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

Fan Xiao responded to Xia Li's question.

The urban legend of "Mary's Phone Call" was circulating in his hometown, and he had heard of it. He just didn't know if the Mary in this instance was different from the Mary he knew.

Although many legends circulating in various worlds of the game are similar, there are many differences in the details.

Parallel universes do not mean replicas of the same world.

"It seems there's something truly bizarre behind those strange deaths mentioned in the introduction." The little white cat rested her chin on one hand, striking a cute pose, and analyzed with an air of importance. "I wonder what kind of monsters the other incidents correspond to?"

“They’re not necessarily all monsters,” Xia Li said. “We still don’t have enough information. Let’s investigate the library first.”

After saying that, she looked at Fan Xiao and reminded him, "From now on, we must always act together. Mary's strength is unknown, and we may need to cooperate with many people to fight her."

She was referring to Fan Xiao and her acting together.

As for others... moral blackmail is useless against A-level players; it's unrealistic to expect others to share the risks with them.

"Brother Fan Jin, let's fight Mary together," the little white cat said affectionately.

Upon hearing this, before Fan Xiao could say anything, Xia Li gave this guy who was pretending to be young a strange look.

Speaking of which... why did this person insist on coming over? Are they even willing to share the danger?

Love at first sight? There shouldn't be any love-struck players among A-level players, right?

The little white cat noticed Xia Li's gaze, and with a sweet smile, she explained, "It's both danger and opportunity. Maybe we can get some unexpected information from Miss Mary."

You can't be half-hearted when trying to curry favor with someone powerful, or you'll leave a bad impression—that was her true thought.

Although she considered herself to be quite skilled among A-level players, she believed that it would be safer to act alongside stronger individuals.

Crises that occur at the very beginning of a dungeon are generally not too dangerous.

Moreover... this is also an opportunity to test Fan Jin's abilities and see if they match her judgment.

"Then let's go together."

Xia Li accepted this explanation.

This was just a minor incident. The players didn't linger any longer and entered the library one after another, their expressions becoming more cautious.

This instance has banned items and suppressed and weakened various player abilities, greatly reducing everyone's strength. In this state, it's hard to say whether they can handle danger.

Fan Xiao's misfortune served as a warning to everyone in a sense.

……

The library was quiet; there were very few people inside at this time.

Fan Xiao and the others spent a little over an hour carefully investigating all aspects of the information, gaining a fairly detailed and complete understanding of Black Rock City and this instance world.

They even compared the information they found online in the electronic reading room with the printed information in the library to see if there were any differences.

There are no significant differences in the comparison results, and there are no contradictions in the information.

But... after their investigation, besides gaining a better understanding of this world, their only discovery was that many bizarre deaths had recently occurred in various cities, some on a large scale and others on a small scale.

The information mentioned in the dungeon's background description is only a very small part of the strange events... No, it can't be described as "a part," it's more like a few things were mentioned sporadically.

The radio program "My Hot Topics, Your Heart" is just an ordinary radio program that mainly introduces current hot news and does not only broadcast content related to strange events.

Of course, it's also possible that it's just superficially normal.

As for whether there are any secrets behind this, one would probably have to actually contact the staff of the show to find out.

Fortunately, the studio behind the program is located in Black Rock City, so there's no need to travel to other cities to conduct research.

As for mythology...

Xia Li turned her gaze away from the monitor, her brows furrowing slightly.

She skimmed through the myths of this world and found nothing unusual—in short, she wasn't sure which were true and which were false.

She had hoped that the myths and the various strange events unfolding were connected, and that investigating and comparing them from that angle would yield some results. However… she found absolutely no connection, making it impossible to determine the veracity of the myths' content from this perspective.

And there are just too many myths!

The sheer volume of related books, research papers, and online information was overwhelming.

Therefore, she could only skim through the introductions to the various mythologies.

Even with her strong mental power and passively enhanced memory and comprehension abilities, it would still take her at least a month to thoroughly study all the mythological materials and master every detail.

The "month" mentioned here refers to a month of working without sleep or rest.

