Chapter 302: Crossfire

Gu Lian Nan's eyes flashed with a hint of cruel delight, as if he had already seen a spray of blood.

Just as the grim white bone blade was about to touch Lin Fan's nose tip, that 0.1 second.

Sss—

There was no muffled thud of blade entering flesh as expected.

Instead it sounded like something scraping metal at high speed, sparking a spray of glaring sparks.

Lin Fan's collar burst open a mass of black shadow.

It was hair.

Hundreds to thousands of jet‑black strands surged wildly from his collar and cuffs like living black vipers. They were not soft hair at all; each strand was rigid and straight, hardness comparable to top‑grade alloy wire.

That massive, heavy Bone Scythe was tightly entangled mid‑air by the tangled hair, unable to move an inch.

"What the heck?!"

Gu Lian Nan's pupils contracted sharply.

He felt his companion Bone Scythe was cutting into a mass of viscous glue, the terrifying resistance traveling through his bones and making half his body tingle.

Before he could react, the black hair rose up the shaft as if alive.

Sss—

The black hairs twisted together, spreading along the Bone Scythe's handle, and in a blink reached Gu Lian Nan's wrist.

Once entangled, the arm would be twisted into mush.

"Second! Stop watching the show!"

Gu Lian Nan let out a strange shout, instantly released the force in his right hand, and, using the reaction force, scrambled backward, scorching two marks on the marble floor with his feet.

A few stray black hairs slapped against the nearby load‑bearing column.

The cement column, like butter cut by a hot knife, silently sprouted several bottomless cracks, and debris fell with a rustle.

Seeing this, Ban Lian Nan, who had been behind preparing to scavenge, paled instantly.

The eyeball that had been hanging outside his socket jolted violently twice.

A true expert's move instantly reveals competence.

This is no clueless youngster.

Clearly, this is also a top‑tier host who keeps a "monster" inside his body!

"That's a solid idea."

Ban Lian Nan let out a guttural gurgle from his throat, and the half‑intact face lost its previous contempt, replaced by a desperado's ferocity.

In this damned Blood Moon game, it's either you die or I live.

That ring was their only hope to join the game and wish to survive.

"All together, no holding back!"

Ban Lian Nan let out a hissing roar, and his previously hunched body snapped upright.

The thick veins beneath his skin began to writhe wildly, like countless earthworms rolling under the flesh. With a nauseating tearing sound, the veins on his half‑rotted face burst open.

Pff—

A stream of ink‑green poison surged out from the ruptured veins.

Even while airborne, the poison emitted a suffocating strong‑acid odor, corroding the air with a sizzle and raising a Weird white smoke.

This is the killer weapon he gained after merging with Weird—Corpse Poison Acid.

A single drop will cause an ordinary person's body to rot away and die instantly.

Even if the opponent is a peer-level counter‑trickster, they must expend most of their strength to resist Weird's toxicity, sharply reducing combat power.

Meanwhile, the Gu Lian Nan who had just retreated also moved.

The two coordinated with extreme tacit understanding, clearly not their first time committing such murderous profiteering.

Seizing the moment Lin Fan's vision was blocked by the poison, Gu Lian Nan lowered his body, like a gecko clinging to the ground, and slipped into Lin Fan's left blind spot.

"Die for me!"

The grim white Bone Scythe on his right shoulder surged again, its barbs standing upright, even dangling a few dark‑red flesh strands, sweeping a foul wind toward Lin Fan's lower body.

Up and down.

One poison, one physical.

Lin Fan stood his ground, the faint azure halo around his right eye unchanged.

He merely tilted his head slightly.

The black hairs that had been scattered around instantly fell back, weaving in front of him into an airtight black shield wall.

Zzz—

The ink‑green poison splashed onto the hair wall.

That toxin, capable of melting gold and iron, could only raise a puff of white smoke on those strands, burning off a few surface hairs yet unable to penetrate the defense.

Simultaneously, a few thicker strands pierced out from beneath the shield wall, like a venomous snake spitting fangs, precisely stabbing at the Bone Scythe‑wielding Gu Lian Nan attacking the lower body.

Ding ding dang dang!

Bone Scythe clashed with the hairs, scattering sparks.

Gu Lian Nan felt excruciating pain in his palm, the hairs absurdly hard and astonishingly forceful, each impact like a heavy hammer striking his bone.

"This kid's Weird is too diabolical!"

