Chapter 80

"Are you all out of your minds? Causing such a ruckus!"

Everyone's phones went off simultaneously. Yi Ying pulled hers out and saw that Guan Suixing had @-mentioned all four of them in a group message.

Looking at the prisoners' excited expressions and then at the messages on their phones, the group felt nothing but wronged—more innocent than Dou E herself. Whoever had done this had pulled a truly dirty trick.

"Let's not worry about that for now. First, let's find Rui Si," Lin Tu said. "Ask them to guard one exit for us. Once we find Rui Si, we'll go."

Yi Ying nodded in agreement. After learning Rui Si's location, the group sprinted up the stairs.

Meanwhile, in the first-floor lobby of the Blue Light Hotel—

Guan Suixing had to exert immense self-control to keep from cursing out loud.

Outside the door, rebel soldiers were already running toward the building. The rebels inside the lobby swiftly locked down the area. If Guan Suixing and the others hadn't looked thin and harmless—and had notified them in advance—they would have been arrested as terrorists by now.

"The lobby is too big, with too many entrances and exits. The three of us can't guard it all," Guan Suiyue said calmly. "Places like this usually have an escape route or staff passage in the back. Let's go there! Guan Suixing, send the location to Yi Ying."

The three slipped through the chaos to the back door. Fortunately, there were indeed fewer people there.

"I'm activating my Diplomat skill," Guan Suiyue announced. "My Diplomat skill has limitations—it must comply with fundamental rules. The explanation is complicated, so I'll skip the details. In short—" She addressed Liu Sheng primarily. "During this time, we must use cold weapons to defeat everyone who tries to enter here. As long as we stay within our territory, outsiders will see our guarding of this door as legitimate. Apart from challengers, others won't easily interfere."

Defeat... defeat them? Liu Sheng looked at his own hands—the ones used for mixing medicine, hanging IVs, and at most carrying patients...

"What... what do I do!" Liu Sheng looked at the two sisters for help, his gaze shifting to the long blade on Guan Suixing's back. "I really don't know how to fight..."

"No problem! Stick with me! I've got you." Guan Suixing waved a hand.

Reassuring words indeed.

Liu Sheng immediately moved to stand beside Guan Suixing.

"Diplomatic rule: survival of the fittest," Guan Suiyue said, pressing her palm against the door. "Within a two-meter radius from my palm is our base territory. Territory is sacred and inviolable. Anyone who wishes to set foot on our base territory must defeat us in the most traditional duel."

As she finished speaking, the rebel soldiers who had been hurrying down the corridor and beyond the street suddenly all turned to stare directly at them, making Liu Sheng's heart skip a beat.

"One thing I forgot to mention," Guan Suiyue added belatedly, "after I declare this our base territory, anyone who subconsciously considers this their territory will notice us."

"You can forget to say that?!" Liu Sheng wanted to shout, but could only manage a weak protest.

This was no different from raising a flag and yelling, "I announce something—I'm your daddy!"

"You should be grateful," Guan Suixing snorted. "My sister gave you a chance at cold-weapon combat. Otherwise, you think you could hold this door? Those rebels would pop your head with one shot, and you'd have no one to cry to."

"According to the principle of diplomatic fairness, the number of challengers entering our territory should match ours. However, since the gap in numbers is too large, under the survival-of-the-fittest rule, they can send more—up to three additional people every ten to twenty seconds."

Guan Suiyue, ignoring Liu Sheng's protest, watched as the three nearest rebels eagerly stepped forward.

They were towering figures—the largest was twice the height of the shortest, Guan Suixing, and twice the width of the skinniest, Liu Sheng.

"Ah! What do we do!" Liu Sheng wailed.

"I'll take the biggest one." Guan Suiyue calmly drew a longsword. She had trained in fencing since childhood and was quite skilled. "You all hold on; I'll come help you once I finish this one."

"Don't you worry about me!" Guan Suixing snorted, yanking out her long blade. She had already charged her [Blade Light] effect. Now, she aimed at one of the rebels and activated another effect, [Sharp Edge]—reducing the contact area of the blade to an extreme degree to produce high-intensity penetration; and the effect [A Thousand Shadows]—each slash had a chance to store the blade's trajectory, forming a phantom slash, which could be released all at once after activating [A Thousand Shadows].

"Blade Light! Sharp Edge! A Thousand Shadows!" Guan Suixing shouted, and with Liu Sheng's expectant gaze, she swung fiercely forward.

Then, Liu Sheng's expectant expression shifted from shock to disbelief, then to utter despair—"You can even miss a swing!" he exclaimed incredulously.

The rebel before them was essentially unscathed. If having a bit of clothing shredded by the blade counted as injury, then Liu Sheng felt his own mental wounds could qualify as third-degree trauma. The floor, though—it did get a crack. She certainly had strength.

"Stop yelling!" Guan Suixing shouted, swinging again.

This time, without those flashy skill effects, it became clear to Liu Sheng—even an amateur like him could see her stance was atrocious.

