Chapter 231: Are They Teammates? (7)

Wanrenzhan looked as proud as a peacock spreading its tail once again, clearly trying to show everyone just how exceptional he was.

The mountain path had been slippery.

To keep from slipping, every single step he took had been driven straight into the earth and even into the rocks themselves.

Stepping into the dirt merely ruined his boots.

But Federation mountains were filled with ore-bearing stone that was unbelievably hard. Driving his feet into it could easily tear open flesh.

The fact that even his high-grade equipment had been destroyed proved everything.

Wanrenzhan really was extraordinary.

No ordinary person could possibly have done it.

If an average person had tried stomping into an ore mountain like that, their feet would have been shredded to pieces.

Wanrenzhan had walked the entire way with nothing more than a little bleeding.

That depended on his body being as tough as a forged weapon.

But...

It was also undeniably...

Very stupid.

He Yu frowned and pursed his lips.

"Are you an idiot?"

Wanrenzhan: "???"

He immediately jumped up.

"Hey! How am I an idiot? Didn't I get you safely down the mountain? Look at everyone else—they all fell! This tiny injury will heal on its own in no time."

Having heard everything, Eugene wore an unusually complicated expression.

Wanrenzhan really was stupid.

But sometimes...

His sincerity made it impossible to know how to describe him.

[Bullet Screen: "For some reason... I'm actually a little touched..."]

[Bullet Screen: "Is this what a battle-type straight guy is like? He only knows how to do things, never how to say them. Wuwuwu... I'm shipping Wanrenzhan × He Yu just a little!"]

[Bullet Screen: "Every time I remember the things he used to say, I can't ship them anymore. Blue Eyes is still the better ship! Ahhh, where's my Blue Eyes?!"]

He Yu looked at Wanrenzhan's feet.

He seemed about to say something.

Beside him, Ling Buchen took a deep breath and stepped forward.

Wanrenzhan was completely off guard.

Ling Buchen wrapped an arm around his neck and directly poured an ordinary three-star recovery potion into his mouth.

Instinctively swallowing it...

Not only did the minor injuries on his feet disappear, even the exhaustion from climbing down the mountain vanished completely.

Wanrenzhan blinked.

"What are you doing?"

Zhen Xing took out a pair of boots.

Judging by their color and material, they were obviously an even higher grade than Wanrenzhan's destroyed pair.

He handed them over with a faint smile.

"For you."

Wanrenzhan: "??"

He stared blankly.

"Giving them to me?"

Zhen Xing's expression remained gentle.

"That's right. Do you want them?"

Wanrenzhan immediately snatched them away.

Squinting his eyes, he declared,

"You'd better not regret it after giving them to me!"

Zhen Xing waved a hand.

"Don't worry. I definitely won't. They're yours."

Wanrenzhan now felt completely refreshed.

Looking at the boots in his arms...

He truly couldn't understand why everyone had suddenly started treating him so well...

Zhen Xing turned toward He Yu and spoke softly.

"Alright. Don't mind him anymore."

Ling Buchen smiled as well.

"Should we head to the mission point I found next? We can also check for other mission points on the way."

He Yu nodded.

He withdrew his attention from Wanrenzhan before looking over the mud-covered group.

"Let's find somewhere with water first. Everyone should wash up."

"Alright."

The group left the snowy mountain behind and headed off in another direction.

As they walked, they discussed the details of the instance.

"Did everyone receive the notifications while coming down?"

"You mean the announcements for completing Missions 17 and 16?"

"Exactly."

"I think everyone got them. Looks like the missions really are numbered, and every completed mission gets announced throughout the entire instance. It's meant to increase the contestants' sense of urgency."

"I wonder whether higher-numbered missions are harder, or lower-numbered ones."

"We'll know after completing another mission. The higher-point missions have to be more difficult..."

...

Their voices gradually faded into the distance.

Wanrenzhan lagged behind.

Looking at the boots in his hands...

Then feeling his completely recovered feet...

