However, there was one thing Zuo Lin'an couldn't understand no matter what: if Xuan Liu really planned to deal with him, why did he take the sleeping Tang Jianghe with him?
Tang Jianghe was a complete liability right now. Wouldn't it have been better to leave him on the mountaintop for Tang Wanrong to look after?
He couldn't figure it out.
Zuo Lin'an shook his head inwardly. “So... does Xuan Liu still have a specter item that can repel specters?”
He certainly didn't know, but he knew he couldn't attack Xuan Liu right now.
“Forget it, I'll just hide for now.”
If he wanted to hide, Xuan Liu would definitely never find him.
Thus, Zuo Lin'an watched from the shadows as Xuan Liu carried Tang Jianghe and tirelessly ran in circles around the mountain.
But at a certain moment, Xuan Liu suddenly froze.
It was as if he had discovered something.
Zuo Lin'an was somewhat puzzled. He was still quite far from Xuan Liu. Could the man really sense him from such a distance?
But that didn't make sense either. He had clearly concealed all of his aura.
However, he quickly discovered something that made him panic slightly.
Xuan Liu was heading straight for that cave!
And he was moving fast, several times faster than when he was wandering around earlier!
What was going on?
Zuo Lin'an's mind struggled to keep up.
Right! The scent of blood.
Because Zuo Lin'an had cut out the tongues of those people earlier, they had bled heavily. Xuan Liu must have caught the scent of blood and rushed toward the cave.
Did he think Zuo Lin'an was there too?
Wait.
Something was off.
In that instant, Zuo Lin'an suddenly realized Xuan Liu's plan.
Oh no!
Xuan Liu wasn't looking for him at all!
Zuo Lin'an moved at his absolute fastest speed to rush toward the cave.
But at that very moment, Xuan Liu had already burst into the cave.
He casually threw the sleeping Tang Jianghe off his shoulder onto the ground and killed him with a single palm strike!
Then, with blinding speed, he struck down the other four people lying on the ground, killing them all!
Finally, he actually channeled his true qi and ruptured his own heart vessels!
By the time Zuo Lin'an's figure materialized at the entrance of the cave, he could only watch as Xuan Liu coughed up a violent mouthful of blood, collapsed to the ground, and died instantly!
The cave fell into a dead silence.
Zuo Lin'an stood in place with a grim expression, staring in disbelief at the six corpses inside.
As time passed, a bizarre mutation suddenly occurred in five of the corpses, excluding Xuan Liu's.
Wisps of black mist began to rise from their bodies.
It was specter aura!
According to the world rules, if players killed one another, the slain players would transform into unsolvable specters and return for revenge. Even if the killer was already dead, it wouldn't stop the unsolvable specters from manifesting.
Within just a few minutes, five fully-formed, terrifying specters appeared in the pitch-black cave.
The moment they materialized, they swarmed and surrounded Xuan Liu's corpse.
However, since Xuan Liu was already dead, they couldn't do anything to him even if they wanted revenge.
Turning a blind eye to this scene, Zuo Lin'an stood quietly at the cave entrance for over twenty minutes.
He forcibly suppressed the turbulent emotions in his heart and let out a long breath.
Yet, clear traces of anger remained as he glared intensely at Xuan Liu's corpse.
“Brilliant!”
“Truly brilliant!”
“As expected of Xuan Liu!”
“As expected of the Dark Dragon Guard!”
“As expected of the Emperor's blade, a true death sworn!”
“Ruthless enough!”
“I like it!”
Zuo Lin'an didn't even spare a glance at the unsolvable specters. They would remain in the cave indefinitely anyway, so he didn't need to worry about them at all.
The one he needed to worry about right now was himself!
Just moments ago, he was thinking about how unlucky Xu Youyou was to encounter a player who completely sealed his five senses and ignored everything from the outside world.
Now, he was facing a similar predicament.
At this point, Tang Wanrong was the only player left in the entire dungeon.
But she still held the 【Withered Leaf】, which had one use remaining.
This meant that no matter when he approached Tang Wanrong—whether in his living body or his specter body—as long as she used the specter item 【Withered Leaf】, he would have to attack another player before he could target her again.
But now, she was the only one left in the entire dungeon.
So... this was exactly what Xuan Liu had aimed to achieve.
“Xuan Liu probably didn't have any specter items that could repel specters, which is why he resorted to this.”
However, Xuan Liu would never have imagined that Zuo Lin'an still had a trump card.
Zuo Lin'an pulled a copper coin from his pocket.
He stared at the coin for a long time, then a faint smile appeared on his face.
“How ironic.”
Tang Jianghe had always wanted to protect his daughter, single-mindedly hoping to rely on the imperial offspring in her womb to elevate the humble Tang family to the heavens.
But he probably never could have imagined this.
Xuan Liu, who had promised to protect him while he slept, had snatched him away and killed him with a single palm strike just so Tang Wanrong could clear the dungeon.
Nor could he have imagined that the coin he used to buy his own life would end up in a specter's hands, only to be used to buy his daughter's life instead.
Zuo Lin'an sneered.
The 【Life-Buying Coin】 allowed him to bypass all restrictions and directly kill a player.
In other words, as long as Tang Wanrong willingly accepted it, or even just picked it up, it would count as her accepting the coin.
What he needed to do now was to make Tang Wanrong pick up the coin of her own accord.
Zuo Lin'an took a deep breath, stood up, and prepared to head toward the mountaintop.
At that moment, he took out his phone and glanced at it.
Xu Youyou had sent him another message.
【Xu Youyou: Brother An, I'm doomed.】
【Xu Youyou: Instructor An said he couldn't think of anything. That horrible woman An Mu only knows how to laugh at me. Bai Yuan and Yangxia, who said they would ask their brothers, both told me to accept my fate.】
【Xu Youyou: Brother An, I really don't want to be finished like this...】
【Xu Youyou: I really didn't mean to be so reckless. Can you think of a way? If you can find a solution, you'll be my real father from now on!】
Zuo Lin'an had originally felt a bit sorry for him, but upon reading the last sentence, he was instantly left speechless.
He had absolutely no desire to be Xu Youyou's father!
He couldn't afford to have a son like that.
But he didn't have any good ideas either.
With the player's five senses sealed and no response to the outside world, even if Zuo Lin'an gave his 【Life-Buying Coin】 to Xu Youyou, it would be useless.
Because the condition to use the coin was that the player had to actively take it into their hands.
For a player who was completely unresponsive, taking any active initiative was simply impossible.
【Zuo Lin'an: I've thought about it for a long time, but I don't have any good solutions either.】
【Xu Youyou: I'm going to die!】
Zuo Lin'an sighed. No matter what, Xu Youyou could only chalk this one up to bad luck.
【Zuo Lin'an: I have some things to take care of, let's talk later. You can also use the remaining time to think of other ways. Maybe a turning point will appear later.】
【Xu Youyou: Alright, I got it.】
Zuo Lin'an could tell that Xu Youyou was deeply disheartened, but there was truly nothing he could do.
At this moment, he only wanted to finish his own dungeon as quickly as possible.
Rate on N.U.
