PFRG: Chapter 198

The members of the Dawn team came back, along with Qi Xiu of the Jazz team.

It didn’t seem to be a surprising result, but the others looked at Qi Xiu, a non-staff member, with some surprise.

They were both new teams, but the Jazz team did perform poorly compared to the Dawn team. The last time people noticed this guy called Qi Xiu was when Chi Ting nominated him to lead the team. Judging from the final battle results this time, there was only one person left on the battlefield, but Qi Xiu still helped the Jazz team gain enough points to rank second. There was no doubt that his strength was somewhat amazing.

As players whose strength shocked them appeared one after another, the players of each major team felt very complicated.

This feeling was like suddenly realizing that all the self-proclaimed abilities that were previously top-notch were just illusions of sitting in a well and looking at the world from afar.

Under the gazes of all the teams, Chi Ting simply greeted everyone. He signaled for them to prepare to go to the No 3 stronghold and left with the rest of the Dawn team without looking back.

This attitude, combined with the not-so-small conflict that had occurred earlier, was enough to make the atmosphere on the scene feel a bit subtle.

Just like the previous rules, the number of monster attacks in each wave was continuously increasing while the interval time in between was decreasing significantly.

Originally, the interval between the fifth and sixth waves wasn’t too long. Minus the time spent on the battle just now, and there were only two hours left. If they hurried, it would be just enough for them to move to the safe zone of the next base.

In this way, the remaining rest time probably only depended on how long it took the monsters to approach the No 3 stronghold from the No 1 stronghold after the next wave of offensive was launched.

It was like the progression of a tower defense game, where the defenseless outposts ahead were defeated one after another.

They could only hold on by retreating backward.

Invisibly, everyone felt as if a hand was tightly grasping their throats in the darkness. The overly strong feeling of oppression was enough to make every cell in their body go crazy.

Or maybe this wasn’t an illusion at all. Once the degree of alienation increased significantly in a short period of time, players who weren’t used to it might fall into another crazy world that didn’t exist at any time.

After Chi Ting informed the others, he really didn’t look back again. He led the Dawn team toward the No 3 stronghold. Only the sound of footsteps in the distance indicated that other teams were catching up.

Chi Ting rarely felt tired, but the battle just now did consume a lot of physical strength.

He glanced down at the beads on his wrist and pondered for a moment. Then he suddenly turned around to look at the person next to him.

Lou Yueren was caught off guard and became stunned. “What is it?”

Chi Ting raised an eyebrow. “Let’s take advantage of this free time to tell me now.”

“Hmm?”

Chi Ting stared at him and got straight to the point. “Tell me what you found in this instance that is related to me.”

Lou Yueren: “……”

A few seconds passed before he laughed helplessly. “Do you have to be so perceptive?”

“It isn’t that I’m perceptive,” Chi Ting said. “You are just too obvious.”

Lou Yueren’s curiosity was aroused by the words. “What did I show?”

Chi Ting smiled slightly. “At least from my perspective, I feel that if conditions permit, you would want to put a few chains on me from head to toe, imprison me in a dark room, and not allow me to go anywhere.”

Lou Yueren inexplicably imagined it and actually felt that it was indeed somewhat exciting. But under Chi Ting’s half-smiling gaze, he didn’t show it too much. “Okay, don’t talk like I’m a pervert with bad taste.”

Chi Ting shot back, “So you’re not?”

Lou Yueren: “.”

This point seemed impossible to refute.

Chi Ting laughed at the choked expression. He didn’t let Lou Yueren change the subject and got straight back to the point. “So, what are you afraid of?”

He paused before adding, “Or I can ask it this way. You have already made some assumptions about the situation in this instance, right?”

Lou Yueren still wanted to tease him, but under such a calm and straightforward gaze, he could only shrug helplessly. “Probably, yes.”

He thought for a moment before briefly stating all of his previous conjectures.

This way of expression might be too straightforward for many people, but Lou Yueren knew that Chi Ting didn’t need him to beat around the bush. He finished explaining and stared at the other person’s expression. He thought for a moment before saying, “In short, I don’t know why No 7 is going to such great lengths to target you, but it isn’t difficult to guess that driving you completely crazy is definitely very important to him. This is why I didn’t tell you. It isn’t because I think you can’t handle it. It is simply because I think there is no need for you to get involved in this inexplicable and troublesome thing. After all…”

Chi Ting continued his words with a faint smile, “After all, even if I know, it won’t change what I want to do.”

Lou Yueren rubbed his throbbing head. “Yes, that’s it.”

Chi Ting saw Lou Yueren’s expression and couldn’t help laughing. “So, you are trying to stop me in every possible way to control the increase in my alienation level?”

It must be admitted that every link in Lou Yueren’s deduction was terrifying when thinking about it carefully. As the person involved, it felt as if since entering the instance, every step he took was under the control of someone. This person was leading him step by step, slowly walking towards the deeper trap, but he was like a puppet, unable to resist.

