Chapter 103 Activating the Trap

On the other hand, below the mountain gate of Liuhe Temple.

"Cap... Captain?" When [Zhongji Qiangxi] saw [Xian Ye Wei Wang], he could hardly believe his eyes.

Because he had never seen Xian Ye Wei Wang in such a state before...

At this moment, the captain of the First Squad of Shi Dao looked pale and dazed; his gait was staggering and he was panting. And hundreds of meters behind him, there was a large group of shadowy ghosts "floating" along.

"Huff... Alright... Don't ask anything... Quick... Use medical skills to stop the bleeding for me, completely stop it!" Xian Ye Wei Wang said, panting, as he reached his teammate, making this request.

"Uh... Oh..." Although Zhongji Qiangxi was a little puzzled, he still complied.

Speaking of which, Zhongji Qiangxi was indeed a very distinctive player... All his specialization levels were B grade.

In other words... he was a very rare type of balanced player. He could be found doing anything in the team... He wasn't afraid of direct confrontation, he could pick up a gun and shoot a few shots from a distance, he had some spiritual skills and summoned creatures, and he was indispensable in healing the wounded...

Although he wasn't outstanding in any one area, he was passable in every area. Shi Dao's optical brain system calculated his average ability value, and the result was that he was among the best, so he joined the First Squad...

And at this critical moment, the teammate Xian Ye Wei Wang wanted to meet the most was precisely Zhongji Qiangxi; this kind of all-around helper could be useful in any situation.

"Alright, all stopped." After all, he was a man with a B-grade medical specialization... With the help of medical props and skills, Zhongji Qiangxi quickly dealt with all the bleeding points on Xian Ye Wei Wang's body, ensuring that not a single drop of blood would flow out again.

But...

"Hmm..." Xian Ye Wei Wang groaned and looked back, discovering that... the movements of the ghosts in the distance hadn't stopped. "Damn... Is it too late..."

"What's wrong, Captain?" Zhongji Qiangxi asked doubtfully. "What's too late?"

"Sigh... Let's talk as we walk..." Xian Ye Wei Wang said, glancing in the direction of the mountain gate, signaling his teammate to follow him. Then, he jogged and continued, "Mo Ri is dead, you already know that, right?"

"Yeah... Less than five minutes into the scenario, I saw a living person disappear from the team roster..." Zhongji Qiangxi replied.

Xian Ye Wei Wang shook his head and sighed, then said, "Mo Ri... was killed by Feng Bujue..."

"Oh..." Upon hearing this, Zhongji Qiangxi immediately showed an "I see" expression, as if the words "Feng Bujue" appearing in the sentence made many unreasonable things reasonable, and even an explanation wasn't needed.

Seeing his teammate instantly accept this setting, Xian Ye Wei Wang continued, "After that guy Feng (now Feng Bujue's real identity isn't a secret, many people know he's a novelist, and they know his name is almost the same in the game) killed Mo Ri, he climbed to a high place and sang 'Mountain Road has Eighteen Bends'..."

"Huh?" Zhongji Qiangxi turned his face, his mouth twisted, "Really?"

"Do you think I'm in the mood to joke with you right now..." Xian Ye Wei Wang retorted with narrowed eyes.

"Hmm..." Zhongji Qiangxi was silent.

Xian Ye Wei Wang also had a painful expression: "Actually... before I heard the singing, I heard the gunshots first, and I recognized that it was Mo Ri's weapon, so before Feng Bujue started singing, I was already moving there. Unfortunately, by the time I arrived, Mo Ri was already dead, so... I fought Feng Bujue."

"You're actually still alive..." Zhongji Qiangxi blurted out this sentence without thinking.

"Hey!" Xian Ye Wei Wang shouted, "What are you saying? If we die as soon as we see him, then we might as well just give up!"

"No... I don't mean that..." Zhongji Qiangxi replied somewhat awkwardly, "Something... just feels a little strange today..."

Hearing this, Xian Ye Wei Wang's expression changed slightly, then he immediately leaned close to the other's ear and whispered something.

"Oh! That's right! That's what it is!" After hearing his captain's words, Zhongji Qiangxi suddenly understood. "I was wondering what was wrong... It turns out..."

