Chapter 65 Codename: Player【VIP】
Forgot to open the anchor point!
She cleared every red-named person nearby in one fell swoop, even going to the New York Police Department to find it empty. Most people abruptly looked away the moment they saw her, hurriedly exiting her field of vision. Lin Chen, bored once again and having opened her map, suddenly realized something.
I was accidentally attracted by the red name on the roadside, so I forgot what I was going to do in the first place.
Remembering his original intention, Lin Chen "borrowed" the police car and made a beeping sound all the way to the anchor point.
Because they damaged her SUV, they gave her a police car as compensation. How about that? That seems reasonable, right?
"They've installed tracking, monitoring, positioning, and self-destruct devices on this car. We've gathered a group of experts in psychology, sociology, biology, and other fields to analyze you," the system warned.
"Oh." Lin Chen didn't care. As long as he didn't disturb her, nothing else mattered.
—NYPD, emergency meeting room.
There was a low pressure in the air.
The big screen was showing a police car driving at high speed in real time. The person in the driver's seat was driving with one hand while drinking a Coke that he got from somewhere, driving leisurely towards the city center.
The expressions of the group of experts and project analysts sitting in the conference room were even more exciting than the pictures on the screen.
“This isn’t normal.”
The psychology expert put down the information in his hand, frowned, and spoke with a tone full of doubt.
"From the moment she provoked the police on the highway to now, this person's actions were completely out of character. She had no clear purpose, no apparent target, and no apparent motive to escape or attack."
"So, she's just... wandering around?"
The sociologist leaned back in his chair, a complicated expression on his face. "Like traveling?"
"Yes."
The psychologist sighed. "Whether facing law enforcement, hostile organizations, or random environmental threats... her emotions remain at a very stable low frequency. This isn't normal."
"It's not that she doesn't have any emotional reactions," she paused, as if realizing the absurdity of what she was saying, "but her reactions are mostly superficial and fleeting."
The whole place was silent and the atmosphere was extremely weird.
"Let's not talk about psychology for now, let's take a look at her physiological data."
The biology expert frowned, pointing at the constantly updating monitoring curve on the screen, his tone more serious than ever:
"Her heart rate fluctuated between 48 and 52, her blood pressure was close to resting, and her breathing was extremely stable."
"That's impossible!"
A young analyst's eyes widened in disbelief. "She just got hit by dozens of bullets in combat, and yet... her heart rate isn't even over 60?"
"Yes, that's the problem."
The biologist spread his hands helplessly. "It's not just her heart rate, the most bizarre thing is her ability to recover."
She switched the screen and played a slow-motion replay of Lin Chen pulling the bullet out of his arm.
"Look here. Before she pulled the bullet out, the bleeding from the wound began to decrease significantly within 5 seconds. At 10 seconds, the wound had already started to close, and by 15 seconds... it was almost healed."
"This...is this a human?"
"I have no idea."
The biologist spoke wearily, "Based on the current data, her healing speed is over ten times faster than any other mammal we know of. Furthermore, after battling so many people for over twelve hours, her vital signs have remained at this level. She's not tired, she's not in pain... I doubt she'll even die."
“What about social behavior patterns?”
Someone asked.
The sociologist had an ugly expression and a complicated tone:
"Honestly, I've never seen this pattern of behavior."
He picked up a thick stack of artifacts. "In the past 12 hours, she has come into contact with nearly 200 law enforcement officers, underground organization members, and unrelated civilians. She knocked down the vast majority of them, but only caused very few serious injuries, and no fatalities."
"...No intention of killing anyone?"
"It seems so."
"But she took everything."
"Yes."
The sociologist smiled wryly and nodded. "She stole almost every portable item from every person who was knocked down, including but not limited to: guns, bullets, wallets, cell phones, clothes, socks, and even half-finished bottles of water."
“…”
The whole audience was silent, as if they had not yet digested the absurd information contained in these words.
"What does she want to do?"
An intelligence analyst couldn't help but ask, "Why take everything?"
"She doesn't look like she needs any of that."
The sociologist shrugged, "She's more like grabbing it."
"Just grab it?"
"Yes,
He gritted his teeth and said a conclusion that he himself found absurd:
"...Wait, everyone, look at the screen."
A young analyst sitting in the corner suddenly raised his hand and pointed at the real-time monitoring screen:
In the picture, nearby.
"She got off?"
"What are you doing?"
