Yan Wei’s knife cut was so decisive that even Yan Mingguang, who was holding the knife, was momentarily stunned.
In an instant, the bright white blade was stained with a layer of blood, and the scar on Yan Wei’s arm began to bleed, soaking the cuff of his trench coat. The smell of blood spread through the air, and the cawing of crows in the distance suddenly grew closer.
Yan Wei was not someone who was afraid of pain, but this decisive cut had indeed broken the skin, and he instinctively let out a hiss.
Yan Mingguang was stunned for that brief moment, then raised his hand to snatch the bloodied blade from Yan Wei without a word, immediately pulling him into his embrace. With the blade pointed towards the direction of the approaching crows, his usually cold voice now carried a hint of anger as he said, “Tend to your wound, and don’t move around!”
He didn’t ask Yan Wei why he did that.
However, Yan Wei felt an inexplicable sense of guilt from Yan Mingguang’s tone.
Seeing the mass of crows about to descend, he had no time to respond to Yan Mingguang. Instead, he lightly touched the Black Ring, instantly retrieving a very ordinary flashlight from the storage compartment of his information panel.
The flashlight emitted a concentrated beam of light, shooting up into the sky like a blade piercing through the night.
The vast black crows surrounded them from all directions, like an overwhelming night, and in that moment, the beam of light split through them—surrounding the beam, they did not advance another step!
The maze walls above would normally not show any abnormalities, and even the light would be completely scattered, visible only to those beneath it. But because of the crows circling, the invisible beam became quite apparent.
The surrounding crows gathered around this beam of light, cawing incessantly. Yan Wei held the flashlight in one hand, while blood slowly flowed down his other arm, soaking his clothes, dripping down drop by drop onto the ground and vegetation.
The corrosive blood immediately eroded a small patch around Yan Wei, roughly the size of a person standing.
Yan Wei turned to face the direction of the castle, holding the flashlight, completely ignoring the maze wall right in front of him, and took a step forward.
As expected, the dripping blood corroded the maze wall ahead, opening a narrow path just wide enough for one person to pass through. But this path was not long; just a few steps ahead was another maze wall, clearly requiring Yan Wei to move forward again, using his blood to clear the way.
He came to a conclusion and turned to Yan Mingguang with a smile, saying, “This is the hidden solution! But the path opened by one person’s blood can only be traversed by one person. I’ll drop blood to clear the way in front, and you can follow behind me. Let’s go first, and I’ll explain as we walk.”
The man glanced at the wound on his arm, his expression slightly restrained. Without saying a word, he took the already bloodied dagger and made a cut on his own arm.
Yan Wei was taken aback; this man, with an unchanged expression, quickly took out supplies to tend to the wound, and in no time, he had wrapped Yan Wei’s injury with gauze soaked in medicine. Then, he took the flashlight from Yan Wei’s hand, pulling him behind himself, saying, “I’ll lead.”
Yan Wei looked at his already treated wound, opened his mouth, but could only lift his foot and walk straight along the narrow path opened by Yan Mingguang’s blood.
At the same time, he tapped the intercom and spoke to Lin Zhen and Yu Feizhou, “Lin Zhen, Yu Feizhou, no matter where you are right now, don’t harm anyone. First, casually exchange for a flashlight in the information panel’s shop—just an ordinary one, as long as it has light. Then, use the flashlight and drop your own blood to clear the way, just walk straight ahead; after all, blood can corrode the maze walls.”
The hidden method wasn’t particularly difficult, but given the default solution provided, all players’ thoughts were initially limited to the method of having other players clear the path, completely overlooking the idea of injuring themselves. Even in a situation where everyone was both hunter and prey, players’ first instinct was to protect themselves from injury, making it impossible to think of using their own blood to clear the way.
Why didn’t players dare to use their own blood to clear the path?
Because once the smell of blood spread, the vast number of crows would rush in, and no matter how skilled a player was, they couldn’t fend off so many flesh-eating crows at once. Even that seed player, the Cap-wearing guy, who was over forty levels, was completely devoured by the crows.
But what if the crows wouldn’t swarm?
As long as the crows didn’t come to eat, even without using someone else’s blood, just dropping their own blood little by little while heading towards the castle could allow them to reach it in a matter of minutes.
Earlier, Yan Mingguang had told him that a group of seed players from various organizations had joined forces to capture other players as prey to clear the path. However, the higher they went, the slower they cleared the way, because the closer they got to the castle, the fewer crows there were, thus slowing their rate of consumption.
The difference between higher and lower levels was the castle.
From the outside, what distinguished the castle from other places? It was the warm yellow light shining everywhere.
But if viewed this way, there could also be something inside the castle that repelled the crows, not necessarily just the light. However, earlier, before Yan Mingguang arrived, to fend off the Tall guy’s attack, Yan Wei had used the Moon Wheel, which emitted a pure white light, to separate the space around him.