"I'd better handle this myself." Better to rely on himself than others. Besides, even if he couldn't win, he could stall until Guan Suiyue finished.

Liu Sheng pulled out a restraint strap—a very special offensive-type special item he'd acquired from the black market: [The Redemption of the Mentally Ill (This patient is sick? Save him!): As long as you find someone afflicted with an illness, you can bind him/her. The binding effect is determined by the severity of the patient's condition and the doctor's proficiency. If the patient has the intention to treat the illness, you, as a doctor, can no longer bind him/her.]

"Who says I can't do it!" Guan Suixing stubbornly flourished the blade a couple more times. A small dagger from the enemy thrust toward her, nearly grazing her arm.

"Let me help you." Liu Sheng observed the other person's appearance, guessed a few possible illnesses, and soon hit one. The strap shot out from his hand. Liu Sheng grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and ran toward the one Guan Suixing was dealing with—he couldn't fight, but as a nurse, his strength wasn't to be underestimated.

"Don't need you! Stay away!" Guan Suixing irritably sheathed her long blade and pulled out a pill from her clothes. She gently squeezed it, and it turned into a puff of green powder mist. The rebel inhaled it, and his gaze suddenly went hazy.

Guan Suixing extended her tongue. Her sharp, elongated nails traced from tip to base across her tongue, and her pale fingertips turned pitch black. She lunged and raked at the rebel, who, caught off guard, fell with a thud.

Liu Sheng stared in disbelief.

"Stop gawking, put away your item—here comes the next group!" Guan Suiyue had already finished off her opponent and the one Liu Sheng had bound. She danced forward, her sword tracing a light-like arc as her golden hair wove through the blade's shadow.

Liu Sheng snapped out of it, quickly stowed the strap, and engaged the next opponent.

The second group was tougher. They couldn't take down the rebels within ten seconds. More flooded in—group after group. There were simply too many. Fortunately, Guan Suixing's poison slowed them down, but as a minute passed... then two, the group was reaching their limits.

Guan Suixing faced off against five or six rebels alone. They'd gotten smarter, protecting their skin from her touch and wearing her down in a war of attrition. Her leather jacket was torn in several places, her palms were cut, and she'd taken several slashes near her neck.

"Guan Suixing, be careful—don't push yourself so hard!" Guan Suiyue said, though she wasn't faring much better. As the strongest fighter here, she faced seven or eight rebels at once, her longsword a blur of power. But for every one she killed, another took its place. As the saying goes, one fist can't beat four hands—even a quasi-S-rank player, she was sweating profusely, her body riddled with cuts and wounds.

"If I don't push, will you? You're the older sister—are you born owing me?!" Guan Suixing shouted between gasps. "Why haven't they come down yet? Did they save the guy and run off by themselves?! I told you, that Lin Tu looks like she has no conscience—she kills civilians indiscriminately! Guan Suiyue, you believed her over me!"

"Who's killing indiscriminately?" Liu Sheng, the least burdened, still had a face already bruised and swollen. He'd bound people with his strap, but a skinny camel is bigger than a horse—one headbutt sent him flying.

"Lin Tu! That damn heartless creature! She's killing people indiscriminately! She abandoned us and ran!" Guan Suixing shouted.

Lin Tu, who had just rushed down the stairs: "...?"

"Guarding this damn door for her is killing me. I'll count to three. If she doesn't come down, once I'm back in Doomsday Town, I'm putting a game-wide bounty on her head! I'll make her life a living hell in every disaster world—st·ep·by·st·ep!"

"I'm down now," Lin Tu said, pausing her steps. Given that Guan Suiyue was a church saint, she indeed had quite the air of authority. "No need to issue that." Lin Tu said sincerely—after all, her dream was just to make money and retire; she truly didn't get in anyone's way.

Guan Suixing was startled, her grip loosening. The rebel in front of her immediately thrust his dagger straight at her.

"Blade Light!" Lin Tu reacted swiftly. She drew her long blade and gave a light one-handed slash forward.

That arc of blade light seemed to have eyes of its own, shooting straight toward the dagger. It knocked the dagger away just before it reached Guan Suixing's neck. Her outrageously ornate cross necklace was also severed by the blade light, flying into the air.

"Now that's how you use a blade..." Liu Sheng muttered under his breath.

"I'll say it again—I didn't kill anyone indiscriminately. That person is still alive." Lin Tu hopped down the stairs in two or three steps and joined the fray.

"Oh..." Guan Suixing watched as Lin Tu swiftly cleared the rebels around her, casually yanking off their name tags like a seasoned pro, making her look like a total amateur.

Guan Suiyue, now backed up, breathed a sigh of relief. "Where's Rui Si?"

"There was a slight hiccup—I'll explain later!" Lin Tu said. "The prisoners... maybe, possibly, were spurred by me to start a riot. A large number of rebels are gathering now. We need to leave quickly."

Guan Suiyue / Guan Suixing: What do you mean, maybe, possibly? What exactly did you do?

But this was no time for questions. Together, they fought their way out.