120
"All the remaining storyboards are conveying the same message to us. Xiao He's imitator is also Xiao He, a...clone of Xiao He. They are trying to make the clone replace the real Xiao He and seize his...player identity." Guo Pei's voice was a little unclear.
"clone?"
Tao Sai's heart skipped a beat.
Guo Pei said, "My analysis is this: Because Xiao He's resistance is high and his will is strong, the puppet virus can't completely control him. So they created a clone. The clone can replicate everything in the original, including all cells and memories, but there's one thing: the order of these memories is messed up. They're currently working on combing through the memories in the clone's hippocampus. Once all the memories are sorted, they'll have an identical Xiao He. This clone is soulless and completely obeys its master's orders. Upon the player's death, their identity is completely transferred to the clone."
Tao Sai listened carefully, analyzing the situation, and then said, "That's right. That's how it should be. The puppet virus can't completely control Xiao He, so he's very conflicted. He's using his mind to fight the virus. The two mental forces are vying for control, and the virus's owner is trying to stop him from telling us the truth."
This is very similar to the special effects of the refugee ship [Captain], the effect is not black and white, but forms a subconscious feeling in your brain.
"I even suspect that Xiao He wasn't actually controlled by them. He just left because he was afraid of getting us into trouble. But they should be able to use the virus's mental power to remotely control Xiao He to do certain things, such as posting on the sea channel."
Guo Pei continued, "I haven't finished yet. The foreigner who used the virus on Xiao He is now hiding in the clone. He's copied Xiao He's skill [Diffusion] and entered the hippocampus of Xiao He's brain in the form of elementary particles. He's helping the clone sort out his memories. Once he's linked all the memories together, they can kill Xiao He and complete the player identity transfer."
"Fuck, that's so scary." After hearing this, Tang Yingxue felt her scalp tingling.
She thought for a moment and said, "But I have a question. Why go through all the trouble of transferring your player identity? For the sake of skills? There's no need. There are more direct and simple methods."
Tao Sai explained, "No, your player identity is actually your most important resource. It's like an account in a game—an account that someone else has helped you train without you having to put in any effort. We all know that there's a monthly limit on the number of times you can open a [Skill Blind Box]. With a single account, no matter how many gold coins you have, you can only open a few blind boxes each month. But as you gain more accounts, you have more opportunities to open blind boxes, and your chances of winning naturally increase."
"I understand," Tang Yingxue nodded, then suddenly thought about it and became terrified. "If that's the case, then many players on the world channel have become mere tools!"
“That’s for sure,” Towsey said.
This method - cloning and then sorting out the memory to complete the player identity transfer is already a stupid way.
I'd heard from Kobayashi Nobukazu before that the people of Paradise Island possessed an S-rank divine skill that could directly rip out souls. All of Jiange's "killing machines," including the commandos aboard the Deep Sea Fish, were products of that S-rank divine skill. Once activated, it could transform a person into a mere tool, capable of obeying orders, far more efficiently than cloning.
Therefore, the master who came to reinforce Jiange is far from being the core class of Paradise Island.
"Xiao Guo, is there any way we can stop him from connecting his memories?" Tao Sai asked.
"Yes, yes, yes!" Guo Pei nodded vigorously. "Boss, I have to say, Gao Shanfeng is really reliable. She said it in the last two storyboards."
"The current clone has all of Xiao He's memories. He can answer anything we ask him, but the timeline doesn't match. The foreigner hiding in the hippocampus is currently using three methods to connect memories. The first is to reason on his own. He can easily figure out simple things. The second is to remotely control Xiao He and question him, but Xiao He still has resistance, so we may not get accurate answers. The third is to ask the people around him, us. So what we need to do next is to subtly guide him to confuse time. As long as his memories are confused, he will not be the complete He Zhaonian."
"Is it that troublesome? Don't we just kill the clone directly? It would be a one-time thing and save us some trouble." Tang Yingxue wondered.
She really has no acting talent to act as a clone, and she would probably be exposed immediately.
"It should be possible, but we should not do this unless it is absolutely necessary. Taking advantage of the situation can better ensure Xiao He's safety than acting recklessly." Tao Sai said clearly.
Guo Pei affirmed, "That's right! And Gao Shanfeng also gave me some reliable information. Hiding the memory timeline in the hippocampus consumes a lot of energy. If we disrupt the clone's memory, it will cause a lot of headaches for the person inside. Maybe after a while, he won't have the energy to maintain his diffuse state and will reveal his true form."
The four of them returned to the two-story building one after another. The clone was not there. He must have pretended to be out on a mission.
