Chapter 2065: Puppet Lost
When a puppet is missing a certain part, even if the puppet is hidden, the penalty rules targeting the player remain effective. This might be related to the puppet originating from the Puppet Maker, since he is definitely the first to see the puppet and knows exactly which part is missing. As for whether subsequent destruction or concealment of the puppet has any effect, that requires verification by the players.
The incomplete puppet of the Fluorescent Powder player has already been recovered. Only after the Glasses player's complete puppet is recovered can the players possibly obtain more information from it.
The clearance mission indeed does not require players to use only their own puppet to clear the instance. However, judging from the deaths of High Ponytail and Zuo Yu, the direct connection to the puppet is only with the corresponding player. Instead, the penalties for hiding or destroying a puppet are less clear and immediate. Therefore, regardless of who ultimately holds the puppet that appears during the day, or who returns it to the Puppet Maker, the difference should be minimal.
"Snatching a puppet also carries the risk of destroying it," Xu Huo added. "If destroying a puppet becomes part of the rule-breaking cycle, the final penalty will definitely be reflected on the puppet... Everyone, the risk of missing one arm versus missing two arms is vastly different."
This point has become a consensus. For example, the Sweet Girl who broke a puppet yesterday can be verified again at dinner time tonight.
"Why not wait until tonight to see," another player said. "It's only a meal's time anyway."
The third puppet has yet to appear, and it will most likely be brought out personally by the Puppet Maker.
Many players sided with Xu Huo, with the majority remaining neutral. The Long Coat Man and Sweet Girl had no advantage, and after exchanging glances, they withdrew the items they had already taken out.
"Let's try our luck," Sweet Girl said, pulling out a chair and sitting down.
Time quickly arrived before dinner. Sure enough, when the Puppet Maker came out of the corridor, he was holding Sweet Girl's puppet. Judging by the length of the previous puppets, this one should have no legs. Not only that, when the Puppet Maker casually placed the puppet on the table, the exposed upper body was also missing its right arm.
This was the puppet missing the most body parts so far.
So destroying someone else's puppet does come with a penalty. Even if she is only immobilized during dinner, that alone brings her immense risk.
The Fluorescent Powder player's puppet was missing its legs, so she consciously stayed seated without moving.
The same went for the Long Coat Man; his puppet was missing its left arm, so his left arm was immobile.
After sitting down, the Puppet Maker scanned everyone around the dining table as usual. His gaze passed over the Long Coat Man without any pause, and the same happened with the Glasses player.
Then dinner began. Players with missing puppet parts tried not to move or touch the corresponding body parts as much as possible. The meal passed without any casualties.
After dinner, the Puppet Maker took both puppets away.
Only then did the Glasses player breathe a sigh of relief and immediately get up to leave the dining room.
"Boring. I thought I'd see a good show," Fluorescent Powder said lazily, leaning back in her chair, her meaningful gaze shifting from the Long Coat Man to Sweet Girl. "Zuo Yu died so unfairly."
The faces of the Long Coat Man and Sweet Girl were far from pleasant. The results of destroying and hiding puppets were out, and it was a mixed bag.
First, it was clear that destroying someone else's puppet or any puppet in the castle—or even items that might appear in the castle—would incur a penalty. The penalty manifested as the puppet missing more body parts, with destroying someone else's puppet resulting in a more severe penalty. If this is related to puppet repair, then undoubtedly, puppets missing more parts would take longer to fix.
Second, hiding a destroyed puppet could avoid the penalty during dinner. However, there was a problem: the corresponding puppet could no longer be returned to the Puppet Maker. If the puppet cannot be repaired, will the Puppet Maker create a second one?
This mixed bag was also the same for other players. Because once these two points were confirmed, puppet repair became the next focus. With the instance's player count significantly reduced, would the Puppet Maker spend the following days on repairs?
As for that complete puppet, it was hard to say whether the Glasses player might break rules in the coming days and end up with a damaged one again.
Following this line of reasoning, by the seventh day, whoever's puppet remained intact would be most likely to become the "satisfactory puppet"—this should be the key to clearing the instance.
So, working backward, players only needed to ensure two things: first, don't destroy puppets or things in the castle; second, make sure their own puppet isn't destroyed by others. That way, they could safely hold out until the instance ends.
Players who hadn't broken any rules yet could potentially obtain a complete puppet. But for players like Fluorescent Powder and Sweet Girl, who already had damaged puppets, reducing the player count was one way to increase the chances of their puppets being repaired. They could also destroy and hide others' puppets to reduce opponents. However, there was a problem: this could cause their own puppets to become even more damaged or delay repairs. This was a rule violation, and it wouldn't become invalid just because they survived one dinner time without penalty. Additionally, players whose puppets were destroyed would become obstacles to clearing the instance, making killing other players the safest approach.
But they were few in number and seemed somewhat outmatched.
At this point, the Long Coat Man couldn't possibly ally with them either, because his puppet had been hidden—effectively "lost." It was hard to say whether he would even have a part in the game going forward.
Because of this, he had become a ticking time bomb.
The dinner penalty had killed many players, so the number of players with damaged puppets was now small. Thus, the majority of players sided with Xu Huo's camp. But the longer this went on, the more members his camp would lose.
The current instance player count was 14, with 4 having obtained their corresponding puppets. Today was the third day of the instance. If three more puppets came out tomorrow, the two sides would be roughly balanced.
Players who hadn't gotten their puppets yet were growing anxious. The penalty for directly destroying a puppet was just missing limbs, and some might be willing to use that to eliminate opponents.
The remaining players gathered together, trying to come up with a plan everyone could agree on to safely get through the following days.
Non-interference was the ideal state, but everyone knew it was impossible. So they agreed to move together and monitor each other.
"Should I sleep in the same room with you all at night?" the Painting Woman raised an objection. "But I don't want to."
Everyone fell silent for a second. Then another female player suddenly brought up, "That Non-Ticket player probably isn't dead, right?"
Among the players who had already died, aside from those killed by fellow instance players, the rest had fallen victim to the instance rules. If the instance wouldn't produce a puppet for the Non-Ticket player, did that mean one among them could operate outside the rules?
(Chapter End)