Chapter 10 An Hour Ago...

An hour ago...

Kuangzong Jianying was standing five meters away from the headless corpse, keeping watch for Feng Bujue.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kuangzong Jianying looked at Feng Bujue, who was squatting next to the corpse, busily working. His eyes seemed to say, you're really a pervert.

"Am I not already doing it? What? You can't bear to part with the grenade?" Feng Bujue replied.

"Ah...to be honest, more than whether the grenade will be wasted, I'm more concerned about your mental state..." Kuangzong Jianying squinted at him and said.

"What does this have to do with my mental state?" Feng Bujue retorted, "I'm just using a corpse in a virtual game to set a trap. Any sane person, as long as they can think of this strategy, would execute it without hesitation."

"Heh...say whatever you want..." Kuangzong Jianying didn't want to argue with him. At this moment, he understood a little why this guy's ID was "Mad Detective."

Feng Bujue tied a metal wire through the grenade's pull ring, held the grenade in his hand, rolled up his sleeves, and directly and crudely inserted it through the corpse's esophagus all the way into its stomach. On the front of the corpse, he only needed a very small incision to allow the metal wire to pass out of the stomach and emerge from under the skin.

Next was to carve some words, using a "question mark" to decorate the place where the metal wire protruded, and wait for someone to bite.

"Why did you leave some words, but cover up half of them?" Kuangzong Jianying asked, watching Feng Bujue's arrangement.

"If I didn't cover it at all, they could see clearly what I wrote from a distance," Feng Bujue said. "But if I covered it all up, they might not notice the words." After finishing, he wiped his hands on the deceased's clothes, stood up, and said, "If it's half-covered, they will squat down, lift up the clothes, and see what it is. At that time...as long as their eyesight is normal, they will notice the end of this metal wire."

"And what makes you so sure they'll touch the wire?" Kuangzong Jianying asked.

"Who said I was sure they'd touch the wire?" Feng Bujue replied.

"Huh?" Kuangzong Jianying didn't seem to understand his meaning.

Feng Bujue continued, "Does this look like a trap?"

"Um...no."

"Why not?"

Kuangzong Jianying tried to follow his train of thought: "Traps should be placed in a sudden location on the opponent's path, like behind a door."

Feng Bujue nodded. "That's right."

"That's right?" Kuangzong Jianying still didn't understand.

"Let me give you another example," Feng Bujue said. "Remember the safe where we got the side quest before?"

"Of course, I remember."

"If we open the box, it will trigger an explosion. Would we be considered trapped then?"

"The system wouldn't set it up that way," Kuangzong Jianying replied. "Players wouldn't be able to avoid it at all. If the box really explodes, there must be some clues or hints before opening it."

"Oh," Feng Bujue said. "So, am I the system?"

"Um..."

"Do I look like someone who would kindly give the other party a hint?"

"This..."

"Besides, there's another reason why you wouldn't think that box is a death flag," Feng Bujue added.

"Because...that room is an optional task. We don't have to open the door and can leave directly from another route. Even if we kill all the monsters later, we can choose not to open the box in the room," Kuangzong Jianying muttered.

Feng Bujue pointed at the corpse: "This corpse is lying on the ground. They can ignore it and not look at the remaining half of the words. Even if they look at it, they can choose not to touch the metal wire."

Kuangzong Jianying scratched his head, seeming to understand: "Is this some kind of...psychological suggestion?"

Feng Bujue had already started walking, signaling the other party to follow. As he walked, he said, "To get a person to do something that seems harmless, but is actually detrimental to them, you must first make them feel that this thing is optional, and they are not being forced to do it. Then, this thing must look 'normal' on the surface. The so-called normal...means it can't be too difficult, because if it's too difficult, they won't be able to do it, and it can't be too easy, because if it's too easy, they will become suspicious."

"For example, when you kill someone, the victim's resistance is a 'normal' thing, but overly intense resistance will make you back down, and being completely calm and waiting to be slaughtered will make you suspicious."

"Or, for example, if you want to place a bomb in a certain facility, overly strict security will force you to give up, and overly lax defense will make you feel unbelievable..."

Feng Bujue licked his lips and coughed twice: "So, I hid the grenade in the corpse, the triggering metal wire is in a place they can touch or not touch, and my message is not carved on the surface, nor is it carved on the corpse's butt so they can't find it." He exhaled. "Finally...just prepare an unexpected surprise for them."

"What if they don't find the metal wire, or even look closely at the corpse and just leave?" Kuangzong Jianying asked.

"They are professional players, right?" Feng Bujue said.

"Um..."

"If it were you, would you just walk away without caring?"

Before Kuangzong Jianying could answer, Feng Bujue added, "Of course, the worst case scenario is just losing a grenade."

"Anyway, you didn't lose anything, right..."

"That's right," Feng Bujue shamelessly replied.

