Chapter 9: Hold On!
Tianyu's feigning death skill was basically ineffective. Bubu Wang watched him disappear with his own eyes and immediately thought that Tianyu had turned invisible. The result was predictable. Amid Tianyu's screams, Su Xiao's first axe strike hit him in the waist, and the second sent him off.
The sky above was pitch black, but the slaughter ground wasn't particularly dark. On the four high walls to the east, south, west, and north, there were rows of covered lamps, and there were also quite a few light sources within the venue itself.
Su Xiao shook the blood off his hunting axe. It might seem like he only needed to chase down enemies, but that wasn't actually the case.
After putting on the Hunt Set, Su Xiao noticed something. Every time he chased a target beyond a certain line of sight, an inexplicable sense of pleasure would come from the hunting axe and the metal mask. This external 'emotion' was similar to a debuff, causing his sanity value to gradually drop.
Sanity value didn't only drop after being injured or mentally shocked. When Su Xiao hunted prey, the pleasure feedback from the axe and mask also reduced his sanity.
Once Su Xiao's sanity value fell below 50%, he would be assimilated by the nightmare world, absorbed completely, and die here. All items in his storage space would belong to the Nightmare King.
The Nightmare King's malice was strong. What it wanted was to reduce the sanity value of those who entered the nightmare world, then enjoy watching the losers whose sanity had completely drained away, ultimately taking everything from them.
Su Xiao estimated that the Nightmare King had quite a few scroll fragments in hand. After obtaining these scroll fragments, he would have an early advantage. In subsequent confrontations, he could afford to avoid risks that weren't worth the rewards.
The main painting world contained four paintings, corresponding to four 'inner painting worlds.' Su Xiao guessed that compared to the worlds in the other three paintings, the nightmare world was the most special painting world, and possibly the smallest one.
Having formed a rough estimate in his mind, Su Xiao, along with the hidden Bubu Wang, continued searching through the ruins. First, he needed to locate the positions of the five lock plates. Finding the lock plates would make things much easier.
Holding a single lock plate was useless. With five lock plates, the survivors only needed to calibrate four to open the exit. If anyone walked out of here, Su Xiao would lose and be immediately teleported out of the nightmare world, unable to obtain even half a [Scroll Fragment].
To be safe, Su Xiao needed to find at least three lock plates and 7 to 10 serrated animal traps. He would guard one lock plate himself while setting the serrated animal traps near the other two.
Chasing down survivors wasn't the key, unless they gathered together. If those eight people grouped up, Su Xiao could use a relatively gentler method to gradually force them toward the area near the initial spawn square.
The initial spawn square had only one entrance. Although Su Xiao, as the hunter, couldn't enter there—blocked by a barrier—he could block the entrance, commonly known as camping the spawn point.
As long as those survivors couldn't leave the initial spawn square, Su Xiao would win for sure.
Su Xiao moved forward at a moderate pace when suddenly, a feeling of unease arose, as if something very bad was happening. Someone was calibrating a lock plate.
Su Xiao realized that as the hunter, he had a certain ability, or rather, it wasn't his ability but a rule of this game.
When a survivor calibrated a lock plate, Su Xiao could sense that lock plate for an instant, but only the general location. Based on the feeling just now, each lock plate could only be sensed the first time it was initially calibrated. After that, if someone else calibrated it, he wouldn't feel anything.
"Three o'clock direction."
"Got it."
Baha flew to a low altitude, gliding quickly to determine the exact location of that lock plate.
A few minutes later, a notification appeared.
[Announcement: Lock Plate (II) calibration complete.]
[Lock plates remaining to be calibrated: 1/4.]
...
Seeing this announcement, Su Xiao quickened his pace. Someone had already calibrated the first lock plate. The opponents this time were all formidable. Even though they were using nightmare bodies now, they were still tough enemies to deal with.
"Found it."
Baha flew down. Its appearance had already changed, disguised as a semi-mechanical vulture. Its single eye glowed like a red indicator light, giving off an inexplicable chill.
After Su Xiao took off the hunter's set, Bubu Wang and Baha's temporary disguises would be removed.
Following Baha's guidance, Su Xiao soon arrived before a towering wall. This wall was about three meters thick, dozens of meters high, and over two hundred meters long.
Below this giant wall was an open area, surrounded by many low walls and dilapidated stone houses. Although the terrain here wasn't complicated, it wasn't suitable for pursuit.
Su Xiao stopped under the giant wall. The wall was covered in intricate 'Aztec-style' carvings. About one meter above the ground, there was a metal disc with a diameter of one meter. This disc was divided into over a dozen rings, with many three-dimensional patterns of different shapes on it. The principle of this thing was similar to a Rubik's cube.
After observing for a moment, Su Xiao found that this metal disc, or lock plate, wasn't too difficult to calibrate. If he calmed down, he could calibrate it in 2 to 3 minutes, at least with his logical thinking ability.
Su Xiao pressed his finger against the outermost ring of the lock plate and pushed it down.
