In the room, two Yu Feizhou sat facing each other, already engaged in a new game of chess.
From the tidiness of the room, it was clear that Yu Feizhou and his Benevolent Automaton—regardless of who was the Benevolent Automaton and who was the player—had started playing chess the moment they met, without doing anything else at all.
Yan Wei was both amused and exasperated.
He was the first to enter Yu Feizhou’s room and said, “I can’t find any differences.”
Both of them turned to look at him and called out gently, “Yan Wei.”
Yan Wei: “…”
He wasn’t worried about any issues between Yu Feizhou and his Benevolent Automaton anymore, and directly said, “There’s no need to distinguish; there’s currently no way to tell them apart—unless differences arise after the game starts. But once the game begins, the Benevolent Automaton and the player are already confused; even if one gets injured… if I remember correctly, Yu Feizhou helped me transfer the wound back then, right? According to our current Body Index, that kind of wound would have healed long ago, leaving no scars, so it can’t be used as a distinguishing method.”
Both Yu Feizhou paused for a moment.
After a while, they put down their chess pieces and calmly said, “Alright, then we won’t distinguish.”
Yan Wei helplessly spread his hands.
Sometimes, thinking more simply can lead to quickly identifying the root of a problem.
Too many people overthink; when faced with an uncontrollable self, their worries and defenses only grow heavier. No one can see a completely replaceable existence without wavering; the more one thinks, the easier it is to get trapped. Conversely, someone like Yu Feizhou, who has never been keen on killing or sophistry, surprisingly had no trouble at all.
He stepped forward, raised his hand, and lightly tapped the tea table, saying to the two Yu Feizhou in front of him, “Not distinguishing is correct. But I remind you, you must pay attention to protect each other. Because we currently can’t tell whether we are players coming from outside the instance or Benevolent Automatons created within the instance. If a Benevolent Automaton dies, the original self remains, but if the original self dies, the Benevolent Automaton will turn into a Malevolent Automaton, and the original self will forever die within this instance.”
If there’s no certainty about who is who and there’s no intention to distinguish, then one must do their utmost to ensure the survival of both parties.
Yu Feizhou clearly understood this principle and nodded in agreement, “Don’t worry, you too.”
As they spoke, both of them simultaneously took out a knife and exchanged glances.
After a moment, one of them put down the knife, while the other, holding the knife, made a cut on his own body. Blood flowed from one of the Yu Feizhou’s shoulder, and Yan Wei felt the pain in his shoulder suddenly vanish.
“My Body Index is high, and I recover quickly. There are too many things for you to worry about in this instance.”
Yan Wei felt a warmth in his heart, “Thank you.”
He didn’t say much more, turned, and walked out of Yu Feizhou’s room, even helping the two close the door. Lin Zhen was no longer outside; he must have returned to his guest room to rest. Only Yan Mingguang was still nearby, smoking. His bony fingers held the cigarette butt, which glowed faintly as it burned down, the smoke already dissipated.
Upon seeing him come out, Yan Mingguang’s fingers twitched, and he crushed the cigarette butt with his grip.
His dark eyes swept over to Yan Wei’s shoulder. The windbreaker and inner clothing at that spot still had a significant tear, soaked in blood, but the flesh was intact.
Yan Mingguang’s previously tense expression seemed to relax a bit, and the displeasure that had been lingering around him dissipated entirely.
He stepped forward and accompanied Yan Wei back to his room. Once Yan Wei sat down by the bed, Yan Mingguang raised his hand, pointed at the Black Ring, and a neatly folded set of clothes appeared in his hand, with a gray-blue windbreaker on top.
“Put this on,” he said.
Yan Wei smiled, “You know me well, Teacher Yan. Do you know why I like wearing windbreakers? They can hold a lot of things, and they give me a sense of security that I can set off on a journey at any time…”
Yan Mingguang simply nodded, “Mm.”
As if he had known all along.
Yan Wei’s hand, which was reaching for the clothes, paused.
No, he should have known long ago.
Before he was reformatted from the ninety-ninth layer, Yan Mingguang must have played a very important role in his life in Tower World. So important that even if he couldn’t remember anything, he would still see vague fragments of being with Yan Mingguang in his dreams. Even amidst the truth and falsehood, it seemed that because Yan Mingguang was by his side, he remained unwavering about whether their experiences were real or not.
Yan Wei took the clothes, looked up at Yan Mingguang, and recalled the gentle kiss that had brushed against the corner of his eye before entering the instance.
Compared to the kiss in warm water from his dreams, this was indeed too fleeting, yet it still made him blush.
Yan Wei inexplicably felt his face heat up, holding the clothes close to his chest, slightly lowering his head, and said, “I still haven’t encountered another you…”
Thinking of the other Yan Mingguang, who looked exactly like the one in front of him, and who surely wouldn’t tell him about the events that happened in those lost memories, made Yan Wei a bit annoyed.
He said, “What if I mistakenly recognize the wrong one? You better not get angry then.”
Yan Mingguang remained unfazed, “I won’t.”
Yan Wei: “…How can you be so sure?”
“…”
“That’s boring.”
He truly didn’t know what could make Yan Mingguang lose his composure.
He straightened his expression, “But seriously, Ice Cube, I’m still a bit uneasy. Another self of mine has already appeared with Yu Feizhou, and our personalities will inevitably lead to a peaceful conclusion. But you and Lin Zhen…”
Although Yan Mingguang appeared indifferent and cold on the surface, he was actually decisive and resolute inside. It was impossible for him to coexist peacefully with another self; it would likely lead to a significant entanglement.
