Yu Feizhou was momentarily stunned.
Even Yan Wei, upon hearing the voice from that direction, had a fleeting moment of doubt, wondering if he had misheard.
They had already been in this instance for a day, which was more than enough time for players to adapt, except in those instances where time stretched endlessly. The indistinguishable nature of True Self and Puppet, and their inability to overcome each other, had become the default rule that Yan Wei and all the players alive in this instance had fully adapted to.
Throughout the day, they had seen quite a few players fighting against themselves, both overtly and covertly.
Whether it was Yu Feizhou or Yan Wei, they had both tried to distinguish and conquer their own selves—clearly, they had not succeeded.
But now, one Lin Zhen had actually killed another Lin Zhen?
Yan Wei was momentarily taken aback, while Yu Feizhou had already reacted, quickly heading towards the direction where Yan Mingguang and the others were. Yan Wei glanced back, his mind racing with thoughts, but his steps suddenly faltered.
There was a high possibility that Xu Miaomiao, whom Yu Feizhou had mentioned, was behind them. They hadn’t resolved the situation in front of them yet; if they were to run into Xu Miaomiao directly, it would be a loss. Not only would his plan to bury the blocker likely fail, but they would also be unable to resolve the matter with Lin Zhen, and they would be caught in a pincer attack.
It would be better to…
He turned back, took out the Moon Wheel, and drew a complete barrier in the space behind him. After completing this action, Yan Wei was immediately drenched in cold sweat. Such a large-scale cut would likely need to be maintained for a while, and he would undoubtedly expend a lot of energy, which would also alert his opponents to the Moon Wheel.
But there was no other choice. He needed to block any potential players behind him for a while, and then he could adapt based on what he learned about Lin Zhen’s situation.
With the barrier established, Yan Wei wiped the sweat from his forehead and hurried after Yu Feizhou.
In the Gambling Tower District, in front of the Puppet Castle instance projection.
Compared to the few noteworthy corners from last night, with the arrival of daylight and players coming out to move around, all the projection angles had become vibrant.
Hundreds of players with varying skill levels were in this massive castle, as if they had fallen into a hell of slaughter.
In the Yue Mang team, Zhao Jingchen looked at the perspective of the Stargazing Platform, gritting his teeth and saying, “Are they fools? Can’t they guess that someone is lying in wait at the Stargazing Platform? They just handed over so many Points to Xue Wan, and now look, not only are they all dead, but they also directly delivered the first place in the rankings to Morning Star! Is this the seed you’ve cultivated?”
Beside him, several other high-ranking players from Yue Mang were trembling, not daring to speak.
Meanwhile, on the leaderboard above the projection, all the names of Yue Mang’s players had turned gray, and the Points display had been replaced with the word “Death.”
However, the complete annihilation of Yue Mang did not attract much attention, as everyone else’s focus was almost entirely on another scene.
In the Xuan Niao team, Lin Qing was hidden among a group of Xuan Niao players at the back. Beside him, a player who knew his identity stared at the screen in shock as Lin Zhen drew his bow, then looked at Lin Qing and whispered, “Did you just use a skill…?”
Lin Qing’s expression was solemn, but he didn’t seem particularly surprised.
He shook his head.
Then, as the player was about to ask another question, Lin Qing suddenly said, “I’m going into the instance now. You keep an eye on this place; just don’t act recklessly.”
“Lin Zhen…”
“Lin Zhen is fine.”
Lin Zhen maintained his stance, drawing the bowstring.
The bowstring was taut, the arrow poised to be released, aimed straight ahead. He seemed ready to shoot another arrow, his dark red eyes filled with a challenging eagerness, but right in front of him, the person who looked exactly like him had a vacant expression, a blood hole in the center of his brow, clearly the mark of being pierced by an arrow.
Lin Zhen’s bow-drawing motion paused, and the previous combativeness and killing intent froze at that moment.
He seemed somewhat taken aback, staring blankly ahead.
Yu Feizhou, who was acting alongside him and Yan Mingguang, shouted “Lin Zhen,” then quickly ran to the side of the “Lin Zhen” who lay on the ground with a pierced brow, instinctively pulling out a dagger to stab at his own brow.
But the blade stopped just short of his forehead.
—Yu Feizhou’s skill could not take effect; this “Lin Zhen” was already dead.
Before the second Lin Zhen had appeared, they had just engaged with a few players. At this moment, those players were also staring in shock at the two Lin Zhens, all expressions filled with astonishment and confusion. Yan Mingguang, who had just swung his Long Whip, suddenly halted not far away, his cold expression flashing with rare surprise.
Yet he showed no signs of confusion, merely standing silently to the side, his gaze curiously fixed on the still bow-drawing Lin Zhen, his black eyes deep in thought.
He was not in a hurry, nor did he doubt; he simply observed Lin Zhen in silence.
Another Yu Feizhou and Yan Wei had already run over from a distance.
The castle’s corridor was not wide, and players could easily locate everything within their line of sight. As soon as Yan Wei approached, he saw the corpse of the “Lin Zhen” closer to him, as well as the Lin Zhen who was displaying a vivid expression further ahead.
He instantly slowed his steps, still puzzled but no longer anxious.
Seeing both Yu Feizhou’s faces pale, Yan Wei said helplessly, “This is truly a case of concern leading to chaos. Yu Feizhou, stop staring at the corpse; look at the one who’s alive. Where’s the sign of a Malevolent Automaton in him?”
The two Yu Feizhou paused, their expressions finally looking a bit better.
