After receiving the "system notification," Lin Feng flashed a satisfied smile and stepped into Room 4 with an air of smug triumph.
Compared to the previous "elaborate" setups, this room could practically be described as four bare walls. It was so empty it was unsettling.
Ren Yi had already silently complained during his first scout that this was likely a result of a "budget deficit."
He suspected that Lu Zihan's uncle had originally designed a much cooler killing move, only to swap it out at the last minute for something that fit the "Newbie difficulty," leaving behind this trap that looked simple but was exceptionally lethal under specific conditions.
Lin Feng and Chen Fang moved forward cautiously and soon saw the next door.
A line of text was written on the door with blunt clarity.
【Press all three buttons simultaneously to open the door】
Three bright red buttons were lined up on the pale wall, spaced a full five meters apart.
The intent was obvious—it required three people to press them at once to pass.
Ren Yi silently labeled Lu Zihan's uncle a "lover of psychological torture." He seemed to enjoy designing these "one slip leads to eternal regret" scenarios. First, he hid the key in Room 3, which was inaccessible once passed, and then he set this numerical threshold at the final hurdle.
If one failed to notice the hint in the initial room or lost too many members before the final stage, the Participants could only beat their chests in regret and despair.
Did this uncle's rules require harvesting the emotion of "remorse"?
Ren Yi felt he might have accidentally stumbled upon the truth.
Regardless, it was now time for him to personally wrap things up.
Chen Fang's face paled. "It's over. There are only two of us left!"
"What's the panic?" Lin Feng said indifferently. "You press the one on the left. Leave the other two to me."
The light machine gun in his arms floated up on its own, steadily flying to the button on the far right. With its cold metal muzzle, it pressed the button down with a click.
The door lock clicked open in response.
Chen Fang let out a long sigh of relief, a fawning smile quickly spreading across her face. "This ability of yours... it's incredible! It's practically a god-tier skill in a place like this!"
"It's nothing worth mentioning," Lin Feng recalled the machine gun, his tone flat. "Guns are useless against mutant beasts anyway."
"But they're more than enough to handle ordinary people!" Chen Fang continued to flatter him as they both walked into the final room.
Oh? Inside Lin Feng's pocket, Ren Yi's lips curled into a slight smile.
Room 5 was equally empty. The only focal point was the heavy wooden door at the far end and the ancient brass padlock on it, which seemed to be quietly waiting for its matching key.
Lin Feng said no more and walked straight ahead.
At that moment, the jade pendant in his pocket gave an imperceptible tremor.
Just as he was a few steps away from the door, Chen Fang, standing behind him, suddenly "saw" the floating machine gun pivot without warning. Its dark barrel locked onto her.
She let out a soft sigh.
"By the way, which city are you..." Before Lin Feng could finish his sentence, a sudden change occurred!
He felt a cold, slimy sensation on his face, as if he had been instantly wrapped in a layer of transparent liquid film.
The liquid was pervasive, rushing frantically into his mouth and nose! The icy sensation of suffocation gripped his throat like iron pincers, robbing his lungs of every trace of air.
"Hey, handsome..." A cold, eerie voice sounded almost right against his ear. "Do you know? I almost... really intended to let you go."
Lin Feng's eyes widened in terror. From the corner of his eye, he could barely see that Chen Fang's body had transformed into a puddle of flowing, translucent liquid! Her hands were completely liquefied, acting like the most flexible yet lethal leeches as they pressed firmly against his face.
She was also an Esper!
"The rewards for a Newbie Instance are fixed and split equally among all survivors," the water-formed "Chen Fang" sighed, her voice dripping with hypocritical regret.
"You were so capable, helping me clear out all the competition at once... My ability can't be maintained for long, and I was just worrying about how to deal with them."
"Mmph... gurgle..." Lin Feng struggled frantically, his throat only able to emit the muffled sound of compressed air.
"Originally, seeing how many trump cards you had, I thought about just having a peaceful breakup... But why did you have to point your gun at me?"
I... didn't! Lin Feng roared in his mind.
Bang bang bang bang bang—!
The floating machine gun suddenly opened fire. Muzzle flashes flared as a storm of bullets rained down on the humanoid stream of water!
However, how could bullets truly harm "water"?
The projectiles pierced through the water-formed body, only stirring up a series of ripple-like holes and fine splashes before falling powerlessly to the ground with crisp metallic clinks.
The machine gun futilely emptied half a magazine before finally losing its power and crashing to the floor.
No! I have an ability! I have a system! I haven't even made it out of this Anomaly Instance yet! I haven't killed my enemies! I haven't become the strongest in the three cities... System! That's it... System, save me!
He screamed frantically in his mind, praying to his only "cheat."
However, the system's text never appeared before his eyes again.
Lin Feng's eyes became bloodshot and bulged. The last bit of oxygen in his lungs turned into meaningless bubbles. The strength of his struggle gradually weakened.
He was dead.
The water enveloping him slowly receded, reassembling beside his cold corpse to take the form of a drenched Chen Fang.
She fished the key out of Lin Feng's pocket, weighed it in her hand, and spat in annoyance. "Nothing on him at all. What a pauper!"
Almost at the exact moment her words fell.
Whoosh—thud!!
A piercing whistle tore through the silence! A hideous bone blade appeared out of thin air, piercing through Chen Fang's neck with the force of a thunderbolt!
There was no expected spray of blood, only a muffled thud and splashes of transparent water.
Chen Fang's neck had turned to water at the last second! But the terrifying impact still left her "cervical spine" in a state of agonizing numbness.
Damn it! The gunshots attracted that Anomaly!
Scared out of her wits, she ignored everything else. Her entire body instantly collapsed and elongated, transforming into a swift, transparent torrent that shot toward the final door.
The moment the key was inserted, the door slowly opened. Behind it was a warm, inviting, pure white light that represented safety.
"Ha... haha!" Wild joy crashed through her reason like a tsunami. Chen Fang rushed excitedly through the door, reshaping into her human form within the light. The joy of escaping death swept through her entire body.
At that moment, she faintly heard a blurred gunshot that sounded as if it were coming through thick water.
Chen Fang froze for a second, instinctively wanting to rush deeper into the light, but there seemed to be an invisible barrier in the white glow blocking her path.
Immediately after, that hopeful white light abruptly went out, like a lightbulb losing power.
Chen Fang was stunned to find that what was in front of her wasn't an escape passage at all, but a cold, rough concrete wall.
The door was two meters to her left. However, those two meters of deviation were like an insurmountable chasm.
A sharp pain came from her chest. She slowly turned around. At the edge of her vision, a handsome black-haired youth was standing beside Lin Feng's corpse.
In his hand, he held the light machine gun that should have been empty. A wisp of blue smoke curled from the muzzle.
Where... is the Anomaly?
This was the last fragmented thought in Chen Fang's mind before her consciousness sank into eternal cold and darkness.
Ren Yi walked forward and expressionlessly fired a few more rounds into both Chen Fang and Lin Feng. After confirming they were as dead as could be, he transformed into a cloud of white mist and passed through the iron gate, returning to the previous room.
Rate on N.U.
