Zhuang Li stared at the words on the wooden sign and nodded, "I have a clue."
Xuan Ming immediately beckoned his teammates over, saying in a serious tone, "Come and listen to the hint your sister-in-law has given you."
Zi Wei, Da Long, Huang Mao, and Xiao Dao immediately gathered around him. Though there was hesitation in their eyes, they didn't question him. Xuan Ming was the strongest anyway, so everyone should just listen to what he said.
As for what Zhuang Li said, just ignore it.
The bald man, Hu San, was unwilling to give him face. He raised his voice and sneered, "We haven't even entered yet. We've only read two lines of words, and you already have a clue? Do you really think you're the Lord God?"
Zhuang Li didn't even bother to glance at Hu San. He said slowly, "The Buddhist definition of self-nature is that all dharmas possess an unchanging and unchangeable nature, a pure state that requires practice and understanding. Given that this is a terrifying world, a place of revelry for cultists, the Buddhist definition of self-nature clearly doesn't apply here."
"Analytical psychology defines the self as an archetype that embodies psychic unity. The ultimate goal of every personality is to fully perfect and realize the self. If you don't understand this, that's fine. Just understand that the self is the self. 'Self-hell' can be expressed in other words as 'Myself is hell.' It's derived from the idea that human nature is evil."
Zhuang Li pointed at Zi Wei, who was standing across from him, and said in a cold voice, "There's a saying that goes, 'Others are hell.' You are others to me, and I am others to you. In other words, each of us is actually others, and also hell."
Zhuang Li pointed to the ancient castle standing in the gray fog and said cautiously, "So, after entering there, the person you need to be most wary of is not others, but yourself. Do you understand?"
Zi Wei and others said they understood, but their eyes were filled with confusion.
Huang Mao nudged Xiao Dao's arm with his elbow and asked in a low voice, "Are you serious, sister-in-law? Be careful with yourself? What do you mean?"
"You figure out what it means yourself." Xiaodao replied mysteriously.
Huang Mao sneered and complained: "I don't think you understand either."
The other two teams all looked disapproving upon hearing these incomprehensible words. They had never encountered a situation where they had received crucial clues before even entering the door. This uncanny-looking man was either talking nonsense or deliberately creating confusion.
No one would believe him.
Xuan Ming looked around at his teammates and said sternly, "Have you remembered these words?"
"Remember." Everyone nodded obediently.
"Just remember and go in. I also have a tip that I hope you will remember well. After entering the castle, you can disobey my orders, but you must faithfully carry out every word your sister-in-law says. If you want to leave alive, you must listen to him, understand?" Xuan Ming held the little devil's hand tightly and walked in first.
Huangmao and Xiaodao exchanged a look of bewilderment before reluctantly agreeing. Ziwei and Dalong could only nod perfunctorily.
In their hearts, they all thought to themselves: "Is it possible to follow Zhuang Li's orders in everything? Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
Seeing Xuanming take action, the other two teams slowly followed. They regarded Xuanming as a pioneer to explore the way and cannon fodder to step on the mines.
As for his request just now, it was simply a huge joke!
As they marched, Zhuang Li continued his analysis, "There are fifteen of us in total. The mission manager has assigned each of us 15 points, meaning each life represents one point. There are two conditions for completing the mission: one is to bring your teammates with you, and the other is to walk out of this iron gate with a full score of 15. So we absolutely cannot kill each other, understand?"
This analysis was well-founded, so everyone nodded.
The people from the other two teams also looked thoughtful.
"Fuck, what's the point of playing this game if you can't kill people!" Hu San spat fiercely.
Ouyang Yu shook his head slightly at him, meaning that he really couldn't kill anyone this time.
Hu San spat again, and the murderous look on his face grew instead of diminishing.
Wawa pouted in dissatisfaction, and Snake frowned. It seemed that the rule of not killing teammates caused them great discomfort. Killing had long been a part of their lives, even a source of entertainment.
The five-man team led by Zhao Feng secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Their average strength was the weakest, and they were naturally the most worried about being betrayed or killed by their teammates.
With their minds divided, the group entered the castle and arrived at a once magnificent, now dilapidated hall. Without the cover of rocks and weeds, a series of half-dried bloody footprints appeared clearly on the floor tiles of the hall, extending deeper into the castle.
"The blood hasn't dried yet, there are still living people in this copy!" Wawa exclaimed.
"Let's go and take a look!" Hu San ordered immediately.
Without a word, the snake girl rushed forward, following the bloody footprints, but Ouyang Yu grabbed her wrist in time and pulled her back. He shook his head and looked at Xuan Ming, who stood motionless to the side.
His intentions were too obvious.
As the strongest, Xuanming had no problem being a pathfinder. He had seen many such self-righteous fools before, and arguing with them was completely pointless and would only delay his mission.
