Lucky billion players, you've never seen one before / I can accumulate my own luck

"Therefore, we must find the diary as soon as possible."

"With the diary, you can clear the game anytime, which is like having a way to survive. This way, you can try to get a higher dungeon rating."

Upon hearing this, Du Ruo, Lu Xining, and Li Jian all looked at him with strange expressions.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?" Fan Xiao asked, puzzled.

“I have to admire you,” Lu Xining said. “In a dungeon of this difficulty, you’re still thinking about getting high scores. Are you really that good at it, or do you just like pushing your limits?”

Fan Xiao smiled and said, "I think so."

He wasn't exaggerating when he said that.

When Fan Qiqi wasn't around, he could simply run away if he couldn't win a fight.

He always flew in the sky, and few monsters could do anything to him.

As for eerie monsters like the neck-riding ghost that can't be avoided, their direct attack power is generally not very high, and they won't cause players to die on the spot.

He can definitely wait!

Once the cooldown is over and the little angel appears, none of the ghosts will get any good juice!

"Let's get back to work, don't waste any more time."

Du Ruo reminded everyone.

Fan Xiao nodded and led the three to the next location.

After that, they did not encounter any more monsters like weasels that had the ability to teleport.

As for fighting other players... that's much simpler than dealing with monsters.

Four o'clock in the morning.

Fan Xiao and his three companions finally completed their door-to-door investigation of all the townspeople's families.

While setting up their fishing plan, they also confirmed a conclusion—there wasn't a single household in the entire Wangcheng town with an "older brother."

"It's confirmed now."

Lu Xining said, "After the evolution game appeared in this world's partition, Wangxiang Town was caught up in it. The players killed all the male descendants of the townspeople and used items to curse them, making the town basically unable to give birth to boys, only girls."

"So, none of our 'brothers' are normal! Or rather, none of them are human."

"As for Li Xianqiu's 'younger brother'... he might be an exception."

Li Xianqiu was the one who proposed the "Five Ghosts Worship Ritual." Coincidentally, a boy was born into his family, which tricked the townspeople into participating.

"Not always."

Fan Xiao said, "Isn't the younger brother a person? Then the parents are?"

"Since this dungeon has been circulated in Zone 001 and is rated as one of the most difficult D-level dungeons, it must have been opened many times."

“This time, we saw players attacking townspeople, so this situation must have happened before. But as you can see, almost all the houses in the town are occupied. Are these townspeople really so hard to kill?”

"Moreover, judging from the degree of desolation around the town, the possibility of immigrants can be ruled out."

"There's only one conclusion left..."

He paused, then said with certainty, "Besides us players, everyone in this town might not be human."

"The town itself is very likely a lie, a lie built on psychological deception."

That was his guess.

This town is a product of fantasy.

Rather than actual matter.

The reason for this speculation is that the fact that "horror stories have become reality" triggered his thinking.

What I had imagined has become reality.

But it's not truly real; it's a false reality.

The best proof is that after Fan Qiqi killed the female ghost riding on his neck, he did not receive any spiritual feedback.

Fan Xiao speculated that this was not because the original sin ability of "gluttony" had failed.

Rather, the female ghost herself is not a living being.

Including the mummified old woman and the big-faced monster, they are not real life.

They are all illusions manifested from false fantasies.

Even illusory spiritual beings possess a spiritual origin.

After Fan Qiqi kills this kind of life form, he will receive a source feedback, which will increase his spiritual power.

Only illusions exist; they possess nothing.

Nothing will be left behind after being killed.

As for why the illusions could cause them physical damage... that involves another of his guesses.

That is to say, they were not harmed.

They only felt hurt emotionally.

Their minds were interfered with.

What they are seeing and feeling right now may all be an illusion.

It is a form of psychological deception.

Like a mirage.

However, this illusion felt very real.

It's so realistic that players can't detect any flaws.

This explains a logical problem—why the monsters in this dungeon, which have no physical form, can still deal physical damage to players?

There are no physical injuries in the game; it's just that the dungeon makes players "feel" that they do.

This conjecture also explains why no matter what items players use to attack monsters, it has no effect.

If it's just an illusion, how can it be effective?

As for the props being useful to the "parents" and the "younger brother"... since they are illusions, they can naturally simulate any effect.

It all depends on how the instance is arranged.

Of course, false injuries can also lead to death.

Previously at Li Xianqiu's house, the big-faced monster pierced the heads of three players with its tentacles.

Perhaps their heads weren't actually pierced, but they felt as if they were, and then... they suffered a spiritual death.

When the spirit dies, consciousness disappears, and the body naturally becomes a corpse.

This conjecture is quite bold.

However, it's easy to verify.

Fan Xiao immediately thought of two methods.

The first option is to have Fan Qiqi kill a few townspeople. If he doesn't receive feedback from the spiritual source, then he's right.

If I received it... well, then I've killed the wrong person.

The second one is simpler.

He will be affected by the mental interference of the Wangxiang Town instance, so Fan Qiqi after being reduced to a physical form will definitely be affected as well—because their mental states are at the same level.

But Fan Qiqi is different from him in some ways.

As long as the little angel remains in a "higher-dimensional" state free from any interference, it can avoid any mental manipulation.

At that time, she will definitely be able to see the true appearance of this town.

After the little angel finished his observations, he compared them with what he had seen of the town, and the result was revealed.

If the two are different, then it means that everything here is fake.

It is a huge spiritual lie.

……

Since his initial guess had been verified, Fan Xiao didn't keep them in suspense this time and directly shared his conclusion with Du Ruo and the others.

After hearing this, the three showed varying degrees of surprise.

Li Jian was completely dumbfounded.

Fake, fake...it's all fake?

Lu Xining seemed to be deep in thought.

Du Ruo thought for a moment and said, "This guess is too far-fetched. It's like someone used mental interference to create a small world. Is that really possible?"

“Don’t be so narrow-minded,” Fan Xiao shrugged. “There are players who can launch nuclear-level attacks with a flick of their wrist, so why can’t it be possible to interfere with the mental energy of an entire town?”

"...A player who can casually unleash nuclear-level attacks?" Du Ruo was stunned. "Don't tell me you've seen one?"

Fan Xiao grinned and said, "Guess?"

Du Ruo: "..."

That tone... that means they've met before.

But is such a thing even possible?

He wasn't denying the existence of such powerful players, but... who could survive witnessing a nuclear explosion up close?

"Anyway."

Du Ruo didn't dwell on this doubt too much, and got down to business, saying, "Your guess is possible, but it lacks too much evidence. It would be too reckless to abandon the previous plan entirely because of a guess."

"I suggest we split into two groups: one to go to the school to look for the diary, and the other to follow you and conduct a detailed investigation into your hypothesis. What do you think?"

"Yes, we should seek common ground while reserving differences; that's also my idea."

Fan Xiao nodded: "But there's no need to split up. I'll go with you to the school to look for the diary first."

It wasn't that he didn't believe his own guess.

However, since the little angel's cooldown period hasn't ended yet, he can't proceed with the next experiment.

Since we're both free anyway, let's just do it together.

"also."

Du Ruo nodded: "Then we..."

suddenly!

A strange, shrill laugh that made people feel extremely uncomfortable rang out next to the four people.

Fan Xiao's pupils contracted.

His expression changed drastically.

The mummified old woman!

How can it be! ?

Boom—The "Dustless Shield" made the air explode.

Fan Xiao tore through the air with the three of them, soaring into the sky with a whooshing roar.

The next instant, the mummified old woman teleported in front of them, grinned, and took a bite.

Fan Xiao suddenly swerved, leading the three of them to dodge the attack.

The chase began.

Fan Xiao tensed his nerves, fully activating his brain, maintaining the highest level of focus and energy, and constantly adjusting the magnitude and direction of each repulsive force, achieving a series of operations such as continuous acceleration, deceleration, and directional deviation.

The old woman with the mummified corpse relentlessly pursued them, but was unable to attack them.

Fan Xiao flew at top speed to directly above Du Ruo's "home", crashed through the roof, and landed in the living room.

But before the four could even breathe a sigh of relief, the mummified old woman chased them straight into the house.

Sharp claws slashed out, tearing a huge bloody gash in Fan Xiao's arm.