Xu Huo dodged the flying arrow, and by the time he climbed higher, Lin Pei's figure had already disappeared into the building. He didn't give chase, instead turning back to Wang Chaoqing and asking, "You can crawl through network cables, but can you crawl through power lines?"
Wang Chaoqing looked somewhat bewildered. "Maybe I can..."
"Track down Lin Pei and see where he's hiding," Xu Huo said as he put away his item and reached out to pull Gu Yu, only to have his hand slapped away.
"But don't I need to hold the hostage?" Wang Chaoqing asked professionally. "Four against two would be quite inconvenient without me."
Xu Huo cracked his neck. "What do you think?"
Watching Shen Yi and Ke Liang approach him, Wang Chaoqing awkwardly released his grip and walked over to a nearby clock, placing his hand on it. A dark, gauze-like substance then emerged from his hand and seeped into the clock.
Meanwhile, Shen Yi pulled Shen Xin close, warily watching Xu Huo. "What exactly are you trying to do?"
"Eliminate some unnecessary trouble," Xu Huo replied. "Make things clear in the shortest time possible."
"And this is your method?" Gu Yu said with anger in her voice. "Why didn't you discuss this with me beforehand?"
"Let's be understanding—I almost lost my life at Master Nise's residence," he said, taking the pocket watch from his pocket and dangling it in the air, gently swaying it.
Gu Yu snorted coldly. "What kind of person do you take me for? Someone who would kill based solely on Lin Pei's words?"
"We've been through life and death together, yet you make a move against us without even saying a word."
"What would you have done if we had actually fought back against you?"
"If Lin Pei's words couldn't convince you, do you think mine would?" Xu Huo said without any emotional fluctuation, his tone calm. "I just wanted to deal with the trouble that is Lin Pei. Rather than spending time and energy arguing and proving points, it's better to think about what comes next."
"You..." Gu Yu grew furious at his unflappable demeanor, as if everything was under his control and he couldn't be bothered to explain himself to people like them.
But having Lin Pei in the team was indeed problematic. Regardless of whether his attempt against Xu Huo succeeded today, there was no guarantee he wouldn't target others later.
Thinking it over carefully, cutting the Gordian knot might not be such a bad approach.
Suppressing her anger, she instead said, "In games, not trusting your team won't get you far. If you treat everyone as enemies, eventually everyone will become your enemy."
"You're right," Xu Huo said sincerely.
Gu Yu angrily stomped on the doll on the ground, making it repeatedly emit sounds like a screaming chicken.
"Calm down! Calm down!" Shen Xin hurriedly said. "What if Lin Pei releases other Mutants?"
Gu Yu's throat hurt and her fists itched as she gritted her teeth. "This lady wants to hit someone!"
What could the others say? Xu Huo's method hadn't considered their feelings, but it had reduced potential danger, and they were beneficiaries too.
"Is this the item Lin Pei was talking about?" Shen Yi was captivated by the pocket watch in Xu Huo's hand. He couldn't help but ask, "What exactly is this item that made him attack you repeatedly?"
"I'm not sure either," Xu Huo said with a slight smile. "This is just a pocket watch I picked up casually. There are plenty more at Master Nise's place."
"My guess is," he explained, "all players are strangers with no grudges between them, and he's not trying to prevent others from leaving this dungeon."
"Killing other players to inherit their belongings means first obtaining their items and potions. Whether it's an item or a potion, either this thing is extremely valuable, so much so that Lin Pei would risk not escaping the dungeon to get it."
"Or..."
"Or he's found a way out but is missing a crucial item," Shen Xin immediately said. "Maybe the mechanism to open the main gate is hidden behind a lock, and he needs this key!"
"That's a good analogy," Xu Huo said. "Releasing Mutants and causing internal strife among us could both prevent us from escaping the dungeon. That he dares to do this suggests the worst possibility—that he already knows how to leave the dungeon, hence his recklessness."
Shen Yi's expression changed slightly. "If he knows how to get out and runs off himself while closing the gate behind him, what do we do? Can your sword cut through the gate?"
"Don't place too much hope in my item," Xu Huo said. "We don't know how thick the walls are. Items have their limitations."
He gestured with his chin toward Wang Chaoqing. "Didn't I have him track Lin Pei? Finding the person might lead us to clues."
Gu Yu and the others turned to stare at the sleazy bespectacled young man, their eyes filled with distrust.
Wang Chaoqing looked somewhat frightened as he swallowed and said, "Um, I'd like to ask—if I don't find him, will I get beaten up?"
Gu Yu let out a sharp "Ha!" and cracked her knuckles loudly, frightening him into quickly turning away.
"If your sword is useless, then what he knows might be the only way out. I'm worried he'll destroy the gate to cut off our escape route," Ke Liang said anxiously. "Since we've already torn up all pretense with him, to eliminate future troubles, he'll definitely do this."
"Does he really know how to get out?" Shen Yi said while grabbing his hair. "Should we go search Master Nise's place? Maybe there really is something that opens the door. That way we'd at least have some bargaining chips."
He spoke with urgency: "He might be at Master Nise's place right now! If we go there, we might still catch him!"
"This is just my speculation," Xu Huo said. "We've been to Master Nise's place many times too. Without a specific target, we don't even know what to look for."
"And going there now won't help us catch him anyway."
"If we can't find Lin Pei either, does that mean he doesn't actually know what to look for?" Shen Xin's eyes sparkled with hope. "In that case, we're not completely without hope."
"There's another possibility—maybe Lin Pei is just an idiot who thinks the dungeon NPC's items are extraordinary and is willing to risk everything to get them," Gu Yu said as she ground the doll beneath her foot. "If he knew how to get out, would he still be obediently staying here starving?"
"If he didn't go to Master Nise's place tonight, your possibility is more likely," Xu Huo nodded.
Gu Yu snorted and turned her head away from him, then added, "Everyone, don't be so pessimistic. Even if we consider the worst-case scenario where Lin Pei escapes, there's still another gate. At most, we'll each go our separate ways."
The group looked at each other. "I guess that's the only way to think about it."
Meanwhile, at Master Nise's residence.
Lin Pei was frantically rummaging through the house with a flashlight, various objects clattering onto the carpet as he searched while muttering:
"Special time, special door-opening item, hidden only where Master Nise could possibly find it; unique shape, unique position, the one and only key to leave this town..."
He repeated these seemingly meaningless phrases several times over. Kicking aside the mess on the floor, Lin Pei staggered back, supporting himself on the table with reddened eyes, glaring hatefully at the clock on the wall. "It must be Xu Huo! He must have found the item! He took the key to open the door! The only key!"