Chapter 173: The Player's Real Purpose

"That makes sense." Xu Huo nodded. "And even if that old woman at the Fresh Meat Sausage Shop was a Player-Eater, you could argue she deliberately let you and the others go to help you find Granny Bai.""You, Yang Sheng, and that Player-Eater who was tailing me are all working together, right?"

"Since you were following me and then conveniently went to the Fresh Meat Sausage Shop, you probably aren't players from the Government Hall."

"Those Government Hall players have no reason to trust a low-level dungeon player. If tracking via Access Cards was a viable method, the Fairy Tale City dungeon has existed for over ten or twenty years—it wouldn't be as peaceful as it is now."

"You and Yang Sheng encouraged the other players to find Granny Bai, but your goal wasn't to clear the dungeon. What are you really here to find?"

Tao Chengxin, who was standing to the side, quietly distanced herself from Tang Yuan and moved a bit closer to Xu Huo and the others.

Tang Yuan met the gazes of the three of them, shedding his previous polite and refined demeanor as he sneered coldly, "Looks like you all are planning to kill me and take my goods."

Xu Huo didn't respond, simply watching him perform.

"You're the only one who's been talking this whole time. So far, players in this dungeon have either died or been trapped. How do you know he and that Granny Bai aren't lying?" Tang Yuan glanced at Sun Jirou and Tao Chengxin as he spoke. "It's entirely possible they're going along with the plan to lure the Government Hall people here, then performing a double act to clear their names!"

"What if what you're saying is true?" Compared to Tao Chengxin's confusion and bewilderment, Sun Jirou remained calmer. "Whether it's Fairy Tale City or the Government Hall, who's good and who's bad doesn't make much difference to me. But you used us to get in here—you should at least tell us what you're looking for."

"If this place is truly dangerous, we're all taking risks. There's no reason for you to hog all the benefits alone."

Seeing that his attempt to sow discord had failed, Tang Yuan decided not to waste any more words on them. He flung out a dazzling, colorful orb, and as the orb suddenly erupted with a blinding light that forced the others to shut their eyes, he reached for the inconspicuous flower on the ground!

But before he could pull up the flower, Xu Huo—who had closed his eyes—was already behind him, delivering a kick to the back of his head.

Tang Yuan dodged narrowly, and as he turned to grab the flower and leave, his arm was suddenly seized. Before he could look back, he heard Xu Huo say, "You can leave, but the item stays!"

Tang Yuan sneered and kicked backward, forcing Xu Huo to retreat before charging suddenly toward Tao Chengxin to reclaim his glove!

Having learned from her experience at the Bear Claw Restaurant, Tao Chengxin had already released her frog, which was as big as a human head. It chomped down on Tang Yuan's wrist!

The glove had defensive properties, so the bite didn't pierce through flesh, but Tang Yuan still felt excruciating pain. As he grabbed his other glove and retreated, he accidentally stepped on black spikes that had emerged from the ground!

This was Sun Jirou's doing!

Players' hearing is enhanced, allowing them to discern locations by sound even when vision is impaired. So the colorful orb attack could only achieve a surprise effect; after the first few seconds, Tang Yuan no longer held the advantage.

But unexpectedly, Sun Jirou's attack in the dark didn't distinguish between friend and foe—Tao Chengxin, who had moved toward Tang Yuan, also had both her feet pierced by the spikes!

"Sun Jirou, I'll fuck your dad!" Tao Chengxin screamed in agony as she scrambled backward.

Sun Jirou's face flushed red with anger. "Are you even a woman?"

"Whether I'm a woman or not is none of your damn business!" Tao Chengxin grabbed her fishing rod and swung it wildly toward the source of the voice.

Sun Jirou naturally wouldn't just stand there and take a beating. Considering they were currently allies, she didn't go for a fatal strike but instead closed in along the fishing rod to grapple with Tao Chengxin hand-to-hand.

As the two women tangled in a fight, Tang Yuan seized the opportunity to escape. However, Xu Huo—gripping his piano wire—swooped in from the side, first kicking the glowing colorful orb away into the distance, then managing to grab the upper half of the flower stalk during the scuffle!

"Let go!" Tang Yuan slashed backward with his short sword toward Xu Huo's throat.

The Ox Shield blocked the attack head-on. Xu Huo bent at the waist, using the shield to ram Tang Yuan to the ground, while simultaneously controlling the flying piano wire to strangle his throat!

Tang Yuan reacted extremely quickly, raising his arm to block under his chin. He used his short sword to flick the wire away, then spat toward the front while kicking the shield open!

Xu Huo dodged the attack and put three meters between them. Glancing at the broken half of the flower in his hand, he gestured with his chin toward Tang Yuan. "It's broken."

Tang Yuan clearly hadn't expected the flower to be so fragile that it snapped in two with one tug. As he lowered his head to check the flower's condition, the soil around its root system suddenly rustled and fell away. The tuber hidden within began to twist on its own, stretching its root veins and transforming into a spherical humanoid object!

"The flower became a spirit!" The two who had been fighting also stopped. Tao Chengxin stared wide-eyed. "I've never seen a plant become a spirit before!"

"That's an item!" Sun Jirou retorted disdainfully.

Clearly, Sun Jirou was correct. As the spherical object unfolded its body, the slender root veins acting as limbs suddenly plunged into Tang Yuan's arm. Then, a mouth full of sharp fangs appeared within the sphere and bit off his hand in one gulp!

"Ptooey!" It didn't eat the bitten-off hand but spat it aside. Then it contracted its root veins, shifted its body upward, and continued biting at Tang Yuan!

"What the hell is this thing?!" Tang Yuan shouted in shock and fury, shaking his arm while using his short sword to hack at the root veins. But in just those two or three seconds, the plant's root veins had already crawled up along his blood vessels. As if nourished enough, for every vein he cut, more grew out!

"Shhhk!"

"Ptooey!"

After the humanoid root bit off another section of his arm, Tang Yuan had no choice but to sever his own arm along with the root veins. The humanoid root fell to the ground, its veins floating in the air as if searching for the next target.

Tang Yuan turned and fled. Tao Chengxin and Sun Jirou also instinctively retreated, but unexpectedly, the humanoid root showed no interest in them. Instead, it hopped and skipped after Tang Yuan!

"Thank goodness I didn't try to pull that flower earlier," Tao Chengxin said with palpable relief.

By then, Xu Huo had already used his piano wire to retrieve the items he was carrying. He opened the cage, splashed the cleaning solution onto the Wooden Puppet, and then took it with him as he gave chase.

The three of them closely followed Tang Yuan and the humanoid root. As they pursued, the scenery before their eyes suddenly blurred. The original forest unexpectedly transformed into a small courtyard they had never seen before!

Everyone who entered froze momentarily, but Tang Yuan immediately pulled the door open and escaped. Xu Huo and the other two had no choice but to follow. To their surprise, after running out of the small courtyard, the outside suddenly changed again into a place resembling an ancestral temple for worship.

They didn't stop, quickly running out of that place as well.

During this time, the adhesive mucus on the Wooden Puppet also melted away. Xu Huo tossed the cage aside and commanded it, "Catch that spherical thing up ahead!"

The Wooden Puppet ran alongside him, tilting its head as it stared at him with its pitch-black, lifeless eyes maintaining their usual vacant expression.