Chapter 67 Critical Region (19)
Bai Ye followed the prosecutor, inspecting the city and observing the acts of violence committed by innocent people.
Or rather, it is the innocent who punish the guilty in a way that they are willing and able to accept.
Some people harbor deep resentment and wish they could punish their former perpetrators to the death, tearing them apart alive.
Some people, even if they harbor hatred, are too kind by nature. At most, they will retaliate in kind, and they can't even bring themselves to kill the other party.
But Bai Ye didn't interfere; it was their own choice.
The prosecutor kept observing the young man around him, noticing that he frowned several times but remained silent.
This made him very gratified.
As the ones who maintain order, order itself is supreme. Obeying order applies not only to ordinary people but also to those who maintain order.
“You did well. As an order-maker, you only need to judge right and wrong, and the meaning behind right and wrong is not something that is artificially assigned.”
The prosecutor stopped and saw that one of the innocent people had already started a hot pot, preparing to fry crayfish.
“Look at him, his heart is filled with boundless hatred, and his methods are extremely cruel. But who can say a bad word about him? If you haven’t experienced the suffering of others, don’t advise them to be kind; if you can’t empathize with their pain, you can’t speak for them.”
"Prosecutor, you?!"
Bai Ye was startled. Why did these words sound so much like a lecture?
Could this person really be grooming himself to be the next one?
"What, you don't want to?" the prosecutor said with a smile. "You have compassion, but you don't get too involved with yourself; you can feel pain, but you don't get caught up in the pain itself. That's the prerequisite for being a prosecutor."
Judges must avoid letting personal feelings interfere with their judgments.
At the same time, they also fear the absence of emotion, the coldness like a heartless machine.
This balance is really hard to strike.
The prosecutor has been in office for decades, constantly searching for a successor, but while there are many excellent law enforcers, most are more suited to strict law enforcement than to devout trials.
After listening to the prosecutor's rambling all the way back to the General Affairs Office, Bai Ye finally spoke: "I need to think about this matter some more."
"Young man, don't rush. You can continue to consider it. The trial itself is a lifelong commitment."
As soon as he finished speaking, the scene before his eyes began to distort.
Bai Ye realized something and reached out to grab it, but it passed right through the prosecutor's body.
"Prosecutor?"
The person in front of me has become blurry, the surrounding environment has begun to collapse, and a burst of bright light bursts out from underground.
Bai Ye instinctively raised his hand to cover his eyes, and when he opened them again, he was back in the dungeon lobby.
"?"
Bai Ye was confused. Why did you come back?
Oh right, a crack appeared in the instance's small world, and 24 hours have passed.
[Congratulations, player, on completing the mission and becoming a qualified Order Keeper. As a half-demon, you have successfully passed the first level. Would you like to begin the second level challenge?]
The mechanical voice broadcasted in the dungeon lobby, carrying a hint of resentment.
Bai Ye selects "No" and pauses viewing her screen.
The information bar is still red, and the health and damage values are still hidden.
However, after "Half-Demon Body" in the message, there is a small pendant that shows +1.
Bai Ye remembered that he had to complete three dungeon challenges and succeed in all of them to get rid of the half-demon body attribute.
Based on the previous announcement, does "+1" mean that you have completed the first dungeon?
"It seems that the condition of killing 100 monsters is just a pretext."
The White Night Memory instance itself quickly revealed that the previous requirement to remove the half-demon body was false.
It's easy to imagine that this is yet another trap set by [the eerie].
"You're trying to lure players into killing, making them forever become monsters, a part of this world, so that resurrection will never be possible, right?"
Although it is a question, the tone is very certain.
This content is unrelated to the game instance. Players are encouraged to continue their efforts and hard work.
Bai Ye burst out laughing, "Now I believe you have some machine-like qualities. Whenever you're stumped by a question, you always say something like this."
[Please continue your work. You still need to complete two more dungeons to remove the half-demon body.]
"No rush, I'll go to Nightmoon Town first."
Bai Ye ignored the strange talk and went to the core rest area.
Because he could see the face clearly, he easily found the guy who was standing in the equipment area watching the excitement, "I'm the strongest at surviving".
"Don't pull me, who are you?"
I'm so unhappy that someone dragged me away while I was trying to survive. The other person had a blurry face and didn't say a word, which made them seem both capable and arrogant.
"Let go, you clueless new player. I'm your senior." (This is a quote from a player known for their cunning and lack of experience.) "Survival is the best," the player said calmly, trying to sound like a veteran.
