in with them and leave?”
Yu Lingling reached up to straighten her clothes. “No. We simply resign and walk out.”
Resign and walk out?
Yu Lingling rose to her feet and took Tongyu’s outstretched hand. “When you don’t want to keep doing a job, don’t you just quit?”
At this point, even Zhao Peng thought she was spouting nonsense.
Yu Lingling looked around at the others. “I can go first.”
Wang Hao and the others didn’t believe it could be that simple, but they couldn’t be certain she was wrong, either.
Back at the Abyss Guild, the long-haired young man had grasped the truth the moment Yu Lingling suggested walking out.
“Wang Hao and the others are going to die.”
Resigning and walking out was indeed the way to clear the dungeon, but Wang Hao’s group was in a very different situation from Yu Lingling and Tongyu.
Neither Yu Lingling nor Tongyu – or the animals they had chosen – had eaten any food provided by the Circus. On top of that, both their animals had been in perfect condition when selected.
The animals belonging to Wang Hao’s group, however, had not only eaten the Circus’s food but also devoured the Circus’s animals. Since they had used the Circus’s property, the Circus would never allow them to resign before their debts were repaid.
Zhao Peng realized this as well.
The players left the tent and headed toward Ah Bu’s quarters. Just as they were about to reach the entrance to her tent, Wang Hao suddenly spoke.
“Have your brother resign first.”
Everyone stopped and turned to look at him.
Wang Hao’s expression was grim. He carefully reviewed everything that had happened since they entered the dungeon, comparing all the differences between the players. A suspicion had already formed in his mind.
“You stay here. Your brother goes in first to resign, and you go after the rest of us.”
If they couldn’t leave, that would mean this method of clearing the dungeon didn’t apply to them. In that case, Yu Lingling – the person with the most clues – would have to stay and find them another way out.
Wang Hao stared at her with a sinister look. “If we make it out safely, I can recommend you for membership in the Abyss Guild. But if we can’t… then you’ll stay and die with us.”
The Vice Guild Leader of the Abyss Guild clicked their tongue. “At least he isn’t completely stupid.”
The long-haired young man lowered his gaze slightly. “How do you know this isn’t exactly what she wants?”
Zhou Ming already had his knife pressed against Yu Lingling’s neck.
Tongyu was just about to make a move when he felt Yu Lingling tap twice against his palm before slipping him a tiny note.
“Fine,” Yu Lingling said.
Xu Chao quietly breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Tongyu left, he wouldn’t have to worry about being controlled again. To him, Tongyu posed a far greater threat than anyone else.
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Tongyu knocked on the door to Ah Bu’s tent. When it opened, he stepped inside.
The door closed behind him. Cradling his puppy, he stared blankly in Ah Bu’s direction with unfocused eyes.
Ah Bu spoke in a dark, displeased tone. “Have you come here to die?”
Tongyu’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. He held out the note to her. “Yu Lingling gave this to you.”
Ah Bu had a strong feeling it was nothing good and refused to take it. “She gave it to me? Are you sure she didn’t give it to you?”
At last, Tongyu’s expression shifted slightly.
“I’m blind.”
He couldn’t even see. Why would Yu Lingling give him a note? Wouldn’t that be completely pointless?