Chapter 11: Be a Human for Once
A crisp sound came from beneath Yueshitu's foot, followed by a numbness in her right calf, causing her to tumble to the ground like a clumsy, adorable faceplant.
"It hurts~"
Yueshitu climbed up from the ground and looked at her right calf. A serrated bear trap came into view, resembling a dark work of art. The jagged teeth were deeply embedded in her flesh, and the hollow structure of the teeth accelerated blood loss from the prey.
Seeing this, Yueshitu wasn't too concerned. After all, she was an Eighth Rank Contractor. Even as a summoner, she could handle it—just a mere bear trap.
Yueshitu grabbed both sides of the trap. Before the searing pain could fully set in, she exerted force with both hands, trying to pry it open. But even using all her strength, her face flushed red, the trap clamped around her leg didn't budge an inch.
The intense pain gradually surged from the wounds on both sides of her calf. Yueshitu's face turned pale, and cold sweat broke out on her forehead. She knew things were bad.
Yueshitu tried to hop away on one leg, but the trap clamping her right calf was connected to the ground by a short chain, firmly fixed in place.
"Not good, very not good!"
Yueshitu pulled a small knife from her lower back, flicked it open, and aimed it at her own neck. She needed to die immediately—being captured and losing mobility was worse than death.
A gust of wind swept in, and a hunting axe whistled through the air. Yueshitu felt her hand go light and saw her forearm fly off—her suicide attempt had failed.
Yueshitu followed the trajectory of the axe and saw the Hunter approaching with long strides, carrying the voluptuous and sexy Lilim over his shoulder. On Lilim's left leg was a bear trap identical to Yueshitu's.
Yueshitu scrambled backward as much as she could, causing the chain connected to the trap to clink and clatter. She looked into the Hunter's eyes, and whether it was her imagination, she felt he was smiling at her.
"Having intelligence is just cheating! I'm going to report you."
As soon as Yueshitu spoke, a semi-mechanical vulture landed. Its mechanical parts were battered, and its flesh parts were shriveled. One of its claws stepped onto Yueshitu's shoulder, while the other grabbed her head. It turned its head, its single red-glowing mechanical eye fixed on Yueshitu, and said, "Beautiful lady, may I eat your eyes? Hehehe..."
"Eeek!!"
A few minutes later, Molei, Yueshitu, and Lilim were all hanging upside down facing the wall. As the saying goes, good sisters should be together in perfect order.
Su Xiao habitually reached into his chest pocket but didn't find any cigarettes.
"Boss, I only found these five traps. Counting the two we took off, that's seven total."
"Barely enough."
Su Xiao picked up the four traps on the ground, pried them open with brute force, and placed two near Molei and the others, one near Lock Disk No. 2, and the remaining one on the lock disk itself. No one said a bear trap had to clamp a leg—clamping an arm worked just as well.
When someone tried to adjust the lock disk, they would naturally face it. If they touched it with their hand, there was a decent chance of triggering the trap. Anyone whose arm was suddenly attacked would instinctively step back, and then—click—step right onto the trap behind them.
After setting them up, Su Xiao picked up the remaining three traps and hung them on his lower back. He wasn't afraid of these things himself. The Hunter set had protection on the ankles and lower calves to prevent the Hunter from stepping on his own traps after setting them—given the previous Hunter's intelligence, such incidents happened occasionally.
Four lock disks remained. Find one more, guard it, and Su Xiao's chances of winning would be high. Find two more, guard one, and set 6–7 traps at the other, and he would be in an unbeatable position.
Walking through the ruins, Su Xiao checked the game time. There were still 9 hours and 52 minutes left—plenty of time.
"I've been looking for you for a long time. Facing three ladies, and you still had the nerve to go through with it."
A voice with the Void's 'Xige' accent came through. The newcomer wore a suit, and his head was a skull studded with rice-sized black gemstones. It was the Demon Clan's Trickster, Wude.
"Bai Ye, what exactly did you offer to make that Dark Dweller hand over the Hunter's weapons and gear?"
Wude pulled a small bottle from his chest and tapped it with his withered, fleshless index finger. Inside the bottle swirled a black mist that occasionally formed a ghostly head, emitting a low roar.
