Chapter 496: The Island of Devil’s Maw (2)

“No wonder it is the nightmare difficulty, that just from the sound of it is difficult…” Uncle Worthless commented.

Feng Bujue added, “In other words… other than to complete the quest, we need to find time to search for food and water source to maintain the status of our body.”

“Hmm…” Ambitionist said contemplatively. “Looks like this is going to be a long scenario, at least more than 20 hours.”

“The scenario being too short would not emphasize how annoying this additional setting would be, is it…” Atobe grumbled.

“Hah!” Suddenly Feng Bujue pushed two fists forward at the air next to him.

“What are you doing?” Ambitionist asked.

“Just doing a round of warm up.” Feng Bujue answered casually.

“If you say so…” Ambitionist said, his expression saying, [I’m not going to get a clearer answer from a madman anyway.]

“Gentlemen, the quest has already been announced, let me make our move!” Pegasus chose that moment to speak. Ambitionist turned to him and sighed deeply, “Aiz… in a way, those who dare to make their moves without any thought… sure is blissful.”

“Eh! I suddenly have a wonderful idea!” Pegasus suddenly added.

…

“What?” Ambitionist gasped. “An idea will occur to you?”

“I will jump into the sky to observe the geography of this island.” Pegasus explained. “Perhaps I might spot that Shrine of Faith from the air directly.”

“Wait a minute…” Feng Bujue narrowed his eyes at Pegasus with his pair of dead fish eyes. “You have floating or flying ability?”

“No.” Pegasus answered without thinking, “But I can jump very high.”

“Then do you have a skill that will lessen fall damage?” Brother Jue asked.

“Erm… not that either.” Pegasus said, “But don’t you worry, I will never die.”

“It is just a waste of your talent to be a professional player…” Feng Bujue commented with additional sarcasm and he added, “You should go and hold political shows, the show should be called, True Men Don’t Read Manual. Before this show, Mythbusters would turn out to be a natural science experiment by high schoolers and 1000 ways to die would be a collection of autopsy reports.”

“That’s enough contribution from you.” Ambitionist interrupted. “I know you have great aerial ability, if you want to do this, go ahead, no one is going to stop you.”

“I will be back in a minute.” Feng Bujue replied as he took several steps back. He kicked underneath him and then shot up into the air like an arrow. When Brother Jue leaped into the air, Pegasus only realized the meaning behind the words that Feng Bujue had said. An epiphany dawned for the man. “Hmm? Was Brother Feng hinting at me to not act too brashly?”

“Puf… Ha ha ha…” Uncle Worthless puffed out a smoke ring and laughed, “he just wanted to remind you that it is not wise to waste Life Points when it was completely unnecessary.” That was all the conversation they could have before a sudden ‘Ah—‘ dropped out from the sky. The next second, Brother Jue fell down from the sky…

At that moment, his four teammates thought that Brother Jue was attacked in mid air. They all looked up in alert, attempting to find the location of the monster among the purple mist.

[What kind of monster is that… that it is able to knock Feng Bujue down in such a short amount of time?] Uncle Worthless thought to himself but on the surface his expression did not change and he reacted the quickest. He was the first to dart forward to attempt to catch the falling Brother Jue. But Uncle Worthless soon realized Feng Bujue did not lose control of his body and he definitely did not need someone to go and fetch him.

As he expected, Brother Jue landed on both of his feet 2 seconds later and stood to steady himself.

“Ah… Hah…” At that moment, Feng Bujue’s face was dark, and his feature was locked in a harsh grimace. His mouth was hanging open and a strange hoa.r.s.e sound came from inside his throat like a fish bone was stuck in there.

“Kak— Hah…” Feng Bujue waved both of his hands rapidly in the air. He kept gesturing and using his finger to point at his mouth and looked at his teammates with desperate eyes.

“He is poisoned!” Atobe came to the rescue this time. He was the first to capture Brother Jue’s meaning and shouted it out. Hearing that, Uncle Worthless who was closest to Brother Jue took out an antidote capsule from his inventory and shoved it into Brother Jue’s mouth. After swallowing that capsule, Feng Bujue instantly stopped moving. He stood where he was for a few seconds, probably checking his status from the game menu…

Soon the air of darkness dissipated around his face and he recovered his ability to speak and breathe.

