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Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 79 Separation
Chapter 79: Chapter 79 Separation
Rockets, trailing long tails of flame, flew toward Xu Tuoan. A thunderous explosion followed, and a dazzling fire lit up the sky.
The shockwave from the explosion sent stone floor fragments of various sizes flying. They pitter-pattered down like rain mixed with stone, flesh, and sparks.
It was over. Liu Wu Dai listened to the System notification in his ears and silently put away the rocket launcher.
At that moment, the Plague Doctor, who had been hiding for a long time, leaped down from the second-floor hallway. Looking at the widespread mess, he couldn’t help but sigh deeply.
"After one script mission," the Plague Doctor’s face was obscured by a motorcycle helmet, making his expression unreadable, but his tone was heavy with a shared sorrow as he lamented, "out of five people, only three are left..."
He had never met Ao Yong or Lost Airship before, let alone shared any bond with them. Yet, watching his fellow players die before his very eyes still filled his heart with an inexplicable sadness.
As players leveled up, the difficulty of the tasks issued by the death game also increased gradually. Each mission was a struggle for survival on the brink of death, and every decision determined one’s own life or death.
This constant pressure to fight for one’s life was enough to quickly crush those of weak will.
There were many examples on player forums. Numerous international players, unable to bear this psychological pressure, fell into alcoholism, sexual promiscuity, or even drug addiction—not everyone was an Ascetic Monk or a masochist.
Having seen too much suffering and endured enough scares, many people chose to live each day as if it were their last, enjoying it to the fullest.
A player’s identity was not only a mark of Lady Luck’s favor but also a death notice from the Grim Reaper. No one knew how long they could last in the death game.
You could die at any time, this round, or the next...
The face hidden under the Plague Doctor’s motorcycle helmet was quite grim. He shook his head, clearing the chaotic thoughts from his mind, and said to Li Ang in a serious tone, "We owe you a great deal this time, Brother Li. Without you, I definitely couldn’t have solved the riddle of this mission."
The Plague Doctor’s gratitude was one hundred percent sincere.
Playing hide-and-seek with a group of ghosts, with one Ghost hiding among the team pretending to be a teammate—such a bizarre and terrifying game setting could easily wipe out a well-coordinated, battle-hardened strategy team more than ten times over.
"No need to thank me," Li Ang shook his head and said calmly. "Actually, this mission wasn’t excessively difficult. It was Ao Yong sneaking into the mall’s main control room during the day that caused the mission’s direction to take an aberrant turn and brought about the Ghost teammate setting.
"And even with a Ghost teammate, as long as one was observant enough to discover its identity, the mission could also have been completed through peaceful means—by negotiation."
"Huh?" The Plague Doctor was taken aback. "What do you mean?"
"Didn’t you notice? The mission conditions provided by the System were simply to copy six Talismans."
Li Ang smirked and said coldly, "If a player on the team had discovered Xu Tuoan’s existence, they could have negotiated with him privately. They could have helped Xu Tuoan draw the Talismans, free from the Fierce Ghost’s harassment.
"After that player helped Xu Tuoan complete the Yin Gathering Array, the other three Ghosts in the mall could possess the bodies of the other three teammates and leave the shopping center. Meanwhile, that player would be able to leisurely collect the complete set of Evil-slaying Array Talismans, completing the mission by sacrificing their teammates."
Li Ang paused, then continued softly, "That method of completing the mission is probably the safest, most prudent, and most rational...
"Even if other teammates realized something was wrong, they couldn’t cause much of a stir because the player who betrayed them would be under the Fierce Ghost’s strict protection. In other words, another approach to this mission isn’t about running faster than the Ghosts, but thinking faster than your teammates. This is probably the true meaning of hide-and-seek."
HISS... The Plague Doctor couldn’t help but suck in a breath through his teeth. Only after hearing Li Ang’s explanation did he understand the sinister and vicious implications behind this mission.
Humans fear the horror of Ghosts, but Ghosts know the poison in human hearts. In cooperative missions, players must worry not only about attacks from Monsters and Ghosts but also about the vicious schemes of so-called ’teammates.’ And these schemes are largely due to the System’s hints, inducements, and even encouragement.
"Right," Li Ang clapped his hands, suddenly remembering something. He looked up at the Plague Doctor and asked, "Can you show me those three Talismans?"
"Of course, of course." The Plague Doctor, grateful to his teammate for not killing him, nodded. He took out three crumpled Talismans from his pocket and handed them over.
Li Ang took the three yellow papers, laid them out in a line on the ground, and took photos with his phone before returning the Talismans.
The Plague Doctor put away the Talismans and asked curiously, "What are you doing that for?"
"Just collecting some information," Li Ang said casually. "Whether Xu Tuoan’s talk about the Datura organization is true or false, the Evil-slaying Array and Yin Gathering Array he possessed are genuinely effective.
"Even if I don’t have the so-called Qi and can’t perform these techniques of Taoism, listing them as information files on the forum should still fetch a fair amount of Game Currency.
"If you want, I can send you a copy too."
Unfortunately, Xu Tuoan’s Ghost didn’t survive the Moonlight Longsword of the Evil-slaying Array. The knowledge he possessed was probably the most valuable treasure in this mission.
But it was no use thinking about it now. If Xu Tuoan had been lucky enough to survive, Li Ang and the others would probably be the ones fleeing.
"Then send me a copy of the complete Talisman information too."
The Plague Doctor nodded, glanced at Liu Wu Dai, who had been silent all along, and smiled. "The three of us are comrades who’ve survived a script mission together, and we’re all locals from Yin City. Let’s add each other as friends when we get out. That way, we can look out for one another if anything happens."
Liu Wu Dai nodded silently and, together with Li Ang, accepted the friend request sent by the Plague Doctor.
"Now that the mission is completed, the Barrier set up by the System in Longheng Shopping Center should be dissipating soon," said the Plague Doctor. "I’ll go destroy the surveillance system in the control room on the B1 floor first. This will prevent the Special Affairs Bureau from investigating later."
"I’ll go with you," Li Ang said, following the Plague Doctor. Liu Wu Dai trailed closely behind them.
The three of them destroyed all the hard drives containing surveillance footage, along with the computers in the control room. Fortunately, the main control system in Longheng Mall was an old model from several years ago and had never been upgraded. It didn’t have backend software to automatically upload surveillance footage to the cloud; otherwise, things would have been much more difficult.
After erasing all records, the three felt the Barrier surrounding Longheng Square gradually dissipate. They then went their separate ways, leaving the mess for the Special Affairs Bureau, who would arrive twenty minutes later, alerted by a fire alarm.
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