Kyou Fujibayashi recalled her contact with Sawada Yoriko over the past three hours. Sawada Yoriko had shared experiences, taught her techniques, and even faced dangers and the Strange entities first, leaving Kyou in the safe rear.
Would she be pitted to death by being with Yi-chan? Kyou Fujibayashi held a negative attitude toward this idea.
"I trust my friend. Without her, I wouldn't have lived until now."
"Have you never thought that she intends to use you as bait and a meat shield?"
Kyou Fujibayashi was startled, but then she remembered that when facing the Strange entities, Sawada Yoriko had never abandoned her to flee alone. In contrast, the followers of the veteran player before her were nowhere to be seen—likely dead. When she saw him the second time, he was beating a newcomer, and the rescued Jack was likely his former partner!
She had her answer.
"Apologies, I trust my friend. I've known Yi-chan for four years, but I am not familiar with you."
A single sentence made Holy Knight's expression change slightly, but this wasn't the first time he had experienced such a thing. His good intentions were often misunderstood and unaccepted by newcomers.
Holy Knight looked at Sawada Yoriko. He knew this woman must have said something to this newcomer; otherwise, she wouldn't have such high hostility toward him.
When a certain consciousness has taken root in a person's heart, it is difficult to make the other party accept and understand through mere words.
But even so, he held fast to his 'Knight's Heart'. He would still choose to provide a certain amount of information support to newcomers selected to join the Strange Game in every Strange mission. If the newcomers trusted him and followed him, he would also provide help.
"I don't know what she told you, but a female player who relies on a woman's body and beauty to wander between male players to obtain resources and protection is not worth trusting."
"In the last game I played with her, her mistakes led to the deaths of two newcomers and one veteran player. This... was a casualty that could have been avoided."
People who could have lived ended up dead.
This was a very difficult thing for Holy Knight to accept.
This wasn't just about the rating rewards, but also about his 'Knight's Heart'.
In this Strange Game where danger and death could strike at any moment, he stuck to his principles and bottom line, providing help to many inexperienced and weak newcomers to let them survive as much as possible.
Many veteran players had advised him otherwise, but he only expressed gratitude and continued to persist in his own way.
"Mr. Holy Knight, please do not pin the blame for your companions' deaths on my head. Their deaths, in the end, are also related to you. If you had been able to persuade them back then, would they have died?"
Sawada Yoriko spoke up immediately. She had to do something.
"..."
This woman dared to bite back? Holy Knight looked at Sawada Yoriko.
"Without your bewitchment, would they have failed to execute my instructions?"
"Can't you figure it out yet? They, no, we do not trust you, so we don't do as you say. It's just that. If we trusted you, how could we not follow your instructions? In this kind of dangerous Strange Game, do goody-two-shoes who protect strangers regardless of their own safety really exist?"
Sawada Yoriko glanced at the other newcomers. "Ask the newcomers present, how many would believe that?"
The eyes of the few newcomers flickered.
"I believe."
At this moment, Ai Hoshino spoke up. "I believe. Mr. Zero protected me and also saved players threatened by Strange entities one by one. You... were you not saved by Mr. Zero?"
She looked straight at Sawada Yoriko. "If not for Mr. Zero stepping forward, you and your friend would have long been killed by the Strange infected body and mutated into new Strange entities."
Lin Ye's act of saving people was an undeniable fact. If Sawada Yoriko denied Lin Ye's act of saving people, it would also show her own unreasonableness and lack of logic.
Sawada Yoriko felt the strange gazes from everyone, and also felt the gaze from Kyou Fujibayashi.
Quibbling over this matter was meaningless, and she didn't need to quibble. The reason she was looking for was not this matter at all.
"Miss Rina, I will keep Mr. Zero's grace of saving me in my heart."
"But at least, before this, I did not trust veteran players. Rather than veteran players protecting us, I believe more that veteran players keep newcomers by their side to use as bait when the time is right."
