Chapter 263 Crimson Mirror
Hotel room 3045.
Xu Zhiyan did not open the door rashly, but just looked out through the peephole quietly.
The man outside the door was wearing a mask, so his expression could not be seen clearly, but judging by the force with which he knocked on the door and his lack of concern about attracting the monster, he felt that this man had bad intentions.
"What is he doing here?"
Hesitantly putting his hand on the door handle, Xu Zhiyan prepared to open the door while complaining.
Before he could open the door, Chi Bei, who was hiding behind it, said tremblingly, "Don't open the door! Boss Xu... Boss Xu, our president should be here to see us."
Listen to others' advice and eat your fill.
After hearing this, Xu Zhiyan let go of his hand and turned to look at the two of them.
Seeing Chi Bei and Song Xiying's faces pale and full of fear, he ignored the fierce knocks on the door, walked back and asked in a low voice: "What did the clown say to you?"
Song Xiying nodded, bit her lip to visualize the panel, and showed the guild content on it to Xu Zhiyan.
【Joker: Where? 】
[Ikebe: We are in 3045, with Boss Xu. President, are you coming? Boss Xu is a very nice person! owo]
【Clown: You are very brave. 】
[Ikebe: Yes, President, what are you talking about...]
From then on, no matter what Ikebe asked, the clown did not answer.
Xu Zhiyan cast a complex look of pity at Chi Bei who was shivering in the corner, and subconsciously reached out to touch the ring.
This guy looks big and strong, with a 3:7 hairstyle, and he looks quite smart, but why does he speak in a cute way? It seems his brain is not very smart.
The clown obviously didn't want to care about the lives of these two people, but Ikebe was still hoping for the best...
In the live broadcast room, the audience also sighed.
[The unlucky duo is really unlucky. ]
[What are you doing upstairs? ]
[Brother Chou still plans to continue his lone wolf operation. Bringing these two people along would be a burden. I think that's understandable.]
[I understand you, you big head ghost! Why is the life of ordinary players not a life? 】
[The weak have no status in the dungeon, and it is normal for them to become abandoned cannon fodder. Looking at this, I actually think that Xiao Baiwan is the most conscientious person in the game. ]
[Stop arguing. I want to know more about whether the clown killed the astrologer.]
The Joker's appearance was indeed surprising.
I don’t know if it’s because it’s the first night, but there aren’t many moving monsters in the hotel. Although they’re hard to fight, it’s not that difficult to escape.
Soon, a viewer captured the video clip.
[Although the astrologer is not good at close combat, she has completely transformed the top floor into her own 'star field'. ]
[Damn, the guys at the top are all monsters! [Video 1.avi]]
The video is very long, and the content has been fast-forwarded a lot due to compression.
The story begins with Jiang Huaique leading away the astrologer's companions. Alves tried to stop them and planned to leave with them, but failed. In the end, she was the only one left on the rooftop.
The Joker is not a talkative person.
Almost at the moment he passed by his companions, he turned into a black shadow and appeared silently behind the astrologer.
In less than half a day, the two fought again.
Being able to climb to tenth place in the standings is enough to prove the Joker's fighting ability. He is good at secret and fast attacks, especially assassinations... Of course, open killing is also possible.
Under the overwhelming force of his strength, Alves was forced to resist the attack.
Her face no longer had the indifference and calmness of the past, and the gorgeous robe that could enhance the power of the astrology was scratched in two places, making her look extremely disheveled.
However, the Joker's attacks became more and more fierce, and she was able to dodge them time and again.
The subsequent fight was fast-forwarded by the person who posted the video.
[The Ugly Emperor found the key and locked the door to the rooftop, so no one came to disturb him.]
[In short, the fight lasted almost three hours. I have to say these two guys are really strong. If it were me, I probably wouldn’t last more than three minutes under the Joker’s hands.]
[Come on, the Astrologer is at least ranked 16th. Although it is a little lower than the Joker, if he is already in the top 20, except for the monsters in front who are absolutely suppressed by power, everything else is possible.]
[This is reasonable. After all, the two of them are not brave enough to use large-scale or high-intensity attacks for fear of destroying the hotel building.]
