The Uncanny Valley Traveling Guide

Perhaps because of Xiong Lin’s lesson, everything was safe and sound during the patrol on the third night, and it was soon the morning of the fourth day.

Wen Zheliu found that the daily breakfast time was a brand new experience for the players. The first day at the table, they were ignorant and could maintain the most basic friendly attitude towards each other; on the second day at the table, gaps appeared, conflicts intensified, and heated arguments even attracted Marianne; by the third day, the players had tacitly agreed to split into several different cliques; by the fourth day, some things have been as conspicuous as the stones that have emerged from the water. Everyone has a paper window as thin as a cicada’s wing in their hearts, but they turn a blind eye to it and feign ignorance.

There was silence at the dining table. Everyone was tense and kept their mouths shut. Only the sound of silent chewing and the collision of tableware was crisp and clear. Gao Xinghan smiled as if he couldn’t stand the suffocating atmosphere and tried to break the ice by talking to He Qin first: “Mr. He really loves his family.”

He even performed a full set of the act. The after-sales service isn’t bad.

He Qin’s hand movements paused, and he raised his eyes calmly. He doesn’t like sweets, so Wen Zheliu helps him drink his milk every morning. Gao Xinghan only thought he was caring for his brother, but he didn’t know the inside story. However, he didn’t explain, just smiled: “To be honest, we’re not related.”

Wen Zheliu was gurgling milk into his belly, his eyes turned left and right, and he didn’t speak.

Gao Xinghan choked a little and he hastened to make up for it: “Then Mr. He is an only child? To be able to take care of your junior like this is also…”

He Qin said: “That’s not the case. I’m the second in the family. I have an elder brother.”

Gao Xinghan looked quite awkward. He took two bites in a row and decided not to embarrass himself anymore. Instead, Wen Zheliu was very surprised and the “gulp” sound in his throat was quite clear and audible.

After getting off the table, he wandered around beside He Qin, wanting to know what happened to the elder brother He Qin was talking about.

“Stop spinning.” He Qin narrowed his eyes and flicked his forehead. “Turn around again, and I’ll tie a little hoof to you.”

Wen Zheliu didn’t understand, and he also didn’t believe that He Qin would really do anything to him, so he continued to pester him like a sticky candy: “What’s going on, what’s going on, tell me quickly; I haven’t heard of other N-star Company heirs besides you…”

He Qin was so disturbed that he had to perfunctorily say, “He’s dead. What’s there to know?”

“Ah?” Wen Zheliu blinked, and most of the curiosity that had risen in his heart vanished. He stood up straight in embarrassment and said, “That’s unfortunate. I’m sorry, I didn’t know…”

He Qin raised his head from the book and looked straight ahead. He thought for a long time and finally squeezed out a sentence: “Not really dead, only in a vegetative state.”

“Huh?” Wen Zheliu’s ears twitched, and his attention was immediately attracted. “Vegetative? What caused it? Is it similar to this incident? Or…”

He Qin laughed.

This expression is no different from his previous expression, but there is no smile in his eyes.  For some reason, Wen Zheliu actually smelled a trace of seeping blood from his exposed white teeth.

“He is an arrogant, foolish, self-willed idiot.” He Qin’s smile was extremely sinister, “A work accident can turn him into a vegetable who can’t speak or move… Yes, that’s really unfortunate.”

Wen Zheliu’s heart skipped a beat, and he blurted out, “It’s like the beginning of Game of Thrones.”

He Qin: “?”

Wen Zheliu: “Welcome to the family of power-grabbing supremacists, or look, my brother’s death omen shines in the sky… Which title do you think is more appropriate?”

He Qin: “…”

He Qin slowly restrained his smile and said thoughtfully, “I think it’s more appropriate for me to take off your pants now and give you a few hard spankings.”

Wen Zheliu: “…don’t do it!”

“If your curiosity has been satisfied, come take a look.” He Qin’s eyes glowed with a cold light, “Counting today, we’ve been here for four days, and the delay is long enough.”

Wen Zheliu: “What? But the side quest shows…..”

He pointed to the translucent writing that appeared in the void, which clearly read:

[Side Quest: Night Patrol at Marriane’s Cottage (3/7).]

He Qin looked calm: “What’s the matter with it? Should the side quest be completed that faithfully? Think about it with your clever little brain. Can you remember how this side quest was planned in the first place?”

“…Okay.” Wen Zheliu succumbed, “So what’s the mission for tonight’s night patrol going to be?”

“We’re still missing the last two key items.” He Qin said, “But if they gathered together, there would be six monsters. Du Zijun’s item can only be used one more time, and Xie… Xie Yuanyuan’s item can only be used twice more. The probability of failure is very high.”

