Chapter 451: Barefaced Threat

Those words sounded like they came with ill intent.

Qing Qing's Kiss gripped her dagger without changing expression, ready to strike at any moment. She was very wary, not going along with their words, but instead retorted: "What does this have to do with you?"

The short-haired female player was choked by this blunt and cold retort, a flash of embarrassment and anxiety crossing her face. The few players behind her also showed displeasure.

"Of course it's related!" The bespectacled male player stepped forward, his tone urgent, "You can see the situation yourself! The audience seats are the target! When the next act starts, who knows how many more will die? Since you found a safe spot, why not share it? We're all players; we should help each other!"

"A safe spot? Mutual help?"

Qing Qing's Kiss snorted, her eyes sharp as she swept over them, "When I jumped down just now, I didn't see any of you lend me a hand. Now that you see a possible benefit, you come over talking about mutual help?"

Her words were merciless, piercing that veneer of hypocrisy.

Several players' faces darkened.

"That's not how to say it…" Another male player who looked slightly older tried to smooth things over, "Back then the situation was urgent; we were barely holding on ourselves…"

"So now you can protect yourselves?" Qing Qing's Kiss interrupted him, tone mocking, "You claim I found a safe spot, but really you just want someone to shelter you. On what grounds? Just because you outnumber us?"

The atmosphere suddenly turned tense.

Qing Qing's Kiss stood alone at the edge of the audience seats, with those ill‑faced players above her.

Having come to this point, there was no need to hide anything further.

She directly drew the dagger she had been gripping, coldly saying, "If you want to go hard, you'd better weigh whether your strength is up to it."

The short‑haired female player's face flushed red, then quickly drained of color.

She took a deep breath, trying to suppress the panic in her eyes and the embarrassment of having her thoughts exposed.

"We… we didn't mean it that way."

Her voice dropped, "We just want to survive. You're stronger than us, and… you also know this place better. Could you tell us what we should do? How can we avoid danger like you… or like the person behind you in that private box? You… must be teammates, right?"

As she spoke, her gaze unconsciously drifted toward the SVIP box where Cheng Shuili was.

That last sentence was their true purpose in gathering.

They no longer dared to covet the vacant VIP boxes, and they reckoned they lacked the strength and luck of Qing Qing's Kiss to survive after breaking the glass.

But they saw Cheng Shuili.

That one who remained unharmed from start to finish, even escaping the puppeteers' judgment, was a special existence.

Although they didn't hear clearly the conversation between Qing Qing's Kiss and the person in the box, one thing was indisputable: that person and the one seated inside were definitely on the same team.

This was the last team in the entire instance, its value naturally self‑evident.

Since they're both alive, why couldn't they share a bit of information to let us survive too?

Qing Qing's Kiss narrowed her eyes. She and Cheng Shuili were teammates, no doubt, but she knew better than anyone that her captain wasn't the type to share freely, a benevolent soul who helps those in danger.

Hoping to get shelter or information from Wu Ya?

That would probably be harder than escaping from the puppeteers.

"So what if we're teammates?" Qing Qing's Kiss said in her usual cold tone, "What do you hope to get from her through me?"

The bespectacled male player's eyes flashed with a spark, as if he'd seized on a key point, and he spoke faster:

"Since we're teammates, you must know some of the information she holds! At least, you should know how she avoided the puppeteers' judgment—tell us the method, or… starting now, let us act with you! Strength in numbers, the later stages will surely be more dangerous; acting together also means we watch each other's backs."

"Watch each other's backs?" Qing Qing's Kiss sounded as if she'd heard a joke, "In the last act I watched over all of you, and what came of it? Besides draining my own stamina, what benefit did it give me? Now you want to join us again?"

"How," she said, her eyes like knives sweeping over the bespectacled male player's anxious face, "do you think we're few enough to push around, or do you want to bask in our glory, then shove us out as cannon fodder when danger strikes?"

Qing Qing's Kiss had seen this sort of thing many times.

Once you enter the instance, it's not just these people; sometimes it's her teammates too.

She is a solo wolf player, with no fixed teammates; each time she's randomly selected before the instance starts.

Sometimes luck is good and the teammates she finds may not contribute much, but they don't cause trouble. More often, she encounters teammates with hidden agendas, even ones who stab her in the back at crucial moments.

Those people constantly say things like, "You're a big shot—why aren't you putting in any effort?", "How can you be so selfish, not sharing any clues?", "If it weren't for us, could you even find this place?" and similar remarks.

She's heard it so often her ears are developing calluses.

At first Qing Qing's Kiss would tolerate it, but once she truly realized what strength meant in this world, she stopped indulging anyone completely.

Several players' faces grew even uglier; Qing Qing's Kiss's words practically stripped bare their little schemes and laid them out on the table.

"You're spitting blood!" The bespectacled male player finally couldn't hold back, his face flushed as he snarled, "We just want to survive—how did you turn it into something so despicable? People like you, selfish and self‑serving, don't deserve to be strong!"

That remark was actually amusing; Qing Qing's Kiss laughed outright and retorted, "Whether we're qualified or not, it's not up to you to judge."

She stepped forward, exuding an intimidating aura that made those players instinctively retreat.

"Take another step forward, or utter another useless word," she said, weighing the dagger in her hand as its blade flashed a cold gleam in the dim light, "I don't mind clearing out the environment before the next act begins."

Barefaced threat.

The short‑haired female player and the bespectacled male player turned deathly pale, and the few behind them showed even more fear.

Qing Qing's Kiss's strength displayed in the first and second acts was obvious to all—a deterrent forged from the actual blood of monsters.

They had no doubt that this young‑looking woman really dared to strike, and she had the ability to cut their numbers in an instant.

"Okay… okay… we're leaving, we're leaving…" the short‑haired female player finally couldn't bear the pressure, repeating herself as she pulled the bespectacled male player—who still wanted to say something—back into the depths of the audience seats, daring not to glance this way again.