The woman let out a hoarse, piercing scream.
But she seemed utterly exhausted, trembling as she was lifted up by both True Self Yan Wei and Benevolent Automaton Yan Wei, one on each side.
Yan Wei didn’t hesitate in the slightest.
Yan Mingguang stood beside Yan Wei, vigilant for any potential dangers. Yu Feizhou and Lin Zhen looked on in shock, while some of the surrounding players even gasped in surprise.
Xu Miaomiao shouted, “Wait! What if it’s a trap—”
Before she could finish, True Self Yan Wei and Benevolent Automaton Yan Wei had already thrown the panicked, screaming woman into the feeding chute of the Meat Grinder.
The Meat Grinder started rolling indiscriminately, and in the blink of an eye, the woman’s screams ceased, leaving only scattered pieces of flesh and blood inside the grinder. Everything happened so quickly that even the players present, as well as the Man in Black Robe and the Malevolent Automatons below the Stargazing Platform, paused momentarily.
Yan Wei first heard Lou’s notification.
【Congratulations, player, for successfully exchanging Points. Total Points obtained: 218. Current Points updated. Points of the player’s affiliated organization updated. Leaderboard updated.】
Yan Wei glanced at Benevolent Automaton Yan Wei, and their eyes met, understanding each other without the need for words.
The previously chaotic fourth floor of the castle suddenly fell into dead silence after Yan Wei’s action.
Lin Zhen was the first to open the leaderboard.
“Oh, Blackbird is in first place with 436 points.”
Before he could finish speaking, Lin Zhen, who had been aiming his bow at the Malevolent Automatons ahead, suddenly turned his arrow toward the nearest player from Manjusaka.
Xu Miaomiao raised an eyebrow.
Not far away, Remaining Flower and others, who had been helping Yan Wei and his group deal with the Malevolent Automatons, also stopped. Remaining Flower looked at Yan Wei and said, “Since the situation has been resolved, the truth of the instance no longer matters. To take first place now, the only way is…”
To kill Yan Wei.
These people had only temporarily allied with Blackbird after negotiating terms with Benevolent Automaton Yan Wei and exchanging some benefits with Blackbird. At the time, they thought that catching Xue Wan to take first place was hopeless, so they decided to focus on breaking the situation and leaving.
But now, Yan Wei seemed to have broken the situation and obtained a completely insurmountable 436 points, double the current total points. They didn’t need to worry about anything else; as long as they captured one of the two Yan Weis, they could obtain 218 points.
Compared to Blackbird, who previously had zero points, the others had at least some points. As long as they obtained 218 points, they would undoubtedly become the new first place.
Even if they threw Yan Wei into the Meat Grinder, there was a 50% chance they would kill the Benevolent Automaton, and Blackbird would have to let it slide once the instance ended. If they killed the real Yan Wei, surely Blackbird wouldn’t oppose so many people over someone already dead, right?
This opportunity was too tempting. Remaining Flower thought this, and so did the others. Lin Zhen and Yu Feizhou naturally could figure it out too, which was why they immediately aimed their weapons at the other players.
At this moment, someone from Xu Miaomiao’s side was stealthily trying to approach Yan Wei. Yan Wei frowned, and just as Yan Mingguang beside him was about to act, Xu Miaomiao waved her staff, commanding her puppet to block the person.
Lin Zhen, who had been aiming his bow at Manjusaka, suddenly retracted it and whistled, “Not bad, keeping your word.”
Xu Miaomiao simply smiled. “I said I just didn’t want Morning Star to take first place. You did it, so I should keep my promise.”
This move by Manjusaka immediately deterred the other covetous players.
If it were just Blackbird, the others and Manjusaka together could still have a chance to capture Yan Wei. But if Manjusaka joined forces with Blackbird, the others would be nothing but scattered sand before them. Morning Star only had a few players here, and the others following Xue Wan couldn’t possibly make it in time now.
The situation shifted, and Remaining Flower and the others dared not move.
Yan Wei, however, just sighed.
“Why do you think the situation has been resolved? I haven’t heard any completion rewards for the main quest of the instance.”
He turned his gaze toward the still-standing Man in Black Robe in the distance and said, “Do you want to stand here waiting for us to kill each other? If that woman was really the True Self of the Man in Black Robe, why are these Malevolent Automatons still here? And why are you, the so-called Benevolent Automaton, still here? It doesn’t make sense, does it?”
The Man in Black Robe moved.
The black hood fell, revealing a face like decayed wood, covered in dried blood. Her eyes bulged, unfocused, yet seemed to be looking in Yan Wei’s direction. She personally removed the hood and smiled faintly at Yan Wei, the dried blood on her face wrinkling slightly with the smile.
