Gamers Are Fierce

Li Ang braced his palms against the ground, his body swiftly sliding down the cliff and landing steadily on the seabed.

As the distance closed, Li Ang could more clearly see the state of the Datura patients controlled by the Ritual track.

They still wore normal clothes, but their mental state could in no way be described as "normal."

Every muscle in their bodies trembled. Veins on their clasped palms and the backs of their hands bulged like earthworms. Their necks jutted out stiffly, and their facial muscles, strained to the extreme, appeared exceptionally rigid.

Beneath their fierce and terrifying expressions lay immense pain; even those laughing hysterically clearly exuded suffering.

They could not perceive what was happening to them, or rather, the rational will that usually dominated their bodies had been buried deep in their subconscious. Everyone was in a state similar to that of comatose sleepwalkers.

If it were someone else, they would surely have been overwhelmed by the clamorous shouts from thousands of people by now, but Li Ang was not affected at all. He walked straight towards the circle formed by the crowd.

Wherever the light of the All Bright Moon Palace Lantern in his hand reached, the continuously spinning crowd spontaneously unclasped their hands, clearing an open path for him to the circle's center.

Li Ang's expression did not change as he walked along the path towards the center.

The contorted expressions on the faces of the crowd, bathed in the Palace Lantern's glow, eased significantly, leaving them looking dazed and bewildered. The dark clouds in mid-air also seemed to melt away slowly like snow under its illumination. However, as soon as the lantern's light moved away, the crowd quickly re-assimilated with the site's atmosphere, and the black smoke spewing from their mouths replenished the clouds.

"HUFF..."

Wearing a gas mask, Li Ang ignored the shouts from both sides, stepping on the soft, fine sand as he strode swiftly toward the center.

At the center were three figures, all draped in black robes, standing in a triangular formation.

In the empty space between them stood a dark pole of indistinct material.

The pole was as thick as three fingers, straight and slender, planted in the fine sand, with at least three meters of it exposed above the ground.

Upon closer inspection, one could see the pole's surface was covered with countless tiny holes, like worm-eaten wood or porous coral.

And at the base of the pole, where it met the sand, lay a layer of pale light.

That light was slowly rising along the pole as time passed.

"VMM—"

The pole trembled every few seconds. Correspondingly, the fine sand on the surface would vibrate slightly, wafting upwards. The crowd circling the pole would shout in chorus, and the swirling dark clouds in the sky would contract slightly, like a pulsating heart.

Li Ang's arrival did not disturb the three figures at the circle. Only one figure, who had previously stood up, walked towards him; the other two figures remained standing dumbly on the spot, motionless. It was unclear whether they were performing the ritual or simply lost in a trance.

"You've come."

The figure approaching Li Ang removed his black robe, revealing his face.

It was a middle-aged man with a narrow, elongated, and hairless skull. The wrinkles beneath his cheekbones were extremely deep. His skin was as pale as if it had been soaked in water for days. His expressionless face, full of creases, gave off an extremely uncomfortable feeling.

His left eyeball was shot with red veins, staring straight ahead, while his right eyeball kept trembling and shaking, as if it had a mind of its own, completely out of control.

Congenital nystagmus? Li Ang, disguised as Ji Jiu, felt his thoughts surge, but his face remained expressionless. He nodded to the man in the black robe. "I've arrived."

"?"

The man in the black robe might have been stunned for a moment; truth be told, with his deathly pale and rigid face, it was truly difficult to discern any specific expression.

According to Ji Jiu, not even his superior had clear information about the contact person leading the Ritual track, only that his code name in the organization was "Viper."

The contact paused for a moment, glanced at the All Bright Moon Palace Lantern in Li Ang's hand, and slowly said, "Didn't the Resentful Demon come with you?"

Li Ang shook his head. "This death duel task was full of tough opponents. He didn't make it through and was hunted down by two players from the Japan Islands. One of them was in a pedal-powered wheelchair, and the other wielded nunchucks made from two salted fish. They descended from the sky and disabled the Resentful Demon and his teammate on the spot. I was there.

"When the Resentful Demon and his teammate fell, they did not die peacefully. Their bodies flopped on the ground like live fish for half an hour. During his cremation, the power went out halfway. After being aired out for half a day and then burned again, it still sizzled. And would you believe it? He actually came back to life, shouting that he wasn't dead, still screaming! It took a whole day to finish cremating him.

"After that, he was placed in a hearse, which overturned as soon as it left. His ashes scattered all over the ground, and much of it was blown away by the wind. The onlooking players bravely held back their tears, and one even laughed out loud.

"Later, we only buried an empty coffin for him. His family even danced a C-Sharp Laser Rain before the grave. After they left, lightning shattered the tombstone. In the end, the Resentful Demon's wife found her biological father and reunited with her son. With the compensation money, she bought a house and a car, and lived happily ever after."

"???"

The contact, Viper, was stunned for quite a while, looking at Li Ang with a somewhat odd expression.

Li Ang hurriedly waved his hand, pointing to his head. "Don't look at me like that. Just now, during this death duel task, I was cursed by another player. My mind is a complete mess right now."

"...Fine."

Viper nodded. "What about Zhi Jue?"

"He's dead too," Li Ang sighed. "He fought those two players from the Japan Islands. They battled fiercely, to the ends of the earth, running outside the shrinking barrier. His Sanity Value was worn down to nothing, turning him into an idiot who couldn't even speak. In the end, he died of suffocation because he forgot to breathe.

"He was still fighting in his last second, howling vigorously.

"Speaking of which, after this task ends, we'd better retrieve their bodies. After all, they were heroes of Datura. Leaving them in a public toilet is just not right.

"Right now, the players from the other teams are mostly dead. I only managed to survive until the end by relying on the various life-saving items the organization gave me."

"...."

Viper looked at Li Ang with an even stranger expression. If the occasion weren't so inappropriate, he might have snatched the All Bright Moon Palace Lantern from Li Ang's hands then and there.

Suddenly, Li Ang remembered something, furrowed his brow, and asked seriously, "By the way, how is the Ritual track progressing now?"

Viper was silent for a moment, then shook his head. "It's almost ready. Give me the Palace Lantern first."

With that, he reached out for the All Bright Moon Palace Lantern in Li Ang's hand, apparently intending to snatch it directly from him.