Tao Sai did not ask everyone to practice their lines in advance, but instead asked everyone to disperse and do what they had to do, just like usual.
The foreigner had copied Xiao He's [Diffusion] skill. Tao Sai was already familiar with [Diffusion], which allowed her to diffuse into the colorless and odorless air, making it easy to eavesdrop on their conversation. She didn't have [Mist] to block skills, so she had to be extremely careful.
Tao Sai lay on the bed in the room, never stopping thinking for a moment.
If the information on the note left by Gao Shanfeng this time is true, it would be very important. Her impression of Tao Sai would be greatly improved.
However, Tao Sai is not blind. A heightened impression does not mean complete trust. She still has the possibility of pretending to reveal information to gain a higher status.
The clone hasn't come back yet. He said in the alliance channel that he went to do a mission 20 kilometers away.
Tao Sai subconsciously said that 20 kilometers was already far, why not let her use [Space Warp] to send him there.
[Three Feet of Life (Lv4)]: It's okay, Sister Sai, I have [Diffusion]. I can diffuse into the air and float away with the wind. I'll be there soon.
Tao Sai stared at the statement for a long time, and suddenly his mind moved.
From He Zhaonian's perspective, if he was not controlled by them, and he wanted to run as far away as possible so as not to infect them with the puppet virus, where would he go?
The only skill he has that can be used to travel is [Dispersion].
In that mental state, one should be helpless and desperate, and most likely have no destination. All one wants to do is walk. As for how to walk and where to go, the brain must be confused.
He might just give up, dissipate into the wind and be carried away by it, or dissipate into the sea and drift with the current.
"The wind," Tao Sai murmured.
She suddenly remembered that when she got up this morning to run, there was indeed a strong wind at the beach. The wind was still blowing until she finished running, and it was at that time that Xiao He disappeared.
The wind direction is south, probably southeast, the exact angle still needs to be measured. In this case, she may have diffused into the southeast wind and then drifted all the way inland.
Tao Sai took note of this for now. This would be a very important detail if he wanted to find Xiao He later.
Back to the most important thing at the moment, preventing the clones from connecting their memories is not a long-term solution. Even if he connects the wrong memory, he can still create new clones. It's only treating the symptoms, not the root cause.
To treat the symptoms and the root cause, we can only find a way to capture the person hiding in the seahorse.
If it is really possible to distort the clone's memory and reveal the foreigner's true form, that might be the only chance to control him.
Tao Sai's brain had quickly conceived a series of coherent operations to control the foreigner: instantly [teleport] to his face, grab his head, look into his eyes, and then activate the skill [Energy Steal] to drain 99% of his body's energy, making him unable to use any skills.
At six o'clock in the evening, the clone He Zhaonian returned to the yard.
Tang Yingxue swallowed nervously when she heard footsteps, then leaned over the balcony railing and yelled, "What are you doing?! You promised to treat us to a seafood dinner today, and you're only back now! Do you want to starve us to death?"
Tao Sai stood silently at the door of the room and watched, then breathed a sigh of relief. Yingxue was being modest. What do you mean she had no acting skills? This was just natural, okay?
"I forgot about this! Sorry, sorry, I'll be there right away!" The clone downstairs panicked and without saying a word, he went into the kitchen downstairs.
Everyone emerged from their rooms one after another, exchanging subtle glances. Now it was their turn to perform. In acting, conviction was paramount; no matter how fake, they couldn't give up halfway. They could cover for each other's flaws.
Tao Sai walked downstairs slowly, went into the kitchen, turned on the faucet and washed his hands.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the clone using a knife to process the internal organs of the hairtail fish.
The clone smiled, "Ah! Sister Sai, you want to help me? That's great!"
"You wish. Do your own work." Tao Sai washed his hands and shook off the water. "I'm just checking to see if you're slacking off."
"Okay." The clone sighed, with a bit of loss in his eyes, and lowered his head to continue doing the work in his hands.
Tao Sai noticed one thing: the clone's micro-expressions were much richer than He Zhaonian's, and his joy, anger, sorrow and happiness were all shown on his face.
This further confirmed that he was indeed a clone. While anything could be instantly cloned, things like temperament and experience were difficult to imitate. Therefore, he had been filled with fear after Tao Sai fired that shot that morning.
"Last year on your birthday, we were able to eat hotpot together, but this year we can only eat some cheesy seafood. I'm sure the food you made is terrible, ah." Tao Sai lied without changing his expression.
Upon hearing this, the clone's eyes froze for a second, but he quickly recovered and sighed, "I can only say that this is a bad year."
There was a slight tremor in his head, which Tao Sai keenly caught. It should be the foreigner in the hippocampus who was looking for this part of the memory and piecing it together in a targeted manner.