Lin Zhen himself also reacted, raising an eyebrow as he walked slowly to look at his own corpse. He scoffed, “Is this what you call an unbeatable self? I don’t feel anything…”
Yan Wei was even more confused, staring intently at the corpse of “Lin Zhen,” intending to say something when he caught sight of the players who had previously engaged with Yan Mingguang and the others.
He raised his eyes and met Lin Zhen’s gaze directly, while the two Yu Feizhou and Yan Mingguang not far away also looked over.
In the next moment, Lin Zhen chuckled lightly, suddenly stepping back, drawing the bowstring and aiming at those players. Yan Mingguang flicked his Long Whip, and the two Yu Feizhou almost simultaneously threw their daggers.
—No matter why Lin Zhen had been able to kill the corresponding Benevolent Automaton, this was undoubtedly abnormal within the Puppet Castle, and this matter could not be allowed to spread.
A few minutes later.
Those players were all bound and thrown in front of Yan Wei. Lin Zhen found the sound of their pleas too noisy, laughing as he stepped forward to cut out their tongues one by one. Yu Feizhou frowned uncomfortably but said nothing, merely turning his head away to avoid the sight of the blood.
Yan Wei felt someone was impacting the barrier he had set with the Moon Wheel.
Behind them, sure enough, another group of players was following—this was not a bad thing, as his previous arrangements had worked.
“What do you say?” Lin Zhen looked at Yan Wei, “Should we send these people to the Stargazing Platform first? You’re not like Yu Feizhou with that saintly heart; you should know that players can’t kill each other, but only the dead can keep secrets completely. However, if we don’t keep it a secret, that’s fine too; it would probably lead many people to come find me for a fight, but it’s a pity my Benevolent Automatons are too fragile…”
The Moon Wheel was draining Yan Wei’s stamina, and he felt unsteady on his feet, instinctively leaning against Yan Mingguang. Noticing the man’s momentary stiffness, Yan Wei realized he had leaned against Yan Mingguang and turned to glance at him.
Yan Mingguang was looking at Lin Zhen, his gaze deep, as if pondering something.
“Cold Ice, what’s wrong? You’ve been unresponsive.”
Yan Mingguang shook his head, “It’s nothing.”
Yan Wei pulled his focus back, saying, “Lin Zhen, why were you able to kill your Benevolent Automaton? We can discuss that later; time is tight, and we need to handle the present situation first. This matter cannot be allowed to spread; these people cannot live, but we cannot go to the Stargazing Platform. There’s a high chance someone is lying in wait there. If the information Yu Feizhou and I received about the witch Xu Miaomiao is correct, then the player following us should be the Manjusaka Xu Miaomiao. Among the top three scorers, the one with a cliff-like high score, who gains points in leaps and bounds, should be the first—Morning Star Xue Wan, who is likely to be reaping the benefits at the Stargazing Platform. We should avoid her sharp edge.”
“Troublesome. What about these five people? Dragging them is exhausting.”
Yan Wei sensed that the barrier left by the Moon Wheel had already been breached.
He glanced at the corpses on the ground and then at the players who could no longer speak, his clear eyes flashing with a contradictory determination. He said, “Since an unexpected situation has arisen, we might as well change our plan and directly utilize this surprise.”
“My barrier has been broken, and that person who is likely Xu Miaomiao should be arriving soon. Since that person impacted my barrier, we both know of each other’s existence. Continuing to use the hidden blocker method is meaningless—we might as well give up.”
Yu Feizhou frowned, “Give up? What about the half-hidden blocker and the half-drawn map?”
“Just because we give up doesn’t mean the other group will give up—they think they’ve been hiding all this time.”
The two Yu Feizhou’s eyes brightened, and they said in unison, “Good idea!”
Lin Zhen squatted on the ground, playing with the body of his Benevolent Automaton, casually saying, “Now I understand, let’s have them go first. We’ll take another route back, circling around to the back of those who were originally following us. Then—roles reversed, they hide the blocker first, and we follow behind to find out where they hid it, replacing it with ours.”
“But there’s still a problem; they’ll be here soon. Seeing all these traces, won’t they suspect something? They might think we circled back to follow them.”
“You actually had a moment of cleverness.”
“Actually? Just a moment??”
Yan Wei smiled, “Yes, so we must make them think someone is running ahead, shaking them off, so they won’t suspect we’ve circled around to their back.”
Yan Mingguang finally spoke up, “Should I go?”
“No need.”
“Hmm?”
“I just used the Moon Wheel’s ability to block the people behind us, but while the Moon Wheel can block others, it cannot block another me who also possesses a flawed Moon Wheel. So when the people behind break the barrier, the other me will see these and will be able to deduce what happened ahead. He will directly take the Moon Wheel and find another route to come around to us, likely arriving faster than the Manjusaka’s people.”
“We are now taking a route to circle around to the back of the Manjusaka, while the other me will arrive here first. I know myself well; he will see the situation here and understand what I plan to do—he will create the impression that we just had a fierce battle and are hastening forward. After that, the Manjusaka’s people will arrive here, misled by the scene and the other me, thinking we are fleeing ahead.”
“And these five people might yield some points; the Manjusaka and Morning Star are not far apart, and they will be tempted by the points delivered to them. So they will directly take these five people and move forward, hiding the blocker while heading to the Stargazing Platform to score.”
In reality, they would be following behind the Manjusaka, replacing all the blockers hidden by the Manjusaka with their own, without needing to risk going to the Stargazing Platform to eliminate these people, thus naturally preserving Lin Zhen’s earlier anomaly.
A threefold gain.
Yan Wei’s ever-expanding perception sensed that someone was about to approach, and he whispered, “Let’s go; we’ll circle around to the back of the Manjusaka.”
