This Humble One, Reincarnation Stream Player

"By the way, there's still one group missing. If Li Dan's guess is true, then they are most likely the ones with the problem."

His remark was perfectly timed. Indeed, why were they busy suspecting each other while deliberately ignoring the third group?

His tone grew more agitated and convincing as he spoke, prompting Hayasaka Ai to raise her hand as well.

"That Thomas has always been weird. Could he be hiding some trump card that raised the difficulty of this instance, causing us to be implicated?"

"Cough, uh, Thomas doesn't have the brains for that, does he? He's like a brute who only knows how to hack and slash," Robert interrupted.

"Weren't you the first one to shout that something was wrong just now? Why are you speaking up for him now? Li Dan is suspecting all players—what, is Thomas not a player?"

Yuki shot a glare at the fat man, causing the latter to break into a cold sweat and stammer, unable to utter a word.

Li Dan frowned. Unable to refute Yuki, he had to step in to smooth things over: "Enough. Don't spread rumors without evidence. The instance is already difficult enough; we need to be united."

"Brother Li, this is just reasonable suspicion," Yuki said, acting as if he had everyone's best interests at heart.

"I know. How about this: when everyone regroups, I will definitely interrogate him properly. Keep a low profile—if that madman finds out you suspect him, he'll kill you."

"Even if there's no reward for it?"

Li Dan paused. If there was no system prompt regarding 'rewards for killing players,' then there was indeed no reward. He replied irritably:

"But there's no penalty for killing you either. Don't try to challenge a madman."

"Thank you, Brother Li. I'll be careful." Yuki put on a fearful expression, but his gaze shifted to Hayasaka Ai. She was laughing and scolding him for being too bold, even suggesting they play a penalty game. Li Dan found it amusing for a moment, failing to notice that Hayasaka Ai's eyes had suddenly turned cold.

Without a word, she gave a slight, subtle nod.

The answer would soon be revealed.

Having managed to muddle through, the episode passed, and the mission had to continue.

After a short rest, the others went out to scout, leaving only Mai Sakurajima, who volunteered to stay behind to bandage Yuki.

Removing his bulletproof vest, one could see the bruises covering his muscles. Even though the Level IV plates had stopped the stray bullets, the impact force still caused immense pain. As soon as she touched the area, she saw his muscles twitch as if pricked by needles.

"Nngh—ah—"

Mai rolled her eyes. She had already developed an immunity to his strange noises, but this time, instead of slapping him, she carefully wrung out the handkerchief.

"Hey, why didn't you hit me this time? Don't tell me you're feeling sorry for me." Yuki turned his head slightly, catching the girl's eye-roll, and chuckled. "Being gentle is fine too, heh. I'm really not a masochist."

"If I didn't have to rely on you later, I'd twist it hard," Mai muttered sullenly. She dropped the handkerchief, took out the ointment they had looted on the way, and began to apply it slowly. "Are you really not afraid of pain? And why can't I feel any fear from you?"

"Are you talking about getting shot?"

"Obviously. What else would I be talking about?"

Yuki stopped thinking for a moment and said casually, "Because I've had experience. I know what it feels like when a bullet hits a vest, so I wasn't that panicked."

Before he could finish, the cool sensation of the ointment stopped. Mai was staring at him with the look one might reserve for a monster.

"No way, you can have experience with that!?"

"Sure. Go to the black market in the States; you can get guns and vests. Just shoot yourself once and you're done. Of course, under limited conditions—I only tried it with a handgun."

Mai didn't know what to say. She could overlook his bizarre skills as having too many hobbies, but shooting oneself twice? Was that the behavior of a normal person?

"I take back what I said. You're not a weirdo; you're a madman."

"One cannot achieve greatness without madness. Right now, you have to rely on this madman to keep you alive." Yuki smiled. To him, this was the highest praise. Ever since the game began, he had relied on this complex mindset to maintain his composure.

The Reincarnation Game was terrifying, but if not for this game, wouldn't his suffering over the years have been in vain? How many times had he wanted to go to Shuchiin to see his childhood friend, only to force himself to stop because of that one line in his diary?

Now that they had reunited in the game, he felt composed. His capital for approaching Mai Sakurajima wasn't using an adult's mindset to manipulate a child, but this very set of skills.

"Can't refute that, can you? Do you feel like I'm the only light in this dark, bottomless abyss?"

"Pfft, you're not even ashamed of praising yourself like that." Mai spat lightly, too lazy to answer the question. She wrapped the bandage and tied it into a pretty bow, then stared at Yuki's back, lost in thought.