"It's not like there aren't such veteran players. Leaving aside the Strange instance games I've experienced in the past, just in this instance mission, that veteran player..."
Sawada Yoriko pointed her finger at the two human heads in the hall. "The perverted killer player. In this round of the game, how many newcomers were killed by killer players?"
"How many newcomers trusted this perverted killer player, only to be backstabbed and killed by him, dying with hatred, without even a chance to struggle?"
"At least if they die at the hands of Strange entities, they can blame their own lack of strength and bad luck, and can accept the fact of being killed by the Strange. But dying at the hands of a perverted killer player, can they be resigned? Being backstabbed by someone they trusted. If it were me, I absolutely wouldn't be resigned. Just imagine the scene where they each trusted this veteran player, only to be stabbed in the back and killed in the end."
The backs of several newcomers went cold. Kyou Fujibayashi also felt lingering fear. If she had chosen to follow a veteran initially and had been assigned to this perverted killer player, she would definitely have died miserably! She might even have been savagely violated before death, and then finally killed.
Thinking of this scene, Kyou Fujibayashi trembled all over. Fortunately, she didn't follow a veteran player in the beginning. She could die, but she was absolutely unwilling to accept being violated and insulted while alive.
She looked at Holy Knight. "If I remember correctly, you veteran players were each responsible for one newcomer. Where is the newcomer who followed you now?"
Sawada Yoriko glanced around, and the only one she saw was Ai Hoshino, the newcomer who had followed a veteran player from the beginning.
Holy Knight's expression dimmed. In this round of the game, where he fell short was trusting the killer player 'Kuroko', leading to the two newcomers following him dying at Kuroko's hands.
If he had detected it a bit earlier, the two newcomers definitely wouldn't have died in Kuroko's hands.
On this point, he couldn't refute, nor did he have any reason to refute. The newcomers died because they trusted him and trusted Kuroko.
He also disdained finding reasons to explain, to find excuses for his own mistaken behavior.
"It was two people," Holy Knight said slowly.
"The two newcomers following you are dead, the newcomers following the killer player are also dead, and what about the newcomer led by that veteran player 'Jack'! Also nowhere to be seen, likely dead as well."
"That middle-aged man veteran player is also dead, and the newcomer he led is definitely dead too."
"As a result, up to now, only the newcomer following Zero is still alive. Six veteran players leading newcomers, and only the newcomer led by one veteran player survived. With this survival rate, how can we accept that they died because of bad luck? You tell us to trust you few veteran players? That following you allows us to survive? Sorry, at least I can't believe it."
"There are a total of 35 players in this game. Excluding you six veterans and seven newcomers, the remaining 22 people survived on their own. Kyou and I were saved because of your help, so we don't count as survivors for the moment. That means out of 22 people, 3 have survived on their own until now—a 13.6% survival rate. The newcomers following you are 1 alive out of 7—a 14.2% survival rate. The difference is only 0.6%, and this is established on the basis that no other independent newcomer players survived."
This data comparison indicated that the assistance of veteran players did not improve the survival rate of newcomers.
The newcomers listened, facing this data and facts, and only felt that the death rate was high! Of six veteran players, only the newcomer led by one veteran player survived.
If they chose to follow a veteran and had bad luck, not being assigned to Zero's hands, the outcome would highly likely be death.
At least going into the hands of Holy Knight and the perverted killer player was a certain death.
At this moment, they rejoiced that they had chosen to survive independently and lived until now.
What a loss it would have been to trust the veteran players and go with them back then.
Otherwise... who knows when they would have died. Thinking of being used as bait to win escape opportunities for veteran players, a wave of disgust rose in their hearts. Choosing to survive independently back then was indeed the correct choice; at least they had lived until now.
"Miss Rina believes because she is the only newcomer who survived. Those dead newcomers—if we could question their souls, what answer do you think they would give?"
"Setting aside myself and Rina, including my friend Kyou, there are a total of four newcomers here. If you let them make the choice again, do you think they would choose to survive alone, or choose to follow you veteran players?"
