LWGP - Chapter 129
Chapter 129: A Sigh
The vast living room was covered in poison gas, but five people had avoided it.
Mei Qingshu leaped up to a landing on the stairs, raised her bow and arrow, and took aim. But the poison gas obscured her vision, and for a moment, she couldn't target anyone.
The speedy Xie Lu had entered a hidden trap that Qiao Xuejing had thrown down. The trap isolated him from the gas, which was a clever application of its function.
The rest of the team didn't have Xie Lu's quick reflexes and could only ingest the poison. Those with lower attributes had already died, while those with higher ones could still resist, but they wouldn't last long, because the old butler was coming to kill them.
Diao Guang's team wasn't as formidable as Wang Jiu's. Seven of them fell instantly, leaving only Diao Guang alive. This guy was cunning; he actually had a poison-dispelling skill and managed to hold on. Seeing the old butler approach, he immediately fled toward Mei Qingshu.
The old butler naturally gave chase, but Wang Jiu hit him with a Blind spell. His vision restricted, he knew this was bad and immediately set up a defensive shield around his body.
Mei Qingshu and Diao Guang's attacks smashed down.
As the defensive shield rang out, Wang Jiu, who had opened a barrier to block the poison, entered her Mountain Ghost's Night March state and launched a Dismemberment attack.
Bang! A puppet's phantom appeared in front of the mistress—it was a substitute puppet.
The puppet was shattered by Dismemberment, absorbing the damage, but the mistress's gaze paused. She used an insight skill to see Wang Jiu's three attributes and calculated her damage output. The amplification wasn't low, but it didn't match the kind of skill one would expect from someone with such high attributes.
This wasn't her full strength.
She was deliberately trying to exhaust my puppet ability!
The mistress maneuvered for a while, then, as if realizing something, abruptly ended her stealth state and tried to jump out the window. But Wang Jiu blasted the path ahead of her with a Flowing Light.
The mistress had no choice but to dodge backward, smiling. "Lord Lao Wang, you're deliberately using normal attacks to wear down my puppets, but I stopped using them after a while. You should have realized I didn't fall for it. Why are you still stringing me along like this?"
Wang Jiu leisurely threw out Flowing Light attacks to block her escape. "You saw that I was stringing you along, but you didn't try to leave before, either. This playing hard to get, this lingering connection... why are you putting all the blame on me?"
Dodging the Flowing Light, the mistress said, "Of course I didn't leave. It was to tie you down, Lord Lao Wang. You're too strong. I bought and watched the videos of you taking down Nevernight, Frost, and the Rat Tide several times. The moment I saw you on the monitor today, I knew things weren't looking good. See, to play this part well, to attract your attention and stall for time, I even changed into this beautiful dress. A pity it was for nothing. I didn't expect you'd want to string me along too. But I don't understand. With your combat power here, tying me up doesn't affect my team's progress in this ordinary instance. Could it be you have people who infiltrated their side in advance?"
She was quite smart. At first, she only felt something was off and wanted to slip away to check on her teammates. But when she realized Wang Jiu was also stalling, she knew the other party must have more people.
She asked humbly for guidance, but that didn't mean Wang Jiu would graciously answer. "This kind of probing is meaningless. If I said no, would you believe me? If I said yes, your people didn't notice at the start, and they still won't notice now. If I were you, I'd just take off that dress you wore for nothing."
She said it with extraordinary calm, toying with the mood as if she were eating or drinking.
But the mistress was also an expert in this game. Her smile was gentle, her eyes filled with ease. "Ah, so Lord Lao Wang, just like that social incident that night, truly has broad tastes when it comes to unconventional social 'sexual' relationships?"
"Not really. I'm out of clothes."
"..."
What a fresh and unconventional answer, devoid of any ulterior motives.
So, Lord Lao Wang wasn't just "socially complex" in nature, but also "selfishly emotionless."
The mistress smiled. "There are plenty of clothes upstairs. Lord Lao Wang can take her pick. If you'd like, I can even accompany you. Just give our team a chance. After all, we don't have a medium-sized territory. Not like Lord Lao Wang, who settled four campaigns in one day and made a huge fortune."
Wang Jiu glanced at her and said, "If you like medium-sized territories so much, you can come to mine."
