Chapter 124: Neither Fish nor Fowl

“Did everyone understand the boss’s words!?” The strong, chubby man Sun Haibo loudly questioned everyone after Lü Yang stopped speaking.

“Understood!” Ji Zhen and Li Ping responded to Sun Haibo one after another.

“You! Understand!?” Sun Haibo glared fiercely at Wang Zixian, who hadn’t said a word.

“Do you think I’m that stupid? Can’t even understand these words?” Wang Zixian replied to Sun Haibo slowly and deliberately.

“I think you’re asking for a beating!” Sun Haibo raised his fist, as big as a bowl, at Wang Zixian.

“In a civilized society, always using violence like a caveman, aren’t you ashamed?” Wang Zixian looked at Sun Haibo with disdain, clearly the previous suffering hadn’t taught him a lesson.

“I like using violence, got a problem with that?” Sun Haibo immediately rushed over and gave Wang Zixian a solid beating. Wang Zixian let out another series of miserable screams but refused to say a single word of surrender.

Lü Yang remained silent for a while before stopping Sun Haibo. After all, they had already wasted too much time earlier, and there wasn’t much left. They needed to complete the first task of rescuing the hostage as quickly as possible.

In the video footage of the previous task, Liu Hui’s figure had appeared. Lü Yang wasn’t sure if this Liu Hui was the real Liu Hui from the real world or an image created by the Death Killer based on Lü Yang’s memories. Lü Yang was quite curious about this point.

“You shouldn’t oppose them anymore. Why ask for trouble? In a place like this, survival experience is very important. Staying close to an experienced player definitely increases your chances of survival,” Ji Zhen walked over to Wang Zixian and advised him.

“Is that so?” Wang Zixian snorted coldly. “I think if something really happens, it’s more likely we’ll be used as cannon fodder or human shields by them…”

“If you don’t want to die, shut up! Even if we have to use you as cannon fodder, it would only be as a last resort! If you all listen, I’ll do my best to get everyone out safely!” Lü Yang, annoyed by Wang Zixian’s muttering, turned around and pressed the barrel of his handgun against Wang Zixian’s forehead.

Wang Zixian finally shut up. Lü Yang didn’t have the mind to deal with him further. Putting away his handgun, he turned to look toward the construction site. It was now shrouded in darkness. If the ‘Liu Hui’ inside wasn’t the real Liu Hui from the real world, she might very well appear in the form of a Dark Predator.

For a moment, Lü Yang’s mind raced…

Earlier, when he forced Ji Zhen’s confession and learned that Liu Yin was Han Cheng, and that Han Cheng was very likely the Death Killer, Lü Yang hadn’t fully believed Ji Zhen’s words. He thought it might all be a maze set up by the Death Killer to deliberately confuse his thinking…

This conclusion was based on the premise that this Mysterious Domain was created by the Death Killer.

But, was it possible that this Mysterious Domain wasn’t created by the Death Killer, but by Lü Yang himself? After meeting the Death Killer at the Jinda Hotel, in the instant before the Death Killer could create a Mysterious Domain, Lü Yang might have struck first and created this one. Due to the rules, Lü Yang couldn’t remember the events surrounding the creation of this Mysterious Domain, so he experienced amnesia.

If this Mysterious Domain was created by Lü Yang, then Ji Zhen’s words held more credibility. Lü Yang believed that if he created a Mysterious Domain, his goal would certainly be to confirm the Death Killer’s true identity, which also ruled out the suspicion of the Death Killer deliberately setting it up.

But, given his own character, why would he create a Mysterious Domain that forces so many innocent people to turn on each other?

The first two rounds of the game clearly didn’t match his personality.

Also, Han Cheng wasn’t pulled into this Mysterious Domain. This was the biggest flaw… Lü Yang would never be foolish enough to figure out who the Death Killer was and then not pull them into the Mysterious Domain.

Or perhaps, because he and Han Cheng created their respective Mysterious Domains at almost the same time, and both tried to forcibly pull the other into their own domain, the resulting Mysterious Domains became disordered, merging together. Then the Mysterious Domain self-corrected, resulting in this current, neither-fish-nor-fowl Mysterious Domain?

Because Han Cheng set himself as the Observer, he didn’t appear in this Mysterious Domain?

That seemed to make some sense…

It also seemed pretty far-fetched!

Damn! This is too complicated! If I keep thinking like this, I’ll surely go crazy!

First, I need to focus and deal with the matter at hand. If I don’t complete the task, I’ll be directly erased by the Mysterious Domain. Thinking too much is useless.

…

With Sun Haibo’s help in rallying the others, Lü Yang set off with the team. Their current location wasn’t too far from the construction site where Liu Hui was held captive. Soon, the group reached a spot not far from the construction site’s main gate.

After positioning everyone nearby in ambush, Lü Yang quietly moved alone into the construction site. The site’s old, large iron gate was slightly ajar. Two Dark Kidnappers were standing not far inside the gate, muttering something quietly to each other. Lü Yang observed carefully, confirming there were only these two Dark Kidnappers nearby and that they didn’t have guns. Then he quietly retreated to the edge of the construction site gate, turned on his flashlight in normal light mode, and shone it on one of the Dark Kidnappers.

Startled by the light, the illuminated Dark Kidnapper immediately chased after Lü Yang. The other Dark Kidnapper followed suit. Lü Yang quickly ran out through the construction site gate and headed toward the ambush circle where the other players were waiting.

Because these two Dark Kidnappers didn’t have handguns, they didn’t shoot while chasing Lü Yang. Instead, they raised the large cleavers they were holding. When they reached the ambush circle Lü Yang had set up beforehand, several beams of intense flashlight light shone on their bodies. Following Lü Yang’s prior instructions, the players turned on their flashlights’ strong light modes one after another.

Caught off guard, the two Dark Kidnappers stiffened momentarily after being hit by the strong light. After a short while, they shielded their eyes with their hands and, gripping their cleavers, advanced toward the players attacking them with the flashlights.

“Nobody run away! Take turns using the strong light to attack their Black Fog Armor!” Lü Yang loudly commanded the players. At the same time, he kept the flashlight beam attached to his gun barrel firmly locked on one of the kidnappers’ bodies.

With two sharp ‘Bang! Bang!’ sounds, blue light flashed. The Black Fog Armor on the two kidnappers was destroyed one after another by the intense flashlight beams. This time, Lü Yang didn’t fire his gun. Instead, he swung the thick iron pipe he had obtained earlier from a kidnapper and smashed it violently against one kidnapper’s head, instantly knocking him down. Then he rushed over and smashed the other kidnapper’s head as well.

Ammunition was scarce and needed to be saved for critical moments. Who knew if a boss-level Dark Kidnapper might appear inside?

Lü Yang picked up one cleaver and slung it over his back. He threw the other cleaver to the chubby Sun Haibo and gave the thick iron pipe to the crew-cut Ji Zhen, thus providing them with some basic armament.

Lü Yang was now convinced that these kidnappers in the Mysterious Domain weren’t real-world kidnappers. Instead, like AI characters in most computer games, they had their own alert zones. Furthermore, because sound couldn’t travel far in the Mysterious Domain, they wouldn’t hear commotion from a distance and come chasing after the players.

Fortunately, that was the case. Otherwise, if a group of kidnappers with guns and protected by Black Fog Armor swarmed them, these few players would be in deep trouble.