He definitely wasn't a player!

As she spoke, the gaping hole in Lilia's chest healed on its own, growing back along with her Gothic outfit.

"You can revive endlessly?"

Hearing Lilia's words and considering the situation, the gray-robed man immediately understood what she meant.

He froze for a moment, then came to his senses.

"Hmph, you almost fooled me. Whatever you are, your heart clearly isn't a weak point, and you have extremely powerful regenerative abilities, but there's no way you can revive endlessly!"

The gray-robed man seemed to be analyzing the situation, or perhaps bolstering his own courage:

"You deliberately said that with such an innocent face and tone to present yourself as someone who wouldn't lie, so I'd lose the will to fight you. Clever!"

"Unfortunately, although I'm a newcomer, I know quite a bit about supernatural powers. Telling me such an outrageous lie was your biggest mistake!"

Watching the gray-robed man ramble on, Lilia shrugged and reached behind her to draw her enormous scythe.

"What are you babbling about? Anyway, take my scythe!"

Lin Yuan had just instructed her to exhaust all of the gray-robed man's puppet bodies, beat him until he could no longer get back up, then interrogate him thoroughly.

From the gray-robed man's words and their surroundings, he had already deduced that although this fellow was a player, he had joined a non-player faction. There was no need to go easy on him.

Whoosh!

Seeing the enormous scythe sweep toward him, the gray-robed man hastily dodged while once again ordering the gray caterpillar to charge at Lilia, though this time it targeted her head.

"Again?"

Lilia reached into her head and rummaged around, pulled out the caterpillar, and crushed it once more.

The same scene played out again, and the gray-robed man used up another flesh puppet to stay alive.

Still refusing to accept it, the gray-robed man had the caterpillar attack Lilia's limbs and other body parts, but the outcome was always the same.

An ominous suspicion surfaced in his mind. Could this thing really revive endlessly?

Impossible. Absolutely impossible!

The gray-robed man shook his head, driving that demoralizing thought from his mind.

She had to have a weakness!

Nothing could revive endlessly!

Suddenly, inspiration struck the gray-robed man, and an idea surfaced in his mind:

"How did I forget about the coffin she's dragging!"

"That coffin hasn't done anything this entire time. There definitely isn't some powerful weapon hidden inside. It's most likely the secret behind her revival!"

"She's deliberately making a fuss, using her exaggerated acting to draw attention to herself, all to distract me from the coffin!"

The more the gray-robed man thought about it, the cleverer he felt. Finally, after dodging another scythe strike, he declared smugly:

"Heh, you've done well. I admit you're intelligent."

"Unfortunately, my intelligence surpasses yours! I've already seen through your weakness. Go, gray caterpillar!"

Splat.

The gray caterpillar charged at the pitch-black coffin with all its strength, then smashed itself to pieces against it.

The gray-robed man himself also turned into a puddle of minced flesh.

Lilia scratched her head, somewhat puzzled.

What was wrong with this guy? Shouting something about a weakness while killing himself?

And he had the nerve to say he was smarter than her?

Meanwhile, the gray-robed man used his last puppet body to revive again.

This time, he turned and ran without a word.

He had finally figured something out: whether this doll girl's endless revival was real or not, the fact remained that he couldn't beat her!

"Hey, trying to run? Get back here!"

Lilia was just about to give chase when she saw the caterpillar grab the gray-robed man's shoulder. Then man and insect turned into a gray shadow together, shooting toward the thick fog nearby.

The burst of speed came so suddenly that Lilia couldn't keep up and was about to be left behind.

If the gray-robed man reached the fog, with Lilia's navigational abilities, she would never find him again in her lifetime.

Bang!

An enormous gunshot rang out.

At some point, Bai Ling, who had been lying on the ground all this time, had drawn that compact pistol. She aimed at the caterpillar on the shadow's shoulder and fired!

In contrast to the deafening report, the bullet fired by the pistol was extremely tiny, leaving a hole only a few millimeters across in the caterpillar's body.

Yet that tiny wound made both the caterpillar and the gray-robed man freeze.

"The Dead Line Gun? You can actually fire it repeatedly? Damn that high inspiration!" The gray-robed man stopped and turned to stare fixedly at Bai Ling on the ground, then looked at Lilia.

"You forced me to do this. You forced me! Don't think you've won!"

Although his hood concealed his face, the madness in the eyes beneath it was still palpable.

"The mission failed! In that case, none of you are getting away either! Gray caterpillar, with my flesh and blood, I grant you a false evolution!"

As the gray-robed man's words fell, the gray caterpillar abruptly shot into his heart!

A spine-chilling sound of gnawing rang out, and the gray-robed man turned into a heap of minced flesh.

The gray robe moved without wind, wrapping tightly around the flesh and confining it into the shape of a cocoon.

"This is bad... something terrifying is growing inside! Destroy that cocoon, quickly!"

Bai Ling spoke urgently, but the aftereffects of firing repeatedly left her unable to move on the ground.

Lilia was just about to step forward when she stopped again.

"Oh, no need. Let's wait and see what hatches."

"Are you crazy? I can sense the strength of your aura. It's nowhere near as strong as the thing inside that cocoon!" Bai Ling said anxiously. She and Lilia were in the same boat now, and she could no longer worry about the doll girl's inhuman identity.

Compared with the gray-robed man, a fellow player brimming with malice, this doll girl felt considerably friendlier to Bai Ling.

"It's fine. The confident captain said he'd handle it if anything happened."

"What captain? What are you talking about?"

As the two spoke, the cocoon split open, and an enormous beetle crawled out.

It looked like a rhinoceros beetle covered in sharp spikes, with a body roughly the size of a tank.

Screee!

The rhinoceros beetle let out a piercing roar, its sound waves spreading outward in a ripple visible to the naked eye.

The ripple swept over Bai Ling. Blood immediately ran from her nose, and she slumped.

"This is bad... it's an attack on sanity... you-huh?"

Bai Ling turned her head with difficulty, only to discover that Lilia was completely unharmed and was curiously examining the enormous rhinoceros beetle.

That couldn't help but kindle a sliver of hope in Bai Ling.

The next moment, the rhinoceros beetle charged forward, smashing the doll girl into parts that scattered through the air.

Bai Ling's eyes dimmed again.

As she saw it, even if Lilia could revive, the difference in strength was too great. She had no chance against that rhinoceros beetle.

Creeeak!

Just then, a teeth-grating sound came from the coffin.

"The coffin lid... opened?"

By now, Bai Ling didn't even have the strength to turn her head. She could only judge by sound.

"I wonder what's inside... an even stronger monster?"

All sorts of bizarre shapes flashed through Bai Ling's mind.

But soon, a figure passed her and walked forward.

It was actually a person!

Bai Ling's eyes flew wide as she watched that figure, who wasn't particularly brawny yet was exceptionally steady, walk toward the giant beetle.

"The one lying in that coffin... was a player?"

Thump!

The giant beetle rammed the figure, but the impact sounded like it had struck thick wood.

Despite taking the giant beetle's charge head-on, the figure didn't budge. Instead, he reached out and stopped the giant beetle in its tracks.

Then the man extended his right hand. A blade of light appeared, and he cleanly sliced the giant beetle in half.

The giant beetle gave one final mournful cry, then showed no further signs of life.

The giant beetle's dying shriek knocked Bai Ling unconscious. Her final thought before she passed out was:

That figure... he's too strong! Whatever he is, there's absolutely no way he's a player from our batch!