chapter 118

Mirella stood where the narrow path began and did a rough count. “There are four, maybe five hundred dogs here.”

The closer they were, the clearer they could see.

The dogs farther away had to walk along the path and come up to them before their looks could be made out.

“Take the Test Report out again.” Luo Jia Bai was trying to think of a way. “Maybe there’s some key info on it that makes them easier to identify.”

Lu Li handed him the Test Report.

“Without my glasses, I can’t read a single word on this thing.” Luo Jia Bai turned the sheet right side up, then upside down, brows furrowed. “Logically, this should be written in human language. We ought to be able to read it, but right now it’s like some divine scripture.”

Lu Li recalled what he’d seen reflected in the child NPC’s eyes and listed a few terms:

“Sick, brown-yellow, large dog.”

Luo Jia Bai pointed at the two rows of small beds. “In just the first twenty beds, there are already two that fit that description.”

Farther down, there were only more that matched.

Lu Li closed his eyes, thinking.

What other conditions had they overlooked?

Some very obvious identifying feature…

“White around the eyes.” Lu Li had never raised a dog. He asked, “If the rest of its coat is the same color, under what circumstances would just the fur around its eyes turn white?”

Was it originally white fur, or had the brown-yellow fur turned white for some reason?

In the child NPC’s pupils, the dog had buried its face between its forelegs to block out the noise because it was too loud.

He had never seen the dog’s face head-on.

Gu Yu Chu lowered his head, fiddling with the ring on his finger, and suddenly spoke. “Very old dogs do that. The first fur to go white is around the eyes, then the face.”

Adding an age requirement instantly eliminated a large number of candidates.

From where they were standing, looking forward, most of the dogs they saw were puppies or in their prime. There were no elderly ones.

Lu Li studied the narrow path. “We have to go in and find the owner.”

The path looked more like a single-plank bridge.

The space beneath it was hollow, the bridge suspended above the two rows of small beds.

The slightest misstep and you would fall heavily from the bridge.

He glanced back at Jiang Changqing, who still hadn’t caught up, as if deliberately hanging back behind them, and said quietly, “You three go first. I’ll bring up the rear.”

–

Jiang Changqing’s head was foggy. He really couldn’t figure it out: why would his teammates abandon him for no reason?

He’d clearly contributed so many Points to the team. Several times, the Life-Saving Items had been exchanged by him, and now the Points cost for exchanging his Life-Saving Items had stacked to a terrifying height.

Uneasy, Jiang Changqing checked his Wristband several times.

Could it be that after Sun Hai cleaned out his remaining balance, he’d decided Jiang’s Points were too low, that he was too poor?

The more he let his mind spin on conspiracies, the worse it got. The more he tried not to think, the more those dark thoughts surged out like a flood.

The space in front of him suddenly emptied.

Only then did he snap back to himself and see that the four of them had already stepped onto the only path.

Jiang Changqing suddenly squatted down and looked at the path from the side.

So thin.

Beneath it were all sleeping Monsters.

If they were awakened, they’d eat people.

Black vapor kept seeping from Jiang Changqing’s ears. A sinister thought surfaced:

He’d exchanged for the Evil Spirit’s power and possessed a special flame. If he used fire to burn through the path in front and behind, would these people fall down?

Luo Jia Bai, who kept mocking him.

Mirella, who had “accidentally” bumped into him in the corridor.

And Lu Li, whose head alone was worth 200,000 Points to the Feng Family.

Plus one unlucky tag‑along.

All of them falling. All of them dying.

The bit of rationality left in his mind told him:

Sun Hai had said back in the first round that Lu Li wasn’t simple. Wanting that 200,000 Points too badly could very well cost him his life.

They hadn’t cleared the round yet, hadn’t found any clues, and were even separated from their teammates. If he dragged everyone else down, could he really survive?

Jiang Changqing felt his whole body burning up. He took a deep breath. Black vapor puffed out from his nose, instantly smothering the flickering voice of reason, leaving only the urge to harm.

To hurt others with no regard for consequences.

Lu Li’s back swayed in his vision, over and over again. Jiang Changqing, no longer in control of himself, exchanged for a thick length of Hemp Rope-good for carrying flame, and it would take a long time to burn through.

Jiang Changqing stepped onto the path as well.

He looped one piece of Hemp Rope around the floor at his feet, tying it in a circle, and lit it.

Then he tied another piece of Hemp Rope to a load-bearing grapple, lit that too, and swung it forward with force, aiming to land it on the section of floor ahead of the four of them.

“Crackle, crackle.”

Flames roared in his ears, burning hotter and hotter as the floor tied by the rope cracked open.

He also exchanged for a sharp machete, planning to find his moment to chop off Lu Li’s head.

Staring at the four backs in front of him, Jiang Changqing’s face twisted into an excited grin-when his left foot suddenly dropped down a whole level.

“What’s going on?” He lost his balance. Black vapor leaked thicker from his nose and ears, and at last let him see the situation he’d completely inverted. “Why are all the ropes on my side?”

One behind, one ahead.

The parts burning through were his own path.

He was sure he’d thrown them forward!

–

A scream came from behind.

Luo Jia Bai had no idea what had happened. “How did he fall off?”

“Because he gave rise to evil thoughts,” Mirella said. “I prepared a Rune for him. If he does good to others, he’ll receive a corresponding positive return. If he harbors malice toward others, he’ll fall into hallucinations, and all that malice will ultimately be reflected back on him, doubled.”
Lu Li looked down coldly as Jiang Changqing dropped onto a bed and landed right on a sleeping dog’s face.