[What did the clown find out? I was confused. Why did he stop? Did he find out something? ]
[Silly boy above, it's Star Domain, didn't you hear the spoiler above? ]
In the picture, the clown finally stopped his attack and squatted on the telescope at the edge of the roof.
He said nothing, staring at the astrologer.
The woman, still gasping for breath, smiled.
"You noticed."
"You've been setting it up since you entered the hotel," the Joker replied calmly.
Unlike the Astrologer who was still gasping for breath and exhausted, the clown at this moment was still as normal, with no change in his breath at all.
He didn't ask any more stupid questions.
Given Alves's situation, it would be difficult for him to hold out for that long without summoning large-scale star clusters and astrological rifts.
But now that the other party has held on, there is only one reason - the current area has been arranged into a star field by Alvis.
"I thought I could keep it a secret for a while longer."
The astrologer replied coldly.
After being nearly killed in the square, she realized that she and the Joker would be in a fight to the death, so she was extra careful.
After entering the hotel and finding her companions, she knew she couldn't escape the script of going to the top floor to observe the stars, so she simply took the initiative to invite her companions to come up early.
I don’t know if it’s God’s blessing.
The starry sky in the copy is very bright, which is perfect for creating star fields.
She had arranged it early.
From now on, as long as you are on this rooftop, everyone's actions will be predicted by the stars.
As an astrologer, Alves, who possesses the star field, can grasp the Joker's movements.
She wanted to use the star field as a counterattack and kill the enemy with one blow, so she had been dodging the attacks in a panic, preparing to make more plans.
Too bad the clown didn't fall for it.
Although Alves didn't show it on her face, she was already disappointed. Her arrangements were not completed, and it was likely that neither of them would be able to kill the other tonight.
The clown stopped attacking and stepped back.
The conditions for creating a star field are somewhat harsh.
The reserved space must be large enough, and the weather must be clear and cloudless after dark so that the stars can be seen clearly.
There is not much information about the star field at present. These conditions are not simple in the real world. In the dungeon, the sky is varied and there is little time left for astrologers to arrange it. Therefore, most players only know that this mysterious skill is called star field, and they don’t know more information.
Like everyone else, the Joker only knew that as long as he was in the star field, all his activities would be monitored by the astrologers.
Based on this alone, he knew that he could not kill the astrologer.
But the other party has been hiding this for so long, there must be other tricks that he hasn't used yet, he has to be more vigilant...
Just as the two were in a stalemate, a sharp and funny voice appeared.
"Oh! My dear master! I haven't seen you for a long time! I miss you so much! Please allow me to present you with a gift!" This sentence was changed into five or six voices under deliberate funny words.
It's not the voice of a clown, nor the voice of an astrologer.
The clown mask on the cold man's face, which concealed his expression, seemed to come alive at this moment, and he kept chattering with his broken mouth.
But rarely, the usually quiet clown himself did not stop it.
The astrologer looked solemn.
After the mask opened, many gift boxes appeared around it inexplicably.
The bright gift boxes were wrapped in colorful ribbons, and each box had a weird clown's smiling face painted on it. They were obviously pleasing things, but they made people feel a little uneasy.
“Pah—Pah—Pah—”
As the sounds of explosions were heard one after another, many palm-sized gift boxes exploded in the corner of the rooftop brother.
There are empty boxes, boxes with floral ribbons, handmade paper cuts without heads... and some boxes contain surprise magic boxes with clown dolls popping out of them.
"Biu! Master! There's something wrong here, hehe."
The mask on the clown's face said with a smile.
From a surprise box similar to the one on the ground popped out clown dolls with hideous smiles on their faces. They waved their white-gloved hands around, and the originally transparent fragments of meteorite were detected. The dolls picked them up and stuffed them directly into their mouths.
This time the clown himself didn't need to explain. After eating the meteorite, his mask took the initiative to give the answer.
"Hey, hey, hey! These are all the things that were left behind in the battle... Don't ask me how I know, hehe, I just know~"
"Master, before you kill someone, would you like to praise me first—"
The mask didn't finish its words.
