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

His rapidly thinking brain quickly deduced the reason. He abandoned Du Ruo and, with Lu Xining and Li Jian, soared into the sky, leaving behind the words: "Split up after dawn. You and your colleagues will search the school. Lu Renjia will come with me."

The next second they were flying high in the sky.

As expected, the old woman with the dried corpse completely ignored Du Ruo and chased after them.

Fan Xiao sped along.

Under the immense acceleration, a look of pain appeared on Li Jian's face.

With the aid of items that enhance her physical abilities, Lu Xining was able to hold on.

At full speed, the three quickly arrived at Lu Xining's "home".

Fan Xiaomei charged again, crashing through the roof into the living room, abandoning Lu Xining, and then ran away with all her might.

After a series of changes of direction to evade, he finally brought Li Jian back to their "home".

This time, the old woman with the mummified corpse didn't rush into the house. Instead, she stood outside the brick house, staring at them with cold eyes for a while before disappearing.

Only then did Fan Xiao relax his tense nerves a little.

Controlling the "Dustless Shield" with such high precision is quite demanding.

He could feel his brain getting a little hot.

It's like an overloaded household appliance.

"vomit……!"

After landing, Li Jian immediately vomited.

After a while, he rubbed his chest, easing the immense physical discomfort, and asked Fan Xiao, "Grandma Mummified Corpse, how did she come back to life? And... how did she chase me into the house?"

"When adults scare children to go home, they naturally go home to their own. If you stay at someone else's house, will your own parents be happy?"

Fan Xiao said, "Since it is a monster that has materialized from such a rumor, it naturally follows this pattern."

"It's not that you're safe just by staying indoors; you have to stay in your own home to be safe at night."

Chapter 125: The Beginning of the Dungeon Walkthrough

Fan Xiao touched the new wound on his arm. The mummified old woman's claws had scratched a long gash on his arm, from which blood was oozing out.

The touch sent a pang of pain through him, causing him to wince slightly.

According to his guess, all the injuries inflicted on players by the monsters in this instance were nothing more than mental illusions.

All the pain from the wound is nothing more than a false feeling caused by manipulation and suggestion of the mind.

But whether it's visually or tactilely, this wound is undeniably impeccable.

He also had a sense of smell; the smell of blood had already reached his nose.

He raised his arm and licked it with his tongue.

It has a rusty taste, but the overall taste is normal.

He then activated the "Vampire Clan" to control the blood flowing from the wound, and the blood danced with his consciousness... The prop effects were also imitated perfectly.

After thinking for a moment, he then manipulated the blood in his body, trying to make it flow out of the "wound" to see if there was any obstruction from the skin.

Since the "wound" is fake, the skin on the arm is naturally not cracked.

When blood rushes out of a wound, it will naturally be blocked by the skin.

As a result, he did not feel any sense of obstruction.

Perfectly clothed.

Everything was telling him that what he saw was real, an undeniable reality.

but……

"Even if there really are life forms without any spiritual origin, life forms that have been conceptually erased by Qiqi cannot be resurrected. The appearance of the mummy old woman violates basic logic."

“But illusions are different; when an old illusion is gone, a new one can be generated.”

"This is not resurrection, it is replacement, it is replacing the old with the new."

"So my guess... should be correct."

"The strange behaviors exhibited by the townspeople were not because they were being mind-controlled, but because they were illusions, with certain fixed behavioral patterns pre-programmed into them by the instance."

"It's not the townspeople who are truly being mind-controlled, but us players."

"Looking towards the town, looking towards the town... In folk mythology, there is a road called the Yellow Springs Road, a river called the River of Oblivion, and a bridge called the Bridge of Helplessness. Behind the Bridge of Helplessness is an earthen platform called the Platform of Longing for Home... The dead cross the Bridge of Helplessness, take one last look at their earthly hometown from the Platform of Longing for Home, and then reincarnate."

"Wangxiang... Could this small town be the hometown in the memories of the dead? Or has the real Wangxiang Town become history?"

"Hmm... that seems very likely. It's not normal for such a large area outside the town to be left overgrown with withered grass instead of being cultivated."

"A town that exists in fantasy, a historical reenactment from memory... The original town may already be a ruin, and a new fantasy town is superimposed on the ruins."

"And Yan Keke's diary is very likely in the ruins."

"Only by avoiding the mental interference of the copy and breaking through the illusory world before us can we find this diary."

"And the diary... may very well contain the answer to the mystery of the third ambiguous piece of information, namely, what disaster actually happened in Wangxiang Township."

"Understanding the disaster might also reveal what everyone's wishes truly are... It really is a chain reaction, with each link connected to the next."

Fan Xiao worked backward from the conclusion to deduce the details, and the scattered gears gradually meshed together.

He became increasingly certain that his guess was correct.

Subconsciously, Fan Xiao glanced at the two rooms on the side of the living room.

At this moment, the "parents" and "younger brother" are sleeping in two separate rooms.

If killing them would allow them to revive... or reappear like the old woman with the dried corpse, then his guess would be completely proven correct.

Of course, this is how most players verify their guesses.