"If we could do it all over again, with twenty-something newcomers, if you let them re-choose, would they choose to trust veteran players and follow your actions?"
Did this even need to be said?
No one would be willing, unless they chose the veteran player Zero. The newcomers present wouldn't be willing to choose the other veteran players.
Those dead newcomers certainly wouldn't choose them.
Especially the newcomers who died at the hands of the perverted killer player; if they still had consciousness, they would probably regret it until their guts turned green.
Betting on a veteran player's character? That was less reliable than believing in oneself.
"This is result determinism," Lin Ye spoke up.
"But for us, life only happens once. Failure is death. What is important to us is also the result. Newcomers trusted you and followed you, but the result was heavy casualties, with only one newcomer living. And this was established on a one-on-one basis. If you brought a few more newcomers, you wouldn't be able to take care of them even more."
If one-on-one care wasn't done well, one-on-many would be even more impossible to care for well.
Once the number of accompanying newcomer players increased, when facing danger, veteran players would always have to make trade-offs. No one wanted to be that discarded player.
"No matter how beautiful your promises are, the fact is that the vast majority of newcomers following you died. And if we had chosen to trust you and follow your actions back then, I don't believe we could have lived until now."
The several newcomers agreed very much.
Living until now was due to their reliance on their own strength and luck.
If they had followed the veteran players from the start, they would probably be dead without remains, becoming members of the Strange infected bodies.
"Holy Knight brought back the injured Jack. He indeed takes care of companions and didn't abandon a companion, but what about the newcomer! Did Holy Knight choose to save Jack and abandon the newcomer at that time?"
"Because the newcomer doesn't have much strength. Saving a veteran player means the veteran player can use items to recover from injuries later and become a combat force. But a newcomer is purely a burden, completely not worth Holy Knight taking a huge risk to save."
Compared to veteran players, newcomers didn't have much value.
The newcomers present didn't want to admit it, but they knew this was an unquestionable fact. If they were the ones involved, they would naturally also choose to prioritize saving the veteran player and abandoning the newcomer.
But they were newcomers now, and they didn't want to become the abandoned newcomers at all.
"At that time, there was only me and Jack."
Holy Knight immediately spoke up to explain, "If there were a newcomer acting together with us, I would not have abandoned him."
Lin Ye knew as soon as he heard it that Holy Knight had fallen into this woman's 'self-proof' trap.
"You can certainly say that now; no one can verify it. In the beginning, you also said to trust you, but the two players who chose to trust you are already dead, killed by a veteran player. Those two must have regretted it very much in the moment before they died!"
Lin Ye looked at Sawada Yoriko, guessing that this woman wanted to fight for the right to speak.
Through a series of rhetorical tactics, she wanted to make the veteran players think they had done wrong and failed to fulfill their promises, in order to make these veteran players provide more protection.
But this woman mistook one thing.
The right to speak never relied on public opinion and morality, especially in this deadly Strange Game. Power was the foundation.
"You don't trust us? I can assume that, right!" Lin Ye said slowly.
"Correct. If the majority of newcomer players following you had survived, my distrust of you would be me being brain-dead, being stupid. It would be my own mental retardation, my initial judgment error in making the wrong choice."
Sawada Yoriko continued, "But the result... the only surviving newcomer is Rina alone. Of seven newcomer players who chose to trust you, only one newcomer player survived. This number... how can you make us trust you?"
"During these three-plus hours, how exactly did those few newcomers following you die? We don't know. Except for you guys who know, no one knows."
Lin Ye looked at Kyou Fujibayashi.
The young girl thought and spoke, "I thank you for your grace in saving my life, but I trust my friend. Before being saved by you, I lived until that moment by following Yi-chan. When there was danger, she also took the initiative to bear it. She hasn't done anything to let me down. I am willing to trust her."
"And you guys!"
The three newcomers remained silent. They had already expressed their thoughts silently.
"Hmph," Lilith snorted coldly. She hated this woman very much.
