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

Without special means, it is impossible to distinguish between the two.

"This is a secondary function of a prop, not its primary purpose."

Li Xian replied, "The larger the scale of the instance, the greater the danger lurking in the shadows."

"Right now, we can't use any items, and many of our abilities are restricted. The best solution to deal with this dungeon is to work together as a team."

"Who among you has the talent to deal with spirits and ghosts?"

"So, Captain, you also think there's something fishy about this dungeon...?"

Mercury sighed softly, "My talents lean towards physical attack and physical defense, which makes me somewhat incompatible with spirit-type monsters."

"Judging from the background information of the dungeon, the Sacrifice Spirit Town doesn't seem to be dangerous, but the note after the description seems to indicate that there is danger."

"The danger comes from the dead. If it were zombies or ghouls, that would be fine. I'm not good at dealing with anything too mysterious."

"Yes, it's understandable that girls are more afraid of ghosts."

Du Ruo nodded.

"..." Mercury: "Old Du, if you're itching for a beating, just say so!"

"It doesn't itch, it doesn't itch."

Du Ruo chuckled and replied, then said seriously, "The 'note' you mentioned after the background information reminded me of something."

"According to the background information, the residents of the town of Jiling seem to be able to see ghosts directly? Moreover, most of the ghosts are their relatives and pose no threat to them. The introduction does not mention that they have any intention or thought of moving away from here."

"As for tourists from outside... judging from the 'notes,' they are probably not on the ghosts' 'safe list'."

"Perhaps we can start with our identity and try to obtain the status of a local resident of the Spirit Town. In this way, we can avoid the threat of ghosts and monsters."

“Yes,” Li Xian nodded, “It is indeed a direction for breakthrough.”

“By the way,” Du Ruo continued, “my talent specializes in ranged attacks and armor penetration, and I have a poor affinity with spirits. But with this guy around, if we encounter danger, we can just leave the main attack to him.”

His gaze swept towards Fan Xiao.

“I can indeed attack spirits, but…”

Fan Xiao shook his head and said, "Your Special Affairs Bureau people have found out all about me, and you should also know that there is a cooldown period for my talent. I won't use it lightly unless absolutely necessary."

"Didn't you awaken psychic interference abilities?" Mercury asked. "That ability is quite advantageous when dealing with spirits, isn't it?"

"You really dare to dream, Xiao Mo. Can psychic energy be awakened just like that?" Fan Xiao explained, "My illusion magic comes from props, but here the props are restricted and can't be used."

"Really?" Mercury asked suspiciously.

"Given that my abilities have already been exposed, do you think I need to continue to lie and cover up my true intentions?"

Fan Xiao shrugged and said, "There's no point in telling this kind of lie."

“I can testify,” Lu Baizhi suddenly interjected, “Fan Xiao’s illusionary abilities do indeed come from a prop, and I’ve even seen that prop before.”

“Well,” Mercury sighed, “we’re missing an ace.”

"Where are the others?" Li Xian asked, looking at the remaining people.

Joining the Special Affairs Bureau does not mean that you have to proactively disclose all your personal information; an organization that does not respect privacy will generate resentment.

Therefore, even though he was the captain, he didn't know the specific talents of his teammates.

This is just a temporary team.

"I'm a demi-human player, I have no talent," Luo Hao said succinctly.

“My talent is also ranged attack type,” Cao Shuai said with sharp eyes. “If there are tools to help, it is possible to damage spirits, but now that tools cannot be used, I am not sure if I can damage spirits.”

“My talent is also not suitable for dealing with spirits without a physical form,” Song Qingshan said.

"Um... mine should be fine."

At this moment, Lu Baizhi spoke up: "My talent allows me to inflict both physical and mental damage when I attack."

Upon hearing this, everyone's attention turned to her.

It's probably quite unexpected, but right now the most useful person is this little girl.

Li Xian nodded and said, "There are only two... There are eight of us. I suggest we split into groups of four, with Fan Xiao and Lu Baizhi joining two separate groups."

