Obviously, those players hadn't been teleported out yet. What coordinates?
Mu Anqi and the others continued watching the aftermath in the mirror while quickly heading toward the apartment door.
"Let me take a look at this…" Zhao Guogu had always been very lucky, so no matter what she wanted to do, she would get a certain bonus. Almost effortlessly, she saw a semi-transparent gray sticker stuck on the apartment door. If one didn't look carefully, they wouldn't notice it, and even if other players saw it, they probably wouldn't think to mark it. But… luckily, from the angle Zhao Guogu walked in, the sticker reflected a bit of light.
Mu Anqi tore off the sticker directly and then took out a dagger to cut it into pieces. The team of players in the mirror was shrouded in black mist, and the four talismans they had removed emitted a faint golden glow. Without seeing the BOSS or being attacked, these players intended to check inside the coffin for other items.
"Looks like this coffin is a seal. When we opened the seal, the BOSS had already left."
"In that case… let's quickly see what's left in the coffin! Grab the items and go."
This team of players discussed quickly, not daring to delay any longer. The other players weren't fools—such a commotion would definitely attract everyone else.
"This is a compass? It's an item!—Damn, it's time-limited, can only be used in this game, can't be taken out." An antique compass, a string of blessed Buddhist beads—this team of players took these two items. Along with the talismans, it just so happened to be enough for six people to share. Right now wasn't the time to argue; they had no objections to the item distribution for the moment.
"Wait, binding it takes time… buy me some time!"
Hearing this, Mu Anqi and the others understood immediately. The game designers would be more than happy for other players to rush in now and clash with this team. The binding time directly delayed this squad's progress, which was why Mu Anqi and the others saw that this team hadn't appeared yet in the fast-forward footage.
Sure enough, another team of players also discovered the already-opened black coffin. Their vision was somewhat impaired by the dense black mist, but the four faintly glowing talismans from the first team clearly provided a target for them. "Seize the items!"
The battle was about to erupt.
The little bug's monitoring couldn't capture the combat clearly, but Mu Anqi and the others could hear what both sides were saying. Whether it was urging the binding or shouts like "Don't hold back, just kill them!"—even at the climax of the fight, a surprised "I've bound it successfully!" rang out, alongside the teleport guy's terrified "My teleport mark is gone!" [T/N: I would have used the teleport mark for ambush instead of destroying it.. "=_=]
Those doing good deeds anonymously felt no trace of guilt.
"Should we go up and grab a piece of the pie?" Zhao Guogu asked, looking at Mu Anqi. With Mu Anqi's domineering control skills, combined with their sneak attack, taking down both teams would be easy.
"Recall that bug," Mu Anqi said, taking out Wu Sansheng's hand-drawn map. "There's a coffin in the apartment, along with other items. The other locations should be similar… where do you want to explore first?"
As Mu Anqi spoke, she suddenly felt a bit of regret: if the Fang siblings didn't need to be pulled off for training, the seven-person squad could easily split up. Not like now…
Xia Yun and Wu Sansheng were together, and Wu Sansheng's self-preservation ability was relatively weak—after all, no one knew which locations were nests for mental-type spirits. If Zhao Guogu and Si Suying acted together, Zhao Guogu's "lucky emperor" self-preservation wouldn't be very strong either. Although she had passives like averting danger… relying solely on luck as a player would only leave one at the mercy of fate.
Mu Anqi couldn't split herself, so after some thought, it was decided to act together.
"The Wasteland… if there really is a seal, it should be the most dangerous, but also potentially the most rewarding," Wu Sansheng reasoned. If there were apartments or coffins like in the Wasteland, then the Wasteland would definitely be the strongest. On this game map, the Wasteland was almost everywhere. "But it will be very difficult to find."
"Then let's go to the pond or the cave," Zhao Guogu said. "The pond might be water-related, maybe at the bottom. The cave is for deeper exploration."
"The cave then," Xia Yun said. "Too many unexpected events underwater."
Mu Anqi and the others then headed toward the cave.
To reach the cave, they had to pass through the Wasteland. As Mu Anqi and the others stepped into this area, an indescribable sense of oppression surged in their hearts, accompanied by a feeling of being watched.
"The things in the apartment coffins might be connected to these places," Wu Sansheng whispered. "When we explored before, it didn't feel this intense."
"Let's check out the cave first. If there's a seal there too…" Mu Anqi took a deep breath. "Maybe the game truly begins only after all the seals are lifted."
The game designers wouldn't let players off just because they were hiding and not exploring. Even without active exploration, the seals would likely weaken over time and eventually be lifted. And at that point, players wouldn't receive any extra temporary items.
[Ping! A player has obtained a special item: Incense!]
[Quest Activated: Sacrifice!]