Even He Qin inevitably got stuck for a moment when mentioning Xie Yuanyuan’s name. Wen Zheliu sighed in his heart, then he said, “So far, there’s one whose tongue tip was cut off by you, and one arm was cut off by me; one got its finger chopped off; one had the tip of its tongue torn off, and one got the wrist bone injured… that should be it? As for the one that I hit in the head with my crowbar, I doubt it got any bruises on the forehead.”

“Even if you think about it that way, you can only distinguish them by the wounds.” He Qin pointed out sharply, “What if they heal quickly?”

Wen Zheliu spread his hands with a wry smile: “Then… I can’t do anything about it.”

“So we need a bait.” He Qin raised his sharp black eyebrows and said, “A bait capable of escaping from monsters.”

“The six key items that can get us through the main quest are in the possession of six powerful and horribly described monsters, just like a devil king coiling its treasures…or a guard guarding his key, then can you judge how the loss of key items will affect them?” He Qin said with hidden implication in his words.

Wen Zheliu pondered for a while, then said decisively: “No, I know too little about them.”

He Qin smiled dully: “It’s a simple and obvious puzzle, but there are so many unnecessary twists and turns.”

Wen Zheliu paced to and fro in front of him: “Then let’s sort it out again, from beginning to end.”

“At the beginning, the players gathered together, including you; we had a total of thirteen people. On the way, Lu Hai and Lin Fangfei were killed by the system for dropping their weapons, opening up the game concept of survival and escape mode.”

He Qin nodded.

“We then arrived at this house, and Marianne agreed to let us stay and finance our tickets out of here, while making it a condition that the players make their nightly patrols.” Wen Zheliu said, “Of course, she likewise didn’t treat us poorly, as she also came up with just the right supplement for the items that players had.”

He Qin: “Yes.”

“Then, we deduced that Marianne’s real intentions were probably not benevolent. There were moles among the players, and the deaths of Lu Hai and Lin Fangfei weren’t that simple. Then, Zhou Qing was attacked alone in the room, and fellow players Xiong Lin, Ke Wenyan and others quarreled on the issue of the Survival Mode in the morning of the next day.”

He Qin said slowly: “After that, I tricked Gao Xinghan into lying, and killed Xiong Lin in the early hours of the same day.”

“There’s at least six moles.” Wen Zheliu categorized with firm determination, “At the beginning of the game, their personification made me think they were players. But thanks to Zhou Qing’s words, I was reminded that, although they have different personalities and appearances, there’s a very strange sense of homogeneity in their speech and behavior. The dead Lu Hai, Lin Fangfei, Xiong Lin, plus Gao Xinghan, Bai Hao, and Ke Wenyan…”

He Qin’s reaction was quite listless. As if he had insights into all the mysteries. He then concluded: “Lu Hai and Lin Fangfei lure out the Survival Mode; Marianne uses the item supplements informed by the moles to lure the real players out to patrol the night; and the monsters come to attack Zhou Qing on the same day. Xiong Lin, Bai Hao, Ke Wenyan, and Gao Xinghan spread words such as “every man for himself or survival of the fittest” in the early morning of the next day to sow discord in the team.”

“The result enraged Du Zijun, who had a big fight with them ……” said Wen Zheliu, “No, it should be him who one-sidedly insulted them.”

“On the night patrol the next day, Xiong Lin was the first to discover the traces left by the monsters. He knew that we wouldn’t let go of this opportunity to find the key items. Facts proved that if the six monsters were all present, we would be too afraid to fight. But when four of them were gone at once, we’d actively think about how to get the key items, and then he would attack while we were concentrating and defenseless…”

“But you were too fast.” Wen Zheliu made a hand gesture with lingering fear and said, “You saved me and killed him instead.”

A shadow flashed across He Qin’s handsome face; he paused and said: “The moles and accomplices have surfaced, and the tangled branches have been cleaned up. It’s time to touch the roots.”

The interfering factors have all been eliminated, and there’s only one thing they need to know now, and that is—

“—The real culprit of this town massacre.”

“Bingo.” He Qin snapped his fingers crisply.

The cold wind whimpered at night, and the moon halo was half-covered by dark clouds in the sky. Holding torches in their hands, a group of people walked along the path covered with thick fallen leaves and overgrown weeds, silently advancing along the route of the previous two days.

The night wind was cold and damp, and the fallen leaves under their feet were also covered with a layer of light white frost, so they had to beware of slipping at all times.

“Brother…” Zhou Qing said hesitantly, “Is it okay to put Sister Du and Brother Mu in that group of people?”

Ever since Du Zijun verbally insulted those men, Zhou Qing changed her address from “Miss Du” to “Sister Du”, but no matter which, it can make Du Zijun’s face distort for a while.

“It’s okay,” Zhou Yao comforted her, “Miss Du and Brother Mu Tuo are very powerful; even if something happens, there’s no need to worry too much about them.”

