From this, it was clear that Li Zhuang and the other guy were still afraid of Gu insects. However, only Su Menglan himself knew that due to his talent, he currently didn't have a single Gu insect left.
Seeing that Su Menglan made no move to draw out any Gu insects, Guo Xingcheng confirmed that he had no intention of attacking him.
Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, far away from this spot.
Fang Tang had just retrieved the blood mist that her specter body had turned into.
Her face was calm, as if she hadn't been the one who was just repelled.
Zuo Lin'an didn't say anything either, walking quietly by her side.
Before long, he noticed Fang Tang turning her head to look at him.
“Mr. Zuo Lin'an.”
Zuo Lin'an raised an eyebrow.
“Hmm?”
Fang Tang suddenly beamed, flashing a sweet smile.
“My specter body's recovery time is twelve hours.”
“Although I'll still have time to hunt players after twelve hours, I don't want any unexpected complications. So, I'll have to leave things to you for now.”
Zuo Lin'an nodded.
“Alright.”
He recalled that a One-Star dungeon boss's recovery time was over three days; when he was repelled back then, his recovery time had been around three days.
On the other hand, a Two-Star dungeon boss's recovery time was between five hours and one day.
He was already Two-Star, and his recovery time was at the absolute minimum of five hours. Yet, Fang Tang needed twelve hours.
Zuo Lin'an made a silent comparison.
It seemed he still had the upper hand.
Once he advanced to a Three-Star dungeon boss in the future, his recovery time would be shortened even further.
He suddenly remembered reading on the forum that a tiny minority of Five-Star dungeon bosses could recover in less than a minute after being repelled.
That truly left no way out for players.
But if they could recover in less than a minute, was there still any practical point to repelling a specter?
Oh, right!
Zuo Lin'an realized that repelling a specter would also lift the Death Lock from anyone who had triggered a Death Rule. In a way, it was still a life-saver.
So, it was still useful.
Shaking off these thoughts, he focused back on the task at hand.
“It's just about five minutes until two o'clock on the hour, so I'll be able to make a move soon.”
“So, who do you want to kill first?”
Fang Tang narrowed her eyes with a smile.
“Guo Xingcheng. He doesn't look like a good person to me, so let's kill him first. What do you think?”
The corner of Zuo Lin'an's mouth twitched upward.
Women truly held grudges.
“Alright, we'll do as you say.”
Zuo Lin'an shifted his attention back to his specter body.
At that moment, Su Menglan was bidding farewell to Guo Xingcheng.
His gaze swept over Guo Xingcheng's injured ankle, then noted the defensive look in the man's eyes.
“Since it doesn't look like you really need help right now, I'll be off.”
Since there was no foundation of trust between them, staying would only make him a nuisance and might even spark a conflict.
Although he was currently in a period of invincibility and immune to all attacks, this state would only last for ten hours.
He remembered triggering his talent at around 1:05 AM, which meant he could only guarantee his safety until 11:05 AM.
After that...
Thus, he absolutely would not waste his time here.
Guo Xingcheng, of course, wanted him to leave.
Even though his own situation was quite bad, Su Menglan was no saint.
If Su Menglan quietly planted a Gu insect inside him and forced him to block a specter at a critical moment, he probably wouldn't even be able to resist.
It was better if he left quickly.
“In that case, I won't keep you.”
Su Menglan nodded slowly, then turned and left.
Taking advantage of the time he spent talking to Guo Xingcheng, he had quietly scanned the surroundings. Following the tracks on the ground, he chose a mine shaft with no footprints.
Before long, he had distanced himself from the area.
As for his earlier encounters with two specters in a row—one of which was immune to both specter items and the repel effects of talents—he didn't mention a word of it to Guo Xingcheng.
Left behind, Guo Xingcheng only relaxed after confirming that the other party had indeed gone far away.
“Finally gone...”
However, just as he thought he was safe, a faint, chilling aura began to spread.
!
He frowned slightly.
“What's going on?”
“Is it my imagination?”
He thought he was hallucinating.
But as the chilling aura slowly intensified, he finally confirmed that a specter was approaching!
“Is this... a second specter?”
Guo Xingcheng's heart pounded violently.
“This...”
Panic seized his heart.
After all, he had no specter items in hand, and his talent had just been used and was currently on cooldown.
Even though the cooldown was only an hour, only a few minutes had passed!
On top of that, he was injured!
Supporting himself against the stone wall with both hands, Guo Xingcheng stood up. He then limped toward the mine shaft Su Menglan had just left through.
“Wait!”
Even though he knew the other man had already gone far, he couldn't help but call out.
What if?
What if Su Menglan heard him?!
The result, of course, was futile. Su Menglan was already long gone.
“Why...”
Had he known a specter would appear, he should have made Su Menglan stay.
But even if he regretted it now, it was too late.
Zuo Lin'an's figure slowly materialized behind him. At this moment, there was about one minute left until two o'clock on the hour.
Feeling the chilling aura drawing closer behind him, Guo Xingcheng instinctively glanced back.
What he saw was a pair of crimson slit-pupils.
They were right behind him, not even two meters away.
Whenever he took a step forward, the entity would follow, maintaining a constant distance.
Seeing this, he froze completely.
He knew he couldn't escape.
Guo Xingcheng's heart filled with despair, and he stopped walking.
If he weren't injured, he might have tried to run and perhaps escaped.
After all, a specter couldn't hunt him indefinitely. It might change targets, as anyone who triggered a Death Rule would become its prey.
But now...
“Damn it!”
“You bastard!”
At this moment, his heart was filled with intense resentment, as well as hatred for the person who had injured him.
“Using me to buy time?”
“You think you'll survive just because I'm dead?”
“I'll be waiting for you!”
“I'll wait for you in hell!”
Zuo Lin'an knew the player wasn't talking to him, but he didn't care about such trivial matters.
In any case, this man would be dead soon.
A minute slipped by in silence.
Zuo Lin'an slowly raised his hand.
Noticing this, Guo Xingcheng's eyes instinctively fell on the hand.
What was he doing?
Then, a cold glint flashed in the darkness.
In the specter's raised hand, he saw a blood-stained, glinting, and incredibly sharp boning knife suddenly appear out of thin air.
“Execution...”
“Is he going to execute the Death Rule?”
He muttered.
Fear flashed in his eyes, but he still didn't run.
So, how would he die?
Zuo Lin'an's other hand directly gripped the man's neck, pinning him to the ground as the blade came to rest against the back of his neck.
Rate on N.U.
