The morning ended with this calm yet eerie atmosphere.

Hatred filled the Count’s eyes as he looked at everyone, but he did not make a move.

Mo Bai knew that the Count cared about the maids’ and the butler’s presence and wouldn't act lightly under their watch.

More importantly, the Count couldn't move freely in sunlight. Daylight is very harmful to him, so he was waiting for nightfall.

If they couldn't deal with the Count during the day, she would undoubtedly die tonight.

Of course, there was another possibility: she might not die, but instead be turned into a living puppet by the Count, forced to endure a life worse than death inside the instance.

They had to take action today.

However, with the maid and the butler around, it was difficult for them to act freely.

Therefore, the first thing they needed to do this morning was to eliminate the maid and the butler.

These two types of B-rank monsters were not hard to kill. Ding Xun said that she alone could take down five maids.

The problem was that there were a total of eleven maids and one stronger butler. The numbers were simply too overwhelming. They only had four people, and Mo Bai was a support-type player with little combat ability.

Gu Tiandong was slightly stronger than Mo Bai, but all his talent points were invested in defense, making combat his weak point.

Ye Pingjun, on the other hand, had real fighting ability. He carried three item cards. The B-rank item Pattern Deduction had already been used up, but since he obtained it inside the instance, it did not occupy a B-rank card slot. That meant he still had one B-rank and C-rank card remaining.

Ye Pingjun’s C-rank item was called“Scratch Lottery,” which he purchased to complement his abilities. This card could increase or decrease a person’s luck by scratching it, with a winning probability identical to real-life scratch cards: less than 1%. It was widely acknowledged as a useless card, so much so that no one would even buy it for 500 points.

Moreover, because players constantly farmed daily instances and obtained Scratch Lottery, the system had to recycle too many of them. The recycling price dropped from 1,000 points to 300 points, as if the system were telling players, “I’m not a garbage dump.”

Yet Ye Pingjun had a whole stack of these cards.

Not only did he get them himself from daily instances, but he also bought them from others for 500 points each. Every time he entered an instance, he would bring this card with him.

Because as long as he didn’t win, the card would reduce his luck value. The amount reduced was random, usually between 10 and 30. To Ye Pingjun, this was his strongest card.

His other B-rank card was a weapon card called “Thunderclap Whip.” Once it wrapped around an enemy, it could release terrifying electric currents, electrocuting the enemy into charcoal.

The Thunderclap Whip could be reused, but its electric shock effect only worked twice. After that, it became an ordinary whip.

Ye Pingjun could handle two maids on his own.

Gu Tiandong also bought a B-rank card called “Auto-Aiming Handgun.” It really was just a handgun that could load six bullets. Its advantage was that it could be repeatedly cardified and reused.

Its strength was that even a non-combat observation-type player could hit the intended target. Its weakness was that it didn’t come with bullets.

To use this handgun, Gu Tiandong had to purchase the C-rank item “Magazine.” Just this one handgun took up his remaining two item slots. Fortunately, each Magazine contained ten bullets. After firing six shots, it could still replenish four more.

Although this handgun could assist with aiming, the maids were extremely fast and could very likely dodge the bullets. Gu Tiandong himself couldn’t guarantee how many maids he would actually hit.

Gu Tiandong’s final C-rank card was purchased to match his ability. His title was Frozen Angel, which protected him and his ability, matching that title, was called “Keep Your Distance.” (T/N: After several minutes of overthinking, I think this final C card is still talking about the Bullet Magazine *face palm* Author's note at next chapter explained the errors.)

The combination of his title and ability meant: The cold, aloof male idol keeps others at arm’s length. Ordinary people don’t even try.

As a result, Gu Tiandong’s ability was absurdly strong.

He could completely defend against attacks from anyone whose appearance value was lower than his. Because of this, the ability could also be called “Ugly Rejection.”

After activating his ability, he could set up a frost barrier between himself and the enemy, blocking all incoming attacks.

However, this ability had a time limit. Because “sincerity melts the iceberg,” as long as the opponent attacked continuously for long enough, the barrier could be broken.

In theory, Gu Tiandong’s defensive ability was actually quite popular among players. Even though he belonged to the observation group and lacked combat ability, combat-type players would still want to team up with him.

But once he teamed up with others, his ability changed. It would only completely defend against enemies whose appearance value was below the team’s average.

Combat-type players usually didn’t have high appearance values. Once Gu Tiandong’s appearance was averaged out, it couldn’t compete with naturally handsome and beautiful A-rank monsters. At best, it could only defend against slightly uglier B-rank monsters and C-rank monsters that didn’t fit human aesthetics at all.

In other words, Gu Tiandong was invincible when fighting alone. No one could kill him. But once he teamed up, he could only defend against weaker monsters.

In this battle, if Gu Tiandong teamed up only with Mo Bai, he could completely defend against the Count’s attacks. But the Count was very handsome, so once Ding Xun and Ye Pingjun were included, the Count’s attacks could easily pierce Gu Tiandong’s defense.

The most useless part was that this defense was two-way.

If Gu Tiandong used Keep Your Distance while attacking the maids and the butler, his bullets wouldn’t be able to hit them either, as they would be blocked by the frost barrier. Unless it was an ability like Mo Bai’s, which could remotely manipulate objects, this ability would trap both himself and his teammates.

However, with Mo Bai around, pairing this ability with her Physical Manipulation ability became a guaranteed kill combination.

