Wen Shi didn't know how Shadow had disposed of the body, but that didn't matter; as long as he buried it properly and didn't let anyone find it, he would be fine. He covered up any blood-stained areas with a little dirt.
Wen Shi's current state can be perfectly described as: I, a killer, have no emotions.
"Come out." He said calmly, "Is it fun to watch me dig the ground?"
After a few seconds, the scarecrow walked out from the darkness.
It seemed to understand that it had made a fatal mistake and should not have specifically reminded people of the taboos, but instead ended up making things worse.
"You have more than one flaw." Wen Shi seemed to know what it was thinking and said, "Now that the game is played, you don't need to bewitch the target into surrendering their soul within a specific range of pain. So there's no need to enter the old times with them."
Li Nanzeng coughed twice to remind him to pay attention to whether the straw demon was following him when he looked back.
The task prompts that the current city lord has used a scarecrow to complete a task. The devil deliberately stuck a few straws outside the red candle, just to divert his own thoughts, so that he would mistakenly think that the connection between it and the city lord is to borrow his life.
[Clue Quest - Scarecrow's Challenge Completed.]
[You know the secret of the Straw Demon. A killer from afar once used its ability to rewind and stole the city lord's identity.]
Wen Shi looked at the scarecrow: "Why do you want to help trace back?"
The player triggered the quest, so there is no reason for the Straw Demon to reverse time just for Shadow.
The truth can be summed up in three words, and the Straw Demon said it pointedly: "I can't beat you."
"…"
This retrospection gave Wen Shi a deeper understanding of Shadow.
The shadow has no eyes, no heart, and no limbs, and his whole body is covered with black energy, but he can freely transform into the appearance of other people.
"Shadow and Jian Qingrong..." Before he could think about how the two were in contact privately, the world began to spin again.
[End of Backtrack]
After the cold mechanical voice gave the reminder, the smell of blood in the air weakened, and the scattered flesh and blood remaining on the ground began to become blurred. Wen Shi's entire body floated up and down in the pitch-black environment.
By the time he could see the world clearly again, the crescent moon in the sky had changed its arc, becoming fuller, and the blood mist that had been floating above him had dissipated. When his vision finally cleared, Xiaohua's face came into view.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "Why do you look like you've lost your soul?"
Wen Shi waved his hands and took a few deep breaths.
Seeing the thief's internal organs being ripped out and then slashing the city lord's neck with his own hands, it would be strange if he was in good condition.
The terrifying scarecrow disappeared, undoubtedly proving that the clue mission had been completed. Xiaohua patted Wen Shi's shoulder and said, "Although you don't know anything about the gambling, you are still very reliable."
"It's an open-book exam after all." Wen Shi couldn't help but look down at his chest. The scales were gone, and everything seemed like an illusion.
Open book exam?
Before Xiaohua asked, Li Nan was only concerned about the gambling itself: "Have you found any important clues?"
Wen Shi nodded and went through the whole thing from beginning to end. Li Nan and Xiao Hua were both players who had participated in the tour group, so there was no need to waste energy explaining anything related to the shadow.
"You all know that Song Yan is one of the True Spirit's clones. There should be a similar relationship between Jian Qingrong and the Lord of Terror."
The current state of the electronic dial is garbled, involving discussions on gambling information, which can't be seen by monsters except the bettors. Wen Shi also mentioned that Jian Qingrong is the boss guarding the big factory.
His voice was very soft, but his pronunciation was exceptionally clear. Apart from some overly important clues, he did not deliberately conceal anything and even spoke in great detail.
This is why some advanced players are willing to help.
Secrets are always a double-edged sword. For shrewd people, the deeper you hide them, the more wary they become. Wen Shi's erratic behavior doesn't mean he's a lone wolf. Breaking into a 3S special dungeon alone, constantly on guard against sneak attacks from powerful players, is truly courting death.
"When I was at Frank Hospital, the game issued a mission to delete File 82." Wen Shi said slowly, "Powerful bosses rely on clones to absorb negative energy. Now I think erasing the clones is a sign that the game is hunting down the Lord of Terror."
He deliberately slowed his speech to give his listeners time to digest it. But after a brief moment of shock, Xiaohua held her face in her hands and sighed with deep regret, "Meeting in a dungeon and redeeming each other—such pure love! But with such captivating personalities, you didn't actually torture each other to death. What a shame."
"…"What on earth are you regretting?
"Quick, tell your sister the romantic story in detail."
Wen Shi rubbed his brows. His peripheral vision caught Xiao Hua's eyes, and he noticed the indolence had vanished, replaced by a sly cunning. It was as if she had discovered some interesting clue in the story he had told her earlier.
Li Nan actually showed curiosity, but he was only interested in one section, which was the part where Wen Shi encountered the shadow at the bottom of the lake.
"Tell me." The small vest outside the dealer's uniform had no pockets. Li Nan raised one arm and rubbed his fingertips slightly, wondering what he was thinking about.
When he heard Shadow swap the scales between his left and right hands and asked Wen Shi to guess which hand they were in, Li Nan waved his hand to signal that there was no need to say more.
