Annoying Village HIM stared hard at Tyrant HIM, trying to make eye contact, hoping to get some kind of response.
However, at this moment, Tyrant HIM wasn't paying attention to Annoying Village HIM at all.
He was just like Annoying Village HIM earlier, staring intently at the area below.
"The number of people hasn't gone down much… looks like large-scale wars haven't broken out yet…"
Tyrant HIM murmured softly, his tone carrying a trace of anxiety.
The fact that there hadn't been a massive reduction in the number of contestants in the Trial Grounds meant that all the major factions had already formed and were secretly developing, preparing for the final great war.
That was also the reason for Tyrant HIM's anxiety.
Tyrant HIM knew his advantage was his strong army, but he also knew his weakness well.
Even though he had a huge army, most of it consisted of mindless monsters refreshed from the Trial Grounds.
These monsters were numerous, but they lacked proper equipment support, and their combat strength was relatively weak.
No matter how many of those mindless monsters Tyrant HIM had, when they faced contestants with proper equipment and awareness, they were nothing more than walking corpses.
Although Tyrant HIM had planned from the beginning to use a "sea of corpses" strategy, this tactic had many limitations.
First, the monsters could only move at night. Second, they only attacked players.
Once a battle broke out, the enemy could easily use these weaknesses to turn the situation around.
The simplest way to solve the disadvantage of monsters only being active at night was to make them all wear hats.
And the simplest way to solve the problem of monsters only attacking players was to add an army of iron golems.
But both methods required a large amount of villager trading.
Tyrant HIM had also encountered mindless villagers refreshed in the Trial Grounds before. They could trade equipment for emeralds.
However, emeralds, the resource that supported trading, were extremely scarce for Tyrant HIM.
He had, of course, tried mining for emeralds, but didn't gain much.
So, he turned his sights toward the Pillagers. In fact, he had been looking for them for a long time, but luck wasn't on his side, he hadn't found any yet.
Not long ago, though, he received information about the Pillagers' hiding place.
He was secretly planning that, once this time freeze ended, he would head to the forest area to capture them.
Just as Tyrant HIM was quietly planning how to capture the Pillagers, he suddenly felt something strange.
It was like he was being watched. Alert, he looked around cautiously, but found nothing unusual. Just as confusion set in, that feeling of being stared at returned, making his heart tighten.
Tyrant HIM suddenly looked up, and at that moment, his gaze met Annoying Village HIM's. Their eyes locked, and it felt as if an invisible spark flashed between them.
Tyrant HIM's heart jolted. He realized that the strange feeling he'd sensed earlier had come from Annoying Village HIM.
His expression darkened.
'Is he planning to start with me first?'
Seeing Annoying Village HIM staring at him so intently, Tyrant HIM naturally thought he meant harm.
Not to be outdone, Tyrant HIM glared back fiercely, as if to say, "I'm ready."
At that moment, seeing Tyrant HIM finally look in his direction, Annoying Village HIM got a bit excited.
"He finally noticed!"
But when he saw the hostile look in Tyrant HIM's eyes, his excitement immediately vanished.
It was obvious Tyrant HIM had misunderstood his intentions.
Annoying Village HIM couldn't help but feel helpless. Although the waiting room was transparent, it was completely isolated from the outside. He had no way to explain his intent clearly to Tyrant HIM.
After thinking for a moment, Annoying Village HIM looked toward Xu Yuan's direction. Seeing Xu Yuan still resting with his eyes closed, he finally relaxed his guard.
He looked back at Tyrant HIM, then opened his mouth slowly and formed the words, "Co...op... er... ate..."
Seeing all of Annoying Village HIM's movements, Tyrant HIM froze.
"???..."
"What on earth is he doing?..."
Although Tyrant HIM didn't understand what Annoying Village HIM was doing, he could see he was saying something.
Seeing the shape of his mouth, Tyrant HIM's mind started spinning.
"That mouth shape…"
"Live... live capture??..."
The waiting rooms of Annoying Village HIM and Tyrant HIM were a certain distance apart. Tyrant HIM could see Annoying Village HIM over there, but not very clearly.
He did see that Annoying Village HIM seemed to say something, but since there was no sound at all, he could only guess based on his mouth movements.
To guess someone's words from their mouth shape, you had to connect it to the current situation and what was happening at the time.
From Tyrant HIM's perspective, it just looked like Annoying Village HIM suddenly stared at him for no reason, then said two words.
Since Tyrant HIM and Annoying Village HIM were enemies, he instinctively interpreted it from that point of view.
'Live capture?' Tyrant HIM wondered silently.
'Who's he planning to capture alive?...' Thinking of that, he recalled Annoying Village HIM's earlier actions.
He remembered that Annoying Village HIM had suddenly appeared in front of him and looked at him with a provocative expression, as if saying their fight wasn't over yet.
