Such an absurd idea suddenly popped into Zhang Tinglei's head.
Yet... while it was only natural for specters to hunt down players, deliberately creating unsolvable specters?
To be honest, the moment this thought arose, even he was a bit frightened by it.
“Is this for real...?”
Although he had deduced this conclusion from previous events, it was truly too bizarre, making him wonder if he had guessed wrong.
He raised a hand and rubbed between his eyebrows.
“Forget it, I'll put this aside for now.”
Zhang Tinglei began to think about how he could locate the specter once it respawned.
His ability to lock onto the specter and repel it earlier had actually involved a fair amount of luck.
His talent allowed him to set three rules.
Anyone who violated them would be deemed guilty.
He had established the first rule after careful consideration when he was first chosen as a player.
Its purpose was to allow him to kill anyone he wanted at will.
Initially, he had wanted to set extremely broad rules, such as "breathing is a crime" or "being alive is a crime," but after trying, he found it was completely impossible.
After numerous attempts, he discovered that the rules had to be related to himself.
After much deliberation, he finally settled on the first rule.
【Those seen by me are guilty!】
As long as he saw someone, they could be judged as committing a crime.
Therefore, anyone he laid eyes on could be killed using his talent.
Naturally, specters were no exception.
With this rule, clearing One-Star or Two-Star dungeons was incredibly simple for him. The only exception was a Three-Star dungeon that required him to investigate the truth of certain events.
That had actually required him to expend some effort.
However, the good times did not last.
In the real world, his rebel army comrade was murdered in their own headquarters, and the victim was a close friend he had made back when he was still a Second-Rate martial artist!
The friend possessed decent strength. Although not a match for him, the friend was still a Houtian Rank expert.
The chances of an outsider slipping into their territory, killing a Houtian Rank expert without alerting anyone, and then retreating safely were infinitesimally small.
Thus, he concluded there had to be a spy or a traitor within the rebel army.
He had wanted to find the killer right then and there.
But after some investigation, he found that everyone seemed perfectly normal. The mole was hidden flawlessly!
Unable to find the traitor for a long time, and with his friend's burial fast approaching...
He had been furious the entire time and wanted to find the culprit as quickly as possible.
And so...
He easily established the second rule.
【Those who harm my companions are guilty!】
With this rule, he easily located the person who had killed his close friend.
“Sigh...”
Thinking back to this, Zhang Tinglei couldn't help but frown.
When he discovered that the person who had killed his friend was none other than the friend's own wife, one could only imagine his state of mind.
Crucially, he was the one who had introduced this woman to his friend.
His friend had likely let his guard down completely around his wife out of trust in him.
As for the reason...
It was laughable, truly laughable!
Years ago, this woman had come to seek refuge with him, aiming to become his woman. However, he had introduced her to someone whose strength and status were inferior to his.
Even though his friend's strength and status were more than enough for her—indeed, she was marrying above her station—
She remained unsatisfied, discontent with her current situation.
Because in her mind, if his friend hadn't entered the picture, she could have become Zhang Tinglei's woman and obtained so much more.
Zhang Tinglei shook his head, putting the matter out of his mind.
The reason he had been able to lock onto the specter's location earlier was because the specter had killed that player.
Whether directly or indirectly, as long as it played a part, he could judge it guilty.
Honestly, to Zhang Tinglei, the dead player couldn't even be considered a companion.
However, to make his rule effective, he had designated all players participating in the same dungeon as his temporary companions upon entry.
Even if they were temporary, they were still companions.
So, even though Zuo Lin'an had not personally killed that player, that player's death was indeed directly related to him.
Consequently, Zuo Lin'an's specter body was repelled by him.
However, for this rule to take effect, he had to personally touch the corpse of the deceased.
Zhang Tinglei had only been able to repel the specter earlier because he had taken advantage of this loophole.
But based on his earlier deductions, the specter in this dungeon possessed extremely high intelligence, making it impossible to use the same method again.
The specter knew his talent and would avoid getting close to him, yet it would still hunt other players.
Except he wouldn't be able to find a single player's corpse ever again!
Furthermore, since entering the dungeon, the specter had remained in a state of concealment, never showing itself within his line of sight. As a result, his first rule was essentially useless.
The second rule would also be guarded against by the opponent, making it difficult to trigger.
That only left the third rule.
However...
Speaking of which, Zhang Tinglei still felt some regret.
He had originally planned to keep the third rule unused, saving it for future difficulties that couldn't be resolved by the first two rules.
But plans couldn't keep up with changes.
Just over ten days ago, the territory controlled by the rebel army in the northern border was invaded by barbarian tribes from the north.
And it wasn't just one or two tribes—ten tribes had launched a joint invasion!
Each tribe had sent out their strongest warrior, and these strongest warriors were all of the Xiantian Rank!
Together, there were ten Xiantian Rank experts!
Although he was also of the Xiantian Rank and an outstanding figure among them, two fists were no match for four hands. He couldn't possibly fight them all alone.
Even including the other Xiantian Rank experts in the rebel army, there were only three of them in total.
With the situation critical, he had sacrificed four-fifths of his life force to use 【Heavenly Punishment Divine Fire】 four times, killing four of the enemy's Xiantian Rank experts on the spot!
Yet, even so, the three of them still had to face six Xiantian Rank warriors.
This meant fighting two against one. How incredibly difficult!
Clearly, these people had all violated his first two rules, but unfortunately, with only one-fifth of his life force remaining, he could not activate his talent again.
In the end, they could only choose to hold them back, at the very least preventing the Xiantian Rank barbarians from participating in the pillaging.
As for the rest of the enemy forces, they had to be left to his subordinates to intercept and resist.
Eventually, they succeeded in driving the barbarians away.
But these barbarians still managed to plunder a vast amount of resources. Not counting the two to three thousand barbarian corpses they left behind, they could even be said to have returned fully laden.
As for the fate of the four tribes that had lost their strongest warriors, Zhang Tinglei did not care.
He only knew that the rest had escaped, and he was powerless to kill them!
Even if those people were locked onto, they were too far away for him to strike across such a distance.
And venture deep into the northern barbarians' territory alone to kill those Xiantian Rank tribal warriors?
He was no impulsive fool.
Rate on N.U.