The will of the game is everywhere. Mei Jin Casino is an exception. The fact that Boss Mei dares to use the game for gambling means that his hand cannot reach there. So neither Li Nan nor Xiao Hua got to the point immediately, and prepared to discuss the details after returning to the casino.
Li Nan suddenly forced a smile: "There's one last thing we need to confirm."
Wen Shi immediately felt an urge to explode and subconsciously wanted to take a step back, but it was too late. A small wooden sign the size of a palm was stuffed into his hand in advance.
"It's highly unlikely I'll need it, but I'd still keep it just in case." Li Nan said, "This is a death scapegoat. If nothing goes wrong, remember to return it to me."
After saying that, he deliberately made a noise in the courtyard, and he and Xiaohua disappeared one after another after using the acceleration props.
"…"
[Sangmenshen: You're quite tough. You have the little gadgets I made, but you don't have any painful memories that the Straw Demon could search for.]
When the red-named audience made comments, their wrists would be particularly cold, and it would be hard for Wen Shi not to notice.
Ji Yuanzhi said that players who have death substitutes are mostly unlucky or have a rough fate in real life. The reason is that the death substitutes in the game are all made by the God of Death. Both parties are of the same kind and attract each other. Those who are not strong enough can't bear this cause and effect.
Li Nan is the type who is too tough.
There was a noise coming from the inner courtyard, and Wen Shi quickly rushed out of the second door to the outer courtyard. Shadow couldn't have deliberately let him go; that was provoking the game. If the real city lord faced the player who broke into the second door, he would kill him without hesitation, so Shadow had to be killed as well.
Wen Shi could already feel a cool atmosphere surrounding him.
Li Nan and the others were using extremely rare speed-boosting items, and Wen Shi couldn't catch up to them no matter what he did. In desperation, he activated his Complete Transformation and used the Great Sealing Technique to suppress his own aura, then gathered himself together and stood shoulder to shoulder with the pile of black stones.
He had played Stone in a stage play in the previous copy, so he was familiar with this role.
In just two or three breaths, the "city lord" appeared. He scanned every corner of the courtyard with his distracted eyes. When he passed a slippery "stone", the gloomy and perverted "city lord" was stunned for a moment.
The night wind blew, and the hair swayed slowly.
...The decent stones in the courtyard will not grow hair.
The city lord stared at the scene, stood there for a few seconds, and finally turned around and went back to the inner courtyard, smiling helplessly while spitting blood.
Vomiting blood was a backlash from the rules, punishing him for discovering Wen Shi but not killing him. However, this backlash was within the tolerable range. After all, Wen Shi sealed his aura in an attempt to pass himself off as the real thing, so there was a possibility that he would be ignored.
The city lord's footsteps gradually faded away, and the hairy stone began to move again, moving towards the gate little by little. It was picked up just as it was about to cross the threshold.
Xiaohua rubbed the cat's head and said, "Are you scared?"
Wen Shi returned Li Nan's props and whipped his tail on the other's arm to express his dissatisfaction: "Remember to inform me in advance next time."
After the two men made some noise and disappeared, Wen Shi immediately understood what they were trying to do. A shadow was supposed to be a cold-blooded and ruthless character, but Jian Qingrong's shadow didn't seem to fit this characteristic.
So Li Nan tried it out in this way.
If it was really a completely copied and pasted dark side, Shadow would not have let Wen Shi go so easily.
Xiaohua said meaningfully, "If it's not the dark side, then what exactly do you think he is?"
The three of them actually had the answer in their hearts.
Jian Qingrong has the eyes of the Lord of Terror on his body, and a little speculation suggests that the shadow should also have a part of the Lord of Terror on his body.
Li Nan said calmly, "Boss Mei despises money transactions. The Golden City has no value in her eyes. The high-priced bargaining chip should be the organ of the Lord of Terror."
In other words, the shadow mortgages itself.
"...Boss Mei also said that the bet is also to leave himself a way out. If the Lord of Terror and Yugi are playing a game, and you bet on Yugi to win, and Yugi actually wins, then the bet becomes yours, and the shadow that became the chip is also yours. The Lord of Terror will have a chance to make a comeback."
Wen Shi nodded: "The Lord of Terror is clearly in a passive position in this situation. This is the only way to break the deadlock."
Xiaohua's smile gradually became distorted. "The Lord of Terror gave you the slice. Perhaps there is still a trace of his soul in the shadow. He will always lose to you. Isn't this romantic enough?"
"Let's put everything else aside for now," Li Nan always focused on the key points. "The clues and tasks are enough to predict who will win this round. The Lord of Terror left a way out, which means he knew he would lose, so he used the money scale to leave a part of himself as a bargaining chip. Yugi also knew he was playing this trick, but there was nothing he could do. Yugi couldn't control the money scale."
After a brief silence of a few seconds, Wen Shi said softly, "Looks like we can place our bets now."
…
Sangmen Temple.
