Chapter 28 Unforeseen Turn of Events

On the other hand, at the foot of Liuhe Temple…

“C-Captain?” When [Final Onslaught] saw [Pioneer of Kings], he could scarcely believe his eyes.

Because he had never seen Pioneer of Kings exhibit such a state before…

At this moment, the captain of the First Squad of Corpse Blades looked pale and his eyes were glazed over. His gait was staggering and he was panting heavily. And a hundred meters behind him, there was a large group of ghostly figures “drifting” along.

“Haa… Okay… Don’t ask anything… Quick… Use a healing skill to stop the bleeding for me, stop it completely!” Pioneer of Kings reached his teammate and panted raggedly as he made this request.

“Uh… Oh…” Although Final Onslaught was somewhat puzzled, he complied.

Speaking of which, Final Onslaught could be considered a very unique player… All of his specialization levels were B-grade.

In other words… he was an extremely rare balanced player. He could be relied upon for anything in the team… He wasn’t afraid of head-on combat, he could pull out a gun and take a few shots at range, he had a few spiritual術 (ling shu) skills and summoned creatures, and of course, he was indispensable when it came to healing the wounded…

Although he didn’t excel in any one area, he was decent in every aspect. The Corpse Blades’ AI system calculated his average ability value and found that he was among the top, so he joined the First Squad…

And at this juncture, the teammate Pioneer of Kings most wanted to meet was precisely Final Onslaught; this kind of all-around helper could be used in any situation.

“Okay, all stopped.” After all, he was a man with a B-grade healing specialization… With the help of medical props and skills, Final Onslaught managed to stop all the bleeding points on Pioneer of Kings’ body in no time, ensuring that not a drop of blood would flow out again.

But…

“Hmm…” Pioneer of Kings muttered, looking back, and found… that the movements of the ghosts in the distance hadn’t stopped. “Damn it… Is it too late…”

“What’s wrong, Captain?” Final Onslaught asked, puzzled. “What’s too late?”

“Sigh… Let’s talk as we walk…” Pioneer of Kings said, glancing in the direction of the temple gate, signaling his teammate to follow him, and then he jogged along, continuing, “Doomsday’s dead, you already know that, right?”

“Yeah… Less than five minutes into the scenario, and I saw a living person disappear from the team list…” Final Onslaught replied.

Pioneer of Kings shook his head and sighed, then said, “Doomsday… was killed by Feng Bujue…”

“Oh…” Upon hearing this, Final Onslaught immediately revealed an “ah, that explains it” expression, as if the three words "Feng Bujue" in the sentence made many unreasonable things become reasonable, and didn’t even need an explanation.

Seeing that his teammate instantly accepted this setting, Pioneer of Kings continued, “After the guy surnamed Feng (Feng Bujue’s real identity is no longer a secret, many people know he’s a novelist, and also know his name is almost the same as in the game) killed Doomsday, he climbed to a high place and sang ‘Mountain Road Has Eighteen Bends’…”

“Huh?” Final Onslaught turned his face and said with a crooked mouth, “Really?”

“Do you think I’m in the mood to joke with you right now…” Pioneer of Kings countered with narrowed eyes.

“Hmm…” Final Onslaught was silent.

Pioneer of Kings also looked pained: “Actually… Before I heard the singing, I heard the gunshots first, and I recognized that it was Doomsday’s weapon, so I was moving there before Feng Bujue sang. Unfortunately, Doomsday was already dead when I arrived, so… I exchanged blows with Feng Bujue.”

“You’re still alive…” Final Onslaught blurted out this sentence without thinking.

“Hey!” Pioneer of Kings shouted, “What kind of talk is that? We might as well just admit defeat if we die as soon as we see him!”

“N-no… That’s not what I meant…” Final Onslaught replied awkwardly, “I don’t know… I feel like today is a bit strange…”

Upon hearing this, Pioneer of Kings’ expression changed slightly. Then, he immediately leaned close to the other’s ear and whispered something.

“Oh! That’s right! That’s how it is!” Final Onslaught exclaimed in enlightenment after hearing his captain’s words, “I was wondering what was wrong… So it was…”

“So it was what!” Pioneer of Kings saw that this guy was about to say the word “medicine” and quickly interrupted, “Think before you speak!”

