That's great, Captain

The [Walking Corpses] stood frozen in place, like puppets displayed in a museum.

Zhu Yan ignored the female voice’s enthusiastic “I like you” and went straight to asking about the instance’s rewards.

“May I ask if there’s any reward that can revive the [Walking Corpses]—or at least make them look alive?”

“You’re so cold, player,” the female voice chided. “Even so, I’m still willing to give you a wink.”

Zhu Yan choked.

Huh?

“Of course the instance doesn’t have a reward like that, player,” the female voice intoned dramatically. “However, I overruled everyone else and played a recording of your performance in this instance for the audience of the [Court of All Performers].”

“Congratulations. Your brilliant performance earned the high recognition and praise of audience members [Lord of the Feast] and [Covenant of Lies].”

“They have each tipped you with an item package worth a total of two hundred Bone Coins and a total of—priceless.”

Priceless!

The last priceless item he’d received had been this alternate account of his, [Zhu Zeyu].

Just how enormous could the value of this be?

Terrified, Zhu Yan respectfully called them “Dad.”

“Thank you, my two generous providers!”

Overjoyed, he expressed his gratitude profusely.

“Thank you both for the tips. As long as I’m around, you’ll have a good show to watch.”

In his excitement, Zhu Yan was willing to say anything that sounded nice.

“I absolutely won’t let down either of your expectations—or your generosity!”

The female voice paused for a moment.

“Congratulations, player. You have obtained three bottles of [Fake Resurrection Potion], three [Walking Corpses], and three [Permission to Log In Under Another Person’s Account].”

Zhu Yan considered himself well acquainted with all kinds of strange things, but the abundance of this item package still left him stunned.

What exactly did [Permission to Log In Under Another Person’s Account] mean?

If it really meant what he thought it did…

Zhu Yan held his breath and concentrated, waiting for the female voice to continue its announcement.

“Player, you may use [Fake Resurrection Potion] to create the illusion that the [Walking Corpses] are living people.”

“Please note that the [Walking Corpses]’ every movement is under your control. You may establish a preset program when using them.”

The female voice sounded like heaven itself.

“In addition, you may use [Permission to Log In Under Another Person’s Account] to log into three other accounts simultaneously.”

“After logging in, the player name will no longer be [User Account Deleted]. It will automatically revert to the state it was in before death.”

“Of course, you may also temporarily store [Permission to Log In Under Another Person’s Account] under the names of the [Walking Corpses]. They will respond to messages according to their preset programs.”

Holy crap. It all lined up.

If the instance hadn’t ended yet, and if Jin Rongxu’s howls hadn’t been coming from outside in waves, Zhu Yan would really have spun in place and screamed.

This was way too amazing.

This was practically the ultimate reward package.

Of course, Zhu Yan chose Ma Dong, the army medic, and Pot Lid for the three [Walking Corpses].

The three of them were the core members of Jin Rongxu’s team. Not only could they freely investigate the interior of the [Human Alliance], they would also make it much easier for him to stab Jin Rongxu viciously in the back during large-scale public-test instances.

This result did indeed match what the prophet had seen to a considerable degree—

At the very least, all the team’s main members had “survived.” Zhu Zeyu had taken a bullet for Jin Rongxu and obtained that cloak.

The prophet’s accuracy was roughly ninety-five percent.

There were certainly discrepancies in some details, but the result was already remarkably good.

“Are you sure you want to choose these three [Walking Corpses]?”

The female voice had clearly seen through Zhu Yan’s intentions.

“Yes,” Zhu Yan replied decisively in his mind.

“Understood. Rewards have been distributed.” The female voice announced cheerfully. “Please make your arrangements as soon as possible, [Hunter]. Do not reveal any flaws in front of your companions.”

…

In his fury, Jin Rongxu had nearly exhausted every ounce of strength in his body.

As the adrenaline wore off, intense pain and exhaustion surged upward like a rising tide and overwhelmed him.

