Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Strong.

The audience of One Thousand and One Nightmares mostly loved chaos.

In horror games, what was least lacking were plots of backstabbing, falling out with one another, and players who, because they did not know what tomorrow would bring, chose to indulge recklessly.

Throwing caution to the wind, they rushed toward one desperate carnival after another of passion and ruin. In such horror games, morals and values had clearly lost their restraining power.

The audience could witness every facet of humanity here, and also watch all of others’ grudges, entanglements, and obsessions.

The snake swarm flicked their tongues and surged toward the villagers chasing after Ning Rong and the others. Strangling, biting wounds, green poisonous mist... screams of terror came one after another. Those hoarse cries of despair tore apart the quiet night.

A segment that could easily have harvested players’ lives passed by just that lightly.

【Is this the aura of the official girlfriend? I just want to say, her presence is a full six feet tall!】

【To be fair, she really does look six feet tall...】

【Can’t wait to see Little Newbie go up against the popular player—Juan Juan! It’s definitely going to be exciting!】

【Alright, alright, a potential rookie versus the national team’s pampered darling, right? I’m first! I’m backing Little Newbie!】

【What potential rookie? Do you even know how to speak? That’s future big boss!】

【You’re all focused on the emotional mess between popular players, and I’m the only one who noticed Little Newbie threw money around again?!】

Ning Rong’s skill required game bills to be used together with it. Even when the target was snakes, she still did not forget to use the money.

Because in her view, whether it was the village chief or the suddenly appearing snake swarm, both belonged to the category of NPCs in the game. From a macro perspective, there was no real difference between them.

Facts proved she had judged correctly. The two hundred game coins she had quietly tossed to the ground earlier had already disappeared, while the snakes lured by money were crazily charging into battle for her. Sure enough, even snakes could not escape the temptation of wealth.

As a veteran player who had cleared four games, Qin Jue sharply sensed something.

Generally speaking, player skills could only target part of the NPCs in a game.

This was a lesson summarized through endless blood and tears by players, and posted on the forum by some kind senior player for later generations to reference.

But Ning Rong had clearly broken that hidden rule just now. At a rough glance, the snake swarm that appeared here numbered over a hundred, yet every one of those venomous snakes obeyed her command.

Perhaps there had never been such hidden rules at all.

Perhaps it was only because they were not strong enough that they had always believed the rules were like that.

Using one danger in the game as a spear to deal with another danger—this was the first time he had seen a player operate like this, and the result had been unexpectedly effective.

He had a strong premonition.

Perhaps this pure newbie player he had matched with this time would one day stand very, very high—so high that they could not hope to reach that level.

While the villagers and poisonous snakes were locked in battle, Ning Rong and the others took the chance to leave.

Only after they reached a quiet area did Qin Jue wipe the sweat from his forehead and say, “Let’s rest here for a while first.”

The three of them sat down to rest.

Ning Rong picked up a branch and absentmindedly drew on the ground while thinking.

This horror game was called Countdown, so what exactly was counting down?

Judging from the literal meaning alone, once the final second arrived, some kind of crisis would probably explode.

While the branch in her hand moved unconsciously across the dirt, a mechanical system announcement suddenly rang in their ears—

Player Jian Ru has died.

Ning Rong: ???

【Oh ho, the first dead player has finally appeared.】

【Exciting. Looks like the venomous bee swarm was still too deadly for them.】

【He Ye backstabbed them. She directly dragged Jian Ru’s son over to block the bees. Jian Ru traded her own life for her son’s chance to survive.】

【This is human nature.】

After the announcement, Ning Rong was stunned for two seconds.

It was only the second day of the game, and already one player had died.

She raised her eyes and looked at her companions.

On Qin Jue’s face was numbness born from being used to it.

On Lu Wen’s face was the sorrow of a rabbit mourning the death of another rabbit. Even though he had never known Jian Ru, he still grieved the departure of a fellow player in the same round.

In the hazy night, Ning Rong sharply caught sight of a number appearing on Lu Wen’s chest: 35:23:36, and the digits were constantly decreasing, 36, 35, 34...

This was...

She looked toward Qin Jue again. On Qin Jue’s chest was 23:56:27, and the 27 was also continuously dropping...

So Countdown meant this?

【Congratulations, players. You have officially entered the countdown of life.】

【Within the countdown, either find the key to breaking the situation and escape in time, or... boom!】

【Haven’t heard an explosion in a long time. Kind of nostalgic.】

【Someone said Little Newbie is a future big boss? Hah. Let her survive this dungeon first before saying that.】

In the quiet night, Ning Rong’s calm voice rang out.

“Can you see the countdown on your chests?”

Lu Wen froze for a moment. “Sis, what countdo—” His voice abruptly stopped the moment he saw the numbers. In a strained tone he said, “What is this?”

Qin Jue’s voice sounded even heavier than his.

“This is probably the life we have left.”

Ning Rong said, “Your survival times differ by more than ten hours. Why is there such a difference?”

Hearing this question, Qin Jue, as an old player, could answer immediately.

He did not hide it, instead choosing to show goodwill.

“To plunder.”

Judging from the time, Qin Jue’s remaining survival time was far less than Lu Wen’s, while Lu Wen’s strength was weaker than Qin Jue’s. Thus, conflict between players became obvious. The strong would seize the weak’s remaining time for themselves. In the face of life and death, morality and humanity might both lose to reality.

Even if there were no conflicts between players, the game would create them.

Lu Wen subconsciously moved farther away from Qin Jue.

“Sis...”

