Chapter 27: Island Survival 8
Chu Yun’s immediate problem was not dealing with the hidden scavengers behind her, but rather how to secure the supply pack in the middle of the swamp.
The five members of the squad stood at the edge, observing carefully.
If it were just an ordinary swamp, it wouldn’t be much of a problem. With the cooperation of her teammates, they could venture in and ensure they wouldn’t be swallowed up. The only point of concern was whatever dangerous creatures were hidden beneath the mire.
Since others had been here before but hadn’t taken the supply pack, it meant there was definitely a dangerous creature down there. They hadn’t left it behind to set a trap; they simply couldn’t get to it.
“Do you see the water bubbling over there? That log-like thing behind the bubbles—is that a crocodile?” Xu Dongdong’s next words confirmed Chu Yun’s suspicion.
It was indeed the eyes and part of the snout of a crocodile breaking the surface. When lying in ambush, it could remain motionless for a long time. Coupled with the effects of natural camouflage, the crocodile almost completely blended into its surroundings. It was incredibly easy to miss if one didn’t look closely.
A person’s speed would be severely bottlenecked by resistance underwater, let alone when trudging through the heavy mud of a swamp. For the first time since entering the game, Chu Yun hesitated. Her brow furrowed; she knew that if she went down just like this, she wouldn’t even have a 50% chance of winning.
She couldn’t go head-to-head with it. She had to think of something. She fumbled through her storage ring to see if there were any tools she could utilize.
“Boss, why aren’t they going in yet?” The bald man over by the mountain ridge was getting impatient. “Should we just head over now…”
“What’s the rush? Do I need you to teach me how to do things?” The bearded man glared back with a sinister gaze, a flicker of bloodthirsty pleasure flashing through his eyes.
“Right, right, my mistake.” The bald man couldn’t help but shrink back a step. That gaze was too terrifying. A psychotic killer who escaped from prison simply had no humanity. In this place, free from the constraints of morals and the law, he was only getting worse.
He was a murderous demon. A player had been brutally tortured to death by his bare hands, having his heart carved out, simply because he accidentally talked back to him.
The bald man even suspected that before the game ended, the bearded man would treat them exactly the same way as that dead player. When the man looked at them, he didn’t see his own kind; he saw a rooster waiting to be slaughtered. He wouldn’t give you a quick, merciful death with a single strike; he wanted to drain your blood drop by drop, watching you gasp for your last breaths on the ground.
He was volatile, short-tempered, and killed on a whim. He completely lacked a normal personality. Associating his own fate with this, the bald man couldn’t stop his body from trembling. But he clenched his fists tightly, doing his best to keep his fear under control.
And the bearded man truly thought this way. He was born with a psychotic gene. Life held no joy for him; only killing brought him pleasure. At first, he discovered his twisted psyche while torturing a stray cat, then moved on to slaughtering a cow. Eventually, killing a cow could no longer hold his interest, so he started killing humans, devising all sorts of twisted methods to torture them.
His time reforming in prison had done nothing to awaken his conscience; instead, it had amplified his thrill of killing. Now, in this place where no one could restrain him, he felt completely free. The murderous desire he had suppressed for so long finally erupted.
He had intentionally found an excuse to brutally murder that person a few days ago simply because that guy found a supply pack before him, and he didn’t like the look of him. If he didn’t still need the help of these lackeys right now, he would have tortured them to death too.
But their final end would be exactly the same. Oh right, he would add those few players from just now into the mix. There was a woman among them—a young woman. It had been a long time since he had tortured such a young body.
Thinking of the final scene, he couldn’t help but stick out his tongue to lick his lips, flashing a bloodthirsty smile. The players following behind him developed goosebumps all over their bodies upon hearing his laughter, and the temperature seemed to drop several degrees in an instant.
Over by the swamp.