"But you were right about the first half. This really is a dark, bottomless abyss. It's so terrifying it makes it hard to breathe."

This was only the second night, yet it felt like two years. If not for this back in front of her, she wouldn't even dare to imagine how she had survived until now.

"By the way, Li Dan was targeting you earlier. Did you tell the truth?"

"Does it matter? Do you think that if he kills me, the Reincarnation Game will suddenly become simple? That all the enemies will become deaf and blind, and we'll just breeze through the level while eating hotpot and singing songs?"

Of course not, because he had no idea what the settings of the Reincarnation Game were, or what a 'normal' difficulty even looked like.

Mai had never considered switching sides because she had followed Yuki all the way here. By comparison, Yuki was far more reliable than Li Dan. He had truly endured the trials of blood and fire and had never abandoned her, even in the most critical moments.

Emotionally speaking, Li Dan acted like a generous senior, but that look in his eyes was anything but generous.

"Hmph, that's hard to say."

Yuki smiled. He could finally breathe easily. The bet he had placed hadn't been in vain; Mai had been raised by his own hands—how could she believe Li Dan just because of a few suspicions?

"Then, Senior, please take my head. But I'll say this first: there's no medicine for regret once you do."

"Be serious. We're in danger."

"Serious? If I acted all cold and stoic, you'd be the one going crazy."

That was true. Without this guy's banter, let alone surviving, she would have definitely gone insane.

This time, Mai Sakurajima did not deny it; she gave a barely perceptible nod, though she refrained from further praise. After spending a day together, she had figured him out well enough—if you gave this man an inch, he would immediately start acting up.

Feeling the delicate touch, Yuki recalled Hayasaka Ai's nod from earlier, and his expression turned serious of its own accord, causing Mai Sakurajima to soften her movements significantly.

Interesting. When I intentionally brought up Thomas, the fatty spoke up for him, and Li Dan changed the subject, deliberately hiding something.

Yuki never considered anyone a fool, and all probing was a two-way street.

But what was strange was that the fatty had been the one to bring up the topic. It was impossible that this guy was a hidden master, smarter than Li Dan.

Impossible. But why him? And why did he defend Thomas when I started throwing dirt on him? And what was up with the change in expression Hayasaka Ai saw?

Yuki fell into deep thought. Before the conversation, he had coordinated with Hayasaka Ai for her to play the straight man and focus her energy on observing Li Dan's facial expressions.

The momentary stagnation of his pupils could never have been faked.

Yuki closed his eyes, rewinding every experience since joining the game in his mind like a movie, connecting the various details he had captured.

The coughing, the habit of patting shoulders, the seamless exchange of information, and the look Mai Sakurajima had sensed—the micro-expressions when discussing the difficulty level.

"Li Dan and Thomas definitely have a deal."

"Hm? What did you say?" Mai Sakurajima, who was monitoring the walkie-talkie, looked up. How did this get back to Li Dan?

"I said we might have run into some real schemers." Yuki narrowed his eyes, muttering to himself, "The only two veteran players teaming up, the game deeming the players 'too united,' them using contract-type items, and adding another layer of difficulty—these were all things Li Dan said."

"But he said even with all that, it shouldn't be this hard."

"You believe whatever he says? Don't forget, until now, those two 'veteran players' have either been slacking off or causing trouble!"

Yuki decisively shifted the blame. He needed the absolute trust of Mai Sakurajima and Hayasaka Ai, and the reality was that he had been the one to solve almost every difficult problem.

That's true. It's all that Thomas's fault for killing people randomly and getting us targeted.

Mai Sakurajima completely dispelled her doubts and began to listen carefully to the walkie-talkie.

Li Dan and the others hadn't found a single Living Corpse, at least not in the Port District. Aside from the Crimson Moonlight that made one's heart race, everything seemed to have returned to a normal society.

Oh, and the pursuers were gone too, finally giving them a moment to breathe.

"It's so strange. Where did those monsters go? They couldn't have just let us go, could they?" Mai Sakurajima was puzzled; this didn't match the previous style at all.

"In your dreams. But I do have a theory."

"Don't keep me in suspense, tell me!"

Yuki had originally wanted to make Mai Sakurajima give him some kind of reward before telling her, but seeing her look like she wanted to eat him alive, he had no choice but to spill it all:

"It should be a matter of spawn points. Remember when we rushed out of the Ancient Castle? The people of Crimson Moon City can't be citizens by day and Living Corpses by night, right? And where did those endless streams of police come from?"

So that's it.

With a little hint, Mai Sakurajima understood immediately. He was looking for the similarities between day and night. There was no evidence, but it was the most likely possibility.