He suddenly realized why everyone had started treating him so "kindly."

They clearly didn't want He Yu paying attention to him!

Wanrenzhan exploded.

He chased after them while roaring,

"Zhen Xing! Take your boots back!!"

Zhen Xing replied calmly,

"A gift, once given, cannot be returned."

"You tricked me—"

"I gave you a present."

"Yeah, Wanrenzhan, just keep them. Zhen Xing has plenty of equipment."

"That's right. Your boots are ruined. You need another pair."

"Just keep them."

"You all—"

...

The noisy group gradually disappeared into the distance.

[Bullet Screen: "Hahaha! That idiot finally figured it out. He never even wondered why Ling Buchen and Zhen Xing suddenly started treating him so well?"]

[Bullet Screen: "Tsk tsk. Those two are pretty sneaky. They completely wrapped that lovable idiot around their fingers."]

[Bullet Screen: "Just a minute ago he was happily telling Zhen Xing not to regret it. Hahaha! Now he's the one regretting it."]

—

Before long, the group activated their flight equipment.

Their destination was the mission point Ling Buchen had mentioned.

Since it was quite far away, they searched for other mission points and sources of water along the way.

Flying low through the air allowed them to move quickly while keeping the ground in view.

Soon...

A lake with emerald-green water appeared before them.

Everyone immediately landed, intending to wash themselves.

But the moment their feet touched the ground—

A notification sounded.

【Mission 31 completed.】

Everyone froze.

At the same time the announcement rang out...

Three people burst out of the lake.

Their faces were filled with unmistakable joy.

The instant they emerged, they came face to face with He Yu's group.

It was obvious.

These three had just completed the mission.

Immediately, all three became guarded.

The man in the middle raised his equipment and shouted,

"What are you trying to do? The mission here has already been completed. Leave immediately!"

He Yu's group didn't move.

They had come to wash themselves.

Not to steal a mission.

Not to kill anyone.

Naturally...

There was no reason to leave.

The man on the left lowered his voice.

"I don't think they're here with good intentions. The mission's already over, but they're still refusing to leave..."

The man on the right whispered,

"There are more than ten of them. What do we do?"

The leader swept his gaze across the group.

Everyone was covered in mud.

He couldn't recognize a single face.

They all looked miserable.

He immediately said,

"What are you afraid of? We still have that special piece of equipment we just got."

After thinking it over, the man on the left nodded.

"That's true. Look how filthy they all are. They probably aren't among the stronger contestants."

Everyone in the Top One Hundred was powerful.

But there were still enormous differences between them.

A truly elite expert equipped with excellent gear could easily defeat several opponents at once.

Not to mention...

The equipment they'd just obtained was extraordinarily special.

The people in front of them had managed to make themselves look this pathetic.

Their strength probably ranked somewhere in the lower half of the Top One Hundred.

The three of them, meanwhile, were comfortably among the upper ranks.

Encouraged by those words, the man on the right also assumed a fighting stance.

The atmosphere immediately became tense.

He Yu had been walking slightly behind everyone else.

His slim frame was almost completely hidden behind Wanrenzhan.

He stepped around him and calmly walked forward.

"Do we really have to start fighting the moment we meet, before we've even determined whether we're friends or enemies?"

Their group hadn't taken these three seriously at all.

Nor had they intended to fight.

The three froze.

The man in the middle suddenly raised his voice in disbelief.

"He Yu?!"

—Holy shit!

It was actually He Yu!

Before the competition...

No one had ever heard the name He Yu.

During the first half of the tournament...

He had been nothing more than an easy target in everyone's eyes.

But by the latter half...

The meaning of those two words had completely changed.

Not only did every audience member know him...

Every contestant knew him as well.

—He Yu meant trouble.

Difficult.

And almost unbeatable when it came to intelligence.

They had actually run into He Yu!

As though suddenly realizing something, the man in the middle's pupils contracted.

He hurriedly looked at everyone else, studying the mud-covered figures more carefully.

