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

"There's really no need to keep me in suspense, is there?" Mercury said. "I have quite a lot of confidence in you."

"Me too."

Jinna nodded.

Luo Hao didn't say anything, but judging from his expression, he probably acquiesced.

"..." Fan Xiao: "Didn't you realize that I was encouraging you to think for yourselves?"

"I heard it."

Mercury nodded: "But I can't think of the answer yet."

"The second task condition is to escape the school. From a common sense point of view, you can either go through the main gate or climb over the wall."

"The gate and walls of the surface world are a one-way connection to the inner world, and we cannot get out through normal means."

"As for the gate and walls of the inner world... let's assume for now that there are gates and walls there. Can we really leave Hope Middle School from the inner world using this method? It's not that simple, is it?"

“I don’t think it’s that simple either,” Jinna said. “The conditions for the second mission are usually more difficult than the conditions for the first mission. It’s impossible to escape successfully simply by going through doors and climbing over walls in the inner world.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” Fan Xiao said mysteriously. “We might have to go through the main gate.”

"Is this your guess?" Mercury asked.

"Well...what do you think?"

Fan Xiao gave a rather smug smile and said, "In short, for my guess to be valid, two conditions need to be verified first."

"The first condition is simple: we just need to encounter more black and white people so I can observe their physical characteristics."

"As for the second condition... we need to verify it in the inner world."

"So, let's not rush to find a way to escape the school. Are you willing to bet on the method I've come up with out of thin air?"

Seeing that Fan Xiao wouldn't budge, Mercury and the other two had no choice but to suppress their curiosity for the time being.

The reverse reasoning method—they guessed that Van Shaw was probably using this method.

That is, first make a bold assumption about the result, and then, based on the result, work backward to deduce the framework and details.

From the perspective of cause and effect alone, once the "effect" is obtained, the preceding "cause" is actually not important.

In other words, the step of working backward from the skeleton and details is actually unnecessary.

Because what players are seeking is only the "result".

However, this theory must be based on the premise that the "result" is correct.

As for Fan Xiao's "fruit"... it was guessed.

It's an illusion.

It's a castle in the air.

Therefore, we need to verify this by working backwards.

We need to gradually find evidence to support it and make it credible... at least we have to convince ourselves to believe it first.

After all, assumptions are just assumptions and cannot be used directly as the basis for formulating subsequent plans.

Because doing so... is too much like gambling.

If you win the bet, that's fine.

I lost the bet... so I sent it.

People are gone.

Having figured this out, Mercury and the other two stopped asking questions.

Of course, what the three of them didn't know was that if Fan Xiao wanted to verify his conjecture, there was actually no need to go through all this trouble.

Because he has superpowers!

He could easily rely on his superpower of controlling luck to verify the correctness of his conjecture by flipping a coin.

He had accumulated seven or eight days' worth of luck before entering the instance.

Luck is limited and cannot be verified in major events.

But it should be fine to use it only to determine the correctness of a conjecture that doesn't involve too much cause and effect.

but……

That's too extravagant!

Accumulating good luck is not easy.

For Fan Xiao, seven or eight days of good luck was a small trump card.

Good steel should be used where it's most needed.

Fan Xiao changed the subject, saying, "Let's take the more aggressive approach for our next plan, which is to actively infiltrate the inner world."

"However, the time is not right yet. We will set off after we have verified the first condition I just mentioned."

"For now... let's stay in the surface world."

“Okay,” Jinna nodded. “It’s good that you have a plan, Mr. Fan.”

"...Aren't you too trusting of strangers?"

Fan Xiao kindly reminded him.

“Um… my talent is the ability to sense good and evil,” Jinna said. “Although my perception of players of the same level is slightly weaker, I can still barely discern their attitude towards me.”

"No wonder you trust me so much."

Fan Xiao nodded: "So you sensed my friendly attitude towards you... I understand."

"..."

Jinna's expression suddenly turned slightly embarrassed.

She didn't actually perceive that Fan Xiao had any kind attitude towards her.

Of course, this kind of thing can't be said out loud; it's best to just pretend and let it slide.

But she is a clergy member.

She is not used to lying.

Her principles wouldn't allow it!

"that……"

Jin Na replied weakly, "I didn't sense any friendliness. Mr. Fan, it seems like you have zero dislike or goodwill towards me. In your eyes, I seem to be just a passerby, the kind of person you wouldn't even glance at after leaving the instance."

"...Hehe, Jinna, you're really good at joking."

Fan Xiao laughed and said, "Who would trust someone who treats them like a stranger? Don't you think so?"

