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

"Thanks."

After thanking him, the swordsman drew his knight's sword from his waist and his expression turned serious.

Boom!

Suddenly, a loud explosion came from behind.

Some broken pieces of floor tiles flew from behind and hit Fan Xiao and his group.

The fragments, still glowing with fire, exploded in mid-air before even reaching the group, creating a tremendous shockwave and sending up white gusts of air.

The air distorted and became scorching hot.

Fan Xiao manipulated the repulsive force to blow away the incoming air blast, defusing a new wave of attacks.

At that moment, Mercury raised his hand and made a few gestures in the air.

Fan Xiao heard a sound of something freezing.

The remaining sparkling fragments of floor tiles were blocked by the air before they could fly over.

Even though there was nothing in the air, the fragments made a series of loud thuds, as if they had hit a steel plate.

Then came the sound of an explosion.

The air seemed to transform into a wall of steel, blocking the attack of debris.

Fan Xiao glanced at Mercury, guessing that he must have used his talent.

"Summer artifact!"

Even the refined gentleman made a move.

He took out a fan and swung it sharply at the monster horde behind him.

A dozen or so monsters were immediately blasted away by the sudden gust of wind and crashed into the office building behind them.

However, new monsters soon joined the fray.

Fan Xiao estimated that there were already more than forty of them.

Fortunately, they are getting closer and closer to the swimming pool.

There is plenty of time.

"whee……"

"whee……"

Suddenly, a child's laughter rang out.

Louder than ever before.

Everyone's expressions changed.

The feeling of being in a daze returned.

At the same time, four new black and white monsters rushed towards them in the direction they were heading.

The monsters in front and behind them began to attack them from both sides.

Seeing this, Jinna took out a rather exquisite little hammer from her storage space.

She rushed forward, wielding her small hammer, aiming at the fastest monster charging towards her.

As she swung the hammer in her hand, its size suddenly expanded, eventually becoming over two meters long, with the hammerhead as thick and enormous as a bucket.

The charging monster was struck head-on by the giant hammer. The sound of bones cracking rang out, and the monster was immediately sent flying backward, black blood spurting from its body. It crashed into the ground, creating a huge crater.

Bang!

She swung the hammer a second time, smashing the second charging monster away as well.

The giant hammer seemed to have a very powerful knockback effect.

Although she couldn't kill him with a single blow, any monster that chose to pounce and engage in close combat was no match for Jinna.

With her clearing the way, the other players suddenly felt much more relaxed.

Fan Xiao observed as he paddled, occasionally offering a helping hand.

Two minutes later, they finally arrived at the swimming pool and filed in.

The refined-looking man was the first to spot the 3D projection device. His face immediately lit up with joy, and he reminded everyone, "It's over there!"

After pointing out the location, he ran over first and pulled down several switches that were clearly switches.

The pure black projection device started working and soon projected the images of eight dogs onto the water's surface.

Both large and small dogs are available.

The images of the dogs came to life, swimming happily in the water.

Like a fish.

Rumble…

Outside the swimming pool, a group of monsters rushed in.

However, when they saw the eight dogs swimming, they all froze and turned their gazes to them.

"whee……"

"whee……"

The children's laughter grew even louder.

This time, however, "it" did not sound directly in Fan Xiao and the others' ears, but came from the edge of the pool.

Fan Xiao, the refined man, and the swordsman exchanged glances and nodded to each other.

Both the monster and "it" were drawn to the dog's attention.

They are safe now.

However, this safety is only temporary.

The projection device can operate even without electricity—unsurprisingly, this should be a safety precaution specifically designed for players in the instance, thus achieving something illogical.

Dungeons certainly won't always provide shelter for players.

The projection device will likely be shut down soon.

Fan Xiao made a gesture and led the way towards the entrance of the swimming pool.

He leaped over the heads of the monsters at the entrance and landed outside, without being attacked during the entire leap.

Seeing this, the others breathed a sigh of relief and followed suit, fleeing the swimming pool.

After leaving the swimming pool for a while, the refined man said, "Let's split up and look for our student IDs. It's too inefficient if we all crowd into one place."

