[Little Bunny: We handle a little business]

Frog’s screams were so tragic—so tragic that the other players on the team, despite the danger, couldn’t help but come out from hiding just to witness the scene. They saw him being dragged out from the doorway of a dark house, clanking and clattering as he was pulled into the middle of the street. On the way, he even passed by other players from different teams who were also being dragged. But none of them were screaming as loudly as he was—he had become a true spectacle on the street.

On the street, the moonlight was too bright—it was no longer pitch dark as before.

Dragging Frog was a mist figure, floating lightly down the street like a wandering ghost. Its feet didn’t touch the ground, and it held a long, thick chain made of condensed mist.

“This guy’s lungs are impressive,” Black Bear muttered, lowering Frog’s volume. “Did he train in singing or something?”

Fierce Tiger felt like he could hear the sound of the guy’s butt being dragged. “Is his butt gonna make it through this?”

Slack Bro: “Old Rich, why didn’t you hold onto him just now!?”

Rich Bro hugged his pet and shrank back. “It all happened so fast! How could I have held onto him!?”

“Let him finish howling,” said Haba Dog.

Of course his butt would survive—this was a full-immersion game.

But sometimes, the pain feedback was unexpectedly strong.

“Assassin, report your status,” came the voice of Little Bunny.

Frog, still screaming, snapped back to his senses upon hearing the team leader’s voice. He turned his head and saw that he wasn’t the only player on the street. Other players from different teams had also been captured and dragged out. Their skills and items had been completely locked—they couldn’t use anything. At this point, he realized that besides screaming, he was entirely useless.

“I can’t move, and I can’t break free from the control!” Frog cried urgently. This street was way too weird.

Zhou Sui looked outside. The mist figure dragging Frog was moving slowly, and Frog was still within sight. “Rich Bro, try using your pet.”

Both teams had beastmasters. Upon hearing this reminder, the Wonder Zoo’s beastmaster and Rich Bro simultaneously summoned their pets.

Fierce Tiger nearly passed out when he saw what Rich Bro summoned. “Why that one!?”

Rich Bro: “We’re trying to save someone! This one has the highest attack power!”

The rooster hit the ground with a loud caw-caw, its cry unnaturally loud in the night. Everyone turned to stare at Rich Bro’s rooster—including the mist figures wandering the street. One of them swung its chain toward the Wonder Zoo beastmaster’s pet, and the misty chain instantly tightened. The pet that was originally going to rescue Frog was now bound and dragged away with a clank clank.

Wonder Zoo beastmaster: “!!!”

‘Why’d it grab mine first when that guy’s yelling was so loud?!’

Rich Bro shivered and quickly recalled his rooster. “No way—they catch pets too!?”

The moment the pet was caught, the Wonder Zoo beastmaster saw the skill icon representing that pet in the summon bar turn gray—sealed and unusable.

At this moment, all the mist figures on the street seemed to sense the noise from their direction. Two of them who were nearby started moving in, locking onto the house where Rich Bro was hiding. The sound of the door breaking down rang out again. Slack Bro yanked Rich Bro into a corner of the wooden bed. Each of them covered the other’s mouth, eyes fixed on the chain slithering along the floor near the bed.

Zhou Sui peeked through a crack in the cabinet door, using the opportunity to get a clear look at the mist figures’ faces.

In the moonlight, the mist figures in the room didn’t look identical. Their mist-like, nearly transparent bodies faintly revealed human faces—one tall, one short. They stood beside the bed, observing and studying the room. Their movements were sluggish, and only one of them held a chain in its hand.

The sound they had lured away vanished shortly after. The mist figures, having failed to detect the players hiding under the bed, dragged their chains and returned to the street.

After hearing Frog and the beastmaster report their full status, the team members fell into deep thought. This meant that once someone was caught, there was no chance of breaking free. Pets sent to rescue them would also be bound, and the odds of landing a successful ranged attack were very low. Judging by the mechanics revealed so far, these mist creatures responded to a wide range of noises and movements with incredibly fast, intelligent reactions. They couldn’t be locked onto or attacked directly, which made them entirely different from traditional low-level monsters. The typical strategy of killing monsters to rescue players simply wouldn’t work here.

“Mechanics-based monsters,” said Ragdoll Cat.

Haba Dog: “This just got troublesome.”

Just then, a loud noise suddenly came from outside, interrupting the team’s discussion.