The live broadcast room was in a garbled state, but following the God of Death who had placed bets did not affect the viewing experience.
He has a temperament that makes him feel rueful all the time, and he looks even more unlucky.
Wen Shi's shadow had come to Sangmen Temple at the Turtle Man's suggestion. Now the boy was forced to sit beneath a Buddha statue and read scriptures. The Sangmen God said he was too violent and needed to be tempered. The boy wanted to pierce the other's lungs with a steel pipe, but he didn't have the strength.
The girl followed along as she read the scriptures and sighed, "Why are we always being dominated?"
The boy cursed the turtle man.
The turtle man obviously had an excessive admiration for Wen Shi, and deliberately came to the Sangmen Temple to attract the attention of the Sangmen God. If he noticed the shadow, he would naturally notice the original body as well.
Outside, a layer of water curtain was broadcasting live what was happening in the Golden City. The God of Death muttered to himself, "So the Lord of Terror was planning this. No wonder he dared to agree to a game with the Supreme Will when he was so weak that he had to sleep."
The God of Death had some ideas.
Possessing the power of purification, the Lord of Terror is their natural nemesis and their most coveted food.
There is no true spirit that does not want to devour the Lord of Terror. Since the Lord of Terror is bound to be defeated this time, why don't you take a share of the spoils?
"Since you didn't kill us, I'll give you a friendly reminder," the boy curled his lips, "Don't get stuck on the narrow road."
The God of Death looked into the temple.
The boy pointed upwards.
The God of Death said coldly: "The Supreme Will will not monitor the territory of the True Spirit for no reason."
After making sure Yugi wasn't listening, the young man continued, "To hunt down the Lord of Terror, we need the cooperation of a vast number of monsters. Some of them might even include True Spirits. Only if everyone works together can we have a chance."
The God of Death nodded: "Not bad."
The young man held up a finger and said, "So in this game, the Supreme Will you mentioned only has one chance to use its full strength."
Boss Mei said that the bet will be decided soon, so the war is likely to begin before leaving the Golden City.
A dark current seemed to surge in the boy's eyes. "But what if they're targeting the wrong person?" He stood up, looking at the Buddha statue in front of him. "Actually, I've always been curious about how you usually distinguish between clones and the original body."
The God of Death was speechless at this stupid question, "Of course it's powerful..."
Before he finished speaking, his expression changed slightly.
The young man's tone was flat: "The clone will not inherit the original body's emotions. Have you seen Song Yan inherit the feelings of the mirror spirit towards his adoptive father Wen Shi?"
However, the eyes and brain that were split from the Lord of Terror, which were slices of his body, were emotionally dependent on Wen Shi beyond the limit.
The boy possessed Wen Shi's memories, allowing him to see things more clearly from a bystander's perspective. The eye that appeared in the sky during the castle was due to Wen Shi's mission to delete the files. His observation at that time was purely out of curiosity.
"Emotion is the blind spot of the game; it never takes this factor into account."
Just like the president of the game and Wangcai Bank, everything is analyzed from the perspective of interests.
From its perspective, it had initially chosen a player to eliminate its clone, which then unexpectedly formed an excessive bond with the player. The Lord of Terror seized this opportunity, offering the Eye and power, then carving out a slice to dominate the Golden City. It then secretly facilitated a deal between Wen Shi and Boss Mei, using the slice as a bargaining chip. This way, even if the battle was lost, if the slice fell into the hands of Wen Shi, who had bet on the game to win, it would not die.
The actual situation is that the Lord of Terror left all his power to his clone, erased his own memory, and took his soul to the dungeon to become a small boss.
The malice in the world has never disappeared. As long as there is a constant supply of negative emotions, it is only a matter of time before the Lord of Terror becomes powerful again.
"Gambling is conditional. If the Lord of Terror loses, he'll be wiped out. If he wins, he'll definitely have to pay a price." The young man said, "After this live broadcast gets out, there will definitely be many True Spirits rushing out to join in the encirclement and suppression of the Lord of Terror. It's quite interesting to think about killing a clone in the end."
The God of Death didn't find it funny. He narrowed his eyes and said, "Aren't you afraid that I will make all this public?"
The young man shook his head: "The other true spirits have fallen, and the game's vitality has been greatly damaged. It will benefit you and not harm you."
He lowered his eyes and remained silent for a moment, then sighed softly, "The first mover wins."
The real first mover is always the Lord of Terror, not a game.
The God of Death couldn't help but look at the water curtain again. The three people inside began to analyze at length the fact that the Lord of Terror was doomed to lose. Now this scene was so glaring no matter how he looked at it.
What the shadow can analyze, the original body can also do. Obviously, this discussion is nonsense.
"Why else do you think they suddenly stopped there and started beeping?" The boy sneered, "Three smart guys are teaming up to mess up the game."
The words between the lines were all saying, "You are sure to win. The Lord of Terror knows he is no match for you and has already prepared his retreat. We are all betting on your victory." In fact, he dared to guarantee that Wen Shi, the wicked one, would turn around and bet on the Lord of Terror to win.