Chapter 33: Because the Fight Was Too Fun

“So that’s how you guys got separated. Could it be that the instance monsters here have illusion techniques, able to instantly swap places with a person?” Zhang Hengheng rubbed his chin, looking contemplative. “No wonder so many plastic mannequins appeared from the start—it was all to split us up. So this is a survival quest.”

Ying Zixin nodded: “Mm. But an illusion technique at this level probably can’t be used too many times. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be a Normal Difficulty instance—it’d have to be Nightmare Level.”

“Nightmare, huh.”

Zhang Hengheng hugged his arms, rubbing the goosebumps on his skin: “Those instances really are a player’s nightmare.”

The moment he’d escaped death’s door, the guy was back to his carefree, heartless self: “Hey, Old Ying, you seriously didn’t remember who Alice was? I saw you hesitate that moment looking at that face—couldn’t bear to strike, huh?”

“Heal your injuries first, then talk crap,” the perpetually dark-faced Ying Zixin finally couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“But I don’t have any medicine, eh.” Zhang Hengheng lowered his head with a sheepish look.

“…Then what’s in your System Backpack?”

Zhang Hengheng pulled items out one by one: “Flying Blade, Flying Blade, dagger, Flying Blade, Flying Blade, silver needles, Flying Blade, small knife…”

Ying Zixin facepalmed: “Alright, alright, put them back. I’ll give you some.”

The medicine they were talking about was precisely the Scarlet Fruit Pill Lei Jue had fed Yin Luo earlier. Fifty points per pill. The game shop advertised it as containing the essence of the legendary spirit fruit, the Scarlet Fruit, but not many knew exactly what its components were.

This Scarlet Fruit Pill was often jokingly called “Little Red Pill” by players. It could heal most internal and external injuries, worked fast, and was highly cost-effective. Other than being a bit expensive, it had no other flaws.

After all, players might not even earn two hundred points from completing a Novice difficulty instance, and were even less willing to spend the bulk of their points on such things.

After patching himself up on the spot, Comrade Zhang Hengheng was finally full of beans again: “I feel like I could take on ten at once now!”

“Mm-hmm, yeah, right, sure, absolutely.” Ying Zixin finished his perfunctory response and looked down at the Unity Badge.

“Looking at it this way, Alice isn’t so simple either.” Zhang Hengheng leaned in. “Even I almost fell for the trick. He’s been separated from you for this long and is still alive and kicking.”

The small dots displayed on the Unity Badge not only represented the teammates’ positions but were also bound to the player. Green meant healthy life status, normal condition. Red signified critically injured or near death. Gray meant deceased.

At this moment, though the last small green dot on the badge wasn’t moving fast, it was the color representing uninjured.

Ying Zixin: “Mm.”

“You’re not surprised?”

“Not really.”

“Oh? You seem to know him quite well.” Zhang Hengheng had a look that said ‘I knew there was a story here.’ “Are you absolutely certain you just thought Alice looked familiar, and didn’t run into your gentle, kind, moonlight-white moonlight?”

Ying Zixin: “He’s not gentle and kind…”

“…”

The crew-cut youth immediately shut his mouth.

???

Well, well, well.

“Deceiving your brother, huh? Hiding things from your brother, huh? Not taking your brother seriously, huh?” Zhang Hengheng immediately put on an expression of deep betrayal. “Fine, Old Ying, you friend-ditching scoundrel! You’ve utterly disappointed me, wuwu…”

“It’s not what you think.” Ying Zixin’s head ached from the noise. He had no choice but to brush him off: “It’s just… I’m genuinely not sure if the person I saw back then was him, or if they just look alike.”

Zhang Hengheng and Ying Zixin had known each other for a while and knew a bit about his affairs: “The person you’ve always been looking for?”

“Mm.”

“But didn’t you say you can’t remember that person’s face?” Zhang Hengheng was skeptical.

Ying Zixin pressed his lips tight: “Can’t remember. That’s why I’m not sure, I just found him familiar.”

“You don’t even know that person’s identity?”

“Don’t know.”

“Don’t know their age?”

The crew-cut youth shook his head.

“…Then what can you confirm?”