“What the hell?” Fierce Tiger was stunned.

The players in the team looked outside and saw that, at some point, a noise-making item had been thrown near the door of one of the three hiding spots. It emitted a loud jingle-jingle, drawing the attention of the patrolling mist figures on the street.

“It’s the players next door,” Frog reported from the street, seeing everything clearly. The players beside the Wonder Zoo team were actually using sound to lure all the mist figures away toward them. Taking advantage of the distraction, their assassin players slipped out onto the street. The mage-assassins and assassins came from the Yin Yue Alliance. While they didn’t have stealth abilities themselves, like archers, they had skills to break stealth.

“They’re sending assassins to rescue people.”

The players taking action were from the neighboring Sanctum group. It turned out they had chosen the same direction to escape as the Wonder Zoo team.

Once most of the mist figures had been lured away, the Sanctum assassins immediately targeted the players bound by chains. They approached stealthily and, catching the mist figures off guard, struck first—aiming at the chains.

Zhou Sui followed Frog’s voice and looked over. Under the moonlight, he couldn’t see the assassins, but the chains binding the players didn’t break.

Seeing their attack fail, the assassin cursed under his breath. In the next second, he used another skill.

Under the moonlight, the bound player suddenly vanished—and in their place, the chains were now wrapped around a large stone.

“It’s the Sanctum assassins. One of them has a mutated skill,” said Ragdoll Cat, who couldn’t see the assassin but recognized the skill.

It was a teleportation-based mutation skill called “Substitute”—it allowed the user to swap the positions of two targets within a certain range. The Sanctum assassin had used it to switch the bound player with a nearby stone, letting them escape from the mist figure’s chain.

Slack Bro saw more and more mist figures gathering outside and couldn’t help cursing: “Damn, that team over there has no sense of loyalty at all—they’re using us as bait!”

Healer Black Bear said, “Actually, we’ve got a bit of a grudge with them.”

“We’re basically semi-hostile now.”

“After all, we’ve ranked behind them in the last three special events in the high-level zone.”

Fierce Tiger glanced at the opposing team. “They always lose out on rankings when we queue into the same match, then go on the world chat to be all passive-aggressive. All they ever say is that we’re just a bunch of muscle-heads.”

Black Bear scoffed, “Being muscular is a good thing.”

Slack Bro: “??” ‘Why are you proud of even that?’

After the mist figures were lured over, they started searching through the buildings where the Wonder Zoo team and Zhou Sui were hiding. There were plenty of empty houses around, so deliberately attracting enemies to their specific location was way too obvious. In game mechanics like this—where so many players are trapped in the same checkpoint—it was essentially a form of indirect elimination. Sanctum’s goal was clear: first, rescue their teammates; second, take the opportunity to knock out the powerful Wonder Zoo team. Their hostility couldn’t be more blatant.

Too many mist figures rushed in, greatly increasing the risk of exposure and making movement difficult.

Ragdoll Cat had no choice but to show himself. As a Tian Wu Bastion class with a defense build, his immovable shield skill “Unshakable as a Mountain” held the room firmly in place. Players in other rooms came over to block the windows. Since mist figures only came in through doors and windows, sealing them off was the best way to prevent a breach. “Hold the doors. Boss, how are things on your side?”

Haba Dog: “We’re holding, but it’s tough to get out.”

The noise outside continued. The mist figures were almost entirely drawn to their location. While they could stop the mist figures from coming in, stepping outside was nearly impossible.

In contrast, inside Zhou Sui’s building, Slack Bro and Rich Bro huddled even closer together under the bed. Their spot was farther from the source of the noise, so fewer mist figures had wandered over, and the risk of being discovered was lower.

“We can still get out from here. Should we try rescuing him?” Slack Bro asked.

Most of the aggro was now focused on the Wonder Zoo team, giving them an opening to run out and save Frog.

One of the Wonder Zoo team players spoke up: “I have stealth and can go out. If we can break the chain, I can bring him back.”

The speaker was the Wonder Zoo team’s assassin, ID: Little Panda. He was the only true physical assassin among the twelve Wonder Zoo players. While he didn’t have a skill like Sanctum’s Substitute, he had group stealth—capable of making himself and three other entities invisible. He could bring back both a player and their pet.

Frog immediately cried for help upon hearing about such an OP skill: “Please save me!”

