[Escape Room] The Ultimate Teammate

The participants gathered again, and Lin Feng gave Chen Fang a look, signaling that he had the key.

"All right, everyone, let's add up how many of each kind of building block we collected."

Old Deng continued giving orders. Everyone reported what they had found in turn, and they soon worked out the score code and opened the iron-barred gate.

At that point, Lu Zihan was still two minutes away from opening the iron-barred gate on the other side.

A huge gap had been hacked into the gate. Unfortunately, it wasn't big enough for Lu Zihan to get through.

Just then, Lin Feng suddenly stepped forward and blocked the gate. Everyone turned to look at him.

"What are you doing?" Old Deng frowned and stared at him coldly.

"Old Deng, while I have the chance, there's something I want to ask you." Lin Feng smiled, flashing a mouthful of white teeth. He looked completely harmless, but his words struck right at the heart of the matter.

"You never actually intended to let the rest of us clear this place, did you?"

"Stop spouting nonsense and move!" Old Deng said coldly, pulling back the bolt.

"What's the rush? I hear you people from the Holy City have 'accidentally injured' plenty of us outer-city folks while fighting over resources in Instances."

Lin Feng's voice suddenly turned icy, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue. "Answer me. Is it true or not?"

The final question rang out with force. The nurse and the chef exchanged frightened looks, and an uneasy stir spread through the silence.

"Of. Course. Not." Old Deng enunciated each word, sweeping his gaze over the group as he tried to quell the unrest. "At a time like this, are you going to believe someone trying to sow discord? Do you want us all to die? As for you..."

He aimed the muzzle steadily at Lin Feng. "Any last words?"

Clang!

Lu Zihan's chopping paused for a moment. His rule had been satisfied again.

[Contribution Points +1] Ren Yi faithfully fulfilled his role as a system.

Inside the jade pendant, Ren Yi raised an eyebrow slightly.

He had originally chosen Lin Feng for that "chuunibyou" air mixed with ambition, and for how readily he had accepted the "system" without reservation.

But Lin Feng's performance now seemed to go beyond mere "chuunibyou."

Did his excitement over the paranormal Instance stem from ignorance, or... from absolute confidence in his own trump card?

Old Deng wasted no more words and pulled the trigger hard with his index finger.

But the trigger remained utterly motionless, as though welded in place.

No matter how hard he pulled, it didn't budge. An icy chill suddenly shot up Old Deng's spine.

Lin Feng finally stopped hiding the mockery on his face. He casually raised a hand.

In the next instant, the guns in Old Deng's and Chu He's hands seemed to come alive. They trembled violently, giving off a deep metallic hum, then wrenched themselves from their owners' control and floated into the air, their black muzzles pointing at their former owners.

"An ability user." Old Deng's voice was a little hoarse.

Inside the jade pendant, Ren Yi silently "watched" the two floating guns, completely unfazed. He even felt like making a sarcastic remark.

All right, an ability user.

His worldview had already been crushed and rebuilt so many times over the past few days that it was now solid as a rock.

Forget controlling guns—even if someone said they could transform into a giant of light right now, he could probably reply calmly, "Oh, and?"

[Lu Zihan: Ban Deng'er! What's all that banging around in there? I can teleport now. Should I come in?]

Lu Zihan was anxious because he couldn't see the drama.

[Ren Yi: Don't get worked up. Let's see what he's trying to do.]

Ren Yi quickly gave Lu Zihan a spoken play-by-play of the situation, and immediately afterward, Lin Feng made another move.

Lin Feng reveled in everyone's terrified gazes. His voice was cold, carrying an unquestionable sense of control. "You two, back up. The rest of you too. Stay away from me."

He paused, then added, "I've felt insecure since I was little. If these guns happen to go off... don't blame me."

Under pressure from Lin Feng, everyone began backing away in terror. Chen Fang hesitated, then stayed beside him.

Lin Feng beckoned the machine gun into his arms, while Chu He's pistol remained suspended in the air, closely following the others as they retreated. By the time they reached the middle of the room, however, nothing could make them back up any farther.

