Worst-case scenario: over three hundred years ago, this planet was home to insects, and humans carried out a major cleanup before migrating. However, the insects' vitality is beyond imagination, and any crevice, as long as there are eggs left, will breed new life.
Soul: "Under the premise that humans have become the masters, the mission goal can't be to destroy all of humanity?"
Ji Heng glanced sideways and slowly mentioned the subject someone was best at: "Reading comprehension."
Sur began to nitpick. The mission emphasized the word "initial" as an adjective, meaning that only a single individual needed to be eliminated. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but glance sideways. "Speaking of which, this is your inevitable demise."
Ji Heng suddenly became very interested in what kind of image he was in the other person's eyes... an old goblin who had lived for hundreds of years?
Su Er's eyes revealed a trace of confusion: "Three hundred years ago, you led mankind into an unknown planet. Time flies, and you are tired..."
Before an even more unreliable scene could be described, Ji Heng reluctantly interrupted: "Calm down."
Soul raised an eyebrow: "Be bold in your assumptions."
"The story is fantastic," Ji Heng said with a smile, "but it's unlikely that a mission released in the game would explicitly target a certain player for death."
Su Er rolled his eyes, but for the first time, he didn't agree. He finished the remaining half bottle of beer in one gulp, and multiple melodramatic scenarios emerged in his mind. In the end, he even felt sad about the story he had made up.
Taking the empty bottle from his hand, Ji Heng returned to the room and threw it into the trash can, saying earnestly, "This is why I didn't want to tell you in the beginning."
Soul agreed, and he tried to restrain himself, but that didn't stop the story from automatically forming in his mind.
To help distract his attention, Ji Heng took the initiative to open another topic: "Later, we will focus on finding information from over 300 years ago."
Soul nodded.
When I entered the reading room, I couldn't help but pause. There was only one person left inside.
Seeing him looking around, Xu Yangyang said, "Jia Kanhua went to the bathroom, Zhu Yu..." After a pause, she asked, "Do you think this guy is a bit weird?"
Suer was stunned for a moment. To be honest, his impression of Zhu Yu was that he was the second most rational among this group of players, second only to Ji Heng.
"She was there last night when I went to examine Liu Lang's body," Xu Yangyang recalled. "Besides the sadness of someone else's death, there was also a subtle excitement in her eyes."
Soul blinked. "Are you sure?"
In the darkness of night, it is a difficult task to distinguish the multiple intertwined emotions in a person's eyes.
Xu Yangyang waved her hand and said, "Believe it or not, I've been very good at reading people's eyes since I was a child."
"…"
To say that Zhu Yu is a god is actually a more suitable word to describe himself, but Su Er did leave a warning.
Starting from the first row of bookshelves, he would take down almost every book and flip through it once or twice.
Xu Yangyang: "Looking for that missing piece of history?"
Soul nodded.
Pointing to the dozen or so books stacked beside him, Xu Yangyang spread his hands and said, "I've read almost all of them. They're all filled with words related to illness."
The story of the struggle and response rings hollow, and, as Ji Heng said, it seems fabricated. He couldn't help but rub his temples as he spoke: "For nearly half a century, if we weren't fighting the virus, what else could we do?"
Su Er considered whether to speak out, but only when he truly stood in Ji Heng's shoes did he understand the dilemma. His speculation was too bizarre, and if it was wrong, it would lead everyone astray.
"Hesitant, helpless, unsure..." Xu Yangyang stared into his eyes. "You've made a significant discovery, but you're hesitant to share it because you're unsure whether it's true or not."
After saying this, even Ji Heng looked at him again.
Su Er was surprised. Could he really read eyes?
Xu Yangyang: "It's like a sixth sense. Occasionally, there will be a moment of enlightenment."
Zhu Yun was a natural prophet, proving that some players in the dungeon possessed special abilities. Su Er approached, sizing him up again with a critical eye. After careful consideration, he sat down across from Xu Yangyang. He omitted the reasoning and spoke directly to the conclusion: "The scope of the invaders is vast. Don't easily exclude humans."
Xu Yangyang opened his mouth, and after a long while, he recovered from his mute state, and curse words slipped out of his mouth: "Fuck the game!"
"…"
Before Su Er could praise him for his courage, Xu Yangyang clasped his hands over his mouth, closed his eyes, and sincerely admitted his mistake to the game. He silently repeated "I was wrong" thirty times before speaking: "Those people have long since died out in the past three hundred years."
The average life expectancy in this world is around eighty, and the longest-lived is no more than one hundred and thirty.
"Besides, we mainly conduct group activities and have very few interactions with indigenous people. It's unlikely that the invader is the abbot or the museum director."
"...The most outrageous speculation is that the person is among the players. However, players are forbidden from killing each other, so the initial invader cannot be human."
Su Er touched the tip of his nose. What he said made a lot of sense.
There were some strange noises coming from the door.
He turned around and saw Jia Kanhua standing there, the tissue bag creaking in his hand. He slowly exhaled, "You scared me. You suddenly made such a terrifying assumption."
Suer stood up, not feeling much relieved.
