The winter night was very long.
It was long enough to accomplish many things.
For example, murder.
That night, Lin Lu Town was the perfect place for murder.
This was because no one could tell for sure what had happened to the people who were killed there.
They might have been killed by their enemies, or they might have been killed by other people who wanted to steal the Sword Dance of the Grass Record, or … they might have wanted to kill someone else, but in the end, they were dead.
Even if there were 'witnesses', it was useless. In such an environment, who could guarantee that the witnesses were telling the truth? They had every reason to lie for their own purpose. Since they could kill with a borrowed knife, why wouldn't they do it?
Therefore, on that night, there was relative freedom to kill.
The murderous intent that was normally suppressed was stirring in people's hearts.
Those who were proficient in hidden weapons and night traveling martial arts; those who had accumulated grievances for a long time but did not dare to take revenge due to the other party's power; those who schemed to replace their fellow disciples … For these people, tonight's opportunity was absolutely not to be missed.
For the players in this scenario, this kind of 'chaos' provided them with the advantage of 'defeating the stronger' and 'reducing the number of enemies'.
"After waiting for a whole day, we only have the whereabouts of three people. I feel like … we have made a mistake." Under the moon, Sashimi stood on the roof of a building and looked down at the small town before him.
"Do you think … they could have entered the town without your detection?" Meng Jingchan stood beside him. He looked as lazy as ever, and he was holding a beer bottle in his left hand.
"The 'sound shells' that are scattered around the town are working normally. My detection has no blind spots," Sashimi replied confidently. Sashimi replied confidently, "It doesn't matter if they came in from the mountains behind the town, jumped in from the sky, or crawled in from underground. As long as they are in the vicinity of Linlu Town, I will definitely know …"
"Ha …" Meng Jingchan chuckled. "Then there are two possibilities. One, our opponents are only Childe Jian, Not a Scaredy Cat, and Xu Huai Shang; two, there are an unknown number of enemy players. Before we can detect them, they detected us and chose not to enter the town."
"I would rather believe the latter," Sashimi said. "At least … Xu Huai Shang should have one teammate outside the town, right?"
"About that …" Meng Jingchan took a sip of the beer. "Hmm … I don't think so."
"Not sure?" Sashimi asked. "Hey … don't tell me you still haven't understood the rules of this' Team Battle 'mode? You need to form a team of two to … "
"I know." Zen Dream interrupted him and added, "What I mean is, there is an eighty percent chance that her teammates have already left the scenario."
"Huh?" Sashimi was confused, "Why? Do you have any basis for your speculation? "
"Well …" Meng Jingchan thought about it. "I suppose there is no harm in telling you …" He pursed his lips and continued, "Based on what I know, Xu Huai Shang's contract with Red Sakura is about to expire and on the issue of contract renewal, the two parties have not come to an agreement." He paused before explaining further, "Since Xu Huai Shang's contract explicitly states that she owns the game account, this means that if she leaves Red Sakura, this game character that Red Sakura has cultivated will follow her … Even though the contract forbids her from joining other gaming studios for the next few months, she can still participate in various competitions as a professional player … Therefore, at this stage, Red Sakura has stopped providing her with various resources and at the same time, they have used the clause in the contract to forbid her from forming a team with other players. However, the rights and responsibilities of the contract are relative. Naturally, she has her own rights and Red Sakura cannot make things too difficult for her … For example, using the clause to forbid her from participating in certain scenarios, that is not allowed. "
"Oh …" Sashimi was an experienced professional gamer, so he had seen things like this before. When he heard this, he understood the gist of the situation. "So, they found a random account to play with her, and after entering the scenario, they logged out immediately and left her to play on her own … That way, it wouldn't be considered as' forbidding her from playing normally '."
Meng Jingchan nodded. "When I saw her enter the town alone today, I was immediately reminded of this … From the looks of it, the termination of her contract with Red Sakura is basically set in stone."
"Wait a minute …" Sashimi said, "Then … where did you hear about this termination?"
"I am familiar with the management." Brother Zen replied in a matter-of-fact tone, "Recently, they have been planning to sign Xu Huai Shang. They have even offered to pay her salary while she is still under the influence of the non-compete agreement. Of course, that's all I know. I don't know how much they have offered her, but I'm sure it's much, much higher than when the few of us came here …" Brother Zen said matter-of-factly. "That's all I know.
"Look at how unbalanced you are …" Sashimi narrowed his eyes and mocked expressionlessly, "Why don't you just say that eight is a lot?"
"I am not unbalanced. I am just stating the facts … There is indeed a lot." Meng Jingchan replied, "But … to be fair, I do think she is worth that price. From the perspective of the fan economy, I can understand why Xu Huai Shang's net worth is eight to ten times higher than ours …"
"Thank you for the compliment." The next second, a woman's voice suddenly appeared and replied to Brother Zen.
At that moment, Meng Jingchan's pupils constricted. Every pore on his body felt like it was soaked in ice.
He turned his head slightly to look at Sashimi.
He was just in time to see Sashimi's head … slide down from his neck.
When the clean cut entered Brother Zen's eyes, Sashimi started to disintegrate into white light.
Even at that moment, the body was still standing and had not fallen.
The cut was too fast. It was so fast that Sashimi did not even realize that he had been cut before he was pronounced dead.
"Phew …" Two seconds later, Brother Zen slowly turned around and sighed. "I was too careless …"
When Meng Jingchan was on a mission alone, he was rarely careless. His carelessness this time came from his trust in his teammates.
Even so, it was not really a mistake because his teammate was Sashimi. He was the player with the best detection ability in Thriller Paradise … there was no one else.
However, most of the time, the 'strongest' spot was where the breakthrough was.
From the conversation earlier, it was not hard to see that Sashimi had absolute confidence in his ability. When he said that his detection was flawless, he was not lying.
However, once someone found a "blind spot" in this kind of detection, it would be fatal to the caster.
"That was not careless … I spent a whole day before I could get used to the detection frequency of the 'sound shells'." When Xu Huai Shang said that, her body had already appeared on the roof behind Meng Jingchan.
At that moment, she was no longer hiding her face like she did in the morning.
Under the moonlight, her slender body was like a flawless blade. Her bright eyes were filled with chilling murderous intent.
"Understood …" Meng Jingchan looked at her and said, "Use energy to cover the surface of your body to form a layer of dynamic 'armor' and then make this energy layer vibrate at the same frequency as the sound shells. That way … you will be able to become 'invisible' in Sashimi's detection net …"
"You are indeed Meng Jingchan. You only needed to hear one sentence from me and you were able to predict my method," Xu Huai Shang replied.
"Haha …" Brother Zen chuckled as he took out a pack of cigarettes from his chest. He pulled one out and lit it for himself. "Fufu …" He blew out a puff of smoke and said casually, "You have overestimated me. I am not the kind of genius who can see through all kinds of complicated tricks with a quick glance, and I do not have a mind like Feng Bujue that can think of a hundred things in a second …" He paused. "The reason I was able to figure out your method so easily is because … before today, I have already considered how to avoid the detection of sashimi."
"So … you have already thought of this method?" Xu Huai Shang asked.
"Of course …" Meng Jingchan flicked the ash off the cigarette and replied, "I might look like this now … but I am actually a very competitive person. Even if we are teammates from the same studio, I will still study how to defeat them." He paused for half a second before continuing. "Of course … for many things, just because you can think of it, it does not mean that you can do it. Like I said, I am not a genius. If you want an analogy … a genius can give twelve answers to ten questions but I can only give one. "
"So, you think … I am a genius?" Xu Huai Shang asked again.
"Of course you are." Meng Jingchan shrugged. "You, Phantom Dawn, Shiva, Wang Tanzhi, Passing Rain, Swordless Swordsman, Seven Kills, Uncle Worthless, Oda Ai … I guess that is the few of you." As he spoke, he counted out nine people. "In terms of combat, the nine of you are the most outstanding people I've ever seen … However, having the most 'talent' doesn't mean that you're the strongest."
"You seem to have forgotten to include Feng Bujue." That was Xu Huai Shang's first reaction after she heard that.
"Him …" Meng Jingchan shrugged. "I am unable to evaluate someone who is beyond my ability to judge."
"In other words, you have quite a good understanding of my ability?" Xu Huai Shang asked.
"Hah … the same goes for you." Meng Jingchan said. "When you ambushed me earlier, why did you only use one slash? You and I both know the answer to that question …"
He was not bluffing when he said that.
There was a reason why Xu Huai Shang's earlier attack only targeted Sashimi and not Meng Jingchan who was only one meter away.
It was not that she did not want to do that but she did not have the confidence to do so …
It was not that difficult to ambush Sashimi because Sashimi had absolute confidence in his detection ability. This confidence was directly proportional to his' reliance '.
