Free Web NovelThe Thief Didi swept his eyeless black sockets over everyone.
Then he abruptly raised his head, as if sensing the location of the mirror fragments, and charged in the direction Du Sanying had already fled.
The entire train rattled and bounced under the force of the Thief Didi’s footsteps, looking as though it might fall apart at any moment.
Liu Huai slowly let out a breath of relief.
He had thought they were going to have to fight again like before. Thinking of that, he gave a bitter laugh.
He really did not want to chop off Mu Shicheng’s hand a third time to force him into a berserk state. Mu Shicheng, the one being chopped, had no psychological shadow over it, but Liu Huai, the one doing the chopping, was about to develop one. freёwebnoѵel.com
Zhang Kui seemed to realize something and looked at Bai Liu.
“You deliberately had Du Sanying hang the mirror fragments outside to lure the Thief Didi away? You knew long ago that the Thief Didi would appear at this station and made Du Sanying lead him off?”
“Yes.” Bai Liu nodded. “At the last station, I discovered that these monsters aren’t refreshed from scratch at each station. Some follow us over from the previous platform.”
Zhang Kui asked, “How did you notice?”
Bai Liu lifted his eyelids. “Because the number of Exploding Passengers increases at every platform. And among them were some we had already attacked.”
Zhang Kui understood.
The number of passengers pouring in this time was indeed greater than at the previous station. But that increase in monsters would make it even harder for players to steal fragments and escape.
No wonder Bai Liu wanted Du Sanying to lure the Thief Didi away.
Otherwise, if the Thief Didi and the increased number of passengers swarmed in together, they truly would not be able to handle it.
However, whether it was the player stealing the mirror shard from the Thief Didi’s chest or the player luring him away, neither role had a very high survival rate.
Zhang Kui’s expression darkened.
No wonder all the previous players had been wiped out.
This game was truly disgusting.
After the Thief Didi appeared, there were seven stations left. Exactly seven players and seven stations. One player died per station, and by the final station, everyone would be dead...
But under Bai Liu’s command, they had actually reached the fourth station, and not a single player had died.
At the previous station, Mu Shicheng had practically one foot in the grave, yet Bai Liu had dragged him back.
And at this station, Du Sanying...
Tsk.
Zhang Kui sized Bai Liu up.
This guy really knew how to use his brain—and how to use people.
Du Sanying was useless at almost everything, but the probability of him dying or having something stolen from him was extremely low. Using him to dangle bait in front of the Thief Didi was the best choice.
But—
“Aren’t you worried Du Sanying will refuse to lure the Thief Didi anymore and just put the fragments into his system inventory?” Zhang Kui narrowed his eyes. “This is extremely dangerous. How can you guarantee Du Sanying won’t desert? If he runs off and the Thief Didi turns back to attack us, we’ll all be in danger.”
Bai Liu replied, “I’m in a cooperative relationship with him.”
Zhang Kui understood immediately, but he was still shocked.
“Du Sanying has one hundred percent luck. He actually fell for your tricks and let you control him?!”
Back then, Zhang Kui had tried to control Du Sanying countless times, but his puppet threads had never even touched the edge of him. They were always interrupted by something inexplicable.
Du Sanying also had a very famous item called the [Anti-Control Coat]. No control skill could penetrate that coat, which was one of the reasons Zhang Kui had directly given up on controlling Du Sanying.
Bai Liu shrugged and smiled.
“Perhaps for a player like Du Sanying, being controlled by me is itself a sign of great luck?”
Zhang Kui silently watched Du Sanying, who was being chased all over the train by the Thief Didi, crying for his mother and father and causing chaos everywhere.
“...”
Fine.
If Bai Liu wanted to call that Du Sanying’s “little luck,” then so be it.
This round of fragment harvesting went very smoothly overall.
Aside from Du Sanying having plenty of choice words to scream, everyone else passed with a shockingly relaxed mentality. They easily collected all forty fragments. However, because the burn damage from the passengers was unavoidable, Liu Huai and Mu Shicheng, who were responsible for finding the fragments, each lost twenty health points.
“Defensive items like bandages still can’t reduce the fire damage.”
Mu Shicheng’s clothes had been burned into rags, revealing his dirt-streaked chest and abdominal muscles. His face was blackened too, smeared with soot from wiping away sweat with his own hands, making him look like a coal miner.