However, Zhuang Li hugged his arm at this time and said weakly: "My dear, don't go! These bloody footprints look scary. Can you stay with me? I'm just a D-level rookie, and it's my first time to do a dungeon. I have no experience at all and I don't want to take risks!" After saying that, she pressed her pale cheek against Xuan Ming's strong arm and rubbed it back and forth, tears of fear in her eyes.
7480 nearly spit out a mouthful of salt soda: "Master, your style has become too extreme? Are you acting in a Qiong Yao drama?"
Xuan Ming: “…” What’s going on?
He pinched the little devil's chin, lifted up the man's pretty face, looked at his watery eyes, pale cheeks and slightly red nose, and even though he knew that the other party was acting, he couldn't help but feel pity and love.
"Okay, we won't go!" Xuan Ming stretched out his arms, hugged the little devil in his arms, pointed to the sofa in the hall, and comforted him: "We will just sit here for seven days and not take any risks."
Huangmao and Xiaodao: "...Boss, are you serious?"
Zi Wei and Da Long: "That's great! Just sit down!"
The others: “…”
The doll screamed, "What did you just say? Are you a D-rank, and this is your first mission?"
Zhuang Li snuggled into Xuan Ming's arms and said timidly, "Yes, I'm D-level, but if my dear takes me to clear high-level dungeons a few more times, I can reach S-level." He looked up at Xuan Ming with a flattering smile, his eyes flashing with admiration.
Xuan Ming's ears felt hot when he was stared at by the little devil. He couldn't help but lower his head and kissed the man hard twice.
The doll was so jealous that its face was distorted.
Ouyang Yu looked at Xuan Ming seriously and saw that he really had no intention of taking his lover to follow the bloody footprints, so he had to give a cold order: "Let's go!"
The four of them ran deeper into the corridor, and the other five hesitated for a moment before following. Bloody footprints like these were often crucial clues to a successful exit; whoever found them had a chance to escape alive.
Seeing that everyone else had left, Huangmao and Xiaodao became a little restless.
Only then did Zhuang Li withdraw from Xuan Ming's embrace and calmly say, "Let's go."
"Huh?" Huangmao and Xiaodao were surprised.
Xuan Ming chuckled softly and said, "He just doesn't want me to always be a stepping stone for others."
After saying this, everyone understood. Huang Mao said sincerely: "Sister-in-law, you are so virtuous!"
Zhuang Li: "..."
Xuan Ming chuckled happily, then picked up the little devil who couldn't run and rushed into the dark corridor that seemed to have no end.
Everyone followed the bloody footprints down and finally arrived at a basement. The door of the basement was locked with a large lock carved with magic patterns.
Ouyang Yu moved aside to let Hu San examine the lock. Hu San was an expert in magic patterns. He examined it carefully and said confidently, "There's no danger. It's just an ordinary reinforced magic pattern."
Hearing this, the snake woman crushed the magically reinforced lock with her bare hands and slowly walked into the basement. The doll cast a lighting spell, and Hu San immediately lit several oil lamps on the wall, whispering, "It's human oil!"
The five ordinary players led by Zhao Feng did not dare to enter the enclosed space with this group of people for fear of being attacked, so they could only stand outside.
At this moment, Xuan Ming arrived at the basement and put Zhuang Li down.
Seeing that the four taskers inside were not in any danger, Zi Wei walked past Xuan Ming and Zhuang Li and went in first.
This was a basement used to store miscellaneous items. No one had visited it for a long time and it was covered with cobwebs. The bloody footprints stepped on the thick dust, leaving clear marks, and eventually disappeared into thin air in the middle of the basement.
In the corner against the wall were several bags of rotten food, damaged furniture and a dirty full-length mirror that had not been wiped for a long time. A circle of magic patterns was carved around the mirror, which were all meaningless religious symbols, nothing special.
There was a smell of blood in the air, but it eventually dissipated completely.
The person who left the bloody footprints disappeared in the basement out of thin air, and the untrodden dust revealed the last trace he left behind.
Hu San was the first to rush to the bloody footprints, bending down to examine them carefully. Snake Woman and Baby joined him. Ouyang Yu circled the basement before moving over to observe. Zi Wei also joined in the fun, followed by Xuan Ming and Zhuang Li, and finally Xiao Dao, Huang Mao, and Da Long.
Seeing that everyone had gone in, Zhao Feng finally walked in, followed by Li Xue, Xu Yingying, Lin Zimu and Heiyu.
Everyone carefully studied the bloody footprints that disappeared out of thin air in the center of the room, their faces full of confusion. Then they searched everywhere and finally determined that there was no clue in the basement except for debris.
"Go ahead." Ouyang Yu said with a frown.
