Chapter 452 [(*^▽^*)]

And... are the firefighters who came to put out the fire and the police who came to arrest people considered bandits? They also entered this mountain forest. If so, should they be killed?

If they were killed, wouldn't even more police be dispatched to search for these two serial killers in these mountains? Is this vicious cycle real?

Xue Rui: "Set the mountain on fire? Wait a minute, let me check the map."

Lin Leyou also opened the map to check the situation there. There were two mountains separating them from where they were, but they were halfway up the mountain, and they could vaguely see the firelight over there.

Xue Rui: "It is indeed on fire. There's a flame symbol here that just appeared, and there are five red dots nearby. What are they doing?"

Lin Leyou blinked. "The most important thing now is how to put out the fire... Hmm?"

Just then, the flame symbol disappeared. They quickly looked into the distance, and the faint flames that had been visible just moments before were now gone, replaced by wisps of smoke. After a while, the smoke also vanished. Had they not witnessed the entire event, they probably wouldn't have known about it.

Xue Rui said, "This is strange... there are a lot of black ant icons on the map."

After examining the situation carefully, Lin Leyou said, "Are the black poison ants chasing after us to kill these five people? What exactly happened with the fire earlier... Could it be that the black poison ants can extinguish fires?"

Xue Rui suddenly remembered the purple-grade item he had obtained in the previous dungeon, the one that Li Qianqian had snatched. This item had thirty freely moving and even flying monitoring points, and if damaged, the fire could automatically repair itself after a certain period of time. Wouldn't it be best to use this item now?

Lin Leyou was surprised to hear about this amazing thing, which was much better than the mechanical spider. However, the monitoring point was a round, white mechanical device that was quite noticeable and about the size of a fist.

Xue Rui said, "It's getting dark now. As long as we're careful, there won't be any problems."

Lin Leyou nodded, "Okay, let's leave it at that for now. Be careful, as many wild animals that live in the mountains and forests love to pounce on these small flying creatures."

Xue Rui responded and then released five monitoring spheres. These small spheres could indeed fly, and they were quite fast, reaching the location of the fire in less than a minute.

Although it was getting dark and the light was dim, their monitors clearly showed the five people struggling to survive. What was causing their predicament was none other than the black ants they had encountered before.

Lin Leyou stared dumbfounded at the scene on the screen, and even Xue Rui was shocked. "Is this real?"

The five people were standing by a stream, seemingly intending to get some water, rest, or even spend the night there, but...

However, the five of them were now surrounded by countless black poisonous ants, which were layered on top of each other and were more than a meter high. The trees, rocks and even the water around them were covered with black insects.

The fire had just started in the nearby woods, but it was no longer visible because it was completely covered by black insects. The five people were now struggling in the swarm of insects, as if they had fallen into water and were constantly crying out for survival.

Of course, they also saw some charred branches bobbing up and down in the black swarm of insects, with many insects crawling on them from time to time. Judging from the breaks in the branches, they must have been bitten off. It really was the swarm of insects that put out the fire!

Lin Leyou felt a chill run down his spine. These black poisonous ants were actually crawling into the noses, mouths, and even ears of these people. He wondered what kind of pain they were going through, as they kept screaming and wailing.

However, because their mouths were stuffed with insects, their screams and cries did not carry far; they could only be heard nearby, but the area was full of black poisonous ants and there was no one around.

Xue Rui's face was grim. "It seems that most of the venom of these black poison ants is used for tracking."

Lin Leyou, "Have you been bitten before?"

Xue Rui shook his head, "I'm sure I wasn't bitten. What about you, Brother Lin? A bite from these black ants really doesn't feel like anything, and you recover very quickly. Maybe we..."

Lin Leyou said, "It's alright. Even if we were bitten, it would only be once or twice. Besides, we've run far away, so these black ants can't catch us. They'll definitely chase after the others first."

At this moment, a system notification sounded, and they received a lot more points; one of them died.

After the notification sound ended, Lin Leyou continued, "If we chase after the others first, we might survive to the end. As long as we survive to the end, then we've completed our mission."

So what if they're marked by then? They'll leave the instance after the mission is complete. Of course, things won't be as simple as they think, but Lin Leyou still likes to dream.

