Chapter 259: If a problem can be solved with just a few words, why go through all the trouble?
Zhang Yangqing’s words really served as a wake-up call for his teammates.
Anyway, I’m just here to slack off and go through the motions, so don’t treat me like your babysitter.
If you listen to my commands and something goes wrong, I can cover for you. But if you do something reckless on your own, you’re on your own.
These words actually made the teammates rein themselves in quite a bit, and they started looking around more cautiously.
Their bodies tensed up, and they weren’t swaggering around like they were when they first arrived.
They walked along a mountain path for a while, and then, following the marks on the sketch, they bypassed the guards patrolling near the city, as well as some of the surrounding sentry posts.
Simply looking for a point of infiltration isn’t that simple.
This city had also set up guards at the main drainage outlets, because they were worried someone might use those to get into the city.
The middle-aged uncle’s team searched for an entire day before they finally found an abandoned sewer drain behind the city’s back mountain.
It looked like it hadn’t been used for many years—it was a place where sewage was discharged when the city was first established.
The top-tier Chosen Ones all basically gathered in front of a semicircular entrance.
Outside, the sun was shining brightly, but as they got closer, a chill emanated from the opening.
The team with the purple mark steeled themselves and walked in. The dark sewer was filled with a suffocating stench, so bad you couldn’t tell if it was from kitchen waste or medical garbage.
The teammates smelled it and wished they could weld their crow masks right onto their faces.
In this Ghost Story, if anyone lost their crow mask, they’d basically stink to death right there.
The further they went in, the darker the path became, and they could only move forward using the light of their flashlights.
With narrow brick structures and winding, twisting passages, without the sketch or marks carved on the walls by other teams, it would be easy to get lost inside.
When passing through certain areas, the Chosen Ones noticed an unknown liquid flowing through the path. It looked like some kind of dirty secretion, but it also resembled the blood of some creature.
The most important thing was that this liquid was bubbling, as if it were alive.
To avoid getting any of this liquid on themselves, the team members tried their best to steer clear of these areas.
“Are you guys hearing some kind of noise?”
The one-eyed kid was leading the way with his flashlight.
Because Zhang Yangqing was excessively slacking off, he had to shoulder the burden and become the savior of this world.
He didn’t have a choice either. He had just wanted to latch onto Zhang Yangqing, but now he found himself as the one everyone was latching onto!
“Be careful. It’s normal to hear all sorts of sounds in here.”
The lone wolf older brother gave a pretty fair answer. He honestly hadn’t heard anything, but according to what other teams had said, there were strange insects hiding inside.
In the narrow passages, there were sometimes hard bricks and sharp protruding steel bars. If you weren’t careful, they could cut your skin.
And those old iron grates and half-rotten wooden planks could collapse at any moment, plunging people into dangerous situations.
Not to mention those strange insects hiding in the darkness, swimming through the sewage or crawling on the walls, silently threatening the lives of intruders.
The purple mark team walked strictly according to the marks on the sketch, avoiding many dangers.
At this stage, it’s no exaggeration to say that Zhang Yangqing was like he’d been disconnected—he had no presence at all, swapping roles with the one-eyed kid.
Others might not know, but he finally realized just how great it was to muddle through and fish in troubled waters.
Turns out, the feeling of being a salted fish and just coasting to victory is pretty nice.
But the Ghost Story world didn’t seem to agree with his wishes. The one-eyed kid still lacked a certain leadership ability.
If you gave him a complete sketch and a feasible plan, he could indeed take action.
But when faced with an unknown decision, he would hesitate.
That’s just the one-eyed kid’s personality—he has certain flaws.
Ahead, they saw signs of a struggle, the same place where the family of four had been attacked yesterday, and possibly also the location where the lone wolf from their team had been killed.
The sewer was too smelly to detect any scent of blood, but there was a skeleton there that had been gnawed clean.
There was also some unknown slime around the skeleton, but it was clearly human remains.
According to what that husband and wife had said, this was where they had encountered danger.
This skeleton had no research value. After the team walked past it, they came to a fork in the path.
