Chapter 2459: Disguise
Bubble Bean bounced up from the bed entirely. The pain of a sharp weapon piercing through his chest seemed not to have faded yet. He reached out and touched himself, confirming there were no wounds and no blood, before he breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he went to look at the Yin-Yang Master sleeping on the chair beside him. He originally intended to wake the person up, but when he turned his head, he saw the other person with eyes wide open, staring straight at him. No one could sleep with their eyes open, yet the man was snoring continuously.
Bubble Bean took a few steps over and slapped him across the face.
A crisp sound rang out, and the Yin-Yang Master seemed to wake from his dream as well. He looked ahead in confusion, still the same as before, as if he hadn't seen Bubble Bean at all. His gaze swept across the bed and withdrew, then he turned over and continued sleeping.
"Sleep, sleep, all you know is sleep. Someone could come and kill you and you wouldn't even know it!" Bubble Bean cursed, but the Yin-Yang Master acted as if he hadn't heard, showing no reaction at all. Just as he was about to kick the man off, his peripheral vision caught sight of his own bed, and he was immediately startled, because there was an extra person on the bed at some point... an extra him!
Bubble Bean wasn't sure if he was still dreaming. The jamming device on him hadn't activated, and the item hadn't detected anyone else nearby. The Yin-Yang Master was sleeping soundly, as if only he had fallen into some strange trap.
Was it spiritual interference, or had the Hidden Friend already found him? He had indeed heard someone call out his player nickname just now...
Bubble Bean stood still for two seconds, then walked back to the bed, flipped the person on it over to take a look, and sure enough, it was himself, with an item still stuck in his chest.
"Playing tricks!" Bubble Bean layered several defense items over himself, held two life-saving items in his hands, and then walked out of the wooden house.
In his view, the surroundings were no different from daytime. Even Chi Cai and the others were sleeping normally. For a moment, he didn't know who to go to.
But at that moment, a shout came from the woods again. A figure seemed to be moving from a distance. As it drew closer, it was easy to see that the silhouette was very familiar—it was Xu Huo.
"Fine, so it's you after all. You're really putting on a good act!"
Bubble Bean let out a low shout, and his items immediately attacked. However, just as the mist in front of him was dispersed, that figure also disappeared!
"Don't think that just because you have the instance to help cover your tracks, you can fool people!"
Dozens of small arrows appeared in front of the wooden house. Bubble Bean waved his hand, and they flew off in different directions, quickly weaving through the woods. They didn't seem very powerful, but the force they carried was enough to directly blast apart large trees each time they pierced through.
As large swaths of trees fell, another item rose into the air. It was a lighting item. The strong light fell into the woods, combined with the flying arrows, illuminating the forest around the wooden house clearly. At the very least, no one could hide.
Anything farther was beyond his perception range, and the attack effects of the items would also weaken... Bubble Bean was pondering whether to go out and take a look, when unexpectedly, one of the flying arrows suddenly changed course and came back, piercing through his throat with lightning speed!
Blood sprayed from his windpipe. Bubble Bean fell headfirst, collapsing directly at the foot of the steps in front of the wooden house.
Then, he bounced up from the bed once again.
Realizing that he hadn't died after all, cold sweat dripped down Bubble Bean's forehead. He didn't understand what was happening now, let alone how to escape it. But the two "deaths" had warned him—if he couldn't find the person, he might be trapped here until he died.
Silently getting out of bed, he decided not to waste time this time and simply entered the woods for a direct confrontation.
"Where are you going?" The Yin-Yang Master's voice suddenly rang out.
Bubble Bean spun around sharply, only to find the man standing right behind him. He couldn't help but be startled and involuntarily replied, "Someone outside is calling me." "You can't go out," the Yin-Yang Master said. "It's dangerous outside."
Bubble Bean stared at him. "Then come with me."
The Yin-Yang Master didn't even blink and repeated, "Can't go out. It's dangerous outside."
Bubble Bean could tell something was wrong with this person. He was about to use an item to separate them, but he didn't expect the Yin-Yang Master to act faster, directly slitting his throat with a knife!
"Can't go out. It's dangerous outside..."
Listening to those words, Bubble Bean reluctantly closed his eyes.
This time, he woke up again, still in bed. The Yin-Yang Master was sleeping with his back to him. Inside and outside the house were very quiet. The trees in the nearby woods weren't damaged either. Everything seemed as if it had never happened, except that he had died a few times over.
The deaths were definitely fake, but Bubble Bean also understood that if this continued, the next time he fell, he might not wake up again!
"If you won't let me out, I'll go out anyway. Let's see what trick you're pulling!"
The massive energy released by the items directly blasted the entire wooden house apart. Bubble Bean shook off the blocking Yin-Yang Master and charged straight into the woods, chasing in the direction of the sound.
He didn't see any figure, and even the sound had disappeared. So he could only shout in the forest, "Xu, come out!"
His voice echoed through the woods. In the dead silence, he could hear the sound traveling far, seemingly endless.
He shouted again and again, constantly using items in the woods, not missing a single blade of grass or tree in the places he passed. He thought this would force Xu Huo out, but the moment he stepped into the woods, he had entered an absolutely dangerous environment.
Xu Huo only found out after calling him out.
He guessed that the shouting figure and sound were just a replay of some past fragment. A lone player was more likely to enter this state than a player traveling in a group. However, entering this state didn't mean the Hidden Friend had truly targeted them. But if the real Hidden Friend wanted to take a player away, it would definitely take advantage of this special state.
The game hadn't given clear rules for the role-playing, and so far, none of the players he had encountered seemed to have actually gotten a chance to play a role. So he decided to try impersonating one.
Using spiritual interference to kill Bubble Bean several times was actually deepening the suggestion—by not letting him out, he would come out. This was a relatively simple way to successfully lure a B-rank player.
Of course, he didn't know what to do after calling the person out, but regardless, getting the person out first was the priority.
That was why the spatial changes caused by Bubble Bean entering the forest surprised him so much.
He could feel a subtle force sweeping over him, continuously enveloping both him and Bubble Bean. Bubble Bean's seemingly earth-shattering exit from the house was actually just his own delusion. He had only left the wooden house silently. The Yin-Yang Master and Chi Cai, who had been disturbed, followed behind, but their attention was always on Bubble Bean. No one noticed Xu Huo, who was just a few dozen meters away.