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

"Of course, I'll keep an eye on her."

Fan Xiao nodded and changed the subject, saying, "By the way, Uncle Li, do you have enough rooms? As you can see, there are many of us."

"It's just me and Xiaoyi living in this house. There are plenty of other rooms. What are the three of you? Of course you can fit. Come with me."

After saying this, Li Wendong led Fan Xiao and the other two upstairs.

There are five vacant rooms on the second floor, but they are not empty. On the contrary, they are furnished with beds, blankets, wardrobes, and dressing tables, and are very clean and tidy, as if someone had lived there not long ago.

"You can stay on the second floor for the next three days. You can choose any room you like."

Li Wendong reminded him.

"Thank you."

Fan Xiao nodded and chose a room near the stairs.

The Lu sisters chose to share a room, right next to his, separated only by a wall.

It's still early before dark.

Fan Xiao suggested that he take his sisters to visit the central temple they were going to worship at that evening.

Li Wendong readily agreed and offered to take them there, his enthusiasm resembling that of a fanatical missionary recruiting believers.

It took Fan Xiao some effort to politely decline his enthusiasm and then temporarily leave his house with the Lu Xining sisters.

Before leaving, Fan Xiao saw the little girl whom Li Wendong called "Xiao Yi" hiding in her room, peeking at the three of them through the crack in the door, as if she wanted to say something.

……

After leaving Li Wendong's house for a while.

Instead of heading to the central temple immediately, Fan Xiao and the other two found a secluded corner and began to talk.

“I feel there’s something strange about Li Wendong,” Lu Xining said. “Are we really going to stay at his place tonight?”

"We can make a comparison, and then we'll visit a few more companies to try."

Fan Xiao replied, "However... I estimate they'll be about the same. In the end, we'll still have to come back. It all depends on whether you believe in Zhi Zi's luck. She chose Li Wendong's family, so they should be more reliable than the others."

"What is the basis for your judgment?" Lu Xining asked.

“This isn’t a judgment,” Fan Xiao shook his head, “it’s based on intuition, a guess.”

“…Okay.” Lu Xining changed the subject: “Weren’t you afraid of getting into trouble when you drank tea brewed by other people so casually?”

"The tea is fine, it's just ordinary tea," Fan Xiao said.

Lu Xining's eyes lit up: "Do you have any tools that can detect poison?"

Fan Xiao smiled.

It's the default.

Even so, it was still a bit reckless.

Lu Xining cautioned, "E-level players can only obtain E-level antidotes. Even if your detection item can cure the poison, the item's level is fixed, and its ability definitely has an upper limit. What you're doing is a bit risky."

"This is an E-level dungeon. What level of poison do you think you can find at most?"

"Grade E, Grade D, the probability of Grade C is very low, almost nonexistent... Your antidote is of a very high level?"

"Okay."

Fan Xiao said, "However, the props are only one aspect. Being suddenly moved to a place like this would make any normal person cautious, and the other side probably thought of that too. Unless they're an idiot, they wouldn't drug someone as soon as they meet. Besides, with Zhi Zi as a teammate, it's okay to be a little risky."

"Don't worry, Fan Xiao!" Lu Baizhi nodded emphatically when she heard that she was being referred to: "Leave the detoxification to me."

"Okay, it's up to you now. Do your best."

Fan Xiao offered a casual word of encouragement, then got back to business: "I have faith in Zhi Zi's luck. Let's stay at Li Wendong's house."

"Of course, we should also visit a few other islanders, not to ask for lodging, but to gather more information."

"I have no opinion."

Lu Xining nodded: "After we finish visiting the other islanders, let's go to the central temple to see if we should abide by the fourth rule that Li Wendong mentioned. We need to investigate carefully first, and we can't blindly believe it."

"By the way, aren't you good at reading people's micro-expressions? Did Li Wendong lie to us?"

Chapter 52 Young people don’t respect martial ethics

"Micro-expressions are not mind reading. Don't think of them as something magical, or rather, don't think of me as something magical."

Upon hearing Lu Xining's question, Fan Xiao shook his head and explained, "As long as a person has good mental fortitude and prepares themselves mentally beforehand, when they lie, it's actually no different from when they speak normally."

"Moreover, if someone tells a big lie, their micro-expressions or movements may appear somewhat unnatural, but if they tell a small lie casually, there will be no abnormalities."

"How many outsiders do you think Li Wendong has told that story? If it's a lie, is it a big lie or a small lie to him?"

"If you can't tell, you can't tell. Why make it so complicated?"

Lu Xining summarized it in one sentence.

"...I'm indirectly telling you that Li Wendong's acting skills are likely to be very good, so you should be careful and vigilant."

Fan Xiao shrugged.

He could tell when they were selecting copies that Lu Xining was a bit clueless about romance.

Or rather... this girl is a bit KY (insensitive/out of touch).

Her emotional intelligence is a bit low.

She's even worse than her sister.

"Sister, Fan Xiao, let's go visit the other islanders first. It's already three o'clock in the afternoon."

Lu Baizhi reminded the two, "There are only three and a half hours left until the agreed meeting time."

Fan Xiao nodded: "Then let's go."

After that, the three of them selected the homes of six islanders and visited them.

The situation they encountered was similar to that of Li Wendong's family.

The residents of this island are indeed very warm and hospitable.

Of course, the premise is that you don't step on their landmines.

This is what is known as the island god.

