Outside the instance.
This time, perhaps due to the unique way the top floor was activated, most of the Players who entered were not overly secretive, and nearly all their main perspectives were opened. Millions of Players inside the building watched these perspectives, simultaneously observing the events unfolding on both sides.
Geng Liang’s perspective was also open.
When he first loaded into the instance, he was almost immediately surrounded by Players from the Shen Estate faction.
Even though the Resentment wished for Yan Wei to be in absolute disadvantage, the instance always adhered to a principle of fairness. The number of Players in the Shen Estate faction was roughly double that of the Guanyin Academy faction. However, in return, the dozen or so Players in the Shen Estate faction faced higher difficulty tasks and had to deal with the overwhelming Resentment within the estate from the very beginning.
On the other hand, each faction had one Player who initially loaded into the opposing faction.
On Yan Wei’s side, Lin Qiao was in this position. Although she loaded in at the same location and time as Song Cheng’an and Yu Zhengqing, she was actually part of the Shen Estate faction.
Geng Liang was part of the Guanyin Academy faction, but his loading point was the Shen Estate.
Like Lin Qiao, Geng Liang adapted to his situation and disguised himself as a Player from the Shen Estate faction, infiltrating the estate. This faction also went through a phase of identifying spies, but while Lin Qiao was exposed by Yan Wei on his side, Geng Liang managed to successfully blend into the opposing faction after some careful maneuvering.
Players outside the instance watched Geng Liang’s perspective clearly, seeing how he infiltrated the Shen Estate faction.
At this moment, inside the instance, the Players from the Guanyin Academy faction received information about the numbers on both sides, and Players outside the instance also learned the faction counts.
“This doesn’t add up… On the Guanyin Academy side, led by Song Cheng’an, there are already eight people, plus Geng Liang who’s infiltrated the Shen Estate, making nine. This doesn’t match the number given by the instance.”
“The number provided by the instance can’t be wrong. The problem must be with the people.”
“I agree with Geng Liang. There’s a spy in the Guanyin Academy faction. Both sides have one infiltrator, so the numbers appear the same, but in reality, both have someone from the opposing faction. For the Shen Estate, the infiltrator is Geng Liang, which is obvious. But for the Guanyin Academy, who could it be? Everyone there seems genuine.”
“…”
Amid the discussion, Ding Xiao sighed.
She didn’t remember much, but the things about Yan Mingguang and some of Yan Wei’s past were still fresh in her mind, sometimes clearer than her own important memories.
“Sister Ding,” Xu Miaomiao noticed her unease, “what’s wrong? What’s going on with these factions? On Yan Wei’s side, no one seems like a spy. Could it be that someone doesn’t even know they’re in the wrong faction?”
Ding Xiao shook her head: “He knows. Even if he knows, he will always stand by Yan Wei’s side.”
After learning the faction numbers, a school servant from the academy knocked on Yan Wei’s door, saying that Mr. Bai had almost finished resting and would discuss matters related to Guanyin Town with them tomorrow.
Lin Qing and the others hadn’t returned yet, so Yan Wei accepted on their behalf. The servant left after giving them a time.
Yan Wei closed the door and turned around to see Yan Mingguang sitting by the bed, looking up at him.
Yan Mingguang’s features were naturally cold, his pupils deep like an endless abyss. But his gaze towards Yan Wei was always soft and warm, his eyes always firmly fixed on Yan Wei, as if he would run away if he looked away for even a moment.
This time, starting over, Yan Mingguang’s gaze towards him was as gentle as ever.
But Yan Wei felt that Yan Mingguang looked at him much more often than before.
It wasn’t just occasional glances during their interactions, but deliberate, intense stares at every part of him.
This gaze felt like a final lingering affection, as if every second was precious, as if there would be no chance to look again. When Yan Wei was younger, he occasionally encountered such gazes from relatives on their deathbeds.
This gaze was too prolonged and affectionate. When Yan Wei turned around, Yan Mingguang continued to look at him for a while before finally averting his eyes.
Yan Wei was momentarily stunned, then walked over to Yan Mingguang, placing his hands on his shoulders and lowering his head until their foreheads touched. As Yan Wei closed the projection perspective, Yan Mingguang embraced him.
Yan Wei’s unease grew stronger.
The faction numbers were clear, and the Resentment’s repeated temptations had been rebuffed. Everything was proceeding as planned amidst various unexpected events. So why was he feeling increasingly unsettled?
He said, “Teacher Yan—”
But Yan Mingguang had already silenced him with a kiss.
The warmth from his lips ignited a heat throughout Yan Wei’s body.