When the strongest ability that he relied on was found out, his empty confidence would turn him into a defenseless target.
But Meng Jingchan was different. Even though he did not pay attention to his surroundings due to his trust in his teammates … in terms of martial artist's instinct, he was much stronger than Sashimi. The sudden murderous intent was enough to trigger his reaction.
If Xu Huai Shang attacked both of them at the same time or if she only targeted Meng Jingchan, then her ambush might not succeed.
Even though the success rate was still very high, perhaps eighty or ninety percent … it would not be like when she ambushed Sashimi earlier where she had a hundred percent chance of success.
With that in mind, she would naturally choose the plan that had a one hundred percent chance of success.
After all … she had no teammates.
If the ambush failed, even if she managed to heavily injure one of them, she would still be able to fight both of them at the same time. In front of two elites from Regulation, she did not dare to underestimate them even if it was a one on one fight. Furthermore, there was another person who could recover at any time.
"Since we are both familiar with each other's abilities …" Two seconds later, Xu Huai Shang replied, "Then let's stop chatting …"
What she meant was, 'Enough talking, it's time for us to make our move.'
Meng Jingchan agreed with this suggestion. If the two of them were to continue this stalemate, it would be disadvantageous for both of them.
Because this stalemate … was more exhausting than actual combat.
Even though the two of them stood there without moving, during this conversation … every second, they were looking for an opportunity to strike. At the same time, they had to be cautious of each other's movements. This was a great challenge to their concentration.
If they were to exhaust themselves here, even if they won the battle, it would negatively affect their chances of fighting other players later.
"Okay." When Meng Jingchan replied, he tossed away the cigarette butt (he had already put the bottle away before he took it out). "Then … I won't hold back."
Before he finished, he had already swung his sword.
He did not count himself as a 'genius'. It was not because he was being humble, and it was not because he wanted to pretend to be weak.
Just like how Meng Jingchan described him as a 'genius' …
He was indeed unable to answer 'ten questions'. Even if he took the time to think, he would only be able to answer six or seven questions at most.
Under normal circumstances, he would only be able to answer 'one question'.
And that question would always be about the 'sword'.
In the blink of an eye!
There was a flash of rainbow light and the two of them disappeared.
The rustling sound of the wind came slowly.
This strike, the sword was faster than the sound, and the person was faster than the sword.
The scary thing was … after the strike, in the night sky, there was no sound of metal clashing.
The only sound that could be heard seemed to indicate that the attack had missed.
But in reality … it did not miss.
In that split second, the blade and the sword collided. However … one of them was cut in half by the other in a state of 'silence'.
It was like using a sharp blade to cut through a piece of tofu that was suspended in midair. Naturally, there would be no sound.
"Good swordsmanship." Xu Huai Shang stood where she was and looked forward. She said in a tired voice.
She didn't lower her head to look at her two blades, because she knew … the [Falling Flower] and [Flying Catkins] in her hands had already been broken. She also knew that there was a hideous wound under her ribs.
"Ha …" Meng Jingchan appeared behind Xu Huai Shang with his back facing her.
He laughed bitterly and took out a cigarette from his pocket. He put one in his mouth and said, "When it comes to swordsmanship, I don't think I will lose to anyone." He used the same hand to take out a lighter and lit the cigarette for himself. "What a pity …"
Just as he said the word 'pity', the arm that was holding the sword was cut off from the shoulder. It was just like the head that slid off the sashimi …
"Fuuu —" Then, Meng Jingchan exhaled a puff of smoke. As he exhaled, three very short but very deep wounds appeared on his torso. The three wounds looked like he was' spitting smoke '. Blood spurted out from the wounds and gathered in the air. "So …" He turned his head and his face was still dispirited. "I hate to fight with you bunch of' geniuses' …"
After he said that, he disappeared in a flash of white light.
It was not until this second that Xu Huai Shang relaxed slightly. She knelt on one knee and quickly used her hand to cover her wounds.
She did not rush to use any item or skill to heal herself. Instead, she looked at the shadow under the roof and said coldly, "You don't have to hide anymore. I knew you were there from the beginning …" Her gaze was like a torch and her tone was firm. She did not sound like someone who was heavily injured at all. "Since you are willing to cooperate with them, why don't you talk to me as well?"
After he finished speaking, a man whose face was already pale with fright walked out from the shadows a moment later.
"I still haven't asked … for your name, heroine …" Even someone like Fang Jin was trembling in fear when he spoke.
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