Chapter 173: The Players' True Purpose
"That makes sense," Xu Huo nodded. "And even if that old lady at the Fresh Meat Sausage Shop was a cannibal player, you could say she deliberately let you and the others go to lead you to Granny White."
"You, Yang Sheng, and that cannibal player who was tailing me are all working together."
"Since you followed me and then conveniently ended up at the Fresh Meat Sausage Shop, you guys probably aren't players from the Government Hall."
"The players from Government Hall have no reason to trust a low-level instance player. If using the access card for positioning was a viable route, the Fairy Tale City instance wouldn't have remained this peaceful for over a decade."
"You and Yang Sheng and the others egged other players into finding Granny White. Your goal wasn't to clear the instance—what are you really looking for here?"
Tao Chengxin silently distanced herself from Tang Yuan, moving a bit closer to Xu Huo and the others.
Tang Yuan met the gazes of the three, his earlier polite demeanor gone. He sneered and said, "Looks like you guys are planning to kill me and take my stuff."
Xu Huo didn't respond, letting him talk.
"From start to finish, it's only been you talking. By now, the players in this instance are either dead or trapped. How do you know that guy and that Granny White aren't lying?" Tang Yuan glanced at Sun Jirou and Tao Chengxin as he spoke. "Who's to say they didn't set a trap to lure the Government Hall people here, then play a double act to whitewash themselves!"
"Even if what you're saying is true, so what?" Sun Jirou was calmer than Tao Chengxin, who was confused and lost. "Whether it's Fairy Tale City or Government Hall, who's good and who's bad doesn't make much difference to me. But since you used us to get in here, you should at least tell us what you're looking for."
"If this place is really that dangerous, we're all taking the risk. There's no reason for you to hog all the spoils."
Seeing that his attempt to sow discord had failed, Tang Yuan decided not to waste any more words. He tossed out a dazzling colored ball. As the ball suddenly burst with blinding light, forcing the others to shut their eyes, he reached for the inconspicuous flower on the ground!
But before he could pull it up, Xu Huo, with his eyes closed, was already behind him and kicked him in the back of the head.
Tang Yuan dodged narrowly. As he turned to take the flower, his arm was suddenly grabbed. Before he could turn around, he heard Xu Huo say, "You can go, but leave the thing behind!"
Tang Yuan sneered and kicked back in response, forcing Xu Huo back. He then rushed over to Tao Chengxin to snatch back his gloves!
Having learned from her experience at the Bear Claw Restaurant, Tao Chengxin had already released her human-headed frog. It latched onto Tang Yuan's wrist and bit down hard!
Tang Yuan's gloves had defensive capabilities, so the bite didn't pierce the skin, but he still felt intense pain. As he retreated, clutching the other glove, he accidentally stepped on black thorns that had sprouted from the ground!
This was Sun Jirou's doing!
All players had enhanced hearing, so even without sight, they could locate each other by sound. The colored ball attack was only effective as a surprise. After the initial few seconds, Tang Yuan no longer had the advantage.
But what they didn't expect was that Sun Jirou, attacking in the dark, was indiscriminate. Tao Chengxin, who was moving toward Tang Yuan, also got her feet pierced by the thorns!
"Sun Jirou, I'll screw your dad!" Tao Chengxin screamed and stumbled back.
Sun Jirou's face flushed red with anger. "Are you even a woman or not!"
"Whether I'm a woman or not is none of your damn business!" Tao Chengxin grabbed her fishing rod and swung it wildly in the direction of the voice.
Sun Jirou wasn't about to just stand there and take it. Since they were allies, she didn't go for the kill. Instead, she followed the fishing rod and engaged Tao Chengxin in hand-to-hand combat.
The two were locked in a brawl. Tang Yuan seized the opportunity to escape. But Xu Huo, holding the zither strings, flew in from the side, kicked the glowing ball far away, and grabbed the upper half of the flower plant!
"Let go!" Tang Yuan swung his short sword at Xu Huo's throat.
The Ox Shield blocked the attack head-on. Xu Huo ducked, using the shield to ram Tang Yuan to the ground, and manipulated the flying zither strings to wrap around his throat!
Tang Yuan reacted quickly, raising his hand to block his chin. He used the short sword to pry the strings away, then spat at Xu Huo while kicking the shield away!
Xu Huo dodged the attack and put three meters of distance between them. Looking at the half-flower in his hand, he gestured with his chin toward the other man. "It's broken."
Tang Yuan clearly hadn't expected the flower to be so fragile that a single tug would snap it in two. As he looked down to check the flower's condition, the dirt around its roots suddenly crumbled. The tuber hidden inside began to writhe on its own, its root veins stretching out to form a round, humanoid object!
"That flower turned into a spirit!" The two who had been fighting stopped as well. Tao Chengxin's eyes went wide. "I've never seen a plant turn into a spirit before!"
"It's a prop!" Sun Jirou retorted contemptuously.
Sun Jirou was clearly right. When the round object opened its body, the slender root veins acting as its limbs suddenly stabbed into Tang Yuan's arm. Then, a mouth full of fangs appeared inside the round object, and it bit down on his hand in one go!
"Ptooey!" It didn't eat the bitten-off hand but spat it aside. Then it contracted its root veins, moved up his body, and went for another bite!
"What the hell is this thing!" Tang Yuan shouted in fury and shook his arm, trying to cut the root veins with his short sword. But in those two or three seconds, the plant's roots had already traveled up his blood vessels, absorbing enough nutrients that no matter how many he cut, more would grow!
"Chomp!"
"Ptooey!"
After the humanoid root bit off another chunk of his arm, Tang Yuan was forced to cut off his own arm along with the roots. The humanoid root fell to the ground, its root veins floating in the air as if searching for its next target.
Tang Yuan turned and ran. Tao Chengxin and Sun Jirou instinctively backed away, but to their surprise, the humanoid root wasn't interested in them. Instead, it hopped and skipped after Tang Yuan!
"Good thing I didn't pull that flower earlier," Tao Chengxin said, still shaken.
By then, Xu Huo had used the zither strings to retrieve his own items. He opened the cage, poured the cleaning solution over the wooden puppet, and then chased after them with it.
The three followed closely behind Tang Yuan and the humanoid root. As they ran, the scenery before them suddenly shifted. The forest had transformed into a small courtyard they had never seen before!
Everyone who entered was stunned for a moment, but Tang Yuan immediately pulled open a door and fled. Xu Huo and the others had no choice but to follow. When they ran out of the small courtyard, the outside had suddenly turned into a place resembling an ancestral temple for sacrifices.
Without stopping, they quickly ran out of that place as well.
By then, the mucus on the wooden puppet had melted. Xu Huo threw the cage aside and commanded, "Catch that round ball in front!"
The wooden puppet, running alongside him, tilted its head and stared at him, its pitch-black, lifeless eyes maintaining their usual blankness.