"Clearly being a veteran player, why didn't you show yourself in the beginning?"
"I thought the probability of dying by following veteran players was too great. It can't be that not showing myself is wrong too, right!"
Lilith looked at the expression in that woman's eyes, wishing she could wave the Fire Axe in her hand and chop this woman to death.
Lin Ye spoke up at this time to break this calm. "Since you don't trust us, then the solution is also very simple."
A smile emerged in Sawada Yoriko's heart. Her goal was about to be achieved.
"You can get lost."
Sawada Yoriko: ???
Get lost?
Not promising protection, not giving potions and weapons?
This completely did not fit the expectation! Sawada Yoriko looked at Lin Ye with shock, a face full of disbelief.
Lin Ye looked at the remaining three newcomers. "You guys can also get lost immediately if you want to leave. We will absolutely not stop you, and we absolutely won't let you have the chance to become bait and sacrifices used for our self-preservation."
Lin Ye spoke calmly; there was not a trace of joking in his words.
In an instant, all the newcomers froze in place, their brains briefly plunging into a blank state.
Leave here?
They all knew the danger of this final stage. From the information revealed in the few words exchanged by the veteran players, they knew that this final stage couldn't be survived by simply hiding. One had to confront the Strange entities head-on to survive.
Leaving at this time was no different from death. No one wanted to leave!
"Hurry up and scram."
Lilith immediately said, "Do you really think this old lady is willing to carry you bunch of burdens?"
"I don't want those few points and rating evaluation anymore. By the way, if you scram, you might get infected and become Strange infected bodies, increasing our pressure instead."
With a swish, Lilith flashed her axe. "I might as well slaughter you all right here, chop you into eight pieces. It'll save you from mutating into Strange infected bodies."
The blond loli took a step forward, the Fire Axe making whooshing sounds.
The three newcomers retreated again and again, one almost falling off.
Lilith was very satisfied, then immediately looked at Sawada Yoriko. "Hurry up and scram. What are you still standing here for? Scram as far as you can. If you stay here, when the Strange entities come, I'll push you out as bait immediately."
Sawada Yoriko pursed her lips, her eyes staring at Lilith.
Just from the current changes in Strange entity movements and the information released by the broadcast, the Strange entities in this final stage were really not something she could deal with on her own.
A single little girl Strange entity had chased her the whole way and almost killed her.
And how many Strange entities were left?
One initial Strange Experiment Subject, and at least 10 Strange infected bodies.
How to survive this?
Sawada Yoriko absolutely didn't think she could survive this final half-hour relying on her own strength.
"You are driving us away now because you want us to reduce the pressure of the Strange entities."
Sawada Yoriko stared at Lin Ye, attempting to apply pressure to make Lin Ye change his mind.
"You guessed right, that is exactly what I think. So, everyone, hurry up and scram. Find a place to hide and share the pressure for us."
Lin Ye directly accepted this explanation.
"..."
Sawada Yoriko was dumbfounded.
This attitude of lying flat and offering no further explanation made her realize that the two sides were not on equal footing to begin with.
It was they, these players without strength, who now needed to rely on the protection of the veteran players' power. They simply didn't have the qualifications to negotiate conditions with the veteran players. Morality? When the veteran players weren't prepared to talk about morality, could they still apply moral pressure?
Sawada Yoriko was depressed. With the previous continuous set of rhetoric, she thought she could persuade the veteran players, arouse their guilt, and cause them to make concessions, providing more protection, resources, and weapons.
The three newcomers also didn't move a muscle. If asked to leave, they certainly wouldn't be willing either. Up to now, the probability of dying if they didn't follow the veteran players was truly too great.
"Not scramming? Why aren't you guys scramming? Hurry up and scram! Don't be an eyesore here. When the Strange entities come, this old lady will be the first to send you up to feed the Strange entities."
Lilith ridiculed them vigorously.
