119
Tao Sai raised her hand to hold the railing and slowly walked down the stairs. Her brain was working fast. She was not thinking about exposing the truth directly, but about taking advantage of the situation.
Currently, there's still too little information available, and the information asymmetry between the two sides is significant. He Zhaonian has fallen into their hands, controlled by a group of despotic thugs. It's like walking on a tightrope ten thousand meters high. One misstep could lead to another.
Therefore, careful and rigorous thinking and judgment are essential. Any details need to be taken into consideration, as details determine success or failure.
First, it's clear that this "fake He Zhaonian" possesses average combat prowess. Tao Sai had just shot him dead, leaving him with no reaction or opportunity to fight back. His agility was low, while even a skilled warrior would likely have a balanced stat base.
A master's bucket may have strengths, but it certainly won't have weaknesses. Therefore, this imitator wasn't the foreigner who attacked He Zhaonian and his men on Tai'an Island; it was someone else.
The imitator's fighting ability is average, so Tao Sai can certainly capture him without any effort, but the problem is that after capturing him, there is no real significance.
There was no such thing as a hostage exchange.
Because Jiange, or rather Paradise Island, wouldn't necessarily consider the Mimic a valuable hostage. He Zhaonian was a member of Hailou, a teammate, a partner, while the Mimic was merely a tool of Paradise Island, so the idea of an exchange didn't exist.
Secondly, we need to think about one question: what is the purpose of the imitators mixing in among them?
Ultimately, it was because they lacked the hard power. They were wary of her. After controlling He Zhaonian, the coordinates of this two-story building would naturally have been exposed. If they had absolutely overwhelming strength, they could have just attacked directly, launching a siege similar to the previous one in the East China Sea. Why would they need to resort to these insidious tactics?
The more your opponent uses tricks, the stronger you are.
Tao Sai has a clear mind and can resolve the current crisis more calmly.
In order to bridge the huge information gap between the two sides, the most urgent thing is to decipher the note left by Gao Shanfeng, which should contain key information.
In order to prevent the imitator from realizing that he had been exposed, Tao Sai took the initiative to cancel the morning training plan. While everyone was working on their tasks separately, she used the [Space Fold] skill to secretly gather several people except the imitator in an absolutely hidden room to share information and discuss countermeasures.
Obviously, the training in the illusion during this period was very effective. They experienced life and death countless times, and their minds, temperament, and ability to deal with problems were improved imperceptibly.
Although they were also surprised, they were relatively calmer and were able to calm down and think quickly after being surprised.
This is undoubtedly growth, and Tao Sai is very pleased.
"I'm worried they'll control Xiao He and reveal the coordinates of the refugee ship's docking point, so I'm going back alone. I'll be back quickly," Tao Sai said, dividing the work. "You all stay here. Everyone, try to stay together and decipher the comic on the note as quickly as possible."
She paused and continued, "Xiao Guo, you must use your skill [Absolute Concentration]. Yingxue Jiahui, you two should also help. Be alert and be quick!"
After the words fell, everyone looked at each other and nodded, giving each other firm and trusting looks.
Without any hesitation, Tao Sai activated the [Space Jump] and jumped into the small wormhole vortex in front of him.
The other end of the wormhole is just a random transit point, because the seaside town is more than a thousand kilometers away from the Cicada Island in the South China Sea, and the maximum distance of the [Space Jump] upgraded to S+ is only a thousand kilometers.
Although the wormhole vortex he opened was small, it still consumed a considerable amount of energy due to its extreme distance. Tao Sai took two breaths, took a recovery potion to replenish his energy, and then immediately opened another wormhole to Cricket Island.
Now it’s a race against time. The faster we go, the greater the chance of He Zhaonian’s survival.
Back at Cicada Island, the four refuge ships, Deep Sea Fish, Weiguang, Manman and Snow Country, were all safely anchored in the sheltered bay. Currently, fresh water and other resources were fully replenished. Tao Sai quickly traveled back and forth between the four ships, communicated with everyone, and the sea tower weighed anchor and set sail.
The Deep Sea Fish served as the flagship, leading the way, with the other three ships following closely behind.
Of course, the ones driving the boat in the cockpit were Zhou Ning and his daughter Zhou Weixing. Tao Sai did not set the destination on the nautical chart on the operating screen. She had only one request: don't stop, keep sailing.
There is no absolutely safe destination now. Keep moving so that your coordinates will never be exposed.
However, in order for Tao Sai to be able to find them after the matter was resolved, she asked them to circle around the South China Sea first and return to Cricket Island in ten days. By then, the matter should be almost resolved.
Without staying too long on the Deep Sea Fish, Tao Sai returned to the seaside town again. This trip took only an hour in total.
Back in the secret room in the small town, Tang Yingxue and the other three were there. Tang Yingxue stood guard by the window while Guo Pei and Shi Jiahui were deciphering the contents of the comic.
It's no exaggeration to say that Guo Pei went into a frenzy. He held a pen in his hand, his eyes fixed on the slip of paper on the table, and he wrote and sketched non-stop in his notebook. He wrote so quickly that his writing was nothing more than a scribbled mess.