Zhou Sui said, “Not yet.”

Frog heard this cold response and forgot his butt even hurt. “Big bro!!”

“If we can’t figure out the layout of this town, getting everyone stuck in houses will only reduce our field of vision and limit the intel we can gather—it’s not a smart move,” said Little Bunny, casting a glance toward the Wonder Zoo team. Seeing they still had control of the situation, he turned back to Frog: “You’ve got a full view of the street. Report what you see. Haven’t you noticed you’re moving?”

Of course Frog had noticed! His butt wasn’t hurting for nothing!

Now that it was mentioned, he realized he was indeed getting further and further away from the building where the main group was hiding.

On the street, many mist figures were stationed outside buildings, guarding against players hiding inside. But the ones holding chains were heading in the opposite direction—dragging the bound players and pets with them. It was as if they were taking them somewhere.

“Do you know why we’re specifically looking for players from lower-level zones?” Haba Dog suddenly asked. “In my version of the cleared storyline, it said this town used to be full of townspeople. But now, they’re all gone—and these mist figures appeared instead.”

This dungeon was weird. When the Wonder Zoo team formed their group, team leader Haba Dog had already shared the storyline from his cleared run, which was filled with lore about this Mirror Maze Town. One key detail mentioned was:

“In this town, people always travel in pairs and look after each other.”

Older people looked after the young—that was a confirmed bit of lore.

They had noticed this when entering the dungeon: elderly figures with children. Even the mist figures on the street were moving in pairs—one tall, one short, or one old, one young.

But the system’s mission prompt didn’t mention any lore at all. If the dungeon’s goal was to eliminate other players, the second phase should be harder than the first. Yet all the players could still hide, and some could even be rescued. That inconsistency raised red flags.

Where did the townspeople go? What was the connection with the mist? Where were the captured players being taken?

These questions made every player’s imagination run wild—and a chill ran down their spines. Something about this town was deeply wrong.

The Wonder Zoo team was starting to put the story together, trying to figure out what the real deal with this dungeon was.

Suddenly, a voice in the team broke the silence: “The number of monsters is increasing.”

Ragdoll Cat and Haba Dog both turned toward the source—it was Zhou Sui who had spoken.

“They’re growing. While you’ve all been chatting, one new mist figure has appeared every minute.” Zhou Sui leaned against the cabinet door, his gaze fixed on a specific spot. From the start, he’d been watching the mist figures outside their building. The number had already doubled. “Still increasing.”

Players: “?”

Fierce Tiger: “And you didn’t say anything earlier?!”

The others quickly looked outside. The Wonder Zoo team was still bracing the doors and windows, and sure enough—upon closer inspection, they saw that the mist figures were still multiplying!

Rich Bro was shocked. “What the hell, are they undergoing mitosis or something?!”

Fierce Tiger: “Mitosis… what an educated description.”

Rich Bro: “Mist can mitose?! It’s not even a plant!”

And these mist figures weren’t appearing out of thin air either. The moonlight reflected off the street, making it gleam like a mirror.

Mist began to condense beneath the mist figures’ feet. Then, faint clusters of vapor would form. For those mist figures that appeared in pairs, the younger ones visibly grew, and once they were fully formed, they would detach from the elder one. Mist would then form beneath them again, spawning a new mist figure. It was literally a case of each one raising another—a chain of exponential growth.

Only now did the Wonder Zoo players realize why the mist figures always moved in pairs: it was because they were constantly “training” new ones. One brought one, and then another… and another…

“No way. If it keeps going like this, then—”

Everyone looked at the countdown timer on their interface. Only thirty minutes had passed, yet the mist figures outside were already crowding their doorway in waves. They could no longer see the teammates who’d been dragged off earlier.

The doors the Wonder Zoo team had been blocking were starting to weaken. As more mist figures gathered, they began to charge the house.

The wooden building couldn’t withstand the strain. Cracks started appearing on the door, and Ragdoll Cat was stunned. “This door’s a damn counterfeit.”

No sooner had he said that than—*BANG!* The door was smashed open, even sending the massive Black Bear, who’d been blocking it, flying.

Wonder Zoo players: “!!!”

“It’s on.” Haba Dog drew his blade.

Ragdoll Cat immediately said, “I’ll take the front—everyone else, watch your positioning.”

