Blood

Lu Bai didn't answer. He casually smoothed out one corner of his bedding.

Seeing this, Gao Pangzi curled his lip. "Are you playing dumb with me?"

Lu Bai shook his head. "I just think this place is pretty nice."

"For a temporary shelter, it's good enough to satisfy most people."

Gao Pangzi turned and signaled to his underlings to close the tent flap.

Lu Bai acted as if he hadn't seen a thing. He flexed his fingers. "If that's the case, why not just stay put?"

At that, Gao Pangzi was so angry he almost laughed.

"If I don't... Hey, what the hell!"

He'd barely started his taunt when he saw Lu Bai pull a Brocade-shell pistol from his jacket.

Lu Bai pressed the muzzle against Gao Pangzi's forehead and flipped off the safety with his thumb. "Want to guess whether there are bullets in this gun?"

Gao Pangzi froze solid, breaking into a cold sweat.

He swallowed hard and forced an ugly smile. "Bro, don't get nervous. I was just messing with you... Just make sure your hand doesn't slip."

Lu Bai stared at him with a cheerful grin.

With a gun pointed at his forehead, Gao Pangzi quickly backed down. "Ahem. If you don't like it, we'll stop messing with you."

As he spoke, he carefully retreated to his own bedroll.

Lu Bai couldn't be bothered to pursue the matter. He tucked the Brocade-shell pistol back into his pocket.

It was worth mentioning that the inspection at the entrance had only been to check for bite marks.

But to be safe, Lu Bai had chosen to bring only a Brocade-shell pistol inside. He'd buried the Eight-Sided Han Sword by the side of the road.

Now that he'd used the pistol to deal with this trouble, he couldn't help feeling rather pleased with his foresight.

Put simply, Gao Pangzi was just an ordinary thug. Even with his burly build, he was nothing special in front of Lu Bai.

But if Lu Bai actually got into a fight with him, making too much noise would only cause trouble.

Never mind how much attention he'd draw by carrying a sword around everywhere. As far as ordinary people were concerned, a gun was obviously far more intimidating than a cold weapon.

Lu Bai gave a faint, meaningless smile, then leaned back and lay down on the bedroll.

He rested his hands behind his head and half-lidded his eyes. He looked almost as if he'd fallen asleep.

No one in the tent would dare check whether he really was asleep.

Gao Pangzi and the others huddled together, lowering their voices without even realizing it. Naturally, they no longer felt like bullying Cui Qing.

Of course, Lu Bai hadn't actually fallen asleep. He was checking the System Panel.

As expected, the system hadn't updated the deathmatchers' location information.

He noticed that ever since the third announcement, the intervals between the system's location updates had been growing longer.

At first, it announced their locations every two hours. Gradually, that had changed to every four hours, then eight, then sixteen.

Now, more than ten hours had passed since the last location update, and the system was still silent.

That was why his "hunting" efficiency over the last few days had been so abysmal it was almost painful to look at.

Were the intervals doubling each time?

Lu Bai thought about it for a while, then closed the System Panel.

At any rate, he was still in first place. He wasn't in much of a hurry.

Putting himself in others' shoes, he figured the other deathmatchers probably weren't doing much better.

The shelter had no entertainment facilities, and in an environment like this, it felt as if time itself had slowed down.

"...The Way of Heaven benefits but does not harm. The way of the sage is to act without contending."

After silently reciting it more than thirty times, the sky finally darkened.

During that time, Gao Pangzi and the others had been savvy enough to bring him a serving of food, too. Lu Bai had nothing to say beyond praising them for being sensible.

As for Cui Qing, he'd spent the entire afternoon curled up on his bed. He hadn't tried ingratiating himself with Lu Bai for personal gain, nor had he made any attempt to patch things up with Gao Pangzi and the others.

Lu Bai had the leisure to himself and didn't mind the situation.

"Notice: passage will be prohibited in ten minutes..."

The announcement sounded outside the tent again, and the people gathered outside chatting soon dispersed.

The routine was much the same as it had been at noon. The medical staff in protective suits came and went.

The difference was that this time the passage ban would remain in effect until eight the next morning.

With nothing to do cooped up in the tent, Gao Pangzi and the others chatted for a while before going to sleep one by one.

As time passed, the shelter grew quiet. Only the announcement outside continued to play on a lowered volume.

Lu Bai had originally planned to Act Under Cover of Darkness, but unfortunately, plans never kept up with changes.

The system still hadn't announced the deathmatchers' locations. Even if he wanted to make a move, he had no idea where to look for a target.

He lay there on his bedroll, surrounded by the pungent smell of disinfectant, and drifted into a hazy sleep.

He didn't know exactly how long he'd been asleep.

Suddenly,

Lu Bai's eyes snapped open, filled with wariness.

He smelled a strong stench of blood that even the disinfectant could barely cover.

Suppressing the urge to sit up at once, he first swept his eyes around the tent without making a sound.

The others in the tent seemed to be fast asleep. Gao Pangzi was even snoring rhythmically.

Where was the smell of blood coming from? The tent next door?

Lu Bai hesitated for a moment, then suppressed the urge to go and take a look.

In any case, the deathmatchers were still flesh and blood. They couldn't take on an organized military force head-on.

Entering this temporary shelter meant the rules of the game had changed. The prerequisite for "hunting" deathmatchers was not to expose himself.

Considering that the culprit might no longer be in the neighboring tent, and wanting to avoid being mistaken for the killer at the scene of the crime, Lu Bai decided to do nothing. He'd find out what had happened once it was light, anyway.

With that in mind, Lu Bai lay quietly on his bedroll and didn't fall back asleep.

He didn't have to wait long.

Before dawn, a patrolling soldier discovered what had happened in the neighboring tent. Before long, the sound of hurried footsteps filled the area outside.

Lu Bai kept his eyes closed and listened quietly to the commotion outside, relying on his far-better-than-human hearing.

"Damn!"

"Hiss..."

Someone sucked in a sharp breath.

"What the hell happened here?"

"Whatever it was, I doubt someone deliberately poured uncooked blood curd onto the beds."

Someone still had the presence of mind to crack a joke.

"How could it not have congealed?"

"Quit playing straight man and figure out what happened." A calm voice cut them off without a trace of amusement.

Drip... drip...

It sounded like some kind of liquid was being wrung out of the fabric.

"Company Commander, there aren't any handprints, footprints, or other traces left inside the tent. We haven't taken exact measurements yet, but I estimate there's several dozen pounds of blood in total throughout the tent. Seems like enough to take a bath in." Someone reported the situation, clicking his tongue in amazement.

"Enough with the nonsense!"

The same voice sounded as calm as ever. "So all six people's blood is here?"