Everyone stared at the screen nervously, watching Lin Chen walk away, take out the coins he had just snatched from the police, and buy a bottle of drink.
She unscrewed the bottle cap and took a sip with a calm expression.
Then, she quickly poured the remaining drink into the trash can. Although she didn't show any expression, everyone could see the disgust in her actions.
Then she threw the bottle behind her, and the bottle disappeared into the void against all odds, and then she turned and left.
“…”
There was a silence.
"Wait, where's her car?"
Someone suddenly realized something and hurriedly turned the camera, only to find that Lin Chen glanced at the car and the car disappeared on the spot.
"Where did she... park the car?"
"She decided to walk?"
"No, I'm... running."
In the camera, Lin Chen was running at an extremely fast speed, crossing the park, crossing the streets, and heading straight in a certain direction on the map.
"What is she doing?"
"She... seemed to be uh... taking a walk, I guess?"
"That's so weird."
The psychology expert was the first to break the silence, closing the thick psychological assessment report in front of him. His tone was calm, but full of confusion.
"Based on the data we have, I can be almost certain of one thing - she's not running away, nor is she grandstanding."
She paused, glanced at the serious faces in the conference room, and added:
"Her behavior patterns don't even remotely resemble conventional violent tendencies or antisocial personality traits."
"Wait, you mean...she's not aggressive?"
An analyst looked up in disbelief, his brow furrowed. "But what did she do before? She attacked police officers, robbed people, vandalized public facilities, and even turned New York's West Side into ruins!"
"No, she didn't attack."
The psychology expert said firmly, "All of her aggressive behaviors are based on responses."
"Response?"
"Yes."
She opened a page of the report and pointed to the incident record:
"From the earliest witnesses we've had, she's never proactively attacked any civilians, and even her attacks on law enforcement officers have been limited to counterattacks. From her perspective, it seems that as long as you're not hostile, she won't react at all."
“…But she stole their things!”
"That's not an attack," the psychologist explained calmly. "Grabbing resources and collecting items is a goal-oriented behavior, not an emotional one. Her behavior didn't show any signs of anger, revenge, or self-defense."
"So you're saying..."
The sociologist sitting opposite frowned and said in a low voice, "She won't hurt anyone on her own initiative?"
"Judging from the current situation, yes."
The psychologist nodded. "She doesn't seem to be hostile to us. Rather, it's more like... ignoring us."
“…Ignore?”
As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere in the room suddenly became more depressing.
The sociologist leaned back in his chair, staring at Lin Chen running leisurely on the screen, his expression complex and difficult to describe.
"Ignoring... that's the scariest thing."
"She didn't have the fear of being wanted, nor the excitement of breaking the rules. She was just like... an ordinary tourist touring the city."
The sociologist flipped through the report in his hand, his voice gradually lowering. "From the data we have, her actions don't seem to have any clear purpose. She's not seeking money, power, or even the environment or the situation."
"She's just... exploring."
"Or more precisely," he paused and looked up at everyone.
"She was just 'playing'."
"Play?"
Everyone was stunned by this word, their expressions changed from shock to confusion, and finally to disbelief.
"She treats fighting, looting... and even the whole world as a game?"
"This is impossible..."
"I know it sounds ridiculous, but judging by her pattern of actions, there's no other explanation."
The psychologist sighed. "She doesn't care about the impact she causes, nor does she care who she's dealing with. The ultimate goal of all her actions seems to be simply... satisfying her own interests."
"this……"
"What should we do?"
"What else can I do?"
——
By this time, Lin Chen had already run several kilometers on the map and felt that running was more comfortable. He saved the game and continued running towards the next anchor point.
NYPD, emergency meeting room.
Everyone stared at the screen, their expressions becoming increasingly complicated.
"She's running again?"
"Well, I've run five kilometers, and my speed is still... unbelievable."
"How does she do it? Her physical fitness is far beyond human limits, but her heart rate still remains around 50."
"What do we know now?"
"Her movements are erratic, her emotions are almost constant, her physical data is abnormal, her combat power is astonishing, and her motivations are unknown...even her name is unknown."
"...No, this is the weirdest part."
The intelligence analyst looked up and pointed at the screen. "We can't find her identity."
"Can't find it?"
"Yes. There are no identifying records, no Social Security number, no birth, medical, education, employment records, or even any witnesses who could provide background information on her."
"That's impossible!"
"But that's the truth."
The analyst pushed his glasses up and spoke in a dry tone, as if stating some extremely absurd fact:
"She just kind of… popped out of thin air."
"Then...we have to call her something, right?"
The tactical commander sitting in the corner spoke up, his tone somewhat helpless, "We can't just keep going back and forth like that."
"Codename?"
"Yes, code name."
The room was silent for a few seconds.
"Since she's 'playing' and acting... too casually."
The psychology expert pushed his glasses and said after thinking for a moment:
"How about calling her 'Joker'?"
"It's overly dramatic and misleading."
"Besides, what if she finds this funny and actually imitates Joker from Batman? That's absolutely possible!"
"How about 'Phantom'? No one can catch her..."
"No,"
The tactical commander frowned. "This woman doesn't hide herself at all when she's on the move. Even when she's being filmed by dozens of cameras, she doesn't even wear a mask."
"How about 'Runner'?"
"But she doesn't just run. She fights, robs, attacks police, and casually takes anything in sight into her void."
"or……"
A young technician suddenly spoke, his tone hesitant yet a little excited:
"How about calling her 'Player'?"
Everyone looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because of her behavior..."
The technician swallowed and pointed at the screen. "It's like... playing an open-world game."
"She's 'clearing customs'?"
"I don't know, but she doesn't care about the rules or the consequences. It's like she's exploring. She takes and fights at will, occasionally saving someone, then turning around and robbing someone else... This is completely player behavior."
After a long silence, the tactical commander nodded.
"That's settled then—'Player'."
"Enter this code into the filing system and send it to all relevant departments."
"Yes, sir."
At the same time, Lin Chen had already run ten kilometers.
She stood at the highest point of the floor with a wide view, looking down at the unobstructed city view below.
[Discovered: Empire State Building Observation Deck.]
"Hmm... the scenery here is nice."
She nodded with satisfaction, saved the game, and then opened the map.
There was still a large stretch of dark land that had not been set foot on, and only the ocean formed a continuous piece.
Lin Chen, Lin Chen, how can you always be attracted by the flowers, plants, buildings and food on the roadside? We clearly agreed to open the anchor point first, and you can't do anything else before the anchor point is opened!
After some self-condemnation, Lin Chen jumped from the top of the Empire State Building.
Then he did a light roll and landed like a superhero! Without causing any damage to the ground.
The New Yorkers watching the scene were stunned at first, but then burst into warm applause and cheers.
“Wow!”
"Is she a stuntwoman?!"
"A superhero movie set?"
Lin Chen casually patted her pants and found that everyone around her seemed so enthusiastic and silly. She immediately felt that the atmosphere was good.
Lin Chen added to the performance, doing a backflip and a 720-degree turn on the spot in the crowd, standing steadily with no fluctuation in his expression.
“Wooooooooooooooooo!!”
The onlookers became even more excited and applauded loudly.
"…Wow, what is she doing?"
In the New York Police Department's monitoring room, all the experts' expressions were once again confused.
"She's... performing?"
"Why?!"
"Just to please the audience?"
Lin Chen didn't care at all.
She casually grabbed two bottles of Coke from the crowd, turned around and left, leaving behind a group of cheering people.
She didn't look back, so she didn't see any children imitating her movements, and instead she fell and got dizzy.
Open the map and the next anchor point is near Central Park.
——Save the file and keep running!
New York Police Department, emergency meeting room.
"What is she...doing now?"
“Running.”
"Still running?"
"Yes, I think I'm...shopping."
Lin Chen was running, and he picked up
Pulled a handful of weeds from the roadside;
He took a lottery ticket that had fallen on the ground;
I picked up a signpost that looked like it was broken.
She ate a cola-flavored lollipop while running, and stopped to feed a stray dog on the roadside a few bites and touched the dog's head.
“So cute.”
Lin Chen exclaimed in admiration from the bottom of his heart.
The NYPD project team scratched their heads in annoyance.
"In the eyes of Player, we are probably no different from cats and dogs on the street. We are weak and powerless, and even our anger seems so ridiculous." The analyst said painfully, covering his face.
"No," the psychologist shrugged and said coldly, meeting the analyst's hopeful gaze, "We probably aren't as cute and lovable as cats and dogs in her eyes."
She added, "To be precise, we should treat her no differently than weeds on the roadside, plastic bottles, or even vending machines. The only difference is that she will take the items from the vending machine."
"So, what should we do?"
The psychology expert sighed deeply and closed the report in his hand.
"—and pray that she never becomes interested in us."
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