As soon as Shane opened his eyes, he first used a healing potion and got up to his feet as fast as he could. At this time, the woman had already run off to the brighter side as another ear-piercing scream followed soon after. He assumed that there must be something horrific there.
Angela, who was still frozen, perceived changes and realized what had happened as she spoke in a hurry, "My aunt…. Is she in danger?"
"Girl, she just tried to kill you, and you're still worried about her?"
"Well, she's my only family left in this place. Who else am I supposed to save even if she's standing opposite to me?"
For a moment, Shane couldn't speak any longer because he could feel the same sentiment running through his mind again and again for Tess. Wasn't his situation the same? He also was trying to save his sister despite the enemies keeping an eye on him.
A trace of bitterness flooded through his veins as he smiled. He suddenly realized that he didn't have any right to judge others when he himself wasn't perfect in doing things. He took a deep breath and said, "Let's check out the dark side first. The woman spoke out the term 'destroyers' in her sentence. So, we can safely assume that we have people with the same mission here. We should find them first."
Shane paused and added, "I also have a teammate system here. It will be better to meet up with him."
Angela didn't say anything as she continued to watch. A while later, she got control of the body back as she stretched out her palms. Soon enough, a notification sound echoed in her ears as the system said, "I have sent you a list of things you can purchase. You have been given a hundred coins to buy the necessities for now. Purchase the important items first."
The girl nodded as she started going through the shopping center, buying one item after another. In the meanwhile, Shane opened the chatbox and texted Jake, "Are you out there or not?"
"Out, out! The host was finally willing to listen to me!" Jake sounded as if he was very relieved as if he had just been sent out of prison, "He's such a young man probably attending a college, but he's still so stupid. I'm telling you; college students are the worst!"
"Ahem," Shane coughed loudly as he replied, "I was also a uni student before dying. Think before speaking next time."
This was the first time Jake didn't reply. Shane was just about to close the chatbox when he received a reply, "Damn it! I just found out we have acquaintances here! My host is arguing about how to destroy this world easier without leaving a trace so that they can return to their world faster. The environment is so lively! I wish I can save this scene… oh wait, we can probably get to watch these through the livestreams."
Shane had almost forgotten about his livestream thing. He glanced at his menu and opened the livestream page only to see that his viewers had crossed a thousand in number, and even his Crana increased to twenty thousand at the moment. Shane nodded in satisfaction as he bought his own set of things he wanted to use.
After a while, the duo system and host finally managed to enter a dark room attached directly to the end of the tunnel. As soon as Angela entered that place, she saw several people already using their torches while brighten up the place. She also pulled out her torch as she stood at one corner and listened to the words.
"We can blast up this entire place!" one of the middle-aged people said, "It'll be a faster way to destroy this damned hell-hole. I don't want to be here any longer."
"Me too. Your idea seems feasible."
"I agree."
"Then what are we waiting for?"
"Wait!" One of them politely added, "Do we have enough Crana for this? I only have five left!"
"F*ck!" Another one cursed under his breath, "My stupid system didn't warn me before! How unlucky!"
Angela was surprised as she asked Shane in her mind, "System, should we purchase the bombs?"
"Not necessary," Shane was relaxed compared to the others. He wanted to see them all try one idea after another to get more ideas about his place. This tunnel didn't seem to be an escape room, rather, it was a place filled with a sticky substance all over the walls and a strange stench that could make anyone feel like vomiting, "Let them try. We should just continue to watch."
Just then, everyone's eyes glanced at the newcomer as they all silenced. They stared at her vigilantly as one of them asked, "What's your mission?"
"I'm a destroyer," Angela was much calmer this time after facing her aunt's betrayal. She raised her head confidently and said, "I was nearly killed by my own aunt a while ago, whose mission is to kill the destroyers."
"Can we trust you?"
"I can't trust any of you too," Angela pulled out a sword she had just purchased, "If any of you come closer to me, I swear I'll stab you to death, No kidding! I have just survived a moment of life and death!"
Her hands holding the sword kept trembling at this time as she continued to stare and make herself look more and more intimidating. It worked very well as the others murmured amongst one another as one of the older ones said, "Fine, we are willing to let you in if you contribute to paying for one of the bombs."
