Playing the pig to eat the tiger

"Ahhh!" Bai Yang shrieked.

Sheng Qingqiao held the uncanny creature back with one hand, pushing it away. The sinister wind had left half his body stiff and hard to move, so he could only turn his face away with all his might and shout at the top of his lungs, "Fuck, this uncanny thing is harassing me!"

An uncanny creature had also settled on Qin Rang's shoulder. He frowned. "We triggered some rule. Let's get out of here first."

Tao Yuan pressed a hand to her neck to protect the vital spot and snapped, "Keep it down, you two. Some uncanny creatures like quiet!"

[They're clearly being chased by an uncanny creature, but Sheng Qingqiao still sounds full of energy. He doesn't sound scared at all.]

[Fake fear: Sheng Qingqiao. Real fear: Bai Yang.]

[Really? Bai Yang doesn't sound all that scared to me either... He's weird.]

[That's probably just your imagination. With that little body of his, he'd just cry if an uncanny creature slapped him to the ground.]

[He's really lucky to be with the Calamity Crossing Squad. At least he'll make it out of the instance alive.]

The livestream was pitch-black too, so the viewers could only guess what the group had encountered from the sounds.

Tao Yuan's words frightened Bai Yang, and he immediately lowered his voice. "I-I feel like this thing on my shoulder is getting heavier..."

The group's voices on the long staircase sounded far away one moment and close the next, but at least they were still together and hadn't gotten separated.

An Ying felt his empty shoulders in puzzlement. "It doesn't seem to have latched onto me."

"No, we can't keep running around aimlessly like this." Tao Yuan touched her shoulder. The bones there were already creaking under the uncanny creature's weight, and something sticky was dripping down from the edge of her clothes.

Her voice was heavy. "Can any of you light a fire?"

"I tried. It won't work. The lighter's no use." Qin Rang's voice was calm. "Keep moving. Find a floor and go in first. There's light on the floors."

"Okay!" Sheng Qingqiao, who had already dashed to the front, immediately used his blade to clear the way. After groping around for a while, he finally split a door open with its tip.

The five of them rushed into the corridor in one breath. At that instant, points of light suddenly appeared before their eyes, lighting up the entire building in an instant.

When the light spread to them, the cold, suffocating sensation suddenly dissipated, and the temperature around them quickly warmed.

Bai Yang instinctively turned his head. A cloud of black mist on his shoulder quickly dissipated in the light, leaving only a large, bloody wound dripping blood.

When this uncanny creature hurt people, they couldn't feel any pain. If they had lingered on the stairs too long, they probably wouldn't have felt it even if they were devoured whole.

He turned to look behind him. The flights of stairs wound upward, and outside the room, the lights were blazing. It was the only way to reach every floor above the third.

"Is it an uncanny creature governed by the staircase's rules?" Sheng Qingqiao rubbed his aching arm. The uncanny creature had already gnawed away most of the flesh on his shoulder, leaving it looking hollow. "What rule did we trigger on the stairs just now? Was it the lights being off? Does darkness trigger the uncanny creature's rule?"

"You encounter uncanny creatures in the dark... That rule isn't impossible, but it's a little too unfair. How much daylight can there be in the uncanny world?" Tao Yuan said. "Maybe there's something in this uncanny instance that glows in the dark and can ward off this rule."

"It probably isn't as simple as darkness. I went up the stairs with you, but the uncanny creature didn't latch onto me," An Ying said.

"What exactly is this uncanny creature? First it was chips, then ghost hands, and just now it was an uncanny creature pressing down on our shoulders. It doesn't seem like the work of a single uncanny creature."

Tao Yuan ventured, "Maybe the rules we have to follow in this gambling house aren't limited to the gambling house's rules. There might also be rules for the gambling tables, the stairs, and so on?"

Sheng Qingqiao was dumbfounded. "It can't be that messed up, can it?"

"Hard to say."

Qin Rang said, "Let's not think too much about it for now. Let's see what's actually here. We might find a clue."

In their haste, they hadn't known which floor they had reached, but this floor was clearly much larger than the space downstairs. There were three corridors alone, and so many rooms it was dizzying.

Without needing to discuss it, they decided to split up.

Bai Yang looked the weakest, so they assigned him the area near the stairs. If he did accidentally trigger a rule, he could still run back to the stairs. Perhaps a conflict between the two uncanny creatures' rules could save his life.

Of course, having both rules apply to him could also mean certain death.

Before leaving, Tao Yuan was still worried and cautioned him, "Be careful. Don't touch those gambling tables. If anything happens, shout. We'll help if we can."

Bai Yang blinked his big eyes sincerely. "Okay, thank you."

Most uncanny creatures' powers had no solution, and rules stood above force. There were probably very few people willing to lend a hand at a time like this.

If it were anyone else, Bai Yang probably wouldn't have dared believe them, but they were members of the Protagonist Group.

However cold and unapproachable the members of the Protagonist Group looked, they were still more trustworthy than other people.

Of course, they were also easier to fool.

The Doll Boy card didn't have any particular abilities and was just a weakling with a combat power of five, but he had a nasty personality trait: he loved acting and was best at using his appearance to deceive others.

Bai Yang smiled as he watched them leave, then turned and entered a room. The smile faded from his face.

This floor still had mostly gambling rooms, but the games here were all played with cards. The tables were painted with card designs and scattered with chips. Yet in these card rooms, he couldn't see a single playing card.

Bai Yang stared at a gambling table for a long while, then reached out and picked up a chip.

The chip was very cold and light in his palm. Bai Yang waited a while, but no uncanny creature pounced on him, nor did the chip in his hand grow a mouth and bite him. He hadn't triggered a rule.

Just as he had thought, touching a chip wasn't the direct cause of triggering a rule.

He casually grabbed a handful of chips and put them in his pocket, then went to several other rooms. They were all much the same as this one, and he couldn't find any other useful information.

There were no hidden doors or movable objects in the rooms either. They were empty.

With nothing to see, Bai Yang stood at the very edge of the stairwell and quietly watched Qin Rang and the others. They had more ground to cover and hadn't finished searching yet.

Meanwhile, in the weapon shop:

Lin Nieran watched the livestream intently, following the discussion about him as a newcomer and the speculation about the instance. Meanwhile, 007 reported the fame he had accumulated from those few minutes of interaction. It had stalled at a little over 3,400, still a long way from 10,000.

If not for the livestream, he would have had even less fame. Aside from the big surge in fame when the members of the Protagonist Group first met him and grew suspicious of him, they had provided him with almost none afterward.

The people in the livestream, on the other hand, were providing it steadily, but they weren't discussing him much. It might take dozens or hundreds of people to provide a single point of fame.

To increase his fame, they at least had to remember his alternate identity's name.

"As expected, simply showing my face can't earn much fame. The livestream's attention is all on Qin Rang's group and the uncanny creatures."

The livestream was flooded with comments praising the Protagonist Group. People these days admired strength, and Bai Yang's current persona wasn't that appealing.

Lin Nieran squeezed and kneaded 007 in his hand as he muttered to himself, "I need to make a stronger impression on them to get more fame. I can't waste the opportunity the livestream provides... Should I have Moonlit Night make an appearance too? It would be a shame to miss such a good opportunity."

Squeezed in his hand, 007 accepted its fate and didn't struggle. [Doll Boy's combat power is very low. It would be difficult to play the pig to eat the tiger. What does the host plan to do?]