Chapter 296: The More Top-Tier the Chosen One, the More They Get Ripped Off!
After the shockwave of energy dissipated, the guide dog finally fell back down from the sky.
Its experience just now could only be described as feeling like flying.
If its master hadn’t been holding the leash, it was sure it would be freely soaring through the heavens right about now.
If just the shockwave alone was this powerful, the guide dog couldn’t even imagine how much it must hurt to get hit directly by that attack.
Not that it needed to think about it too much, after all, it was just a dog by its master’s side, and it knew its place perfectly well.
“Ow! Ow! Ow!”
The loli girl clutched her head, her brain throbbing with pain.
She’d been sent tumbling a dozen times when the blast hit, and she’d banged her head pretty hard too, which was why she was crying out.
Once she’d recovered a bit and looked ahead, there was no stage, no crazy fans—nothing but a crater in the ground.
Her heart was pounding like crazy.
Holy crap, there wasn’t even a body left?
Just how strong is this partner of mine?
I thought he was ridiculous back at the villa, but this is on a whole other level!
Beside the loli girl, the two S-rank demons picked themselves up off the ground.
Their eyes were filled with nothing but terror, and the pain wracking their bodies only heightened their fear.
The older S-rank demon shot a glance at the newly summoned one,
as if to say: See? Didn’t I tell you not to mess with him earlier? Now you know why, right?
The new demon swallowed hard, replying: Got it, big bro!
Who in their right mind would dare provoke someone like that?! Over a hundred anomalies in front of him—just gone. Poof.
And it happened in an instant. Was this guy some kind of god or something?
“Move out.”
A single, simple word echoed across the area.
Zhang Yangqing wasn’t one for unnecessary chatter.
He’d deliberately intimidated his teammates for a reason, after all.
Since the loli girl’s demon squad was starting to grow—now up to eight members—they were getting a bit full of themselves.
To prevent them from getting cocky and starting trouble just because they had numbers, Zhang Yangqing figured he’d teach them a lesson.
He wanted them to clearly understand that it didn’t matter if it was eight of them or eight hundred—they still had to listen to him.
In this team, they needed to know their place.
As the demons picked themselves up, their eyes regained that proper, humble look.
That was the way a tool should act, and exactly what Zhang Yangqing wanted.
Though he couldn’t see, he could sense that these demons barely dared to breathe.
There was one more thing, though. Zhang Yangqing found the loli girl way too chatty. Part of his display was meant to shut her up. Unfortunately… it backfired.
Along the way, a constant stream of admiration flowed from her mouth.
“Wow! That move you just pulled was incredibly cool! How did you do it?!”
“If I could do that, even our king wouldn’t dare cross me!”
“Teach me, please? I’m begging you! Please, please!”
Zhang Yangqing was seriously considering sewing her mouth shut.
Still, the journey was pretty boring. If she wanted to talk, he’d just let her talk.
Most of the Chosen Ones had already left the magician’s stage behind and were pushing forward at an accelerated pace.
Even though their stomachs were growling, they had to hurry.
The Chosen Ones had already been walking along this night road for over two hours.
It was a long, dark road, and some were beginning to fade away into the darkness.
Several Chosen Ones had already been lost along the way.
Ramirez, who was relatively quick on the uptake, was now on high alert because houses were starting to appear one after another.
It felt like they were entering some remote, desolate village.
Most of the houses, however, had their lights on, which made the Chosen Ones anxious.
They all had a feeling that a storm was coming soon.
There was a faint rumble in the air, like the precursor to thunder and lightning.
“Does this mean I absolutely need to find something to shelter from the rain here?”
Many of the Chosen Ones picked up on the rules’ hint.
With that thought, Ramirez sent his guide dog and demons to search the area.
Eventually, he found a house with its lights off. He wanted to ask if they had any rain gear, since he had some tradeable items on him.
Ramirez walked carefully from the main road up the stone steps to the house, taking great care to avoid stepping into any areas lit by other houses.
“Hello? Anyone home? Could I trouble you for a moment?”
Ramirez knocked on the door and called out.
But the moment he knocked, the lights inside flicked on.
Startled, Ramirez sprinted back to the main road.
Behind him, terrifying presences materialized exactly where he’d been standing just moments before.
If he hadn’t been so fast, Ramirez would have died right there.
