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Bonus chapter! Thank you to Samie for the donation! ^^
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Ruan Qing never expected Yang Chenjin to act so decisively, not giving him any chance to react.
Even if he had been given a chance, he probably wouldn’t have been able to resist.
Fortunately, before Ruan Qing completely lost consciousness, he re-entered the body of that male player.
The players had safely evacuated the sixth floor by now, and the male player had returned to his room.
Then, Ruan Qing watched helplessly as he lay back on the bed and went to sleep, completely unconcerned.
Very unprofessional, as if he was on vacation.
But this time, Ruan Qing didn’t find it surprising.
It wasn’t that he was used to the unreliability of this male player, but rather, this male player was peculiar.
He seemed indifferent to investigating clues, not caring if he could clear the level or survive.
Either he wasn’t afraid of death, or he... couldn’t die.
Ruan Qing leaned towards the latter.
After all, the male player’s strength was not weak, and there was no sign that he had any desire to end his own life.
If he didn’t want to live, he probably wouldn’t bother taking care of physiological needs in front of a mirror.
Most importantly, in the past few days, Ruan Qing noticed a strange phenomenon.
Although he hadn’t spent much time with the group of players, there were a few individuals who had never appeared together in his presence.
The player similar to the advanced male player and the male player he possessed.
As well as the vice president and a male player with almost no presence.
These two groups of people almost never appeared together.
Not even during meals.
Of course, it could be just a coincidence.
After all, the player similar to the advanced male player and the vice president were both strong, and occasionally acting alone was normal.
However, this speculation wasn’t hard to verify.
If it turned out to be true, Ruan Qing suspected that he vaguely understood how these people managed to exploit the loopholes in the game’s main system.
It’s by using a puppet.
As long as the player didn’t personally participate in the sacrifice and let their puppet take part, only the player’s puppet would gain the power of the ‘god’.
So, when the main game system made its judgment, the player would remain human.
However, the puppet belonged to the player, and there’s a high possibility that the player could bring the puppet out of the instance.
Naturally, this allowed them to obtain the power of the ‘god’ and still clear the instance in the identity of a human.
Now, it just needed a little experimentation to confirm whether all of this was a coincidence or if it’s as he speculated.
If the male player he possessed was indeed just a puppet of the advanced male player look-alike, seeing him would definitely raise suspicion.
After all, if it’s truly just a puppet, how could it move without the owner inside?
But he needed to find a way to make the other person suspicious without actually discovering his presence.
Ruan Qing immediately thought of the vice president and that player with a low presence.
By experimenting with these two, he wouldn’t expose himself.
After the male player lost consciousness, Ruan Qing directly took control of his body.
The player’s body was much more convenient and agile than his own.
Ruan Qing remembered the room number of every player; he crawled in through the ventilation duct and found the room of that player with a low presence.
Sure enough, that player was ‘sleeping’ in bed, identical to the body he possessed.
Ruan Qing carefully examined the player on the bed.
There’s a heartbeat, there’s breathing, almost indistinguishable from a real person.
Judging solely from these aspects, it’s challenging to determine what’s really going on.
Ruan Qing wasn’t sure if the puppet’s feelings would be conveyed to the owner, so he didn’t act recklessly.
After thinking for a moment, Ruan Qing spoke in his mind, ‘System, is there a puppet for sale in the system store? Bring up the details for me to see.’
Although one couldn’t buy items once they're inside an instance, just checking the attributes should be fine, and it didn’t involve any instance clues or the like.
However, the system did not respond at all, as if it didn’t exist, marking the first time the system didn’t respond to him.
‘System?’
Ruan Qing was a bit puzzled. Did changing bodies mean the system wouldn’t follow him?
Ruan Qing lowered his gaze slightly, considering the possibility.
After all, in the <First High School> instance, the system had told him that if he ceased to be human, judged by the game’s main system as lacking the potential to clear the game, it would detach from him.
Ruan Qing felt a slight unease. This meant that the judgment of whether he was human or not was based on his physical body, not his soul or spirit.
His previous thoughts were obviously completely wrong. If his body in this instance truly died, he might be unable to clear this instance.
This meant he couldn’t give up on that body. However, the system had never warned him about this. Even when it saw him preparing to commit suicide, it didn’t alert him.
It seemed like his system... didn’t really want him to survive.
Ruan Qing lowered his gaze slightly, fortunate that he now knew this before it was too late. Unable to check the puppets in the system mall, he couldn’t confirm whether the puppets shared sensory perception with their owners. He had to test this himself.
Ruan Qing set up a trap with a rope on the player’s bed, which would fall in ten minutes. Meanwhile, he went directly to the opposite villa and observed through a telescope.
Not because he was overly cautious, but the vice president’s perceptual abilities were too strong.
If he got too close, he would definitely be discovered.
Ten minutes quickly passed, and the object fell directly onto the player.
The player didn’t wake up.
Ruan Qing observed for nearly three minutes, and no one came rushing over.
He even saw the vice president and the player with a crew cut in the corner of the villa.
Clearly, it was not perceived.
This made it easy.
Ruan Qing directly took that player away.
Then he threw the player in a corner of the villa.
A discreet yet easily discoverable spot.
Ruan Qing inferred the route of the vice president and the player with a crew cut, and decided where to throw the person based on that.
Then he squatted not far away, carefully observing with the telescope.
The two soon discovered that player.
Just as he had guessed.
The player with a crew cut was visibly shocked when he saw the player, and even the vice president frowned imperceptibly.
Obviously, his speculation was likely correct.
That also meant he had little chance of obtaining that power, especially since he didn’t have a puppet.
Not only couldn’t he obtain it, but he must not.
Otherwise, he might not even be able to leave this instance.
Ruan Qing concealed the expression in his eyes and went to the place where the male player had spied on him before.
He also picked up the telescope and aimed them at his own room.
The three people from the Yang family were still in his room, watching the doctor do something to him.
It seemed they wouldn’t leave for a short time.
Ruan Qing directly avoided everyone, quietly sneaking up to the fourth floor of the main villa.
At this time, the three from the Yang family should still be in his room, meaning there was no one on the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors.
After confirming that there really was no one on the fourth floor, Ruan Qing cautiously walked to the study.
Then he walked straight to the back of the table, bent down behind the table, and looked under the table.
A tablet was just placed in the corner under the table.
Almost no concealment.
Although it was completely blocked by the table, once someone bent down, they would definitely discover the tablet.