When the two Wonder Zoo leaders gave the command, the team sprang into action. The mist figures didn’t have health bars, but their collisions with weapons made a harsh metallic sound, like iron golems crashing forward in endless waves. Some of them wielded chains, so the players also had to dodge getting ensnared. If caught, they’d lose all combat capability.

“Have the mages use elemental spells—try wind, water, fire, whatever works.”

Little Bunny in the group spoke up: “Keep it going—don’t stop.”

Upon hearing this, the Wonder Zoo players immediately adjusted their attack rotations without hesitation, showing no concern that the suggestion had come from outside their command structure.

Rich Bro and Slack Bro peeked out quietly and were stunned to see the Wonder Zoo’s 12-person team holding off dozens of mist figures.

“Holy crap, they’re insane. So this is what a strong team looks like?” Rich Bro was surprised. “They’re going head-on!”

Slack Bro said, “You’re not wrong. Of all the talent-ranked squads, Wonder Zoo is the most balanced in terms of roles.”

Tanks used barrier skills for protection, warriors flanked the sides and knocked away chains, beastmasters summoned guardians to cover directions, and the Daoists and formation masters inside the protection circle poured out their spells. They forcibly held the mist figures at bay. Every player operated with flawless precision—truly worthy of being called an elite team.

But there wasn’t much time to feel proud.

Though they could now hit the monsters, their numbers weren’t decreasing.

Wind skills could blow them back. Water and fire spells could disperse some of the mist, temporarily stopping their advance. But while these spells were effective, they only caused minimal damage. Mist kept rising from the ground in the streets, slowly regenerating mist figures who had lost mobility. Within thirty seconds, the ones defeated earlier would be fully restored.

“Damn it, they’re endless!” Fierce Tiger’s frustration peaked. “Is the mainframe messed up? This dungeon is pure torture.”

The team’s healer, Black Bear, tried to calm him down. “Could you curse a little less? If we piss it off, it might actually make it worse.”

All the monsters had been drawn to the Wonder Zoo’s location. Seizing the opportunity, Zhou Sui quietly left the cabinet, climbed out the window using an extendable claw tool and lightfoot skill, and leapt onto the rooftop outside. From up high, he had a clearer view of the street—and saw that the mist figures were still multiplying…

Little Bunny asked, “Need help?”

Haba Dog replied, “Not for now—we’ve got defensive tools. Don’t come near us. Keep an eye on Sanctum.”

The Wonder Zoo team didn’t panic. They were all elite players, strategically dodging the chain-wielding mist figures.

Zhou Sui assessed the Wonder Zoo’s team composition: two tanks, two warriors, two Daoists, two formation masters, one beastmaster, one assassin, plus one physician and one apothecary—a very balanced mix of physical and magical roles. And thankfully, their many spellcasters meant a healthy rotation of elemental skills. Still… it wasn’t enough.

If the first stage was about discovering the mechanics, then this second stage was about surviving an endless tide of mist monsters.

Zhou Sui noticed the two Wonder Zoo leaders were already reorganizing positions. They clearly understood what was happening too, and were adjusting their strategy accordingly—making use of the street layout and building positions, assigning each player a fixed station.

Smart and quick to respond.

But this second stage was set to last a full eight hours. It wasn’t like fighting a fixed number of bosses. This was an exhausting, never-ending onslaught. And even if every member of Wonder Zoo was an elite—surviving that long would push them to the limit.

At this moment, Zhou Sui suddenly noticed that besides the mist figures, Frog who was still being slowly dragged away looked up—and Zhou happened to glance at the health bar.

“The mist figures holding chains grow very slowly,” Little Bunny’s voice suddenly sounded beside Zhou Sui’s ear. “Regular mist figures take one minute to mature. Chain-holding mist figures take fifteen.”

Zhou Sui paused slightly. At some point, Little Bunny had climbed up to the rooftop with him and was observing the situation ahead.

It had to be said, the Wonder Zoo team’s battle had opened up the field of vision for everyone, making it easier to notice certain details. He said, “Very few now.”

Little Bunny looked at him.

Zhou Sui explained, “There were a lot of chain-holding mist figures at the start, but now there are very few.”

Not all mist figures had chains. At first, everyone had mistakenly assumed they did, but now that their numbers had grown, it was clear that most didn’t carry chains. Zhou Sui recalled the chain-bearing ones he’d seen earlier and said, “Those are the ones used to grab players. There were probably only a dozen or so to begin with.”

