Read Novel Full Chapter 636
Chapter 636
Li Li’s true colors were revealed, and the players were shocked.
“Wait, if this guy isn’t Li Li, then who is he?”
“He can’t even see the system? He’s not a player at all?”
“But he led us from the first stage and into the second. What’s his motive?”
Li Cangshan looked at Bai Lixin with questioning eyes.
After his identity was exposed, “Li Li” was momentarily flustered but he quickly regained his composure.
He straightened his sleeves and smiled. “You’re right, I’m not a player. In fact, I’m here to help you.”
“I’ve never harmed you, have I?”
“On the contrary, I led you through the first stage.”
“I only posed as a player so as not to scare you.”
But this group of players wasn’t easily fooled. No one believed “Li Li.”
Someone immediately called him out, “Then where is the real Li Li? The death contract proves that Li Li exists. Where is he?”
“If you really wanted to help us, why trick us into signing a death contract?”
“That’s a death contract!”
The tool “Li Li” used to gain trust now became a blade turned against him.
“Li Li’s” face twisted for a moment, but he quickly recovered his usual expression.
He said, “The real Li Li is fine, he’s safe—safer than any of you. I’ve protected him. He doesn’t even need to go through all this and can directly enter the third stage.”
The players weren’t buying it. “I bet you never intended to send us to the third stage.”
Trust is hard to build but easy to destroy. Suspicion grew quickly and spread like wildfire. “If you’re not the real Li Li, then the death contract doesn’t threaten you. You don’t need to fulfill its terms. But if you don’t, the real Li Li will die. You’re toying with a player’s life and lying to us while claiming it’s for our own good?”
“Li Li” continued to argue, “That’s how history works. To achieve victory, sacrifices are inevitable. If you don’t want to be the ones sacrificed, then he will be. I covered up the truth and told a white lie just to make you feel better. What did I do wrong?”
“That’s just sophistry,” a player immediately pointed out. “We’re not your puppets, we have our own thoughts and judgments. You could have laid out the facts and let us choose. That would be true kindness. What you did was hypocrisy.”
“Li Li” opened his mouth, but for once, he didn’t know what to say.
——————————-
In the live broadcast room.
[Haha, does this fake Li Li really think these players are that easy to fool?]
[Right? They’re tearing into him like machine guns.]
[Anyone who’s made it to the high floors isn’t a pushover. They’re all old foxes and think fast. They saw all the flaws in a short time.]
[Yeah, they’re all high-level players. Isn’t it strange, though? Why did they listen to the fake Li Li for so long?]
[Now that you mention it, it does feel off. Could it be that the fake Li Li did something to them? Like psychological suggestion or hypnosis?]
——————————–
“Li Li” stood at the edge of the cliff. He was silent for a moment before speaking again. “You need to trust me.”
“Follow me.”
“I am right. You must obey me unconditionally.”
Though the words were brief, they echoed in the players’ ears like a thunderous bell, as if the voice was coming from the heavens, piercing their skulls and directly entering their brains.
The players’ eyes became somewhat dazed and their minds clouded. They began to genuinely believe Li Li’s words.
Just then, a horn suddenly rang out.
It shook the forest, its echo even stopping the clouds in their tracks!
The blaring horn was as loud as a dragon’s roar, cutting through the layers of clouds and shattering the voice of “Li Li” in their minds.
The players snapped back to reality and looked at “Li Li” warily.
“Damn it, were you just hypnotizing us?”
“Now what do you have to say? You wanted to make us obey you for our own good?”
“There’s nothing left to say. It’s obvious now.”
Bang!
One of the players immediately took action, and shot an arrow straight at “Li Li.”
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, “Li Li” didn’t linger. He turned and tried to jump off the cliff.
Bai Lixin shouted, “Don’t let him escape. Catch him alive.”
“You want to run?”
“Hmph, that’s easier said than done.”
Over fifty players, now fully alert, easily subdued “Li Li”, who was already exhausted.
Bai Lixin didn’t even have to lift a finger, the expert players tied him up like a captured animal in no time.
At this point, “Li Li” was far from composed. Covered in dirt, he glared at the players in front of him with arrogance and resentment in his eyes.
“If you capture me, other players won’t have a chance of survival!”
“Pfft.” One of the players laughed, “What a joke! This is a horror game where death is a constant threat. If we can save our own lives, that’s enough. Who cares about the lives of others? How naive are you?”
