chapter 105
It was pitch-black beyond the iron mesh as well.
What was out there?
He had to see it clearly before he could make a judgment.
Lu Li gauged the distance to the nearest lock, then said to Mirella, who had followed him over, “You stay with Luo Jia Bai. Best if you don’t follow me.”
“I need to confirm something.”
He drew in a deep breath and slid his hand through the gaps of the iron mesh.
About the width of a fist and a half.
He exchanged for a small lightbulb and a large one.
The large bulb could just barely be squeezed through the mesh.
The small one, on the other hand, was nimble.
You could fit two of them side by side through the gap.
If he was lucky enough that the bulb didn’t smash against the wire but slipped through and landed outside, then he’d be able to see what exactly was out there beyond the mesh.
Lu Li didn’t think luck was a problem for him.
He tossed a small bulb through the mesh.
It struck the wall with a crisp crack. The sound it made when it landed was muffled, as if it had hit something.
It flickered a couple of times, then went out.
A new bulb appeared. Over a dozen impatient, irritable Monsters immediately looked over.
It took some effort for them to catch the slippery Players climbing the mesh, but a Player on flat ground was like prey delivered right into their hands.
Actively exposing your position in the dark
-was no different than courting death!
The light glowed steadily for two seconds, not moving at all. The hand holding the bulb then hurled it in another direction.
The Monsters’ split mouths curled upward in smug grins.
They had brains!
They’d just bitten into a mouthful of shattered glass.
They knew they’d been tricked!
They weren’t as stupid as they’d been a few minutes ago!
One or two short Monsters still scampered after the bulb rolling across the ground, but the other dozen or so Monsters all charged madly toward the spot where Lu Li had thrown the bulb just now.
They pounced.
Then they tore and bit like mad.
They only got their companions’ mouths and empty air, then slammed into the iron mesh and toppled headfirst to the ground.
What the hell?
He’d been standing right here just now!
“Crack.”
While the Monsters tangled in a mess, light and the crisp sound of a bulb shattering rang out from beyond the mesh again.
This time Lu Li’s throw was better.
It hit the ground, lighting up a small patch of space.
Two huge plastic bags sat there with their mouths gaping open, stuffed full of something shaped like rice grains or pebbles.
Before Lu Li could confirm the color of what was inside the bags, the bulb died.
He was holding a large bulb in his hand.
Two seconds later, he threw it in another direction.
The Monsters who’d just been toyed with scrambled up, humiliated and furious.
This time, they carefully confirmed where exactly Lu Li was standing before surging toward him again.
All they got was another tiny bulb shattering beyond the mesh.
Lu Li narrowed his eyes. He saw the bulb land on a flat surface like a tabletop before tumbling to the ground.
On that surface lay a big water bottle on its side.
The cap was twisted off.
The dripping he’d heard at the start was coming from there.
The stuff in the plastic bags on the ground was brown.
The Monsters stretched out their hands, carefully measuring the spots where Lu Li moved each time, and realized the last two times followed the same pattern!
He would throw a bulb first, then move again in the darkness. Each time, the distance he moved was the farthest he could sprint in the dark.
Their Monster brains spun at full speed.
The last two times were about the same!
Next time.
The next time Lu Li pulled the same trick, they were definitely going to catch this slippery bastard!
Light flared for two seconds again.
This time the Monsters ran while calculating the distance, their fury flooding their brains. Their sprint was faster and fiercer than ever as they lunged at a brand-new spot.
They still came up empty.
Lu Li wasn’t there.
Where the hell was he?
A soft chuckle floated out of the dark.
Like he was mocking them for using every last bit of brainpower and still being this stupid.
Luo Jia Bai stood rooted in place. He’d also noticed the things lying outside the mesh and was staring, dumbfounded, at Lu Li’s operation.
With every bulb that shattered,
his IQ went up by +1.
He predicted the Monsters’ prediction, then took one more step ahead of that prediction.
Preempting, then preempting again.
The moment the Monsters thought they’d found a pattern, he broke it.
Always thinking one step ahead of them.
Insane.
Absolutely insane.
Everyone else thought the iron mesh was a dead end, that the only way forward was into the Black Mist.
Only Lu Li went the other way.
He’d even started exploring what lay inside that so‑called dead end.
Luo Jia Bai thought that when they got back to Game Night today, he not only had to lift weights and work out, he also needed to read a few more brainteaser books.
In the Live Stream Room, the Bullet Comments quietly flooded the screen:
“[Tipping Spirit Money *9999, I don’t even dare type loudly in the Bullet Comments, I’m scared I’ll disrupt the Streamer’s train of thought. I don’t dare tip more than 10,000 either, otherwise his Wristband will light up.]”
“[Tipping Spirit Money *9998. Upstairs, you’re a rational fan of the Streamer. I’m instantly withdrawing 2 Spirit Money. Who gets it! After he threw that one and just stood still, my dead Heart nearly started beating again. How does he dare to gamble like this? What if his luck were just a bit worse, what if one Monster didn’t buy it and still rushed this way?]”
