ebookland Chapter 301 Parasite
Chapter 301 Parasite
Chapter 301 Parasite
They didn't know the player's name yet, so they could only call him Bamboo Pole.
Lin Wen watched Yan Xun and Zhu Gan disappear into the lobby on the first floor, then said to the old man, "You seem to be very afraid of him."
"Since you can freely enter and exit dungeons, why can't you..." she thought of a way to put it, "take revenge directly?"
The old man gave her a cold laugh, as if mocking her naivety.
"He has protection," the old man said. "He's also a supreme being."
'The reason he was so successful in the last dungeon was because of that protector's blessing.'
Although Lin Wen had only recently entered the instance, she knew that players could form bonds with those mysterious beings and have them become their protectors.
But she had also seen related posts on the forum and heard advice from veteran players—
The risks of players forming bonds with those mysterious beings far outweigh the benefits.
You never know what kind of creature you will form a bond with.
For example, the Angel Guild. Lin Wen thought of that example, where someone, desperate for a cure, formed a pact with a mysterious being that seemed powerful but wasn't a wandering ghost.
Unexpectedly, the other party turned out to be the god worshipped by the Angel Guild. Before he could even survive a dungeon, his head exploded and he died in the dungeon because countless wriggling feathers grew out of his head.
But after his death, his rampant growth didn't stop at all, and in the end, the opponent became an extremely troublesome monster in that instance.
Lin Wen had heard this story when she was a newcomer, so she had always been very wary of forming a pact with a mysterious being. Now that she heard that Yan Xun had actually formed a pact with a mysterious being, her first reaction was surprise and disbelief.
"Really?" Lin Wen asked.
“But I heard that I have formed a pact with a mysterious being…” She didn’t dare to continue. She knew that the live stream room was always there, and those things were watching her live stream room.
Because she was worried about being misled by the comments in the live stream and falling into the abyss, Lin Wen never turned on the live stream comments, and she never thought that she could earn points by live streaming - there were many players in the game who thought the same way as her, and some viewers actually liked watching this kind of live stream.
"Yes, so we were all tricked by him." Thinking back to the last instance, the old man still gritted his teeth in hatred. "He and his protective aura staged a whole act, fooling us all."
'Even the members of the Angel Guild were schemed against by him.'
Lin Wen was so surprised that she couldn't speak. So the next day, she immediately told Fang Shuo to be careful of Yan Xun.
Because she had been following the old man's instructions, he soon revealed some clues to her.
They secretly inspected the other red-roofed houses and confirmed that crimes of passion had occurred in those houses, thus concluding that something similar had happened in their house.
But Lin Wen needs to find evidence first.
“I suspect Fang Shuo already knows my NPC identity,” Lin Wen said.
She could sense that Shu Fan and Fang Shuo were slightly awkward around her, as were the other two.
On the day they checked into the house, they had agreed to notify each other if they found any clues. But now Fang Shuo has obviously found other clues, yet he is trying to hide them from her.
"I told you long ago, you shouldn't have told him back then," the old man said.
'After you told him, he couldn't keep it a secret anymore. His attitude towards Yan Xun changed, and Yan Xun easily discovered my presence.'
The old man sounded somewhat resentful when he mentioned this.
"But aren't you here to avenge Wen Yuanzheng?" Lin Wen asked. "Wouldn't it be perfect if he found out, allowing for a face-to-face confrontation?"
Old man: '……'
"I haven't fully recovered yet, and I have no chance against him in a direct confrontation," he reminded Lin Wen. "You forgot he has a protective shield."
Lin Wen certainly hadn't forgotten about this.
However, as she spent more time with the old man over the past few days, she realized that there were many loopholes in his words.
Especially when Shu Fan and his companion visited their home, their cautious and probing attitude convinced her that they also knew about her NPC identity. However, she also sensed other probing.
She remembered that Yan Xun's family was the last to leave the party that day. Could it be that Yan Xun had noticed something unusual about her that day and discussed it with Shu Fan, asking them to come and test her?
Lin Wen had some thoughts in her mind.
She wasn't really going to let the old man live off her forever. No matter how sweet his words were, he was no different from a parasite in reality, and she always had a 20% doubt in her heart.
Pretending to completely trust and obey is also a way of hoping that the old man will help me complete the side quests first.
Once she's sure the task is complete, she'll shake off the old man.
“I’ll be careful,” she interrupted the old man’s complaint, then asked curiously, “Why did you choose me?”
