Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 63

The sky had darkened slightly. The color of the eerie grass became even more ink-like.

The color of the plants was bizarrely unpredictable, and the invisible substances floating in the air were extremely dangerous. They constantly read the DNA of humans, simultaneously integrating the genetic codes of other animals and plants at random, altering humans and causing rapid mutations.

Behind his transparent mask, Zhu Qiang was unaware of the principles behind these phenomena.

He simply looked up at Zhou Qian, who stood among the inky grasses, like a fish on a chopping board that had given up struggling and didn’t even bother to move.

For the “last question” that Zhou Qian had posed, Zhu Qiang was evidently unwilling to answer. He suddenly realized that Zhou Qian wasn’t just casually talking about his life principles or his thoughts.

Zhou Qian was clearly trying to extract information from him. Was Zhou Qian’s objective to get revenge with the help of that Rank God player?

After a moment, possibly recognizing Zhu Qiang’s reluctance to answer, Zhou Qian said, “Hmm. It seems you’re too afraid to answer this question. Even if I were about to die, you still wouldn’t dare. Well, that’s fine… I won’t ask you anymore. But I have something to tell you. In this game, one has to be utterly ruthless to make it to the end.”

“What do you mean?” Zhu Qiang frowned, seemingly not grasping why Zhou Qian would make such a comment.

Zhou Qian looked up at him with a hint of madness in his eyes. “Do you know what I would do if I were in your place? If I saw you tied up here, unable to move, I wouldn’t just stand outside talking. I would come in and kill you myself. Don’t you get it? If you let the trap in this level kill me, my death will be attributed to the trap, and you’ll gain nothing. But if you kill me yourself, you can take my life point cards. Although I don’t have many points left, who knows? Maybe those points will save your life in the end. To kill me means gaining points, but it also means you have to come in and consume more of your own points. However, if you’re fast enough, killing me would be beneficial.”

Considering the situation, Zhou Qian couldn’t be playing any tricks, could he? He shouldn’t be able to.

“Ha ha…”

Zhu Qiang’s hesitation made Zhou Qian burst into laughter, further infuriating Zhu Qiang. “What are you laughing at, Zhou Qian?!”

Zhou Qian responded, “Of course, I’m laughing at your cowardice and fear. Look, even in my current state, you’re still afraid of me. You don’t dare come in.”

Zhou Qian continued with a smirk, “I walked straight into a trap set by the Peach Blossom Legion. You claimed that even though the legion planned it, you were the executor. Yet here I am, bound and unable to escape, and you… you can’t even approach me.”

“Admit it, Zhu Qiang. You’re a coward!”

Zhu Qiang was unwilling to admit it, but he had no choice but to acknowledge one thing—Zhou Qian was speaking the truth.

It was clear that the person who was bound and waiting for death was Zhou Qian, and he, Zhu Qiang, was the one looking down upon him from above!

However, their states were incredibly disparate.

Zhou Qian might have appeared to have given up struggling, but he was genuinely calm and composed, while Zhu Qiang felt like he was just putting on a show. Clearly, Zhou Qian was the one in the position of the captured prey, and he was the hunter who captured him!

Yet, when Zhu Qiang looked into his eyes, he paradoxically felt like he was the prey who had walked into a trap.

Because of this twisted perception, Zhu Qiang’s first reaction to Zhou Qian’s suggestion that he come and kill him was indeed—as Zhou Qian said—hesitation.

Zhu Qiang had long decided to kill Zhou Qian.

He even adopted the alias “Buhui*” to showcase his determination.

*Clarity: [Buhui] (不悔) means no regrets/unrepentant.

But in the end, why did he hesitate to take Zhou Qian’s life? Why shouldn’t he?

He should definitely end Zhou Qian’s life and take his life points!

Zhou Qian, being the kind of person who holds grudges, just wanted to mock him one last time in the final moments of his life!

Or perhaps, realizing that he couldn’t survive, he wanted to provoke him to walk into the trap and die here with him!