Chu Yun and the others had already negotiated a strategy. There was an easier way, because Chu Yun had dug up the bottle of concentrated snake venom she obtained dozens of days ago. She had barely paid any attention to that harmful poison and had completely forgotten she even possessed this item until now. Using it here was a perfect fit.
Xu Dongdong and the others had thought they were in for another grueling battle, but they hadn’t expected Chu Yun to have hoarded so many supplies without their knowledge. Everyone was more than happy to resolve the problem efficiently and quickly.
Chu Yun retrieved the snake venom, opened the cap, and threw it into the swamp close to the crocodile. The bottle tracing a perfect arc as it landed accurately, spilling some venom along the way. This matched Chu Yun’s expectations perfectly; eggs shouldn’t be kept in one basket, and venom shouldn’t be poured in only one spot either.
The venom slowly seeped out from the bottle, rapidly dissolving into the water. The crocodile remained as still as a corpse. Right then, an arrow shot toward the crocodile’s eye, flying rapidly with a whistling wind. With danger imminent, it finally tore off its disguise. The crocodile snapped its massive jaws, biting the incoming arrow clean in half.
But Chu Yun hadn’t intended to shoot it directly in the first place. The water laced with snake venom flowed into the crocodile’s mouth. A few seconds later, the poison entered its stomach, and the crocodile began to exhibit symptoms.
It opened its gaping maw and let out a roar from its throat, its armored body beginning to thrash. The water and mud in the swamp were sent splattering in all directions, which only accelerated the spread of the venom.
In the blink of an eye, the snake venom spread across the entire swamp. The crocodile finally stopped thrashing, and several dead insects and unknown mollusks floated to the surface.
Chu Yun was already fully prepared. Except for her eyes, her entire body was wrapped tightly, with an escape rope tied around her waist.
Seeing that the crocodile was thoroughly dead, she nimbly stepped into the swamp. She had the lightest body weight and the most agile posture; no one was better suited for this job than her.
Chu Yun utilized the loose stones, dead wood, and even wild grass beneath her feet to leap lightly. She channeled her energy seamlessly, moving like a leaping fish as she traversed from one anchor point to the next.
In a split second of landing, the tip of her toes tapped lightly, using the faint supporting force to propel her body fluidly to the next foothold. Her posture was graceful, resembling a beautiful aquatic ballet.
The crowd watched open-mouthed as Chu Yun reached the edge of the supply pack with a series of continuous leaps.
This… isn’t this the legendary technique of skimming across water? Is there anything Chu Yun can’t do?
They looked at Chu Yun with reverence, as if gazing upon a great deity. In truth, Chu Yun didn’t know any mystical martial arts; she had simply practiced parkour, and combined with her knowledge of how to apply leverage, her remarkably graceful movements made it look like she possessed mystical techniques.
Chu Yun swept the supply pack into her storage ring and retraced her steps along the same path.
“Someone’s coming.” Chu Yun’s words jolted them from their daze, and they finally snapped back to reality.
“They come with ill intent.” Yu Wenhao was the first to react. He quickly helped Chu Yun untie the rope from her waist, then grabbed his weapon and assumed a defensive posture.
The bearded man had charged over with his subordinates the exact moment he saw Chu Yun pocket the supply pack. That woman actually possessed a spatial item—an item with only a one-in-a-hundred-thousand drop rate. He was absolutely going to take it.
His intense possessiveness caused him to deliberately ignore the entire process of Chu Yun retrieving the item from the swamp. His own group had lost several players and still couldn’t get the supply pack, yet a slip of a woman like Chu Yun had secured it. How could the combat power of someone with such skills be poor? Or perhaps it was out of sheer arrogance; his eyes couldn’t accommodate anyone else, believing himself to be invincible under heaven.
By the time the bearded man and his group arrived, Chu Yun and the others were already prepared. Formed in a straight line with Chu Yun at the head, each held their respective weapons, ready for battle.
