Chapter 151

Kang Lina. Lin Tu was certain she had never heard that name before.

But she couldn't dismiss her words, especially after such an odd move—Kang Lina had a grudge against No. 62, so she should have killed him first, no matter what. Yet she chose No. 12. Either she still had a card up her sleeve, or she was staking her entire life on Lin Tu.

"Why should we know each other?" Lin Tu asked.

Kang Lina smiled, not keeping her in suspense. "Have you been to the [Plague Kingdom]?"

What did that have to do with anything? How did she know? A thousand questions bubbled up in Lin Tu's mind, but this time Kang Lina held back. "So that's a yes. Don't worry, I wasn't prying into your privacy—I just happened to pick something up from that disaster world."

Seeing that Lin Tu didn't believe her at all, Kang Lina wasn't surprised. She left her contact number. "We might have a chance to work together later. You won't turn me down—trust me, our goals are the same."

"I won't report you, and you'd better not mention me if there's a trial later. Otherwise... well, I can't guarantee the consequences." She waved her hand and left the restroom first.

Guan Suiyue gave Lin Tu a strange look. "Black Factory people are hunting you, aren't they? How come every Black Factory member you run into pretends they don't know you?"

Lin Tu only realized it then. "Kang Lina is Black Factory?"

"She's Black Factory royalty. You really don't know her. No. 62 was Black Factory too—bold of him to try to kill her." Guan Suiyue leaned against the sink and shook her hands dry. Her five-minute limit was up, and her gun vanished. "[Avenger] reached level two; the duration extends to ten minutes."

Lin Tu shook her head. "Don't know her. I'll deal with her later. Right now, we have two bodies."

In this disaster, corpses couldn't be moved or destroyed—except by special profession holders. Even if Kang Lina didn't report them, someone would eventually discover the two bodies and call it in. By then, Lin Tu would be trapped in a passive position. Especially since those villains knew full well that she, No. 62, and No. 12 had left together. With No. 12 and No. 62 both dead, they'd lock onto Lin Tu immediately—maybe even try to bite her.

"What's your plan?"

Lin Tu pondered for a moment. "To stay in control, we report it ourselves!"

An hour later, the bell rang, and ninety-four people returned to the round table.

Lin Tu noticed the number was even lower than she'd expected. No. 42 was already sitting back in her seat, alive and well, which meant four people had died quietly without anyone reporting it. Among the vanished was No. 28, who had advocated for peace at the start. It seemed peace wasn't so easy to achieve after all.

A spotlight shot down, and a body appeared in the center of the round table.

The NPC judge set up the countdown, then faded into the darkness. "Now, let the reporter who discovered the body speak—"

The spotlight traced down, and Lin Tu stood, going straight to the point. "I have a report to make!"

Her gaze swept over the villains she'd met earlier—the "teammates" who all stared back at her warily. She smiled. They were all afraid of being reported, weren't they? But that wasn't her plan. She even intended to protect them. "No. 36 is a villain!"

"Bullshit!" No. 36 immediately panicked. "You found the body, so just talk about the body! Why are you dragging me into this?!"

Lin Tu looked innocent. "Because you killed him!"

No. 36 was stunned. "Who are you talking about? Who killed who?"

"Silence!" The NPC stepped in to maintain order.

Only then could Lin Tu speak at a measured pace. "Didn't you stay in the room with No. 97 and No. 86 the whole time after court adjourned?"

No. 36 nodded cautiously. "I didn't want to stir up trouble, and I suspected the other two had issues. Obviously I had to face them off—whoever caved first was the villain."

Lin Tu wagged her finger. "The thinking is right, but you forgot one thing."

"I ask you—did you go to the restroom in the middle of that standoff?"

No. 36 already felt uneasy, but he nodded anyway.

Lin Tu explained. "There's a profession in the villain camp called [Invisible Man]. It lets you turn invisible with a knife for one minute a day, and you can pass through walls. He thought he had all the evidence—witnesses, proof, everything—but he didn't expect my companion, the [Doctor], to keep watching after reviving No. 42. That's when she spotted him using the [Invisible Man] skill during his restroom trip."

Lin Tu's gaze swept the crowd, finding nothing unusual. So, with a note of regret, she pointed at No. 42—the woman who'd been killed in the last court session was nodding at everyone. "I can vouch for her."

The table erupted. After all, No. 42 had been sniped once, so her [Watcher] identity was ironclad.

"You... you're lying! Making things up! I never turned invisible! The Watcher was swapped!"

"Then let me ask you!" Lin Tu's voice sharpened. "Earlier, in your testimony, both No. 97 and No. 86 said they weren't your roommate. So tell us—who is your roommate?!"