The mistress: "Is Lord Lao Wang trying to poach from our captain?"
Wang Jiu: "I don't make mistakes of principle. I've always preferred it when others willingly have an affair."
The mistress: "..."
There was no winning this argument, so she dropped it. There was no chance to continue anyway, because a small house in the southeast direction of the manor exploded!
The mistress's eyes lit up. They did it. They finally blew up the small house where that family was hiding!
In that instant, the mistress and the old butler abandoned their opponents and burst through the window. The others reacted as well—her team had succeeded!
Diao Guang: "Her people are definitely going to kidnap the real mistress to force out the secrets of this town and the instance strategy. No wonder she was stalling us with all that nonsense. After them!"
Diao Guang led a group in pursuit and quickly arrived in front of the destroyed small house, where they saw a hidden cellar below.
The mistress's team had already gone down. As the mistress reached the edge of the cellar, she suddenly felt a sense of strangeness. She turned to look at Diao Guang and the others who had arrived but didn't see Wang Jiu or her people.
She was an extremely secretive and cautious person. Seeing this, she felt something was wrong and immediately tried to ask her teammates in the cellar, but before she could speak, several of her teammates exploded with messages in the team channel.
The content was all the same—The people are gone? They ran? Fuck!
The mistress reacted swiftly. "It was Wang Jiu's doing!"
The other teammates didn't respond, but the captain, Zhong Qing, said, "There are traces of residual spirit power. It must be a skill like Earth Escape or some kind of spatial concealment. It can even take people? What a move! After them!"
The group charged out and ran right into Diao Guang and his people. As the saying goes, when paths cross, the brave are victorious. But here, in this open space, Diao Guang's group didn't even have the ability to resist. They were wiped out in an instant. OVER!
So strong? Diao Guang used his insight skill to check the attributes of the person who killed him and was shocked.
My god, their attributes are so high. The team average is over 1000, with three of them over 2500.
This team's overall quality is even higher than Wang Jiu's!
"Don't get up yet. Let's wait for those two groups to fight it out, then we'll get up," Diao Guang decided. The other team members unanimously agreed. Although it was embarrassing, it seemed like getting up would just mean getting knocked down again.
Since that was the case, they wouldn't get up. They'd call it sitting on the mountain to watch the tigers fight!
System: "..."
Having come into contact with the creatures of this Earth, I am increasingly struck by how much a captain's character influences the overall quality of a team.
A cowardly soldier makes a coward, a cowardly general makes a nest of cowards!
Take Wang Jiu's team, for example. The whole group shows a tendency to turn dark. See, Wang Jiu didn't even tell them the plan, but the moment they saw she didn't give chase, they knew she had a scheme. And notice how that little fox, the one who managed to snatch the final blow on the golden rat right under Wang Jiu's nose, is missing.
So the whole group held back, waiting for Bai Bai's return.
Sure enough, while Zhong Qing's team spent two whole days painstakingly blowing up the defensively hidden small house and cellar, she had Bai Bai send a hidden clone inside to investigate the situation before she even reached the manor gate.
First, there were living people in the manor, which meant they had the means to survive in this Mist Town. At the very least, they had food and drink. Even if there were no clues, robbing them would yield some resources.
Second, she had long since discovered the surveillance cameras hidden inside two decorative pots by the manor gate. She predicted that if even someone like the youth from the Research Institute lacked reliable modern equipment, this household's ability to use such methods meant they had a background and were certainly part of the instance. Clearing it should advance the progress of the ordinary instance.
Originally, it was just out of caution that she had Bai Bai scout this household alone. She didn't expect to discover the problem with the butler and the mistress herself, and then Bai Bai also discovered that Zhong Qing and the others were using a hidden shield to cover the small house, secretly making progress.
At that time, Bai Bai had also looked at the house's HP bar and was very surprised, because it was very thick. There had to be something hidden inside.
Wang Jiu had it secretly use its gnawing ability to dig inside... Two people were hidden within, an old butler and a mistress. Bai Bai then used the spider boss's silk to bind the two of them, then used its rat-like digging skill to open a tunnel and drag them frantically toward Wang Jiu's group.
