This wasn’t the first time that Li Hou had been questioned, but it was obviously different from the previous situation.
The reason for ignoring Li Tao was entirely because he knew this person didn’t pose much of a threat to him. No one needed to pay attention to the emotions of a weak person.
In contrast, Chi Ting’s performance from beginning to end was undoubtedly that of a strong man. This also made Li Hou have to take into account his thoughts.
Moreover, Chi Ting’s wording just now was too subtle. Li Hou had only acted twice in front of these people, but Chi Ting said ‘again and again’, not twice. Unless—he guessed what Li Hou did before.
Li Hou’s heart jumped violently, but he stuck a smile on his face. “Everyone’s purpose is to clear the instance. I also have my own reasons.”
He glanced at the other people meaningfully, and his tone lengthened slightly. “Brother Chi, how about we talk?”
Li Hou captured the panic on the faces of the other people, and the curved angle of his mouth became more and more distinct.
Suspicion was always something that couldn’t be erased once it was born in the human heart.
After clearing the instances so many times, Li Hou had absolute confidence that Chi Ting would be willing to cooperate after hearing his ears. After all, at this juncture where the deadline was approaching, no fool would be willing to give up the opportunity to clear the instance.
Chi Ting was a bigshot who had experienced a lot. He should be more aware of the cruelty of this game. It was possible to sympathize with the weak, but it was completely unnecessary at a special juncture.
Of course, even if Chi Ting was really stupid and refused to cooperate, a separate conversation between them would be enough to cause a very delicate crisis in this seemingly strong, small group relationship.
It meant cracks would appear in them, and there would be opportunities he could take advantage of.
The method of clearing the instance would always be the biggest bargaining chip in the instance.
The smile on Li Hou’s face grew even wider when he thought of this. However, not even a second passed before it completely stiffened on his face.
“No thanks, it isn’t necessary.”
The answer entered his ears, and Li Hou’s eyes widened in astonishment. “Do you know what you are talking about? I know the way to clear the instance. If you cooperate with me, I can take you out!”
“I said that it isn’t necessary,” Chi Ting slowly repeated his reply again. His attitude showed that he really didn’t have the slightest intention of chatting with Li Hou.
What made Li Hou feel even more desperate were the next words.
“If I’m not mistaken, what you want to say is that you just need me to cooperate with you and arrange for one or two people to be sacrificed. Then the rest of us can safely pass the instance, right?”
Chi Ting looked up slightly. His gaze slowly swept over the three open doors on the 9th floor. Obviously, there were no fluctuations in his expression, but it could clearly be felt that his tone cooled down a bit. “Fan Pengyue, Cheng Chao, and the three NPCs on the 9th and 11th floors should be your masterpieces, right? Putting aside the others, wasn’t Cheng Chao a friend who entered the instance with you? You can actually act against a friend.”
At first, there was just faint sweat on his forehead. Then when he listened to the end, Li Hou just felt his whole body was covered with sweat. His clothes were already tightly attached to his body.
He stared into Chi Ting’s eyes as if looking at a monster. “You… how do you…”
He couldn’t understand how this man could speculate on the complete truth.
Chi Ting had always been paying attention to every change in Li Hou’s mood. Then a bit of regret appeared in his eyes. “It seems I guessed correctly again.”
As a human being, why do such a thing?
Really, what a pity.
Chi Ting couldn’t help sighing in his heart.
He really felt sad from the bottom of his heart.
Chi Ting patiently sorted out the folds of his clothes. Then he stepped forward and walked toward Li Hou.
This time, even without Li Tao’s warning skill, Li Hou felt a very strong sense of danger.
He trembled for no reason.
He instinctively took two steps back. His whole body was in a tense state. He had already vigilantly placed his hand on his storage space.
Li Hou frantically shifted through the battle items while trying very hard to control his already trembling voice. He wanted to change Chi Ting’s thoughts. “You… what are you doing? In fact, we can work together… Cooperation is the better option, isn’t it? I know the correct way to clear the instance, and it is only at the last step. We can get out of here together if you want.”
Chi Ting had already walked up to him. “I never doubted that you know the way to clear the instance, but it might not be the right way.”
There was no longer a gentle smile on his face. He looked down without any expression, and Li Hou seemed to feel like it was a gaze from the god of death.