He froze, his finger darting to No. 86.

Luo Yongzhi nodded to the Captain, who stood up. "I witnessed a Spirit Medium use a séance to summon the dead, and they confirmed No. 86 is the deceased's roommate."

Lin Tu cast a cold look at No. 36.

Asking directly whether No. 86 had killed the deceased would invite a logical trap—say No. 86 was a villain, but the killer could have been his roommate, No. 36. But by going around it, since No. 97 and No. 86 both independently said No. 36 was their roommate, once you confirmed who No. 36's roommate was, you'd know who was telling the truth.

Realizing he could no longer lie—and that defending No. 97 would only put himself in greater danger—No. 36 blurted out, "No. 97! No. 97 is my roommate! He's the killer! I didn't say anything because I was threatened!"

"Bullshit! You killed him!"

The two were about to go at each other when Lin Tu raised her voice and delivered her verdict. "I request [Holy Gun] to execute No. 36! If the execution succeeds, it means No. 36 wasn't threatened, which means No. 97 is definitely a villain too. We'll convene court again and vote No. 97 out!"

The Holy Gun and the Assassin were the only two professions who could kill during court sessions. [Holy Gun (Green): Once every three days, you may execute one person during court session, and that person must be a villain. A successful execution reduces the cooldown by one day; a failed execution doubles it. This profession cannot be upgraded.]

Lin Tu sat back down after speaking. Her reasoning was clear and her logic sound, and it didn't take long for everyone to agree.

The only problem was that the Holy Gun, unlike the Assassin, had to stand up openly to deliver the execution. That meant the Assassin might snipe them tomorrow.

"I'll protect the Holy Gun!" A girl raised her hand and stood. "My profession is [Guard]."

With a Guard in place, the Assassin couldn't just put a bullet in the Holy Gun that easily.

The girl showed her [Guard] profession card outright, and then another woman stood, revealing her [Holy Gun] card. The two were quickly bound together.

Then, under the spotlight and the crowd's gaze, the Holy Gun raised her right hand, and a golden lance materialized in it. No. 36's face twisted in terror. He tried to flee, but a beam of golden light pinned him in place.

A sharp crack, and No. 36 slumped over the table.

The Holy Gun exhaled in relief and announced, "No. 36 is a villain."

With one ironclad villain down, the crowd beamed, practically ready to celebrate on the spot. But Lin Tu kept her expression composed. She'd already planned this the moment she learned of Luo Yongzhi's séance result.

Using a real villain as a shield—truth mixed with lies. Who could possibly tell who killed No. 62 now? As for whether No. 36 really was an [Invisible Man]... Lin Tu glanced at the shocked No. 42. She hadn't even used her skill to check No. 36—she'd simply coordinated with Guan Suixing on their story. Of course No. 42 was shocked.

Next came No. 97. After the crowd voted him dead, only ninety-two people remained in the room.

"Everyone, keep an eye out for where the remaining four died! If you have information you can't share in court, tell me!" The Captain stood up again.

The NPC appeared promptly. "Due to two court sessions this morning, the scheduled noon session is postponed to dinner. Please attend on time. No further reports or court convening will be possible today."

A flash of white light, and Lin Tu was back in the restroom.

She waited for messages on her communicator, and soon enough, several villains sent question marks. "? What do you mean?"

The only reason they were still messaging her instead of coming to kill her was because she hadn't reported them earlier. Lin Tu just made a group chat—she wasn't about to explain herself one by one.

"Are you the [Idiot]?" Someone asked, then immediately rebutted themselves. "No, the Idiot would just blend in. Besides, the Idiot is a good guy—there's no reason not to report us."

So the only remaining way for her to have a red name was through their own [Missionary].

Lin Tu nearly applauded. What a perfect explanation—it saved her a ton of trouble.

"How could I not be red?" Lin Tu said. "You idiots. No. 36 was already plotting against us, and you didn't even know it! That No. 12 was his accomplice! If I hadn't been fast enough getting the [Shapeshifter] to swap out No. 42, it wouldn't just be me—No. 36, with No. 62's [Serial Killer] card, would have slaughtered all of you too!"

The words sent a chill through them, but some still doubted Lin Tu's story.

Even Lin Tu was tense saying it. She knew there was no [Shapeshifter] among these people, but she couldn't be sure they didn't know what a [Shapeshifter] was. When no one raised an objection, she relaxed. So the [Shapeshifter] hadn't chosen to walk with the others—they'd already blended into the good guys' ranks.

