Explicit Indication

In this family, Zhu Yan was perhaps the one who understood his aunt the most thoroughly.

While his Cousin only saw his mother's doting love and domineering desire for him to succeed, Zhu Yan had to constantly face his aunt's paranoia, anxiety, and extreme craving for stability.

Now, his aunt's peaceful life had been instantly overturned, and in a deeply painful direction.

The beginner's guide he read had mentioned it.

Some players would feel brainwashed and experience a sense of dizziness.

And his aunt would only desperately try to force her life back on track, rather than face the cruel reality.

Even if that track was merely an illusion.

With these two conditions combined, Zhu Yan only needed to play the illusion his aunt desired, and he could manipulate everything with relative ease.

Therefore, Zhu Yan decisively chose to transform into her precious son.

His aunt's expression was nothing short of terrified.

"Who is it? Why is the room spinning?" she asked, looking up to find the source of the sound. "What is that noise?!"

Zhu Yan immediately stepped forward, shoved his panicked Cousin aside, and supported her.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

Zhu Yan's movement was sudden, and his Cousin, caught completely off guard, was pushed to the side.

"Fuck you—"

He tried to curse, but choked on his words the moment he saw Zhu Yan.

Standing before him was not the older brother Zhu Yan he knew, but another version of himself.

From the face to the hairstyle, down to the height and clothes, the person was identical to him.

The only difference was the other's eyes and subtle expressions.

His Cousin stared fixedly at Zhu Yan. Realizing something, he abruptly turned his head to look at the doppelganger on the other side of the dining table.

Exactly the same.

That indescribable, cruel, and mechanical sense of starvation was exactly the same!

His Cousin's expression gradually shifted from shock to fear.

How could this be...

Just a moment ago when he walked through the door, the other person was clearly still Zhu Yan!

"Who the fuck are you cursing at?!"

Seizing the opportunity while his Cousin was still stunned, Zhu Yan snapped back and wrapped an arm around his aunt, who was clutching her head in pain.

"Can't you see my mom is in pain?! You started acting crazy right after I walked in. What the hell are you trying to do?!"

Saying this, Zhu Yan pulled out a chair and helped his aunt sit down.

He turned to the doppelganger, speaking in the bossy tone his Cousin always used.

"Dad, can you hurry up and serve the food? Stop standing there like a log with that cleaver. I'm starving to death!"

His aunt sat next to him, panting heavily like a bellows.

The successive unexpected events and the point-blank shock had completely bewildered her, and that clear female voice was still ringing in her ears.

It was extremely bizarre, instantly reminding her of that disgusting, strange dream from last night!

By the time she tried to regain her senses, two sons appeared before her eyes.

She did not understand, only feeling as if she had been abruptly dragged into a nightmare!

"This... this is..." His aunt looked at Zhu Yan in disbelief, and then at his Cousin.

Zhu Yan glared at the doppelganger.

He was not sure about the doppelganger's intelligence or whether it could cooperate with his act.

However, it was able to pick up his Cousin and bring him home, and it even knew to lock the door.

Zhu Yan deduced that it could at least understand human speech and had likely inherited his uncle's memories.

Therefore, he decided to drop a clear hint.

"Why are you just standing there? Can't you see this guy has gone crazy?"

He lifted his chin and gestured toward his Cousin, speaking mockingly and twisting the facts.

"He seems to think he's me. He blocked my way when I came in, and now he's bullying my mom."

"What nonsense are you spouting!" his Cousin shrieked. "Mom, don't believe him!"

He pointed a finger at Zhu Yan.

"We can only survive if we kill him!"

Zhu Yan's heart skipped a beat.

Was his Cousin's task to kill the Fake Prince?

Alarm bells instantly rang in his head. Maintaining his posture and expression, he looked at the doppelganger.

The doppelganger seemed to have understood, staring coldly at his Cousin.

Seeing a shift in its expression, Zhu Yan quickly mimicked his Cousin's usual tone and dropped another clear hint.

"Dad, your nephew is about to turn the house upside down, aren't you going to beat him up already?!"

In that brief moment, his Cousin had also snapped back to reality.

With the instance named True and Fake Prince, combined with Zhu Yan's current behavior, what he was facing was already glaringly obvious.

His instance task was to kill the Fake Prince and survive, which meant killing the Zhu Yan standing right in front of him.

The real Zhu Yan, much like his father, was probably already missing or dead.

This thing in front of him was a doppelganger!

In this instance, there had only ever been two players: him and his mother!

His Cousin looked at Zhu Yan with a trace of dread.

Killing a real human was easy, but a doppelganger...

The next second, however, as if throwing caution to the wind, he hoisted a stool and smashed it straight down toward Zhu Yan.

