Chapter 235 - ’Elimination

Chapter 235: Chapter 232: ’EliminationSu Ming’an hesitated slightly before lifting his head.

His current condition was indeed not good.

Sitting in the chair, his arms still covered with drying blood, he even held a Blood Bottle in his right hand and hadn’t even drawn his weapon.

When completely targeted, he felt a pricking sharpness.

Lin Jiang was not foolish, either.

Having seen his condition during the day, she knew that this was his most vulnerable moment, so she had struck first.

"It seems we have no conflicting interests," Su Ming’an said slowly.

"Who says we don’t," Lin Jiang smiled. "You are a doctor, after all."

"Tonight’s target is still me," Lin Jiang said.

Su Ming’an was somewhat surprised.

He realized he had underestimated these top-ranked players.

He didn’t even know where Lin Jiang had gotten this information, since only he could see the panel.

"Why didn’t you come during the day?" Su Ming’an asked casually.

"She didn’t dare to come, that coward, it had to be me," Lin Jiang scoffed. "It should be clearly written in my file, you’ve seen my secrets clearly."

"Indeed," Su Ming’an didn’t deny it.

This file, indeed, was deadly, almost displaying people’s most unbearable and private aspects for doctors to see in full.

He had to be thankful that he was not a student, otherwise, if his own past was turned into a file for a doctor to see... that was really something he wouldn’t want to see.

"Not making a move yet, waiting for a cooldown?" Su Ming’an noted that Lin Jiang was still standing there, not moving, even still having the mind to talk to him.

"Let’s make a deal, Su Ming’an," Lin Jiang said.

"Deal, you say."

"Really straightforward," Lin Jiang smiled. "Work with me."

"I didn’t come here just to chat," Lin Jiang said. "As an assassin, if I wanted to kill you, you would have died the moment I entered the door, no need to stand here talking with you for so long."

"That may not be the case," Su Ming’an said.

"Yes, it may not," Lin Jiang replied. "I also fear your countermeasures, honestly, Number One Player, Su Ming’an, I’m afraid of you, I don’t want to be your enemy, and I certainly don’t want to kill you in front of the whole world."

"I know this attack could succeed, but I’m not willing to gamble on that slight chance of failure," Lin Jiang said. "I’m afraid you’re in a high Health Points state right now, attacking you would be futile."

As she spoke, she kept an eye on Su Ming’an’s expressions.

Su Ming’an knew what she was observing.

If he showed even a hint of fear now or revealed the fact that he was actually in a Shadow State, she might strike without hesitation.

After all, he looked very vulnerable right now, not even dressed in a doctor’s uniform, unprotected by any nighttime action.

And they were in a life-or-death situation.

Lin Jiang was still testing him.

But clearly, she hadn’t inferred the results she wanted.

"If I were in a high Health Points state right now, you would already be dead," Su Ming’an disregarded her probing, even playing reverse psychology with her.

"Ha," Lin Jiang laughed softly, dismissive. "No matter, since I’m standing here, I’ve already given up on the idea of fighting you. I just... am looking for a better outcome. Su Ming’an, I think you are a reasonable person, unlike those fools like Edward, who are completely impossible to communicate with."

Su Ming’an watched her.

Lin Jiang continued, "So, I thought instead of waiting in the room for you to break in and kill me, I might as well come find you now and talk."

"You can speak directly."

"I’ll be your teammate, let’s kill all the remaining students together," Lin Jiang said with a smile, drawing closer to him, her tone very mild as she proposed a brutally vicious plan: "Tonight."

Her voice was very soft, kept low on purpose, not meant to carry.

Su Ming’an was somewhat surprised.

Lin Jiang was planning to eliminate everyone except the two of them.

Of those still alive, besides them, there were nineteen others, including players and NPCs.

She wanted to join him in killing the remaining nineteen people in one night.

This would turn two floors’ worth of floors red.

"A very good idea," Su Ming’an had already expected her direct approach, but not to this extent.