Xue Rui breathed a sigh of relief. "I wonder if these black ants will come after us. Should we leave here tonight and go further away?"

Lin Leyou said, "It's alright, what's coming will come. In order to deal with what comes next, we need to rest well. I wonder where Jiang Changdong is now."

All the red dots on the map are still there; except for the dead, none of them are missing. Even those who went the furthest didn't approach them but stayed at a considerable distance. They are safe.

Although they didn't know which one represented Jiang Changdong, they both knew that this person would not die easily and that they would definitely meet him in Xiushan Village.

Lin Leyou said, "Let's cook something and get a good rest tonight. Anyway, now that we have Black Poison Ants to help us kill these people, we don't need to go to great lengths to assassinate them."

Xue Rui: "Okay."

Surrounded by countless black ants, none of the players survived for more than five minutes. After all five were confirmed dead, Xue Rui retrieved his monitoring equipment and then worked with Lin Leyou to prepare food.

Xue Rui also shot two pheasants nearby. Lin Leyou saw this and asked, "Did you see them around here?"

“Yes,” Xue Rui said. “If you zoom in on a small part of the map, you can see clearly what’s around us. It will be marked on the map. I just tried it and found two pheasants.”

Lin Leyou looked at the two pheasants and suddenly remembered that pheasants in the real world are protected animals? It's okay, this is a dungeon, even killing people is fine, let alone two pheasants, it's just the right time to have some meat.

After cleaning the two chickens, they were naturally roasted, and the seasonings that Xue Rui had brought with him could be used as well.

Lin Leyou sniffed, "It really smells good. The skills we learned together before haven't been wasted."

Xue Rui thought of the time he spent learning to cook with Lin Leyou in the kitchen of their apartment in the Happiness Community. In fact, for him, the days he spent with Lin Leyou in the Happiness Community were the happiest and most relaxing time, apart from when his mother was still alive when he was a child.

He had a barely perceptible smile on his lips, which he didn't even notice himself, as he continued what he was doing. They were currently in the open air, so the aroma of the barbecue could travel as far as it could.

People from other places, smelling the roast chicken, started cursing again. They wondered who was so leisurely, whether they were here to explore for treasure or to enjoy the spring scenery.

Despite their complaints, they were hungry and couldn't find any other food, so they had to eat what they had brought with them. Many people carried compressed biscuits, chocolate, or other candies for convenience, along with some water. Most of them carried equipment and tools to help them survive in the wild, and even weapons such as knives and pistols.

The two pheasants were cleaned very well, and the meat was roasted to a fragrant and tender perfection. Xue Rui looked at them carefully and said, "We can eat now. Brother Lin, you can have this one. I'll eat the rest."

Lin Leyou casually picked it up. "Okay, by the way, I have some beer here. Do you want some?"

He bought them at the supermarket in Xingfu Community, and when he got home, he found that the refrigerator was full, so he casually put the extra bottles into his game backpack, where they are still now.

Xue Rui nodded, "Okay, speaking of which, I've never had a drink before."

Lin Leyou paused slightly, then realized that Xue Rui had just come of age and was extremely busy every day. He probably couldn't even squeeze out time to eat, let alone drink.

Taking a sip of wine and a bite of meat was truly delightful. After finishing the meat, the two nibbled on some other things before finally filling their stomachs. During this time, they unexpectedly received several system notification sounds.

Lin Leyou cleaned up all the traces here, and also used some dry branches and leaves to cover them up so that no one would find them.

"These dead people are probably all ordinary NPCs. These are the people who are most likely to die, since they don't have any items or exceptional physical abilities."

Xue Rui said, "I estimate that in a few days, all of these people will be dead. Of course, the other players who were unfortunately chosen to come to this instance will probably not survive many of them either."

Lin Leyou: "The majority of those left are probably people like me; they're all residents of this world."

Xue Rui suddenly asked, "Brother Lin, do you guys also need to run dungeons? Aren't the inhabitants of this world born to live here?"

Lin Leyou blinked. "Of course not. We're the same. If our total points are reduced to a negative number, we'll die. And to survive in this world... you need points to live a good life."

"You need points to get items, and you need items to become stronger. There are many things that can only be bought with points, such as houses. All other daily necessities can be bought with points, or you can buy them with money, but houses can only be bought with points."