Chapter 45 Who Am I? (44 pages)

His voice was a bit loud, and Lin Xiangjun frowned slightly.

The old man lowered his volume immediately, though his eyes kept darting toward Lin Xiangjun.

These native weirds knew better than anyone just how strong the Outsider was. These newcomers entering the instance for the first time wanted to eliminate the Outsider? What a pipe dream!

This woman was indeed generous, but apart from that, she hadn't shown anything special. He had never thought she could eliminate the Outsider.

The old man's eyes flickered as he reweighed Lin Xiangjun's value in his heart.

He hesitated for a moment—not about whether to speak, but about how much underworld currency these clues could trade for—however, as he was busy clicking away on his mental abacus, he looked up to see Lin Xiangjun's expression was already vaguely impatient, and he immediately sobered up.

If she could kill the Outsider, then killing him certainly wouldn't be a problem.

underworld currency is nice, but staying alive to spend it is the right path.

The old man immediately coughed twice and his expression became serious.

"We ordinary natives don't know the method to eliminate the Outsider. We only know that after killing them, they will disappear from the instance, and the instance will be safer. But how exactly to kill the Outsider and what their weaknesses are—only the Instance Master knows that."

Lin Xiangjun nodded.

The Instance Master of this game was clearly Qin Jianyuan. In other words, if she wanted to eliminate that Stair Ghost, Qin Jianyuan was indeed unavoidable.

"Not every instance has an Outsider."

"When an Outsider appears in a residential complex, it proves that the complex has been targeted. Either the Outsider devours the Instance Master to take control of the instance, or the Instance Master devours the Outsider to strengthen the instance. Of course, as a member of the instance, I certainly hope for the latter."

Speaking up to this point, the old man paused and glanced at Lin Xiangjun's expression.

Unfortunately, she kept a straight face, showing no change in expression, so there was no way to guess if she was satisfied with the information he provided.

The old man could only give up helplessly and continue telling his own story.

"There are two Outsiders this time. You have already eliminated one, and the other..."

"It is too strong."

When saying this sentence, the old man was visibly tense, lowering his already low voice even further.

"The Outsider this time is not an ordinary Outsider. He is..."

"He is the Instance Master of another instance."

Lin Xiangjun looked at Qin Jianyuan. She gripped the seat of the seesaw beneath her, bracing herself in case he suddenly launched an attack or attacked her out of shame and anger.

Qin Jianyuan still had that gloomy, dead-faced look. He didn't speak and had no expression, just staring straight at Lin Xiangjun as if he wanted to stare a hole through her.

After a long while, he said sullenly, "So what?"

"So, do you want to cooperate?"

It had come to this point after all. Lin Xiangjun sighed to herself for two seconds.

If she hadn't been backed into a corner, who would want to cooperate with a weird?

"What makes you think I need to cooperate with you? He is just an Outsider. If I want to, I can eliminate him at any time!"

Lin Xiangjun mercilessly punctured his lie.

"You can't kill him; otherwise, you wouldn't be forced to the point where you can't even return to the residential complex or get a meal."

The seesaw beneath her began to shake violently as if out of shame and anger. Lin Xiangjun skillfully lay down, tightening her core, and wrapped her limbs around the crossbar beneath her.

This weird was just young and mentally immature. Whenever she said a couple of unpleasant truths, he would always pull this on her.

He had practically turned Lin Xiangjun into a bullfighter.

Lin Xiangjun let him go crazy and continued speaking on her own.

"There is a rule in the instance that requires us to place a bowl of rice and two incense sticks at our door at regular intervals. This food was originally prepared for you. I suspect the original purpose of this rule was to let you grow stronger and stronger with our—the players'—daily offerings, until the last day when you wipe out all the players."

"But this food has never been touched."

"At first, I thought you were just like those ghosts eating offerings, simply tasting the flavor, but Wang Min said that no one had touched this food—neither ghosts nor humans."

"So I guessed again that you wanted to eat this food but simply couldn't. Then we can further infer that something is hindering you, making you only able to move around the residential complex and unable to go home."

"And there just happens to be a weird in the residential complex stairwell. I fought him on the first day; his strength is not weak, at least on par with you."

Lin Xiangjun didn't mention that the Stair Ghost had already been heavily injured by her.

What if Qin Jianyuan heard this news and went to kill this weird himself, refusing to cooperate with her? Had she been busy for half a day only to do the work for someone else?

Just kidding, she wasn't the type to do good deeds without leaving a name!