"Su Ming’an, upon learning that I would confront you, upon learning that tonight’s target was me, frankly, I felt utterly desperate," Lin Jiang confessed.

In front of Su Ming’an, who was still sitting, looking pale and in poor condition, she still stood erect, as if facing a great enemy, never lowering her guard.

She was desperate, yet she had thought of a way out.

"So I racked my brain, thinking if there was a way to avoid a direct confrontation with you," Lin Jiang said. "If my method convinces you, then I think my goal is achieved—the malpractice of a doctor is only punished if a student reports it, and once everyone else is dead, no student will be able to report you—only with this method will we have no conflicting interests."

Lin Jiang was smart.

She knew waiting in the room would leave her without a chance of winning.

Once Su Ming’an donned his doctor’s uniform and started his maneuver, she would have no power to resist at night. She was facing a Su Ming’an whose state had been adjusted, and she couldn’t fight him.

She only had two options.

One was to kill him before he started his operation.

The other was to collaborate with him.

But either way, she had to come to this room.

Normally, Lin Jiang could have acted during the day, but unfortunately, Xia Luoyang acted as a barrier, constantly protecting Su Ming’an.

She could only act at night, seizing that slim chance before his action, coming just in time.

The opportunity was fleeting.

She seized it.

Smart person.

"Then why should I believe that you won’t report me during the day?" Su Ming’an asked. "Or what makes you trust that I won’t suddenly strike at you at night? The night is my domain."

Lin Jiang pointed at him:

"Because you are the Number One Player,"

she said. "If you were that easy to betray and abandon honor, I wouldn’t have suggested collaborating with you. Of course, the same goes for me; I disdain the idea of securing victory by reporting comrades. I certainly don’t like infighting."

"Hmm..." Su Ming’an showed neither approval nor disapproval toward her self-righteous words.

"Or, you could tell me where your Doctor companion is, and I’ll go kill him," Lin Jiang suggested, "Once I become a Doctor too, we’ll truly share the same interests—only the two of us will remain in this White Sand Paradise."

"Sure." Su Ming’an sold out the young man’s information without hesitation.

He really had no fondness for such a character who suddenly came up wanting to tell him a story.

"One person takes care of one floor; that shouldn’t be a problem," Lin Jiang said.

"I have no problem as long as you don’t mess up."

"Hmph..." Lin Jiang seemed very confident in response.

"By the way," Su Ming’an turned his head and glanced at the shattered door:

"If you were calmer, you shouldn’t have broken the door with such fanfare... It’s going to cost me several days of good sleep."

"I knocked, but you didn’t respond," Lin Jiang said.

Su Ming’an was momentarily taken aback.

...Was he in such poor shape that he couldn’t even hear a knocking sound?

"You’re really in bad shape, Number One Player," Lin Jiang suddenly laughed, "You’re so off guard that even someone as cautious as I am feels the urge to attack."

Su Ming’an started walking, passing her, and smiled:

"Killing you wouldn’t be a problem."

"Click."

A pale blue flame burst out suddenly and danced gently between entwined fingers.

The silver-haired man, frowning, looked up at the gray sky, with a long cigarette emitting smoke between his fingers.

"It’s starting to rain..." He exhaled smoke rings, his expression slightly weary.

Next to him, someone leaned in under the eaves to avoid the rain, which was falling like a blanket outside the eaves.

"—No idea which asshole started playing with that shitty weather architecture system again," the person next to him, a back-haired, handsome man with a distinctive Western European appearance, complained as he patted his long coat, shaking off raindrops: "Shit—! I really don’t understand the thinking of these people. Day in, day out, they just love to simulate rain, snow, hail—do they really like this shitty weather that much?"

"Don’t say that; maybe he was born in a land where rain is incessant," the silver-haired man said with a smile.

"So you mean, these motherless bastards are feeling homesick?"

"Perhaps."