Spawn points, huh? In that case, this hiding spot is actually quite good.

If the Living Corpses spawned from the Ancient Castle, it was a long way to the Port District, not to mention they would have to cross the canal. When the time came, they could just raise the bridges and see how the monsters would get across. The only thing to worry about was the Crimson Moon dropping 'gifts.'

"If only it would reset. We aren't as weak as we were last night; we have the power to fight back!"

Watching the girl cheering herself on, Yuki's smile became more pronounced, though he admitted she was right.

Last night, he was nothing but a mortal; any random officer could have shot him dead. Yet, just moments ago, he had left a trail of corpses in his wake.

Master-level Reinforcement Magecraft, an alienated-grade weapon, and his Ego Trait—his combat experience had also improved significantly. The other players had grown quite a bit too; even the fatty didn't look like an average person anymore.

The enemies had vanished, but their weapons remained. Now, everyone could grab a rifle; spraying bullets with eyes closed was better than being empty-handed.

I have indeed encountered inexplicable anomalies, but is the dungeon really as abnormal as Li Dan claimed?

Yuki glanced at his wristwatch, put on his bulletproof vest, stood up with his blade, and stared straight into the depths of the parking lot, which seemed to be shrouded in black and red mist.

The answer would be revealed soon.

Chapter 35: Judgment of Fate (Part 1)

As dawn approached, the restriction of not being able to stay in one location for more than two hours was about to be reached. Mai Sakurajima began gathering supplies and stuffing them into her backpack.

Even after receiving several eye-rolls, Yuki showed no intention of helping, keeping his ear pressed to the walkie-talkie.

"We didn't find any boats at the port. We discovered Living Corpses drifting in from the sea. How did these monsters smell us out?"

"The direction they drifted from is the south. As I expected, they really are spawning from the Ancient Castle."

"Everyone gather in five minutes. We're going to raise all the bridges over the canal. A river over ten meters wide should be able to block most of the enemies."

Li Dan's voice was intermittent, but his orders were flawless—these were the countermeasures everyone had agreed upon during the day.

If the Living Corpses spawned near them, they would break out and trap the monsters in the Port District. If they appeared at the Ancient Castle, this peninsula would be the best defensive fortification.

But both Li Dan and I knew that dealing with the Living Corpses was fine, but the real issue was that if it didn't reset when day came, it would be tantamount to walking into a death trap.

We were both gambling, only he had room to adjust, while I did not.

The tension was impossible to hide, which made Mai Sakurajima, who was picking up her backpack, start to feel uneasy, and she remembered something.

"By the way, I used that reinforcement point just now, just like you said."

"Oh? What did you pull?" Yuki didn't look back. He knew Mai had a reinforcement point in her hand—a beginner's perk that could be used for a draw.

"I drew an item." Mai pulled out a small cyan bottle and gave it a shake; there were probably a few dozen milliliters of liquid inside.

[Chaos Item: Quiet Dew (Chaos Grade)]

[Forces the user to calm down, eliminating negative states such as mania, anger, and fear. 30ML, replenishes in six hours.]

[Side effect: Causes excessive calmness, impairing movement and cognitive ability.]

[Description: Appropriate calmness helps one find a way out; excessive calmness turns one into a statue.]

Yuki raised an eyebrow, feeling that her luck wasn't great. This thing didn't sound like an offensive item capable of turning the tide, but it wasn't terrible either; at least it had a wide range of applications, and the side effects were relatively minor.

The only pity was the small quantity, making it difficult to gauge the dosage precisely.

He took one look and teased, "Senior, you've completely switched to a support role, haven't you? Then again, it really is a bit difficult to make you hack people with a blade."

"Hmph, I have fought before, you know." Mai wrinkled her nose, though she admitted she wasn't cut out for that sort of thing.

Combat wasn't just about strength; it was also about mindset. She had always been averse to killing, so there was no need to compete for victory against this madman.

"Speaking of which, what are you waiting for? The time limit will be up in two minutes." Mai's legs were numb from standing. She followed his gaze toward the depths of the parking lot, but in the unlit environment, she could see nothing. She only felt a blood-red mist lingering in the air, bringing with it a sense of horror.

Tap, tap, tap.

Right in the dead silence, heavy footsteps suddenly rang out. Without any warning, the ground began to tremble slightly with each step.

She froze, a chill racing from her tailbone to the tips of her hair, and she instinctively raised the gun in her hands.

"Wh-what is that???"

Yuki's breathing grew heavy as well. He reached out, disengaged the safety on the girl's firearm for her, and only then raised his own assault rifle.

Clack.