Chapter 19 | The Alliance Hired Me to Play Final Boss

Ren Yi's plan was remarkably simple.

Since he couldn't move for the first twenty minutes anyway, he would just let the mobile Participants take him along. After all, what better way for an Anomaly to blend in than to be carried by the very people it was hunting?

Since his illusion ability cost nothing once triggered, he could pose as a system to collect positive emotion energy while simultaneously making the Participants turn on each other like dogs. A few well-placed prompts, and they'd be refuting each other in no time.

He would get his food, Lu Zihan would get to enforce his rules, and the Participants would get their 'joy'—it was a triple-win situation!

As for the items in the shop, he would just give Lu Zihan a heads-up later and have him play along.

He stole another glance at Lin Feng, who was quickly masking his expression, and settled back into the pocket with satisfaction.

Young man, I'll leave the rest to you!

The Participants had finished reading the clues, their faces pale with dread.

"Does this mean we have to escape this room? But it says the key is in the third coffin. Where are there any coffins here?" Chen Fang asked, her face ashen as she looked at the group.

Lin Feng spoke up, his voice dripping with an eerie chill. "There aren't any coffins yet, but there are people. Maybe once three people die, three coffins will appear?"

It was an absurd train of thought. In reality, the 'third coffin' simply referred to the third room; the wording was just flavor text meant to build a horrific atmosphere.

Lin Feng was certainly a natural; he had come up with a dark angle that even the Anomalies hadn't considered.

Suddenly, a sharp rebuke rang out.

"Don't talk nonsense! A Newbie level Instance like this won't have rules that require people to die!"

The one who spoke was Chen Rui, the man holding the handgun. He seemed to be trying to stabilize the group's morale by refuting Lin Feng's claim.

【Lu Zihan: He refuted him! This kid is good.】

It turned out Lin Feng was telling ghost stories specifically to bait someone into a rebuttal. Ren Yi hurriedly used his illusion to send Lin Feng a notification: 【Contribution Points +1】. Only then did he reply in the Anomaly Web.

【Ren Yi: Old Lu, as soon as you can move, kill this Chen Rui first.】

Chen Rui had a gun, making him the biggest threat. Furthermore, killing him would weaken Old Deng's faction and shatter the group's unity.

【Lu Zihan: Don't you need to harvest the food from him first?】

【Ren Yi: No need. Our primary objective is to ensure a total wipeout. We're new to this too, so we shouldn't underestimate our opponents.】

It was better to forgo a single meal now than to be careless. He could always do more community service in the afternoon to make up for it.

Just then, a metallic clatter echoed through the room. An iron-barred gate suddenly appeared behind the Participants, making them jump.

"It looks like this Instance has more than one room. Finding the clue automatically opens the door to the next one." Old Deng frowned.

"How do you know that?" Lin Feng countered, clearly committed to his role as a contrarian. Unfortunately, Old Deng only spared him a glance and didn't bother to reply.

Ren Yi checked the time. Only ten minutes had passed since the Instance began, meaning they still had ten minutes before they could move.

He felt a bit helpless; this Newbie level Instance was being far too generous to the Participants.

After confirming there was no immediate danger, all the Participants entered Room 2, leaving the poor Lu Zihan behind.

"Close the gate," Old Deng ordered. That monster sculpture had been making him feel uneasy the entire time. Once he confirmed the iron gate was locked tight, he turned to survey the new room.

This room was also the size of two football fields. They could see the door to the third room standing wide open at the far end, but a massive, bottomless pit spanned the center of the chamber.

The only thing connecting the two doors was a thirty-centimeter-wide single-plank wooden bridge. It looked exceptionally fragile, as if it might snap at any moment.

After observing for a moment, Old Deng began giving orders. "There shouldn't be any other dangers here. Chen Fang, you cross the bridge first. The rest of you line up and go one by one. Don't get too close to each other."

Chen Fang's expression shifted, but she obediently took the lead.

This room probably won't hold them for long, Ren Yi thought with some concern. He decided he needed to do something, so he sent another message to Lin Feng.

【System Mission Issued: Become the sole leader of the team. Reward: Contribution Points x2】

Lin Feng's eyes flickered, but he remained obedient and followed the others onto the bridge.

Ren Yi had originally thought about writing 'Kill Old Deng' or 'Make Old Deng refute you,' but he felt those were too likely to expose his or Lu Zihan's rules, so he dropped the idea.

After the first few people crossed safely, Old Deng realized there were no traps and quickly made his way across.

There was a small hiccup when the trembling teenage boy stumbled and nearly fell. He clung to the bridge, shivering for a long time, before finally crawling the rest of the way under the pressure of those behind him.

At that moment, time was up.

Ren Yi felt the invisible shackles on his body vanish. It was a pity his True Form had no combat power yet; a single burst from a machine gun would probably take him half a day to piece back together. Otherwise, he would have charged into the crowd and started the slaughter himself.

By now, seven Participants had already crossed the bridge. Among the three remaining on the other side, Chen Rui—Ren Yi's primary target—was one of them.

Creak... screech...

The Participants suddenly heard a grating, metallic screech. Through the gaps in the iron gate, they saw the monster that had been motionless slowly turn its head. A bloodthirsty red light glowed from the narrow slit in its helmet.

Clang!

With a heavy sound of metal hitting metal, Lu Zihan walked to the gate and slammed his blade into it, carving a gash half a finger's length deep.

He was surprisingly good at building a terrifying atmosphere.

In an instant, screams erupted. The remaining Participants scrambled toward the wooden bridge. Just as the first one was about to step onto it, a gunshot rang out, and a bullet struck the wood by his feet.

Old Deng stood on the other side of the bridge, holding his machine gun, a wisp of blue smoke curling from the barrel.

"Rui, you come over first," he said coldly. "The rest of you, don't panic. The gate is sturdy; that monster won't get through that quickly."

Clang! Clang!

The piercing sound of metal on metal rang out again. The teenage boy, who had been trembling all along, finally broke and began to scream at the top of his lungs.

Chen Rui hurried onto the single-plank bridge.

In Lin Feng's pocket, the simple, line-drawn mouth on the jade pendant Ren Yi had transformed into slowly curled upward. This was the moment he and Lu Zihan had been waiting for.

Just as Chen Rui reached the halfway point, he felt the bridge beneath him shudder. Immediately after, the boy's terrified scream reached his ears.

"B-Behind... behind you!!"

What? Had the bridge broken? Panicked, he started to turn his head, but his vision suddenly spun wildly.

"Roar!"

Lu Zihan's massive form appeared on the bridge, letting out a muffled roar as the wood beneath him groaned under the immense weight.

In front of him, Chen Rui's decapitated, headless corpse slumped over and plummeted into the abyss.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Old Deng didn't hesitate to open fire. The bullets slammed into Lu Zihan, kicking up a mist of blood. He stepped back in pain, but quickly steadied himself.

"Move!" Seeing that the gun wasn't stopping it, Old Deng shouted decisively.

He didn't need to tell them twice. The remaining Participants had already swarmed through the next door. If Chu River hadn't been holding it open, they would have slammed it shut already.

As soon as Old Deng entered, he locked the iron gate behind him.

With no one left to interfere, Lu Zihan walked across the bridge step by step. As soon as he reached the small patch of solid ground in front of the gate, the single-plank bridge finally gave way and plummeted into the darkness.