"...I have no idea what that rabbit’s playing at with this stunt, a virtual architecture system? It’s preposterous. Are they doing it just to mock us? To see us longing for our homelands in such a pathetic state?"

"Maybe this thing serves a purpose too."

"—What?"

"When Fulton first invented the steamboat, the scoffers had no idea it would usher in a new era."

"Is that even comparable? Fulton aside, if you say that these things brought about by that rabbit also represent a transformation, I’d rather this new age die. Mankind should have been destroyed starting from the moment the world war began last century! Can you imagine? Such a preposterous, ridiculous event occurring in today’s age—so many people, like toys, like actors, being watched by their brethren, even finding joy in it, yet they still haven’t awoken!"

"...So what can we do?" the silver-haired man exhaled a smoke ring lightly. "...Are we even awake?"

"What do you mean?"

"Standing here, watching this scene you describe as a bullshit rain created by people, while smoking a familiar-tasting cigarette, cursing our kin, denouncing our reality..." the silver-haired man said, his eyes slightly hardened. "...We can’t really be considered awake, can we?"

He looked at the unceasing heavy rain before him and brushed a few wet strands of hair back behind his head, "At most, you could say I’m a bit of a complainer."

"I..." The man with the buzzcut choked for a moment.

"Stop pretending to be strong. That brief pause of yours just now, it answered for you," he said.

"I just choked on your cigarette smoke, damn it, can’t you cut down a bit?"

"... Ha. If I can’t freely do what I enjoy here, then how am I any different from a prisoner? It’s not like the streetside is a no-smoking area."

Despite saying this, the white-haired man slightly turned his body, making sure the smoke wouldn’t drift over again.

The two seemed to fall into a brief silence, leaning against the wall, watching the torrential rain before them.

In the torrential rain, fountains scattering myriad colors mixed with mist-like rain.

Under the dim sky, a flicker of red and green like traffic lights. Through the thin light of the mist, people holding umbrella handles could be seen, walking through a moist atmosphere, past streets sparsely populated.

According to system time, it was currently nighttime.

But the capriciously changing weather made day and night both possibilities at any given moment. People’s concept of time gradually blurred until eventually, time just became a digital number for individual instances.

The street displays still streamed the live broadcasts of top players, but from each screen streamed despair.

Labeled by the World Forum as "the hardest instance," "the most dangerous instance," "the death instance," the Sixth World inflicted immense mental strain on people.

Even just watching through a screen, one could feel the panic and despair emanating from the images.

All of this, when real players died, when players became madmen losing their rationality and went insane on the square, people’s fears were magnified even more.

People dared to join, dared to participate in these underworld instances, dared to experience pain and death predominantly because "they wouldn’t truly die."

But now, that premise was showing signs of breaking.

You wouldn’t truly die.

But you would truly go mad.

... No one wants to become a madman.

Even the traffic in Main God Space had lessened a lot, many people didn’t even dare to linger in teahouses where crowds watched live broadcasts, because watching too long made them fearful too.

Panic spread easily among people like a tidal wave.

It was as if an invisible pressure had emerged among the people, posts expressing negative emotions and pessimistic attitudes were emerging incessantly.

The people, initially motivated by the global human progress bar and inspired by the United Group’s human rescue conference, who resolutely decided to participate, now felt as though a bucket of cold water had been poured over them.

People fell into a slump.

"Whew..." the white-haired man exhaled a ring of smoke, looking up at the gray-white sky.

Time passed in silence, as people came and went before them.

In the time they stood still, several hurrying figures dashed through the heavy rain.

Among them, they carried a person tied to a white stretcher. The person, with lifeless eyes and mumbling to himself, already seemed to have become an imbecile.

"... No one can escape, no one can flee, we all must face hell..."

"Can’t escape, it’s already... too late..."

His muttering words wandered through the rain, whirling over to their side.

The people carrying the stretcher, with solemn faces, passed by quickly, heading in the direction of a tall building, and soon disappeared in the rain.