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

After snapping out of her complicated thoughts, she realized that she was extremely weak and exhausted... The aftereffects of using her advanced ability had arrived. Next, she would be unable to use her talent for a short period of time, and she would be very weak, only able to fight using items.

She took out several bottles of Grade B mental recovery potions from her storage space and drank them all at once.

A full recovery takes time, and her face was still somewhat pale.

Fan Xiao then continued, "From now on, you'll stay by my side, and I'll guarantee your safety."

"Um……"

Sakura felt a mix of emotions – a sense of relief mixed with fear.

She was reassured by Fan Xiao's abilities, but what she feared... was Fan Xiao's way of doing things.

Wait a minute... This person in front of me is the real Fan Xiao, not the imitation Fan.

In her deduction, the real Fan Xiao was a person of very high moral character and integrity, and believing him... should be no problem.

Sakura gradually suppressed her fear, and the tension caused by her mental weakness dissipated considerably.

"So, your simulation is over? The result is... wait, this should be the real world now, right?"

Fan Xiao asked.

The reason for this doubt is that he is not quite clear about the working mechanism of Sakura's ability.

If he seamlessly transitioned into the simulated world from the moment his ability was activated, then... it's very likely that he's currently in a simulation, but he's unaware of it and believes he's real.

“Of course!” Sakura replied as if answering a question prematurely, “This is the real world! You are real! Not a simulation!”

She didn't say, "Don't do anything reckless..."

"...Why are you so agitated?" Fan Xiao asked suspiciously.

"..."

Sakura didn't know how to answer.

She couldn't very well say, "You scared me," could she? She still had some pride.

Initially, when Fan Xiao decided on the suggestive word "imitate Fan," a mischievous thought actually flashed through her mind—although she wouldn't usually do such a thing, it didn't stop her from thinking about it.

In short, she had considered whether to wait until the future simulation ended and then call the real-world Fan Xiao "Simulation Fan," thus blurring his understanding of the real and simulated worlds.

Truth and falsehood, reality and illusion... If we can confuse Fan Xiao for a while, it will be a lesson for that bastard!

The ambiguous relationship between Fan Xiao and the Holy Maiden made her very unhappy.

And now... she has completely sealed this thought deep in her heart, as if she were afraid of a flood or a ferocious beast, and dares not even mention it!

Because she was worried that if she actually did that, Fan Xiao would immediately show an arrogant and unrestrained smile and throw her a sentence—"Let's go, I'm going to massacre the city, you follow and record it."

Then, the first move was a devastating attack that affected the entire city...

This is so exciting!

She can't stand it!

"Let's go. To save time, I have to go massacre the city." Fan Xiao said coldly to Ying, "You follow me and record the intelligence."

"...!?"

Sakura instinctively leaped backward, jumping more than ten meters away, feeling a little scared.

What's going on...? She's still in the simulation world!?

Professor Chen's restart was successful?

What is true? What is false...?

Sakura was immediately filled with fear.

However, when her eyes met Fan Xiao's triumphant smile, she immediately realized that she had been tricked!

Sakura frowned, walked over again, and unable to suppress her anger, said in a cold voice, "This joke... is not funny at all!"

"Heh, then tell me, what was the meaning behind your action of taking a few steps back when you opened your eyes and heard my voice?"

Fan Xiao curled his lip and said, "We're not only comrades, you're also my subordinate. Your retreating behavior... I'm very dissatisfied with it."

"...You can joke like this with me, so you must have figured out your own behavior patterns in the simulated world, right?" Sakura changed the subject expressionlessly.

Although her expression was cold and angry, she was actually... slightly relieved.

The Fan Xiao in front of her cared about what others thought of him and their impression of him, and didn't like a bad reputation. He was completely different from the Fan Xiao who didn't care about anything... This proved that her previous deduction was basically correct.

Fan Xiao, who has emotions and morals, is more reliable!

“I suppose so,” Fan Xiao replied. “You mentioned before that in the simulated world, I might lack emotions and act based on reason and self-interest… Well, I can roughly imagine my own style of doing things.”

"So, what do you think..." Sakura continued, her expression still blank, "was my reaction just now normal? Or abnormal?"

"Maybe it's normal, but it's definitely exaggerated!" Fan Xiao scoffed. "In my estimation, I wouldn't be so idle as to attack my companion. We should be cooperating quite well in the simulated world, right? Your action of stepping back just now was entirely based on your own subjective judgment, not on objective factors. Sigh... there are always so many superficial people who like to misunderstand me."