By the time Zhong Qing and the others gave chase, Bai Bai had already burst out of the ground, dragging two large spider-silk cocoons before Wang Jiu.
Xie Lu stood outside the window, looking into the distance. "They're catching up."
They didn't have much time. Was Wang Jiu going to take these two people with them? Or do something else?
Wang Jiu had Bai Bai undo the spider silk, revealing the two people. They were terrified and weak, gasping for breath. It was clear Bai Bai had nearly suffocated them with the silk.
Bai Bai awkwardly rubbed its nose. "Don't blame me. I never take prisoners. I usually just swallow them whole."
Wang Jiu ignored it and cast Demon's Eye on them, but she didn't see any attributes of an attackable monster, only an NPC prompt.
【Mistress of Bi Yue Villa (Wife of a mysterious figure)】
Description: Elegant, composed, and intelligent. She holds a great secret and is determined to protect her husband's secret, refusing to compromise.
【Old Butler of Bi Yue Villa】
Description: Loyal and witty, determined to protect his master's safety and interests.
NPCs, clues? No wonder Zhong Qing and that mistress who could block Demon's Eye were so shrewd. They had let these two escape into the cellar of that small house. They probably wanted to capture them alive, which is why it took them several days to break through.
So, what secret did they know?
Without asking, Wang Jiu immediately threw two Flowing Light attacks, crippling both of their legs.
Flesh and blood splattered everywhere. It was brutal and bloody.
System: This way, they can't run. Such a familiar tactic.
Then, without another word, Wang Jiu took out a potion bottle and shook it. When the mistress and the butler saw it, their expressions changed drastically.
"Oh? You know what this is?"
Wang Jiu had a realization, then quickly pinched the mistress's mouth open and prepared to pour it in.
The mistress was terrified, whimpering in fear, tears streaming from her eyes as if she were scared to death—so, this potion bottle must be lethal.
At the very least, it was a potent mist liquid, capable of making even these natives, who had survived for years with rosy complexions, panic.
A superweapon from the Research Institute?
Wang Jiu pondered this as her actions continued unabated. It looked like the liquid was about to enter the mistress's mouth.
The old butler shouted in panic, "Stop! I'll give you the warehouse key!! Don't hurt my mistress!"
"Where is it?"
"I'll take you there."
"I can send you straight to hell right now, believe it or not."
Just a moment ago he said he'd give it, now he was saying he'd take them.
Wang Jiu felt that these NPCs were all full of tricks, especially despicable.
An expert at punishing clueless captives, she used Dismemberment to pour the entire contents of the potion bottle into the mistress's mouth. Gulp, gulp. The mistress was so scared she cried, letting out whimpering sounds. Listening to her, it seemed she was begging for mercy.
So cruel, so twisted!
"Let the mistress go!!" the old butler roared, his face contorted with rage.
Suddenly, Wang Jiu stopped. She held the mistress's head and let her cough, because she had finished drinking.
As she coughed, the mistress suddenly came to her senses and stared blankly at Wang Jiu.
The old butler was also dumbfounded.
Not dead? She's not dead after all that?
"What you gave me wasn't mist water?" The mistress, with tears in her eyes, took a closer look at the potion bottle in Wang Jiu's hand. The bottle looked similar, but the color of the liquid inside seemed off.
Just now, Wang Jiu's palm had been covering the bottle, so she hadn't seen it clearly. She didn't know when she had switched the bottles.
So she was just scaring her.
But Wang Jiu said, "I wasn't scaring you. I just wanted to confirm one thing—it turns out this loyal old butler isn't loyal to you."
Realizing Wang Jiu's purpose, the mistress's face turned cold. "You don't need to sow discord. I am also loyal to my husband."
Wang Jiu: "Is that so? But your husband didn't give the butler an order to prioritize the mistress's life over his interests. Otherwise, he would have truly handed over the warehouse key just now."
The mistress froze, her expression shifting slightly as she looked at the old butler. The old butler's eyes flickered, and he lowered his head without a word.
Suddenly, Wang Jiu took out the real potion bottle, pinched the mistress's mouth open, and without another word, prepared to do it for real.
The mistress broke down right then. "I'll talk!"
The old butler suddenly lunged forward. A pistol appeared from his sleeve, and he fired at the mistress's chest with a bang.