He must have the memory of eating hot pot in his mind. During the [S1 Season], their Hailou had just recruited new members. After a day of excessive points gain, He Zhaonian prepared the hot pot base and Shi Jiahui prepared the dishes, and they had a big meal.
It's just that the timing is wrong.
Without electricity, electric fans and air conditioners could not be used, and the room was quite stuffy at night. Guo Pei and his friends moved the table to the yard and had dinner outdoors so that they could enjoy the sea breeze.
"Are you ready?" Tang Yingxue urged from the table.
"Here it comes." The clone said as he brought out a large plate of grilled shrimps.
Then he turned around and went back to get other dishes.
"Hey, Xiao He, I want to ask you something." Guo Pei spoke naturally.
The clone stopped and turned around. "What's going on?"
"Do you still remember what that guy said to you the other day?" Guo Pei said with a wink.
"Huh?" The clone was stunned for two seconds. Tao Sai quietly observed that during these two seconds, his brain was definitely in a state of shutdown.
Guo Pei asked very cleverly, which was equivalent to asking nothing at all. He was specific without being specific and gave an ambiguous look, which was enough to make the foreigner who had his memory in his hippocampus spend a lot of energy to search for it.
Without a specific reference, you won't be exposed and will mistakenly mention memories that do not exist in the hippocampus.
Sure enough, after being stunned for two seconds, the clone's head shook twice before speaking: "Oh, don't mention it. Let's forget about it, okay?"
After saying that, he stepped into the kitchen.
As soon as the clone came out with the plate, Guo Pei chased after him: "Brother, let's be honest, do you still like her?"
Scientific research shows that a boy will probably develop feelings for 8-15 girls from the beginning of puberty to the time he matures and establishes a correct view of love.
This question was enough for him to think about.
As expected, the clone's brain froze for even longer. This time, his head trembled five more times. Ten seconds later, he finally replied, "Ah, the past is like smoke, gone with the wind."
Tao Sai placed his hands on the table, tapping his fingers lightly. It looked like initial success was beginning to show, and it was time to build on the momentum and intensify the effort.
She tapped the bowl lightly with the nail of her thumb, which was their secret signal.
"What the hell? I'm not talking about her." Guo Pei said with a sigh, "The one from the second grade."
The clone's brain crashed again. "Second grade? No, you must have remembered it wrongly."
"I said the second day of the Lunar New Year."
Downtime.
"...I've almost forgotten it. If I don't try hard, I can't even remember what she looks like."
"Okay, what are you guys talking about? It's all meaningless. Are all the dishes here? I'm going to start eating." Tang Yingxue grabbed the chopsticks and distributed the food to everyone.
"You're the only one who tastes good." Shi Jiahui rolled her eyes at her.
She turned and looked at the clone. It was her turn to act. "Xiao He, remember what you promised Man Man. Don't forget."
He Zhaonian had teased Manman before. At Manman's age, she had just learned to speak, and her mouth was incoherent, saying all sorts of things. This was enough to make him think.
Downtime.
Five seconds later, the clone said casually, "I won't forget, don't worry."
"Then what are you standing there for? Go ahead."
“…Ah? I…”
"Show me the combo I taught you."
“…”
"Brother, let me ask you something. Do you still like the one with freckles on her face? I won't beat around the bush. She confessed to me a while ago. If you don't mind, I'll accept it."
“…”
"He Zhaonian, that guy did that, it's all your fault! If it weren't for you, this would have happened!"
“…”
"Manman is still waiting."
“…”
"Don't worry, I will definitely treat her well. What you said before really hurt her heart. She told me she would remember it for the rest of her life."
“…”
…
Problem after problem, the system crashed, crashed non-stop, and the clones became insane, holding their heads in their hands and jumping up and down.
At the same time, a figure appeared out of nowhere and fell heavily to the ground. He was tall, blond, blue-eyed, and a foreigner.
Tao Sai shot out like an arrow, teleported to his face, controlled his face, and then looked into his eyes.
The skill [Energy Steal] was activated, and the remaining energy in Christie's body was continuously extracted until he was almost out of breath and completely exhausted.
Tao Sai let go of him and let him fall to the ground with a thud.
She took out her T7 pistol, loaded it, pulled the slide, and pointed it at Christie's head.
"Where is He Zhaonian?" Tao Sai's eyes were filled with fierceness.
Christie looked unusually relaxed, as if he wasn't in a situation where someone was pointing a gun at his head. He was just as relaxed as if he was lying on the sofa.
He spoke quickly in English, but Tao Sai didn't hear clearly and looked up for help.
