Chapter 124

Chapter 124: Chapter 121: "Clear CampsSu Ming’an did not choose to rewind.

Ever since the time Yuanyuan died, he had been accustomed to rewinding immediately whenever something seemed off, but this time, he discovered an outcome that was favorable to him.

Edward was eliminated, and Noel would be eliminated too; all the werewolves were exposed.

Compared to rewinding, going back to the daytime when they pushed out a werewolf and still being constantly targeted by Edward, he would rather have Edward die now due to the exile rules—at least then, he could act without being hindered. After the elimination of Edward and Noel, he would hold the highest combat power among all.

He really should be grateful to this person who still had a sense of the bigger picture in his brain, thinking of taking away the strongest player in the werewolf camp, rather than angrily insisting on perishing together with him.

Edward glanced at Su Ming’an, his gaze filled with obvious reluctance.

But in the end, he turned his gaze towards Noel; the gun in his hand made a "click-click" sound.

"Bang!"

The bullet was fired.

A sea-blue defensive barrier appeared instantaneously in front of Noel; he stared at the incoming bullet, seemingly with rules blessing it, allowing it to pierce through the light shield he had put up without any hindrance.

"Ah, alright then," Noel sighed in a joking manner, with a hint of regret in his sea-blue eyes that the fun was yet to be had: "Then I shall take my leave first... farewell, everyone. Oh, and if you want to join the New World Guild, feel free to contact the guild’s vice ID Wenxing..."

He was acting as if he was truly "playing" the game, still promoting his guild unconcernedly about the bullet headed his way.

And in the instant right before the bullet hit him, his figure flashed and vanished from everyone’s sight.

The shattered stones on seat number two told everyone that number two had been eliminated.

The shadow behind Edward gradually dimmed; the hunter’s divine skill was used up.

...And in the instant after the hunter fired that shot, it was time for the judgment on the hunter.

"You wait," Edward told Su Ming’an, "live until the moment I defeat you."

...He saw Su Ming’an, the bastard, leisurely waving goodbye to him, as though bidding him farewell.

Edward regretted not shooting this guy dead.

An invisible force took hold of him instantly, pulling him towards that cross; grinding his teeth, Edward released a surge of spiritual fluctuations around him—

"Boom!"

Under the rules, the spiritual fluctuations recoiled back, affecting no other players, hitting him squarely, and then he closed his eyes and fell backward.

To avoid a dismal and disgraceful death like being hanged, he chose suicide before the rules could take effect on him.

His body slid down naturally, collapsing onto the mahogany chair, his golden hair scattered messily over his face, which lost its liveliness in an instant.

With a "clink," the candle went out, and the invisible restraint in the air dissipated.

...But this did not mean the end.

On the contrary, the truly brutal fight was just about to begin at this moment.

Su Ming’an stood up from his seat, his gaze sweeping over Mizushima Kawa Sora, Iris, Lin Jiang, and Mizushima Haru.

By his side, Adolf, unable to control his temper, was making a crackling noise with his fists; Eni’s surroundings began to swirl with red flames.

When all the game’s rules receded and the differences between identities and factions were laid bare, what both sides faced was a direct and unavoidable slaughter like in a colosseum.

"...Run," Mizushima Kawa Sora made a snap decision—they had no need to clash head-on with the good side. As early as yesterday’s daytime phase, they had begun discussing this tactic. If Noel hadn’t been eliminated, they would have collectively pushed through directly, but with Noel taken out, they just needed to hide; as long as they weren’t killed during the day, the night would be theirs.

"Stop right there!" Adolf immediately flipped the table and lunged forward, a metallic clanging sound emitting from his body as several gun barrels emerged from behind him; a silvery shine flashed, and a thin-barreled gun also appeared on his arm.

"Boom, boom, boom—"

The light flickered, gun barrels roared, blue lasers shot straight out, blasting several uneven holes in the plaza ground. However, something seemed to light up on Mizushima Haru’s body, and soon after, the others dashed out as swiftly as if they had wings on their feet.