The movement of the seesaw beneath her gradually stopped. Lin Xiangjun was tipped to the highest point once again. She didn't release her legs from clutching the crossbar, preparing for Qin Jianyuan to go crazy again if she said the wrong thing.

"I also suspected that the seesaw old man might have sung the wrong song to fool me, but thinking about it carefully, there was no need for that. If I died, the benefits should fall to the Cleaner or the security guard, not him."

"So if the location wasn't the problem, and the hidden clues were gone, then there is only one possibility—"

Lin Xiangjun looked at Qin Jianyuan.

"You hid your own body away yourself."

This was a declarative statement.

Qin Jianyuan barely tugged at the corners of his mouth and sincerely praised, "You are very smart to be able to deduce so much from these things. If it were under normal circumstances, you should be able to pass the instance with a very high score."

This was an admission.

Lin Xiangjun modestly said, "You flatter me, you flatter me. Being able to survive in the instance is already not easy."

"Indeed, you might not be able to survive this time."

Lin Xiangjun: ...

When she was being modest, you should have paid a compliment back, not just admit she was a piece of trash right after she was modest.

Not appropriate, child, that is not appropriate.

Lin Xiangjun controlled her emotions, telling herself that the child had died young and his parents hadn't had time to teach him, so it wasn't worth getting angry at him.

Clearing the instance, clearing the instance is what matters.

"So I suggest you cooperate with me. Without my help, you cannot eliminate this Outsider who is equal in strength to you, especially since you are already injured—the price of violating game requirements by hiding your own body, it doesn't feel good, right?"

In the end, she couldn't help it; Lin Xiangjun's words carried a bit of a sting.

The weird world couldn't possibly allow an Instance Master to break rules at will, such as hiding clearance clues, or taking a player's life when they hadn't violated any rules.

Just like last time, Lin Xiangjun had provoked Qin Jianyuan until he was about to explode with anger, but because no rules were broken, Qin Jianyuan could only swallow his anger or take it out on Zhuo Xing.

If an Instance Master hid all the clues and could kill players at will, then what was the point of playing this game? Everyone might as well just go die together.

"You violated the instance rules and received game punishment. Your strength has dropped significantly, and you can't directly deal with this powerful intruder, so you can only let him camp in the stairwell while you hide in the Garden."

"You are injured and can't get food, so your strength can't recover and might even gradually decline. If you don't cooperate with me, your strength will get weaker and weaker, while the Stair Ghost can get stronger and stronger by devouring players."

"If we can't get the clues and all die in the instance, can you ensure the next wave of players will be able to crack it to this extent, know your predicament, and be willing to take the risk to cooperate with you—with a weird? Fine, even if they are willing, can you ensure they have strength as strong as mine and have the confidence to kill the Outsider?"

"Qin Jianyuan, when the Stair Ghost becomes strong enough to defeat you and seize this instance, I, and we, will all have to die."

Death is terrifying to any creature, especially for a weird, and especially for an Instance Master.

Qin Jianyuan finally made a move.

"How can you guarantee you can kill the intruder?"

Lin Xiangjun, whose saliva had run dry from talking, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness, he can still understand human speech and can cooperate. It's not a dead end.

"I need a part of your body."

"Heh." Qin Jianyuan sneered. He looked at Lin Xiangjun with a knowing, disdainful gaze, "Do you think I don't know that once you get a part of my body, you can clear the instance directly? You want to use these excuses to trick me out of my body?"

Lin Xiangjun knew she didn't look trustworthy.

After all, Qin Jianyuan was right. Once she got the body, she could leave directly. Who could guarantee she would stay behind to attack the Outsider?

"Then do you have anything else that can lure the Stair Ghost out?"

Knowing is one thing, but one's mood certainly couldn't be good after being suspected.

Lin Xiangjun rolled her eyes mercilessly.

"He wants to devour you. He can't beat me, so he hides when he sees me. If I don't take your body, what way is there to lure him out?"

Qin Jianyuan was rendered speechless.

Lin Xiangjun slapped the crossbar: "Right now we are grasshoppers on the same rope. If I die, you won't be far behind me. You can go ahead and doubt me; it just means we die together!"

Qin Jianyuan certainly didn't want to die.

He lowered his head and thought for a moment, then finally fished around in his chest and pulled out something, tossing it to Lin Xiangjun.

It worked! Lin Xiangjun's eyes lit up.

There's hope! She doesn't have to die!

"This is my heart," Qin Jianyuan said, "It is a part of my torso, incomplete. You can use it to attract that Outsider, but I can only attract him to show himself. If he wants to run, there's nothing I can do."

"After you kill him, I will give you the remaining clearance clues."