Chapter 96: Some Games Look Like Battle Royales, But Are Actually Hide-and-Seek

"This is our elder's 'Honest' Mirror. What do you think, Mr. Yi Ji?" the man with the glassy stare asked.

"Not bad. Not bad at all."

Yan Jing nodded.

Whoever came up with this application for the mirror was truly a genius.

"Can you ask this mirror anything?"

Yan Jing asked.

If it could answer absolutely anything, the mirror would be anything but simple. It would be a magic mirror straight out of a fairy tale.

But common sense dictated that such a thing couldn't possibly be in the hands of a Second Tier elder of Virtue Bridge.

"Of course not."

The man shook his head.

"This mirror can only answer questions within a certain radius of itself, and the subjects cannot exceed the Second Tier."

"Furthermore, it cannot answer questions concerning major secrets."

"And it absolutely cannot answer anything from too long ago, anything too broad, or anything too detailed."

"But it is perfectly honest!" the man emphasized, his tone brimming with pride.

"If it doesn't know the answer to your question, it will tell you it doesn't know!"

"I see."

Yan Jing gave a thumbs-up. "Truly an honest mirror."

No wonder it had been repurposed to track the real-time feeds of targets.

It was practically useless for anything else.

Still, Yan Jing had to admit that if a player possessed a Ritual with a similar ability while running a dungeon, it would be an immense asset to their team.

Soon, the image in the mirror shifted.

Mo Nagu, Mu Wan, and one of their teammates had found their first prey.

Scarface.

The moment he spotted Mo Nagu's group, Scarface's expression warped, and he sprinted in the opposite direction.

At the same time, weird energy surged around him, and a bowl of takoyaki materialized above his head.

Three octopus balls bounced out of the bowl and instantly disintegrated, transforming into three tentacles that whipped out to bind his pursuers.

A control-type ability.

In this kind of situation, it was exactly what he needed.

However, yellow light flickered around Mo Nagu, and a beast's head baring two long, sharp fangs materialized above him.

The phantom beast head swayed slightly, opened its jaws, and swallowed all three tentacles in a single bite!

While the beast head chewed the tentacles, Mo Nagu pushed off the ground, surging forward at an unimaginable speed. When he was just a few meters away from the Scar-faced Man, he leaped high into the air and lunged like a fierce beast.

In midair, he drew the Dagger strapped to his leg. Its cold edge glinted in the light, much like a beast baring its fangs.

Even though the Scar-faced Man managed to conjure a broken blade radiating an aura of decay at that exact moment...

The two figures crossed paths.

A string of blood droplets splattered into the air.

Thud—

The Scar-faced Man's body stiffened before he collapsed straight to the ground.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Enthusiastic applause rang out across the hall.

Many inner world residents praised Mo Nagu's maneuver. It had been clean, decisive, and far from simple.

Immediately after, the Old Man standing beside the mirror spoke up again:

"Mirror, mirror, tell me: who among the human players in the Sun-Swallowing Tower has taken the most lives?"

This time, a fat silhouette appeared on the surface of the mirror.

It was none other than the Fat Man who had initially invited Yan Jing to join his team.

No one had expected him to sign up as a hunter as well.

At this moment, he was holding the gloomy man from his team by the head, violently smashing it against the wall.

Once, twice, three times...

Soon enough, the gloomy man's face was smashed into a bloody pulp, and he fell completely silent.

As for the Fat Man, his mouth suddenly stretched impossibly wide, occupying a full two-thirds of his face, and he began to feed—

There were no phantoms or flashing lights, which meant his power system was likely an Inner World Pathway.

Furthermore, it was Gluttony, the one most compatible with this Domain.

Yan Jing's eyes flickered. He hadn't forgotten that he was already on the bounty list for the Inner World Pathway.

Therefore, all Inner World Pathway players who came here could be considered enemies.

Following that, the final team of hunters was shown: the fourth squad that had formed up early. All four of them belonged to the Inner World Pathway.

The slaughter progressed rapidly. Gradually, the situation on the field became clear.

Mo Nagu's team—Hunters. Mu Rao's team—Mu Rao had yet to appear, and his two female teammates were being hunted by Mo Nagu's team. Chen Dalang's team—aside from the comatose Chen Dalang, who was receiving treatment from the Order Management Bureau, the rest were completely wiped out. The fourth team, consisting entirely of Inner World Pathway members—Hunters. The fifth team, who had previously shared a meal with Yan Jing—completely wiped out. The sixth team, Scarface's team—completely wiped out. The Fat Man's team—the Fat Man had become a hunter, the frail woman was nowhere to be found, and the gloomy man was dead. Solos—Fan Jue had yet to appear, and Yan Jing... Yan Jing was currently warming up.

