Su Er felt like he wasn't sitting on a cold concrete floor, but rather a densely packed needle board. Upon hearing this, he stood up like lightning, his expression indescribable: "There's actually a Ghost King."
Zhu Yu now had a very favorable impression of him and began to help explain, "Ghost Kings exist in every dungeon, and they are supported by the game."
Otherwise, all the ghosts will fight against each other and chaos will come sooner or later!
Su Er understood: "So the Ghost King is the puppet emperor supported by the game?"
He is said to be a miraculous person, but in fact he is just a tool to suppress the little devils.
Zhu Yu looked at him strangely. At the same time, Suer felt a chill on his side. He turned his head and saw a thin figure next to him. It was a monk... a more appropriate description would be a demon monk.
The other person's pupils were shaped like peach petals, and he looked stunning, but there was no mercy in his eyes.
After appearing, he immediately locked onto Su Er's figure and asked with a stern expression, "Are you done yet?"
"We..." His throat moved, and Soul ignored the ominous premonition and asked, "Have you met before?"
Guessing he had completely absorbed the hatred, he began to frantically wink at the others, signaling them to hurry and read the information. Meanwhile, he changed his strategy, his eyes filled with extreme shock: "Your appearance is like..."
"As fresh as bamboo shoots after rain, as enduring as snow on a mountain, isolated from the world, it shocked my whole family." The evil monk said: "You said this to delay time more than ten minutes ago."
Su Er's eyelashes trembled, and he tried his best not to show his expression of looking at the fool.
The demon monk realized something was wrong and murmured, "I repeated it once, which in turn bought you time."
Suer took the opportunity to move back slightly. There must be a time limit for the Ghost King to appear, and he didn't know how much time had passed.
Noticing his little movement, the demon monk laughed: "Are you scared?"
Clearly seeing the brutality hidden behind his peach-colored pupils, Soul knew the coming struggles might be tough. Reflexively, he reached for his supplies and discovered a healing bottle was missing. A glimpse of blood on the threshold, combined with his movements, confirmed it was his.
It seems that I had a terrible time in those battles when I lost my memory.
He was still thinking about how to buy time, but the demon monk sighed helplessly, "It's a waste of effort. If I wanted to kill you, a few seconds would be enough."
Su Er's eyes changed, and he immediately realized that he had misunderstood.
The ghost offered benefits, and he risked his life to get them. This is a legal transaction.
The demon monk casually glanced at the other players flipping through books. "Are you trying to find the history of three hundred years ago to determine the identity of the original invaders?"
Sur nodded calmly, completing the mission was the most important thing.
The demon monk pointed to a place and said, "Sit down."
Not far from his feet, a futon was placed. Its shape was very unique, consisting of two futons connected by a very thin silk thread.
His memory was gone, but his intuition remained. Su Er could feel his body instinctively resisting sitting down. He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and sat down. Suddenly, a heavy weight weighed on his shoulders, preventing him from getting up.
The weight was increasing every second, and when it was almost too much to bear, the demon monk finally spoke: "This is not an ordinary cushion."
Su Er gritted his teeth: "Just tell me what to do?"
The demon monk's skin and flesh suddenly became transparent. His torso was obscured by his wide robe, so not much could be seen. However, his exposed head was truly terrifying, allowing the faint traces of every meridian within. A closer look at the cerebellum revealed a dense mass of insect eggs. A peach branch on the left side skirted the vital area, forming a fence around it and limiting its spread.
For a moment, Soul even forgot the pressure on his body.
"The vaccine can eliminate the eggs of the worms that live in the body. It's worth it at all costs."
The evil monk's last words had a deeper meaning.
To put it bluntly, it was a fight to the bitter end. If they couldn't destroy it, they would initiate self-destruction mode. Sur had already understood this when several players had died, so it wasn't surprising. But he looked at the demon monk with a complicated expression: "Are you a bug now... or a human?"
"Insect." The demon monk sat on the other half of the cushion. "This shell has been used by me. My true identity was once the Insect King of this planet."
Su Er pursed his lips, briefly shocked, and then quickly extracted the key information. As the ancient insect king, he must know who the original invaders were. Just as he was thinking about how to get the information out of him, he unexpectedly discovered peach petals embroidered on the side of the futon, with a line of small words next to it.
He strained his neck to read, and subconsciously recited: "Peach Blossom Spring."