That was all there was to it. Zhou Qian could only possibly play these two tricks!

He obviously didn’t need to be afraid! He could go in and kill him with his own hands!

“Zhou Qian, of course I dare to kill you. Thank you for reminding me that I can also obtain your life points card by killing you with my own hands.” Zhu Qiang sneered and took out some items from his bag. It was surprisingly live pet chicks purchased at some unknown time.

[Player Zhu Qiang used item: Scouting Chicks]

[Function Description: Can’t decipher maze traps? No problem. The chicks are here to help! Five clever chicks know how to navigate mazes and identify traps; there is always one that can find the correct path!]

[Grade: B]

Five chicks came out in a line, landing on the ground. Zhu Qiang used them as scouting tools, each taking different paths towards the ink-colored bushes.

They were all fine walking in the outer area, but as they approached Zhou Qian, they fell into traps one by one, entangled by the ink-colored grass. Finally, only one chick didn’t step into a trap.

It successfully reached a spot very close to Zhou Qian and then temporarily stopped moving.

Seeing this, Zhu Qiang’s eyes curved in amusement.

That was enough; as long as he got to where the chick was now, this distance… was sufficient to kill Zhou Qian himself. As long as he followed the path it just took, he wouldn’t step into any traps.

Nevertheless, facing the overly intelligent Zhou Qian, Zhu Qiang still didn’t dare to let his guard down.

He looked at Zhou Qian and examined him carefully once again. Indeed, Zhou Qian’s limbs were all tightly bound. The ink-colored grass penetrated every part, even entering every crevice of his ten fingers, wrapping around each one of them.

Besides, the grass growing from Zhou Qian’s body itself was intertwined with this ink-colored grass, seemingly inseparable. From top to bottom, even Zhou Qian’s fingertips were trapped. He absolutely couldn’t lift his hand or move his fingers; he couldn’t even take any items out of his bag now!

The only thing Zhou Qian was holding, also entangled by countless ink-colored grasses, was his Rib of God. But there wasn’t resentful energy for him to use here, and he couldn’t harm himself to below 10% health to unleash his ultimate move. Secondly, his regular skill induced illusions, but Zhu Qiang was fully prepared against this.

To avoid being affected by the swamp, Zhu Qiang prepared a mask in advance. This transparent mask, given by Priest, was very thin but highly effective, ensuring that the brain nerves wouldn’t be disturbed by any external factors.

Thus, wearing this mask, Zhu Qiang wouldn’t fall victim to the illusions created by the swamp or Zhou Qian’s skills.

Unable to use ultimate and his regular skills were ineffective against Zhu Qiang, and there was absolutely no possibility to get other items from the bag…

That meant Zhou Qian only had one remaining skill—to slow or stop time.

But this could only delay his death. Even if he stopped time, when his mana was exhausted, he would inevitably meet his demise.

After confirming this again, Zhu Qiang felt temporarily relieved and took out two items from his bag—a knife and a lighter.

The knife was just a regular one; Zhu Qiang held it and threw it towards the chick nearest to him that was entangled by the ink-colored grass. His aim wasn’t bad. The tip of the knife accurately sliced the ink-colored grass; thus, he discovered that this type of grass could still be cut by a regular knife.

Even with the chicks scouting the path, Zhu Qiang was still wary. He tested the magical grass with the knife to ensure he could cut it to free himself if needed.

Zhu Qiang believed he was adequately prepared, unlike Zhou Qian, who fled here in a panic, holding the self-rescue knife and fire in his hands. After taking a breath and gripping the items tightly, Zhu Qiang eventually stepped into the area with the ink-colored grass.

In the beginning, Zhu Qiang took steps very slowly, observing the situation as his points decreased.

He wasn’t calculating whether the points gained from killing Zhou Qian, subtracted by the decrease in his own life points, would still yield any profit.

After all, his entering proved that he wasn’t afraid of Zhou Qian’s schemes and dared to kill him with his own hands; this was the main goal.

