Chapter 34: Fire!

“What does ‘Puppet’ mean?” To confirm her suspicions, An Ling immediately asked again.

The girl who was about to act froze for a moment, then actually stood up once more to answer her question.

“A ‘Puppet’ is a survivor who was killed by the ‘Master’.”

Only then did Qin Xiao realize—this was the other party’s weakness or drawback. She would answer any question asked by a survivor.

“And what is the ‘Master’?” Sure enough, An Ling’s questions followed one after another, and even Qin Xiao had to admire her adaptability.

But clearly, the puppet behind them was not bound by this restriction. Qin Xiao glanced back, then turned to An Ling and said, “I’ll deal with that puppet. You try to hold this one off.”

Qin Xiao left immediately. An Ling didn’t respond, only stared intently at the observer girl before her.

“The ‘Master’ is the boss of this island, and we’re all his underlings.” The girl seemed somewhat impatient, but she couldn’t go against the rules.

“Is the ‘Master’ hiding among the survivors? Is it a hidden quest?” An Ling seized the opportunity to ask everything she was curious about.

“I don’t know.” The girl’s lips curled up slightly, and suddenly she lunged at An Ling, intent on killing this annoying person first.

An Ling was taken aback. She understood—if you asked about something the other party knew, it would answer; if you asked about something it didn’t know, the restriction was lifted.

Watching the girl hurtling toward her, there wasn’t a trace of panic on An Ling’s face. She even felt she had overestimated them.

After all, she didn’t even need to use her Enhancement Card—just her Hundred Shots, Hundred Hits was enough to take the other down.

Bang!

A blinding white light flashed in the hall. Immediately after, everyone heard a thunderous bang, followed by the pungent smell of gunpowder.

Everyone was stunned, staring fearfully in An Ling’s direction.

Even the observer girl was dumbfounded. Her mind went blank, and her body collapsed to the ground uncontrollably. She was clearly alive, but she’d lost all control over her body.

She knew her head had been hit—she was about to die completely. She wanted to make a sound, to regret, to cry, but she could do nothing…

Qin Xiao, shocked, turned around. He recognized that sound perfectly well—it was the sound of a gun firing.

The pitch-black muzzle was pointed straight at him, with An Ling behind it, her face emotionless and cold.

Bang!

The next moment, the muzzle belched flame—she fired!

The bullet struck the ‘Puppet’ in the head with unerring accuracy. Red and white matter spattered instantly. Unlike the observer, though both were monsters revived from death, the former still had flesh and blood.

Qin Xiao froze in place, turning to find that the enemy had already been taken care of.

Sss—

With the danger gone, the lights in the hall flickered back on. Everyone stared anxiously at the chaotic mess before them.

An Ling slowly put her gun back in her pocket. There was no joy on her face, because the two enemies she’d just killed were not the hidden quest.

Clearly, this had something to do with the island’s ‘Master’.

Qin Xiao was astonished at An Ling’s hidden trump card, and even more amazed by her marksmanship and archery—this wasn’t something just anyone could do.

Chen Rui’s surprise and delight were written all over his face. This was great! Now no one would dare come looking for trouble.

An Ling ignored everyone’s strange looks and walked straight to the girl’s corpse, lifting her clothes.

Everyone stared blankly. Qin Xiao, realizing this, quickly examined the puppet corpse beside him.

“As expected, no scar,” An Ling said, frowning as she looked at the girl’s smooth, delicate stomach. These were two completely different kinds of monsters.

Qin Xiao, carrying his bloodied Tang sword, walked over to An Ling. “His wound healed, but the pancreas is still missing.”

“Neither of them is the hidden quest. We need to find this island’s ‘Master’.” An Ling didn’t hesitate to share information with Qin Xiao—after all, he was a powerful ally who might prove crucial later.

“Seems like ‘Puppets’ have low intelligence—or, judging by the name, maybe someone is controlling them?” Qin Xiao had fought with puppets before; there was no difference from fighting a wild beast.

“Maybe the monster that killed him is actually the manor’s Master…” Chen Rui added, having seen the girl kill someone—she’d run her arm right through a survivor.

“It’s the island’s Master, not just the manor’s.” An Ling corrected, recalling that the sika deer she met in the forest was probably killed by this Master.

But honestly, this Master didn’t seem very smart, did he?

Observer, survivor, and now a puppet resurrected by the Master after death—they were almost indistinguishable from ordinary people. The crisis was escalating. Was it really just because more days had passed?

If that was the case, then in the coming days, the Master was sure to appear.

The three quietly discussed a few things, but made no real progress and had no choice but to give up for now.

An Ling and Qin Xiao reached a silent understanding. If they couldn’t solve this hidden quest, then at least by cooperating, their chances of surviving to the end would be greatly improved.

“The manor’s blackout does seem related to the arrival of danger. Now that the power’s back, we should return to our rooms.”

The three exchanged glances, then headed upstairs without paying attention to the other survivors in the hall.

Seeing the two strongest leave, the other survivors hurried toward the stairs, afraid of encountering danger again, eager to return to their own rooms.

As all the survivors left, the empty hall gradually became dim again. The two monsters’ corpses seemed to melt, finally turning into pools of blood and vanishing completely.

Back in her room, An Ling glanced at her pendant. The time was around eleven thirty—still a long way from dawn.

Although the manor had just had a power outage, she still dared not let her guard down. As it turned out, her instincts had been right.

“Looks like tomorrow I’ll have to find a way to retrieve those arrows. Even though my having a gun is exposed now, bullets aren’t unlimited—I have to save them when I can.”

An Ling went to the bathroom to wash her face, sobering up and scrubbing away the scent of blood.

She took off her shoes and lay down on the bed, preparing to get some real rest. Of course, she wouldn’t actually sleep—just relax her tense nerves a little.

“Let’s hope nothing else happens tonight…”