Several more screens of Chosen Ones went dark. Looked like some had fallen for the trap.
Knocking and having the lights turn on wasn’t the worst of it—some had actually entered the house before the lights came on. There was no escape from that.
Some of the more cunning Chosen Ones understood the advantage of having numbers.
Take the Paladin Sidney from the Ramen Nation, for example. He was so steady in this round that viewers who didn’t know him wouldn’t even realize he was a Transcendent.
Sidney wasn’t about to do the knocking himself. He sent a low-ranking demon to do it. If it died, it died.
As a Paladin, he looked down on demons anyway.
If it weren’t for the horror world, he wouldn’t even bother teaming up with them.
If the lights inside didn’t turn on after the demon knocked, they could trade.
If the lights did turn on, the demon had to run for its life.
The role of demons in this round was basically to absorb the cost of trial and error.
If you got too greedy with rewards in the previous round—the magician’s stage—and lost too many demons, then you only had one or two chances to test the waters in this round. If all your demons died, you’d have to do the knocking yourself.
And the danger of that, you can imagine.
In this pitch-black night, with a small mountain village lit by flickering lights along the roadside, and the horror world practically telling you there were man-eating monsters inside—just the thought of it was terrifying.
That eerie, silent-village vibe made even standing on the main road feel chilling.
Ramirez truly hadn’t expected another trap here. He was just a cautious person; that didn’t mean he could predict everything.
Among the Chosen Ones, he was a pretty normal case.
Chosen Ones were allowed to make mistakes—whether they survived them depended on their reactions and their skills.
After his narrow escape, Ramirez knew what he had to do.
“You guys go search the area for any houses with their lights off. Once you find one, knock on the door. But remember: if the lights turn on, run immediately. If they don’t, don’t shout—just come back and tell me.”
Ramirez ordered.
Besides one A-rank demon and his guide dog, he also had a B-rank and a C-rank with him.
These were his ‘trial-and-error’ costs. If he couldn’t find rain gear here, he was sure that once they moved on, or in a little while, the rain would come.
And without any gear to shelter from it, it’d basically be a death sentence.
At this point, the Chosen Ones with fewer demons started to get anxious.
Because one by one, demons were going to be killed by the anomalies.
Ramirez’s B-rank demon was killed while knocking on a door.
It had been knocking at a house further away, and even though it ran as fast as it could when the lights came on, the rough terrain made it impossible to escape.
Ramirez had only escaped earlier because the road was relatively good there, and his A-rank demon had managed to block a couple of attacks.
Now, losing another fighter made Ramirez’s heart ache.
He’d normally look down on them—what good were B’s and C’s, anyway?
But now he understood their importance. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it.
“Please, hurry up and find something, or I’m going to die.”
He deeply regretted not summoning a few more demons, instead of trying to save his lifespan.
Now he was out in the middle of nowhere, with no passersby to kill.
If he lost these last two, Ramirez felt his life would truly be in danger.
The horror world gave the Chosen Ones demons precisely to be used as cannon fodder.
Otherwise, practically no one would get past stages like this.
That meant, if you didn’t get the Demon Key back in the villa, even if you got lucky in the earlier parts, you had a ninety-nine percent chance of dying at this stage.
Unless you were ridiculously lucky and the very first door you knocked on had its lights off.
There were plenty of houses in this quiet mountain village, and the Chosen Ones waited anxiously for their demons to return with news.
After losing another demon, Ramirez finally found a house with its lights off.
Unfortunately, the one that died was his A-rank demon, leaving him with just a C-rank.
Even if he got through this round, the road ahead would be treacherous.
“I’ll just have to spend some lifespan to summon more demons later, but that’s not the issue right now. First, I need to go check if there’s a catch.”
Since, aside from the S-rank demons, the others were pretty dim-witted, he had to handle any trading himself.
He didn’t want some cheap trick or hidden pitfall to cause his demon to just hand everything over to the seller.
If he lost both his goods and his life, he might as well just end it right there.
Ramirez took a deep breath. Losing his combat power was definitely shaking his confidence.
If he still had his A-rank demon, he wouldn’t be in this state.
Still, he didn’t look down on his remaining C-rank demon. After all, without it, he wouldn’t have even found a trading spot.
Though it wasn’t much use, he gave the demon a word of encouragement anyway.