They talked for a while and walked for about ten more minutes. After rounding a corner...suddenly, a metal object the size of a basketball came whistling from directly ahead, grazing Feng Bujue's left cheek as it flew past.

Feng Bujue's first reaction was to bend down and take out his pistol to prepare to fight back. He looked ahead and found that in a dimly lit area far down the corridor, a figure was standing. It was clear that this person had launched the attack.

Kuangzong Jianying also noticed the attacker. His movements were extremely fast, and without saying a word, he rushed forward at high speed, his long sword already in hand.

Regardless of who or what launched the attack, for Kuangzong Jianying, as long as he got close enough to launch [Huiying Zhan (Radiant Shadow Slash)], he was absolutely confident that he wouldn't be at a disadvantage.

The figure seemed to be stunned by Kuangzong Jianying's actions, freezing there for two seconds, then turned around and started to run away.

At this moment, Feng Bujue had also started running forward. He noticed the other party's reaction and shouted to Kuangzong Jianying, who was running ahead: "Leave him alive!"

Kuangzong Jianying didn't have time to answer, but he heard the words.

Feng Bujue was also very fast when running at full speed. It could be seen in the script where the two of them fought one-on-one that Feng Bujue's full-speed run was roughly equivalent to Kuangzong Jianying's seven or eight-tenths effort, and after activating [Lingshi Jushen Shu (Spirit Consciousness Gathering Art)], Kuangzong Jianying couldn't catch up with Feng Bujue even if he went all out.

At this time, the two were chasing at roughly the same speed and quickly approached the fleeing person. The person was also wearing an orange protective suit and his running speed was completely different from the two players. He was also holding an [Anti-Gravity Ejector]. Seeing this, Feng Bujue basically confirmed that the person trying to attack them was an NPC, so he shouted again: "Capture him alive."

Before long, Kuangzong Jianying finally arrived at the distance where Huiying Zhan could be launched. With a blink, he appeared directly in front of the person. The person was shocked, but he couldn't stop. Kuangzong Jianying swept an elbow across his collarbone, and the guy immediately fell on his back.

Although the person was dazed and lying on the ground groaning, Kuangzong Jianying unceremoniously twisted his arm, pressed his face to the ground, and confiscated the ejector in his hand.

Feng Bujue also arrived, but he was not as calm and composed as the expert. Seeing that the situation was under control, he supported his knees with both hands and started panting heavily.

"Say, who are you?" Kuangzong Jianying said to their captive.

The person was already out of breath from running, and had been knocked to the ground by an elbow, so he couldn't speak at all.

Feng Bujue said, "Just let him go, it's okay."

Kuangzong Jianying let go, took two steps back, and still watched the attacker on the ground vigilantly with his sword.

The person turned over, face up, his chest rising and falling sharply, and it took him a long time to catch his breath. From the transparent mask, he was a white man, looked very young, about twenty years old, very short, about 1.6 meters tall, and thin, with black hair like instant noodles.

After recovering a bit, the person sat up, supported himself with his hands, and retreated backward, all the way to the wall, looking at the two people in front of him with a look of horror.

"Let's talk," Feng Bujue squatted down to put his line of sight on the same level as him, and said, "What's your name?"

"Outsiders! You devils! Heretics!" the person shouted, holding his helmet with both hands. "Don't even think about using your 'magic words' to hypnotize my brain! Don't even think about it!"

Kuangzong Jianying looked at Feng Bujue: "I'm going...this seems to be getting more and more complicated. Isn't this a science fiction script? How did the religious and magical settings come out?"

Feng Bujue hesitated slightly, then revealed a cold smile: "No, I think this is definitely a future science fiction setting." As he spoke, he took out a steel knife from his satchel.

The person started screaming wildly upon seeing this.

"Shut up..." Feng Bujue said in a normal volume at first, but the other party was still shouting. Feng Bujue then picked up the steel knife and put it on the guy's neck, shouting violently, "Shut up!"

The person was frightened by him and fell silent immediately, but his expression was still horrified.

"You, say, your, name." Feng Bujue asked, word by word.

"Hank...Hank," Hank replied.

"Hank, it doesn't matter what you think I am. I don't need your trust, nor do I need to explain anything to you. But you must answer our questions truthfully, otherwise, you will die very...very painfully," Feng Bujue said.

"No...don't..." Hank said, "Don't kill me, I still have a mother at home...my brothers are all dead...I can't..."

"Don't talk nonsense!" Feng Bujue interrupted, "I ask, you answer."

Hank nodded. At this time, his emotions were slightly calmer than a minute ago, like a child whose crying had been stopped by fright.

"What do you do and why did you come here?" Feng Bujue asked.

"I...I'm a 'Scavenger'. Our team...received instructions to come here to search," Hank replied.

"How many people are there in your team?" Feng Bujue said.

"Five..." Hank replied, "But I lost contact with the others...a few hours ago." As he said this, he looked at Kuangzong Jianying with a strange look.

