Chapter 11: Suspected Cheating Illusionist
After listening to the intelligence narrated by Xibei'er, Su Xiao basically understood the situation on the illusionist's side.
The illusionist came from Apocalypse Paradise. He had originally formed a temporary team of five, but while they were preparing to head to the Tiger Bee Zone, they happened to rescue a native tribesman.
That native came from the Rain Throat Tribe, the primitive tribe that controlled the Water Source Zone. Through negotiations by a Charm-type contractor, the illusionist's team successfully joined the Rain Throat Tribe's faction and learned a piece of intelligence: in the neighboring Swamp Zone's central area, a giant ape dwelled.
As a contractor, the illusionist learned from the Rain Throat Tribe's shaman priest that the giant ape in the swamp zone was extremely powerful. Its heart was something the Tiger Bee Lord craved.
The illusionist already knew about the Bee Queen's existence. She desired the giant ape's heart but had never made a move, which indicated that the giant ape was also a Lord-class creature. Additionally, the swamp zone was teeming with poisonous insects, so the Bee Queen wouldn't act rashly, especially with the nearby Rain Throat Tribe as a major threat.
From these scattered pieces of intelligence, the illusionist summarized three things: 1. The giant ape was a Lord-class creature, killing it would yield substantial rewards. 2. The giant ape's heart might involve a hidden quest. 3. This was a good opportunity to gather manpower.
The illusionist didn't hide this matter. He immediately began searching for traces of other teams and shared this intelligence with them.
Before long, the illusionist had gathered 32 contractors. After all, the larger the team, the less fear of encountering Hunters. Even if a Hunter infiltrated, they wouldn't dare act rashly. Not only did they have numbers, but they also had the advantage of the Rain Throat Tribe.
Being able to form such a team, the illusionist's charisma and leadership skills were undeniable. If allowed to continue developing, he might even create a team of over 50, or even a hundred.
When the Tank Man learned of this news, he directly sought out the illusionist, intending to eliminate him before he could truly assemble a large force.
The result was that the Tank Man nearly lost his life. Mu Xiao turned out to be a Survivor, not a Hunter. Given her strength, she should have been a Hunter—almost everyone thought so—but she wasn't.
After fully verifying this, the illusionist almost laughed out loud. He then had a face-to-face talk with Mu Xiao, deciding to let her become the temporary leader while he willingly assisted her.
Mu Xiao refused. In her view, while she had combat prowess, her three-sentence-and-awkward-silence communication skills made her unfit to lead others. The illusionist's behavior made Mu Xiao feel he wasn't an arrogant or selfish person, so she firmly supported him.
It wasn't a rabble forming a team that was feared; it was a group of capable people with clear goals gathering together. That was exactly what the illusionist's team had become.
The illusionist set no rules. His only requirement was that there be absolutely no infighting. Anyone who started infighting would be attacked by the group. Beyond that, there were no other demands.
The illusionist was the core that held everyone together, Mu Xiao was the combat powerhouse, and the other members each had their roles. They welcomed everyone to join and would use various methods to test them later.
So far, two Hunters had died at their hands. The Survivors who killed these two could complete their missions with high ratings, yet they didn't leave. They all knew that with the illusionist's abilities, he could quickly gather even more people. Then, they could leverage the Rain Throat Tribe's power and their own combat strength to monopolize the daily supply drops. After 14 days, these supplies would be split equally among everyone.
Hearing this news, Su Xiao frowned. If the illusionist was allowed to continue developing like this, the situation would become very unfavorable. In a few days, a large group of Survivors would gather together, searching everywhere for Hunters.
The illusionist planned to assemble his forces tomorrow morning to besiege and kill that Lord-class giant ape. This siege of a Lord creature held extraordinary significance for the illusionist. He wanted everyone to taste the benefits, thereby attracting more Survivors.
As for Xibei'er's team, they had received the news and were preparing to head to the Rain Throat Tribe to rendezvous with the illusionist, joining tomorrow morning's Lord creature subjugation battle.
"How did you learn this news?"
"A crow found us and told us this information."
"A summoned creature?"
"No, it was a contractor's avatar ability. He seems able to split his own flesh and turn it into crows."
"Is that so."
Su Xiao frowned in thought. For some reason, he felt something was off about this. That contractor named Illusionist had an unusually strong ability to unite people.
More importantly, his series of actions seemed almost like cheating. First, he happened to rescue a member of the Rain Throat Tribe, then used that as an opportunity to quickly recruit multiple teams.
Rescuing a Rain Throat Tribe member could be chalked up to luck, but quickly recruiting other teams wasn't something luck alone could achieve.
Su Xiao had previously had Bubu Wang and Baha search for a long time in the Wild Thicket Forest without finding any other contractors. If not for the earlier supply drop, he wouldn't have known when he'd find traces of Survivors.
The illusionist's side had continuously found several teams in a short time. Given the vast expanse of the Water Source Zone, this was inherently inexplicable. If a Perception-type had fully expanded their perception range, it would have provoked countless supernormal creatures within that range, causing a huge commotion.
In contrast, the illusionist's side had silently gathered over thirty people, as if they had a 3D map of the Wild Thicket Forest, one that even marked the location of every contractor.
Su Xiao's feeling was that the illusionist had suddenly started cheating before, but soon, that "cheat" had expired. The illusionist couldn't just do nothing. His previous series of tactics had even intimidated someone as strong as Mu Xiao.
So the illusionist chose to go to the Swamp Zone, where the fewest contractors were, to kill a Lord creature there and share the benefits with other contractors. By letting them taste the rewards first, he could stabilize morale for a while. Once the "cheat" reactivated, he could proceed with the next step of his plan. This was more stable.
The illusionist might have an item or ability that allowed him to see the overall situation, but "that thing" had a long usage interval or was very unstable—unstable to the point where he couldn't reveal it to others. Otherwise, all his previous efforts would be taken over by Mu Xiao.
In fact, the illusionist might even lose his life because of "that thing." Mu Xiao was no gentle woman. She had previously competed with Su Xiao, the Gourmet, the Tank Man, Jiasike, and others for supply crates and had even successfully snatched a white supply crate.
The illusionist was originally a very capable person. With the help of "that thing," he had taken off immediately. Going to kill the Lord giant ape was also a wise decision. It could stabilize morale and, through the giant ape's heart, attempt to ally with the Bee Queen.
If successful, the illusionist's rise would be unstoppable, even if he could no longer activate "that thing" afterward. One could say the illusionist had a dream start.
Thinking of this, Su Xiao decided to head to the Swamp Zone tomorrow morning to see what was happening. After all, the treasure chest dropped by a Lord creature was quite good, and the giant ape's heart was something that absolutely had to be seized.