"One bomb cost twenty Crana. You have that much money in your account," Shane spoke through his mind.
"But you said-" Angela had just opened her mouth before Shane cut her off.
"Forget what I said, we'll get more opportunities to earn Crana in the future. Let's get this over with first."
Soon enough, the group of six people set up the bombs throughout the tunnel as they came back to the darkroom at the end. Meanwhile, Shane also found Jake and the latter's host, who was also very young but had a cold expression on his face the entire time. Angela and that young boy spoke nothing to one another as they kept doing their work.
After a while, everyone initiated the bombing sequence, but nothing happened. Everyone frowned as Shane leaned back.
Of course, it wouldn't be this easy. He had experienced a world with severe difficulty before, and things weren't that simple. The monsters were so powerful that Shane could tell that they were of probably a higher rating than zero. Back then, he didn't have any way to check out other people's stats like the present moment. Even though the radar could show certain things, it still wasn't as good as seeing the live stats of his enemies.
Dirt really gave him a good thing this time.
That reminded him, that after practicing several times in the dungeon that Ed owned, he had managed to finally climb up to level one after so much time. His stats started to look better and better at the moment, as he opened his window.
[Level: 1
Exp: 30
Job: Null
MaxHP: 100/100
MaxCE: ???/100 (Cosmic Energy)
Attribute: Darkness
Strength: 30
Agility: 30
Stamina: 30
Intelligence: 25
Vitality: 25
Attack: 27
Skill: 1
Weapons: 1
Physical Resistance: 29
CE Resistance: 30
Luck: 30
Overall status: A Beginner.]
He nodded in satisfaction as he tentatively ignored his host's stats. It was the same as Noah's, but even worse. At least the latter had a good attribute that managed to keep them alive until the last moment, but this teenager of a host had nothing in her attribute portion. It meant that she didn't have any cosmic energy running through her veins, and she couldn't use power without borrowing it through Crana.
What a headache!
Shane let out a chuckle. He knew why he got such a useless host this time. It was Echo again!
"Why are you laughing?" Angela thought it was weird for her system to chuckle all of a sudden.
"Ahem, nothing," Shane changed the topic, "Did the bombs work yet?"
He quickly changed the window and opened the radar page. The surroundings still remained the same, silent as ever, but the bombs refused to go off for some reason. After checking it out, people found out that its energy had been sucked away, and it wouldn't work anymore.
So basically, they all just wasted their Crana just now.
Angela pouted, but she said nothing. This time, she had obediently decided to listen to her system as she stood at the very back of the crowd while listening to others arguing one after another.
"Useless! I just wasted twenty Crana! Now, I don't even have money! System, come out right now! It was you who suggested this, wasn't it?"
Jake texted Shane this comment, "I bet you suggested to your host to stand back and wait for others to fail, didn't you?"
Shane ignored that message as he said, "Now lead people through the tunnel. We might be able to find some puzzles or other mechanisms to give us a clue. For now, we have been given two groups, one is the destroyers, while another group is the destroyer killers. Several others would probably be the escapers, and we are probably going to find most of these people on the bright side of the tunnel, dead."
Angela's body trembled at the memory as if she had just remembered a horror scene. After a moment of silence, she opened her mouth and said, "We should look out for puzzles instead of wasting time here."
"You're just a teenager. What do you know?"
"We adults are discussing. Kids shouldn't say anything else."
"We will try a more powerful bomb this time."
"Right, right!" one of them said, "It's better this way."
Angela raised her hand in a surrendered position, "I just wanted to suggest something to you all. Don't mind me. My system's good at guessing things, while yours are stupid."
"What the f*ck did you say?"
Shane interrupted, "Don't argue nonsense with them. We don't have much time. Let's go."
Angela walked toward the tunnel. Jake's host also trotted behind the girl silently without saying another word. After slowly walking through the tunnel with a torch in her hand, the girl didn't find it scary anymore. She glanced closer at the walls only to find a small circle-like formation at the center of the right wall.
Her eyes lit up as she pressed her finger to the center. Soon enough, the entire space trembled as the wall split apart, revealing a dark room beyond the tunnel.
Shane was already staring at the radar as a new field opened up. As soon as it did, his pupils shrank as he said in an anxious voice, "Angela, run!"
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