Finally, Lin Tu played her last card. "My [Missionary] and my friend the [Shapeshifter] both need to blend into the good side. We're afraid our kill records will be exposed, so we don't dare hold the [Serial Killer] card. We'll swap profession cards with you—you can trade items for them."

From every angle, the [Serial Killer] profession was a good card. Everyone immediately put aside their doubts and clamored, "I want it!"

Only one person didn't speak up—she remembered he held a blade-type profession card. So she poked him. "There's also a [Cannibal] card. Interested, big bro? Kill someone and the bodies disappear. I've got no use for it. Just trade me anything."

The other side hesitated for a moment, then agreed.

After arranging to meet in an isolated spot on the snowy plains after lunch, Lin Tu turned off her communicator.

Then, expressionless, she used the [Serial Killer] and [Cannibal] cards she'd just promised to trade away, and activated the skill on No. 62's head. A lunchbox appeared in her hand.

"Done one task, and [Cannibal] upgraded to its normal effect. Now I can eat half and get two portions of food."

Guan Suiyue, who'd witnessed everything from the side, clicked her tongue. She both regretted and was grateful for her decision to hand her little sister over to Lin Tu.

"Supplies are crucial in this disaster." Lin Tu glanced at her and passed her the lunchbox.

[Lunchbox: Contains 200g rice, 89g protein, 200g vegetables (including shredded potatoes), 50g fruit, 10g fat.]

[Note: Each meal must include all of the above nutrients. Insufficient rice will cause unconsciousness; insufficient protein will prevent skill use; insufficient vegetables will cause hallucinations; insufficient fruit will trigger the status 'Unstoppable Bleeding'; insufficient fat will trigger the status 'Exhaustion'. (One deficient meal: 50% chance of negative status; two: 80%; three: 100%. Negative statuses will intensify progressively.)]

Guan Suiyue turned serious. "Looks like the Chef is a profession that must be protected. But Yi Ying used today's thirty meals for the séance. We'll have to find food elsewhere."

"Not necessarily." Lin Tu shook her head. "Let's regroup with the others first."

They quickly gathered at the first-floor dining hall. At the table, Guan Suiyue once again stressed the importance of food, and then Lin Tu pulled a meal out of her backpack—

A rice bowl topped with braised pork trotters and cold chicken slices, with more than enough rice, protein, and even extra vegetables. The fat content needed no mention—it clearly exceeded the standard. Then Lin Tu grabbed a box of cherry tomatoes to serve as fruit.

Set side by side, the rice bowl was clearly more plentiful than the opened lunchbox, which was obviously pre-made with the standard 10g of fat. And the rice bowl smelled better, too.

"I'm thinking—can we just use our own food?" Lin Tu asked.

Food mattered far more than expected. Besides keeping people fed and free of negative statuses, it also powered special professions like Spirit Mediums. Every bit saved counted, and if they could find a way to increase supply beyond cutting consumption, even better.

Guan Suiyue: "Where would we get that much food?"

Then she watched as Yi Ying, Luo Yongzhi, Liu Sheng—and even her own sister, Guan Suixing—each pulled various foods from their backpacks. Self-heating rice, giant bags of chips, beef jerky, dried mango...

"Chips are potatoes, so they can count as vegetables, right..." Guan Suixing held up the bag of chips with a slight doubt, then grew confident. "No problem at all."

Guan Suiyue stared at the pile of food in front of the group, at a loss for words. She looked at Guan Suixing, whose stash—even of snacks—was the biggest of all, and nearly broke down.

She turned to Lin Tu, the obvious ringleader, and wanted to ask what exactly she'd taught her sister, how an entire team had stuffed their backpacks with nothing but food!?

Guan Suixing: "What are you glaring at Sister Lin for? It's her stuff. If you don't have any, don't even think about eating it."

Guan Suiyue: "!!!" Who's your sister!?

Seeing Guan Suiyue on the verge of snapping, Lin Tu quietly slid her lunchbox toward her.

Standing nearby, No. 42 finally noticed that except for her, everyone else now had a generous portion of food. No. 42: "..." So this is how it ends? Why would they stockpile this much food in a disaster?!

Luo Yongzhi offered, "I'll take you to get some. The Chef made extra and gave it to the Captain—we can ask him."

No. 42 nodded gratefully.

Lin Tu: "You all should go too. Let me run the experiment. If it works, we'll use this method."

Guan Suiyue had calmed down as well. "Right, Guan Suixing. Eat what the disaster gives you first. Save ours for emergencies. You can't possibly have enough to last three months."

The moment she said it, she saw Guan Suixing counting on her fingers, looking confused and then doubtful. Guan Suiyue knew something was wrong... Don't tell me...