Ying Zixin was absolutely resolute this time: “Definitely not the gentle and kind type.”

“…A bit interesting.” Zhang Hengheng scratched his hair. “Pretty deep obsession, huh. Too bad you, tight-lipped gourd, refuse to say what happened no matter what.”

Ying Zixin dodged the question, changing the topic: “Looks like you’re rested enough. Let’s not waste any more time. We’ll go find him now. Whether he’s that person or not, it’s still a human life.”

“Whatever you say.” Zhang Hengheng shrugged.

To him, whether it was the Real World or the Instance World, as long as it was fun and thrilling, that was enough. He didn’t care much about the rest.

“Let’s go.”

Ying Zixin took one last look back. Catching sight of the plastic mannequin with Yin Luo’s face lying on the ground, a thought stirred him. With a flick of his fingertip, lightning exploded, flames ignited, and it burned to ashes.

“Can’t stand seeing that face, or can’t stand seeing someone else wearing that face?” Zhang Hengheng clicked his tongue twice.

Acting as if he hadn’t heard a thing, Ying Zixin said: “There seems to be something inside.”

This particular plastic mannequin had burned exceptionally fast, turning to cinders in moments. Amidst the wreckage, a tiny, faintly glowing object seemed to be present.

“Just like a little monster drop in a game, huh.” Zhang Hengheng muttered. He first poked at it with a small knife to confirm it was safe before picking it up.

It wasn’t a special drop, just a small slip of paper.

It looked as though it had been torn from a notebook, its edges ragged and uneven. Written on it, in a childish scrawl reminiscent of a toddler just learning to hold a pencil, was a single line:

[Guess Where I Am?]

“Isn’t this… the instance name?” Zhang Hengheng scratched his head. “It’s been so long without seeing it, I almost forgot. What does it mean?”

…

“Guess Where I Am?” Yin Luo glanced at the words on the slip of paper, then casually froze it into powder, scattering it. “Guess my ass.”

He’d already found several slips like this, each bearing the same line in the same handwriting.

In the dark and oppressive environment, the white-haired youth sat on the ground, lost in thought.

Piled beside his feet were over a dozen of the special plastic mannequins he’d deliberately lured over. Several of them had already transformed into the likenesses of Ying Zixin, Lin Rudong, and the others—including Yin Luo himself.

But without exception, their hearts were shattered, thoroughly dead.

These plastic mannequins weren’t particularly strong. Once you understood their peculiarities and were on guard, they weren’t hard to kill. It was just difficult to achieve the effortless ease he displayed.

“So after transforming into humans, they possess human weaknesses too. Then why haven’t any developed brains through the Abnormal Change yet? Is there something special about that?”

Yin Luo’s fingertips were coated with a thin layer of ice, sharp as a blade as it casually sliced open the skull of a mannequin that had copied his own face. He examined the flesh and blood inside with great dedication.

“Looking at it this way, it seems controlling the flesh and blood around their hearts is enough. Mm, maybe using Ice Flowers to directly penetrate would consume less power?”

Because of the prolonged use of the Corpse Frost Power and Flesh and Blood Force, his hair had completely turned frost-white. His crimson eyes were increasingly dazzling. Coupled with sitting amidst a pile of mannequins that looked like corpses, his inhuman aura was overwhelming—more ghostly than the actual ghosts.

If any player saw this scene, they’d probably be so frightened they’d attack immediately.

The roles of prey and hunter had been completely reversed for him.

Although this Reality Quest was entered via the department store, its location an old department center from decades ago, the actual content didn’t seem closely tied to the store.

As evident from the name.

For the current Yin Luo, the survival quest no longer posed a challenge. Far more interesting was uncovering the secrets of these plastic mannequins.

He stretched lazily, stood up, and adeptly used his cold aura to clean off the blood he’d accidentally gotten on himself: “Little Bear, let’s go.”

No response.

“Little Bear?”

Silence.

?

The white-haired youth froze.

He searched every corner of the room, even rummaging through the “pile of corpses” of plastic mannequins. He still couldn’t find the red-eyed white rabbit.

Where was his plushie?

Could it be… he got too caught up in the fun of the fight and accidentally left it behind?

Yin Luo fell silent.