Moreover, during the verification process, one must also bear the counterattack of the giant-faced monster on the roof beam; one wrong move and it could all go wrong.

As for him...

He has a better way of verifying this, without having to sacrifice his "younger brother" and "parents" to the heavens.

"I have to say, the Angel of Death is a powerful and practical talent that allows for many unique maneuvers."

Fan Xiao cleared his mind for a moment and let his head relax.

Pride, the original sin, grants the little angel a "higher-dimensional state" that is not subject to interference by any means.

This allows her to leisurely stroll and see the true face of Wangxiang Township.

"Sigh, Qiqi's thinking is still too simple and crude. All she knows is to kill, kill, kill. With her special abilities, she should have noticed the strangeness of this town long ago, but she didn't care about it at all, nor did she remind me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had to go through so many detours to complete the deduction."

"This little girl... I'll have to discipline her properly when I have time."

Fan Xiao made a decision in his mind, while glancing at the player panel.

4:13 AM.

In a few more tens of minutes, Fan Qiqi's cooldown time will be over.

On the other side, Li Jian kept taking deep breaths, which gradually relieved his physical discomfort and restored him to a state where it did not affect his movements.

When they were escaping, Fan Xiao led them, accelerating from zero to near the speed of sound in just one second.

The human body is not a cannonball; how can it withstand such a drastic change in state?

Fortunately, he was a D-level player, and his evolution rate was already 35%.

Otherwise, an acceleration of 30g...

Li Jian patted his chest, letting go of the last bit of tightness in his chest, and then asked Fan Xiao, "By the way, now that the mummified old woman has come back to life, what should we do next?"

“That mummified old woman isn’t called resurrection,” Fan Xiao corrected. “Have you ever played a game? That’s called a jungle boss respawn.”

“You mean,” Li Jian asked, “that the old woman with the mummified body is no longer the same one?”

"You've finally shown some intelligence for once."

Fan Xiao reminded him, "We don't need to do anything else. We can just wait until dawn and then go to Lu Renjia's place."

"...Lu Renjia is an alias, right?" Li Jian said. "Shouldn't you guys tell me your real names by now? After all, we've been teammates through thick and thin together."

"Well, you have a point."

Fan Xiao nodded and introduced himself, "My name is Fan Tong, remember that."

"..."

Li Jian's lips twitched as he said, "My real name is Li Jian, and I come from Roman City in District 001, the tourist city you asked about before, the one with the largest flower field. Oh, right..."

He took out a paper cup from his storage space, handed it to Fan Xiao, and explained, "This is a tool that allows one-on-one communication within the same space. If we all manage to get out of this instance alive, you can use this tool to contact me after you arrive at Area 001."

"I will keep this item equipped while I'm outside the dungeon, waiting for you to come."

Fan Xiao said speechlessly, "Can you stop setting up false alarms? I just found a way to beat this game."

"Uh...really!?" Li Jian exclaimed in surprise.

"Don't worry, as long as you follow me and obey my orders, I guarantee you'll get out of here alive."

After putting away the paper cup props, Fan Xiao said, "Your reward for staying alive is to be my tour guide. You'd better remember this. If you dare to renege, hehe... do you believe I can find you with just a stick?"

"...Although I don't believe it, I will still keep my promise, so you can rest assured."

Li Jian patted his chest and assured him.

The casual conversation dispelled much of the tension created by the mummified old woman.

The two pulled up chairs again and sat down in the living room.

Li Jian started a conversation, saying, "Speaking of which, if we leave as soon as it's light, will our 'parents' have any objections?"

“I told you before that the copy of the rule that you can’t disobey your parents does not include the rule that you can’t disobey their orders.”

Fan Xiao held up two fingers: "According to my speculation, as long as we don't attack them and don't miss the afternoon's 'worshiping the five ghosts' ceremony, there won't be any problems."

"At most, when they come back, they'll scold you a few times, slap you a few times, and kick you a few times."

"They treat us like little kids," Li Jian commented.

“We only got the roles and scripts for children,” Fan Xiao said. “It’s just a drama that tortures the main character, and it’s specifically designed to torture the young female lead.”

"Ugh, another bowl of blood to be drawn this afternoon, and another beating... Damn it!"

Li Jian cursed under his breath.

Time passed slowly as the two chatted.

Before long, it was 5:01 a.m.

The cooldown period for the little angel has ended.

But it was still dark, so the old woman with the mummified body was probably still wandering outside.

Fan Xiao had no intention of leaving now.

The chance to be summoned by the little angel is only once every six hours.

While gathering intelligence, he also laid out a fishing scheme.

Regardless of how many players succumb to greed and take the bait, he has no intention of using items to fight this group.

Because the props are so varied, there's too much uncertainty when you're surrounded.

We need a little angel to clear the area.

After killing the person, he could also help him verify the authenticity of Wangxiang Town.

The murder and the experiment were carried out in one fell swoop.

Little angel YYDS!

Of course, he needs to seize the right opportunity to do this.

So, let the old woman with the mummified corpse continue to be arrogant for a while today.

Once he finishes his important business, that old bastard will have a hard time!

6:30 a.m.