chapter 10

“Brother Qi, help me!” The Female Teammate’s voice was piercing, her face flushed from exertion. “Someone pull me up, I’m about to be dragged down! Qiao Ren!”

Qiao Ren was startled by the scream, his hand trembling so much that he nearly dropped the Item he had just snatched. He quickly stuffed it into his pocket.

Turning around, he met Qi Mingda’s gaze and instantly understood. He exchanged for a thick Hemp Rope from the Shop and threw it forcefully toward the Female Teammate.

“Hold on tight! I’ll pull you back!”

The Female Teammate grabbed onto her lifeline, her free arm clutching the Hemp Rope tightly. Qiao Ren pulled hard from the other end, and she struggled to drag her arm out of the Sand Pit.

The heavy sinking sensation at the bottom of the sand was forcibly overcome, and a writhing black object was suddenly flung onto the sand’s surface.

The Female Teammate was finally saved. Before she could catch her breath, she saw what had been dragging her and turned pale with fright.

“A hand! It’s half an Arm! And it’s still moving!”

Lu Li raised his eyebrows. “So it was a hand.”

Luo Jia Bai shuddered. “Was that what I stepped on earlier?”

“Probably not just that.”

Luo Jia Bai asked, “Not just one hand?”

“Not just a hand,” Lu Li replied calmly. “They happened to pull out a hand, but the rest of the Corpse hasn’t appeared yet. Maybe it’s acting separately.”

Luo Jia Bai choked. “That’s not funny at all.”

“But the white Wristband on the wrist looks a bit like your Evil Spirit Bracelet,” Lu Li said, watching the Arm twitch and writhe on the sand. “Just a different color.”

The Players’ Evil Spirit Bracelet was shaped like a jade bangle, smooth and round, all black.

Only his was different, shaped like a snake biting its tail-probably the exclusive form of the Underworld King.

“It’s a white Evil Spirit Bracelet,” Luo Jia Bai gasped. “A Player’s bracelet only turns white when they die completely and are unbound from their Evil Spirit. This was once a Player’s Arm! But where’s the rest of the Corpse?”

Lu Li watched the calm, ever-rising sand in silence.

“I’m hurt,” the Female Teammate panted, clutching her wound. “It scratched me.”

Qiao Ren reeled in the rope, his expression grave. “And it’s still absorbing your blood.”

The half Arm stood eerily upright on the sand, its skin dry and paper-white. Blood oozed from the back of the hand, quickly absorbed.

In the absolute silence,

The sound of “glug-glug-” sucking grew louder.

It was drinking blood.

When the blood was completely gone, the half Arm slowly turned toward the Female Teammate.

Its palm pressed down for leverage, and its fingers, like five legs, sped toward its target as if hitting the gas.

The Female Teammate was so terrified she went limp, too shaken to even open the Shop for another Item, trembling all over. “It’s coming at me again, ah-!”

“Bang!”

A gunshot rang out, blasting a large hole in the running Arm, white smoke billowing from it.

The Arm fell backward and stopped moving.

Qi Mingda had exchanged for a gun from the Shop. He said to the Female Teammate, “Transfer six thousand Points to me.”

The Female Teammate was still in shock. After a moment, she pleaded, “Brother Qi, isn’t it only three thousand Points in the Shop?”

She had entered several Instances, but her Live Stream Room ranking was low. She had survived by clinging to stronger Players, barely scraping by, and didn’t have many Points, rarely willing to exchange for Items.

Qi Mingda was asking for double-the lion’s share.

She was pained.

“Why didn’t you exchange it yourself just now?” Qi Mingda sneered. “If you want to stay in my team, pay up. If you want to die, get lost. I’ll consider those Points as feeding a dog.”
The Female Teammate hurriedly forced a smile.

“I’ll give it! Of course I’ll give it! It’s just six thousand, right? I’ll transfer it right away.”

She tapped twice on her Wristband, anxiously saying, “I’ve already transferred it, Brother Qi, please don’t kick me out!”

“There are still three Notes left.” Qi Mingda took the Note that Qiao Ren snatched and waved it at Lu Li in a show of warning. “Everyone keep searching. Once you find one, bring it to me immediately. Do not read it out loud again, so certain people who like to reap without sowing can’t eavesdrop.”

Hearing the sarcasm in Qi Mingda’s words, Luo Jia Bai twisted his two bandaged hands together, took a deep breath, and then let go.

“Just now, Qiao Ren came to snatch it. I had no choice but to give him the Item.” The Item was found by Lu Li, but Luo Jia Bai ended up holding it. He didn’t look at Lu Li’s expression, nor did he dare to. Gritting his teeth, he said, “You didn’t team up with me. If I didn’t give it to him, I might have died. In the Necromancer Game, you have to be selfish to survive…”

“I could tell he was threatening you.” Lu Li nodded. “It’s fine. Once I’ve seen the content of the Note, I remember it.”

The Notes already found weren’t important.

What mattered were the new Notes.

After observing the sand for a while, Lu Li said, “There’s another Note here, close to you. When you reach into the sand, don’t move your lower body.”

Following Lu Li’s instructions, Luo Jia Bai indeed found a new Note:

March 29th, Rain

Why are they always fighting?

Is it because of me?

Is it because I’m disobedient?

I can’t sleep. At three in the morning, I heard a loud rumbling downstairs.

When I went out, I saw that it was Mom dragging her suitcase away.

I called out to her, but she didn’t seem to hear me, nor did she look back.

I squatted on the stairs and could only see her back.

The suitcase has four wheels. If the wheels break, then Mom won’t be able to leave.

No.

There’s an even simpler way.

If I cut off both of Mom’s legs,

She’ll never leave me again.

*

Luo Jia Bai handed the Note to Lu Li. “Nuo Nuo was abandoned by her mother. Based on the Notes we have, at least one member from the Family Portrait is gone.”

Now, they just needed to determine whether the father and the dog were still in the house.

“We’ve already found the other two Notes.” Qi Mingda looked smugly at Lu Li and Luo Jia Bai. “You two are too slow.”

Lu Li spread his hands. “You have more people. If you calculate the average efficiency, ours is twice yours. You didn’t even do anything yourself, so actually, you’re the slowest one here.”

“Shut up! Shut your mouth!” Qi Mingda was furious. “All you have is that mouth of yours!”

“Go snatch the last Note from their hands.” The flesh on Qi Mingda’s face twisted with his expression, making him look especially ferocious. He promised, “Whoever can snatch the Note and kill Lu Li, I’ll give them the right to answer Nuo Nuo’s question first.”

“With all the Notes, we’re sure to have the correct answer.”

The first Player to answer correctly would receive the Privilege from Nuo Nuo.

The four Players united, looking at Lu Li as if he were a coveted prize.

The Privilege in the Instance was truly tempting.

Compared to the Privilege, human life seemed much less important.

Each of them exchanged for Items-sticks, clubs, knives, guns-and walked toward Lu Li.

“Hahaha!” Qi Mingda laughed, pointing at Luo Jia Bai behind Lu Li. “Just now he was pretending to stand with you, but now he can point a knife at you. Dog eat dog, that’s my favorite thing to watch!”