Little Bunny said, “They match the number of players. However many players were in the initial area, there were that many chains.”

Hearing this from inside the house, Slack Bro was shocked: “Damn, the mainframe sure has resource allocation down to a science.”

“So now the chain mist figures on our side have increased too—they’ve been drawn over by the noise of battle!”

That meant the chain-holding mist figures now included not just those originally tied to their team, but also the ones from the opposing Sanctum team’s “mess.”

Considering that it took 15 minutes for each chain mist figure to grow, their numbers were still on the rise. At this rate, the danger they’d face would only keep increasing.

Assassin Little Panda lingering at the edge of the crowd added, “I just noticed—only chain-holding mist figures can spawn more chain-holders. The regular ones only spawn more regulars.”

Little Bunny said, “So if there are 20 chain monsters now, in 15 minutes, there’ll be 40.”

Time ticked by on the game interface, and the Zoo players realized how serious the situation was. If they didn’t figure out the mechanic, they were going to be ground down to death.

Just then, Zhou Sui abandoned stealth. He suddenly leapt down from above, heading straight onto the street. His target was clear: the nearest chain mist figure. He switched his skill set to Incense Ash Fire.

Of all his skills, only that one belonged to the fire element.

The chain mist figure sensed his approach, and its chain lashed out toward him. But Zhou Sui had expected that—he dodged sideways at the moment of attack. In doing so, he managed to get a clear look at the end-point of the mist figure’s chain. His weapon transformed into a scythe, and with a triple combo, he struck at the end of the chain.

The fire scorched the mist. In no time, Zhou Sui had severed the chain.

Ragdoll Cat caught a glimpse of this and immediately understood Zhou Sui’s goal: he was taking advantage of the attack animation window to cut the entire chain off. “Wait for it to attack, then slash the connection point between it and the chain—cut it all off!”

The chain hit the ground, and the chain monster’s movements slowed down—but only for five or six seconds. It then began feeling around on the ground and picked the severed chain back up, reattaching it.

The other players who had also wanted to follow Zhou Sui’s lead and sever chains: “What the hell?!”

Rich Bro and Slack Bro had charged out to help, but slammed on the brakes when they saw this. “What the actual hell is this monster? It can reconnect itself? That’s totally broken—how do you even fight that?!”

The rest of the Wonder Zoo team was still trying to come up with a plan when they saw Zhou Sui once again strike clean through the connection between the mist figure and its chain. Deprived of the chain, the mist figure’s movements slowed again—but it didn’t end there…

The Wonder Zoo players turned toward the sound and saw Zhou casually toss the chain to the ground—right at Slack Bro’s feet. The chain monster obediently began walking over to him.

Zhou said coldly, “Don’t move.”

Slack Bro: “!”

Rich Bro: “Take care, brother. I’m outta here.”

Slack Bro froze where he stood, watching his so-called comrade-in-arms bolt toward Brother Bunny without hesitation. He could only stare helplessly as the chain mist figure approached and, the moment it picked the chain up, immediately bound him.

Zhou Sui concluded, “Once the chain is gone, they can’t bind anyone.”

Slack Bro: “Brother Zhou, was this why you let me get caught?”

“The apothecary’s water-based debuff skill—breaks the chain, we can rescue the player.”

Meanwhile, Little Bunny had already taken the opportunity to rescue the Wonder Zoo team’s beastmaster’s trapped pet.

Frog nearby watched, stunned: “…!”

‘You’d rather save a pet than try to save me first?!’

Mist figures didn’t attack players who had already been bound. Now that Slack Bro was tied up, he got dragged off with a clang, losing the ability to fight back—but at the same time, he was no longer a target for other mist figures.

Haba Dog and Ragdoll Cat exchanged a glance and immediately understood Zhou Sui’s intention.

Their teammates could be rescued. As long as some players remained active, the captured ones wouldn’t be considered eliminated. In that case, what was the safest, most energy-conserving way to preserve their state?

Nothing was safer than being grabbed by a mist figure.

“Stop struggling. Assassins, go with Zhou Sui,” Ragdoll Cat instructed. “Everyone else, find chain mist figures. Physician and apothecaries bring up the rear.”

The Wonder Zoo team players were all stunned: “!”

‘That’s the plan?!’

