Xuan Jingyuan had originally intended to use his talent to help all of his people complete the main quest of repelling the specters.
But he had never expected that an anomaly would appear in the Scarlet Dream!
“Elder Gu, that specter just now was indeed the native student, Zuo Lin'an, right?”
Gu Hedao nodded solemnly. “Yes.”
“Just now, he seemed to be immune to all talents. And before he disappeared with Xuan Yi's corpse, I saw you use a specter item, yet it still had no effect.”
Gu Hedao's face was grim. “Indeed. Zuo Lin'an's situation is truly bizarre and highly unusual.”
Xuan Jingyuan said, “A specter that can immune all talents and specter items? That is simply impossible!”
He absolutely did not believe it!
Gu Hedao said, “I know.”
“It's just that we have no clues right now. Moreover, I believe this immunity must have its limits. Otherwise, Zuo Lin'an alone could have wiped us all out. Why would he have needed to run away just now?”
Yet, even if there were limits, they would have to test it multiple times to find out.
Xuan Jingyuan's brow unfurled.
“Indeed, you are right.”
Gu Hedao said, “However, just to be safe, if anyone encounters the specter Zuo Lin'an alone outside in the future, it is best to flee at the absolute highest speed.”
Just after saying this, he recalled how he had desperately exerted his qinggong earlier yet still couldn't catch up to Zuo Lin'an's speed, so he corrected himself, “If you cannot escape...”
“...then use every means at your disposal! Talents, specter items—use absolutely everything you can!”
Xuan Jingyuan felt somewhat exhausted.
“That is all we can do.”
He rubbed his temples.
“Alright, there shouldn't be many specters left tonight. Pass down the order for everyone to group up. No one is to go out hunting anymore. We will continue tomorrow night when the Scarlet Dream returns.”
“Understood.”
Xuan Jingyuan added, “By the way, ask the other players tomorrow to see if those holding cards were prioritized for attacks by the specters.”
“Yes!”
By this time, it was already eleven o'clock at night.
When Zuo Lin'an arrived at the dark woods outside the dormitory area, he happened to see the principal leading a scattered few specters out of the dormitory area.
He looked around but did not see Xu Youyou.
Huh?
“Principal?”
Upon seeing him, the principal casually pulled out three cards from his person.
“For you.”
Zuo Lin'an was not surprised that the principal had obtained three cards. He casually took them and then asked,
“Where is Youyou?”
The principal explained in detail.
“Of the three cards, two were in the hands of players on the sixth floor of the boys' dormitory. Before we made our move, he specifically asked me who those two were, and then he focused solely on targeting and killing them.”
“However, those two did have some tricks up their sleeves. One of them ran fast and was intercepted and killed by me halfway, while the other was killed by him.”
“As for the third card, it was over at the girls' dormitory.”
“That female player wasn't alone. I was repelled three times by them. But with the coordination of several other specters, we managed to create an opportunity for student Xu Youyou to kill that female player in a one-on-one encounter.”
“He killed the player, but he was also repelled when that female player found an opening.”
Zuo Lin'an was momentarily stunned.
He hadn't expected Xu Youyou to actually...
The principal said, “Don't overthink it. It's fine even if he was repelled. You'll see him once the Scarlet Dream ends, and he can still enter the dream tomorrow night.”
Zuo Lin'an nodded. “I know.”
Xu Youyou trading one of his repels for a card was actually a very good deal for them as NPCs.
“I didn't expect him to be so willing to put himself on the line.”
Zuo Lin'an didn't feel any regret or sadness; he was merely thinking about how he would mock him once they returned after the dream ended.
The principal said, “You have five more cards on you. Congratulations on successfully killing the player Xuan Yi.”
Zuo Lin'an replied, “No problem.”
“By the way, Principal, adding the three you just gave me, I have a total of eleven cards in my hands.”
“Xuan Jingyuan and Gu Hedao have two cards. Does that mean the remaining eight are in the cafeteria?”
The principal nodded.
“The players in the boys' and girls' dormitories of the dormitory area still add up to over a hundred and twenty, but we no longer need to target the players here.”
“As for Xuan Jingyuan's group of players in Academic Building No. 5, I've decided to abandon them entirely. Therefore, we only need to target the players in the cafeteria now.”
Zuo Lin'an asked, “Does that mean you're directly giving up on the two cards in Academic Building No. 5, Principal? Letting them clear the dungeon?”
The principal turned around and slowly walked toward the cafeteria.
“Whether they can clear it is still uncertain.”
Zuo Lin'an nodded. “True. After all, I've hinted to them, both directly and indirectly, that a score of sixty is a passing grade on the exam.”
But passing didn't necessarily mean they would receive the reward—which was the other half of the card.
The principal said, “It's actually very rare to completely wipe out all players in a National War Dungeon. Every time, there are always a few exceptionally capable players who manage to clear it, sometimes even more than a dozen.”
“Even if we directly give up on killing players now and let them keep the remaining ten cards, it is absolutely impossible for ten of them to clear the dungeon.”
Because in the subsequent exams, there might not even be ten people who can manage to obtain the other half of the cards.
Zuo Lin'an blinked.
“Ah? Then doesn't that mean we can just slack off?”
The principal retorted, “How could we do that?!”
“Since we have the opportunity to enter the Scarlet Dream every night anyway, we still have to put in some effort.”
“No matter how many players are repelled, as long as we can snatch one more card, it's a gain.”
Zuo Lin'an nodded as he looked toward the cafeteria not far away.
“There are eight cards in this cafeteria. You don't have to tell me everything, Principal. Just tell me who has the most cards and how many they hold.”
“My ability to immune repel effects will be exposed the moment they see it once. Therefore, targeting and killing only the person with the most cards is the optimal solution.”
The principal said, “It's Ming Ruofeng. He has four cards in his hand.”
Zuo Lin'an looked behind them. Including himself and the principal, there were only eight specters left in total.
“With so few specters, will storming the cafeteria really work?”
There were at least two hundred people in the cafeteria.
Among them, players with the ability to deal with specters must make up at least half, if not more.
The principal said, “It's fine. We only need to throw them into chaos, then create an opportunity for you to kill the card-carrying players amidst the confusion.”
Zuo Lin'an nodded. “Alright. My speed is decent enough. Leave Ming Ruofeng to me. His talent, 【Demon-Slaying Sword】, is completely useless against me!”
The other specters standing behind the principal stepped forward one after another, asking the principal about the owners of the other cards.
They needed to create chaos.
But if they could kill a card-carrying player while causing chaos, that would also be a gain.
Zuo Lin'an waited until they finished discussing before adding,
“Once you engage the players, I hope you can force them to use up as many of their trump cards as possible before you are repelled.”
“If there's an opportunity later, it will be much easier for me to hunt them down.”
“Or simply drag them down to the grave with you, and I can retrieve the cards from their corpses.”
Hearing Zuo Lin'an's words, the other specters didn't find anything wrong with it and nodded one after another.
“No problem.”
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