Zuo Lin'an pondered silently.
He noticed that Liu Da hadn't given up and was still fighting for a chance to survive.
Based on his deduction, Liu Da hadn't reached his limit yet, meaning his Delayed Injury talent could postpone his wounds for more than three days.
Or more precisely, more than two days and seventeen hours.
Therefore, all he needed to do now was secure the man. Once the dungeon ended, he would gain an extra puppet.
Of course, he had no intention of keeping this puppet for himself.
The only one he wanted was Chang Sheng, who possessed the Puppet Vitalization Art. As for Liu Da... he planned to list him on the system's mall and sell him off.
There were many ways for a dungeon boss to earn Contribution points.
Aside from the basic rewards for starting a dungeon and wiping out the players, they could also turn in custom-made unsolvable specters, sell dungeon puppets, or complete bounties posted on the forums.
Though he looked down on Liu Da, there was no denying that the man's foundation was quite excellent.
He specialized in external martial arts, coupled with the Buddhist technique Golden Light Body, giving him copper skin and iron bones that countered ghosts and specters.
This was equivalent to possessing multiple special abilities.
More importantly, he actually had a brain and wasn't a mindless fool. The quality of such a puppet could easily be considered top-tier.
He had checked similar puppets in the system's mall before; they could usually be listed for about two to three Contribution points, which was equivalent to half an unsolvable specter.
Extra Contribution points were always welcome; it would be foolish to pass them up.
Of course, Zuo Lin'an wouldn't make irrational decisions blindly just for the sake of Contribution points.
He had only made this decision after testing the waters repeatedly.
He had confirmed beyond a doubt that the other party had no ability left to resist.
However, he couldn't make a direct move.
After all, Chang Sheng's puppet was still lurking in the shadows, monitoring him.
He had to make sure Liu Da was taken by a specter before the man could make contact with him, or rather, before his NPC persona could spot Liu Da.
Only then would Chang Sheng not suspect that his living body had any connection to the specters.
Moreover, having a specter snatch Liu Da away right before he could reach the NPC would only reinforce Chang Sheng's belief that staying by an NPC's side was the key to avoiding specter attacks.
At this moment, it was still two minutes before seven o'clock.
It was time to act.
In the next instant, Zuo Lin'an's specter body quietly materialized behind Liu Da.
Liu Da, whose attention had been entirely focused on Zuo Lin'an's living body, suddenly froze. He felt a familiar, icy chill rising behind him.
Wait!
His entire body went rigid, his eyes widening in horror.
This...
Such pure yin qi instantly brought a terrifying possibility to mind.
The thing behind him... was a specter!
With no time to think, Liu Da opened his mouth to shout.
“Yao—”
He wanted to call out Yao Wenli's name.
He knew that was the name of the NPC ahead.
They were very close now. As long as he could make a sound, he would definitely alert the NPC in front of him.
Unfortunately, the specter behind him didn't give him the chance. Before he could utter more than a single syllable, a hand clamped tightly over his mouth.
His neck was seized in a vice-like grip that felt like frozen iron, instantly cutting off his voice.
A moment later, both figures vanished from the spot.
Only after they had disappeared did Zuo Lin'an, who had been strolling ahead, slowly turn around and look around in confusion.
“Did... someone just call out to me?”
He thought he had heard the syllable “Yao”?
Zuo Lin'an muttered to himself, but after looking around, he saw no one.
“Was it just my imagination?”
“Whatever, I should head back. Maybe someone was calling from the peak.”
He turned and began his walk back. Before long, his figure vanished down the distant steps.
After another short while, a mini puppet emerged from a nearby patch of grass.
The puppet waddled over to the spot where Liu Da had just vanished, inspected the ground, and then searched the surroundings in confusion, but found absolutely nothing.
“What happened...?”
The puppet let out a helpless sigh before turning around to head back, keeping a safe distance as it followed Zuo Lin'an.
Upon returning to the old residence at the mountain peak, Zuo Lin'an found Feng Xingyun and learned about Liu Da's situation from him.
“Is that so? Take me to see him.”
However, when they went to check on Liu Da, they found nothing but a pile of snapped hemp ropes.
An apologetic look appeared on Feng Xingyun's face.
“I'm sorry, Young Master. It was my oversight. He escaped.”
Zuo Lin'an shook his head.
“Don't worry about it. He's just a petty thief, and we didn't lose anything. Let him go.”
“Besides, we just moved back, so there's nothing of value in the house anyway.”
Feng Xingyun's expression turned solemn.
“If I run into him again, I will definitely capture him.”
Zuo Lin'an waved his hand, seemingly unconcerned.
“We can worry about that next time. By the way, where is the other guest?”
Hearing his question, the puppet eavesdropping from the shadows seemed to freeze in tension.
Chang Sheng truly cared about what these two NPCs thought of him.
This would dictate his next course of action.
Feng Xingyun answered honestly.
“He has been staying in the guest room and hasn't stepped out.”
Zuo Lin'an's tone was calm. “In that case, leave him be. But if he asks about the guest who escaped, you can tell him the truth.”
“Understood.”
Hearing Zuo Lin'an's words, Chang Sheng let out a massive sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness...”
Only after confirming that he was safe for the time being did he have the spare energy to process what had just happened to Liu Da.
Just now, right at seven o'clock, a specter had attacked Liu Da.
No, that wasn't right.
When the specter attacked Liu Da, it hadn't reached the hour yet.
There were still about one or two minutes left.
However, the specter hadn't killed Liu Da directly; it had merely seized him and dragged him away.
In other words, while it was true that specters could only kill on the hour, it didn't mean they couldn't make a move beforehand.
Making a move didn't equate to killing.
Thus, the specter was able to snatch Liu Da away before he could even reach the NPC.
Chang Sheng recalled the moment right before seven o'clock.
He had originally planned to leave the courtyard and seek out the NPC Feng Xingyun to avoid being attacked by a specter, but he hadn't expected to witness a specter carrying Liu Da away instead.
Since the specter had targeted Liu Da, he was naturally safe.
Because of this, he had abandoned his plan to find Feng Xingyun and retraced his steps back to the guest room.
“Sigh...”
Chang Sheng felt utterly helpless.
“Liu Da is definitely dead.”
His face was filled with confusion and despair.
“Now, I'm the only player left. What... what should I do?”
The specters in this dungeon were simply too difficult to deal with. He might not even survive tonight on his own!
Chang Sheng let out a long sigh, forcing himself to snap out of his daze.
He then accelerated his pace of crafting puppets.
No matter what, the more puppets he had, the better.
Over the next two days, he would have to rely on these numerous puppets to search for the path of survival.
Meanwhile.
In another location, Liu Da slowly regained consciousness.
He opened his eyes, feeling utterly disoriented.
“What... what happened to me?”
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