The ghostly shadow trapped in the bag did not give up trying to strangle Zhu Rumin. The players outside didn’t care about her life or death. Kong Hui asked, “Tong Jian, can your item keep it contained?”

“No problem,” said the player in the gelatinous coat, Tong Jian. “It’s not wielding any knives or guns, trapping it is no issue. This is a special item, right? It might have been created by those train ticket players.”

“That’s not very likely,” Kong Cheng said. “This Deep Blue Laboratory dungeon mentions ‘ghosts’. The key to clearing the dungeon is right here. It wouldn’t be such a coincidence that a player possessing a ghostly shadow item just happened to enter this time.”

“Are you going to get her out?” Dr. Deng asked sympathetically, looking at Zhu Rumin lying on the ground. “She’s about to die.”

Tong Jian looked at Kong Cheng. Kong Cheng said casually, “We cannot let this special item get away.”

That meant rescuing her had to be done while keeping the ghostly shadow trapped. After a brief hesitation, Tong Jian manipulated the seal of the gelatinous bag, slowly tightening it upward along the curves of Zhu Rumin’s body. Her legs were freed first, followed by her upper body.

But the ghostly shadow was wrapped around her head and refused to let go. In this situation, the bag couldn’t be tightened further upward, so Tong Jian stopped at this point.

He originally thought the ghostly shadow would only let go after suffocating Zhu Rumin. Unexpectedly, when the bag was just slightly larger than her head, the ghostly shadow automatically peeled off her head like a layer of paper skin, sticking to the bag and losing its vitality.

Of course, Zhu Rumin was not freed. Her head was still wrapped in the bag. An Evolver’s superhuman physique prevented her from suffocating so quickly. However, once released, her desperate gasps for air sucked the bag material right into her mouth and nose.

The instinct to survive made her frantically slash at the bag with the sharp ring hidden on her finger, but she couldn’t damage the item. In the end, she reached out towards Tong Jian. But despite being just a few steps away, Tong Jian held not a shred of sympathy for her.

Soon, Zhu Rumin died inside the bag.

Only then did Kong Cheng walk over. He changed into a pair of semi-transparent gloves, grabbed her hair, and slid his hand into the bag through the sealed opening.

The bag, which had been airtight and impossible for Zhu Rumin to pry open even with her desperate struggles, was opened by him with absurd ease. Moreover, after his gloved hand went in, the sealed opening remained perfectly intact as if it had never been breached; it simply now contained a hand.

Tong Jian’s expression shifted slightly, but he just watched quietly from the side.

Kong Cheng reached in to retrieve the ghostly shadow. To his surprise, the moment his hand touched it, the shadow automatically disintegrated into powder, scattering inside the bag.

“How could this happen?” Tong Jian was puzzled. “Could it be a disposable item?”

Kong Cheng withdrew his hand calmly. “An item born in a laboratory, how could it not have some special peculiarities?”

Tong Jian retrieved his item.

Now they were down to only five people. Their numbers were already inferior to the train ticket players.

“I’ll go deal with them,” Kong Hui said to Kong Cheng. “You stay here.”

Kong Cheng looked at her. “Splitting up last time already cost us several people. You haven’t learned your lesson yet. This time, we act together.”

“Fine then,” Kong Hui said, pointing at Dr. Deng. “Bringing him along is a burden.”

“A burden we still have to bring,” Kong Cheng said, taking out an item shaped like a music box and handing it to Dr. Deng. “If you encounter danger, you can open it. This item can guarantee you three minutes of immunity from attacks.”

“Only three minutes?” Dr. Deng asked urgently.

“Three minutes of protection is already on the longer side among items,” the Handless Player said impatiently, glancing at him. “Not every player has this kind of defensive item. I wish I had one, but I don’t.”

Hearing this, Dr. Deng immediately shut his mouth.

The group of six then set off towards the eastern half of the laboratory.

The elevator that had malfunctioned earlier was now inexplicably fixed. As the lights came on, everything inside the laboratory became clearly visible, bright and open everywhere. Naturally, there was no possibility of players lying in ambush.

Going from the third underground floor to the second underground floor was uneventful. However, the lights on the first underground floor were broken. After going up, they saw no light.

“They’re here,” Kong Cheng said the moment he finished speaking. A speck of green light, dragging a tail several meters long, began darting back and forth in the corridor.

In darkness, people instinctively focus their attention on sudden light. Moving light is even more attention-grabbing, especially when this light speck seems somewhat special, compelling people to involuntarily fix their gaze on it.

The instant several pairs of eyes followed the green light from left to right, Miao Yu, hidden on the left side, silently erupted from the darkness! Two daggers stabbed towards Tong Jian, who was closest to her!

How could a group already on guard against ambushes fall for such a clumsy trick? Tong Jian caught the daggers bare-handed. A sticky liquid secreted from his hand acted like a lubricant, easily causing the daggers to slip from Miao Yu’s grip. Not only that, the liquid also had a corrosive quality. The moment Miao Yu withdrew her hand, her palms were already bright red. Seizing the initiative, Tong Jian produced a water gun in his hand and pulled the trigger, aiming at her!

This was, of course, no ordinary water gun, and what it sprayed wasn’t water, but a foul-smelling gelatinous liquid. It sprayed out in a puddle. At close range, it not only stung the eyes shut but also had strong adhesive properties. Miao Yu merely accidentally brushed against a bit of the splashed liquid and ended up tearing the edge of her shoe with excessive force.

“Cleansing Talisman!” Wan Yunrong’s voice rang out from several meters away. She threw out a yellow talisman, and immediately, a large amount of water surged from behind it, washing over the walls and floor, also sweeping the gelatinous liquid back towards Tong Jian!

Even the player himself couldn’t withstand this stuff. Tong Jian put away the water gun and was about to switch to another item when Miao Yu, now wielding a pair of Tang swords, charged right before his eyes!

These were a pair of item swords. When their blades reflected light, Tong Jian uncontrollably focused his gaze on them, thus missing the best chance to dodge. The Tang swords cleaved through his defensive item and simultaneously sliced open his shoulder.

Tong Jian ducked to avoid it. Miao Yu pressed her advantage. On the surface, they seemed to be trading the upper hand, but in reality, Tong Jian was luring Miao Yu closer to his own teammates. Once the distance was about right, he immediately used an item to distance himself from Miao Yu.

The person under the Tang sword’s edge suddenly vanished, replaced by another pair of long swords. Four blades clashed, sparks flying. Both sides were thrown back by the powerful recoil, except Kong Hui only retreated half a step, while Miao Yu slammed into the metal wall behind her, denting it.

This initial test of strength made the disparity in their power immediately clear.

Miao Yu stared intently at Kong Hui for two seconds, then decisively retreated without hesitation.

“Trying to run?” Kong Hui sneered and gave chase. Seeing Miao Yu turn the corridor corner, she was about to advance when another female player suddenly charged out from ahead. Facing her, the player shouted, “It’s time for the health exercise!”

This player who appeared head-on was none other than Wu Xiaonan. As she raised both hands, Kong Hui, facing her, also involuntarily raised her hands.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep