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[1,776 new people liked Bai Liu’s small TV, 2,006 new people have bookmarked player Bai Liu’s small TV, 345 people have charged player Bai Liu.]
[2,004 new people are watching player Bai Liu’s small TV and you have gained over 1,500 likes in one minute. Player Bai Liu has finally become serious!]
[Yo~ your performance is back on track ~ yo~ my punishment won’t be shifted ~ yo~ until you keep flying~ yo~]
[Player Bai Liu still needs 47,294 likes, 50,860 people bookmarking your small TV and 14,724 points to be charged before you can leave the burial mound dancing area.]
Mu Sicheng ran through the train many times until all the passengers got off the train and he had a chance to breathe. He lay on his back, filling himself with a physical strength recovery potion. He wiped the hair that was wet from sweat off his cheeks and stared at the resting Bai Liu with a gloomy expression.
“Bai Liu, have you long guessed that my personal skill is stealing?” Mu Sicheng had the same guess as Wang Shun. “You used stealing my things to lead me and make me think that your skill is also stealing so I would reduce my vigilance.”
“Previously at the entrance of the game hall, you pretended that you didn’t guess my skill. You spoke nonsense that my skill enhanced my senses. In fact, you fucking knew that my skill is stealing, right?” Mu Sicheng’s eyes were like electricity as he stared at Bai Liu.
“Yes,” Bai Liu confessed.
Mu Sicheng took a deep breath as he kept watching Bai Liu. “When did you know?”
A personal skill was something that tacitly wasn’t discussed on the forum. It might be known but talking about personal skills would offend people. Apart from the puppet master who needed to spread his skill publicly to recruit players, other player’s personal skills weren’t discussed in public.
Bai Liu was a newcomer. The only way for him to know the personal skill was to buy Mu Sicheng’s game videos to watch them.
The skill panel when playing wasn’t open to the audience. In other words, the audience couldn’t see the specific skill. If Bai Liu wanted to know Mu Sicheng’s skill then he would have to make multiple purchases of his videos to guess the personal skill or discuss it offline with old players.
However, Bai Liu had never purchased Mu Sicheng’s videos and Mu Sicheng had found him the moment Bai Liu logged in. There was no chance for him to discuss with other players who knew Mu Sicheng’s skills! Why did this guy know his personal skill?
Bai Liu said, “I knew what your skill was when I met you after logging out of Siren Town.”
Mu Sicheng looked at Bai Liu incredulously. “When you left Siren Town? I found you as soon as you logged out. You couldn’t have time to find out what my skill is!”
“I really wanted to lie to you for a bottle of mental bleach in the beginning. I didn’t expect to set you up.” Bai Liu rubbed his nose. “Your reaction revealed that your personal skill is stealing. In addition, you are fourth on the rising stars ranking so your strength is pretty good. I thought that since you were already here, it would be a bit of a loss if I didn’t do something to you. So I followed the flow…”
Fucking, if he didn’t do something then he would suffer a loss? Wasn’t this taking seizing any opportunity too far? Mu Sicheng was so angry that his chest moved up and down and he was unconvinced. “How did my reaction reveal my personal skill?”
Bai Liu turned to look at Mu Sicheng. “It is because after I stole your mental bleach, your first reaction was that my skill is stealing.”
“Otherwise?” Mu Sicheng was speechless. “Is there any other skill that can take directly from my system warehouse?”
Bai Liu reminded him, “However, we were in the game hall. You clearly knew that theft is prohibited there but when I stole your physical strength supplement, you still persistently thought that my skill was stealing. I think that any normal player would feel differently about my personal skill. For example, I manipulated you to give me the items. However, you were firm.”
“You didn’t change the idea that my skill was stealing even after entering the game.”
Mu Sicheng was taken back.
Bai Liu told Mu Sicheng, “This is your subconscious reaction. It shows you have a strong obsession with stealing. The personal skill is linked to desire so I guessed that your skill is linked to stealing.”
“Fuck.” Mu Sicheng was embarrassed and interrupted Bai Liu’s words. “Even if you wanted to manipulate and use me early on, you couldn’t be 100% sure that I would follow you into the game. The groundwork you laid would be wasted if I didn’t follow you into the game!”
“I really wasn’t 100% sure you would follow me,” Bai Liu admitted it honestly. “Still, I was 80% sure.”
Bai Liu raised his eyes. “It is because I have something you want to steal. The Merfolk Amulet, right?”
Mu Sicheng felt suffocated.