[The strange ancient tomb apartment seems to hide many secrets. As these secrets gradually unfold… everyone will tremble! Players are urged to actively gather the materials needed for the sacrifice and complete the sacrificial seal.]
Main quest… appeared?
Incense—where did the incense come from? Mu Anqi and the others were puzzled. In the previous footage—wait, the lighting candle in the room on the sixth floor? That didn't even look like incense!
"There's an altar by the coffin; maybe there's part of the item beneath the altar that wasn't discovered at the time," Wu Sansheng recalled from the previous footage and speculated.
"Ah—wa—ah—" A somewhat clumsy crow's cry rang out. After the sound, Mu Anqi could see with the naked eye a massive flock of crows flying from deep within the Wasteland, their overwhelming presence like a rapidly moving black cloud that blotted out the sky!
"…My passive seems to have activated," Zhao Guogu said, bewildered. She saw a notification pop up for her passive and felt uneasy. "[Passive: Special Favor]: Triggers randomly. When triggered, grants key game information. (Information is not given directly; players must explore to obtain it)."
Zhao Guogu wasn't particularly fond of this passive, and it rarely triggered. The last time it had activated was in a competitive battle game; the moment it triggered, she turned a corner and directly encountered the game's "killer"—truly… instantly obtaining critical information!
At the moment the crow swarm approached, the Wasteland around Mu Anqi and the others seemed to undergo some unknown change. Gray smoke gradually rose around them, and countless crows perched on the dead branches, making the barren trees appear to be covered in black leaves from a distance. These "dead trees" with crows as leaves continuously "formed" in front of Mu Anqi and the others, directly indicating a special path.
"Looks like we need to grab the Wasteland's items first." Xia Yun drew her longsword and took a defensive stance, Wu Sansheng swapped her newly acquired pistol for ghost bullets, Mu Anqi drew her demon blade, and Zhao Guogu opened her backpack, zipping it up in front of her. Then…
"Meow~" Si Suying transformed into her cat form again. Her sharp white cat ears twitched, and her tail swayed as she became alert.
Mu Anqi glanced at Zhao Guogu. Without the "catnip" effect from the All-Things Amusement Park, Zhao Guogu's special aura that attracted cats had disappeared. Watching Zhao Guogu's itching attempt to touch the cat tail, Si Suying clearly noticed. She glared coldly at Zhao Guogu and swatted the probing hand away: "Don't mess around!"
"Uh, okay." Zhao Guogu obediently replied, her tone full of disappointment, and slumped at the end of the group.
Mu Anqi, originally at the rear of the team, noticed Zhao Guogu slowing down further behind her. Then… Si Suying, walking alongside Mu Anqi, also gradually slowed her pace. Mu Anqi discreetly glanced back and saw Si Suying's cold face as she spoke to Zhao Guogu, yet her cat tail softly brushed against Zhao Guogu's reddened hand.
"Ugh!" Can you not! Don't! Talk about romance at such a dangerous time! Mu Anqi, feeling a pang of envy, quickly followed Wu Sansheng and Xia Yun. She thought sourly: why doesn't General Ji have a fluffy tail to brush against her?
…Never mind, General Ji is already perfect without a tail.
"There's a spiritual illusion, no aggression—probably just trying to scare you," Wu Sansheng asked. "Do you want me to activate a skill?"
"Uh, not yet?" The black crows on the treetops vanished, and the scene turned into an "open-air graveyard" strewn with white bones. A howling, eerie wind blew, and though it shouldn't have that power, it sent a skull rolling across the ground. After passing through this field of bones, what appeared before Mu Anqi and the others was… a scarecrow? Or a wooden cross? Familiar yellow talismans were stuck on the scarecrow's forehead. The scarecrow was tied to the wooden cross, looking completely natural. Behind this scarecrow cross, five more crosses were inserted into the ground, but these had no yellow talismans.
Mu Anqi tentatively said to the scarecrow, "Smooth Journey." Yet the scarecrow didn't respond, so… do they need to lift the seal before it can move?
Xia Yun, holding her life-bound sword, asked, "Should I take off the talisman?"
"I can do it too," Si Suying said. "Once I activate my skill, my speed's very fast."
"To be safe, let's use the flying sword to remove it. I'll keep saying blessing words." Anyway, as long as it didn't work, the blessing words didn't count—she could repeat the same phrase eight hundred times if needed. "There should be items in those five cross-shaped graves."
"The scarecrow is nailed to the cross. Pulling out the small crosses recklessly might weaken the seal."
"Then let's remove the talisman first, Xia Yun!" Mu Anqi called out, and the words "Wishing You Smooth Journey" kept repeating from her mouth. S
he adjusted her mindset and truly wished the scarecrow beneath the cross would have a "Smooth Journey"!