44: Bait

Chen Muxun might be hiding in a Secret Realm, but there's also a greater possibility that he's not.

He's been hiding for so long, and a Secret Realm is indeed a reasonable explanation, but it's not his only option.

Currently, it's not just the Liu family, the upper echelons of District 49, searching for Chen Muxun; people from the Zhengling Association are also looking for him.

Once the Zhengling Association learns that Chen Muxun is hiding in a Secret Realm, they will undoubtedly find a way to surround, pursue, and capture him.

Forcibly entering a Secret Realm is not impossible.

Perhaps the Liu family is using this as bait to draw out all the Zhengling Association's pawns in District 49 and catch them all in one fell swoop.

If they can't catch Chen Muxun, can't they at least catch some small fry?

Whether Chen Muxun is in the Secret Realm or not, the students inside are in great danger.

However, fortunately, this news should have only just been released. Even if the Zhengling Association receives the information, they won't easily send people into the Secret Realm to search.

They will most likely observe for a period of time, confirm Chen Muxun's location, and then send people to act.

So, for now, the students are safe, but that might not be the case in a couple of days.

Zhang Sheng has held a high position for many years, so he can probably guess a bit of this trick. Now, he can only hope that the Zhengling Association's people are smart enough not to fall for it.

Even if they do fall for it, they shouldn't choose this place as their battlefield.

At this moment, in a bar private room in Survival Zone 37, District 49.

Several people, dressed in various outfits, gathered here, singing heartily.

"Hey, have you guys heard? Chen Muxun might be hiding in a Secret Realm?"

One of the red-haired youths among them was the first to speak.

"A Secret Realm is indeed a good place; no one would think of it."

Rosen nodded.

"There are so many Secret Realms for exams; if he just picks one to hide in, it would indeed be difficult to find him."

"I don't think Chen Muxun would be that foolish. Once discovered, it would be like catching a turtle in a jar; he would have no way to escape."

"Perhaps he guessed we would think that way, so he did the opposite?"

"The current difficulty is that we can't find a way to enter the Secret Realm to search, nor can we get first-hand intelligence."

The few of them spoke one after another, expressing their opinions.

"If we don't get the item, I don't need to remind everyone of the consequences, right?"

"That's easier said than done, but how do we know if Chen Muxun is hiding inside? What if it's a trap?"

"I think this is probably a trap, designed to lure us in."

"Who cares? Until there's concrete intelligence, we'll treat it as unconfirmed information and won't act rashly."

"That's right."

"Continue, continue."

The few of them continued to vent freely in the bar.

However, just then, Rosen's sudden remark silenced them.

"What if this intelligence is confirmed?"

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent.

If this intelligence was true, then they would have to snatch the person right under the Liu family's nose and from the Enforcement Team.

Things could go wrong, and they might all end up captured.

They only earned so little in a month, so they were naturally unwilling to risk their lives for this.

"What do you want to say?"

The red-haired youth from before came up to Rosen, asking coldly.

"I'm just making a hypothetical assumption."

Rosen said unhurriedly.

"There's no such possibility. Chen Muxun wouldn't hide inside a Secret Realm; that's walking into a trap. All the information is being released by the Liu family and the Enforcement Team to deceive us."

"We can ignore it, but those above us won't."

Rosen continued.

"Even if the Enforcement Team really released false information, what if those above us want to try? You know, we…"

"Things haven't reached that point yet; don't keep making assumptions and ruining the mood."

The red-haired youth vigorously shook Rosen's shoulder, stopping him from speaking further.

If he let Rosen continue, his good mood would be completely gone.

"Well, I'll take your word for it."

Rosen was silent for a moment, then finally spoke five words.

"Continue, continue."

…

Inside Secret Realm Number Five.

Lu Qianyuan lit a bonfire to ward off the cold.

In reality, with his current strength, he wouldn't be affected by such slight cold. He only lit the fire to attract prey.

Whether it was mutated beasts or examinees, they would all be drawn to the firelight.

And they were all Lu Qianyuan's prey.

Before long, several mutated beasts entered his Spiritual Perception.

He got up and left. A minute later, he returned with five score gems.

Five only added eight points; this score was indeed pitifully small.

But since they delivered themselves to him, a little less was fine.

At this rate, he could gain nearly a hundred points in one night.

Not long after, something else entered his perception circle, but this time it wasn't mutated beasts, but several examinees.

There were three in total, all at the second stage, with decent strength.

And Lu Qianyuan found the figures somewhat familiar; they seemed to be from his class.

After a moment, Lu Qianyuan gave up trying to remember.

Lu Qianyuan usually distinguished people based on their strength and Qi in his Spiritual Perception. Their strength wasn't enough for him to remember them; such people were generally treated as strangers by Lu Qianyuan.

"Brother Wang, there's a fire ahead; someone lit a fire."

Zhao En activated his ability, saw the firelight in the forest, and immediately told Wang Xin next to him.

Lighting a fire in a Secret Realm would attract mutated beasts. Only two types of people would dare to light a fire: one was a fool, purely tired of living.

The other was someone extremely confident in their own strength, who had absolute certainty of resolving any mutated beasts attracted by the fire.

Wang Xin didn't believe there would be any fools, so the person in front of them was most likely the latter.

Thinking of this, Wang Xin immediately led his teammates to retreat.

The opponent was very strong, superior to them; at least he wouldn't dare to light a fire in the Secret Realm.

If they encountered him, their accumulated points could very likely be plundered; they couldn't take the risk.

Wang Xin led his teammates to turn and leave, but very quickly, Wang Xin suddenly fell to the ground, as if he had been tripped by something.

His two teammates, seeing this, immediately stopped to help him up.

Wang Xin was also dazed by the fall and didn't recover for a moment.

Just then, Zhao En and the other person were suddenly attacked, and both fell to the ground, finding it difficult to get up for a moment.

Wang Xin recovered, and he immediately took off the temporary Storage Pouch from behind him and placed it on the ground.

"This student, we surrender. All our points are here; you can take them."

"As long as you let us live, everything is yours."

With that, Wang Xin stopped resisting, seemingly waiting for Lu Qianyuan to collect the points.

He appeared to have given up resisting, but in reality, he was secretly accumulating strength.

As soon as Lu Qianyuan dared to take the temporary Storage Pouch, he would immediately strike, attacking the opponent.

He didn't believe that his sudden attack wouldn't cause any disturbance to the opponent.