187: Blood boiling and that's it?

“Twitch deceived us! He used the excuse of solving the plague to make us participate in human alchemy, but in reality, he wanted to control us. When we discovered his conspiracy, we tried to resist, but we failed. As a result, he took half of our mental bodies, which are these ‘Rat People’! The memories of these Rat People have been tampered with, so they have always followed Twitch’s orders!”

Under the dark cannon barrel, the Team Leader quickly relayed a large amount of information.

From his words, Cheng Zhen and the others learned of the same development but a different story.

Twitch caused the plague, but he felt no guilt. Instead, he used this opportunity to try and control the entire city. The ‘Twitch’s Gift’ mentioned by Purple Tuqi was a mental fragment. Through special means and alchemical arrays, he implanted his mental fragments into others to control them.

As the Team Leader explained, the Group Leader, Green Tuqi, and Purple Tuqi, among others, suddenly clutched their heads, trembling all over, looking very pained, as if undergoing some internal struggle.

“Ugh…”

The Team Leader also clutched his head, suppressing his pain and saying, “Twitch’s influence is still there. As long as we try to expose the truth in front of ‘them,’ Twitch will begin mental control, deleting their memories again and issuing commands to eliminate us.”

No wonder these people always seemed to be in a mysterious state, wanting to speak but holding back. Some things really couldn't be said aloud.

“No wonder they looked like copy-pasted versions of each other…” Rui Jun murmured softly, while Xiao Tong mused, “But, their appearance under the protective suits…”

“The other half of the mental body has been transformed into his subservient by Twitch using various materials, and the alchemical potion we developed can remove the influence of the mental fragments. The cost is… the disappearance of the other half of the mental body.”

The Team Leader rubbed his head as he spoke, “So, those Rat People hit by the crossbow bolts will disappear. Conversely, Twitch is also making them attack us, trying to completely turn us into his puppets.”

The Team Leader Tuqis, even though they had already turned into Rat People, still wore protective suits, not out of fear of the plague, but out of concern for mental body dispersion.

Many previously odd details were now clear, and Cheng Zhen nodded in satisfaction.

RPG-brand truth serum, everyone who used it said it was good.

Cheng Zhen looked at the painfully curled-up Team Leader Tuqi, and he had a plan.

He patted Huangfu Dong’s shoulder, “Brother Huang, a word in private.”

This guy couldn’t open his mouth in front of others, so it was better to take him aside to talk.

Huangfu Dong: “…Okay, but my surname is Huangfu.”

“No problem, Brother Huang,” Cheng Zhen replied, “I remember you’re currently wearing a purple title, right?”

Huangfu Dong nodded: “Yes, but that attack skill consumes a lot and has a very long cooldown.”

Cheng Zhen shook his head: “No, no, no, I mean… the conditions for Instance Upgrade, it doesn’t have to be ‘objects’ that are collected, right?”

Huangfu Dong was startled.

He had naturally experienced Instance Upgrade and immediately understood Cheng Zhen's meaning.

“A five-star upgrade instance?” he murmured softly.

“I’ve seen you change titles several times on the forum, all of which were unheard-of titles.”

“At that time, I knew your integral (points) were terrifyingly high, and you must have taken an unconventional path, achieving special endings one after another.”

When he said this, Huangfu Dong’s eyes showed some admiration.

The first time he heard the name 'advertising space for rent,' it was from his guild leader. At that time, their leader really wanted to invite that 'fierce newcomer' who had created the 'novice graveyard' guide to join the guild, but unfortunately, the other party seemed uninterested in joining a guild, rejecting all invitations, which left their leader very regretful.

After all, Huangfu Dong had only recently completed his trial, and the tension and excitement of entering an instance for the first time were still vivid in his memory.

Hearing that this guy was so fierce on his first entry, he naturally felt some admiration and curiosity.

Afterward, Huangfu Dong heard that the other party had obtained several unprecedented special titles, still rejecting all invitations from guilds and rookie groups (the do-not-disturb mode was working its magic!), only assuming that the guy was an aloof lone wolf.

He never thought that, upon meeting him by chance, he would find this formidable person to be so… well, focused on scientific experiments and having unique hobbies.

“I know you want to clear special endings and get high-star rewards. To be honest, no Raiders (strategist) doesn’t want those high-level rewards.”

Huangfu Dong said frankly: “What I said before still stands. I won’t compete with you for rewards, but… there are some things I still need to say.”

“You must have used an [Instance Upgrade Card] to secure the top spot in points, right? After all, this instance isn't a novice instance; normally, you wouldn’t be able to enter.”

“But you might not know that, unlike novice trial instances, Instance Upgrade in advanced instances is uncontrollable.”

“In novice instances, after an Instance Upgrade, the difficulty might only increase by half a star or one star. But in advanced instances, the difficulty could increase by one to three stars.”

“Our guild leader informed me of this, so in my first advanced instance after completing the novice trial, I didn’t choose Instance Upgrade.”

“With your current points, just by clearing this instance, you’ll definitely dominate the leaderboard, no need for extra risk.”

Huangfu Dong knew Cheng Zhen’s idea of wanting to achieve a special ending, so he told Cheng Zhen all the information he knew.

They were on the same side now, and Huangfu Dong, who had no chance of being number one, had no conflict of interest with Cheng Zhen, so he naturally wouldn't betray his teammate.

However, after hearing his words, Cheng Zhen’s reaction exceeded Huangfu Dong’s expectations—

“It’s possible to upgrade more stars? Such a good thing!”

Cheng Zhen’s eyes lit up.

The previous upgraded instance gave him epic items for just one star upgrade. If it upgraded by two stars this time, wouldn’t he be soaring to legendary items!

Huangfu Dong was startled.

While he was still dumbfounded, Cheng Zhen added: “Brother Huang, thank you for telling me this news. However, a true man does not eat food given in contempt. You and I will compete fairly and squarely; even if I lose, I will be convinced!”

“I disdain to be like Jing Zhiyuan, who belittles others because he can’t improve himself!”

Huangfu Dong immediately felt his blood boil.

After all, he was also a prodigy of his generation. He had previously given up an opportunity out of caution, but now that Cheng Zhen invited him like this, hesitating again would make him seem timid.

It's just an Instance Upgrade, isn't it? It's not like he hasn't cleared one before. Let's go for it!

“Good!”

Huangfu Dong extended his hand, “Since that’s the case, I’ll take on this challenge with Brother Cheng!”

Cheng Zhen shook Huangfu Dong’s hand back, with utmost sincerity: “Mhm, mhm, then I’ll trouble Brother Huang to help persuade the other strategists to pay the instance clearance protection fee!”

“It’s best to show your name, so everyone can trade more happily.”

“Oh, and after the Instance Upgrade, there will definitely be a lot of… dirty things, and so on. I believe Brother Huang, as the former number one, certainly isn’t afraid of those, right?”

Huangfu Dong: ?

Why did it feel like something was off?

You got me all fired up, and then this?

A row of black lines appeared behind Huangfu Dong’s head; he inexplicably felt like he had been tricked…

==========

A lot of things suddenly came up these past few days, delaying updates. I can only apologize to my esteemed readers.

Also, I recently received some suggestions for the third instance (Misty Snow Ice City), so I'm rewriting the third instance these two days. It should be finished in two or three days, and then I'll do a burst update to clear this instance (rewriting won't affect the subsequent plot, by the way. After the rewrite is complete, it will be released together, and I will notify you in a new chapter then).