Chapter 455

Chapter 455: Chapter 452: "Mom, you’re back.Kael Nashe’s heart was actually in turmoil.

This special voting room didn’t allow attacks, and she could only intimidate others with her gaze and demeanor. Plus, if there really was someone who knew the real First Guide, her pretense would surely provoke a crazy retaliation from the real one.

She felt desperate, but she had no other choice... It was her adventurer’s command.

The requirement to "pretend to be the First Guide" was just like the task to "pretend to be the heir of Qiongdi Fengchang"—both were equally suicidal.

She already knew that her adventurer was the strongest, but even so, an adventurer couldn’t match the strength of a Guide. If the First Guide really came looking for her...

She didn’t dare to think about it.

However, the effect of this threat seemed surprisingly good. Even a fake lion was terrifying when it opened its eyes in front of those who were already gripped by fear.

The moment she set her eyes on him, the instinctive fear of a configuration of Number One Player and First Guide made Yurikru lean back reflexively, his chair creaking harshly beneath him.

His face turned slightly pale.

That afternoon, he had accidentally passed by a burning village, witnessing the destructive power of Mizushima Kawa Sora Guide Dian Si, and he understood very clearly the strength of these leading Guides.

These people... were simply monsters, calamities, not humans...

Kael Nashe looked at him once and then gracefully returned to her seat, her movements noble and cold, emitting a full aura of disdain.

In acting, she exhibited remarkable talent, truly arrogant.

The commotion hadn’t lasted long, and the five minutes were almost up. The discussion time was way too short, leaving hardly any time to think.

"Number One Player, who should we vote for?" Leslie looked towards Su Ming’an.

Lv Shu and Yamada Machiichi also looked at him. At this moment, they had four votes, making up four-ninths, and unless the others united around a single exile target, they already had a voting bloc.

Su Ming’an stretched out his hand, fiddling with the dial next to Lv Shu, and clear "clicks" sounded from his hand.

"Let’s vote this way." He let go of the dial.

Lv Shu looked at the pointer in front of him, slightly surprised.

The brass pointer was directly pointing across the round table.

Through the flickering candles, people looked up—just in time to see Erwin.

"You really are a ’Ghost,’ Su Ming’an," Erwin suddenly stood up, turning to the big man beside him, "Yurikru, you see it now, right? Su Ming’an is a ’Ghost.’ No matter how nicely he talks, no matter how well he’s covered his previous actions, and even making an ’Oracle’ submission, this vote exposes his identity."

Yurikru slightly frowned.

He scratched his scalp, seeming a bit puzzled, "Su Ming’an, why did you vote for Erwin?"

"Because there’s no clue about a Ghost so far," Su Ming’an said. "Given that, it might as well be a vote for a Player, which beneficial to us either way."

Yurikru glanced at Erwin and then at Su Ming’an.

After a moment, he moved the dial, the pointer’s tip turning towards Su Ming’an.

"Click."

The brass pointer pointed at Su Ming’an.

At this time, he already had two votes.

Su Ming’an revealed a look of surprise.

"In a situation close to a tie, if you were a ’Human,’ you would have voted for yourself," Yurikru’s eagle-like eyes stared at him. "...but you didn’t. Instead, you gave this kind of reason—I don’t think you are a Player who can’t even see the competitive nature among people, you’re deliberately shifting the suspicion to somebody else, at least, you want this vote off yourself."

"I thought you were still unable to see the difference in factions at the First Layer..." Su Ming’an smiled, his finger tapping the dial, "So that’s it, you’re at the Third Layer, I see now."

A top-ranked player was never a fool.

Even the seemingly First Layer Yurikru had been pretending all along. Perhaps even the earlier outburst was an act.

They had already realized that this exile vote wasn’t that important, but more like a move by ’Humans’ to seize the stage for a 100% increase in strength.

Su Ming’an, apparently moving away from a tie but not wanting this vote, appeared somewhat like a ’Ghost.’

"Click."