After this round of slaughter, aside from the hunters, practically none of the other players participating in this dungeon were left alive.

Next up would likely be a showdown among the hunters.

It was almost time.

Yan Jing nodded and patted the heads of his two employees, who were watching in utter fascination.

"Don't wander off. I'm going to the restroom."

"This is our elder's 'Honest' Mirror. What do you think, Mr. Yi Ji?" the man with the glassy stare asked.

"Not bad. Not bad at all."

Yan Jing nodded.

Whoever came up with this way to use the mirror was truly a genius.

"Can you ask this mirror anything?"

Yan Jing asked.

If it could answer absolutely anything, this mirror would be far from simple. It would be just like a magic mirror from a fairy tale.

But a moment's thought made it obvious that such a thing couldn't possibly be in the hands of a Second Tier elder of Virtue Bridge.

"Of course not."

The man shook his head.

"This mirror can only answer questions within a certain radius of itself, and they cannot exceed the Second Tier."

"Furthermore, it cannot answer questions concerning major secrets."

"And it absolutely cannot answer anything from too long ago, anything too broad, or anything too detailed."

"But it is perfectly honest!" the man emphasized, his tone full of pride.

"If it doesn't know the answer to your question, it will just say it doesn't know!"

"I see."

Yan Jing gave a thumbs-up. "Truly an honest mirror."

No wonder it had been repurposed to track the real-time feeds of targets.

It turned out to be pretty useless for anything else.

Still, Yan Jing had to admit that if a player had a Ritual with a similar ability while running a dungeon, it would definitely provide immense help to the team.

Soon, the image in the mirror shifted.

Mo Nagu, Mu Wan, and one of their teammates had found their first prey.

Scarface.

The moment he saw Mo Nagu's group, Scarface's expression changed drastically, and he turned to sprint in the opposite direction.

At the same time, weird energy surged around him, and a bowl of takoyaki appeared above his head.

Three octopus balls bounced out of the bowl and instantly disintegrated, transforming into three tentacles that whipped out to bind the three people behind him.

A control-type ability.

In this kind of situation, it was exactly what was needed.

However, yellow light flickered around Mo Nagu, and a beast's head bearing two long, sharp fangs materialized above him.

The phantom beast's head swayed slightly, then opened its jaws and swallowed all three tentacles in a single bite!

Then, while the beast's head was chewing the tentacles, Mo Nagu pushed off the ground. He surged forward at an unimaginable speed. When he was just a few meters away from the Scar-faced Man, he leaped high into the air and lunged at him like a fierce beast.

In midair, he drew the Dagger strapped to his leg. Its cold edge glinted in the light, much like a fierce beast baring its fangs.

Even though the Scar-faced Man managed to conjure a broken blade radiating an aura of decay at that very moment...

The two figures crossed paths.

A string of blood droplets splattered into the air.

Thud—

The Scar-faced Man's body stiffened before he collapsed straight to the ground.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Enthusiastic applause rang out across the hall.

Many inner world residents praised Mo Nagu's maneuver just now. It had been clean, decisive, and far from simple.

Immediately after, the Old Man standing beside the mirror spoke up again:

"Mirror, mirror, tell me, who among the human players in the Sun-Swallowing Tower has taken the most lives?"

This time, a fat silhouette appeared on the surface of the mirror.

It was none other than the Fat Man who had initially invited Yan Jing to join his team.

No one expected that he had actually signed up to be a hunter as well.

At this moment, holding the head of that gloomy man from his team, he violently smashed it against the wall.

Once, twice, three times...

Soon enough, the gloomy man's face was smashed into a bloody pulp, and he went completely silent.

As for the Fat Man, the mouth on his face suddenly stretched impossibly wide, occupying a full two-thirds of his face, and he began to feed—

There were no phantoms or flashing lights, which meant his power system was likely an Inner World Pathway.

Furthermore, it was Gluttony, the one most compatible with this Domain.

Yan Jing's eyes flickered. He hadn't forgotten that he was already on the bounty list for the Inner World Pathway.

Therefore, all Inner World Pathway players who came here could be counted as enemies.

Following that, the final team of hunters was the fourth squad that had formed up early. All four of them belonged to the Inner World Pathway.

The slaughter progressed rapidly. Gradually, the situation on the field became clear.

Mo Nagu's team: Hunters. Mu Rao's team: Mu Rao had yet to appear, and his two female teammates were being hunted by Mo Nagu's team. Chen Dalang's team: aside from the comatose Chen Dalang, who was receiving treatment from the Order Management Bureau, the rest were completely wiped out. The fourth team, consisting entirely of Inner World Pathway members: Hunters. The fifth team, who had previously shared a meal with Yan Jing: completely wiped out. The sixth team, Scarface's team: completely wiped out. The Fat Man's team: the Fat Man had become a hunter, the frail woman was nowhere to be found, and the gloomy man was dead. Solos: Fan Jue had yet to appear, and Yan Jing... Yan Jing was currently warming up.

After this round of slaughter, aside from the hunters, practically none of the other players participating in this dungeon were left alive.

Next up, it would likely be a mutual showdown between the hunters.

It was about time.

Yan Jing nodded and patted the heads of his two employees, who were watching in utter fascination.

"Don't wander off. I'm going to the restroom."

"Ah—ah—ah."

Rose didn't even turn her head; she merely waved a hand to signal Yan Jing not to worry.

One-Eye was standing on a dragged-over chair, staring fixedly at the mirror's surface, completely ignoring Yan Jing's departure.

For Old Sin City, which lacked small and medium-sized electronics, the current spectacle was no different from a five-year-old child experiencing television for the first time.

Yan Jing walked over to a nearby corner.

Thanks to his Mental Immunity Value and the fact that this was a live broadcast, he didn't plan on using his Cameraman identity. Instead, he intended to solve the problem using his original body.

After switching back to his true form, he didn't go out of his way to look for anyone.

He simply sat quietly in the empty stairwell.

It wasn't long before a strange noise came from the top of the stairs.

"Found you."

The Fat Man poked his head over the staircase railing.

By now, he was no longer suppressing his body's mutation. A massive mouth took up more than half of his face, its dark red gums packed with crooked, triangular fangs that numbered several times that of a normal human's, thick saliva constantly dripping from them.

He dashed down the stairs. That bloated frame moved exceptionally fast, like a rapidly hurtling ball of meat, and arrived in front of Yan Jing in the blink of an eye.

"You found me."

Yan Jing stood up and dusted himself off.

From watching their Hunting Game just now, he already knew the Fat Man's methods.

His sense of smell seemed extremely developed, capable of tracking whatever he wanted to sniff out.

And being the first one found by the Fat Man was well within expectations.

"Do you have any idea how high your bounty is on the Inner World intranet right now?"

The Fat Man chuckled darkly. "Three million Surface World Currency. My luck is fantastic! I just so happened to have a Dungeon Selection Voucher, and this is even the Gluttony Domain."

He inhaled deeply.

"To be honest, at first I was worried I wouldn't be able to pass the task, but that little broad from my group was quite capable. I was just about to go find her to say thanks, but it seems she's gone and hidden herself."

"No matter. I'll just take care of the important business first."

"Mhm."

Yan Jing nodded. "I'm the opposite of you. I prefer to do the unimportant things first."

Weird energy surged like a tide, the fruit of Fear was swallowed, and a white Dice began to spin.

In a mere instant, Yan Jing's appearance transformed completely.

Rings of dark shadows covered his body. On his right arm, black and white Thorns and branches intertwined and spread out. A scarlet light spilled from his eyes, and mournful wails echoed behind him.

Looking at Yan Jing across from him, the Fat Man's heart suddenly clenched.

'This man across from me looked completely harmless to man and beast just a second ago. How did he suddenly turn into a monster?'

Fighting down the terror welling up in his heart brought on by the Fear Stance, he mobilized the weird energy around him, bracing himself for a head-on clash with Yan Jing.

But the next second, his pupils trembled.

Without leaving him any room to react, Yan Jing's right hand had somehow already arrived right in front of him, slapping flat against the gaping maw on his face.

Boom!

Like a falling meteor, the Fat Man's entire body was lifted along with his head, flying in an arc before crashing heavily onto the stairs. Immediately after, Yan Jing curled his palm into a fist and drove it directly into the Fat Man's massive mouth.

One punch, two punches, three punches—

His mouth full of fangs had long since been shattered into bone fragments. Mixed with bloody foam, they were forcefully shoved down his throat. The Fat Man tried to throw up several times, only for the fists to smash everything right back in.

Punch after punch rained down until, finally, the Fat Man stopped moving entirely.

That giant mouth was completely pulverized. Whatever was left resting atop his neck looked like nothing more than a pile of mashed meat.

Yan Jing deactivated his stance and sat quietly beside the Fat Man.

He hadn't purposely slowed down the process of killing the Fat Man; it was just that he needed to replenish the apple he had consumed.

Trading an ordinary apple for one with Gluttony resistance was a highly profitable bargain.

A short while later, the scattered sound of footsteps echoed overhead.

Yan Jing looked up at the team made up entirely of Inner World Pathway players that had just appeared. He stood up, dusted himself off, and said with a calm expression:

"You found me."