"What is it!" Xian Ye Wei Wang saw that the guy was about to say the word "medicine" and quickly interrupted, "Think before you speak!"

After being yelled at and reminded, Zhongji Qiangxi also realized his negligence. He was a little afraid when he thought that he had almost revealed the studio's secrets in a public competition...

"Uh... Sorry..." He quickly apologized for almost letting something slip.

"Forget it, forget it... Just be more careful next time." Xian Ye Wei Wang didn't blame him, because Captain Xian Ye himself knew very well that this kind of unthinking blurt... was undoubtedly caused by the "drug's effects wearing off."

Long-term use of drugs that interfere with emotions and nerves will definitely have this kind of side effect. Since their brains have become accustomed to the game state under drug suppression, their own suppression mechanisms have also undergone corresponding changes... Once they stop taking the drugs, the brain will inevitably take some time to readjust this mechanism. And before the adjustment is completed, the language and expressions of Shi Dao members... are basically "following their feelings."

"In short..." Xian Ye Wei Wang quickly pulled the topic back and continued from the previous content, "After fighting Feng Bujue, I suffered some injuries, and then... he ran away."

"Nice one, Captain!" Zhongji Qiangxi said matter-of-factly, "You actually managed to chase him away, he must be more seriously injured than you, right?"

"Uh..." Xian Ye Wei Wang looked embarrassed, "Not really..."

"Then why did he run?" Zhongji Qiangxi asked again.

"At first, I couldn't figure it out, but after a while, I understood..." Xian Ye Wei Wang replied in a depressed tone, "That guy... wanted me to act as 'live bait'... to attract those monsters lurking in the shadows."

"You mean those monsters following you from afar?" Zhongji Qiangxi said, looking back.

"That's right." Xian Ye Wei Wang replied, "At first, I thought these monsters were easy to deal with, but I soon realized... they're almost invincible." He paused, "Physical attacks are useless, energy attacks are also ineffective... Only spiritual skills are effective against them, but this scenario restricts the power of skills... Even using my strongest spiritual skill, I can only push them back a little."

"Then... have you tried getting rid of them?" Zhongji Qiangxi asked again.

"Of course, I tried..." Xian Ye Wei Wang replied, "If I could get rid of them, I would have already gotten rid of them..." As he said this, a hint of fear flashed in his eyes, "Although those ghosts don't float very fast, no matter how far the distance is, they will continuously move towards me along the shortest straight line, and they can also pass through obstacles..."

"But why do they have to chase you?" Zhongji Qiangxi asked doubtfully.

Xian Ye Wei Wang replied, "According to my observation and deduction... they should be coming for the fresh bloody smell on my body. That's why... Feng Bujue created so many non-lethal external injuries on me."

"Oh..." Zhongji Qiangxi nodded, "But now you're not bleeding anymore, why are they still..."

Xian Ye Wei Wang interrupted his teammate again: "Naturally because my whole body of clothes is already soaked in blood..." He sighed bitterly, "Sigh... that's why I said 'it's already too late'."

"Then... what should we do next?" Zhongji Qiangxi continued.

"What else can we do... we can only speed up the pace of action and try not to stay in one place for too long." Xian Ye Wei Wang replied.

As they spoke, the two of them had already walked all the way from the foot of the mountain to the gate of Liuhe Temple.

"Tch... Someone got here before us..." Looking at the gap in the door, Xian Ye Wei Wang muttered unhappily.

"Is it possible that it was Fei Kou who left this mark?" Zhongji Qiangxi continued.

"Hmm..." Xian Ye Wei Wang thought for a moment, "It's not impossible..." Saying this, he glanced back with uneasy eyes at the looming shadows of ghosts slowly approaching from the foot of the mountain, "Anyway... judging from the opening CG, the key information in this scenario is obviously hidden inside the pagoda of Liuhe Temple. So... regardless of whether they are friend or foe, everyone is probably rushing there." He changed the subject, "Having someone open the way ahead may not be a bad thing..."

After saying that, he winked at his teammate, and then took the lead in stepping into the doorway; Zhongji Qiangxi hesitated for half a second, and then followed him in.

…………

At the same time, hundreds of meters away, behind the group of ghosts.