Zhu Qiang just wanted to roughly calculate the speed of the points decrease to ensure that he wouldn’t foolishly die here due to a delay, and then he would dare to act.

After making sufficient preparations, Zhu Qiang, step by step, followed the path found using his props and arrived very close to Zhou Qian. Here, he could kill Zhou Qian and also easily pick up the life point card that fell from Zhou Qian’s body.

But at this moment, Zhu Qiang suddenly noticed something abnormal. He saw several cards scattered behind Zhou Qian.

The system had mentioned that many items that could increase life points were randomly hidden in the instance.

Could it be that these cards were hidden in such places? 

That is great!

Zhu Qiang thought about it carefully and found this design very reasonable.

Cards conspicuously marked with life points were the ultimate temptation tool. They lure the players closer! But once the players approached, they would find themselves trapped in a place where life points were rapidly drained; they not only failed to increase life points but also perished completely!

Lifting his foot to walk in that direction, Zhu Qiang subsequently withdrew it, looked at Zhou Qian in front of him, and laughed. “Is this your plan? You want me to die with you? Hahaha…”

“At this point, Qian Ge, I have to thank you. When watching you play ‘Apple Paradise’, I remembered something you said through the screen. The designer of this game likes to play with people’s minds. Placing cards that increase points in places that decrease points is his trick. The most tempting places are the most dangerous! And the most dangerous places are relatively safe… tsk tsk tsk—”

“You wouldn’t have been trapped because you were unintentionally running in that direction to pick up those cards, would you?”

“It proves that the illusions in the swamp still greatly affected you. When you hastily escaped here, indeed you didn’t have time to clear your thoughts. That’s why you fell for it so easily.”

“Haa, it’s a pity. You’re more meticulous than I imagined. A miscalculation.” After sighing lightly, Zhou Qian seemed to have completely run out of words. He just lowered his head, his face completely pale.

Zhu Qiang sneered at him and then took out five chicks to help him scout the way, eventually successfully reaching the place where several cards with life points were scattered.

After comparing the first card he drew, Zhu Qiang found no problems with these cards and picked them up.

Four cards, each with 6 points, and the countdown below the numbers hadn’t appeared yet; this was reasonable. Zhu Qiang knew from Wu Ren’s situation that when the points on the drawn cards were cleared, only then would the countdown on the subsequent cards begin.

Thus, Zhu Qiang found that he had gained 24 points in one go. In this instance, excluding the special areas where points dropped faster, 1 point in the normal areas was approximately equal to 20 minutes.

This meant he now had an additional 480 minutes!

He didn’t even have to rush; he had plenty of time to torment Zhou Qian!

After putting away the cards, Zhu Qiang returned to Zhou Qian’s side and then saw him make a move, tightly holding the bone in his hand and muttering something.

Subsequently, Zhu Qiang felt a slight distortion in the space; when he walked towards Zhou Qian, everything was normal at first, but when he got in front of Zhou Qian, his steps uncontrollably slowed down.

Sure enough, Zhou Qian could only use the time-slowing move!

He had slowed the time in the small area he was in. The smaller the area of slowed time, the slower the mana consumption.

But what use was this? Was he still hoping someone would come to save him?

In order to synchronize with Zhou Qian and not feel awkward when killing him, Zhu Qiang reached out and directly gripped the bone in his hand; thus, they both stood outside of time together.

Lifting the knife in his hand, Zhu Qiang said to Zhou Qian, “It’s the most common knife. It helped me deal with those grasses just now in case of an emergency and can be used to kill you. Is there any meaning for you to stand outside of time?”

Zhou Qian suddenly looked up at Zhu Qiang. “Let’s go back to the initial question. How do you know Zhang Yanjun?”

Zhu Qiang didn’t answer; he just decisively stretched out his hand and stabbed Zhou Qian in the chest with the dagger. But he found that no blood flowed from Zhou Qian’s body.

“Oh my, it seems like I’ve mutated. I don’t even have blood.” Zhou Qian smiled at Zhu Qiang. “Qiang Ge, it seems you have to think slowly about how to kill me. Why not chat a little more? At least I won’t be lonely before death.”

“You son of—” Zhu Qiang was extremely furious, feeling a sense of being played.

But how could he give up? If Zhou Qian’s entire body had turned into grass, then he might as well just burn him!

Right. Burn him! Only by burning him can he be completely destroyed!

Yet, he heard Zhou Qian say, “Not far away, there’s grass that seems to cry for help. From its speech, it seems to have memories of the night of the accident at Weir Mountain. But if you listen closely, it’s just mindlessly repeating those words, as if it recorded that segment of memory like a video tape or a recorder, but it itself currently has no thoughts.”

“So, we can temporarily rule out the hypothesis that one of the researchers here has turned into grass. It can be understood that the grass, after mutating, has gained a part of human memory. Perhaps memory can be stored in genes. So, this implies… there is something within the high walls that can duplicate genes.”

“When a person looks in the mirror, a reflection appears. The ‘mirror’ inside these high walls seems to directly reflect the genetic code of humans, splice it into different segments, copy these segments onto other animals and plants, and finally, make them grow rapidly…”

Surrounded by ink-colored grass, Zhou Qian, who was outside of time, looked at Zhu Qiang and said, “If such a world truly exists in reality, it is undoubtedly terrifying. Luckily, we are still in an instance. I am just slowly becoming like grass, but I haven’t grown butterfly wings yet. It’s as if I also haven’t read the most feared memories of Qi Liuxing.”

“If such a situation exists in the real world, it is undeniably frightening. The appearance of this ‘mirror’ would mostly cause unpredictable and uncontrollable changes to species.”

“But in the game instance, since there’s a way to clear it, it must not be entirely random.”

“Otherwise, it would be too hard for the players, without even a 5% chance of clearing it. Tell me, if the memories of seven players are intertwined, who could distinguish the truth and escape from the illusion?”

Zhou Qian asked Zhu Qiang, “So, tell me, among so many players, there’s no reason that you could only read my memories. Right? The ‘mirror’ read my most feared memory and ‘reflected’ it to me in front of the swamp, causing me to enter a hallucination. But you didn’t receive the ‘reflection’ from the ‘mirror’ like I did, did you?”

“Can I assume that the Peach Blossom Legion has been watching me for a long time and has checked all my information?”

“Or let’s simplify the proposition. So many people in the insane asylum are involved in this game. How could the doctors and nurses know nothing? Have some of the doctors also been involved?”

Zhou Qian asked Zhu Qiang, “They could see my medical records and thus know about the existence of Zhang Yanjun. Moreover—”

“Why are so many murderers, like Dong Xiang and you, identified as having mental problems? Which doctor handled all this and deceived the police?”

Hearing this, Zhu Qiang said, “Zhou Qian, you don’t need to talk to me about this. Really. The more you guess, the more I think… the likelihood of your dying in the game increases. How could they let you take these secrets out?”

“Qiang Ge, I am already at your mercy. You can even burn me. But just burning me is a bit of a waste. I have guessed a lot about this game, the legion, and the system. Do you want to hear it? For instance, have you ever thought about a problem—”

Zhou Qian narrowed his eyes and asked Zhu Qiang, “The legion is so powerful; they could let you, who should have been a murderer, leave prison and enter a mental hospital… So why don’t they just kill me in reality? There are people among the doctors who could poison me or secretly kill me… It’s actually easier than in the game. After all, I have no special abilities in reality. So why don’t they?”

By this time, Zhu Qiang had already taken out a machete, intending to directly chop off Zhou Qian’s head. But because of Zhou Qian’s question, he actually stopped his hand.

Yes, why? Their power is so strong.

I could escape from the role of murderer because of Priest’s help. So why… don’t they kill Zhou Qian in reality?

