He Jinmei's dart-throwing feat
left Zheng Ren staring in amazement. "Holy shit! What a great ability! You could win even the stall owner's underwear at a tourist spot's ring toss!"
Although He Jinmei was already married, she seemed somewhat conservative, and her cheeks flushed at Zheng Ren's joke.
Li Yueqiu hurried forward to help the woman who had treated her so gently out of her embarrassment. "I'm Li Yueqiu. I got a skill too, called 'Double Kick.'
"But to use it properly, you need a constitution above 7. Mine's only 5, below the minimum requirement, so I can barely use it once."
With someone taking the lead, the others could only follow.
"Zheng Ren. My item is, uh... 'Crooked Shuangshuang Mega Gummy.' It's food that heals injuries when you eat it, but I've almost finished it."
In the end, Zheng Ren still read out his item's embarrassing name.
He had thick skin anyway, so he wasn't afraid of public humiliation.
Now only Zuo Cheng'an remained, and everyone's eyes inevitably fell on him.
"Zuo Cheng'an. I got a skill too, 'Basic Knife Technique.'" As he spoke, Zuo Cheng'an flourished his axe twice.
Learning an extra skill in everyday life really was important. It could come in handy at a critical moment.
Zheng Ren gave him a thumbs-up. "Awesome! If that were me, I'd need six stitches in my chin!"
Zheng Ren said, "Oh, right! Insurance guy, what was your name again? Whatever. Isn't your item dried mutton that boosts strength? Why not give it to Zuo or Auntie He? Then we could just sit back and let them carry us. How great would that be?"
Liu Shuang shrewdly laughed it off, without directly saying yes or no.
Of course he couldn't agree, or his earlier lie about the dried mutton's effects would be exposed.
Still, Liu Shuang ultimately achieved his goal.
Afterward, the five survivors agreed to deal with the two Hunters together that night, then returned to their respective rooms.
Daytime in the game passed in a flash, and night soon arrived.
Even at the very last moment, Liu Shuang was still calling uncertainly from his room, "You're sure you'll come out tonight, right?"
Only after everyone answered in the affirmative did he relax.
[Hunters have appeared. Number deployed: 2]
To prevent both of them from being trapped in a cramped room without space to move, Liu Shuang in room 207 and Zhao Chengyuan in room 206 stayed in their own rooms.
They also agreed to count off and charge out together once the Hunters appeared.
Since a fight with the Hunters was unavoidable anyway, it no longer mattered whether their voices gave them away.
The creaking sounds arrived right on time.
When the two Hunters reached the space between rooms 207 and 206, Liu Shuang and Zhao Chengyuan shouted together, "1! 2! 3!" and opened their doors to charge out, axes in hand.
But once Zhao Chengyuan reached the corridor, he discovered that he was the only one who had come out.
Seeing food emerge from a "can" of its own accord, the two Hunters stopped insisting on breaking down doors and focused their attacks on Zhao Chengyuan alone.
Zhao Chengyuan was horrified. Fury at the betrayal and fear of the Hunters, two entirely different emotions, struck almost simultaneously! He shouted for help!
"Someone! Hurry, someone come!!"
The occupants of the other rooms had long been waiting, and they all opened their doors upon hearing the signal.
Even He Jinmei came out on trembling legs to add to their numbers and bolster everyone's courage.
She had the accuracy to hit wherever she aimed, but lacked the courage to face an enemy.
The sight of the Hunters left her weak all over with fear. How could she dare throw an axe at a Hunter's head?
As Zuo Cheng'an charged out, he glanced over both Hunters' heads.
One had "87.7%" health, and the other had "72.6%."
They could just barely count as eighty percent new.
It seemed that although the bespectacled man had fought to the death last night, his physical capabilities were what they were, and the damage he had inflicted on the Hunters was limited.
By now, the Mega Gummy had taken full effect. Zheng Ren had only a few superficial injuries left, which barely affected his movements.
He charged out with his arms flailing, then soon narrowed his eyes, sensing that the head count was wrong.
"1, 2, 3, 4... Hey, insurance guy, that's not cool!
"You were the first to suggest working together, so why have you crawled into your shell at the crucial moment?" Zheng Ren tossed out a couple of curses, then hurried to join the attackers.