The entrance to the left path was a bit damp, and it looked somewhat dry further in, but if you looked closely, you could see footprints that weren’t human.
The entrance to the right path was damp, and it also seemed a bit wet inside, but no footprints were found.
There were a few hypotheses here. The path on the right should be the correct one, as it looked like a drainage outlet.
But this hypothesis wasn’t quite right either. According to the middle-aged uncle, this place had been abandoned for a long time and couldn’t possibly still be used as a drainage outlet.
It also couldn’t be ruled out that yesterday’s heavy rain had affected this area, with some water being released from above.
If the left was the entrance, then why were there those strange footprints? Wasn’t that an obvious sign of danger?
The one-eyed kid holding the sketch didn’t know which way to go, so when he looked at Zhang Yangqing, the others followed his gaze.
The core was the core—Zhang Yangqing’s position on the team was irreplaceable.
“This way is the more correct path.”
Zhang Yangqing pointed at the dry intersection and said.
Seeing his teammates’ confused yet hesitant expressions, Zhang Yangqing smiled helplessly and began to explain.
Actually, both passages were definitely correct entrances, and both had danger.
It’s just that the danger level on the damp side was higher.
The danger level on the dry side was just a bit lower.
It had rained yesterday, so some rainwater had seeped into the outer part of the sewer. When the strange creatures living inside came out to feed, they got water on their bodies, so when they walked back in, there would definitely be water stains on the path.
Looking at how damp the right side was, it proved there were many more of those strange insects over there. The left side had relatively fewer.
Hearing this explanation, everyone suddenly understood—that really made sense.
After all, in a so-called sewer, there has to be an exit somewhere. Otherwise, why design it that way?
“Alright then, let’s go in.”
As long as he knew which way was correct, the one-eyed kid knew what to do.
The others also perked up, ready to enter this dangerous place and explore.
Among the top-tier Chosen Ones, quite a few also figured it out. Chosen Ones like Gregori and Hilde also led their teams toward the dry path on the left.
But at that moment, Zhang Yangqing stood motionless at the fork, looking at his teammates with a speechless expression.
Seeing Zhang Yangqing not moving, the others stopped in their tracks.
“Big shot, did you find something else?”
The lone wolf older brother looked around and asked.
Zhang Yangqing sighed and said, “You guys are too honest, aren’t you? Why should we go in?”
This question left everyone nearby completely baffled. If you don’t go in, how can you know if it’s the right path?
Seeing their expressions, Zhang Yangqing got a headache. He felt like they were too hard to lead.
So, he continued, “We just need to go back on time and tell the others the right path. It’s not like we’re wearing body cameras. How would they know whether we actually went in or not? They’d just have to take our word for it, right?
At that point, we can lie and say there were a few strange insects guarding near the exit, and we couldn’t get past because we didn’t have any disinfectant. We barely escaped with our lives. Then tonight, that family of four with the disinfectant will secretly leave the temple and enter the city through here.
Whether my guess is right or wrong, we don’t need to scout the path ourselves. Isn’t someone else eager to go in? They’re even more afraid than we are that someone might discover the disinfectant, aren’t they?”
After listening to Zhang Yangqing’s explanation, not only the five teammates but even the audience was stunned.
It was like a light bulb went off in the teammates’ heads. This was a path they had never even considered. So you could play it like this?
The audience gasped. Other Chosen Ones were diligently going in to explore, and here he was doing ‘armchair exploration’?
He had the psychology of those NPCs in the Ghost Story world completely figured out.
People who play mind games are really devious.
Zhang Yangqing looked at them like they were fools. Without me, you’d all be dead who knows how many times by now.
Smart people get others to do the work.
If a few words can solve it, why do it yourself?
In the Ghost Story world, once you grasp the NPCs’ psychology, you can basically use them to your advantage.
Haven’t you noticed that the past few days, while other Chosen Ones have been run ragged, I’ve basically done nothing at all?
Zhang Yangqing’s playstyle really emphasizes one thing: I’m not in a big hurry. I want to see if you are.