The Joker took the mask off his face.
Like a heartless scumbag, he simply put the used props on his wrist.
Although he was not sure what skill arranged by the astrologer was just destroyed, the star field was formed for sure. This was the opponent's home court, and he was not sure whether he could win.
The video suddenly stops when the two confront each other.
In the live broadcast room, the audience had not yet recovered from their emotions and asked the person who posted the video to finish it.
Normally, I watch live broadcasts one minute at a time. Now, someone can help me streamline the content and fast forward when necessary. It feels so good!
But the audience who played the video didn’t want to watch it anymore.
[The rest is nothing interesting, just these two people fought for another two hours, neither of them beat the other, the clown has high single-target damage, and the astrologer took advantage of the star field and could predict. ]
[…Brother, at least you should finish playing.]
[You guys have to look for it yourself! Ahhhh I want to see Xiao Baiwan open the door! ]
【Oh, did Xiao Baiwan finally decide to open the door? 】
Suite 3045, the clown stood outside for more than ten minutes, using several tricks to avoid the monsters that heard the noise.
Perhaps to make himself appear more harmless, he even took off his mask.
Inside the room, Xu Zhiyan had already arranged for other clients. Unrelated people went to the bedroom, while related people stayed in the living room.
The temporary safe place is charged by the hour. In order to save some money, most of the other players who come here to rest will choose to rest for an hour. After resting, they will leave to explore. If they encounter trouble after a period of time, they will come back and repeat the repair.
Xu Zhiyan did this job, which was equivalent to a simplified version of a safe house, very smoothly.
Chi Bei and Song Xiying were crammed into the corner of the room.
"Squeak--Gah--"
Yu Xiu was assigned the task of opening the door. The door, which was almost broken, slowly opened, making a teeth-grinding sound.
After just a crack, a black shadow quickly flashed in.
Sudden change!
The next second, the sound of cold weapons colliding filled the entire room.
“clang!”
The flying knife and the dagger collided.
Xu Zhiyan felt that the sound was like a thunderclap in his ears. He subconsciously covered his right ear and felt that he was going deaf.
The atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense.
When he came to his senses, he found that he was standing in the middle of the living room, but the clown had already appeared behind him without him knowing when.
But neither the hand bones nor the evil Buddha in the chest were triggered.
The moment the clown flashed in and launched an attack, Jiang Huaique had already been fully alert and just managed to block the attack before the opponent's knife fell.
The two couldn't avoid looking at each other.
"Attack as soon as we meet? That's not a good idea." Jiang Huaique frowned, but the dagger in his hand did not retreat at all.
Suddenly, he felt his hand lighten.
The Joker retracted his weapon.
He flashed to the window and glanced at Jiang Huaique, seeming a little surprised that this not-so-famous player could actually take his attack.
Chi Bei and Song Xiying, who were hiding in the corner by the window, became even more nervous and were shaking like sieves.
Xu Zhiyan was the only one present who acted as if nothing had happened. He touched his ear and waved his hand to signal his teammates to put away their weapons.
"Jiang Jiang, calm down. Harmony brings wealth."
"...your uncle's wealth." Jiang Huaique lowered his hand unhappily, but still held the dagger tightly, with his eyes fixed on the clown.
Xu Zhiyan also glanced at the clown, not quite understanding why he attacked right away.
"Well, Mr. Clown, let's talk it out nicely. There's no need to attack right away. That's so uncivilized." He wasn't too afraid of the other party's attack just now.
Being very aware of his weaknesses and also very careful about his life, Xu Zhiyan carries a lot of defensive items on his body.
He dared to bet that as long as it had not been for the previous large-scale ban on props, even if the top brother on the list came, it would be difficult to kill him with one blow.
Don't be afraid of returning. Being attacked is not a pleasant thing.
The clown spoke, and what he said surprised everyone.
"What is your relationship with Xu Yan?"
"What?"
Xu Zhiyan was stunned, thinking that he didn't understand.
It took him a while to realize that Xu Yan, whom the clown was talking about, was the collector currently ranked second on the list.
When he was looking at the information of the top players on the list, he did get a copy of the information about the Collector, but the information provided was very limited. He only knew that this guy could manipulate "people".
He didn't even get a full frontal photo.
Whether in copies or in information circulating on the black market, the collector always pulls the brim of his hat very low, making it impossible to glimpse his true appearance.
"Are you talking about the second person on the list?" Xu Zhiyan couldn't help but repeat it.
This question is too outrageous!
The Joker didn't answer.
But from his fixed gaze, it can be judged that he wants to ask this collector.
Xu Zhiyan frowned and thought for a while before he coughed lightly and spoke.
"This question is difficult to explain. I think we should solve other things first."
"Don't worry, I'm a businessman. As long as you pay, I can sell you all the information. I won't cheat anyone!"
He said it sincerely.
Seeing that the clown's eyes had become much more ferocious, Jiang Huaique took a big step and stood in front of his unlucky teammate, showing his dagger, and couldn't help muttering under his breath.
"It's the fucking Riddler Guild. What kind of crappy questions are they asking."
Yu Xiu, who was assigned to be the gatekeeper, also stood beside Jiang Huaique holding the scepter. He had been well taken care of by Jiang Huaique in the past few months and had grown taller.
The two of them gathered together and almost completely blocked Xu Zhiyan.
Glancing at the supreme scepter in Yu Xiu's hand, the clown paused for a moment and slowly put down his weapon.
"Any other questions?" he asked.
Hearing the other party's tone soften, Xu Zhiyan squeezed out from between the two teammates.
"Their problems."
He pointed at Chi Bei and Song Xiying who were huddled aside.
"Mr. Joker, you know I'm a very conscientious businessman, so when your teammate was in danger just now, we rescued him..."
The Joker didn't really want to hear the foreshadowing.
"You want money?"
"Oh, don't be so blunt. Why would I just..."
"How much?"
"According to the external price, staying here is 20,000 points per hour. For two of them, that's 40,000 points. They've been here for nearly five hours now, so I should charge you 200,000. However, considering that they took guild items to pay off their debts, and they gave me a lot of information, I'll charge you 150,000."
Quick, clear, and well-organized.
This is why Xu Zhiyan was not very angry. The clown looked like someone who was easy to exploit, so he only treated him as an irritable customer.
It’s better not to mention the props.
As soon as he mentioned it, the clown's glares flew towards the other two unlucky guys who were caught temporarily.
The few items in the guild backpack were left by him for Mad Dog. He even sent a message to him before entering the dungeon, but this guy didn't take it seriously at all.
Because he was the one who put the props in, so after entering the copy, they came in too.
This is why he said before that the two guys were brave.
Using one, he can still understand.
After all, he had captured these two people for no reason to make up the numbers, so he simply did not take the things back and let the two unlucky guys use them. Only when two more people went missing one after another did he realize something was wrong.
There aren't many places where 3D projection props can be used. Even if these two people were to use them, they should have used defensive props. Why did they take three in a row?
With a skeptical attitude, the Joker approached 3045.
As soon as he entered the door, he met those eyes...those eyes that were almost exactly the same as the collector's. He would never forget them even if he turned into ashes.
Retracting his thoughts, after listening to Xu Zhiyan's offer, the clown turned his head to look at the two people huddled in the corner, and spoke in a low voice.
"Then you kill them both."
There was no mercy in his words.
Xu Zhiyan frowned as he took out the payment code and prepared to happily make another fortune.
As expected.
After listening to Chi Bei and Song Xiying's explanation, he felt that the clown might not be so obedient to pay, so he asked for two guaranteed props first.
When they met, he asked for the props back without asking. This clown is pretty good.
But as soon as the other party came in, there was fighting and killing, and he pretended to be a cold-faced riddler. Xu Zhiyan was unwilling to give up without making some money.
"I charge extra for killing people."
He shook his head helplessly.
"And don't you want to know the relationship between me and that collector? How can we move on to the next question if we don't solve the previous one?"
"I'm also in a hurry. I have something else to talk to you about. It's about my teammates..."
Perhaps it was the word 'collector' that irritated the Joker.