The bullet struck the blade of Weeping Blood and ricocheted back, blowing the old butler's head apart.
Wang Jiu flicked her blade and said, "Perhaps this was also your husband's order."
If a woman is loyal to love, then what defeats her is still love—just make that love meaningless.
Wang Jiu exploited the loophole in the NPCs' attributes to shatter the psychological defenses of the old butler and the mistress. The latter, in pain and anger, said, "The key should be on his body, or inside his body."
Wang Jiu didn't touch the old butler's corpse. Instead, she used Shadow Step to flash out, activating Altar, Nightmare Descent, and Mountain Ghost's Night March all at once. With Weeping Blood in her right hand and Flowing Light in her left, she unleashed a Blood Wrath + Dismemberment burst.
With a deafening roar, Wang Jiu sent the ambushing Zhong Qing and the mistress flying. On the other side, another expert from the opposing team with average attributes over 2500 emerged from stealth, appearing behind Wang Jiu for a blood-infused backstab.
A somewhat familiar burst damage skill.
Blood Wrath + Assassin's Backstab + Level 6 Heavy Strike!
If this hit...
She had her barrier!
No, the barrier couldn't be used because she was in a skill delay state—that Zhong Qing had a special status skill, Silence, which had "silenced" her barrier!
This skill was quite impressive!
Wang Jiu raised an eyebrow, but the assassin's attack still didn't get a chance to get close to her.
Swish. Xie Lu, with a stealthy dash, arrived behind Wang Jiu. Back to back, he executed a piercing ice sword attack. Frost spread across the ground, and small ice shards accompanied the upward thrust of sword energy, colliding with the opponent's critical hit. It only negated half the attack power, but Xie Lu blocked with an ice shield.
Bang!! The frost cracked, a beautiful, translucent shatter of light. The attack was completely blocked. The cunning assassin then threw a Flowing Light.
Assassin's hidden weapon skill—Explosive Flame Orb.
Bang!!
By the time the flames exploded, Xie Lu had already dodged, executing a stylish slide across the ground. Then, gripping his sword with both hands, he plunged it into the ground. Voom! Spirit power surged out. A binding skill—Earth Sword Net!
Whoosh. The sword energy split into eight strands, forming a swift network on the ground that linked into a sword net. The next moment, the assassin, with an agility as high as 2800, felt his legs stick to the ground.
Not good!
Simultaneously, Wang Jiu threw a Dark Curse on this troublesome assassin. Was she going to kill him?
She only sent a Dark Curse his way, not distracting herself with fighting the assassin, because the mistress and Zhong Qing were coming. The mistress was a puppeteer. Silk-like threads seemed to fly from her five fingers, shimmering with light. Two puppets appeared on the ground simultaneously. They were string-controlled metal puppets, resembling little golden-armored generals, charging forward with long swords.
Puppeteers, like formation masters, were a niche class that was weak in the early stages. But if their talent was strong enough and their skill resource system was coherent, their power could be terrifying. Just like the twin-puppet skill the mistress was using now, it was an extremely valuable and rare puppeteer skill, several times more precious than Blood Wrath. Judging by its effect—both puppets had average attributes reaching 2000.
Moreover, puppets feared neither death nor pain, fighting like wild bulls. And because the mistress controlled them remotely, they had peripheral predictive capabilities, precisely pinning down Wang Jiu's attack angles from both sides. Zhong Qing had used his silence skill, locking down Wang Jiu's most powerful barrier ability. He kept his distance and took out a golden bow, aiming at Wang Jiu...
But before his arrow could be fired, the assassin on the other side was blown apart. His corpse lay on the ground, dropping a pile of treasures. Just as he revived, he stared ahead in utter shock.
Because Zhong Qing, who was aiming at Wang Jiu, hadn't been able to fire his attack before being viciously swatted down from behind by a flashing Bai Bai, which then began a frenzied assault of tearing and biting, bombarding him with three skills per second.
Debuffs, burst damage, and attacks all came at once.
That's right, this was a little fox genius who had devoured more than a dozen bosses and, in the process, absorbed a dozen of their skills.
