Seeing the short man's move, a flicker of excitement crossed Leon Lynn's face. 'Once those three are dead or wounded,' he thought, 'I'll be the one to reap all the benefits!'
Renee Kane had noticed the moment the short man pulled out his Crossbow Arrow, and Leon Lynn's expression was so blatant it was impossible to miss.
The instant the Crossbow Arrow flew, she deftly sidestepped, raised her hand, and snatched the small arrow—its tip glinting with a strange color—right out of the air!
The short man's smile froze on his face.
But before he could even turn to run, a bullet had already pierced his shoulder!
Tsk.
Renee Kane was a bit displeased. 'I was aiming for his head… Guess I still need more target practice.'
Fortunately, the ten High Level Physique Transformation Cards had made her physical attributes astonishing, so she ignored the gun's recoil and fired another shot.
This one hit him square in the chest.
Leon Lynn's heart jumped. He quickly forced a smile. "Brute, you're incredible! As expected, people who betray their own boss can't be allowed to live!"
Seeing that the short man and Mr. Rhodes were both dead, Logan felt a sense of grim satisfaction. At the same time, he knew that given Renee Kane's skill, he had no chance of escape.
Shooting a scornful glance at Leon Lynn, who thought he had escaped his fate, Logan threw himself back onto the rattan chair and closed his eyes. "I really misjudged the situation this time. I admit defeat. It's a worthless life anyway, so kill me if you want. Who knows, maybe after I die, I'll go straight back to the real world, hahaha…"
Renee Kane had no interest in last words. With a lift of her hand, she finished Logan off cleanly and efficiently.
In the blink of an eye, only two living people remained in the cave: Renee Kane and Leon Lynn.
After witnessing Renee Kane catch a Crossbow Arrow with her bare hands, Leon Lynn lost any thought of resisting.
Yet, the expression on his face remained composed, as he believed he hadn't done anything to wrong Renee Kane—at least not openly.
'It was all Logan's idea,' he rationalized. 'I'm clearly a pitiful victim too.'
His mind racing, Leon Lynn put on an eager, fawning smile. "Brute, you're a closed beta player too, right? That means you have a spatial inventory, doesn't it? Thank you so much for saving me. If it weren't for you, those bastards would have tortured me to death!
"Consider these supplies my thank-you gift. And what I told you before—about luring Spinning Top out—that offer still stands! For a person of your caliber, if you could get Spinning Top to open chests for you, you'd quickly become an overlord in this world!"
With that, he laid out a considerable amount of food and supplies on the open ground, making a great show of his sincerity.
Renee Kane remained noncommittal. Naturally, she wouldn't turn down free supplies that were handed to her on a silver platter.
But the moment she put the supplies away, she finished Leon Lynn off without a moment's hesitation.
'Did he really think I didn't see that gleeful look on his face when the short man made his move?'
Besides, people who betrayed their friends so readily only brought back disgusting memories for Renee Kane.
*
The trip back was much simpler.
However, the temperature didn't drop as the sun slowly set. Instead, the red glow seeping from the cracks in the ground made the air feel increasingly suffocating.
Even hiding in a cave at this point only offered slight relief.
Watching the light from the fissures grow more conspicuous, even faintly echoing the sunset, Renee Kane's heart tightened. 'The magma's activity is gradually increasing.'
Following her GPS, she carefully pressed the accelerator.
Just as she reached the cliff wall at the entrance, the tires finally gave out and burst.
Renee Kane got out of the car. Even through the thick soles of her shoes, she could still feel the heat radiating from the ground.
She stored the car away and quickly returned to her previous cave.
The most grueling part of the Pyralis instance was that there was almost no temperature difference between night and day.
This was especially true after the first mass volcanic eruption, as magma activity became more and more frequent.
Although the sun was shrouded by layered black clouds, the ubiquitous magma and Fire Ants continued to reap the lives of players in large numbers.
Fortunately, having been through this once before, Renee Kane had more than enough experience dealing with Fire Ants.
In her past life, Renee Kane's pickaxe was a common iron one that cost 5 Life Value. Not only could it not make falling rocks disappear, but digging into the mountain with it was also slow and exhausting.
To save time and conserve Physical Strength, she had only dug out a gourd-shaped space just big enough to fit inside, then used all the fallen rocks to block the entrance.
She had not only luckily avoided the volcanic eruption but had also coincidentally blocked the path of the Fire Ant swarm. The few stray Fire Ants that wandered by were picked off one by one, and in the end, she survived.
This time, she had far more supplies. There was no reason she should have it worse than in her past life.
She took out a safe house and set it up, then pulled several huge rocks from her inventory to block the entrance, and placed a few infrared alarms in the corners.
The appearance of Miss Black Tights, as well as Theo Sherman and his wife landing nearby, had made Renee Kane even more cautious.
Thanks to the butterfly effect, there was no guarantee other players wouldn't land nearby. The game's items were bizarre and varied; if there was one person with heaven-defying luck like Spinning Top, there could be more "Medium Tops" or "Great Tops" out there.
She could never be too careful.
Once inside the safe house, Renee Kane finally relaxed and began to feel a little tired.
It wasn't exhaustion, just a pure lack of energy from the heat.
She took a long gulp of iced milk tea and finally felt like she was coming back to life.
She opened the chat hall, where messages were scrolling by even more frequently.
But they were mostly from people looking to buy heat-relief medicine, saline solution, or electrolytes.
Everyone was slowly discovering that in this heat, drinking large amounts of water would only kill them faster.
Sweat constantly depleted their bodies of sodium, potassium, and chloride. For players who were already short on supplies, just having water to drink was a blessing, let alone being able to replenish enough electrolytes.
When the first group of players suffering from muscle weakness or even cardiac arrest due to hypokalemia appeared, everyone thought they had been poisoned. The chat hall was filled with cries for medicine.
That is, until a player who had been a doctor before the game started kindly explained, "You can't just drink Pure Water when you're sweating a lot. You have to replenish your electrolytes."
Only then did everyone realize that even drinking water could cause problems.
The panicking players naturally began trying to buy electrolytes and light saltwater solutions.
Some people even started calling out the doctor who had offered the explanation.
"If you knew the solution, why didn't you say so earlier?!"
"Is that even a question? He did it on purpose. I've had it with these self-righteous pricks. He only explains after people are already on the verge of death. Just showing off how smart he is."
"Exactly! I've already drunk so much Pure Water, and now I feel weak. Do I need those... whatever, electrolytes and stuff now? You didn't say anything sooner, so this is your fault! You have to take responsibility!"
...
Renee Kane was so exasperated by these people she almost laughed.
But whether in her past life or this one, there was no shortage of people like that.
Their moral compass was incredibly flexible; they demanded others be saints, while they themselves could always be forgiven.
That way, they could pick through the ashes of the very saints they condemned, searching for holy relics to trade for their own gain.