There are a lot of players in this instance.
"I can sense your ambition and your thirst for victory," the old man said immediately. "You're just like Wen Yuanzheng in that respect."
Lin Wen immediately understood his implied meaning—
He felt that he would become his puppet, just like Wen Yuanzheng, in order to clear the level and obtain higher mission rewards.
Lin Wen nodded, "I see."
She decided to make Yan Xun discover the old man's existence so that Yan Xun could get rid of him.
Otherwise, the other party will act like a parasite, draining her of her resources and discarding her after using her.
……
Fang Shuo was in the kitchen. He glanced back at the door and, seeing that Lin Wen wasn't there, immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
He held his phone, his expression hesitant, as if he was considering whether his decision was right.
The food in the stew pot was bubbling away. Although there was no open flame in the kitchen, it didn't stop them from cooking.
Yesterday at the market, when Fang Shuo was buying drinks, he happened to see Yan Xun pushing Lou Yanchuan towards the residential area. At first, he didn't pay attention, but after realizing that they seemed to be looking for something with a clear goal, Fang Shuo immediately paid more attention to some details.
He quietly noted down the direction they went, and then returned to Lin Wen's side after buying drinks.
Ever since he learned about everyone's professions and suspected that Lin Wen was an NPC disguised as a player, he had doubts about their initial agreement. Fortunately, Lin Wen did not ask him anything after seeing him return with drinks.
After the two returned home, Fang Shuo made up another excuse to go out again and went back to the market.
He wasn't sure what Yan Xun and the other person were looking for, so he could only follow their route and check each place one by one.
After looking at almost all the stalls in the residential area, just as Fang Shuo was about to give up, he happened to see a stall selling fire-fighting equipment at the only exit.
— Setting up such a stall in a community without open flames is a strange thing in itself.
When Fang Shuo stood in front of the stall, the owner looked up impatiently, "You want to buy a fire extinguisher too?"
"Me too?" Fang Shuo subconsciously repeated the key word, then immediately asked the stall owner, "Were there two other people who came to your stall to buy things just now?"
"One of them was even in a wheelchair?"
The boss looked up at Fang Shuo and asked, "You know him?"
Realizing that Yan Xun and Lou Yanchuan were indeed here to buy fire-fighting supplies, Fang Shuo was overjoyed and quickly nodded, "I'll buy some too."
"Something's wrong," the boss muttered, but still pulled out a small fire extinguisher and handed it to him.
Fang Shuo shook his head, "Can I come and pick it up tomorrow?"
He was worried that when he got home, Lin Wen would ask him about it—to be honest, he just bought it because Yan Xun was buying it, and that was fine—but for some reason, Fang Shuo decided to keep it a secret.
Although the boss was puzzled, he didn't say anything more, but just waved his hand to indicate that he understood.
So on Sunday, while Lin Wen was out, Fang Shuo returned to the market, retrieved the fire extinguisher, and then, following the same pattern, scooped up some goldfish to take home.
The stew pot in front of him was still bubbling away, and he could smell the aroma of food. Finally, he sent a message to Yan Xun.
[Fang Shuo: Is this a convenient time? I'd like to talk to you.]
……
When Yan Xun received Fang Shuo's message, he was still in Lou Yanchuan's room and had not left.
However, he was no longer sitting on the carpet; instead, he had taken a shower, changed his clothes, and was lying on Lou Yanchuan's bed.
Lou Yanchuan sat on the other side, continuing to flip through the notes that belonged to Grandma Yanxun.
Seeing Yan Xun lying there with his eyes half-closed, Lou Yanchuan knew he was sleepy. "Aren't you going back to sleep?"
"Didn't I ask you to finish reading all these notes?" Yan Xun rested her face on the pillow, half-asleep and playing with her phone.
"Besides, what time is it now?"
"It's not time to sleep yet."
“If you didn’t close your eyes when you spoke, it might be more convincing,” Lou Yanchuan said, then looked at Yan Xun, sensing something was amiss.
"Did you stay up late last night?" he asked, looking at Yan Xun's dark circles.
"No." Yan Xun opened his eyes.
He quickly understood Lou Yanchuan's meaning, "You suspect this is due to the dungeon's influence?"
“That’s true,” Yan Xun agreed.
Even in the harsh conditions of the Evil Spirit Sea dungeon, with no sleep and no food, he was never like this, wishing he could just lie on the ground and sleep—it was only because Lou Yanchuan couldn't bear to see him like this that he let him take a shower and rest on his own bed for a while.
