"Danger, Zong Jiu, Danger"

The autumn wind was chilly, and dead leaves were scattered about.

This year's autumn was particularly cold, so cold that the wind blowing over was like little thin knives, slashing at the weak parts of people's chapped skin. It really made one shake and tremble.

The village was called Tongbai village and was extremely deserted. Two sides faced mountains, one side was close to a large, tumultuous river, and the other side was connected to a desolate wilderness.

Generally, you could only walk along the small path between the mountains. There were rows upon rows of short houses that were very sparsely populated. The vast, green mountains behind them stretched as far as the eye could see.

The weather today was gloomy, like it was about to rain.

Pulling a dilapidated wooden cart, the human trafficker walked along the mountain road.

People from the houses all gathered on the empty ground in front of the village, watching from afar.

The girl tied up on the cart was silent, staring with a pair of wet eyes. Her sweater with tattered edges couldn't block out the severe cold, not to mention that dirt and grime could be rubbed off the edges.

The human trafficker used stiff fingers to count the filthy banknotes that were each less than one yuan, spittle flying everywhere.

"Now, even girls in their teens aren't easy to sell. In the neighboring stockaded village by the river's mouth, you could buy one for just five bucks. Those rich gentlemen are tired of playing with this type. You can't sell them at the price you could in the past."

The neighboring stockaded village by the river's mouth that he was talking about was a few miles from here. However, it was outside of the mountain. Except for a portion of the mountain road leading there that was dangerous and steep, its location was much better than Tongbai village by who knew how many times.

Wang Shou fiercely spat out, "Selling one for five yuan is still a profit. That female in my house is also a thing that only knows how to eat and not how to cook. In a few days, I'll also tie her up to sell."

For these past few years, they all couldn't get enough to eat, and it just so happened that there was another major drought this year. All the crops died in the fields; they didn't harvest a single grain, which caused a great famine. It was already extremely severe outside of the mountain. However, the further into the mountain, the scarier it was. In the place where it was the most severe, apparently, most of the people in that village had starved to death, and bodies laid on the ground with no one to collect them. The stench hung in the air. It let the vultures that were also similarly hungry to the point that their eyes were turning red get a free meal.

Fathers sold their daughters, and husbands sold their wives, selling them to the brothels of other villages or cities. There were also people who were so starved that they willingly went along with human traffickers. In the large village, not many women were left.

Along the way, everyone's faces were yellow and thin, their bodies nothing more than a bag of bones. Their clothes weren't able to cover their bodies. By the road, even all the tree bark was peeled completely clean.

Although the human traffickers traveled to and from various villages, taking advantage of the famine to traffic women, sometimes they would feel some nameless fear toward this Tongbai village, which was hidden deep in the mountains.

This type of feeling wasn't describable. If a reason had to be pinned down, then it had to be the scene at the market situated at the end of the village that he saw when he came a few days ago.

He had traveled from the south to the north. He had even taken on the burden of a human life that was lost because of him. However, it was the first time that he had seen such a scene.

After he went back, he tossed and turned for a long time. Then he walked around outside before finally deciding to come back in here for one last deal.

——The trafficking of girls wasn't easy to do in other places. It was either that the disaster wasn't that severe yet, so they weren't willing to sell their blood relatives to suffer, or that they hadn't been tortured by hunger to the point of losing their morals.

It was only in Tongbai village, where the famine was severe, that the entire village was all in agreement. The men were responsible for tying them up to sell. Every time he came, he would be able to get five or six quality goods.

This was originally the last business deal that the human trafficker would do in this village, but the words of that villager made him have second thoughts.

It wasn't a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl. A twenty-something mature woman could fetch an even higher price. Those big shots in the city loved playing with this type. Sometimes he would even get twenty or thirty dollars in net profit. Who wouldn't be moved when hearing this?

The human trafficker's hand, which was counting money, paused, "Fine. Be more thorough and careful when doing things. The day after tomorrow, I'll come again at night."

Wang Shou smiled, "Can't you trust the way I do things? That bitch's stomach is a disappointment. A few days ago, she ran back to her mom's family."

He was so skinny that his cheeks had sunken in. He squatted down and viciously kicked the wooden wheel.

Fear appeared in the eyes of the girl on the cart as she shrunk backward.