“None of us can defeat you, and you can’t surpass the replicated version of yourself. I just hope the other you doesn’t appear at a critical moment when we are battling others.”
“It won’t.”
“Mm?”
“It won’t appear,” Yan Mingguang said slowly, “Even if it does, he is me; he won’t affect you.”
“You know yourself well. Since you say so, I feel reassured. Then there’s Lin Zhen; his personality really gives me a headache. The other him will definitely be disorganized and undisciplined, and Lin Zhen already likes to challenge the unbeatable. The original self and the replicated original self are practically tailor-made for him. If they meet, Lin Zhen will probably keep fighting until the instance ends. You can defeat Lin Zhen, but we can’t tell who is the Benevolent Automaton, and we wouldn’t even know who to fight…”
Yan Mingguang pondered for a moment and said, “Then just knock both of them out.”
Yan Wei: “…”
It wasn’t a bad method, after all.
Better than letting two chaotic troublemakers stir up trouble.
“Alright, let’s rest first. Yan Mingguang, you should sleep too. Don’t worry about me; I won’t die today, and nothing will happen. Plus, it’s already late at night, and many players need to rest. These few hours should be relatively peaceful. Based on my understanding of myself, I will probably destroy the power box in about three or four hours, so you should take this time to rest.”
“Mm.”
On the first floor of the castle.
A tall woman stood in front of the power box. She had a neat short haircut, her eyes were a light color, and she wore a black cloak. In one hand, she held a slender black staff that was as long as her arm, and in the other, she held a card.
“The power box is fine…” she murmured, “So it seems we are the earliest.”
Behind the short-haired woman, her teammate shrugged, “Miaomiao, are you overthinking? You’ve been to high-level instances using special methods; this forty-ninth layer instance doesn’t require that much caution.”
Next to the power box, on the nearest Stairway, another woman with a cloak and short light-colored hair walked down slowly.
In addition to the black staff in her hand, she was also carrying several bloodied weapons in the other.
If Yan Wei and the others were here, they would recognize these as the weapons of the organization player who had previously scored the first points. During their internal conflict while fighting Gentle man, these weapons had already been stained with blood.
And she had two of each weapon in her hands.
With the sound of her footsteps echoing on the wooden Stairway, she descended and stood in front of her identical self, casually throwing the weapons onto the ground.
She looked at the other self and said, “I went to the Stargazing Platform to verify—capturing players who have already scored and giving them to the Man in Black Robe can earn us their points. I can’t be bothered to distinguish who is the Benevolent Automaton and who is the player; I’ll just send this group to that faceless guy. Look, check the leaderboard; we are now first.”
Xu Miaomiao in front of the power box smirked, a hint of disdain flashing in her light eyes.
“I overestimated them; this instance… perhaps only Xue Wan needs to be cautious.”
The other Xu Miaomiao also laughed, “Since only Xue Wan is worth noting—then let’s capture him; he must have a lot of points.”
At the top of the castle.
A young man who looked only twenty years old held a serrated long knife in one hand and pressed the Man in Black Robe down tightly with the other.
He completely disregarded the potential consequences of attacking an NPC, pressing the Man in Black Robe to the ground and pointing the knife at him!
Around him, his teammates had tied up all the players who had just come from the Stargazing Platform to exchange Points.
The young man sneered and said to the Man in Black Robe, “You don’t have any real strength, do you? If you really wanted to crush us all, you would have done it yourself by now. Why rely on this Points and Gold Coin exchange rule?”
The Man in Black Robe’s hoarse voice was filled with anger, “What do you want!?”
“I think capturing people one by one is too tiring, and I have to snatch coins; it’s really a hassle.” The young man pretended to sigh dramatically, “You see, I really don’t like working myself to death for others. Why don’t you work for me instead? Just let me hide here; when they come to you for exchanges, you just do as I say. When I see any fat sheep, I’ll come out and help you catch them too. You’d be happy, wouldn’t you?”
Rather than fighting for points, it was better to wait for a fat sheep to come along, catch them, and throw them into the Meat Grinder to easily score high points.
But this required absolute force and a daring spirit to challenge the rules.
The young man raised an eyebrow, “Of course, if you don’t want to, that’s fine too. I’ll just go catch a few people to take first place, and then I’ll kill you. No one will… get any points. Then I’ll naturally be first. No need to play any scoring games; just kill the one who gives points.”
The Man in Black Robe struggled slightly, as if wanting to say something, but the young man kicked him lightly and laughed, “I know, killing you might make this castle become particularly dangerous, and there will be many unknown situations. But so what? The ones who can’t survive are those useless people, not me.”
After a long while.
The Man in Black Robe said, “…You can hide.”
The young man tilted his head, sheathed the long knife, and waved goodbye to his opponent.
About an hour later, the leaderboard displayed the name “Other Shore Flower” for the first place, with a score of 4 points.
Among the four players participating in Other Shore Flower, Xu Miaomiao’s name was followed by all the points earned by Other Shore Flower, also 4 points. This indicated that all 4 points were earned by Xu Miaomiao.
These 4 points remained for a while, and at that moment, they were suddenly overshadowed by another organization that surged up from 0 points.
Morning Star, Xue Wan, 13 points.
A few hours later, an explosion echoed from the first floor of the castle.
