Chapter 71

A middle-aged man at the head of the group rushed to the front. His flashlight quickly swept over them, his gaze fixed warily on Jiang Liu in the driver’s seat. He even had a long saber tucked into his belt, its gleaming blade flashing with a cold light.

Jiang Liu pursed her lips without a word, hearing a stir from the back seat.

Tang Rui, a friendly smile on his face, raised his hands high and explained to the man, “Brother, we’re all players. Don’t be rash!”

As he spoke, he held out his hand to show the man the conspicuous Black Ring on his middle finger.

The middle-aged man’s eyes swept over them, and as if confirming their identities, he turned and waved to the people behind him. Only then did he lower the beam of his flashlight, his body relaxing. “Then come on up.”

Tang Rui nodded repeatedly. Despite his young age, he acted like a seasoned veteran. He leaped off the boat in a few steps, using the man’s hand to jump onto the shore. He then smoothly grabbed the man’s arm and began introducing himself as if they were old buddies.

“My name is Tang Rui. Brother, what’s with your getup? You must have killed a ton of Sea Demons. That’s really impressive!” While he praised him, he couldn’t help but wrinkle his nose, clearly a bit disgusted by the pungent smell.

This naturally friendly flattery was delivered with remarkable sincerity.

After all, the blood on these people wasn’t fake. The praise immediately made the middle-aged man look pleased, and although he subconsciously tried to hide it, the corners of his lips curled up involuntarily.

“Not at all, not at all. It took a lot of effort,” he said, waving his hand, his face glowing with pride. When he saw that the people on the boat were all inexperienced young men and women, his self-esteem was greatly satisfied, and his posture became much more relaxed than before.

“My name is Zhang Zhong. Like these guys, I’m a player. We were on the island from the moment we entered the instance,” he said, pointing to the people behind him as he introduced himself.

While the two were talking, Jiang Liu also got up and jumped off the boat. A young man nearby had intended to give her a hand, but Jiang Liu didn’t even look at him. She leaped gracefully onto the shore and landed steadily.

The young man frowned, then turned his attention to Tang Ruo. He changed the direction of his hand and extended it. “You guys come up too.”

Tang Ruo coolly said there was no need and jumped out of the boat just as nimbly. Her expression was placid, making her seem even colder than Jiang Liu.

Having his good intentions rejected three times in a row, the smile on the young man’s face became a little strained. He stared at the two women’s striking appearances, his eyes darting around as if he was sizing them up.

“You guys are really lucky. We came from the beach,” Tang Rui said, scratching his head with a hint of envy in his eyes.

Zhang Zhong nodded, his gaze falling on the timid-looking Xiao Ya. “Who is she?”

This girl seemed out of place with the others and didn’t have a ring on her hand. She didn’t look like a player.

Tang Rui chuckled and pulled him by the arm, lowering his voice. “An NPC. The Xiao Ya from the quest.”

Zhang Zhong had a look of sudden realization and couldn’t help but pat him on the shoulder, sizing him up. “You don’t look that old, but you’re quite capable. You found her so quickly.”

The two of them started chatting. Seeing that there was no danger, the people behind them also let down their guard and gathered around to watch.

“Brother, where did you get this speedboat?” someone asked, poking Tang Rui, clearly envious of the vessel.

Tang Rui was taken aback and subconsciously glanced at Jiang Liu. He heard her clear, cool voice say, “I exchanged points for it.”

The eyes of the people around them changed instantly, staring straight at Jiang Liu. Even Zhang Zhong couldn’t help but be surprised for a moment.

To be able to lavishly exchange for such items, she must have a lot of points.

What did that mean? She was a Big Shot!

Jiang Liu raised her hand and took off her dark sunglasses, almost instantly feeling the shift in the crowd’s gaze.

If they had been more focused on her appearance before, now they were genuinely interested in her as a person.

Her eyes shifted, and she let out a laugh with another sentence. “It’s a Single-use Item. The instance supervisor helped me get it. I didn’t expect it to actually come in handy.”

The concept of single-use versus permanent was completely different, and the points required were naturally much lower. Understanding this, Zhang Zhong couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, thinking to himself that this made more sense. Jiang Liu looked gentle and weak, not at all like someone powerful.

Having figured this out, the group no longer seemed like a threat. His mentality relaxed, and he commanded the people around him with the air of a superior. “Alright, stop crowding around. It’s not a good place to talk here. Let’s go over to the fire.”

Everyone nodded and lit their flashlights to lead the way. Tang Rui walked beside Zhang Zhong, chatting idly. Jiang Liu watched their backs, thinking to herself that she had never realized Tang Rui was such a smooth talker before.

She glanced at the silent Tang Ruo beside her and thought that perhaps they complemented each other.

The island wasn’t large; walking from east to west would take an hour at most. The surrounding darkness was vast and empty, so dim that it was impossible to see the edges, making the fire ahead exceptionally conspicuous.

However, the closer they got to the fire, the thicker the smell of blood in the air became. The pungent odor was almost enough to make one faint. Jiang Liu felt that the ground beneath her feet was strange. She pulled up her collar to cover her nose and mouth and looked down. In the beam of a flashlight, a glint of reflected light flashed for an instant.

She crouched down and touched it, only then realizing that the ground here was covered in blood. It was still flowing, forming a shallow pool on the earth.

