Chapter 364: Two-Pronged Preparation
(To be revised later) "But you're different." He looked up at the man across from him. "Narcissistic, arrogant, love to show off—everything from your clothes and food to those nice things in the room upstairs, you want to put them all on display for others to see."
"Besides, although you claim to love music, you don't even have the most basic appreciation for it. You can't play a single instrument. The real He Pu had a baron's title and social connections. Just putting on a fake skin wouldn't fool anyone, so pretending to be sick was your only option. To put it simply, you're an empty, low-class impostor with very little skill."
Listening to Xu Huo curse people out was quite satisfying, but seeing He Pu's face darken, Yu Shuai couldn't help but say, "Can't you talk without stuffing so much of your own opinion in there?"
"Having fun." Xu Huo's two words choked everyone up. He took a sip of tea and continued, "So for someone like you, I don't think it's possible that you're the holder of the Rose Castle instance."
"He's not the instance boss?" You Qiwen was stunned. "If he's not, then who is?"
"Mr. Dong." Xu Huo gave the answer. "On the surface, the castle's owner should be the instance holder, but this He Pu in front of us isn't the real He Pu. He's a latecomer. So it's not strange that Mr. Dong, who was here earlier, became the instance owner."
"That doesn't seem right," Fleur said at this point. "The Rose Castle instance only started five years ago. That can't be used as evidence. You're just guessing."
"It doesn't hold up looking at cause and effect, but it's easy to understand when you reason backward from the result," Xu Huo said. "Because Mr. Dong is the instance holder, He Pu could arbitrarily make all the guests and corpses in the castle disappear, leaving no way out for the players. This violates the rules of the game instance."
"But not all players follow instance rules. If he was determined to do it without caring about the consequences, that could barely count as a reason. Unfortunately, that reason doesn't hold."
"Why doesn't it hold?" Liu Zhengping asked instinctively.
"Because of time," You Qiwen said. "The Rose Castle instance has been around for five years. It's near the 011 District Game Government Base, and it's a fixed-location instance. There's no way the game wouldn't manage the instance holder. The instance boss can use game loopholes to kill people, but they can't completely disregard the rules the game gives them."
"As you say, I'm neither the castle's owner nor the instance holder. I impersonated He Pu. So where did the original He Pu go?" He Pu spoke up at this point. "If I killed him, why would Mr. Dong still listen to me?"
The other players had the same question. When You Qiwen exposed He Pu as a fake earlier, Mr. Dong hadn't been surprised at all, clearly already aware of it. Yet he could still coexist peacefully with the fake He Pu. Whether it was because they were birds of a feather or he simply didn't care about the real He Pu's life or death was hard to say.
"The real He Pu is probably dead. Whether you killed him or not is hard to tell," Xu Huo said. "But it wouldn't be difficult to keep Mr. Dong from making a move against you. You could use He Pu's life or death, or even his corpse, as leverage."
"Let's say everything you said is right. Is this the truth?" He Pu lowered his head slightly, but his eyes moved upward, staring at Xu Huo from a lower angle. "You're just repeating what someone else said."
"Before the concert started, I thought finding out you weren't the real He Pu was enough. But the game didn't accept that truth. It probably wanted to know something else." Xu Huo crossed his hands, tapping his right index finger lightly on the back of his hand. "Besides the fact that you're not the instance holder, the other thing should be your identity."
"I asked the other servants. You never leave the castle normally. That means as a player, you don't need to participate in instances."
"What kind of person can skip participating in instances?"
"Gray players under the Game Government," You Qiwen immediately said. "After being vetted by the Game Government and given proper credentials to work for them, they can keep their player status without having to enter instances."
"So you're saying he's a Game Government player?" Wei Landeng asked suspiciously. "Why would a government player hide here?"
He Pu's face across from them could no longer be described as merely unpleasant, but he didn't say a word.
Xu Huo understood in his heart. He picked up the black umbrella placed beside him. "It wasn't easy to guess your identity, but I ran into a wanted criminal before I came here."
He opened the umbrella, and the cheongsam woman's corpse fell out.
"This woman killed people in an old city district on the way to Rose Castle. She's not a government player, but she isn't forcibly teleported into instances either, because she's a player who escaped from another wormhole point to E27."
The players' breaths caught, and they couldn't help stepping back.
"You're not He Pu, and you're not a Game Government player. You're a wanted criminal who escaped from another wormhole point. That's why you don't have to leave the castle." Xu Huo lit a cigarette without changing his expression. "So the truth of this instance is that a wanted criminal from another wormhole point has sneaked in."
As his words fell, the tea room fell into dead silence. He Pu's eyes shifted several times before he sat up straight a few seconds later and raised his baton. "So what if you guessed right? You still can't get out alive."
"Wait, don't rush." Xu Huo stopped him again. Just then, the game issued a clearance notification. He pointed with his chin toward the garden maze behind them. "Take a look over there."
He Pu didn't even turn his head. "So what if the garden is on fire?"
Mr. Dong was about to head to the garden to put out the fire.
"Mr. Dong, don't bother either." Xu Huo pulled some odds and ends from his pocket—things like ID cards, keychains, and small jewelry. "These were left behind by ordinary people that woman killed. I sent a few things to the pawnshop a couple of days ago. Stolen goods from dead people—someone might come looking into it."
"I also hid some in other places around the castle. The owner of this castle eats people, so it's perfectly normal that only bones are left, no bodies."
"That way, your identity will naturally be exposed. Even if you and Mr. Dong had some kind of agreement, it won't work anymore."
He stood up, glancing at the towering flames behind the castle. "The instance protection time is over. Someone should be coming to put out the fire."
Whether or not the police were investigating the stolen goods, a fire this big was impossible to miss with working eyes.
The players who had heard the truth and received the clearance notification one after another hadn't left. Looking at the items on the ground and the distant flames, their impression of Xu Huo momentarily outweighed their fear of He Pu.
Everyone was doing the instance together. Just finding the truth had consumed all their energy. Yet Xu Huo had even managed to set a trap for He Pu. Sending the stolen goods to the pawnshop was two days ago—back when he hadn't even discovered He Pu was a wanted criminal yet. This was clearly him planning to screw him over even if he cleared the instance. And with the arson on top of that, both the police and the Game Government would take notice. The fake He Pu, masquerading as the castle's owner, would have a hard time getting away.
"One more thing," Xu Huo said, exhaling a puff of smoke. "Even if Mr. Dong cleans up every corner of the castle, once I get out, I'll go to the Game Government and report that there's a suspected Holy Sword Society wanted criminal at Rose Castle."