Chapter 111: Uncle Wen, why are you out here?

Xu Lang glanced sideways at Wang Yazhi and noticed her expression remained normal, as if she was resting with her eyes closed. A slight smile unconsciously appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Next, Xu Lang meditated for a while, then took out a skill scroll.

This was the skill scroll dropped by the squad leader. Xu Lang casually learned it, thinking it might come in handy sometime.

"Do any of you want to learn this skill?" Xu Lang took out a second Battle Cry skill scroll and offered it to Cao Yaxuan and the others.

The women looked at each other and all declined.

Cao Yaxuan and Sherry had no use for it, while Tong Qi and Wang Yazhi felt it didn't match their combat styles and might cause confusion in the heat of battle.

Xu Lang didn't insist, instead listing the skill scroll on the Trading Network.

Three hours later, the Frost Ghost army attacked again.

The weather outside was too cold, and both Cao Yaxuan and Sherry were being lazy about earning points, but after Xu Lang gave them a couple of spanks on their bottoms, they straightened up.

Whoosh~

A short spear shot through the air, piercing through a Frost Ghost Spear Thrower's head!

Xu Lang hung from the corridor ceiling, steadily picking off the more threatening Frost Ghost Spear Throwers.

When the Frost Ghosts spotted him, they went completely berserk, hurling short spears one after another.

Xu Lang released a ball of dragon flame, disrupting the spears' trajectories, then leaped and bounded like a giant spider back to the Entrance Hall.

Bang—bang—bang!

Cao Yaxuan and the others were still firing their guns.

The regularly stocked bullets at home had already been nearly half depleted.

Fortunately, they all had the Aiming skill, so with careful shooting, bullet consumption wasn't as severe as it could have been.

Otherwise, if they'd held down the triggers on both Colts, they would have exhausted their bullet stockpile in just one minute.

In what felt like no time at all, despite the Frost Ghost army's large numbers, the Frost Ghosts on the tenth, ninth, and eighth floors didn't even last ten minutes before all falling dead outside Dorm 200's door.

"Whew~ We earned plenty of points this time. We should be able to rest tomorrow." Cao Yaxuan breathed a sigh of relief, her face showing happiness.

This time, they had deliberately earned more points, widening the gap between themselves and others on the leaderboard.

This secured their positions—they wouldn't be overtaken if someone else killed a major monster—and it also stimulated others' desire to compete for the top three spots, which was good.

Worth mentioning was that after the previous ambush incident, neither Zheng Kai nor Wu Huihui and her group lingered on the tenth floor this time, instead quickly going to support other floors.

The Frost Ghosts on other floors found themselves attacked from both front and rear, dying quickly and cleanly.

Xu Lang and the four women tallied their gains: various supplies, and the total Copper Coins increased to 270,000, 10,000 less than the previous round.

This was unavoidable—monster drop rates fluctuate and can't be completely quantified.

"Huh? My soldiers are all gone again?"

The Frost Ghost King heard the fighting sounds inside the building gradually fading and saw players beginning to appear in the corridors, finding it utterly bewildering.

The building assault hadn't even lasted half an hour before all the Frost Ghost Soldiers were dead!

Unlike usual, the Frost Ghost King didn't leave immediately. Instead, he remained with a dark expression, deep in thought.

After a long while, he waved his hand and left with his personal guards.

The guards didn't forget to carry away the Frost Throne—they'd need to bring it back tomorrow, so no point wasting it.

"That monster seems quite intelligent." Li Shuwen, wrapped in wolf fur, watched the Frost Ghost King's retreating figure with a deeply furrowed brow.

Li Wenwen stood beside him, her small face pale from the cold, quietly asking, "Will that Frost Ghost King eventually attack the building too? I saw players who got close to him getting instantly killed. His strength is terrifying."

"Probably." Li Shuwen gave a noncommittal answer.

Just then, two players approached.

"Uncle Wen, are you recruiting people here?"

"Yes, tell me your basic information."

"Our skills include..."

"...You don't meet the requirements."

Li Shuwen shook his head, and the two players left disappointed.

Watching the players gradually gathering in the corridor, Li Shuwen's brow furrowed again.

"Feeling like the player survival rate is too high?" A man with sharp, square eyebrows and a powerful build walked over.

This was Fifth Floor Leader Tang Ze, accompanied by five tenants.

Li Shuwen said gravely, "High, unusually high. I've never seen any game round where, with the game time nearly half over, so few people have died!"

"Probably the survival game is going to ramp up the difficulty for us later." Tang Ze said helplessly.

Li Shuwen nodded in agreement, then looked at the people with Tang Ze and asked, "Where are you all heading? You've only been scavenging for half an hour, and the outside supplies haven't respawned yet, right?"

"Of course we're going to gather wood." Tang Ze smiled. "Cold protection supplies are skyrocketing in price now. Better to prepare more—who knows how cold it'll get later... Old Li, do you want to come along?"

"I'll pass. Too lazy to run around. I'd rather go back and practice my skills." Li Shuwen shook his head.

Wood wasn't easy to find in modern schools—most desks and chairs weren't solid wood anymore. There was plenty of wood in the forests, but it was all green timber that couldn't be used.

Tang Ze immediately said, "Then you don't need your wolf fur anymore, right? Sell me the extra! Whatever the highest price for wolf fur becomes later, I'll make up the difference to you!"

The players following Tang Ze all brightened up.

Wrapping yourself in two layers of wolf fur was most comfortable, and some of them didn't even have one piece yet.

"I knew you didn't come here just to chat." Li Shuwen smiled and shook his head, then sold the wolf fur to Tang Ze.

Although they weren't close neighbors, they often chatted and looked out for each other.

Having obtained what he wanted, Tang Ze laughed heartily and took his leave.

In the vast, heavy snowfall, players entering it looked like worker ants disappearing into a white world.

Midnight struck, and the Dormitory Broadcast sounded right on time. The Blood Servants began their nightly visits to the dorms.

Zhang Dahai hid inside a shipping container, waiting for good news.

Due to certain reasons, he could block monsters' perception, so he could move freely outdoors even during rest periods.

"After this game round ends, I should be able to upgrade all my turrets... Sigh, if only I could make it into the top ten. Otherwise, I can't increase the number of turrets, and Xiaofan won't be safe."

"Speaking of which, what will it be like later when all the players on every floor are high-level players, with four or five turrets per dorm room?"

"Won't monsters just die as soon as they arrive?"

He was mentally calculating various things when Xu Lang's private message popped up.

Zhang Dahai's heart jumped. He immediately left the shipping container, quickly searched the surrounding area, then headed to the supply point.

"The nearest quality supply point is the gymnasium... and the best places for supplies in the gymnasium are the martial arts area, tennis area, and equipment room."

Familiar with the route, Zhang Dahai moved stealthily, even putting away his frost torch to avoid detection by people in the dorm building. Only after entering the gymnasium did he relight the Frost Flame Torch.

Three Frost Flame Torches gathered together created a bright flame that illuminated a figure that made Zhang Dahai's hair stand on end!

"It's you, Dahai!" Li Shuwen stepped down from the practice platform. The firelight illuminated his face, but his body remained in darkness, like a painting divided into light and shadow by the flames.

A long spear suddenly appeared in his right hand, its tip scraping the ground and drawing sparks. With a sway of his left hand, all three torches ignited simultaneously.

"Uncle Wen, why are you out here?!" Zhang Dahai's heart pounded as he slowly stepped backward.

He had never known that Li Shuwen's scholarly, gentle face could appear so sinister and frightening when he wasn't smiling!