For Li Ye, the challenge of the second stage of the Curse of Dark Thoughts mission was how to climb the rear mountain, find the Tiger Demon influenced by the dark thoughts, and do so while under the siege of a large number of ghouls.
However, for Su Nan now, this was not a problem at all.
"This will be the fastest main storyline mission I've ever completed!" Su Nan laughed, feeling like this mission was practically a gift.
Looking at the remaining two uses of Future Sight, he waited for the cooldown to finish and continued to use it. Instead of trying to leave Tiger Roar Town, he chose to continue searching for the Tiger Demon. Once the dark thoughts on the Tiger Demon were resolved, leaving Tiger Roar Town would be a piece of cake.
"Mounting the rear mountain is definitely a death sentence for me right now due to the large number of ghouls. But I will still climb it," Su Nan thought.
Just a minute later, he reached a spot 200 meters away from Tiger Roar Town, surrounded by a large number of ghouls but still pressing forward.
Not wanting to waste any more time, he continued heading towards a range of 300 meters from Tiger Roar Town, even though he was running out of strength. After a dozen breaths, he finally reached a location 300 meters away from Tiger Roar Town, and his strength was about to be depleted.
Continuing his search, he suddenly noticed a black figure lying next to an ancient tree not far away. It was the foreign visitor who had climbed the mountain not long ago. What surprised him was that the surrounding ghouls didn't attack the foreign visitor; it was as if they hadn't noticed him.
Upon closer observation, Su Nan realized that the foreign visitor had his eyes tightly closed, was motionless, and had no aura, like a lifeless body.
"Li Ye can make the ghouls not notice him?" Su Nan wondered. "No wonder he's ranked sixth among players. I wonder if this unique method can fool the monsters."
Su Nan suspected that Li Ye's current ability might be a reward from completing the first stage four-star mission.
However, from the information obtained through Future Sight, it was clear that the ability Li Ye used had a significant drawback—it couldn't move!
While Li Ye could make himself seem lifeless and blend in with the ghouls, he lost the ability to move freely.
As Su Nan continued to observe, he noticed that the foreign visitor was tightly gripping a black crystal in his hand. The crystal emitted a faint but familiar and unsettling aura—dark energy.
Su Nan realized that the foreign visitor was holding a dark crystal, intending to use the crystal's dark energy to attract the dark thoughts. This method was indeed effective, but unfortunately, the Tiger Demon influenced by dark thoughts was not nearby, and the dark energy from the crystal was too weak. It would take at least half an hour to catch the attention of the dark thoughts.
The foreign visitor also noticed Su Nan and turned to look at him, but Su Nan ignored him and continued his search. After a few breaths, his strength was completely depleted.
"You died."
"Even if I haven't found the Tiger Demon, I can still use the dark crystal to attract it?" Su Nan was surprised. He had thought that he needed to find the Tiger Demon first for the crystal to work, but it seemed that as long as he wasn't too far from it, he could use the crystal and only needed to wait for a certain amount of time.
"What a clever trick—playing dead to deceive the ghouls. For Li Ye, this mission is practically complete. Now, all that's left is time!" Su Nan thought with a cold smile.
If he hadn't copied Li Ye's mission, whether Li Ye could complete it or not wouldn't affect him. But now, he couldn't allow Li Ye to complete the mission.
"The dark energy from the dark crystal will take half an hour to attract the dark thoughts. Using Future Sight, I would have found the Tiger Demon long before that," Su Nan thought. He wasn't in a hurry and checked the game's time, silently waiting.
Meanwhile, 300 meters away on the mountain.
A large number of ghouls had surrounded Li Ye, but he didn't fear them. Instead, he sighed with relief.
"Although this location isn't ideal, it's the best I can do for now," Li Ye muttered to himself.
He took out the dark crystal and quickly lay down, closing his eyes.
In the next moment, his aura instantly disappeared, and even his breathing stopped. The ghouls surrounding him seemed to lose their target and began to wander aimlessly.
Sensing the change in the ghouls' behavior, Li Ye relaxed. His nervousness dissipated, replaced by anticipation.
"I'm just one step away from success!"
Now, all he had to do was wait for the dark thoughts to be attracted by the dark energy emitted by the dark crystal.
At the foot of the mountain.
Su Nan had reverted to his appearance as Zhang Yang.
The riot of the ghouls naturally caught the attention of Ji Changfeng and the others. Ji Changfeng, along with Song Zhi and the rest, also arrived at the foot of the rear mountain.
Cheng Dao quickly asked, "Brother Zhang Yang, what's going on? Did those foreign visitors manage to climb the mountain?"
Su Nan nodded and said, "Most of those foreign visitors have been killed by the ghouls, but one of them has already made it to the mountain."
"It's probably only a matter of time now. Once the dark thoughts are attracted, we can leave this place."
"Really? That's great!" Song Zhi and the others' eyes lit up. Now they actually hoped that Li Ye could succeed.
Ji Changfeng also nodded and said, "If it really works out, we'll have to thank them!"
Su Nan smiled but didn't say much. He couldn't reveal that he was going after the mission himself.
