Monsters and Demons

The atmosphere turned stiff and awkward for a moment. The group didn't know what to do, standing in place, frozen in a stalemate.

Yang Yunsheng hadn't expected Cheng Shuili to show him such little respect, and he lost his desire to keep speaking for the time being.

Wang Lu, who had been rolling on the ground, suddenly stood up. She walked unsteadily toward Cheng Shuili, the pain having drained away her previous arrogance.

She rested one hand on Cheng Shuili's shoulder and said weakly, "The grace of saving my life... I have no way to repay you..."

Cheng Shuili: "..."

Why were these people acting like they were sick in the head?

She was in so much pain, yet she still had to use such flowery language? Just saying thanks would have been enough.

"So, that's what you based your guess on? Just because of her—Wang Lu—you used such heavy force... no, you kicked her that hard?"

A man who had been standing in the corner, having said nothing since introducing himself, suddenly spoke up. He looked at Cheng Shuili in disbelief, as if she were a murderer who had committed some unforgivable atrocity.

Cheng Shuili felt truly helpless.

She remembered that this man was named Du Yu.

She had expected Wang Lu to have a temper and lash out at her, regardless of the situation. After all, even though Cheng Shuili had saved her life, that kick in the heat of the moment had not been pulled, and since it had landed right on her abdomen, the pain was surely immense.

Cheng Shuili could tolerate Wang Lu having a bad attitude due to the pain, but she absolutely could not tolerate someone who had nothing to do with the situation stepping in to point fingers for no reason.

Standing nearby, Wang Lu furrowed her brows tightly. She seemed to want to say something, but the emotional turmoil tugged at her stomach, making her wince in pain.

Seeing that she clearly couldn't count on Wang Lu, Cheng Shuili prepared to speak for herself.

But before she could even get the words out, Yang Yunsheng stepped forward like a sycophant, kicked Du Yu aside, and asked with a weird, mocking tilt of his waist, "What does this have to do with you? Is it your turn to stick your nose where it doesn't belong?"

After he finished, he looked at the silent Cheng Shuili with expectation, as if waiting for her to say something.

Seriously? What was he talking about?

Didn't Yang Yunsheng realize that he was also sticking his nose where it didn't belong?

Yet, Du Yu seemed particularly sensitive to Yang Yunsheng's attitude. Upon hearing this, he immediately quieted down and retreated to the corner to crouch like a mushroom.

What kind of motley crew of monsters and demons were these people?

It was a good thing Wanyi was here. Whenever Cheng Shuili felt overwhelmed, having Wanyi there to share the burden was a real blessing!

Seeing Cheng Shuili's lack of reaction, Yang Yunsheng didn't feel discouraged. After standing by for a while and seeing that no one else was speaking, he put on that fawning expression again and asked Cheng Shuili, "Now that Qi Yue is dead, if it weren't for you, we certainly wouldn't have been able to leave this service area. In your opinion, where should we go now?"

This was a question everyone else was concerned about as well.

For a moment, all eyes were on Cheng Shuili, except for Wang Lu's.

Wang Lu found Yang Yunsheng annoying just by looking at him. Although her stomach still hurt, she clearly had experience in this; her momentum when snapping back at him was not weak at all. "Ask, ask, ask, ask your mother? Don't you have a brain of your own?"

"Is it your place to speak here?"

Yang Yunsheng didn't coddle her in the slightest.

The bald man was gone, and aside from Qi Yue, everyone in the group who looked like they could put up a fight had left with the bald man. Now that Qi Yue was dead, there were only three women and nine cowards left.

Yang Yunsheng had thought he was the boss just a moment ago, but who knew that among these women was someone as sharp as Cheng Ershui?

This person had a good head on her shoulders, was bold, and was meticulous. If anyone among them had a hope of making it out of the dungeon, it was definitely her.

Although Yang Yunsheng didn't have much affection for women, his eye for people had always been viciously accurate.

To make it out of the dungeon, Yang Yunsheng was willing to lower himself and follow her!

Doing this didn't mean he acknowledged her; he felt it was extremely humiliating, but a real man knows when to bend and when to stand tall! He would use Cheng Shuili to lead him to the finish line, and once they were there, he would decide how to deal with her.

He hadn't seen anything special about that kick Cheng Shuili delivered; after all, Wang Lu had been standing on the edge of the boundary line, and kicking someone out was simple enough. It didn't prove anything.

Yang Yunsheng was quite confident in his own combat ability, even though he looked weak and wore glasses for his seven-hundred-degree myopia.

But none of that mattered. He simply believed he could easily subdue Cheng Shuili.

As for Wang Lu, Yang Yunsheng snorted inwardly. She was just a shrill, stupid woman who wasn't even worth his attention.

Wang Lu scowled and cursed a few more times, but when she received no response from Yang Yunsheng, she fell silent.

Cheng Shuili knew exactly what was going on in Yang Yunsheng's head just by looking at his face. She hadn't met many people like him in her past life, but she had been seeing them one after another in this one.

Should she thank the system?

For letting her witness the diversity of the human species?

Analyzing this problem alone, Cheng Shuili certainly didn't want to turn around and head for the finish line right now.

She now understood the attack logic of the Sound-Devouring Slime. Since the system had placed this service area here, it meant it was definitely worth exploring!

As for the finish line, Cheng Shuili had always believed there couldn't possibly be only one way out of this dungeon.

Perhaps it required meeting certain conditions, or perhaps the exit was hidden in some obscure location.

It was impossible that there was only that one path, with the distance and direction written on a sign, leaving players to just run toward it without any other trials.

Cheng Shuili's plan was to go back into the service area and take a look, though she didn't want to bring these people inside with her.

What if she got stabbed in the back? Especially that Du Yu, who looked like a psychopath. She had to guard against the monsters and guard against these people; where would she find the energy for all that?

However, she couldn't just walk in blindly. What if there were other taboos, like with Qi Yue? Wouldn't she end up dying without even knowing why?

Cheng Shuili thought for a moment and said slowly, "I think we still need to go in and take a look."

"Go back in?"

The first to speak was Wang Lu. She had been terrified earlier, to the point of nearly dying. Forget about the monster; she now had trauma regarding the service area itself.

"Do we really have to go in? There's a monster in there!"

"I'm not going in. I don't want to go in anymore."

A male player suddenly shook his head. His emotions seemed to be breaking down, his eyes filled with scarlet bloodshot veins.

"Going in is just seeking death! Didn't you see Qi Yue's miserable state? From the moment we saw the monster to when he was dragged away, it happened in an instant! As long as you get tangled up with those monsters, it's a dead end. Haha, do you understand? Going in is suicide!"

"I'm not going in! I'm going to the finish line. That's the road to life, that's the only road to life!"

After screaming his lungs out, he turned around and walked away without looking back.

The remaining dozen or so people were silent. They were too conflicted to make up their minds.