Lin Zhen was running swiftly.
His strengths had always been in long-range attacks and agility. Not long after diverting Xue Wan and others, Lin Zhen discarded his black robe, took up his longbow, and ran into the distance, frequently turning back to shoot a few arrows.
Even though Xue Wan was formidable, Lin Zhen’s tactic of shooting while running made things quite challenging for him.
Lin Zhen, with Xue Wan trailing behind him alone, felt no pressure. Instead, he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. As he ran past a stairway, he drew his longbow and instantly sent ten arrows flying towards Xue Wan behind him. Xue Wan paused, raising his serrated long blade a few times, and deflected all the arrows Lin Zhen had shot.
But in those fleeting moments, the distance that had somewhat closed was once again widened by Lin Zhen.
As Lin Zhen reached the next intersection, two people suddenly appeared from both sides, rushing towards him—they were two other members of the Morning Star.
Lin Zhen smiled and shouted, “Planning to surround me? Pretty clever…”
He paused and muttered to himself, “Although my little pet told me not to fight, being obedient wouldn’t be me. Let’s just play a bit.”
Lin Zhen suddenly stopped, standing still, raising his longbow and tightening the bowstring. In that instant, his somewhat bewitching dark red eyes seemed to quiver and momentarily turned into a deep black.
—It was the color of Lin Qing’s pupils.
The next moment, he casually released an arrow in the direction of one person.
That person seemed to want to dodge, but the arrow far exceeded their estimation of Lin Zhen’s body index. It shouldn’t have been possible at the level of the forty-ninth-floor instance where descending players were restricted. The person couldn’t evade in time; the arrow pierced through his upper arm, and the remaining force sent the person flying backward, pinning him to the wall!
Blood splattered, and the person immediately cried out in pain.
Lin Zhen didn’t hesitate and ran towards the corridor where the person was. As he passed the person pinned to the wall, he turned his head and chuckled, “Bye.”
After speaking, just as the two behind him were about to catch up, Lin Zhen reached out and directly pulled out the arrow that had pierced the person’s arm.
“Ah—!!!”
Blood splashed onto Lin Zhen’s face. He smiled, threw the arrow to the ground, dodged the dagger Xue Wan threw at him, and then casually chose a direction to run again.
Xue Wan stopped when he reached the spot where the person was injured.
The person he had brought was actually the same—one True Self and one Benevolent Automaton. The uninjured one helped the injured one up and asked, “Are we not chasing anymore?”
Xue Wan narrowed his eyes and laughed, “I can’t believe I was tricked one day.”
“This…”
“This is a diversionary tactic. I knew it from the start, but…”
But Xue Wan initially didn’t think this tactic could really lure him away. Luring him away would only be useful if the person who diverted him could escape. If Xue Wan caught the person who diverted him and used him to threaten his other teammates and quickly return, this strategy would be completely useless and would instead give him leverage.
That’s why he dared to chase directly.
But Xue Wan didn’t expect that Lin Zhen could escape under the encirclement of the three of them.
He said, “I’ve never seen him on the fortieth floors. This person is a new face, only possible to have come directly from below the fortieth floor. But he could injure you, instantly mobilize abilities beyond the scope of this instance. Even if we catch up, we might not be able to capture him immediately.”
“I seem to have some impression of their team…” Xue Wan smiled, his fingertips lightly brushing the serrations on his long blade, leaving traces of blood, but his expression remained unchanged, “Is it the first team that reached the castle? The Blackbird? Since when did the Blackbird have a seed that can scheme like Xu Miaomiao?”
“Then if we go back now, is it still in time?”
“Do you think the third brother and others are just for show? To take or exchange our ‘prey,’ they must first defeat the third brother and find the Man in Black Robe to exchange, it won’t be that fast. Let’s go back.”
Lin Zhen looked back, his Perception spread out, sensing only players unrelated to him around, and did not feel Xue Wan and others.
He “tch”ed, “That’s why I hate using my brother’s power. Every time I use it, people don’t come to fight me.”
“Boring.”
Yan Wei hid in the blind spot of the staircase, looking back at Yan Mingguang and the two Yu Feizhous.
In front of the Meat Grinder, the two seemed to never slack off. They stared intently at the entrance ahead, their bodies tense, their postures alert.
Yan Wei waved his hand.
The next moment, the two Yu Feizhous jumped out without hesitation.
They didn’t plan to ambush or make any concealment, but directly and boldly charged forward. The two guarding naturally noticed Yu Feizhou’s movements at the first moment, and the four soon fought together. Yu Feizhou seemed to make no effort to succeed, but only focused on entangling with the two, as if they came specifically to fight.
—That was indeed the task Yan Wei assigned to Yu Feizhou.
Yan Wei looked at Yan Mingguang.
This man was looking down at him, his expression calm, without any trace of nervousness or vigilance. At this critical moment, Yan Mingguang was no different from usual. This man remembered much more than he did, presumably including the memories of high-level instances. This forty-ninth-floor instance, to Yan Mingguang… was child’s play, right?
Yan Wei’s thoughts flashed through his mind, but his actions were not delayed. He just glanced at Yan Mingguang, then turned back, watching the situation with Yu Feizhou from the shadows.
He couldn’t act too quickly.
He had to time it right.
“Yan Wei” looked somewhat pale.
He quickly ran towards the staircase leading to the Stargazing Platform, the light of the Moon Wheel in his hand flickering. He didn’t have time to look back—behind him was Xu Miaomiao, whose body data was much better than his. In a day, he had already gathered some information about the Morning Star and Manjusaka from the unorganized group of players, and naturally deduced some of Xu Miaomiao’s weaknesses, which allowed him to contend with her for a while.
He had already agreed with the unorganized group; he would lure Xu Miaomiao near the Stargazing Platform, and the unorganized group would hide in the dark, naturally seeing the advantages Xu Miaomiao possessed as he mentioned. This group could then confirm he wasn’t lying and could step forward to snatch. For the unorganized group, it was safe and risk-free, and taking a chance might get them something useful.
The only problem was that “Yan Wei” had to lure Xu Miaomiao near that group and show that Xu Miaomiao indeed had something worth their action.
So he was now using himself as bait, contending with Xu Miaomiao, subtly leading her towards the Stargazing Platform.
The other him could surely deduce that he would first deal with Xu Miaomiao, so the other him would deal with Xue Wan. The method to deal with Xu Miaomiao was to cause her trouble, and the method to deal with Xue Wan was to avoid confrontation, cutting off Xue Wan’s scoring path from the side.
There were many ways to cut off a person: not letting that person catch any Benevolent Automaton, snatching all that person’s coins, and… taking away the Man in Black Robe responsible for destroying the Benevolent Automaton’s reward points.
Xue Wan was at the Stargazing Platform. If he were at the Stargazing Platform, which method would he choose?
The answer was obvious.
“Yan Wei” could almost instinctively predict every step the other him would take.
He gasped for breath, seeing Xu Miaomiao approaching again, he raised the Moon Wheel to create a brief barrier, then continued running towards the approaching Stargazing Platform.
Yan Wei finally seized the moment.
Yu Feizhou’s body data was not weak, and his skill was damage transfer, making him the most dragging type of opponent. If such a person was a teammate, he was a great hand at buying time, but if he was an opponent, it was a fight that couldn’t be won or lost.
The two from the Morning Star were the same.
When they first engaged with the two Yu Feizhous, they still paid attention to their surroundings, trying to glance at the players or Benevolent Automatons they had captured during the fight. But as the fight went on, the two became increasingly annoyed by Yu Feizhou’s dragging, eager to end it, fighting more and more seriously, more and more focused, until their attention was entirely on Yu Feizhou.
At this moment, Yan Wei’s mouth curved, and he directly said, “Teacher Yan.”
The moment he spoke, Yan Mingguang had already charged forward.
This man’s movements were swift.
Yan Wei only felt a gust of wind by his side, and then a man suddenly appeared next to the Man in Black Robe in the center of the Stargazing Platform. With the aid of a short-distance movement skill, Yan Mingguang instantly arrived in front of the Man in Black Robe.
The Man in Black Robe seemed startled by Yan Mingguang’s sudden appearance, his robed body jolting.
But Yan Mingguang didn’t wait for him to react. In a split second, he grabbed the Man in Black Robe’s arm, with the other hand lifting him, directly and boldly hoisting the Man in Black Robe onto his shoulder.
When the two from the Morning Star reacted, Yan Mingguang had already carried the Man in Black Robe back to Yan Wei’s side, and the two Yu Feizhous immediately withdrew towards Yan Wei.
Yan Wei glanced at the struggling Man in Black Robe.
“…”
To be honest, Yan Mingguang’s actions were more straightforward and brutal than he had planned.
Yu Feizhou had already withdrawn, and the two from the Morning Star seemed not to expect that the players and Benevolent Automatons were unharmed, but the Man in Black Robe was taken. They were stunned for a while, then angrily chased after them.
Yan Wei waved his hand, “Let’s go!”
At the same time, his Perception, which had been spread out, suddenly connected with another Perception nearby.
It was a Perception identical to his, originating from the same source.
[You’ve come.]
[I’ve come.]
At the staircase leading to the Stargazing Platform, “Yan Wei” led Xu Miaomiao here and from afar saw a group of people running down the staircase, one of whom seemed to be carrying a black thing.
“Yan Wei” looked up, meeting Yan Wei’s gaze from above and below.
Both of them smiled at the same time.
The next moment, “Yan Wei” pointed to a room beside them, signaling Yan Wei, then took the lead in turning a corner and hid in that room.
Yan Wei, with the two from the Morning Star chasing behind him, saw Xu Miaomiao chasing after “Yan Wei” not far away, and immediately said to Yan Mingguang, “Ice cube, throw the Man in Black Robe at her!”
Yan Mingguang naturally understood his meaning, and without hesitation, he exerted force, straightforwardly throwing the Man in Black Robe towards Xu Miaomiao. The Man in Black Robe was thrown out, and Yan Wei and the others didn’t hesitate, the four of them dove into the room where the other Yan Wei had hidden, and they instantly disappeared from the corridor.
Xu Miaomiao, who had just turned a corner in the winding corridor, suddenly felt a large black object flying towards her. The two Xu Miaomiaos instinctively swung their black staffs, catching the Man in Black Robe left and right.
At the same time.
The leading woman of the unorganized team hiding in the dark finally saw Xu Miaomiao. When she clearly saw what Xu Miaomiao had caught, her eyes lit up, “So this is the advantage Yan Wei told me about with Xu Miaomiao! She has the Man in Black Robe, let’s go!”
Xue Wan, who had doubled back, and the two Morning Star players who had chased down from the top floor, paused in their steps.
The two Morning Star players looked at Xu Miaomiao below the staircase and shouted to Xue Wan, “Xue Wan! Someone has kidnapped the Man in Black Robe!”
Xue Wan sneered, “Well, Xu Miaomiao, it was you after all!”
