At this moment, the ranking list visible on every player’s Information Panel began to undergo significant changes.
Unlike the occasional fluctuations at midnight, the current ranking list saw players gaining points almost continuously. Aside from the inexplicably dominant Xue Wan sitting at the top with a score of 21, Xu Miaomiao steadily climbed to second place with 16 points. From the third place onward, the scores of the organizations fell sharply behind the top two. However, from third place onward, the scores between each organization were tightly contested, with rankings changing constantly.
Yan Wei lightly tapped the Black Ring, a thought flashing through his mind, and the latest ranking list appeared before him.
First place, Morning Star, Xue Wan,……, 21 points.
Second place, Manjusaka, Xu Miaomiao,……, 16 points.
Third place, ……., 8 points.
Fourth place, No Organization,……, 8 points.
Fifth place, ……, 7 points.
……
Thirty-seventh place, Blackbird, Yu Feizhou, Lin Zhen, Yan Mingguang, Yan Wei, 0 points.
Thirty-eighth place,……, 0 points.
……
Sixtieth place,……, death.
……
Yan Wei first glanced roughly from top to bottom at the current competition situation, then looked back up, pausing when he saw the fourth place.
No Organization…… followed by a long list of names, clearly referring to the unorganized players dragged into this instance for various reasons, as Lou had mentioned. Since this was originally an Arena Instance for organizations, scores were calculated based on organizations, and these players were mostly low-tier players in their teens or twenties, so the instance counted them as a new organization, with all their scattered scores included.
But at the beginning, no one, including Yan Wei, considered this group of people. They were not players who actively entered this instance but were dragged in after failing at the Gambling Tower. From the moment the instance rules became clear, players who voluntarily participated in the Arena Instance knew that these people were merely sacrifices thrown in by Lou to provide more Puppet numbers.
Yet now, this group’s total score surprisingly reached fourth place. Moreover, this fourth place was tied with another organization that had earlier scored 8 points, meaning that apart from Morning Star and Manjusaka, they had the highest score.
“……Interesting,” Yan Wei blinked, his eyes bright, “It seems there are noteworthy players among this group.”
He closed the Information Panel and exchanged for a False Stone, transforming it into the appearance of a blocker, hiding it behind a mirror on the wall.
Lin Zhen, beside him, held a paper and pencil, whistling as he leisurely sketched the path they had just walked. One corner of the paper he held was already densely filled with routes. As he incorporated the path they had just traversed into the castle’s blueprint, he said, “You’ve hidden a bunch of fake items along the way, and we haven’t gotten anything but this terrain map.”
“We’ve already hidden our blockers in the places we’ve passed.”
“?”
“Didn’t I just say, after the explosion this morning, players with a similar progress should be on alert about us— they won’t make the same mistake twice. If that’s the case, they can also anticipate that our next step after destroying the power box is to use the castle floor’s wiring to read Puppet values individually.”
After placing the blocker, Yan Wei put his hands in his pockets and used Perception to sense the situation ahead, choosing a still quite remote path.
He continued, “If it were you, and you guessed I would spread blockers throughout the castle to facilitate controlling the local reading of Puppet numbers, what would you do?”
Before Lin Zhen could respond, the two Yu Feizhou spoke in unison: “Look for traces of your passage, destroy our blockers, and replace them with theirs. This could mislead us into thinking we succeeded, but in reality, they would be the ones able to read the values.”
Yan Wei smiled, “Exactly. So if someone can keep pace with me, I have to admit they are a worthy opponent, which is why I need to lay low and let these players who want to catch us off guard destroy the fakes and replace them with theirs.”
“The other me would definitely think of this too; he would follow the traces of our actions. If he sees the real blockers, bypassing this layer of logic, he could guess that there are at least two groups ahead of him—one is us, and the other is players replacing the real blockers behind us. Thus, he would certainly think about what happened earlier, retrieve the blockers controlled by another group of players, and replace them with the real blockers we can control.”
Lin Zhen: “You’re so sure there’s at least one group that would do this?”
“There’s a high probability, but it can’t be confirmed. After all, I can’t be entirely certain how players in this game think. But as long as there’s a possibility, I have to act this way, even if it’s redundant— the other me would see the fake blockers and think of these, thus replacing the fake blockers I left with real ones.”
