Only one or two seconds had passed.
A white bone whip lashed out from nowhere with a sharp crack, instantly shattering the bottle of perfume.
The perfume seeped into the soil, leaving behind only a faint pink fragrance swirling through the night air. The refined scent brewed from roses immediately drove the refugees into a frenzy as they surged toward the source.
[System Notification: Player Bai Liu has modified the entry and exit rules of (Magic Space), changing the restriction from (Refugees prohibited from entering) to (Players prohibited from leaving; refugees may enter and exit freely)]
[System Notification: Player Bai Liu has modified the structure of (Magic Space), changing it from an irregular rectangle into a regular six-square-meter hexahedron, ensuring player Tang Erda can move freely within it]
The refugees raised their bloodshot eyes greedily. Their twitching tentacles stretched toward Tang Erda, whose body was soaked in perfume, as they flooded into the [Magic Space] one after another.
The narrow invisible corridor that had constrained Tang Erda suddenly expanded.
The motion of drawing his gun, which had stalled for a brief instant, resumed fluidly.
Tang Erda’s gaze locked onto the incoming swarm of refugees. His thumb snapped down the revolver’s hammer.
Click.
The crisp sound of the chamber rotating was followed immediately by six explosive shots.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Six bursts of muzzle flash erupted in succession. Every bullet pierced directly through a refugee’s heart. Just before the monsters could reach the trapped hunter, their lives were harvested instantly by his gunfire.
Roses spilled from the refugees’ withered corpses.
And on the faces of the dead refugees remained expressions of twisted satisfaction—as though, before dying, they had finally inhaled the rose fragrance they had dreamed of for so long.
Bodies piled up around Tang Erda.
Yet no matter how many refugees he killed, more continued clawing their way out from underground.
Grinding his teeth, Tang Erda relentlessly cut down the endless horde surging toward the scent. A blood-red glint even flashed briefly through his deep blue eyes.
—That damned Bai Six.
He’d fallen into Bai Six’s trap again.
Bai Six had deliberately laid out this scheme, specifically baiting players like them—players hunting refugees to complete the mission—into coming here. Then he trapped them inside Magic Space while hiding in the shadows, forcing them to kill refugees on his behalf.
All Bai Six had to do was wait until they spent the entire night fighting, then casually emerge at dawn to collect the roses dropped by the refugees and clear the mission effortlessly.
Meanwhile, players like them—whose labor would be stolen and whose missions would fail—would either be fired, exiled, or forced to continue working in this hellish place.
And Bai Six would once again use the fruits of someone else’s labor to rapidly advance far ahead of everyone else.
Veins bulged on Tang Erda’s forehead.
The speed of his firing and reloading became faster and faster. Refugees collapsed nonstop around him, the surrounding ground nearly buried beneath roses dropped from their corpses—
—but even under those circumstances, he still couldn’t find an opening to activate [Russian Roulette].
Tang Erda wanted to use [Russian Roulette] against Bai Six. At the very least, he wanted to force that bastard hiding in the shadows to reveal himself.
But reality left him no opportunity.
The refugees were attacking too densely and too continuously. No matter how powerful Tang Erda was individually, there was simply no space to activate a burst-type skill while under this level of pressure.
Especially because once [Russian Roulette] was used, the skill would enter a ten-minute cooldown.
Ten minutes.
In a battlefield like this, that was fatal.
Bai Six had calculated everything perfectly.
He hadn’t left Tang Erda a single chance to retaliate.
“Mr. Hunter?”
One of the three Kings Guild members who had entered the game alongside Tang Erda followed the flow of refugees here. Since there weren’t many refugees in his own flower field, he had gone searching for them instead.
The player stared in confusion at Tang Erda, who was standing nearly motionless in the center of the field while endlessly mowing down refugees.
“What exactly are you—”
Tang Erda whipped his head around and barked sharply:
“Don’t come over here!!”
Too late.
[System Notification: Player Bai Liu has stretched and extended (Magic Space) to trap player Qi Yifang]
Qi Yifang froze as the invisible glass-like corridor locked him in place.
He blinked at the refugees rushing toward him, then turned toward Tang Erda, who was pressing a hand against his forehead in frustration.
Only then did Qi Yifang understand why Tang Erda had warned him not to approach.
Forced into combat, Qi Yifang pulled out his Atmosphere Observation Instrument with a helpless laugh.
“This Bai Liu...” he muttered bitterly. “He really has the guts to set up a one-versus-four trap like this.”
No wonder even the Queen found him troublesome.
————————
“How vicious. Seriously, absolutely vicious.”
Holding a pair of binoculars, Liu Jiayi watched the spectacle with relish while hypocritically sighing in condemnation.
“You really are too evil, Bai Liu. All four of them are trapped in there working overtime for you for free now.”
Bai Liu was also holding binoculars.
After shattering the perfume bottle with the bone whip, he had retreated immediately. Now the two of them were hidden far behind the factory.
Through the binocular lenses, the four enemy players were cooperating with each other, diligently farming refugees on Bai Liu’s behalf.
What a touching scene.
Unfortunately, the people involved clearly didn’t find it touching at all.
The roses on the ground continued piling higher and higher.
But because the refugees attracted by the perfume were too numerous, the four trapped players had no time whatsoever to collect the roses while fighting.
Among them, Tang Erda was by far the most composed.
His combat efficiency was terrifyingly high—practically one shot per kill—so the largest pile of roses had gathered around him.
At the same time, he was consciously keeping those roses close to himself while his icy gaze swept continuously across the flower field in search of Bai Liu.
It was obvious what he intended to do.
