Zuo Lin'an glanced at the time. It was 1:25.
“Of course we're going. The sooner we deal with them, the better.”
Fang Tang hesitated slightly. “That Su Menglan already knows your situation—that you can ignore the repel effects of specter items and talents. And...”
She squinted her eyes and checked on them using her God's-eye view.
“And he's already met up with the other players over there. Though he hasn't revealed this information yet, he could do so at any moment.”
“As for Zhao Lin's group, because you left quickly earlier, they think that player was snatched by me—the second specter. They haven't suspected you yet.”
“But once you show up again...”
Zuo Lin'an remained very calm.
“So what if I'm discovered?”
Fang Tang blanked out for a moment, pondered briefly, and then snapped her fingers.
“That's true!”
“So what if they know!”
“They still can't do anything about it!”
She stared at Zuo Lin'an with envious eyes.
“I want a specter item like that too! Why is your luck so good?”
Her tone was filled with pure envy.
“By the way, ever since I met you, I haven't seen that gold hairpin specter item.”
“Where on earth did you hide it?”
One had to understand that since they weren't players, they couldn't materialize specter items directly into their bodies.
This meant Zuo Lin'an had to be keeping the gold hairpin somewhere on his person.
Yet, she hadn't noticed it at all.
As she spoke, Fang Tang suddenly leaned in close to Zuo Lin'an, sizing him up from head to toe, even reaching out her hands to pat him down.
Zuo Lin'an took a step back, flickering into the distance to avoid her hands.
“The gold hairpin is very important to me.”
“I hid it in a very safe place.”
“After all, as you know, once a player touches a specter item, it becomes theirs.”
“Even if the player is killed afterward, ownership of the specter item won't change; instead, it will disappear along with the player's corpse.”
“So, there can't be even a single mistake.”
Fang Tang didn't chase after him. She was only curious, not actually intending to pry the specter item off him.
“Then will you show it to me after the dungeon ends?”
This time, Zuo Lin'an didn't refuse.
“Sure.”
With that, his figure vanished, heading off into the distance.
Left behind, Fang Tang mumbled to herself.
“Could it be hidden on his living body?”
At that moment, Fang Tang's living body, which was already very far away, suddenly turned her head to look at Zuo Lin'an beside her.
Zuo Lin'an met her gaze.
“No.”
Fang Tang pouted.
“Oh...”
Zuo Lin'an's specter body was already blocking the mine shaft once again.
This time, the person he wanted to target was Zhao Lin.
This Zhao Lin was incredibly mysterious, and he wanted to test out the other man's talent.
Zhao Lin, who was leading the others in search of the exit, stopped in his tracks once more.
“Wait.”
This time, he didn't need to explain; the others had also sensed the freezing aura permeating the mine shaft.
“Is this the second specter?”
“It came this quickly?”
“Who's going to repel it this time?”
At the mention of stepping up, everyone fell silent.
The player who had stepped up first earlier had already been snatched away by the specter. There was no need to guess his fate—he was undoubtedly dead.
If they stepped up now, their talents would enter cooldown. Once they lost their utility, would they also be abandoned by the group?
Just as the atmosphere grew tense, someone suddenly spoke in a low voice.
“This is the second specter. Once we repel it, both specters in this dungeon will turn into blood mist. Even if our talents are on cooldown, we'll be safe afterward.”
Someone frowned and retorted.
“How can you be sure there are only two specters in this dungeon? The dungeon notifications said 'them,' it didn't specify there are only two.”
Seeing this, Zhao Lin knew he couldn't let them keep arguing.
“Don't worry, everyone. There are indeed only two specters in this specter dungeon.”
A few people were clearly skeptical, but because it was Zhao Lin speaking, they didn't immediately argue and instead waited for him to continue.
Zhao Lin said, “As for how I came to this conclusion... you all know about the Ten-City Joint Auction, right?”
“They sell related intelligence in the black market there.”
“I spent some money earlier to purchase information regarding specter dungeons.”
“According to the black market's statistics, up until now, all dungeons with only one main quest are generally of lower difficulty, with only one specter attacking the players from start to finish.”
“Furthermore, the specter only has a single Death Rule.”
“As for specter dungeons with two main quests, at most only two specters have ever appeared. Each specter has two rules, one of which is guaranteed to be a Death Rule.”
“This level of dungeon difficulty is defined by them as One-Star and Two-Star.”
Hearing this, everyone believed most of it.
After all, this was information bought from the nation's largest black market. Although the black market itself was highly unethical, they were willing to trust the information sold there.
It concerned the black market's reputation, and they wouldn't ruin their own brand.
“In that case...”
At this moment, someone was already about to step forward.
After all, the sooner they repelled the specter blocking their path, the sooner they could find the exit.
However, right at that moment, Zuo Lin'an suddenly moved.
He deactivated his concealment state and rapidly approached the crowd.
His sudden appearance startled all the players.
“This! Those eyes... h-how is this possible?!”
“It's the specter from before! How can that be?”
“It was clearly repelled by a talent! Why is it back again?”
Everyone instinctively took a few steps back, distancing themselves from Zuo Lin'an.
Only Zhao Lin remained standing in place, motionless.
He could already feel the specter's eyes locking firmly onto him.
Although he didn't know why this specter hadn't been repelled by the talent, now was clearly not the time to ponder it.
Being targeted by the specter, he had to find a way out now.
Use a specter item?
No, his specter item couldn't repel the specter; it could only buy time.
Then he could only use his talent.
Just as Zuo Lin'an was about to reach Zhao Lin, a dungeon notification suddenly appeared.
【Player Zhao Lin has triggered his talent.】
【Initial Talent: Proxy Curse Art (Unique Special)】
【Allows the user to plant a curse seed in advance inside anyone who owes them. As the debt increases, the seed will take root, sprout, and grow larger.】
【Whenever the user encounters a crisis, the person who owes them the most will automatically step forward to take the disaster in their stead. This continues until the debt is settled or the person dies, at which point the seed vanishes and it becomes the next person's turn.】
【Only nine seeds can be planted at any one time. No cooldown.】
【Player's talent successfully triggered. Your targeted target has shifted, and you can only attack this new target until their debt to Zhao Lin is settled, or they die and the curse seed inside them vanishes.】
Rate on N.U.