“Whether or not there are players trying to catch us off guard, we are all just prey, and the outcome is the same.”
Yan Wei placed another fake blocker.
But this time, he paused, looking ahead, his brow furrowing.
Yan Mingguang said from behind, “We might need to split up.”
Yan Wei nodded, “We’ve finished traversing the most remote part; next… I’ll spread my Perception out, and the player density has increased. We can’t avoid people anymore. We need to split into two teams; a few should go ahead to clear the path, divert attention, or… capture people, while the rest continue to place fake blockers. But the team clearing the path must be quick; otherwise…”
Otherwise, if his guess turned out to be true, and someone was behind them… if they delayed for ten minutes, they could easily run into the players behind them. At that point, with a group of players ahead who hadn’t been diverted and another team behind capable of psychological warfare, their situation would become very passive.
Yan Wei himself would definitely be responsible for hiding the fake blockers.
These blockers couldn’t be hidden so well that they couldn’t be found, nor could they be hidden so obviously that others would perceive his intentions. Only he could place them to achieve the desired effect.
The team clearing the path had to be fast…
Yan Wei glanced at Yan Mingguang and Lin Zhen, immediately saying, “Yan Mingguang, Lin Zhen, Yu Feizhou, you guys go ahead to clear the path. Yu Feizhou, stay with me just in case. We’ll use the intercom item to communicate and adapt to any unexpected situations. Don’t worry too much; not many players can cooperate like us, having two identical selves.” Most people usually wished to eliminate the other identical self, which is a natural instinct of fear of being replaced.
As he finished speaking, Yan Mingguang looked at him.
The other didn’t say anything, just nodded slightly, his gaze seeming to see through his thoughts.
Yan Wei met his gaze, quickly blinking, a hint of guilt flashing in his eyes. He was indeed a bit afraid of being alone with Yan Mingguang, worried that this person would ask him questions he couldn’t answer.
“What are you looking at? We’ll head out first,” Lin Zhen turned around, pausing his steps, then looked back, “But don’t say I didn’t ask, what do you plan to do if we encounter someone who wants to tangle with us? I’m not that kind-hearted; if anyone blocks me, I’ll send them to the Meat Grinder.”
He said this with a smile, his tone casual, but his gaze toward Yan Wei was quite probing, clearly waiting for Yan Wei’s opinion.
Yan Wei simply replied, “Then let’s capture them.”
Yan Mingguang remained expressionless, but Yu Feizhou shot him a surprised glance.
“Not surprising, right? I’m not some merciful person; if someone offends me, I’ll retaliate. Since they’re blocking us, what’s the point of talking about morality?” Yan Wei said while carefully using Perception to sense the situation of several paths ahead, “But don’t send them directly to the Stargazing Platform; capture them and find a place to lock them up first. If we really need to split… no need for mercy.”
“Not sending them directly to the Stargazing Platform for points?”
“There must be guards at the Stargazing Platform.”
Yan Wei pointed to a path: “Let’s take this one.”
“Alright, let’s use the item to communicate.”
After Lin Zhen finished speaking, he took the lead down that path, the two Yu Feizhou exchanged glances and chose one to follow, and Yan Mingguang didn’t lag behind. The three figures quickly disappeared from Yan Wei’s sight, leaving only one Yu Feizhou by Yan Wei’s side.
Xu Miaomiao followed the traces left by Yan Wei, destroying the “blockers” he had “hidden” and replacing them with theirs.
After walking for a while, she paused and said to her teammates, “I see these traces… they first went to a more remote area, avoiding the crowded places. It seems this team, although strong in deduction, lacks combat power; we don’t need so many people to exhaust ourselves with them. I’ll place a blocker here—”
Another Xu Miaomiao continued, “I’ll draw the castle’s terrain map; you all go capture Prey for points. It would be too embarrassing to be slower than that lunatic Xue Wan.”
Yan Wei hid another fake blocker, and the intercom item in his ear transmitted Lin Zhen’s casual voice: “Ah, I caught another one; why do they all like to fight with me— Yan Mingguang looks tough but has a good temper. Hey, little pet, when are we sending these captured wastes to the Meat Grinder? We’ve been stuck at 0 points for too long.”