To make his story more believable, Zhang Yangqing had his teammates carve some marks inside the fork, just like the marks other teams had made.
Then he had them use their pockets to scoop up some sludge and head back the way they came.
The teammates didn’t know why he made this request, but Zhang Yangqing really couldn’t be bothered to explain, and they didn’t dare ask.
It came to 12:20 PM. While the other Chosen Ones were still enduring the filth and stench, eating inside the sewer and exploring that dangerous place, Zhang Yangqing was already outside, enjoying the sun.
If they went back now, the other teams would definitely suspect whether they had actually gone in to explore.
So the nurse team leader didn’t turn on the walkie-talkie, and Zhang Yangqing led the team away from that place.
The other teammates didn’t know where Zhang Yangqing was going, but they followed him anyway.
Only the one-eyed kid knew that Zhang Yangqing was looking for the place where they had hidden their stuff.
Since they were going in tonight anyway, it would be a shame to let the food they’d hidden outside go to waste.
When they arrived at a concealed spot and dug out the food, the teammates were full of exclamations.
“Whoa, where did you guys get all this food? I’ve only ever seen this stuff in magazines before.”
“Wow, this is the Black Swan cake I used to dream about eating. I can’t believe it’s here.”
“Oh my god, am I dreaming? Can we really eat this? We haven’t even done anything.”
Seeing his teammates drooling with longing, Zhang Yangqing said, “Eat up, whatever you want. Then put a little bit on yourselves. We’re making our move tonight.”
At that, the one-eyed kid dug in without ceremony, since he was the one who had carried all this stuff here bit by bit. He didn’t need to be too polite.
After finishing this lavish lunch, the group relaxed and rested nearby for about two hours, then slowly made their way back.
It was during this time that top-tier extraordinary beings like Gregori and Hilde ran into big trouble.
After enduring countless hardships, avoiding some minor problems, and exploring the sewer for an hour and a half, when they finally found an exit to climb up, sure enough, a few strange cockroaches were lying in ambush nearby.
It was dark and hard to see exactly how many there were—maybe three or four.
By the light of their flashlights, they could see these monsters rising from the dark corners. Their bodies were huge and strong, like evil gods of the sewer.
Their shiny black shells glistened in the light, like corroded metal, as if they wanted to swallow everything around them.
It was an overwhelming sense of pressure, a suffocating fear. The appearance of the strange cockroaches made the sewer even darker and more terrifying.
Even though there were only a few of them, their combat power was incredibly fierce. They immediately ambushed and killed one of the female nurses.
A large chunk of flesh was bitten out of her chest area.
This sudden attack caught everyone in the group off guard.
The lone wolf older brother was injured while retreating. At that point, the Chosen Ones ignored his cries for help and decisively abandoned him to escape.
During the escape, the Chosen Ones were almost caught and killed by the incredibly fast strange cockroaches. Thankfully, they used disinfectant in time and avoided disaster.
When they finally got out, their team of five had been reduced to just three.
And those three had more or less some wounds on them.
Cuts from hard bricks and sharp steel bars were one thing, but being scratched by the strange cockroaches meant entering a state of ‘contamination’—their bodies would start to weaken.
Since they were the ones who made it out, they still helped each other out a bit.
If they were still inside, there was nothing anyone could do.
Those who made it out basically didn’t dare go back in.
Everyone was very silent along the way; losing two teammates was a heavy blow to the purple mark team.
Around 5 PM, top-tier Chosen Ones like Gregori and Hilde finally returned to camp, one after another.
They recounted their experiences, the losses they’d suffered, and the correct entrance they had found.
After they finished speaking, basically no one suspected them.
Even the middle-aged uncle, after offering some symbolic condolences, praised their bravery.
After all, these guys looked pretty rough: they were covered in dirty sludge stains, their clothes were torn, and one of them had been injured by a strange cockroach and was contaminated.
How could that be fake?
Any team that had actually gone in could be identified by the smell alone. What they said was clearly true.
This is where Zhang Yangqing’s strategy came into play.
