Want to Go Mountain Climbing Together?

Xu Kai decided to keep playing unconscious. After all, if he woke up, he wouldn't be able to answer the Short-Haired Woman's questions. She was definitely a veteran player, and he didn't think he could fool her.

"Master Xu? Master Xu? Why isn't he waking up? He hasn't been possessed, has he?"

Without realizing it, Yellow Hair had come to trust the Short-Haired Woman more and more. He had no memory of her saving him in the Killing Zone last time. He just felt that what she had said earlier was right: without Master Xu, they would have to carry the coffin to the cremation.

"Possessed?"

The Short-Haired Woman thought it over. Ordinarily, a fall down a mountain wouldn't knock someone unconscious right away, but this was a dungeon. If Weird Energy had entered his body, it was entirely possible. Of course, there was another possibility: Xu Kai was faking it.

"Probably. I heard mouth-to-mouth can transfer yang energy. Yellow Hair, you've got plenty of yang energy. Want to give it a try?"

"Huh?"

Yellow Hair pointed at himself, somewhat incredulous, with a look that said she had to be kidding:

"You made that up, didn't you? Why are you making faces?"

Yellow Hair was about to refuse when he saw the Short-Haired Woman making faces at him, but he couldn't figure out what she meant.

JK, on the other hand, understood. He knew the Short-Haired Woman wanted to test whether Xu Kai was pretending to be unconscious, so he volunteered, still using his sweet female voice.

"I'll do it. I just ate garlic."

"Wait, ahem, I'll do it!"

After thinking it over, Yellow Hair oddly rejected JK's offer and decided to do it himself. Although he didn't understand what the other two were getting at, he felt that letting JK do it would be giving Master Xu a bit too good a deal.

"Hm? What are you all mumbling about?"

Forced into a corner, Xu Kai had no choice but to wake up.

"Nothing. Just waking someone who's pretending to sleep. Right, Master Xu?"

"Ahem, you saved my life, and I haven't even had a chance to thank you. Why would I pretend to be asleep? I really did just wake up..."

"Hmph..."

The Short-Haired Woman gave an ambiguous little huff and continued,

"What did you see, Master Xu? How did you get dragged up the cliff and nearly fall to your death?"

"I... sorry, my head hurts too much. I can't quite remember..."

"Can't remember, or don't dare say? Did someone threaten you?"

Xu Kai knew this was the Short-Haired Woman's guess, but if he followed her line of thinking, she would definitely realize he was making it up and grow suspicious of the paper burning earlier too.

Gulp.

Xu Kai swallowed, as if he could feel the pressure of the Short-Haired Woman's gaze. Reluctantly, he began to recall what had happened and answered in a rambling account:

"It's a little absurd. I know you won't believe me... there's no point in saying it... that thing appeared after you left. He picked me up and made me watch, watch it pour alcohol down the Semi-Trailer Truck Driver's throat, and then crash into you..."

Xu Kai didn't finish. Instead, he clutched his head in pain, digging bloody scratches into his scalp with his fingers.

"Stop! Master, don't say any more!"

The Short-Haired Woman didn't examine the gaps in his account. Instead, she immediately seized Xu Kai's hands to stop him from scratching himself.

The Short-Haired Woman felt how strong Xu Kai's hands were. It was far beyond an ordinary person's strength. She concluded that Xu Kai was probably being "controlled" and that he himself had already lost consciousness. Without hesitation, she began searching him.

"Hey! Wait, Short-Haired Woman, what are you doing? Taking advantage of him while he's helpless? If this happened to me, you wouldn't do that to me too, would you?"

Yellow Hair watched the Short-Haired Woman feel Xu Kai all over and thought she wanted to do something to him. He couldn't help feeling afraid.

A boy had to protect himself when he was out and about, or he might lose his chastity without even knowing how.

"What are you thinking? I'm looking for his phone. Hurry and hold his hands down. He really is possessed, and he's going to kill himself."

"Oh, oh, okay..."

Yellow Hair immediately helped, and the Short-Haired Woman really did find a phone in Xu Kai's pocket.

"Quick, see if there's anyone we can contact. Get a car over here right away."

The phone wasn't locked, so the Short-Haired Woman opened the contacts without hesitation. She looked not only at the phone numbers but also at the address listed with each one.

"Building 3, Big Tree Street? Where's that?"

The Short-Haired Woman found that every number was for Building 3. With nothing to lose, she tried calling them all one by one.

But every call was cut off. Finally, on the last number, a man's voice came through. The moment he answered, he shouted angrily:

"Zhang Dekai! I will never give you my house as collateral!"

He hung up as soon as he said it, leaving the Short-Haired Woman bewildered. What was all that about?

That was right. The phone the Short-Haired Woman had found belonged to Zhang Dekai. Xu Kai had taken it because, in the previous dungeon, after accepting the Role-Playing Mission, he had searched his home for a long time and was surprised to discover he didn't have a phone. He had no choice but to take Zhang Dekai's and use it.

"Tsk, what a hassle. Why does this phone belong to someone else? Could Master Xu have a side job?"

The Short-Haired Woman idly scrolled through the phone until her finger reached the emergency numbers. She dialed the police, only to find the call wouldn't connect.

