Chapter 697: Mistake?

Team internal voice, over the comms.

The wind howled, accompanied by the sound of climbing metal.

Rotted, the top of the iron frame is covered in rust.

Lin An, agile, quickly climbed up.

Looking down at his feet, silver-white light kept flashing in his eyes.

In the brief silence, he did not immediately answer Zhang Tie's question.

"The height... is still a bit low."

He muttered to himself.

Watching it fade away, like a town sinking in the dusk, Lin An noted down all routes and building positions.

The whole world seemed to have been corroded by acid rain.

Everywhere, pulled-up iron wire fences could be seen.

Rather than calling it a town, it's more like a concentration camp.

Before and after the alarm sounded, nothing dead had changed.

With his hyper-effective thinking, Lin An is no longer as before, always unable to find a breakthrough on crucial clues.

His train of thought is very clear.

After Lin An recorded all information within his field of view, he calmly replied:

"The reason I say it's a trap..."

"The reason is actually simple."

"This is Silent Hill."

A hint of coldness flashed in his eyes.

Lin An explained to himself, standing on the tower top, he continually adjusted his current attributes, wasting no time.

"Three mission options, regardless, I must go to the ninth-layer world."

"With simple reasoning, it's easy to discover what the surface world and the inner world represent."

"First."

"In the surface world, there are monsters before the alarm, safety after."

"Combined with the fact that monsters shouldn't appear in the surface world in the original plot..."

"That can only mean the monsters' existence is not real."

Looking at the steel plant that had just rushed out, Lin An slightly tilted his head:

"Many people died, quickly."

"This shows that all Awakened Ones encounter monsters immediately after being transmitted."

"Therefore, if my speculation is not wrong."

"The triangular monster, the Arbiter, is actually a projection of each person's inner malice."

"Only then does it match Silent Hill's setting."

Huh?

Over the comms, Zhang Tie's movement of fiddling with the corpse stalled.

"Fake?"

"Captain Lin, after we kill the monsters, how do we earn points?"

Looking at the system panel showing up to 4 points, Xiong Hanzi was somewhat puzzled.

Lin An shifted his gaze, then looked toward where Zhang Tie likely was:

"Is it hard to understand?"

"It's a strength trial, plus the system deliberately limited other attributes, leaving only strength."

"The intention is too obvious."

"It is testing whether Awakened Ones still have the courage to face those monsters when their strength is weakened."

"Using strength against strength, especially when the enemy comes from within."

"Having courage, confidence in one's strength, killing the monster completes the mission."

Recalling Triangle Head's attack methods, Lin An confirmed his judgment was correct.

"The Arbiter isn't particularly fast and lacks other abilities."

"It's just that its strength is greater, and when Awakened Ones suddenly have their abilities restricted, it causes panic."

"That's why casualties are heavy."

"Actually, these monsters are not unsolvable."

"In a head-on confrontation, one-on-one."

"As long as the strength attribute is 30 points, even if slightly less, one can still kill the monster."

Lin An gave Xiong Hanzi space to think, without over-explaining every detail.

Actually, many details prove this.

For example, solo and team entry.

This clearly indicates that solo players entering will likely encounter only one Arbiter, while group entry will result in being surrounded and killed.

Just thinking about it, one can guess that these solo participants in the trial probably realized this beforehand.

As for why I encountered a group of monsters.

Probably the perfect trial difficulty increased.

Take the corpse down from the wire net.

Zhang Tie opened his mouth, Xiong Hanzi's eyes blinked.

"Lin Dui, if you say that, Awakened Ones without nearly 30 points of strength, after coming in aren't they doomed?!"

Somewhat surprised.

Zhang Tie didn't mind, his and Lin An's strength was completely over the limit.

But most players, after subtracting equipment from their current strength attribute, are basically around 20 points.

Lin An helplessly listened to Xiong Hanzi's doubts and casually explained:

"If we're doomed, then we're doomed..."

"Without even 30 points of naked strength, such Awakened Ones aren't even Second Level peak."

"Want to advance to Third Level?"

"Coming in with a fluke mentality, dying is normal."

Lin An didn't really feel sympathy for these people.

"Moreover, the team mode isn't just giving these Awakened Ones a sliver of life, is it?"

"Escape the encirclement, split to lure and kill monsters, theoretically we can complete the mission."

"The alarm's safety time is something even an idiot can figure out—this is clearly an opportunity for the team to split and encircle-kill monsters."

Lin An smiled indifferently.

"Before the alarm, note the monster's position; after the alarm, change the battlefield layout to create a many-versus-few effect."

"After the alarm is triggered, instantly kill the monster the moment it appears."

"Simple, brainless."

Such a childish method, Lin An didn't overthink it.

In his view, as long as one's brain isn't all muscle, one could think of this.

After explaining this point.

Lin An looked grim, watching the countdown tick down to zero.

"As for traps, that's even simpler."

"You guess, since monsters are born from inner malice, what would Awakened Ones killed by their own kind become?"

"Outer world... inner world."

As they spoke, the system countdown sounded.

"9..."

"8..."

Calmly jumping down from a height, he went into free fall.

In midair, Lin An flipped his wrist, holding the sword with one hand to maintain the downward strike posture.

The sound dissipated in the wind.

"Killed a fellow Awakened One."

"That means not daring to face the real enemy."

"Such trash, with huge spiritual loopholes, then encountering monsters evolved from death Awakened Ones..."

"If not dragged into the inner world, that would be ghostly..."

"Inner world..."

"That is the true nightmare..."

The moment the countdown reaches zero.

Lin An suddenly thrust downward, his Cain's Blade instantly piercing the head of the spawned triangular monster.

The sword's edge lodged in the monster's head, leaving no chance for a counterattack.

With brute force twisting, he tore off a large head.

North European War Zone.

The blond man, deadlocked in place, gasped heavily.

His companions didn't intervene, giving him a chance to live.

But the price is that next time he faces monsters, he must take the lead.

A bunch of cowardly trash!

He kept cursing quietly in his heart.

His gaze was gloomy, his face showing a fawning smile.

Obviously after the system rules appeared, these people all thought of killing their own kind, yet they still pretended to avenge the dead Awakened Ones.

At the moment the alarm sounded, everyone's hearts leapt to their throats.

Fortunately, this time no monsters spawned near them.

Just, no one noticed.

Not far away, the corpse of a slain Awakened One suddenly twitched.

In the crushed skull, an eyeball suddenly contracted into a narrow pupil.

Still beating.

A pale eyeball stared fixedly at the blond man's back.