Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Hiding One's Strength Without Showing Off.

Gu Yu knew that the more it was a time like this, the more they had to put the bigger picture first and not be swayed by personal emotions.

He deliberately tried to ease the current atmosphere. “Alright, now we know that the previous six players all died by the water. As long as we stay away from places with water, we’ll be safe for now.”

Though that was true, there were simply too many places with water on this game map. There was almost a pond every few steps.

They had to be even more careful and cautious.

This game was called Absolute Kill, and inside the game, danger truly pressed in step by step. Murderous threats were everywhere.

The very second he finished speaking, a small pool of water suddenly appeared among them. In almost an instant, the pool twisted and expanded. Ripples floated across the surface, then the water seemed to boil, white steam rising from it.

At the moment a gurgling sound rang out, a withered, skinny hand stretched out from the pool.

This hand was pale and shriveled, with long sharp nails. The nail beds were a dense black, and black patterns even surged across the back of the hand like dead tree branches—strange and twisted.

Gu Yu shouted, “Everyone back away!”

But it was too late.

That hand grabbed Juan Juan’s ankle in one motion. Its strength was immense. Every finger bone was exerting force, trying to drag her into the water.

Although this was the fifth dungeon Juan Juan had entered, it was still the first time she had directly faced such undisguised malice.

She had never experienced such a dangerous scene before!

Who knew where the water connected to underneath? She had a strong premonition that once she was dragged under, whether she lived or died would be uncertain!

Just as she was about to activate her skill and roll this game back, Teacher Dan lunged over, stomped hard on that hand, and viciously shoved Juan Juan.

Juan Juan retreated back into a safe area.

The hand was enraged. With a swish, it teleported from Juan Juan to Teacher Dan’s foot.

One second later, Teacher Dan’s figure had completely vanished from the ground, along with that small pool that had suddenly appeared.

If Teacher Dan had not truly disappeared right before their eyes, they would probably have thought it was a dream.

Because everything had happened too quickly. From the pool appearing, to Teacher Dan being dragged underwater while protecting Juan Juan, only a little over twenty seconds had passed in total.

The situation had taken a sharp turn downward. One second was enough to change the current circumstances.

A Leng stood there blankly and said, “Teacher Dan…”

The next second, a mechanical system voice rang in everyone’s minds.

“Player Dan Ping has died.”

The voice was cold and rigid, without any extra emotion, mercilessly stating a fact.

Teacher Dan, who had always been like a parent figure—tolerating them everywhere, encouraging them everywhere, leading them forward—was just gone like that?

Their companion had unexpectedly died right in front of them, and Juan Juan and the others all looked terrible. Juan Juan’s face was pale, A Leng looked panicked, but among everyone present, only Gu Yu’s expression was the coldest.

Because of his angle and position, he had seen very clearly that Zhou Yujing had obviously had a chance to act and save Juan Juan just now, and his skill was not even on cooldown!

He could have used his skill!

He could have resolved this crisis!

But he chose to let it happen and ignore it.

A deep sense of helplessness rose in Gu Yu’s heart.

He was not very familiar with Zhou Yujing. He had only heard that after Zhou Yujing clearly rejected Juan Juan several times, he had repeatedly been pressured by higher-ups.

Aside from the main squad, the national team currently had over a thousand sub-teams. Zhou Yujing and Juan Juan just happened to be assigned under the same leader.

That leader also happened to have the surname Chi. Rumors said that Juan Juan was closely related by blood to this leader, though no one had uncovered the exact relationship yet.

The first time Zhou Yujing entered a game dungeon, something had gone wrong. He had been afflicted with a curse-type debuff or something similar. Gu Yu did not know much more than that. He only knew Zhou Yujing needed an item that could remove debuffs.

If Zhou Yujing had to save up game coins by himself, no one knew what year it would be before he could afford such a god-tier item. Maybe before that day came, Zhou Yujing would already be GGed.

These items existed within the national team. Most had been provided free of charge by senior members and could be lent on priority credit to promising players who needed them.

Since it was credit, it naturally had to be repaid later. If they could not repay with equivalent value at first, they could repay with other items first.

