Chapter 42: Arrogant Teammates

After the clown finished explaining the rules, it vanished into the sky, replaced by a countdown timer for the instance and numbered slots from one to twenty.

Each number displayed a score of zero.

There were a total of twenty teams, amounting to a hundred people.

And now, those hundred people were stunned by the clown’s last words, not yet recovered.

“What does the clown mean? Is it guiding us to kill each other?” Someone broke the silence, voicing the answer everyone knew in their hearts.

The difficulty of this instance wasn’t killing the Xenomorphs, but killing other people.

Because the higher the ranking, the better the rewards, some people would definitely attack other teams in order to get good skills.

As soon as Chu Xihen saw the scoreboard, he immediately exchanged for two more cloaks, one for Lou Su, and one for himself.

“Cover up your number plate,” Chu Xihen said softly to Lou Su.

He had just finished speaking when someone shouted from the crowd, “Where is team number fifteen? You still have two teammates here!”

Neither Chu Xihen nor Lou Su made a sound; those two deadweight teammates were better off gone.

After someone took the lead in finding teammates, other scattered teams also began to recognize each other by their numbers.

At this time, a kind-hearted person reminded, “There is a real-time scoreboard in the sky, I advise you not to expose your number plates for now, lest you become the target of a hunt later.”

After this person’s reminder, everyone quickly covered the number plates on their chests, but some who were standing closer had already memorized the people and numbers of nearby teams.

That kind-hearted person continued, “I have a suggestion, I don’t know if you are willing to listen to me for a few words?”

He spoke again, attracting everyone’s attention.

Chu Xihen and the others also saw the speaker through the crowd.

That was a young man in his early thirties, tall, with outstanding looks, and hip-length hair casually tied behind his head. His tone was unhurried, with a kind of approachable quality that could soothe people’s hearts.

Although he reminded everyone to cover their number plates, he generously exposed his own.

“If you have anything to say, say it quickly, don’t delay my grandpa from killing Xenomorphs.” A voice urged from the crowd.

Ling Yao, who was squatting on the ground, stood up after hearing this voice. He craned his neck to look ahead, then shrunk back and whispered in Chu Xihen’s ear, “Brother Chu, it’s Hu Gang and them.”

Chu Xihen had heard this name from Ling Yao before; it was the group of people who had abandoned him and ran away.

“How many of them are there?” Chu Xihen asked.

“All eight of them are there.” After Ling Yao finished speaking, he tightened the cloak around his body even more, determined not to let Hu Gang recognize him, otherwise, the other party would definitely attack them since they were few in number.

“Don’t panic, let’s watch and see.” Lou Su reassured.

He wanted to hear what unique insights that long-haired man had.

“I just want to ask everyone, if the Xenomorphs in this instance can be killed, so that everyone can have exactly 10,000 points and clear the instance without casualties, are you willing to cooperate?” The long-haired man asked everyone.

This was a good question, causing everyone to fall silent.

Then someone questioned, “In that case, how is the ranking calculated?”

“Yeah, how are the rewards distributed?” Someone next to him echoed.

The long-haired man said, “Two possibilities, either everyone gets no rewards, or everyone gets the same rewards.”

In short, it was still gambling.

Clearly, the mechanism of this instance was to have everyone kill each other. If they united to exploit loopholes, they might end up with no rewards at all.

“This is not easy to cooperate, right? No one knows whether the points are enough for everyone to have 10,000.” A small voice subtly raised an objection.

At this time, Hu Gang, whom Ling Yao recognized, said loudly, “Even if there are enough points, how can you guarantee that everyone won’t take more once they have 10,000 points? If some good-for-nothings can’t even kill Xenomorphs and others have to give them points, isn’t that a joke?”

“So everyone is unwilling to cooperate and wants to fight on their own?” The long-haired man wasn’t surprised at all when he heard the dissenting voice, as if he had expected this result long ago.

“Strength is not equal, what cooperation is there to talk about?” Hu Gang’s voice was the loudest of everyone.

He also had confidence, after all, all his people had come in, about two teams’ worth. As long as they were united, it was enough to deal with other teams.

Was he not afraid that others would unite to deal with him? Of course, he was afraid, so now he was diligently shaking people’s hearts.

“Time is short, let’s go kill Xenomorphs first!”

Hu Gang’s agitation was very effective. Coupled with the fact that everyone had to cooperate and ensure that everyone had 10,000 points, this was too difficult. It was better to quickly kill Xenomorphs, lest they be killed by others. Not only would they not get rewards, but they would even lose their lives here.

Teams that didn’t intend to cooperate swarmed towards the forest. Even those who had ideas before gave up at this time. The long-haired man’s plan was to have a hundred people work together, but as long as one person didn’t cooperate, this plan would fail.

In the blink of an eye, only a dozen people were left in the distance, including Chu Xihen and the others, two teammates, and that long-haired man and his teammates.

“Why aren’t you leaving yet? They are unwilling to cooperate, and we can’t do anything with these few people, we can only kill our own.” The long-haired man said to the remaining people with some regret.

Hu Gang and the others had already entered the forest, and Ling Yao wasn’t so afraid shrinking in the cloak.

He curiously asked the long-haired man, “You reminded everyone to hide their number plates, why didn’t you hide yours?”

The long-haired man heard the voice and looked over at them, answering Ling Yao’s words with a smile, “Because I’m not afraid of others snatching my points.”

His tone was confident, even a little arrogant.

“Oh, then you are really amazing.” Ling Yao could only say a dry compliment.

The long-haired man said softly, “Thank you, you are number fifteen, right? Your teammates have been looking for you.”

After he finished speaking, he left with his four teammates, and then the other two number fifteens finally turned their attention to Chu Xihen and the others.

“You are really interesting, we looked for so long, were you deaf? Not saying a word.” The speaker was a tall, burly man, next to him stood a woman shorter than him, both wearing camouflage uniforms.

This combination made Chu Xihen immediately think of Zhuang Shi and Xiao Xi, whom he had met before. These two should also be a couple.

“Didn’t that man just say that it’s best to hide your numbers?” Ling Yao replied to the man, and then couldn’t help complaining, “What did that long-hair mean? He even exposed our numbers before leaving!”

“Are you so afraid of death? So what if people know, just beat them back!” The woman crossed her arms, looking at the three with an arrogant expression.

“Look at your attire, are you really not planning to see anyone?” The two took turns ridiculing Chu Xihen and the others.

Mainly because the three of them were wearing cloaks, and their faces were mostly blocked by the hoods, anyone who saw them would think they were afraid of death.

“Forget it, wife, don’t talk nonsense with them, let’s go kill Xenomorphs first.” The tall man planned to leave with the woman.

The woman was unwilling, “What’s the use of just the two of us killing? The final score depends on the entire team’s points!” She glared fiercely at Chu Xihen and the others, “I warn you, even if we can’t get first, we must be in the top three, you are not allowed to hold us back, understand?”