Xu Yuan chose the monsters with the earlier numbers for a reason. After all, with him around, their luck buff would continue to stack.

After roaming the grasslands for a bit, Xu Yuan managed to collect a good group of candidates for his “all-you-can-eat buffet.” These included Zombie 007, Little Black 88, Spider 101, Little Zombie 520, and Little White 233.

He hadn’t expected to run into a little zombie, given how low their spawn rate was, but luckily, Xu Yuan had already unlocked control over the spider, Little Black, and the little zombie, so when he found them, it was a simple matter of recruiting them.

Right now, Xu Yuan planned to control only one of each type of monster. He wasn’t sure which of them would have the highest potential, so it was better to test the waters by taming one from each species first.

Of course, Xu Yuan had no intention of taming any Creepers. Sure, their attack power was high, but they were one-time use only!

(Creeper: “So… I’m just not worthy, huh?”)

After selecting his “seed players,” Xu Yuan also controlled a few more zombies, Creepers, and Little Whites. These were his suicide squads, meant to cover the seed players while they enjoyed their buffet session.

Once everything was ready, Xu Yuan used one of his clones to scout out the movements of the nearby players. At the moment, the players were grouped in teams of four, fully immersed in the art of… Footwork?

Each player was slashing away at their targets like expert foot masseuses, completely engrossed in their task. They were giving it their all.

After experimenting with it themselves, the players had fully let their guard down. The pedicure booth was indeed safe, so they saw no need for caution anymore.

Just farm away!

Seeing this, Xu Yuan knew it was time.

“Alright, let’s feast~”

Before setting off, Xu Yuan spent 150,000 intimidation points to upgrade his monster control range to 45 by 45 meters. He had to admit, intimidation points were consumed pretty quickly. All the points he had painstakingly saved up during the day were now gone just to expand his control radius.

With the range increased, Xu Yuan could now control more monsters, making it easier to protect his seed players.

Once everything was prepared, Xu Yuan positioned his clone at a high vantage point, giving him a full view of the battlefield. His real body remained hidden underground beneath a rock.

After upgrading his stealth skill, Xu Yuan had become capable of moving freely through solid stone, making things much more convenient. He no longer needed to reveal himself to control the monsters, and thanks to his clone, he had a clear view of the battlefield without having to worry about visibility.

His clone would handle the scouting, and his real body would focus on controlling the monsters.

While walking through the underground rocks, Xu Yuan slowly directed the monsters toward the players’ footwork booths.

Meanwhile, the players were still lost in the joy of their farming session, completely unaware of the danger closing in on them.

“This footwork booth is amazing! Look at all the loot dropping like rain!”

“My luck’s been off the charts! I just got an iron ingot! At this rate, I’ll have a full iron set in a few days!”

“With the footwork booth, we’ll never run out of arrows again! Plus, all the bones! Everyone will have their own wolf cub, and we’ll scare the life out of that white-eyed monster, hahaha!”

The four players inside the booth were swinging their stone swords as they chatted, each covering a different side. One of them, a player named Li Tu, was responsible for one corner of the booth.

Suddenly, a Creeper approached from outside.

Li Tu didn’t think much of it at first and was about to swing his sword when—

Boom!

The Creeper exploded!

Though the blast was blocked by the stone walls, preventing any damage to Li Tu, the unexpected explosion still scared him out of his wits.

“What the hell?! What just happened?!”

The other players in the booth also heard the loud explosion and were caught off guard. Before they could react, a swarm of zombies rushed in, blocking them inside.

The zombies began their attack as soon as they entered.

Li Tu and the others, though startled, quickly regained their composure and fought back, instinctively swinging their swords in defense. However, there were too many zombies. After barely managing to take down two, the players were already on the verge of death.

More monsters kept pouring in through the hole left by the Creeper’s explosion.

Just when they thought they were done for, something strange happened.

The zombies suddenly stopped attacking.

Li Tu and the others were stunned.

“?????”

“What’s going on? Why aren’t they moving?”

“Did I lag out? Or did you guys lag out? Or did the zombies lag out????”

As the players stood there, dumbfounded, a little zombie suddenly rushed in from outside the booth. With a few quick hits, it finished them off before they could even react.

Li Tu and his friends died in confusion, never understanding what had just happened. Why had the Creeper exploded out of nowhere? Why had the zombies suddenly stopped attacking?

Shortly after their deaths, similar strange incidents occurred in other pedicure booths across the grasslands.

The sequence of events was nearly identical: a Creeper would explode, followed by a swarm of zombies or Little Whites rushing in to attack the players, but they wouldn’t kill them outright. Instead, they left the players with just a sliver of health.

Once the players were defenseless, a monster would appear—whether it was a zombie, Little White, Little Black, or a spider—and finish the job.

The grasslands echoed with the sounds of explosions and players’ screams.

Meanwhile, the guild chat of the Victory Guild was in complete chaos.

“What the hell is going on?!”

“Wasn’t the footwork booth supposed to be completely safe?! Why did the Creepers explode out of nowhere?!”

“That was so freaky! Why didn’t those monsters finish us off right away, but left us with just a little health for a zombie to come and kill us?”

“???? You guys died the same way too?! Us too! Damn it, we got taken out by a little zombie that jumped up and hit us in the knees!”

“Same here!!! We got killed by Little Black!!!”

The guild chat was flooded with frantic messages, and the grasslands resounded with the constant “Boom! Boom!” of explosions. It sounded like a festival.

Inside the guild’s base, Steve read the messages, and everything clicked into place.

“I knew it! This whole footwork booth thing had something to do with that white-eyed monster!”

“Now it all makes sense!”

Steve hadn’t gone out hunting this time. He had found the footwork booth too suspicious, so he and his friends decided to stay behind at the base and keep an eye on things.

Steve had a gut feeling something was off, and sure enough, he was right!

His friends were shaken by the realization.

“So it really was him! He set up the footwork booth just to make us think we could farm safely, then ambushed us?”

“I knew he wasn’t that simple! That escape earlier—he was just pretending, wasn’t he?!”

“But why didn’t he show up this time? Why is he controlling those monsters to kill the players instead?”

“And why go through all this trouble? He could’ve killed us easily last time. Why build a booth and set all this up just to kill us?”

Though they were certain the white-eyed monster was behind all this, they still couldn’t understand why he went to such lengths. He could have wiped them out in one go, so why all the theatrics? Why pretend to run away and build a pedicure booth, only to kill them in the end? Wouldn’t a straightforward attack have been easier?

Steve thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up with understanding.

“His appetite… it’s huge!”

“He’s doing all this just to attract more people here!!”

It finally made sense. Steve hadn’t understood it before, but now he realized the monster’s plan. He had orchestrated everything—the fake escape, the pedicure booth guide, all of it—to lure more players to the area!

Hearing Steve’s words, his friends’ minds suddenly cleared.

“Yeah! That explains everything!!”

“Damn, he’s treating us like part of his little farming game!”

“His mind is terrifying… He’s been manipulating the players’ psychology from the start…”

“…”

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep