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

That sounded familiar… Ai Yuan couldn’t help but ask, “Um… Mr. Fan, do you have a problem with girls?”

"How can you talk like that! How can you talk like that! Are you discriminating against men?" Fan Xiao started punching: "The point I made applies to both men and women. Why are you taking it personally? Your own defensiveness has nothing to do with me."

Ai Yuan: "..."

“This rule certainly applies to both men and women,” Malfoy with the bushy beard laughed. “For example, I like good looks first, and then I consider good character. No matter how good a person’s character is, without good looks as a foundation, they can at most earn my respect, but not my liking.”

"Heh...you're so honest."

Standing next to Melissa, Élie made a sarcastic remark.

"..." Malfoy: "I was just saying. We're all human, who doesn't like good-looking people?"

“Yes, you’re right.” Élisabeth said in a flat voice.

Malfoy dared not speak.

Sure enough, everyone uses lies to cover up their true nature, which stems from desire.

Can't you be as honest as him?

“I reserve my opinion on this point; perhaps it applies to this particular instance,” Melissa said, turning to Van Shaw. “You mentioned two things to be mindful of, one being lying. What’s the other?”

“The residents here are unaffected by mental interference,” Fan Xiao said.

"How did you know... uh, you tried attacking them directly, didn't you?" Melissa asked.

“Yes,” Fan Xiao said, “We have tested this on several groups of students, and the teachers have also tried it on a few. It is basically certain that they are truly unaffected by mental interference. Or perhaps… their mental resistance is very high, and interference that is not at the A level is probably not enough to shake them.”

Melissa: "..."

He'd barely entered the dungeon when he dared to attack the native creatures inside... This guy's got some nerve!

Although previous battles have proven one thing—mental interference cannot be monitored. Or rather, actions can be monitored, but the meaning behind those actions cannot be analyzed. The monitors are unaware that they have used mental means.

But... freedom of thought and means are two different things from directly attacking indigenous people.

Combining the two does not mean that you can avoid potential triggering dangers.

Melissa asked Van Shaw, "You're not thinking that at worst you'll just commit assault and spend a few days in jail, so it doesn't matter, are you?"

She paused, then kindly reminded him, "That idea is a bit naive. Who can be sure or guarantee that attacking a player and attacking a dungeon's life form will receive the same treatment?"

“I didn’t realize you were so caring,” Fan Xiao chuckled. “Don’t worry, if something really goes wrong, I have my own solutions.”

Ever since the Angel of Death was completed, he has been in a state of arrogance and inflation.

Simply put, there are fewer concerns when running dungeons, and people are more willing to try some more aggressive strategies.

Anyway, even if something goes wrong during the trial, the little angel can always cover for him... Well, he's not afraid of colliding with the dungeon boss prematurely.

Of course, he's not really stupid. Right now, he only dares to play around like this in B-level dungeons, and he's not even playing the most aggressive kind.

Once his strength reaches a higher level, he might be able to roam freely in B-level dungeons.

"Is it……"

Melissa's curiosity about Van Shaw intensified.

At the same time, she noted down a piece of information—this guy possessed the means to interfere with minds.

He even shared this kind of information that involves his own secrets. Is this guy really that generous... or is he up to something else?

Melissa kept a watchful eye on herself, lest she be used as a pawn.

This time she learned her lesson and didn't flaunt what she had guessed.

"Then what do we do next?"

At this moment, Dogman Taian asked a question.

Melissa explained her plan: "First, we'll identify potential targets who might possess the Ring of Love. Judging from the information provided by the students, these targets include beautiful, handsome, and ugly individuals, as well as ordinary people."

"The average and ugly groups are too large to be easily targeted. We can focus our attention on the beautiful and handsome teachers and students first."

"Once we've locked onto the target, we'll try the normal approach first. If that doesn't work, then we'll have to find ways to improve their appearance, or... make money."

At this point, she looked at Fan Xiao and continued, "Someone once said that in school, looks are more important than money. If ordinary methods don't work, let's find ways to improve our looks first."

"Shouldn't we start with the average-looking and the ugly ones?" Tai'an frowned. "If we're talking about who's easier to handle, it's naturally them. Those with outstanding looks are much harder for us to handle in a short time."

"Hehe, be more confident, remove 'short time'."

Ai Yuan scoffed, "With our current conditions, you think we can win over the school's most beautiful and handsome students? Do you think they're blind?"

"Whether you choose the good-looking ones first or the average-looking ones, it's up to you," Fan Xiao said. "However, there's a misconception based on arrogance that I need to correct in advance."

He paused for a moment, looked at the dog-man Tai'an, and smiled, "Mr. Tai'an, you don't think you can't get a pretty one, so you can only settle for an average one, do you?"

"We're broke and unattractive right now," Tai'an sighed. "We can only go for average girls."

"No, you misunderstood me. I didn't mean to encourage or comfort you," Fan Xiao explained. "What I meant was, why do you think you can win over someone who's not particularly attractive? You don't actually think that just because they're not good-looking, they'll like someone like you, do you?"

Tai'an: "..."

This guy... why does he talk so rudely!

He wanted to teach the other person a lesson... but it seemed he couldn't win.

"That's arrogance."

Fan Xiao sighed, "Ask yourselves honestly, do you prefer handsome and beautiful people, or ugly and average-looking people?"

"Men and women think the same way; no matter what they look like, they all like people who are good-looking."

"You think that people with average looks are easy to win over? This is a misconception based on arrogance. In fact, the difficulty of winning them over is not much different from the difficulty of winning over people with high looks."

"You're being too self-righteous!" Tai'an said with some dissatisfaction. "The fact is, people who are average-looking are indeed easier to handle than those who are beautiful."

