Designate the killer, obliterate...
Listening to the prompt ringing in his ear, Zhang Yuanqing kept his expression impassive, but realization dawned in his mind.
He had found it strange before. The instance had assigned him the role of leader, yet forced him to keep it secret and wouldn't let him vote out the traitor. What was the point of having a leader at all?
Now he understood. This was where the leader's authority lay.
"My role grants me the power to obliterate, so the evildoer must possess a similar ability. That's why Hebo died without any clear explanation. But my power can only be used after completing a quest. If the killer wants to use their ability, there must be conditions attached as well. What are those conditions? There's no way they'd just be handed a free kill for nothing." Zhang Yuanqing's mind raced.
"I already reviewed my memories of everything since entering the instance, and I didn't spot anything unusual. Whatever triggers the killer's power must be something inconspicuous, something only they know about."
Who should he eliminate?
Zhang Yuanqing's thoughts surged at top speed. He quickly locked onto three targets: Xie Lingxi, Huo Mo, and Xi Shi.
Among the three, the one he most wanted to kill was the girl with the long, straight black hair.
Even though she was a delicate, pitiable little beauty, Zhang Yuanqing had genuinely felt the urge to single her out the moment he heard that a haunted house was included in the upcoming attractions.
Still, that was only an impulsive thought.
"The old strategy guide didn't mention any sequences—or at least nothing was written down. This must be a change triggered by Jinshui Amusement Park's difficulty adjustment. Xie Lingxi probably didn't know either. Given the difficulty of an S-rank Spirit Realm, maybe no matter what attraction we picked, we'd end up in the haunted house anyway. There was no avoiding it, just a matter of when.
"We have too little information right now. Rooting out the evildoer is nearly impossible; it would be half deduction and half guesswork, with very little certainty. If I point at the wrong person, we lose a teammate for nothing, which would only put me at a disadvantage.
"Then again, if I do nothing, I'll definitely be the next to die. Maybe my luck will hold and I'll nail the killer on the first try."
He found himself stuck in a dilemma, unsure whether to take a gamble on his gut or play it safe and observe a little longer.
Both choices carried significant risks.
"Since I can't make up my mind as the leader, what is the traitor—the evildoer—thinking at this exact moment?" Zhang Yuanqing decided to approach the problem from another angle.
"Their hidden quest must be to kill people, but whether they know a leader exists is uncertain. Setting that aside for now, when I said earlier that I hadn't spotted any anomalies and that the closed-eye rule remained unchanged, that was a very obvious hint.
"The killer isn't stupid. They must know I 'suspect' there's a traitor in our midst. That means their next move will be to act cautiously and wait for the right opportunity to kill me. When will that opportunity come? That's the crucial part.
"Their role is only a hidden quest, not the main objective. The killer has to consider that killing people too quickly will only spike their own risk in the upcoming trials."
Jinshui Amusement Park was an S-rank instance; Zhang Yuanqing didn't believe the evildoer's objective was merely whittling down team members.
If it were that simple, it wouldn't be S-rank.
Following that train of thought, he reasoned further: "After discovering that there's no avoiding these terrifying supernatural trials, the killer is unlikely to keep killing at a high frequency. They need companions, they need cannon fodder, and someone like me, who's demonstrated real capability, is an ideal candidate.
"So the time to kill me should be during or after we clear the haunted house...
"Well, these are just my theories. They still need to be verified. I can use the 'underground parking garage' to test them. We have half an hour before the next quest. I'll take this chance to sound everyone out again..."
Having sorted out his thoughts, Zhang Yuanqing decided to forgo his leader's authority for now.
"Fuck, in the end we still couldn't dodge the haunted house!"
Over in the plaza, Huo Mo, who had just received the Spirit Realm prompt, was on the verge of losing it. He glared furiously at the fresh-faced young girl. "Damn it all, you're going to get us killed!"
Xie Lingxi pouted, looking deeply aggrieved. "I... I didn't want this either. I didn't know an S-rank Spirit Realm would turn out like this. It's not like I've been here before..."
Huo Mo raked his fingers through his fiery-red hair in frustration, cursing under his breath. "If I knew, I never would've listened to you! Coming up with random ideas... What do we do now? A haunted house is definitely dangerous as hell. What was the old strategy? I think we should talk it over."
Xie Lingxi shook her head. "I... I don't know. The park has too many attractions, and I only memorized some of them..."
"You don't know? You think I'm going to buy that? Do you take me for a three-year-old?!" Huo Mo roared in fury.
"Why are you being so mean..." Xie Lingxi's eyes welled with tears.
She looked seventeen or eighteen, likely still in high school. Being yelled at by Huo Mo made her look utterly wronged and innocent, on the verge of bursting into tears.
"Enough!"
The simple, honest-looking middle-aged man uncharacteristically spoke up, shouting to put an end to their quarreling.
He looked calmly at Huo Mo. "No one could possibly understand this amusement park after the difficulty shift. This isn't her fault. Besides, choosing the roller coaster earlier was the result of a group vote."
The middle-aged man made sense, but Huo Mo's temper was flaring, and he had no interest in listening. He glared fiercely. "Who asked you to butt in while I'm talking? What, you trying to play the good guy here?"
"I'm not playing the good guy. I just want you to shut your mouth! If you don't want to shut it yourself, I can help you!"
A flicker of viciousness flashed across the honest-looking middle-aged man's eyes.