The sun slowly descended from its zenith, the snow on the ground barely melted, reflecting a blinding white. The light, diffused through the thin paper windows, cast a hazy glow, filled with floating dust.
The lingering fragrances from the brothel finally arrived at this moment, slowly stirring emotions.
Lin Zhen knocked on the door over a dozen times.
There were clearly movements inside, but Yan Wei seemed to be up to something. He sent a message, knocked on the door, and only received a hurried “Wait a moment.”
In this era, doors and windows offered no real barrier to people like them. With a bit of force or breaking through the window, they could easily enter. Lin Zhen, frustrated from knocking, raised his hand to slam the door open, but Lin Qing indifferently grabbed his hair from behind.
“Ouch! Brother!!!”
Lin Qing: “Wait.”
“Fine, fine.”
After a while, the door finally opened.
Yan Mingguang was dressed in a neat white robe, but his outer garment was casually draped, indicating he had come out in a hurry.
His expression was calm: “Whose room is next door?”
Yu Feizhou replied: “Mine is on the left, Lin Zhen’s is on the right.”
Yan Mingguang stepped out, slowly closing the door behind him, and said, “Let’s talk in your room first.”
Without waiting for the others’ opinions, he turned and headed towards Yu Feizhou’s room. Lin Qing followed expressionlessly, while Yu Feizhou and Lin Zhen, unfazed, quickly followed. Song Cheng’an, who never opposed these two, also followed.
Yu Zhengqing, after holding back for a while, remembered Yan Mingguang’s earlier display of strength, and silently turned to follow.
Zhong Bufan: “?”
Why was Yu Zhengqing suddenly so obedient?
In instances where Players faced off, he was usually at the core, responsible for planning and arranging all actions. This time, even though it was a top-floor instance, wasn’t it just a gathering of familiar faces from the building’s world? Why did it feel like he was a mere follower this time, with a few new high-level Players added to the mix?
Zhong Bufan glanced at the closed door and quickly followed the group heading to Yu Feizhou’s room to discuss matters, calling out, “Hey, what about Yan Wei? He seems quite familiar with V’s methods. I wanted to chat with him more about V…”
Inside the room, Yan Wei leisurely put on his robe.
The clothing of this era was much more cumbersome than their usual attire. After fiddling with the layers for a while, he finally dressed properly. As he put on the last warm outer garment, he caught sight of the swallow pendant on the bedside.
Yan Wei paused.
Earlier…
In his hazy state, he had wanted to bite Yan Mingguang somewhere but couldn’t bring himself to do it, so he ended up biting the pendant instead, pulling it off and leaving it on the bedside.
Yan Wei reached out and picked up the pendant.
This swallow pendant wasn’t any kind of Item, just a simple ornament. But precisely because of that, Yan Mingguang’s backup plan could remain on it, not erased by the building’s formatting. Although it was useless now, Yan Mingguang still wore it.
His coin was the same. The two custom coins he brought into the building—one contained a Moon Wheel Fragment and all his data memories, turning into an instance that allowed him to retrieve everything before the formatting on the 49th floor. The other coin, not considered an Item within the building, followed him back into the first floor when he restarted.
If they ever got out… these items would serve as reminders.
Yan Wei put the pendant away and went to join Yan Mingguang and the others.
When he entered Yu Feizhou’s room, Yan Mingguang had just finished explaining what they had discovered. Yu Feizhou was saying, “There is indeed someone in their faction who can mimic skills. After we successfully sowed discord, we hid near the Shen Estate and observed for a while. They ended up fighting among themselves, and that person even used Yu Zhengqing’s skill.”
Yu Zhengqing grumbled, “He didn’t mimic it well.”
Lin Qing: “I don’t recognize that person. He’s probably a super high-level Player who entered before all of us. Given the intensity of their argument, this person holds a significant position in that faction.”
If it were just an ordinary member of the faction, they could have simply been excluded upon suspicion. But after Lin Zhen and Lin Qing acted, the Shen Estate faction immediately descended into chaos, seemingly needing to resolve the suspicion urgently. This could only mean that the person who could mimic others’ skills held a key position in the opposing faction.
Yan Wei entered the room and said, “I know who this person is.”
Everyone turned to look at him.