Bai Ye couldn't help but laugh out loud.
At that smile, "Survivalist's Strongest" immediately perked up his ears, "Daytime? It's you!"
"Yes, it's me."
"Hey bro, why didn't you say anything? You scared me to death."
"When did you become such a coward?"
"I'm just watching the drama unfold. Two new players, clueless about their own abilities, insisted on challenging the equipment area. I'm watching them lose health right now."
After saying this, I, the strongest survivor, was stunned, and then stammered, "You, you, me, me."
Once she came to her senses, she grabbed Bai Ye and they dashed off to a dark corner.
Bai Ye was still marveling at how such a desolate corner of Nightmoon Town could exist when the person opposite him uttered something astonishing: "Brother, can you see me?"
After saying this, Gou Shou Wo Zui Zhong nodded to himself, "Then he can definitely see me. The way he grabbed my hand was quick, ruthless, and accurate."
Before Bai Ye could speak, "I'm the Strongest at Surviving" excitedly said, "I'd heard before that players could unlock new skills when they reached level two, including face-to-face communication. I always thought it was just nonsense. I never thought I'd actually see it in person today."
"I knew it! I was camping out in the corner of the lobby yesterday, trying to earn money to level up to level two, how did they find me? Turns out he leveled up too... You guys all sneakily leveled up without me, it's outrageous!"
After listening, Bai Ye learned a piece of information.
Besides myself, two other people have also reached level two. In addition to earning money to reach level two, there is also Sunflower.
So it wasn't because of his half-demon body that he could see the player's face so clearly?
"By the way, bro, have you looked into the secondary forums?" "Survival is the strongest" was clearly more interested in that.
Bai Ye shook his head, "I didn't look closely."
"What?"
"The situation was a bit special at the time, and I was in a hurry to enter the instance."
With the upgrade accompanied by a bizarre body, he had no mood to study the forum. When asked about it, Bai Ye's mind went blank.
Finally, urged by the strongest urger to survive, I revisited the secondary forum.
Upon closer inspection, some differences were indeed discovered.
The most obvious change is in the forum rules, where a new rule has been added.
The original message, "[4L: Rules are continuously being updated]", has now changed to: "[4L: Seek the rules themselves, touch the edge of the bizarre world, and you can level up again.]"
"What do you mean?" After hearing this, "Survival is the strongest" was a little confused.
Bai Ye immediately thought of the prosecutor from the previous instance; the appearance of this character was too coincidental.
There are many illogical aspects to the coincidence.
It is clearly strange, but it is not like other strange things, as if it is superior to others.
"Rules, order, judgment..."
"Brother, stop talking nonsense, what are you thinking about?" The more I listened, the more uneasy I felt.
Bai Ye snapped out of his thoughts, turned around and asked, "By the way, didn't you go to a dungeon called 'Speed of Life and Death' before?"
"Yes, I've been there, but how did you know?"
"I saw you in the dungeon world." After saying that, Bai Ye corrected himself, "No, I met you."
Seeing someone can be one-sided, but meeting someone requires mutual awareness.
"Survival is the strongest" suddenly got goosebumps. "What you're saying is giving me the creeps. I don't remember any of this at all?"
"Maybe it's because of my attributes," Bai Ye guessed.
The two of them got together to check the dungeon, and after they finished, "Survivalist is the Strongest" was dumbfounded.
"So, all those times I got beaten up were because you were the one whipping me?"
Bai Ye hadn't expected that players could change their appearance in that dungeon. "Ahem, it's my duty, so it's inevitable that I might accidentally hurt friendly forces."
"I lost 10 health points to complete the mission, it hurts!"
Bai Ye remained silent.
It's impossible to restore health points, and an apology would seem insincere, so it's best to say nothing at all.
When I'm just trying to survive, I might grumble a bit, but once that pent-up frustration wears off, I get all fired up again, saying things like, "You three have all leveled up, why don't you all get together and have a little meeting?"
"Um?"
"Are you stupid? There's strength in numbers. We don't have any conflict of interest right now, so the important thing is to quickly consolidate the information."
Knowing that Bai Ye could see his face clearly, he didn't hide his thoughts, "Well, I'm going to level up soon if I keep hiding, I'm only 8 health points away."
Bai Ye suddenly realized, and couldn't help but cup his hands in greeting, "You're strong."
...
