Chapter 38 Harboring Evil Intent "Uncle Zhang, do you have any leads?...

"That seat..."

Gu Keke withdrew her outstretched hand.

The boy had already successfully taken his seat, and even if someone tried to remind him again, it would be too late to salvage the situation.

Seeing that she was looking at her with a questioning gaze, Liang Xun shook her head, indicating that she should not make a fuss.

Liang Jun then focused all her attention on Zhang Weiming.

This was clearly a life-or-death escape moment, but Zhang Weiming seemed calm and composed, as if he had everything under control.

Although his body language was aimed at reassuring the boy, his eyes kept scanning the device in front of him, as if searching for something.

Liang Jun narrowed her eyes slightly.

This spot seems to be about the same place I was standing just now.

Could it be that Zhang Weiming also discovered the bat shadow that was projected down?

A rather wicked thought gradually surfaced in Liang Jun's mind.

Since he himself could connect the first rule, someone as shrewd as Zhang Weiming could naturally connect these clues instantly as well.

Could he be planning to use the life of an innocent player to verify the authenticity of this clue?

The more Liang Jun thought about it, the more uneasy she felt.

He seemed unaware that the other person had been observing him.

After calming the boy down a bit, Zhang Weiming waved to the people behind him.

"Grab your things and let's continue looking for seats."

At this moment, there were only three people left behind him.

A dark-skinned, overweight middle-aged man, an office worker in a yellowed shirt, and the man who pushed his wife and daughter into the abyss.

After Zhang Weiming gave his instructions, they all stuffed something into their pockets.

However, due to the distance, Liang Jun could not see clearly.

The group continued walking backwards. Liang Jun and Gu Keke remained silent, their eyes following them intently.

Zhang Weiming skipped Gu Keke's seat, but just as he reached Liang Jun's carriage, he suddenly stopped.

"What a coincidence, little girl."

Zhang Weiming waved to the people behind him, signaling them to start their operation.

"We're quite destined to meet, I don't even know your name."

Unsure of what the other party was really up to, Liang Jun decided to take it one step at a time.

The best way to deal with this kind of middle-aged man is to go along with his wishes. You might just get more clues that way.

Liang Jun suppressed her disdain and outwardly appeared obedient and docile.

"Uncle Zhang, you can just call me Xiao Liang."

"Little Liang..."

Zhang Weiming deliberately dragged out his words, showing no sign of the embarrassment he felt before fleeing for his life, "You can see it too, Uncle Zhang doesn't have many people around him anymore."

His tone sounded rather helpless, but Liang Jun still caught the faint smile on his lips perfectly.

"Why don't you join forces with Uncle Zhang? There's strength in numbers, maybe we can get through this together..."

Upon hearing this, Liang Jun's facade of maintaining a good relationship became difficult to maintain.

She suppressed a laugh. The slight upturn of one corner of her mouth only made it seem more sarcastic.

“If I remember correctly, Uncle Zhang,” Liang Xun sneered, “didn’t your team have seven people before the dungeon officially started?”

Liang Jun glanced disdainfully at the three players who were busy looking for seats.

"How come there are only a few people left now?"

"Uncle Zhang, do you have any clues?"

Zhang Weiming's kind expression froze in place, and he gave a forced, insincere smile as he twitched the corner of his mouth.

"A person's fate is predetermined, and it's not something I can control..."

"Indeed, not everyone will obediently listen to you and sit in that green seat."

Liang Jun made a pointed remark, and Zhang Weiming's face turned red and white in patches.

"What do you mean?" Zhang Weiming's tone turned somber.

"Uncle Zhang, you are a wise and intelligent man. What you think I mean is what I mean."

Liang Jun still had a faint smile on her lips. "I know exactly what your intentions are. If we cooperate with you, we might die even sooner."

Zhang Weiming mumbled something, as if he still wanted to argue.

“Uncle Zhang, you’d better hurry up and find a suitable seat,” Liang Xun nodded slightly, her eyelids slowly lifting, “The devil is coming soon.”

Zhang Weiming had his head down, so his expression was not visible.

But not long after, he met Liang Jun's gaze again, still maintaining that extremely upright and gentlemanly demeanor.

He didn't say anything more to Liang Jun and turned to leave.

The blue-eyed girl was sitting not far from Liang Jun, but Zhang Weiming didn't linger as long as he did with her. He only glanced at her in front of the carriage before leaving in a hurry.

Gu Keke had been quietly observing the situation.

After seeing him completely out of her sight, Gu Keke tilted her head and asked Liang Xun, "Why didn't this uncle come looking for me?"

“He already knew we were together, and he also understood that you would come with me.”

Liang Yan lowered her voice and spoke without reservation.

“If he can poach me, it means we can both be brought under his wing. Winning people over one by one is too inefficient; Zhang Weiming won’t do something that’s a losing proposition.”

As if suddenly realizing something, Gu Keke said with a sigh, "Indeed, first impressions are the most accurate. He really is not a good person."

"Keep an eye on his movements, and stay as far away from him as possible."

A whooshing sound suddenly came from the entrance of Zone D, and Liang Jun and Gu Keke wisely kept their mouths shut.

The three demons that had finished devouring the prey had officially entered the D area and begun their sweep.

The boy sitting on the green chair was the first player to face the demon directly.

The moment the shadow loomed over him, the boy's breath caught in his throat, and the suffocating feeling made his face turn red.

He originally wanted to escape, but then Zhang Weiming's words to him suddenly echoed in his mind.

That's Uncle Zhang, the Uncle Zhang who would give me red envelopes during holidays, the Uncle Zhang who helped me get through the first hurdle safely.

How could Uncle Zhang possibly harm himself?

Whether he sensed the restrictions on movement imposed by the seats or simply repented, the boy abandoned his struggles and quietly sat down in his seat.

After freezing the demon, where will I find Uncle Zhang...?

The sound of a "crack" was the sound of an artery rupturing.

The green seat was first stained with bright red blood, and then it was firmly shrouded by the shadowy figures of three demons.

A faint smell of blood drifted through the airflow in the parking lot towards Liang Yan, who was sitting not far away.

She rubbed her nose, her brows furrowed slightly, but she stared intently at the process of the food being swallowed.

She had previously observed that it takes about three minutes for a demon to completely devour a player.

Now, with three demons devouring a player together, the time required is significantly reduced.

It only took about a minute.

The demons were like starving jackals, devouring the boy until there was nothing left, even licking the blood off the chair.

Seeing that they were about to float towards Gu Keke, Liang Xun quickly instructed, "After freezing them, immediately run in the opposite direction from them, go around to the blind spot, and leave Zone D!"

Gu Keke nodded nervously, gripping the flashlight in her hand tighter and tighter.

The demon that first approached Gu Keke was frozen in place the moment it pounced. The remaining two demons, however, were completely unaffected by the chair's control and continued to drift towards Liang Yun.

Gu Keke nimbly climbed out of the carriage and, following Liang Xuan's instructions, took a longer, sideways route to escape the D area.

Just as she ran out, the second demon floated in front of Liang Xun.

The same scenario played out again, but fortunately, both of their seats were safe.

After subduing the second demon, Liang Xun dared not linger. Before the first demon could regain its mobility, she seized every opportunity to escape the demon-swarming D area.

She had just turned the corner and run out when she ran right into Gu Keke, who was squatting in the corner.

What are you doing here?!

Liang Xun was somewhat surprised, "Didn't I tell you to run first?"

“I’ll wait for you!” Gu Keke answered decisively. “I just glanced over, and the remaining two demons are wandering around in area C. They’ll probably drift into area D soon.”

Liang Xun noted down this information, "Then let's go to Area B!"

Just as the two were about to make their move, the blue-eyed girl followed closely behind and ran out from area D.

Liang Jun instantly came to a conclusion—it seemed that she had controlled the third demon.

The three of them tacitly stopped talking and instead ran off to other areas.

At the fork in the road, Liang Xun and Gu Keke plunged into Zone B; while the blue-eyed girl ran straight towards the Zone A sign.

Zhang Weiming and his four companions, along with the five demons in the entire arena, were all concentrated in the small D area.

But even after Liang Jun and Gu Keke searched the entire B area, they still couldn't find either of them walking out of the D area.

"They really have the ability."

The thought that four people could manage to deal with five demons in such a small place made Liang Jun shake her head in genuine amazement.

Although they were not being hunted by demons and could search for the right seats at will, Liang Jun began to vaguely feel that this matter was becoming more and more complicated.

As time went on, the number of green parking spaces remaining in the four zones of the stadium dwindled, and as far as the eye could see, it was almost entirely a sea of ​​dark red.

"This shouldn't be happening..."

Hearing Liang Xun's soft mutterings, Gu Keke asked curiously, "What shouldn't be done?"

"There shouldn't be so few green parking spaces left..."

Liang Xun's hands continued their investigation. "There are clearly only a few surviving players left. Logically speaking, there shouldn't be so many red lights that have been used and triggered..."

Liang Xun looked up and scanned her surroundings. "The number of red lights now clearly exceeds the actual number in use."

Upon hearing Liang Jun's words, Gu Keke casually tugged at the light cord closest to her.

It was then confirmed that the light cord can only be pulled once. In other words, once the light turns red, it cannot turn green again.

After a few seconds of silence, Gu Keke whispered, "Could it be that someone deliberately pulled the light cord..."

