The battle ended quickly. A colorless, formless aura bloomed from the whistling hammer, drastically increasing its area of destruction and lethality. Before the hunting dog could even let out a whimper, it was struck in the middle, its body broken in two.

Bupa's move was called Xiangti Yueji (Elephant Hoof Strike); as a stamina consuming skill, its learning requirement was actually D-level or higher in the Fighting specialization, which showed how formidable it was.

Of course, Yijian didn't know about these stats; he only knew that a monster roughly equivalent in strength to himself had been ambushed and instantly killed by that seemingly weak Bupa.

When Yijian had just reached Level 15, he had also tried the "Slaughter Game" once. He knew very well that if he were in that mode now, facing an opponent like Bupa, one mistake would lead to the same fate as that hunting dog.

Seeing the look in Yijian’s eyes, Bupa felt there was no need to keep up the act. Her original innocent and lovely expression vanished, and even her cutesy tone and pitch changed. The way she spoke became like a delinquent girl: "Ah... nothing can be done. I originally thought I wouldn't have to do it myself." She dragged the long-handled hammer with one hand as she walked forward. The sound of the hammer scraping against the ground conveyed a sense of astonishing weight.

"I didn't expect you to be so pathetically weak..." She walked around to the side of the hunting dog's corpse, swung her arm, and brought the hammer down heavily in a half-circle. After the hunting dog had been cut in two, the front half of its body was still twitching, but this time, its entire head was smashed to pieces.

This brutal finishing blow splattered Yijian's face with dog blood. He looked shocked, standing there dumbfounded.

"Um..." Yijian had been putting on a "I've got your back" act until just now, but at this moment, he didn't dare to speak too loudly, and said in a cautious tone, "Heh... heh heh... So... so you're this strong... But... why did you always hide to the side looking scared when we encountered boars and tigers before..."

The last few words of Yijian's sentence were "you were always hiding to the side looking scared," but Bupa interrupted him before he could finish.

"What did you say?" Her tone was no different from that of a thug, "Hey, are you looking down on me, kid?" She tilted her head, glaring fiercely at him, and held the hammer upright. A sense of oppression washed over him. "Dare to talk to this old lady like that..." She paused, then added, "I'll kill you..."

"Sis... Sister... I was wrong." Yijian leaned against the tree trunk, his face covered in sweat. Although teammates couldn't attack each other, in terms of momentum, he was as good as dead. "That... with my little brother's strength, I can only kill those trash monsters. You letting me scout ahead is thinking highly of me... Ha... ha ha ha." The laughter he squeezed out at the end looked like he was about to cry.

"That's more like it." Bupa put the hammer back into her inventory, crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking like a boss giving instructions, and said, "Speaking of which... that 'Feng Bujue' guy seems to be doing pretty well. We haven't heard any death messages yet, which means he took care of the hunting dog by himself. He's stronger than you..."

"How do you know he also encountered a hunting dog?"

"Nonsense, did you not see the number of dogs in the castle? I reckon Zaroff released a few for each group of players, or maybe even more."

"Uh... actually, I could barely handle the hunting dog in a one-on-one fight..." Yijian added timidly.

Before he could finish speaking, Bupa interrupted him with a shout, "Shut up, baldy!"

"Bald... baldy..." Yijian, who had a heroic swordsman's long hair, was inexplicably called a baldy.

"You have the stat bonuses from the guild, and you're a level higher than him. The fact that he can do the same thing as you already shows that he's stronger." Bupa wasn't just being unreasonable; there was some logic to her words. "Tch... I should have gone with him. Miscalculated."

Yijian was feeling down after being scolded, and said quietly, "I'm... I'm sorry. I'm causing you trouble by being so weak..."

"Ah, forget it. A baldy is a baldy." Bupa generously "forgave" him.

If the game had animated expressions, there would definitely be a gloomy shadow over Yijian's head right now.

"Alright, now's not the time to be listless." Bupa raised her hand and pointed, "The northwest is that way. Keep scouting ahead."

"Uh... well, I already know which way is north..."

"What was that?"

"Yes... yes..."

…………

Before him was still the dark, sunless forest, with its undulating terrain and towering crags. Underfoot was sometimes soil, sometimes winding, twisting paths of gravel.