"I'll go ask other people."
As Yan Xun spoke, he lay down there, tapping the screen with his finger, preparing to ask Du Yun and Cun Tou about their situations.
It seems that the crew-cut man has already returned to his villa, and when he saw Yan Xun's message, he only replied with a series of ellipses.
[Buzz cut: ……………………]
[Buzz cut: Do you think I dare to close my eyes right now?]
[Buzz cut: I'm really worried that if I close my eyes now, I really won't be able to open them tomorrow.]
[Yan Xun: If you have a clear conscience, you won't be afraid of ghosts knocking at your door in the middle of the night.]
[Buzz Cut: I'll say it again! I didn't do that! It's part of the game's setting! I'm a completely good person!]
[Buzz Cut: When I got home, Bamboo Pole hadn't come home yet, so I'm afraid to go downstairs now.]
[Buzz Cut: Will he remember what happened before he died? I'm a little scared.]
[Yan Xun: What's there to be afraid of? Aren't there two other people in this house with you?]
[Yan Xun: If you're worried the muscular guy is an NPC, that's useless. The shirt is also a player's item.]
[Cut-haired guy: He actually asked me if I had found any clues when I went out to find Du Yun. How could I dare to say that? I could only say that I went to find Du Yun to play games.]
[Yan Xun: He didn't notice anything? He was there that night too, there's no way he wouldn't remember.]
[Short-haired guy: He didn't look for any clues, nor did he plan to complete any side quests. He just intended to coast through 15 days and leave the instance... Oh, right, I'll go ask him.]
It took several more minutes for the person with the buzz cut to reply with a new message.
[Buzz cut: Sleeping like a log, like a pig.]
Du Yun then replied, saying that he was also a little sleepy. He said that he was probably too tense a few days ago, but now that his family's secret had been discovered, he relaxed and felt sleepy.
Upon seeing this, Yan Xun then questioned Shu Fan and Duan Songen.
Shu Fan replied with a nod emoji, while Duan Songen replied with a "guess" emoji—it seems the two had already discussed it.
So when he saw Fang Shuo's message, he immediately replied with a new past—
[Yan Xun: Okay, are you sleepy?]
Fang Shuo: ...? Me? I'm fine.
[Fang Shuo: Is there a problem?]
[Yan Xun: Just asking, what do you want to say?]
[Fang Shuo: Please wait a moment.]
After a while, Fang Shuo made a voice call. When Yan Xun answered, he found that the other party seemed to be in the kitchen.
From the angle, it appears that the other person placed their phone on the side of the stove near the wall.
This way, it won't be easily noticed by those outside the door.
Fang Shuo saw Yan Xun lying on the bed and subconsciously glanced out the window. "Going to sleep so early?"
He remembered Yan Xun's question, "Are you very sleepy?"
“A little,” Yan Xun said, holding up his phone. “What do you want to talk to me about?”
Fang Shuo took a deep breath. "I think Lin Wen is like an NPC." After saying this, he waited for Yan Xun's reaction, only to see the other party give him a "that's it" look.
"Besides the people in the house with the crew cut, doesn't everyone else know about this?" Yan Xun asked.
He thought Fang Shuo was being so mysterious because he wanted to say something special to him.
"But don't you find it strange?" Fang Shuo asked. "If she were an NPC, it would be normal for her to impersonate a player and deceive us, but she still knows you."
He told Yan Xun, "She told me a lot of details."
"He told me to be careful, worried that you might sabotage us in the dungeon."
Yan Xun blinked. "I didn't know I had such a bad reputation."
Because Fang Shuo and Lin Wen lived together, Yan Xun did not reveal his suspicion that Lin Wen was connected to the old man for the time being.
"Dude, stop joking around at a time like this!" Fang Shuo said, looking like he was about to burst out laughing. "If she were an NPC, she shouldn't know you and be able to tell me any details."
"What details?" Yan Xun asked.
“She said that you had schemed against other players in other instances,” Fang Shuo said. “She didn’t tell me the specifics, but it was definitely not something an NPC could know.”
Yan Xun found it amusing.
Fang Shuo isn't stupid. If Lin Wen really hadn't told him anything, why would he be so skeptical and test him?
"And then?" Yan Xun asked.
"What are you trying to say?" he asked Fang Shuo across from him. "Did you come to me specifically to complain?"
Yan Xun thought for a moment, "Tell your fiancée on me?"