Captured

Facing such a vicious punch, if Yang Zixuan's reflexes hadn't been at least somewhat agile, he would have been sent sprawling in a most pathetic display. He landed from a backflip and knelt on one knee, feeling his entire arm go numb.

But the worst part wasn't the injury; it was the virulent poison constantly eroding his body.

Negative status warnings chimed one after another in his mind.

Yang Zixuan hurriedly pulled out a potion and gulped it down, but the effect was negligible. The negative status effects on his body were piling up like a snowball, reaching a point where they could no longer be purged.

Within a few breaths, Yang Zixuan couldn't hold on any longer. He glanced sideways at Xu Tong, only to find that Xu Tong was also being pushed back step by step under the suppression of Mad Dog.

As for Xiong Tao, after being struck by an arrow, his condition was even worse than his own; his entire face had turned a deep shade of green.

"Hmph!"

Just as he was struggling with the decision of whether to activate the high-priced escape prop he had purchased, he suddenly realized that the man had already walked up to him.

A thick, black hand grabbed his shoulder and hoisted him off the ground. The man parted his lips to reveal a foul-smelling maw and said in stiff Mandarin, "Hand over the Golden Dagger."

Before he could even finish his sentence, Yang Zixuan was knocked unconscious by the sudden, overwhelming stench.

Seeing this, the man paused for a moment. He casually rummaged through Yang Zixuan's body, even stripping off his pants, but failed to find the Golden Dagger.

The man's expression darkened. Looking at Xu Tong, who was still locked in a fierce struggle with Mad Dog, he strolled forward. Despite his height of nearly two meters, his movements were steady and deceptively fast.

He shoved Mad Dog aside and threw a punch at Xu Tong.

The power erupting from that terrifying fist made one feel as if the mountains were crumbling and the earth splitting. Xu Tong's heart tightened; not daring to take the blow head-on, he hurriedly dodged backward.

However, the follow-up wind from the punch still instantly robbed him of his ability to resist. His body flipped backward and slammed heavily into the ground, his eyes rolling back as he lost consciousness.

"Capture them all and take them away!"

The man shouted in the Miao language, signaling the Miao people in the bushes to emerge. They bound the trio tightly with ropes, then threaded a wooden pole through the knots, hoisting the three of them up like hunted game.

As for Yang Guanjin and Old Bart, they had no room to resist. The Gu arts that Yang Guanjin relied on for survival were simply fragile in the face of this man.

Old Bart struggled a few times before a Miao tribesman jabbed him with a poison thorn, knocking him cold.

These Miao people were not tall, but they moved through the mountain forests with agility that surpassed ordinary people. Their bare feet trod upon the uneven, gravel-strewn mountain paths as if they were walking on flat ground.

They were silent, swift, and incredibly fast.

It was unknown how much time had passed before Yang Zixuan finally opened his eyes. To his surprise, the moment he did, he froze; Xu Tong was already awake, lying beside him and winking at him.

"You..."

Yang Zixuan frowned, about to speak, but saw Xu Tong squinting and scanning his body. The strange look made him feel very uncomfortable.

Following his gaze, Yang Zixuan realized that he had been stripped bare, left with nothing but a pair of underwear printed with little elephants.

Yang Zixuan felt terrible, but when he struggled, a Miao tribesman kicked him hard and rattled off a string of unintelligible, tongue-twisting Miao dialect.

"Stop struggling. Isn't it quite cool? Besides, having someone carry us up the mountain is much more comfortable than walking ourselves."

Xu Tong said to him with a smile.

"You can still laugh at a time like this?" Seeing that this guy was still acting so nonchalant despite being on the brink of death, Yang Zixuan didn't know whether to call it a good mindset or a lack of common sense.

Of course, he leaned toward the former; after all, he had already misjudged the man once, and he couldn't afford to do it again.

He looked back at Xiong Tao, and only after confirming that Xiong Tao was still alive did Yang Zixuan truly breathe a sigh of relief.

In fact, not only was Xiong Tao alive, but these Miao people had even applied ointment to his wounds. Even the unconscious Captain Wang had been carefully tended to; it seemed they cared quite a bit about whether these people lived or died.

Though he didn't know the reason, he knew it must have something to do with Yang Guanjin. It was a pity that Yang Guanjin and Old Bart were being driven ahead, seemingly discussing something with the leader, but they were too far away to hear.

"Are you really not considering joining our team? I'm sincere. Join us, and if the situation turns sour, I can force the entire team to extract from this Script World."

Yang Zixuan hadn't given up on recruiting Xu Tong; since he was idle anyway, he might as well try again.

"There's such a thing?" Xu Tong's brows lifted, looking tempted.