When they first met at the Nanluo River, this little fox had an average attribute of 1500. But ever since devouring the golden rat, its attributes had skyrocketed after digestion, crossing the 2000 threshold. And because it was a boss, its HP was formidable, and it was now faintly stuck at the peak of the silver tier.
Logically, a silver-tier creature eating a gold-tier one should have advanced directly. But the fox race itself was superior to the rat race, and its bloodline was high, which is why it was stuck at the silver peak.
Still, it was monstrous. It single-handedly took down Zhong Qing. Zhong Qing's silence could only be used on one person, and even if he used it on Bai Bai, it would be useless—it had too many skills!
Zhong Qing was a clay bodhisattva crossing the river—unable to save himself. On the other side, the mistress, having lost Zhong Qing's support, had yet to change her strategy when she saw Wang Jiu use Exemption—the silence was nullified. The barrier opened. Under perfect defense, she faced the two puppets head-on in close combat. A single slash with 15% Blood Wrath + Dismemberment struck one of the puppets. She raised the golden scepter in her left hand and fired a Flowing Light + 15% Blood Wrath, while Holy Light entered her body.
Double burst!
Both puppets were instantly killed.
Her health was restored to the 20% loss threshold, and Wang Jiu remained in an excellent, clear-headed state. She then used a spirit power restraint to bind the body of the mistress who was retreating and dodging, dragging her back. Then, her body slid forward, Weeping Blood lashing out. A three-meter blade aura + Demon Banner's poison gas + Weapon Poisoning + Level 7 Heavy Strike + 10% Blood Wrath + self-healing Holy Light!
Bombardment!
Bang! The mistress was killed. As her resources dropped, she quickly revived on the spot, only to be immediately trapped and locked in a cage. Wang Jiu then collected the resources on the ground and turned back to kill the assassin!
At the same time, Zhong Qing was killed by Bai Bai...
Fifteen seconds later, the mistress was in a cage, Zhong Qing and the assassin's corpses lay on the ground, not daring to get up. On the other side, Wang Shu was guarding the corpses. Qiao Xuejing, Dao Dao, Liao Luo, Mei Qingshu, Qi Shuanghan, and Mei Qinghe faced the remaining experts, including the old butler. Their overall strength ratio was about 2:3, and their death count ratio was about 2:1.
Overall, there were shortcomings, but it was still a fight. They could at least kill the enemy a few times. In the end, they still made a comeback because Wang Jiu's side had won.
Three minutes later, the scene was silent. The dust had settled.
Looking around, there was the mistress in the cage, Zhong Qing and the others lying on the ground, and the trembling Mistress of Bi Yue Villa, who had lost her love and was now being threatened by the Demon King.
Wang Shu had already dissected the old butler's corpse and found a bloody key hidden in the flesh of his arm.
Wang Jiu took the key and headed for the warehouse.
"What about these people?"
Wang Jiu glanced at Zhong Qing and the others. "What else can be done? We don't have a Revenant Aura to screw them over, nor do we have a Bloodthirst skill. Just leave them. But we're still taking the spoils of war."
She didn't reveal that she had the Bloodthirst skill. But the spoils of war were?
Everyone's gaze fell upon the mistress in the cage. The mistress's eyebrows twitched slightly, but she smiled calmly. "Is Lord Lao Wang really going to poach me for your territory?"
Such good composure.
But Wang Jiu's composure was even better. Her blood-stained fingers gently caressed the bars of the cage, as if stroking her lover's shoulder blade to arouse his passion. Finally, her finger flicked, making a crisp sound.
"No, I want to see if there's a Bloodthirsty Beast in this strange manor. I'm short one piece of bait."
The charming fake mistress's expression changed slightly. Zhong Qing and the others playing dead on the ground were furious, but they didn't dare get up. They could only watch helplessly as the adorable little fox dragged the cage away, with Wang Shu and the others following closely behind. Then, Wang Jiu, as if no one else was there, stepped over the still-feigning-death corpses of Diao Guang and his team and walked toward the warehouse, led by the true Mistress of Bi Yue Villa.
On the way, the fake mistress had already calmed down and even had the leisure to respond to Qi Shuanghan's diplomatic probing.
"Fenghua Territory, east of Xi'an. Luo Sheng."
