"Highway Terror": The More You Watch Him, the More Remarkable He Seems

But none of that was the point.

The thought he had pushed aside earlier resurfaced.

He had been reborn three times in this instance so far, and not once had he returned to the very beginning like he had in the previous one.

Judging by the points in time he had returned to, he had gone back to moments when he needed to make a choice.

So, would it be more accurate to describe his ability as something like rolling back a save?

Or was this instance simply unusual?

Xu Xi thought hard for quite a while, but found that these ideas were still only conjecture.

With only two instances to go by, he couldn't reach a definite conclusion. He would have to keep testing it.

Still... as he had said before, it was best not to die if he could avoid it.

He recalled his miserable death the previous time, when the eerie old woman had skewered him, and phantom pain flared through his body.

Tsk, dying really did hurt.

Perhaps because the danger had passed, the torrential rain had stopped as well.

"That rain was definitely brought on by that eerie old woman, right?" Li Kang remarked, looking at the foggy sky outside.

"I wonder what else we'll run into later." Tan Xingyun didn't dare let his guard down.

Encountering the Ghostly Shadows at the grave mound and then the eerie old woman blocking the road had already put him on edge.

He didn't think the rest of the journey would be peaceful.

"We'll deal with whatever comes our way," Xu Xiuman said reassuringly.

Even though their team had someone who was very likely an expert player, they wouldn't let their guard down because of it.

Entrusting their lives to someone else was hardly the best course of action.

This instance clearly required cooperation, but there were always instances where cooperation mattered less. When the time came, they couldn't still count on someone else to lend them a hand.

Not every instance would have an expert, and not every instance would have someone willing to help them.

In the end, they had to rely on themselves.

"Please, I'm begging you, let us get to that Funeral Parlor or whatever it's called soon!" Li Kang pressed his palms together, looking as if he were praying devoutly.

Although no one answered, everyone's expression showed they were thinking the same thing.

Xu Xi rested his elbow on the edge of the car window and propped his head against his hand, trying hard to suppress his dizziness and nausea. When he heard Li Kang, he too prayed silently that they would reach their destination soon.

He really wanted to throw up!

[All three teammates are worried about the road ahead, but Xu Xi is the only one who looks completely unconcerned]

[The more I watch him, the more remarkable he seems. I really don't know what those people earlier were shouting about when they said he didn't live up to his reputation]

[They just can't stand seeing someone more badass than them. There are always people who act all high and mighty and love pointing fingers]

[There are plenty of badass players out there. Who needs him?]

[Oh, someone's getting worked up already]

[There are plenty of badass players, sure, but this is the first time I've seen one badass enough to clear a solo instance in 2 minutes and 48 seconds. Since you're not convinced, why don't you find someone even more badass and show me?]

[I'm not arguing with you. Just wait and see. So many veteran players don't dare say they're one hundred percent sure they can clear an instance, but you're already praising this newcomer to the skies. When he falls flat, I'll come back and see if those words slap you in the face]

Tens of thousands of bullet comments crowded the screen: some discussed, some argued, some questioned, and others rebutted. With the spam and off-topic chatter mixed in, it was a chaotic, unpleasant mess.

Fortunately, they couldn't affect Xu Xi inside the instance.

He was wondering whether there was a slightly smoother stretch anywhere on this road—it couldn't possibly be this bumpy the whole way, could it?—when he suddenly heard the beer-bellied man say quietly, "You really had to jinx us."

Hm? What now?

He leaned forward to look and saw that the road ahead had disappeared, replaced by a dense forest.

Even stranger, a woman in a red dress stood outside the woods, waving at them.

"...That's awfully familiar. Haven't we already been through this once? Again?" Li Kang's eyes widened, his voice full of disbelief. "Don't tell me she's here to extort a toll too?"

[Lmao, that's a perfect way to put it]

[He's not wrong. That old woman really was collecting a toll]

[Isn't this easy? Just use paper money to send her away again. Don't they still have some?]

[I don't think they'd really use the same trick twice. This woman in red probably won't be as easy to get rid of as that old woman]

[With Xu Xi there, it shouldn't be a problem]

[Be reasonable. Don't build him up too much. He's still a newcomer, after all]

Just as the bullet comments erupted into another argument, Xu Xiuman voiced an opinion similar to some of theirs.

"...The instance probably wouldn't be kind enough to use the same trick twice. Otherwise, since we've already been through it once, we could easily avoid the danger by doing the same thing again."

Before she was selected by the God Hunt Game, she had often watched all kinds of livestreams. Although the styles of the various instances differed, she had observed that, at least, none of them used the same trick twice.

"It is a bit odd." As Tan Xingyun spoke, he slowed the car. He was afraid the Red-Skirted Woman would throw herself into the middle of the road without a word, just like the old woman. "What do you think? Go around her or stop?"

After asking, he discreetly glanced through the rearview mirror at the young man in the left rear seat.

Unfortunately, the man still didn't join their discussion, as though it had nothing to do with him.

With no other choice, he turned to ask the other two, "What do you think?"

Xu Xiuman pressed her lips together. After a moment, she spoke in a somewhat strained tone. "I don't think we have a choice but to stop."

She pointed at the woods ahead, directing everyone's attention there. "Look, we can't get through at all."

Thanks to Xu Xiuman's reminder, Xu Xi finally noticed that the woods were filled with the same white fog as the areas on either side of the road. Even as they drew closer, they couldn't see the path inside. If they drove in like this, they would be one hundred percent certain to get lost in the woods.

He hadn't noticed Tan Xingyun's glance. He was silently marveling at how observant the woman in the denim skirt was, and thinking that he should learn from her.

"That old woman brought a downpour, and now this woman in red has brought a whole forest. What, do these eerie things come with their own backdrops?" Feeling that an expert was sitting beside him, Li Kang was much bolder than he had been at the start and was now mouthing off loudly.

"Looks like we have to stop. Everyone, get ready." After saying that, Tan Xingyun slowed the car again until it stopped in front of the Red-Skirted Woman.

The Red-Skirted Woman looked delighted, as though she hadn't expected a car to actually stop for her.

"I'm terribly sorry. I didn't want to stop you, but I'm in a hurry to get to a wedding banquet, and my taxi driver refused to go any farther and left me here. Could you give me a ride?"