He frowned and hesitated for a moment, but finally gave Xu Zhiyan 150,000 points.
"explain."
Hearing the clown's completely cold voice, Xu Zhiyan smiled and took a half step back before speaking.
"You know, we both have the last name Xu, and we're both men... well, he shouldn't be a cross-dresser, right? Finally, we're both players, that's all."
"?"
The clown's expression froze for a moment.
Xu Zhiyan quickly added: "I swear to God! I am telling the truth!"
If he really knew the second on the list, he would have gone to ask for his help long ago... no, he would have gone to make connections. The other party sounded so rich, so he would have to give him some S-level items, right?
Jiang Huaique's mouth twitched and he added.
"That guy had started a points guessing contest for him in the last round of dungeons, guessing that he would die..." He didn't think that if Xu Zhiyan really knew the second on the list, the other party would do this.
The clown had a stern face and looked back and forth between the two of them.
A few seconds later, he took out a ball from his arms and crushed it. Looking at the green smoke floating out of it, his expression finally relaxed completely.
"It's true."
Xu Zhiyan recognized the A-level disposable lie detector that the other party was holding. He clenched his hanging hands into fists and his expression suddenly became extremely unnatural.
In the live broadcast room, some viewers keenly noticed this.
[Although I don't understand what hatred there is between the Joker and Bang Er, isn't it a bad idea for him to be so suspicious of Xiao Baiwan? ]
[I also think that although Xiao Baiwan often talks a lot of nonsense, as long as he receives the money, he will definitely do it. How could he be a liar! ]
[Who is the clown looking down on...]
[I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the Joker, but I’m a fan of Little Millionaire! I think the Joker is wrong! ]
[Emm, although it's a bit weird, I always feel that Xiao Baiwan is not the kind of person who would be sad because of being suspected. ]
[Isn't he sad? I think his expression is quite sad right now... Damn, you guys just treated me as a fart.]
In the room, Xu Zhiyan's hanging hands loosened and clenched, clenched and loosened again, obviously thinking about something.
Both Jiang Huai Partridge and the Clown discovered this.
The former glared at him, while the latter pursed his lips and spoke in a deep voice after a long while.
"Tell me about your teammates. I'll try to help you solve it."
"I have other lie detector props here that can be used multiple times. If you doubt me next time, you can rent my props!"
The voices of the clown and Xu Zhiyan sounded at the same time.
It's just that their train of thought didn't align.
"...Fuck, after all this trouble, Xu Ba Pi, do you just want to collect extra money?" Jiang Huaique couldn't believe it.
The clown's face was also a little uneasy.
He thought that the thin player in front of him was feeling sad because he was suspected of lying.
Turns out the other party just wanted more money?
But the words have been spoken, and he is a taciturn person to begin with, so it would be too difficult for him to say anything more now.
On the other end, Xu Zhiyan continued the conversation with a smile.
"Mr. Joker, you are such a good man. I will tell you about my missing teammates. I will leave it to you later..."
He loves dealing with thin-skinned people the most!
…
The hotel rooftop is dim in the morning light.
The sky in the distance was turning pale.
The astrologer was wrapped in a long wool blanket, standing quietly with his head raised, silently gazing at the disappearing stars.
At this moment, a strong smell of blood appeared.
She turned her head sharply and saw a girl in her twenties in a white miniskirt standing quietly behind her.
The astrologer tensed.
The rooftop has become a projected star field, her territory, but she didn't even notice the other party coming.
"Don't be so nervous. I came to you because I want to ask you something."
The girl in white smiled.
"I want to brush up on some astronomy knowledge. You seem to know a lot about it. Please teach me."
Her smile was exceptionally sweet, but her words were exceptionally cold.
"If you teach me, I won't kill you."
"Oh, I forgot to say..."
The freshly sliced blood licked the corner of his mouth and continued speaking.
"It's dawn, and it looks like you guys are going to a museum, and I happen to be your tour guide! So you better be serious when you teach me."
At the end, it was just a naked threat!
The astrologer nodded in a daze.
This was the first time she encountered such a studious NPC in a dungeon.
…Why the hell would someone come to her to learn astronomy?
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