Unless she has a talent or psychic ability related to intelligence gathering and processing, this time will only be longer, not shorter.

"Simply investigating mythological materials and comparing the differences seems to be a wrong direction?"

A thoughtful look flashed in Xia Li's eyes.

She glanced to the side and saw Fan Xiao sitting next to her, investigating information related to names.

He investigated the names of Fan Jin, Xia Li, Bai Xiaomao, and other players in detail.

Xia Li realized what was happening and asked in a low voice, "You were looking for our identities? What was the result?"

“No results,” Fan Xiao shook his head. “At least we can’t find anything here, which means we’re not celebrities. If the copy really did assign us an identity, we might have to investigate the details with official agencies.”

“That’s definitely a direction for investigation,” the little white cat to Fan Xiao’s right nodded. “We also need to check out the location of the radio program.”

“I have a feeling this investigation won’t yield any results,” Xia Li said with a slight frown. “Our mission is to survive and save the world, which should be extremely dangerous, but so far… why hasn’t there been any progress?”

"Why is there no movement?" Fan Xiao sighed. "Miss Mary is only a few hundred meters away from me. If she calls a few more times, she'll probably be right next to me."

As he spoke, he typed words like "Mary" and "telephone" into the search box and began his investigation.

Unlike before, this time he quickly found the information, although it was very disorganized.

There are many versions of Mary's phone call on the internet. In addition to urban legends, the name Mary also appears in a fantasy work involving the supernatural.

Fan Xiao's eyes lit up. He first looked at the urban legend, then at the work Mary, and confirmed the difference between the two... Actually, there wasn't much difference. Mary's methods of killing were similar, except that the work Mary had a two-dimensional character design.

Xia Li and the white kitten also leaned closer to look at the information about Mary.

White Cat clapped her hands and suddenly said, "Could it be that Mary from the story has come to life and killed someone?"

“…It’s possible, but it might not be Mary from the story.” Xia Li suddenly had a breakthrough: “Could it be that the urban legend of ‘Mary’s phone call’ has come true?”

"From this perspective, could all those bizarre deaths be related to this situation?"

White Cat speculated logically and with evidence: "Some fictional creatures have appeared in the real world and started causing trouble? Is the world-saving mentioned in the dungeon quest about defeating these fictional creatures?"

“It’s quite possible,” Xia Li suggested. “Let’s put the investigation on hold for now and try Miss Mary instead. Let’s see if this Mary is just an urban legend coming true, or if the Mary from the story has actually come to life.”

“I hope it’s the former,” Vanshaw suddenly said. “If it’s the latter… then we shouldn’t be thinking about how to save the world, but how to survive.”

"Why do you say that... Okay, I understand."

Xia Li's eyes became more serious.

The little white cat subconsciously swallowed, realizing the seriousness of the situation.

It sounds interesting that characters from a work of art have come into reality, but upon deeper reflection, the dangers behind it are simply off the charts.

After all... there are quite a few characters in various works whose combat power is so high that they can destroy stars.

There are also quite a few that are even more impressive.

How can the players fight with their heads down?

“We have to find the reason!” Xia Li said seriously. “If this guess is true, we must find out why the characters in the story are invading reality, and then solve the problem at its source as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if we drag this out, it’s hard to say whether we can survive.”

"This is just a guess at the moment, so let's not be in such a hurry."

Fan Xiao browsed through the information about "Mary the Work": "Hmm... a creature of rules, impossible to kill, impossible to get rid of once entangled, the final outcome is that it will definitely tear you to pieces from behind, and the fallen heart will become its food. Solution... there is no solution, you will die if you encounter it."

"Urban legends only mention that Mary will eventually kill people, but not how. In the works, she is dismembered and Mary eats hearts... We can use this method to verify later, which Mary is the one who is entangled with you, brother."

White Cat suggested.

Before Fan Xiao could say anything, Xia Li rejected the suggestion, saying, "It's too dangerous. We can't use the tools now, our bodies are suppressed, our self-healing ability is greatly reduced, and the effects of the treatment are limited. If we're really torn to pieces, we'll die."

