HI Chapter 109

Yan Wei’s method was, in fact, neither particularly difficult nor particularly easy to execute.

Compared to confronting Xue Wan directly at the Stargazing Platform, it was evidently much easier to find a way to steal those players’ coins at the entrance on the fourth floor. However, coming up with a plan to obtain the coins was still a challenge. But Yan Wei had more or less formulated a strategy in his mind; this problem was not a cause for concern.

“What should we do now? Do you have any ideas? We’re listening to you,” Yu Feizhou said.

Without hesitation, Yan Wei replied, “Rest.”

“Huh?”

Yan Wei put away the terrain map and the coins.

“What is the current situation in the instance?” he asked.

Yan Mingguang stood by with his hands in his pockets, as quiet as ever. After a moment of thought, Yu Feizhou said calmly, “The ranking trend has already become apparent. Unless there’s a major upheaval, the basic front and back rankings won’t change; only the scores and the gaps between a few players will fluctuate—unless a team suddenly suffers a total defeat.”

Another Yu Feizhou continued, “Currently in first place is Morning Star, with the standout player being Xue Wan; in second place is Manjusaka, led by Xu Miaomiao; the third organization hasn’t been seen much, their score is stable, indicating they are a relatively steady but unremarkable team. As for fourth… it’s that group of disorganized players, considered dark horses. Right now—”

Lin Zhen spread his hands, “Zero points.”

Yan Wei chuckled, “Zero points are fine. What use is the initial score? If it weren’t for Morning Star and Manjusaka, who are already untouchable, players with scores are just fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered. As for how to score, there’s no rush; there will be plenty of opportunities later. We just need to deal with those tricky opponents first.”

He organized his thoughts and continued, “Xu Miaomiao will realize she’s been tricked after a while. At that point, her first thought will definitely be to eliminate us and seize control of the Blocker. I will inevitably think of this too; they must have already set a trap for them—based on the situation of the top few, that trap is likely to be the disorganized players who need an advantage and don’t associate with large organizations. In other words, Xu Miaomiao has another me and the disorganized players to deal with, so we don’t need to worry for now.

“Our current opponent is Xue Wan, who is blocking the Stargazing Platform. As I mentioned earlier, we just need to ensure he doesn’t have enough coins. Although everyone relies on strength to capture people, handing the ‘Prey’ over to the Man in Black Robe requires spending coins. As long as he doesn’t have coins, capturing someone is of no use to him.

“As for how to prevent him from getting coins, I have some ideas.”

“But for now, these are not things that can be accomplished in a short time. Let’s get through tonight first.”

Yan Wei’s gaze sharpened, “Let’s return to our rooms and wait for the situation to change.”

Night fell.

The castle was now shrouded in darkness without power, and players dared not use flashlights to attract attention. The entire castle, whether in the corridors or rooms, was devoid of light, with only the moonlight filtering through the glass windows, casting a gentle glow.

A flock of crows circled around the castle, casting eerie shadows.

The cawing of crows echoed from outside, accompanied by the sound of Malevolent Automatons moving with a numbing rhythm.

In his room, Yan Wei took off his outer clothing and sat on the bed, leaning slightly against the wall. Yan Mingguang sat beside him, seemingly watching him. It wasn’t yet midnight, and he wasn’t particularly tired; the Tower wouldn’t project players’ resting moments, making this the best time to talk. He wanted to discuss the unspoken matters between them with Yan Mingguang, so he pulled him into his room.

This person seemed to understand his intentions, saying nothing, and simply walked slowly to sit by the bed.

Then came a moment of silence.

After a day of tension, it was rare to have such a slightly relaxed moment. Yan Wei relaxed his body against the wall, not in a hurry to speak. He didn’t say anything, and neither did Yan Mingguang. The two of them remained silent amidst the cawing of crows and the faint footsteps of the Automatons, neither of them opening their mouths.

Yet Yan Wei didn’t feel awkward at all.

It was as if they had been together for a long time; even without speaking or doing anything, just being together felt relaxed and comfortable.