At that time, the crows did not crash into an invisible barrier, thus not approaching Yan Wei; instead, they had veered away from him before even hitting the barrier. The crows couldn’t possibly have the ability to perceive the existence of the barrier; it was the light emitted by the Moon Wheel that naturally made them give way.
“Yu Feizhou was right; the theme of this castle is puppetry. Using other players to clear the path is definitely not a good strategy, so we must avoid indirect killings. Also, we need to run with all our might. We should split into three groups, and three beams of light will rise. Although due to the maze’s restrictions on the air, others can’t see the light, they can see the crows drawn by the blood. It won’t be long before someone figures out the answer from our actions; if we delay, it could lead to complications.”
Meanwhile, Lin Zhen had already broken all the fingers of that player. After hearing Yan Wei’s words, he curled his lip, directly released his foot, and quietly said to the player, who was nearly fainting from pain, “Goodbye.”
He followed Yan Wei’s instructions, cut his arm, and ran straight towards the castle, holding the flashlight.
Three beams of light, surrounded by crows, shot up into the sky, quickly moving towards the castle on the mountaintop.
Not far from the castle, in a large open area, a group of players stood together, watching helplessly as a “prey” in front of them bled profusely under the crows’ consumption, clearing yet another large area.
“What is that?” someone asked.
Another person looked in the direction indicated and saw a place filled with crows. These crows were not circling in one spot but were flying straight towards the castle, with a blank space in between where no crows approached.
Someone else said, “There’s one over there too!”
“Here too!”
“Three? What’s going on with these crows?”
Ahead, a leading player scoffed, completely ignoring the pleas of the “prey” in his hands, decisively cutting open the person’s arm, then throwing them forward, waiting for the crows to arrive.
He said, “As long as those crows don’t harm us, it’s fine. Hey, time’s running out; can you useless people move a bit faster?”
The others hurriedly went to look for new prey.
However, the closer they got to the top, the fewer crows there were. These people were quite quick in finding prey—there were still many players dragged in to die—but the crows’ speed of consumption was slow. By the time they had cleared a path, the three areas surrounded by crows were already very close to the castle.
Among this group of cooperating players, the leader suddenly realized something was off.
“Wait, the higher we go, the fewer crows there are, but why are these crows still flying straight towards the castle? It’s as if…”
As if someone was running towards the castle while being chased by crows.
The people present showed expressions of curiosity.
They were not far from the castle now; if they kept killing like this, they should reach it in less than ten minutes. But those three groups of crows seemed to be flying to the edge of the castle in just a few minutes, like players rushing towards the castle.
Players…
Someone suddenly realized: “Those aren’t crows flying towards the castle at all! They’re people running towards the castle chased by crows!!!”
Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang were the first to arrive in front of the castle.
When Yan Wei informed Lin Zhen and Yu Feizhou, he was already rushing towards the castle, and with Yan Mingguang leading him, they naturally arrived faster. Just as they paused at the castle entrance, several groups of crows suddenly surrounded them, just like when they were rushing towards the castle.
“It seems they’re not foolish,” Yan Wei turned to look, “They’ve figured out another solution from us. The others were already close, and in a few minutes, the remaining players who are still alive will probably arrive too.”
Around them, the crows that had been following suddenly hesitated, circling outside the castle’s range for a moment before flying away.
Yan Wei put away the flashlight, took out the remaining materials from the bandage that Yan Mingguang had given him, and carefully treated the wound on Yan Mingguang’s bloodied arm, saying, “Thank you.”
Yan Mingguang didn’t respond.
They moved forward together towards the imposing castle gate.
The castle gate was half-open, with countless lights shining inside, yet seemingly no one was visible.
The prompt sound from the building echoed in Yan Wei and Yan Mingguang’s minds: [Congratulations, players for being the first to reach Puppet Castle, earning rewards: Body Index 100, Perception 130, Points 300.]
Yan Wei raised an eyebrow.
This is… the terrifying feedback of reaching thirty floors? Just this small initial achievement was already more than the total rewards he had received from previous instances/dungeons.
The two exchanged glances, and before they could speak, a deep, muffled voice echoed from within the seemingly empty castle: “Guests… have arrived.”
Before the words fell, a rhythmic sound of footsteps began.
Yan Wei stood at the castle entrance, looking inside, and saw two rows of figures marching towards them. These figures moved extremely quickly, yet their movements were so orderly and synchronized that they didn’t seem human. In no time, the two rows of figures reached the door and completely opened the castle’s grand entrance.
Yan Wei could see the ones opening the door.
They were expressionless, their movements stiff yet powerful, clearly not human—puppets.
And among this group of puppets, Yan Wei recognized a familiar face.
The Cap-wearing guy he had schemed against, leading to his demise.
