Yan Wei had already run through several corridors with the person who looked exactly like him.
That person was identical to him, even in strength, and the only way to deal with the Cap-wearing guy was to use the Moon Wheel to carve out a barrier to block for a moment, throwing out some ordinary darts to hinder the opponent’s movements, thus buying time to escape. Clearly, there were some players around who had encountered Puppets, but their numbers were not significant compared to all the players, just a few.
Some players were merely engaging with the Puppet, while others were in situations identical to Yan Wei’s, and some were even already fighting against their “own” selves.
It was evident that encountering an identical version of oneself was not unique to Yan Wei.
At this moment, Yan Wei and another Yan Wei turned down another corridor. They seemed like the same person, possessing the same items, appearance, and strength, even their thought processes were alike. Every time Yan Wei decided on a direction, the other “Yan Wei” simultaneously ran in the same direction.
Unlike some people he had seen on the way who directly engaged with their “selves,” Yan Wei and the other version of himself were clearly different—they had only exchanged blows briefly when they first met, and afterward, they were continuously observing each other, their expressions serious. Although they were constantly dodging the Puppet, their attention was evidently focused on “themselves.”
The Puppet behind them relentlessly pursued, and the identical version of himself mirrored his every move.
Suddenly, Yu Feizhou’s voice came through the intercom: “Yan Wei, Yan Mingguang, why aren’t you in the room?” It seemed quiet on Yu Feizhou’s end; he hadn’t encountered a Puppet, and Lin Zhen could be heard yawning in boredom beside him.
Yan Wei took a breath and said, “I encountered a Puppet.”
Then, the other Yan Wei beside him surprisingly had his intercom connected to all of theirs. Yan Wei watched as “he” also took a breath and said, “Yu Feizhou, where are you?”
Yan Wei’s expression darkened.
He simply gave up on communicating with others and said into the intercom, “Yan Mingguang, Lin Zhen, Yu Feizhou, listen carefully—do not believe anything I say from now on, do not communicate through the intercom anymore, do not… trust me.”
After he finished speaking, he raised his hand and took out the miniature intercom item hidden in his ear, tossing it down without hesitation and stepping on it, destroying the intercom. He didn’t even care about the Puppet that had already caught up behind him; he pulled out a dagger, moved to the side, and finally attacked the other version of himself again!
The dagger unhesitatingly aimed for the heart, leaving no room for error, and “Yan Wei” hurriedly dodged. Yan Wei’s strike missed, but he showed no sign of frustration; instead, he decisively dropped the dagger and reached for the intercom that the other was wearing on his ear.
Once he had it in hand, Yan Wei did not pause, and in an instant, he crushed the intercom item—rather than allowing this person to confuse others alongside him, it was better to sever their connection.
At the moment Yan Wei crushed the fake Yan Wei’s intercom, due to the pause in his actions, the Puppet behind him grabbed his shoulder.
The Puppet’s hand, which seemed indistinguishable from a human’s, easily pierced through Yan Wei’s shoulder, blood gushing out and staining the fake Yan Wei’s cheek. Yan Wei let out a muffled groan, only to hear the fake Yan Wei say, “You think cutting off the connection will allow you to impersonate me?”
After the fake Yan Wei spoke, he smirked, a cunning expression appearing on his otherwise gentle face.
Yan Wei knew that was the smile he would show when he was confident. If he saw another version of himself do that, he… would have the same reaction, surprised but believing that the other could not possibly defeat him.
He was suddenly thrown to the ground by the Puppet, rolling several times.
—It seemed that as long as the players did not mistakenly capture the Malevolent Automaton, even if this Puppet injured him, he would not turn into a Puppet.
Under what circumstances would a Malevolent Automaton be produced?
In the maze, players who were devoured alive by crows turned into Puppets in the castle, but although he had just been injured by this Puppet, aside from the normal injury, nothing else happened. From the way this Cap-wearing guy dealt with him, Yan Wei leaned towards the idea that this Puppet was a Malevolent Automaton, not a Benevolent Automaton.
Dead players had corresponding Puppets in the castle.
And in front of him stood a person who looked exactly like him from any angle, clearly indicating that some of the currently living players would also have an identical “replica.”
What connection was there between them?
Could it be…
Yan Wei endured the pain, dodging the Puppet’s attack, his gaze shifting directly towards the other Yan Wei, and sure enough, he drew the Puppet’s attention to the other Yan Wei.
He pressed against the wall, clutching his wound, breathing heavily, his palm warm with blood.
Suddenly, a very short sound of air being sliced through came from afar, and in the next moment, the Long Whip swung right in front of him.
Yan Wei’s eyes lit up as he looked towards Yan Mingguang’s direction, his amber eyes shining like stars in the night. He relaxed for a moment, but then caught a glimpse of the fake Yan Wei, whose eyes also brightened, and in an instant, his back tensed again, his brows slightly furrowing.