The strongest organization, "Survivalist," organized a four-person team that quickly assembled.
As for the original "friend" who refused to take the order no matter what, everyone tacitly avoided mentioning him, assuming that they had different values and couldn't work together, and that they eventually drifted apart.
“Ahem! Since everyone here can see each other’s faces clearly, let’s ignore the fact that I’m ‘blind’. We all get along well, so why don’t we just be honest?”
"Confess what?" Sunflower looked at Survivor the Strongest with a hesitant expression.
Bai Ye didn't speak; he actually had his own reservations.
"Of course we should introduce ourselves! Player nicknames sound too formal. Let's just use our real names. That way, we can cooperate more closely in the future." "Survival is the strongest" said in a matter-of-fact tone.
But after he finished speaking, none of the three people diagonally opposite him said anything.
He couldn't see the expressions on the three people's faces, and he really didn't know what they were hesitating about.
"Hey you three, are you saying I'm a level too low? I already said, do two more dungeons, three at most, and I'll be able to level up to level two."
To show his sincerity, "Survival is the strongest" directly tapped the screen and selected public playback.
Bai Ye glanced at it and saw that it indeed had 72 health points.
However, "surviving is not a matter of rank."
What is that?
"Forehead……"
Bai Ye didn't know how to explain it; he hadn't yet found a way to identify anything related to the Zero Ghost.
I'm the strongest at surviving, but I'm being ignored. The more I think about it, the angrier I get. "So I'm the only naive one? You're all old foxes."
"Damn it! You're not including me, huh? Fine, I'm leaving now."
The more she thought about it, the more wronged she felt; she felt like she was being rejected.
"Hey! Don't go!" Sunflower quickly grabbed the person.
The other party once risked his life to save him, and the two had a revolutionary friendship.
Sunflower doesn't like playing tricks, and without thinking, she said directly, "It's not that I don't want to take you, it's that I'm afraid there might be a spy."
"What the hell?"
"Oh, I'll tell you, there might be some weirdos lurking among our players. It's not that we're afraid of sharing information, but what if we share it with the 'enemy'?"
As Xiangyang Xiaokuihua spoke, she also paid attention to the expressions of the other two people beside her. Just as she thought, advanced players all knew this.
Since we've already come out into the open, let's not hide anything anymore.
So, Sunflower in the Sun gave me a thorough and detailed explanation of how the Weird impersonates a player.
After hearing "Survival is the strongest", I was dumbfounded. "This world is amazing, they even play like this."
But soon after, he added, "No! Don't you three expert players have any way to tell the difference?"
Sunflower in the Sun: "I don't know, I couldn't find any relevant information."
Bai Ye shook his head as well, "All I know is that 0 Ghost can impersonate human players, and I know nothing else."
Having been holding his big sword since the beginning, the guy who was making money to level up to level two finally spoke up: "I do know how to tell the difference."
All three turned their heads at the same time, their eyes gleaming like hungry wolves, regardless of whether their faces were clear or blurry.
Making money to level up to level two, he subtly shifted his position, moving a little further away, and said, "As long as you have a [Wish Card], you can detect anything strange."
"[Wishing Card]?"
"Yes, the eerie little shop appeared once, but it didn't offer any redemption. I saw the product usage instructions on it."
While recalling and describing how he earned money to level up to level two, he said, "It was a black card covered with rune-like patterns, with a bird in the very center."
"It's a phoenix, isn't it?" "I'm the strongest at surviving" suddenly interjected.
Having made money to advance to level two, he looked up, his eyes sharp, and said, "You've seen it before."
"I'm the strongest at surviving," I nodded and scrolled to the last page on the screen. "I have one of these. It's so ugly. The phoenix looks like a little chick. If it weren't for the strange gift, I wouldn't even want it."
The dungeon where I survived to get the card, which is my strongest memory, was filled with endless sighs. "That dungeon quest was just awful. I've never seen such a stingy and bizarre thing. At the end, they didn't give me any Ghost Coins, and all I got was this piece of junk. I lost so much!"
This was the worst dungeon he had ever done. If it hadn't been so unprofitable, he would have leveled up long ago.
The three of them looked at each other, their expressions quite subtle.
Especially those who know the value of this card and want to earn money to advance to level two, are hesitant to speak, yet still want to speak.
Damn it, does he even know how rare this card is?!
"You little rascal, you're lucky to have survived." In the end, only this sentence remained as a sigh.
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