After being yelled at and reminded, Final Onslaught also realized his slip-up. He was a little scared when he thought that he almost revealed the studio’s behind-the-scenes secrets in a public competition…

“Uh… Sorry…” He quickly apologized for almost letting something slip.

“Forget it, forget it… Pay attention next time.” Pioneer of Kings didn’t blame him, because Captain Pioneer also knew very well that this kind of situation of blurting out words without thinking… was undoubtedly caused by "medicine failure."

Long-term use of drugs that interfere with emotions and nerves will definitely have this kind of side effect. Since their brains have become accustomed to the game state under drug suppression, their own suppression mechanism has also undergone corresponding changes… Once they stop taking the medicine, their brains will inevitably take some time to readjust this mechanism. Before the adjustment is completed, the language and expressions of the Corpse Blades members… are basically just "going with the feeling."

“In short…” Pioneer of Kings quickly brought the topic back, continuing from the previous content, “After exchanging blows with Feng Bujue, I suffered some injuries, and then… he ran away.”

“That’s great, Captain!” Final Onslaught naturally replied, “You were able to drive him away, so he must be injured more seriously than you, right?”

“Uh…” Pioneer of Kings looked embarrassed. “Not really…”

“Then why did he run?” Final Onslaught asked again.

“At first, I couldn’t figure it out either, but after a while, I understood…” Pioneer of Kings replied in a depressed tone, “That guy… wanted me to act as ‘live bait’… to attract those monsters lurking in the shadows.”

“You mean those monsters following you from afar?” Final Onslaught said, glancing back.

“That’s right.” Pioneer of Kings replied, “At first, I thought these monsters were easy to deal with, but I soon discovered… that they were almost invincible.” He paused. “Physical attacks are useless, and energy attacks are also ineffective… Only spiritual術 (ling shu) skills are effective against them, but this scenario limits the power of skills… Even if I use my strongest spiritual術 (ling shu) skill, I can only force them back a little.”

“Then… have you tried to shake them off?” Final Onslaught asked again.

“Of course I’ve tried…” Pioneer of Kings replied, “I would have shaken them off long ago if I could…” As he said this, a trace of fear flashed in his eyes. “Although the ghosts don’t drift very fast, no matter how far the distance is, they will move towards me along the shortest straight line without interruption, and they can also pass through obstacles…”

“But why do they have to chase you?” Final Onslaught asked, puzzled.

Pioneer of Kings replied, “According to my observation and speculation… they should be coming for the fresh scent of blood on my body. That’s also why… Feng Bujue created so many non-lethal external injuries on my body.”

“Oh…” Final Onslaught nodded. “But now you’re not bleeding anymore, so why are they still…”

Pioneer of Kings interrupted his teammate again: “Of course, it’s because my whole body of clothes is already soaked in blood…” He sighed bitterly. “Sigh… that’s why I said, ‘It’s too late.’”

“Then… what should we do next?” Final Onslaught continued.

“What else can we do… We can only speed up the pace of our actions and try not to stay in one place for too long.” Pioneer of Kings replied.

While the two were talking, they had already traveled from the foot of the mountain to the gate of Liuhe Temple.

“Tsk… Someone beat us to it…” Looking at the gap in the door, Pioneer of Kings muttered unhappily.

“Is it possible that it’s a trace left by Non-Mouth?” Final Onslaught continued.

“Hmm…” Pioneer of Kings thought for a moment, “It’s not impossible…” As he spoke, he looked back uneasily at the approaching ghostly shadows slowly approaching from the foot of the mountain. “Anyway… Judging from the opening CG, the key information of this scenario is obviously hidden in the pagoda in Liuhe Temple. Therefore… regardless of friend or foe, everyone may be rushing there.” He changed the topic. “It’s not necessarily a bad thing that someone is clearing the way ahead…”

With that, he winked at his teammate, and then he took the lead in stepping into the doorway. Final Onslaught hesitated for half a second, then followed.

…

At the same moment, hundreds of meters away, behind the ghost swarm.

“Very good… They’ve finally entered the temple.” Feng Bujue put his hands in his pockets and leisurely followed behind the large group of ghosts, slowly moving towards the temple.