The Puppet had been pursuing him for so long without success; it was only a matter of time before Yan Mingguang dealt with this Puppet. But after dealing with it, how could he prevent Yan Mingguang from being deceived by this fake Yan Wei? He had just been injured to cut off the fake Yan Wei’s connection with others, which had instead put him at a disadvantage—this was not a decision he would have made if he were thinking rationally.
In his moment of panic, he had acted without considering the pros and cons, not wanting to drag Yu Feizhou and Lin Zhen down with him.
In the blink of an eye, Yan Wei’s expression grew increasingly somber, and the fake Yan Wei surprisingly showed the same expression.
Aside from Yan Wei actually being injured, and the fake Yan Wei’s cheek stained with Yan Wei’s blood, there was no difference between the two.
They both spoke at the same time: “Yan Mingguang—”
The overlapping voices suddenly paused.
The dart thrown by Yan Mingguang instantly lodged into the Puppet’s knee; the Puppet did not bleed, but its movement suddenly halted, and the darted leg slightly buckled, causing it to fall to the ground. Seizing this opportunity, Yan Mingguang swung the Long Whip directly at the fake Yan Wei!
He did not first deal with the Puppet but instead went straight for the fake Yan Wei.
Yan Wei had not yet reacted when the Long Whip had already wrapped around the fake Yan Wei.
They had the same data; Yan Wei’s Body Index in this instance/dungeon was not enough to compete, so it was naturally impossible for the fake Yan Wei to fare well under Yan Mingguang’s hands.
In an instant, the fake Yan Wei whipped the Long Whip away, and with a dull thud, he was violently slammed against the wall by Yan Mingguang.
Before the Puppet could get back up, everything happened in a flash. Yan Wei watched as Yan Mingguang unhesitatingly drew his double-edged long knife, aiming straight for the fake Yan Wei’s heart. The fake Yan Wei coughed up blood from the impact, collapsing to the ground, blood staining the corner of his mouth.
The tip of Yan Mingguang’s knife was just an inch from the fake Yan Wei’s chest when the fake Yan Wei looked up at him, his light tea-colored eyes reflecting Yan Mingguang’s figure.
He knew this was not Yan Wei, but still hesitated for a moment.
The fake Yan Wei clearly saw the situation and immediately got up to run.
Yan Mingguang was momentarily taken aback, his expression once again turning calm, and he raised his hand to deliver a fatal blow, but the Puppet, which had originally fallen, had already gotten back up, heading towards Yan Wei, who was leaning against the wall, gasping for breath.
He turned around, whipping back, and in an instant, sent the Puppet flying.
Yan Wei had already reacted, but his emotions were still stuck in the previous moment.
When he first saw Yan Mingguang, he felt an almost unquestionable trust. Knowing that every player had a chance of having a corresponding fake player, when he saw Yan Mingguang appear, his first reaction was still—this person had come, he could relax.
His only concern at that moment was not the Puppet; his only fear was not that Yan Mingguang would mistake him for someone else, but whether Yan Mingguang would mistakenly identify him, leading to trouble.
But Yan Mingguang had unhesitatingly attacked the fake version of himself at the first opportunity.
Yan Wei pondered over his previous emotions as they walked down the narrow corridor, where Yan Mingguang calmly twisted the head off the Puppet that would not bleed, leaving the body motionless on the ground.
“Their operating mechanism is the head,” the man sheathed his blade and walked towards Yan Wei, “There’s no blood, no pain, but once the head is severed, it stops.”
As he spoke, he approached Yan Wei, his tall figure casting a shadow over him.
The man raised his hand, seemingly wanting to help Yan Wei with his wound. But just as he was about to touch him, he paused.
Yan Wei watched as Yan Mingguang, who usually did not care about such things, took out a wet wipe and efficiently cleaned the dirt left on his hands from the struggle with the Puppet. Only then did he take the medicine and gauze from Yan Wei’s hand, leaning in to treat the wound on his shoulder.
The wound had directly pierced through the side of Yan Wei’s shoulder blade, leaving a bloody hole.
At this moment, the danger had temporarily passed, and the players in the rooms on either side of the corridor did not dare to come out; no one around saw them. The determination Yan Wei had just mustered to endure the pain suddenly vanished, and he cried out in pain: “—Ouch!! You ice block, be gentler, be gentler…”
Yan Mingguang paused, looking at him, and said, “Use the Flower Ball (healing item), this wound…”
The medicine obtained from the shop would take a long time to heal.
Though unspoken, Yan Wei understood Yan Mingguang’s meaning.
He clicked his tongue and simply took the items for treating the wound from Yan Mingguang’s hands, finishing the task himself, saying, “The Flower Ball (healing item) can only be used twice, and this instance/dungeon has just begun; we need to conserve it. It’s not just me who could get hurt; you, Yu Feizhou, and Lin Zhen could also be seriously injured. As long as I don’t die today…”
He lowered his voice: “As long as I don’t die, dragging an injury is fine. If any of you suffer a fatal injury, the instant healing function of the Flower Ball (healing item) is too important to use.”
