Chapter 801: Chapter 801

In the last minute, Tang Zheng held the Demon Slaying Holy Flame in hand and fired a continuous stream of buckshot, breaking apart the assembled monster, while Lu Fan crushed them completely with sand. Once the dust settled, the passage was filled with sand mixed with sticky mucus, burying up to knee depth.

Dozens of soul shards scattered on the sand were relatively insignificant with the progression of the game, but the three pieces of gold and five Silver Seeds that dropped were quite substantial. Besides these, there were over twenty chunks of rotting flesh stained with blood, emitting a dark red fluorescent light. Lu Fan scanned them with his wristwatch and unexpectedly discovered they were props.

The monster headmaster’s rotten flesh, an S-grade consumable, after being ingested, could randomly double one of the user’s seven attributes, note that it could only be consumed once.

"That’s disgusting, I definitely won’t eat it," Lu Fan said with no appetite at the sight of the flesh chunks that seemed like pickled meat left to rot for years. Pinching his nose and poking them with the Wisdom Sword, he collected them into a box and tossed it to Tang Zheng. "You distribute them, I’d rather die than eat this stuff."

"Who wants to eat it?" Overcome by the stench, Tang Zheng had no intention of eating it either. These chunks of flesh, valuable for their effects, were clearly a manifestation of the Silver Trojan’s perverse sense of humor meant to disgust. Who could stomach such a thing?

Gu Xueqi shook her head. Pang Meiqin hesitated, sniffed them but couldn’t overcome the revulsion and passed.

Yu Manli didn’t mind. To survive, what was eating a bit of this? She took a piece from Tang Zheng, wrinkled her nose, inspected it and then held her breath as she threw it in her mouth. Just one chew of the slimy texture caused her to break out in goosebumps, followed by the nauseating smell assaulting her nostrils, forcing her to sneeze repeatedly. Since she could only consume it once, Yu Manli dared not spit it out, clapped her hands over her mouth and chewed desperately before swallowing.

"I’m impressed," Pang Meiqin and Lu Fan twitched the corners of their mouths at the sight of Yu Manli turning pale. Indeed, the woman was tough.

Gu Xueqi started seeing the quiet woman in a new light and considered whether to take a bite.

Clutching her nose, Kita-jima Miki watched Yu Manli. She thought the woman must be insane. How could she eat such a thing? Just the thought of it coming from that withered headmaster’s body made the policewoman lose her restraint. She ran off to the side and threw up.

"One chunk of rotten flesh is worth a thousand points, that’s ten million US dollars, a sky-high price. Go on, eat it, you won’t lose out," Lu Fan egged on the Beautiful Leg Stewardess, seeing her hesitate and always having a disdain for her.

Pang Meiqin snorted and ignored her.

Tang Zheng was speechless. He couldn’t let himself be outdone by a woman. It wasn’t the value of the thousand-point enhancement effect he cared about but his position as the group leader.

Seeing Yu Manli’s tearful struggle with the disgusting taste, Tang Zheng picked up a piece of the rotten flesh.

"Uncle, you’re not really going to eat it, are you?" Lu Fan curled his lip, wanting to persuade Tang Zheng further when suddenly Yu Manli took a few steps and crouched by the wall, wretching violently. It seemed from her distress she might even vomit her insides out.

"What did you enhance?" Tang Zheng took out a bottle of mineral water, unscrewed the cap and tossed it over, then asked.

"Thank you, Group Leader, it’s stamina," Yu Manli wiped the juices from the corner of her mouth, rinsed her mouth after answering, and despite the discomfort, it was definitely worth it. That was a powerful attribute.

Tang Zheng considered rinsing the flesh with water but, worried about weakening the effect, he steeled himself and popped it in his mouth.

The slimy taste and foul stench nearly made his eyebrows knot, but after swallowing, a warm flow instantly spread from his tailbone, clearing his mind.

"What did you enhance?" Pang Meiqin handed him a bottle of water, gently patting his back.

"Faith. Now I won’t have to worry about throwing up when watching the most disgusting horror movies," Tang Zheng joked after spitting out a few mouthfuls of water and sighed with relief, grateful the enhancement wasn’t on either immunity or cellular regeneration, which took longer to take effect, otherwise, the ordeal would’ve been in vain.

Pang Meiqin and Gu Xueqi were still hesitating over whether to eat the flesh. Tang Zheng walked over to Sha Ou.

"Sha Ou, take heart, this is your share of the spoils," Tang Zheng handed a Silver Seed and a piece of rotten flesh to Sha Ou.

"Is there really no hope left?" Sha Ou clutched Old Wang, refusing to give up hope.

"Too many organs are damaged; even with a mechanical heart, he wouldn’t survive," Lu Fan replied, still a child but already accustomed to death, quite composed.

With all three of them receiving Silver Seeds, Pang Meiqin, Gu Xueqi, and the rest were satisfied with the distribution, considering Tang Zheng and Lu Fan had contributed the most.

"Rest up, we’re preparing to withdraw." Tang Zheng summoned Daylily, providing treatment for everyone.

Sha Ou asked Tang Zheng for a bandage and did a simple dressing for Old Wang, making one last effort.

"It’s Xin Lan sister," Lu Fan hailed from the ravaged wall, waving to Xin Lan and two others hurrying towards the square. After the fight, Yao Feng and Li Bo shook off the Demonic Shadow and hurried over, with Aoki strapped with a bomb, dare not to flee.

Two minutes later, everyone gathered beneath a wall on the square. Li Xinlan saw that Tang Zheng and Lu Fan were alright and let out a long sigh of relief.