Zhou Yujing’s starting skill was not weak. It was called Shadow Clone. As the name suggested, his shadow could transform into several clones, and every clone possessed half the strength of the main body.

It was a skill that would become terrifyingly strong once developed. Because in theory, the number of shadows he could have had no upper limit. At present, he already had four shadows.

Zhou Yujing naturally belonged to the category of promising players.

But because of his refusal to cooperate, the item he needed had been withheld. He had been suffering under the curse for almost a month already, yet the item that could remove negative status effects still had not reached his hands.

Anyone paying attention knew who had blocked the item.

It was just that very few people knew about this matter.

During a certain period before, the relationship between Zhou Yujing and Juan Juan had once been very tense. Only recently had it eased considerably.

Gu Yu had originally thought Zhou Yujing had already planned to compromise...

Only now did he realize that some people’s coldness did not show itself openly. It was merely hidden deep beneath the sea’s surface in ordinary times. Everyone had been deceived by the calm surface of the sea, causing them to overlook the surging waves beneath it.

All it took was a single wave, and the calm sea would turn into a sky-reaching tsunami.

Then again, Zhou Yujing was at least a player with limitless potential. How could he be willing to be controlled by others? It was only that the skill of that higher-up surnamed Chi was, for now, too effective at restraining Zhou Yujing.

False Speech...

A skill that could influence the thoughts of others and, to a certain extent, guide the direction of public opinion.

Zhou Yujing was not his teammate, so he had no right to criticize what Zhou Yujing did. Rationally, he did not approve of his actions, but emotionally, he could understand him.

But no matter what, the current situation was not what he wanted to see.

Fortunately, they still had one trump card left unused.

He looked at Juan Juan, his tone gentle. “When you can no longer keep yourself safe, roll the game back.”

The meaning of those words was that she should only roll it back when everyone else was dead and only she remained.

If it really came to that point, they should already have advanced the game into the later stages.

If they started over once more, the chances of clearing the game should not be small.

[Teacher Dan cleared so many games, and she didn’t even buy life-saving items?]

[Life-saving items are very expensive. Even veteran players only have one or two. Teacher Dan used one before. I remember the remaining one was used on Juan Juan in the last dungeon.]

[Juan Juan’s skill still has too many limitations. I want to ask, is it worth it?]

[Of course it’s worth it. Why wouldn’t it be? Once she grows stronger, the cooldown period won’t be that long anymore. Even if she can’t roll back every dungeon, at least she can do it once every two dungeons.]

[Countdown and Absolute Kill are clearly about the same difficulty, so why does the viewing experience feel worlds apart? The former looks very easy, while the latter looks extremely hard.]

[Why else? Of course because a new god descended in the former.]

[A new god? Who? I’ve been staying in this livestream room these past two days and haven’t gone to any others.]

Quite a few viewers shared the same confusion as that audience member.

A viewer who had only recently become Ning Rong’s fan said meaningfully, [You’ll know in the future.]

Countdown looked easy, but in truth it had plenty of deadly dangers, such as the suddenly appearing wild dogs, the villagers chasing players, and the snakes blocking the escape route.

If Chi Juan’s group had entered Countdown instead, they might not necessarily have performed as calmly as Ning Rong’s group did. Perhaps they would have been just as miserable and disheveled.

It could only be said that Ning Rong’s starting skill was too powerful. Its range of application was also very broad. At present, aside from the cooldown period being somewhat long, it practically had no weaknesses.

Of course, having a long cooldown was every rookie player’s weakness. Later on, this would no longer be a problem.

Being powerful was one thing, but she also had money! Who wouldn’t be dazzled seeing the way she spent money while playing?

When that money was spent, even the viewers watching felt heartache!

At this time, the viewers had still not connected money with Ning Rong’s skill. It was simply because there had never been a precedent. Who could have imagined that she actually had a hidden identity inside the game?

Ning Rong and the others had previously been wandering around the outskirts of the village and had never stepped into the southeast part of the village. Since the village chief had mentioned the word southeast, there was obviously a reason for it. But before setting out, Ning Rong first thoroughly looted the village chief’s house.

When searching the village chief’s room, Ning Rong discovered an ancient yellowed map.

She signaled to Qin Jue. “When you look at this map, do you feel anything?”