The false clues wouldn't lead to nowhere, and the most direct clue from inertial thinking was the identity of the intruder. He walked closer to Ji Heng and whispered, "I still tend to think that humans are the intruders."
On the other side, although Xu Yangyang overturned this conclusion with careful analysis, his eyes flickered.
After a while, several people looked at each other, and finally Su Er looked up to the sky and sighed: "Where is the most basic trust between people?"
It was obvious from the logical chain that insects were more suitable for the role of invaders, but they were unable to make a final conclusion.
Jia Kanhua pursed her lips and said, "This...does seem like something a human could do."
Invasion, war...looking for a new place to survive is very normal. He still has confidence in this.
Seeing that they would dwell on the same topic for a long time, Su Er said seriously as never before: "We must determine the target before tomorrow morning."
This mission can be broken down into three phases: target confirmation, target search, and target destruction. Two days have passed, and we are still in the first phase.
After thinking for a while, he asked, "How about using the hypothesis method?"
All eyes were focused on him, and Soul said calmly: "Let's assume that humans are invaders..."
Xu Yangyang: "Why not a bug?"
The latter is easier to verify.
Su Er: "Are you a nitpicker?"
As soon as I said this, I suddenly felt refreshed.
Xu Yangyang was in a very subtle mood. He didn't know why, but when he heard these two words from Suer's mouth, he felt insulted.
Just as he was about to refute, Ji Heng's voice interrupted: "Go on."
Soul nodded and continued speaking.
Xu Yangyang patted his chest. He felt chest tightness and shortness of breath.
"Exploring extraterrestrial planets isn't a secret. If we find one, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a milestone. Why keep it secret?"
Xu Yangyang shook her head to indicate that she couldn't think of it, and Jia Kanhua did the same, subconsciously looking at Ji Heng.
The latter was still reading history books at this critical juncture.
Xu Yangyang coughed and asked, "What's your opinion?"
Ji Heng: "Bugs."
"What's the meaning?"
Ji Heng raised his head and said, "I thought I had wiped out all the bugs, and I was happy to find hidden dangers after moving in, but I couldn't make it public."
Once it is said, people will panic and society will be in turmoil.
"...some tragedy must have occurred during the process of concealing it." He narrowed his eyes, "It even violated humanitarianism."
There was a pin drop silence all around.
After a while, Xu Yangyang was listening with great interest and asked curiously: "Why did it stop suddenly?"
Ji Heng: "It's just a guess, don't take it seriously."
"..." Xu Yangyang swallowed her saliva: "The clues are all in a mess, aren't you nervous?"
Ji Heng read calmly: "Playing games with ghosts at night will make things right."
Suer nodded in agreement. "This is standard dungeon procedure. Information must be obtained through intense battles with ghosts."
"…"
Less than half an hour after he finished speaking, a strong wind suddenly blew outside, blowing dust and dirt into the reading room, making people sneeze.
As a last resort, everyone closed the nearest windows, and soon they felt damp and stuffy.
Previously, opening the windows wide could provide some psychological comfort, pretending that the white fluff could be blown away by the air circulation, but now it is a completely sealed space.
After the strong wind, heavy rain suddenly came, and the sky was gray, as if announcing that the night was coming early.
Su Er looked at his watch and it was only five o'clock in the afternoon.
Xu Yangyang muttered, "May heaven help you. I think the time has come to play tricks on you."
"…"
Not getting a response, Xu Yangyang turned her head and saw Suer leaning over to pretend to read a book with Ji Heng, obviously absent-minded.
Not long ago, Su Er just followed Ji Heng's words to make himself feel better, but now the sky suddenly turned dark, which was an ominous sign.
Just as she was about to make a joke, Xu Yangyang was suddenly stunned: "Did you see a shadow?"
Anyone making such a joke in a dungeon would be beaten, but no one doubted the truth of the words and they gathered together instantly.
"The yin energy has become heavier." Ji Heng quickly glanced around and suddenly left the team and walked to the door.
Xu Yangyang yelled "Fuck!" and Jia Kanhua shuddered: "Don't be so startled!"
"Books." Xu Yangyang reminded.
White fluff began to ooze from both ends of the book. It was hard to see from a distance, but it was very clear when held in hand. Insect eggs slowly seeped from the pages. Xu Yangyang and Jia Kanhua immediately tossed the book aside. Before tossing it, Su Er rubbed the paper with his hand, finding it slightly uneven.
"I see."
The eggs are hidden inside the paper and are difficult to detect.
Thinking of the book they had been reading for so long, everyone felt a little numb. Xu Yangyang's eyes twitched: "I told you long ago that these things are pervasive."
It would be fine if the mask was useless, but I didn't expect that even ordinary paper could penetrate it.
Soul glanced at the clothes and said, "Fiber."
They lowered their heads and rubbed the corners of their clothes vigorously, and white powder floated in the air, proving with practical actions that they were surrounded by insects.
It would have been fine if I hadn't known, but now seeing this scene, my whole body suddenly itched. Xu Yangyang rubbed the clothes with a grimace, but soon gave up. The bugs were unavoidable, and it was all in vain.
The others more or less patted their clothes, only Ji Heng stood by the railing, looking at the lobby on the first floor.
