LWGP - Chapter 148
Chapter 148: Self-Preservation
Qi Shuanghan's brow twitched. A sudden suspicion struck him. "Because they aren't individually strong, even if their attacks fail and they get killed, their bodies release that mist poison. In a narrow, enclosed space like this maze, the gas can't disperse. As it accumulates, won't we be doomed?"
There are only two solutions: one, find the way out of the maze. Two, let the gas disperse.
"It can't be dispersed. The ceiling and walls we just attacked are almost solid. Any wiring is embedded directly inside, with no ventilation gaps."
"And we can't touch the ceiling."
"What do you mean? Can't we just break through to the second floor? This building looks pretty solid; it won't collapse, will it?"
"There are mercury pipes up there. If we rupture them, the mercury will pour in..."
"Holy shit!"
Everyone was disgusted by Zhang Shen's design.
"Let me check the walls."
Out of caution, Xie Lu punched another hole in the wall. Seeing the solid wall and the composite material beneath the inner metal plate, his expression turned grim.
"It's no good. This is too thick, and we don't know how many more walls like this there are. Our spirit power won't last."
Go back?
They hadn't actually walked for long. If they turned back now...
"Fuck! The fork in the road is gone!"
Wang Shu was stunned.
But he quickly came to his senses. The fork was gone, but several figures emerged from the wall that had blocked the path behind it, a blade slashing straight for his throat.
It missed by a hair's breadth.
Wang Shu's legs trembled. He raised a hand and smashed a fireball into his opponent's head, knocking half of it askew. Sparks were still flying, but the figure simply twisted its head back into place. Gripping a dagger, its skin turned transparent, and even the dagger became invisible.
How could Wang Shu see through that? He was horrified.
Mei Qinghe yanked him back and kicked the opponent in the stomach. "Damn it, they can turn invisible? Is this another type of alienated being?"
They were surrounded from the front and back, and hands were even bursting up from the floorboards beneath their feet.
As they hastily dodged the attacks, they realized how troublesome this was.
They were surrounded and could only fight their way out. But once they killed them, the bodies would self-destruct, releasing the poison gas...
Qiao Xuejing only had one cage, which wasn't enough.
In this perilous situation, Wang Jiu's gaze was profound. She glanced at the wall, seemingly seeing something far beyond it, but she quickly retracted her gaze. She didn't mention her ability to see through things, only saying flatly, "Hold your breath. Don't worry about how to see through them. All they have is an invisibility and camouflage ability; their attack and speed are pathetic. Fight your way out within a minute. Ignore the poison gas. Kill them if you have to."
Her words were neither heavy nor light, neither salty nor bland, but they sounded reasonable to her team. However, they made the hidden chameleon-like alienated beings inside the nearby walls turn grim.
Oh ho, so arrogant!
They were angry now, and they attacked with even more frenzy.
But the team, on the contrary, was no longer nervous.
Their captain was the Demon King, their stabilizing pillar. Her word was law. They immediately cast aside their worries and began a slaughter.
In less than a minute—just forty seconds—they ruthlessly carved a path and broke through.
Before the alienated beings behind them could even hesitate about whether to give chase, Mei Qingshu sent them a parting gift: an AoE arrow explosion.
Even the true, good, and beautiful top-student senior sister said to kill if they must.
So kill they did!
Yan Guanqi's team was also engaged in an all-out slaughter. Even though he and Luo Sheng had seen through the trick of the maze's alienated beings, they also knew they couldn't escape the maze. Even if they restrained themselves from killing, the situation would rapidly deteriorate—because they couldn't control the other teams' killing.
"Forget everyone else, Wang Jiu will definitely go on a killing spree. She doesn't care if others live or die." That's what Luo Sheng said, and everyone was thoroughly convinced. So they pushed forward frantically. But suddenly, there was a deafening roar.
Everyone was startled.
What was happening?
"Just as I thought. Someone chose the simplest way to break through—brute force, smashing through the walls to destroy this maze!"
Yan Guanqi had known this was a maze and had sensed the hidden danger of the alienated beings' poison gas. He was even more certain that nine out of ten people who could enter a Nightmare Dungeon were decisive killers and would choose to escalate their attacks.
And this was the most direct and simple way to break through a maze, but only on the condition that their attacks were powerful enough to get through the walls.
"To think they'd choose such a method. People who've made it this far shouldn't be so reckless."
Xia Laoci was very surprised. Li Chui suggested they go over and help.
"There's strength in numbers. If we attack together, we can break right out."
Luo Sheng glanced at him. "Don't forget, anyone who dares to be so direct right now is either reckless or has the spirit power to burn. If such a person is confident they can break out of the maze by force, would they need us? And regardless of whether they need us or not, discarding an ally once they've served their purpose is hardly a rare occurrence."
She was a cautious and cunning person by nature, never fully relying on others, but also not one to easily break her word.
This was prudence.
A glint appeared in Li Chui's eyes. "If we don't go, do you have the confidence to find the way out of this maze? By the way, you've always fancied yourself a high-IQ academic prodigy."
"It's fine. It's generally acknowledged, I've never fancied myself as such. You, on the other hand, I didn't realize you had such an inferiority complex."
"You!"
Li Chui's gaze turned sinister. Before the apocalypse, even if they had business conflicts while vying for inheritance rights to prove their worth to their families, they were still in the same circle and wouldn't completely burn their bridges. But the apocalypse was different. It was a lawless land where life and death didn't matter.