While pondering, he muttered to himself, "It's fine. That money-wasting thing is still here. Calculating the time, she would definitely come back to take a look."

The human trafficker didn't speak and led the similarly skinny mule onto the road, slowly leading it away from this deserted village deep in the mountains.

Dead leaves flew, blown over from afar, spinning in the wind.

Once this last deal was done, he wouldn't come back to this abnormal village anymore.

The sounds of the mule's hoofs gradually faded along with the sounds of the wooden wheel, disappearing into a forest and becoming no longer audible.

...

Everything fell into a static state.

[Beep beep beep… The system is currently connecting.]

After seeing the two S-ranks, and two high

S-ranks at that, everyone sucked in a breath of cold air.

Not only S-ranks, but even the amount of A-ranks, B-ranks, and C-ranks wasn't small. Seeing this, many D-rank and E-rank trainees' faces whitened with a "whoosh——".

Many trainees analyzed that the difficulty of this horror instance would be adjusted according to the strength of the participants.

This was only the second instance. In but a single instance, two high S-ranks were participating. One could imagine how high the difficulty of this instance would be raised.

They were newcomers. They had barely survived the first competition, and then at Las Vegas, they gambled with their lives at stake in return for a chance to survive. Barely alive and on their last legs, they knew deeply how valuable life was.

It wasn't an exaggeration. Just Las Vegas, that special event, made who knew how many trainees lose their lives.

In the beginning, the system proposed the method of using organs to exchange for chips.

Newcomers who had no initial capital for gambling were desperate. After entering the casino with the chips, they lost until their eyes turned red.

The winner would walk towards a more advanced gambling table with more chips, walking towards their unknown fate. The loser could only dejectedly return to the reception desk and use more organs as collateral.

The infinite loop had never opened a channel for exchanging special props before. The horror of the first instance had also made them fully aware that one more prop represented a greater chance at living.

The system didn't want all the trainees to die, so it opened the channel. As long as they didn't want to die, newcomers who had brains would desperately grab onto this chance with all they got.

However, this was all built on bones and blood.

Trainees who won an abundant amount of chips would become overconfident, their greed getting bigger and bigger. In the end, they would return to before they broke even on the amount they initially borrowed, losing chips continuously until they couldn't even take out enough chips to pay for their life.

The luck of trainees at lower rank gambling tables went back and forth, winning then losing, losing then winning. Those who were forced to use their organs to exchange for some F-rank or E-rank props and those who were missing an eye or missing a few fingers could be found everywhere.

There were many gamblers who had squandered all their chips and didn't dare to walk out of the front door of the Las Vegas Casino. Some decided to just screw it, immersing themselves in the golden hall's bar and gathering together to get drunk, as they waited for the moment when the judgment of bankruptcy would come. There were also some that kneeled on the dark red carpet and groveled to the high rank trainees, even making all kinds of disgusting trades and acting like their cows and horses in humble voices just to receive enough chips to maintain their life.

In front of the cruel problem of survival, everything became cold and matter-of-fact.

Human nature was displayed in its raw form.

Three days later, the system's cold, mechanical voice resounded throughout the entire trainee dorms.

[Special instance "Las Vegas" will forever close after ten minutes. Immediately starting calculations of every trainees' chips. Trainees who don't have enough chips to pay the initial credit will immediately undergo organ removal or be forcefully obliterated.]

This event was enough to leave a lasting memory for everyone.

The number of thriller trainees, which was more than ten thousand people at the beginning, sharply dropped until there were no more than seven thousand now.

During this period of time, there were also people who had shone and stood out.

The most eye-catching of them all was that C-rank trainee with conspicuous hair and eye color.

Coincidentally, he had also appeared in this instance.

The magician Zong Jiu.

It could be said that this name became famous overnight.

Many of the trainees present were covertly sizing up that white-haired youth.

In the casino, that magician was infinitely bright and boundless. Not only did he win every time, but he also earned one million chips at the middlemost gambling table in one fell swoop.

The most important thing was——he won the favor of that esteemed person.

The gazes that the newcomers directed towards him were filled with admiration and fear. As for the veterans, other than a few, they were all indifferent and full of the smell of gunpowder.