At this moment, she was happy. This red-haired woman was so sharp-tongued, so fond of accusing—now she understood, right! The initiative had always been in the hands of these veteran players. Without strength, what was there to talk about?
Sawada Yoriko finally looked at Holy Knight, but at this time Holy Knight shut his mouth and remained silent. This made Sawada Yoriko even more depressed; this Holy Knight with the most noble character didn't speak anymore. He was truly provoked by her.
"I'll count to ten. If you don't scram, it defaults to staying here. In the subsequent battle, you need to obey orders. Whoever doesn't listen, whoever doesn't want to be decent, I will help him be decent."
Lin Ye spoke coldly. He extended his finger and spoke slowly.
"One."
"Two."
The count of ten arrived very quickly.
Kyou Fujibayashi looked at Sawada Yoriko, waiting for her friend to make a decision. She would follow Sawada Yoriko.
But until the end, Sawada Yoriko didn't make a sound. She knew that in this final stage, one could not leave. The probability of death after leaving was too high; the possibility of surviving the final stage by surviving alone was almost zero.
"Nine..."
"Ten. Everyone has made their choice. Then... final reminder, don't drop the ball. Whoever dares to drop the ball..."
Swish! The Tachi radiated cold light, murderous aura seething. Lin Ye's piercing gaze stared at the few newcomers.
No newcomer answered.
They were in a dilemma, but silently accepted this fact. They couldn't leave; leaving meant death.
"Hmph."
Lilith snorted coldly again.
She knew these newcomers wouldn't dare to go.
They didn't trust them, but didn't dare to leave! Trash, garbage—all talk and no action.
Lin Ye didn't continue to pay attention to the few newcomers but began the inventory of supplies.
"Adding the unused potion from Holy Knight, we have a total of five Suppression Potions here. I'll give Jack and Lilith one each."
Lin Ye distributed the two Suppression Potions he had on hand.
Next were the cold weapons.
Short Knife, Fire Axe, Tachi, Dagger, Spiked Club. These five weapons were all produced by the instance mission and possessed killing power against Strange entities.
The Spiked Club was brought back by Holy Knight.
"Give me the Fire Axe," Jack said. He was used to this kind of heavy weapon; it felt powerful to chop with.
"I'll still take this Short Knife!"
Lin Ye looked at Lilith, waiting for this blond loli to make a choice.
"I... you choose first!"
Lilith handed the right of choice to Lin Ye.
"This Tachi, then!"
Lilith looked at the Spiked Club. This weapon felt very sensational.
The blond little loli swung the Spiked Club, making whooshing sounds.
"A bit heavy, can't swing it many times. I'll stick with the Dagger!"
"I..."
Sawada Yoriko spoke up suddenly at this moment.
Lin Ye's voice spoke again, "You keep the Spiked Club for now too! Put it in the Storage Grid; it'll be useful when needed."
Ai Hoshino wasn't suitable for using weapons to fight.
"Uh, mm-hmm."
Just like that, Lilith put the Spiked Club into the player's built-in Storage Grid.
Sawada Yoriko fell silent.
What else could she say?
Ask to give the weapon to her to use? She also counted as a veteran player?
The veteran players definitely didn't trust her.
The only person in the whole venue who could trust her was Kyou Fujibayashi, but right now that didn't have much significance.
"Do you know how to use a pistol?"
Because Holy Knight had also brought back a pistol magazine of the same model, this pistol that had run out of bullets had a use again.
"I've handled one."
Lilith took it and operated it skillfully.
In Lin Ye's view, Lilith's proficiency was much higher than his.
"I still have a shotgun here. I'll be responsible for it."
Next was the distribution of food and water.
The four veteran players finished distributing the scarce food and water.
Sawada Yoriko and her group were silent.
They weren't too hungry, but they were thirsty. Especially those three newcomers who hadn't had a sip of water until now.
Some regretted it. Why didn't they stand firmly on the veteran players' side just now!
Even if they didn't trust the veteran players, they should have pretended to believe! Now it was great—they were ostracized by the veteran player group and couldn't get allocated a single bit of resources.