"Captain, why do we have to split up?" Mercury asked, puzzled. "In horror movies, splitting up is practically a death flag. This is a supernatural instance, so I don't recommend splitting up."

"It wasn't a voluntary separation."

Li Xian explained, "It depends on the situation. We may face a situation where we have to separate. In that case, my suggestion will prevail."

“No problem,” Fan Xiao said with a smile. “We will most likely be separated. It’s not normal for eight people to stay at the same place.”

“We can sleep together on the floor,” Cao Shuai suggested. “In these extraordinary times, there’s no need for so many formalities.”

“If only it were that simple,” Fan Xiao shook his head. “Let’s go to town and see what the situation is like first.”

“This town is quite large,” Mercury said thoughtfully. “It should have hotels and guesthouses, or at the very least, guesthouses, right? If we can find those, we won’t have to separate.”

"The premise is that these kinds of places are safe."

Li Xian added: "If you work backward from the dungeon level to determine the difficulty, finding a safe place shouldn't be that easy."

"Let's go and see. If we have to split up, Fan Xiao, Song Qingshan, and Cao Shuai will form one group, and the rest of us will form another group."

"is that OK?"

Du Ruo and the others nodded.

Fan Xiao didn't refute it; temporarily separating from Lu Baizhi was actually more advantageous for him.

This dungeon is most likely a C-rank dungeon. Although he is not afraid, Song Qingshan is only E-rank now and definitely cannot handle it.

Survival-type dungeons become increasingly dangerous as they progress. He must quickly gather crucial information from these dangers, find a way to break the deadlock, and send his younger brother out.

On the other side, Lu Baizhi glanced at Fan Xiao, feeling a little reluctant, but finally nodded.

Chapter 341 Fan Xiao Became Honest

After deciding on the group assignments, Fan Xiao and his group of eight quickened their pace.

The outer outline of Jiling Town began to gradually expand in the field of vision.

Upon reaching the edge of town, Fan Xiao suddenly turned his head to look to the left, and the scene reflected in his eyes revealed a look of great interest to him.

Lu Baizhi, who had been following him closely, noticed his unusual behavior immediately and followed his gaze.

Not far to the left, a group of people were standing by the roadside, talking to the two people in the middle.

They spoke rapidly, their eyes were urgent, and their faces wore ingratiating expressions.

"Only you superhumans can solve this situation. Please, you must save us!"

"Yes, now we can only rely on you guys."

"please!"

A group of ordinary people surrounded the two players, openly displaying their fear, trying to speak, and begging for protection.

The two players who were surrounded didn't change their expressions. One of them spoke up: "Since we're all from the same city, I'll give you a heads-up. See this town? Go inside and find a reliable family to stay with for seven days. The instance will close after seven days, and you'll be teleported out. As for whether you can survive seven days... that depends on your luck."

"But……"

"Don't expect us to protect you! We're struggling to protect ourselves, let alone care about your lives. Humph."

The player who spoke glanced at the other player next to him and gave him a look.

The latter understands it perfectly.

The two immediately pushed through the crowd, ignoring the constant pleas, and quickly headed towards the inner part of the town.

As they passed by Fan Xiao and his group, the two players became wary, carefully increasing their distance and speed, clearly refusing to communicate.

The ordinary people who were left behind were thrown into turmoil and confusion. Some were filled with anger, some with fear in their eyes, and some with despair.

Seeing this, Mercury looked at Li Xian and asked, "What about these ordinary people?"

"The superhumans they're talking about are probably the players. Anyone who knows about the existence of players can't really be considered an ordinary person in the true sense."

Li Xian replied coldly, "The ordinary people in Wa City who have contact with players are either local officials or members of fraud gangs. We have no obligation or need to help them."

The Special Affairs Bureau is a very upright organization, and its style of operation is grand and dignified.

It is somewhat unreasonable to stand by and watch ordinary people in need of help die, and Mercury's statement was based on this consideration.