"Let’s get out of here quickly," the Lip ring girl, not wanting to stay in Chuanwen High School, suggested boldly.

"I’m familiar with the surroundings; let’s find a place to hide first," Gu Xueqi led everyone to her hiding spot to rest and recover. The rightful source is novèlfire.net

"Old Wang, Old Wang!" As the group just ran out of the school gate and across the highway, they heard Sha Ou’s loud cry. Turning back, they saw him grasping Old Wang’s shoulders, weeping.

Li Bo knelt by the side, looking somber. Old Wang had after all not made it, dying five minutes after killing the monster headmaster.

"Stop looking and keep moving, there are Demonic Shadows at the end of the highway." Yu Manli urged Gu Xueqi. The presence of Demonic Shadows on the highway made the newbies nervous, and as for Old Wang, he was met with only sympathy—nobody would delay their own life or death for him.

"Old Sha, let’s go." Seeing Sha Ou still crying, Tang Zheng grabbed his arm with one hand and pulled him away.

"What are you doing? Let go of Brother Ou, and what about Brother Wang’s corpse? Are you really going to just leave it here?" Li Bo was a hothead, complaining to Tang Zheng.

"Shut up, or I’ll smack you." Sha Ou was just saddened, not yet out of his wits. He quickly chastised Li Bo; angering the Group Leader would certainly cost Li Bo his life. Besides, after their battle with the monster principal, Sha Ou had come to understand his own strength—if not for the aid of his comrades, they would all die in the Game.

Li Bo rolled his eyes and reluctantly bowed his head.

"Tang Zheng, don’t stoop to a child’s level." Sha Ou wore a strained smile, then followed up by asking, "Can I take Old Wang’s corpse with me?"

The short-haired ruffian had no family, but Old Wang did. Sha Ou wanted to bring his ashes back and bury them.

"No need. If you have that time, Old Wang would definitely prefer you use it to escape." Tang Zheng pulled Sha Ou away, "You need to prioritize."

If it weren’t for Sha Ou being a man of deep loyalty, which made Tang Zheng inclined to win him over, Tang Zheng wouldn’t have wasted so much breath on him. As for Li Bo, a slap would have been dealt already.

"Sigh." Sha Ou let out a deep sigh, feeling the heavy burden of the death of three friends.

Gu Xueqi’s hiding place was the presidential suite of a hotel, and as soon as Tang Zheng entered, he was grabbed by Kita-jima Miki.

"Tang Zheng, can you take off the bomb waistcoat from Aoki?"

Tang Zheng tossed the key to Aoki, noticed the somber atmosphere, and then took out a rotten piece of flesh and waved it teasingly in front of the widow and Yao Feng.

"Want some? It can double a certain attribute."

"No, thanks." Li Xinlan quickly declined after taking a glance.

Yao Feng sniffed it and likewise refused.

Dongzi, however, was keen to try, but unfortunately, he wasn’t eligible.

Sha Ou took out his share, about to stuff it into his mouth, when he saw Li Bo sitting next to him and offered it to him instead.

"Tang Zheng, can you give me another piece?" Sha Ou didn’t want to miss anything that might increase his chances of surviving.

"Sure." The saying goes ’spare no expense in buying a good horse’. To make Sha Ou owe him a large favor, Tang Zheng was willing to pay up. Besides, this kind of meat was cheap, nowhere near as costly as the eyes of the Hundred-Eyed Demon Lord—all seven attributes doubled with that, naturally reserved for his closest confidants.

"I don’t want it, it’s disgusting." But Li Bo was unappreciative and threw it on the ground with a slap.

Sha Ou caught the piece of flesh Tang Zheng tossed to him, and seeing Li Bo’s reaction, he didn’t try to convince him otherwise. Instead, he quietly picked it up and began chewing it silently, bite after bite.

The attention of everyone shifted to him in an instant; the square-jawed man was really going all out for Li Bo’s sake.

"Fine, I’ll eat it." Li Bo’s eyes were slightly moist. He grabbed the meat, took a bite, and then spat it out on the floor—it really was disgusting.

"Finish it, and I’ll give you this Silver Seed. Then you’ll have superpowers too." Sha Ou didn’t forget to encourage Li Bo.

"Really?" Li Bo snatched the brightly colored Silver Seed, his eyes glazed and his face full of surprise.

Just as Li Bo was eager to use it, the announcement from the Silver Trojan came through the wristwatch again.

"Lin Weiguo, Qin Yan, Bai Guo, and Xu Biyun have successfully killed the Demonic Shadow Daimyo Maeda Toshiie and are allowed to end the game early and return to the Trojan Room."

Pang Meiqin and Yu Manli felt jealous, cursing their luck inwardly, while the other newbies were envious as well, although they hadn’t considered trying to find and kill a Demonic Shadow Daimyo because it was impossible.

Tang Zheng was happy for the old soldiers; better to save one than none. He was about to call everyone to retreat when the announcement from the Trojan continued to sound.

"With the death of Maeda Toshiie, the second stage of the Midnight Demonic Shadow Game concludes. The third stage now begins. Survivors, please prepare accordingly."

"Toys, take note. The Punishment forces are about to arrive. Please eliminate all of them within half an hour, or one person will be randomly selected for execution."

The third stage had begun, and the Central Hammer Squad had lost any chance of rest and would have to face the relentless pursuit of Demonic Shadows. The Punishment forces were just the first wave. (To be continued. If you work, please visit Qidian.com to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)