The demon monk said, "Back then, the owner of this house planted a peach tree outside and carved these words on the trunk."
Unfortunately, he was forced by the rules at the time. Even though he knew that the young man's existence would restrict the development of the Zerg, he still couldn't kill him.
The room was not big, and the conversation between the two parties was clearly heard by others, who couldn't help but look up at Ji Heng.
"Who could have imagined that he would end up like that."
Forced by his own people to undergo a human brain transplant, he had no say over his life or death.
When the evil monk spoke, he looked at Ji Heng with a look of ironic sympathy.
After just one minute of communication, Suer's spine bent slightly, and the invisible weight made him breathless.
The evil monk finally got to the point: "I named this cushion Peach Blossom Spring. Given enough time, it can eliminate all illusions."
A trace of blood flowed from the corner of Su Er's mouth, and the bones in his body seemed to be crushed at any time: "Why am I..."
Before he could finish his words, a bloodstain appeared on his leg out of nowhere. If the blood had not seeped through the hem of his pants, he would not have noticed it.
Pretending not to see his wound, the demon monk continued, "The rules are simple. Stay on the mat for seven minutes, and I will personally announce the identity of the original aggressor."
Previously, there was only external pressure, but now the cushion took the initiative to attack. The key was that he was sitting on it and could not dodge at all.
"Eliminate the illusion..." Su Er repeated what the demon monk had said before. Su Er seemed to understand something and smiled bitterly: "I see."
The game leads them to the so-called real world and starts a new life, which seems beautiful but is actually fake.
Identity, family, name... In a sense, he himself is a false existence, no wonder he is attacked.
Soul's first thought was the stun gun, but he quickly shook his head. This cushion wasn't a ghost, and if it really got electrocuted, he might be the one to suffer. While he was thinking, another cut appeared on his leg. If it extended a few centimeters further, his hamstring would be severed.
"Two more minutes." The evil monk encouraged kindly.
A strong sense of crisis came over him. When Su Er was still hesitating, Ji Heng suddenly shouted, "Leave!"
His body moved faster than his mind. He suddenly turned sideways and rolled on the ground, leaving the mat.
The demon monk looked regretful and said, "You were about to succeed, why didn't you hold on a little longer?"
Sur was about to use a healing item, but found that there was only one left.
At this time, the demon monk looked at the other players and said, "We have three attempts left. You can continue."
Zhu Yu said cautiously: "Next means..."
"We can sit for the remaining two minutes, perhaps in a relay format."
It sounded quite easy, but no one stepped forward. Xu Yangyang and Jia Kanhua instantly understood the source of the wounds. They must have tried it not long ago and failed.
Zhu Yu: "Just hold on for two minutes?"
So can I just put some flowers and plants there?
The demon monk saw through her thoughts and said, "Anyone who sits on the futon must be a visitor from afar. It's best to think twice before doing so."
Zhu Yu wanted to catch a bird to try, but he was afraid that Fu Tuan would not recognize him and would waste an opportunity.
Xu Yangyang hesitated for a moment: "I have a pretty powerful healing item. Why don't I try it again?"
Ji Heng snapped the book shut and narrowed his eyes. "It's a waste of useless effort. None of us meets the requirements."
The players' existing identities are all fictional in the game. For Fu Tuan, they are all illusions that need to be eliminated.
The evil monk spoke calmly from beginning to end, but his words made people feel very uncomfortable.
"Hurry up, or it will start a new cycle and I'll have to explain everything all over again."
Everyone was silent.
Princess Camellia chuckled from her position in the shadows, "Do you regret it? If one of you had chosen to return as the key, this level would have been easily broken."
Once Ji Heng becomes the key to the central plan, he will regain his identity as an indigenous person, and Fu Tuan will naturally classify him as a real existence.
"That's not right." Su Er suddenly interrupted: "Ji Heng will immediately know the identity of the original invader after regaining his original memory. In this case, what is the point of setting up the Ghost King level?"
At this point, I suddenly realized: "It's not identity that's important, it's position!"
Princess Camellia's expression suddenly changed.
Su Er was still apprehensive. The hosts were indeed masters of setting traps. The hint Ji Heng received in the inevitable death game was to avoid inertial thinking. This wasn't just a hint that the invaders were human; it permeated the entire game.
The mission to clear the level requires the elimination of the initial invader. A normal person's first reaction would be to investigate the invader's identity and then find and kill him. In fact, knowing where the invader is might be more important.