In his youth, Li Chui had suffered quite a bit at Luo Sheng's hands. His only advantage was that he was male, and his family didn't have many heirs, so he had few competitors and a solid backing. Luo Sheng's natural status in her family was lower than his. As they grew up, he began to look down on her, but after several years of struggle, Luo Sheng had advanced by leaps and bounds, causing him many hidden losses and making him hate her all the more.
Li Chui stared at Luo Sheng, a murderous intent rising within him, but he quickly reined it in, smiled, and said no more.
Luo Sheng saw it but paid it no mind. She only said to Yan Guanqi, "Let's stick to our own path for now. We can still handle the current situation. There should be some small resources deeper inside. Killing these natives will count towards our score if we survive this dungeon. It's better to be steady. As for encountering other teams, that's inevitable. Besides, if one team manages to break the maze, unless it can fully repair itself in a short time, there's no need to rush over."
Yan Guanqi deeply agreed, his thinking aligned with Luo Sheng's.
This was the tacit understanding between intelligent people. It was difficult to communicate with someone like Li Chui, who was self-righteous and loved to make rash decisions.
Once they had a plan, they chose to avoid the team using brute force and opted for a breakout on the left path. They also began to ponder how to solve the maze.
But they hadn't gone far before a group of people suddenly rushed out in front of them.
A random teleportation scroll.
"Who's there!"
No one answered. The other party attacked directly!
Farming resources? Killing players was the most profitable way to farm resources!
And the teams that could enter a Nightmare Dungeon... 90% of them were ruthless!
While Luo Sheng's group encountered a fight, Wang Jiu's team also chose to avoid the brute-force team, not out of fear, but for another reason.
System: "With the Ghost Shadow Armament, you can walk right through the walls and break this maze in minutes. What's up? Planning something sinister?"
It wanted to chat with Wang Jiu, but she ignored it, instead dropping a few lines in the group chat.
"Focus on single-target attacks. Conserve your spirit power."
Everyone: ?
"There are a lot of people over there, and we're too few. If we run into dangerous elements, we absolutely must be able to protect ourselves."
Everyone understood in an instant. Oh, got it, boss.
Self-preservation, self-preservation.
A glint flashed in Wang Shu's eyes. He took the initiative to make some noise with Dao Dao, allowing other teams to notice them.
Bait?
Dao Dao: "You're not actually that weak, you're just good prey for some experts."
Wang Shu: "Just you wait. I'll bulk up soon."
Dao Dao: "I believe that. You've already gained several pounds since I met you a few days ago."
Damn it, you stupid pig!
Carrying the backpack with Bai Bai inside, Wang Shu acted as bait, luring out a few alienated beings to help Mei Qingshu and the others kill them. They were also moving quickly down a side corridor.
Qiao Xuejing was primarily the one leading the way. She was an architecture major with spatial reasoning and memory even stronger than Wang Jiu's. Using spatial memory techniques, combined with puppets and dolls sent out to make sounds at fixed points, she could determine the maze's size and distances by listening and triangulating... Anyway, it was a whole theory. Qiao Xuejing didn't explain much; after all, while an individual's thought process might sound simple, it's hard for a non-expert to understand.
The team followed her, fighting their way through.
As they fought, Wang Shu carefully guarded his backpack. Suddenly, his scalp tingled as if a cold, venomous snake had its eyes on him. Just as his heart leaped in alarm, Liao Luo shot forward and clashed with an assassin who darted out from around a corner.
Bang! Liao Luo was sent crashing back against the wall by a single blow, but a defensive buff from Lin Guiwan allowed him to withstand the strike. However, a mark now appeared on his opponent.
Liao Luo formed a hand seal.
Assassin's Pull Mark!
"I've pulled him! Attack!" The moment Liao Luo spoke, Xie Lu followed the pull skill with a Homing Bird Sword Art... The opponent hastily blocked with a shield but was wounded by the bonus frost damage. As he spat blood, Xie Lu slid in and unleashed a wave of 「Sword Frost Brilliance」.
The sword qi carried a chill that lowered the temperature of the entire corridor. While sword light flashed on one side, Mei Qingshu didn't support Xie Lu, instead guarding Lin Guiwan. Her caution was justified.
Swoosh! A metal throwing knife bypassed the gap in Xie Lu and his opponent's attacks, shooting straight for the space between Lin Guiwan's eyebrows.
Clang! With her pupils activating the Archer's Eagle Eye skill, Mei Qingshu fired her crossbow with one hand while drawing a golden short sword from her waist with the other to strike the knife.
She had blocked it, but Lin Guiwan was still startled because her Light Arcane Spirit had given her a warning.
She immediately cast a defensive aura on herself.
Whoosh! An interrupt skill descended from nowhere, nullifying her defensive aura. Not good!
After the successful interrupt, a tiny ant in a corner that almost no one had noticed suddenly transformed into a tall, burly man who leaped towards Lin Guiwan with a cleaving strike.
Mei Qinghe and the others nearby were dumbfounded.
Was that a puppet?
That's not how puppets work.
What kind of class was this? Or was it a special camouflage item?
With a twirl of her staff, light gathered. Lin Guiwan had already prepared a Holy Light, ready to descend.
But she suddenly stopped the skill, not casting it.
Because someone was behind her.
What was that?!
The leaping man only felt a blade's gleam, suffused with an aura of blood, drift before him. It struck his blade... no, it struck his waist.
Cut in half at the waist!
It carried no trace of a skill or spirit power.
Damn it, a boss?
The burly man was stunned. In that instant, he thought he had been attacked by a terrifying dark boss.
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