They looked over at the chain-swinging mist figures in the distance, then turned to check Zhou Sui’s situation—only to see that Slack Bro and Rich Bro were already tied up and being dragged away. Of their five-person team, only Little Bunny and Zhou Sui remained.

‘That fast?! You didn’t even hesitate?!’

Fierce Tiger looked a bit dazed. He turned to ask their team leaders for direction—only to see that their boss, Haba Dog, had already joined the drag squad, getting hauled away by a chain mist figure.

“What are you waiting for?” Ragdoll Cat, holding his shield, called out. As the team’s shield specialist, it was his job to protect everyone until the end. “Hurry up.”

Frog had already resigned himself to despair, waiting for the end. But then the situation flipped: his teammates began joining him one by one. In the distance, it was quite a spectacle—players being dragged out from the mist crowd, one after another. The whole train of bound teammates made him do a double take.

‘Is this really the famous Wonder Zoo team from the rankings? Just like that, they all willingly got caught? Their execution is scary good…’

Slack Bro: “I’m not gonna lie, this butt pain is legit…”

Frog finally found a kindred spirit. He turned to Rich Bro, who was wordlessly lying ahead: “See? Told you it hurts like hell. But hang on a bit longer, and it’ll go numb. Once it’s numb, it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Just like his heart.

Rich Bro: “It’s alright. I don’t feel anything.”

Frog was shocked: “Are you made of steel or what? No pain at all?!”

Rich Bro blushed: “…Eh, I padded up.”

“I emergency-layered three pairs of pants. Pure cotton with gold threads—solid stuff.”

Frog felt like he’d been struck by lightning. He turned to look—and realized it wasn’t just Rich Bro. Every Wonder Zoo player who’d been caught was cunning as hell.

Not to mention the warriors themselves, already equipped with thick armor—each of them had, without prior discussion, switched into their heaviest costume. When it came to protecting their butts, they had come well-prepared.

Slack Bro: “Why didn’t anyone warn me?”

Rich Bro: “Well, you got caught early, bro. Besides, swordman gear is pretty thick too, you’ll be fine.”

Frog, with little fabric and thin armor: “…!”

Oh heavens, is no one going to understand what he’s going through?!

One by one, the Wonder Zoo players emerged from the mist figure crowd. To ensure their team’s survival, they had kept two people—Assassin Little Panda and Tank Ragdoll Cat—from being captured. If everyone got caught and dragged off, the system might judge the whole team as eliminated, and that would be trouble.

The assassin had a group stealth skill that could hide others. In the chaos, they could use that to sneak teammates out or stage rescues.

Just as Ragdoll Cat and the assassin finished dealing with their teammates, they looked around and noticed that most of their team had already been dragged off—except two people were missing.

Ragdoll Cat asked, “Where are those two?”

As soon as he said that, Zhou Sui and Little Bunny emerged from the mist figure crowd using their grappling claws. They leapt directly into the assassin’s stealth field, disappearing from the mist figures’ perception. Without a target, the surrounding mist figures began spinning around in place in confusion.

“But now that we’re out, what do we do with those monsters?” Fierce Tiger couldn’t help but ask.

Everyone looked over at the remaining mist figures still lingering near the building—and then their gazes subtly drifted toward the building that belonged to the Sanctum team, not far from theirs…

Ragdoll Cat said calmly, “Don’t worry. The assassin and I just left them a little something.”

Little Bunny added, “Yeah, we handle a little business.”

The rest of the Wonder Zoo team: “???”

—-

The moon hung high above. In silence, the number of mist figures kept increasing.

The Sanctum players were observing their neighbors. Seeing Wonder Zoo team in trouble was a good thing—any noise from the fighting would draw all the newly spawned mist figures toward them, ensuring that Sanctum’s hiding spot remained safe. They could shift all the danger to Wonder Zoo.

“Once Wonder Zoo starts losing people, it’s only a matter of time. With this many mist figures appearing, attrition is guaranteed,” one Sanctum player commented.

They hadn’t expected to eliminate Wonder Zoo completely this round. But if they could force them to lose a significant number of players, Sanctum would gain a major advantage.

But one of their allies—Team No. 3—looked a bit uncertain. The captain of Team 3 squinted toward the battlefield. There were so many mist figures now that it was hard to tell what was going on—but one thing stood out to him: “Something’s weird. They haven’t tried to rescue that first assassin who got caught—3145.”