Shi Jiahui said: "Sister Sai, what he said is true, why should I tell you?"
"London accent, like a British guy."
"I'll count to three. If you don't cooperate, I'll shoot." Tao Sai glared at him and moved the joint of his thumb that was pressing on the trigger.
She was afraid that the foreigner didn't understand Chinese, so she signaled Shi Jiahui to help her translate.
Shi Jiahui did as she was told and translated it verbatim, adding at the end, "You will go to hell."
Christie remained relaxed, slowly shook her head, and said in English, "You can't kill me. I advise you not to waste your energy, Miss."
Guo Pei reminded from the side: "Sister Sai, he has a health lock."
In the meantime, they interpreted this information from the comic strip note left by Gao Shanfeng. In the comic, once his blood volume dropped to the last bit, no matter what skills or methods were used, no harm would be done to him.
Of course Tao Sai remembered it, but he didn't expect that the skill of "blood lock" could make him so fearless.
"Lock Blood Hook" should be a passive skill that does not require energy to cast. As long as this skill is equipped, the character will enter a low-blood state and the skill will be automatically triggered.
If he can remain immortal, death will not pose any threat to him and deterrence cannot be established, then there is no way to pry any clues about He Zhaonian's whereabouts out of his mouth.
Tao Sai gritted her teeth. She was unwilling to give up, and she couldn't drag it out any longer. If she did, no one could guarantee that Xiao He's resistance would be strong enough to withstand the erosion of the puppet virus.
With a bang, the thumb pulled the trigger and the bullet shot out of the barrel and hit Christie's forehead in an instant. Blood spurted out and Tao Sai could even see the brain matter through the finger-sized hole.
But just a dozen seconds later, the bullet was squeezed out, and his forehead returned to normal, with the skin on his forehead smooth and white, as if nothing had happened.
No matter how many more shots are fired, the effect should be the same. This is the unsolvable problem of the blood lock.
"I told you not to waste your energy. It's useless." Christie was calm and even closed her eyes to rest.
Tao Sai asked: "Does it hurt?"
Although the health bar is locked, no matter how fatal the damage is, it can be restored to its original state. However, the attack acts on the body, and the pain in the body is a command issued by the brain, which should not be avoided.
Christie opened her eyes upon hearing this, guessing what she meant and couldn't help but laugh. "Do you think I haven't considered this? I've got a skill that suits me. It's called [Painlessness], a D-rank skill with a passive trigger. If you don't believe me, you can try it."
Of course she would try.
Tao Sai put away the gun and looked around. She saw a chair on the balcony. It was a desk chair used in primary and secondary schools, with iron legs.
Without a word, she picked him up and threw him from the yard directly to the second floor. She then jumped into the air, grabbed a chair, raised it above her head, and smashed it down on him.
With a clang, the chair leg hit his head, and the other leg rubbed against the ground, sparking sparks.
Not only Guo Pei, but also Tang Yingxue and Shi Jiahui, who had undergone long-term combat training in the illusion, were startled when they heard the noise.
Christie, who was lying on the ground, had a smile on her face and yawned nonchalantly.
"Hold."
Tao Sai cursed, picked up a chair and smashed it on him repeatedly.
It made her even angrier than when she faced "Only Love Qu Wu Yi" with a resistance of 99 points. At least his wounds were healed by regenerating his flesh and blood. But this person, with his blood locked, had all the damage negated. No matter how hard he tried, it was useless.
If she had enough time, she could think of other ways to threaten him. For example, she could steal his energy, tie him up, hang him up, and torture him. He wasn't afraid of death, but what about loneliness? Could he endure being restricted forever?
But unfortunately, there was not enough time and He Zhaonian could not wait.
At this juncture, Tao Sai thought of her ultimate move, the S-level magical skill [collapse].
When matter collapses irresistibly, can the "blood lock" still lock it?
ridiculous.
But the singularity is not here. She placed it in the insect swarm in Lotus Bay. The singularity switch cannot be controlled after exceeding the distance.
Tao Saima opened a space wormhole leading to Lotus Bay without stopping. When she stepped into the other end of the wormhole, the scene in front of her made her stunned for three seconds.
She remembered the location of the "monster-spawning perpetual motion machine", but at this moment, the entire land was desolate, a scene left by the passage of the insect swarm. At the location of the frozen singularity, the singularity was still flickering there, emitting blue flashes.
The space around the singularity does not change at all, no longer collapses, and there is no suction.
She realized belatedly that maybe the "perpetual motion machine" she set up for monster spawning had been moving these past few days, with the singularity sucking and sucking non-stop, but in fact the capacity of [collapse] was limited, and then it... died of its fullness?