His mind seemed to go blank at this moment under the excessive sense of oppression.
Strangely, he could still clearly hear Chi Ting’s voice entering his ears word by word.
“OF course, I would love to leave here, but I don’t necessarily need to work with you. Well, I seem to have guessed what you mean by the ‘last step’. Should we make a bet?”
The difficulty breathing caused by fear made Li Hou’s chest rise and fall abnormally. He almost instinctively raised his head. “W… What bet?”
“Just make a bet…” Chi Ting smiled. “Whether my bet is right or not.”
There wasn’t much time left to react. Li Hou didn’t even have time to digest this sentence. The meaning of the words caused a strange premonition of danger. He instinctively took out a high-level item from his space bag. However, there was no chance for him to take any other action.
The string of beads climbed up and firmly bound his hands like a lifeless, dead thing. Then he was flung out by Chi Ting with incomparable lightness.
Li Hou was pulled by the violent force and seemed to hear the ‘clicking’ sound of his bones being pulled and broken. What made him feel more desperate was the face without facial features that was instantly approaching in front of him.
At this moment, he seemed to see Fan Pengyue, Cheng Chao… and Ma Zizhou.
They were smiling and greeting him, welcoming him.
“No, you can’t do this to me—! No, you can’t—!”
The last words stopped abruptly with a click. It was as if something was being eaten away at little by little.
The heads returned to Chi Ting’s hands, and he gently stroked it with his fingertips. Finally, he sighed softly. “In fact, I really like the human species, but it depends on whether people are worthy of living or not.”
Under the lens of the live stream room, a close-up was given to this moment. The audience was still immersed in Li Hou’s ending, and their minds hadn’t returned. Suddenly, the absolute visual impact shocked their hearts.
[Is it my delusion? This Chi Ting… seems a bit crazy?]
[Be confident. Remove the seems.]
[I said that Li Hou was ready to sacrifice his teammates before entering the instance. He didn’t even let go of his friends living on the lower floors. He really deserves this ending!]
[He deserves it, he deserves it. It is just that this Chi Ting is too different. He looks so harmless in front of people, but it was actually a pretense?]
[This is an unlimited game. Ruthlessness is correct.]
[It scared me into a cold sweat. It directly gave me a face value crit. This live stream room should be able to develop well in the face value area in the future.]
[What is this sudden character contrast? I must follow him after this wave!]
At the corner of the stairs, Li Hou was already surrounded by the wandering souls floating in mid-air.
There was obviously no contact, but it seemed like something invisible was eating away at his blood and bones. He was melting away little by little in front of everyone.
Such a picture was undoubtedly too weird. Chi Ting glanced at it once and didn’t look at it again. He slowly raised his head and looked upstairs. “You peeked for so long. Isn’t it time to come out?”
Was there someone else?
The others had long been frightened stupid by such a development. They reflexively hugged each other a bit together and followed the direction that Chi Ting was looking at, Then they saw a tall figure slowly appear in their field of view.
He peeked and was caught on the spot, but Yue Ren didn’t show any guilty expressions. He was full of interested exploration when looking at Chi Ting.
Such straightforward and blatant eyes roamed back and forth over the other person’s beautiful face. Finally, he smiled slightly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to follow you. I just had one question that was haunting me since I went back last night. I was afraid I would stay awake all night if I didn’t find the answer.”
Chi Ting met this person’s gaze and raised an eyebrow slightly. “Now that question is solved?”
“Of course. I have to thank Mr. Chi for allowing me to find the answer.”
Yue Ren glanced at the head that had been eaten away at, and the corners of his mouth slowly curved up. It was as if he was very satisfied with the harvest of his trip. “As I guessed, this Li Hou really knows Ma Zizhou.”
From his demeanor, it seemed that this was something more important to him than Li Hou’s death.
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Thanks for the update
Eh, in such a situation, it was pretty much deserved, but I also can’t help but feel that he didn’t suffer (psychologically) enough. Have I finally become like those FLs in historical novels who keep people alive just to toy with them to the end? Though, dealing with it neatly is very much CT’s style.
Thanks for the chapter and stay safe!
Hi hi that was soooooo amazing!! Like, for real. Disgusting, but so cool.