What was lost was lost. He’d just have to cherish what he had left.
They stepped off the wide main road onto a creepy, winding, uneven path.
As soon as they set foot on it, the surrounding grass seemed to rustle, and a cold wind made Ramirez shiver.
For this round, he was just an ordinary mortal—not like last time when he had a powerful, supernatural body. Of course he was scared.
Which Chosen One wasn’t?
They just had guts and gritted their teeth, pushing through.
In a situation where one wrong step could mean instant death, every Chosen One was on high alert.
After following the C-rank demon for a while, they arrived at what looked like a ‘small shop.’
Its front door was open. Inside was a counter, and the walls were covered with all sorts of knickknacks.
This was probably the only trading spot mentioned in the rules.
Since the Chosen Ones couldn’t see, they just called for the shopkeeper to come out from the doorway.
Ramirez knew that if the shopkeeper suddenly turned on the lights, he’d be dead for sure.
The mountain path was rough enough, and it was a long way from the main road.
Soon enough, a portly shopkeeper with a handlebar mustache and a monocle over one eye emerged from the shop.
Under the moonlight, he stood there, rubbing his hands together incessantly, a sleazy grin plastered on his face.
The lights inside the shop remained off.
The audience generally tried not to judge by appearances, but this guy just screamed con artist.
And not just any con artist, but the most difficult, slippery kind.
“Ah, my esteemed customer! What can I get for you today? We have everything you could possibly want!”
His fawning, slick tone made him seem even more like a swindler.
Ramirez chatted with the shopkeeper for a bit and learned that this was like an ‘antique and oddity’ shop, with all sorts of items.
But the shopkeeper insisted on bartering—he loved collecting old things and valuable trinkets.
Ramirez breathed a small sigh of relief. He did have quite a few things on him.
Like the pocket watch and old coins he’d gotten from those two brothers arguing over a painting.
Or the big gold watch he’d gotten from the magician.
These were all things he could trade.
At this stage, it was actually the slick-talking Chosen One from the Stick Nation, Kim Jeong-ki, who had the advantage.
He was a pretty sneaky guy himself. After hearing that the shopkeeper was a con artist, he didn’t immediately reveal what he actually needed. Instead, he started asking about random, miscellaneous stuff.
Like food, or weapons.
Since the con artist would naturally assume these were “essentials” for the Chosen One’s journey, he’d instantly jack up their prices.
He’d figure that this customer definitely needed weapons and food to get through the trip.
That way, the prices for everything else would seem lower by comparison. This was Kim Jeong-ki’s strong suit.
In reality, the weapons here were mostly useless—the Chosen Ones weren’t going to clear this stage by fighting.
And the food here was all packaged stuff, not the fresh, live animals mentioned in the rules.
Back at the villa, the Chosen Ones had already learned that eating the wrong thing could kill you instantly.
Kim Jeong-ki asked if they had any live chickens or ducks. The shopkeeper said no, so Kim started asking about other things on the side to try and gauge their real prices.
After all, he had some tradeable items, but not a ton.
Who knew what the horror world’s economy was like?
He definitely couldn’t play by the usual rules; he had to feel things out first.
That was Kim Jeong-ki’s strength.
He was a veteran player himself, after all, and had some real skills.
Ramirez’s strengths were his quick judgment and his ruthlessness.
But in this situation, he made a big mistake. He just came out and said he needed an umbrella and a raincoat.
Of course, the con artist wasn’t going to miss this chance to bleed him dry.
After all, anyone who made it this far was desperate to keep moving.
You need this stuff, right? Well, then I can just name my price, can’t I?
You’re blind anyway, and we don’t exactly have price tags here. So who’s to say what anything costs?
“Sir, you’ve come at just the right time! I happen to have an umbrella and a raincoat that’ll keep the rain off perfectly. Let me get them for you.”
Soon, the shopkeeper brought out a raincoat and an umbrella and started laying out the price.
“Huh? A single raincoat costs more than one big gold watch? It takes two? And you want a big gold chain for just one umbrella?”
Ramirez was absolutely livid. Sure, the gold watch was just a reward item he couldn’t even take with him anyway.
But this price-gouging was just ridiculous.
Two gold trinkets for a single raincoat, and it was a smelly old thing too. Clearly some beat-up hand-me-down.
Its normal price probably wouldn’t even be worth a crappy pocket watch.