The three newcomers looked toward Sawada Yoriko, faintly releasing looks of displeasure.
Kyou Fujibayashi also felt it.
She remained silent, silently bearing it.
A few minutes later.
Footsteps rang out.
From all directions, one Strange infected body after another appeared.
Completely different from previous behavior, the 11 Strange infected bodies appearing at this time had completely different auras.
Their steps were steady and orderly.
"There are still twenty-five minutes. Defend this place. Holy Knight and Lilith are responsible for the left side, Jack and I are responsible for the right side, and you guys..."
Although the newcomers didn't have weapons, they had other things, such as iron bars, iron buckets, wooden stools, and tables—items that could serve to impede Strange entities.
"Work together to block the fish that slip through the net. The veteran players will solve the Strange entities as quickly as possible."
No one objected.
Everyone gripped the equipment in their hands.
The Strange infected bodies approached slowly.
The step-by-step sound of footsteps formed an indescribably oppressive atmosphere.
Tap...
Tap...
At a certain point.
The Strange entities burst out with astonishing speed front and back, launching a charge.
Thump thump thump...
The dull footsteps struck everyone's hearts.
"They're here."
Lin Ye and the few veteran players were already prepared for battle.
"Roar roar..."
The first Strange entity arrived for the kill.
Jack lifted the Fire Axe and chopped down. The Strange entity dodged thrillingly, its thick arm immediately slapping toward Jack.
The red-haired strong man suddenly raised his foot and kicked out ruthlessly, kicking the Strange entity back several steps, crashing into the Strange entity following closely behind.
"Roar roar..."
Lin Ye swung his sword.
He clearly felt that the Strange entities were more agile, and at the same time, smarter.
Facing their attacks, they no longer just simply took it head-on, but would adopt dodging. Several Strange entities even coordinated.
One Strange entity was kicked off and fell onto the hall floor, emitting a dull boom.
The Strange entity on the ground twitched for a dozen seconds, then slowly got up.
From this height, the possibility of a person dying directly from the fall wasn't large unless their head hit the ground. But after this Strange entity fell, it climbed up in no time, looking not heavily injured. This let Lin Ye know the degree of difficulty of these Strange entities.
He once again used the cloth stained with Suppression Potion to wipe the Tachi.
Although he didn't know how much potion remained in the cloth, having some was better than having none.
"Roar roar roar..."
Coming again.
Completely without pause.
Three Strange entities killed their way over.
One even broke directly through the blockade, rushing toward the several newcomers in the rear.
"It's coming."
At this moment, facing the malevolence of the Strange entity, the few newcomers were trembling with fear.
"Yi-chan, let's go."
The two worked together, one using a wooden stool, one using an iron bar, dead set on holding off the Strange entity, but this Strange entity's strength exceeded the two.
They were forced to retreat continuously.
Ai Hoshino took a step forward to help stabilize, but adding her strength was still not enough.
"Roar roar,"
The Strange entity roared hideously.
"You guys, come help quickly."
The three newcomers gritted their teeth and stepped forward.
One lifted a stool and smashed it down hatefully with a clang, while the other two hugged an iron bucket and charged over.
Boom...
The Strange entity lost its balance and was knocked back continuously.
At this time, Kyou Fujibayashi and Sawada Yoriko's side also took the opportunity to strike immediately. Under the combined efforts of several people, they finally pushed the Strange entity down.
Boom... A dull sound.
"Huff..."
The group panted heavily, hearts beating fast. If this were on flat ground, how would they deal with the Strange entity?
One had to know this wasn't just one or two Strange entities!
A dozen Strange entities pouncing over, unable to be killed effectively directly, and repeatedly charging—how to deal with this?
If this were independent survival.
Once found by a Strange entity, the outcome would only be death.
At this moment.
The newcomers rejoiced one after another that they hadn't left, but stayed on the veteran players' side.
They almost... were killed by that woman.
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