He sat on the floor panting, lifted his bandage-wrapped hand, and wiped his cheek again. Then he rested both wrists on his knees and looked up at Bai Liu.
“My health is only at forty now. I can last two more stations at most.”
Liu Huai also wiped the sweat baked out by the fire from his chin with the back of his hand. He collapsed onto the floor, panting from exhaustion.
“I only have seventy health left. I can last three more stations.”
Bai Liu pondered for a moment.
“Everyone report your health. Mine is six.”
Li Gou said, “Sixty-five.”
Fang Ke said, “Eighty.”
Zhang Kui said, “Eighty-five.”
Du Sanying, who had been chased until he was covered in dirt and grime, fell into an eerie silence for a long while.
Then he swallowed.
“...One hundred.”
This time, even Bai Liu fell silent.
Mu Shicheng, looking utterly disheveled, stared at Du Sanying for a while before asking in a subtle tone, “You were chased that miserably, and you didn’t lose a single health point? The Thief Didi’s movement speed is fourteen hundred. He never caught you?”
Du Sanying guiltily averted his eyes and scratched his face.
“There were a lot of times when he almost caught me... but he tripped over the train seats a lot.”
Zhang Kui was completely speechless.
Although this was not his first time witnessing the power of Du Sanying’s luck, this was still far too ridiculous.
A boss chasing someone and tripping over chairs—what kind of nonsense was that?
Zhang Kui asked, “Exactly how many times did he have to trip for him to never catch you even once?!”
“Just... just a few hundred times...” Du Sanying’s gaze drifted away as he spoke weakly.
Bai Liu, Zhang Kui, Mu Shicheng: “...”
A few hundred times...
Du Sanying, did the Thief Didi ever manage to stand upright in front of you?
During the train’s transit to the next station, Bai Liu deployed the battle strategy again.
He looked up at the countdown on the train’s LED sign, then turned to the group sitting on the floor behind him and calmly gave simple instructions.
“Two minutes until the next station.”
“At the next station, Li Gou and Liu Huai will be the main attackers stealing fragments. Zhang Kui and Fang Ke will support them. Mu Shicheng will be swapped out.”
“At the station after that, Li Gou and Fang Ke will be the main attackers, and the other two will support.”
“Then the station after that, Zhang Kui and Fang Ke...”
“We’ll rotate in this order to keep everyone’s health above at least twenty. There’s still one monster from the Monster Book that hasn’t appeared yet. We need to prepare for the boss fight.”
“Du Sanying, you’re still responsible for drawing the Thief Didi’s attention.”
Mu Shicheng looked at Bai Liu, somewhat confused.
“Then what am I supposed to do after being swapped out?”
Bai Liu met Mu Shicheng’s eyes with a calm, rippleless gaze.
“You’re responsible for preparing for the boss fight.”
“The boss fight will definitely need you. You’re very important. You’re the main force for the boss fight, so you can’t die easily.”
“Make sure your health doesn’t drop below thirty.”
Mu Shicheng looked down at his scarred body, raised an eyebrow, and spread his hands.
“You want me to lower my Mental Value and go berserk to fight the boss again, right, Bai-sir?”
“You really are picking one sheep and fleecing it to death. If my Mental Value keeps jumping up and down like that in such a short time, I’m going to lose my mind.”
“Bai Liu, please stop treating everyone like they’re a monster like you who can survive a snapped Mental Value, okay?”
He was not wrong.
After his Mental Value dropped into the single digits and recovered last time, Mu Shicheng’s eyes had clearly begun to turn somewhat vacant. Even though Bai Liu had later bleached his Mental Value back up, the aftereffects of such a sharp drop followed by a rapid rise in such a short time remained.
Mu Shicheng’s spirit and concentration were still declining noticeably.
Earlier, when Mu Shicheng had served as the main attacker against the Exploding Passengers, he had almost been burned to death several times. Only because three people were supporting him, and because Bai Liu had been constantly watching him, had he barely been pulled back each time.
Bai Liu’s tone was calm.
“Based on your performance just now, your condition really isn’t good. That’s why I decided to swap you out.”
“Start resting now and recover your energy. I need you to maintain a high level of concentration during the boss fight.”
“You can take some sleeping pills from your inventory and sleep for a while. You should be able to sleep for about twenty minutes.”
Sleeping pills could be bought from the System Shop, and their effect was always good. One pill knocked a person out until morning. They were indeed very effective for mental recovery.