—Exactly the same as the woman Yan Wei had just thrown into the grinder.
But judging by her appearance, she clearly wasn’t a puppet that would lose consciousness after the True Self’s death.
“Wow, interesting,” Lin Zhen exclaimed. “So, little pet, the one you just threw in was actually the Benevolent Automaton of the Man in Black Robe?”
Yan Wei raised an eyebrow, one hand in his pocket, his fingers lightly rubbing his Swallow Coin, his mind racing with thoughts. At the same time, he used his skill to communicate with Yan Mingguang: 【Don’t worry about me. Today, I’m in an Undying State, and my Benevolent Automaton will be more ostentatious to attract attention. Find an opportunity to act against this Man in Black Robe.】
Yan Mingguang glanced at him, not speaking, but his grip on the Long Whip tightened.
On the other side, Benevolent Automaton Yan Wei stood by the Meat Grinder and said slowly, “No, not the Benevolent Automaton. The one we just threw into the Meat Grinder was the True Self of the Man in Black Robe. The one before us now is her Benevolent Automaton.”
Xu Miaomiao was also confused. “Then why…?”
When the True Self dies, the Benevolent Automaton becomes a mindless Malevolent Automaton, and the Man in Black Robe, who controls all the Malevolent Automatons, should lose consciousness, ending everything.
But apart from the woman thrown into the Meat Grinder and the sudden surge in Blackbird’s points, nothing had changed.
Yan Wei said gravely, “Because she didn’t die. She deceived us. The Meat Grinder can’t kill her. As long as she has a sliver of consciousness, she can attach her soul to any puppet. What died in the Meat Grinder was just the Man in Black Robe’s physical body. In that instant, her soul switched to another puppet—the one we’re facing now, who was originally a puppet.”
A completely fabricated lie can’t deceive people; only half-truths can mislead.
From the moment they encountered that woman at the small castle entrance, the real Man in Black Robe’s words had been mixed with truths.
She said that as long as the Man in Black Robe didn’t die, her consciousness could enter any puppet she controlled, and only the Meat Grinder could stop this. The Meat Grinder couldn’t stop this, but the Man in Black Robe’s consciousness could indeed enter other puppets.
As long as the puppets existed, she was immortal.
In the silence, the woman cloaked in black slowly ascended the stairs, the high steps creaking with each step.
The Malevolent Automatons around seemed under her control, momentarily still. The players, evidently not expecting the situation to take such a sudden turn, had been dealing with the Man in Black Robe, then nearly fought over Yan Wei’s points, and now another Man in Black Robe stood unharmed before them. They exchanged glances, not immediately taking action.
Benevolent Automaton Yan Wei briefly communicated with True Self Yan Wei using their Perception, quickly grasping everything that had happened to True Self Yan Wei.
While all the players stepped back and hid on either side, he didn’t retreat but instead walked toward the Man in Black Robe, meeting her at the foot of the Stargazing Platform.
Surprisingly, the Man in Black Robe didn’t attack.
She asked, “Aren’t you scared?”
“I am,” Benevolent Automaton Yan Wei nodded. “I’m thinking about what to do.”
A hoarse, gloomy voice said, “Aren’t you curious about what happened?”
“Not curious, because I’ve already guessed.”
Behind him, True Self Yan Wei tightly gripped his Swallow Coin, his mind racing through clues and conjectures, replaying the entire instance in his mind.
Facing the Man in Black Robe, Benevolent Automaton Yan Wei shrugged and said, “You’ve been setting us up to make us attack you from the start, haven’t you? We could guess that the person in the small maze was you without your cloak, so how could you not know this? From the moment you appeared, you were determined, knowing we would inevitably guess you were the Man in Black Robe.”
Xu Miaomiao’s expression stiffened, and she gritted her teeth. “So that’s how it was.”
Yu Feizhou sighed. “This time, we’ve been outplayed, haven’t we?”
Lin Zhen: “You guys get it already!?!”
Benevolent Automaton Yan Wei’s eyes were serious, but under such pressure, he chuckled lightly and said, “…You started planning this from the moment you realized we were tailing you, didn’t you?”
At the time, Yan Wei had orchestrated a situation where Xu Miaomiao, Xue Wan, and Remaining Flower would weaken each other, forcing the Man in Black Robe to expend considerable energy to escape. Afterward, Yan Wei followed the Man in Black Robe to the hidden door on the third floor, where he saw the partially open door.
—It had been left open intentionally by the Man in Black Robe.