"Well... actually, I generally trust people as long as they don't have any ill feelings towards me, let alone someone as capable as Mr. Fan. After entering the dungeon, your guesses and judgments were basically correct, so you are completely trustworthy."

Jinna said with great admiration, "I think it's perfectly fine to entrust my back to you."

"...Your talent for sensing goodwill and malice is quite impressive," Fan Xiao suddenly said.

"Really?" Jinna smiled instinctively. "Thank you for the compliment."

"This girl has really low emotional intelligence; she won't even take a chance when offered one..." Fan Xiao mentally assessed Jin Na.

No wonder she became someone else's lapdog—Jin Na had previously shown a fanatical attitude towards "Miss Qiu." Although Fan Xiao didn't know who this "Miss Qiu" was, he could still tell that Jin Na was someone else's lapdog.

To ease the potentially awkward atmosphere, he turned to Mercury and asked, "Old Mercury, you're a human player, right? What's your talent?"

Mercury countered, "And you?"

“Manipulating blood,” Fan Xiao said, “I used blood manipulation to deal with cannibalistic players before, as you saw. I didn’t call out their names. Talents and items are different; you can use them without calling out their names.”

"Hehe... I'll keep my talent a secret for now, in case 'it' is eavesdropping."

Mercury smiled in response but did not budge.

He had seen Fan Zui's information in the Special Affairs Bureau.

Although he couldn't remember the details, such as names, because he had read so much material.

But there are some things he still remembers vividly, such as his talent.

He remembered those with remarkable or unique talents.

On this "Fan Zui's" profile, in the talent section, he vaguely remembered that it was filled in as "possibly capable of high-precision manipulation of telekinesis, while possessing both physical and non-physical attack effects."

In other words, this guy hasn't told a single truth about himself!

It's likely that the name "Fan Zui" currently in use was also made up on the spot.

Even when this guy claims to be from his hometown and also from Beijing... that's probably a lie.

Mercury couldn't help but feel a little admiration for him.

He talks nonsense without batting an eye... his skin is really thick!

"Yeah……"

Fan Xiao glanced at Mercury.

Judging from the micro-expressions, he guessed that the other party might have realized that he had been lying about his information, so he simply ended the topic: "To verify the first condition, we don't need to take the initiative. We can just passively wait for the black and white people to appear."

"Now... let's go find other players first."

"What do you want with them?"

Jinna asked, "Do you also want to help them clear the level? That... is a kind deed. But I don't recommend it."

"Oh?" Fan Xiao became interested: "Why? Shouldn't the tenet of your Yahweh Catholic Church be to guide people towards goodness?"

“If it were anyone else, I naturally wouldn’t offer such an opinion. But players…”

Jinna sighed, "Basically, more than half of every 10 players can be classified as criminals... That may be an exaggeration, but it reflects a real phenomenon."

"The players... are too chaotic! Or rather, the players themselves symbolize chaos."

“Analogous to bandits… We cannot let bandits go, because every one we let go will lead to more people being harmed.”

"While players haven't reached that level yet, helping other players when you can only know their faces but not their hearts... well, let's just forget about it."

She could sense the malice others harbored towards her.

But those who harbor no ill will towards her are not necessarily kind people.

Take Mr. Fan for example... Maybe he's actually a serial killer behind the scenes, but he just happens to be uninterested in her, so he hasn't shown any malice towards her... Uh... Thinking like that seems a bit too much!

Jinna quickly suppressed her disrespectful and malicious thoughts.

At this moment, Fan Xiao said to her, "Don't worry, I'm not involved in a charity. I just want to make a deal with other players."

"A deal?" Mercury asked curiously.

Jinna also asked, "What kind of deal?"

Instead of answering their questions directly, Fan Xiao said, "Our current understanding of the Inner World is all based on speculation."

"Swimming pool and student ID—this is our first line of defense."

"Given the uncertainty of whether other dangers exist in the other world, we need a second and third layer of protection as a precaution."

"And the other players are our second line of defense."

"Assure……"

After being reminded, Mercury immediately realized: "Indeed... the more players enter the inner world, the less danger is distributed among each player, which is indeed safer."

"And with other players around, they can help us avoid pitfalls and mistakes."

He agreed with the proposal.

It's great that someone is caught in the crossfire.

For example, they dare not verify whether the gates and walls of the other world are passable or can be climbed over, but what about other players?

Perhaps sooner or later, some players will be forced by the danger and be the first to try it.

When your life is hanging by a thread, who cares about the risks?

We ran wherever there was a chance to get out!