Chapter 2064: Whether Hiding the Puppet Is Effective
The long-coated man’s words weren’t finished. He glanced at Xu Huo and added, “Damaged puppets might be repaired after recovery, and intact puppets might have their limbs removed after recovery. But all of this likely requires the player to be alive.”
“Not necessarily,” the sweet girl said flatly. “So many people have died, and some have even lost their puppets entirely. If recovered puppets can’t be repaired, wouldn’t the clearance rate be far too low?”
As time passed, it was inevitable that the number of recovered puppets would exceed the number of living players. If a player’s corresponding puppet was completely scrapped and couldn’t be repaired after their death, then the remaining players would only be able to circle around their own puppets, never able to select or obtain a “satisfactory puppet.” Wouldn’t the players be left waiting for death?
“That’s nothing unusual.” The long-coated man continued, “B-rank instances not only extend clearance time, expand the instance area, and add meaningless clues to make players search for a needle in a haystack, but concealing instance clues is also a way to reduce the number of high-level players. Especially in a closed, small-area instance like this, just testing the rules will cost quite a few people. Only after the rules are figured out will the remaining players have a chance to clear it. However…”
He didn’t finish his sentence, but let out a soft laugh. The real slaughter among players would begin once the clearance rules were understood.
“Aren’t you all getting too excited too early?” Fluorescent Pink reminded them. “Even if you have a satisfactory puppet, obtaining it is another matter entirely.”
“That depends on each person’s luck,” the sweet girl said, her eyes curving again. “I hope there will still be enough fools left to test the rules by then.”
For a moment, the expressions around the dining table varied.
At noon, the second puppet appeared. It belonged to the long-coated man, but his luck wasn’t good. His puppet was discovered by another player in the entertainment room. The moment it was found, that player stored it in their luggage compartment, then walked out acting as if nothing had happened, continuing to search aimlessly for puppets like before.
About ten minutes later, the long-coated man, who had been drinking tea in the dining room, finally stopped. He politely apologized to the player he was conversing with, then vanished from his seat. The next second, a loud crashing sound came from the garden. Players looked out through the windows and saw countless snowflakes suspended in the air for a second before transforming into countless sharp weapons, striking the defensive barrier of the player he was fighting.
Each snowflake possessed the lethality of a prop weapon. After covering the defensive barrier, they automatically condensed, changed form based on the barrier, and turned into icicles that pierced through the barrier and shot toward the person inside!
The two fought back and forth, neither lacking in props. The slight difference was that the long-coated man was a Spatial Super Evolver. He was exceptionally skilled at controlling objects around him, even turning something as light as a snowflake into a deadly weapon. This was his advantage, and he had equipped himself with numerous attack-type props. At a high level, it was as if he had formed an impenetrable attack net with props, which was a crushing blow against defensive barriers that relied on brute force.
“Turn the spear!” The player who had hidden the puppet used their trait to swap their positions, instantly exchanging the long-coated man into the path of the prop weapons. But with a raise of the long-coated man’s hand, all the props immediately changed direction again.
“Form is emptiness!” The long-coated man suddenly draped a long robe over himself and recited these four words with a compassionate expression.
At that moment, not only the player in the courtyard but even Xu Huo and the others in the dining room couldn’t help but feel their minds go blank. It was as if those four words and the man’s voice had invaded their thoughts, commanding all their attention. By the time the others snapped back to reality, the long-coated man had already appeared behind his opponent. One hand gripped the player’s head, the other pressed down on his shoulder. As the veins on the backs of his hands bulged, he directly tore off the opponent’s head!
Blood sprayed out like rain, drenching a large patch of snow. The headless corpse knelt on the ground, still clutching the puppet it had just taken out.
The long-coated man tossed the head aside and bent down to retrieve his own puppet. But when he pried open the corpse’s fingers, he saw that a puppet missing its left arm had been snapped in half!
The players all had good eyesight and naturally saw this. They also saw the long-coated man’s face instantly turn cold. When he calmly stored the puppet with its broken torso into his luggage compartment, everyone in the dining room tacitly averted their gaze.
Good. By tonight, they would know whether hiding a puppet was truly effective.
The long-coated man was in a bad mood. After returning to the castle, he began searching everywhere for the third puppet. Unfortunately, he found nothing until dinner. Gradually, his attention shifted to the glasses-wearing player. This person held an intact puppet, and puppets could be disassembled.
The glasses-wearing player sensed his possible intentions and spoke up in front of everyone, “Puppets are made based on each person’s appearance and physique. Would disassembling and reassembling them count as damaging the puppet?”
“I didn’t say I was going to disassemble the puppet,” the long-coated man said, staring at him. “But I can try handing over someone else’s puppet.”
The glasses-wearing player looked at him incredulously. “What does someone else’s puppet have to do with you? The puppets correspond to different people!”
“The game doesn’t stipulate that you can only take your own puppet,” the long-coated man said. “Besides, my puppet is already gone, so I have to take someone else’s.”
This was a declaration of intent.
At that moment, the sweet girl also silently blocked the glasses-wearing player’s retreat.
These two—one ruthless and merciless, the other manic and arrogant. The former wanted to find a new path, while the latter simply wanted to drag someone down with them. They had coincidentally aligned and were determined to take the puppet from the glasses-wearing player!
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Xu Huo interrupted them. “This is the only intact puppet we have so far. Finding the clearance pattern is more important. We don’t know when the next intact puppet will appear.”
“Besides, an intact puppet is most likely a satisfactory puppet. Someone else’s puppet might also be usable. There’s no need to rush this now.”
Some players sided with Xu Huo. After securing the seven-day quota, it was naturally better to figure out the clearance rules while there were still many people around. No one wanted to risk their own life testing things.
Of course, there were also those who loved watching the chaos. Fluorescent Pink said, “Is hiding a puppet really effective? Don’t forget, the female player who died on the first day hid her puppet in the luggage compartment, but she still died.”
“Losing a puppet is one thing; having it destroyed is another,” Xu Huo said. “When that female player hid her puppet, it was already missing its right arm.”
“Perhaps, before a player dies, a damaged puppet is still important to the castle owner.” (End of Chapter)