Qi Shuanghan asked with a smile, "Miss Luo is so cooperative. Could it be you also have a favorable impression of our Gobi Territory?"
"I have an even more favorable impression of your lord."
Mei Qingshu rolled her eyes and sneered, "That's not what you were saying when you were controlling your puppets to kill her."
Luo Sheng smiled brightly, telling a bald-faced lie: "I couldn't kill her. I was conquered."
Xie Lu glanced at her. "If you want to change your fate of being bait, you can consider exchanging resources for it. Flattery is useless."
Luo Sheng seemed lost in thought.
They were skeptical about whether there was a Bloodthirsty Beast in an ordinary instance, but Wang Jiu never considered others' opinions. They could only obey.
They reached the warehouse. It was just a storeroom, but the system prompted that it could only be opened with a key and its HP bar couldn't be attacked.
After inserting the key, the main door opened. Inside, the group found a lot of packaged food.
Especially instant noodles, bread, and milk.
This was a legendary food supply station! But besides that... there was another kind of food.
A dismemberment table, a human head in a large pot, bloody white bones, and internal organs in a bucket.
Some were shocked, some were panicked, some were in disbelief. All eyes turned to the Mistress of Bi Yue Villa, who hurriedly explained, "I didn't, this wasn't my doing... it was them!"
Luo Sheng had also shown a flash of shock, but she quickly composed herself. She ignored the mistress and instead looked at Wang Jiu, who was examining the body parts, and suddenly asked, "How did you figure it out?"
Figure what out?
Wang Jiu prodded the organs with Weeping Blood and said, "Your butler was a perfect mimic. He deliberately paid extra attention to Fatty. This wasn't his natural behavior; he was imitating the real old butler. I think this mist is like a plague. In the later stages, when people are severely ill, crops can no longer satisfy their appetites. They must eat meat. And in this Mist Town, besides mutated monsters, there is no meat—except for humans. So they don't care what reason players give for wanting to enter. What they care about is whether there's enough meat on them, whether they're plump and tasty. You arranged for him to act like that, didn't you? You wanted to use this obvious trait to make us assume from the start that there was a problem with the manor's master, to focus our attention on the mistress you were impersonating, instead of investigating that small house."
The plump and tasty Wang Shu: "!"
Are all you high-IQ people this full of schemes? One plot nested inside another?!!
"It seems the situation in this town is dire. The people are almost all eaten. Even their own chef became food."
Wang Jiu looked at the severed hand and the chef's head, then suddenly asked Luo Sheng, "This head is identical to the one you simulated. Either you saw what he looked like when he died and simulated the head yourself, or you've been in this warehouse and placed the real head there."
Her words were abrupt, but everyone suddenly reacted and looked at Luo Sheng again.
"If I said I was also shocked just now, would you believe me? I have indeed seen the real head. Three days ago, our team fought our way here and also entered this manor. This mistress and butler temporarily fled into the small house. While we were attacking the small house, we were also searching. But that afternoon, Diao Guang and his team arrived. Fortunately, they weren't strong, so Uncle Li and I could handle them, disguising our identities to suppress them. But the terrifying thing was that night, we all heard furtive sounds moving through the corridors and the house. Then, one person went missing. The second night, a second person went missing. The third night, which was last night, the chef disappeared. This morning, he appeared in the refrigerator. Diao Guang and his team thought it was our doing, but they didn't know we were more panicked than anyone. I had to place the head in the chef's room. Then you all came... I really didn't expect it to appear here."
So the question was, who moved the chef's head here? To the warehouse where his body was dismembered.
Everyone's gaze fell upon the Mistress of Bi Yue Villa again.
Under pressure, she was about to say something when suddenly, everyone heard a soft sigh.
Wang Jiu, who had instantly activated Demon's Eye, suddenly struck, slashing her blade behind the mistress. But she was a step too slow. Silently, two dark, ghostly claws stretched out from thin air, grabbed the mistress's head, and ripped it clean off her neck. Amidst a spray of blood, the ghostly claws vanished with the dazed-looking head. The gushing corpse, due to post-mortem spasms, remained standing straight before everyone.
Everything was so bizarre, and so terrifying.
Ordinary. This was ordinary difficulty.
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