Gradually...

He recognized familiar traces beneath all that mud.

One after another.

Each one more familiar than the last.

"Zhen Xing? Eugene? Wanrenzhan? Gedai? Yuan Ze? Duan Yuchen? Siya? Qiong? Zhante? Tang Ke? Ling Buchen... and Bo Jingshan?"

He swallowed hard as he cautiously listed each name.

The other two beside him had already become too shocked to speak.

With every name he mentioned...

Their shock deepened.

By the time he reached the end...

They were completely numb.

Wanrenzhan looked impatient.

"Why are you calling your grandpa?"

The three: "..."

They immediately lowered their weapons.

Their entire world seemed to collapse.

—What the hell was this nightmare lineup?!

Putting these people together...

Was there even any hope left for everyone else?

Encountering any one of them individually was already troublesome.

Running into more than ten at once...

And then adding He Yu's brain to the equation...

The despair only deepened.

He Yu said calmly,

"Relax. We're not here to fight. We just came to take a bath."

With that, he started walking toward the lake without wasting another word on the three of them.

The trio cautiously stepped aside.

Faced with this group...

They knew escaping was impossible.

They didn't dare run either.

If they angered them...

Death was certain.

Seeing that He Yu's group truly wasn't paying attention to them, everyone continued walking straight ahead.

As He Yu approached...

The three unconsciously tensed to the extreme.

—The objective of this instance was to kill people whose identities were unknown!

—They truly feared being killed.

What if this group of more than ten people decided to eliminate everyone else first...

Before turning on each other?

Just as He Yu's group came within two steps...

The man in the middle suddenly took out a Verification Card.

He used it on He Yu.

At the same moment...

The man on the left produced another Verification Card.

He used it on Zhen Xing.

The man in the middle's pupils contracted violently.

The caution in his eyes toward He Yu instantly reached its peak.

Meanwhile, the man on the left shouted excitedly,

"Zhen Xing is our teammate!!"

The rules of the instance prohibited revealing whether you belonged to Camp One or Camp Two.

But everyone had already tested something.

You could still say whether someone was a teammate...

Or an enemy.

That information was incredibly easy to fake.

People could lie the moment they met.

For example...

After verifying someone as an enemy, you could simply claim they were your ally.

Or even without verifying them at all, you could lie and say—

"I already checked. They're on our side."

Using a Verification Card produced no visual effect whatsoever.

The card simply disappeared.

Which also meant...

Someone could pretend to have already used one...

Even if they had never activated it at all.

In short...

It was incredibly easy to deceive people.

After the two completed their verifications...

The man on the right stared at them in disbelief.

His eyes were full of shock.

And fury.

They actually still had Verification Cards!

Which meant...

When they'd claimed earlier to have already verified identities...

Both of them had been lying.

They had never used their cards.

They had merely hidden them inside their backpacks.

So the so-called alliance between the three of them...

Had been nothing more than mutual deception.

Each of them possessed a Verification Card.

Neither had used it.

Meaning...

The three of them might not even belong to the same camp.

The man on the right was on the verge of breaking down.

But the other two had no attention left for him.

Their focus had been completely seized by the verification results.

Half delighted.

Half alarmed.

The man on the left looked excitedly at Zhen Xing.

"Please don't kill us! We really are on the same side. Believe me. I have a way to prove it to you."

The man in the middle stared fixedly at He Yu before raising his voice toward Zhen Xing.

"Zhen Xing, will you join us? Don't stay beside the enemy camp anymore. He Yu is incredibly difficult to deal with."

Everyone froze.

Zhen Xing joining them...

He Yu belonged to the enemy camp?

Which meant—

Zhen Xing and He Yu weren't in the same camp?!

[Bullet Screen: "HOLY SHIT!!"]

[Bullet Screen: "The secret He Yu wanted to hide just got exposed like that!!"]

[Bullet Screen: "Oh my god, it happened so suddenly! Even He Yu probably never expected those three would make a move like this!"]