Of course, he was still consciously keeping a certain distance from the monsters in front of him to avoid being affected by the “blood corrosion aura” that came with those guys.

“When did you learn to control the monsters in the scenario?” At this moment, a familiar voice suddenly rang out behind Brother Jue.

Feng Bujue didn’t need to turn his head to know who it was. First, he could recognize Ruoyu’s voice; second, there weren’t many people in the entire game who could come up behind him so quietly and quickly.

“I can’t control them.” The next second, Feng Bujue responded without turning his head. “I just mastered their patterns of behavior and made use of them.”

“Sounds like… these ghosts are similar to animals in your eyes.” As Ruoyu spoke, she quickened her pace and walked alongside Brother Jue.

Feng Bujue didn’t respond to this sentence. He just looked at Ruoyu with a smile and continued, “Speaking of which… did you happen to arrive, or have you been lurking nearby for a long time?”

“My teleport coordinates are here.” Ruoyu replied.

“So you’ve been lurking for a long time?” Brother Jue continued.

Ruoyu replied, “Yes… But after waiting for a long time, what I got was Little Tan and Little Ling.”

“Oh?” Feng Bujue then threw out two questions, “When did that happen? Did you contact them?”

“They probably went up the mountain six or seven minutes ago.” Ruoyu replied, “I waited in the dark without making a sound, wanting to see if they were being followed.”

“And the result…” Brother Jue gestured for her to continue.

“The result was that I waited for those two from Corpse Blades.” Ruoyu continued.

“Then why didn’t you attack them?” Feng Bujue asked.

“Because I soon saw a large group of monsters moving towards them, and mixed in with them was…” Ruoyu turned her head to look at Brother Jue, and solemnly continued, “… you.”

She paused for two seconds, then said, “Since you were following behind them and didn’t take action, then there must be some plan… Thinking that way, I just let them go.”

“Heh… pretty smart.” Feng Bujue laughed. “That’s right… The main reason I kept that Captain Pioneer was to use him as a guinea pig. In the past twenty minutes, he has already done a very comprehensive test of those ‘animals’ in front for me, and let me slowly explain it to you…”

“Wait…” Ruoyu interrupted. “Before we talk about these technical details, let’s settle the strategy first.” She shifted her gaze slightly and continued, “In addition to the two who went up just now, Corpse Blades has two more members. If you plan to go up the mountain, then I think… I should continue to stay here and lie in ambush.”

“No need.” Feng Bujue denied Ruoyu’s proposal and explained, “I killed that Doomsday Onslaught at the beginning of the scenario, so… other than those two just now, they only have one member left.” He paused for half a second, then continued, “In addition, through the overhead shot of the CG, I have roughly estimated the area of this He Yue Town. Combining it with the information you provided, I speculate… the remaining brother named ‘Non-Mouth of Kings’ was most likely teleported directly inside Liuhe Temple.”

“Then what about the ‘one or two out of ten’ chance that…” Ruoyu asked, following the trend.

“For example…” Brother Jue said with a smile, listing them off, “… he was assigned by the system to a remote wilderness outside the town far from the temple; he died inexplicably while wandering alone somewhere on the map; he got lost despite the obvious landmarks (all the open-air locations in He Yue Town have a view of the mountain where Liuhe Temple is located); he felt that going to Liuhe Temple wasn’t a good idea, so he went somewhere else, etc.” He finished speaking in one breath and smiled, “The possibility of all such ‘hypotheses’ combined… accounts for one or two out of ten, right?”

After listening to this reasonable and well-founded deduction, Ruoyu responded in an noncommittal tone; “Okay, I’ll go up the mountain with you.” After saying that, she looked up at the ghosts in front. “Continue talking about their patterns of behavior…”

…

On the other hand, in Liuhe Temple, in the Xiangji Kitchen (the kitchen of a temple of a certain size).

At this moment, the last member of the First Squad of Corpse Blades – [Non-Mouth of Kings] – was cowering in a corner, trembling as he looked at the terrifying scene in front of him.

There, a monster with the head of a pig and the body of a human was starting a fire on the stove and cooking.

And what he was cooking… was a pot of meat broth with "unique ingredients."