Chapter 175: She’s Gone Mad

Chapter 175: Chapter 175: She’s Gone Mad

Shi Zhile clearly saw the corner of Wen Yuchu’s mouth twitch and the veins bulging on his forehead.

For some reason, she suddenly found it incredibly satisfying.

She decided she was going to court death as much as possible in this instance.

’They said that if I die, Jiang Yuxing dies too, right? Well, since he insisted on making me choose who lives and who dies, and this guy here cares so much about him, I’m going to muddy the waters.’

"Fine, don’t believe me then."

Tossing the words over her shoulder, Shi Zhile turned and walked away. Wen Yuchu struggled to lift his head, only to find he couldn’t sit up at all.

"Untie me first."

"What if you have an episode?"

Wen Yuchu said, "I won’t. It’s safe during the day, at least. The instance has to give the cursed some chance of survival."

Shi Zhile untied him and stowed the rope away.

The two walked side-by-side. Every time Shi Zhile passed a room, she kicked the door in. The already rickety doors collapsed the instant her foot connected.

She would glance inside, and seeing no one, continue on her way.

From one end of the village to the other, she kicked in every door, leaving only the houses at the very front and back untouched.

She didn’t just kick in the doors; she also collected the broken doors and all the hay from inside the rooms.

She went from one end of the village to the other and back again, looking as if she wanted to tear down the earthen walls and take them with her, too.

The corner of Wen Yuchu’s mouth twitched. Just as he was about to say something, he saw her eyes light up as she bolted straight ahead.

Ahead of them was a forest. According to the map, it was the only path from the village to the Sacrificial Platform.

He had assumed Shi Zhile was heading for the Sacrificial Platform, but to his surprise, she pulled out a shovel and began digging holes in the middle of the path.

The holes were of various sizes, most about as big as a hand, but what they lacked in size, they made up for in number.

After digging the holes, she covered them with a thin layer of the hay and some loose dirt.

Then, as if nothing had happened, she leaned against a tree, pulled out a tomato, and began to munch on it.

Wen Yuchu: "..."

The sun finished rising. Shi Zhile continued toward the center of the island, and after walking for another thirty-odd minutes, a large Sacrificial Platform came into view.

A few figures were scattered around the Sacrificial Platform in twos and threes. Their heads were bowed as if they were searching for something. Thankfully, there were no black pupils or strange cracking sounds. Everything seemed normal.

Shi Zhile walked up to the Sacrificial Platform and began to inspect it.

Ten stone pillars covered in densely packed runes encircled the circular Sacrificial Platform.

She took out her axe, picked a pillar that rubbed her the wrong way, and swung. With a loud CRACK, a fissure appeared on the stone.

A wisp of black mist poured out from the crack and shot toward Shi Zhile at a visible speed. ℯ

Wen Yuchu’s pupils contracted. It was too late for him to intervene. "Get away from it!" he yelled.

But Shi Zhile didn’t listen. Instead of dodging, she charged right at it. Perhaps because she was being too aggressive, the wisp of black mist froze in place. Just as Shi Zhile was about to touch it, it flinched back, turned, and bolted off the platform.

Shi Zhile gave chase. Just as she was about to catch it, the wisp of black mist dove straight into a nearby Japanese player.

The man shuddered. His head creaked as it slowly turned around, revealing a stiff but triumphant smile.

Immediately after, the clear black and white of his eyes vanished, turning completely pitch-black.

Shi Zhile pressed her axe to his neck and stared into his eyes without blinking. She stared until her own eyes began to ache, but she never once fell into a trance.

"Is your curse... not all that great?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the man moved—not to attack Shi Zhile, but to lunge at another Japanese player who was approaching to see what was happening.

His strength was astonishing. He grabbed the newcomer’s arm and, with a violent tug, ripped the limb clean off.

The bloodcurdling scream instantly drew the attention of several others.

"What? What’s happening?"

"Whoa! Has he gone insane?"

"Stop it! He’s one of us!"

They shouted, but not a single one of them stepped forward.

Then, right in front of everyone, the possessed man went berserk, lunging forward and tearing the other man to pieces in a few swift motions.

He neatly arranged the arms and legs, placing the head on top of the torso. Then he slowly stood up, his pitch-black eyes scanning the crowd.

Shi Zhile wasn’t far off, and when its gaze swept over her, it was filled with blatant disgust, as if it couldn’t bear the sight of her.

Shi Zhile: "..."

She had only to think of the creepiest-looking one among the Japanese players, and the possessed man’s eyes followed her line of sight before he shot off in that direction.

"Aaargh!"

"Help me!"

Shi Zhile’s eyes lit up. Ignoring the chaotic chase, she walked excitedly back onto the Sacrificial Platform.

She swung her Level Five Axe so fast it became a blur, but no matter how hard she chopped, the stone pillar wouldn’t crack any further.

Undiscouraged, she jumped off the platform and started chasing after the Japanese players, swinging her axe.

The Japanese players had been running in circles around the platform, but with Shi Zhile joining the fray, they were forced to flee toward the edge of the forest.

Shi Zhile deliberately herded them toward the village, which only made her chase with more enthusiasm.

After they had run some distance, the one possessed by the black mist began to slow down. As the mist around him faded, he fully came to his senses.

He looked at the blood on his hands and began to scream in disbelief.

Shi Zhile put her axe away, and with a flick of her wrist, she sent the long rope flying, tying him up.

Then she began dragging him by the neck back toward the Sacrificial Platform.

Throughout the entire ordeal, Wen Yuchu was frozen in place, utterly incredulous, as if he were invisible.

By the time Shi Zhile dragged the man onto the Sacrificial Platform, he had already breathed his last, and the wisp of black mist was gone.

Shi Zhile: "..."

Only then did she seem to notice Wen Yuchu. "He’s a little dead."

Wen Yuchu remained expressionless, but he refused to step onto the Sacrificial Platform. "You dragged him for over ten meters with a rope around his neck. He’s not ’a little dead,’ he’s as dead as can be."

"Before the instance started, someone told me to kill to my heart’s content. How am I supposed to do that when they run so fast?"

Wen Yuchu was silent. He had no idea how to respond to that.

Not that Shi Zhile expected a response. She raised her axe, deftly chopped the corpse to pieces, and left without a backward glance.

On the path back to the village, the Japanese players eventually realized they were no longer being chased. They kept moving forward, glancing over their shoulders, but before they could relax, one of them stepped right into a pit.

A sharp SNAP echoed—the sound of breaking bone.

Before the scream could even erupt, panic set in.

"Damn it, they’re on us again! Run!"

"Aah! What do we do?!"

"Quick, get back to the houses!"

The more they panicked, the more pits they fell into.

There were too many pits. Some people stepped from one pit right into another. Others would barely climb out of one before falling into the next.

Running with splayed feet in a panic, combined with the uneven depths of the pits, was a perfect recipe for twisted ankles.

When Shi Zhile arrived, the scene was pure chaos. Some had given up, sitting on the ground and wailing as they clutched their feet. Others were still stubbornly fighting to survive, crawling toward the village on their knees, their feet already swollen.

She did a quick headcount. There were nine in total. A full eight of them had made a run for it.

They couldn’t take out food, nor could they retrieve any medicine. These crippled players were no longer a threat.