There was no light in the stadium. Feng Bujue and Xiao Tan took out their flashlights while the two GMs put on night-vision goggles. They admitted that all their equipment was preset, including the weapons, metal shoes, other unrevealed equipment, and those night-vision goggles. In any case, they were given equipment that was more than enough to deal with the scenarios that they were tasked to handle. None of their equipment had requirements, and they were extremely powerful and bound to their users. All six of their masteries were level D, and since level D only had a success rate of sixty percent, they did not have any active skills, only passive skills to enhance their ability.
The two traced the Anomaly’s coordinates, which were revealed in the GM’s menu. They entered a large basketball court inside the stadium, and there was still no light there.
They came in from the entrance that led to the audience’s seat. After pushing the door open, the large, dark space swallowed the light from the flashlights. Feng Bujue and Xiao Tan’s flashlights could not reach very far, like the seats on the opposite side, and it was almost the same for the two GM’s goggles. Looking at a space that was too far away, they would only see darkness. In that kind of place, the monster that were the size of normal humans could hide easily by squatting behind one of the rows of chair.
“I’m wondering… will it work by negotiating with them?” Xiao Tan asked softly. His hand that held the kitchen knife was shuddering, and his palm was slick with sweat. Before the three could answer him, they heard a sudden crash coming from behind them. The source was none other than Ashford’s Mutant. It was leaping through the air, and its target was Xiao Tan.
This scenario’s boss was hiding among the seats just above the entrance, the blind spot for the group. Be it its hiding spot or its attack method, this was not a choice that was doable for a normal monster.
The Anomaly knew about the players’ real time coordinates while Ashford could sense the player’s movements through its acute sense of smell. That was why it had chosen to conduct its ambush there and made the weakest link its target. This was probably something that was written into the boss’ code.
The attack came very suddenly, and the monster moved stealthily. Other than the sound it made as it sprung up from the platform and the sound of whipping wind, it was silent. Even a GM did not notice it, much less a normal player like Wang Tanzhi.
Thankfully, the place was very quiet. The sound of the jump reached Xiao Tan’s ears faster than the boss’ leap through the air. He managed to turn around before he was sent flying by the enemy. Of course, the time that was given to him to react was only about one second.
In that one second, Xiao Tan was not given much choice. If he did not do anything or made the wrong choice, the result would be a sharp drop of his Life Points. He probably would not die because, when he set up the explosives earlier, Xiao Tan had put on the black helmet that he had found. He had armor on his head, so his head would not be smacked off so easily, but… whether it was the helmet or his body that was attacked, upon being ambushed by the boss, losing three quarters of Life Points was expected. Perhaps he might even be stunned or bled out.
With Xiao Tan’s speed, avoiding this attack was impossible. He could not expect Feng Bujue or the GMs to save him; they were not fast enough. Thus, he could only rely on himself.
During this crucial moment, Wang Tanzhi’s Terror Points did not rise. Instead, they fell to zero. At that moment, his gaze changed to mirror that of a surgeon at the surgery table; he was calm, focused, and determined. The mutant was like the patient under his knife, and it was unable to do anything to change what was about to happen.
Those who appeared polite normal would become extremely calm and cruel at the most important moment. Wang Tanzhi’s hand that grabbed the knife was steady, precise, and powerful. In the dark environment, the blade glinted. The blade arced and poked into the mutant’s claw.
The result of the contact blasted Xiao Tan’s knife away, and his arm would be slashed or torn, but the transference of force needed time, no matter how short that time was.
The moment the knife touched the mutant’s skin, before the impact made its effect known, Xiao Tan’s body blurred into a shadow. At the same time, he appeared ten meters away, and escaped from any damage. Since the audience’s platform was slanted, he appeared in midair and was about four meters above solid ground. He fell and rolled down the slope, losing twenty-seven percent of Life Points.
Even Feng Bujue was startled when he saw this. He did not expect Xiao Tan to make such an extreme judgement under great stress. Pan Feng and Hwa Xiong were beyond words, but they recovered quickly. As Xiao Tan disappeared, they rushed forward and landed their axe and spear on the mutant before it regained its stance from missing its attack.
