Chapter 023: Eating Watermelons in the Archives of Lies (12)
Inside the soundproof enclosure, Mo Qianhe quickly analyzed the current situation with everyone:
"The archive return rate has now reached 50%. Based on the previous practice of increasing the return rate by 10% each time a file fragment is returned, there are still 5 fragments in this instance that have yet to be returned."
Fang Yiran had just experienced a crisis and a round of interrogation. He leaned against the wall, somewhat exhausted. His mind was still a little confused, so he asked without thinking, "Is there any problem with this?"
Mo Qianhe explained: "Among the five of us players, Song Xiaoyan and Fang Yiran have already completed the solo guaranteed mission, while President Jiang, Miss Qin and I have not yet returned the fragments.
"That is to say, we need at least three fragments of the Lie Archives."
Fang Yiran still didn't understand what was going on, but pilot Song Xiaoyan and President Jiang had already figured it out and their faces gradually became tense.
Song Xiaoyan grabbed her childhood friend's hand with some worry, and was patted gently by the other party to comfort her.
Seeing that the big star was still confused, childhood friend Qin Zhengyi impatiently explained on Mo Qianhe's behalf: "We are sure that Lao Cheng just exchanged two fragments from Brother Mo, and President Jiang also confirmed that the two fragments were lies, right?"
Fang Yiran nodded.
Qin Zhengyi held up five fingers and subtracted two. "With only five Fragments of Lies on the field, and we're certain the other team must have two, then of the remaining fragments whose authenticity hasn't been confirmed, there are exactly three, and only three, of those left for us to use."
Fang Yiran remained calm: "That's just enough for us. I won't fight with you for the fragments. One copy each will be enough."
Jiang Minxu shook his head as he neatly laid out the fragments he had just checked on the ground. He explained, "The problem is, we're not sure if Lao Cheng only has two fragments of the Book of Lies right now. If he can trade the fragments from Mo Qianhe, he can probably trade them from the rest of us."
Song Xiaoyan continued, "If he has even one more copy of the Fragment of Lies, then one of us will definitely be unable to complete the single-player guaranteed mission and will not be able to pass the level."
Fang Yiran's originally somewhat relaxed expression slowly disappeared.
Although he had already secured a minimum wage, he still worried about others.
At this moment, they heard the system announcement: "20% of the files have been successfully returned, and the total return progress has increased to 70%. The mixed question and answer mode has been closed, and the Boss's call-and-answer mode has been opened."
Everyone was shocked to realize that Lao Cheng had returned two files in one go!
Only three fragments of the Lie Archives remain that have yet to be returned.
They must ensure that all three are in their possession.
Boss appears next to Lao Cheng. Click to play the line "Qianfan" said to "Matryoshka" by the flower bed: "Even if you die, I won't feel any guilt."
Question: "Excuse me, what is the actual truth in the archive fragments you returned?"
Lao Cheng smiled as he looked at the players plotting nearby and replied, "After 'Sad Matryoshka' fell from the building, 'Traveling Through Thousands of Sails' must have felt incredibly guilty, right? But why?"
Lao Cheng tapped his chin with his index finger, pretending to think, "Because he believed that he was the one who originally posted the message, and that he couldn't shirk responsibility for the subsequent uncontrollable developments."
Jiang Minxu's expression became more and more painful.
In addition to the pressure of survival, the guilt that had tormented him for many years also came to him like a wave.
Boss nodded, turned around and raised his hand.
Yin Guanglai, who had been hiding far away and just wanted to lie down, was sucked in front of the Boss through the air.
"Ahhhh, why me again?! Didn't I just answer the question?!"
Liu Tang, who had been watching the show silently, said at this moment: "The order of the roll call should be reworked."
Mo Qianke understood immediately: "Just now it was announced that the hybrid mode is closed and the roll call mode is opened, which means that from then on, all issues will be decided by the boss's roll call.
"So she changed the order of the roll call, starting with the person with the highest evil value, and called out the names again. The first one was Lao Cheng, and the second one was Yin Guanglai."
