56: The protagonist always appears last!

Now, the roles were reversed.

Song Zhong was the hunter, and Whirlpool had become the prey.

"Could it be that you're going to target other new recruits?"

Whirlpool instantly understood Song Zhong's intention; with a red number plate, he could now target new recruits!

"Smart, but not just new recruits. The rules don't state that I can't attack other Masks!"

Song Zhong casually took the eleven new recruits' number plates that Whirlpool had defeated.

"The rules only said that new recruits with white number plates couldn't steal from each other, but they didn't say that you, who play the Mysterious, couldn't steal plates from each other!"

Whirlpool recalled that Yuan Gang had indeed not mentioned this rule at the time.

He probably never even considered that someone would try such a trick of 'stealing the beam and replacing the pillar.'

What kind of new recruit would snatch a Mask's plate and then think of taking everything?

That's too crazy!

"Then, if you let me go back, won't you regret it?" Whirlpool asked.

"Regret? How could I regret something so interesting?" Song Zhong dangled the red number plate in front of his eyes.

"According to the rules, you are now also a target for other Masks to hunt!"

"So, the most awkward person right now is you, Whirlpool!"

"I look forward to our next meeting!"

Song Zhong left, leaving only the helpless Whirlpool in disarray in the water.

...

The next morning, at five-thirty.

Wang Mian, Balance, and Rose had already arrived at the agreed location.

"Moon Ghost and Whirlpool haven't arrived yet!" Balance said.

"No rush, there's still half an hour, let's wait a bit longer!"

Wang Mian looked at his watch. For some reason, an indescribable feeling always lingered in his heart.

"Cough cough! Captain, I'm back!"

Everyone looked at the distant path; it was Moon Ghost.

"Moon Ghost, you look a bit disheveled. What happened?" The straightforward Rose asked.

"Don't even mention it, my luck is so bad, it's bad enough to buy a lottery ticket!"

Moon Ghost found a place to sit down. "I need to recover first!"

Wang Mian looked at Moon Ghost and asked, "You ran into Lin Qi Ye?"

"Cough cough, not just him, I also met Shen Qingzhu, that Shen Qingzhu of Forbidden Territory Sequence 068 Qi!"

Balance quipped, "Wow, then your luck is really good. Did you take care of them?"

"Take care of them? Taking care of them is impossible!" Moon Ghost let out a long breath. "First, there's that Lin Qi Ye. His Mortal Divine Realm can sense my presence. My invisibility is like streaking in front of him!"

Pfft!

Balance and Rose couldn't hold back their laughter; it was a bit funny!

"Don't laugh, both of you! Not only that, he also teamed up with another super-high-risk sequence girl and brought along that little fatty from the Baili Family!"

Balance mused, "That's indeed a bit tricky. It's normal for you not to be able to handle 'All-Encompassing Frequency Fluctuation' and 'Mortal Divine Realm.'"

"Hey, did you hear me clearly? I said all three of them teamed up!" Moon Ghost reminded him.

"I know, two experts together are indeed tricky. What, are you going to say that the young master of the Baili Family is also deeply hidden?" Balance asked.

"Heh heh, he's too deeply hidden. Those forbidden items are like they're free; I don't know where he pulled them out from. It was terrifying! Good thing I ran fast, or else I'd really be stuck there!"

The smiles on Balance's and Rose's faces disappeared; they had indeed forgotten something.

Although Bai Li Pang Pang was full of weaknesses, he had money! That's truly a skill that works everywhere!

The young master of the Forbidden Item Museum perfectly compensated for his lack of a Forbidden Territory.

"Uh, alright, I admit, even if I encountered them, with my strength only at the Zhan Realm, there would be nothing I could do!" Rose somewhat understood Moon Ghost.

"That's not all; there's also that arrogant Shen Qingzhu. This guy is even more abnormal!"

"How so?" Balance asked.

"Originally, I first dealt with a few of his companions, but that also alerted him! After he discovered me lurking near him, that guy, regardless of friend or foe, directly sucked all the air out of a ten-meter radius! He was shouting something like, 'I don't mind killing you and them here together!'"

Hearing Moon Ghost's description, Wang Mian suddenly asked, "So you retreated?"

"Yes!" Moon Ghost nodded. "At the time, my head was buzzing, and I had already fought Lin Qi Ye and the others, so my condition wasn't too good, which is why I withdrew!"

Wang Mian pondered for a moment, then slowly said, "That guy was probably bluffing you, but it's okay, you made the right decision and didn't put yourself in danger."

Suddenly, Wang Mian looked at his watch. It was already five-fifty, and Whirlpool hadn't arrived yet.

"Why isn't Whirlpool back yet? Nothing unexpected happened, did it?" Rose complained.

"No, you know his personality. I bet he'll appear in front of us at five fifty-nine and fifty-nine seconds, and then dramatically shout, 'The protagonist always appears last!'"

Balance's tone was calm, without a single pause, as smooth as Dove chocolate.

Time passed by minute by minute.

At five fifty-nine and fifty-nine seconds, a figure appeared on the path.

Sure enough, it was Whirlpool, arriving right on time to check in!

"Hey, hey, hey! Whirlpool, you didn't just arrive and then waited until the last second, did you?" Rose shouted.

Whirlpool ignored her.

Balance seemed to sense that something was wrong. "Whirlpool, what's wrong? Why aren't you speaking?"

Whirlpool also ignored Balance, just walked over on his own.

Balance was very curious. Two super-high-risk Forbidden Territories and a God's Proxy had already been encountered by Moon Ghost.

Could it be that Whirlpool had met that Cao Yuan?

Thinking about Cao Yuan's abilities, Balance had a bad premonition.

Oh no, did Whirlpool meet Cao Yuan and get defeated?

However, the Masks had not received any news of Whirlpool being eliminated, meaning his number plate was safe.

Thinking of this, Balance walked forward and patted Whirlpool's shoulder, "What's wrong? Why is our usually fiery Whirlpool a bit unhappy?"

To everyone's surprise, Whirlpool moved Balance's hand away.

Wang Mian's brows furrowed. Could his uneasy premonition be coming from Whirlpool?

The others also realized something was wrong and stood up one after another.

Whirlpool squatted on the ground, burying his face between his knees.

"I'm sorry, my number plate was taken!"

Rose: ⊙︿⊙

Moon Ghost: ᓫ(°⌑°)ǃ

Balance: (꒪⌓꒪)

Wang Mian: ⊙.☉

Balance also squatted beside Whirlpool. "It's nothing, if it's lost, it's lost! You must have run into Cao Yuan, right? With your strength restricted, it's normal to lose to him!"

Whirlpool buried his head deeper.

"No, it wasn't Cao Yuan!"

Huh?

Everyone else, including Wang Mian, thought they had misheard?

Not Cao Yuan?

Could it be that Whirlpool was defeated by someone with a common Forbidden Territory?