Panicking, Jiang Changqing scrambled to his feet. His pants felt heavy, as if they’d been soaked through with water.

He twisted around and was horrified to find that he had actually flattened the dog’s face and chest.

A huge amount of black liquid was being squeezed out from the crushed part of the dog. It drenched his pants and spread across the entire bed.

The gruesome sight right under his nose shocked Jiang Changqing so badly his mind went blank. It took him a few seconds to realize the dog had been sleeping the whole time. Even now, its nose-flattened and submerged in black water-was still snoring.

He hurriedly pulled out his full set of Climbing Items, intending to climb back up to where he’d fallen from.

Thankfully, all his shouting and even the impact of him crashing down hadn’t woken the dog.

The hook of his Climbing Item landed on the safe little path above. Jiang Changqing scrambled to climb up as fast as he could.

Just then, a woman’s voice echoed from the top of the space:

“Fan Tuan! Your parent is here to pick you up!”

The next second.

The snoring behind him abruptly stopped.

His heart skipped a few beats. He slowly turned his stiff neck.

He met a pair of open, flattened eyes that were constantly leaking black water, and a wide, gaping mouth.

Its jaws nearly clamped onto his left leg. He wildly swung his burning stick to fend off the awakened Monster.

The Climbing Item shook violently.

Jiang Changqing looked up.

Right next to the spot where he’d fixed his hook, Lu Li was leaning over the edge, watching him with interest.

Lu Li extended a hand.

In his hand was the hook of Jiang Changqing’s Climbing Item.

Lu Li had actually taken the hook off.

“What are you doing?” Jiang Changqing’s internal alarm went off. He shouted, “You can’t mess with that! D-Don’t you dare let go!”

He blurted anxiously, “Do you want Points? I’ve still got a lot of Points. Once I get up there, I’ll give them all to you! I’m willing to join your team, and I can tell you Sun Hai and the others’ weaknesses. You want to deal with them, right?”

Lu Li’s voice carried clearly from above his head:

“What I want is pretty simple.”

“I want to give you back everything you’ve done.”

Jiang Changqing watched, eyes wide, as Lu Li opened his hand.

He plummeted. The Monster’s roaring maw tore his calves to shreds.

In absolute agony, he frantically slid through the Wristband’s interface, burning through all his remaining Points in one go to exchange for an Item. Then he slammed one name onto the screen with all his strength and fury:

Lu Li

If I die, you’re dying with me.

–

After letting go of the hook, Lu Li didn’t manage to stand up smoothly.

Because his Arm was tightly entangled by a bundle of red threads, and at the end of those threads was Jiang Changqing-half his head bitten off, yet still glaring with furious eyes.

A tremendous force yanked him downward, forcibly inviting him to share a trip into the Monster’s mouth.

The threads pierced Lu Li’s skin and tried to burrow into his body and blood vessels, but they were devoured by the blood that welled out.

So the threads quivered and changed tactics. They stopped trying to drill into his body and instead multiplied madly, wrapping around Lu Li’s Arm in loop after loop.

A small cluster split off and crawled toward his other hand. Before they could even touch the Wristband, they recoiled in terror.

“That’s a Transport Binding Chain! A hundred thousand Points! When he exchanged for the Item, he must’ve bound your name to it. Within one minute, it’ll drag you to his side no matter what! Whether the exchanger is dead or alive! He knew he was done for and wanted to pull you down with him!” Luo Jia Bai cursed. “Jiang Changqing is fucking shameless.”

“Gu Yu Chu! Can you do anything about this thing? Points aren’t an issue!”

Gu Yu Chu didn’t dare get close. “It’s a seamless unit. I can’t undo it. Anyone who touches Lu Li right now will be treated as the same person by the Item and dragged along with him.”

“It’s fine.” Lu Li, right at the center of the incident, was instead very calm. He exchanged for a knife and directly chopped off the Arm bound by the threads.

“That takes care of it.”

Half an Arm went down with the Item and Jiang Changqing’s battered and perforated Corpse, all together into the Monster’s gaping mouth.

Lu Li didn’t even blink when he severed his Arm.

He lifted the bare stump. Flesh and skin were rapidly rebuilding, and from the corner of his eye he watched the others’ reactions.

In just a few dozen seconds, a brand-new hand had formed.

Luo Jia Bai looked worried. “That thing can also burrow into your body. As long as a tiny bit remains, it’ll grow back. Do you feel anything off right now?”

Mirella took off her band and grabbed his hand directly. “Don’t move. Let me see.”

“There shouldn’t be anything left,” Lu Li said. “No abnormal feeling. I threw it away completely. Once those threads touch my blood, they get poisoned and rot away.”

“So besides Resurrection, your blood is poisonous and devours things.” Luo Jia Bai swallowed. “Did the Evil God give you all these abilities?”

Lu Li flexed his newly recovered fingers with ease, wiped the cold sweat from his palm, and decided not to drag Bosi into this again.

He said clearly, “They’re my own abilities.”

“Luo Jia Bai, I lied to you before. I’m sorry.”

One lie from before, and now it took how many lies to patch it up.

“Resurrection is also my ability, not the Evil God’s. The Evil God didn’t trade me any abilities at all.”

“I can’t really be considered human. In my original world, I wasn’t some rich family’s kid. I never went to school, I didn’t have friends,” Lu Li’s throat was a little dry, but he didn’t stop talking, and he deliberately avoided looking at the two people beside him. “I didn’t have any family either. I-I was an Experimental Subject.”

“In the future, I might…”