"Don't worry!" The white kitten patted its barren chest cutely and said, "Leave the treatment and recovery to me. My extraordinary genes come with this ability. It all depends on whether you trust me, Brother Fan Jin."

"Then leave it to you."

Fan Xiao nodded.

Whether he believes it or not, he wouldn't risk his life.

His real reliance was the B-grade psionic power, the Flesh and Blood Progenitor. Although this dungeon suppressed the player's abilities in various aspects, it was still not a problem to restore his fragmented and broken body by relying on the Flesh and Blood Progenitor.

Even if his brain is damaged, he will not die.

This is a good opportunity to test the white kitten's abilities.

After discussing their findings, the three continued to review the materials until the library closed, at which point they left the electronic reading room.

Whether the museum is closed or not doesn't affect or constrain them. The main thing is that they had agreed to exchange intelligence beforehand, so they had to show up. There's no rush to investigate intelligence.

……

When Fan Xiao and his two companions arrived at the steps in front of the library's main entrance, they found that the other players had already come out.

Xia Li stepped forward and shared the information he had gathered.

She only briefly mentioned the information about Mary without discussing it in detail, intending to verify it first.

Xia Li and Bai Xiao Mao were initially hesitant to reveal anything about Mary, since having the upper hand in the dungeon was an advantage, and the first person to clear it would definitely receive a higher rating.

To their surprise, Van Shaw, who was the first to discover Mary's information, showed no intention of being stingy with his information.

This instance is extremely dangerous. Share any information you have; there's no need to hide anything, or you might not survive—this was Fan Xiao's answer when they expressed their doubts.

"Use Mary as an example, the character in the work... in reality..."

The aristocratic-looking von Smann said with some surprise, "Your intelligence work is quite fast. In such a short time, you've found a clear direction."

"Don't jump to conclusions yet. Let's wait and see after we've verified everything." Xia Li looked around at everyone and asked, "Who among you is willing to join us?"

"..."

No one responded.

The target now is Fan Xiao, not them. Since they can obtain intelligence without taking action, why take the risk?

“Let’s split up,” Von Smann said. “I want to go to the radio show’s studio and see if I can find anything.”

"We also need to investigate the identities corresponding to our names; we might find something unexpected," said the tall, thin man covered in tattoos, Beifeng. "Leave this to me. Who wants to join me?"

"Count me in," Tu Zheng, a burly, dark-skinned man with a憨厚老实 (honest and simple) demeanor, replied.

Feng Siman glanced at Beifeng and began recruiting teammates as well.

Soon, the 10 players were divided into 5 factions.

Fan Xiao, Xia Li, and Bai Xiaomao formed a team to verify Miss Mary.

Von Smann, Alice, and the Wolf Team are in charge of investigating radio programs.

The team consisting of Beifeng and Tuzheng is responsible for investigating the players' identities.

The remaining two cannibalistic players went their own way, leaving the library first and acting very independently.

Feng Siman glanced at the two men's retreating figures, frowned, but ultimately didn't say anything. He simply said to Fan Xiao and the others, "Let's meet here in three hours to exchange the new intelligence we have. What do you all think?"

"no problem."

And so the matter was settled.

Soon, only Fan Xiao and his two companions remained on the steps.

The little white cat frowned her cute, delicate brows and said somewhat unhappily, "Brother Fan Jin, they're bullying you! They're unwilling to help fight Mary, and they even want to steal our important intelligence for free."

"You're getting addicted to this, aren't you..." Fan Xiao curled his lip and said, "Let's get moving too, Mary should be here soon."

He didn't care whether important intelligence would be stolen for free... he didn't care in this instance.

This is an A-rank psionic dungeon, so we can't be too generous with our intelligence. The more players who survive the later stages, the better it is to clear the dungeon.

……

8:50pm.

Fan Xiao and his two companions left the library and headed towards Miss Mary's location.

A moment later, a figure appeared and quietly followed behind them.