The Hunters seemed to prioritize attacking Zhao Chengyuan because of the game's rules.
Even when he hid behind someone else, the Hunters would ignore those closer to them and reach their sharp claws toward him instead.
Seeing this, Zuo Cheng'an shouted, "Toss out one of the keys!"
Since the Hunters targeted the occupants of the corresponding rooms, and the instance had hosted so many players over time, the Hunters couldn't possibly remember faces every time.
If it possessed that kind of intelligence, its classification in the game would have long since been an A- or S-grade model rather than E-grade.
Therefore, the only possible option was that the Hunters used the keys to distinguish the occupants of different rooms.
Hearing Zuo Cheng'an, Zhao Chengyuan pulled the two keys from his pocket without a second thought, separated them, and tossed one to him.
The moment the key landed in Zuo Cheng'an's hand,
the two Hunters' priority targets instantly changed. They no longer chased Zhao Chengyuan alone.
Instead, they split up, targeting Zuo Cheng'an and Zhao Chengyuan equally.
Seeing that the Hunters, which had always moved together like conjoined twins, had finally been separated,
the others automatically divided into two teams, each dealing with one Hunter. They would get through the night first.
Li Yueqiu had eaten a gummy bear that healed her injuries and rested for a night and a day.
Now she had enough strength to use her skill once more.
At Zuo Cheng'an's signal, both strikes of her Double Kick landed on the Hunter with lower health.
The health bar above the Hunter's head lived up to expectations, dropping sharply by a full 20%!
The skill's high damage left Zuo Cheng'an deeply envious.
It dealt such powerful damage even without her stats meeting the skill's requirement. Wouldn't it be even stronger once she reached the required 7 points, or higher?
Of course, Li Yueqiu only looked impressive for that brief moment. After those two kicks, she wilted.
Both legs shook worse than after finishing a physical fitness test.
She had no choice but to withdraw from the front line and provide support from the second line alongside He Jinmei.
The situation now had Zhao Chengyuan and Zheng Ren facing the Hunter with over eighty percent health, supported by He Jinmei,
while Zuo Cheng'an and Li Yueqiu dealt with the Hunter whose health had now fallen to 51.32%.
But with Li Yueqiu already half out of commission, most of it still fell to Zuo Cheng'an alone.
His earlier claim that he had learned "Basic Knife Technique" wasn't really a lie. He really had learned a couple of moves from an old man exercising in the park.
However, he had practiced with prop blades softer than noodles, while what he held now was an ordinary wood-chopping axe.
Only at this point in the game did Zuo Cheng'an gradually get a feel for his weapon. With a slight shift of his feet, he dodged the claws the Hunter swiped at his face.
At the same time, he brought his axe down vertically toward the Hunter's wrist.
Crack! The axe sank into the Hunter's bone.
His weapon had gotten stuck before because he lacked strength, so Zuo Cheng'an was prepared this time.
He raised the wooden shield in his other hand and used it as a hammer, slamming it hard against the axe.
The blow drove the axe sharply downward, and the Hunter's wrist, complete with its sharp nails, fell to the floor. The loss of that body part cost the Hunter another 10% of its health.
But the Hunter truly deserved to be the Witch's proudest alchemical creation.
It seemed unable to feel pain. Its body showed no reaction, and it maintained its attacking stance, continuing to strike at Zuo Cheng'an with its one remaining claw.
Zuo Cheng'an blocked with the wooden shield in his hand, easily stopping the blow.
At that moment, the Tetanus Potion smeared on the axe seemed to have taken effect.
The Hunter's movements began to slow, as though it were moving several times slower.
Never mind Zuo Cheng'an-even an eighty-year-old woman could have blocked it.
Moreover, because of the damage to its body, its health bar steadily fell by fractions of a percent, soon dropping below forty percent.
At this point, the Hunter's remaining claw was stuck in the wooden shield, while its other wrist was empty.
It could therefore only choose to bite Zuo Cheng'an with the mouth on its head.
Clack! It was the sound of teeth meeting a hard object.
Li Yueqiu hadn't been slacking off the whole time. Seizing the right moment, she shoved her own axe into the Hunter's mouth.
For a time, the situation remained deadlocked.
Before you continue