Chapter 81
Sometimes, even #888 didn’t feel like commenting on its host’s behavior.
Lu Chuan’s methods were a bit disgusting, yes—but practical.
One couldn’t expect a youth raised under the red flag, growing up in spring breezes, to have achieved great martial prowess.
That he could kill decisively at all was already thanks to the brutal training of the infinite worlds. A more moral person would likely still be stuck on the psychological hurdle.
Besides, every contestant here had blood on their hands. Their deaths weren’t worth pity, which made it easier for Lu Chuan to bear.
At least, that’s how #888 saw it. Whether Lu Chuan thought so too, it couldn’t say.
For Edith, the most she could force herself to compliment was, “You found the weak spot well.”
But if a knight-class fighter used such underhanded moves, it would be social suicide.
Luckily, Lu Chuan had none of those rigid codes of dignity or morality. For him, so long as he defeated the enemy, it was justified. And if it truly weren’t allowed, wouldn’t the system have denied his kill? Since it counted, it worked.
Still, three marks weren’t enough—he needed seven more.
This time he succeeded only because it was night, with low visibility. By daylight, his chances would be much smaller.
“Captain Lu, how about I teach you another surprise attack technique?” Edith offered.
“Edith, teach me another ambush trick.” Lu Chuan nodded.
Huh?
Edith blinked, not quite understanding his request.
“I mean something unexpected, a move to kill quickly.” Lu Chuan gestured. “Preferably with a sharp weapon, otherwise I’m afraid one stab won’t finish them and I won’t get the chance for a second.”
After a moment’s silence, Edith taught him a couple moves.
But such finishers only worked at close range. In this Blood Kingdom, no one would normally let him get close.
That was her thinking—and it was sound.
But Lu Chuan wasn’t normal.
In the following days, Edith’s worldview was thoroughly reshaped by him.
This guy played the innocent lamb with uncanny perfection.
He’d put on glasses, dress neatly with a pen in his shirt pocket—like a teacher straight from class. Then he’d stand at crossroads, asking passersby for directions, pretending to be a lost tourist.
To bait greed, he wore an obviously expensive gold watch, a luxurious necklace, even gemstone shirt buttons.
Wait.
“Where did you get gemstone buttons?” Edith was shocked. Did the Star Guild really craft such things? She’d never heard of it.
The buttons were cut with exquisite detail, carved with patterns, forming a full set—obviously worth a fortune.
Even the most extravagant guildmasters wouldn’t go that far. Truthfully, they couldn’t afford to.
“Oh, I picked them up in a past dungeon, from that guy—uh, Lucas.” Lu Chuan thought hard to recall. “Yeah, from the crossover dungeon Witch’s Secret Elixir. Lucas was loaded. Shame I was still weak back then—could only grab some trinkets before leaving. I heard he had estates and mines, but I didn’t get those.”
Edith suddenly understood why she and Shasha had faced such terrifying boss attacks in that dungeon.
Turns out, Lu Chuan had stirred up trouble.
With his disguise and acting skills, even duel-minded players couldn’t help but feel tempted.
But the moment they reached for his gemstone buttons, Lu Chuan was already close enough—and a knife pierced their hearts.
One after another, without pause.
In his own words, this was “fishing enforcement.”
Edith couldn’t make sense of it—but she was deeply shaken.
Maybe this was what Shen Li had meant for her to learn.
Of course, they still ran into tough opponents now and then. Lu Chuan wasn’t always strong enough, but Edith backed him up, and together they managed to kill. The system still credited the marks to Lu Chuan.
Edith sighed in relief—so long as Lu Chuan contributed enough, it counted as his.
That meant they could play a bigger role in future rounds.
Using his “fishing enforcement” tactic, Lu Chuan quickly collected all ten marks and cleared the preliminaries. All they had to do now was wait for the round to end, then unlock a skill or item.
Edith’s original idea was to eliminate as many rivals as possible, but Lu Chuan dragged her into guerrilla tactics instead.
“Now that we’ve passed, no need to stir up more trouble.” Lu Chuan said firmly. “I bet plenty of others think like you—if we run into strong ones now, it’ll be risky. We should conserve strength and first gather intel on the real enemies.”
After all, the fodder NPCs here were just appetizers. The real threats hadn’t even appeared yet.
The system surely wouldn’t pit high-level players and NPCs against each other too early. That would come later, in mid- or late-stage battles, to weed out opportunists.
“But Captain, our skills are still sealed.” Edith sighed. She wanted intel too, but they had no map, no real strength, and even their food was restricted by the system—just enough to fill their own bellies, not enough to trade for information.
