96: Zhang, I hope you will be fine in your next life!

“You—”

Lizi was frantic. Watching A Shi run wildly, seeing the rapidly disappearing number grid above his head decrease at high speed, she felt her blood pressure rush straight to her head, almost making her faint on the spot.

Especially seeing the Snowmen constantly closing in, she was even more furious, immediately pulling out a crossbow from her inventory.

If you won't let me live, then you won't either!

Lizi raised her crossbow and entered aiming mode.

Cheng Zhen was surprised that this quiet, shy girl had such a trick up her sleeve and quickly stopped her.

“No, no, no, Lizi, don’t do that!”

Lizi was even more shocked when she saw Cheng Zhen was actually going to let the other party go.

Her eyes looked as if they wanted the Leshan Giant Buddha to come down and let Cheng Zhen take his place.

“Don’t panic.”

Cheng Zhen calmly pulled out the customers who had just returned home not long ago and formed a circle, using them as meat shields.

Customers: Aminos?

There was once an opportunity placed before me, but I did not cherish it. Only after losing it did I regret it endlessly.

If Heaven could give me another chance, I would definitely say:

I will never eat beef noodles again!!!

The customers were frozen numb, but that only temporarily slowed down the attack.

Because under the control of the Snow Giant Beast, Snowmen were continuously spawning; as long as A Shi wasn't stopped, they wouldn't cease.

Brother Tian finally recovered from his skill state, only to see this despair-inducing scene. His blood pressure also shot up, and he wished he could rush over and die with A Shi.

But his legs were still tied with a rope, and Cheng Zhen stopped him.

Facing their puzzled gazes, Cheng Zhen said nothing, only checking the customers' statuses one by one to prevent any issues caused by too many layers of frost.

The numbers above their heads grew smaller and smaller, as if A Shi had already run far away. And the surrounding Snowmen grew more numerous, with the unfortunate customers gradually covered in white frost.

Only when the numbers above their heads became single digits did Cheng Zhen begin to make a new move.

Using the Level 2 Member function, he recalled the customers, who were about to turn into popsicles, into the advertisement interface!

The Snowmen missed, and then tried to attack Cheng Zhen and his two companions, making Brother Tian and Lizi's faces turn pale with fright.

5, 4, 3…

Looking at the numbers above his head, Cheng Zhen felt it was time!

“Rewind.”

He softly spoke to the box in his hand.

As his words fell, it was as if a switch had suddenly been activated.

Several Snowmen surrounding them vanished on the spot, as if they had never appeared.

Brother Tian and Lizi, who had been trying to resist, were stunned, drawing their swords and looking around in confusion.

“Damn it, where is he—gah?!”

A Shi, who was frantically searching, looked up and saw Cheng Zhen and his companions, and he too was dumbfounded.

“Hello there~”

Cheng Zhen smiled and waved at him.

“W-why?!”

A Shi was completely stunned. “I clearly already… Is it you? What skill did you use?!”

“It’s not a skill, oh.”

Cheng Zhen shook the broken and unusable box in his hand. “Didn't the dungeon already give a hint? Solve the puzzle and you can rewind once.”

“Back to when the Snowmen hadn't appeared.”

“It’s just a coincidence that when the Snowmen hadn't appeared, you were actually here!”

“But it’s also normal, after all, that passage was still closed when you entered, and you couldn’t get out. Besides following us, what else could you do?”

Cheng Zhen's few words casually shattered A Shi's composure.

“What a joke! How could this dungeon have such an item?! It can rewind… You clearly said it was to rewind the scene at that time!”

A Shi couldn't believe it, unable to understand how they could have given such an item to Cheng Zhen.

Cheng Zhen spread his hands: “Scene rewind is a dungeon setting, item rewind is my choice. So, of course, I can choose to ‘rewind once’.”

“You didn’t solve the puzzle, so it’s normal that you don’t know.”

Brother Tian & Lizi: …Their feelings were complicated.

They thought they were doomed, but they didn't expect such a turn of events.

The ups and downs of life were truly too thrilling.

While they experienced ups and downs, A Shi experienced ups and downs and downs and downs and downs and downs.

He thought he was about to escape, but he was actually screwed over by a completely overlooked piece of information!

Looking at the '2' above his head, A Shi gritted his teeth and trembled.

“Because I ran out of steps, you want to drag me to die with you? Hahaha, hahaha!”

He looked like a madman: “Then I’ll kill you first! Let’s all die together!!!”

A Shi rushed towards Cheng Zhen with bloodshot eyes, and the numbers above everyone's heads decreased accordingly, reaching zero.

Then…

It reset back to 100.

Everyone: ?

A Shi: ?????

Cheng Zhen smiled: “Actually, I’m not sure what this number 100 is, I just guessed it was a restriction on us.”

“Just a random guess, and you actually believed it?”

“You f***ing…”

A Shi almost choked and passed out. He thought he was going to escape but got rewound, he thought he was going to die but someone was playing with him…

In just a few tens of seconds, he had experienced too much.

A Shi wanted to curse and wanted to run, because Brother Tian had already started flexing his sandbag-sized fists.

“Brother Tian, don’t be like that.” Cheng Zhen stopped him again, which also confused Brother Tian.

“Honestly, I’m quite grateful to you.”

Cheng Zhen looked at A Shi with an utterly 'kind' gaze.

“Thanks to you, I now know…”

Know what?

A Shi was puzzled, then suddenly felt a chill.

A bone-chilling cold that almost froze the flame of life.

He subconsciously looked back, but only saw a giant maw.

The sky-obscuring snow swallowed him, and he seemed to hear the sound of his blood gushing, the crisp snap of his bones.

And, Cheng Zhen’s words—

“Thanks to you, I now know what happens when the number reaches zero.”

“Thank you, may good people live… well, have a good next life!”

The Snow Giant Beast swallowed A Shi, then stared blankly again.

“Alright,” Cheng Zhen clapped his hands: “Now we know that numbers can’t just drop casually, be more careful in this life!”

Brother Tian & Lizi: “…Mhm.”

Cheng Zhen looked around again. Because A Shi had moved two more steps just now, many Snowmen had surged out again.

“So, next we need to work hard to achieve the special ending. Although I’m not sure what the dungeon mission says, it doesn’t matter, that’s not important.”

Cheng Zhen gave a pep talk, then pulled out his walkie-talkie and spoke:

“Buster, how much have you accumulated?”

The reply came from the other end: “Lord, please rest assured, the wood I’ve chopped is enough to upgrade the Level 2 furnace!”