After staring hard at it for a few moments, Qin Jue shook his head regretfully.

Ning Rong was not disappointed either. After putting away the map, she took a few more things she thought might be useful.

“Let’s go.”

To the southeast of the village was a lush mountain forest. The light inside the forest was very dim. Because of the lack of light, looking inward made it seem like a bottomless black hole. The unknown made people afraid. Under normal circumstances, players would absolutely not approach this forest on their own initiative.

Because this forest looked like a giant beast about to choose someone and devour them, and the air carried a rotten smell.

Qin Jue casually brought up a topic as if unintentionally. “My skill is Intuition. I have a premonition that the secret to clearing the game is nearby.”

Hearing this sentence, Lu Wen looked at Qin Jue with a face full of envy.

Intuition!

His skill was actually Intuition! No wonder most of the time they had been moving so smoothly! So they had been relying on Qin Jue’s intuition to stay away from danger!

[Good, good, good. Qin Jue directly exposed himself.]

[Obviously, he’s showing goodwill.]

[From being cold and dismissive at the start, to now proving his own value, Qin Jue’s attitude has completely overturned.]

[He met a new god. How could he keep putting on airs now? The chance to cling to a thigh is right in front of him. Miss it and regret it for a year!]

Although Ning Rong had already guessed it in her heart, getting confirmation from Qin Jue’s own mouth still surprised her a little.

Qin Jue continued, “The occasions and timing when I activate my skill are very random. Although sometimes the activation fails, most of the time it still works.”

[Good, good, good. Continuing to prove his own strength.]

[He’s making it very obvious now. It depends on what future big brother thinks.]

[If we’re talking about seeking fortune and avoiding disaster, after leveling it to the top, it can directly turn disadvantages into advantages. Judging only from skills, Intuition definitely can’t compare to Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Disaster. But how should I put it, A Leng is still a bit young, his personality hasn’t fully formed, his mentality isn’t good, and right now he’s in Juan Juan’s camp, so I support this middle-aged man!]

[Intuition is very useful too! Supporting Brother Qin Jue here!]

Ning Rong had clearly received this goodwill. She commented, “A very practical skill.”

Qin Jue nodded somewhat nervously. Practical... and then? Was it only practical?

“After we get out, we can add each other as friends.”

Hearing this sentence, Qin Jue finally let out a long sigh of relief. “Alright.”

When Lu Wen heard this, he hurriedly came over and said, “Sis, I also want a spot on your friend list.”

Ning Rong said, “Sure.”

Lu Wen smiled so hard that his eyes curved into crescents.

Ning Rong switched on a flashlight. This too had been found in the village chief’s house. The darkness in the mountain forest was bottomless. Without a flashlight, they would be unable to move an inch.

Fortunately, the village chief’s flashlight was a high-beam type, illuminating the road ahead clearly. They had also sprinkled insect-repelling powder on themselves, so the journey was fairly peaceful.

After walking for a while, Qin Jue followed his intuition and led them to the front of a dried-up well.

With a trembling voice, he said, “Th-this... could this be the legendary escape well?”

Lu Wen’s voice could not help trembling too. “If we jump down, can we escape alive?”

[As everyone knows, every game dungeon has at least two escape methods. Countdown has three escape methods in total. Congratulations to the little rookie and her little followers for finding the easiest escape method.]

[Just this simple?]

[Just this simple!]

Lu Wen was a little unable to believe it. “Sis, could this really be the escape well?”

Ning Rong was actually not certain either. Just as she was about to speak, she suddenly froze for a moment.

A few seconds later, she replied, “Yes.”

Her tone was certain, without hesitation.

If she had still harbored doubts at first, then after hearing that mechanical voice, she had already completely confirmed the purpose of this well.

That mechanical voice said this—

[Side storyline activated—

Explore the secrets of this village.

The reward for success is related to your hidden identity. There is no punishment for failure.]

Ning Rong was not someone who liked creating trouble for no reason. If she could escape directly, she had no intention of playing the lone-survival routine again.

But who told the reward to be so tempting?

Since that was the case, then escaping Countdown could only be delayed a little longer.

The identity of “Invisible Rich Tycoon” made her extremely curious.

What kind of surprise would this identity be hiding?