Thinking of this, Zuo Lin'an couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
Perfect!
And what was even better, the moment he received the copper coin, the time happened to reach exactly three in the morning.
At this moment, he happened to meet the execution conditions and locked his target onto Tang Jianghe. The boning knife in his hand swiftly struck, stopping right at the back of Tang Jianghe's neck.
Yet in that very instant, he withdrew the knife, took a step back, and vanished on the spot.
He retreated.
【Abandons this execution opportunity. Tang Jianghe survives. Condition fulfilled. Ownership of the 【Life-Buying Coin】 has changed.】
Zuo Lin'an left the mountaintop in a cheerful mood and returned to the cave from before.
The four who had passed out had not yet awakened.
He had no intention of killing them.
Because he had already targeted Tang Jianghe for this execution opportunity. Since he had spared Tang Jianghe's life, it was equivalent to giving up this execution opportunity.
If he wanted to kill players, he would have to wait another hour.
As for Tang Wanrong, after using the 【Withered Leaf】, she could 100% avoid the next attack, and this effect had also been satisfied.
Although Zuo Lin'an had failed to attack Tang Jianghe, the 【Withered Leaf】 did not require the specter's attack on another player to be successful. It merely allowed the player who used the specter item to avoid the next attack.
Therefore, when four in the morning arrived, he could still attack Tang Wanrong.
Furthermore, he actually had other plans for the players in the cave.
He wanted to make them slaughter each other to create enough unsolvable specters. One had to know that once an unsolvable specter was reclaimed by the higher-ups, each was worth 5 Contribution points.
Although Instructor An had said that it was best for a dungeon boss to kill players with their own hands—and that the more players they killed, the more they would be valued by the higher-ups—to Zuo Lin'an, acquiring his second rule as quickly as possible was far more important.
Once he possessed two rules, his dungeon could also upgrade to a Two-Star difficulty dungeon. When that time came, he would be able to obtain more Contribution points every time the dungeon opened.
If he could become a Regional Dungeon one day, then...
Thinking of this, Zuo Lin'an let out a long breath.
“A Regional Dungeon is too far away. I should focus on the present first.”
“Besides, no matter how many players I kill right now, the higher-ups won't highly value a One-Star dungeon boss anyway. It's still more important to acquire rules.”
If his calculations went smoothly this time, he could probably obtain three unsolvable specters, which would be 15 Contribution points.
If he did this a few more times, he would be able to gather the 100 Contribution points needed to purchase the Sin Hunter City Entry Application.
At the mountaintop, by the campfire.
After the specter departed, Xuan Liu and the other two still did not let down their guard. Only after a long while passed without the specter returning did they finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Yet even so, they still had lingering fears.
The specter's consecutive attacks on the three of them just now had truly terrified them.
Especially Xuan Liu.
He was extremely frustrated that his martial cultivation was actually completely useless!
However...
“Did you see what happened just now?”
Tang Wanrong had been so tense and terrified that she hadn't noticed anything at all.
But Tang Jianghe had witnessed it.
“Just now, when Lord Xuan Liu slashed the specter's neck with his knife, the specter seemed to turn into a living human at that very instant? His throat was slit, and he even bled a lot.”
“Yet he acted as if nothing had happened and turned back into a specter in the blink of an eye. What on earth was that? The knife you used just now was a specter item, right? Could you tell us what special effects it has?”
Xuan Liu did not hide it either.
“That was the specter item 【bamboo-leaf throwing knife】. As long as it hits a specter, it can repel it. However, after the specter was slashed by my throwing knife just now, he was completely unharmed. Instead, he went on to attack Her Highness and Master Tang one after another.”
Tang Jianghe's face instantly darkened.
“In other words, this specter is actually immune to the effects of specter items?!”
“Then the handful of 【incense ashes】 that Lord Zeng threw earlier... its effect was indeed supposed to last for half a shichen, but the specter used the same method as just now to nullify the effect of the 【incense ashes】!”
“How... how could this be!”
He was in complete disbelief.
“This specter is so bizarre. How are we supposed to clear this dungeon?”
“He's simply leaving us no way out!”
Xuan Liu thought for a moment and slowly shook his head. “However, he accepted Master Tang's 【Life-Buying Coin】 just now, spared you, and left this place.”
“It had been exactly half a shichen since Li Tie's death, which means it was the specter's time to kill.”
“He accepted the coin and spared you, so the life-buying money is still useful.”
It was just that the 【Life-Buying Coin】's special effect of eliminating a Death Lock was useless here.
Tang Jianghe said, “From what I see, the specter cannot use this method multiple times in a short period. But could this also be the specter's rule? Being immune to the effects of specter items?”
Xuan Liu immediately denied it. “Impossible. A specter in a One-Star dungeon has only one rule, and it must be a Death Rule. It is impossible to have a second one!”
At this point, his expression beneath the mask turned grim, and his gaze became exceptionally solemn.
“Master Tang, if I am not mistaken, we might have encountered an extremely special, ultra-high difficulty dungeon this time.”
“Just like you said before.”
“Even though they are all One-Star difficulty dungeons, their actual clearing difficulties vary. The dungeon we encountered this time is a real jackpot!”
“It must be of the hardest category among One-Star dungeons!”
Tang Jianghe sighed. “So... what do we do now? The next attack will definitely come in half a shichen. At that time, perhaps one of the three of us must die.”
Tang Wanrong absolutely could not die. Only if she lived would the Tang family have hope.
And Xuan Liu was a member of the Dark Dragon Guard protecting Tang Wanrong, so he absolutely could not have anything happen to him either. After all, Tang Jianghe had self-awareness; he knew he could never protect Tang Wanrong on his own.
Therefore, the next to die could only be him, Tang Jianghe!
Xuan Liu also thought of this, but he quickly spoke up.
“Doesn't Master Tang still have his talent?”
“When the specter attacks later, you can just speak to make it so the specter cannot attack the three of us next. As for how long it lasts, make it last as long as possible.”
“To stall for as much time as possible, you must wait until half a shichen has passed and the specter comes to attack us before you speak.”
“If the specter appears ahead of time, there is no need to panic. Before the time is up, he can only appear to frighten us and cannot actually make a move against us.”
Xuan Liu suddenly changed his tune.
“Of course, there is an even safer way, which is to protect only Her Highness!”
“That is to say, Master Tang, you use your talent to speak and state that the specter cannot attack Her Highness next. This way, the duration should be much longer. What do you think, Master Tang?”
Tang Jianghe still struggled a little in his heart.
After all, if one could survive, who would want to die?
Before he could make a decision, Tang Wanrong directly refused.
“No!”
“Father cannot have anything happen to him!”
“Father, when the time comes, just say the specter cannot attack the three of us!”
Facing his daughter's resolve, Tang Jianghe could only temporarily agree to her.
“Alright.”
However, in his heart, he had already made his own decision.
Rate on N.U.
