In another part of the labyrinthine jungle.
The maze walls made of trees still blocked all sight, and various noisy sounds surrounded them. The wind carried the sounds of screams and fighting, while the stench of decay and the smell of blood became increasingly pronounced. The instance/dungeon had just begun not long ago, and this once peaceful Jungle Maze was gradually turning into a massive battlefield.
Lin Zhen leaned against a thick tree trunk, holding a small pile of snacks in his hands, his right knee bent, with his foot resting on a player who was barely alive. This was the player who had tried to ambush Lin Zhen, thinking he could take advantage of Lin Zhen’s path-clearing.
—Unfortunately, the attempt to steal a chicken resulted in losing the rice.
This player had no visible wounds, but his clothes were tattered and filled with various rips from arrows. He lay on the ground in a disheveled state, his face bruised.
Lin Zhen didn’t even glance at the player beneath his foot. His dark red eyes sparkled with interest as he seemed to talk to himself, “Oh, they’re fighting…!” He appeared to be in a good mood, even loosening his grip slightly on the player he was stepping on.
The player gasped for air, nervously looking up at Lin Zhen, slowly trying to shift, hoping to escape while Lin Zhen was distracted.
But as soon as he moved, Lin Zhen’s gaze shifted slightly. His smile remained, but he suddenly pressed down hard with his foot, forcing the player back to the ground. He sighed, looking down at the person from above, and said, “Hey, you’re interrupting my show.”
The player trembled as he was forcefully stepped on, and it seemed he was about to spit out blood.
Lin Zhen said, “You better hold it in. If you start bleeding, the crows will smell it and come flying over. I’ll just stand by and applaud them.”
The player widened his eyes in fear, hurriedly sealing his lips, swallowing the blood that surged up his throat. He was terrified of attracting the crows; in his current state, Lin Zhen could easily walk away, but he would undoubtedly die, becoming merely a tool for clearing the path.
Seeing that the other party didn’t dare to speak, Lin Zhen suddenly found it amusing. He chuckled lightly, bent down, and disdainfully grabbed the player’s hand, applying a bit of force—
“Ummmmm—!!!”
Accompanied by a crisp sound of bones breaking, the player’s muffled groans grew louder. But Lin Zhen seemed not to hear, as he broke one finger and then slowly broke another.
Finally, Yan Wei’s voice came through the intercom: “Lin Zhen, it’s too noisy over there.”
“If I make some noise, those reckless people around won’t dare to come closer,” Lin Zhen shrugged. “Well, who told him to try to ambush me and use me to clear the way? I can only play with him a bit; it’s quite fun.”
Meanwhile, Yan Wei watched as two other seed players began to fight.
These two players completely disregarded Yan Wei, the “weak player of the lower levels,” and under Yan Wei’s subtle guidance, each believed the other intended to harm them and monopolize the “prey.” With Tall guy’s already irritable temperament, they didn’t even exchange a few words before they started fighting.
Yan Wei leaned back against a corner, even managing to spare some attention to chat with Yu Feizhou and Lin Zhen about the current situation.
However, Yan Mingguang had remained silent throughout. The intercom only transmitted the sound of rustling wind and faint, rapid footsteps, suggesting that Yan Mingguang was moving quickly, though it was unclear what he was doing.
Yan Wei refocused, noticing that the two seed players had already exchanged several blows. They were both specially sent by the organization to participate in the Arena Instance, and they couldn’t truly kill each other due to Lou’s rules, so they could only focus on injuring their opponent. After several exchanges, it was impossible to determine a winner.
The Cap-wearing guy blocked the weapon swung by the Tall guy, his expression starting to change—after all, they were players of this level, and he hadn’t reacted to Yan Wei’s provocation earlier, but now he began to sense something was off.
Not far away, seeing the Cap-wearing guy hesitate, Yan Wei smirked and suddenly shouted at the Tall guy, “You’re bleeding!!!”
The smell of blood would attract crows. The Cap-wearing guy paused, wanting to confirm where he had injured the Tall guy, but the Tall guy, knowing he wasn’t hurt, continued his movements, and his long knife swiftly cut into the Cap-wearing guy’s arm!
As the faint smell of blood spread from the wound on the Cap-wearing guy’s arm, a chorus of cawing crows echoed from the distant starry night.
