Chapter 092 Parting Ways

The city under the rainy night had a unique charm.

The胖子 (fat guy) was lazily clinging to the hotel wall like a dried salted fish, completely still in the wind and rain.

He was pondering why he was playing this game.

Xia Xinyan and the others were quite fast; in no time, they had already descended two floors. Looking up, the胖子 was still stuck in place, his heavyweight figure bringing a sense of comfort in the darkness.

Unable to help himself, he sent a sincere blessing between friends: “Are you planning to stay there forever and celebrate the New Year?!”

“I…”胖子 shivered and yelled after hearing their voices drifting away from him, “I can’t see anything!! You all need to tell me how to get down!! Don’t leave me hanging on the wall!! What about brotherly love?! Just point me in the right direction!!”

“Why are you yelling so loud?!” Ling Mo frowned immediately, “Are you afraid no one knows what you’re doing?!”

“Your voice is even louder than mine!”

“My voice can’t drown you out! Can you hear me or not?!” Ling Mo glanced down, “Just climb down already!! No need for directions!!”

胖子 wanted to shout something else, but angry shouts from hotel guests came from the windows a few floors down: “Who the hell is shouting at this hour?! Let us sleep, for crying out loud?!”

胖子 paused, not daring to say another word.

He really didn’t want to come down this way.

But when they hadn’t thought of a better way to escape, the police outside had already begun banging on the doors. Bai Yu could lock the door, but she couldn’t reinforce it; against that level of battering, the hotel door wouldn’t hold for long.

As for breaking out… when Bai Yu said the entire hotel was packed with police, even胖子 gave up that idea.

He didn’t have Xia Xinyan’s impressive skills.

Taking a deep breath, he began to fumble his way down slowly.

A few minutes later, Ling Mo and the others had reached the narrow alley, while 胖子 was still slowly making his way down from about the third floor, causing the others to feel anxious.

The sound of police sirens echoed all around, and there were even police helicopters patrolling above. Although no one had spotted them yet, this was definitely not a safe place.

Moreover, Ling Mo and 胖子 had just shouted at each other, which had likely attracted some attention; it was only a matter of time before the police reacted.

Xia Xinyan surveyed their surroundings and whispered, “We need to leave.”

“Are you going to leave 大日 (Da Ri) behind?” Bai Yu was stunned, “Don’t! It’s better to wait for him to come down before we leave together.”

Ling Mo shook his head: “We didn’t say we’d leave him behind…”

However, before he finished speaking, a searchlight from a helicopter above suddenly turned and swept over the trio, and then quickly refocused its beam on them: “Suspects found, please drop your weapons and surrender immediately!”

Ling Mo: “…Damn.”

Xia Xinyan didn’t hesitate any longer; she grabbed his hand and dashed towards the end of the alley: “We’re leaving first!”

Bai Yu paused, seeming like she wanted to follow them, but after thinking for a few seconds, she looked back at胖子 still dangling on the wall: “大日! We’ve been discovered! Hurry up and get down!”

“How can I get down?! I don’t even know how high I am right now!” 胖子 was internally cursing.

Bai Yu gritted her teeth, seemingly having made a decision. Her pupils instantly turned blue, and at that moment, many white mechanical flying objects the size of bees flew out from under her clothes, forming a net below 胖子.

“Just jump down; I’ll catch you!”

“…What? Are you kidding?!” 胖子 was shocked, “You can catch me?!”

With Bai Yu’s small frame, he was worried he might crush her.

“Just jump down!” Bai Yu was getting anxious, “Hurry! Or we’ll all die!”

As if to confirm her words, the police in the helicopter raised their guns: “Suspect refuses to surrender; lethal force authorized, prepare to shoot.”

Upon hearing this, 胖子 shuddered, imagining himself being shot full of holes while hanging on the wall, and finally made his decision: “You better catch me, Bai Bai!!”

“No problem, Ri Ri!” Bai Yu was full of confidence.

Unfortunately, Ling Mo and Xia Xinyan, who had already escaped, missed this thrilling scene.

There weren’t many police on the streets, possibly because the group still hadn’t reacted, and the helicopter they had spotted was still focused on Bai Yu without pursuing them, making their escape much smoother.

Yet, Ling Mo felt a bit conflicted: “Is it really okay to just leave like this? Shouldn’t we go back and help them?”

Hearing this, Xia Xinyan suddenly stopped and turned to face him, her expression serious: “If Zhang Da Ri jumped down directly, would there still be this issue?”

Ling Mo fell silent: “Probably… not.”

“Then it means the danger is caused by his own actions, not the enemy and us.” After a brief pause, Xia Xinyan continued, “Mo Mo, remember, there are some situations where help is needed, and some where it isn’t; and in cases like this, we should focus more on how we survive.”

The so-called allies should bring benefits and reduce pressure for themselves or their team, not be a burden. If it was trouble caused by enemies or special circumstances, then lending a hand wasn’t a problem. But if the predicament was due to an ally’s own actions, there was no need to stick around.

At least for now, 胖子 was just barely a so-called ally to her.

Perhaps there weren’t many players who could be this ruthless right now, but this kind of thing would become increasingly common as the game progressed.

Xia Xinyan was just used to the previous atmosphere, so her reflexive actions were natural.

However, it wasn’t a problem; slowly teaching Ling Mo from this point onward didn’t need to be rushed.

Perhaps subconsciously, she still thought of this as just a game, and Ling Mo had no objections to Xia Xinyan’s seemingly cold actions. 胖子’s previous behavior indeed jeopardized the team, and since Xia Xinyan wasn’t close to 胖子, abandoning him for the sake of game experience wasn’t something to be overly concerned about.

Hope 胖子 can survive.

“Don’t worry,” after clarifying this point, Xia Xinyan once again led Ling Mo in evading the police’s pursuit and reassured him, “As long as we’re not at the final mission spot, the difficulty we face generally matches the number of our current allies, which means if we leave Zhang Da Ri behind, they’ll actually be a bit safer.”

The difficulty changed from four-person to two-person.

“Is there really such a theory?” Ling Mo pondered.

However, before he could figure it out, Xia Xinyan suddenly pulled him into a nearby narrow alley: “Wait, something’s off.”

Ling Mo was taken aback, instinctively looking over.

After they escaped, the outside police seemed to have reacted, and the streets were filled with more patrol cars and many fully armed officers checking the crowd.

But none of that was the issue.

The problem was…

All the electronic screens in the city began rolling with half-body ID photos of all the players, with two big words below: “WANTED.”

The ID photos even showed their current outfits.

Xia Xinyan pondered for a moment and then quietly said, “Can you manifest two jackets? Changing clothes would be safer.”

Ling Mo nodded: “Sure.”

Saying this, he began to conjure some clothes.

It must be said, his abilities had progressed quite rapidly; now, the speed of manifesting uncomplicated items was already quite fast. In less than half a minute, he conjured two hoodies.

Then he handed the pink one to Xia Xinyan.

There were even a pair of decorative cat ears on the hood.

Xia Xinyan: “…”

Was this guy doing it on purpose?