Zhu Yu frowned: "Even if we know the location, it may not be useful."
There could be many things in that place at the same time... people, insects, ghosts, etc.
Princess Camellia regained her composure and clapped her hands sarcastically, "At this juncture, you still dare to waste time playing rubbish word games. How interesting."
The props had limited energy, Su Er's ankle hadn't fully recovered, and his strongest skill, reading comprehension, was described as rubbish. He couldn't help but get angry and said to Ji Heng, "He insulted me."
It was originally just a casual remark to vent his frustration, but unexpectedly, Ji Heng's eyes flickered as if he had really thought of something, and he suddenly looked at the host: "You once had the idea of destroying this copy world to defraud insurance."
"Insurance fraud?" Xu Yangyang muttered, "What do you mean?"
Ji Heng ignored him and stared at Camellia Princess.
The latter spread his hands openly and said: "If you think there is any problem, please feel free to report it at any time."
"No matter how powerful you are, you can't make the entire planet explode," Ji Heng said slowly. "It can be seen that the annihilation here is a narrow scope, targeting only a certain race, that is, humans and insects."
Princess Camellia began to get impatient: "So what?"
Ji Heng: "The original invaders were neither humans nor insects."
Otherwise, the plan of destroying the world will succeed, humans and bugs will be gone, and the mission will be automatically completed.
Princess Camellia tried her best to control her facial expressions and forced a smile: "My plan is based on the death of the players."
Ji Heng shook his head: "You are very thoughtful. If you dare to implement it, you must ensure that there will be no violations. After all, even if one player survives, the position of host will be over."
He sighed and said in a deep voice, "It's an alien probe, right?"
Monitoring planets billions of kilometers away for signs of life and understanding their geology and climate—only when these things are clear will humanity begin its conquest. Yet, his own cleverness backfired, his obsession with who once owned this planet led him to overlook the fundamental nature of things.
"…"
Princess Camellia's face turned completely ugly.
The players and the host had opposite emotions. Xu Yangyang exclaimed "Fuck!" several times, then thought again: the planet belonged to the bugs, and humans were arriving as an army. Neither scenario met the criteria. Comparing them, the possibility of an alien probe was the most likely.
"You're so awesome, my brother!" He couldn't help but take a step forward and looked at Ji Heng with admiration.
Ji Heng's focus was completely different.
"You should apologize to Soul." His words were directed only at the host: "Reading comprehension is a profound subject, not garbage."
Princess Camellia didn't know whether it was profound or not, but she was really angry and almost vomited blood... She regretted it for no reason, why did she mock Sur for nothing?
This time, the attack failed, but Ji Heng's Ren and Du meridians were opened instead. Camellia Princess looked at the evil monk in frustration: "Isn't it time? It's time to reset my memory!"
The demon monk said calmly, "Three minutes and forty seconds left." He fixed his gaze on all the players and said, "If you can hold out for the last two minutes, I will tell you the invader's location."
Sur was in a heavy mood and cursed inwardly. If he hadn't realized this, all his efforts to persevere would only result in the news that the invader was a detector. This was just the beginning. After that, he would have to play a new round of games with the Ghost King to find out where the thing was.
"Division of labor?" Not wanting to look at the Ghost King again, he turned around and looked at the other players.
Zhu Yu gritted his teeth and said, "Okay."
The demon monk smiled and said, "Just a friendly reminder, the further you go, the easier it is to die."
With that out of the way, no one wanted to be assigned the last one. From Suer's previous experience, it was clear that the futon's attack power would increase exponentially over time.
No one took the initiative to take the lead, so they could only stay here helplessly. Everyone frowned and thought, unable to make up their minds.
"Yin Qi." A thin voice interrupted Su Er's thoughts. He lowered his head again. The little clay figurine had quietly crawled out of his pocket and said emphatically, "I want all the Yin Qi in the electric shock device."
The demon monk was stunned when he saw something suddenly pop out from the corner of his eye... What is that?
On the other side, Sur's eyes lit up. The futon judged that the player was an illusory existence, but the clay man was different. It could barely be considered a real ghost and perhaps did not need to be attacked.
Just as it was about to climb onto the mat, the demon monk stretched out a slender finger to block its way: "What are you doing up there?"
The timid will die of starvation, while the bold will die of gluttony. The little clay figurine, mindful of the yin energy in Suer, looked ready to die: "Join the army for... for my father."