Chapter 265: The MVP Awards Screen of the Horror World!
Over on Zhang Yangqing’s side, that Doom Bird had a narrow victory, but it could still reluctantly take off, just barely.
After all, following Zhang Yangqing’s instructions, that Doom Bird had gone for a quick victory, so the corruption inside its body hadn’t spread too much yet.
The other Chosen Ones’ Doom Birds weren’t so lucky. Their Mother Worms had held them up for a long, long time.
In the end, they could only fight to the death to kill the Mother Worm. Then, covered in blood and seriously injured, they had to leave. They couldn’t even fly.
Some of them, after killing the Mother Worm, walked a certain distance and then just collapsed, unable to get up, with no one knowing if they were alive or dead.
And things turned out just as the Chosen Ones had suspected. After the Mother Worm died, if a new Mother Worm appeared, then the mission wouldn’t count as complete.
Because the rule was for the Chosen Ones to resolve the Mother Worm crisis in this city.
As long as the Mother Worm still existed, the crisis wasn’t over.
As things stood right now, aside from Zhang Yangqing, no one else had completed the hidden mission.
They were all in a frantic rush to fix things, hoping to find a doctor quickly.
After all, they were already inside the wall. As long as they avoided the patrols in the city, they could get into the city itself.
Before entering the city, the Chosen Ones either needed to find clothes with hoods to hide the marks on their necks,
or they needed scarves, or to cover the marks with bandages or something. Otherwise, if they were seen, it would definitely cause some trouble in the city.
That was also something written in the rules.
As for the patrols currently exchanging fire with those bizarre insects, the Chosen Ones couldn’t worry about that. This city was huge, with a population of hundreds of thousands. They’d figure something out.
If they couldn’t, well, then the Chosen Ones would just have to figure out their next move and leave.
At this stage, the Chosen Ones were handling things differently, too.
Take a Chosen One like Hilde. To avoid drawing attention, after asking around for the hospital’s location, he just walked there. After all, Transcendents are pretty fast.
He wasn’t under too much pressure. Let’s just say, even if he completed the hidden mission, he’d probably only get a score around SS. He knew that, so there was no point in rushing.
Going slow meant he could dodge any patrol members he ran into in time.
The ones who were more anxious were the first-tier Transcendents like Griego. They still had a shot at getting an SSSS score.
Zhang Yangqing, on his end, was much bolder. He just found a van in a parking lot.
The mission was already done, so for this last stretch, he figured he might as well travel in comfort.
He sat in the back seat, the one-eyed kid was in the driver’s seat, and they drove the van right to the hospital in style.
Whenever he could take it easy, Zhang Yangqing naturally wasn’t going to walk.
This city only had one hospital, but there weren’t many patients.
Actually, you didn’t even need to ask around. You could see a tall, large building in the city center.
The building had hospital signs all around it.
On the way, the Chosen Ones recalled the rules.
[Rule 1: In this city, only doctors wearing purple armbands won’t turn away patients. But only doctors wearing black armbands have the means to cure the virus.]
The Chosen Ones didn’t know this part yet, but none of them planned to go to the main lobby to register. Instead, they snuck in through a side door.
Along the way, Zhang Yangqing noticed that aside from the patrols, hardly anyone here wore crow masks.
Doctors and nurses only wore regular masks. It was as if the inside wasn’t contaminated at all – a whole different world from the outside.
After all, here, anyone found carrying the virus was executed on the spot.
And they didn’t let infected people in, so inside was relatively safe.
Moving around the hospital’s first floor, Zhang Yangqing noticed security was pretty tight. There were patrols with significant authority, plus security guards and nurses.
There was no way to move around freely here without getting some different clothes.
If his identity was discovered, he’d likely be hunted. That would be a huge problem.
So, the Chosen Ones started doing what they usually do in horror worlds.
Namely, figuring out how to get suitable clothes.
This place was different from the recovery center. Some individuals here had a pretty strong presence.
So the Chosen Ones had to be careful.
At this stage, for someone like Hilde, having that weird baby bird made things easier.
You could say it was a blessing in disguise.
He used his weird crow to kill a lone patrol officer and changed into his clothes.