“They didn’t even run!” The bald man had internally hoped they would run as far as possible; after all, falling into the bearded man’s hands never yielded a good end. But he hadn’t expected them not only to stay but to actively prepare for battle. The opposing side had only five people: a scrawny kid, a guy built like a tree stump, a pretty boy, plus a girl. The only one who looked capable of fighting was probably that middle-aged man.
Looking at their squad, the bald man couldn’t help but mourn for them in his heart.
Chu Yun’s philosophy had always been to fight if she could, and run if she couldn’t. Besides, she had yet to encounter an opponent she couldn’t beat.
As the two sides faced off, the battle was on a hair-trigger.
The bearded man didn’t strike immediately. He surveyed the opposing team, seemingly contemplating what method he would use to make them die in a moment.
Chu Yun sensed the gaze from the other side, especially from the bearded man standing in the center. He gave off an exceptionally strange vibe.
His eyes were intensely cold and ruthless. In his gaze, Chu Yun saw a deeply twisted, pathological emotion. It wasn’t greed, it wasn’t possessiveness, and it wasn’t lust. It was…?
“Be careful. This man is a psychotic killer.” Yu Wenhao’s voice sounded by her ear. He had crossed paths with this type within a criminal syndicate during an undercover operation. The vibe the bearded man gave off was exactly the same, so he picked up on it immediately.
Right, his eyes held no respect for life. He viewed killing as a pleasure, satisfying his extreme, pathological mind by inflicting cruel methods on others. This kind of person had no sympathy, nor did they have weaknesses. When you encountered them, it was either you die or I perish.
“Hand over your spatial item and supply pack willingly, or else I will personally carve out your hearts, followed by your kidneys, livers, and finally your eyeballs. I will slice off your flesh piece by piece to feed the wolves.”
As the bearded man spoke, he passionately mimicked the motions with his hands. Hearing those brutal words come from his mouth made one’s scalp tingle. The faces of the players around him turned completely pale with fright, and Chu Yun could see their legs trembling slightly.
This man was telling the truth, and he had actually done it before. The only true death in this game occurred when a player attacked another’s heart; she hadn’t expected such a person to actually exist, and in such a brutal manner. No, this couldn’t even be called a human; he was worse than a beast.
Having been raised with military values, Yu Wenhao could least tolerate this kind of talk. In his heart, life was exceptionally precious, meant only to be sacrificed for the Party, the people, and the great righteousness of the nation. How could it degenerate into a tool for another’s amusement? Yu Wenhao loathed this kind of beast in human clothing most in his life. Usually calm, his chest heaved rapidly up and down with rage.
“Leave this man to me. I want him dead.” Yu Wenhao practically gritted his teeth.
“Alright.”
Chu Yun knew that this “dead” meant death in the truest sense. This kind of person shouldn’t exist in the world, whether in reality or in the game.
Yu Wenhao locked his gaze onto the bearded man, his intent to battle completely explicit.
“Fine. Since you don’t know what’s good for you, don’t blame me for not giving you a chance. You guys—get them.”
Though the players following him were entirely unwilling, they had no choice.
Left with no alternative, the bald man led the brothers beside him, drew their weapons, and charged forward. They had originally intended to just go through the motions, so they didn’t exert full strength. But they hadn’t expected that while they didn’t use full strength, the opposing side was striking with absolute, ruthless force. Especially that man with the machete who looked the most formidable—one strike with the back of his blade was enough to jar their hands to numbness.
In less than two minutes, the dozen or so male players were thoroughly beaten into a disorganized mess by the four opponents, collapsing to the ground unable to get up. The female player hadn’t even had a chance to strike yet.
“What a bunch of useless trash.” The bearded man hadn’t expected the other side to have some skills, but there was no need to worry; he still had himself.
The bearded man retrieved two claw gauntlets and slid them onto his hands. The gauntlets were constructed of steel, radiating a cold silver light, with the five claws forming five long, razor-sharp blades.
He darted swiftly toward Yu Wenhao.