“This means gods do exist,” Zhou Qian said with gleaming eyes. “Players can make wishes to the gods. And as I said before, there’s a Rank God player, my master, who can resurrect me. Even if I die in reality… he can wish for me to live.”

“So killing me in reality is meaningless for the legion’s people. Death in the game is actually the real death, right?”

“Dying in the game of the gods means you’re truly done for, with no chance to start over.”

When the conversation reached this point, Zhou Qian’s expression became somewhat dimmed.

“Of course, if that’s the case… it’s a real pity for Gao Shan. He won’t have the chance to revive again. Well wait—”

“Perhaps we can see it from a different perspective! Maybe it’s just that people who die in the game don’t get a chance to re-enter this game created by the gods, that’s all.”

“Just think about it… There are no unprovoked enmities in this world. Why would the Peach Blossom Legion kill me? And at such a great cost? It can only be because if I continue to stay in the game, I will, in some ways, really affect their interests in the future. Although I don’t know the specific reason… it can only be this. In short, they can’t let me continue to participate in the game.”

“If they killed me in reality outside the game, I can be revived by my master and re-enter the game. But if I die in the game, even if my master revives me, I no longer have the opportunity to come back in.”

“Well…” Zhou Qian sighed, and the eyes that had dimmed just now regained their brightness. “In this way… Gao Shan still has hope. I was too pessimistic just now.”

Zhou Qian kept chattering on.

From gene replication to game mechanics to speculations about the Peach Blossom Legion, he talked so much that even Zhu Qiang found it tiresome.

Finally, Zhu Qiang couldn’t bear it anymore and raised his machete, ready to act.

At this moment, he suddenly heard Zhou Qian say, “Qiang Ge, there’s one more thing I forgot to ask you. I swear this is really the last question I’m going to ask you—”

Zhu Qiang: “What the hell do you want to ask?”

Zhou Qian: “Did you not do well in math?”

Zhu Qiang: “………”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

At this point, Zhu Qiang was both annoyed and a bit confused.

“Let me teach you a simple math problem,” Zhou Qian said softly. “When I came to this place, I had 17 life points left. Calculating each point as 20 minutes; originally, I could live for 340 minutes.

“But as soon as I entered this patch of grass, my life points dropped sharply. I can only live for 5 minutes. That means the rate of life point decrease here is 68 times that of other normal areas in this level. You can calculate this, right? Just divide 340 by 5. As for you—”

“You, me, Qi Liuxing—we are the top three with the most life points. I originally had 24 points, and Qi Liuxing had 16. You, who were originally second, lost 6 points in the small level where we were looking for the murderer and surprisingly still remained in second place…”

“This can only mean, you initially drew 23 points. So, after reducing 6 points, you have 17 left—one more than Qi Liuxing, allowing you to remain in second.

“So, by this calculation, when I first entered the ink-colored grass, I had 17 points left, and you had 10.”

“Have you calculated how many more minutes you can live after entering this ink-colored bush?

“Your remaining 10 points originally could sustain you for 200 minutes, but due to the 68 times faster life point decrease in this ink-colored bush area, you can only live for 200 divided by 68, which is 2.94 minutes.”

“You released the chicks twice to find the path, which probably took about 1 and a half minutes. And right now, we have been chatting outside of time for so long, which took another one and a half minutes…”

At this point, Zhou Qian laughed. “You are fine now because we are standing outside of time and space. But the flow of time outside is normal. Once you let go of the bone in my hand, you will return to normal time and space, equivalent to instantly jumping to 90 seconds later… By then, you will die immediately because your life points will be depleted.”

“You, you’re spouting bullshit!” Zhu Qiang immediately raised the four cards in his hand. “I have so much time! What kind of joke are you making?”

“But… these are all fake cards. I duplicated them,” Zhou Qian said with a smile. “Haven’t you thought that I deliberately left them there?”

