Chapter 17 The Explosion's Aftermath

The rocket dragged a long tail of fire as it flew toward Xu Tuo'an, accompanied by a deafening roar and a dazzling blaze that soared into the sky.

The shockwave from the bàozhà (explosion) sent chunks of stone flooring flying in all directions, creating a downpour of debris, flesh, and sparks.

It was over.

Liu Wudai listened to the system notification in her ear and silently put away the bazooka.

At that moment, the Plague Doctor, who had been hidden for so long, leaped down from the second-floor lobby corridor. He looked at the ravaged surroundings and couldn't help but sigh.

"One script mission,"

The Plague Doctor's face was hidden by a motorcycle helmet, making it impossible to see his expression, but his tone was full of sorrow. "Five people, and only three are left..."

He had never met Ao Yong or the Lost Airship before, let alone formed any bond with them. But watching his teammates, fellow players, die before his eyes, he felt a strange sense of desolation.

As players leveled up, the difficulty of the missions issued by the Killing Field game would gradually increase.

Every mission was a struggle for survival on the edge of life and death, and every choice determined one's fate.

This constant pressure to fight for one's life was enough to break those with weaker wills.

There were many examples on the player luntan (forum) of foreign players who couldn't handle the psychological pressure and became addicted to alcohol, sex, and even drugs—not everyone was an ascetic or a masochist.

After seeing too much suffering and enduring too much fear, a large number of people would choose to enjoy every day they had left.

Being a player was not only a blessing from the Goddess of Fate, but also a death warrant from the Grim Reaper. No one knew how long they could last in the Killing Field game.

Death could come at any time, this round, or the next...

The Plague Doctor's face, hidden beneath the motorcycle helmet, was quite gloomy. He shook his head, clearing his chaotic thoughts, and said to Li Ang with a serious expression, "This time, we owe it all to you, Brother Li. Without you, I definitely wouldn't have been able to solve the mystery of this mission."

The Plague Doctor's gratitude was absolutely sincere.

Playing hide-and-seek with a bunch of ghosts, while one of them was hiding within the team disguised as a teammate—this kind of bizarre and terrifying game setting was enough to wipe out a well-coordinated, experienced strategy team more than ten times over.

"No need to thank me." Li Ang shook his head and said calmly, "Actually, this mission wasn't ridiculously difficult. It's just that Ao Yong infiltrated the mall's control room during the day, causing the mission's direction to become distorted, which introduced the ghost teammate setting.

Even with a ghost teammate, as long as you observe carefully and discover their identity, you can complete the mission through peaceful means of negotiation."

"Hmm?" The Plague Doctor was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"Didn't you notice? The mission conditions given by the system were only to copy six talismans."

Li Ang grinned and said coldly, "If a player in the team had discovered Xu Tuo'an's existence, they could have negotiated with him privately, helping him draw the talismans without being chased and interfered with by the vengeful spirits.

After that player helped Xu Tuo'an draw the Gathering Yin Formation, the other three ghosts in the mall could possess the bodies of the other three player teammates and leave the shopping center.

The player could then slowly collect the Exorcism Formation talismans, completing the mission at the cost of their teammates."

Li Ang paused, then said softly, "This method of clearing the level is probably the safest, most reliable, and most reasonable...

Even if the other teammates noticed something was wrong, they wouldn't be able to cause any trouble, because the player who betrayed them would be closely protected by the vengeful spirits...

In other words, another way to complete this mission isn't to run faster than the ghosts, but to think faster than your teammates.

That's probably the true meaning of hide-and-seek."

"Hiss..." The Plague Doctor couldn't help but wince. After hearing Li Ang's explanation, he understood that there was such a sinister and malicious meaning behind this task.

People knew the terror of ghosts, but ghosts understood the poison of the human heart. In cooperative missions, players not only had to worry about the attacks of demons and ghosts, but also had to be wary of the sinister schemes of their so-called "teammates"—and this kind of scheming largely came from the system's hints, enticements, and even encouragement.

"Oh, right," Li Ang clapped his hands, suddenly remembering something, and looked up at the Plague Doctor. "Can you show me those three talismans?"

"Sure, sure." The Plague Doctor, grateful for his teammate's mercy, nodded and took out three crumpled talismans from his pocket, handing them over.

Li Ang took the three yellow papers, spread them out on the ground, took a picture with his phone, and then returned them to the other man.

The Plague Doctor put away the talismans and asked curiously, "What's that for?"

"Collecting some information," Li Ang said casually. "Whether the Tanhua organization Xu Tuo'an mentioned is real or fake, the Exorcism Formation and Gathering Yin Formation he mastered are real and effective.

Even if I don't have any so-called Qi and can't use these Daoist techniques, I can still sell them as data files on the luntan (forum) and probably make a lot of game currency.

I can send you a copy if you want."

Unfortunately, Xu Tuo'an's ghost didn't survive the Moonlight Sword of the Exorcism Formation. The knowledge he possessed was probably the most valuable asset in this mission.

But there was no point in thinking about it now. If Xu Tuo'an had managed to survive the Exorcism Formation, Li Ang and the others would probably be the ones running away now.

"Then send me a complete set of talisman information."

The Plague Doctor nodded, glanced at Liu Wudai, who had been silent all along, and smiled. "The three of us can be considered comrades who survived a script mission together. And since we're all locals from Yin City, let's add each other as friends later. We can look after each other if anything happens."

Liu Wudai nodded silently and, along with Li Ang, accepted the Plague Doctor's friend request.

"Now that the mission is complete, the barrier set up by the system around Longheng Shopping Center should be dissipating." The Plague Doctor said, "I'll go destroy the monitoring system in the basement control room to prevent the Special Affairs Bureau from investigating later."

"I'll go with you." Li Ang followed behind the Plague Doctor, with Liu Wudai close behind.

The three of them destroyed all the hard drives and computers in the control room that stored surveillance videos. Fortunately, the main control system in Longheng Mall was still an old model from a few years ago and had not been upgraded. It didn't have a background program that automatically uploaded surveillance footage to the cloud, otherwise it would have been difficult.

After destroying and erasing all the records, the three of them felt the barrier around Longheng Plaza gradually dissipate. They then dispersed and left, leaving the mess for the Special Affairs Bureau to clean up, who would arrive at the scene twenty minutes later due to a fire alarm.