Gu Lian Nan gritted his teeth, cold sweat streaming down his forehead.

Ordinary counter‑tricksters, even when borrowing Weird's power, always have a limit. After all, the human body is merely a vessel; overuse will break it, cause collapse.

But this kid before me is like a bottomless pit.

Those hairs are endless, continuously lengthening and thickening.

"Attack his true form!"

Ban Lian Nan's eyeball that had fallen outside his eye socket rolled around, and he shouted ominously, "For any trickster, my own flesh is the greatest weakness!"

"Kill the host, then get out of here quickly; his Weird full restoration also needs time!"

No matter how strong the possessed specters are, the trickster himself is ultimately a carbon‑based organism.

Stab the heart and you die; lose the head and you die.

Unless you encounter that extremely special type.

Hearing a comrade's warning, Gu Lian Nan's eyes flashed with fierce light.

"Understood!"

The two exchanged a glance, and the tacit understanding forged by long years of crawling on the edge of life and death instantly erupted.

There was no communication.

Ban Lian Nan suddenly inhaled deeply, his chest ballooning, his whole body like an inflated rubber ball.

The next second.

He opened his mouth, and this time, instead of spitting poison, he exhaled a clump of dark red Blood Mist.

The Blood Mist instantly spread, bearing extreme stickiness and opacity, directly enveloping the small jewelry shop ruins.

Lin Fan's vision was instantly obstructed.

And under the cover of the Blood Mist, Gu Lian Nan had completely abandoned defense.

He bore the searing pain of a few strands of black hair piercing his thigh, his whole body like a cannonball fired from the side‑rear, slamming into Lin Fan.

"Die!"

Gu Lian Nan raised his Bone Scythe high.

This time, he did not attack those tangled hairs, but locked his target onto Lin Fan's unprotected left shoulder‑neck junction.

That is the location of the major artery.

At the same time, Ban Lian Nan charged forward recklessly.

At some point, a Boning Knife appeared in his hand, thrust straight at Lin Fan's solar plexus.

A pincer attack.

This is a gamble with their lives.

They gamble that Lin Fan won't have time to counter, that they can eliminate this seemingly frail boy before those terrifying black hairs strangle them.

The black hairs, which had been attacking from the periphery, suddenly recoiled wildly, trying to protect their master's body.

But those two outlaws were determined to trade lives.

"Too late!"

Gu Lian Nan sneered, his facial muscles twisted into a mass from extreme excitement.

His Bone Scythe had already touched Lin Fan's clothing.

At this range, even a deity would find it hard to intervene.

Just then.

Lin Fan moved.

But he didn't dodge.

He also didn't retreat.

Instead, he stepped half a pace forward, voluntarily offering his left shoulder beneath the Bone Scythe's blade.

"Pfft—"

The sharp blade pierced flesh.

The Bone Scythe, bristling with barbs, sliced through Lin Fan's T‑shirt without hindrance, piercing the skin and lodging between his clavicle and scapula.

Fresh blood instantly stained the collar.

At the same time, Ban Lian Nan's Boning Knife also arrived.

But due to Lin Fan's half‑step shift, the knife that was meant for the heart veered three inches, stabbing into his left side chest.

"Szz—"

Hit!

The two outlaws' hearts leapt with joy.

Even if this kid is extremely unorthodox, suffering this wound would cripple half his life even if he doesn't die.

In this Weird revived world, injury means death.

"Hahaha! Crazy? Keep going crazy?!"

Gu Lian Nan loosened his grip on the Bone Scythe's handle, intending to step back and admire the dying struggle of his prey.

However.

He tugged.

It didn't budge.

The Bone Scythe lodged in Lin Fan's shoulder seemed welded in place.

Gu Lian Nan was stunned.

He lifted his head and met Lin Fan's face.

Not only showing no fear, but also flashing a mocking smile.

"Xin Yu, cough cough......"

Lin Fan's voice was soft, yet in the blood‑soaked ruins it rang clear and a bit harsh.

"Your turn now."

The instant the voice fell.

The once noisy ruins suddenly fell silent.

It wasn't the kind of silence where no one speaks.

Rather, all sounds—wind, insects chirping, even the distant monsters' roars—were forcibly erased by some terrifying force.

The temperature dropped sharply.

The standing water on the ground formed a layer of black frost at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The heat they exhaled turned into white ice shards the instant they reached the Exit.