In his trek, Feng Bujue gradually became numb to the discomfort in his body. This numbness led to mental relaxation. Fatigue was like a burden he couldn't shake off, pressing down on him. His Survival Value wasn't recovering at all in this constant state of walking, and his Stamina Value consumption was also worrying. Although his active skill [Careless Repair] might not be needed in a script with no mechanical facilities, and the remaining two [Ruffian's Kick] only required 200 Stamina each, if his Stamina Value dropped to a certain level, it would be very easy to die if he encountered an emergency.

[Time until sunrise: 153 minutes]

At this time, Zaroff had been gone for an hour and a half. In theory, from the moment they received the mission, the players should have been escaping for 146 minutes.

Of course, Feng Bujue hadn't actually used all 146 minutes. Explaining the situation to his teammates and returning to the castle to ask for tools had taken up some of his time. But what was certain was that he was at least 40 minutes ahead of General Zaroff.

Killing the hunting dog hadn't cost Feng Bujue too much time, because he had sped up for a while afterward. During his journey, he had encountered similar incidents of pythons hunting wild boars two or three times. Fortunately, he was always able to realize it alertly and remove himself from the situation, sneaking away without attracting the animals' attention.

Now that half of the five-hour survival limit had passed, even if they put aside the fact that Zaroff's speed was definitely faster than Feng Bujue's, assuming that this Boss hadn't deliberately been chasing at full speed, he should have caught up by now, no matter what.

If Zaroff still hadn't appeared in another twenty minutes, there was only one possibility: he hadn't come southeast, but had gone to chase the other two.

Therefore, Feng Bujue sincerely, eagerly, looked forward to hearing the system notification that his teammates had died at some point...

It wasn't that he hated these two teammates, but that's just how this script was. Someone had to sacrifice, and for either side, it was a 50% probability. He believed that their feelings were the same as his.

After another ten minutes or so, Feng Bujue simply stopped. He sat on a relatively flat rock, massaging his aching legs with his hands, enjoying this moment of rest.

Obviously, at this point, the plan to trade space for time had been successful. Even if the General immediately killed Feng Bujue or the other two, it would be difficult for him to return and catch up with the survivor on the other side of the island.

At this moment, Feng Bujue's plan had entered its second phase—a phase focused on survival and slowing down. This phase had nothing to do with the other two, for a very simple reason... there were two of them. But Feng Bujue was alone. If General Zaroff really appeared and killed him right away, he would have nothing to say. But if the General had gone to the northwest corner, Feng Bujue had to be doubly careful from now on. If the General didn't come after him, but he was killed by something else, causing everyone on the team to die in the end, that would be a tragedy.

[Team member: Yijian Qingcheng, has died.] The system notification suddenly rang out.

The moment Feng Bujue heard this sentence, he shamelessly smiled.

But seconds later, his smile froze on his face. "Why did only one die?"

He eagerly waited for the news that Cai Bupa Ne had also been killed. Only when he heard that both of them were dead could he rest easy. Because Feng Bujue believed that with Zaroff's strength, no matter what skills that "hide-and-seek" girl had, they would be useless. At most, they would only help her live a little longer.

But... if news of Cai Bupa Ne's death didn't come for a long time, there would be many variables. The probability of her escaping from the General's hands was extremely small. The greater possibility was... Yijian Qingcheng's death had nothing to do with Zaroff. He had died from another monster or some kind of event.

Considering it this way, the worst-case scenario was that Zaroff had actually come to Feng Bujue's side, while Yijian and Bupa had encountered some other danger, resulting in one death and one escape. In the next two hours or so, Bupa would be acting alone, facing various threats of death. And Feng Bujue himself...

Thinking of this, Feng Bujue's pressure returned. He pursed his lips and blew at the hair in front of his forehead. "This is terrible... Now there's no way to tell which side the General went to."

[Team member: Cai Bupa Ne, has died.] The system notification rang out again at this moment.

"Eh?" Feng Bujue was stunned for a moment, then breathed a long sigh of relief. "Phew... I'm relieved now. It seems they really did encounter Zaroff."

Having reached this conclusion, Feng Bujue felt much more at ease. All he had to do now was to slowly travel southeast while ensuring his own safety.

Actually, staying in place was also a solution. Under this script setting, staying put shouldn't be considered passive play by the system. But Feng Bujue was very wary of Zaroff. If the General sped up and returned now, the distance he had traveled was still not safe enough.

So, after resting for about ten more minutes, Feng Bujue set off again.

This time, he only walked about three hundred meters before stopping, because after passing a section of terrain with a drop, he found something in a small depression beside him—a human skeleton.