Blank: In other words, from the very beginning of the game, this big shot had felt no fear at all.
Blank: The rusty saw, the scorching lava—he had never cared about any of it. From the start, he had only been thinking about how to maximize his own benefits from this game!
Blank: Daring to act like this, extreme greed, extreme confidence, and being ruthless toward himself...
The person named Blank spoke in fragments, not very coherently, as though he was thinking while he talked.
But the moment his messages appeared, the barrage on Lu Ce's screen immediately thinned out. It seemed everyone was watching his analysis as well.
They had only been watching for fun before, but after hearing him say that, they suddenly felt like they had been watching for nothing.
What the hell, man? Everyone else was being stupid just fine. Why did you have to be so out of place?
Of course, some people refused to accept that kind of analysis. After all, there would always be people unwilling to admit they were clueless.
Right after Blank, someone immediately jumped out and said indignantly:
: How can you be sure things are exactly as you say? Maybe he's just a lunatic?
: Yeah, and shouldn't the organizer's voice be something like an automated machine voice? How could it make a verbal mistake? Wouldn't that mean someone was controlling it?
Blank could not be bothered to respond to such stubborn denials.
In the real world, Blank stared at the screen in shock, analyzing everything in real time and recording Lu Ce's every movement.
He would never miss an opportunity to change his fate and gain supernatural powers. Someday, he would become a player too.
But he did not dare become a guinea pig. He decided to gather intelligence first, learn about the game modes and the game modes of the world's current top players, then enter once he was prepared.
He had not expected to run into something this heavyweight just by watching.
"A player of this level... I need to find a way to get to know him and befriend him..."
Thinking that, Blank casually replied on the screen:
Blank: Think whatever you want. Honestly, I'm not even sure I've seen through all of this big shot's plans. Just watch how things develop from here.
The livestream chat was filled with countless opinions, but after glancing at it once in the beginning, Lu Ce never paid it any more attention. He simply immersed himself in his work.
At this very moment...
He was still sawing off his leg...
Like he was completing an immensely satisfying task, or taking part in some entertaining pastime, he was not in the slightest bit hurried.
Because he was stockpiling Pain points.
From the beginning until now, he had accumulated more than twenty points already. For the first time, Lu Ce felt that his leg was truly useful.
As long as he could clear the game perfectly in the end, nothing else mattered. Watching his Pain points rise, what did a leg matter? Where else could he find an opportunity like this?
He felt no pain himself and had no psychological burden, but he was tormenting everyone around him.
The woman beside him who had fainted from fright earlier had already woken up and was now vomiting violently.
The others were no better off. Most were drenched in sweat and pale-faced, turning their heads away so they would not have to look at Lu Ce.
The scorching environment, the test of life and death, the unbearable pain before their eyes, and the other player's twisted behavior all made them feel, in their daze, as if they had truly arrived in hell.
Chosen of Suffering! Pain points +1!
Eventually, Lu Ce realized he could no longer gain many Pain points. The increase had become abnormally slow, and only then did he realize that he had gotten about all he could out of sawing off his leg.
Only then did he reluctantly "pluck" off his left leg.
Holding his bloody left foot, he studied it for several seconds before muttering:
"Come to think of it, a performance like mine should definitely earn me some extra benefits..."
"Regrowing a severed limb definitely requires a better, higher-grade potion than reattaching one... right?"
As he spoke, he casually tossed the severed half of his leg into the lava below.
"Haha! I sawed it off! Hey! Are you still there? Didn't you say sawing off my leg would get me out of this predicament?"
Lu Ce's unrestrained, somewhat provocative voice echoed through the space as he laid out his terms to its master.
But no one responded.
Just when Lu Ce thought this attempt might have failed as well, that voice appeared above the space once more.
But this time, the mechanical voice was exceptionally cold. The faint sense of humanity it had possessed before was gone, and now it sounded more like a purely mechanical entity.
Relevant rule entries have been repaired. Player "Lu Ce" has successfully exploited a system loophole and obtained the medal System Attacker (Epic). Relevant rewards will be settled together after the game ends.
The mechanical voice blurred Lu Ce's name when it addressed him. Other than Lu Ce himself, everyone else could only hear an indistinct form of address.
After distributing the reward, it did not say another unnecessary word, as though it was worried Lu Ce would trick more information out of it again.
Lu Ce did not care. The flowing light across his mask formed a satisfied smile as he hung upside down in midair and stretched lazily.
"Ah... not bad. You're not too stingy."
At that moment, the entire lava cave contained only the sound of churning magma. Everyone else was frozen in a daze.
No one had expected that the person before them was not some brainless self-abusing maniac, but rather a madman willing to do anything for profit!
On his very first game, he had encountered a dungeon like this, and a player like this...
The livestream had exploded long ago. Recalling Blank's earlier analysis, everyone was left with a strangely wordless sense of admiration.
For a while, cries of amazement came one after another.
Yet as they looked at the gruesome stump of his severed leg, few felt admiration. What they felt more was pure awe and fear.
Lu Ce did not care about the looks from those around him. After taking a brief breath, he did not rush to free himself. Instead, he spoke again:
"To be honest, I don't know why you people still haven't figured out the situation."
Hearing his voice, the other nine players all froze, unable to understand what he meant.
"You really have taken life and death lightly."
"Have you noticed that the lava is rising right now?"
"What is this? Tell me."
As Lu Ce spoke, he waved the saw in his hand.
"You don't actually think this is something meant to bring you pain and torment, do you?"
"If what we're in right now is a game, then this is called a clearance item!"
"And now, the only clearance item is in my hands. Even when I got it, not a single person tried to take it from me..."
"Because of fear, everyone avoided this saw... Don't be afraid. Fear will make you lose your judgment."
"This so-called hell game went a little too smoothly. I hope I get opportunities like this again in the future..."
Ever since putting on the Greed Mask, Lu Ce had not only become consumed by greed, but also slightly more talkative.
Yet as he went on speaking, the other players around him inexplicably felt a chill run through their bodies, even though the temperature had already exceeded fifty degrees Celsius!
"Alright, enough nonsense." Lu Ce playfully swung the saw in his hand.
"Does anyone still want to saw off a leg?"
"Come on... let's talk price?"
Before you continue