That tiny bit of doubt started a ripple of tension. Suddenly, they noticed something: the movement across from them had quieted down.

“What’s going on?” one Sanctum player asked. “Assassin, go check it out.”

The Sanctum assassin immediately moved out. But the moment he stepped through the doorway, a sharp bell rang out. His expression shifted—he suddenly saw that the bells they had thrown toward the Wonder Zoo earlier were now right at their own front door! And there wasn’t just one—there were several!

“Captain, something’s wrong.” The assassin instantly tried to retrieve the items, but before he could get close to the bells, the moment he stepped into a certain area, the surroundings lit up—spotlights from an unknown source locked onto the bells, exposing the assassin despite his stealth.

With that light, the assassin was fully exposed—right under the mist figures’ noses!

From the distance, all the mist figures suddenly surged toward them—the Sanctum players were completely exposed!

“Boss, it’s not just one bell!”

“Damn it, Wonder Zoo has sound-based tools too!!”

“They used anti-stealth items too!”

There wasn’t just one sound tool, and not just one anti-stealth tool either. It was as if hundreds of loudspeakers had been installed around them. All the mist figures in the vicinity charged straight over! Even the ones that had been previously lured toward Wonder Zoo were now heading their way, an overwhelming swarm so dense that Sanctum and Team 3 had no way to hide.

“Someone go check what’s going on!” the Sanctum captain shouted.

“They’re gone! The Wonder Zoo players are all gone!” someone called back. “They got dragged away by the chain monsters!”

No wonder the monsters were all rushing their way—it was because the Wonder Zoo players could no longer be targeted. The Sanctum team instantly realized what Wonder Zoo had done to escape. Those chain monsters… were actually a usable mechanic.

Team 3’s players caught on. “Let’s use Wonder Zoo’s method—we can escape too!”

If Wonder Zoo could escape using the chain monsters, then they could do the same.

The players quickly began searching around for any chain monsters.

“Wait—Captain…”

“There aren’t any. No chains… There are no chain monsters here!”

The sea of mist figures closed in around them, trapping Sanctum and Team 3 without a single opening. A quick scan revealed more than a dozen monsters—but not one had chains in their hands. It was as if every single chain monster had vanished in an instant.

—-

Outside the mist figure horde, Wonder Zoo players were being dragged along by chain monsters. From a distance, they watched Sanctum and the others get completely surrounded. They had sent in their assassin to plant illumination and anti-stealth devices—using Sanctum’s own methods against them.

“But won’t they figure it out soon? Couldn’t they just copy what we did?” Black Bear the healer asked nervously.

That’s when Zhou Sui spoke up: “They won’t be getting out any time soon.”

“When we wrapped things up,” Little Bunny added, standing beside Zhou Sui inside the assassin’s stealth field, “we cleared out all the chain monsters.”

A moment of stunned silence spread through the group.

Ragdoll Cat blinked. “Cleared them?”

Zhou Sui looked confused. “Isn’t this a competitive game?”

“Shouldn’t we be eliminating the competition?”

Without the chain monsters, the Sanctum players had no way of replicating their escape method. With no other players around to draw aggro, all the mist figures would focus solely on them. And since chain monsters took 15 minutes to respawn, and there were so many players in Sanctum and Team 3, they’d be stuck in there for quite a while.

A chill ran through the Wonder Zoo players. All they’d done was throw down some speakers and anti-stealth tools.

But Zhou Sui and Little Bunny—one with poison, one with blades—had delivered a full-on “neuter package” to every chain monster in the vicinity!

But… how did he even neuter them?! Weren’t chain monsters supposed to be unkillable?!

“They probably won’t respawn for a few hours… though they do take up a lot of inventory space.”

Zhou Sui stood atop a high perch. The Wonder Zoo assassin, Little Panda, couldn’t resist peeking at his inventory—and saw it was filled with chains. Dozens of them at least.

Little Panda: “!”

Wonder Zoo Team: “…!!”

As they jolted along, they looked back toward the mist figure horde in the distance… and finally spotted a few monsters fumbling around on the ground, seemingly searching for their missing chains. And at last, they understood why Zhou Sui and Little Bunny had emerged last from the crowd.

Not only had they neutered them—they took the whole root with them!

And the craziest part: those chains could actually be picked up and stored in inventory!