Mutual Redemption with the Villainous Boss [Infinite] - Chapter 15

The monster slammed violently against the small door. Zhu Ci pressed her back against it, bracing through one impact after another.

Finally, the assault began to weaken until it stopped completely.

The monster had given up.

She gasped for air, exhaling cautiously as she tentatively stood up to leave.

She couldn’t go back inside the ship. If Isaac’s men discovered her now, she would be dead for certain.

She had been too careless. How could she have been so reckless this time? She had rushed headlong into danger without understanding the full puzzle, causing her to miss a critical detail.

The mermaid’s tears were the treasure, but the monster at the bottom of the sea was not a mermaid at all.

Zhu Ci opened the shop and used all her remaining points to exchange for hemostatic trauma medicine.

She took off her jacket, tore half of it to bandage her wound, and pulled it tight. The pain made her groan.

She didn’t have enough points left to buy painkillers; she would just have to endure it.

She took out her communication card and spoke to the other end: “The plan failed. The thing at the bottom of the sea isn’t a mermaid… I’m wounded.”

Yu Jiayi’s voice came from the other side: “Where are you now?”

The fact that she could speak proved she wasn’t underwater.

“In… the basement…” The communication card emitted a sizzling static noise. Zhu Ci’s words became blurred and unintelligible, and she couldn’t hear the other side clearly either. After waiting a moment, she cut the connection.

This was exactly what Tana had said yesterday—the reality of having no one else to rely on.

Enduring the intense pain, she supported her shoulder and stood up, cautiously walking to the basement exit to scout outside.

She didn’t dare step out until she was certain no one was there.

Residual blood slid down her arm and dripped onto the floor. Zhu Ci clenched her fist and rubbed it against her clothes several times to wipe it away.

Looking through the glass of the first-floor lobby, Isaac remained on the deck, staring at the water.

Men with guns stood strictly on both sides, filling the entire deck, while the other players had already returned to their rooms.

Going out that way meant certain discovery; leaving through the front was impossible.

She used her knife to cut the glass of a back window. The watermelon knife was incredibly sharp—the glass sliced open easily, creating a small opening just large enough to crawl through.

After struggling to climb out the back, Zhu Ci clutched her wound and landed lightly on the ground.

There, she saw a startled Xiao Die. In one hand, Xiao Die held a three-clawed steel knife dripping with blood; in the other, she gripped the hair of the girl who had been staying by her side.

The girl seemed to have almost no breath left, her chest fluttering shallowly.

Seeing Zhu Ci, Xiao Die let go, and the girl’s head hit the ground with a thud.

She had completely stopped breathing.

Zhu Ci gave a light laugh and raised her knife in front of her face. The blade emitted a flash of light, activating the Sensory Vanisher.

“Sensory Vanisher: 3 uses remaining.”

The pain vanished.

But it would only last for one hour.

She shifted the knife to her right hand and rolled her wrist twice to ensure flexibility. Opposite her, Xiao Die raised her left hand. A card glowed brilliantly, which she then snapped into her sleeve-arm sensor.

Zhu Ci steadied her heart and gripped her knife. “Your crying was very convincing,” she said, “but your words were full of holes. You know better than anyone why Luo Yongcheng went to your room that night.”

A look of unprecedented coldness appeared on Xiao Die’s face. She brandished her steel knife, pointing it directly at Zhu Ci. “Li Jiangong humiliated me, so I killed him. Am I wrong? I am a weak woman trying to survive in this dungeon. Is it wrong to use special means? Murder isn’t even illegal here! If I didn’t get Luo Yongcheng to help me, and you all voted me out, what was I supposed to do?”

“I would die!”

“I don’t know if you’re wrong or not,” Zhu Ci shook her head, looking at the girl on the ground. “I only know that they did nothing wrong.”

“I had no choice. I want to leave this place,” Xiao Die tilted her head back. Her voice carried a sob, but no tears fell. “Her companion wouldn’t let me stay with them, so I had to have Luo Yongcheng kill her. And as for her—”

Xiao Die turned her head toward the girl on the ground. “She actually hid an important enchantment card from the dungeon and didn’t plan on telling me. Aren’t we supposed to be friends?”

She had gone completely mad.

“You’re willing to kill just for a single item card?”

“You don’t understand anything at all!”

Xiao Die said viciously, “It wasn’t just those two. I’ve already been through a dungeon before. In that dungeon, if I hadn’t relied on other players, I wouldn’t have survived without item cards!”

While Xiao Die was immersed in her own world, Zhu Ci’s gaze drifted toward the edge of the ship. The ship’s anchor was resting by the side, not far away.

“You’ve already been through other dungeons, and you entered another one so soon? Weren’t the points you earned enough to live on for a while?”

Zhu Ci was preparing for an opportunity, keeping the conversation going to distract her.

“For those who don’t solve all the mysteries, the points earned are far from enough. That’s why we have to keep entering dungeons.”

Xiao Die stared at her as if trying to bore a hole through her. “I really… I really envy you. I can’t even imagine where the riddles lead, yet you do it so easily. You even got that neurotic, crazy woman to follow you willingly. Why? Why is the gap between people so large? I have to sacrifice my body and act pitiful, while you get everything just by thinking a little.”

“Why? Why are you so beautiful, yet you don’t have to sell yourself?”

“However, your luck has run out,” Xiao Die’s voice sounded like a ghost, pulling her lips into a smile. “I just got this card, and then I ran into you.”