At first, Tyrant HIM thought Annoying Village HIM was just provoking him, but now it didn't seem that simple.
Then, Annoying Village HIM looked toward Xu Yuan before saying those two words to him.
So maybe those words were related to Xu Yuan.
"He wants to capture Xu Yuan alive?..." Tyrant HIM speculated.
Thinking of that, Tyrant HIM raised his head again and looked in Xu Yuan's direction. When he saw Xu Yuan calmly resting with his eyes closed, he felt a wave of surprise.
"This guy is so relaxed, is he really feeling no pressure about this battle?" Tyrant HIM thought, puzzled.
Seeing Xu Yuan's calm and leisurely posture, Tyrant HIM grew more uneasy.
Right now, anyone with half an eye could tell that the Trial Grounds were on the verge of a massive war. It was obviously the most tense, most critical moment.
Yet Xu Yuan looked completely detached, not nervous at all, even closing his eyes to rest in the waiting area.
That kind of behavior clearly showed that he was fully confident and prepared.
Seeing Xu Yuan's state, Tyrant HIM immediately dismissed his earlier guess.
"With how Xu Yuan looks right now… what makes him think he could capture Xu Yuan alive?..."
"No, if he really wanted to capture Xu Yuan, why tell me?"
The more Tyrant HIM thought about it, the less sense it made.
Then his face grew doubtful again, and he went into another round of mental brainstorming.
"Wait…"
"Could it be… he wants to capture me alive???"
"Is he openly provoking me?!"
Since Annoying Village HIM couldn't possibly be targeting Xu Yuan, that only left one option, himself.
Although Tyrant HIM hadn't interacted much with Annoying Village HIM, he could tell from their brief encounter that Annoying Village HIM was arrogant.
Even though his behavior had seemed strange earlier, in Tyrant HIM's eyes, Annoying Village HIM was definitely the kind of person who would provoke someone to their face.
Thinking that, Tyrant HIM glared back viciously, then curled his finger at him and slowly mouthed, "If... you... have... the... guts... come... get... me..."
At this point, Annoying Village HIM didn't know exactly what Tyrant HIM had said, but seeing the overflowing hostility in his eyes, he knew Tyrant HIM had definitely misunderstood something.
Annoying Village HIM sighed, looking helplessly at Tyrant HIM, thinking to himself, 'Was that mouth shape really that hard to read?!!'
'What did he even think I said?!!'
He felt speechless. In his mind, smart people didn't need to talk much, just a look was enough to understand each other.
He had admittedly looked down on Tyrant HIM before, but after hearing from the real HIM that they were actually different versions of the same self from different dimensions, he no longer underestimated him.
He knew Tyrant HIM didn't have as much information as he did, and he was worried Tyrant HIM might not catch his hint.
So after making eye contact, he first glanced at Xu Yuan, then looked back at Tyrant HIM and slowly spoke his plan.
In Annoying Village HIM's view, anyone even slightly smart, seeing Xu Yuan's calm state, would already get the message.
His hint couldn't have been clearer, but it never crossed his mind that Tyrant HIM still wouldn't get it.
'Is he really me from another world?...'
'Can I really win working with him?...'
At this point, Annoying Village HIM even started doubting Tyrant HIM's identity, and also began doubting his potential as a partner.
'Forget it… treat the dead horse like a living one…'
After thinking for a moment, Annoying Village HIM decided to continue with his plan anyway.
Since Tyrant HIM had been chosen and managed to survive until now, it showed he was capable, maybe just a little slower mentally…
But that was actually a good thing for Annoying Village HIM.
He knew their cooperation was temporary, they were only joining forces because Xu Yuan's power had grown too dominant.
Once they managed to eliminate Xu Yuan's faction, only he and Tyrant HIM would remain.
With Annoying Village HIM's cunning and temperament, he was confident he could easily take down Tyrant HIM and win the Trial.
To be fair, Annoying Village HIM was quite optimistic, always trying to think positively.
After sorting out his thoughts, he looked at Tyrant HIM again.
This time, he didn't say anything more. Instead, he pointed toward the forest area inside the Trial Grounds.
Not long after Annoying Village HIM pointed at the forest, Tyrant HIM followed his gesture and looked down at the same area.
At that moment, Tyrant HIM's expression instantly became complicated.
'The forest?!'
His next destination just happened to be the forest area. Seeing Annoying Village HIM point there, his brain nearly froze.
'How does he know I'm heading to the forest?!'
'He's planning to capture me there?!!'
Thinking that, Tyrant HIM tensed up again, watching Annoying Village HIM warily.
Just as he was looking at him with full alert, Annoying Village HIM suddenly made an unexpected move.
He clasped his hands together.
Seeing that motion, Tyrant HIM finally understood what Annoying Village HIM meant.
'He wants to cooperate??'