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

Tang Li doesn't know anything about cricket fighting.

She simply chose whichever cricket was the biggest.

Her goal wasn't to win; she just suspected that Lao Yan was a gambler and deliberately pointed at him and said a few things to test him.

From beginning to end, Tang Li's only goal was that file. And as long as the file was within Tang Li's reach, there were other ways to obtain it besides "winning the cricket fighting bet".

Watching Sun Ping grit his teeth and clench his fist, and secretly drip some unknown medicine onto the cricket, Tang Li tilted her head in confusion:

Why is this "Brother Sun," who seems to have a knack for all sorts of tricks and doesn't discriminate between good and bad, suddenly getting into a real cricket fight?

[Rule Sixteen: Anyone who challenges Lao Yan's authority before a winner is determined in a gambling game hosted by Lao Yan will be killed.]

Earlier, Sun Ping had already verified this with props, which is why he obediently followed orders.

Tang Li didn't know what Sun Ping was thinking, but that didn't stop her from trying to sow discord between him and Sun Ping.

Pointing at the small porcelain bottle that Sun Ping hadn't yet hidden, she shouted in a tone like someone tattled on a teacher in elementary school, "Old Yan, he poisoned my cricket! He deliberately ruined the betting game!"

Old Yan suddenly turned around, his pupils turning blood red in an instant, staring intently at Sun Ping.

Sun Ping, however, raised his hands with a completely innocent expression: "I'm innocent, Elder Yan! Look, I don't have anything in my hands!"

Old Yan approached Sun Ping with a suspicious look on his face. He observed him repeatedly, even feeling around in his sleeves, but found nothing.

Sun Ping smugly allowed himself to be inspected from head to toe. Across from Lao Yan, he raised an eyebrow provocatively at Tang Li, a sinister smile playing on his lips. He dared to use props, so he was naturally prepared to cheat without being discovered.

Tang Li, on the other hand, thought herself clever but ended up sending herself to her death.

Sun Ping pointed at Tang Li instead: "Old Yan, she's falsely accusing me! She's challenging your authority!"

Old Yan turned his head again, staring intently at Tang Li. The anger of being fooled made the already irrational and strange even more frantic, and the strange's anger could only be quelled by the blood of human players.

Tang Li's breath hitched for a moment.

Old Yan's eyes were densely packed with tiny red dots, and blood vessels, like lush ivy, climbed up the wrinkles on his face, from his chin to his forehead, filling every furrow. His once decaying and withered body seemed to be filled with life. Old Yan raised his hand, and in the dim light, his arm looked like the blade of a guillotine.

The chirping of insects grew louder and louder.

Sun Ping breathed excitedly: Just a little bit more, just a little bit more! The punishment from the rules was about to be triggered.

Old Yan, kill her!

Tang Li didn't know if Lao Yan had actually raised the knife, or if it was her hallucination or an excessively frenzied reality. She also didn't know how Sun Ping managed to pull off the trick without being caught, but the gloating and bloodthirsty excitement on this insidious man's face were undeniable.

However, she should not be underestimated.

"Are you sure, Lao Yan?" She laughed instead, placing her hands on her knees, her expression calm even in the face of imminent danger. "If you kill me now..."

"This betting game might come to an abrupt end before a winner is decided."

Old Yan's arm froze in mid-air. His nostrils flared as he breathed heavily, and the red spots in his eyes appeared and disappeared.

He was a gambling fanatic, fearless of death, so he didn't care whether Tang Li was a big shot whom the dean had repeatedly ordered to respect and fawn over.

However, he could not accept a bet that was canceled halfway through.

Under the shadow of the guillotine, Tang Li shook her head with a smile, "Tsk tsk, what's the point of a bet with no winner? How boring."

She stared into Old Yan's terrifying eyes, leaned forward slightly, and whispered defiantly, "So now..."

"Are you sure I really challenged your authority?"

In the bloody labyrinth.

"Dead, dead, dead, this one still has a breath, dead, alive..."

The chimera was still struggling and howling, but its struggles were getting weaker and weaker.

Meanwhile, Jiang Hui and Qiu Wanting were like two ruthless sorting machines, racing against time to move living people out.

It's not that these two people have any noble sentiments; it's just that Sun Ping, that bastard, dragged more than two-thirds of the players into this mess. If they want to avoid the passive situation of fighting alone in the later stages of the dungeon, they can only save people as much as possible now.

Many players who still had the energy joined in, and even the newcomers who barely had a breath left dragged their battered bodies out. Unfortunately, the exit was only two small wooden planks, and a traffic jam quickly ensued.

"This won't do," Qiu Wanting frowned and whispered to Jiang Hui, "This chimera is clearly going to die."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Jiang Hui said, "If the Flag-Carrying Ghost hasn't grown up before 3 a.m., the [Hundred Ghosts Night Parade] can't be triggered."

Qiu Wanting shook his head, looking at the numerous, seemingly harmless but currently undisturbed small monsters around him: "But these small monsters haven't been completely eliminated yet. In this special enclosure, when a giant monster dies, its blood and energy fill the bodies of the small monsters, becoming their nourishment."

"Even if the [Hundred Ghosts Night Parade] fails in the preparation stage, the difficulty of the dungeon will increase significantly after all the little ghosts on the ground are fed."

"Either widen the gap and allow all players to evacuate as much as possible, or find a way to wipe out the little monsters in one fell swoop."

An old and worn-out archive room.

Tang Li sat there unharmed.

Old Yan was indeed reluctant to kill her, but Tang Li did not relax her guard because of this.

They all stared intently at the fighting basin, where the once arrogant copper-headed, iron-backed creature was now struggling with all its might in the center.

But they could all see that it ultimately couldn't withstand Sun Ping's poison. Copper Head Iron Back was about to die, and the gamble was about to be decided.

Sun Ping made no attempt to hide the joy on his face, while Tang Li lowered her gaze, pretending to observe the state of the copper-headed iron-backed creature, and subtly moved her position. She leaned against the table, as if still observing the crickets in the fighting basin, but her hands were behind her back, less than a finger's width away from the file folder.

She wouldn't let morality bind her when dealing with someone like Sun Ping.

The struggle of the copper-headed, iron-backed creature grew weaker and weaker, and Sun Ping had already stood up, ready to welcome his victory.

Old Yan stood between the two men, completely absorbed in his bet.

at last.

Copper Head Iron Back completely lost its last bit of vitality. At the same time, a chilling scene unfolded: dozens, even nearly a hundred, black venomous insects that had previously only wriggled in the shadows suddenly swarmed around Copper Head Iron Back, devouring it without restraint.

Many things happen in this instant.

"Dong—dong—dong—" The clock struck three times, and it was three o'clock in the morning.

Old Yan loudly announced Sun Ping's victory.

Tang Li's hand touched the rough surface of the file folder.

Jiang Hui and Qiu Wanting watched as the tiny monsters scattered all over the ground surrounded and devoured the giant chimera.

and also--

Sun Ping, who was enjoying his victory, suddenly changed his expression, realized something, and roared angrily.

There was no tremor, no dark clouds obscuring the moon, and no crimson blood mist.

—There is no "Hundred Ghosts Night Parade".