Chapter 365: Rusty City Strange Stories

The next day.

Before dawn, Xu Zhiyan received a reply from Jiang Huaique.

The expected agreement, without any suspense.

But looking at the words above, Xu Zhiyan couldn't help but move his fingers and send a new message.

[The first person to make money from dungeons: Don’t you consider the side effects? ]

[I am your father: Don't you think about it? Isn't the reason I work so hard to become stronger? ]

Looking at the message that was replied immediately, Xu Zhiyan laughed out loud.

He took a screenshot of the chat conversation between himself and Jiang Huaique, forwarded it to the Joker, and asked the other party to meet at the safe house.

With a plan, everything went smoothly.

Because he was worried that the Joker's fake death would cause the Ghost Mask to be recovered by the main system, Xu Zhiyan finally chose a cleared ruin world as the location.

The accumulated debris was cleared away, and the small world that had lost its heart returned to its original state. Even the air was filled with the smell of death. Apart from the two people who had just arrived, there was no breath of other living things.

When the clown saw the mask Xu Zhiyan handed over, he was obviously stunned.

He never thought that there would be a day when he would get the strange mask again.

"Say goodbye to old friends."

Xu Zhiyan smiled faintly. He was always generous to his clients.

The clown took the mask stiffly, looking at the prop with a complicated expression. The touch under his fingertips was familiar and cold, probably because the mask was too noisy. He rarely touched it and basically never took it out except when using it.

"This is the tenth year that I have owned the strange mask." His voice was filled with a hint of nostalgia.

He had a revenge that he had to take, so much so that apart from staying alive, everything he did was for revenge, including being recruited by the dark alley and defecting to the safe house...

Under the lifeless gray sky, a circus with colorful flags appeared.

The clown, who had been ready to abandon the past, actually felt a little timid and sad.

Maybe ten years is not such a short time...

Unfortunately, before the clown could walk into the circus to take a good look at his old friend, the clown mask in his hand came to life and started screaming at the top of its lungs.

"Oh! Look who this is? Isn't this the most conscientious businessman in the dungeon, my dear Boss Xu! You are my new master, right? I really am the happiest item in the world!"

"So you're going to put me in the monster pile, right?! My art performance is a little too advanced for humans, but just right for monsters!"

"Hey! Old master, although I have been with you for ten years, I have to say that we are a terrible match! Could you please be so kind as to send me to the new master? That would also be a way to preserve our relationship as master and servant!"

It opened its big mouth and kept chattering, and its machine-gun-like speech swept away the sad atmosphere that had just been established on the scene.

“…”

The Joker froze in place.

He now wanted to turn back time and go back to a few minutes ago when he politely rejected Xu Zhiyan's suggestion.

At the side, Xu Zhiyan tried to hold back but finally couldn't help it. He turned his back and laughed, muttering to himself, "I usually don't laugh unless it's too funny, hahahahahaha..."

This made the clown even more embarrassed.

Although Xu Zhiyan did not turn around to look at him, he was at a loss as to what to do when the prop actively rejected him.

"No need to say goodbye, just get it over with."

As he said this, he stuffed the knife and mask back into Xu Zhiyan's hands, his expression extremely restrained.

Xu Zhiyan coughed twice to suppress his smile, then took the mask and the weapon that could accelerate the loss of vitality.

"Okay, as you wish."

The mask returned to silence.

The tip of the knife sank into his heart.

This was Xu Zhiyan's second time killing someone, or in other words, it was his second time bringing hope of rebirth to someone else.

Looking at the clown whose face looked peaceful as if he was asleep, he checked his breath and pulled out the knife after making sure that he was dead in the game.

[Host! The morgue has been activated, everything is going well!]

After hearing the voice of the system in his ear, Xu Zhiyan finally felt relieved.

The binding information of Weird Face popped up on the panel. He chose to bind, and the circus that had disappeared with the clown's death reappeared before his eyes.

Looking down at the mask in his hand that had changed its appearance but remained quiet, Xu Zhiyan spoke curiously.

"Were you made into a mask after the player died? Your intelligence is far beyond the other props... And what is in the circus? Why can't the clown see it?"

Unlike the shy clown who always avoids socializing, Xu Zhiyan sensed something was wrong as soon as Guimian opened his mouth.

Sure enough, after he asked the question, the clown mask that was originally smiling suddenly turned sad, and large tear patterns appeared on its cheeks.

As a high-level item spirit, it can also know what is happening around it even in mask form.

Before it was bound, Xu Zhiyan was unable to put the strange mask back into his backpack and could only leave it in the safe house. In the past few days, he had heard the monsters talk about everything about the clown.

"Not all socially phobic people like to say goodbye." Weird Face replied tearfully.

Xu Zhiyan didn't ask any more questions. Before leaving, he couldn't resist his curiosity and walked into the circus. As soon as he entered the main tent, he was shocked by the things hanging inside.

The huge tent was filled with pictures of clowns.

A teenager who looked a little green, sweating profusely during training, following behind the mature-looking Ran Que, squatting on the circus flagpole...

Each picture shows the clown in a different time period, and it can be seen that the creepy face really likes its owner.

Just when Xu Zhiyan was moved, a monkey wearing a mask with a printed photo of the clown himself rushed out and placed a new photo of the clown on top. Unfortunately, its movement was too big and knocked down the other photos.

Suddenly, many animals came out from behind the curtain and helped pose for the photos.

Looking at this group of animals wearing masks that looked exactly like the ones in the photos, Xu Zhiyan's body trembled and his head felt buzzing.

"…Well, it's good not to let him in."

Damn, that's too weird!

He bet that if the Joker himself came in and saw these animals wearing masks with his photos on them, he would be so embarrassed that he would dig his way out of the parking lot with his toes.

…

I dealt with the clown in the morning and received news of the new copy in the afternoon.

[The dungeon [Rusty City Strange Tales - Special] is now open for recruitment. ]

[Number of people entering the dungeon: (0/4)]

[Note: Each guild is only allowed to have up to four members enter. If no one enters, it will be considered as giving up the special copy...]

Xu Zhiyan quickly responded to the call.

Soon, the four-person room was full.

However, when he saw the list of entries, he was a little stunned.

In addition to Jiang Huaizhe and Jin Sheng, Dou Hongshan also responded to the call.

After taking over all the assets of Dark Alley, Dou Hongshan changed his guild and entered the krypton gold to change his destiny. The old man with rich experience in call girls was obviously faster than the young man who was still studying.

The guild channel was already in an uproar.

[Yu Xiu: What’s wrong with you! You! Why! Why did you take my place!]

[Dou Hongshan: Jiang Huai said you will take the college entrance examination soon.]

[Yu Xiu: I can go to the dungeon to read books! I still have a lot of papers! ]

[Dou Hongshan: I won’t take the college entrance examination if you need it.]

[Yu Xiu: Who says you can’t enter a dungeon if you didn’t take the college entrance exam? I have good grades, so it’s okay for me to participate in a dungeon! ]

[Dou Hongshan: You have to take the college entrance examination.]

[Yu Xiu: Your skills are not as useful as mine! I can protect everyone but you can't! ]

【Dou Hongshan: College Entrance Examination.】

【Yu Xiu: ……】

Xu Zhiyan watched the conversation and couldn't help laughing out loud.

He had recruited some people into the guild before, but when he took away the dues from the Ideal Union, all of them ran away. The guild channel hasn't been this lively for a long time.

Yu Xiu was jumping up and down in anger on the public screen, and Xu Zhiyan received a private message from Dou Hongshan.

[Dou Hongshan: I’m sorry for making the decision on my own, but since it’s a ghost story, it’s probably related to the rules. Based on my experience, he doesn’t play a big role in a rule-based ghost story. If they are forced to separate, he will probably be the first person to be killed by the rules.]

【Xu Zhiyan: Thank you, but I haven’t seen Yu Xiu so energetic for a long time, that’s great.】

When it comes to finding loopholes in the rules, an experienced person is definitely better than a young person. What's more, there are other mimics in this copy, and the difficulty of breaking the rules will be higher than before.

Both professionally and personally, Xu Zhiyan was very satisfied with the result.

…

The break was fleeting.

Just before entering the dungeon, Xu Zhiyan received an unexpected call.

The caller was Lu Yaoling.

After parting from Monster Nest Island, Xu Zhiyan gave Lu Yaoling some money and asked her not to leave the shell. He also promised that if she paid the money to change her fate, he would protect her and asked her not to enter the dungeon randomly. She herself was as quiet as a background board and no one needed to worry about her.

Ever since Gan Mi became the vice president of the Utopia, the direction of suppressing the guild has clearly been more inclined towards other stronger human players. I don't know whether he intentionally or unintentionally ignored the invisible person Lu Yaoling, so that she has been living a good life.