“Hah… hah…” After Brother Jue escaped from death, he collapsed on the sand and started to gasp for air. “Phew… that was too close.”

“Hey… what happened up there? What did you encounter?” Ambitionist asked.

“Hah… There, there was nothing up there.” Feng Bujue replied with gasping breaths. “I jumped to a very high point… took in a quick breath and before I knew it, I was f*cking poisoned.” He dry heaved twice before continuing, “When I was in the air, I could see nothing but the purple mist. But I did notice the closer we get to the centre of the island, the thicker the mist would be.”

“So the mist is poisonous…” Uncle Worthless commented as he involuntarily raised his head. “Then is it okay for us to stand here…”

“Don’t worry.” Feng Bujue waved his hand to interrupt him. “I believe… this fog will only be poisonous at a certain height. We will be fine if we stay on the ground.” He paused to glance at his status bar. “Phew… but the effect of this poison… sure is instantaneous. In that brief 10 seconds, I have already lost 41 percent of my Life Point…”

“I get it know.” By then, Ambitionist already came to a quick conclusion. “The system knows that among us, there is a person who has the capability of moving through the air for a long time for it used this method to knock us down a peg, to limit our movement.”

“yes, that should be case…” Feng Bujue concurred. “other than that, it is still unclear how the poison mist gets into one’s body… Perhaps the poison can infiltrate not only through breathing but through permeation of our skin as well. If that is the case… as long as the player is suspended in the sky, they will be poisoned whether they hold their breath or not.”

“Actually, there is no need to even clarify that, is there…” Ambitionist groaned. “Even if you fly up there in full hazmat suit, you won’t be able to see anything in the mist.”

“Ah…” The two sighed in unison. “They sure defend this place well…”

Pegasus who stood to the side scratched his head and said, “The two of you are overthinking this too much, isn’t that tiring? Do you count how many bite you have taken during every meal? No matter how long you have chewed your food, eventually you have to swallow it right? Listen to me, where there’s a will, there’s a way. If we can’t go through by air, then we’ll walk into the island.”

“hah… you have a point there.” Feng Bujue chuckled as he stood up. He patted away the sand that stuck to his clothes. “I also feel like it is time for us to change our strategy.”

“Hey, don’t tell me you have given up planning as well?” Ambitionist sighed. “Isn’t that a bit much?!”

“No, I didn’t say that… but, I think we should not rely on planning and thinking 100 percent.” Feng Bujue replied. “Pegasus has a point… based on my experience of being toyed in team nightmare survival mode… attempt to predict and verify all the plot and event are impossible because this mode is too difficult. In solo survival nightmare mode, death means the end because only one person is playing. But in team survival nightmare mode… after the death of one or two players or only 1 player is left in the group… it is not counted as a failure because theoretically speaking, as long as one person is alive, there is a chance for them to clear the scenario. Therefore, in this mode… There is a chance for insta death trap that would appear without hint or warning; the more the player tries to predict them… the higher the chance of death would be. Many times we would have to make a choice without any hint being given. To put it simply… to clear Team survival nightmare mode, it requires 70 percent rationality and 30 percent… instinct.”

“You might as well surmise that to call all you need is luck…” Ambitionist mocked.

“Well, luck is part of one’s strength.” Feng Bujue shrugged. “This is similar to gambling, yes, calculation of probability is helpful but it won’t guarantee a win.” He opened his arms. “Of course, I have to admit, I have a very rotten luck… very rotten luck.” He then turned to Pegasus. “But I believe there is someone among us who is the exact opposite of that.”

“Indeed… the fact that he can survive until his age is already a miracle of life in itself…” Ambitionist agreed.

“What are you two talking about now?” Pegasus asked in a confusion haze. All Brother Jue had said earlier sounded nothing more than static for our Pegasus.

“Erm… nothing, just lead the way.” Feng Bujue repeated. “as you said, where there’s a will, there’s a way, right…”