Fuer also directed his pointer at Su Ming’an. Knowing he was the real ’Ghost,’ he had to shift the suspicion away from himself. At this moment, making Su Ming’an the target was the best choice.

The nearby NPC was not foolish, either. After understanding the others’ decisions, he too moved his pointer to vote for Su Ming’an. After all, in their view, someone intentionally shifting targets seemed much more suspicious than Erwin, who was not fighting or competing.

"Click."

"Click."

A succession of crisp echo arose, increasing the number of votes on Su Ming’an.

"Click."

Immediately, Leslie reached out, moving the dial and casting her vote on Erwin.

Yamada Machiichi also bit his lip and cast his vote for Erwin.

Lights flared.

The countdown entered the final fifteen seconds, with Su Ming’an carrying four votes and Erwin three.

The remaining one, an NPC girl with braided hair, looked at Su Ming’an and then at Erwin, her hands beginning to tremble.

"Vote him, the one opposite Erwin," Yurikru patted her on the shoulder, opting for a gentler tone on purpose, "You understood what we just talked about, right? Being chosen as a backup for the Guide, you must be quite intelligent too. You can see who is more suspicious, right?"

The braided-haired girl was starting to panic; she was almost crying.

Somehow, from the first moment she saw Su Ming’an, she felt an inexplicable fondness for him, as if she just couldn’t bring herself to oppose him. In this critical moment that would decide his fate, she found it difficult to cast her vote.

"Never mind, I’ll help you." Yurikru reached out, directly turning the dial in front of her.

Helping others vote was allowed by the rules, and the girl hesitated for a moment but did not stop him.

"Click."

The dial turned, putting a fifth vote on Su Ming’an.

By then, everyone thought the exile phase was over.

Five versus three, with only Su Ming’an’s own vote left. Even if he voted for Erwin, he would still have the highest number of votes.

Meanwhile, Erwin pondered what stance Lv Shu and the others would take once Su Ming’an was exiled from the game.

In his view, the people like Lv Shu who kidnapped Su Ming’an might not have been in the same camp as Su Ming’an; they simply did it for personal reasons. Thus, in the next round of voting, he actually had a chance to persuade Lv Shu and others...

"Click."

Before everyone’s eyes, Su Ming’an turned the pointer in front of him.

The pointer rotated ninety degrees, from its original state facing right, turning clockwise inward.

Erwin’s pupils slightly dilated.

A beam of light struck Su Ming’an, and above his head floated a vote count of six.

He voted for himself.

The system voice announced just in time.

Teleportation light flickered.

Back in the cave, Su Ming’an quickly noticed a significant increase in his attributes.

Although these enhancements were not reflected in the values, he could distinctly feel his perception had grown stronger, his vision clearer, and his constantly decreasing san value instantly stabilized at 81, no longer fluctuating.

Of course, this was likely temporary, as his strength would return to baseline once this mini-instance ended.

"Your identity really is ’human,’" Leslie blinked, somewhat surprised. "You didn’t vote for yourself directly, was it to... see their reactions?"

"Yes," Su Ming’an said.

Based on the actions just now, he had roughly figured out these people’s identities.

Besides, he also wanted to see the reactions of Leslie and Yamada Machiichi.

This was also why he initially chose to move Lv Shu’s pointer. Because Lv Shu did not need probing and could start the voting. By observing Yamada Machiichi and Leslie’s voting, he could tell whether they truly intended to help him or might turn against him if the situation worsened.

"It’s really surprising, the identity issued by this mini-instance..." Su Ming’an looked towards the cave entrance. "Leslie, as per our agreement, I won’t lay a hand on you. You may leave now."

"You are a trustworthy partner," Leslie smiled, handing him a crystal that seemed to be an extremely rare communicator prop. "If you find new Oracles, you can find me. I won’t be stingy in sharing some mythological stories with you."

She left.

The sky was about to darken.

After asking around, Su Ming’an realized that the Soul Stone in the hands of Xiber on the First Night was exceptionally precious, and the few of them couldn’t even gather one that would last through the night.

After their trek, they arrived at a seemingly rudimentary small settlement. They needed to find buildings to reside in.