[The omnidirectional 360-degree panoramic camera with no dead angles has been enabled. Personal live broadcast rooms will not be opened this entire round. Only the public instance broadcast will be opened.]

[The Thriller Trainees have entered the live broadcast.]

Although the system was still loading, the camera had already opened.

Those contenders who hadn't entered the horror instance all opened the live streaming channel, swarming into the broadcast room.

[I'm here!!! Let me see what this instance looks like!]

[It seems to be a deserted village? It seems to look a bit like Asia. As for the era, don't know. Seems to be pretty early.]

[I didn't say this, but this architecture style looks strange and creepy… Whatever, /how could a horror instance not be creepy.jpg]

[Ahhhhhh I can see it, I can see it. Fuck, this instance's lineup is so grand. Stunned.]

[It really is. No. 3 and No. 4, two high S-ranks! Fuck. According to how two S-ranks appeared in the last round and the difficulty of the instance was raised to almost S-rank, I suddenly feel that this instance will also… um…]

[Whether or not they can solve this instance doesn't matter. The most important thing is that I can once again see the magician brother's face. In this cold infinite loop, only beauty can sustain me.]

[I second the person above me.]

The barrage was noisy and boisterous.

Zong Jiu quietly stood in one place, his whole body radiating indifference as if it didn't concern him.

He first went through the plot introduction from before the barrage opened and then examined the surrounding area before he turned his eyes, his gaze meeting the gaze of a black-haired man standing not far from him.

It was him again.

Zong Jiu felt that he had too much fate with that person.

However, the other person was a swindler who could talk well, fight well, was particularly smart and knew more than him. He was a hard-to-control variable.

Zhuge An coldly nodded his head towards him, which could be considered a greeting.

Wearing a mino that couldn't be plainer, he actually gave off a feeling of a hidden powerhouse.

In addition to him, No. 4, the Black-Robed Azan, was also not far away and was frowning. Zong Jiu couldn't tell what he was thinking of.

The A-Rank vampire Anthony had his hands in his pockets. After seeing the white-haired youth, his expression obviously darkened.

Similarly, Yi Ruisi, who had played Fight the Landlord with Zong Jiu before, was also among them.

Zong Jiu attentively looked around. He found that other than these few people, he couldn't find any other faces that he was familiar with.

There was also no sign of No.1.

Thinking of No.1's ability and chilly killing intent, Zong Jiu was almost certain that he would come to this instance to trouble him.

Let's see what happens and counter accordingly.

He nonchalantly thought.

Devil only knew that he had seen through his instructor's disguise. He didn't know that Zong Jiu also knew all about his ability to act as an NPC and control the trainees. Even more so, he had an S-rank prop specifically for lifting disguises.

If he made good use of this, Zong Jiu would completely be able to achieve a surprise victory. He wasn't the slightest bit afraid.

Right at that moment, the system had finally finished loading.

[The system has successfully linked.]

[The second round of Thriller Trainee has commenced. The current position is the third

venue: Famine Mountain Village.]

[The round's clearance mode is identity card clearance mode. The trainees will be split into two camps. For different camps, the main task and additional tasks are also different.]

[Completion of the main task is enough to pass the round. Completion of the additional tasks will result in additional rewards. Failure of the main task will result in direct elimination. Additional tasks are optional; success will double the rating coefficient during the post-match evaluation, while failure will have no impact.]

[The identity cards have already been issued and placed into every trainees' backpack. Please check.]

Two camps?

The trainees' expressions turned fearful. They all checked their identity cards in their heads.

Zong Jiu opened his identity card.

For today's surprise.

He got a mole card.

The main task of the mole was to find a perfect corpse. However, as for what this corpse actually was, the description had yet to come.

Zong Jiu: "…" Oho, worthy of being a mole.

The mole card didn't have any additional tasks. The system showed that on account of the mole card being special, by default, the mole only needed to complete the main task to automatically receive the additional rewards of completing a special task.

Oho, the system was so nice? Even if you beat Zong Jiu to death, he wouldn't believe it.

As expected, once he saw the next line, he knew what the special nature of the mole card referred to.

The system had clearly said that this instance was split into two camps. However, in reality

——

In this instance, there was only one mole who got a mole card, and that was Zong Jiu.

The lucky duck Zong Jiu: "…"

Acting as the mole in the midst of thirty-some people, danger!