At the same time, a player’s scream seemed to echo in the background.
Yan Wei couldn’t be bothered with him, simply saying, “You’re loud.”
“Oh.”
Yan Wei: “…”
“Take the leftmost path,” this time it was Yan Mingguang’s calm voice, “We’ve cleared this path.”
Yan Wei responded with an “mm.”
“Yu Feizhou,” he said, “Have you seen the ranking list?”
“What’s up?”
“I’m wondering who might be keeping pace with me in this instance. I’ve been raising buildings too quickly, preparing for instance experience and clearing instances since entering the building, so I’m not very clear about the player situation inside. Among the top three in the ranking list, which one specializes in non-violent solutions?”
“You mean, if someone is following us closely, they must be among the top three?”
“Definitely among the top three, because players who think of catching the mantis while the cicada is unaware and do not reject the rules of killing absolutely could not have scored last night, and if they are to score, it must be a lot.”
Yu Feizhou pondered for a moment and said, “I think you might really be right.”
“Hmm?”
“Second place, Manjusaka, the player whose name is at the top, specializes in strange and unpredictable solutions, a female player with extremely strong Perception. Moreover, her style… perfectly matches your behavioral predictions for potential opponents.”
“You don’t look too good.”
“Because I’ve heard his name, and I heard it from Lin Qing.”
Yan Wei was taken aback: “Lin Qing? Isn’t Lin Qing already in a dungeon above level ninety?”
“Yeah, it’s around level ninety.”
Yu Feizhou and Yan Wei walked quickly ahead, simultaneously opening the ranking list, pointing at the name of the second place: “This person, her code name is Sorceress. Sorceress Xu Miaomiao, the player most heavily cultivated by Manjusaka, wields a sorceress staff and Puppet cards. This is an item that Manjusaka directly brought Xu Miaomiao from level forty to level ninety. The gifts from level ninety, even a small side quest’s value reward at the beginning, are enough to surpass all accumulations of players from levels forty to fifty. Manjusaka used this method to help Xu Miaomiao farm high-level items and body data that exceed dozens of levels, and then paid a huge price to find a descent passage for Xu Miaomiao before the instance was cleared—this way, Xu Miaomiao wouldn’t be considered a descending player.”
“She’s tricky.”
Yan Wei raised an eyebrow. He didn’t care how many levels this Xu Miaomiao had been through—after all, he knew he was a player who could format and restart, and no matter how high Xu Miaomiao had been, could it surpass the heights he had reached?
What he cared about was another point: “Puppet cards?”
“Her skills and auxiliary items are Puppet techniques, which perfectly align with this instance…”
Just as Yan Wei was about to continue asking, another Yu Feizhou’s voice came through the intercom item. Compared to the calmness of the current Yu Feizhou, the other identical voice carried urgency and surprise.
“Yan Wei! Don’t come over yet, find a place with fewer people to go! We have a situation here…”
“What happened?”
“Lin Zhen got into a fight with another him, and there are other organization players here; it’s a mess right now. If you come over, we might not be able to spare the energy to protect you. I’ll resolve Lin Zhen’s situation first— Lin Zhen!!!”
Even through the intercom, Yan Wei felt as if Yu Feizhou’s sudden shout could shatter his eardrums.
Before he could ask what was going on, the fragmented voices of other players in the background made Yan Wei aware of everything. Those people seemed to be the other players Yu Feizhou mentioned, speaking from a distance, their words sounding like self-talk filled with astonishment, transmitted through their intercom items from Yan Mingguang and Yu Feizhou to Yan Wei’s ears, muffled and unclear.
Yan Wei focused, gathering all his Perception on his hearing, straining to catch snippets of conversation.
Then, his expression froze, his amber eyes trembling slightly.
The Yu Feizhou beside him, whose Perception was not as strong, hadn’t heard clearly and asked in confusion, “What happened? What’s wrong with Lin Zhen? Did you hear clearly?”
Yan Wei slowly nodded.
“What did they say?”
“They said Lin Zhen killed another version of himself.”