Seeing this, Zhang Yuanqing knew it was time to step in. He quickly walked over, putting himself between the two men, and said with a grin, "Calm down, calm down. If you keep arguing, half an hour will be gone before you know it. Uncle, do me a favor. Once we clear Jinshui Amusement Park, drinks are on me. Brother Huo, once we're out of the Spirit Realm, feel free to look me up. I'm from Yangcheng. The white-cut chicken in Yangcheng is top-tier—tender skin, juicy meat, very moist..."
His banter and grinning demeanor defused the tense standoff.
Huo Mo and the middle-aged man took the out and let the matter drop.
Guided by the signs, the party of six left the plaza and made their way through the brightly lit amusement park.
A chilly breeze blew gently. The pitch-black night sky hung like a boundless velvet curtain, devoid of stars or moon.
The park's dreamy, dazzling lights were the only illumination in this entire world.
Empty roller coasters rumbled and tore across the tracks; the giant pendulum and pirate ship swayed back and forth without stopping; the carousel rotated slowly to cheerful music...
Driverless bumper cars crashed haphazardly into one another on the rink.
The atmosphere had abruptly shifted from fairy-tale dreaminess into something straight out of the underworld.
Nobody spoke along the way. The atmosphere among the teammates was dead silent and rigid. Everyone kept their distance from one another, neither straying too far nor drawing too close.
Clearly, they had picked up on my hint and started suspecting Hebo's death. Next, I need to sound them out one by one. Ugh, having to hide my identity is such a hassle... Zhang Yuanqing actually didn't care anymore whether they guessed he was the leader.
Because it didn't matter.
The moment the evildoer found an opening, he would be the first one they killed, without a shred of hesitation.
He walked briskly up to Xie Lingxi and asked, "Little Sister Lingxi, are you a high school student? Where are you from?"
"I'm from Jiangnan Province, Brother Wang Tai. I'm in my final year of high school."
"What a coincidence! I'm a student at Jiangnan University. How about we exchange phone numbers? Once we clear Jinshui Amusement Park, I can tutor you on your homework and give you one-on-one private lessons."
"Sure, sure!"
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"Why do you ask?"
"If you have a boyfriend, it wouldn't be very convenient for me to give you private lessons."
"Huh? Why?"
Zhang Yuanqing turned toward Xi Shi. "Sister Xi Shi, what do you do for a living?"
"I'm a nurse, you know."
A nurse? The kind who wears a uniform and gets "injected"? Zhang Yuanqing put on an admiring expression. "I have the utmost respect for angels in white."
Xi Shi's eyes rippled with allure, her expression enchanting as she purred suggestively, "Actually, there's no need to respect me that much. I prefer men who are a bit wilder and rougher, dominating me to their heart's content."
Zhang Yuanqing fell silent for a moment before breaking into a wide smile. "Let's sleep together sometime when we're free."
He then walked over to Ashamed to Be a Father and struck up a casual conversation: "Uncle, do you have a daughter?"
The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes and gave a brief "Mm."
Curious, Zhang Yuanqing asked, "Your relationship with your daughter must be pretty terrible, right?"
The middle-aged man's honest face instantly darkened, and he said coldly, "None of your business."
"Sorry, sorry..."
Putting some distance between himself and the middle-aged man, Zhang Yuanqing quickly caught up to the red-haired young man ahead. The man was gaunt as a skeleton, with small, sharp eyes and slanting eyebrows that gave off a hot-tempered, abrasive impression.
After a few flattering remarks from Zhang Yuanqing, Huo Mo broke into a smile, finding the kid quite pleasant to talk to and willing to converse with him.
When Zhang Yuanqing asked for his thoughts on their teammates, Huo Mo replied nonchalantly, "None of these teammates are normal. That young girl plays the victim the whole time. That busty woman looks easy, but when I asked her back on the roller coaster platform if she wanted to go down and have a quick roll in the hay, she completely ignored me. And that uncle looks the least like a decent person of all."
With that, Huo Mo glanced back at Great Sage Equal to Heaven, the young punk who was busy fawning over Xie Lingxi, and scoffed contemptuously, "As for that guy, he's just a useless coward. Brother Wang Tai, out of this whole squad, you're the one who looks most agreeable to me."
"You flatter me, Brother Huo. I think you're the most reliable one here too."
Finally, Zhang Yuanqing approached the lively young lad wearing driving loafers and skinny jeans. "Great Sage, care to step aside for a word?"
Great Sage Equal to Heaven cast a reluctant glance back at Xie Lingxi before following Zhang Yuanqing to one side.
"What is it?" He looked inquiringly at the socially adept young man.
"What do you think of those two girls?" Zhang Yuanqing chuckled softly.
Great Sage Equal to Heaven glanced at Xie Lingxi. "Pretty. Nice, perky butt, but her chest is on the smaller side."
He then looked at Xi Shi. "Big chest, round ass, but she doesn't really pay attention to anyone."
As for Huo Mo and the middle-aged man, Great Sage Equal to Heaven thought the former was too bad-tempered and difficult to deal with, so he kept his distance. The latter was taciturn, but occasionally offered good advice.
Zhang Yuanqing suddenly lowered his voice and said, "If I die, do whatever it takes to kill that uncle. He belongs to an evil profession."
Great Sage Equal to Heaven was jolted with shock. His eyes widened slightly, and he instinctively opened his mouth before snapping it shut, his expression turning wary and cautious.
Ten minutes later, the group arrived at the underground parking garage on the west side of the park, coming to a halt at the top of the ramp.
Looking down the slope, they could see incandescent lights glowing inside the garage, dimly revealing rows of dust-covered cars parked in orderly fashion.
Inside the garage, it was deathly silent.
Zhang Yuanqing looked toward Xie Lingxi, speaking on behalf of everyone present:
"What's the strategy for this stage?"
Chapter 51