Tao Sai moved closer fearfully, only to hear thunderous snoring in his head.
When the singularity is retracted and reopened, it is still just a small point of light, with no suction and no collapse of the surrounding air.
She tried to wake up the snoring [Collapse], but no matter how hard she shouted, even at the top of her lungs, it was no use, and the thunder remained unmoved.
It is unknown how long [Collapse] will sleep. It is impossible to wake it up in a short time, and it is obviously not possible to establish deterrence through [Collapse].
We have to find another way.
I went back to the living room of the two-story building and continued to think. As time passed, the more I thought about it, the more worried I became. If I couldn't think of a way to threaten him, this path would be completely blocked by him.
Tao Sai sat down, constantly reminding himself to stay calm. The more he needed to stay calm at this moment, the more he couldn't lose his composure. But when he thought of He Zhaonian's face, how helpless he must be, infected with the puppet virus, all alone in a faraway place with no one to turn to.
She looked up at Christie who was still lying on the ground, wishing she could cut him into slices and feed them to the dogs.
Guo Pei slapped his head repeatedly, trying to think, but his thoughts proved fruitless. He looked at Tao Sai, who was also in a state of panic, and sighed. At this point, it seemed there was only one solution.
He said to Tao Sai, "Boss, how about this? I'll turn on Absolute Concentration and focus my thinking. I should be able to figure it out."
“Don’t,” Tao Sai replied.
She was very clear about the pros and cons of [Absolute Concentration]. If this was destined to be an unsolvable proposition, then activating [Absolute Concentration] would be tantamount to digging her own grave.
Being trapped in the unsolvable proposition of "absolute concentration" is like being a terminally ill drug addict. If you don't find a solution, you will never be able to escape, and the outside world will not be able to provide any help.
So she wouldn't let him take the risk.
"Boss, to be honest, I'm very new and haven't used any good skills. I finally have a skill that can help. Let me try it." Guo Pei said.
"Let's take a gamble, just in case."
"You are gambling with your life." Tao Sai scolded.
"Boss, I..." Guo Pei looked embarrassed, turned around, and sat down. He was just about to secretly activate [Absolute Focus] and set himself the goal of figuring out a solution to the "health lock" when he heard Tao Sai's voice behind him.
"Xiao Guo, don't act on your own. Listen to me, or I will never forgive you."
He quickly uninstalled the skill.
Tao Sai said, "I believe that no skill is unsolvable. Skills are often mutually reinforcing and mutually exclusive. Let's brainstorm and list all the skills we've developed ourselves, those we've encountered in previous games like Insect Tide, those we've heard of, and even those not from this game. We'll definitely find a solution."
For the next ten minutes, everyone began to brainstorm. Tao Sai wrote quickly in her notebook. When Guo Pei mentioned his killing skills, she suddenly stopped writing.
"Xiao Guo, read the skill introduction again."
Guo Pei didn't read it, but widened his eyes. He also thought of it, "I understand, Sister Sai!"
[Execution - E-Rank]: This skill can be used to directly execute a target unit with less than 1% health. This skill consumes no energy. Each kill with this skill permanently increases the kill threshold, up to a maximum of 99%.
"But..." Guo Pei wanted to speak, but Tao Sai suddenly stretched out his hand, made a gesture of silence, and then signaled Christie who was lying on the floor with his eyes.
Guo Pei wanted to say that this was just an E-level skill, and a growth skill at that. The current kill line was only 1.1%. How could it possibly just restrain the unsolvable "blood lock".
In most games, "kill" and "health lock" are not mutually exclusive. They have priorities, and "health lock" often takes precedence. Just like in League of Legends, no matter what hero's ultimate skill is used, it cannot directly kill the Barbarian King Tryndamere after he activates his ultimate.
He immediately understood Tao Sai's silencing gesture and the meaning of his eyes: it was just a bluff. It didn't matter whether the "blood lock" and his [execution] had a real restraining relationship or not. What mattered was to come up with this concept, preferably in a vague way, in order to establish deterrence.
"What's your kill line now?" Tao Sai asked, raising her voice slightly to ensure that Christie, who was lying on the ground, could hear her if she was eavesdropping.
"1.1%, very low." Guo Pei raised his voice without leaving any trace.
"Tell me, does your killing skill just counter the 'health lock' cheat? If he has only a little health left and is on the killing line, you can kill him instantly?"
"Well, now that you mention it, it's certainly possible," Guo Pei replied naturally. "It's an A-rank skill after all. There has to be some kind of restraint, otherwise the 1% kill threshold would be too useless."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