Clack, clack, clack~
All the rings on the lock plate started spinning, and the three-dimensional patterns became chaotic. For Su Xiao, this was good news. If the lock plate couldn't be scrambled after calibration, his chances of losing were high, since the enemy had eight people, and on his side, counting Bubu Wang and Baha, there were only three search units.
Su Xiao's action of scrambling the lock plate displeased several people a hundred meters away. In a stone house with walls full of holes, Molei, Yueshitu, and the Succubus Lilim were lying flat on the ground, using their survivor abilities to hide and observe Su Xiao a hundred meters away.
"This bastard, I worked so hard."
Molei, lying on the ground, looked exasperated. The difficulty of calibrating the lock plate seemed inhumanly high to her. Her brain felt like it was about to explode before she finally calibrated it.
"Shh~"
Yueshitu signaled for silence.
"It's fine. At this distance, even the hunter can't detect us, especially since we're in strong stealth."
Lilim's eyes showed a thoughtful expression. She didn't mind cooperating with the two from Apocalypse Paradise.
"Molei, that guy is leaving. Now's the chance, go!"
Yueshitu stood up, making a gesture like a dog trainer. Seeing this, Molei felt insulted, but she couldn't find proof.
"He'll come back. Calibrating the lock plate now is useless. Finding other lock plates is the key."
"No, calibrating the lock plate now is more important. First, train your calibration ability. This is crucial for the final battle."
Yueshitu's words made Lilim look at her sideways, deciding that after this survival game ended, she might consider cooperating with these two.
"But..."
Molei showed a troubled expression. Just as she was about to say something, Yueshitu and Lilim pushed her forward.
"I..."
Molei wanted to resist, but in the end, she could only run toward the lock plate with a somewhat strange gait.
"Yueshitu, what's wrong with Molei's legs?"
"Nothing. Don't be surprised by any confusing actions she makes."
Yueshitu was already used to it. She knew her close friend well.
A few minutes later, sweat appeared on Molei's forehead in front of the lock plate. She took a deep breath, calibrated the lock plate, and then hurriedly ran behind a low wall.
Buzz~
A whistle sound reached Molei's ears. She stopped abruptly, her face turning pale as she turned and ran back to the stone house where Yueshitu and Lilim were. Although this place was riddled with holes, it was the best spot for escape, with three escape routes.
Bang.
The hunting axe embedded itself in the wall of the giant wall. Inside the stone house, Yueshitu and Lilim both saw this. They immediately realized that after the hunter left, he had left behind a surveillance method, possibly a creature or some kind of device.
Yueshitu acted decisively, throwing a sphere in her hand. With a bang, a bright light flashed. This was an item from within the slaughter ground, quite precious at the moment.
"Woof~"
Bubu Wang's bark was cut short. He covered his eyes with his front dog paws. If he could talk, he would definitely shout: 'Eyes! This dog's titanium alloy dog eyes!'
Taking advantage of the flash of light, Molei and the other two rushed behind a low wall a dozen meters away. It could be said that these three had quick reactions. Upon realizing Su Xiao was returning, they immediately thought of Bubu Wang's presence and interrupted Bubu Wang's continued tracking.
Under the low wall, Molei and the other two lay flat, not daring to breathe loudly.
Clatter, clatter.
The sound of chains grew closer, followed by footsteps. Yueshitu felt her heart pounding. She hadn't felt this way in a long time, both because of her weakened physical condition and because she wasn't particularly brave to begin with.
Sizzle~
The axe blade scraped against the wall, sparking. After a few seconds of silence, a dull thud came. The hunting axe struck the low wall opposite Molei.
Through the metal mask, a slightly metallic breathing sound reached the ears of Molei and the others. They lay even flatter, wishing they could stop their hearts from beating.
A semi-mechanical vulture flapped its wings, circling at low altitude. The hunter carrying the hunting axe searched everywhere, and whenever he saw a suspicious spot, he would strike directly with the axe, decisive and fierce.
Seeing this scene, even Lilim began to panic. She had never died and didn't want to experience the feeling of death, especially being chopped to pieces by that monster's axe. She could even imagine the cold axe blade splitting into her skull, touching her warm brain matter. What a terrifying feeling.
Thinking of this, Lilim lay even flatter. She turned her head to look at Molei beside her. Molei... was crying?
Lilim was surprised, and Yueshitu beside her was even more surprised. This scene was indeed frightening, but as a Battle Angel, could Molei be scared to tears? How unbelievable.
In reality, Molei wasn't scared to tears; she was holding back tears. Before setting out with Yueshitu, the two of them had drunk a large amount of life spring water to test their healing buff. After that, they moved around~
Just now, before Molei calibrated the lock plate for the second time, she actually wanted to relieve herself, but her teammates didn't let her, since this wasn't a safe place. Molei thought about it and agreed, so she held it in.
But at this moment, Molei felt she could barely hold it anymore. She even wondered if she would become the first eighth-rank Battle Angel in history to be held to death by her own bladder.
After a dozen seconds, Molei realized a very serious problem: Yueshitu was also showing an expression similar to hers. That was normal. Their water intake had been similar.
In Molei and Yueshitu's despairing gazes, Su Xiao, as the hunter, sat down on a low wall not far away. A hunter needed patience.