Xu Zhiyan was leaning on the black and gold bench, looking at the nearest flowing water, and his voice was very relaxed.

"There is already some progress in Chu Qing's case. I paid for the safe house, and Guishen's men promised to find Chu Qing. Don't worry about that. Oh, and if you don't want to enter the dungeon next time, you can directly enter the safe house to avoid the dungeon. This is a privilege for SVIPs."

He said a long sentence, but every word was to the point.

After a while, Lu Yaoling on the other end of the phone finally spoke: "Boss Xu, I want to do something... What can I do?"

She modified her wording and spoke firmly.

Xu Zhiyan was slightly stunned. He didn't expect the other party to ask these questions.

He simply put down the tablet in his hand, stroked his chin and said casually: "You can do anything. If you want to take revenge yourself, you have to work hard to become stronger. Invest a few hundred thousand points in a scam organization and see if you can stimulate other characteristics and comprehend a few more skills."

It was simple for him to say, but what he said was not so easy to accomplish.

Earlier, Jiang Huaique still had high hopes for his own characteristics and invested a lot of money in it, but in the end all failed.

It is extremely difficult to stimulate potential through simulated copy training. If only one person out of a hundred succeeds, it would be luck, let alone Lu Yaoling, who has been deprived of her characteristics once.

There was silence on the other end of the line, and the sound of the other party's breathing could be faintly heard.

Xu Zhiyan did not wait for Lu Yaoling's answer. When he spoke again, the ease in his words disappeared and his tone became much more serious.

"Are you going to scold me for speaking so lightly? Yes, because this is not my business, it's your business, so of course I can talk without any pain in my waist."

He could hear the hesitation and confusion in the other person's words.

"Just do what you think is right and give it your all. That's the only advice I can give."

After a while, Lu Yaoling's voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Thanks."

The call was hung up.

Xu Zhiyan put away his phone, stood up and checked the time. He was sure that he would not have the chance to check his beloved account book again, so he put the horn pendant around his neck and tucked it close to his chest.

Facing the concerned look of the ghost beside him, he smiled and said, "See you in the dungeon."

The ghost did not answer.

The two knew that He had been almost completely pieced together, and no one knew whether there would be more slices waiting in the copy.

The gate to Rusty City has vaguely appeared.

It was not until Xu Zhiyan entered the room that the ghost finally whispered, "If necessary, pierce the horn into the hand bone."

The slices scattered throughout the copy are familiar with the rules and can conceal their power. On the contrary, creating a usable shell out of thin air can easily be detected by the main system, resulting in a loss of some power.

But in His heart, nothing is more important than the safety of His loved ones.

"good."

Xu Zhiyan replied.

…

After the familiar feeling of dizziness and darkness, Xu Zhiyan held his head and sat up.

There was a soft bed beneath me and it was pitch black all around.

Without waiting for the system to urge him, he couldn't wait to open the panel and check the contents.

[Logged into the Rusty City Strange Stories dungeon]

[Dungeon Star Level: Special]

[Players please receive basic information/copy tasks. 】

[You are a reserve newcomer of the city rescue team. In order to be able to successfully become a regular member, you and other newcomers form a four-person team. Now the four-person team needs to successfully complete the rescue mission and find the secret behind the strange story, otherwise bad things will happen...]

[Winning condition: hidden. ]

[Tip: Players please pay attention to the rules in the dungeon. The rules in different areas of Rusty City are different. Please distinguish them carefully. ]

Four people? That's great!

Xu Zhiyan felt relieved.

In this case, he should team up with his other three teammates. The main system finally did a good thing. As for the issue of rules, he had already considered it. The copy format was probably the final choice made by the main system after many considerations. It wanted to rely on the power of rules to strangle the out-of-control creature.

However, before he put down his phone and checked his surroundings, he saw reports from three teammates flashing on the guild system.

[Jiang Huai Que: Damn it...Looking at the map, I should be very far away from you.]

[Dou Hongshan: Let me report, my teammates are a few players from a small guild. They don’t seem to have much killing power and are very timid.]

[Jin Sheng: It’s over, my teammates are afraid of dogs! ]

Xu Zhiyan was stunned.

What? Does everyone have other teammates? Who are his teammates in the dungeon?

In the distance, a door was emitting a faint light in the darkness. Along with the light, there were also the sounds of weapons clashing and explosions...