Zhu Ci’s heart jumped. She took a large step back just as the steel knife slammed into the ground where she had been standing. The speed was incredibly fast.

Xiao Die touched her sleeve, summoning a soft whip. She swung it over her head, snagging the steel knife on the ground and flipping it back into her hand.

The whip lashed out again, specifically targeting Zhu Ci’s wounds.

Zhu Ci pretended to be in pain to make her let down her guard, though the Sensory Vanisher was still in effect.

She caught the whip with her knife and pulled backward. Xiao Die was nearly pulled to the ground but stabilized herself with the steel knife.

Though Xiao Die had a soft, rounded figure, her movements were incredibly fluid, like a dance. The whip created light patterns in her hand; with just a slight loosen and pull, the whip detached from the knife and returned to her.

Zhu Ci thought rapidly. She only had one bullet left in her gun and would have to wait three hours for the next. The only tools she could use now were her knife and the limited card Water-Soluble Mermaid Tear.

It would be a long time before Yu Jiayi could rescue her, especially since Yu Jiayi was on the other side of the ship and would find it hard to get here.

And Xiao Die had yet to use the enchantment card she had picked up.

As she was thinking, the next whip strike came. The whip followed its momentum forward while Xiao Die raised the three-pronged steel knife, aiming directly for Zhu Ci’s forehead.

If she dodged the whip, she would surely be pierced by the knife.

In that split second, she crouched low. Using all her strength, she lunged and slammed into Xiao Die’s chest.

The whip struck Zhu Ci’s back heavily.

At the same time, the knife sank into Xiao Die’s abdomen.

Xiao Die clutched her stomach, swaying. She stumbled back a few steps and fell to the ground.

Immediately, she raised her whip.

The whip emitted a beam of light.

Zhu Ci watched helplessly as her own knife fell to the ground with a sharp clang.

On Xiao Die’s body, not a single wound remained.

She giggled, holding the whip high. “Now do you see how important item cards are? This is the enchantment card of this dungeon—Mermaid’s Healing.”

With that, she swung the whip again. Zhu Ci rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding it.

Now, she had no weapon in her hands.

She summoned her gun. As she dodged the next attack, she jumped into the water.

The monster underwater failed to notice her for the moment, and since she could temporarily breathe in the sea, she was safe. Xiao Die stood at the ship’s edge, searching for her silhouette in the water.

Zhu Ci swam toward the anchor. She reached it and poked her head above the surface.

Seeing her, Xiao Die ran to the anchor and lashed out with her whip, trying to bind her and pull her back onto the ship.

Zhu Ci grabbed the side of the ship with her hands and climbed up with her feet. Using the momentum of the whip’s pull, she leaped out of the sea and flew into the air!

Using her body’s full weight and inertia, she pressed down on the anchor, causing it to fall toward Xiao Die.

Xiao Die’s eyes widened. She tried to retreat, but she wasn’t fast enough. The anchor shaft slammed directly into her leg.

Zhu Ci jumped off the anchor and stood before her. “You can’t use the enchantment card this time, can you? After all, most of them have time limits.”

“Item cards are indeed important, but if you rely on them constantly, you’ll neglect yourself.”

With that, she reached out and took the card attached to Xiao Die’s sleeve-arm.

“You lost. So, this is mine now.”

Zhu Ci snapped the card into her own sleeve sensor. A line of text appeared on the screen:

Mermaid’s Healing (SSR) Heals one fatal injury. Cooldown: 30 minutes. Uses remaining: 9.

Zhu Ci was stunned for a long time. It was her first time getting an SSR card. She said to Xiao Die, “No wonder you were willing to kill for it. It’s such a powerful item card.”

Xiao Die was in too much pain to respond.

“I won’t judge your actions; I don’t have the right. Whether you kill or whether you’ve done wrong doesn’t matter.” She leaned close to Xiao Die and whispered softly, “What matters is that I won’t do those things. I will find the answer to the riddle, get the mermaid’s treasure, and lead everyone out of here.”

“Including you. Among everyone I intend to save, you are included.”

Xiao Die looked up, struggling to meet her eyes.

She saw Zhu Ci take the whip card, place it in the second slot, and apply the Mermaid’s Healing enchantment directly to the whip.

She kicked the anchor aside and pointed the whip at Xiao Die.

The pain in Xiao Die’s leg lessened until it finally vanished.

Zhu Ci then tossed the whip card back to her. “I just borrowed it. Here, it’s yours.”

Xiao Die stood up shakily, watching Zhu Ci’s retreating back.

“Mermaid’s Healing: 8 uses remaining.”

Zhu Ci headed toward the second floor. The Sensory Vanisher was about to expire, and the pain was starting to return.

“You did it.”

The voice behind her was calm and gentle. She turned around.

Tana stood there with her hands behind her back, wearing a pure white dress, her long black hair fluttering.

She stepped forward and lightly embraced Zhu Ci. “Even without me, you can do it on your own.”

“I just stumbled my way through,” Zhu Ci said bashfully. “What are you doing here?”

Tana didn’t answer, only saying, “You’re so badly hurt.”

“It’s okay. The bleeding has stopped.”

Tana looked at her wound, her eyes full of heartache.

“Really, it’s fine.”

“Take this,” Tana withdrew her gaze and took out the piece of paper with the characters on it, pressing it into her hand. “Now you can solve it.”

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