When it came time for the fourth day’s night patrol, Bai Hao and Ke Wenyan said that they weren’t willing to stay on the same team with He Qin and Wen Zheliu anymore. They reacted differently, but they showed the same fear and hatred. Bai Hao even said bluntly that he could never carry out a mission with a murderer in his life, and Gao Xinghan looked on coldly.

The remaining player had a discussion. After Xiong Lin’s death, there were still ten people in the team, and the number of night watchmen could be divided evenly. So Zhou Yao offered to accompany his sister. Bai Hao and Ke Wenyan begged to guard the house. Currently, there are five people on each side.

“If we’re lucky, this would be the last night…” Wen Zheliu frowned. This shouldn’t be his illusion. The strange aroma of the torch oilcloth seemed to have faded a lot. “Come on, everyone; don’t be afraid.”

Zhou Qing bit her lip. The tree shadows covered her pale face sporadically, fluttering in the wind with much unpredictable uneasiness. She didn’t speak but held her brother’s hand tightly.

She has completed the [Eyeless Doll], and now it has officially been upgraded to the [Buttonhole Doll], and the number of uses has also increased by two. This time, although she offered to be the bait, the cooldown of the item was three hours—this meant that she only had one chance to save her life tonight.

The dense bushes were gently pushed away, and the five people once again came to the monster’s lair.

“It’s just below…” Zhou Qing took a deep breath and lowered her voice. Her spirit couldn’t bear the ups and downs. “What should we do?”

“Observe.” He Qin’s thin lips opened and closed, gently spitting out one word.

Wen Zheliu didn’t know if he was imagining things, but in the darkness, his eyes glowed golden like those of a beast.

He hesitated: “Brother, your eyes…”

“Huh?” He Qin tilted his head and gave him a glance; his pupils were still light and clear. Wen Zheliu shook his head, suspecting that he had seen it wrong.

He Qin stared intently at him for a while, then suddenly smiled: “Look at the one at the bottom.”

Wen Zheliu squinted his eyes and tried to look down as far as he could. At this time, the six eyeless monsters below were scattered and lay quietly in the deep pit. Only the huge bodies with strong and twisted knots rose and fell as if they were sleeping.

That’s all he could see. Although the body composed of data can be strengthened and upgraded, he hasn’t cleared the level yet, and he only has a level 6 physique, so he cannot see the scene below clearly through the hazy moonlight.

“I… I can’t see…” he replied with difficulty.

He Qin shook his head and said: “Little idiot, look carefully, the second to last diagonally below—can you see the dent in its forehead that you smashed?”

Wen Zheliu quickly concentrated, and even his physical strength decreased bit by bit, until he could barely see a vague outline, and he said happily: “So, their wounds didn’t heal quickly!”

“Yes,” He Qin said in a gentle tone, “but now we can only recognize two of them. The others are all wounded on their tongues, so we can only use bait. All four key items are in the hands of the players, and the remaining two will inevitably be the most special two.”

Zhou Qing asked, “How do we do it, or do we follow the original plan?”

“Take out your respective communicators and create a group.” Wen Zheliu thought for a while, then replied, “Brother Zhou Yao, use your claw gun to wrap around Miss Zhou Qing first. After you put her down, you act according to the situation. If there’s danger, quickly pull her up.”

“Okay.” Zhou Yao nodded.

He turned around and said to Xie Yuanyuan: “Wait a minute, I’ll go around to the opposite side with you. Take out Xiong Lin’s [It’s Picnic Time] and drape it around your body. I’ll drop you down with a thick hemp rope. As soon as Zhou Qing jumps in, you follow her. When my brother says to steal something, you can steal it, okay?”

Xie Yuanyuan swallowed nervously, “OK…OK!”

“Don’t be afraid,” Wen Zheliu comforted him, “Monsters don’t care what’s missing on their bodies; if they didn’t notice it the first four times, they won’t notice it the next two times. Besides, you’ll be fine with your special ability.”

He Qin weighed the hatchet in his hand, smiled, and said: “Then I stand alone in the middle to block the enemy from chasing us when we retreat, right?”

“……En!”

“No problem, let’s go!”

Zhou Qing’s slender waist was tied with her elder brother’s weapon, which can be used to attack and defend, and then she kicked down step by step. Wen Zheliu led Xie Yuanyuan to run in the opposite direction. He Qin stands in the center. He looks down, turns on the communicator, and gives Wen Zheliu the first command.

“Baby, get Thief’s Hand ready to bypass the monsters in front of him at one o’clock and eleven o’clock and target the middle two first.”

“…That,” Xie Yuanyuan said suddenly, “Actually, I can hear you too, so you can just tell me directly…”

“Oh really.” He Qin said expressionlessly, “Baby, do you hear me? Answer me if you did. There was noise from the communicator just now.”

Wen Zheliu’s ears were red. He gritted his teeth and lowered his voice: “Don’t make trouble, I heard you!”