Chapter 130 The Singer, Oh, the Singer 63

Unfortunately, the person behind him wasn't some idiot from a movie who would only alert the enemy and shout, "Stop! Don't run!" The person lying in wait on the other side certainly wouldn't have made a move unless they were one hundred percent sure he couldn't escape.

Although the first strike missed... well, even a top-tier Angela player in the national server misses a second skill all the time, so Lin Xiangjun missing a slash was perfectly understandable, truly understandable.

The dark shadow hadn't run more than two steps before another sound of something tearing through the air came from behind, followed by a rope that suddenly looped around his neck and tightened abruptly.

His body hadn't even reacted and was still running forward when this sudden pull of the rope yanked him backward; he looked just like someone kicking away a stool to hang himself, instantly rolling his eyes and sticking out his tongue as he slammed onto the ground with a dull "thud."

Zhang Minxian stood in a horse stance, wearing a tattered black cowboy hat on her head, her hands still maintaining the motion of using a lasso. Seeing she had caught her prey, her eyes lit up, and she eagerly pulled the rope back.

Her movements were just like a fisherman hauling in a net with a full catch.

"Aha! Miss Lin, I told you I had a talent for being a cowboy! A one hundred percent success rate!"

"Well done. I'll buy you a cowboy outfit later—a cowboy hat, a denim jacket, overalls, and boots with spurs." Lin Xiangjun patted Zhang Minxian's shoulder. Holding an umbrella in one hand and pulling her sharp knife from the ground with the other, she walked over to the dark shadow and crouched down.

"Hou Pan?"

Hou Pan was being choked by the rope, rolling his eyes, sticking out his tongue, and drooling. His hands constantly tried to pull the rope away from his neck, scratching his neck until it was bright red.

Seeing Lin Xiangjun arrive, he flushed red, his complexion faintly turning purple. He scratched his throat hard twice and nodded frantically, signaling that if he didn't breathe, he would die.

He looked extremely painful, but Lin Xiangjun didn't care much. As long as Hou Pan didn't die and could still speak, it wouldn't affect her much.

Like an angler who had been skunked for years and finally caught a big one, Zhang Minxian wrapped the rope around her forearm, winding it frantically until she dragged Hou Pan to her feet, only then stopping with a sense of lingering satisfaction.

"Miss Lin, is he really Hou Pan? Why does he feel so weak?"

It was no wonder Zhang Minxian was puzzled; after all, the rope in her hand was the lowest-level D-grade item, [A Long Rope], the same one that had almost been cut by a dagger in the previous instance.

Logically, an item of this level shouldn't even be able to catch the lowest-level ghost in a three-star instance, let alone be able to control a key ghost of the instance like Hou Pan.

"Because, in essence, he is still human. At most, he just borrowed Hu Zhengzheng's power. Look, he might even ascend to heaven from oxygen deprivation." Lin Xiangjun pointed at the dark shadow's face.

"That seems true... Hey? Miss Lin, don't you think this person looks a bit familiar? I feel like I've seen him somewhere before."

"You should have. He's one of the players who was with Tiger Wang before, named Li Yapeng."

He was the one who instigated Jie Yu to attack Lin Xiangjun in the stairwell.

At the beginning, there were four people on Tiger Wang's side: Tiger Wang himself, Li Yapeng, Zhang Qi, and the Fluorescent Green Short Sleeve who died right at the start.

As of now, except for Li Yapeng, who was currently being choked by the rope, the other three had already been confirmed dead.

Due to oxygen deprivation and insufficient blood supply to the head from being choked, Li Yapeng—that is, Hou Pan—had his head swell up like a bobblehead. The original small wound had expanded even more severely, splitting open halfway across his cheek.

Seeing that he was about to kick the bucket and ascend, Lin Xiangjun and Zhang Minxian tied his hands and feet, then flicked the tip of the knife, causing the rope around his neck to snap.

"Cough, cough—cough—cough—" Hou Pan coughed heart-wrenchingly several times, then stared with red eyes congested from poor circulation, asking in a hoarse voice, "How did you find me?"

Lin Xiangjun kicked him twice with a faint smile. "You hid well, and what Hou Yongcheng said had no obvious flaws; logically, you shouldn't have been discovered."

Hou Pan stared, waiting for her follow-up.

However, he only received a slash to the face.

This slash went from his left hairline all the way to his right jaw, splitting his entire face open.

The skin that had been stretched over his bloated body completely burst, like a plastic bag filled with too much stuff that had torn, and the contents inside poured out like water.

He let out an incredulous roar: "You! You!"

Lin Xiangjun withdrew her knife and shrugged. "Why should I explain anything to you? I have no obligation to let you die knowing why."

As the skin burst, the fat, bloated humanoid figure hidden beneath it crawled out.

Li Yapeng was very thin, but Hou Pan's volume was at least three to four times his size. Hou Pan, crawling out of Li Yapeng's body, was as astonishing and spectacular as a mattress popping out of a vacuum bag.

Appearing along with the sound of tearing skin and Hou Pan's screams was a figure in a long dress at the entrance of the alley.

Lin Xiangjun kicked Hou Pan, in a rather good mood: "Look, look over there, the one here to collect you has arrived~~"

Hou Pan said nothing, only struggling and screaming blindly.

Hu Zhengzheng said nothing, only walking in step by step from the alley entrance.

"Hou... Pan."

She spoke word by word, her voice hoarse, as if she had been talking, talking, talking for hundreds of years without ever stopping.

"Hou... Pan."

"Hou... Pan—"

"Hou, Pan!!"

Her voice grew faster and faster, her footsteps quickening, until finally, she was almost screaming as she lunged forward—

"Ah—"

Just the moment Hu Zhengzheng lunged and grabbed Hou Pan, she suddenly screamed and recoiled.

Both of her hands turned black as if burned by a raging fire; the palms that had directly touched Hou Pan were the worst, completely carbonized, with faint red embers lingering on the edges, like a lit cigarette.

Moreover, the charred parts faintly showed a tendency to spread upward.

This scene left all three people present stunned.

Only Hou Pan, coughing while letting out two cold, mocking laughs, said, "Even if you catch me, you can't kill me! So what if you caught me?! Hu Zhengzheng, you piece of trash, just try laying a hand on me and see if I die first or if you get burned to ashes first!"

Zhang Minxian raised her foot and kicked him hard twice, making him yelp: "What are you acting so arrogant for? If Hu Zhengzheng can't hit you, do you think I can't? Do you believe I'll kick you to death?"

Hu Zhengzheng looked down at Hou Pan. Her fingers were curled from the injury, but she seemed not to feel it, just keeping her head lowered, her long black hair falling down to cover her face, making her expression impossible to see.

Zhang Minxian was tired of kicking, so she put her hands on her hips and turned to look at Lin Xiangjun: "Miss Lin, why don't we just stab Hou Pan to death? The game doesn't seem to have a rule that Hu Zhengzheng must be the one to kill him for us to clear the instance, right?"