Both the Cap-wearing guy and the Tall guy changed their expressions. The Tall guy suddenly retreated, while the Cap-wearing guy raised his weapon to fend off the incoming crows. In just a moment, a swarm of black birds descended, seemingly burying the Cap-wearing guy. Yan Wei watched from a distance, seeing one dead crow after another fall to the ground, emitting mournful cries. Yet, the more this happened, the stronger the smell of blood became, and more crows flocked in, some even brushing past Yan Wei’s shoulder.
The Tall guy, who had already avoided the chaos, was at a loss for what had just happened.
He glared at Yan Wei, and amidst the low-flying black crows, he approached with his long knife, saying, “I underestimated you…”
Yan Wei remained unflustered.
He raised an eyebrow, lifted his hand, and a Moon Wheel emitting a faint white light suddenly appeared in his palm. The moment the Moon Wheel appeared, the air around Yan Wei rippled, and the Moon Wheel created a barrier that separated the space he stood in from the surroundings, as if forming a transparent shield. Even the crows flew far around this barrier, passing by on either side.
As the Tall guy’s long knife approached, it was abruptly met with a jolt from the barrier created by the Moon Wheel, causing him to stagger back several steps.
At that moment, Yan Wei, who was maintaining the Moon Wheel, turned pale, beads of sweat forming on his forehead—one corner of the Moon Wheel was missing, and it was already draining his energy. Now, he had to maintain its operation, which was naturally a bit beyond his capacity.
But Yan Wei didn’t show it on the surface; he calmly said, “You can try to break through again, but there’s just over an hour left. I’m not afraid to waste time with you. If you want to spend your time on me, I’ll keep you company.”
This was Yan Wei’s self-preservation strategy.
His Body Index was at most considered normal among players of the same level. In this instance/dungeon, especially after reaching level forty-nine without any reward data bonuses, he couldn’t defeat any normal player who entered. Now, in an ordinary state without the immortality boost, he couldn’t afford to take risks.
If he had revealed the Moon Wheel to protect himself the moment he saw the Tall guy and the Cap-wearing guy, they wouldn’t have left immediately. At that time, there were still two hours left, and with both of them working together, he wouldn’t last a few minutes. If he didn’t use the Moon Wheel and instead tried to provoke them to fight each other, the winner would still not spare Yan Wei after they finished.
But now, after leading these two around, the players they encountered along the way dared not confront them—because to others, they appeared to be a group. Having come this far, Yan Wei could now provoke these two to face off, first dealing with the Cap-wearing guy. The surrounding players, hearing the commotion, would only think that two had defeated one, and wouldn’t risk coming over to fight Yan Wei for the prey. Moreover, with just over an hour left, if the Tall guy couldn’t break the Moon Wheel, he wouldn’t gamble his life to continue dealing with Yan Wei.
In this way, as long as the Tall guy attacked a few times and then gave up, this area would not only be cleared by the Cap-wearing guy’s blood, allowing Yan Wei to have a broader view, but the surrounding players would also think there was a strong player here and wouldn’t come to deal with Yan Wei, giving him time to think about the maze.
“This level of Item… Legendary Item!?” The Tall guy quickly understood, “So it’s you, that low-level player who obtained a Legendary Item on the nineteenth floor…”
The mention of the Legendary Item seemed to heighten his urgency, and without thinking, he swung his knife again.
The Moon Wheel trembled, and for a moment, Yan Wei felt a lack of oxygen, but his expression remained unchanged, still calm.
At this moment, the Cap-wearing guy, buried under the swarm of crows, let out a piercing scream, and the surrounding smell of blood suddenly intensified. Blood began to flow profusely from the Cap-wearing guy, and the land and plants around him began to corrode little by little.
The Tall guy dodged the denser crows, casting a fierce glance at Yan Wei, saying, “This is the forty-ninth floor. You, a nineteenth-floor player, dare to come in… I hope you can survive to the castle, so I have the chance to settle the score with you personally.”
With that, he didn’t dare to waste time, turning to take the wide path opened by the Cap-wearing guy’s blood, heading closer to the castle.
Yan Wei continued to maintain the operation of the Moon Wheel. Until the Cap-wearing guy’s screams grew weaker and the surroundings were completely corroded, confirming that the Tall guy wouldn’t turn back, Yan Wei finally retracted the Moon Wheel. The barrier created by the Moon Wheel disappeared, and the crows flew past Yan Wei once more, creating a heart-stopping sound as they passed.
He gasped for breath, his face pale from excessive exertion. The black crows circled closely around him, and Yan Wei took a deep breath, deciding to set aside his cleanliness issues and sit on the blood-soaked ground for a moment when suddenly, rapid footsteps approached.
A man with silver-white hair suddenly appeared amidst the crows, his cool demeanor starkly contrasting with the surrounding blood and filth. The swarm of black crows couldn’t obscure his striking presence. In just a few steps, he reached Yan Wei, catching the swaying Yan Wei.
The crows cawed, their flapping wings incessant, the smell of blood overwhelming. In the blink of an eye, Yan Wei found himself leaning against Yan Mingguang, catching a hint of cleanliness amidst the filth. He was taken aback, “How did you find me?” Though it was a question, Yan Wei’s body had already relaxed, leaning entirely on Yan Mingguang as he slowly regained his strength.
“By sound,” Yan Mingguang replied calmly. “Every place has different sounds. I can determine the trajectory based on the sounds around you and walk towards where those sounds might be.”
No wonder he had only listened to the intercom earlier without speaking.
No wonder he had heard Yan Mingguang moving quickly.
Yan Wei blinked, his throat moving slightly, ultimately swallowing the words of “thank you,” and asked, “On your way here, did you see anything noteworthy?”
The Cap-wearing guy’s screams had completely faded, and the surrounding crows gradually dispersed, leaving only Yan Wei and a pile of bones devoid of flesh ahead. Yan Mingguang glanced at Yan Wei’s pale face, first lifting Yan Wei’s hand, then with a forceful motion, he lifted him onto his back. Holding a short knife in one hand and stabilizing Yan Wei with the other, he said, “Some have already collaborated to obtain ‘prey,’ using blood to clear the way. The distance to the castle is now only half. When I passed by, I hid nearby and took a look. They don’t lack prey, but the closer they get to the castle, the slower they clear the path because the crows that eat flesh are becoming fewer.”
Yan Wei lay on Yan Mingguang’s back, resting his chin on the man’s shoulder, his pale face slowly flushing with a hint of color.
Fortunately, he wasn’t thinking about those gruesome images right now.
He said, “The crows that eat flesh are becoming fewer? So that means, the closer we get to the castle, the lower the density of crows…?” As he spoke, he raised his head towards the castle at the mountain’s peak, which was bright and serene.
“I’ll add one more thing,” Yu Feizhou’s voice came through the intercom, “I think we shouldn’t use the most obvious method first. Everyone was thrown into this maze at the beginning with the goal of reaching the mountain top, but let’s not forget the name of the instance/dungeon when we entered—Puppet Castle. This is an instance/dungeon related to puppets, and the puppets of Tower World usually carry a bloody connection to human lives. This instance/dungeon encourages ‘humans’ to kill each other from the start, deliberately obscuring the theme of puppets. If there’s any subtlety in this…”
Yan Mingguang was silently walking forward, carrying Yan Wei on his back. Earlier, he had appeared amidst the swarm of crows, forcefully supporting Yan Wei, but after lifting him, he objectively informed Yan Wei of the information he had observed, then silently gave Yan Wei the space to act.
Yan Wei stared intently at the castle on the mountain top, his brows slightly furrowed, remaining silent.
What Yu Feizhou mentioned had crossed his mind earlier. This was a competitive instance at level forty-nine, and throwing them into a Jungle Maze to test human nature—was it really just to send some ordinary players to their deaths and reduce their numbers? If the remaining players reached the castle and started the competition, the first stage would be meaningless, merely a savage slaughter.
Using blood to clear the way was a direct, crude, yet effective method, but it shouldn’t be the best strategy.
The castle at the mountain top, brightly lit, the man-eating crows becoming less dense as they ascended, and the maze that would corrode with blood…
Yan Wei’s expression paused, and his amber eyes suddenly brightened like stars.
He smiled, patted Yan Mingguang’s arm, and said, “Quick, put me down.”
Yan Mingguang didn’t hesitate, immediately stopping and slowly lowering Yan Wei from his back.
As soon as Yan Wei touched the ground, without saying a word, he directly snatched the short blade from Yan Mingguang’s hand—without hesitation, he slashed it across his own arm!
