Chapter 80: Chapter 80

As expected of the number one on the War God Ranking! ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel※fire.net

Lin Jing looked all upright and easygoing,

but when it was time to be cocky, he could be pretty damn cocky too.

Jiang Ye felt a lot more at ease hearing that.

As long as the prize pool didn’t get snatched last-minute, that was good enough.

The woman in the arena still looked grim and indifferent.

After thinking for a moment, she asked again:

"Should I really say the answer to this question in front of all these spectators?"

It was a generous-sounding statement and definitely earned him some audience points.

The woman’s expression shifted slightly. Finally, she said directly:

"It’s not actually as complicated as you think."

"My apartment, at the start of the game... that is, at 0:00 game time."

"In addition to the usual announcement prompts, there was another one called 【Midnight Ring】."

"The announcement said that all players in my Beginner Apartment were pulled into a randomly-triggered 【Midnight Ring】 event that went off at midnight."

"And in that Midnight Ring event..."

"The 80 players in our apartment played a game called 【Drop the Handkerchief】."

As she said this, her shoulders gave a tiny shiver, like she was recalling something truly horrifying.

After a brief pause, she continued:

"That 【Drop the Handkerchief】 game was very similar to the one we played as kids."

"Eighty people sat in a circle, one of them held a red handkerchief and started going around dropping it..."

When she said “red handkerchief,” she tapped the red cloth covering her eyes before continuing:

"The first player assigned to drop the handkerchief didn’t know what was going on and didn’t dare make a move."

"He held the handkerchief and ran in circles around everyone again and again, until... somehow, he vanished. I didn’t even see how he disappeared..."

"The handkerchief fell behind another player, and that player didn’t notice. After quite a while, there was a scream."

"That player had his head bitten off by the handkerchief, took off running like something was chasing him..."

"What we saw was just a headless player holding the red handkerchief, running around us, screaming while he ran laps..."

"Then he threw the red handkerchief behind another player."

"If the player it landed behind didn’t pick it up immediately, a part of their body would get swallowed up—but they wouldn’t die. They’d just scream and run around like crazy..."

"At that point, everyone sitting in the circle was desperate! Breaking down! Begging like crazy, just hoping the person dropping the handkerchief wouldn’t choose them..."

"And through it all, we could hear that childhood nursery rhyme playing in our ears—"

“Drop it, drop it, drop the handkerchief…”

“Gently place it behind the little kid…”

“Everybody, don’t tell him…”

"And when the handkerchief dropped, the song would change to—"

“Quickly, quickly, catch him! Quickly, quickly, catch him…”

The spectators were dead silent at that moment.

Jiang Ye couldn’t help shivering, almost convinced someone was sneaking up behind him with a red handkerchief...

What the hll?! That’s f***ing twisted!

Good thing he didn’t go through that 【Midnight Ring】 event at the start!

The woman in the arena didn’t go into more details about the handkerchief game.

She simply wrapped up by saying:

"Out of the 80 players, I was the only one who survived…"

"I got the red handkerchief, and I also got the Apartment Boss’s favor."

"So? Is that answer good enough?"

"You promised not to go back on your word, so you’re not gonna pull a fast one, right?"

Maybe it was the creepy rhyme, but her voice sounded kinda eerie at that point.

Lin Jing, across from her, fell silent.

The audience snapped back to attention and immediately exploded in chatter.

Jiang Ye couldn’t help asking Wan Xin:

"You know how 【Midnight Ring】 works? Did you ever come across it when you played Doomsday Apartment?"

Wan Xin shook his head without hesitation: "That game Doomsday Apartment does have some creepy stuff, but it’s mostly there to make the game harder."

"Something like 【Midnight Ring】—with that horror vibe—wasn’t part of it."

This must be some extra content added in the real-life version of Doomsday Apartment?

Like the Glyph Ability and Eerie Players too.

At the very least, none of the players from Apartment 9999 ever mentioned Glyphs or Eerie Players.

So yeah, real life and the game are a little different.

Just then, Lin Jing finally responded.

He flipped his hand and actually put away that eerie dagger.

Which of course, got the crowd talking again:

"No way?! God Lin really put away that crazy powerful blade?"

"If what that woman said is true, that red handkerchief of hers is definitely no joke! Isn’t Lin God afraid of screwing up?!"

"He probably has other tricks up his sleeve!"

"If you ask me, that woman just got lucky! She survived a game where only one person was meant to live!"

"And Lin God made it to the top of the War God Ranking—that’s a combo of luck and skill! No way she beats him!"

The audience still clearly favored Lin Jing.

Jiang Ye also figured that if Lin Jing dared to stow the blade, he must be confident.

And sure enough, once he put it away, the woman removed the red handkerchief from her eyes and tied it around her hair like a scrunchie.

Her eyes were clear and cold, but also carried a fierce edge.

This time, she raised her hand again—faster than before!

But Lin Jing didn’t move an inch. He just smiled slightly.

And right then, a pair of blood-red eyes appeared floating in the air in front of her!

Her gaze locked with those crimson eyeballs!

In that instant, her pupils nearly exploded!

The crowd went wild again!

“Holy sht?! So that creepy eyeball ability of Lin God’s doesn’t come from the dagger?!”

“F**! So he played a word game and totally tricked her!”

“He didn’t go back on his word at all! He really did put the blade away!”

“Ha! I knew it! She only survived 【Midnight Ring】 ‘cause of pure luck! Girl’s way too naive!”

“Lin God just taught her a hard lesson about life, haha!”

Laughter and cheers filled the crowd.

In a world where strength rules, no one thought Lin Jing was being shady.

The woman staring into the blood-red eyeballs didn’t freeze like his past opponents.

Instead, the red ribbon tied around her hair suddenly floated upward without any wind, bursting with a bizarre red glow!