In fact, this feeling had been present during the first instance at the Long Corridor Hotel. But at that time, Yan Wei thought he had just entered the Tower World, facing everything “new” with a sense of exploration and caution. So even though he didn’t have much wariness towards Yan Mingguang, he attributed it to his initial trust in this person’s strength and character.

But now, with everything half-revealed, Yan Wei realized where this feeling came from.

He and Yan Mingguang might have been together before.

No, they definitely had.

Those fragmented scenes in his dreams, along with Yan Mingguang’s restrained yet urgent kiss when he pretended to be drunk, and even the feeling of kissing Yan Mingguang to escape the dream in the morning… all of these were enough to prove his unusual feelings for Yan Mingguang, as well as Yan Mingguang’s unusual feelings for him.

This feeling was actually quite strange.

He felt both unfamiliar and familiar with Yan Mingguang, long-lost yet intimate.

But Yan Wei wasn’t in a hurry to understand all of that now. Since everything was something he had once prepared for, he would just follow his current thoughts. Just like in this instance, he understood himself and trusted all the judgments he made.

Using the moonlight from the window, Yan Wei gazed at Yan Mingguang’s profile outlined by the dim light, lost in thought for a while, and then he finally decided to speak.

“Why was Lin Zhen able to kill his Benevolent Automaton?”

“What did you dream about last night?”

The two voices almost sounded simultaneously, Yan Wei’s voice overlapping with Yan Mingguang’s.

Both of them were taken aback.

In the next moment, the scene he had almost forgotten resurfaced in Yan Wei’s mind, and he suddenly recalled the moment he kissed the corner of Yan Mingguang’s mouth in the morning—this person actually remembered and wanted to ask him about it now!!

Meanwhile, by the bed, Yan Mingguang showed no signs of surprise. He was not at all surprised that Yan Wei would ask this question.

After a while.

When Yan Wei felt his face heating up again, Yan Mingguang finally spoke, “Lin Zhen was able to kill his Benevolent Automaton, and it has nothing to do with this instance.”

This was a reprieve for Yan Wei.

He let out a sigh of relief.

Feeling the warmth on his cheeks dissipate unnoticed in the dim light, he then spoke, “Why? You deliberately interrupted my thoughts during the day, didn’t you? Actually, when you interrupted my thinking, I felt relieved because if it were related to breaking the instance, you wouldn’t have interrupted me. Only if it were related to my past would you interrupt me.”

This was a straightforward admission.

He said, “Yan Mingguang, I won’t ask anything because some things can’t be known just by asking, and even if I know, I don’t need to ask. I trust you; if it’s inconvenient to say, then let it be.”

Yan Mingguang looked at him.

“Lin Zhen was able to kill the Benevolent Automaton because of his uniqueness,” Yan Mingguang said, “This instance replicates an identical Puppet based on the data of players entering the instance, but Lin Zhen and Lin Qing’s abilities can be shared. Lin Qing, outside the instance, is an element that cannot be replicated by the instance.”

Yan Wei enjoyed listening to Yan Mingguang speak at length. This person usually said little, but when he spoke more, it was a pleasure to the ears.

He listened as Yan Mingguang continued to explain, “Although he didn’t use any skills, Lin Qing determined the potential he could unleash at the moment of life and death and the limits of his breakthroughs. This is something that the Benevolent Automaton replicated in the instance cannot achieve.”

“So this is just a special case between Lin Qing and Lin Zhen, and it has nothing to do with this instance. Other players cannot replicate Lin Zhen’s uniqueness, which is of no benefit to us in breaking the instance.”

“Mm.”

Yan Wei raised an eyebrow, “But it’s related to me, right?”

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have interrupted his thoughts so eagerly.

To his surprise, the man immediately replied, “Yes.”

Yan Wei was taken aback. He thought Yan Mingguang would avoid the question, but unexpectedly, he directly admitted it.

“You’ve always been very clever,” Yan Mingguang’s voice was calm and cool, yet not distant at all, “Actually, you don’t need to ask me.”