Su Xiao had seen this misty ghost head before. When the previous Hunter, that Dark Dweller, had taken off the Hunter set, he had turned into something similar.
Clearly, the previous Hunter had fallen into the hands of Trickster Wude.
Wude's skull seemed to smile. He sat on a piece of scrap machinery, crossed his legs, pulled a cigarette from his chest, sniffed it, and made a show of enjoyment.
With a snap, Wude lit the cigarette and said, "At your level of strength, the addictive substances in cigarettes mean nothing to you. So why do you smoke? Out of habit. People who follow habits usually have persistent willpower—like practicing blade techniques, meditation, or other things. That's right, I'm saying all this to praise you, to avoid getting split in half by your axe the moment we meet."
Wude flicked the ash from his cigarette, calm and composed. He locked eyes with Su Xiao for a moment, as if weighing the pros and cons, then said, "Lock Disk No. 1 is over there. As a Demon Clan member, I love all exciting games... but only when I'm the one making the rules. Survivor, Hunter—no, no, no. The Void Tree wouldn't make such cliché game rules. Bai Ye, you became the Hunter. So why can't I become the traitor among the survivors?"
As soon as Wude finished speaking, Su Xiao received a notification from Reincarnation Paradise.
[Notification: You have encountered the traitor in this round of the game.]
[Traitor: No fixed faction. Under certain conditions, the faction can be switched. When the current faction wins, the traitor also wins.]
[Notification: You may attack or kill the traitor. After the traitor is killed, they will revert to a survivor, permanently lose their traitor status, and return to the survivor faction.]
...
Seeing these notifications, Su Xiao wasn't surprised. The Demon Clan's Wude was no simple character; otherwise, he wouldn't have been chosen to represent the Demon Clan in this Scroll Fragment battle.
"Counting me, the survivor faction originally had eight people. Eight against one—logically, our odds should be higher, provided we're united enough. Unfortunately, the female Spellcaster Luo Xi and Lilim both despise Tianyu. Zuiyasi and I have our own agendas. Yinqi Suoyege is strong enough but mediocre in strategy.
At the end of the day, the two from Arcane Eternal Star are just scouts. The Crow Woman is their real trump card. Don't be surprised—Arcane Eternal Star has a way to send her here. They're determined to take the main painting world this time. Consider this information a favor."
Demon Clan Wude extinguished his cigarette, waiting for Su Xiao's response.
With a clang, two bear traps were tossed in front of Demon Clan Wude. Su Xiao decided to cooperate with Wude because this game wasn't the main focus—what mattered was dealing with the Nightmare King afterward.
A figure stepped out from behind a corner. It was Zuiyasi from Doom Star, wearing a white clerical robe. He asked, "Wude, is the deal settled?"
Hearing this, Wude said nothing, as if in tacit agreement.
"If I'm not mistaken, in that negotiation just now, Wude didn't mention me at all?"
Zuiyasi squinted, his aura turning dangerous. His statement wasn't entirely accurate—Wude had mentioned him, saying he had his own agenda.
After a few seconds, Wude seemed to confirm that Su Xiao wouldn't take his axe to Zuiyasi. Disappointed inside, he smiled on the surface and said, "How could I not mention you? But Bai Ye hasn't agreed to let you join yet. Personally, I welcome you with open arms—after all, we had an agreement long ago."
Wude tossed out a glass bottle containing the Dark Dweller. Zuiyasi caught it, and his blood gradually seeped through the glass, merging with the black mist inside.
A few seconds later, Zuiyasi fell to the ground with a thud—dead.
Over a dozen minutes later, Zuiyasi returned in a new body. His hands were pitch black, and so were the depths of his eyes.
"Now I'm only half a survivor."
Zuiyasi didn't reveal too much information. His attitude was clear: he had no interest in the [Scroll Fragment] awarded for winning the game. He was more focused on completing this game first. Winning or losing didn't matter, as long as he wasn't forcibly expelled from the Nightmare World by the Void Tree. After that, he would do everything in his power to free his main body, return his consciousness to it, and then go kill the Nightmare King. By then, the [Scroll Fragments] he obtained would be even greater.