No one objected to this suggestion.

The number of student IDs in a given area is likely to be limited.

Therefore, searching separately is the most efficient method.

"Let's go this way."

Fan Xiao pointed to his right and then left with his three companions.

On the way, Jinna asked, "Why is the dog swimming in the water in the projection?"

"Do you remember the swimming pool in the real world, where there were lots of dog bones?"

Fan Xiao said, "I guess in 'its' common sense, dogs are not land animals, but aquatic creatures, like fish."

"So it throws dogs that are running on the ground into the pool, and those dog bones in the surface world are probably all 'its' handiwork."

"Tsk... This guy is like a megalomaniac, thinking the world revolves around him, and forcibly distorting anything that doesn't suit his taste."

Mercury commented.

“Don’t try to reason with monsters,” Fan Xiao cautioned. “Also, don’t show any unusual emotions towards the dogs swimming in the water. Remember the game hints and the information on the third black garment we found? They both mentioned accepting things that don’t make sense. I think…”

He paused, then said in a serious tone, "If we show surprise or astonishment at illogical things in the Otherworld, even if we have student IDs, 'it' might still attack us."

"Everything in the Otherworld is common sense in 'its' understanding, and we should not doubt 'its' common sense."

"So that's what it meant..."

Jinna seemed to be deep in thought.

Being wary of illogical things refers to the rules of the apparent world.

Acceptance... refers to the rules of the inner world.

No wonder they contradict each other; they are rules from different spaces.

Yet, these different spaces exist within the same copy.

"correct."

Mercury then asked Vanshaw about something else: "When we were stopping those monsters from chasing us, you were just slacking off, weren't you?"

"Don't put it so harshly, I'm just observing."

Fan Xiao replied, "Observe whether 'it' gets angry after the player kills the monster."

Jinna asked, "So what was the result?"

“Its” voice has never changed, so it’s probably not angry.

Fan Xiao said, "But that could also be because the players haven't killed enough monsters, not enough to make 'it' angry. Tsk... a bunch of noobs, can't they put in a little more effort?"

Jinna: "..."

Mercury asked suspiciously, "Why are you observing this kind of thing?"

"It's a private matter and has little to do with you."

Fan Xiao didn't reveal anything, but glanced at the giant hammer that Jin Na was carrying on her shoulder, and used her as an excuse to change the subject, saying, "Jin Na, your weapon... is quite impressive."

"It's rare to see a girl using this kind of weapon."

Mercury chimed in with his own comment, then asked, "I noticed you were having a lot of trouble using it. The hammer must be very heavy, right? Don't you have any other tools to choose from?"

"Yes, but I don't plan to change it."

Jinna suddenly adopted a devout expression and said, "The great Miss Qiu once said that a qualified nun must first learn to restrain her murderous intent and fill her heart with mercy."

"Miss Qiu then set an example by using a mace as a weapon. The mace was blunt and had no sharp edges."

"Discarding sharp blades and using blunt weapons represents the priests' principle of non-killing."

"The principle of not killing?"

Mercury cautioned, "Actively limiting one's own strength is not a good thing."

"It's ok."

Jinna explained, "Whether it's a mace or a hammer, although neither is as sharp as a blade, their attack power is not weak. They can smash an enemy's head open."

"...You call this kindness?"

Mercury began to sense that something was wrong.

Fan Xiao and Luo Hao also looked over with subtle glances.

Are all the nuns of Yahweh Catholic Church like this?

Jinna replied, "The blade represents the intent to kill. We have all restrained our intent to kill by abandoning the blade. This can certainly be considered merciful."

"Alas, using a hammer as a weapon is truly a last resort."

"However... I will always uphold Miss Qiu's noble ideals!"

"..."

Mercury certainly learned something new.

So killing someone counts as murder?

Smashing someone to pieces is considered merciful, right?

After seeing that no more monsters appeared around her, Jinna shrunk the giant hammer again and put it into her storage space.

The four of them stopped talking and, led by Fan Xiao, quickly arrived at the arched bridge by the river.