Yan Wei smiled slightly—Yan Mingguang was right. He already had answers to these questions; he only sought affirmation or denial, just a psychological comfort from Yan Mingguang.

“So…”

“So you should rest.”

“…Alright.”

Midnight.

Yan Wei’s skill switched back to its normal state.

This time, his sleep could hardly be considered peaceful; the other players in the instance were likely the same, as the commotion in the entire castle was simply too great.

It was the Dream Realm that had troubled Yan Wei the previous night.

All the dangers this castle possessed blurred the line between reality and illusion. Yan Wei would encounter them, and so would other players. Those who managed to escape passed through in silence, while those who couldn’t escape were completely lost in the dream, and by the time they woke up, their minds were utterly chaotic, producing all sorts of frenzied sounds and movements.

When Yan Wei donned his trench coat and stepped out in the morning, he opened the door to find a deranged player right outside.

He sighed and walked out of the room to meet up with Yan Mingguang and the others. They had been relatively lucky that night; it seemed nothing major had happened, and no one was missing. Yan Mingguang was standing not far away, smoking, his gaze leisurely fixed on him, while Lin Zhen and the two Yu Feizhou were playing rock-paper-scissors.

Yan Wei: “…”

“It seems our rooms were quite quiet; did you all dream last night?” He approached and asked, “As I mentioned before returning to my room, the castle can affect a person’s mental world, trapping them in dreams. Today, many must have gone mad or died.”

He directed this question at Lin Zhen.

This kind of mental influence was stronger against the strong and weaker against the weak. Yan Mingguang didn’t need to worry at all, and someone as straightforward as Yu Feizhou would likely not be trapped in a dream; he was only somewhat concerned about Lin Zhen.

To his surprise, Lin Zhen shook his head, while Yu Feizhou said, “I did dream, but fortunately, I managed to come out in the end. However, I didn’t come out as quickly as you; I was trapped the whole night.”

Yan Wei was slightly surprised but still said, “As long as you came out, that’s good. Lin Zhen, you need to be careful; just because there was nothing last night doesn’t mean there won’t be in the future.”

“I know, these two Yu Feizhou just nagged me about it twice already.”

Yan Wei chuckled lightly, “Alright, let’s go prepare for last night’s plan—make sure Xue Wan doesn’t score; we can’t let the gap widen any further, or it will be too hard to catch up later.”

Lin Zhen yawned, “Okay, I remember, it’s just to prevent Xue Wan from getting coins, right? What’s your plan? To catch everyone who goes to exchange points and steal their coins? Isn’t that the same as what Xue Wan does…”

Yan Wei raised an eyebrow, “Why catch them?”

“If you don’t catch them, how will you take them?”

“Let them give them to me themselves.”

An hour later.

On the third floor of the castle.

At the entrance to the stairway leading to the Stargazing Platform on the fourth floor, a figure dressed in a black robe, with a hood large enough to obscure his face, stood at the foot of the stairs.

The Man in Black Robe raised his hand, blocking the approaching players. A hoarse, deep voice rang out, “Tonight, the rules have changed, guest. How many points do you wish to exchange?”

The newcomer was taken aback and immediately replied, “At most one, but I might exchange incorrectly.”

“One coin,” the Man in Black Robe extended his hand.

The person, without suspicion, took out a coin meant for capturing Puppets and handed it to the Man in Black Robe.

The Man in Black Robe stepped aside and said, “You can go up to exchange points; just throw the captured Benevolent Automaton into the Meat Grinder for destruction.”

The person immediately took the “Prey” and headed upstairs.

Around the corner, another Yu Feizhou turned his head away, unable to bear to watch, while Lin Zhen peeked out, clicking his tongue in amazement, “You really are something, little pet. I mean, with so many of us here—me, you, Yan Mingguang—why did you have to send Yu Feizhou to do this kind of thing? You’re too wicked.”

Yan Wei: “Oh, is that so?”

“Is it not?”

“Maybe it is.”

“……”