"I'm talking about mindset, you're talking about reality. Reality has many other variables that affect it, so these two are not actually contradictory."

Fan Xiao continued, "Good-looking girls have more suitors and more choices, so they're naturally not in a hurry to make a decision. Everyone is a competitor, and pursuing the same goal naturally makes it more difficult."

"But it's different for those who are average-looking. They don't have a choice at all. They're lucky if someone pursues them. Without competition, they're naturally easier to win over than those who are good-looking."

"...What you've said doesn't contradict my suggestion!" Tai'an said, "Since good-looking people are hard to pursue, why not target those with average looks?"

“There are too many people with average looks,” Melissa said. “It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack, which will increase the difficulty and cost of our search. So we should choose to survey people with good looks, which is simpler.”

At this point, she sighed softly, "If only we could use tools that interfere with students' minds. If we could see through their true thoughts, we could quickly pinpoint who possesses the Ring of Love."

She actually possesses tools that can interfere with mental processes.

However, out of caution and apprehension, she hadn't dared to use it on the school's teachers and students before.

She couldn't be the player attacking the natives in the instance, at least not the first one—that was her thought at the time.

“You can give it a try,” Fan Xiao said. “I’ve already proven to you that using psychological intervention methods against students doesn’t trigger any danger. So far, no law enforcement officers have come after me or arrested me, which is enough to prove the safety of this practice.”

“Didn’t you say that psychological intervention is ineffective against them?” Melissa asked.

“I haven’t verified all the mental interventions,” Vanshaw shrugged. “And just looking at their thoughts without interfering with their thinking… doesn’t necessarily mean it will fail outright. You can try it.”

"..."

After a few seconds of silence, Melissa asked, "Mr. Fan, are you sure... you really did try to interfere with the students here? The conclusion that mental methods were ineffective... you didn't... make that up, did you?"

She suspected that Fan Xiao was trying to trick her!

This bastard's cunning was revealed from the very beginning when he started stirring things up.

Just make up a rumor that mental intervention is ineffective, and then lure other players to actually intervene... and you'll get free experience from learning how to avoid getting hurt.

So insidious!

learnt!

Chapter 592 The City of the Undead

Faced with Melissa's question, Van Shaw was speechless.

He said, "Young lady, there are many schemes and plots in this world, but not that many. I can only say, believe it or not."

Damn it... He finally told the truth and shared information for free, and he was still suspected?

Is it really that hard to be a good person?

Fan Xiao then looked at the others and said, "Let's continue our separate operations. We'll stop the intelligence exchange here for now. We'll meet up here again once we've each identified our targets."

"School's out now, so there's no need to rush the search for the target."

"I'm going to explore outside the school. You guys can do whatever you want."

Upon hearing this, Ai Yuan quickly took a few steps closer to him, her voice soft and gentle, "Brother Fan... sir, let's act together, okay..."

"roll."

Fan Xiao snorted, turned to look at the bearded Malfoy, and chuckled, "Brother, wanna join in?"

"..." Malfoy took two steps back and chuckled three times: "Haha, sorry, I have to protect our princess."

"Really? What a shame."

Fan Xiao shrugged and turned to walk towards the school gate.

Ai Yuan: "..."

My self-esteem... feels like it's shattered.

This piece of shit!

She refused to believe it! With her charm, could there be a man she couldn't straighten out?

"Shall we act together?"

At this moment, Tai'an extended an invitation to Ai Yuan: "They're either lone wolves or they have teammates, it's just us..."

"roll!"

Ai Yuan didn't even turn her head and walked straight out of the school.

Tai'an: "..."

After cursing "bitch" in his mind, he turned his gaze to Sakura, who was standing there with a thoughtful expression.

Sakura noticed his gaze, her eyes turned slightly cold, and she uttered a single word: "Get lost."

Then, her tall, slender figure fell into the shadow at her feet.

The shadow vanished in the next second.

"..."

Tai'an really wants to kill someone.

Damn...why?

He's never short of women outside, so why don't these guys even give him a second glance?

After letting out a heavy snort, Tai'an left the spot.

Soon, only Melissa and her two companions remained at the edge of the playground.

Élisabeth asked Melissa, "Where do we go next?"

“Go check the school’s archives. They should have information on all the teachers and students. We need to pick out the most attractive people from there,” Melissa said. “Tonight, we’ll hurry and go door-to-door to check. We must find the holder of the Love Ring as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, Your Highness’s thoughts are also my thoughts.” Élissée nodded: “The number of holders of the Ring of Love is probably not very large, and there may be competition among us players.”

“Next time we exchange intelligence, let’s not talk about the targets we’ve found,” Malfoy suggested. “And even if we do, we can’t tell the truth. Each player needs to collect 10 Heart Rings to clear the level, and there are 9 players in total, which is 90 rings…”

He said with a serious expression, "I feel that if we don't trick others, we might not be able to clear the game."

“Let’s talk about the scam later,” Melissa shook her head. “Take care of yourself first. As for whether or not to show malice, we’ll see how things go.”

“There’s one more thing,” Elise asked, “When we go to investigate later… should we use the device that can detect thoughts on the residents here? That Mr. Fan is very cunning, and I feel that his words cannot be trusted.”

"..."

Melissa hesitated for more than ten seconds before finally saying, "Go ahead and use it. If it fails, the worst that can happen is that we'll just have to spend a few days in jail. If it succeeds, we'll have gained the upper hand."

As one of the candidates for the next queen, she naturally has no shortage of B-grade items with various functions.

She does possess tools that involve mental intervention and probing into one's inner thoughts, but she doesn't keep them permanently equipped.

Unfortunately, items with these attributes are so overpowered that their effects are somewhat lacking, and they can only interfere with people with low evolution rates.