Mo Bai’s original plan was to use Ironhide Skin and Breath Transfer to draw the Phantom Butterfly’s attention, then have herself and Gu Tiandong ambush it from behind with the handgun.

Alternatively, she could draw the Phantom Butterfly’s attacks onto herself. When it struck, Gu Tiandong would activate Keep Your Distance to defend against it, place the handgun outside the defensive zone, and have Mo Bai control the handgun remotely to attack the Phantom Butterfly.

With twelve bullets, even if the Phantom Butterfly didn’t die, it would be severely injured. (T/N: Idk why it's 12 instead of 10, I'm just following the raws orz)

They were already prepared to deal with the Phantom Butterfly when they entered the instance.

Now, with Ding Xun and Ye Pingjun’s help, Mo Bai had driven off the Phantom Butterfly using only Ironhide Skin and Breath Transfer. Gu Tiandong’s weapon could now be used on the Count instead.

Bullets and the Thunderclap Whip were consumable items. Using them on maids and the butler would be a waste.

Dealing with small monsters couldn’t rely solely on the four of them. They needed help from other players.

They had eliminated hidden monsters and the No. 11 player-killer. It could be said that No. 3 and No. 8 had benefited from their luck. Otherwise, no one knew who would have died today.

The four of them unanimously agreed that No. 3 and No. 8 should at least help deal with a few maids.

But Mo Bai felt that they shouldn’t be the ones asking No. 3 and No. 8. Instead, those two players should come begging them for protection.

So during breakfast, Mo Bai and the others acted as if they had everything figured out. They saved No. 3 and No. 8 when they almost sat in the wrong seats, and then waited for them to ask for help.

After breakfast, No. 3 and No. 8 kept observing the four of them, trying to figure out who the leader was.

They naturally ignored the disabled Mo Bai, the loli-like Gu Tiandong, and the unremarkable Ye Pingjun, assuming that the leader was Ding Xun, who looked obviously capable of fighting.

Everyone had shrunk to the appearance of thirteen or fourteen-year-olds, yet Ding Xun was still the tallest among them, with extremely well-developed arm muscles, which was clear proof of her strength.

After the meal, No. 3 and No. 8 moved close to Ding Xun and whispered, “You must know something, right? What exactly happened last night? Why are No. 6 and No. 11 gone? Why did the seats change?”

Ding Xun put on a cold, intimidating expression that made her look very hard to mess with.

She said, “Last night, the Count killed No. 6 and No. 11. Today, he tried to force us to break the rules by manipulating the seats, but we predicted it in advance.”

“Ah… wasn’t it said that this instance has a 50% survival rate? Four people have already died. Why is the Count still killing people?” No. 3 asked in fear.

Ding Xun replied, “The survival rate is below 50%, not equal to 50%. Zero percent is also below 50%. What this instance means is that if everyone manages to survive until the seventh day, the Count will only kill 50% of the players. But no one can guarantee we’ll make it to the seventh day.

“Now that the Count knows we found our seats by using marks, those marks will definitely disappear by lunch. By then, who knows who will die next.”

Ding Xun was right. Mo Bai inferred that since the Count had intelligence, every trick they used could only work once. The next time, the Count would be prepared.

If No. 1 and No. 2 hadn’t died last night, they definitely wouldn’t have allowed Mo Bai to cut their clothes again.

They used marks to find their seats at breakfast, and the Count had certainly noticed it. By lunch, those marks would either disappear or be deliberately altered into identical markings, making it impossible to tell which ones they had left themselves.

But that didn’t matter. Mo Bai had already thought of a new method.

This was thanks to Ding Xun’s Super Intuition ability, which allowed her to possess a sense of smell far beyond that of ordinary people.

Each meal had many types of food. Each person chose a strongly scented food and crushed it onto the table. No matter how thoroughly the maid and butler cleaned, as long as they didn’t have supernatural abilities to completely erase traces, a scent would remain.

Mo Bai came up with this method based on Mo Xiangyou’s ability.

Mo Bai chose cilantro, Ding Xun chose an onion, Ye Pingjun chose garlic, and Gu Tiandong chose ginger.

They only used a small amount of food. Although it was a bit wasteful, it definitely didn’t exceed 10%.

Their actions were also very discreet, and they even acted as if they disliked these foods. It would be difficult for the Count to notice their method, and they could keep using it indefinitely.

However, No. 3 and No. 8 didn’t leave any scent. When lunchtime came, even Mo Bai wouldn’t be able to find their seats.

Realizing this, No. 3 and No. 8 turned pale, unsure of what to do.

At that moment, Mo Bai, sitting in her wheelchair, extended both hands and held theirs.

They felt a slip of paper pressed into their palms.

Mo Bai smiled at them and said nothing else.

After returning to their room, the two opened the note and saw it read:

“At 9 a.m. we will take action. We'll open the doors together and eliminate all the maids and the butler. There are eleven maids in total. You take five, we’ll take six. We’ll also handle the butler. The maids’ weakness is that they will mechanically bite off any object that sticks out of a room door. You can use that moment to attack their head or heart. Of course, you may refuse. We can eliminate all the maids ourselves, but if that happens, no one will lead us to the dining hall at lunch.”

The handwriting was firm and powerful, with each stroke carrying an unyielding resolve.

Although the note said they could refuse, No. 3 and No. 8 could clearly see that if they did, they would be left to fend for themselves at lunch.