[You can question anything, but you can’t question the Streamer’s luck. That said, kiting Monsters this time had absolutely nothing to do with luck-the Streamer’s last move was pure, blatant taunt!]
Lu Li had more or less figured out what was outside the wire mesh.
The plastic bag was stuffed with compressed rations that could be stored long-term.
On the table lay a fallen bottle of water, with several unopened bottles scattered around it.
Now all that was left was…
He took out a light bulb and lifted it high, illuminating a short stretch of wire mesh ahead.
A little ways off, a lock was hanging from the wire.
After shifting around several times, he had finally made it close to this spot.
In the span of two seconds, he calculated the distance to the lock, then threw away this last light bulb.
He let the Monsters, in their crazed howls and screeches, once again question their own IQ.
In the darkness, Lu Li lightened his steps, his hand feeling its way along the wire mesh.
He finally found the lock.
There was no keyhole.
Three rows of numbers could be turned on the lock body.
A three-digit combination lock.
Lu Li pressed his fingertip onto the number currently showing, and from the shape of the raised edge, guessed what it was.
Triple zero.
The lock didn’t open. Those three numbers were wrong.
One hand pulled up on the shackle, while the other held the lock body in place and began to turn the first row of digits.
He tried all nine digits without opening it.
Only when he turned it to a certain number did the shackle rise the tiniest fraction.
If he hadn’t lost his sight and been forced to rely only on hearing and touch, it would have been very hard to notice.
Lu Li wiped the sweat from his palm.
He followed the same method to feel out the correct digits on the second and third rows.
With the lock pressed against the wire mesh, there was no way to avoid occasionally bumping the metal as he tugged at it, making faint clanging sounds.
The nearest Monster slowly turned its head.
Its glowing eyes tracked the source of the noise.
When the notch on the second row of numbers clicked into the correct groove, the shackle lifted another tiny bit.
Lu Li was practically draped over the mesh. When he gave a tug with his arm, he jolted the wire.
The Monster froze mid-search, its motion locking onto Lu Li’s position. It kicked off the ground with both legs and, in a single bound, covered two to three meters, its jagged jaws gaping wide as it lunged to bite down.
Halfway there, an arm hooked hard around its neck from behind and yanked upward. At the same time, another person bound its legs with Hemp Rope. Each of its thighs was jabbed with a needle, and in an instant its strength went numb and drained away, its body collapsing to the floor.
Someone shoved a chunk of iron into its mouth. The person choking its neck looped a bandage round and round from its mouth to the back of its head, putting all their strength into their forearms and hands, tightening with every pass. Only when they were sure the Monster couldn’t break free did they tie it off.
“We used both syringes of anesthetic! That’s a dose meant for four grown men!”
The Monster’s razor-sharp teeth couldn’t bite through the iron, and the hard metal ground painfully against its gums, making it struggle.
Sitting directly on its back, Luo Jia Bai used his weight to muffle its movements. He was soaked in sweat from the effort. Grabbing the Monster by the ear, he spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear:
“Don’t shout, don’t thrash. We’re trying to find you something to eat. If you bother him, you’ll be hungry forever. You know the difference between one big meal and every meal being a big meal, right?”
The Monster kicked its legs twice in unwilling protest.
Luo Jia Bai called out for help. “Mirella, can you communicate with this NPC? I feel like it has pointy ears and a tail-maybe it belongs to some kind of animal species.”
Mirella said, “This Instance is really strange. Just now, in the world of happiness, all those non-human creatures had tails and ears, but whether or not there was a band covering them, whenever they spoke, it was human language.”
Maybe this NPC could speak human language too.
A sticky sensation spread across Luo Jia Bai’s palm. He frowned, thinking the Monster’s mouth hadn’t been tied tight enough and drool was leaking out from the gaps.
But that slick, wet feeling grew heavier and heavier, liquid running down from his palm, carrying a thick reek of blood.
He clearly hadn’t attacked the Monster. At most, he’d helped clamp its snapping jaws shut. How could it be bleeding?
Luo Jia Bai felt around the Monster’s neck with his hand.
It didn’t take long before he found a patch of hot, wet flesh.
The fur and skin here were tangled together, with clotted blood all over.
The moment he touched it, the Monster jerked again, unable to bear the pain.
This Monster actually had a wound on it?
And it didn’t seem like there was only one.
It was too dark right now; he could only feel this one spot.
Luo Jia Bai pressed his hand over the Monster’s wound, took a deep breath, and calmly closed his eyes.
Once he locked onto the wound, warmth began to spread from his palm. The glow of his Healing Ability was hidden by the fur on the Monster’s neck.
The wound started to knit closed.
Luo Jia Bai stopped when the wound was only half healed. He grabbed the Monster’s ear again and threatened, “If you can understand what I’m saying, then stop moving. I’ll heal the rest later.”
The Monster went still in an instant.