Among the three of them, Ning Rong had the shortest survival time. She only had fourteen hours left. Even though Qin Jue had not explained the exact method of plundering, she had already roughly guessed it.

As long as one successfully harvested another person’s life, the other party’s remaining survival time would probably become theirs.

【As an old viewer who has watched this dungeon six times: finding the way out is hard, because you simply can’t think of it.】

【The player ranked nineteenth on the overall leaderboard, “Movie Emperor,” also played this dungeon. In the end even he was forced to attack his companion.】

【No helping it. Die together or live alone? Smart people know what to choose.】

【To be fair, Little Newbie is pretty smart. She brought a “backup reserve of survival time” beside her.】

【Hugging a thigh isn’t that easy. Once crisis appears, the little follower may be the first cannon fodder. A moment of silence for Lu Wen.】

After learning she only had fourteen hours left, Ning Rong did not rush to do anything. There was no use panicking now.

“It’s late. Rest for a while.”

After saying that, she peacefully and calmly closed her eyes and simply rested on the spot. Moonlight filtered through the branches, shining on her face, illuminating her tranquil profile, and even calming Lu Wen’s emotions.

【Money Can Make Ghosts Turn Millstones】 was still on cooldown. Taking advantage of this time, she could just close her eyes and recover, because tomorrow would be the real main event.

The audience watching this scene: ???

【Little Newbie, with so little survival time left, how do you still have the mood to sleep? How can you even sleep?!】

【Not in a hurry to find a way out now? Have you already decided to send Lu Wen to heaven?】

【I don’t know why, but I feel like I can see a bit of “Infinite Domain” in this little newbie.】

【“Infinite Domain”? The current number one boss player? Ancient legendary player?】

【Don’t compare this newbie to my Domain God! You think way too highly of her!】

【That steady-as-an-old-dog temperament of theirs is really similar. Forget it, you people won’t listen anyway.】

【Think it to yourself. Why say something so annoying out loud?】

【I’m out, I’m out. Pretend I said nothing.】

After Lu Wen saw Ning Rong close her eyes to rest, he also took a nap beside her. He did not dare truly fall asleep, so he merely kept his eyes shut and let his thoughts wander.

Seeing the way Lu Wen trusted Ning Rong with his whole heart, Qin Jue did not say much either.

The feeling Ning Rong gave him… was not bad.

Unlike He Ye, who looked soft-hearted but was not soft-hearted at all, Ning Rong seemed more consistent inside and out.

Perhaps… he could trust her once?

The temporary resting place Qin Jue found through “Intuition” was not bad. The remaining time before dawn passed peacefully.

No players came looking for them, and neither did the villagers.

After resting for around six hours, Ning Rong opened her eyes. She looked at Lu Wen beside her, who was struggling hard not to fall asleep, and said, “You sleep. I’ll keep watch.”

Lu Wen let out an “awoo,” but in the end he could not resist the overwhelming drowsiness. The moment he heard her words, he mumbled a sleepy thank you, Sis, then let himself sink into deep sleep.

In a certain sense, Lu Wen was somewhat of a “foolishly sweet simpleton.” Once he trusted someone, he would cast aside all worries and all hesitation.

Qin Jue, who had not dared close his eyes all night, saw that she had rested enough. After hesitating for a few seconds, he still asked, “Do you have any ideas?”

Ning Rong said, “I plan to go talk to the village chief first.” Then she looked at Qin Jue. “I need your help.”

Although Qin Jue had not directly stated what his skill was, Ning Rong had roughly guessed some of it. If they were going to find the village chief, using his skill might let them achieve twice the result with half the effort.

After weighing it, Qin Jue nodded. “Alright.”

Near noon, Ning Rong’s group cautiously headed down the mountain.

Part of the village had been burned, but most of it remained intact. For example, the village chief’s house had not been affected at all.

The moment they stepped into the village, they smelled the charred odor left behind after things had burned. It was somewhat pungent.

Aside from some villagers who stayed behind to put out the fire, most had gone outside to chase the players. So the village at this moment was excessively quiet, nowhere near as lively as usual.

Ning Rong confirmed with Qin Jue beside her, “The village chief is still in the village?”

Qin Jue said, “My intuition says he should be here.”

Ning Rong and Lu Wen followed Qin Jue, weaving around many NPCs, and from a distance they saw the village chief squatting by the edge of a field, smoking.

Hearing footsteps, he did not turn around. “Found those outsiders yet?”

Just as the village chief was about to turn his head to look, Ning Rong activated 【Money Makes Even Ghosts Turn the Millstone】 for the third time.

This time, she directly threw out a thick wad of game banknotes. The stack of bills made a rustling clatter.

Under the shocked gazes of Qin Jue and Lu Wen, she asked calmly, “Tell me, what is the key to clearing this stage?”

Qin Jue: ???

Lu Wen: !!!

Audience: …

【No way! Little newbie, you’re this fierce?!】

【Trying to forcefully break the stage, huh? You really figured out how to play this game.】

【You can do it like this too? No, where did she get so many game coins from? I truly cannot understand it.】

【How much money is in that stack? At least ten bills, right? Straight-up bribing an NPC with cash?】

【You have money, you’re amazing!】

Amid the audience’s chorus of doubt and shock, the expert’s colored bullet comment slowly drifted by once more.

【Looks like her starting skill is even more overbearing than I imagined.】

After seeing that comment, the viewers in the livestream all froze instinctively for a moment.

A viewer who had colored comments and was familiar with the game’s rules could be considered a veteran audience member.

Even a big shot like that had deliberately used the word “overbearing.”

Then just what kind of skill did this little newbie actually have?