Whenever the topic of the island god comes up, the people on the island become stern and serious.

They become angry and extremely aggressive if the topic touches on even the slightest sensitive issue.

Among these, the most sensitive topic for the islanders is the issue of sacrificial rites.

Whenever this is mentioned, the islanders will respond with harsh words and insist that the gods help them for free, denying the existence of the sacrificial activities.

And there is no room for argument.

No further questions allowed.

Otherwise, the islanders would simply kick them out.

This topic was like a raging flood or a ferocious beast, filling them with dread.

If we're comparing who's the worst, Li Wendong is actually one of the more "amiable" ones among these islanders.

……

"The people on this island are like fanatics. They become extremely harsh when it comes to topics like gods and sacrifices, and they become incredibly irritable when faced with opposing views."

Lu Xining frowned and asked Fan Xiao, "Did they lie?"

"His micro-expressions are flawless."

Fan Xiao shook his head: "Either they weren't lying, or they're all seasoned veterans. I personally lean towards the latter. After all, this instance has clearly been opened more than once."

"Sister, I also think they are definitely hiding something."

Lu Baizhi expressed her opinion: "Even if there are no sacrificial activities on this island, the islanders shouldn't have such a big reaction if this topic were discussed normally, right? Now it seems like they're trying to cover it up."

"I think the sacrificial rituals might be directly related to the so-called 'truth,' which is why they are so difficult to obtain?"

"Maybe."

Lu Xining sighed softly: "But finding a breakthrough from the islanders is almost impossible given the current situation. If only there weren't this rule of 'not attacking the islanders'."

"..." Lu Baizhi: "Sister, what do you want to do?"

"I'm just using some methods to threaten and interrogate them. Don't think too badly of me. I wouldn't go so far as to torture and interrogate them directly."

Lu Xining said with dissatisfaction, "The islanders know about the 'no attack' rule now, and they are fearless and will not be threatened by us. If they don't want to say it themselves, there's nothing we can do."

Given the islanders' sensitivity when it comes to deities, it's practically impossible to get them to say anything voluntarily.

Forget about communicating; it would be a miracle if they weren't kicked out on the spot.

"No, it's not that we can't threaten you."

Fan Xiao suddenly spoke up in rebuttal.

Lu Xining's eyes lit up: "You have a solution?"

"...Why do I get the feeling that you're really keen on using threats?" Fan Xiao's urge to complain was strong.

"Simple and efficient."

Lu Xining said without any psychological burden.

"Ok."

Fan Xiao said, "It's actually very simple. There's a condition for us not to attack the islanders: that is, while the instance is in progress. But instances always end eventually, and D-rank players can decide their own fate after the instance ends; they won't be forcibly teleported to the station. Got it?"

"Got it, they're impersonating a D-level player and threatening to settle scores later."

"That's it."

Fan Xiao added, "Of course, this tactic might not work if the islanders don't have a clear understanding of players and games. We can only hope that someone has used it before and they've fallen for it."

“Let’s try it on Li Wendong tonight,” Lu Xining suggested. “If we try it during the day, it’s easy to cause trouble and anger everyone. We still have a bunch of burdens to take care of.”

“I thought you’d forgotten about them,” Fan Xiao said.

Lu Xining was referring to the ordinary people who were caught up in the dungeon along with them.

If they act rashly during the day and incur the wrath of the people, implicating ordinary citizens and causing no islanders to offer them lodging, things will become very troublesome.

Therefore, it is best to conduct the experiment at night.

“Um…” Lu Baizhi hesitated, “Wouldn’t we be going too far? Li Wendong has already offered us lodging, and we’re threatening him…”

“The threats are just words,” Lu Xining said. “If he doesn’t take them, there’s nothing we can do about it. There’s no intention of actually attacking him.”

"Don't feel bad about it right away."

Fan Xiaochao and Bai Zhi smiled and said, "Perhaps we are the ones on the side of justice."

"Are we the righteous ones?" Lu Baizhi wasn't stupid; she quickly realized the key point: "You mean... Li Wendong didn't have good intentions in agreeing to let us stay overnight?"

"It's just a guess, but my intuition is usually pretty accurate."

Fan Xiao reminded him, "Remember Li Wendong's daughter? The girl named 'Xiao Yi' who opened the door for us. She was trying to get rid of us from the start. Li Wendong's explanation was that Xiao Yi disliked us outsiders because she had had some unpleasant experiences with them in the past."

"This explanation is quite reasonable."

Lu Xining said, "We all know what kind of people the players are. As for the ordinary people who got involved, they probably won't be friendly to the islanders here... Wait, Xiao Yi didn't say anything about her reasons from beginning to end. On the contrary, Li Wendong forcibly sent her away. It seems a bit deliberate."

"Yes, as long as she hasn't spoken up herself, there's another possibility."

Fan Xiao held up one finger and said, "She's not kicking us out, she's helping us."

At this point, he looked at Lu Baizhi and smiled, "Perhaps... this is your luck."

"There's no use guessing about this."

Lu Xining said, "Regardless of whether Li Wendong has good intentions or not, we have to try to threaten him tonight. Whether the reason for the attack is justified or not is not important. Players are not moral saints."

"I have no opinion."

Fan Xiao nodded: "Let's go to the central temple first. Apart from Li Wendong, the other islanders also clearly stated that there is a fourth 'rule for worship and prayer'. At least this is not something Li Wendong made up to deceive us. In any case, we must investigate it before dark."