“I previously found it very strange that you would come to the game logout area to find me.” Bai Liu continued. “You are a pretty good player in this game. Even if you are curious about my personal skill, you wouldn’t stick to me after losing 2,000 points.”
“You aren’t a fool to do something that is unprofitable. Thus, there must be something you want from me. You also had a strong confidence that you would get it so you came to me as soon as I logged into the game. You wanted to make sure that I brought the thing you wanted to get from me. In thieves’ jargon, it is called ‘casing the target’ right?”
Mu Sicheng’s expression finally turned dark. “You knew that I wanted to steal the Merfolk Amulet from you? You used this thing to hook me?”
Bai Liu changed his way of speaking and smiled kindly. “How can it be called hooking you? God Mu, I merely sought cooperation from you. I gave this to you as a gift. Look, I can control you but I didn’t ask you to return it to me, did I?”
Bai Liu’s ability to speak nonsense with wide-open eyes reached the peak. In fact, he couldn’t control Mu Sicheng to return the Merfolk Amulet to him. It really was a cooperation between Bai Liu and Mu Sicheng and Bai Liu couldn’t force Mu Sicheng to do something.
Mu Sicheng’s expression became a bit better after hearing this. Bai Liu didn’t make him give it back. This meant that at least Bai Liu wasn’t like the String Puppet Master who used his puppets regardless of life and death. Mu Sicheng was temporarily safe.
Mu Sicheng no longer spoke to Bai Liu, this player who made him so angry there was pain in his liver. He opened his panel and took a look.
[Player Mu Sicheng’s Personal Panel]
[Health: 94 (decreased after being burned by fire)]
[Physical strength: 30 (empty, restoring in progress)]
[Mental value: 75 (mild alienation due to being attacked by passengers)]
If Mu Sicheng was running on his own then his physical strength decline wouldn’t be so severe and he wouldn’t have been burned by those monsters. It was because he brought Bai Liu with him. In order to maintain his original speed, the physical strength consumed using the skill almost doubled.
Mu Sicheng wasn’t clear to what extent Bai Liu’s control over him was. He didn’t dare to rashly hurt Bai Liu but this didn’t prevent Mu Sicheng from sarcastically speaking. “You were carried by me but your physical strength was exhausted. Your panel attributes are so weak that you should’ve died long ago.”
“Isn’t there God Mu offering me a helping hand so I don’t die?” Bai Liu leisurely opened his panel. “There must be a blessing in a disaster. We have triggered the first monster book page.”
[The Exploding Last Train Monster Book has refreshed—Exploding Passengers (1/3)]
[Monster Name: Exploding Passengers]
[Features: Extremely fast movement speed (1,000 points in movement speed, flames have a bonus effect)]
[Weaknesses: ??? (Unexplored)]
[Attack method: After being burned by the exploding passenger’s body, the health and mental value will decrease.]
“What is the use of triggering the first monster book page?” Mu Sicheng chuckled and raised his head to drink the physical recovery agent. “Do you want to collect the monster book in the level 2 instance, Exploding Last Train? Bai Liu, let me tell you, even I don’t dare to collect the monster book in a level 2 game that no one has cleared before.”
“There is always a first time for everything.” Bai Liu always had the ability to kill people with anger and he smiled casually. “Isn’t there me this time? God Mu, why not try to gather it? Let’s cooperate.”
With these words, Bai Liu almost clearly threatened Mu Sicheng to force him to help Bai Liu collect the monster book.
Mu Sicheng felt his anger that was finally suppressed rising up again. He took two deep breaths and adjusted his heartbeat and breathing, lest he be killed by anger. “Your damn health value is about to be cleared and you are thinking about collecting the monster book. You really want money and not life.”
Bai Liu felt he deserved it. “You’re right. I’m that type of person.”
Mu Sicheng, “……”
Mu Sicheng was right. Bai Liu’s panel attributes were much more miserable than Mu Sicheng’s A-grade panel attributes.
[Player Bai Liu’s Personal Panel]
[Health: 31 (decreased after being attacked by player Mu Sicheng and being burned by flames)]
[Physical strength: 8 (empty, restoring in progress)]
[Mental value: 90 (slightly alienated due to being attacked by passengers)]
Mu Sicheng let out a deep breath and calmed his sullen mood. Currently, he and Bai Liu were tied to the same boat. He barely kept calm as he told Bai Liu, “You have experienced the consequences of a decline in mental value. Maybe you don’t realize the importance of health. Let me talk about the consequences of a decline in health with you.”