Of course, the style of an organization is not the same as the conduct of its members; what is noble is the profession, not the individual.

Players who have experienced multiple dungeons tend to become more self-interested. When their own safety is not guaranteed, they naturally won't bother with other people's business.

Therefore, no one had any objections to Li Xian's suggestion.

"This group of people are members of a fraud gang. Hmm, it just so happens that they are the same group that tricked me and Zhizi into coming to Wa City. What a coincidence."

Fan Xiao interjected, "Don't let their pitiful appearance fool you; they're quite skilled at dislocating tendons and ligaments."

The reason he stopped and looked at these people was because he saw the internet celebrity "Liu Liu" and several of "Liu Liu's" internet celebrity companions.

Of course, he wasn't gloating... well, there was a bit of it, though, this group got their comeuppance.

Watching the spectacle was secondary; his attention was more focused on something else—why was it such a coincidence that so many of the ordinary people who came in were members of a fraud ring?

Could other ordinary people who were caught up in the dungeon also have similar identities?

Could they all have been involved in fraud and harmed people?

"I tricked you into coming to Wa City..."

Mercury said speechlessly, "I'm almost embarrassed to call you out on what you're saying. Is that what you call being deceived?"

"That's just how it is; even if you willingly let yourself be deceived, it's still considered being deceived."

Fan Xiao shrugged and said, "Don't you guys think that among these ordinary people who got caught up in the dungeon, the proportion of members of fraud gangs is a bit high?"

"Players get caught up in... The dungeon should have a higher 'capture rate' for players, and the 'capture' will not distinguish between identity, personality or anything like that. This is the rule of evolution games."

"Logically speaking, ordinary people who are implicated should also be treated the same way, without distinction of identity."

"The current high proportion of fraudsters is very abnormal. It is highly likely that when players and ordinary people get involved, they follow two different patterns."

"Players are doing dungeons normally, while ordinary people are more like..."

"It's more like they're being retaliated against."

Li Xian then offered his conclusion: "If we consider the current phenomenon as a form of revenge by the victims against the fraudsters, it makes sense."

"Before the copy was formed, weren't there strange phenomena of ghosts and monsters appearing throughout the entire Wa City area?"

"Perhaps... these ghosts were all victims in their previous lives, and their hatred formed a special rule that drew in fraudsters."

"In other words," Mercury said thoughtfully, "this copy is based on reality, and its formation is related to those who died as victims of deception?"

Then, his imagination ran wild: "Those who were deceived...could they be the current residents of Jiling Town? If we want to obtain local resident status, is it enough to just be deceived once?"

“That’s probably not enough,” Van Shaw added. “The people who were deceived all died and became ghosts. If you want to become like them, you have to die once more.”

Mercury: "..."

"just kidding."

Fan Xiao grinned, then said seriously, "Judging from the background information of the 'Utopia' instance, the residents are all living people, they just can see ghosts and monsters."

"Rather than saying that the deceased victims became residents here, it would be more accurate to say that the families of these victims are the real residents."

"In order to bring back their deceased relatives, they created sacrificial rituals and succeeded. They are all waiting for their 'relatives' to return and for the family to be reunited."

“The victims’ families are all outside the instance,” Mercury said. “It’s impossible that they all just happened to be pulled in, right?”

"They may not be real family members; they could be creatures created by the copy to fill in the background."

Fan Xiao said, "Didn't the game hint mention 'Spirit Festival'? Judging from the description in the hint, it's most likely a festival similar to Ghost Festival."

"Perhaps the ghosts of these deceived people will all return to the Spirit Sacrifice Town on that day. When that happens... tsk tsk, we'll have some fun."

"...Damn it! Can you please stop making it sound so scary!"

Mercury frowned and said, "Counting from the past, there are at least eight or ten thousand people who have died in Wa City due to fraud gangs, and that's an underestimation."

"If so many ghosts return at the same time as the Ghost Festival... a massacre of the city by ten thousand ghosts? And who will be the players?"

His tone was serious.