Before Mao Ruigang could react, Zhou Xu had already hurried past him toward the van.
Chen Caidie did not dare waste any time either, grabbing his arm and pulling him along.
"Didn't the senior signal to you when she got out of the car? Don't worry, I trust that the senior will definitely be able to deal with that scumbag!"
Initially, Chen Caidie had only been annoyed by Wang Dongqiang's lecturing tone and arrogant attitude whenever he seized the opportunity.
Now, after the incident involving the knife threat, she felt nothing but disgust for Wang Dongqiang, and she only wished the senior could give him a thorough beating!
Inside the van, while Wang Dongqiang had been busy starting the vehicle, a faint muddy footprint had already silently appeared on the half-closed door of the rear compartment.
Gu Xinghe, having used an invisibility card, stared silently at Wang Dongqiang.
She struck fiercely at the moment he was most complacent and completely off guard.
By the time Chen Caidie pulled Mao Ruigang—whose physical stamina was even worse than hers—to the spot, Wang Dongqiang had already been dragged out of the car by Zhou Xu.
His hands were tied behind his back, and he appeared to have passed out.
"Hmph! That'll teach you to kidnap me!"
Mao Ruigang struggled to catch his breath, but still managed to kick Wang Dongqiang a couple of times.
Seeing that the man remained unresponsive, however, he began to feel a bit unnerved.
"Get in the car. He's only temporarily unconscious. Let's leave quickly before he pins this on us again."
Chen Caidie and Mao Ruigang nodded repeatedly at that.
The four of them got into the van, and the vehicle started up again, driving forward.
Yet Wang Dongqiang remained motionless where he lay sprawled on the ground. If anyone looked closely, they would see that his face, pressed downward, had half-open eyes with already dilated pupils, and his chest no longer rose or fell at all.
To ensure Mao Ruigang's safety, an invisibility card had been expended.
The plan had suffered another twist.
This time, as they approached the scene of the incident, they were even more cautious than before.
Gu Xinghe parked the van by the roadside from a safe distance away.
She handed over the driving duties to Chen Caidie, whose condition was still relatively fine.
Gu Xinghe and Zhou Xu would take charge of checking out the situation ahead.
They intended to make a detour through the nearby woods; with the dense shade of the trees and bushes providing cover, it would be comparatively safer.
If anything seemed amiss, they would retrace their steps.
They would then make other arrangements based on the situation at the scene.
Chen Caidie gripped the steering wheel tightly.
Although she had not yet taken her driver's license test, she had been given a crash course, briefly learning the functions of the brake, accelerator, and steering wheel.
At that moment, her eyes were bright and focused as she nodded heavily.
"Don't worry, Senior, I know what to do."
Seeing that Mao Ruigang in the front passenger seat still wore a jittery expression, she couldn't help adding a few more words.
"How about I play a tune for you right now before we run into any monsters, just to buff us?"
[Occupation: Musician (Orange)]
[Unlocked Skills: 2/2]
[Heavenly Sound: Your flute music is like a clear spring in the desert, making listeners feel as though immortal melodies are refreshing their ears. Recovers +10 mental value per minute.]
[Absolute Pitch: As a musician who has practiced for years and emerged triumphant from the onslaught of demonic noise, you possess extremely acute hearing, allowing you to catch sounds that ordinary people cannot comprehend.]
In just two days, they had clearly learned that fear and fright would deplete their mental value.
And their mental state would undoubtedly impact the outcome of any battle.
Hearing Chen Caidie make this suggestion, Gu Xinghe raised no objection.
The group closed the van's windows tightly and listened quietly to three minutes of flute music before officially beginning their operation.
When Gu Xinghe and Zhou Xu reached the stretch of highway where the incident had occurred, the very first thing they saw was the NPC corpse sprawled at the edge of the road.
"The battle is already over?"
Zhou Xu frowned.
While it was a pity they had missed the chance to land the final blow and steal the NPC's kill, the current situation seemed to suggest that an unexpected development had occurred while they were away.
They remembered the circumstances very clearly; without external assistance, that puddle of green Slime on the ground obviously stood no chance against those two NPCs, one tall and one short.
That being the case, could a more powerful entity have appeared and interrupted the fight?
The two of them observed for a while, and seeing that all was calm, they cautiously stepped forward to investigate.
Killing an NPC typically yielded rewards.
They looked around, but found nothing.
Gu Xinghe's footsteps came to a halt, and she abruptly squatted down.
Beside the puddle of green slime, she reached out and picked up a white bottle cap.
At that moment, sensing some movement, Zhou Xu walked over. When he saw clearly what Gu Xinghe was holding, the outer corners of his eyebrows lifted.
As the bottle cap was brought closer, a savory aroma drifted past the surrounding stench of blood, faintly reaching their noses.
Gu Xinghe immediately brought the bottle cap closer and sniffed it carefully.
For a moment, her expression turned complicated.
"It should be a human player."
This kind of practice—using mineral water bottles to hold sauce—was distinctly human.
They had also briefly checked the corpse of the dead short NPC; the fatal wound appeared to be the puncture hole at the back of the neck along with a pierced eye. Other than that, there were no other obvious signs of a struggle.
This was a human.
Furthermore, a very powerful human.
Aside from killing an NPC, whoever it was still had the leisure to eat right beside the corpse. Such composure bordered on the perverse.
This news not only caught Gu Xinghe's team off guard, but it also left them with a tumult of mixed feelings.
Such capability...
As fellow players, wasn't the gap between them getting a bit too wide?
As the focal point of discussion for Gu Xinghe's team, Lin Luyao had no idea that starting today, not only would her legend be left in the NPC forums, but among the player community as well, there would now emerge a ruthless, decisive, and overwhelmingly formidable top-tier freak of a player.
At that moment, she was trying to negotiate with the Slime that had shamelessly attached itself to her tricycle.
"Since you're going to help me out, I won't treat you unfairly either. I don't have many universal points right now, but I can cover your three meals."
After pondering it, Lin Luyao offered a condition that she could also accept.
Right now she lacked everything, and selling food to NPCs, completing the tasks issued by her occupational module, upgrading her tricycle as quickly as possible, and stocking up on equipment and supplies for herself was undoubtedly the safest and most efficient choice.
However, recalling the NPCs she had run into—each with a stomach capacity that seemed like a bottomless pit—Lin Luyao asked hesitantly,
"Um, how much do you eat in a single meal?"
The Slime, trying its best to flatten its entire body and clinging to the handlebars, shook its fold-like physique at those words and actually teared up.
"Wuwuwu, thank you so much! You are really too good to me! Actually, we won't die if we don't eat, but if it goes on too long, we enter a state of weakness..."
Through the Slime's explanation, Lin Luyao finally understood some of the physiological differences between NPCs and humans.
They could go without food for long periods, but if the duration was too long, they would fall into a weakened state.
Moreover, most NPCs did not eat simply to fill their stomachs, but to grow stronger.
Their diets were quite miscellaneous; basically anything could be eaten, and they could even grow stronger by devouring other NPCs or players, though the latter would lower their sanity points and make them more prone to a berserk state.
"However, your food is different! I can feel that there is energy in your food! It can call back our sanity, and besides..."
Clinging to the handlebars, the Slime solemnly said in a comical posture, "The food you make is the most delicious thing I've ever eaten in my life! Even without any buff effects, I'm willing to trade everything I can earn for it!"
Hearing its praise, Lin Luyao waved her hand.
"All in a day's work, after all, I'm a chef."
Though Lin Luyao's voice sounded casual, the corners of her mouth still couldn't help curving upward at the genuine praise.