“So we’ll need to use some other tricks.” Lu Chuan stroked his chin. “For now, focus on gathering intel. Let’s first get a rough idea of where the remaining survivors around here are, then think of other methods.”
With just a few days left before the preliminaries ended, there were bound to be players who hadn’t yet collected enough kills to advance. That was exactly when he and Edith could start muddying the waters.
Edith truly lived up to Shen Li’s strong recommendation.
As a Swordbearer-type, her physical abilities were already outstanding. On top of that, she’d been trained from childhood, and with her naturally exceptional physique, she was practically a one-woman special forces squad—a walking god of war.
The thought that many others in this tournament were like Edith made Lu Chuan feel exhausted already.
This kind of dungeon was extremely unfriendly to strategist-type players like him. But then, that was exactly what made it interesting.
Edith moved under cover of night, swift as lightning. In just two days, she had mapped out roughly how many players were within ten kilometers, as well as the distribution of several larger factions.
“…Captain, there’s a squad of five to the east. Three of them still need kills, but not many—they seem tense, probably only one or two short. The squad to the north looks much more nervous, which means at least one of them is short by quite a bit. Aside from these fixed groups, there are around twenty scattered individuals. In the ideal case, if these squads don’t clash with each other, they should all make it through.” Edith finished her report in one breath, then sneaked a glance at Lu Chuan.
“How does your strength compare to theirs?” Lu Chuan asked cautiously.
“In one-on-one, none of them are my match. If it’s me against many, as long as it’s not more than five, I can handle it. The only problem is if you get pinned down, Captain.” Edith could always fight or escape, but if Lu Chuan fell into enemy hands, things would get ugly.
“I’ll do my best.” Lu Chuan said. “I’ve got an idea—I’ll think it through.”
After studying Edith’s simple map, Lu Chuan flashed her a dazzling smile. “Edith, you did great. Let’s take over this whole region.”
Edith blinked, but didn’t voice her doubts.
If Lu Chuan said so, then he must have a way.
His method was simple.
He had Edith capture and tie up five or six scattered players. Then he made a dozen copies of her map and tossed them to the remaining stragglers.
Those contestants, already jittery as the preliminaries neared the end, caught sight of maps marking strong teams nearby. Terrified, they hid even deeper, refusing to come out, which instantly made it harder for hunting squads to find targets.
That night, Lu Chuan and Edith approached one squad.
Edith quickly dispatched the two who rushed at them but refrained from killing, then obediently retreated behind Lu Chuan.
“Captain, no need to jump straight to killing. I’m here to join you, not break your team apart.” Lu Chuan smiled harmlessly. “You must still be short on kills. We know where the other squads are.”
“We already know that. No need for your help.” A squad member snarled. “Kill you both, and we’ll be just two short.”
“You’d have to be able to kill us first.” Lu Chuan said confidently. “If we really fought, we’d likely kill you instead. I’m only being civil because I don’t want to waste strength before the finals. Don’t mistake kindness for weakness. If you don’t want to hear my proposal, we’ll find someone else.”
“Wait. My teammate spoke out of turn. Please stay.” The squad’s captain finally spoke, playing the conciliatory role.
Lu Chuan halted, nodding. “That’s better.”
“Captain, right now there are only about ten scattered players left. But four squads—including yours—still need kills. That means at least one or two of you won’t make it. You’re not that strong to begin with—lose a member, and you’ll probably be eliminated in round two. Recruiting replacements will take time. The best option is for your whole squad to advance together, right?”
“We already know all that. What do you want?” The captain eyed Lu Chuan warily, certain this man was scheming.
Though it was only a man and a woman, their strength was undeniable—especially the woman, clearly a killer. Yet she obeyed the man’s word completely. That meant he was the terrifying one.
He looked frail, yes—but who knew if he was actually some ancient monster in disguise?
“We’ll help you eliminate other players.” Lu Chuan said with a smile. “That way, you’ll clear out rivals. Afterward, recruit survivors in this area, and we’ll form a larger team to protect ourselves in the next round.”
“Hah, nonsense!” The captain scoffed. “You think this is child’s play? Everyone’s here for the championship. Even solid teams like us will eventually fight each other. Since it all comes down to ourselves in the end, why bother joining a team?”
“Because sticking together is human instinct. As long as there’s a sliver of hope, no one wants to die.” Lu Chuan’s smile was dazzling. “If you can live, why choose death? You don’t need to think too hard—just answer whether you want your team to advance intact.”
“…We do.”
“Then that’s enough.” Lu Chuan nodded. “My friend and I will lure another squad here. You just need to pick them off.”
“Why help us?” The captain didn’t believe in free favors. “If you’ve already qualified, why bother?”