"Just as I thought. In a dungeon, the police and the like are all cut off. There's no way to contact them."

Now the Short-Haired Woman was stumped. She had no choice but to call that row of numbers again, only to hear:

"Hello, the number you have dialed is busy..."

"Hello, you have dialed—kzzz, kzzz."

"Hello, the number you have dialed is out of service..."

The Short-Haired Woman had the phone on speaker. The more she listened, the more she felt something was wrong, especially with the busy signal in the middle. It was as if something were blocking the signal...

The Short-Haired Woman suddenly started and said to the other players,

"Bad news! The weird things are coming! Everyone, get ready! Hide near the Funeral Car. JK, go turn on the lights. The Funeral Car's motor still has power, so we should be able to see well enough!"

With that, they immediately made their way back. In the emergency, they didn't look at Xu Kai again. After all, Xu Kai was just an NPC.

Then came the roar of a vehicle around the bend. It was a pickup truck, bearing down on the players, though Xu Kai was the first in its path.

Xu Kai suddenly jolted awake and scrambled up the cracks in the mountain like an agile gecko, narrowly dodging the pickup's charge. The three players who had dodged where they stood weren't so lucky. The pickup hurtled straight at them. It had been maliciously modified: its bumper stuck out especially far, high and thick, and was connected to the Chassis Rail, which was made of steel.

The Short-Haired Woman reacted swiftly. Grabbing JK with one hand and Yellow Hair with the other, she pulled them clear of the Funeral Car. The pickup smashed straight through the rear of the Funeral Car, leaving the coffin exposed. Fortunately, the coffin was farther inside and hadn't been damaged.

The pickup stopped, and two "Evil" got out. They were the same skinny man and burly man.

The two "Evil" didn't continue attacking. Instead, they copied Xu Kai and climbed the mountain.

The Short-Haired Woman didn't use her Talent, but she still knew something was wrong. The enemies had stopped attacking them and were climbing the mountain instead. There was definitely something wrong with that.

"They're climbing, so we climb too! Move, quickly!"

Without hesitation, the Short-Haired Woman pulled out a dagger after moving clear of the Funeral Car and started climbing.

The mountainside was very steep. Although they were players, their physiques were only a little better than ordinary people's, and they climbed much more slowly than the two "Evil." After struggling for a long time, they had climbed less than half a meter.

"Vroom, vroom, vroom!"

Now they finally understood why the two "Evil" were climbing. A long convoy was coming up behind them, every vehicle aimed at the players as it accelerated toward them!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Pfft!"

The lead vehicle slammed straight into JK, who was climbing the slowest. JK spat out a mouthful of blood. The bumper had nearly pinned his lower body, and there was no saving him.

"No!"

Yellow Hair's cry was the most heartbreaking. He had never experienced such a brutal scene in a dungeon before, and now he froze on the spot.

"Don't look! Climb, quickly!"

The Short-Haired Woman kept climbing. Her Talent told her that only by reaching the top of the mountain would they have a chance of survival!

Although the lead vehicle stopped, the vehicles behind it didn't. One after another, they kept crashing in until the entire area was blocked off!

The two "Evil" in the lead finally reached the mountaintop. They raised their guns, aimed at the two players below, and said with vicious grins:

"We finally finished that damned Role-Playing Mission. Prepare to die, noble players and heretical material!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Although there were many cars below and their headlights almost lit up the bottom, the mountain above was still pitch-black. Yellow Hair couldn't see at all what the "Evil" were holding, so he had no chance to activate his Talent.

Thus, the three shots hit the two players. They fell from high above and broke their legs when they hit the ground.

Next was Xu Kai. He had been climbing all along, but unfortunately, there was an overhang above the place he was climbing, and he couldn't reach the very top.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The two "Evil" shot at Xu Kai, aiming not for his heart or head but at the places where he touched the cracks in the mountain.

Xu Kai unleashed the Weird Energy in his body, driving it deep into every crack in the cliff like countless tentacles. At that point, the "Evil" stopped shooting at his points of contact and instead fired at his body, leaving Xu Kai dazed for a moment.

He was too vulnerable on the cliff. Too much Weird Energy had left his body, leaving it unprotected. This "Evil" had definitely received special training and knew to shoot Xu Kai's body in this situation.

Ignoring the pain of his gunshot wounds, Xu Kai immediately struck back. He used the Flame Skill and the Falling Skill at the same time. In an instant, the two "Evil" burst into flames and fell from the cliff.

Hold on. I just have to hold on until the players die. Once the dungeon is settled, I can survive...

That was what Xu Kai thought. As for saving the so-called players, Xu Kai couldn't even save himself. He wouldn't give the moral question any thought. He would save himself first and talk about the rest afterward.

However, the two "Evil" gave up on shooting Xu Kai down. They fell to the ground, immediately got up, flicked a lighter on, and threw it into the lead vehicle.

Then Xu Kai saw flames suddenly erupt from the lead vehicle and race through all several dozen cars. A brilliant light burst forth in an instant, and a massive shock wave tore the road apart down the middle. Countless pellets shot out of the cars, piercing the entire mountain!

Before he died, Xu Kai had only one thought:

Fuck!