After Qin Zhengyi understood, she remembered what Song Xiaoyan had said before about her high evil value, and held the other person's hand tightly.
Seeing that he was not the one answering the question, Lao Cheng thought that he would not be the next one to answer the question either, so he took out another file fragment with great ease and walked towards the file shelf where the "Sad Nesting Doll" was.
Seeing this, Mo Qianhe shouted, "Stop him!"
If Lao Cheng succeeds in returning another file fragment, one of them will definitely fail to complete the guaranteed mission.
Mo Qianhe and Jiang Minxu started to rush towards Lao Cheng at the same time, trying to snatch the fragments from each other's hands by force.
"Violence is prohibited within the copy." When the two heard Liu Tang's voice, they felt their bodies pause and were fixed one meter away from Lao Cheng.
Fang Yiran rushed over and yelled at Liu Tang, "Aren't you an NPC on our side?! Why are you helping Lao Cheng?"
Liu Tang smiled apologetically at the others, then looked at Mo Qianhe and said, "I'm really sorry. I'm a dungeon NPC after all, and I still have to uphold the most basic dungeon rules."
After Mo Qianhe and Jiang Minxu gave up on snatching the fragments, the restrictions on them were lifted. They stopped where they were, realizing that they were now in a deeper predicament.
Mo Qianhe did not blame Liu Tang for turning against him.
The other party can't even be considered to have switched sides.
The NPC's identity was inherently neutral. Liu Tang was simply completing his mission.
Even if Liu Tang had not followed him into the dungeon, the one who would have stopped him at this moment would have been another emotionless NPC guide.
Lao Cheng stood in front of the file rack, and with the attitude of a winner, he clicked to play the fragmented content in a triumphant manner.
That was the first sentence that Matryoshka confessed to Lancao in the dormitory: "You are my best friend. I only tell you, and you must never tell anyone else."
Now everyone knows that the post was made by "Maowa" herself, so she not only told this to "Lancao", but also posted it to tell everyone in the school, so what she said to "Lancao" must have been a lie.
Fang Yiran looked at the fragment in shock and shouted, "Isn't this the fragment we picked up in the dormitory at the beginning?! I was holding it later, when did it end up in his hands..."
He gradually fell silent, remembering that he had been controlled by the other party using props and had answered questions for the other party.
At that time, they were very close to each other, and his actions were restricted by the rules of the props. It was easy for the other party to take a fragment from him.
Several people were thinking about whether they had any props or skills that could prevent the worst situation from happening, when they saw Lao Cheng's hand returning the fragment suddenly stopped.
The originally smug expression on the other person's face gradually turned cold.
He gritted his teeth and looked at Liu Tang: "You NPC, actually..."
Before anyone understood, Liu Tang said to Lao Cheng, "It's lunch break time. Although internship work is important, a balance between work and rest can improve efficiency. Isn't that right?"
"This newcomer must not know much about our university, right? As a long-time employee here, I have an obligation to show you around and take you to the cafeteria for lunch. Without further ado, let's get going!"
In front of the old city, the mandatory task issued by the guide NPC was displayed:
[Quest: Follow the NPC around the campus and have lunch.]
[Note: You cannot proceed with the Archive Fragment Return Mission until you complete the mission.]
He was really furious. Why were everyone from the players to the NPCs against him in this dungeon?
The commentators were worried about Chairman Jiang, but now they just applauded:
"Hahaha, congratulations to the liar Lao Cheng for winning the first round of the campus tour!"
"Just be content! My wife will show you around the campus!"
"And you even get to have lunch with my wife! You're so lucky, old Deng!"
After Liu Tang issued the mandatory task, he walked out of the archives without hesitation.
Lao Cheng naturally knew that the task of returning the fragments should be done sooner rather than later.
Many things will change if you delay.
But now that things have come to this, he comforted himself: since the fragments are in his hands and this copy does not allow players to snatch them violently, it makes no difference whether he gets there earlier or later.
