Chapter 274: Hidden Motives, Smuggled Phones

The Pingdu City Player Assault Team was merely a loose assembly of players, with no one truly submitting to another. Even their Captain, Qi Xin, was a product of compromise among them. Aside from his own team, the other players paid no heed to his commands.

Thus, Qi Xin’s shouts to flee fell on deaf ears. Qi Xin chose to believe Kamiyu, because a simple moment of thought made it clear: in a Tree Realm where signal towers were destroyed, someone who possessed the ability to ring everyone’s phones at once—why would they deceive them? What benefit would there be in tricking them and causing their deaths? If the intention was to kill them, doing nothing and saying nothing would have sufficed.

Qi Xin and his group chose to believe Kamiyu, seizing the chance of salvation. They clung tightly to their only opportunity for survival. As for the players who chose not to believe Kamiyu, who questioned her and decided to stay—they unfortunately, and quite predictably, became the Blood Sacrifice Offerings for Fear Emperor.

Inside the Instance Dungeon, over ninety players were still slaughtering Monsters, utterly lost in the frenzy, treating Kamiyu’s warning as nothing. They said, “Where are the enemies? All we see are Experience Points. Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!”

“Hahahaha, this slaughter feels so good!” one player exclaimed, cleaving a Demon in two and absorbing a large amount of Experience Points.

“Hey, don’t steal my mob! Get lost!” another player shouted, forcefully kicking away the companion in front of him.

Unbeknownst to them, their doom was already upon them.

A strange and unfamiliar voice cut in: “How good does it feel to kill?”

“The warm blood splattering on my face, still salty—such a real sensation, even more thrilling than killing people,” the player replied.

“Hehe, I like you,” Men San said excitedly from atop a small hillock.

“Who’s being so disgusting?” The player, hearing such ambiguous, comrade-like words, immediately turned to look.

“Gulp.” The man swallowed hard. Thirty bizarrely shaped “monstrous humans,” who clearly looked formidable, had completely surrounded their group of players.

“Hehehehe, these people are just like us—they’ve killed, they’ve shed blood, they’re no longer virgins,” a pig-headed Ability User with a fat face and large ears drooled as he spoke.

“Excellent, excellent. These are premium offerings for the Blood Sacrifice. His Majesty Fear Emperor will surely be very pleased,” a cockroach-winged Ability User chattered, his voice grating.

The players all stopped their mob grinding, warily eyeing the Ability Users.

“What do you want? And what is this Fear Emperor?” one player demanded.

“They must be the powerful enemies mentioned in the phone message earlier. Ah, I should have fled when I had the chance,” another player lamented, seeing the thirty-one strange figures and knowing at a glance they were no match for them.

“You actually fell for that woman’s words? Maybe these freaks are her subordinates, and they’re all in on it to trick us into going to some Sanctuary to harvest our kidneys,” one player’s imagination ran wild, stubbornly refusing to believe Kamiyu.

“Ah, I regret it so much. I wanted to leave just now,” another player sighed, yet still cut down the Aberrant Beast before him, absorbing the Experience.

“Regret is useless now, and wanting to leave is pointless. These strange beings are not to be trifled with. The only way out is to fight our way through. Brothers, let’s go!” One player immediately unleashed a skill, and after seeing everyone charge forward, he was the first to turn and flee, selling out a wave of good teammates.

“Damn you! You actually sold out your teammates?” someone nearby saw him running and immediately turned back, firing a shot into his leg.

“I’ll teach you to flee. Stay behind and feed the dogs.” This person was clever—if someone stayed behind, others could escape.

With that, chaos erupted in the hospital dungeon.

On the Ability Users’ side, to capture the players alive for use as Blood Sacrifice Offerings, they avoided lethal force, giving the players opportunities to exploit. The situation grew even more chaotic, turning into a fierce and protracted struggle.

“Why can’t I kill them? I’m already level 12!”

“Save me, I can’t breathe!”

“That woman in the phone was right. I should have listened to her and fled earlier.”

Men San noticed the words “phone,” “that woman,” and “Sanctuary,” immediately sparking unusual associations. Seizing the chaos, he picked up a player’s phone and secretly hid it away.

Of course, Men San’s action was captured with perfect clarity by the Black Sphere’s live broadcast. Everyone in the Black Sphere War Room watched his move in astonishment.

“What does it want to do? Isn’t it an Ability User?” an intelligence officer asked.

“I’ve said it all along—Men San is full of ideas. The first time it showed disdain and contempt behind the Fear Emperor’s back, I knew this person had ulterior motives. Now it dares to openly steal and hide a phone. Doesn’t that prove its disloyalty? Lady Kamiyu, I think this person could be useful,” Li Changde said confidently.

Before becoming a player, he was an executive at a Fortune 500 company, well-versed in manipulation, corporate warfare, and industrial espionage.

A slight smile curled at the corner of Kamiyu’s lips as she said, “It’s almost like playing a spy game. Find an opportunity to contact it and see what it’s really up to.”

Kamiyu didn’t contact Men San immediately because the other Ability Users were still present. Calling openly in front of everyone—what would that accomplish? Ask about the weather?

They watched the footage as Men San “unnoticed and undetected” secretly hid the phone, acting as if nothing had happened.

Kamiyu found its behavior amusing.

“The enemy has made its move. We can’t just sit back and wait; we must retaliate,” Kamiyu said. “Now that we understand the Ability Users’ goal—to kidnap players as Blood Sacrifice Offerings—it seems the Fear Emperor is at the end of its rope, foolish enough to capture players. Then let’s not even give it the chance to make such a mistake. We’ll cut off its ‘food supply’ entirely.”

Everyone looked at Kamiyu expectantly, awaiting her command.

“Recall the Frontline Team members and form a new Player Rescue Rapid Response Force. We’ll only rescue captured players,” she declared.

“What about the players who haven’t been captured? Should we send them messages to assemble at the Sanctuary?” Xiao Zhong asked.

Li Changde waved his hand dismissively. “We may be short on people, but we don’t just take anyone. Those we rescue will be even more grateful to Lady Kamiyu and more loyal to her and the Sanctuary.”

Li Changde thought to himself, he would play the role of the tough one.

Xiao Zhong looked at Kamiyu. Kamiyu thought for a moment and nodded. To achieve great things, one must sometimes be ruthless. This is what they call “kindness cannot command troops.” She consoled herself, “I’ve already done quite well; I can’t ask for more.”

With that, a Joint Rescue Force was officially formed and dispatched to rescue the kidnapped Players.

This was a tug-of-war. Now that the Fear Emperor couldn’t consume people, he could only consume Players. Kamiyu would ensure he couldn’t even consume Players. This feeling increasingly resembled the Cold War—a war without visible smoke or fire.