But Mu Shicheng only wanted to laugh after hearing this.
He spread his arms and lay back, using his crossed palms as a pillow.
Looking at Bai Liu with a half-smile, he said, “If I sleep, who’s going to protect me and guarantee my safety? Everyone else has been assigned by you to snatch fragments.”
Bai Liu looked at him without emotion.
“Me.”
Mu Shicheng was so shocked he choked and coughed.
He was about to sneer and say, Bai Liu, your health is only six, what right do you have to protect me?
But when he met Bai Liu’s unbelievably flat gaze, the sarcasm somehow would not come out.
In the end, he only irritably ruffled his hair.
“You only have six health points left. Are you kidding me, Bai Liu...”
Bai Liu explained unhurriedly, “Of everyone here, I’m the only one who can one hundred percent guarantee your survival.”
“Do you object to that?”
Mu Shicheng’s gaze swept across Zhang Kui’s darkened face, Du Sanying’s whimpering expression, Liu Huai’s guilt-stricken look, and the other vacant-eyed puppets of Zhang Kui.
Finally, his gaze settled on Bai Liu’s unwavering eyes.
When this guy had been about to forcibly execute his plan to control Zhang Kui earlier, he had carried that same look in his eyes.
I know this is risky, but I won’t change it.
A few seconds later, Mu Shicheng gave a muffled tsk.
He finally compromised, raising both hands in surrender.
“Fine. No objection.”
“I told you, I won’t let you die, Mu Shicheng.”
Bai Liu walked over and smiled at him.
It was the kind of smile meant to soothe and comfort someone. On Bai Liu’s face, it looked particularly hypocritical.
But Mu Shicheng still relaxed slightly at the sight of it.
Bai Liu patted Mu Shicheng’s shoulder and sat down beside him.
“Sleep.”
After being patted like that, Mu Shicheng could not help closing his eyes and relaxing.
He had been highly tense the entire time, but Bai Liu’s low whisper of “sleep” sounded almost like a spell. Mu Shicheng involuntarily loosened his taut muscles and nerves and leaned back against the train door.
He thought to himself that he would only close his eyes and rest for a bit. He definitely would not fall asleep.
Falling asleep inside a game was too ridiculous.
It was absolutely not something a highly alert person like him would do...
[System Notification: Player Bai Liu has used High-Efficiency Inhalant Sleeping Powder on Player Mu Shicheng.]
Mu Shicheng frowned when he heard the notification. His hand moved slightly, as if preparing to struggle awake.
But soon, Bai Liu expressionlessly pressed his hand near Mu Shicheng’s nose.
Mu Shicheng took two breaths.
Then the muscles throughout his body went soft, and he uncontrollably sank into a deep, sweet sleep.
Bai Liu turned his head and looked at Mu Shicheng, whose head had tilted to the side, his breathing steady.
Then Bai Liu raised an eyebrow and glanced at the white powder in his hand.
“This inhalant sleeping powder is quite useful.”
Du Sanying was dumbfounded.
“How did you suddenly knock Mu Shicheng out?!”
“The impact of that Mental Value drop on him was too great. The best way to restore his condition is deep sleep.”
Bai Liu held his breath and brushed the sleeping powder from his hands. After the powder dissipated, he turned to Du Sanying.
“I need Mu Shicheng in peak condition to face the boss later, so I’m letting him sleep first.”
Du Sanying was a little confused.
He leaned closer to Bai Liu, thinking he was whispering very quietly into Bai Liu’s ear.
“But Bai Liu, you used Mu Shicheng before because there were only three of us. Now you have so many people. There’s no need to keep fleecing Mu Shicheng alone, right? The others can fight monsters too!”
As Du Sanying spoke, he even glanced at Zhang Kui and the others from the corner of his eye, his expression petty and gossipy.
The meaning was clear: Why don’t you fleece those bad guys instead?
“Those people will have their health drop below thirty because they’ll be searching for mirror fragments at the next platforms. Their combat power will decline to a certain extent.”
Although Bai Liu knew perfectly well that Zhang Kui and the others could hear Du Sanying’s “whispering” at this distance, he still cooperated by lowering his voice and leaning in to whisper back.
Bai Liu lowered his eyes.
“Furthermore, in this game instance, Mu Shicheng is the one most likely to counter the final boss.”
“Only Mu Shicheng?” Du Sanying repeated blankly.