Everyone filed out of the basement, went up to the living room, and sat on the sofa.
"We can only pass the level successfully if all team members survive, so from now on, no one can act alone. You must move within my sight." Xuan Ming pointed to his eyes and looked around at everyone.
This order was originally reasonable. To successfully pass this dungeon, unity was the only way out.
However, Hu San said with great disdain: "Xuan Ming, you probably don't know that Ouyang Yu and I are already SSS-level taskers. Our strength is no weaker than yours. You want to be our leader? Are you worthy?"
After saying that, he stood up and waved his hand, saying, "Let's go find some clues! Only a worthless woman would sit here and wait for seven days!"
Ouyang Yu bowed to Xuan Ming in a gentle and polite manner, but the smile on his lips revealed contempt.
The four men left in a mighty procession, but Zhao Feng's five-man team stayed behind obediently.
Judging from the current situation, this castle seems to have nothing special except that it is dilapidated, dead silent, dark and dirty. Lin Zimu and Xu Yingying did not find any negative or evil energy in it.
The bald man just said that he didn't detect any evil spirit.
In other words, this is a copy without monsters and demons, so it shouldn't be difficult to leave alive, right?
Just as Zhao Feng was thinking this, the task controller on his wrist began to vibrate. He looked down and was horrified to see that the score column, which had inexplicably changed from 15 to 14.
This meant that just now, one of them had died! Death was irreversible! This meant their mission had failed completely at the very beginning! They were destined not to be the first players to emerge from this dungeon alive!
The forbidden place is indeed a cemetery!
Cold sweat slowly slid down everyone's forehead.
There are fifteen people in total, and 15 points in total. If one person dies, the situation will be completely irreversible!
It’s over! These two blood-red words popped up in everyone’s mind.
Ouyang Yu and the others returned, looked around anxiously, and asked sharply, "Who died?"
The eleven people sitting in the living room stared at the four of them, all with expressions of surprise and confusion on their faces. 11 + 4 = 15, it was a simple math problem. Fifteen people were standing here at this moment, not one missing!
So, what was the reason for the sudden loss of one point?
Ouyang Yu suddenly shut up, as if to make sure he wasn't mistaken, and stretched out his fingers to count them one by one. Fifteen, fifteen over and over again, no one was dead!
"How could this happen? What exactly is the scoring mechanism?" For the first time, his usually gentle and calm voice trembled with uneasiness.
Zhuang Li, who had been sitting on the sofa the entire time, showed no sign of shock or panic. He observed everyone carefully and discreetly, then suddenly said, "Xuan Ming, kill that bald guy!"
What? !
Everyone's heart skipped a beat when they heard his words. Their points were already inexplicably reduced, and killing another team member at this point would be tantamount to killing themselves. Was this guy crazy?
Wasn't he the one who just said that we must not kill each other?
However, Xuan Ming did not hesitate at all. He rushed to the bald man like lightning and easily broke his neck.
"SSS level? Not weaker than me?" He raised his eyebrows in surprise, then looked at Ouyang Yu.
The cold sweat on Ouyang Yu's forehead was like rain. He had never seen an SSS-level tasker kill another SSS-level tasker instantly.
This was by no means an exaggeration; it was a true instant kill! Hu San didn't even have time to blink before he died in such an unclear manner!
The snake girl opened her mouth and spat out a bright red tongue towards Xuanming. Her expression was extremely angry, but she stood there not daring to move.
The rest of the team was also stunned by Xuanming's thunderous, decisive and ruthless killing method. This man was simply a puppet in Zhuang Li's hands! He would do whatever Zhuang Li told him to do without hesitation, completely disregarding the consequences.
What's even more terrifying is that Zhuang Li is just a completely inexperienced D-rank rookie with an extremely cruel heart! He only knows how to kill and has no idea what he's doing!
Everyone's eyes turned to Zhuang Li, and the anger in their pupils began to slowly burn.
He doesn't want to live anymore, but he drags everyone else down with him. Such a person is either vicious or stupid! And Zhuang Li is both! He's the one who deserves to die!
At this moment, the tasker vibrated again, and the glaring 14 in the score column turned back to 15!
Hu San is dead! Why were the points added back?
Why?
Everyone looked at each other, and instead of feeling relieved, they were even more shocked.
The unknown is often the most frightening thing! However, it seems that only Zhuang Li knows the answer to this unknown!
Xuan Ming casually discarded Hu San's body, looked around at his teammates, and warned in a deep voice: "I've said it before, if you want to leave alive, you must faithfully follow every word your sister-in-law says. Now, do you remember?"
Huangmao, Xiaodao, Ziwei, and Dalong quickly stood in a row and shouted, "I'll remember!"
Fuck! This sister-in-law is incredible!
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