“You killed everyone in the instance,” Sakura said directly, “and in the end you even killed me. The simulated world came to an early end with my death.”

Fan Xiao: "..."

Ah this...

Isn't it?

Is he really that heartless and insane?

“That shouldn’t be the case,” Fan Xiao murmured. “Logically speaking, I shouldn’t have attacked you…”

"You unleashed a powerful attack that you couldn't control, and it destroyed the entire instance," Sakura said. "The survivors were all caught in the crossfire and died."

That grand scene still lingers in her mind, leaving her with lingering fear.

She felt that after her return, she needed to ask the saint for help to undergo psychological therapy.

“…Okay, I think I know what’s going on.” Fan Xiao said, “Let’s not waste any more time. Tell me all the information you’ve recorded.”

At this point, his tone became more serious: "From your perspective, perhaps a long time has passed, but only five minutes have passed for me."

“Experiencing a large number of stimulating events in a short period of time can make people forget some key things, such as… we are currently in a state of altered cognition.”

"How much their understanding has been changed is unknown. Who knows how many days it will only take to be completely assimilated? To be on the safe side, we must clear this stage today!"

He was never a gambler.

He even suffers from paranoia...

The dangers in this instance are mandatory and unavoidable; to avoid any accidents, you must clear it as quickly as possible.

Therefore, it doesn't matter if we have to sacrifice some of the dungeon ratings.

Upon hearing Fan Xiao's warning, Ying immediately snapped out of her simulated memories and focused her attention on her current situation.

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, she immediately deployed her concealment tools and began recounting the information she had recorded.

Chapter 603 Fan Xiao: I'm doing this for her own good

Ten minutes later, Fan Xiao sorted through the information he had obtained from Ying, gradually piecing together the whole truth of the dungeon and resolving many of his doubts.

He looked quite interested and murmured, "Melissa has an A-grade item... I had guessed before that with her status, the fact that she dared to run around and play this revenge game meant she must have some kind of backing... I didn't expect she actually had an A-grade item."

“It didn’t work,” Sakura said. “She only lasted nine seconds on your hand before she collapsed.”

"According to your description, she withstood my attack for nine seconds without dodging. Even if I wasn't using my full strength, that's still quite an amazing feat!" Fan Xiao said with a slightly wistful tone, "Damage sharing... a life-saving A-grade item... quite effective."

"Should we go and snatch it?" Sakura asked.

"...Why would you ask such a question?" Fan Xiao's eye twitched, and he said with a speechless expression, "She's Nori's sister. Is it right for us to steal her life-saving items? What would Nori think of us if she found out?"

"..."

You wanted to kill her before, but I didn't see you having any reservations... Sakura suppressed her urge to complain.

After all, the simulated Fan and the real Fan Xiao have different personalities, so there's not much to compare... uh, I don't think there is.

She then changed the subject, saying, "The enforcement team and the city lord seem to be two different instance defense systems, with little interference between them. This time... should we take care of the enforcement team first?"

"No need, the enforcement team is a trap."

Fan Xiao said, "There are ways in this dungeon that allow players to complete it normally without breaking the law."

"In other words, we can pass through without confronting the law enforcement team."

"What do you think is the purpose of the law enforcement team?"

“Protecting the people… this place can be restarted, so it doesn’t seem necessary.” Sakura sighed, “It seems like this is a trap set for the players.”

"Let's try to avoid fighting the dungeon's inhabitants this time."

Fan Xiao continued, "Professor Chen's strength is beyond what B-level players can handle, so for the sake of game balance, the restrictions on him should be very strict."

"If he wants to go all out against the player, he probably has to meet a lot of conditions first, so... we don't need to provoke him head-on and fight him head-on. Let's just follow the rules and complete the game using the proper methods."

"But you did mention restarting..."

He looked thoughtful: "What's the point of restarting... does it have anything to do with the players?"

The rules and mechanics within a dungeon are not necessarily all related to the player.

A dungeon is, in a sense, a separate world with its own "plot"... or "story". Most dungeon bosses have their own goals to achieve.

These objectives are sometimes even given to players as dungeon quests.

The restart of this instance... seems to have little to do with the players; it mainly targets the residents of the City of True Love.

If it has nothing to do with the players, then it must have something to do with the dungeon boss.

"What did you think of?"

Seeing Fan Xiao's thoughtful expression, Yingjian asked a question.

Fan Xiao replied, "The different colors of the different floors of the 'City Lord Tower' standing in the central square area of ​​the City of True Love are a kind of hint to the players... When I first saw that tower, I had this guess in my mind. The information from the simulated world helped me to verify it in advance."

