Anubis's Avatar

Xin Jiu wasn't particularly hungry, but the grilled mushrooms smelled so good that she couldn't resist taking them.

"Thank you."

Chen Rui smiled and said, "No need to be so polite."

If it hadn't been for Xin Jiu, they never would have learned that dodging the bulls could increase their skill points. Once they'd eaten their fill today, they were going to find the bulls for another round of matches.

Xin Jiu opened her mouth to bite into a mushroom, but out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something off about Li Tao's expression.

Just last night, he'd wanted to kill her and steal her items and skill cards. Only a few hours had passed, and now he could actually act so pleasant?

Unless he'd been possessed, then...

Xin Jiu lowered the mushrooms. Li Tao's eyebrows twitched slightly.

Looks like he still hasn't given up.

Seeing her put them down just as she was about to eat, Chen Rui asked in confusion, "Did you just wake up without an appetite?"

Xin Jiu didn't answer his question. Instead, she walked straight toward Li Tao. The closer she got, the more his gaze wandered.

"Thanks for grilling the mushrooms. You should have this skewer first."

Xin Jiu held the grilled mushrooms out to him.

Li Tao gave a couple of dry laughs, looking even more shifty. "You eat them. I'm not hungry."

Xin Jiu didn't withdraw her outstretched hand. She stared straight at Li Tao.

Her stare made goosebumps rise all over him.

By then, Chen Rui had also realized something was wrong, and his brows furrowed.

"Is it because you poisoned them that you don't dare eat them?" Xin Jiu asked.

[Poisoned? Who? The guy grilling the mushrooms?!]

[Good lord, dude! Who poisons their own people? Do you have to be that ruthless?]

[Jiujiu hasn't done anything to him, has she?]

Displeasure showed in Chen Rui's eyes. "You poisoned them?"

When they'd formed their team, Li Tao had mentioned that before entering the game, he'd found a bottle of poison at an item spawn point in his city. It was colorless and odorless, and a single tiny drop could kill an African elephant.

The poison also worked on NPCs in the instances.

Was he now using that poison against someone from the Nine Provinces?

"Of course not. I have no reason to hurt her," Li Tao said immediately.

Doudou and Jiamin hadn't seen Li Tao trying to kill Xin Jiu last night, so they spoke up for him.

"Brother Tao isn't that kind of person."

"Could there be some misunderstanding?"

But Chen Rui had seen it, so he said nothing.

Xin Jiu sneered. "If you didn't poison them, eat the mushrooms."

"I don't want to."

"Don't want to, or don't dare to?"

Li Tao fell silent. Doudou, the youngest and most naive of them, said outright, "Brother Tao, why don't you take a bite? Just one bite, and she won't misunderstand you anymore."

They would be staying together for the next few days. If they didn't trust one another, things could easily go wrong.

Jiamin joined in trying to persuade him. "Just take a tiny bite."

Seeing them all insist that he eat the mushrooms, Li Tao simply threw caution to the wind. "Yes, I poisoned them. What are you going to do about it?"

To make sure the dose wouldn't be too weak to kill her, he'd poured in a third of the poison!

Doudou and Jiamin's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Why? She hasn't done anything wrong!"

"Hasn't done anything wrong? Did you forget that Zhao Fei and Xiao Ling wouldn't have died if it weren't for her? And I wouldn't have been attacked by a bull and nearly had a rib broken!"

Jiamin hurriedly said, "Haven't we already talked about this? We chose to follow her. It had nothing to do with her. As for the bull attack, we were the ones who wanted to follow her then, too. You can't blame her."

Seeing his teammates speak up for Xin Jiu infuriated Li Tao.

He suddenly pulled out a jackal-headed, human-bodied doll holding a scepter. Xin Jiu was startled, and Chen Rui's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Anubis's Avatar?"

"You've got a pretty good eye. That's right, it's the Anubis Avatar. Scared now?"

Xin Jiu frowned. Could it be the same kind of thing as the Xingtian doll?

If he summons Anubis... can I get away?

"You're using an A-rank item against me? Aren't you planning to clear any more instances?"

This was only the second floor, and he was already using such an important item. What a waste. Of course, remembering the Xingtian doll she'd used up outside the tower made Xin Jiu's heart ache, too.

If I could do it over... Unfortunately, there were no ifs.

"Li Tao, calm down."

Chen Rui looked very tense. If he'd known Li Tao's temper was this unstable, he never would have teamed up with him.

Doudou and Jiamin huddled together in fear.

The viewers in the livestream were all speechless.

Li Tao couldn't take in another word. All he could think about now was making Xin Jiu die.

Xin Jiu naturally knew she couldn't hide from this, and she wasn't so confident that she thought she could take on Anubis. Her only option was to run first.

Before fleeing, she put all ten attribute points from her first-place reward into agility.

[Strength: 19]

[Agility: 26 → 36 (Good heavens, you can run faster than a cheetah now!)]

[Perception: 30]

[Luck: 7 (Hurry up and add some points. Look how unlucky you are.)]

[Stamina: 100%]

[Points: 2,000]

After Li Tao used Anubis's Avatar, Anubis appeared before them, standing over three meters tall. Li Tao pointed at Xin Jiu and shouted, "Kill her!"

Xin Jiu took off running for her life, with Anubis chasing furiously behind her.

Chen Rui was practically mad with rage. He grabbed Li Tao by the collar and roared, "What the hell are you trying to do?!"

Li Tao said nothing. He just laughed.

Although it only lasted ten minutes, that was enough. He didn't believe anyone could survive Anubis. She would definitely be brutally torn to pieces!

Xin Jiu felt the scenery on either side race backward as the footsteps behind her drew closer and closer.

She heard something cutting through the air and nimbly jerked her head aside.

Anubis's scepter smashed a huge crater into the ground.

If that had hit her, it would have shattered her skull!

At that moment, Xin Jiu's livestream reached a million concurrent viewers, and everyone's hearts were clenched tight.

[I'm seriously about to die of anger. Can that Li Tao just go die?!]

[That helpless feeling when your fist can't reach through the screen.]

[Let's bet on whether she can survive Anubis.]

Xin Jiu didn't know whether Anubis's Avatar lasted as long as Xingtian. If they both lasted half an hour, she was done for.

The clown item!

Right, I have the clown that can die in my place!

But I'm not at the point of certain death yet. I can't use it!

Xin Jiu kept running, and Anubis pursued relentlessly. The two carried on their chase through the forest.

The livestream viewers watched her leap into a tree, only for Anubis's scepter to smash toward her the next second. Then she abruptly doubled back at full speed, but Anubis reacted just as nimbly, immediately turning to follow.

Five minutes passed. Furious that he still hadn't caught this cunning human, Anubis let out a roar.

Even Chen Rui and the others heard that furious roar.

Li Tao laughed even more happily.

Running at full speed had dropped Xin Jiu's stamina to 60%. During that time, Anubis's scepter had skimmed past her cheek several times.

If her stamina dropped to 30%, she'd be a goner.

Wait... Bear Gummies. How did I forget about those?!

Anubis watched as two gummies suddenly appeared in the human's hand. After she stuffed them into her mouth, she actually ran just as fast as she had at the start!

Anubis grew even angrier!