He turned to look at Mu Shicheng, who had been knocked into deep sleep by Bai Liu’s sleeping powder, and asked in confusion, “Why is he the most useful?”
Bai Liu lowered his gaze as well.
Looking at Mu Shicheng’s peaceful sleeping face, he smiled.
“Because he’s the best thief I’ve ever seen.”
“And the only thief who has ever managed to steal something from my hands.”
“He’s much better than those brothers who stole the mirror.”
Du Sanying did not understand.
He was already used to not understanding Bai Liu’s words.
He only looked at Bai Liu hesitantly.
“Bai Liu, even so, are you really going to protect Mu Shicheng while he’s asleep? You’d be better off having the others protect both of you. You two are in way too much danger! One of you is asleep, and the other only has six health points!”
“No.” Bai Liu rejected the idea flatly. “There are only three people on the fragment-snatching side—one snatcher and two guards. Only this way can we avoid health loss.”
“If it becomes one snatcher and one guard, their condition will decline later, and they’ll lose a great deal of health due to mistakes.”
“If our total health falls below four hundred, all of us will be trapped in this game.”
Du Sanying wanted to say more to persuade him.
But looking at Bai Liu’s face, which showed not the slightest emotional fluctuation, he understood that Bai Liu had already made up his mind.
Du Sanying knew he could not convince Bai Liu easily, so he could only walk away dejectedly.
Before leaving, he glanced at the deeply sleeping Mu Shicheng and Bai Liu, who was guarding him, and let out a sigh filled with complicated emotions.
This was the first time he had ever seen a player risk his life just to let another player have a good sleep.
Of course, Bai Liu was doing this entirely so he could make better use of Mu Shicheng once he woke up.
Du Sanying was not sure whether Mu Shicheng should be considered lucky or unlucky.
***
Mu Shicheng suddenly jerked awake from his heavy sleep.
The train was racing through the dark tunnel.
Wind whistled through the opening in the roof that the Thief Didi had made, creating a loud, rushing howl. That sound startled Mu Shicheng out of his dreamless sleep.
Everything around him seemed no different from when he had fallen asleep.
But Mu Shicheng looked around carefully and realized the damage to the train had become far worse. It looked as though it had gone through battle after battle, with holes everywhere letting wind pour in.
The appearance of the others confirmed Mu Shicheng’s suspicion.
Zhang Kui and Liu Huai were huddled in a corner, their faces pale. Li Gou and Fang Ke were covered in blood and looked miserable. Du Sanying was slumped over a chair, panting like a dog with his tongue out. His hair was soaked with sweat and stuck to his forehead like a parrot that had just been fished out of water. His eyes were glazed, and he looked utterly exhausted.
Bai Liu was not much better.
His face was as white as a dead man’s as he leaned against the door to steady his breathing. He held his whip in one hand, sweat dripping from his soaked shirt. His head was tilted back as he poured a Stamina Recovery Agent down his throat, a pile of empty bottles scattered at his feet.
Seeing Mu Shicheng wake up, Bai Liu slowly rolled his eyes toward him.
“Mu Shicheng, you’re awake. The sleeping powder worked well, didn’t it? It’s been over twenty minutes. How do you feel?”
Mu Shicheng rubbed his throbbing temples and stood up by leaning against the door.
He did not even have the energy to get angry at Bai Liu for drugging him.
Mu Shicheng frowned at Bai Liu.
“Which station are we at now? How many mirror fragments have we collected? How much health do you have left?”
“We just passed the eighth station. There are two more stations before we return to Antique City. We’ve collected three hundred mirror fragments.”
Bai Liu acted as though he had not heard the final question and skipped over it.
“Your mental state seems to have recovered. I’ll explain what you need to do at the ninth station. You’ll need to cooperate with me later...”
Mu Shicheng lifted his gaze, a hint of ferocity in his eyes.
He stepped on Bai Liu’s whip and repeated the question word by word, interrupting him.
“I’m asking you, Bai Liu. How much health do you have left right now?”
Blood seeped from the corner of Bai Liu’s mouth.
He licked it away and lifted his eyelids.
“Knowing this will only shake your trust in me when you cooperate with me later.”
“Not knowing will shake me even more.”
Mu Shicheng sneered.
“Just say it. Whether I trust you or not, haven’t you always managed to force cooperation to succeed anyway?”
