Following His Heart

Elsewhere, Zheng Ren had three people fighting one hunter, so he was under far less pressure than Zuo Cheng'an.

He even had enough strength to spare to use Zhao Chengyuan's mirror item as a toothbrush for the hunter.

A pile of dislodged teeth clattered to the floor, giving Zheng Ren immense satisfaction.

Everyone was still full of fighting spirit when the hunters suddenly lost theirs. At the same time, a faint light appeared outside the windows.

[Daybreak! The hunters have left]

With Zuo Cheng'an deliberately dragging things out and holding back, both hunters had been whittled down to twenty percent health, but they were still capable of fighting.

He picked up his axe and walked grim-faced to the door of Room 207, where Liu Shuang was hiding, then swung straight at the lock!

Zhao Chengyuan instantly understood what Zuo Cheng'an intended and joined him in breaking down the door.

Inside, Liu Shuang cried out in panic, "Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing?!"

Zhao Chengyuan said nothing, only hacking harder with the axe in his hands.

In the end, the already flimsy door became a heap of broken wood.

Liu Shuang cowered in a corner of the room, clutching his dried mutton, ready to fight for his life at the first sign of trouble.

"W-what's wrong? Let's talk this out. Let's talk this out. Avoiding danger and surviving is human instinct..."

Zhao Chengyuan raised his axe and pointed it at Liu Shuang's face.

His gaze was icy. He clearly meant to kill.

Terrified, Liu Shuang stammered incoherently, "Th-this... I was wrong before! Don't worry, tonight I'll definitely..."

Zhao Chengyuan couldn't be bothered to say anything more to him and swung his axe.

"Ah!"

Liu Shuang screamed and covered his face, but soon realized he seemed to be unharmed.

Liu Shuang inwardly rejoiced. Sure enough, he was an ignorant country bumpkin who was easy to fool. A little backing down and a few nice words were all it took to send him on his way.

But Zhao Chengyuan hadn't intended to let him off at all. He had simply switched from aiming at his head to his leg.

There was a squelch, followed by a crack!

Liu Shuang let out a scream as agonized as if a needle had been driven beneath his fingernail.

"My leg! My leg!!"

His screaming was soon cut short.

Zhao Chengyuan grabbed Liu Shuang by the collar and dragged him toward Room 208.

That was the room the hunters would target tonight.

But the room was locked, and they couldn't get in.

He Jinmei was too frightened to move. It was Li Yueqiu who helped by tossing Zhao Chengyuan the key to Room 208.

Zhao Chengyuan unlocked the door, then threw Liu Shuang into Room 208 as though he were carrying a dead chicken.

Then he raised his hand and struck!

Fueled by anger, the damage from that punch was nothing to scoff at.

Clutching his injured leg, Liu Shuang slammed into the wall and bounced off it from the force.

Immediately afterward, Zhao Chengyuan raised his hand again, seemingly about to strike once more.

Liu Shuang reflexively shouted, "I was wrong, I was wrong! I've wronged you! I'm just a spineless coward!! Please let me go!! Stop hitting me!

"If you keep... if you keep hitting me, I'll really die!"

By the end, he was even sobbing.

Two more punches answered him!

With their view obstructed, the others couldn't see what was happening inside, but they could hear every sound clearly.

After a string of bangs, Zhao Chengyuan's voice finally rang out again.

"Take one step outside and I'll smash your other leg too!!"

Zhao Chengyuan was the typical easygoing sort. As long as no one crossed his bottom line, he would keep smiling no matter how they pushed him around.

Once he got angry, though, heh, he wasn't far from killing someone.

After doing all this, Zhao Chengyuan tossed the key to Room 208 onto Liu Shuang, then seemed to suddenly realize what he had just done.

His imposing air instantly faded, as though he had returned to his old, easygoing self.

He handed the key to his own room to Li Yueqiu and He Jinmei, quietly apologized a couple of times, then chose a room with a reasonably intact door and hid inside.

He would have to fight the hunters tonight anyway, so it made no difference where he stayed.

For once, no one gathered in the corridor during the day. Everyone returned to their rooms to recover their strength as quickly as possible.