Several seconds later, Hwa Xiong breathed out in surprise. He could not help but laugh. “That kid used Fleeing Strike, didn’t he?”
“Hmm… I didn’t realize it, but he only has one skill, and it was given to him by his title,” Pan Feng answered.
“I’ll handle this boss. You two have something else to deal with,” Feng Bujue suddenly said, and it was quickly followed by the boom of the Winchester. Feng Bujue was aiming at the darkness behind Pan Feng and Hwa Xiong.
Earlier, in the dark, a silent shadow had leaped over from the monitor that hung in the ceiling of the court. It had glided through the air and rushed toward Pan Feng and Hwa Xiong. If Ashford’s ambush was sudden, then Feng Bujue had expected this ambush from miles away.
He had a clear understanding of the Anomaly’s AI. Since it was able to set up a trap like this, it definitely had a follow-up plan. The Anomaly’s target would not be the players; it wanted to kill the GMs. The player posed too little a threat to it, but as for Pan Feng and Hwa Xiong, if it could kill one of them, its odds of victory would rise inordinately.
Therefore, the mutant’s ambush, whether it was successful or not, was not important; the important point was that it could attract the GMs’ attention. When they were focused on the Mutant, the Anomaly would follow up with another ambush from another direction.
The selection of this venue, the location of the mutant, the direction the attack came from… It was all to prepare for this moment. If this sneak attack was successful, even if the mutant was killed, it was an overall gain for the Anomaly. Once the boss died, the two players would be forced to leave the scenario after at most three minutes. Then, the heavily injured Pan Feng and Hwa Xiong would be cornered. The Anomaly only needed to draw the battle out and wait for the hoard of BW Zombies outside to rush in, and then it would be over for the two GMs.
If it was only the two GMs who did the pursuit, the Anomaly’s plan might have worked. Unfortunately, it had run into Feng Bujue. A gunshot was enough to shoot down the Anomaly, which was less than five meters away.
The Eyes of Hostility had been following this strange shadow in the dark. Even though the flashlight could not reach it, when the Anomaly was travelling through the air, the alert Feng Bujue still noticed its presence. He calmly used his words to notify Pan Feng and Hwa Xiong and pulled the trigger when the Anomaly entered the range in which he was confident that he could hit it.
Even though the Anomaly was agile, it did not have the ability to change its direction in midair. Since its trajectory was ascertained by Feng Bujue, it was technically flying into the barrel of his gun.
The great impact of the Winchester formed a wall for the Anomaly to knock into. As the gun sounded, it suddenly stopped gliding forward and instead started to fall in a vertical line. But the monster was extraordinarily strong. Even though it was bloody, it managed to hold onto the edge of the rail.
Feng Bujue took two seconds to remove the cartridge, reload, aim, and fire. He burned the Anomaly’s arm that was grabbing the ledge.
“Stop wasting time. The Anomaly is your real target, so leave the mutant to me.” Feng Bujue calmly loaded another shot and reminded them again.
The two GMs finally caught up to speed. The faster Hwa Xiong pulled his spear back, turned around, and leaped through the rail. He flipped over it and started attacking the Anomaly.
The lower level was very dark, but thanks to the night-vision goggles, it did not affect Hwa Xiong’s fighting capability. Xiao Tan, who had fallen to that level could not see the combat—he only spotted the sparks that occasionally burst through the darkness and heard the constant clashing of metals. This was probably because the Anomaly had literally shown its claws.
“If you continue to stick around here, it’s going to affect my accuracy,” Feng Bujue told Pan Feng. “I’ve already told you, leave the mutant to me.”
“I wish I can! Even if you have the capability to deal with it, I’ve already drawn its hostility. If I turn to jump down, it will only follow me!” Pan Feng replied between strikes.
“That’s easy to fix.” Feng Bujue put the gun away and took out the wrench and rushed forward like he did not care about his life.
When Feng Bujue got close to the mutant, standing between Pan Feng and the boss, he suddenly put his weapon away and used his leg to trip the monster.
Pan Feng thought that Feng Bujue had lost his mind, but the next second, the mutant suddenly groaned in pain and adopted a strange posture as it fell to the ground.