He quickly finished writing on a blank page, writing densely. After finishing, he turned to the next page, wrote again, and turned again. He kept thinking and moving his hands.
At first, Tang Yingxue and Shi Jiahui wanted to brainstorm with him, but they soon realized that this guy had gone completely crazy. He couldn't hear what they were saying. All his energy was focused on one thing, which was to decipher the comic information. Everything in the outside world no longer existed.
Tang Yingxue stopped taking it too seriously and took the initiative to take charge of the vigilance work.
Shi Jiahui was helping out from the side, but she was mainly keeping an eye on him to prevent him from getting carried away and accidentally eating the note.
Completely absorbed in the comics, Guo Pei was completely unaware that someone had come into the room.
"Sister Sai, his [absolute concentration] is too scary. He's like a single-threaded robot. He can't listen to anything we say." Shi Jiahui expressed her feelings.
Tao Sai nodded in agreement. She finally understood why this young man, who seemed to have ordinary strength on paper, could decipher the encrypted chat of Jiange, find the coordinates of the camp, and kill a member of Jiange.
Just as Guo Pei said when he introduced this skill to them, [Absolute Concentration] is a double-edged sword. If used properly, it can indeed help you concentrate your energy and focus on completing a task.
But if the thing itself is a dead end, a dead end, once the goal is set, it means that you are on a dead end with no turning back, and it will continue until you die.
Deciphering these cartoons is difficult, but not too difficult, and certainly not a dead end. If he is given more time, he should be able to find the correct answer.
Tao Sai sat down, carefully considered his words in the alliance channel, and had a scripted conversation with Shi Jiahui and Tang Yingxue to avoid suspicion from imitators.
An hour later, Guo Pei slammed the table and stood up, his eyes gleaming: "I figured it out!"
After achieving his goal, [Absolute Concentration] was automatically released, and his eyes finally returned to normal.
"Tell me quickly." Tao Sai took the notebook he had written in and flipped through it. Sure enough, it was all scribbles and not a single word could be understood.
Tao Sai guessed that perhaps he himself could not understand what was written on it. The main purpose of writing it was a subconscious auxiliary action when thinking. The faster he wrote, the more active his brain was. It didn't matter what he wrote.
Guo Pei half-knelt down and pointed at the upper left corner of the comic strip. "First, look at these four panels. They all have the same style and convey the same message. In the first panel, two cartoon characters are fighting, a bit like in a fighting game, with health bars above their heads. In the second panel, the character on the left attacks the character on the right, and the character on the right starts to lose health. They keep attacking, and the character keeps losing health. When their health is completely gone, the health bar is locked, and no matter how hard they attack or how powerful their skills are, they won't lose any more health."
He concluded, "This is the first information she gave us. The opponent possesses a skill similar to a health lock. Boss, do you remember what you said last time? On Tai'an Island, Gao Shanfeng ambushed that foreigner, and you also gave him a [Thunder] blow to the chest, but he didn't die because his body never disappeared and his player information wasn't erased by the system. He survived such a serious injury, isn't that a health lock?"
Tao Sai nodded. This explanation made perfect sense.
"Go on," she said.
Guo Pei pointed to the four shots in the next paragraph. "The style of these four shots is consistent, which also serves as a signal. They both feature two characters, but Character A has hard lines and many shadows, while Character B has soft lines and many highlights, proving they are two opposing characters. Then, look again: Character A releases something towards Character B, like a wave in a fighting game, but in the shape of a virus. After Character B is infected, their lines change, shadows increase, and they begin to move closer to Character A. In the next shot, Character A performs an action, and Character B imitates it, becoming a complete puppet."
"What this means is that Xiao He might have been infected with such a virus and became their puppet." Tao Sai murmured.
"That's not all. After character B bit another character C, character C also became a puppet. This is a zombie virus, and it's contagious!" Guo Pei unconsciously raised his voice.
Tao Sai frowned, wondering if He Zhaonian also felt something or knew some information about the virus, so he chose to leave alone so as not to implicate everyone.
But why didn't he say it out loud? He chose to fight it alone. It was so foolish. It gave imitators the opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
Fortunately, she successfully identified the imitator. If she had not identified him at that time, the consequences would have been disastrous.
After spending so much time together, Tao Sai knew very well that He Zhaonian was actually a person with an extremely high IQ, and it was not his character to keep everything to himself, but he just didn't say anything.
Is there any hidden secret?
"Don't panic, Boss. She's also given us a solution," Guo Pei said. "Look, the third message she left us tells us there's a skill that can remove all negative states. Anyone purified by this skill can be reborn, including this virus. Look at this storyboard: the original character B is back, back to his original state with soft lines and bright highlights. So as long as we use this skill, or ask a player who possesses it for help, we can save Xiao He."
"The key is that we have to find the person first." Tao Sai felt a little relieved and asked, "Did she reveal Xiao He's location?"
"Not really." Guo Pei shook his head.
His eyes lit up, "But she revealed something horrible to us."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