What was there to be afraid of?

The doppelganger in this instance was Level 2, and his ability Bully was also Level 2!

He could absolutely crush these doppelgangers in a fight!

"I'll kill you—!"

Zhu Yan hastily jumped backward. "Dad!"

The stool did not hit Zhu Yan.

The doppelganger grabbed his Cousin's waist from behind and dragged him backward.

His Cousin stumbled and fell to the floor, the stool smashing heavily onto his own foot.

"Fuck!"

The expression on the doppelganger's face shifted slightly, becoming very similar to that of his uncle.

It was a low-level doppelganger and could not clearly know the number of players or their intentions in the instance.

However, it could understand human speech, possessed human memories, and could mimic people.

More importantly, it could identify its own kind.

From the moment he walked in the door, Zhu Yan, who had used the Play talent, appeared to it as one of its own kind.

An inedible kin that shared the same need to feed!

Moreover, this kin's level was clearly higher than its own, because it could change its appearance. It highly likely possessed an advanced item that allowed it to freely replicate human skin!

Its imitation and control over humans were also clearly a tier above its own.

Just now, this high-level doppelganger had instructed it to discipline the player.

Players were food.

In the eyes of the doppelganger, this was a hint permitting it to claim the food!

"Enough," the doppelganger uncle said coldly, a hint of secret delight creeping into its tone.

"Sit down and eat!"

Zhu Yan breathed a sigh of relief, regretting that he had not found a handy weapon in advance.

His aunt looked at him and then at his Cousin, who was struggling to get up. She was clearly completely bewildered.

Her mind was a mess, completely incapable of any rational thought.

Suffering from a headache, his aunt chose to turn to her husband, who looked the most normal.

With tears in her eyes, she asked cautiously, "Lao Li, what... what is happening to me?"

"You're being tricked!" his Cousin roared.

He was so anxious he was about to explode, relentlessly charging forward to grab his aunt's arm.

"Mom, you heard the game broadcast, right?!"

"What is your ability? What is your task? They are all doppelgangers, we have to clear the instance to survive!"

Zhu Yan was also very curious about what his aunt's task was.

But obviously, now was not a good time to ask.

His aunt was already on the verge of a breakdown. Her lips and hands were trembling slightly, and her cloudy eyes were soaked with terrified tears.

Was this real?

She clutched her head, hoping the dizziness from being brainwashed would disappear.

All of this should just be a dream!

Looking at his Cousin, whose face was tense and expression terrifying, his aunt reached out and pushed her son away for the very first time.

Then she turned to her husband and asked again, carefully and hopefully, "Lao Li, what is going on?"

Zhu Yan cast a wary glance at Cousin and immediately took action.

"Shut up if you are not sick!" Zhu Yan roared at him. "Who are you calling mom? Do you even deserve a mom?"

"Just call her Aunt, you dumbass, you are really pushing your luck!"

This classic phrasing was Cousin's standard modus operandi.

Zhu Yan imitated it perfectly, and sure enough, the aunt froze for a moment.

The "uncle" sneered, "I think you have lost your mind. What broadcast? Why did we not hear anything?"

Even though Zhu Yan knew the doppelganger already considered him one of its own kind, hearing these words still sent a chill of lingering fear down his spine.

It was too similar.

This complaining tone was truly no different from his everyday uncle.

The doppelganger's eyes were tightly locked onto its "food."

It reached out a somewhat stiff arm, clamped down on Cousin, and yanked him back down into his seat.

Zhu Yan glanced at the aunt.

This doppelganger was not stupid; its words acted as a tranquilizer, exactly what the aunt wanted to hear.

Sure enough, the aunt's expression relaxed slightly. She looked at Zhu Yan, then at Cousin, and actually looked toward the doppelganger as if seeking help.

"Then, then I... why do the two of them look exactly the same?"

The doppelganger gripped Cousin's arm in a death hold.

"How are they the same?" it sneered.

It also thought they looked the same, but it could distinguish between food and its own kind.

The doppelganger was getting impatient to start its meal, spouting nonsense based on the uncle's memories.

"Look carefully, my son is sitting right next to you."

Cousin was both anxious and terrified.

The doppelganger was, after all, a Level 2 horror creature, on a completely different level from a Level 0 player.

Under such a vice-like grip, Cousin could not possibly break free without using his ability.

However, to activate the Bully ability, he had to initiate an attack against the opponent.

Cousin had no time to overthink; his sheer will to survive took the upper hand.

Under the dining table, he raised his foot and stomped hard on the doppelganger's instep.

The doppelganger loosened its grip, and Cousin took the opportunity to break free, lunging at Zhu Yan once again.

"I will kill you—"