Chapter 364: Two-Pronged Approach

"I've asked the other maids. You normally never leave the ancient castle. This means that as a player, you don't need to participate in dungeons.""What kind of person can participate in dungeons irregularly?"

"A grey player under the Game Government," You Qiwen immediately stated. "After being vetted by the Game Government and given proper credentials to work for the government, you can retain your player status without having to enter dungeons."

"So you're saying he's a government player?" Wei Landeng said suspiciously. "Why would a government player hide here?"

The expression on He Pu's face across from them could no longer be described as merely ugly, but he remained silent.

Xu Huo understood in his heart. He picked up the Black Umbrella resting beside him. "It wasn't easy to guess your identity, but before I came here, I ran into a wanted criminal."

He opened the umbrella, and the Cheongsam Woman's corpse tumbled out.

"This woman was killing people in an old urban district on the way to Rose Castle. She's not a government player, but she also wouldn't be forcibly teleported into dungeons, because she's a player who fled from another wormhole point to E27."

The players listening gasped, their breathing hitched, and they couldn't help but step back.

"You are not He Pu, nor are you a Game Government player. You are a wanted criminal who fled from another wormhole point. That's why you don't need to leave the castle." Xu Huo calmly lit a cigarette, his expression unchanged. "So the truth of this dungeon is that a wanted criminal from another wormhole point has infiltrated it."

As his words fell, the tearoom fell deathly silent. He Pu's eyes flickered through several changes. It took a few seconds before he sat up straight and raised his baton. "So what if you guessed right? You still won't leave here alive."

"Wait, don't be in such a hurry." Xu Huo called for a pause once more. Coincidentally, the game issued the clearance prompt at that moment. He gestured with his chin towards the garden maze behind them. "Take a look over there."

He Pu didn't even turn his head. "So what if the garden is on fire?"

Mr. Dong prepared to go to the garden to put out the fire.

"Mr. Dong, don't bother either." Xu Huo pulled out some miscellaneous items from his pocket, things like ID cards, keychains, and some small pieces of jewelry. "These are all things left behind by the ordinary people killed by this woman. A couple of days ago, I sent some out to be pawned. Stolen goods from the dead, you see. Someone might come investigating."

"I also hid a few in other places around the castle. If the master of this castle eats people, it would be normal to find only human bones without the bodies."

"This way, your identity will naturally be exposed. Even if you and Mr. Dong have reached some kind of agreement, it's useless now."

He stood up, sweeping a glance towards the towering flames rising from the rear of the castle. "The dungeon protection time has ended. Someone should come to put out the fire."

Whether the police were investigating the stolen goods or not, with such a huge fire, anyone who wasn't blind could see it.

The players behind, who had also heard the truth and received the clearance prompts one after another, didn't leave. Looking at the items on the floor and the distant flames, for a moment, their perception of Xu Huo surpassed their fear of He Pu.

They were all doing the dungeon together. Just searching for the truth had consumed all their energy. Yet, Xu Huo had actually managed to dig a pit for He Pu. Sending the stolen goods to be pawned happened a couple of days ago. He hadn't discovered He Pu was a wanted criminal back then, right? This clearly meant that even after clearing the dungeon, he intended to screw He Pu over. Add the fire-setting on top of that, and both the police and the Game Government would turn their attention here. The fake He Pu, hiding under the identity of the castle master, would find it hard to escape.

"One more thing," Xu Huo exhaled a puff of smoke. "Even if Mr. Dong cleans up everything inside and outside the castle, I'll still go to the Game Government after leaving to report that there's a wanted criminal at Rose Castle suspected of being a member of the Holy Sword Society."

He smiled at He Pu. "When I came, I heard the Holy Sword Society and the government really don't get along. For such a dangerous dungeon, earning a little extra cash isn't too much, is it?"

Outside, a light rain had begun to fall again at some point. In the quiet tearoom, Mr. Dong stood silently under a pillar, drawing a line between himself and the others.

In front of the soft seats, Fleischer, who had already boarded He Pu's ship, shifted to one side, clearly wanting to escape the center of the storm.

He Pu stared darkly at the several players in front of him who had cleared the dungeon but didn't want to leave. His hand holding the baton slowly raised.

At that very instant, Xu Huo kicked the table in front of him away, and the Crimson Sword slashed down through the air!

Simultaneously, the electric whip from You Qiwen's hand, the bullet shot by Wei Landeng, and the smoke grenade thrown by Liu Zhengping all rushed towards He Pu. Chen Tu used "Draw the Ground as a Prison." Yu Shuai squatted down on the spot, and the ground covered by the carpet surged forward like a wave!

Three people attacked head-on, one was responsible for obscuring vision, and two restricted He Pu's movements from underground. The moment they moved, all the players attacked based on their own characteristics and items!

The calm was swept away. The entire tearoom instantly became a battlefield. All the furnishings, furniture, and even the ground were deconstructed. But He Pu, under the siege, merely stood in place and flicked the baton in his hand!

"Hum!" A ring-shaped shockwave spread out around him, immediately blocking and shattering the sword energy, electric current, and bullets. Everything, including the ground, was crushed!

That wasn't all. He Pu took out a tuning fork and lightly tapped it. The sound emitted by the tuning fork forcefully drilled into everyone's ears. The sound wasn't piercing, but after burrowing into their brains, it made their minds go numb!

The next second, the environment in the tearoom changed. Their field of vision was filled with a bloody red. The He Pu before them transformed into a monster with a mouth full of sharp teeth. It crawled out from a crimson tunnel, stuffing the dead and living people on the ground into its mouth handful by handful. As it chewed, internal organs splattered. A pair of ferocious eyeballs scanned back and forth ahead.

"Illusion! This is an illusion!" You Qiwen shouted, but couldn't control his instinct to retreat.

Yu Shuai and Liu Zhengping were more deeply affected by the illusion. They not only saw the phantasm but also suffered from unbearable headaches, especially Yu Shuai. "I can't hold on..."

He waved his hand in the air, then screamed in terror, "I can't open the game panel!"

The other players also realized their consciousness and bodies were split. In their panic, they could only desperately try to get away from the monster.

But this was utterly useless. Even if they didn't die in the illusion, He Pu would still harvest their lives.

"I should have just left after clearing the dungeon, damn it!" Liu Zhengping was filled with regret. "What kind of benevolent, faithful person could a wanted criminal fleeing from another wormhole point be? Even if his identity is exposed and he has to run, he'd definitely kill us first!"

"This is a mental attack. There's only one way to break this kind of attack, and that's to walk out of the illusion yourself!" You Qiwen said rapidly. "Let's concentrate now and imagine the exit is right in front of us. Maybe we can escape!"

"Exit? Exit to where? There's not even a door..." Liu Zhengping yelled while running. Before he could finish his sentence, a door actually appeared on a blood-red wall to one side!

Xu Huo pushed the door open, signaling for them to come out.

The players, thoroughly confused, went through the door. After exiting, they found themselves back in the tearoom. And Xu Huo was locked in a fierce battle with He Pu!