Leung Chung did not give a direct answer, but she did not completely deny it either.

During their discussion, the two turned into a small corner belonging to Section B.

This corner parking space is relatively secluded, almost directly opposite the connection between Zone D and Zone C, but it's not too conspicuous.

They stumbled upon this place by chance after investigating one by one.

It seems no players have been here; the five parking spaces are rarely all lit up with green lights.

The joy in Liang Jun and Gu Keke's eyes was hard to hide.

They split up to check the parking spaces and eventually discovered that there were actually two correct ones.

One of the parked vehicles was a three-seater chassis, but one of the seats was classified as "dangerous"; the other was a standard five-seater sedan, with all seats safe.

"Please sit here first."

Liang Jun pointed to the small, dilapidated bicycle frame on the left, "There are plenty of good seats over there, which can be saved for emergencies."

Gu Keke thought so too, and the two of them shrank into the car frame one after the other.

Just to be on the safe side, the first thing to do after sitting down is to pull down the light cord. Gu Keke was about to reach out and pull it down when Liang Jun stopped her.

"Don't rush to change the lights."

Liang Xun released Gu Keke's hand. "Haven't we calculated the time it takes to freeze the demon?"

Gu Keke hesitated for a moment, as if she was brainstorming.

"It seems... there isn't..."

She frowned, seemingly wanting to give a time range, but suddenly realized that Liang Jun should have a precise time value, so she obediently shut her mouth.

"Then we'll pull the light cord after the demon arrives."

Liang Xun kept looking up at the parking lights and didn't notice Gu Keke's change in expression.

“Start counting from the second the light cord was pulled off, until the demon resumes its movements.”

Gu Keke nodded, "But what's the use of counting this?"

"These kinds of dungeons will probably all end up being battle royale games..."

Liang Xun took a deep breath. "If, in the end, the number of surviving players is significantly less than that of the demons, and considering the extremely precious seat resources, then seizing this time difference will probably be the most important thing."

"Making the most of every second is the key to passing the level."

If she had paper and pen in front of her, Gu Keke would have started taking notes on the spot.

She really learned a lot from Leung Yung!

Is this the charm of college students?!

During the worship, the sharp-eyed Gu Keke instantly noticed the anomaly near area D.

She nudged Liang Xun's arm. "Look, it's Zhang Weiming and the others coming out."

Liang Jun's gaze followed, and she found that the number of people in their group had not decreased; it was still the same four people.

To think he could hold off five demons unscathed for so long...

Liang Jun's eyes dared not leave them for a moment, for fear of missing any crucial information.

This sustained attention quickly yielded results.

Liang Jun discovered that their division of labor seemed to be extremely meticulous.

Zhang Weiming was in the front row, checking the seating in the green parking spaces. Since they didn't have flashlights or other direct light sources, they had to rely solely on their naked eyes to make the checks.

The two team members held objects resembling Rubik's Cubes and placed them in front of the parking spaces approved by Zhang Weiming.

The remaining player stayed behind the main group to observe the situation behind them and report any abnormalities immediately.

But what exactly is that Rubik's Cube-shaped thing?

Liang Xun quickly opened her system shop and scrolled through the items in the shop, trying to find something with a similar shape.

She quickly found the same prop on the front row of the third page.

"Hunting shield?"

"What?" Gu Keke was unaware of Liang Xun's inner monologue. "What protective shield?"

Liang Jun explained, "It's the kind of prop that Zhang Weiming and the others are holding. There are similar ones in the mall, but they look different..."

Liang Xun tried to lean forward a little more, wanting to see the props in the distance more clearly.

Due to the distance, Liang Jun couldn't see the details clearly. She could only observe that the Rubik's Cubes in their hands were entirely Prussian blue.

However, the items in my own shop are clearly light purple.

"Coco, open the shop and see what color your 'Hunting Shield' is?"

Before purchasing an item, you can only see its name and appearance.

After quickly completing the search, Gu Keke informed Liang Jun of the results she had found.

"Silver."

Gu Keke quickly understood Liang Xuan's meaning, and her eyes kept glancing at the hands of the two players.

"But why is their color different from mine?"

"Mine should be different for everyone; mine is light purple."

As Liang Jun watched Zhang Weiming and his group place a prop in front of almost every correct parking space, her expression grew increasingly serious.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle.

But they don't even understand the use of this item, so how are they supposed to fight against players with malicious intentions?

A hunting shield costs 350,000 points.

Liang Jun did not hesitate for long and bought it directly.

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Author's Note: Coco: It turns out that reading more books really does make you smarter (starry-eyed)

Sister Gan: Smart? Are you referring to the fact that my thesis proposal was rejected four times...?