“Health is the only attribute that a player can’t automatically recover in the game. If it reaches zero then you will die. There is no way to restore it with items. Listening to you, your health is currently only 31. This is very dangerous. Any monster in the dungeon just needs to hit you a few more times and you will die. I advise you not to think about collecting the monster book.”
Bai Liu didn’t say yes or not. He just changed the subject. “We have to collect the broken lenses.”
Mu Sicheng closed his eyes to rest and restore physical strength. He didn’t speak as Bai Liu continued to analyze it.
“It seems this game is about passengers getting on and off at the same station. When the passengers get on, we have to face a chasing battle. When the passengers get off, the train doors will immediately close. If there are no lenses on the train and they are on the subway station outside the train, we only have one chance to search for the lenses.”
“In other words, when the passengers get on the train, we have to go to the subway station platform to search for the broken lenses and we have to come back before the doors are closed or we will stay with these passengers in the subway station. I think that the puppet master should’ve searched the subway platform while we were being chased.”
“How do you know?” Du Sanying, who had been hiding in a corner, finally asked curiously. He was in the best condition among them. Although his little bumper car was covered in burns and scorched flesh, Du Sanying himself wasn’t hurt.
“It is because we ran back and forth through the entire train during the chase and didn’t meet anyone else.” Bai Liu leaned against a wall and wiped the sweat off his face. “We can’t coincidentally pass by the puppet master every time. This means that when we were chased, the puppet master wasn’t on the train at all.”
“Ah—!” Du Sanying was a bit anxious. “Doesn’t this mean String Puppet Master can quickly collect the mirror fragments and clear this game?”
“I don’t think so.” Bai Liu raised his eyes to look at Du Sanying. “I think he probably didn’t find the broken lenses on the platform.”
Du Sanying was taken aback. “Why do you think so?”
“It is because if I were him, I would do one thing after confirming that the broken lenses are in the station.” Bai Liu raised his index finger, his eyes calm. “It is to come to us.”
“Why would he come to us if it is confirmed that the lenses are on the platform?” Du Sanying became more confused as he listened.
“The time the train stops at the subway station is only two minutes. I have surveyed the area of the subway station. It is impossible for the puppet master to search the platform in two minutes and get back on the train, even if he has three puppets with the speed of Mu Sicheng (Mu Sicheng gritted his teeth when he heard this).”
“It takes time to find something. It requires searching and has nothing to do with speed.” Bai Liu continued without changing his expression. “This subway Line 4 has 11 platforms. Putting aside the starting and terminal platform Antique City where we boarded, there are 10 platforms.”
“It took more than three minutes from departing to reach the first platform. Add the two minutes it stops and the time spent on each platform is around 5 minutes. It will take 50 minutes to travel around 10 platforms and the countdown is only one hour. This proves that it is very likely we can only go around line 4 once before it explodes. In other words, if the broken lenses are on the subway platform, we will only have one chance to search the platform. However, the puppet master’s three puppets can’t search the platform in two minutes.”
“So he’ll come to us.” Bai Liu reached his conclusion.
Du Sanying’s eyes were like mosquito coils. “So why?!”
He couldn’t connect Bai Liu’s last sentence with the conclusion at all!
If the three puppets couldn’t search the entire subway platform in two minutes then the puppet master would come to them! Why? They weren’t going to help the puppet master search the platform—wait!
Du Sanying suddenly woke up and he stared at Bai Liu with some consternation.
“It is because he lacks people.” Bai Liu looked at the empty end of the swaying train. “After confirming that the key clue is indeed on the platform, he would definitely try to change us to become his puppets.”
“However, he shouldn’t act rashly and come to us before confirming the key clue.”
“Master, the broken lenses aren’t on the platform.” Li Gou’s tone was extremely quiet and his posture was respectful to the point of walking on thin ice. “The three of us didn’t search the entire platform but we searched most of the places close to the subway tracks according to your words. There is really none.”
“There are no broken lenses?” Puppet Zhang’s eyes narrowed into thin slits. “It’s weird. This game should be about searching for broken lenses on the platform, right? Is it because we haven’t searched everywhere?”
Li Gou whispered, “There was only one part of the platform that we didn’t search but there are too many burning passengers there and we simply can’t go there.”
“I know. I was standing by the door and manipulating you. I could see it with my eyes.” Puppet Zhang waved his hand impatiently and the transparent silk threads pulled, forcing Li Gou to kneel down instantly. “I’m thinking about our next plan. Don’t interrupt me!”
