At this point, only five players remained, excluding the three useless, unlucky bastards who were still wandering around the lowest level.
Wu Su, Su Menglan, and the trio of Zhao Lin, Li Zhuang, and Zhou Xin.
“You really want Wu Su, don't you?”
Fang Tang was startled for a moment, then nodded sheepishly.
“Yes, if possible... let's keep him.”
Zuo Lin'an said, “Alright, then we'll put him aside for now.”
“As for our next targets, it's either Li Zhuang and Zhou Xin, or those three unlucky bastards still circling around the lowest level. Who do you choose?”
Fang Tang did not hesitate.
“Let's kill Li Zhuang and Zhou Xin first, leaving Zhao Lin completely on his own.”
“Then I'll go kill Su Menglan.”
“Finally, we'll kill the three players on the lowest level.”
“After that, we'll just need to stall for time.”
Zuo Lin'an agreed, “Alright.”
Next, while he still had time, he controlled his specter body to visit several other locations, chopping down rocks to block the paths.
This went on until eleven o'clock.
Once again, he found Zhao Lin.
But this time, Zhao Lin transferred the target to Zhou Xin.
After all, Li Zhuang had been planted with the curse seed later than the others, so even if he was used as a proxy, he would inevitably be the last one.
Watching those crimson eyes lock onto her, Zhou Xin felt a chill run down her spine, her scalp tingling with dread.
So, was it her turn this time?
But that wasn't right!
Just now... wasn't the specter staring at Zhao Lin?
While she was still confused, Zuo Lin'an's figure flickered as he rapidly drew closer, appearing right before her in the blink of an eye.
Zhou Xin shrieked and instinctively triggered her talent.
【Player Zhou Xin's talent triggered successfully】
【Initial Talent: Imprisonment (Special)】
【Can imprison a random specter within a ten-meter radius of oneself for ten seconds. During the imprisonment, the target cannot move or conceal itself. Cooldown: 2 hours.】
【You have been imprisoned for ten seconds.】
Zuo Lin'an instantly froze in place, unable to move a muscle.
Seeing this, Zhou Xin dashed straight toward Zhao Lin and Li Zhuang.
“Brother Zhao, Brother Li!”
“Save me, please! I don't want to die!”
“Do you have any specter items? Or talents?”
“Anything will do, please use it quickly!”
“Ten seconds! There are only ten seconds!”
Zhao Lin frowned slightly as he looked at the frantic Zhou Xin.
After a moment's thought, he offered a few words of comfort to calm her down.
“Don't worry. Stand behind me.”
Suddenly, he paused. As if realizing something, a strange look flashed across his eyes.
“Let me take a look first.”
With that, he brushed past the terrified Zhou Xin and walked up to Zuo Lin'an.
He carefully scanned the specter before him. The more he looked, the more familiar it seemed!
Finally, he reached out his hands anyway.
As he unraveled the bandages wrapped around the specter's head, revealing the face underneath, his eyes suddenly widened in shock.
“This...”
Seeing his reaction, Li Zhuang and Zhou Xin exchanged a glance and walked over as well.
When they saw the face, they wore the exact same shocked expressions.
“It's him!”
“How is this possible?!”
“Isn't he a player just like us?”
“How could he be the specter?!”
Zhao Lin stared intently at the pale, ashen face before him, his hands trembling uncontrollably.
He understood now.
He understood everything!
Those two ordinary people who appeared to be players were actually specters in disguise!
He remembered the hint from the novice benefits, which represented a Death Rule similar to a look-back kill.
Right at the beginning, that woman had pretended to almost fall.
It was her scream that had caused everyone to look back.
And it was at that very moment that everyone who looked back had triggered the Death Rule.
“So that's how it was...”
The ten seconds were up.
Zuo Lin'an broke free from the restriction. He bypassed Zhao Lin and ignored Li Zhuang, who was shivering off to the side, heading straight for the fleeing Zhou Xin.
Although Zhou Xin was also a cultivator, her abilities had nothing to do with speed.
In the blink of an eye, the specter caught up, pinning her to the ground.
Feeling the intense, icy chill, she screamed hysterically, straining her voice to cry out for help.
“Brother Zhao!!”
“Brother Li...”
“Save me, please! I don't want to die!”
“I don't want to die... Ahhh!!!”
This time, Zuo Lin'an executed the rule right in front of the two men.
As her screams gradually faded, the scene became a bloody mess.
Having completed his task, he didn't linger and vanished on the spot.
With his departure, the suffocating, icy aura permeating the area dissipated.
Li Zhuang panted heavily as he stared at the gory mess on the ground, struggling to suppress the urge to vomit.
“Brother Zhao, wh-what do we do now?”
Zhao Lin took a deep breath. Without sparing a single glance at Zhou Xin's mangled corpse, he turned and walked away.
“What else can we do?”
“Keep moving. From now on, pick up the pace!”
Li Zhuang quickly responded.
“Right!”
The two figures quickly disappeared into the mine shaft ahead, their pace indeed significantly faster than before.
Meanwhile.
Fang Tang looked at Zuo Lin'an, who was sitting beside her.
“Oh dear, it seems your identity has been exposed.”
Zuo Lin'an blinked.
“It's fine. So what if it's exposed?”
“Besides, as long as my living body and specter body don't appear before Zhao Lin at the same time, even if he figures out how to actually kill me, what can he do about it?”
Fang Tang nodded.
“True.”
The two of them continued to stroll forward at a leisurely pace.
Before they knew it, it was almost twelve o'clock.
At this moment, no one was more tense than Su Menglan.
His talent's duration had already expired at 11:05.
As the clock ticked closer to twelve, his sense of impending doom grew exponentially.
Over the past few hours, by tracking Zhao Lin's group, he had also gotten a rough idea of the specter's attack patterns.
Almost every time he heard a scream and confirmed a player's death, it happened right around the hour.
In other words, one of the Death Rules of the specter in this dungeon was killing on the hour.
Furthermore, it seemed that no trigger was required; once the time was up, the specter could attack anyone at will.
However, the number of casualties was limited to only one per hour.
And now, it was only a few minutes away from twelve o'clock.
“When the hour strikes in a few minutes, will it be my turn?”
Aside from the specter item Awl, which could only be used one more time, he had no other means left.
“Sigh... I can only take it one step at a time.”
Time steadily approached twelve o'clock.
Until...
All three hands of his watch pointed straight up to the number twelve.
Su Menglan stood in place and waited for a moment, but no icy aura appeared.
However, before long, he heard another scream.
“That voice... it's Li Zhuang.”
Su Menglan frowned slightly, but quickly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness.”
“Thank goodness it wasn't me.”
To his surprise, he had escaped death once again.
“I wonder what Zhao Lin and the others did to be targeted so relentlessly by the specter.”
“It seems that until they are wiped out, the specter won't change its targets.”
“Which means I'm still safe for the time being.”
But...
If Zhao Lin dies, how is he going to leave?
Rate on N.U.