Tonight was the last night, and everyone had their own thoughts.

Some wanted to simply wait for the instance's timer to run out. Going crazy once was enough.

Others thought that since they had already fought, they might as well kill all the monsters before clearing the game.

Zuo Cheng'an chose the latter.

Since killing hostile monsters could yield items, killing a few more was a sure gain with nothing to lose.

Seeing that everyone had left, Liu Shuang clutched his visibly crooked lower leg, his entire body trembling with pain, yet he didn't dare cry out.

He furiously mouthed curses at everyone else to vent his anger before turning his attention to what he should do tonight.

Liu Shuang felt uneasy. Going by the sequence, Room 208 should be attacked today.

But he wasn't the resident of Room 208, so logically, the hunters shouldn't be interested in him.

That meant he should be safe as long as he hid in another room, even if its door was broken.

With that thought, Liu Shuang listened through the door for any sounds in the corridor.

Only after making sure no one was there did he quietly open the door and drag his injured leg along, painstakingly crawling into his own Room 207.

Zuo Cheng'an and Zhao Chengyuan had already hacked Room 207's door to pieces. It could offer nothing but psychological comfort; there was no way it could provide any protection.

It wasn't that Liu Shuang didn't want to go to a more distant room. His leg injury prevented him from moving normally, so he could only settle for somewhere close rather than far. Getting out of that trouble spot, Room 208, was what mattered.

Today should be the final night of the game. As long as he survived it, he could clear the game.

The light in the corridor dimmed.

[The hunters have appeared! Number deployed: 2]

Although nothing showed on the surface, the two remaining hunters were actually already nearing their limits.

As a result, they weren't in the mood to make another round of all the rooms to intimidate everyone.

The two hunters came to Room 208 as though going through the motions of a task and made a show of scratching the door twice.

In fact, they had long since sensed that tonight's target was next door. All they had to do was go over, and they could easily fill their bellies with food.

But under the game's rules, they couldn't go looking for food yet.

They had to break down the door marked with the target number, or the prey had to enter the corridor of their own accord.

In Room 207 next door, Liu Shuang heard the scratching outside Room 208 and laughed inwardly. Sure enough, they were two brainless NPCs who only knew how to follow rigid rules.

The last trace of worry in his heart vanished. He dangled the key to Room 208 in his hand and shifted into a comfortable position to wait for the game to end.

But in truth, if Liu Shuang had joined last night's chaotic battle, or even stepped out of his room to witness the whole thing,

he wouldn't have entertained such a ridiculous thought today.

The hunters' performance in battle was nothing like that of ordinary NPCs that could only follow the game's programming.

With no one obstructing them, the two hunters worked together and broke down Room 208's door in very little time.

Neither of them so much as glanced inside. They headed straight for the room where the "resident of Room 208" was hiding.

Liu Shuang noticed that the scratching next door had stopped. Room 208 seemed to have fallen.

He congratulated himself on his decision to relocate during the day. Otherwise, the hunters charging into the room would have torn him apart by now.

But... it seemed far too quiet outside.

Suddenly, Liu Shuang seemed to smell a foul, bloody stench coming from above him.

He looked up toward the source of the smell and saw two hunters squeezed into the gap hacked into the door, their long, slender claws gesturing at his neck, seemingly preparing to strike.

"Aah-!!"

This was Liu Shuang's first time seeing the hunters' faces. Last time, he had only barely caught a glimpse of one hunter's back shortly before dawn.

Now, suddenly confronted with a close-up view, he was instantly scared out of his wits.

He scooted farther into the room while groping for the axe on the floor and hacking at them.

In the process, he accidentally struck the wooden door several times, widening the gap again! Now half a hunter's body could fit through!

Realizing this, Liu Shuang panicked again, swinging his axe without any method.

"Die, die! Die! Don't come any closer!!!"

Even so, he hadn't completely lost his reason.

Knowing that everyone else was hiding in their rooms watching the spectacle, he abandoned all concern for his dignity and shouted for help.

"Anyone! Brothers, sisters! Mom, Dad! Save me! Please, come save me!"