Where's the cute girl we were promised? She's completely wiped out S-rank dungeons!

Xu Tai'an was stunned. She had been in the game for so long and had tried to communicate with other teams before.

Joining a powerful guild means you're easily manipulated and your actions are restricted. Smaller guilds are too weak. Her members all depend on her; she has to carry them through every game. She's progressing too fast; she doesn't have time to wait for them to improve.

Xu Tai'an lowered his eyes: "I...I'll think about it."

To everyone's surprise, Song Yuan seemed to have guessed what she was thinking and calmly stated:

"No one here will hold you back. We have an equal and harmonious relationship of mutual assistance. Before long, we will reach the same level as you and become each other's strongest support."

Our guild needs players like you. We hope you'll seriously consider it.

After Song Yuan finished speaking, she felt something was missing. Perhaps she wasn't suited for the job of "persuasion"; Qiao Ran might have been better suited. This person's words were more than enough for fraud. Speaking of which, Qiao Ran still hasn't woken up after all this time...?

She looked at Qiao Ran lying on the bed and realized that Qiao Ran had gotten up sometime earlier. She didn't make a sound, just stood there stiffly, her eyes red and blank.

This was the first time Song Yuan had ever seen Qiao Ran cry in a dungeon. A question mark slowly appeared above her head as she turned to Xu Tai'an and asked:

"Do you have any items that can treat mental attacks? He doesn't seem to be fully recovered yet."

Xu Tai'an: "Really? He seems pretty normal to me... um, pretty normal, right?"

Qiao Ran covered her face with both hands, turned to the side, waved one hand at the two of them, and said in a muffled voice:

"I'm sorry, I'm confessing... I was going to gather my emotions before speaking..."

Song Yuan revealed a knowing expression: Not bad, it still feels familiar. It seems she has completely recovered. And it even seems she has recalled the memories of being controlled?

Qiao Ran, having prepared herself, turned around and looked at Song Yuan earnestly, saying:

"sorry."

When it really came to this, the 30,000-word apology he had prepared was useless. Lying was sorry, using the familiar voice and tone of his teammates was sorry, stabbing her in the back and causing her life to be in danger was even more sorry, even if it was all against his will.

Song Yuan nodded magnanimously—indicating that the matter was over, and returned Qiao Ran's communicator and scales to him.

"There's nothing to apologize for. Just be more careful next time."

Qiao Ran rubbed her eyes and took the package, her nose tingling with emotion: "But you forgave me so easily, which makes me feel even more guilty..."

Song Yuan was speechless: "So what else do you want? Do you want me to give you some psychological counseling?"

Qiao Ran clutched her chest and shook her head, solemnly promising, "Once I clear the game, I'll transfer all my points to you."

Song Yuan coldly refused: "No need, you can keep it for yourself. Besides, I plan to put the guild points with you so you can manage the accounts later."

Qiao Ran said, feeling wronged, "But then I wouldn't know how to make it up to you!"

Xu Tai'an listened to their conversation, a smile involuntarily creeping onto her lips. At times like these, she would think, "Having a team like that wouldn't be bad." However, Song Yuan didn't chat with Qiao Ran for long before getting down to business:

"Time is running out. It's 10 p.m. now, and since the incident, most of the school's security guards and patrolling teachers have probably been transformed into monsters."

She looked at Qiao Ran: "Although this conclusion was likely drawn by you while you were being controlled, and was probably just to gain our trust, I think we can still test it. You said before that the key to the power distribution room was on the monster?"

"Yes, I'm sure I didn't see it wrong."

Qiao Ran nodded, raised his hand and scratched his chin as if thinking, then said, "Besides, I think I know how to kill them."

What a coincidence! It's like someone handed you a pillow just as you were about to doze off. Song Yuan gestured for Qiao Ran to speak quickly. Qiao Ran walked to the bookshelf in the lounge, pulled out a brick-red hardcover book, and waved it in front of them:

"In the office, a second before I lost consciousness, I suddenly discovered something that seemed like a clue but wasn't quite. Just as I was about to call you, I was controlled."

The strange thing is that almost every teacher's office had a copy of this book. Even in the pharmacy, there was this children's book in the medical books section of the trolley.

This book is written in English and tells a very simple story. It tells of a kingdom long ago that was plagued by evil spirits. In the end, a warrior led his people to successfully eliminate all the evil spirits and regain a happy and peaceful life.

But their method of exorcising evil spirits is quite interesting. In the story, these evil spirits are like ghosts, floating in the air, and nothing can harm them because any weapon will pass right through their bodies. Does that sound familiar?

It does feel very familiar. Because the description of the "evil spirit" in this fairy tale is exactly the same as the monster in their instance.

Xu Tai'an asked curiously, "Then how can we harm those evil spirits?"

Qiao Ran turned to a specific page in the book and handed it to Song Yuan:

"The method is actually very simple, but it comes at a price. It involves pouring human blood onto cold weapons like swords and knives. As long as you use weapons stained with blood, you can harm the physical forms of the evil spirits."

Following Qiao Ran's pointing finger, Song Yuan quickly read the passage, closed the book, and decisively said:

"Okay. Let's do it that way. You guys figure out how to get some sharp tools. I'll contact An Xiaoyou."

It wasn't until this point that they belatedly realized that among the six players, Qiao Ran and the Puppeteer had control skills, Liu Gaosheng raised pets, Song Yuan had no weapons, Xu Tai'an used firearms, and An Xiaomei only had her hands.

Is this system doing this on purpose? Are they deliberately selecting players without melee weapons for this dungeon?! And they call it fair!

So, Xu Tai'an and Qiao Ran searched the room for a weapon. Song Yuan called An Xiaoyou several times through the intercom, but An Xiaoyou seemed to be still asleep and didn't respond after calling for a long time.

[Ding~ Player "Song Yuan" used the item "Noise Alarm Clock" on player "An Xiaomei"]

The prop had been used for less than a second when An Xiaoyou's cursing voice came through the communicator:

"***Song Yuan! Do you even know how a normal person wakes someone up? What the hell did you throw right next to my ear? It's so noisy!"

"I'm just worried something might happen if you sleep too long," Song Yuan said matter-of-factly. "How are things on your end?"