"Actually, it might last three months." Guan Suixing smacked her lips. "I kept thinking it wasn't enough, but now that I've counted it up, seems like quite a lot."

Her Guan Suixing had gone from a scrappy girl who saved up to buy knives to a foodie.

Guan Suiyue's gaze slid back to Lin Tu, the naked stare saying: What the hell did you do to my sister? She's not herself anymore!

"It was really an accident," Lin Tu said, feeling she needed to speak up before this sister-obsessed [Avenger] turned her revenge on her. "Our last disaster, the [Endless Highway], gave us a bunch of edible stuff, all as vouchers. And the disaster before that, [Limitless Corp], would make you hallucinate if you didn't eat snacks. So we just stockpiled without realizing it, right?" She shot Guan Suixing a look.

"What does that matter? Sister Lin's telling the truth," Guan Suixing said carelessly. "Guan Suiyue, you should learn from Sister Lin. She can pull out a rice bowl at a moment's notice, wrangle a chicken or duck, and look at you—can't even afford a meal..."

Lin Tu didn't dare listen to the rest. She didn't dare cover Guan Suixing's mouth in front of the sister-obsessed one, let alone lift her head to look at the sister-obsessed's face. She just buried her head and picked at her braised pork rice.

Yep. This rice is real rice.

An hour after eating, Lin Tu felt no back pain, no fainting, no hallucinations. That was good news—it seemed eating her own food was a viable option, as long as she ate enough of each nutrient.

Meanwhile, Goldilocks hovered around nearby. Guan Suixing and the others were helping with the ship repair tasks. No. 42, lacking any teammates and having been saved and helped identify a villain, now trusted Lin Tu's group thoroughly and went along to do tasks too.

Lin Tu: "Stop milling around. You're making me dizzy."

Guan Suiyue halted and looked at her. "She calls me by my full name, and she calls you sister?"

Lin Tu was thoroughly done. She checked the time—it was almost the appointed meeting with the "villains." So she scrambled for an answer: "She and I aren't close. She only calls me sister because she wants my help. It's all thanks to you, really—you taught her well. She's very polite."

Guan Suiyue eyed her suspiciously. "Fine."

She followed Lin Tu at a distance, and they arrived at the meeting spot.

It was a forest on the snowy plains, bitterly cold. The moment she came down, Lin Tu saw a message on her communicator from the NPC.

[Dear passenger: The temperature outside the ship is currently approximately -60°C/???%. Prolonged stays outside may lead to hypothermia! Note: Staying in cold air will grant you the negative status 'Slowed Movement.' Staying in cold air for 30 minutes will grant you 'Partial Freezing,' and every subsequent 10 minutes will freeze another part of your body. Please return to the ship promptly!]

Lin Tu frowned. Was the penalty for disembarking that severe?

From what she knew, the ship was kept warm by burning wood. If the wood ran out and the temperature dropped, would staying on the ship also come with similar penalties for lingering in cold air...

The thought flashed through her mind, then Lin Tu saw several people with numbers floating overhead waiting for her in the distance.

"Why are you so slow?" The NPC's message had put everyone on edge, unwilling to stay outside long.

"Sorry!" Lin Tu jogged over. "It took me a while to come up with an excuse to slip away from the green names."

She scanned the group. Good—everyone was here.

With no time for small talk, Lin Tu turned to the only one holding a blade card. "Big bro, let's go over there to trade in private first?"

The others were getting impatient, but since selling meant laying out their items for Lin Tu to choose, they held back.

Lin Tu and the blade wielder slipped behind some fallen timber. Lin Tu looked up at him with pleading eyes. "I'm sincere here, big bro. You've already finished today's task, right? You don't really need to kill me. Just give me an E-rank or F-rank item."

The player had actually been considering killing her—he was worried she had a trick up her sleeve. But seeing she was harmless and just begging for a low-tier item, he dropped the idea. Whatever she was, she couldn't kill him silently, anyway.

The player searched through his items, completely unaware that a black wall was slowly spreading behind him.

The sky turned pitch black in an instant, and the player's voice was swallowed by the darkness.

About a minute later, Lin Tu walked out from behind the timber, calm and composed. "All done."

"Where is he?" asked the villain who had been teamed with the blade wielder.

"He said he was worried about the negative statuses and went back first." Lin Tu lied through her teeth.

"Seriously!" The man stamped his foot. "How could he! Leaving us here like this!"

"It's fine. We'll be quick too." Lin Tu smiled, though the smile was a little off.

She pretended to pull item cards from her backpack, then tossed a few corn cobs to the ground. At the same moment, Guan Suiyue—who had witnessed another murder and earned her ten-minute kill window—charged out.