“Cut the crap!” Zhu Qiang said harshly. “Haha, of course, I have had such suspicions. But that’s impossible! Zhou Qian, don’t try to scare me. The system said cards cannot be copied!”

“Skills and items related to duplication, theft, and plundering are ineffective against cards recording life points.”

“The only way to seize a card is to kill the corresponding player.”

Zhou Qian repeated these two rules and then said, “When these two rules appeared at the same time, I was wondering—does the system mean that, after copying a card, the points on the duplicated card cannot be used as life points, making it a fake card, or does it mean that the cards cannot be duplicated at all?”

“So, when I received the reward from Ghost Lina, I deliberately didn’t give the card to Wu Ren immediately. When the card was fumbling between my hands, I had already copied one with the copying prop hidden in my sleeve.”

“It was then that I confirmed that the card could be copied, but the points wouldn’t be effective.”

“As the friend of my gambler, you should know that I am good at cheating.”

“Moreover, generally speaking, even if my actions were noticed at that time, everyone would definitely think that I gave Wu Ren a fake card. After all, such a precious life card should be kept for oneself.”

“This is the danger of a fixed mindset. But I did give Wu Ren the real card. Later, when you all found out Wu Ren did indeed survive… Naturally, no one thought that I had played any tricks in the delay. So, this little episode was rightfully forgotten by you all.”

“It’s impossible!” Zhu Qiang interrupted Zhou Qian vehemently. “I haven’t experienced any mutations! If my points are as low as you said, how could I possibly have been fine from start to finish?!”

“Zhou Qian, I’m not so easily deceived! Don’t think you can lie to me!”

“Oh, why haven’t you mutated?” Zhou Qian looked at his mask and laughed again. “Is it because of your mask?

“You didn’t expect that—the mask protecting you, in the end, is harming you? Tsk, it made you let your guard down. Haa, when analyzing problems, all factors should be considered. How could you forget about your mask? However—”

“Thank you. You helped me solve a big problem. I don’t know about the real-world situation. But once turned into a game, in this simplified setting, the key to mutation is likely related to the brain nerves.”

Hearing every word, Zhu Qiang almost stumbled, and then he felt a tightness in his chest, and he spat out a breath with great effort.

He almost crushed his molars.

He clutched Zhou Qian’s shoulders, exhaled a breath with the taste of blood rust, and said with an extremely hoarse voice, “So what, Zhou Qian? You are trapped by the grass! You can’t get out either! You were wasting time talking to me about illusions, Zhang Yanjun, and Bai Zhou, for a minute! You only have one minute left! We might as well die together! Hahaha…”

“I’ll still kill you! I reached this step. Even if it costs my life, I will succeed in killing you!!!”

“Silly Zhu Qiang. Of course I won’t be trapped.”

Zhou Qian seriously looked at him and spoke lightly as if he were just helping a classmate solve a problem. “Actually, if you hadn’t fallen for the fake card just now, that would be fine. I would stop acting and deal with you in a normal way.”

“However… the reason I wanted to act this out is that, without elevating you to the highest, how can I enjoy watching you fall from grace as your plans fall apart?”

Zhou Qian wore a pleasant smile, but the gaze he cast on Zhu Qiang was profoundly deep.

“Zhu Qiang, how do you feel now?”

“Don’t be angry. Consider this revenge for being stupid.”

“I don’t believe… Zhou Qian, I don’t believe you can get out of this grass…” Zhu Qiang spat out another mouthful of blood.

Zhou Qian was trapped by the grass. How could he have other ways?

He just wanted to anger him to death! He just wanted to make him angry!

“I think, the reason you’re so confident is because you acquired a lot of information through the Peach Blossom Legion. But after just a few words of conversation with you, I know that you haven’t understood the real setting of this instance. So… one should rely on oneself in everything, and not overly depend on information given by others.”

Zhou Qian smiled. “Actually, the system gave us hints for the solution from the beginning. You keep wanting to use the traps in the instance to kill me. But how come you didn’t even understand its most basic principle?”

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