Zuo Lin'an said a great deal, and Lin Deyou frowned slightly as he listened.
He looked at him with a vigilant and somewhat suspicious expression, unsure of what Zuo Lin'an meant by telling him all this. But as time ticked by, he suddenly realized something, and his eyes widened in shock.
“This...”
This talent, combined with his own specter item candy...
“Wait, no!”
“I... I was...”
Zuo Lin'an sneered, his smile laced with pure malice.
“Your stupidity, your arrogance, and your disdain ruined your only path of survival.”
At this moment, looking at the utterly despondent Lin Deyou, Zuo Lin'an finally understood why so many people liked playing the villain.
Only when one truly stood in the shoes of a villain could they experience this kind of feeling.
Exhilarating!
It was simply too exhilarating!
Feeling highly amused, he secretly lamented that he might be a bit of a psychopath. At the same time, he concealed his form, leaving Lin Deyou alone to stare blankly and mutter to himself.
“My candy... the specter can only kill me after it has killed all the other players.”
“And Zi Yao's talent... once activated, the specter must bypass her to kill other players, and can only turn back to kill her after killing everyone else.”
“If I had saved Zi Yao earlier and let the specter kill Jinyang, Zi Yao's talent usage would have been preserved. Then, she could have used it when the specter came for her.”
“That way, the specter wouldn't be able to attack me because of the candy's effect, and it wouldn't be able to attack her because of her talent. With the two of us working together, we could have survived for an entire day.”
“We would have left the dungeon alive. We would have cleared it!”
“A path of survival! That was the path of survival!”
“Zi Yao? Where is Zi Yao?”
Lin Deyou suddenly remembered that Zi Yao was already dead, killed by the specter.
“My path of survival... is gone!”
Right now, he wished he could choke his past self to death for remaining completely indifferent to Zi Yao's pleas for help.
“I cut off my own path of survival!”
“I actually cut off my own path of survival!”
Lin Deyou suddenly threw his head back and laughed.
“So that's where the path of survival was! It was right there!”
“Gone! The path of survival is gone!”
“Zi Yao... Zi Yao!!”
He was so unwilling!
He truly could not accept this!
Once he snapped out of it, he bolted toward the place where Zi Yao had died. However, so much time had passed that the player's corpse had already vanished.
Even the items and traces they left behind had vanished along with it.
Returning to that spot, Lin Deyou could only see the empty, withered forest.
“Why!”
“Why didn't you tell me your talent!”
Lin Deyou questioned the empty air, completely forgetting that Zi Yao had actually intended to tell him. It was just that as soon as she spoke and mentioned she had a common talent, he had raised his hand to cut her off.
As a result, Zi Yao never got the chance to finish her sentence. Thus, Lin Deyou only knew she had a common talent, but remained completely ignorant of its specific effects.
“One wrong step, and every subsequent step is wrong!”
“It's my fault! It's all my fault!”
Was his greatest regret now that he hadn't saved Zi Yao earlier?
No!
It wasn't.
What he regretted wasn't failing to save Zi Yao or failing to listen to her finish explaining her talent. Rather, he regretted not listening to his eldest and second brothers in the first place; he shouldn't have indulged in women and wine.
He shouldn't have gone to the Shuanghua Brothel that day, shouldn't have been blinded by lust, shouldn't have squandered fortunes, shouldn't have...
“It is too late for regrets!”
“It is too late for regrets!!”
Lin Deyou slapped himself hard across the face.
“Why did I indulge in lust!”
“Why didn't I listen? Why did I have to act so stubbornly?”
“Indeed, Father was right. Lust is a blade hanging over one's head; I was bound to die from it sooner or later.”
“And now, it has truly come to pass!”
“At this point, I brought this all upon myself! Hahahaha...”
While Lin Deyou was losing his mind, Zuo Lin'an quietly hid in a distant corner, watching him mutter to himself in sheer madness.
When the clock struck ten, Zuo Lin'an showed himself once more.
This time, he intended to make it quick.
Lin Deyou, who had finally quieted down, seemed to be triggered by the sight of him. His face twisted in rage, and he suddenly bellowed at the sky!
A surge of true qi erupted from him, shredding his clothes to pieces and exposing his muscular physique. Even the surrounding withered trees were shattered into splinters.
When he looked back at Zuo Lin'an, his long hair was disheveled and his eyes were completely bloodshot.
Could this be...
Qi Deviation?
Zuo Lin'an was somewhat surprised, but he couldn't help but complain internally. Was Lin Deyou really this fragile?
However, this aura... did he just break through?
If a Second-Rate martial artist broke through, they would become a First-Rate martial artist.
Just like that?
Or was this the side effect of Qi Deviation?
Forget it. He would kill him first to avoid running out of time again.
“You bastard, die!!”
Lin Deyou roared, stomping his foot and shattering the ground. Countless withered leaves swirled wildly around him without any wind.
Zuo Lin'an was startled. Not out of fear, but because he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
He had to record this!
He could post it on the forum later, and of course, show it to Xu Youyou.
He hadn't expected to encounter Qi Deviation in his very first dungeon. It was truly a rare sight.
Previously, he had only seen such things in novels, movies, and TV shows.
Still, he didn't forget his main task. After recording a video, he quickly put his phone away.
Yet at that exact moment, Zuo Lin'an realized that Lin Deyou's fist was already descending upon his head.
His speed was quite impressive, much faster than before.
Was this the power of a First-Rate martial artist? He hadn't even reacted just now.
However, no matter how powerful the blow was, Zuo Lin'an remained completely unmoved.
He slowly reached out, grabbed the other man's wrist, and slammed him onto the ground with a forceful swing. Repeating his previous trick, he stabbed his boning knife through Lin Deyou's limbs, completely stripping him of any ability to move.
“Roar!”
Lin Deyou struggled maniacally.
“Die, die, die!”
Even though his limbs were pinned, his dense true qi continued to erupt outward, attempting to blast Zuo Lin'an away.
But it was all in vain.
True qi was completely useless against Zuo Lin'an.
“You bastard! Lowly peasant! Wretched slave!”
“I am the Third Young Master of the Lin Duke's Manor! My Lin family is a grand clan that has endured for a thousand years! My mother is a princess, and I am of noble blood!”
“How dare you!”
“How utterly insolent, you filthy peasant!”
“I will slaughter your entire household, seize your estate, and execute your nine generations!!”
“Kill, kill, kill! Kill them all!”
Unmoved, Zuo Lin'an ran the tip of his knife along the skin of Lin Deyou's back, skinning him with practiced ease.
Just then, Lin Deyou suddenly quieted down and violently coughed up a mouthful of blood.
This spray of blood seemed to carry away his entire life force, leaving him incredibly weak in an instant. His aura withered, looking as if he would die at any moment.
However, with Zuo Lin'an keeping him hanging on by a thread, he wouldn't die just yet.
“Zi Yao... Zi Yao...”
Zuo Lin'an's boning knife sliced through his flesh, exposing the bones beneath.
“Zi Yao...”
Zuo Lin'an worked efficiently, delivering the final cut.
“I regret it... I regret it so much...”
Lin Deyou was completely dead.
Yet, his gaze remained fixed in a certain direction—the exact spot where Zi Yao had died.
Rate on N.U.