The sticky sensation made Jiang Liu uncomfortable. She quickly wiped her fingers clean, only to feel a tug on her clothes from behind.

Xiao Ya’s face was pale. She had stopped with Jiang Liu and pointed in a certain direction, her voice trembling. “Sister Jiang, look over there?”

Following her gaze, Jiang Liu could vaguely make out the silhouettes of several iron cages in the darkness not far away. She narrowed her eyes and told Xiao Ya to go ahead with Tang Ruo. She then broke away from the main group and walked towards them.

The smell of blood was even stronger nearby, and the feeling underfoot was more distinct. Jiang Liu took out her phone for light and was instantly rendered speechless by the sight before her.

On this empty island, a dozen iron cages stood. Inside, about a dozen Mermaids were imprisoned. The scales on their fishtails had been almost completely plucked off, and they were curled up nakedly on the ground.

Their throats had all been slit, and their bodies were covered in wounds from which a constant stream of blood flowed, gradually forming a river of red.

There were both male and female Mermaids. As if sensing someone approaching, they all raised their heads to look at Jiang Liu. The one closest to her opened its mouth, its voice dry and hoarse. As it moved, a trickle of blood flowed from its mouth.

Jiang Liu took a deep breath, only then realizing that the wounds on their necks had been inflicted with precise force. They could have been killed with a single blow, but that wasn’t what had been done.

But why torture them like this? Jiang Liu wondered, stunned.

“Ah! Ah!” Seeing Jiang Liu approach, the Mermaid who had spoken first cried out again. Its fragmented words were completely unintelligible, but at the sound of its voice, all the Mermaids looked at Jiang Liu. A cacophony of rough sounds filled the air, chaotic yet strangely synchronized.

They were pleading for help.

Recognizing this, Jiang Liu felt a chill run down her spine.

The hoarse cries attracted the attention of the nearby crowd. Zhang Zhong ran over, cursing, and without a second thought, threw his flashlight at the cage. “What are you shouting for!”

As his voice fell, the Mermaids instantly fell silent, lowering their heads and saying no more, curling up as if in fear.

Tang Rui and the others who followed were also stunned. He was momentarily dazed before stammering, “Brother Zhang, what… what’s going on?”

It was true that the Sea Demons were fierce, but wasn’t it a bit too cruel to lock them up and torture them like this?

He looked at the blood at his feet, his heart pounding, his breathing quickening involuntarily.

Zhang Zhong sneered, looking at the cages with disgust. “These things attack people nonstop. We could only lock them up.”

With that, he pulled Tang Rui along and continued towards the fire, signaling him to ignore these monsters.

The people around him also left in twos and threes. Only Jiang Liu couldn’t help but turn back to look at them, and that one glance made her freeze on the spot.

The girl who had spoken earlier was pale, but she used almost all her strength to wrap her hands and fishtail around the bars of the cage. She stared intently at Jiang Liu, her desperate and helpless gaze making Jiang Liu’s heart race.

She touched the Scale in her pocket, then finally turned and walked away without another look back.

This group of people wasn’t as particular as Tang Ruo and her brother; they didn’t even have tents. Some of their jackets were thrown messily to the side, likely because they had been woken by the sound of the engine and had gotten up in a hurry.

Thanks to Tang Rui’s natural friendliness, the group quickly got a grasp of the situation.

There were a total of nine people here, bound together using a Team Kit, led by Zhang Zhong and the young man who had initially tried to help.

According to Zhang Zhong, they were all under the same instance supervisor and had a decent relationship, often teaming up to clear instances together.

At this point, Tang Rui secretly pointed to a figure. “It’s him. I think his name is Brother Li or something. He’s quite arrogant and barely talks to me.”

He wanted to gather more clues, so he offered to have his group stand guard for the night so the others could rest. Zhang Zhong happily agreed, but as if he didn’t fully trust them, he still assigned two people from his team to help keep watch.

Jiang He watched the two of them seemingly discussing something and couldn’t help but sneer. “They’re probably here to keep an eye on us.”

Instances were a matter of life and death. Not everyone would work together just because they were fellow players; backstabbing was rampant. After all, you could never truly know what was in someone’s heart. He had seen through it all long ago.

Jiang Liu and Tang Ruo exchanged a glance and shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”

Even if it came to a real fight, they wouldn’t necessarily lose.

Among these people, only Zhang Zhong and that young man were at a decent level. The others were like a bunch of hoodlums just there to make up the numbers. She could take on eight of them with one hand.

Tang Rui clearly had great faith in their combat abilities. He nodded vigorously while keeping an eye on the situation over there, leaning in to whisper.

“I think there’s something off about these people.”

He had just asked Zhang Zhong when they would set off to take Xiao Ya to her destination. To his surprise, Zhang Zhong’s face showed a hint of reluctance, as if there was something more important than completing the mission.

Finally, he hesitated and said, “You guys can set off tomorrow morning. We’ll stay behind to deal with the Sea Demons.”

When he mentioned the Sea Demons, his previously evasive expression changed drastically. His eyes instantly lit up, and his whole being seemed to be on steroids, filled with fighting spirit.

Recalling the tragic scene in the iron cages, Tang Rui couldn’t help but shiver.

Could it be that this Zhang Zhong had a grudge against the Mermaids?