Yan Mingguang seemed to frown slightly.
Yan Wei extended his uninjured hand, pulling Yan Mingguang along until they reached a corner where there were no rooms beside them.
He said, “How did you recognize me?”
“Mm.”
“Mm? What does that mean??”
“Very easy to recognize.”
“…” He almost couldn’t tell the difference between himself and the fake Yan Wei.
Yan Wei knew that the current situation was more important, so he didn’t get into a quarrel with him, lowering his voice to say, “I just had another guess about this Puppet Castle. If it’s true… I think I’ve found the core of this instance/dungeon’s conflict.”
Yan Mingguang looked at him.
“Where did you go earlier? Did you encounter a situation like mine? I ran all the way and occasionally saw a few people who looked just like me, and some were fighting with Puppets. But I couldn’t figure out which of those Puppets were the ones that dead players had become, and how to distinguish between Benevolent Automaton and Malevolent Automaton. I think our previous guess was wrong.”
“If those Puppets that dead players turned into really have distinctions, I don’t believe there are no differences; I also don’t believe there are no discrepancies that I can’t see.”
This was Yan Wei’s confidence in himself.
“So I think they are indistinguishable—they are the same; they are all Malevolent Automatons. We were misled.”
“Mm?”
“It’s not that dead people become Puppets, but that each of us has a corresponding Puppet—Man in Black Robe said, the most authentic Puppet. So long before we came to the castle, there were already corresponding Puppets made based on us hidden in this castle. And these Puppets are actually the Benevolent Automatons we are looking for!”
“Dead people do not turn into Puppets; rather, the Benevolent Automatons they mimic will turn into Malevolent Automatons. From the beginning, Man in Black Robe was misleading us, deliberately allowing those players who were counterparts to die, thus turning into Malevolent Automaton Puppets to open the door, making us mistakenly believe that only dead people would become Puppets. In reality, at that time, the Benevolent Automatons corresponding to us living players had already been lurking in the castle.”
“When players die, the Benevolent Automatons will turn into Malevolent Automatons, and the thinking abilities, personalities, strengths, and items that the Benevolent Automatons possess, which are identical to ours, will disappear at that moment, leaving only the instinct to kill. What we need to find are the corresponding Puppets of players who have not yet died. Just like that fake me earlier, we should not have killed him; we should have captured him and handed him over to Man in Black Robe for Gold Coins. By the way, did you encounter your Puppet?”
Yan Wei casually asked.
Yan Mingguang lowered his gaze and shook his head.
Yan Wei took his word for it and continued, “What we need to find are the corresponding Puppets of living players; this is actually not hard to guess. Everyone can think of these other selves that do not aim to kill. Man in Black Robe never intended to hide this from us for long; this is not the terrifying aspect of this instance/dungeon.”
“The terrifying aspect of this instance/dungeon lies in the rules.”
“Everyone’s goal is to capture the corresponding Puppet of the ‘living’ players, including ourselves, who also want to capture our corresponding Benevolent Automatons. But we can never defeat ourselves, so the one who captures the Benevolent Automaton can never be the corresponding person, but rather other players who can restrain them.”
Before he could finish speaking, Yan Mingguang understood. The man’s expression darkened slightly, his brows furrowing as he said, “Players will mistake each other, or they might rather kill wrongly than let someone go.”
“Exactly, this means that Malevolent Automatons are just mindless killers, Ghosts/Monsters; we can just act. Our greatest enemy is the players. Is there a possibility that players, in order to capture the Benevolent Automatons, might mistake someone? Even the closest people might not be able to tell who is human and who is Puppet, let alone strangers? The likelihood of everyone mistakenly capturing a person as a Puppet and directly handing the wrong player over to Man in Black Robe is extremely high—and this does not count as murder. In fact, players do not need to pay attention; if they capture the wrong person, they just capture the wrong person, without any cost, at most wasting time and effort, and they lose a competitor for points.”
“Catching the right one earns, catching the wrong one incurs no loss. People might even become suspicious because of this, not knowing whether the person in front of them is someone familiar or a Puppet, leading to a situation where no one trusts anyone, and everyone wants to kill everyone.”
“If that’s the case, in a few days, all players in this castle will start doing their utmost to capture other players to hand over to Man in Black Robe, and those who mistakenly capture Benevolent Automatons will not survive. The remaining Benevolent Automatons will also turn into Malevolent Automatons, and the number of Malevolent Automatons will keep increasing…”
The few remaining living players would ultimately be overwhelmed by countless Malevolent Automatons.
And this was a dead end that the players had led themselves into.
The instance/dungeon of this Puppet Castle had never tested strength from the beginning, starting from the maze jungle.
But rather, it tested the human heart.