A little over ten minutes later, it was midnight, and the game refreshed. Su Nan's consumed power was instantly fully restored, and the uses of Future Sight and Celestial Shift were also refreshed.
He immediately checked the daily tasks. First up was Zhang Yang's mission.
In addition to the "Hunt and Kill a Spirit-Level Monster" and "Escort Ji Changfeng to Tianyun County City" tasks, Zhang Yang's daily tasks now included a new mission:
**Task Three: Escape from Tiger Roar Town**
- Task Difficulty: Three Stars
- Task Reward: 30 points of demon power.
"Three-star task, not bad. The reward is no different from the freebie," Su Nan said with a smile. This task was similar to the second stage of the Curse of Dark Thoughts, challenging for most but not for him.
He checked Su Nan's tasks after that.
In addition to hunting common and spirit-level monsters, there was also a task related to Tiger Roar Town:
**Task Three: Clear the Ghoul Spirits in Tiger Roar Town**
- Task Difficulty: Four Stars
- Task Reward: 45 points of demon power.
"This task... seems tricky!" Ghoul spirits were not easy to deal with, not only due to their vast numbers but also because of their ability to resurrect. Furthermore, they were related to the Tiger Demon.
Shaking his head, Su Nan had no desire to take on this task.
He switched to Lang Shisan's character.
**Task One: Hunt and Kill Five Foreign Visitors**
**Task Two: Hunt and Kill 30 Foreign Visitors**
**Task Three: Hunt and Kill a Foreign Visitor Ranked in the Top 100 in Luck.**
Lang Shisan's daily tasks remained the same, involving hunting players of different ranks.
Su Nan glanced at the tasks and didn't pay much attention to them.
Just then, several figures appeared not far away. It was the players he had killed earlier, and they had logged back in.
They spotted Su Nan and walked toward him directly. One of them said with a smile, "Zhang Yang, you should have refreshed the task to escape from Tiger Roar Town by now. Unfortunately, even if you want to accept Night Brother's conditions and leave now, it's too late."
Another person nodded, "Night Brother has successfully climbed the mountain. It won't be long before the mission is completed. By the way, Night Brother is currently doing a four-star main storyline mission!"
The others chimed in, "A four-star main storyline! Once it's completed, Night Brother will have enough demon power to reach the Spirit level. Your third place might not be secure anymore."
They were boastful, acting as if they were the ones about to complete the mission, not Li Ye.
Song Zhi and the others were puzzled by their words but managed to understand the gist. Song Zhi immediately asked, "Brother Zhang Yang, what do they mean by your third place not being secure?"
Su Nan glanced at the players and calmly replied, "Don't worry, if I'm not willing, no one can replace my position."
Ignoring the players, Su Nan's gaze shifted to his character information panel.
On the panel, the words of Future Sight were quickly scrolling:
- "You use Celestial Shift and instantly arrive 400 meters away from Tiger Roar Town on the mountain to find the Tiger Demon influenced by dark thoughts."
- "Countless ghoul spirits roam the mountain, searching for another foreign visitor. Your arrival instantly makes you the target of all the ghoul spirits."
- "Hundreds and thousands of ghoul spirits surround you, but you are unafraid. With a wave of your hand, electric arcs shoot out, killing the ghoul spirits in front of you."
- "After a minute, you've only searched a 100-meter radius on the mountain while surrounded by ghoul spirits."
- "After two minutes, you've again searched a 100-meter radius, and the number of surrounding ghoul spirits has only increased."
- "After three minutes, you've searched a 300-meter radius and arrived 700 meters from Tiger Roar Town, but you still haven't found the Tiger Demon."
- "The first Future Sight ends. Do you want to continue?"
"Continue."
...
- "After three minutes, you arrive at a spot 1,000 meters from Tiger Roar Town, and you still haven't found any trace of the Tiger Demon."
- "The second Future Sight ends. Do you want to continue?"
"Continue!"
...
- "After three minutes, you arrive at a spot 1,300 meters from Tiger Roar Town."
- "In nine minutes of searching, you've killed a large number of ghoul spirits, but your strength has been significantly depleted, and you won't be able to continue for long."
- "The third Future Sight ends. Do you want to continue foreseeing?"
"No!"
With his strength nearly exhausted, Su Nan decided not to waste another Future Sight opportunity by starting over.
At the foot of the mountain, everyone, except Su Nan, was gazing at the mountain that stretched more than 3,000 meters, waiting for Li Ye to attract the dark thoughts.
After a minute, the cooldown for Future Sight ended, and Su Nan began to foresee again:
- "You use Celestial Shift twice in a row to arrive
at a spot 1,300 meters from Tiger Roar Town, trying to find the Tiger Demon influenced by dark thoughts."
- ...
- "After three minutes, you arrive at a spot 1,600 meters from Tiger Roar Town."
- "You suddenly hear a deafening tiger roar."
- "You follow the direction of the sound and arrive at a mountain hollow 1,600 meters from Tiger Roar Town."
- "To your surprise, in the empty hollow, a massive cave has appeared."
"I found it!"
Su Nan finally located the Tiger Demon.
(End of this chapter)