"It... it's almost in," the nurse said, looking in terror at Lu Zihan outside the gate behind them.

Indeed, the bars on the upper half of the iron gate had been completely cut through, leaving more than enough room for Lu Zihan to lean his upper body inside. The lower half was in pieces too, and looked as though a few more blows would shatter it completely.

"Don't worry." Lin Feng suddenly gave a strange smile. "That gate won't break."

Before he had finished speaking, the suspended pistol abruptly swung around and aimed at the ceiling.

Bang!

The pistol fired at the ceiling with a tremendous report, and the others scattered in fright.

Just then, Lin Feng suddenly said in a low voice, "System, exchange for a Target Transfer Talisman and use it on Old Deng."

Well, what do you know? So that's what he was waiting for. Ren Yi was speechless. He understood what the kid was trying to do now.

Apparently, if things went according to Lin Feng's plan, the two of them wouldn't have to do anything to go straight to godlike status.

He was the ultimate teammate.

Ren Yi decided to give him what he wanted and acted at once. As he sent Lu Zihan the order to move, he popped up a notification before Lin Feng's eyes:

[Exchange successful. Contribution Points -1.]

[Item "Target Transfer Talisman" has been used on target (Old Deng).]

Outside the gate, Lu Zihan, who had long since "eaten and drunk his fill" and was eager to try his hand, received the signal. A fierce light flared in his scarlet visor!

Old Deng felt the light above him dim, and the aura of death poured over him like icy water. He roared and lunged forward, his survival instincts erupting to their limit.

But he still wasn't as fast as Lu Zihan's blade. The shriek of the bone blade cutting through the air and the dull crack of his neck breaking rang out almost simultaneously.

Old Deng's body continued hurtling forward with its momentum, but his head had stayed where it was, his face frozen in utter terror and unwillingness.

"I'll fight you to the death!" a voice cried out in grief and fury. Seeing Old Deng die, Chu He's eyes instantly reddened, and he stared fixedly at Lin Feng.

Meanwhile, Lin Feng was coldly admiring his "masterpiece": in the center of the room, the steel monster stood tall, blood dripping from its bone blade; the survivors screamed and fled like headless flies, utterly broken.

Everything was just as he had expected. The monster's teleportation was indeed triggered by "high-decibel sounds."

The system item really did work. Greatly reassured, Lin Feng retreated to the gate.

"Let's go," he ordered Chen Fang curtly. She stood beside him, pale and trembling slightly. He opened the door to the next room.

Chen Fang was already white as a sheet with fear. Hearing Lin Feng's order, she shakily stepped through the doorway.

Clang. The iron door locked, shutting Lin Feng and Chen Fang from view and cutting off every remaining person's path to survival.

At that moment, Lu Zihan's towering, terrifying body loomed in the center of the room. Blood dripped from the bone blade in his hand, and a terrifying, eerie aura spread in all directions.

Inside the Ghost Net, however, the atmosphere was entirely different.

[Lu Zihan: Wait... Ban Deng'er, what's going on? I only chopped down one of them. Why did they shut the door themselves?]

Behind the steel mask, Lu Zihan's thoughts were filled with simple confusion.

He hadn't even put in any effort yet, and the enemy had suddenly rushed over and fired a few shots at their own people?

[Ren Yi: ...Maybe that's just humanity?]

He didn't know either. He had only given Lin Feng a roundabout task to become a leader.

Before he could even put his new plan into motion, Lin Feng had embellished things himself and pushed the story in a direction he had never imagined.

[Lu Zihan: So what do we do now?]

[Ren Yi: Pace yourself and kill them slowly. Go as slowly as you can. When it's finally over, I might have a way to get them to trigger our rules themselves.]

[Lu Zihan: You got it! I'll "play" with them first, then.]

Meanwhile, Lin Feng was frowning.

He turned to Chen Fang. "I'm the leader of the two of us now, right?"

"Of course," Chen Fang replied, forcing a smile.

Ren Yi rolled his eyes and promptly popped up a glittering golden notification box in Lin Feng's field of vision:

[Stage task "Establish leadership" completed! Contribution Points +2!]