Su Ming’an noticed the blood-red patterns that appeared on Lin Jiang’s body.

...Very familiar patterns, which had shone very brightly in the room that night yesterday.

"Really... every one of them is not simple," he mocked softly.

At that moment, the barrage of comments exploded:

"Shall we pursue?" Lv Shu asked from the side.

His red butterfly had been released early on, closely following that bunch, so there was no fear of losing them.]

Su Ming’an glanced at Adolf, who had already charged out, and Eni, who clearly had no desire to communicate with him.

"Are you sure you want to go up?" Su Ming’an glanced at Lv Shu.

"...Are we not going?"

"Count the turns; right now, openly, the good people outnumber the werewolves five to four." Su Ming’an said, "Good people can exile one werewolf during the day, and the werewolves can kill one good person at night. Moreover, the witch has a bottle of poison, and the guard is still here; the werewolves are lagging behind in turns — it is clear we have the advantage, there’s no need to pursue."

"But, but..."

"But some fool has chased after them, I know." Su Ming’an watched Adolf’s figure grow distant: "The werewolves pretend to flee, just to draw the good people into a chase, then take the chance to reduce the number of good people during the day... This is no longer a game of Werewolf Killing; in a situation where all identities have been revealed, this is actually a... numbers game. Adolf hasn’t grasped this, he thinks he has the advantage and wants to avenge Andre...but clearly, it was he himself who originally pushed for Andre’s ousting..."

Lv Shu had a premonition that Su Ming’an was about to start philosophizing again, and although he was willing to listen to his theories, now was not the time, so he immediately steered the conversation back to reality: "Then what should we do now?"

"A fool cannot be pulled back, he is too full of himself." Su Ming’an said, "But the two left behind can still be saved. Excluding Adolf, we are now evenly matched at four to four..."

He noticed Lv Shu’s look of agreement, but he knew his words concealed much.

...Following Adolf as a group and taking advantage of numbers to kill the werewolves would actually be the optimal solution.

But he had another mission, one... aside from the faction, still very important.

He needed time during the day to investigate Moli; he could not afford to spend all his time following the main force chasing down werewolves.

This group was undoubtedly prepared; their skills were too unpredictable, and any slight mishap leading to extra losses would be even greater.

Moreover... he was also considering a possible countermove by the werewolves...

On the vast plaza, the mayor and Moli had disappeared without a trace, leaving behind only an overturned mahogany table and chairs in disarray.

...As well as Eni, who seemed reluctant to look this way, and the Lolita girl, huddled to one side with her head down.

Su Ming’an turned towards Yamada Machiichi.

She seemed very timid, somewhat afraid to make eye contact with him, and even under these transparent identities, she appeared to never let her guard down.

"Now, it’s time for you to repay the favor, guard."

Su Ming’an said to her.

"You’re drawing again, Su-style... Everyone is gathered around the big screen watching the live broadcast, only you keep your head down... You should get up more, walk around more, go out and breathe some fresh air when you can, not just stare at the screen all the time, it’s bad for your eyes..."

The sound of clinking bottles came from the side, mixed with the slightly tired voice of his mother.

The stylus in his hand paused briefly, Su-style rubbed his dark circles, feeling somewhat numb as he lifted his head from the afternoon sunlight and saw a high-performance computer and an extremely comfortable living room environment; to the side, gentle sunlight filtered through green plants.

"I haven’t finished drawing yet." Su-style’s voice was somewhat stagnant.

"Mom understands that you’re now quite famous on that world forum... even a single painting can earn you lots of Points, but you can’t just sit around all the time, you need a balanced routine, with more activity..." her mother advised in a low voice: "Look, it’s so lively downstairs, there are many young men and women around your age, you shouldn’t just sulk alone, why not go down more often, chat with people, wouldn’t that be nice?"

Su Shi didn’t respond.

Her body felt somewhat weak from sitting for too long.

She shifted her gaze from the painting on the screen, she was now on the second floor, and through the short balustrade, she could see the hall below.

