Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 32: Chapter 32: Replica No.2 Bizarre Jungle

Outside the tower.

In a huge tree hollow somewhere in the unknown jungle, three people were as pale as death, struggling to regulate their breathing.

"Everyone just fucking calm down as much as you can, don’t think about what happened earlier. Deep breaths, yes, take a few deep breaths!"

The middle-aged man with a scar on his left cheek and a rugged beard murmured cautiously.

"Cap... Captain... I... I’m scared. Are we going to die here... Both Third Brother and Mazi..."

The stuttering speaker was a teenager about eighteen or nineteen years old, the youngest of the three, whose temperament was similar to Shang Xiaoyi’s, but he wasn’t pretend-cowardly, he was truly cowardly.

The events that had transpired earlier forced him to be afraid.

"If you don’t settle down right now, I’ll throw you out of this tree hollow, and that monster will come smelling your scent! Number Two and Number Three are dead, do you want to die too?"

Like someone who couldn’t sleep trying to force himself to do so, only to become more agitated, all three people, including the bearded captain, never truly calmed down.

The gaunt bald man in the team, his eyes filled with despair, said:

"Our Return Roulette has been destroyed by it, what we can do now... is just waiting to die, isn’t it?"

The other two were silent.

Four hours ago, they came to this jungle. The strongest sensor in the team was the gaunt bald man, who, despite being an unorthodox mercenary, was also a third-stage sensor with Innate Force.

When they discovered a single Evil Fallen with an extremely weak presence in this bizarre woods, they broke their usual caution, illusioned by the notion that perhaps they wouldn’t have to avoid this Evil Fallen and could instead try to kill it.

The Evil Fallen’s attack power, speed, and defense were like those of the weakest and most basic aberrant Evil Fallen.

But four hours had passed... and they had realized just how foolish their judgement had been, and they had paid the price for that folly.

What was a five-man squad turned into three, with their Return Roulette destroyed as well. This was also what perplexed and despair the trio the most.

That Evil Fallen seemed to know the function of the roulette.

"It’s eating Third Brother’s corpse right now; if we can stay calm, maybe we can... survive this disaster?" the youth said timidly, harboring a faint hope.

The bald man could only offer a helpless smile and said:

"We’re about to die, don’t hold onto hope. In the world outside the tower, the chances that someone will find us are very slim. Third Brother won’t last long before getting eaten. With the little time we have left, it’s better to think about something pleasant."

Silence fell once more in the tree hollow; without the Return Roulette, even if the Evil Fallen outside didn’t exist, the three of them would sooner or later succumb to various malign attributes and die in agony.

The bald man had already given up on sensing and withdrawn all his attention, evidently resigning himself to his fate.

About thirty seconds later, the team leader, the rugged bearded man, said:

"Maybe we will die, but at least we can’t just sit and wait for death. The rain has stopped; we can try to escape this place. Number Four, Xiaowu, both of you get a grip!"

The leader stood up somewhat sluggishly. His tough-guy visage somehow offered a bit of inspiration.

But the sound of footsteps from outside the tree hollow made all three inside tremble.

How did the Evil Fallen come so fast?

All three knew that death was inevitable, but had not expected the Evil Fallen to consume its prey so quickly.

Just then, more sounds came from outside the tree hollow:

"I say, you three, can you come out so I can have a look? The next rain will come in three hundred seconds. Time is tight, if you want to live, you’d better start surveying the terrain and exchange information now."

It was a human!

All three were startled. Although the newcomer sounded as young as Xiaoyi, his languid voice exuded a strong sense of confidence!

The trio hurried out of the tree hollow to be met with large trees at regular intervals and various strange plants.

Standing outside the tree hollow was a figure shrouded in a black cloak, a Masked Strange Person.

"When... when did you get here? Are you a ghost or an Evil Fallen?"

The bald man had given up sensing, so he had no idea how long the other had been there.

"A ghost or an Evil Fallen? Both options seem quite grim, how badly do you want to die?"

The newcomer was naturally neither a ghost nor an Evil Fallen.

It was Bai Wu, who had been pulled into this area by the Traction Disc.

After being transported outside the tower, Bai Wu immediately sensed something extraordinarily strange about the jungle.

The distance between each plant was identical, and the tree crowns of the large trees appeared to cover the exact same area.

Despite their diverse forms, these plants occupied identical space.

Before, he had glimpsed the tree hollow and a note popped up:

[Why has a five-man squad been reduced to three? How does a weak Evil Fallen manage repeated kills? Why are all the Return Roulettes simultaneously destroyed? What heartaches has the bald man endured? What secrets lie beneath the rugged exterior of the bearded man? Behind all this, is it the distortion of human nature or the degeneration of morals? Welcome to the world of Disciple Seven.]

Disciple Seven?

This message revealed quite a bit of information; the team had already suffered heavy losses, and instead of wiping them out, the Evil Fallen had chosen to destroy their Return Roulette. Moreover...

This time, the Evil Fallen was Elijah’s fellow disciple.

The number seven disciple under that "teacher."

"Who might you be?" asked the tough captain of the five-man squad, Yang Zhen.

Who might you be? His speech was rather old-fashioned.