As for Griego, at this point, he simply didn’t act like a Transcendent at all. If he could avoid using force, he absolutely would.
He found a doctor’s uniform at a laundromat near the hospital and just changed into it.
Zhang Yangqing had a huge advantage. He had three female nurses in professional attire with him. He just had them lure a few doctors into an empty room to take care of them.
For first-tier folks, this wasn’t really difficult.
The ending of a horror world isn’t usually that hard, but anyone familiar with them knows there are traps.
It was broad daylight, so it didn’t seem that scary. The hospital was just a bit cold and had that familiar smell of medicine.
But for the Chosen Ones, daylight seemed more uncomfortable because there were more people around.
Quite a few Chosen Ones were sneaking around the hospital, eyes constantly checking the patrol routes and guard post locations, trying to figure out ways to avoid them.
Zhang Yangqing, though, kept it simple. He strolled through the hospital with his hands behind his back, like a hospital bigwig or expert on an inspection tour, followed by a few nurses and assistants.
With that powerful aura, plus the natural air of someone in a high position, the hospital security and nurses didn’t dare question his identity at all.
Not only that, when these security guards and nurses saw Zhang Yangqing coming, they’d bow their heads and greet him respectfully.
That was a level other Chosen Ones couldn’t even dream of reaching.
Because it all came down to mentality. If they messed up, they could get themselves killed.
If Zhang Yangqing messed up, well, a lot of people would die.
Especially Chosen Ones who were here for the first time – how could they dare to act like that? They’d rather hide in corners or in the NPCs’ blind spots, trying not to be seen.
Zhang Yangqing walked right into the center of the NPCs’ attention, enjoying everyone trying to please him.
So, for other Chosen Ones, this was just something to watch and admire. No way they could copy it!
At this stage, some viewers were confused. Why didn’t the Chosen Ones seek help from the doctors with purple armbands?
Wouldn’t getting help from a purple-armband doctor make things much easier?
The expert panel quickly explained. The rule clearly said, ‘doctors wearing purple armbands won’t turn away patients.’
Pay close attention to this rule. It only says they won’t turn patients away. It doesn’t say they will help them.
With this type of rule, the best approach is to investigate before making contact.
This is about experience and judgment.
If a rule uses words like ‘helpful’ or ‘good person,’ then those are the people you can trust.
Otherwise, they’re unpredictable factors.
This is exactly why only Zhang Yangqing dared to recruit teammates, while other Chosen Ones wouldn’t even team up with NPCs.
Back at the recovery center, those who didn’t notice this were killed by the blonde guy, right?
Without a rule clearly stating who is reliable, you can basically only trust yourself. Any other NPC might betray you.
After listening to the expert panel’s explanation, the viewers understood just how skilled these Chosen Ones were.
The top-tier Chosen Ones were all tough cookies. Even the less strategically minded ones had analyzed these rules quite thoroughly.
Just because Hilde messed up doesn’t mean he couldn’t understand the rules. He was just unlucky.
Just as the viewers were analyzing the rules, Zhang Yangqing gave them a perfect example.
This was an extremely hard-to-notice detail, or maybe Zhang Yangqing just stumbled upon it by chance.
After all, other Chosen Ones wouldn’t waste time looking for purple-armband doctors. They’d go straight for the black-armband ones.
While searching this hospital for a black-armband doctor, Zhang Yangqing saw two doctors with purple armbands in an office.
These two purple-armband doctors were eating and chatting happily.
Seeing this, Zhang Yangqing seemed to understand something.
Because these purple-armband doctors were eating Dark Citrus Fruit.
You should know, Dark Citrus Fruit is incredibly hard for humans to swallow.
But in the eyes of those bizarre insects and bug-people, it’s a delicacy.
That means these purple-armband doctors are actually bug-people, and probably high-level ones, since they even mastered human language.
Bug-people don’t get infected by the virus, so naturally, they don’t mind sick people.
Now the rule made perfect sense.
Their goal, their likely mission, might be to use the patients to spread the virus and destroy this city.
Or maybe they just want to blend in with human society and enjoy life.