But right now, the scene in the hall was completely different from the quiet second floor. A giant screen stood at the front of the hall, while the people nibbling on sunflower seeds and sipping liquor were as engrossed as if watching a world championship of games like League of Legends, clinking their glasses to the screen amidst the noisy clamor, the sound of bottles clanking, occasionally interspersed with the coarse language of some young men.

This was a gathering place in the Main God Space of the Dragon Country region. The first floor served as the screening area, with various sunflower seeds, beverages, and playing cards for sale as a means of earning a living, and the second floor was where she and her mother lived.

Su Shi didn’t like this kind of place.

In the past, there were always idle people unwilling to enter the fray, chatting about everything under the sun, thinking they had seen through the worldliness, refusing to join the Organizers in their corruption, yet wanting to pontificate. After the onset of the Fourth World, it seemed as if a wave of national spectator fever had arrived, and this place became so crowded it was almost bursting, with nearly everyone from the neighborhood flocking here.

Su Shi didn’t like this kind of place; she felt that the Players who entered the arena weren’t there to be entertainers for these people’s reality shows. These people... shouldn’t be indulging in barbecues and beers while casually witnessing the death of Adventurer Players. The attitude of the people downstairs was too relaxed, too frivolous... They didn’t respect the Heroes who dared to fight in the arena but prided themselves on being away from the fray, monopolizing their own space.

But she could not resist that her family was here, her mother, who had spotted a business opportunity, so she started a tea house-like shop to earn Points.

She loathed this place, but she couldn’t change this prevailing atmosphere.

Now, if you went out on the street, you would mostly see Players staring at their own little screens.

After all, watching the live stream offered a sense of immersion and excitement, plus there were people to discuss and chat with; the most important thing was, you could earn Points.

Who would want to stay at home alone doing chores? Of course, everyone would rather come here to join in the excitement.

Main God Plaza, under the stimulus of the forum betting pool, was now like a holiday celebration. And the live broadcast in the screening room was like an exhilarating Spring Festival Gala.

"You can’t blame your mom for stopping you, I really don’t want you to exhaust yourself to death in those instances... You insisted on going before, and Mom watched the whole thing with her heart in her throat, so worried about you..." Next to her, her mother continued her nagging, "And thank goodness your father wasn’t chosen to come, he doesn’t have to suffer that way, dying once is too painful, Mom doesn’t want you to suffer those things..."

Su Shi survived the second instance; she had been led through it by Su Ming’an but died in the third instance. The students in the cafeteria, fearlessly charging forward, tore her body apart, and her blood spilled everywhere, that pain... she still couldn’t forget it to this day.

Upon returning, the first to rush up to her was her tearful mother.

At the moment when her mother hugged her body, almost crying and kneeling, begging her not to go on any more adventures, Su Shi vaguely understood with a touch of sadness that perhaps she had become completely separated from her identity as a Player.

"...You shouldn’t go on adventures anymore, those worlds are strange, and you’re treated like a monkey in a show. Just stay here from now on, paint some paintings, meet some new friends, just wait for the year to pass... Anyway, the world doesn’t need a young girl like you to earn those few Points, life goes on after all this ends, we’re just an ordinary family, there’s no need to fight over things, it’s best to just follow the crowd..." her mother continued earnestly, seeing Su Shi’s disinterested expression, she sighed and said:

"Look at those young men in the top rankings, each one deceiving, killing, acting like a criminal. That French starlet, what’s her name, Iris, a young girl who smiles at all sorts of men every day without any self-respect. And that Lv Shu, always dealing with all sorts of bugs, just an autistic young man. And that one you like... that Su Ming’an, although they say he’s great on that forum, but he’s still a child, and instead of being a good role model, inexplicably committing suicide, I don’t want you to end up like that..."

"Mom,"

Su Shi suddenly said in an extremely cold voice.

Su’s mother closed her mouth, she had long known that her daughter always acted strange whenever that person’s name was mentioned, her gaze was like two sharp knives.

It made her feel uneasy and afraid.