Chapter 271
Chapter 271
Lu Jing thought he understood now.
“Then…” Lu Jing pointed toward the open doors. He was clearly referring to the NPCs who had stayed behind earlier.
Qin Weiyi smiled. “Jian Fan must have realized that the NPCs essential to keeping our game running normally would have no choice but to remain. What happened with you may have given him the idea as well.”
“With me?” Lu Jing’s mind raced, and he quickly caught on. “The little boy?”
“Right,” Qin Weiyi said with a smile. “They aren’t that intelligent. They simply have a program written into them, and the directives tied to their tasks take precedence over any instinctive judgment they might make about the current situation.”
Simply put, after the commotion Lu Jing and Yang Zhen had caused, all the NPCs who weren’t involved in a task had chosen to leave. The only ones who remained were those bound to tasks.
Once those NPCs stayed behind, identifying them became much easier.
“Impressive.” Without hesitation, Lu Jing gave Jian Fan a thumbs-up, then turned and gave Qin Weiyi one as well. “Xiao Qin is impressive too.”
“Let’s see what clues we have.” Having finished his explanation and gotten everything he wanted to say off his chest, Qin Weiyi finally turned his attention back to the matter at hand.
He glanced over the torn pages he and Lu Jing had obtained. After reading their contents, he passed them directly to Jian Fan.
Lin Junruo and Shi Chen quickly handed over their torn pages as well.
Of the twelve Players, everyone except Xia Zeqin had obtained a torn page. They weren’t working with Fang Kang’s group, but ten pages should still be enough to reconstruct most of the dark fairy tale.
Just then…
Zhou Jingying walked toward Fang Kang.
Everyone was startled.
They had been about to discuss the contents of the torn pages, but now they all stopped.
They had no idea what Zhou Jingying intended to do, but none of them planned to stop her. Instead, they watched curiously to see what she would do.
Surely she wouldn’t choose a moment like this to take revenge on Fang Kang.
Fang Kang was surprised too, especially when Zhou Jingying actually came to a stop in front of him.
He and Zhou Jingying had been through three worlds together, yet this woman had always been hostile toward him. Even Fang Kang couldn’t understand why she hated him so much, though he didn’t particularly care.
But what did Zhou Jingying want now?
“Want to work together?” Zhou Jingying suddenly asked.
Fang Kang raised an eyebrow.
Qin Nan and the others were equally astonished.
Jian Fan was surprised at first, but understanding soon dawned on him. At the same time, he felt a trace of admiration for Zhou Jingying.
There were many people in this world who might not be strong in every respect, yet each of them possessed something that could make others see them in a new light.
Zhou Jingying’s actions now were one such example.
Because of what she had said earlier, there was no way Jian Fan and the others could work with Zhou Jingying while also approaching Fang Kang for an alliance.
Zhou Jingying had recognized that.
But she also knew that cooperation was crucial in this world. It was the key to clearing it.
Jian Fan and the others had shown her respect. In return, Zhou Jingying couldn’t disregard everyone’s lives for the sake of her personal grudge.
She would have plenty of other opportunities to kill Fang Kang and take her revenge, but she only had one life.
It was easy enough to say, but very few people could actually make that choice.
Jian Fan couldn’t help admiring Zhou Jingying’s strength of character.
Fang Kang knew nothing about the grudge between him and Zhou Jingying. Although her sudden offer to cooperate caught him off guard, he didn’t reject it immediately.
“Talking cooperation in the Realm of Death?” Fang Kang asked with a half-smile. Then he added, “You didn’t seem interested in working with me before.”
Zhou Jingying remained composed. “Things are different now. Given a choice, I naturally wouldn’t want to work with you. But since you’ve already completed the mission and obtained a fragment, you should understand that cooperation is the only way out of here. Unless, of course, you’re confident you can kill every last one of us.”
Fang Kang curled his fingers around the fragment in his palm.
It contained a passage he couldn’t make any sense of. To uncover the clue, they would probably have to assemble every fragment. Fang Kang had to admit that Zhou Jingying was telling the truth.
He had only two options: cooperate, or kill everyone and take all the fragments for himself.
Fang Kang wasn’t stupid.
He could tell that Lu Jing and Yang Zhen were formidable fighters, and their group had the advantage in numbers. His odds of winning weren’t great, so cooperation was the better choice. Besides, it was obvious that everyone on their side had already agreed to work together.
“Fine,” Fang Kang agreed without much hesitation.
With that, he walked straight over to Jian Fan.
He held out the fragment in his hand. “As a precaution, I’ll give you mine, but you need to give me one of yours.”
Jian Fan had no objections.
He took out one of the fragments they had obtained earlier and handed it over first.
Fang Kang accepted Jian Fan’s fragment. Only after confirming that they genuinely intended to cooperate did he hand his own over.
With Xia Zeqin’s exception, all eleven fragments had now been gathered.
Jian Fan and the others had never expected anything from Xia Zeqin, but Fang Kang didn’t know that. He glanced at Xia Zeqin in confusion. “That guy isn’t cooperating?”
Jian Fan said nothing. He was already studying the fragments.
As for Qin Nan, he gave a short laugh. “You’ll have to ask him yourself. We have no idea what he’s thinking.”
Fang Kang naturally sensed that something was off, but ignorance made him fearless. He strode directly toward Xia Zeqin.
Fang Kang had never been particularly good-tempered to begin with, and after everything he’d endured as a frog, he had a bellyful of pent-up anger. The moment he reached Xia Zeqin, he thrust out a hand and shoved him.
“What’s your problem, punk?” Fang Kang looked every bit the thug.
Xia Zeqin and Jian Fan were alike in one respect.
High intelligence, poor physical strength.
Xia Zeqin wasn’t as smart as Jian Fan, and he was physically stronger, but that was only in comparison to Jian Fan.
Even though Xia Zeqin had been somewhat prepared, Fang Kang’s shove still sent him stumbling.
He raised his head and glared at Fang Kang, displeasure in his eyes and a warning in his voice. “Don’t push your luck.”
“Fang Kang has never known the meaning of those words.” As he spoke, Fang Kang grabbed Xia Zeqin by the collar and hoisted him clean off the ground. “I’m only asking once. Are you cooperating or not?”
Xia Zeqin: “…”
Everyone else: “…”
Xia Zeqin was on the verge of losing it. He had probably never imagined he would encounter someone like Fang Kang. Qin Nan and the others were equally astonished that, armed with nothing but the fearlessness of the ignorant, Fang Kang had actually managed to overpower Xia Zeqin.
What did they call this?
There was always someone stronger.
“My patience is limited. If you won’t cooperate, then I’ll just have to use force.” As Fang Kang spoke, he genuinely looked ready to hurl Xia Zeqin away.
Xia Zeqin’s expression finally shifted.
He truly hadn’t expected that, after dealing with Jian Fan and his group of people who never played by the rules, Fang Kang would come along as his perfect counter.