At that moment, Jin Rongxu was kneeling in a pool of blood, groaning and howling in agony. All the color had drained from his lips.

Zhu Zeyu pretended to crouch beside him, his hands trembling so badly that he could barely hold a bottle of advanced [Universal Potion].

“T-Team Leader, please bear with it…”

The potion trickled leisurely over Jin Rongxu’s bare wrist—one drop poured on, three drops spilled onto the ground.

There were precisely zero people who wanted Jin Rongxu’s wound to heal quickly.

The potion had come from the [Demon Department Store], so it had cost him practically nothing. Zhu Zeyu would rather waste it.

“T-The instance should be over.” Zhu Zeyu put on a full performance of weakness and timidity, sobbing as he spoke. “Team Leader, are Ma Dong and the others… really dead?”

As a precaution, he still needed to lay the groundwork for the “surprise” that was about to arrive.

After all, only a dozen or so meters away, behind a clump of bushes, Ma Dong, the army medic, and Pot Lid—the three “people”—had already drunk the potions Zhu Yan had given them and were preparing to configure the next stage of their programs.

Zhu Yan had finally figured out how the [Walking Corpses] differed from “puppets.”

Basically, “puppets” were manual transmission: he had to climb inside and operate them himself. The [Walking Corpses], on the other hand, could function in either automatic or manual mode.

They retained the memories they had possessed before death and could react to other people’s actions and words just as they had when alive.

As long as their operating mode was set to “act as usual,” they could serve as stiff but useful robots.

Even an ability like [Mind Reading] could only read the preset, mechanical thoughts inside them.

“What a great item.”

Zhu Yan praised it sincerely.

“I thought Mom was the badass one. Turns out the tool is what makes her so powerful?”

With a tool like this, he’d be badass too.

“Dear Hunter, please note that the [Walking Corpses] possess no memories from after death.”

“If you need to increase their memory-storage capacity, please visit the [Lazybones Craft Shop] to purchase remotely operated [Memory Storage Cards] for installation.”

All right, all right.

Zhu Yan understood.

He would buy them after leaving.

As for the issue of “certain memories being inaccessible,” he could control the corpses and explain to the [Human Alliance] inspectors that their brains had been damaged and that they needed two or three days of rest.

Zhu Yan walked around the three lifelike [Walking Corpses], admiring them, then assigned them permission to log into the player forum accounts.

They were alive.

Completely alive!

The female voice had already begun urging Zhu Yan to act.

“All right, dear [Hunter],” it said cheerfully. “Please return to your companions as soon as possible. We will switch to the group channel and begin announcing the settlement results for this instance.”

Zhu Yan did not delay. He dispersed once more into [Mist].

…

Zhu Zeyu leisurely finished dripping more than half the bottle of [Universal Potion].

Jin Rongxu’s bloody stump healed into a smooth, bare cylinder, with only a coin-sized patch of flesh still turned outward.

“Almost there, Team Leader.” Zhu Zeyu’s voice had already steadied. “Once you return, someone will treat you. Your left hand will grow back, right?”

Jin Rongxu’s lips twisted viciously.

“Of course,” he said coldly. “That naive fool. I contacted the Alliance immediately. They’ll be stationed at the [Hall of Mourning] around the clock.”

Zhu Zeyu let out a delighted, anguished howl.

The last time he had entered the [Hall of Mourning] from [Merryland], he’d learned that it contained numerous halls—not just Anwu Hall, but also Bailu Hall, Shangyuan Hall, and halls belonging to various other cities.

Since Jin Rongxu was blocking off Anwu Hall, he had no choice but to make a reluctant trip to the other halls.

“That’s wonderful, Captain,” Zhu Zeyu said sincerely.

Just then, the plants ahead began to move. Several familiar figures emerged from within, startling Zhu Zeyu so badly that his hand jerked, spilling the remaining half of the potion onto the muddy ground.

“Who are you?!”