Even the line about “Born Ominous” they encountered when entering the maze had been written by the Man in Black Robe herself, to remind them that she was “Born Ominous,” without a mother.
The Man in Black Robe’s goal from the start had been to induce them to kill her!
If the Man in Black Robe had directly confronted them, they might not have attacked her, as they were also players and wouldn’t casually attack an NPC who controlled the game’s rules. But if the Man in Black Robe had manipulated them into attacking, they weren’t fools; they wouldn’t fall for it.
So the Man in Black Robe designed this “Ace’s mother” lie, constantly emphasizing that “Ace’s mother” couldn’t die, thereby pushing Yan Wei and his group to deduce, through various suspicious clues, that “Ace’s mother” was the Man in Black Robe, and that she didn’t want to die, so killing her with the Meat Grinder would break the situation.
This wasn’t a gamble on positive or negative logic but a deliberate ploy to make Yan Wei and his group think they had found the answer, leading them to attack the woman—the real Man in Black Robe.
The Man in Black Robe wanted the players to kill her.
And she had already succeeded.
Around them, the previously calm Malevolent Automatons suddenly sprang to life, the entire castle seeming to come alive as mechanical footsteps echoed everywhere!
The Man in Black Robe stood motionless before Benevolent Automaton Yan Wei, but the Malevolent Automatons around her had already gone berserk.
Benevolent Automaton Yan Wei said word by word, “Then let me guess why you wanted us to kill you. Your Puppetry isn’t omnipotent, is it? For example, when you mobilized all the Malevolent Automatons in the castle, it wasn’t just a significant drain on you; it probably injured your core? We saw you constantly bleeding because you were truly injured and couldn’t recover quickly, so you wanted to switch to a healthy body—the one you’re using now.”
“But you have limitations. You can’t just switch bodies at will; only when the body you’re using is killed by the Meat Grinder can you switch. Otherwise, you could have freely moved among these puppets long ago. You needed us to kill you, which means suicide isn’t an option; it has to be someone else who kills you.”
Benevolent Automaton Yan Wei feigned sudden realization. “I get it. To switch to a healthy body, you must be killed by someone else, so you orchestrated all this to make us attack you.”
“You’re the most interesting guest I’ve ever encountered,” she said with a sinister smile. “After you die, I’ll make a puppet worthy of you. But you missed one thing: being killed by someone else doesn’t just let me switch bodies; it also makes me… stronger.”
A dagger suddenly shot through the air from Yan Mingguang’s hand, piercing the Man in Black Robe’s forehead in an instant!
Amid gasps, the Man in Black Robe’s body collapsed before Benevolent Automaton Yan Wei. But not far away, a previously lifeless puppet now wore the same smile as the Man in Black Robe, her identical hoarse voice carrying a chilling amusement. “I can’t die. As long as you kill me, I can enter the body of the next puppet.”
“Unless you can kill all the puppets, I am immortal.”
“Guests, you could have taken the Gold Coins, exchanged them for my precious puppets, and left the castle with your rankings. Why do you insist on repeatedly challenging my rules?”
“Then none of you will leave.”
In the next moment, countless Malevolent Automatons surged forward like a frenzied tide.
They seemed even more powerful than before, instantly breaking through one side.
Xu Miaomiao hurriedly commanded her own puppets to block the onslaught from that side, while another Xu Miaomiao swung her staff, physically blocking a Malevolent Automaton but being forced back several steps by the force.
She said angrily, “When you were about to throw that thing into the Meat Grinder, I told you to think twice! You’re such a smart person; why were you so impatient just now!?”
True Self Yan Wei looked at the chaotic scene before him and said calmly, “I did think twice.”
“What?”
“We had no more clues. Killing either one was a gamble, and killing both was also a gamble. Why not take a big gamble? When I reached the Stargazing Platform, I suspected she wanted us to throw her into the Meat Grinder. Since that was the case, why not let her have her way?”
No clues? Then create clues.
No way out? Then let the Man in Black Robe take the first step.
Being passive is still action. As long as there’s movement, it means clues, representing the possibility of breaking the situation. Yan Wei wanted the top points and also the rewards for breaking the situation. Since they had no clues to retreat, they let the Man in Black Robe have her way, let her take the first step, let her become stronger, let her attack them!
Breaking the situation meant new clues.
Xu Miaomiao was stunned.
Her eyes flickered, and she gritted her teeth. “I always thought Xue Wan, who acted recklessly, was a difficult madman to deal with. Today, I realized that someone like you, usually rational and steady, when you go mad, you’re the true madman!”
