The System's Trap?

"The System's Trap?" Cough, cough...

Plucking Flowers and Seeking Willows bent over and coughed up a mouthful of stagnant blood. A little color returned to his deathly pale face.

Since the Circus had formed, it had never suffered a setback so dangerous or so complete.

Everyone's Health Points had plunged, and every one of them was wounded. If Plucking Flowers and Seeking Willows hadn't unleashed his skill with everything he had and forced open an escape route, none of them would have made it out of the tower alive.

The ship's doctor was carefully bandaging his torn wounds, layer by layer.

Smiley turned to him. "Have you got the injuries under control?"

Plucking Flowers and Seeking Willows' skill was unique and irreplaceable. He was the Circus's most crucial asset. Nothing could happen to him.

To the crew around them, the question sounded like nothing more than a captain showing concern for his subordinate.

Plucking Flowers and Seeking Willows' expression eased. "I'm fine. My Health Points have stopped dropping. I'm not in immediate danger."

He looked up and caught sight of the livestream floating on Smiley's virtual screen. Inside the tower, Ling Chu and her companions were using their view from above to make steady progress through the maze.

Plucking Flowers and Seeking Willows frowned. "Every time one of these relentless calamities appears, ordinary players die in droves. The system's intention has never been to test us. It's to select survivors—to cut down the number of players alive in the district."

This time, the Circus, the Ghost Ship, and the Mechanical Fortress had cleared Whispering Towers one after another. The system had then broadcast the location of the final Whispering Tower and announced that clearing it would end the calamity early.

Now it seemed that hadn't been a reward at all.