Fang Tang turned to look at him upon hearing this.
“That works. Although this Zhao Lin looks friendly and approachable with that constant smile on his face, he gives me a very bad feeling. He feels dangerous and sickening.”
Zuo Lin'an gave a soft hum of agreement, then took a step forward and vanished from Fang Tang's side.
When he reappeared, he was already inside a mine shaft.
Moreover, he was positioned directly in front of Zhao Lin and his group.
Zhao Lin noticed almost instantly.
He immediately raised his hand to stop everyone.
“Stop!”
“There's a freezing aura ahead. A specter is likely coming. Everyone, be careful. Once it gets close, trigger your talents immediately to repel it.”
The others did not panic. Instead, they stood their ground calmly, ready for battle.
A tense atmosphere began to spread.
Seeing that they were all on guard, Zhao Lin offered another word of comfort.
“You don't need to worry too much either. There are so many of us, and everyone has special talents. We have more than four talents that can directly repel a specter!”
“So even if there is more than one specter in this dungeon, we'll be fine.”
Just as he finished speaking, Zuo Lin'an, who was hidden in the darkness, slowly revealed his figure.
Only then did Zhao Lin and the others see the dark shadow standing a few meters ahead.
The dark shadow had its back to them. Its body was wrapped in filthy bandages, and its clothes were tattered, though it was clear they were not miner uniforms.
Zhao Lin thought to himself, Could the specter here have been some poor soul who was tricked into mining here when they were alive?
Right then, Zhao Lin suddenly noticed the freezing aura surrounding the specter was dense to the extreme. He even sensed a subtle, impending threat.
It was as if...
He quickly realized that this specter had targeted him!
Having cultivated the art of Qi-gazing to its absolute peak, he would often have vague, intuitive premonitions.
It was incredibly miraculous.
Naturally, it was also because of this that he had been able to avoid numerous fatal crises and survive to this day.
He remained outwardly calm, though a ruthless glint flashed across his eyes.
Feeling that the terrifying atmosphere had been sufficiently built up, Zuo Lin'an finally turned around slowly.
A pair of crimson slit-pupils glared exceptionally piercing in the darkness.
“Those are red eyes!”
Zhao Lin frowned and spoke in a low voice.
“Although specters are different from the ghosts we know, and red doesn't necessarily mean he's a Fierce Ghost or a Blood-Clad, red ultimately signifies danger. Everyone must still be careful.”
“Don't worry, Mr. Zhao. We all know what's at stake.”
The speaker stepped out from behind Zhao Lin.
He looked extremely confident.
“It's just a specter. I can kill it with a wave of my hand!”
With that, the man waved his hand toward Zuo Lin'an, and a flash of lightning erupted.
As if he hadn't noticed it at all, Zuo Lin'an remained standing in place, completely motionless.
Another 【Heavenly Thunder Talisman】?
Zuo Lin'an simply let the lightning strike his body.
Come to think of it, how many times had he been struck by lightning since becoming a dungeon boss?
The light of the lightning exploded within the pitch-black mine shaft. It was as if someone had tossed a flashbang, causing everyone to instinctively squint their eyes.
Once the light faded and darkness returned, it took everyone quite a while to readapt to the gloom of the mine shaft.
Right at that moment, someone suddenly spoke up.
“Huh? That guy from just now is gone!”
Only then did everyone realize that the man who had stepped forward to use his talent, 【Heavenly Thunder Talisman】, had vanished right before their very eyes!
Zhao Lin frowned slightly at this. He closed his eyes as if sensing something, then let out a deep sigh.
He seemed to know that the abducted man was beyond saving.
“There's no need to panic, everyone.”
Everyone's gaze gathered on him, waiting for his next words.
“Based on the dungeon notifications, we previously deduced that there are two specters here. Since he used the 【Heavenly Thunder Talisman】 to repel one just now, the other specter must have taken the opportunity to snatch him away.”
Someone expressed concern.
“What do we do now? Should we go save him?”
When this was brought up, many of them were internally reluctant.
Someone even immediately voiced their opposition.
“Why don't we just forget it?”
“While I sympathize with him, don't forget that our survival time is only one day.”
“The last dungeon I went through had a similar pairing of two main quests. After the survival quest was completed, the dungeon only gave us one hour to find the path of survival.”
“If we can't find it within an hour, we'll be trapped in the dungeon forever.”
“And once the path of survival opens, it only stays open for five minutes.”
“If we go to save him now, heaven knows how much time it'll take! What if it delays us from finding the exit? Besides...”
He stopped there, not continuing.
But everyone understood what he left unsaid.
Furthermore, that man had already used up his talent. Talents capable of repelling specters usually had a cooldown of at least two to three days. In other words... that man was now useless.
Spending time to save him now would be nothing but a waste of their own escape time.
Zhao Lin swept his gaze across the crowd. Seeing their conflicted yet clearly unwilling expressions, his face wore a helpless look.
Yet, in the end, he still spoke up.
“Since everyone is hesitant, let me play the villain here.”
Their eyes fell upon Zhao Lin.
“Although doing this is indeed underhanded, we aren't in the real world right now. We are in a specter dungeon, so we must prioritize our own lives.”
With that, he turned and walked forward.
“Let's go. Don't waste time.”
With Zhao Lin taking the lead, the others stopped being hypocritical.
Of course, they still felt a bit guilty in their hearts.
After all, compared to their previous hypocritical displays, Zhao Lin was much more decisive and pure.
As for the player who had blasted Zuo Lin'an with the 【Heavenly Thunder Talisman】, he had naturally been captured by Zuo Lin'an. Striking while all the players had their eyes closed, Zuo Lin'an had pulled it off without a hitch.
At this moment, he had already returned to where Fang Tang was.
“Did this person look back earlier?”
Fang Tang nodded. “Yes, he did.”
Zuo Lin'an casually tossed the man onto the ground.
“Then you can begin.”
The player who had just been captured was clearly astonished by the scene before him.
Two specters, talking right in front of him.
And what was this about looking back or not?
When did he ever look back?!
How did he not know about it himself?
“You guys...”
The moment he spoke, Fang Tang's rope already coiled around his neck.
She ignored the player's struggles and roars.
With her hands, which looked frail but possessed infinite strength, she hung the man, allowing no resistance.
Fang Tang clapped her hands.
“By the way, weren't you going after Zhao Lin earlier? Why did you change targets?”
Zuo Lin'an glanced at the hanging player.
“Because he attacked me.”
“His talent was already used up, and he didn't look like he had any specter items. Besides, he was the first to jump out just now. Since he was in such a hurry, I figured I'd just bring him back and kill him first.”
Fang Tang nodded.
“So, are you going to deal with Zhao Lin now?”
Rate on N.U.