Since they had left early, they didn’t have any wounds, and even their smell was very faint.
That’s why Zhang Yangqing had his teammates scoop up a bag of sludge when they came out.
Didn’t that come in handy right about now?
If they went back all clean, who would believe what they said?
So, even though the teammates weren’t thrilled about it, they smeared the sludge all over themselves.
To make the act more realistic, the lone wolf older brother even tore his clothes and made some small cuts on himself.
The other teammates saw this and started copying him.
Zhang Yangqing put in less effort—just a token smudge here and there. As long as he looked like he’d been inside, he wouldn’t be suspected.
There was a bit of a walk back. After the sun in the sky dried the sludge for a while, it left stains that looked just like the other Chosen Ones’.
After they returned, the female nurse acting as team leader began reporting their findings.
This was where being a female nurse gave them an advantage. Women are naturally good actresses. She performed so well that even the middle-aged uncle couldn’t tell it was fake.
Following what Zhang Yangqing had taught her in advance, she said they had found the entrance to the city and marked it on the sketch.
Then came the sob story: they had run into four or five strange cockroaches at the intersection.
They didn’t have any disinfectant and couldn’t get past that section. If they hadn’t run fast, they probably would have died in the sewer.
But the main point was that Zhang Yangqing’s team had indeed gone in—they just hadn’t gone to the dangerous inner part.
As for the information from the outer part, no matter how much the middle-aged uncle questioned her, the female nurse team leader could answer.
As for the inner parts that other teams hadn’t explored, she could just make things up. Since none of them had been there, how could they know she was lying?
This perfectly captured the essence of Zhang Yangqing’s strategy: exploiting the information gap.
I’ll say it once. Believe it or not, that’s up to you. If you dare doubt me, I’ll get angry.
Not over-explaining things actually makes people less suspicious.
That way, even if the middle-aged uncle thought it was a bit suspicious that they didn’t have any wounds, he couldn’t really argue.
The most important issue now was how to get some disinfectant.
Was it better to make their teammates hand it over willingly, or if the teammates didn’t have any, to steal it from other teams?
Because, aside from this temple, there were other places with sick people.
And that couple had been unusually quiet after reporting on their own situation.
It seemed like they were plotting something.
But whatever they were plotting was already within Zhang Yangqing’s expectations.
This was something his teammates really admired. It was as if he had everyone figured out.
Zhang Yangqing’s method for passing the level was just that simple and effective.
If the audience hadn’t seen Zhang Yangqing’s method, they would definitely think the other Chosen Ones were very strong, and they would praise their bravery and wisdom.
Especially since Gregori and Hilde were already above average among the Chosen Ones.
But that’s just how people are. Once they see a better, more effective way to clear the level.
It’s not about Gregori and Hilde anymore. It’s about that guy from the Dragon Kingdom who just doesn’t play by the rules—or rather, he found a much more perfect solution.
In the absence of a perfect answer, the performance of Gregori, Hilde, and the others was already impressive. But after the perfect answer appeared, the audience started to think Gregori and Hilde and the others were pretty foolish…
However, few people dared to criticize at this point. After all, if they went into the Ghost Story world themselves, they probably wouldn’t even make it to this place. They weren’t qualified to talk about these brave Chosen Ones.
Because most of the audience were ordinary people, far removed from the resource struggles of the extraordinary world.
Unless the extraordinary beings performed absolutely terribly, there was really no need to provoke them.
Most of those who dared to criticize were opposing extraordinary powers from their own countries. They needed to belittle other powers to gain prestige for themselves, thereby securing their next chance to compete.
Inside the Ghost Story world, the sky was gradually getting dark.
The night seemed calm, but undercurrents were beginning to stir.
The couple, trying not to arouse suspicion, lied and said they weren’t feeling well and wouldn’t take the night watch tonight.
Zhang Yangqing’s team, on the other hand, had no intention of resting.
Both teams had their own plans.
Only the man who seemed to be the leader of this camp, the middle-aged uncle, was still thinking all night about where to find disinfectant.