He remained calm. “His name is Zhuo Xidong, a very early Player from the building’s world. His skill allows him to copy the skills and Items of others he’s seen, within a limited number of times and duration. In the early days of the building’s world, when there weren’t as many Players and faction battles or economic modes were rare, his skill was considered more of a support skill, useful for reusing necessary skills and Items during breakthroughs. But later, as Player infighting increased, he thrived. He’s a formidable opponent, and I didn’t expect him to still be alive…”
For so long, Yan Wei hadn’t heard or seen any news about Zhuo Xidong, assuming he had perished in some high-level instance like other super high-level Players he once knew.
Zhuo Xidong was an old rival of his.
Zhuo Xidong was someone Yan Wei considered a worthy opponent, while Zhuo Xidong didn’t want to encounter him—after all, instances with Yan Wei were always the most dangerous, and Zhuo Xidong, a long-surviving Player, valued his life and feared meeting Yan Wei.
They had clashed in an instance before but never met face-to-face. Unexpectedly, they were now openly confronting each other again.
Yan Wei felt a strange sense of destiny. Those who hadn’t kept up with him before were now standing by his side again, and old rivals he had encountered by chance were now facing off once more.
“Given Zhuo Xidong’s abilities, he must be the leader of the Shen Estate faction,” Yan Wei said.
Zhong Bufan exclaimed, “You actually know this person? Even Old Song doesn’t know him!”
Song Cheng’an quickly waved his hands, “No, no, I don’t know much to begin with.” He didn’t dare steal Yan Wei’s spotlight.
Zhong Bufan was puzzled, “I’ve gone through many instance records. Why have I never seen this Zhuo Xidong?”
“Because he’s a Player who has never opened his main perspective or participated in instances where perspectives were passively activated,” Yan Wei explained. “Actually, he participated in a very famous instance—Ghost Marsh. He was the second-place finisher in that instance.”
Zhong Bufan suddenly understood, “So the mysterious Player who lost to V was him!? I’ve studied the Ghost Marsh instance several times. The instance was completely dark from start to finish, and the records don’t show who it was. The mysterious second-place finisher has remained unknown until now. So it was him.”
He pointed at Yan Wei, “I’ve watched V’s instances so many times and never knew, but you do. You must have studied V even more than I did! Song Cheng’an lied to me, saying you hadn’t watched V’s instance records.”
Song Cheng’an: “…” He really didn’t lie.
Yan Wei: “……..” Why would he watch his own instance records?
“I really haven’t watched them,” Yan Wei ignored Zhong Bufan’s questioning and simply sat down beside Yan Mingguang, bringing the conversation back to the ongoing battle.
“Now that it’s clear the Shen Estate is another faction, we know too little about them.”
Song Cheng’an nodded, “If Jiang Jingyun’s death in the Shen Estate is the root of all Resentment, could her ghost or body still be in the estate? If so, it makes sense. The Shen Estate’s Resentment is far more dangerous than ours, so their faction has roughly double the number of Players. But at the same time, they must know more about the Shen Estate and Squire Shen. We need to bridge this information gap.”
Zhong Bufan slapped his thigh, “Isn’t that easy? With their current state, reasoning won’t work. They’ll inevitably resort to violence. Once they start fighting among themselves, we can have Lin Qing and Lin Zhen sneak into the Shen Estate to pick up the pieces. Not only can we continue to confuse them, but we can also try to capture someone.”
Zhong Bufan’s suggestion saved Yan Wei the trouble of explaining.
He smiled, and Song Cheng’an understood his meaning, “Then tonight, I’ll sneak into the Shen Estate with Lin Qing and Lin Zhen. While they’re in chaos, we’ll capture one of their Players.”
Late at night.
Yan Wei heard the prompt for his immortal state activation when a collision sound came from the window. His door was open, but Lin Zhen insisted on climbing through the window, dragging a bound person with him.
“Little pet, I’ve caught someone for you,” Lin Zhen tossed the person onto the floor, “They were indeed fighting, and it got pretty intense. Several were injured, so my brother and I took the opportunity to grab one. Zhong Bufan wanted to interrogate the captive during the day, but I brought him to you first. Isn’t that loyal?”
Yan Wei couldn’t help but laugh.
He told Lin Zhen to fix the window, then stood up and walked over to the Player Lin Zhen had tied up like a dumpling, mouth sealed. The person’s eyes were also covered, but the blindfold looked quite refined, as if it wasn’t put on by Lin Zhen but by the person themselves.
He calmly crouched down, seeing the person mumbling, and reached out to remove the Item sealing the Player’s mouth.
“Come on,” he said with a smile, “You seem eager to speak. Why don’t you introduce yourself?”
Geng Liang, who had successfully infiltrated the opposing faction as a spy only to be captured and brought back by his own side: “.”
For a moment, he didn’t know what to say.
It was fate.