Li Gou gritted his teeth and looked at Puppet Zhang who was immersed in his thoughts. Li Gou couldn’t help whispering, “Master, if you have no idea about the game for the time being then why don’t we act against Bai Liu first?”
Li Gou had always been concerned about Bai Liu due to the promotion matter. If he was alone then he might not choose to act against Bai Liu. However, now he was leaning on a big tree. It happened that this big tree was also very dissatisfied with Bai Liu. If he didn’t go with the flow to act against this little bastard who stole his promotion position then he would be too broad-minded.
If it wasn’t for Bai Liu snatching his promotion position last time, he would’ve collected all the points needed to buy the items to release himself from prison and he would be happy outside right now! Li Gou really didn’t want to stay in that prison for another minute!
“Don’t attack Bai Liu until I know exactly where the lenses are hidden.” Puppet Zhang stared at Li Gou in a condescending manner like he was looking at an idiot.
“If you start a conflict with him then there will definitely be a conflict with their side. They have Mu Sicheng who has a grudge against me and will come to block me. There will be losses on our side and the difficulty of passing the game will increase. This is a level 2 game. We have to make sure the game is cleared first. We can’t act rashly before knowing the key clue for the game. We have to make sure that the game is cleared before doing so. Don’t put the cart before the horse.”
Li Gou gritted his teeth and whispered, “Yes, Master.”
After a while, Li Gou asked unwillingly, “Master, if the broken lenses aren’t on the platform or the train then where would they be?”
“Wait—” Puppet Zhang seemed to think of something and his expression changed. “It can’t be—”
“Mu Sicheng, have you tried stealing things from monsters in the past?” Bai Liu approached Mu Sicheng and asked.
Mu Sicheng impatiently pushed away Bai Liu. “No, I can steal from players and have stolen from Spades, but monsters aren’t good.”
“Why?” Bai Liu mused. “Does the system judge that it is invalid to steal from them?”
Mu Sicheng squinted at Bai Liu. “I don’t know what you are playing at but I’ll tell you directly. Bai Liu, I can steal items from monsters but after stealing, their aggro will remain locked on me and I’ll be chased until the end of the game. It is easy to die even in a level 1 game, let alone a level 2. If you want to use me then it is better not to use me for such a stupid one-time thing.”
“Aggro…” Bai Liu was lost in thought and fiddled with the coin in his hand. Suddenly, he looked up to stare at Du Sanying who was eating a biscuit in the corner to replenish his strength.
Bai Liu’s eyes narrowed and he made a kind smile like the big bad wolf cheating Little Red Riding Hood. “Du Sanying, have you ever played online games?”
Little Red Riding Hood Du Sanying still had cookie crumbs stuck to the corner of his mouth as he opened it in a confused manner. After a moment, he honestly answered the big bad wolf’s question. “I’ve played them.”
“Do you know how to transfer aggro?” Bai Liu turned and moved closer to Du Sanying.
Du Sanying didn’t know why but the back of his neck became a bit cold, so he moved back a bit. He gulped, shrank his head and whispered, “I know. Just OT or something, right?” (OT = off tank. Concentrates on drawing away aggro).
“Yes!” Bai Liu snapped his fingers and smiled more kindly. “For example, after Mu Sicheng steals something from a monster, the monster’s aggro is locked onto him. Then I will attack the monster until the monster’s aggro transfers to us. We will lure the monster away so that Mu Sicheng can keep stealing things. You know, you drive and there will be a long string of monsters behind us…”
“Wait!” Du Sanying didn’t notice that Bai Liu’s words had changed from ‘I’ to ‘we.’ He was confused as he interrupted Bai Liu’s words. “Isn’t this a collecting game? What is the relationship between online games, a monster train, aggro and so on? Shouldn’t our main task be to find the broken lenses?”
“Yes.” Bai Liu raised his gaze. “If the broken lenses aren’t on the train or on the platform then where do you think they can be?”
Du Sanying became more and more confused. “…Where else?”
Bai Liu’s lips curved up. “I feel it is unlikely the broken lenses will be outside the train because the mirror exploded in the carriage. It is unlikely to be on the platform. Then if it isn’t on the train, is it possible that the broken lenses are embedded in the passengers’ bodies because of the explosion?”
Du Sanying, “……”
Mu Sicheng, “……”
Fuck (a trap)!!
“So—” Bai Liu looked innocently at Mu Sicheng. “God Mu, it seems that you have to try stealing from these non-human things.”
Proofreader: Purichan