"Don't look at me like that, I haven't killed any of your companions," Kuangzong Jianying naturally noticed it. He had already put away his sword and said casually, "We saw one of your companions, but when we saw him...he was already dead, killed by a monster." He was referring to the person parasitized by the octopus.

"What...mon...monster? Oh, God...damn it." Hank's body was trembling constantly, and he seemed about to cry. "No wonder they said they saw strange things..."

"What kind of transportation did you use to get here?" Feng Bujue asked again.

"'Transportation'?" Hank seemed not to understand the meaning of the word.

"What did you ride to get here?" Feng Bujue asked in a different way.

"'Sand Shark Cabin', that's what Scavengers ride," Hank replied.

"Is it something similar to a boat or a car?" Kuangzong Jianying interjected.

"Car?" Hank looked confused again.

Feng Bujue shook his head, sighed, and continued to ask: "You were originally staying on the 'Sand Shark Cabin', and your other four companions went down to this laboratory together to explore. Because you lost contact with them, you came down too, right?"

"Yes," Hank nodded in reply.

"Why did you attack us?" Kuangzong Jianying asked.

"You...you..." Hank looked at them and said tremblingly, "Because you are outsiders..."

"Can you explain what an outsider is?" Feng Bujue said.

Hank replied: "Devils! People outside the village!"

"Then how do you know we are outsiders?" Feng Bujue asked.

"Your clothes..." Hank said, "I've never seen clothes like that, and you can survive here without protective suits."

"Oh?" Feng Bujue raised an eyebrow, "What? Would you die if you breathed the air here?"

"Of course! Only the village has clean air to breathe! The air outside is deadly! It's poisonous gas spread by outsiders!" Hank said loudly.

Feng Bujue stood up and leaned closer to Kuangzong Jianying, "Do you remember what the beginning of *Jason X* was like?"

"Just say what you want to say..." Kuangzong Jianying said, "Anyway, whatever you say is right..."

"That means you don't remember," Feng Bujue said.

"Nonsense, who would remember the details of an old movie that they watched at some unknown time?" Kuangzong Jianying said, but after saying this, he realized something and added, "Okay, not including you..."

Feng Bujue said, "I remember very clearly that at the beginning of that movie, the members of the scientific research team from space could take off their protective helmets to breathe in this laboratory. Of course...provided they first tested the air quality and bacteria in the surrounding environment."

"Get to the point," Kuangzong Jianying said.

"The point is that the guy in front of us is just as I predicted..." Feng Bujue said in a low voice while watching Hank, who was huddled against the wall. "...should be a descendant of the survivors on Old Earth, but for some reason, he has not only failed to adapt to the environment and become stronger physiologically, but has instead regressed. Even those immigrants from space are fine breathing the air in this laboratory for a short time, but he can't."

"Is that strange?" Kuangzong Jianying said.

"Is Darwin a swindler?" Feng Bujue asked rhetorically.

"Uh..." Kuangzong Jianying said, "Okay, I'm not very good at biology, but...I guess you're implying that this situation does not conform to the laws of species evolution, right?"

"A group of humans living in a man-made environment like a spaceship has almost the same cardiopulmonary function as humans from four hundred years ago," Feng Bujue said. "But this group of survivors living on Earth with such bad air looks like they're going to choke to death if they inhale second-hand smoke." He paused, "Also, do you remember the guy who was killed by the octopus monster before?"

"You mean the one who was beheaded by you, had a grenade forcibly stuffed into his esophagus, and had words carved on his stomach?" Kuangzong Jianying squinted his eyes. "Ha...it's so easy to forget him..."

"That guy was about the same height and build as Hank, and also very thin," Feng Bujue said.

"So?"

"They are white...let me remind you that in our time, the average height of men in Western European countries is generally around 1.8 meters, and in Northern Europe it's close to 1.9 meters," Feng Bujue said.

"Don't you think that malnutrition is a common phenomenon on a planet in this environment?" Kuangzong Jianying said, "Besides, this is just a game, why do you have to dwell on these details..."

Feng Bujue shook his head: "I don't know how many humans there are in total on this Old Earth, but what I can confirm is that...there must be something wrong with Hank's 'village'."

"Mad Detective...do you remember that we are here for a 2v2 killing game, not to save a village where some NPC lives?"

Feng Bujue held out his hand, raised three fingers, and listed three reasons in a serious manner: "There is air quality in their village that doesn't consume Survival Value, there is a technological strength that can create [Anti-Gravity Ejectors], and their villagers are vulnerable."

"Oh...you're not going to save the village, but to burn, kill and plunder, right?" Kuangzong Jianying understood.

Feng Bujue replied: "Whether it's saving or plundering, we'll talk about it later...as long as we first find a way to board Hank's 'Sand Shark Cabin' and leave this laboratory, we will be invincible. Before the Corpse Blade duo run out of patience or healing methods, we have multiple strategies to choose from, and the initiative is completely in our hands."