Chapter 9 Preference
With a panicky heartbeat and rapid breathing, Yang Hu hid behind a box in the corridor and heard the sound of brutal fighting coming from behind him.
His temples were throbbing uncontrollably, the broadsword pressed against his waist, but he didn't dare rush out to save his human companions.
Yang Hu's intelligence is not outstanding, but the reason why he can thrive in many infinite dungeons is because of his brute force and the big knife in his hand.
"The Ghost-Eating Tiger" is the respectful name given to him by the players who admire him. He has always been too lazy to think too much about the twists and turns, and just needs to pick up a knife and chop people. Therefore, the elementary pseudo-human copy that does not require deliberate decryption is his favorite and most familiar copy. When he has nothing to do, he will go to the elementary pseudo-human copy to earn points.
However, after this time, Yang Hu may never choose this copy again.
Half an hour ago, he had just rescued a real player who was about to be killed from the fake man. Before he could run to the hall for refuge, he was intercepted by a mysterious fake man wearing a mask.
The fake man walked steadily and had an excellent posture. He seemed gentle and refined, but the words he spoke were extremely arrogant.
He pointed at the real player next to Yang Hu and said, "Leave him here."
Then he turned to Yang Hu and said with a smile: "Go away, I won't kill you."
Yang Hu had never been treated with such arrogance before. He immediately stood in front of the player and said, "Why are you going away? Today I want to see who should go away——"
"Ugh!" He hadn't finished his words yet, and he didn't even see any movement of the person in front of him. He just felt a chill on his side. Yang Hu looked to the side in disbelief, only to see two long cuts as wide as his palms on his strong shoulder. Blood splattered, staining half of his clothes red.
"Clang!" With two sounds, his hands instantly lost strength and the broadsword fell straight to the ground. An inexplicable fear surged into Yang Hu's heart.
The masked man retracted his movements, and a bright silver light flashed in the corner of his body. Yang Hu's eyes widened instantly. He would never mistake what that thing was.
"The Three Great Weapons...Who the hell are you?!"
He couldn't even see the fake man's movements, so how could he fight him?
This is a crushing victory of absolute strength.
He swallowed and stepped back unconsciously.
And that fake person actually has that weapon...
"Get lost." The man said calmly again. At the same time, the player who was hiding behind Yang Hu moved in front of the masked man at some point.
The masked man grabbed the player's neck tightly, and his face turned from red to white and then to black and blue again.
There was a sound of "Ah" and bones breaking in the air, and the player's head fell weakly to the side, and his throat was strangled alive.
The system announcement sounded.
[Data is being updated. Humans are confirmed dead and pseudo-humans are about to replace them.]
How could there be such a strong fake person... How can I clear this instance? !
Yang Hu, dragging his arm, which was still bleeding, huddled in the corner of the aisle, his heart in a turmoil.
On the other side, through the narrow and dark corridor, the body of the player who had just been brutally killed by the masked pseudo-man was still trembling physiologically.
The only three remaining fingers were soaked in thick blood, the upper body remained on the cold floor tiles, the lower body was hanging from the ceiling, and the human intestines that rolled out of the torn abdomen were swaying left and right in the air.
In the darkness, a blood-black mass of unknown object was taking shape. Within just a few breaths, it had grown into an appearance that was no different from the person who had died on the ground before.
At this moment, there was only a messy and smelly pool of blood in the corridor. The newborn stood upright in the middle of the corridor, stroking his cheek with trembling fingers. The warm body temperature made him so excited that he couldn't help but shed tears.
"I am a human, I am a real person, I am, I am a living person..." His face was distorted and his smile was bright, "As long as you are gone, who will know that I am not you... No, I am you, you are not a special existence, you can be replaced at any time..."
A large amount of data was implanted into his mind, and everything the player had experienced came to him like a tide. He closed his eyes and slowly accepted it all, quickly browsing the "script preface" of his life.
In just a few breaths, he had transformed from a "newborn" pseudo-human with obviously abnormal emotional fluctuations into a "first-rate replica" with complete memories and behavioral habits of the original owner.
The mysterious masked man that helped him turn into a man had long disappeared, and the man stood there, feeling confused.
Since we are both fake people, why do you want to leave?
…
Yang Hu stumbled into the hall and heard people arguing as soon as he entered the door.
"Spend points to watch the post-event video replay?! Do you have so many points that you can't spend them all?"
"What's there to hide about this matter? Why are you hiding it?" Zhang Lian sat on the wooden stool with his back straight, pursed his lips, and listened to Li Ziyue continue to scold him, "I really want to take off all your clothes to see if you are really a fake person. I really doubt it."
Zhang Lian listened to the scolding all the way without saying a word, and finally heard something he could do. Without any hesitation, he reached his hand to the top button of his white shirt again and began to unbutton it, "Okay."
"What are you doing!" Li Ziyue was on the verge of exploding, "What's good about that?"
Li Ziyue thought that he had been struggling in the infinite dungeon for several years, and had not developed any cunning at least he had cultivated some indifference and composure. However, he did not expect that Zhang Lianmo was ten feet higher than him and restrained him everywhere.
Add to that Sun Yuancheng who was covering his mouth and laughing, and Yu Yu who had just arrived and didn't understand the atmosphere and therefore didn't dare to laugh, Li Ziyue became more and more angry, and the look in his eyes when he looked at Zhang Lian became more and more stern.
"Get dressed!"
"Okay." Zhang Lian buttoned his shirt back up obediently, then continued to sit upright, looking at Li Ziyue and blinking.
Li Ziyue knew that reasoning with Zhang Lian was like playing the lute to a cow, and it would be a thankless task, so he ignored Zhang Lian.
However, the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He felt that he had been wronged, so he turned to the side and prepared to do a math test to cool down his anger.
At this moment, someone in the live broadcast room raised a question.
[Why did the anchor "forgive" Zhang Lian so quickly? You believe everything Zhang Lian says, this is too outrageous]
[That's right, the anchor was so cautious with Yang Hu before, but now he is more lenient with Zhang Lian. Could it be that lust has blinded his mind? ]
[Forget it, this live broadcast room is nothing interesting. I wanted to see what tricks could come out of the primary pseudo-human copy. With the host's level... let's all leave.]
A barrage of questioning comments floated by, and the number of viewers in the live broadcast room was decreasing at a rate visible to the naked eye, and soon returned to around a hundred.
Li Ziyue didn't care too much about these comments. After all, he didn't rely on the mobile audience in the live broadcast room to make a living.
Popularity comes quickly and goes away quickly. If you care too much about it, you will only waste your energy.
He only typed a few words on the screen: I can't beat Zhang Lian.
Even if Zhang Lian had come up with a nonsense reason just now, Li Ziyue would have accepted it. The reason was quite simple and crude - Zhang Lian's fighting power was obviously a level higher than everyone else's. What else could he do except nod and say yes? Hang Zhang Lian up and beat him up? Or just give Zhang Lian the cold shoulder and draw a clear line between them?
It would be fine if Zhang Lian agreed, but if he disagreed he would just overturn the table. Who here could stop him?
Li Ziyue then realized that he was only concerned about the pleasure of clearing the level by brute force in the past, and there were countless players around him who disliked him and hated him so much but did not dare to do anything to him.
Now the situation has changed.
As for Zhang Lian, he still has to be tested. Without the iron certification reported by the system, Zhang Lian is still a question mark in Li Ziyue's eyes, and it is impossible for him to be turned into a good guy. But he cannot force it. He has to go along with Zhang Lian's behavior first and then test him later.
As it stands now…
Li Ziyue glanced at Zhang Lian casually.
Zhang Lian seemed to have an inexplicable kindness towards them?
Li Ziyue couldn't figure it out.
Zhang Lian sat there for a while like a bullied man, without saying a word.
Being scolded by Li Ziyue was no big deal. If Li Ziyue asked him why he chose his segment out of so many video replays, Zhang Lian would not be able to answer.
Fortunately, Li Ziyue didn't seem to notice this loophole.
Zhang Lian got the advantage but still wanted to act cute. He thought quietly for a while, took out a test paper from somewhere, and started writing slowly.
Li Ziyue glanced over.
It is a once-in-a-century opportunity. He thought he was the only one in the world who would bring homework into a dungeon, but he didn't expect that Zhang Lian was also deeply trapped in the sea of studying.
He felt calmer immediately, and when he saw Zhang Lian's eyes, he unconsciously felt a sense of sympathy and sympathy.
Well, learning too much will easily drive you crazy. It is better not to bother with Zhang Lian’s weird behavior before.
When Li Ziyue did big math problems, he only wrote down the key steps. He usually wrote two or three lines to briefly answer a big problem. He could finish a math test very quickly.
After finishing the math test, Li Ziyue felt refreshed, so he decided to write English error correction while he was still in good shape. However, after flipping through the numerous test papers, he didn't even see the shadow of his precious test paper.
At this moment, a bad premonition came over Li Ziyue's heart.
"Zhang Lian..." He gritted his teeth again, "What kind of test did you take?"
"English."
Zhang Lian answered honestly.
Li Ziyue's heart skipped a beat, and he felt almost dead.
When he saw the English test paper that Zhang Lian had filled with notes, even including the composition, Li Ziyue decided to endure it, but finally he could no longer endure it and exploded instantly.
"Zhang Lian, you are sick, right? Why are you doing other people's test papers when you have nothing to do?"
God knows that the more Li Ziyue likes to do Chinese and English homework, he would even use the precious points earned by risking his life to exchange for the required English and Chinese questions. Now Zhang Lian meant well but ended up doing something wicked. He was completely unaware but stepped on Li Ziyue's tail accurately.
Seeing that Li Zi was getting more and more angry, Sun Yuancheng, who was eating melon seeds and watching the show on the side, finally felt guilty and jumped out to try to stop the fight.
"Brother," he stood between the two of them, with an unfathomable look on his face, and looked at Li Ziyue first, "I am so happy that someone is doing my homework for me. Brother Zhang Lian is also kind-hearted. I don't think that you will be taking the ninth college entrance examination soon. You will have a heavy workload and a lot of homework. Brother Zhang Lian is also helping you solve your problems..."
"roll!"
The harder the plum is, the less you should eat it.
"Hey, brother, you are usually calm and smart, but why are you like a powder keg when you meet Brother Zhang Lian? Think about it carefully."
Sun Yuancheng held up the English test paper Zhang Lian had done. "Although my English is also very poor, looking at the questions Zhang Lian did, the details are so detailed. I believe that Zhang Lian must have a lot of ideas and skills. If he is not a moron, he can get a passing score in English. Brother, don't you want to learn English well? Ask him for advice..."
“…I drew those lines, what do you mean?” Li Ziyue’s mood now was no longer just anger. For a moment he didn’t know whether to describe it more appropriately as mixed feelings or “a bumper harvest”.
He planned to tear Zhang Lian apart first, and then kill Sun Yuancheng with a single blow.
Sun Yuancheng didn't expect that he was so smart but ended up following Zhang Lian's old path of good intentions but bad results. He was so anxious that he scratched his ears and cheeks, not knowing what to do.
Zhang Lian had been severely scolded by Li Ziyue before and was "standing on the side" as punishment. Seeing that Li Ziyue's target had turned to Sun Yuancheng, he immediately thought that his incident was over, so he changed his role from "sufferingly waiting for Li Ziyue's trial" to "watching Sun Yuancheng being judged by Li Ziyue". His status rose, so he also spoke.
But he turned to Sun Yuancheng: "How old are you?"
Sun Yuancheng was stunned: "23, what's wrong?"
"I'm 22." The implication is that I'm still young and you shouldn't call me brother.
Sun Yuancheng tried to stop the fight with good intentions, but he was attacked by the two men one after another. He felt wronged and sad for a moment. He shrank to the other side dejectedly and sobbed, "I don't care about you two. Just quarrel until the end of the instance. I'm sad."
Yu Yu came over and patted Sun Yuancheng on the back to comfort him.
After this commotion, Li Ziyue's expression became much calmer. He glanced at Zhang Lian, then at Sun Yuancheng, who was squatting in the corner, drawing circles and cursing the whole world. He was silent for a while and said, "...Forget it."
Until now, Zhang Lian still feels that he is an outsider in this whole storm, because he has no idea what he did wrong, but under the circumstances, he is embarrassed not to speak up.
Then he winked at Li Ziyue.
After spending a few hours together, Li Ziyue already understood what Zhang Lian's different blinking frequencies meant.
Blinking once means "hmm".
Blinking twice means "?" or happy.
Blinking several times means "I don't know what I did wrong, but I apologize first."
Li Ziyue understood, but Sun Yuancheng was still pretending to cry. Considering the overall situation, Li Ziyue pretended not to understand and let the matter go.
Bickering is a small matter, but disrupting the situation in this copy is a big matter.
Li Ziyue looked up at the electronic screen, which showed that it was 5:29 Beijing time.
The last half hour.
When he first entered the lobby, Li Ziyue took a look at the number of players and pseudo-people on the electronic screen, and it was still:
[Number of players: VII]
[Number of fake people: VI]
While everyone was arguing, they heard the system announce that a player had been transformed into a fake person.
If we follow the previous data, the updated numbers on the electronic screen at 5:30 should be:
[Number of players: VI]
[Number of pseudo-people: VII]
However, the real data once again surprised Li Ziyue.
The data refreshed on the electronic screen showed:
[As of 5:30 Beijing time]
[Number of players: VI]
[Number of fake people: VI]
…The number of players decreased normally, but the number of pseudo-people did not increase.
The extra 13...disappeared, and everything returned to the normal 12.
Besides, there seems to be another trouble hidden on the other side.
Li Ziyue's eyes were cold as he glanced towards the corner: "Yang Hu."
Yang Hu walked over with injuries all over his body and an expressionless face.
Before Li Ziyue could ask, he lowered his head, revealing his smooth neck.
“I am a real person.”
Li Ziyue's heart, which had just been hanging in the air, finally calmed down.
He turned and stared at the electronic screen: "According to the data presented above, we have five players here, one player left outside the hall, and six fake people. If we kill them randomly, the probability of killing the real person by mistake is only 1/7."
"Sun Yuancheng and Yu Yu don't have to do anything. Yang Hu and I will do the killing..." He glanced at the wound on Yang Hu's body, "Forget it, I will do it, and Zhang Lian will be responsible for protecting the three of them."
“Ah?” Sun Yuancheng swallowed his saliva in fear, “Really…really, brother, what if I really killed the wrong person…”
"If we kill the wrong person, we will rescue him immediately," Li Ziyue's eyes were dark, "Time is running out. I'm not sure if the dungeon will end tonight. There's no luck left for us to gamble."
"Also," Luckily, he only wrote down the key steps in the math test, and the large amount of blank space on the test paper was enough for Li Ziyue to make a draft, "Give me some time. I will sort out the abnormal data displayed on the electronic screen these past two nights."
"There's no time."
Yang Hu, who had been silent on the side, suddenly spoke up, "The hall... is about to collapse again."
Li Ziyue let out a long sigh and just stretched out his hand to pull people away, but unexpectedly, this collapse was more abnormal than anyone had imagined.
There was no prior rumbling or trembling. The center of the hall suddenly bulged upwards without any warning. The ground cracked in an instant. They didn't even have time to take a step. The collapse of heaven and earth began. The loud "boom" was shocking. Everyone was forced to separate. Li Ziyue had not yet retracted his hand, but saw Zhang Lian in the distance with a calm expression, so he threw a toy puppy to him.
Li Ziyue did not stop and threw the two puppies he had just taken from Zhang Lian to Yu Yu and Sun Yuancheng respectively.
Immediately following.
A mechanical sound was heard.
[Ding Dong~Special Easter Egg Benefit~]
[Someone has spread infection in the scene, you have been infected]
[Please eliminate the effects of the infection within half an hour, otherwise you will be killed by the infection and automatically converted into a fake person/real person]
[How to eliminate infected objects: Use negative state elimination liquid]
[Location for obtaining the item: Patrolman’s waist]
[I wish you a happy game~]
Li Ziyue was standing on the side of a corridor somewhere, holding a scimitar tightly in his hand. His face was gloomy, and he felt irritated again, which was rare.
The triggering of the special easter egg will forcibly shuffle all the people and randomly drop them into different areas. He had finally gathered together the players whose identities could be confirmed, but now his efforts have failed because of this easter egg.
He was not worried about whether he had the ability to deal with the inspectors, nor was he frustrated by the fact that he might have to spend all his energy again to re-identify the players and reorganize the team.
What really made him feel out of control was the triggering of this easter egg.
The difficulty of the Pseudo-Human series is quite high due to its mechanism. If the rules are slightly changed, the pressure on the players will increase exponentially.
The purpose of the primary pseudo-human copy is not to kill the players, but to make the players familiar with the copy operation mode so that they can better adapt to the intermediate and advanced pseudo-human copies. Therefore, there will not be too many tricks. At most, a patroller setting will be added to get the players moving.
Based on the above, the primary pseudo-human copy allows players to form groups, trust each other, and pass the copy together.
However, the "infected object" setting strictly prohibits the above-mentioned behaviors. Its appearance makes players judge "trust" as the most stupid and ridicule "banding together" as a gathering of the weak.
In the game copy where "infected objects" exist, if there is an alien with ulterior motives hidden in a group of people, he will secretly release the "infected objects" when people gather. All those who fail to deal with the infected objects in time will die immediately and then switch their identities.
Therefore, this setting will only appear in higher-level pseudo-human copies where the player level is relatively high.
However, even so, there are countless cases where the lurkers use infected objects to "change the offensive and defensive forces" of the players and pseudo-humans at the last minute, and the real players are wiped out, completely changing the ending.
Fortunately, it is now a "long day" period. If a player is converted into a pseudo-human, the system will broadcast it, and Li Ziyue will be able to better plan the subsequent "rescue" operation.
The inspectors who were "resurrecting" faster, the short-lived disappearance of 12, the inexplicably prolonged game time, the strong wind blowing through the corridor, and now this "infected object" that shouldn't have appeared in the primary pseudo-human copy...
There is no wind without waves. Behind all abnormalities there must be a logical line that can connect them reasonably.
Even a sudden tornado can reveal the butterfly flapping its wings at the beginning when the layers are peeled away.
And this butterfly...
The blade of the scimitar just scratched the top of his fingertips, and Li Ziyue's mouth curled up slightly.
The next moment, the scimitar was thrown out with great force. The sharp silver-white blade spun rapidly in the air, bringing up a whistling wind. The hard object was hit to the ground with a bang by the sharp knife that cut it in half.
With a crisp "clang" sound, the scimitar spun rapidly. Li Ziyue stood there expressionlessly, with his hand raised in the air waiting for it to come back.
At the same time, a quietly growing human-shaped shadow was lurking behind him.
The shadow was getting closer and closer, gradually merging with the shadow behind him.
He didn't seem to notice.
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