But this didn’t have much to do with Zhang Yangqing’s main mission. Even if other Chosen Ones discovered this, they wouldn’t meddle. They’d first focus on finding a doctor with a black armband.
Normally, a black-armband doctor wouldn’t cure the Chosen Ones’ virus.
There’s a simpler tactic here: get the black-armband doctor infected through conversation.
Once he’s infected, he’ll be afraid of being executed by the patrols, so he’ll mix a cure.
Then you can just snatch it.
Because when you’re first poisoned, without medication, your body gets really weak.
Let alone the ruthless first-tier Transcendents on site, even ordinary Chosen Ones wouldn’t have too much trouble dealing with a black-armband doctor.
Zhang Yangqing’s method was probably even more sophisticated. He took off his mask and talked to a black-armband doctor in a room.
Without a crow mask, a regular mask makes infection easy.
Once the doctor was poisoned and weakened, Zhang Yangqing went over, pretending to check the doctor’s neck.
Acting all professional, he ‘examined’ him.
Then, with a serious look on his face, he asked, “What happened? How did you get infected? I just talked to you without a mask – are you trying to get me killed too?”
The viewers were stunned by Zhang Yangqing’s move. He was the one who infected the doctor, but here he was, blaming him!
The black-armband doctor was also confused by Zhang Yangqing’s questioning. He had no idea how he got infected himself.
He could only say, “It might have been from the last patient. Don’t worry, I know how to cure it.”
After all, he was an expert in treating plagues. Mixing a potion was easy for him.
Soon enough, Zhang Yangqing got the cure without any risk or fight. Compared to other Chosen Ones who might face danger while stealing it, his method was basically effortless – just a few words. Rock solid.
For Zhang Yangqing, sure, he could have fought for it, but there was no need.
At this point, after being cured, Griego rushed back to the abandoned reservoir, hoping he could use his slowly returning strength to deal with the new Mother Worm.
But his strength was coming back so slowly. Would it really take days?
Meanwhile, Zhang Yangqing glanced at his one-eyed little follower and the other teammates, briefly mentioned that the purple-armband doctors were bug-people, and then he ended the session and settled his score.
His mission was done. He wasn’t some savior. If he stayed any longer, the horror world would mark him as wasting time, and he’d definitely lose points.
So, his path was finished. He’d kept his promise to the one-eyed kid by curing him.
The teammates would have to find their own way from here.
Whether they chose to leave the city and find another path, or wait until they were cured and report the purple-armband doctors, that was up to them to decide.
Along the way, the one-eyed kid also had a little gift left by Zhang Yangqing.
Those two weird crows he could control.
Zhang Yangqing’s story in this horror world was over. Maybe the one-eyed kid’s journey was just beginning.
After a flash of light, Zhang Yangqing finally breathed normal air again.
That refreshing, incense-like scent made his body and mind feel pure joy.
During that time, it wasn’t just other Chosen Ones who wanted to keep their masks glued to their faces. Even Zhang Yangqing rarely took his off.
His senior fellow apprentice, Su Muyu, was standing by, watching a large screen, frowning deeply.
Zhang Yangqing went over to look too. After seeing the screen, he was confused, wondering if he was dreaming.
Wait, didn’t I enter the horror world? Was all of that just a dream?
So, he asked, “Senior brother, how is this guy still at the recovery center?”
He was looking at the screen for the Chosen One from the Pyramid Country, Andyebula.
Andyebula was still lying in a bed at the recovery center.
He had gotten quite a bit of medicine, enough to last a while, but his food was running very low.
If the doctor didn’t come soon, he might starve to death in there.
Zhang Yangqing thought other Chosen Ones might be slower than him, but this ridiculous?
This backfire made Zhang Yangqing doubt himself.
Did I misunderstand? Or did I just wake up?
Su Muyu smiled bitterly and answered, “This guy seems to not understand the rules at all. I don’t know why the Pyramid Country sent him up. But the puzzling part is, he’s still not dead.”
In front of the Pyramid Country’s big screen, the chat was full of viewers guessing how many more days he could last.
I mean, with his intelligence level, even if he somehow survived the first round, wouldn’t he just die later?
The viewers really didn’t expect that a top-tier Transcendent would make the kind of mistake usually only seen in randomly selected Chosen Ones from one- or two-star difficulty levels.