Yang Zixuan nodded. "I have a special prop, but using it might significantly increase the difficulty of our next Script World, and all gains from this current one will be wiped out."

Yang Zixuan briefly introduced the tiers of props. In the Script Space, props were strange and varied, with vast differences between them.

Common props and special props.

Common props were the Prop Cards they held; they had varying degrees of power, but ultimately remained within the rules.

Special props might not grant immense power, but their value lay in the word "special." These items often possessed miraculous qualities, sometimes even jumping outside the rules to subvert one's worldview.

Strictly speaking, the various potions they consumed actually belonged to the category of special props.

Beyond that, there were the legendary top-tier Golden props, but those were far beyond their reach.

Even certified players dared not dream of such things; they were practically myths. In a sense, those who possessed Golden Prop Cards were... gods!

But regardless of the type, every prop adhered to one principle: equivalent exchange.

The more powerful the gained strength, the more staggering the price one had to pay. Script points and negative side effects were inevitable.

Yang Zixuan paused here, looking at Xu Tong with a playful gaze. "You should still count as a rookie. Don't look at it as if you took the third brother's Prop Card; you don't even have one-fifth of his strength, otherwise, how could you have been suppressed by that guy?"

Yang Zixuan was referring to Mad Dog. In his eyes, Mad Dog's strength among ordinary players was, at best, second-rate.

Xu Tong had obtained top-tier Prop Cards from Zhang Hu, yet he couldn't beat Mad Dog. The reason for this lay in two words.

Yang Zixuan grinned. "Combination!"

"Even for top-tier Prop Cards, the power they provide is actually limited due to their negative effects, which is why combinations between Prop Cards become exceptionally important."

Xu Tong understood the crux of the issue the moment he heard this.

"A reasonable set of combinations is far superior to a player holding various top-tier Prop Cards. Because if the combination is just right, it can not only significantly boost one's own abilities but also greatly reduce the burden on oneself. It's the same old saying: there is no strongest prop, only the strongest combination!"

Yang Zixuan spoke eloquently. Although he was still an ordinary player, the information he grasped was the key that many players had to go around in circles to finally understand.

"You must make good use of every slot in your Prop Catalog; at critical moments, these slots will only become more precious."

He reminded Xu Tong once more.

Except for certified players, ordinary players like them only had three Prop Pages, totaling a mere 27 slots.

Counting on their fingers, the number of these slots was actually very limited. Besides Prop Cards, they would also be occupied by Title Cards, and if one were to add various miscellaneous items, they would be even more scarce.

The further one progressed, the more precious these slots became, so what to put in each slot had to be considered again and again.

While the two were talking, the view before them suddenly brightened; they had climbed to the top of the mountain. These Miao people temporarily set them down on the ground and began to build a bonfire to rest and eat.

"Drink some water."

Mad Dog walked over from the side, took out a canteen, and handed it to Xu Tong. "Don't blame me; my main quest is different from yours."

"It's an opposing quest, nothing shameful about that," Yang Zixuan teased from the side.

"Hmph."

Mad Dog let out a cold snort, his gaze shifting to Xu Tong. "When did you start suspecting me?"

"What if I said I've been suspecting you the whole time?" Xu Tong looked at him with a half-smile. "With so many potions in your hands, you could have easily gone solo, but you gave me such precious potions just to win me over. At first, I thought it was because you valued my title of Doctor, but thinking back on it later, it felt a bit too coincidental."

He was referring to their first mission, when Mad Dog had rushed into the room. He hadn't actually heard any sounds of fighting, and while Mad Dog's wounds looked fatal, they weren't the kind that would result in immediate death.

At the time, he was very suspicious: if the other party's strength could crush him, why would he leave the dagger on him?

Coupled with the fact that he had given him the potions beforehand, wasn't it just to ensure he could save him in the shortest amount of time?

It seemed as if all of this had been pre-arranged by Mad Dog; how could he not be suspicious of him?

"Hahaha, and here you thought you were in control of the big picture, not knowing that you were the one being used."

Yang Zixuan sat to the side and gave Xu Tong a thumbs up. "Well played!"

Xu Tong retorted, "You guys are tough!"

Caught in the middle, Mad Dog felt like he was the odd man out. He felt an indescribable awkwardness, like a boyfriend and a mistress flirting in front of the spouse, occasionally mocking the spouse while they were at it.

Exasperated, Mad Dog finally couldn't take it anymore. He pointed at the man standing on the mountain peak ahead and laughed out of sheer anger. "You've said so much, but aren't you both still prisoners? When it comes down to it, it's still Brother Huo Ying who is both high and hard!"