After thinking about all this, Lao Cheng's mentality, which was almost on the verge of collapse, stabilized again.
He calmly took back the fragment, put it in his pocket, and followed the NPC's pace.
It just so happened that he also wanted to learn more about this NPC.
On the way to the flower bed, I had wanted to talk to him, but the boss called me away. That fat pig Yin Guanglai was left alone with him, and he scared the crap out of me.
He wanted to see what this NPC was capable of.
The other people still in the archives were caught off guard by this reversal.
Fang Yiran was a little excited and wanted to rush forward to hug Liu Tang and kiss him, but everyone had left. He had no choice but to hug Jiang Minxu and rock him, shouting with joy: "Hahaha, I knew this NPC was on our side!"
Jiang Minxu was speechless: Anyway, it’s you who said “no” and it’s also you who said “yes”.
As they were chatting, they saw Liu Tang coming back in a hurry.
Everyone's nerves, which had been briefly relaxed, tensed up again.
The young man rushed to Jiang Minxu, holding up the "sound wall" and said, "Quick, quick, help me switch to two-way mode. I don't want to be unable to eat the melons on your side once I leave."
Jiang Minxu and Fang Yiran: "..."
Qin Zhengyi said to her childhood friend, "You're right, he really loves eating melons."
Song Xiaoyan said that she didn't want to be so correct on this point.
Mo Qianhe smiled and rubbed the top of the other person's head fiercely: "You scared me to death just now."
Liu Tang winked at him and said, "You are my bread and butter, Boss Mo. How could I let anything happen to you?"
Mo Qianhe was stunned and felt his ears burning again.
The live broadcast room was flooded with "knocked" messages:
"So sweet, so sweet, so sweet!"
"Hahaha, this NPC really loves eating melons!"
"Got it. Next time I meet this NPC, as long as I let him eat the melon, he will protect me!"
"I can't refute the previous one."
After seeing Liu Tang off, the few of them felt relieved, but they still couldn't find a way to solve the current dilemma.
Jiang Minxu said: "This is just a delaying tactic. We can't use force to snatch the fragments from Lao Cheng. When he comes back, we will still be helpless."
Mo Qianhe was just thinking about a countermeasure when he heard the system announcement: "Player Yin Guanglai answered the question incorrectly and is eliminated."
The five people were all surprised and quickly ran to the place where Yin Guanglai was before, but they only saw a long tongue on the ground.
There was a cry of surprise in the barrage:
"Oh my god, oh my god, I wasn't paying attention for a moment, how come this 'Maitreya Buddha' is broken?!"
"I was so focused on watching Chairman Jiang and the others confronting Lao Cheng that I didn't even notice this side. Could someone please tell me what happened?"
"I watched the whole thing and I'm still shaking."
"This fat guy couldn't answer the question, and his tongue was pulled out by the boss. The scene was so bloody that I had to use the horror mode to blur the details before I could continue watching."
"I didn't expect that after all the trouble, he would die first."
"He's offended all the other players and still doesn't know anything. If he doesn't die, who will?"
"This story tells us the importance of following the right people."
Song Xiaoyan looked at the tongue on the ground and frowned, "Is this the 'Tongue-Pulling Hell'?"
Just now, they and Lao Cheng were busy fighting each other, and forgot to observe Yin Guanglai who was facing the boss alone. They didn't expect that the other party would die like this.
As a result, all the information about what questions the boss asked him and what answers he gave was lost.
Jiang Minxu's expression was gloomy.
He actually thought that Yin Guanglai might not be able to answer the question.
If someone else who had no grudge against him was called upon by the Boss to answer a question, even in an emergency like the one just now, he would arrange for Fang Yiran, who was also a party to the case that year, to stay and help the person answering the question.
But because the other party is Yin Guanglai...
He had no need to help his enemies, nor did he need to help such a conscienceless maggot.
Just as he was thinking about it, President Jiang saw the tongue on the ground turned into glowing cubes, which dispersed and reassembled bit by bit, turning into a prop, floating in the air.
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