The Plan

Overcome with excitement, Zhu Yan unconsciously slowed his breathing.

His heart began pounding rapidly. His eyes remained fixed on the words 【User Deleted】, while countless thoughts flashed through his mind.

If this had happened before, he might have felt a little worried.

But now…

There were plenty of people whose accounts had been 【User Deleted】!

Zhu Yan asked, “Is that the only condition for opening the 【Eye of the Abyss】? Are there any others?”

The Doppelganger said, “Oh, there’s also a portrait. Apparently, you have to look like those two people.”

A portrait?

That would make things more troublesome, but it wasn’t impossible to work around.

Looking out at the withered yellow grasslands rushing past on both sides of the highway, Zhu Yan asked thoughtfully, “What do they look like? Can you take a picture of it?”

Those things had only ever seen his puppet, “Zhu Zeyu.”

In theory, they couldn’t draw the real Zhu Yan.

The Doppelganger quickly sent him a photo.

“They’ve put them up all over every district in 【Merry Wonderland】. Take a look.”

It was an oil painting of considerable skill.

The delicate brushwork depicted a human head whose features and bearing were ninety-five percent similar to Zhu Zeyu’s.

The head had been severed at the neck, with blood dripping steadily from the stump.

Ugh. What an ominous sight!

Zhu Yan held the phone away from himself in disgust.

Even if it was only a portrait of his puppet… his puppet was expensive, all right?

“They’ve only put them up in every district of 【Merry Wonderland】?”

“Oh, apparently there are some inside the instance too.” The Doppelganger replied enthusiastically. “I just haven’t seen them. I haven’t entered an instance yet, my friend.”

Zhu Yan did some calculations.

What a joke. Fortunately, he had just opened 【Horror Map】 and taken a look.

A trip to 【Recitation Stage】—and then another trip to 【Merry Wonderland】—was still necessary. He needed to scavenge some items and find a scapegoat.

In 【Merry Wonderland】, he should at least be able to find out where there was an item capable of changing one person into someone with a completely different appearance, right?

As for 【Recitation Stage】…

Zhu Yan recalled what he had seen there before.

From the first time he encountered that pair of 【Hunters】—the “father and son”—he had heard them discussing their request to cooperate with Hunter No. 1.

Back then, he had no idea what they were plotting and could only probe them little by little.

But now…

Zhu Yan gave a quiet laugh.

Once his abilities updated tonight and he obtained Jin Rongxu’s ability, 【Mind Reading】, everything would become much easier the next time they met.

He just didn’t know whether they really were Nos. 2 and 3…

“Wait for my news.” Zhu Yan replied to the Doppelganger. “I’ll ask around here too.”

“Woman,” said the Doppelganger.

Zhu Yan felt reassured and turned off his phone screen before closing his eyes to rest.

On another vehicle.

A wisp of 【Mist】 slowly separated from Pot Lid’s body and burrowed into Jin Rongxu’s.

Jin Rongxu lowered his head and stared at his left palm, entering his 【Player Center】.

Then, with Zhu Yan controlling him, he searched through his private messages on the 【Player Forum】. Sure enough, he immediately found something suspicious at the very top.

Several private messages from 【ADX】, the fifth-ranked player on the 【Overall Player Rankings】, lay there in silence.

Zhu Yan stared at them for a few seconds before opening them. He discovered that the sender seemed to be carrying quite a grudge.

“Hey, Captain Jin, how did I hear that something happened at the auditorium?”

Ah. This person was also at the West Suburb Shelter.

“You left without taking me with you? Come on, is that any way to treat a guest, brother? That’s pretty disloyal!”

Aha.

Other than Director Jin, the only person in the entire shelter who could speak to Jin Rongxu this way was Qiu Lingxiao.

“There’s no problem now. A vehicle came to pick me up. See you in Silver Bay or East Pivot City!”

Zhu Yan paid slightly more attention.

Coincidentally, when Director Jin had issued his instructions, he had also named those two places without hesitation.

Silver Bay. East Pivot.

What exactly was special about those two places?

He continued scrolling through the messages, completely confirming Qiu Lingxiao’s identity.

“Hahahaha, all right, all right. I’ve made it to fifth place on the rankings too!”

“Just a little behind you, Captain Jin. When are you planning to take me into a real battle?”

“The people around here are so slippery. They call me Captain Qiu to my face, but does anyone really see me as their captain?”

“I hate this feeling.”

Qiu Lingxiao was awfully talkative.

Zhu Yan furrowed his brow.

Moreover, the way he sent messages differed from everyone else. He replaced punctuation marks with spaces, and every so often, two emojis would appear.

It gave off a certain…

Zhu Yan couldn’t quite put the feeling into words.

He just didn’t know what Qiu Lingxiao’s ability was.

If he could return to 【Nightmare Bookshop】 to investigate the details, and look into the other members of the Qiu family while he was at it, that would be excellent.

And if all the conditions were right, could he turn Qiu Lingxiao into one of his puppets as well?

He scrolled upward to find the real Jin Rongxu’s reply to Qiu Lingxiao, then imitated Jin Rongxu’s tone and sent a message.

“I have twenty-four hours of rest. We’ll talk after I’m done resting.”

Qiu Lingxiao replied almost instantly.

This time, he sent a photograph of a helicopter.

Several heavily armed players stood beneath it, one of them waving toward the camera.

“My dad and my brother are in a hurry to have me come back and discuss some things.”

“I’ll head back first, hahaha!”

He sent the private message with an unmistakable air of ostentation.

Cautiously following Jin Rongxu’s usual habits, Zhu Yan did not reply.

…

“There’s a service area ahead,” Captain Zheng said. “The military has converted it into a temporary supply station. No idea what the situation inside is. Shall we take a look?”

This was the destination Zhu Yan had been waiting for, because 【Horror Map】 showed that there was a shortcut inside the service area.

He looked out through the car window and saw, in the distance beneath the hazy gray sky, a small cluster of pointed-roof buildings.

On those buildings, which resembled an isolated island, strips of lights glowed an unnaturally warm yellow.

Beneath the brand-new fast-food sign, a strange clown’s head ornament repeatedly stuck out its tongue.

“Let’s just get some fuel,” Yang Zhanbai said cautiously. “Captain Zheng, does this service area look like it was modified by the military to you? The instance has definitely already manifested here.”

The vehicles slowly drew closer. Zhu Zeyu carefully lowered the car window a fraction.

“It may not be an instance,” he suddenly said.

A smell of meat drifted through the air, somewhat resembling the aroma of the fried patties from a street-side burger shop on the old street where Zhu Yan had once lived.

“Captain Zheng, stop the car for now. Director Jin, shall I go down and take a look?”

The vehicle in front of them had already come to a slow stop.

Guan En jumped out of the driver’s seat, made a cautious gesture toward them, then pointed at the clown’s head beneath the fast-food sign.

“Zhu Zeyu and Yang Zhanbai, go down,” Director Jin said. “Young Zheng, you’re the driver. Stay here and don’t move.”

Zhu Zeyu jumped out of the vehicle and looked up at the clown sticking out its tongue.

Now he could see it clearly—

Some words had been fastened onto the clown’s scarlet tongue with tiny rivets.

“Notice: Welcome to 【Strange Pie Shop】. Our shop sells hamburgers, meat pies, hot dogs, and pies in a variety of flavors, all made with fresh ingredients. Please feel free to purchase them.”

For now, ingredients are welcome to walk into the shop of their own accord. If you need other supplies, please come inside to discuss the details.