This type of feeling could easily shake a person’s mind. Those with weaker psychological endurance might even completely collapse their mental defenses. However, since Lou Yueren said it all without any concealment, it meant he knew very well that Chi Ting wasn’t so fragile that he could be easily affected. Just like Lou Yueren’s previous answer, the reason why he didn’t say it was just because he didn’t want Chi Ting to have any more troubles in this annoying instance.

To be honest, it was really frustrating. Then after thinking about it carefully, Chi Ting’s first reaction wasn’t to worry but to come up with another question. “To be able to target me to this extent… doesn’t that No 7 know too much about my world?”

Lou Yueren corrected. “To be exact, he knows you better.”

He lowered his eyes and scanned Chi Ting from head to toe, saying sincerely, “So whenever I have time, I have been thinking about it. Chi Ting, what is there in you that would require him to go to such lengths to scheme against you? If I think about it carefully, this instance might’ve existed from the very beginning to welcome your arrival. Then going back, this so-called national celebration event might also have been set up for you. Tsk, it is really impressive to have such a grand fanfare.”

The first few words sounded quite serious, but when it came to the last sentence, Chi Ting finally smelled a subtle, sour scent.

Chi Ting had never expected that someone could be so jealous. He glanced over with a mixture of anger and amusement before finally replying slowly, “I feel that the only thing about me that can be appreciated is my special ability.”

After a moment of silence, he followed this line of thought and continued, “He needs my ability, so he wants to completely control me. The specific method might be the same as when he turned you into an NPC and trapped you in the instance. To do this, he first needs to make me completely out of control in a completely alienated state. This means that as long as I retain a trace of sanity, he won’t be able to control me. This is enough to show that I and the other members of Dawn aren’t NPCs whose values and behaviors he can set at will. Moreover, his need for me couldn’t have arisen after I came to this unlimited world. In other words, the biggest possibility at the moment is that I had already attracted his attention when I was still in my original world.”

He continued to walk forward, but the apparently peaceful words were enough to cause a chill in his heart due to the layers of meaning contained within them.

Like the peeling of layers of silk from an onion, many details seemed to gradually become clear.

Chi Ting looked at Lou Yueren and continued in a declarative tone, “To be more precise, combined with the previous Ark Laboratory and Leah Island instance you entered before entering the ultimate instance, there might be other instances, including the current Doomsday Tower Defense… the existence of these instances is basically enough to prove that before the alienation crisis completely broke out in my world, No 7 had already been observing silently.”

The brief contact in the spiritual world at that time made Lou Yueren completely remember many things he hadn’t been able to fully recall before. It also allowed Chi Ting to see Lou Yueren’s experiences at that moment.

However, after that, the two of them tacitly agreed not to mention the matter again. At this time, Chi Ting suddenly brought it up and added one more sentence, “I didn’t tell you before because I didn’t think it was necessary to mention it. Leah Island is where I first awakened my superpower. I was around 16 years old at that time.”

Lou Yueren mentioned before that he had seen Chi Ting’s name in an instance, which was Leah Island. At that time, he got the last Joker card through this instance. It was from then on that he successfully started the trial mission for the ultimate instance.

In that instance, the name Chi Ting was just one of a batch of files. It left an impression on Lou Yueren because it was the only one with an SSS-level rating. He really didn’t expect that a casual glance while searching for clues would become a very important clue in his speculation process long after.

After being suddenly reminded of the reality that all his memories had been seen, Lou Yueren actually accepted the fact that he had no privacy very well. The only thing that suddenly made him feel a bit uncomfortable was something completely different.

At this moment, Lou Yueren’s expression became extremely solemn. “No matter if it is necessary or not, I think you should find a time to tell me everything that happened in the past.”

“….Yeah.”

Due to Lou Yueren’s strange ability to grasp the key points, the atmosphere around them suddenly became subtle.

After a while, Lou Yueren slowly exhaled and got back to the point. “So, the Ark Laboratory was before the outbreak of the alienation. The Leah Island instance I entered was when you and your batch of superpowers had just awakened when you were 16 years old, and the instance we are in now is one of the places you passed through when you led Dawn to carry out missions after you became the captain.”

He stroked his chin slowly and finally came to a conclusion. “This guy, No 7, really took advantage of the world and made full use of it!”

Chi Ting suddenly said, “In fact, I have another idea.”

“What is it?”

Chi Ting’s face was expressionless for a moment. Hearing this, he gazed at Lou Yueren deeply and said, “Xiao Lu once told me that players who have awakened their personal ability in this world actually have some degree of alienation. I didn’t think much of it at first, but if my world has some type of relationship with the designer of this unlimited world from the beginning, then there is a possibility…”

There was a brief pause before his voice slowly drifted in the quiet wind around them. “Perhaps, all of these players’ personal skills are a type of ‘superpower’ in themselves?”