Zhang Yangqing sighed in relief after confirming he hadn’t misjudged anything.
Then he glanced at the screens of the other Chosen Ones. Many first-tier Chosen Ones were Transcendents.
Of course, after being cured, they weren’t going to just give up.
Even without all their strength back, they were still top dogs in the horror world.
They needed to blow off some steam, right?
If the Mother Worm didn’t die, they couldn’t complete the hidden mission.
Right now, Transcendents like Griego were searching for the new Mother Worm.
The second-tier Chosen Ones had started solving the mystery of the two wells, and their progress was pretty good.
The crisis in the Bug Nest wouldn’t erupt until after the Chosen Ones entered the city.
The Chosen Ones outside still had time, but getting an SSSS score was clearly impossible. Even if they completed the mission, their speed wouldn’t be enough.
The third-tier Chosen Ones left Zhang Yangqing speechless. There were all kinds of players, some good, some terrible.
At this point, the better-performing third-tier ones had made it to the small Bug Nest – the big bridge.
As for the others with their crazy strategies, the ones who couldn’t understand the rules or information, Zhang Yangqing couldn’t be bothered to watch.
In his eyes, these Chosen Ones only had one fate: ‘dying struggle.’
This time, horror world food was available, but the medicine tablets were critical.
If the supply of medicine tablets was cut off, even making it to the last stage would just mean death.
And all over Dragon Country’s internet, people were watching clips of Zhang Yangqing activating his Golden Godly Eyes and clearing out all the hostile people around him.
A video uploaded just ten minutes ago had already hit over a hundred million views.
Viewers were calling it ‘This Horror World’s MVP Awards Screen.’
Yawning, Zhang Yangqing picked up the bowl of meat stew his senior brother had prepared.
The stew gave off an enticing aroma that made Zhang Yangqing swallow involuntarily.
Every time he came out, his senior brother would have some good food ready, made personally by him.
You could say that on Dragon Tiger Mountain, Zhang Yangqing was the only one who got this treatment.
The rich, meaty flavor mixed with the broth, waking up his taste buds. It was irresistible.
Zhang Yangqing drank the bowl of stew. It felt like a warm current sliding down his throat – a soul-deep deliciousness, an intoxicating taste.
Just then, a disciple in a Taoist robe walked over slowly.
He knocked on the door, and after someone inside said “Come in,” he entered.
“Celestial Master Zhang, Luo Hao from the Kunlun Mountain Association is here to see you.”
Now, the Kunlun Mountain Association is one of the largest Taoist organizations in Dragon Country.
Dragon Country isn’t just the Daoist Association. There’s also the Buddhist Association, the Imperial Capital Association, the Tang Clan Association, the Tianshan Association, and many other groups.
Dragon Tiger Mountain is a member of the Daoist Association. After all, we’re all family, and Zhang Yangqing is known as the head of the Taoist schools.
Fellow disciples naturally show respect and won’t clash with Zhang Yangqing.
Besides, they wouldn’t dare provoke him anyway.
But here’s the thing. Dragon Tiger Mountain is growing so fast. Aren’t the other organizations envious?
Resources like access to the horror world can make plenty of organizations fight tooth and nail.
Even if they can’t get them, they still want a chance to try.
So, it was pretty obvious why Luo Hao was visiting this time.
“Tell him I’m not seeing anyone,” Zhang Yangqing said, yawning, and then left the area.
The disciple was a bit confused, but Su Muyu explained, “Didn’t they watch the horror world? The Celestial Master hasn’t rested for a whole day and night. I don’t care if it’s someone from the Kunlun Mountain Association or their grand president. He’s not seeing anyone. These rude people.”
Su Muyu wasn’t angry at the disciple. He knew ordinary disciples couldn’t make decisions, so they had to come and ask.
He wasn’t just covering for Zhang Yangqing. That was the truth.
Zhang Yangqing hadn’t done or said anything wrong. Telling them to ‘go away’ would have been polite.
I spent all those days straight grinding in the horror world, and you people have no sense of timing, do you?
You really think I’m some little nobody you can just summon whenever you want?