"The first layer of gray represents Professor Chen's unremarkable student days. He is like a gray background, serving as a foil to other high-value people. His ability is... well, it should be the power of exile, symbolizing that he has never been noticed or cared for, as if he were in another world."

"The second layer of black represents Professor Chen's period of love filled with deception and betrayal. That black should be the condensation of his negative emotions, manifesting as... a self-destructive impulse, symbolizing despair towards a world that judges by appearances;"

"The third layer of color represents the colorful and high-value life that Professor Chen desires most. Her ability is manifested in... genetic attraction. Mitchell Sinderson can make others fall in love with her unconditionally. In this way, she can strip away all hostility from her target."

"The fourth layer, pure white, should represent Professor Chen, who has embarked on the path of self-redemption. He is the one we met in the library. He is dedicated to saving all ordinary people who are lost in love. His love... has transformed from small love to great love. Hmm... perhaps restarting is his ability? It symbolizes his desire to save the residents of the City of True Love from the perspective of their thoughts and restart their lives. If once doesn't work, try twice; if twice doesn't work, try three times... the possibility is very high."

“That Professor Chen from the library doesn’t seem like part of the dungeon boss,” Sakura said. “Could he be acting against us?”

"It shouldn't be acting."

Fan Xiao shook his head: "Logically speaking, the one who should dominate in this instance is Professor Chen, who is pure white on the fourth level, since his level of thought is the highest."

"But in reality, it is Professor Chen, the second layer of black, who is in control... If nothing unexpected happens, it is probably because the evolution game deliberately handed over the control to Professor Chen, who is full of negative emotions, in order to increase the difficulty of the dungeon."

"As for Professor Chen, who was the most normal one, he lost a lot of his memories due to various restrictions and became a member of the City of True Love, trapped in his flawed memories and perceptions."

"Perhaps the third dungeon quest, 'Returning the Twisted City to Normal,' refers to helping Professor Pure White Chen return to his original floor and take control of the dungeon."

“But his understanding also has many problems,” Sakura reminded him. “His theories are extreme, and he believes that plastic surgery is useless. This is contrary to the real and normal world in many ways, and to some extent, it can be said to be a distorted ideology.”

“No, his theory is quite normal and very inclusive,” Fan Xiao said. “He mentioned in his previous lecture that his theory cannot explain all phenomena; there are always exceptions, and he himself acknowledges this. As for the theory that cosmetic surgery is useless…”

After thinking for a moment, he speculated, "This should be the opinion of the black-clad Professor Chen on the second level. Only extreme negative emotions could give rise to such a perception that disregards reality. Because he holds a dominant position, his ideas have distorted the perception of the pure-white Professor Chen."

"So... all we need to do is send Professor Chen, the Pure White One, back to the fourth floor?" Sakura asked. "Is this the solution to clear the level?"

“Yes,” Fan Xiao nodded, “this is the solution for the third dungeon mission.”

Sending him back won't be easy!

Ying frowned and said, "Professor Chen, the young man on the first floor, can use the power of exile; Professor Chen, the dark man on the second floor, can make people commit suicide; Mitchell Sinderson on the third floor can make people fall in love with her and strip away other people's hostility... All three of them are not easy to deal with. Judging from their combat performance in the simulated world, this is not a task that a B-level player can complete."

“Completing the third task means achieving a perfect victory, which is naturally not that simple,” Fan Xiao said. “And if you were thinking of forcing your way through from the beginning, then it will naturally be difficult.”

Upon hearing this, Sakura realized what was happening and asked curiously, "Are there any shortcuts to clearing the level?"

"Of course there is. What do you think my purpose was in having you conduct the simulation? We've already gathered almost all the intelligence."

Fan Xiao smiled and said, "First of all, the first task is, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the solution is the one I predicted before—change your perception to improve... or rather, restore your appearance stat, and then spend some time dating, and you should be able to collect enough Rings of Love."

"And the Ring of Love is most likely a means of resisting the power of banishment. One represents being loved, and the other represents the loneliness of being ignored... Hmm, as a means of resistance, they correspond perfectly."

"In other words, as long as you complete the first task, you will be qualified to pass through Professor Chen's floor."

“Resist the power of exile with the Ring of Love…” Sakura said, “Before the simulation began, we guessed that the Ring of Love was meant to protect us from cognitive distortions. Now it seems that it may not have that function; its function is elsewhere.”