Not just Zuiyasi—Demon Clan Wude thought the same way.
In fact, Su Xiao thought so too.
Su Xiao had always been worried about one thing: whether he could defeat the Nightmare King in the Nightmare World. This was the Nightmare King's territory, and Su Xiao wasn't entirely confident he could kill him.
But with Wude and Zuiyasi joining, the situation changed. Su Xiao had sensed earlier that Zuiyasi's strength was close to his own—in a life-or-death fight, it would be a fifty-fifty split. Wude was slightly weaker—a forty-sixty split—but as a Demon Clan member, his abilities were unpredictable.
"So that's your stance?"
Su Xiao spoke, his voice low with a metallic edge.
"Exactly."
"Three choose one."
Zuiyasi's phrase "three choose one" carried a clear meaning: first, the three of them would cooperate to eliminate the other survivors, then deal with the obstacles in the Nightmare World, and finally take down the Nightmare King.
After dealing with the Nightmare King, the [Scroll Fragments] they seized wouldn't be few. That's when the "three choose one" would come into play. Whoever among Su Xiao, Wude, and Zuiyasi could laugh last would depend on that moment. Before then, anyone who pulled any tricks would face a joint attack from the other two, their skulls crushed to pieces.
Su Xiao was very satisfied with this proposal. No hypocrisy—just say it outright, and settle the score at the end.
"So, what's your stance?"
Zuiyasi's expression turned serious as he negotiated with Su Xiao. He was very cautious—after all, Su Xiao gave him a strong impression. The killing intent and malice toward evil gods and ancient gods made Zuiyasi wonder just how many ancient gods Su Xiao had killed.
"Then... let's cooperate."
"This game suddenly became enjoyable."
"Let's get rid of them first. Demon Clan, give us a suggestion. You Demon Clan types are full of bad ideas."
Zuiyasi teased. Hearing this, Wude said with a smile, "That's slander. We Demon Clan are naturally timid, kind, and the most loyal members of the lawful faction."
After saying this, Wude began to outline his plan. First, chasing down survivors was inefficient. Capturing them alive and hanging them up was a better option, but still not foolproof. Survivors all had their own unique abilities—like Wude himself, who had tricked a Dark Dweller into signing a contract.
To eliminate all future trouble, Wude's plan was to trap all the survivors inside the Birth Plaza—commonly known as the Hunter blocking the door.
In that situation, the survivors would have no way out. Even if all of them joined forces, they wouldn't be a match for the Hunter with one hand.
At this point, Wude got to the crux of the plan. The only ones still free to move were Tianyu, Arcane Eternal Star's Yinqi Suoyege, and the female Spellcaster Luo Xi.
Wude would handle Tianyu's side, while Zuiyasi would deal with Luo Xi and the other. In this arrangement, Wude had a selfish motive—he didn't want to deal with Luo Xi and the other mainly to avoid getting cursed out. Over at the Void's 'Mowu Arena,' at least over a hundred thousand Void races were watching Luo Xi's movements, learning about the situation in the Nightmare World through the feedback images.
After dealing with Tianyu and the two from Arcane Eternal Star, things would be simple. The White-Giving Sisters and Lilim were already hanging up. To prevent any accidents, those three would also be thrown into the Birth Plaza.
"That's basically the plan. Bai Ye, Zuiyasi, do you have any other suggestions?"
Demon Clan Wude's tone was casual. In his view, this was just a warm-up. The real life-or-death struggle would come later, in the game between him, Su Xiao, and Zuiyasi.
"No need to deal with Tianyu. I died and came back earlier, and I ran into him along the way. He's been tailing me. Tianyu, don't be shy—come on out."
Zuiyasi turned his head to look at a corner a few dozen meters away, grinning to reveal his white teeth.
Behind the corner, Tianyu pressed himself against the wall, body tense, not daring to breathe. His current mood could only be summed up in one sentence: "He ran into three cheaters, and these three cheaters even formed a team. Is this game even meant for humans to play?!"
PS: (Two chapters today. My neck is stiff, and my typing speed is average. My neck started hurting yesterday, and sure enough, it rained today. This mosquito's neck is more accurate than the weather forecast.)