Bai Wu examined Yang Zhen:

[Third-stage of Innate Force. Too bad Hollywood shut down seven hundred years ago; they don’t make Wolverine Five anymore. Otherwise, such a classic tough-guy image would be wasted not acting. I must remind you, he harbors an impromptu thought: he wants to kill you and take your Return Roulette. But he is very "confused" right now.]

Bai Wu was not surprised; without the Return Roulette, these three could never go back.

And with his appearance, as long as they knew the code, they could bring people to the rescue.

But now he was a Masked Strange Person who was impenetrable, no matter how exaggerated he acted, it would have no effect at all.

Even if the scavenging port inside the tower was broadcasting live, they couldn’t hear the sound.

"You have already lost two companions, dead because of your underestimation. A third-tier, first-segment Innate Force is quite weak, and moreover, it seems you have a poor sense of direction. If I’m not wrong, you’ve been here for over four hours. It’s best to weigh your options carefully and not make decisions you’ll regret."

Yang Zhen was shocked. He could tell the level of Innate Force at a glance?

Could it be a fourth-tier or higher perceiver master?

No, that’s not right, a lone perceiver... How could they come to this area alone?

This person is very strong!

Yang Zhen concluded.

Then, Bai Wu looked at the bald man.

[Innate Force third tier, first segment. He did think of dying, but now his will to live is stronger than the other two, so much so that he could do anything. His current negative state: fall. You’d better remember what I’m about to say because, at the end of the challenge, you must make a choice.]

Another multiple-choice question?

Bai Wu still didn’t know what the multiple-choice question was and then turned to the third person:

[Innate Force second tier, sixth segment, his sexual fantasy object originates from Egypt, with blue eyes and white hair, with an attack power ranging from 2800 to 3500, which can be summoned through a special spell. His race requirement is the Dragon Race. Hmm, disregard the above, he’s the most timid, meek, and normal one among the three. Current state, sluggishness. By the way, he has an interesting Talent Sequence, Talent Sequence 777: Wheel of Sorrows and Joys.]

Well, even though it sounds perverted, this one is far from Shang Xiaoyi; at most, he’s a second-dimensional otaku with strange fantasies about the opposite sex.

"You can call me Constantine. If you want to live, you had better put away some of your guile."

The bald man named Liang Yu felt that this Constantine was unremarkable.

A third-tier perception wasn’t enough to clearly capture the opponent’s strength, but that wasn’t important. The previous Evil Fallen had cast a shadow over Liang Yu’s heart, making him skeptical of his own perception accuracy.

The young man, ranked as the fifth, named Qin Lin, timidly asked:

"Can we... really survive?"

"Why don’t you lend us the Return Roulette for a bit, and then bring back reinforcements to rescue us? My name is Yang Zhen. I have some reputation among the freelance mercenaries, if you trust my word..."

"I don’t trust it."

Bai Wu interrupted Yang Zhen without any courtesy.

In theory, Yang Zhen’s method was correct. But as Bai Wu focused his eyes in the distance, he read a note:

[All three must be present; if one of them leaves, there will be dire consequences. Moreover, the three correspond to eight different endings. Each ending has different rewards: wealth, prestige, information, Spirit Possession items, or a standard Sequence, or do you want them all? Treat each choice with caution.]

Three people, eight outcomes?

It seems related to the survivors; the bald man, the tough guy, and the second-dimensional otaku, the three indeed have eight possible combinations.

All three surviving, or one surviving, or two surviving, there are a total of eight possibilities.

This area’s Evil Fallen... is quite interesting.

"Why? I need an explanation."

Yang Zhen didn’t dare to act rashly, but he was sure that his approach was the most suitable.

Currently, only Constantine had a Roulette; isn’t the way out of this predicament for the most reputable person to go back and then use the code to bring rescue?

Bai Wu said:

"The monster’s perception is very strong. Have you ever thought about why it didn’t kill you but destroyed your Return Roulette instead?"

"Why?"

"Because it enjoys your fear and despair," Bai Wu said in a light tone.

The three were shocked and even more terrified upon further thought.

Could it be that this Evil Fallen has wisdom?

Is it toying with us?

"For the Evil Fallen, the more fear and despair you have, the more negative thoughts before death, the sweeter the scent for it. Destroying your Return Roulettes is harder than killing you. It simply chose a less direct approach to make its food more delicious."

This statement, with Constantine’s somewhat mocking tone, gave the three men chills.

"However, this is also a good thing. You don’t have to force yourself to hide the fear in your hearts. Because there’s no need. If one of the prey were to run away at this time, I can assert that it would go mad and devour the remaining prey. Now, do you still want to call for reinforcements?"

"But if that’s really the case... If it senses you, wouldn’t it also worry that you might rescue someone and turn to eat us instead?"

Bai Wu smiled, although his mask prevented it from being seen: freewēbnoveℓ.com

"It can’t sense me."

The implication was simple, Constantine had no fear; facing the Evil Fallen, he was completely unflustered. ƒreewebɳovel.com

In conjunction with the playful tone in Bai Wu’s voice, the three of them actually started to believe it.

It was as if the person in front of them ranked even higher than the Evil Fallen.

"What should we do?" asked Yang Zhen.

"Figure out the secret of this area and kill it."

(As expected, this book has been shortlisted for the Three Realms selection, thank you for your support. Working hard on designing various interesting copies, if you’ve got lucky bags bet on this book for the Three Realms, now’s the time to gather some wool~baa)