Soul: "What are you looking at?"
"At least three evil spirits came in."
He specifically emphasized the evil spirit to prove that it was quite powerful.
Jia Kanhua didn't understand why he had to wait until now to say, "With our prediction, we can at least kill one together."
Ji Heng asked calmly, "If we kill him, where will we find the clues?"
After saying that, he and Suer went downstairs.
Jia Kanhua frowned: "In his eyes, clues are more important than human lives."
Xu Yangyang nodded, tightening her grip on the railing. "If I had a choice, I'd want you all dead."
"…"
Xu Yangyang: "This way, the dungeon's difficulty will automatically decrease, and your chances of survival will be higher."
"…"
Su Er vaguely caught some of the sounds they were communicating, but didn't take it seriously: "Are there too many bugs?"
Countless flying insects and evil spirits attack together, who can survive?
"That's not normal," Ji Heng paused. "When ghosts appear, the bugs' main function is to paralyze the player and slow down their reaction speed."
Currently, the white fluff floating in the air far exceeds that of Tianjia Temple by several times, and there is a trend of changing from auxiliary to direct critical hit.
Su Er stared at the insect eggs that were rolling towards him like a snowball: "Is it my illusion?"
Ji Heng gave an affirmative answer: "Be more confident, I'm coming for you."
"…"
Having suffered a loss earlier, Bai Xu didn't charge forward recklessly, seemingly gathering strength. Su Er took a few steps back. "Why are you staring at me?"
When I asked the question, I actually already had the answer in my mind, most likely for the clay figurine.
Ji Heng: "We have to fight ghosts at night, so we need to get rid of some of the insect eggs first."
Sur agreed with the view, but before he could make any move, the white mass in front of him suddenly grew larger, expanding at an accelerating rate like a balloon being blown up.
Ji Heng was quick to pull him behind a stone pillar on the side and said, "Cover your ears."
Actions speak faster than words. Before asking any questions, Su Er had already blocked his ears tightly.
A resounding bang stunned him. When the buzzing in his ears faded, he looked up to see what had happened. The insects, so arrogant a minute ago, were blasted to pieces, sending plumes of dust flying everywhere. If they encountered open flames, they might cause another dust explosion.
Su Er glanced sideways, his eyes saying 'You are awesome'.
"Not me."
Surdang said modestly: "Could it be a ghost?"
Ji Heng nodded: "I saw it, the ghost made the first move."
"…"
The person who benefited most from this small explosion was none other than Su'er. Ever since he learned that the mysterious eye within his body was draining his luck, he hadn't considered the possibility of changing his luck at all, and immediately looked for other reasons for the incident.
"Every cause has its effect."
When it was taken out, the little clay figurine shuddered. As the primary target of the insect eggs, it quietly shed tears to demonstrate its value, fearing that it would be abandoned.
"It all started with peach petals," Suer recalled. "The value of peach blossoms is so high, it's out of proportion to the persecution I suffered."
Although I nearly lost my life at that time, I had the props to protect me, and the whole process was safe and sound.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was amiss. "They couldn't wait to show up during the day, which doesn't fit the usual ghost pattern. The pink-clad female ghost was the trigger. She was the first to act, and then the rest of the ghosts rushed in."
Ji Heng: "What do you want to do?"
Su Er had a milky white stone in his hand: "First, contact Gou Bao Pu to send the agreed props."
I bit my finger and squeezed out a drop of blood. Even after the blood melted, the stone still looked lifeless. A few blinks later, a smiling merchant suddenly appeared and pushed the basket forward. "Please sign for it."
Sur was genuinely stunned by his appearance: "Can the host freely travel to other people's instances?"
The smiling businessman smiled: "Businessmen are the exception."
Most of them were useless props, and Su Er himself did not have high expectations. He only picked up three of them: "The rest will be returned in exchange for a message."
The smiling businessman played with the jeweled buttons: "Tell me about it."
Su Er recounted his experiences in the dungeon: "The female ghost seemed to have been instigated to act. Peach petals are nice, but they made me a target for insects. The evil ghost recently had a fight with insect eggs. I'm afraid it's because I bought insurance and haven't yet tried to scam people..."
The smiling businessman interrupted gently, "What do you want to say?"
"Did Princess Camellia buy insurance?"
The smiling businessman asked back, "What do you think?"
Su Er had a blank expression on his face. "I guess not only did he buy it, but he also made a private deal with Gou Bao Pu. He's responsible for reducing the number of times evil spirits try to scam people, and then he takes a portion of the commission."
The reason he didn't kill the little clay figurine was that it had accidentally fused with peach petals. As long as the clay figurine was there, he would always be a target for insects. To get compensation, the evil spirit had to ensure he was alive before causing trouble, which inevitably meant wasting energy by confronting a large number of insect eggs.
Back and forth, a vicious cycle is formed.
The smiling businessman laughed: "Players can exploit loopholes in the rules, and the host can also skirt the rules, causing a butterfly effect."
After a pause, he asked, "Isn't it interesting?"
Soul chuckled.
...That scheming bitch secretly bought insurance without telling anyone!