“Because we’re only two. A pair might clear round one, but not round two. We have to grow our team. Once you’ve got your kills, stop hunting others—recruit instead. That’s how we’ll grow stronger.”
The captain fell silent, though whether he believed Lu Chuan or not, no one knew.
Lu Chuan didn’t care. He just did what he wanted.
He and Edith left that squad, then visited the other three—using different lines each time.
“I’m from Team XX. Our captain says, hand over one member for us to finish our kills, and we won’t touch you.”
“Our captain wants to know if you’ll join our alliance.”
Lu Chuan sowed discord at will, sometimes feeding one squad info about another’s movements.
Stirring up chaos wherever he went.
Naturally, not every squad believed his lies.
Some even tried to attack him—only to be thrashed by Edith.
On top of that, Lu Chuan and Edith sometimes disguised themselves as members of other squads to launch surprise attacks, fanning the flames so the four squads had no choice but to clash.
He also spread panic among the stragglers, kidnapping a few so the squads couldn’t find enough kills. They’d be forced into conflict whether they liked it or not.
Tensions were already high.
With Lu Chuan running around like a chaos-stirring stick, one spark was all it took to set off an explosion.
Edith stayed silent in the beginning, not questioning his decisions.
She couldn’t quite grasp why he was sowing discord among squads. But she sensed he was playing a much bigger game.
“Edith, in combat dungeons, personal strength matters, yes. But since the game allows teams, that means team strength also counts. My strength counts as combat power—so doesn’t using others’ strength also count? That’s why when we killed together, the system credited the kills to me.” Lu Chuan finally explained his thinking.
“If the goal is to recruit strength, why provoke fights?” Edith asked, puzzled. Since he was in a good mood, she voiced it directly. “If they fight, they’ll just suffer heavy losses. That doesn’t help us.”
“How could it not?” Lu Chuan chuckled, patient enough to explain. “These squads share the same region—they’ve already crossed paths plenty. Early on, with enough kills, they could avoid clashes. But now, with us hiding away enough stragglers, the only way for them all to advance is to fight for limited resources—treating other players as those resources. I’m just the match. Whether the fire spreads depends on them.”
In a duel-type dungeon like this, even if it all comes down to one-on-one in the end, early on teamwork is essential.
Many ants can bite an elephant to death—especially now, when their abilities and items were sealed by the system.
Lu Chuan knew he had no inherent advantage, so he had to turn his disadvantage into an advantage in the early stage.
After thinking it over, the only thing he could leverage at the start was numbers.
With people, he could make his next moves.
No matter their quality, sheer numbers in the beginning made them look formidable.
Putting on a convincing show? That was Lu Chuan’s bread and butter.
As long as he could pull together a halfway-decent team at the start, he’d have all the room he needed later for scheming and trickery.
“These four squads—none of them will submit to another. And their members vary in strength. They can’t possibly stay united. If they fight, who do you think gets taken out first?”
Edith thought carefully. “The weakest will die.”
“The strongest too,” Lu Chuan added. “Especially the captains of those squads—they’re guaranteed to die.”
In group fights, people rarely stay rational. They go after whoever draws their attention—either the strongest or the weakest. Those in the middle get to slip through the cracks.
There’s a reason “moderation” is always praised.
Defeating a strong opponent boosts morale. Eliminating the weakest costs nothing.
So when these squads clashed, the captains would definitely be primary targets.
And the result was inevitable: all four captains would die. If any survived, Edith would finish them off.
Without their leaders, the squads would collapse into disarray.
And after a brutal battle, with comrades dead and injured, survivors wouldn’t be thinking clearly.
That was when Lu Chuan’s ideas could guide them.
“We only have two people. Your combat strength isn’t enough to guarantee both of us making it to round three, four, or even five.” Lu Chuan explained. “If we shine too brightly early on, everyone will target us. By the later stages, you’ll be swarmed by wheel battles—how many rounds of that could you endure?”
The best way to hide was to melt into the crowd.
And finding someone hidden in a crowd was never easy.
Besides, Lu Chuan was an expert in disguise.
“I don’t want the strongest—that would threaten you. I don’t want the weakest either—they’d be useless to me. What I want are the ones best at surviving.” He looked down at the four squads now colliding under his and Edith’s manipulation.
They might have realized they’d fallen into a trap, but the arrow was nocked—they had no choice but to fight.
“I want the ones who cling to life,” Lu Chuan smiled. “At this stage, all we need to do is grow steadily in the shadows. Too strong and you’re a target, too weak and you’re eliminated. In this dungeon, people are resources. And we need to control those resources.”
Edith thought, honestly, Lu Chuan would be better off selling houses in the Star Guild.
At least selling houses was better than selling people.
