GAMMT - Chapter 77
Chapter 77: A Guilty Conscience
Fu Chuan knew she had lost her greatest advantage. Once those people's puzzles were complete, the strongest among them would undoubtedly plow through the lower prison levels like bulldozers.
She checked the rankings.
Sure enough, the rankings were in constant flux, as if people were killing prisoners or other contestants to gain point items at any given moment.
"Even if I were content to remain beneath them, Hong Yan would probably figure out it was me. Once a fight breaks out, some of my tricks will be impossible to hide. How could people like them tolerate being used? They'll definitely come after me. What if they have stun or mind-control abilities? Could they kill me before I even have a chance to withdraw?"
So far, she hadn't truly killed any other contestant. Was it because she lacked the ability?
No. Firstly, she didn't want to; it wasn't necessary (with the exception of Qin Minfeng).
Secondly, she was wary of provoking their families, which could lead to a mutually destructive outcome.
But Fu Chuan knew that people like Hong Yan wouldn't hesitate to kill her.
"So..."
She had to do something to weaken their advantage and rapidly strengthen her own.
Fortunately, she had made some preparations before the exam.
Fu Chuan recalled the locations of the remaining six special cells.
"Right now, their focus should be on the third and fourth floors, but a few might have the same idea as me—avoid the others and go for the lower levels alone."
"Ten puzzles, ten people."
Her greatest advantage was still not combat power, but perception and speed.
Especially perception. She was certain her dual-pupil technique was no weaker than those of the Xie Clan disciples. At most, they would have blue-tier pupil techniques. Even if their specific abilities were better than hers, they couldn't beat the bonus of having two. The only one she needed to be wary of was Xie Yiyuan.
Thus, Fu Chuan first used Mimicry to transform into an Australian dragonfly, copying its physical characteristics to gain the advantage of flight. She then merged it with Little Yellow's shared agility and opened her feathered wings, stacking them with the dragonfly's wings... increasing her spatial flight speed by 30%.
Invisible flight.
This method of flight produced no elemental fluctuations. Unless someone had a stronger pupil technique, they wouldn't be able to see her directly.
With a whoosh, Fu Chuan transformed into an invisible dragonfly and zipped through the space.
Her speed was terrifying. In the blink of an eye, she descended to the third floor and quickly moved through it, but she avoided the shortest route, knowing that others would surely have chosen it.
She took the third-shortest route to the fourth-floor entrance... passing Donglong Zhao and his group along the way. She didn't stop, but she confirmed... as she flew past Li Yu, he didn't notice a thing.
The fourth floor!
Fu Chuan descended. The moment she arrived, she suddenly froze.
A woman had appeared at the entrance ahead at the same time. Her long hair draped over her shoulders, her figure graceful. She turned her head and glanced over...
Though she was tall, her skin was excessively pale, giving her a sickly, delicate appearance that made her seem particularly gloomy and cold.
Perhaps she had sensed a fluctuation in the air?
All she saw was a wall. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, seemingly noticing nothing, but then suddenly!
She raised her palm, and a black mist with an extremely powerful devouring force covered the entire space.
The black mist seeped into the air, identifying and even corroding it inch by inch.
Seven seconds later, the space was completely consumed by the black mist. Other elements and the air itself were essentially corroded away.
"No one?" She tilted her pale neck slightly, as if surprised that her judgment was wrong, but she didn't waste any more time. With a flap of the dark, purple-glowing wings on her back, she flew directly into a side corridor.
Her speed was not much slower than Fu Chuan's maximum speed.
At that moment, Fu Chuan, who had keenly hidden inside the wall, felt her heart pound, thinking she had narrowly escaped. But soon, she heard the sound of fierce explosions coming from the distant corridor.
A fight had broken out!
No wonder she left. It wasn't because she had dismissed her suspicions, but because she had sensed someone had arrived before her...
Strange, who was this woman? She didn't seem to be Li Cang or Xie Yiyuan, and she wasn't among the top ten in the first echelon before. At least, she wasn't in the data Fu Chuan had gotten from Zhou Linlang.
She wasn't from an Orange Blood family either. Perhaps, like Hong Yan, she was an anomaly from outside the Orange Blood nobility. But even Hong Yan had some background, whereas this woman was a complete unknown.