And for a broken old umbrella, you want a gold chain?
All my possessions put together can only buy one raincoat?
None of my other items were even worth a measly umbrella in the con artist’s eyes.
Why don’t you just go rob someone?!
Ramirez wasn’t exactly a miser, but getting ripped off like this still made him furious.
Now that the shopkeeper knew it was a necessity for Ramirez, of course he was going to soak him.
“Tell you what. You could pawn your guide dog to me, and I can give you that umbrella.”
Ramirez flat-out refused that offer, and even felt like siccing his guide dog on the guy.
He took a deep breath to keep himself from exploding and started haggling.
He definitely couldn’t afford to lose his C-rank demon. Not only had it saved his life, but he’d need it to take a hit for him later if things got hairy.
His guide dog was pretty heavy. On a full stomach, he could probably carry it.
But right now, he was starving, had been walking all night, and was running on pure willpower. There was no way he could carry the dog, especially for a significant distance.
And this wasn’t some tiny lapdog—it was a big, heavy canine.
Who knew what other problems might crop up while it was raining?
He had to think about all of it.
Like, what if the raincoat tears? Or the umbrella breaks? Wouldn’t he need backups?
So, Ramirez figured he needed at least three pieces of rain gear.
He couldn’t ditch the dog, so it needed a raincoat. And since the shopkeeper’s umbrellas were small, only big enough for one person, he and his demon needed two separate umbrellas to avoid contamination.
With that in mind, Ramirez started bargaining with the shopkeeper.
In the end, he was practically down to offering his underwear in trade. He’d pretty much emptied his pockets of everything he’d gotten along the way: the gold chains, gold watches, pocket watches, coins—everything. He handed it all over to the con artist, and only after begging and pleading did the shopkeeper ‘grudgingly’ agree to give him two umbrellas and one raincoat.
And even then, the shopkeeper chose the crappiest items he had. Ramirez had no say in the matter.
After all, the shopkeeper’s aura was terrifying, and it seemed like he had ‘helpers’ inside the shop too.
This was his village after all. If Ramirez started trouble, the shopkeeper could just flick on the lights and spark a fight he definitely wouldn’t survive.
Ramirez was absolutely livid. Getting scammed like this and still having to smile and thank that swindler—that was a pain only a fellow Chosen One could truly understand.
And it wasn’t just him. Even some of the Transcendents didn’t fare much better, because they were used to higher status and hadn’t paid attention to these trivial little details.
The Count from Britannia, Campbell, left absolutely fuming. If he could come back, he’d find a way to beat that con artist to a pulp.
Even the typically calm and collected Paladin Sidney from the Ramen Nation was breathing heavily, trying to keep his temper in check.
Killing the shopkeeper wouldn’t do any good anyway. The rules had already stated that you couldn’t accept anything for free.
These items only worked if they were traded for or given as a reward.
That was the hint the rules were giving, and why the Chosen Ones didn’t just resort to stealing or robbing.
On the other hand, the petty, street-smart Chosen Ones, the ones who were more cunning and used to scheming, were able to trade for enough gear in this round.
Seeing all the rewards they’d worked so hard to get only buy them this junk was incredibly frustrating for many Chosen Ones.
But as long as they could clear the stage, that was what mattered. They pushed on, moving faster, waiting for the rain to start.
And at this moment, the Dragon Nation’s Celestial Master’s livestream room was packed with viewers. Everyone wanted to see how he would handle this con artist.
Zhang Yangqing wasn’t moving as fast as the other Chosen Ones, who were scurrying along as quickly as they could.
Sure, he and the guide dog could move fast enough, but the rest of the group behind him couldn’t keep up.
To keep this bunch of useful tools around, Zhang Yangqing settled for a steady, straight-line pace.
He’d only just now reached the ‘Quiet Mountain Village’ stage.
This was where having numbers was a real advantage. And the S-rank demons could easily find the shop’s location.
After all, they had a decent amount of judgment.
Who wouldn’t want to impress Zhang Yangqing right now?
After seeing that move of his, the two S-rank demons respected him even more than they did the Lord of Hell.
After witnessing the con artist’s sheer scumminess, the audience was dying to know what Zhang Yangqing would do. He didn’t even have any tradeable items to begin with. Surely he wasn’t really going to just rob the place, was he?