This place could hardly be considered one of the Tribes, being just a small gathering of about a dozen people. The leader here was a middle-aged woman, the same one they had seen during the day in the Fourth Tribe.

"There are a few unoccupied houses over there, just covered in dust because nobody cleans them up," the old woman warmly welcomed them, holding a cob of unshelled corn in her hands, and a dagger hanging at her waist.

She looked extremely frail, seemingly incapable of hunting wild animals. It was unclear why she wore a dagger that was evidently meant for injuring people.

Her figure was emaciated, her facial bones protruded, her fingers were skin and bones, and her whole person resembled a skeleton draped with black hair.

It seemed that the living conditions here were quite poor.

As for the contestants like Su Ming’an, her attitude was very kind, "...but our food supply is really insufficient, I’m afraid we can’t afford to host you for dinner."

When they heard noises from outsiders, the people inside the thatched houses also poked their heads out.

The oldest among them had white hair, and the youngest was just a toddler.

"This is where the exiles... gather," Lilina, Lv Shu’s guide, said softly.

Looking at the group of children skinny as monkeys, and the old women with wrinkled faces and sparse hair, looking like little old men, Lilina’s face flickered with compassion.

Earlier, she had heard that when the curse acted up, people would turn into black cursed monsters, then burst open, melt, rot, and die. After their deaths, the surrounding environment would also be affected by the curse. Therefore, in some small tribes, people on the brink of cursing eruption were exiled, left to fend for themselves in forests or plains to prevent them from contaminating their living environments upon death and triggering more curses in those yet to erupt.

Thus, those who knew they had no hope left, yet still struggled to survive, would

Here, she also saw couples embracing each other. Though their bodies were covered in dangerous, black curse marks that made others stay away, the two of them, both bearing these marks of death, held each other tightly, kissing each other, as if they were in a love that would never part.

— "Mom! Mom! You’re back!"

As the old woman led them to a vacant house, a tall, strong man rushed out from the house and hugged the old woman tightly.

Su Ming’an recognized him; he was the man who appeared in the Fourth Tribe earlier that day, the one carrying an axe.

The man’s actions were childlike, yet his strength was frightening; the old woman was pushed back a few steps by his hug, but after stabilizing herself, she still reached out her thin hands and gently patted his back, soothing him as if he were a baby.

"Mom, you’re finally back, Chang Sheng has missed you so much..." the man buried his face in her shoulder, like a child not yet weaned, his eyes filled with a naive, childlike joy: "Mom, Chang Sheng drew a black lamb today, the black lamb is so cute, Chang Sheng loves lambs..."

"This is my son, Chang Sheng," the old woman turned and introduced him to Su Ming’an, patting the man’s back, her voice gentle, as if coaxing a child:

"...Chang Sheng is good, Chang Sheng is good, it’s getting dark, go back inside and sleep well."

The man released his hand and grinned, showing a naive smile: "Mom, I kept the soup warm, it’s almost dried up."

"We’ll eat in a bit, wait for me, remember to hold onto your cup and don’t spill the freshly drawn water, alright?" the old woman touched his head.

The man "hmm’d" affirmatively, seemingly enjoying her caress; after a moment, he turned and bounced back into the house.

"He’s like this..." Lilina observed and approximately understood that the man must have some kind of brain disease.

His intelligence seemed to have stayed in his childhood, making him a grown child who would never mature.

"Old illness," the old woman watched him return to the room, sighed, "Chang Sheng’s mind... has always been immature, and probably never will mature. That’s better, at least in these last few months, he won’t be so sad." She smiled slightly: "He probably doesn’t even understand what ’death’ means, living carefree, maybe that’s also a kind of happiness."

"Bang!"

The wooden door closed, and faintly, the man’s giggling voice could be heard; he seemed to have found some childish fun again.

The old woman led the group, arranging several idle houses. As the only curse stabilizer here, everyone else seemed very obedient to her.

As she was almost done arranging, Su Ming’an heard a female voice nearby.

"...Is it you?"