"It's alright, we can still fulfill the conditions by resisting. Anyway, we don't have many lives left." Yin Xiu smiled faintly, staring at the sky, waiting for the notification to ring out.
Seeing the two of them exchanging riddles, the hunters were confused. They knew very well that it was almost dawn and they should return to the cruise ship. They retreated with great concern, saying, "Boss, it's almost dawn. If it's really not working, let's go back first. If we can't finish this time, we can finish it next time. We'll kill this guy in a bit, then go back and wait for the instance to restart before continuing."
"Go back? I'm afraid it's too late." Yin Xiu calmly drew the knife from his waist, the sharp blade gleaming coldly in the gradually brightening sky.
"How could it be too late? It's not far from the cruise ship." When the hunters saw him draw his sword, they assumed it was Zhong Mu who was facing off against him. They never questioned the identity of this big shot, and not a single hunter ran away.
Meanwhile, Ya Ya, excitedly hugging her rabbit doll, laughed happily, "We're doomed! All these monsters are doomed! Brother's drawing his sword!"
Amid the little girl's shrill laughter, the hunters' fear stirred slightly. They looked at the masked hunter staring intently at them, a wave of panic washing over them.
The little girl called this powerful hunter "brother"?
Isn't she a player? Isn't this a hunter? Whose identity is the problem?
The hunters exchanged panicked glances, and although no one uttered a word, an eerie atmosphere silently permeated the air. Amidst this tense atmosphere, Yin Xiu's voice rang out, light and indifferent: "Since the dungeon is about to end, let me formally introduce myself to you."
He slowly removed the mask from his face, revealing an indifferent face beneath. His cool and calm eyes slowly rose to look at the hunters. "I am actually a player."
The hunters collectively gasped, their vision blurred by the words. Before they could even recover from the shock, the next sentence drifted over.
"My name is Yin Xiu."
Upon hearing the name, the hunters' eyes widened in horror, while a system notification sounded simultaneously, its booming sound clearly echoing in the minds of every player.
[Congratulations to the player for clearing the dungeon: Hunting Grounds.]
At this moment, the hunters felt like they had fallen to the bottom, deceived by the players who had allowed them to complete the dungeon smoothly. More importantly, the person standing in front of them now was called Yin Xiu.
Two simple words were enough to overshadow everything that had come before, like a bridge of no return suddenly erected before them.
As the hunters retreated, seemingly about to flee, Yin Xiu narrowed his eyes. "Alright, that concludes the introductions. It's time to say goodbye."
The hunters were thrown into a panic, their masks clearly showing signs of wavering. In the instant that Yin Xiu charged toward them with his longsword, it was as if a death knell was tolling.
"Yin Xiu! It's Yin Xiu!"
"Ahhh! Run! If we don't run, no one will survive!"
"Ugh—"
The sharp blade pierced straight through the hunter's chest, blood splattering in the air and landing on the stunned hunter's mask. Their fear was magnified countless times in an instant, intertwined with confusion, and suddenly erupted after the first hunter died.
They scattered and fled in panic, screaming in terror. They even forgot that they were the attackers on the island.
Amid the shouts of the hunters, the dungeon notifications continued to ring out.
[Dungeon completion rating: Three stars.]
"Yin Xiu! You are Yin Xiu! Why are you the one who is Yin Xiu?!"
"Ahhh! We've all been scammed! We've been scammed!"
[Successfully survived to day seven on the island: Three stars.]
[Never encountered a hunter: One star.]
[Learn the full background of the hunting grounds: One star.]
"Why are you here?! You shouldn't be in a dungeon like this at all!"
"What's the point of you coming here to slaughter the monsters in our low-level dungeons?!"
Why?! Ahhhh!
[Five-star first clear player: Ye Tianxuan.]
[Completion condition: Survive to day seven.]
[Hidden condition: Perceive the true hunting relationships on the hunting grounds.]
The instance notification slowly ended, and at the same time, the sounds from the hunting grounds also ceased.
In the silence, Yin Xiu stood calmly among the corpses, wiping the blade of his sword with his hunting cloak. A voice, different from the one in the dungeon notification, rang in his mind once again.
"Congratulations to player Yin Xiu for surviving to the seventh day and successfully obtaining the identity of a hunter in the hunting grounds."
"As long as you complete 100 deaths in the hunting grounds before the dungeon closes, you can open the passage to the world of the gods, and you will be completely transformed from then on."
The notification of the identity change had just ended when it continued: "Congratulations to all hunters for successfully completing the sacrifice ritual of one hundred lives in the hunting grounds. Next, the hunter who achieves the highest score, Yin Xiu, can go to the center of the hunting grounds to go to the world of gods and obtain the highest reward bestowed by the gods."
After the sound ended, a beam of light suddenly shot up from the ground in the center of the island and into the sky. Not only Yin Xiu saw this light, but all the other players, including the people in the town, saw it as well.
This is not only a condition for the successful sacrifice, but also the dawn of victory, just one step away from obtaining the item.
"Brother Xiu! Brother Xiu, your guess was right! In the instance where the seventh rule appears, players who survive to the seventh day do indeed get a new identity!" Zhong Mu clenched his fist excitedly and said happily, "You completed the fastest transformation! You are now the only player with the highest number of hunts in the hunting grounds!"
"Hmm." Yin Xiu breathed a slight sigh of relief. He felt a little more at ease when he heard the notification from the dungeon. Even though he didn't know what would happen in the world of gods he was going to, he felt much more at ease as long as he had found this path.
"Brother Xiu, we can succeed, right?" Zhong Mu also breathed a long sigh of relief. It was clearly a low-level dungeon, and with a big shot like Yin Xiu around, they didn't need to worry at all. But they had been holding their breath for some reason, and now they could finally relax.
"Even if we can't, we absolutely have to be able to." Yin Xiu stared intently at the direction of the beam of light, gripping the knife tightly in his hand. "Let's go, let's go over there."
He turned to look at Li Mo and Ya Ya, who were standing in the shade of a tree watching the commotion, and waved to them.
Ya Ya happily ran over and took Yin Xiu's hand that wasn't holding the knife. After Li Mo came over, she could only hold Yin Xiu's hand that was holding the knife. Even though it was covered in blood, Li Mo was unmoved and held his hand, smiling and saying, "Boyfriend, I'll go with you."
Yin Xiu didn't know if other monsters could enter within that beam of light, but he nodded nonetheless. The group quickly headed towards the center of the island before the instance closed.
The pillar standing in the very center of the island and the stone tablet with a strange inscription are the places where the so-called divine passage is opened.
After the conditions were met, the pillar emitted an incredibly dazzling and bright light, becoming a gate of light.
Yin Xiu stood before the light, not sheathing his sword, but staring intently in its direction. He glanced back at Zhong Mu and said, "I'll go with them for the rest of the journey. You go back to town."
"Brother Xiu." Zhong Mu clenched his fist as he looked at the figure enveloped in light. "I'll be waiting for you to come back in the town."
"Hmm." Yin Xiu nodded lightly, and under Zhong Mu's eagerly expectant gaze, he led his two strange creatures toward the light.