Then she wasn't from Beluke City or even the five major cities; she was probably from another city.
A super dark horse.
But she couldn't see through her disguise directly... she was just a little short.
Fu Chuan broke out in a cold sweat. After some thought, a glint appeared in her eyes. She decisively changed her plan. Instead of going down to the fifth floor, she used her fastest speed to bypass the two who were now fighting fiercely and ran to the special cell. Was she going to open the door and grab the treasure?
No, no, no!
As she flew over, a flash of inspiration struck her. She released the density-less tentacles of her 1st Sequence, wrapping them around her body to simulate the density of air.
Another layer of protection.
Upon reaching the door of the special cell on the fourth floor, Fu Chuan took something out, placed it, and then left.
If someone could still see through this layer of protection... then Xie Yiyuan must have awakened an orange-tier gene talent!
She couldn't be that unlucky!
After leaving the fourth floor, she reached the fifth. Fu Chuan once again ran to the vicinity of the special cell on the fifth floor...
Still not opening the door, she continued to place the same item.
As she did this, she could feel the sounds of fighting from the floor above.
It seemed more than one group was fighting. They had started brawling; at least five of the ten were fighting, otherwise the force of their attacks wouldn't be strong enough to affect the fifth floor.
Fu Chuan paid it no mind and quickly ran to the sixth floor!
The moment she arrived on the sixth floor, Fu Chuan felt that the atmosphere was off. The air was thick with the strong smell of blood...
Had someone already come down?
Fu Chuan was almost scared off. Her speed was already fast enough; after all, she was the first to complete the puzzle, and Hong Yan was the second, behind her. If someone was even faster than her, making up for the time they lost to the two of them in completing the puzzle, how fast would that person have to be?
Fu Chuan steadied herself and resisted the urge to turn and run. She still had a plan; if she ran, the plan would fail.
Taking a deep breath, Fu Chuan used her dual pupils to examine the elemental fluctuations in the air. She found no signs of elements being drawn upon for combat, which meant no one was using Arcane arts on this floor. Therefore, no one was attacking the prisoners here.
So that meant... there was just the smell of blood in the air, was it that simple?
Fu Chuan flew quickly. Along the way, she discovered that the five prisoners on the sixth floor all glowed with blue light, a very deep blue. They were all level 40.
In other words, they were all level 40 blue-tier BOSSes.
Every single one of them.
Fu Chuan used her pupil technique to take a look, and her heart pounded. According to the standards of elite LV combat power, they had all reached LV40.
Every single one!
What about the one in the special cell?
Fu Chuan wasn't in a hurry. She followed her plan, first merging light and light silk, then turning invisible. She used it to manipulate the puzzle piece, hanging it on the door of the special cell. Not only that, she also split off some threads and hung them on the doors of the other five cells.
Then she hid far away, at the entrance to the seventh floor.
Before hiding, she deliberately tampered with the trajectory of the light element fluctuations in the air, making them all point very clearly towards the seventh-floor entrance.
This was for another contingency: among these contestants, there was a certain probability that someone like Xie Yiyuan could see through her and track her. She had to be prepared in case he possessed an orange-tier gene talent pupil technique.
Then let him see!
She then waited quietly for a while. When she sensed someone entering the sixth-floor entrance.
They're here, and quite fast. I wonder which one it is...
She wasn't anxious. After another moment, she confirmed that the person was approaching the special cell but was still some distance away, especially when they reached the front of the five cells. She hooked her finger, manipulating the puzzle piece with the silk thread.
At this moment, there was indeed a person moving at extreme speed on the sixth floor. When he arrived, he suddenly felt something was wrong.
Click. The cell doors opened automatically.
His heart skipped a beat. He turned his head and saw the five heavily-guarded prisoners staring back at him. Among them, a white-haired old man grinned, his smile refined and elegant.
"Young man, you've got quite an appetite, opening five doors at once. Do you want us to come at you together?"
The youth, possessing an exceptionally noble air, had soft, messy black hair that slightly covered his cold eyes. His well-defined jaw looked as if it were carved by a knife.