Bai Liu was silent for a moment.
“Three.”
Mu Shicheng could not hold back.
“Fuck!”
He suppressed the urge to keep cursing and stood up irritably. Bai Liu watched expressionlessly as Mu Shicheng kicked a chair and forced himself to calm down.
Mu Shicheng turned around and looked at Bai Liu through gritted teeth.
“You have three fucking health points, and you’re talking to me about goddamn cooperation?”
“One burn and you’re dead!”
“It would take three burns,” Bai Liu corrected him.
Before Mu Shicheng could start cursing again, Bai Liu calmly soothed him.
“But Mu Shicheng, you’ve made too many mistakes while cooperating with the others. I have to step in and cooperate with you because, from this point on, no one can afford to slip up.”
“As long as you don’t make a mistake, I won’t die.”
Bai Liu looked Mu Shicheng in the eyes. freёwebnovel.com
“So you absolutely cannot make a mistake. Do you understand?”
Mu Shicheng took a deep breath.
In the end, he could only yell at Bai Liu in frustration.
“No mistakes! Fine! You lunatic, tell me what you want me to do for you! What kind of cooperation?! I’ve already crossed a sea of fire for you!”
Bai Liu smiled.
“It doesn’t need to be that serious.”
“I just need you to help me steal something.”
“What thing?” Mu Shicheng asked in confusion.
Just as Bai Liu was about to speak, the train’s female broadcast voice rang out.
[Two stations remaining. The train is about to reach the final station. The next station is Lujia Lane Entrance. Passengers getting off, please line up by the door. Boarding first, then alighting...]
Densely packed charred corpses gradually piled up outside the train doors.
Their heads twisted with creaking sounds.
The Thief Didi stood at the very front, flames wreathing his entire body. Fire crackled in the depths of his eye sockets, and his bones glowed red-hot from the heat. At a glance, it looked as though a pair of resentful red eyes were burning inside the thief’s head.
The thief roared, pounding against the train door.
He was furious because of his stolen loot—the fragments taken from his chest.
“These monsters are about to come in! Bai Liu, what exactly do you want me to steal?!”
Mu Shicheng warily pulled Bai Liu back as he asked.
Bai Liu rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“I’m not sure what I want you to steal yet either.”
Mu Shicheng choked.
“??? You’re not even sure?! ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) At least give me a target!”
Bai Liu gripped the fishbone in his hand.
As the train doors opened bit by bit, he let out a long breath. His gaze was solemn, but a faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“If I haven’t guessed wrong, what I want you to steal back might be all three hundred of our mirror fragments.”
“Or it might only be twenty fragments.”
“It mainly depends on whether Du Sanying can hold steady.”
“Three hundred mirror fragments?” Mu Shicheng turned to look at Du Sanying in confusion. “But aren’t they on Du Sanying?”
This guy’s health was still at one hundred percent, which left Mu Shicheng rather speechless.
“Steal them back? You mean the Thief Didi is going to steal them from Du Sanying? That shouldn’t be possible. That big idiot chased Du Sanying for six stations and never even touched the hem of his clothes. How could he possibly steal the fragments from him?”
“Do you know the Level-Jump principle of boss design in horror games?” Bai Liu suddenly asked.
Mu Shicheng glanced sideways at him.
“No. What’s that?”
Bai Liu smiled.
“It means that before players clear the level, the boss guarding the exit will inevitably go berserk.”
“It could be a berserk increase in combat power, or a berserk increase in hit rate. In short, this boss will definitely receive a massive performance boost—a level jump—which creates a major obstacle to the players clearing the game.”
“Generally speaking, there will be a stage right before clearance that causes a large number of player deaths.”
“But what’s very strange is...”
Bai Liu slowly lifted his eyes.
“This Thief Didi has followed us for six stations. He is clearly the main boss of this game, yet he still hasn’t shown any signs of going berserk.”
“Even though we’ve led him around for six stations, and things have become smoother in the later stages, his combat power still hasn’t increased at all as we approach the end.”
“That design isn’t very reasonable.”
Mu Shicheng raised an eyebrow.
“And?”
“So I think he has a different kind of level jump.”
Bai Liu slowly looked up.
“If there’s no qualitative numerical buff, then there must be a new monster.”
“Do you remember the name on the second page of the Monster Book?”
“Thief Brothers.”
“But we’ve only seen one Didi.”
“Where is his Gege?”
