Chapter 42: Decisive Battle and Cooperation

Facing a life-or-death crisis, Lin Wanxing did not wail in despair, nor did she run away; instead, she maintained a calm expression and held a combat stance, ready to fight Zhu Zhiquan to the death at any moment.

Zhu Zhiquan, however, sheathed his sword and deactivated his Wrist-Mounted Strange Crossbow, saying to Lin Wanxing, "Go on, I don't kill women."

"You won't kill me?" Lin Wanxing frowned deeply. "No! I don't believe it! I bet you must be after our points; otherwise, why would you target the two of us as a couple!"

Seeing that his scheme had been seen through, Zhu Zhiquan helplessly drew his Dingtang Sword and slashed at Lin Wanxing.

Lin Wanxing faced Zhu Zhiquan head-on, but since she had failed to take him down even when teaming up with Zhou Yanshan, she was killed by Zhu Zhiquan shortly after being left alone.

"You have plundered the points of other players. Your current total points are 1127."

"Ding, congratulations on becoming the number one in points. Your location will now be revealed to all players; please be careful."

As the system announcement ended, Zhao Yuxin revived amidst a flash of white light. When she saw that the surrounding environment was different from where she had been hiding, her eyes welled up with tears and she bit her lower lip tightly.

Seeing that Zhao Yuxin was not in a good state, Zhu Zhiquan hurried forward to comfort her, but...

Slap!

Zhao Yuxin slapped him across the face. Before Zhu Zhiquan could react, Zhao Yuxin threw herself into his arms and wept.

"Zhu Zhiquan, you sesame-brained fool, why are you so disobedient! Do you even have me in your eyes at all! What if something happened to you, what would I do!" Zhao Yuxin pounded on Zhu Zhiquan while crying.

Facing the angry Zhao Yuxin, Zhu Zhiquan had a flash of inspiration and comforted her: "Azhao, it's actually like this: the place where we were hiding was destroyed by someone, which is why I came here."

Zhao Yuxin looked up and asked, "Really?"

Zhu Zhiquan stroked her hair and said, "Really."

Zhao Yuxin sniffled. "So that's how it is. Are you hurt? And where are the people who attacked you? Let's go take revenge together."

Zhu Zhiquan patted her head and said, "No need, Azhao. The person who ambushed me has already been killed by me, bringing our points to 1127 and successfully making us number one! Look, this red pillar of light enveloping us is the proof."

Zhao Yuxin looked at the red pillar of light enveloping them and asked, "Then what do we do now? Won't this red pillar of light expose our location?"

"Let's go, let's head back to our Tricycle to get something to eat first. I estimate it's almost noon." Zhu Zhiquan pulled Zhao Yuxin away from the floor toward the parking lot.

Zhao Yuxin followed quietly behind Zhu Zhiquan. When they returned to the Tricycle, they were astonished to find that someone had already removed the tires, and the canopy and cover had been ruined by someone unknown.

Zhao Yuxin immediately went inside the carriage and found it in a mess; items like the Micro Poultry Breeding Platform, the Small Ice Cream Machine, and the v1 Water Collector Blueprint had all been taken away.

Zhao Yuxin searched everywhere and found that even the Beast Attracting Sculpture was missing. Zhao Yuxin immediately let out a roar and turned to Zhu Zhiquan, saying, "Ajiu, did you see anyone come to this parking lot?"

Zhu Zhiquan shook his head. "Azhao, let's eat something first. Once we're done, we'll go and..."

"Eat, eat, eat—you only know how to eat! I don't care, come with me right now to find the culprits!" Zhao Yuxin grabbed Zhu Zhiquan by the ear and glared with fury at all the buildings inside the factory.

Ten minutes later, Zhu Zhiquan and Zhao Yuxin found their belongings on a rooftop inside a tricycle. Zhao Yuxin intended to clear the items out immediately, but was stopped by Zhu Zhiquan.

"Azhao, why don't we wait here like waiting for a rabbit to hit a tree; as long as the owner of the vehicle isn't dead, they will definitely come back to find us."

"But the red pillar of light on us might attract other players here, too."

"That doesn't matter. If the vehicle owner has any backbone, they will definitely come to challenge us when they see someone staying by their vehicle. If nothing else, we'll take as much of their stuff as we can and burn the rest to the ground."

Zhao Yuxin listened to Zhu Zhiquan's words, felt it made sense, and hid near the rooftop with him to wait.

Time passed second by second. During this period, players kept challenging the two of them, but they all came one by one and did not seem to be the thieves who had stolen their things.

Meanwhile, in a hidden space, three players gathered together to discuss how to pass the game.

"What do we do? This Dungeon requires the top three to leave, but none of those top three are easy to deal with. If this continues, we will be eliminated by the Game System sooner or later."

"That's right. More importantly, the monsters are getting fewer and fewer. It's already impossible to reach the top three without clashing with the current top three."

"Damn it, there's less than an hour left; this is clearly a dead end!"

"Who says it's a dead end?"

"If you don't think it's a dead end, then tell us what your insight is?"

"I think we should unite and kill everyone in the entire factory until only our three vehicles remain!"

"Yes! The six of us from our three vehicles, combined together, will definitely be able to take down the other players!"

"Then which one should we start with?"

"No rush. Let's wait for our teammates to revive, and then we'll find the top three players."

"But what about the players from the other vehicle?"

"It's simple. Regardless of whether we become third, we'll just kill the two people from that vehicle together."

Back on the rooftop, Zhu Zhiquan and Zhao Yuxin moved everything they could carry back to their own Tricycle, removed the tires from the other one to install on their own vehicle—upgrading their tires to Primary High-Speed Tires—and finally set the tricycle on fire.

The two returned to their own Tricycle to rest, preparing to earn points later, when they suddenly discovered their red pillar of light had turned yellow. The system prompt told them they had dropped to second place, and before long, the pillar turned green.

In the distance, red and yellow pillars of light were approaching their location. Zhao Yuxin pointed at the two and said, "Ajiu, how did the first and second place unite?"

"I don't know." Zhu Zhiquan looked relaxed. "Let's go, let's go meet them."

"Huh?" Zhao Yuxin looked worried. "No, this is clearly someone teaming up; there are at least four people! Why don't we just drag this out? At worst, we just give up on being first."

"Oh." Zhu Zhiquan was unconcerned. "Then how about you stay here, and I'll go meet them."

"But... who's there!" Zhao Yuxin aimed her Wrist-Mounted Strange Crossbow at a tree.

Two female players then stepped out. Zhao Yuxin recognized them both but did not lower her Wrist-Mounted Strange Crossbow.

Zhu Zhiquan made a Dagger Spear and asked coldly, "Are you two planning to challenge us?"

"No." One of the players with a ponytail stepped forward. "We've come to form an alliance with you."

"An alliance?" Zhao Yuxin asked vigilantly, "Why would you want to form an alliance with us?"