Alliance

Outside the door, the heavy thud of Lu Zihan’s blade striking the metal hammered rhythmically against the tense air of Room 3.

Within the Anomaly Web, however, the conversation between the two instigators was incredibly cheerful.

【Lu Zihan: Haha, I'm pretty good, aren't I! Teleporting and decapitating them, one slash, one kill!】

【Ren Yi: That was awesome, Old Lu! Why is your True Form so good at fighting... By the way, how are your wounds?】

【Lu Zihan: It's nothing, they're already healing. But the location is a bit of a pain; that Old Deng guy specifically aimed for my feet. It might affect my speed for a short while.】

【Ren Yi: No worries. Just keep hacking at the door for now; I'll figure out the rest.】

【Lu Zihan: What about the two left in Room 2?】

【Ren Yi: Leave them for now; they're finished anyway. We'll go back and harvest them after we deal with this group.】

Inside Room 3, chaos reigned.

"It's over, it's all over. Did you see that? That monster can teleport! None of us are getting out of here!"

The boy who had been terrified since the start sat on the floor, his eyes hollow and staring at nothing. He kept muttering to himself, his mind completely broken.

"That's enough! If it could teleport whenever it wanted, why didn't it just teleport in here? There must be a restriction," Old Deng barked. Having just lost a companion, his expression was grim.

"Everyone, be quiet," a voice spoke up unexpectedly. It was Chen Fang.

Her next words sent a jolt through everyone, Ren Yi included: "I think I might know the logic behind that Anomaly's actions."

Her words instantly drew everyone's attention.

"Anomalies have special abilities, we all know that," she said, her voice low but every word crystal clear. "But those abilities require a trigger. Especially in a Newbie Instance, the rules are usually simple, direct, or even crude."

She paused, ensuring everyone heard her next words.

"Remember how it moved? It didn't teleport right away after it started moving. It hacked at the gate for a while until..." She looked at the terrified boy slumped on the floor.

"Until this kid screamed. Only then did it teleport directly behind that man. And since we've been in here, this kid has only been muttering to himself, so the monster hasn't come in."

"I suspect its ability might be teleporting toward the source of loud noises."

Among the remaining group, the nurse asked with a trembling voice, "S-so as long as we don't scream, we're safe?"

Old Deng made an immediate decision, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Everyone, from now on, talk as little as possible. If you must speak, whisper. If anyone dares to argue loudly or scream, don't blame me for being heartless!"

Whew, at least she didn't guess right. Ren Yi, who had been eavesdropping, let out a soft sigh of relief.

"Do not underestimate Humans," Auntie Lu Qing's words echoed in his mind.

He had indeed been a bit overconfident. After syncing the information to Lu Zihan, he remained privately on guard. These survivors from the "Pasture" might be weak, but their survival instincts and resourcefulness were not to be underestimated.

However, Chen Fang's incorrect guess still caused them quite a bit of trouble. Now that the Participants were trying their best not to speak, it would be much harder to get them to "rebut" anything.

The sound of the blade hitting the door outside was the only background noise, driving the survivors to act.

Room 3 was decorated like a twisted children's playground. Colorful foam blocks were scattered across the floor, and oddly shaped dolls grinned with wide mouths, as if mocking the intruders.

The door leading to the fourth room had a combination lock with symbols of a circle, a square, and a triangle. Below each symbol were two empty digits.

It was a very simple puzzle. The Participants needed to quickly gather the corresponding blocks in the room, find the total count for each shape, and enter the numbers into the lock.

The search proceeded in a heavy, eerie silence, broken only by eye contact, hand gestures, the rustle of clothing, and the rhythmic clang, clang of the blade against the gate.

Ren Yi's mind was racing. He only had one illusion "ammunition" left and had to use it where it counted. To keep using it, he needed to obtain more positive emotion energy from others.

In the best-case scenario, he could kill someone while simultaneously gaining positive emotion, allowing him to chain his abilities together.

Old Deng was undoubtedly the primary target, but he needed to carefully consider how to ensure this strike would be fatal.

Just then, his senses "saw" Chen Fang carrying a pile of blocks, seemingly accidentally approaching Lin Feng.

"What is it?" Lin Feng asked in a low, guarded tone.

"I have something I want to discuss with you." Chen Fang organized the blocks in her hands, and without waiting for Lin Feng's response, she spoke in a voice only the two of them could hear. "I have some inside information. These Newbie Instances often have a limit on the number of people who can pass."

Lin Feng's pupils constricted, shaken by the news. He mimicked her actions, lowering his head as he replied, "What do you mean? What are you planning?"

"An alliance," Chen Fang said succinctly. "I don't know how many slots there are total, but Old Deng and his partner will definitely take two. Anyone left without a slot will die."

A flash of murderous intent crossed her voice.

"Besides, you and I both know how Holy City folk feel about us 'Outercity folk.' They're only keeping us around now because they need cannon fodder to scout the way. When the final door opens, do you think the gun in his hand will be pointed at the monster or at our backs?"

What slots? Inside the white jade pendant, Ren Yi was slightly stunned. As the temporary boss of this Instance, how could he not know?

He had seen the door to Room 5; as many as wanted to run could run. There was absolutely no limit on the number of survivors.

This Chen Fang was lying. He quickly reached a conclusion.

As for her motive, was it perhaps for a "reward"?

"I think you're more than you seem," Chen Fang continued. "Work with me to take them out first. As a gesture of good faith, I can share a key piece of intelligence."

Lin Feng hardly hesitated.

"Deal," he agreed bluntly.

Anyone could make empty promises. Besides, his system mission was still active: "Become the sole leader of the team." Allying with Chen Fang was just one of the steps.

"Heh." Chen Fang seemed to see through his superficiality but only smiled faintly, unbothered. "Look closely at the shape of this room. What does it look like?"

Lin Feng looked around. All the rooms were the same shape, with a length and width roughly equivalent to two basketball courts joined together.

He thought for a moment, then it clicked. "A coffin?"

"Exactly," Chen Fang nodded. "The clue in the first room said 'the key is in the third coffin.' 'Coffin' refers to the room. The key must be in this third room. And these dolls on the floor..."

Her gaze swept over the toys with their stiff smiles. "They have nothing to do with the password. I suspect the 'key' is hidden inside one of them. We'll split up and look—I'll take the left, you take the right. Don't let the others notice."

An interesting development. Ren Yi suppressed his original intention to intervene. He wanted to see how far these two "allies," each with their own ulterior motives, could take this performance.

He even went so far as to kindly use a subtle method to slightly adjust Lin Feng's vision, making a teddy bear in a corner look particularly "conspicuous" in his peripheral vision.

While Lin Feng collected blocks, he pretended to be nonchalant as he quickly checked the dolls on the floor. Suddenly, he felt that a teddy bear in the distance was inexplicably prominent.

When his hand touched the teddy bear, his fingertips felt the distinct sensation of a hard object inside.

He paused for a moment, turning his body to block everyone's line of sight, and cleanly ripped open the stitching on the doll's back.

Sure enough, a key lay quietly inside the doll's chest cavity.

Lin Feng slipped it into his pocket. Only after gripping the key and the white jade pendant that represented his system did he feel a slight sense of security.