After being poisoned by mushrooms, all the strange creatures became fascinated by me.

In the old archives room.

The radio, which had been creaking and groaning, had been turned off by Lao Yan, and the room was filled with the incessant chirping of insects.

Tang Li and Sun Ping sat facing each other, with two crickets fighting fiercely between them and terrifying poisonous insects wriggling around them.

On the other side, Old Yan was breathing heavily in the tense atmosphere of the archives room. He hadn't even participated in the gambling, yet he was the one who was so excited that he trembled. An extremely enjoyable expression appeared on his old face, which made people feel strange and uncomfortable.

A complete gambler. Tang Li thought, he could throw his duty as the archivist to the wind for gambling.

This is really... great.

Tang Li blinked, yawned, and seemed a little sleepy. She muttered listlessly, "This is a bit boring."

Old Yan grew anxious and shouted, "How can it be boring?"

Sun Ping chuckled, "It really isn't interesting. After watching so many human fights, watching insects fight isn't exciting enough."

Old Yan glared at Sun Ping again, his previously cloudy eyes now filled with terrifying red blood vessels: "That's because you didn't look carefully! Look again! Look closer!"

Tang Li and Sun Ping exchanged a glance.

The bizarre is, in essence, bizarre; once it touches a sore spot or hits a nerve, it goes mad.

Tang Li smiled lazily: "Are there any more exciting ways to play?"

Sun Ping glanced at Lao Yan's expression with his triangular eyes, and followed up on Tang Li's words, saying, "How about we increase the stakes?"

At least for now, their purpose in coming here is the same. They both know it.

Old Yan's eyes lit up with anticipation.

"But I'm not interested in any of that money or stuff," Tang Li said, standing up as if to leave.

"No, no, no! The game isn't over yet!" Old Yan exclaimed anxiously, standing up as well.

At that moment, a thought flashed through his mind, and he shouted, "There are stakes! You have stakes!"

And so, the manila envelope finally appeared before the two of them.

Old Yan held up the file folder, a victorious smile spreading across his face: "This is the file! The one you've been looking for, Gu Xiaoying's file!"

"The betting continues; whoever wins keeps it!"

Tang Li and Sun Ping smiled and readily agreed.

Inside the basin.

[Driven back to battle, they fought as fiercely as ever, their sharp teeth as pointed as knives.]

In the maze.

Jiang Hui suddenly retreated, dodging the strange and violent impact of the chimera, and punched the bookshelves on all sides with a heavy punch, smashing through three shelves in a row, but got stuck on the fourth shelf.

A perfect opportunity! Jiang Hui leaped into the air, her spear slicing through the air, its tip shining like a shooting star.

Inside the basin.

The two teeth clashed and rattled incessantly; in a life-or-death battle, the teeth were on the verge of breaking.

In the maze.

The spear pierced into the bizarre, enormous body of the chimera, and the sound of bones rubbing against the spear tip sent chills down one's spine.

A strange, earth-shattering wail erupted, and Jiang Hui's tiger's mouth split open and bled.

Sun Ping clenched his fists.

The battle between the two crickets had reached a fever pitch, both covered in wounds. Sun Ping looked at the small, crab-shelled cricket; it had clearly launched several effective attacks, but the large, copper-headed, iron-backed cricket that Tang Li had chosen seemed indestructible, still active and moving almost without slowing down.

The two people who had briefly cooperated to trick others into revealing the files had now fully reverted to their enemy identities. Sun Ping lowered his head, his eyes cold: he needed to find a way to help Crab Shell Green.

He silently searched his mind for any usable items. Then, without making a sound, he took out a small green bottle, about the size of a thumb, from his pocket.

This is the "Bone-Dissolving Water" from the eerie live-streaming store. Just one drop can cause a strong man's intestines to rupture.

Not to mention a tiny cricket.

Sun Ping gently pried open the bottle stopper with his fingernail, and while Tang Li wasn't paying attention, he flicked it lightly at the copper-headed, iron-backed bottle that Tang Li had chosen.

Ok?

A drop of green water hit the head of the copper-headed, iron-backed creature squarely, but the scene of the bone-dissolving water hissing and corroding the insect to death, as envisioned, did not occur.

Copper Head Iron Back did not die in agony; instead, it seemed to be enraged, flapping its wings even faster as it charged and attacked Crab Shell Green relentlessly.

Seeing that Crab Shell Green was having some trouble dealing with it, Sun Ping panicked and, disregarding his heartache, simply poured the entire bottle of Bone-Dissolving Water onto Copper Head Iron Back.

This definitely worked.

In the maze.

Jiang Hui gasped for breath, leaning on her gun, and blood streamed down her upper arm with each rise and fall of her chest.

Just now, the chimera attacked wildly and rapidly, and she couldn't dodge in time, resulting in a long gash on her body.

Just as Jiang Hui was considering the possibility of retreating first and letting Boss Qiu, Qiu Wanting, come up and smash the props on top for a while, the chimera suddenly started going crazy again.

It rolled around, howled, and sizzled all over. It was like several huge pieces of raw meat frozen together, thrown onto a scorching hot iron plate to roast before it had even thawed.

However, there was no way to take advantage of its weakness and kill it, as it struggled too fiercely and the player could not get close.

"It looks like it hurts," Jiang Hui asked Qiu Wanting suspiciously, who finally dared to peek out from afar. "What kind of prop did you use?"

Qiu Wanting hadn't even used the numerous props he'd gathered yet, and the renowned Boss Qiu, unusually perplexed, exclaimed, "I haven't used anything yet? This effect looks more like bone-dissolving potion..."

Jiang Hui's eyes widened: "That ridiculously expensive bone-dissolving tonic sold by the drop in that mall?"

"Never mind, maybe one of the players who didn't die had a change of heart and used some items to contribute." Qiu Wanting waved to Jiang Hui, "Come here quickly, while the monster is down, treat its wounds."

Qiu Wanting was holding a bandage with healing properties, about to wrap it around Jiang Hui's arm, when suddenly...

The two: ?

Jiang Hui's wounds disappeared visibly.

In the old archives room.

Sun Ping smiled sinisterly and secretly took back the other small red bottle in his hand.

That copper-headed, iron-backed creature, made of some unknown material, was still alive! And this crab-shelled green creature, which had seemed quite clever, didn't take the opportunity to attack the copper-headed, iron-backed creature. Instead, it stupidly moved away from it and hid in a corner.

Foolish! Sun Ping gritted his teeth in anger.

Having no other choice, he took the opportunity to pour some healing potion on the battered Crab Shell Blue. The red liquid slowly seeped into the elytra, and the nimble little insect regained its glossy shine.

Sun Ping smiled smugly.

Across from him, Tang Li rested her chin on her hand, coldly watching him pour out green and red water, adding embellishments to the cricket fight as if it were cooking.

She narrowed her eyes menacingly.