"It seems someone has plotted against me."
"Get lost. I have business to attend to. I'm not in a hurry to kill you yet."
His tone was cold, clearly uninterested in the kill points or the treasures within the cells. But his pupils shifted, sweeping quickly... he saw the faint fluctuations of the light element, and followed the traces in the air directly to the seventh-floor entrance?
So obvious.
Heh, trying to lure him into the seventh floor and use the same remote door-opening trick to make him face the seventh-floor BOSS?
Despite his suspicions, he delved deeper and confirmed that there was no one at the seventh-floor entrance.
He quickly scanned the entire seventh-floor space again. Apart from the five criminals, there was no one else.
They escaped. It seems they either fled to the fifth floor or are hiding near the sixth-floor special cell, planning to attack it while he's tied up with these prisoners.
These prisoners couldn't care less. They were vicious criminals outside; did a few years in prison reform them?
"What exam? The guild wants to use us as your stepping stones. Well, we'll repay you with your own flesh and blood."
"Kill him!"
Just as Fu Chuan predicted, the combat power of these five prisoners was extraordinary. Each one was comparable to a Que Baige.
The five of them surrounded the youth, attacking frantically.
The youth was furious. His pupils swept over them... a pupil technique attack directly shook the souls of all five... and while they were collectively stunned, he raised his hand and unleashed a storm of violent ice magic.
The entire seventh-floor prison instantly turned into a world of ice and snow...
He could actually fight one against five!
Many people in the hunting ground were shocked.
"Xie Yiyuan is so strong."
"Terrifying. No wonder he and Hong Yan have long been in the top three... I wonder what Li Cang's strength is like."
"Look, he should be able to kill these five BOSSes in the end, just picking them off one by one..."
Just as everyone was discussing, Xie Yiyuan's expression suddenly changed drastically. He spun around and hastily blocked.
Boom!
Xie Yiyuan was sent flying by a giant ape arm, slamming hard against the wall. As he fell, armor glowing with an orange light covered his body. He saw the huge, ugly ape monster.
All the cell doors were open?!
A very special 5+1!
Who was this? Who was so insidious? Was their ancestral grave built in a sewer?!
Even with Xie Yiyuan's astonishing noble composure, he almost lost his cool at this moment.
The ape monster's scarlet eyes locked onto him. It opened its mouth, and a red beam of light suddenly erupted... Bang!
Xie Yiyuan hastily dodged, but was entangled by the various negative status effects from the other five prisoners... Not good!
Crash!
Many members of the Xie Clan's main branch stood up in unison, their faces filled with horror, terrified that their family's hope would be eliminated right here.
On the screen, there was an explosion. A three-meter-deep crater was blasted into the wall. Xie Yiyuan used another gene talent to cleanse the negative statuses from his body and released a blue pet. This pet directly manipulated space... The space distorted for a moment. The massive, terrifying ape monster BOSS was hindered by its own weight, allowing Xie Yiyuan to quickly dart towards the fifth floor.
He had thought that by escaping to the fifth floor, the prisoners wouldn't follow, as the settings should have them guarding their own level's cells.
In fact, his guess was correct.
But!
After entering the fifth floor, he suddenly felt something was wrong. The elemental fluctuations in the air... were being rapidly drawn away.
What?
Was someone fighting fiercely, thus drawing away the elements? The problem was that all elements were being drawn away, not just a single one. And the speed was too fast, not like a normal fight, but more like...
Someone had set this up!
Xie Yiyuan turned his head and saw the ape monster BOSS and the five heavy criminals had already given chase.
Someone was using some kind of special device to draw away the elements.
And after the elements were drawn away, some of the inconspicuous magic sigils on the walls dimmed, meaning the restrictions on the criminals on that floor were weakened.
Xie Yiyuan suddenly discovered this secret, his face sinking. He had no choice but to flee.
He was already locked onto by the ape monster BOSS and the others. He couldn't win a fight, and if he was constantly pursued, he would likely be killed.
He had to lead them away!
At this time, the people on the fifth and fourth floors also noticed.
Hong Yan had just taken the special cell on the fourth floor when he suddenly noticed the fluctuations deep within the walls. He also felt a massive pull of elements. He broke through the wall and pulled out the object inside to take a look.
It was an ordinary alchemical item. Because it had no connection to Arcane arts or elements and was made of solid material on the outside, unless one had the ability to see through thick walls and find this Meditation Puppet among a massive number of bricks...
Who the hell could find this? How cunning would you have to be to make a Meditation Puppet look like a brick?!!!
His eyes almost went blind when he first saw it.
His worldview was cracking a little.
"It's actually a Meditation Puppet. No, its effect on guiding mental power is mediocre, but its ability to draw away elements is very strong... Who made this crooked-neck Meditation Puppet?"
"Some troublemaker trying to plot against me again?"
His mind was buzzing, and he instantly thought of the insidious mastermind from before.
He quickly grabbed the treasure and wanted to avoid the risk, but it was too late. The fifth floor had already exploded!
The ape monster BOSS was unstoppable, and it was very clever. It directly had its five subordinates open all the cells on the fifth floor as well...
The fifth floor had 20 level 35 blue-tier BOSSes, all of them ruthless and cunning criminals. They quickly banded together and charged towards the fourth floor to open the cells and release their own kind!
To slaughter these contestants!
My god, the third, fourth, and fifth floors were in complete chaos. The remaining contestants could only tremble, fleeing and grouping up in all directions. Who had time to think about killing their companions?
This was life-threatening!
At the entrance to the seventh floor, Fu Chuan suddenly felt her scalp tingle.
She had come in here to avoid the ape monster BOSS's attack. She wasn't sure if opening the cell door would trigger a setting that would allow the BOSS to see through her and track her. To ensure her safety, she chose the seventh-floor entrance. Once it was released, she would quickly hide on the seventh floor.
Because of the hierarchical difference between the floors, she was certain these criminals would only dare to run to the upper prison levels, and would absolutely not dare to go down.
The seventh floor was likely the king's prison of this entire facility.
The one locked up inside should be a super BOSS.
Like right now... she felt someone staring at her. She turned her head.
She met the gaze of someone in a toilet five meters away.
A man in a blue and white patient's uniform, looking very young, like a Western-style innocent boy, was sitting cross-legged on the toilet lid, reading a book. His neck, arms, legs, and waist were bound by tangible chains of lightning, covered in dense totems.
Outside the toilet he was in, there was another gate.
This gate was the final seal.
How strange. The strongest BOSS was locked in a toilet.
He looked at her, his eyes holding an unreadable emotion, but... he looked so pitiful, making one feel an irresistible affection for him.
Fu Chuan almost went over... but suddenly, she smelled the faint scent of blood... blood.
The same smell of blood from the sixth floor?
She wasn't sure, but she suddenly broke free from this strange, lured state. Her mind was buzzing. She didn't know what she had thought of at that moment, but she suddenly became much clearer, without a trace of greed. She abruptly flashed out.
The moment she flashed out.
A rotting, bloody hand that had reached out from the ground where she stood grabbed at empty air.
The man watched Fu Chuan, who had already escaped, without getting angry. He slowly folded the newspaper and murmured to himself, "A beautiful girl finally runs in here, but her willpower is so strong. What a pity..."
Fu Chuan, who had gotten out, felt her heart pound, her forehead covered in cold sweat.
Too terrifying.
She had probably made the worst possible decision—she shouldn't have hidden on the seventh floor.
This seventh floor was likely designed for the first-echelon contestants to tackle together. She had actually gone in alone, not knowing life from death!
She almost... almost died.
Fu Chuan gritted her teeth and quickly headed for the special cell on the sixth floor, grabbing all the treasures from the five cells along the way.
This floor was empty.
No criminals either.
This was the ultimate goal of her risky plan... As for the consequences...
She was just helping to release the point-giving monsters, allowing everyone to set aside their past hierarchies and strive together as a human collective. Was that wrong?
No.
But it was very unscrupulous.
Fu Chuan actually felt a little guilty, but when she got a jade box, her guilt suddenly vanished.
Because she was also just a very vulgar mortal.
Mortals pursue profit and weigh the pros and cons. When benefits and drawbacks clash, corpses pile up, but she would stand tall.
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