The moment Bai Liu showed himself to collect the roses, Tang Erda would shoot him dead.
“Hey.” Liu Jiayi nudged Bai Liu with her elbow while peering through the binoculars. “Captain Tang is way stronger than I expected.”
“As expected of an opponent personally targeted by a jinx like you.” There was even a trace of admiration in her voice. “He’s definitely on the same level as you.”
Bai Liu: “...”
After observing Tang Erda for a while longer, Liu Jiayi’s playful tone gradually disappeared. Her expression turned serious.
“This guy’s gun-type attack skills are even more troublesome than I imagined.” Liu Jiayi lowered the binoculars slightly. “I’ve been watching him this whole time, and aside from the moments where he reloads, I haven’t seen any obvious cooldown period.”
“His reload speed is insanely fast, and his attack power is absurdly high too. If he can one-shot an A+ monster, then his base attack value is at least five thousand.”
She looked toward Bai Liu.
“Right now you’ve trapped them in a confined area, so they can’t move around to chase you. But Tang Erda has long-range attack skills, and his current shooting accuracy is basically perfect.”
“I’m pretty sure the moment you appear, he’ll immediately lock onto you. He seems to understand that himself too, which is why he’s just waiting for you to come out and collect the roses.”
Liu Jiayi raised an eyebrow.
“So?” she asked. “Have you figured out how you’re going to retrieve those roses? Are you seriously still planning to use the method you came up with this morning? Because honestly, it feels very likely to fail spectacularly.”
“It doesn’t matter if it fails.” Bai Liu continued watching through the binoculars, expression calm. “We won’t be the ones in trouble.”
“After all...” Bai Liu paused slightly. “I won’t personally be the one collecting the roses.”
Liu Jiayi raised the binoculars again and sighed sincerely.
“When it comes to exploiting other people for profit, you really are exceptionally gifted.”
Just as Liu Jiayi predicted, Tang Erda truly was waiting for Bai Liu to appear.
At first, Tang Erda had been furious after realizing he’d been trapped.
But he calmed down quickly.
Because Magic Space restricted more than just movement range.
It also restricted Bai Six.
The roses dropped from the refugees were all concentrated inside the Magic Space. And due to the limitations of the space itself, many movement-type items couldn’t be used within it.
Which meant that if Bai Six wanted the spoils, he would eventually have to enter personally.
And that was enough.
Tang Erda only needed to wait patiently for his prey.
Patience was the fundamental quality of a hunter.
Across countless worlds, he and Bai Six had pursued each other over and over again.
If there was one thing Tang Erda did not lack—
—it was patience.
One hour passed.
Then two.
Then three.
The first light of dawn had already begun appearing on the horizon.
Yet Bai Liu still hadn’t shown himself.
The other three Kings Guild members trapped inside the [Magic Space] were already exhausted after fighting nonstop for half the night. Aside from Tang Erda, whose attack precision and combat efficiency remained terrifyingly stable, the others had gradually begun making mistakes.
And every gap they exposed was instantly covered by Tang Erda.
Qi Yifang panted heavily as he stared at the hunter fighting beside them.
He wasn’t particularly familiar with Tang Erda. This time, he had simply followed the Guild’s orders.
Originally, Qi Yifang had assumed they were here to protect some obscure newcomer called “Hunter.” After all, the panels of Kings Guild members alone were already enough to dominate ninety-five percent of all players.
Yet the man accompanying them had practically no public reputation whatsoever.
In the game world, truly powerful players rarely remained unknown.
But this man...
Bang! Bang!
Qi Yifang watched in stunned disbelief as a silver bullet flashed past his eyes in slow motion, piercing straight through the skull of a refugee lunging at him from behind and instantly covering the opening in his defense.
At nearly the same moment, another bullet skimmed past the shoulder of a nearby player and exploded the head of a refugee directly behind him. Blood and brain matter burst outward as the corpse collapsed, instantly relieving the exhausted player’s pressure.
Qi Yifang’s gaze slowly shifted toward Tang Erda, who was rapidly reloading his revolver.
From beginning to end, Tang Erda had never once looked away from the battlefield ahead.
His expression remained cold and perfectly focused on the overwhelming swarm of refugees before him. The instant he finished reloading, he raised his gun again.
Qi Yifang was completely stunned.
This man’s combat instincts were monstrous.
While suppressing the overwhelming majority of the frontline pressure by himself, he still had enough spare awareness to constantly support and protect his teammates.
Clearly, Tang Erda possessed the offensive power of a top-tier Spear.
Yet at the same time, he silently filled every defensive gap like an impenetrable Shield.
One person alone was performing both roles simultaneously.
And both at League level.
...If the Kings Guild could truly recruit a mysterious hunter like this—
—and combine him with the Little Witch, who could both heal and attack—
Qi Yifang secretly glanced toward Tang Erda while swallowing nervously, his mouth inexplicably dry.
This...
This would absolutely become the strongest lineup in Kings Guild history.
At that moment, Qi Yifang had already thought of the perfect slogan for the Guild’s future championship run.
With both a Hunter and a Witch on the team—
[Tonight Is Not a Silent Night]
A strange smile slowly appeared on Qi Yifang’s face as he imagined Kings Guild winning the League championship while he stood proudly beside the Queen of Hearts on the podium.
—
Author’s Note:
Qi Yifang (in despair): Why was it always me who discovered both the Hunter and the Little Witch first?! I even had the team slogan ready! So why are you all so professionally skilled at stealing people?!
6: .
+1: Well, Qi Yifang-gege, haven’t you ever heard the saying, “The first one to make a move always loses...”
Qi Yifang: ......