"Very good... They've finally entered the temple." Feng Bujue put his hands in his pockets and followed behind the large group of ghosts at a leisurely pace, slowly moving towards the temple.

Of course, he was still consciously keeping a certain distance from the monsters in front to avoid being affected by the "blood corrosion aura" that the guys brought with them.

"When did you learn to control the monsters in the scenario?" At this moment, a familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind Jue Ge.

Feng Bujue didn't need to turn his head to know who it was. First, he could recognize Ruo Yu's voice; second, there weren't many people in the entire game who could come up behind him so quietly and quickly.

"I can't control them." The next second, Feng Bujue replied without turning his head, "I just mastered their movement patterns and made use of them."

"Sounds like... these ghosts are like animals in your eyes." Ruo Yu said, quickening her pace and walking alongside Jue Ge.

Feng Bujue didn't respond to this sentence, he just looked at Ruo Yu with a smile and continued, "Speaking of which... did you happen to arrive, or have you been lying in ambush nearby for a long time?"

"My teleportation coordinates are here." Ruo Yu replied.

"So you've been lying in ambush for a long time?" Jue Ge continued.

Ruo Yu replied, "Yeah... But I waited for a long time and waited for Xiao Tan and Xiao Ling."

"Oh?" Feng Bujue immediately threw out two questions, "When did that happen? Didn't you contact them?"

"They probably went up the mountain six or seven minutes ago." Ruo Yu replied, "I waited in the dark without saying a word, wanting to see if they were being followed."

"And the result..." Jue Ge gestured for her to continue.

"As a result, I waited for those two from Shi Dao." Ruo Yu continued.

"Then why didn't you attack them?" Feng Bujue asked.

"Because I soon saw a large group of monsters moving towards them, and mixed in with them..." Ruo Yu turned to look at Jue Ge, and continued in a deep voice, "... you."

She paused for two seconds as she said this, then added, "Since you followed behind them without taking action, there must be some plan... Thinking this, I just let them go."

"Heh... Pretty smart." Feng Bujue smiled, "That's right... I kept that Captain Xian Ye around mainly to use him as a guinea pig. In the past twenty minutes, he has already done a very comprehensive test of those 'animals' in front for me, and let me slowly explain to you..."

"Wait..." Ruo Yu interrupted, "Before talking about these technical details, let's settle the strategic aspects first." She shifted her gaze slightly and continued, "In addition to the two who went up just now, Shi Dao has two more team members. If you plan to go up the mountain, then I think... I should continue to stay here and lie in ambush."

"No need." Feng Bujue rejected Ruo Yu's suggestion and explained, "I killed that guy called Mo Ri Qiangxi at the beginning of the scenario, so... apart from those two just now, they only have one team member left." He paused for half a second, then added, "In addition, through the overhead shot of the CG, I have roughly estimated the area of this Lotus Moon Town. Combined with the information you provided, I speculate... the remaining guy called 'Fei Kou Wei Wang' was most likely directly teleported inside Liuhe Temple."

"Then the 'one or two out of ten' is..." Ruo Yu asked smoothly.

"For example..." Jue Ge said with a smile, "... he was assigned by the system to a barren land far outside the town; he died inexplicably while wandering somewhere on the map alone; he got lost despite having obvious landmarks (in all the open-air places in Lotus Moon Town, you can see the mountain where Liuhe Temple is located); he thought going to Liuhe Temple wasn't a good idea, so he went somewhere else, etc." He said all these in one breath and smiled, "All such 'assumptions' added together... their possibility accounts for one or two out of ten, right?"

After listening to this reasonable deduction, Ruo Yu responded in an noncommittal tone; "Alright, I'll go up the mountain with you." After saying that, she looked up at the ghosts in front of her again, "Continue to tell me about their movement patterns..."

…………

On the other hand, in the Xiangji Kitchen (the kitchen of a large-scale temple) of Liuhe Temple.

At this moment, the last member of the First Squad of Shi Dao - [Fei Kou Wei Wang] - was squatting in a corner, shivering as he looked at the terrifying scene in front of him.

He saw... a monster with a pig's head and a human body was lighting a fire on the stove and cooking.

And what he was cooking... was a pot of meat soup with "unique ingredients".