“Li Li”: “…”
“But I’m really curious about what’s under that face. Is this the same Li Li who led us through the bloody first stage? Why does he feel different?”
Someone already started to reach for “Li Li’s” face, trying to find a seam.
“Li Li” was being manhandled, and his face was full of indignation and humiliation. “How dare you treat me like this! Damn you, I’ll kill you all!”
The players moved even faster.
“Hey, I found a seam.”
“Tear it open, let’s see what this thing really is.”
At this moment, “Li Li” was like a fish on the chopping block.
The players stripped off his clothes and found a seam on his back.
Rip!
The skin on the back was peeled away, revealing the pitch-black body hidden underneath, emitting a foul stench.
“Ugh, it stinks.”
“Li Li”’s eyes bulged, glaring fiercely.
“Let me go!”
“Let me go!”
None of the players paid attention to him and treated his words as nonsense. Their hands didn’t pause for a moment.
—————————-
The viewers in the live broadcast were dumbfounded.
[Is this what high-level players are like?]
[So brutal, it’s terrifying.]
[Don’t they even know the meaning of ‘fear’?]
[There is some personal grudge involved.]
—————————–
The delicate skin was roughly torn off, and the struggles and cries of the creature underneath were futile.
Soon, a pitch-black figure was exposed before everyone.
It knelt on the ground, curled up into a ball and gasped heavily.
It had limbs, a neck, and a head, and aside from the texture of its skin being vastly different from that of a human, it had a completely human form.
The creature that had just been toying with the players now trembled, occasionally letting out low growls.
The players looked down at the creature that had been toying with them.
Its entire body was charred black, exuding a sulfurous stench and the smell of burnt flesh, its body covered in cracks and resembling dried bark.
“What on earth is this thing? Was it really the one that led us through the first stage? What was it planning?”
A player with glasses exclaimed, “I found a completely skinned person in the bathroom ceiling on the second floor of the safe house. Could that be the real Li Li?”
The players began chattering.
“That can’t be. That player is already dead, and Li Li’s Death Contract is still effective, it at least means Li Li is still alive.”
“Actually, I also saw that body. If that body isn’t Li Li, then who is it?”
“It must be someone who entered the safe house first.”
“If that’s the case, the most suspicious person among those who entered the safe house first is that pink-haired guy. He, just like this fake Li Li, can manipulate people’s minds.”
“It can’t be the pink-haired guy. I saw him enter the safe house again later. The system reported the number of people when he went in.”
Bai Lixin: “To be precise, the one who entered the safe house the second time was a ‘player wearing a pink down jacket’. Did any of you see him take off his down jacket in the safe house?”
The players who were also in the safe house at the time frowned and fell into deep thought, then shook their heads in unison.
One player spoke up.
“I have a deep impression of that pink-haired guy because of all the commotion he was making. He came in wearing goggles and a hat, and he went straight to the second floor. I never saw him show his face the whole time.”
“So, is it possible that another player wore Pink Hair’s down jacket and impersonated him to enter the safe house? Who would do that, and why?”
“Didn’t Pink Hair have two followers with him? Those two are players, so he could have easily swapped clothes with one of them. As for why, maybe he found out someone discovered the body in the bathroom and staged this scene to prove he’s a player and clear himself of suspicion.”
Bai Lixin whispered to Li Cangshan, “Remember when I asked you if there were any players in that team we saw in the laboratory?”
Li Cangshan nodded after recalling, “I remember, and I answered no.”
Bai Lixin: “At that time, Pink Hair was in that group. The day before I found you, I saw the fake Li Li with Pink Hair and two others under the old elm tree. When Pink Hair was leaving, I noticed a banyan flower stuck to the sole of his shoe. One of the people in that group had a similar flower on their foot, and the position and shape were the same. Their build was also identical to Pink Hair.”
Li Cangshan: “You said that the pink-haired guy was wearing a smiley- mask.”
Bai Lixin: “That indicates that the smiley-masked people and the bird-masked people are in cahoots.”
Li Cangshan: “…”
While the two were whispering, the other players continued analyzing.
“Honestly, I think there was no problem in the first stage, but he was swapped out in the second stage. I initially thought it was just my imagination when I noticed Li Li’s personality had changed.”
“So, Li Li was skinned after entering the second stage?”
“By the way, did any of you notice that the number of players announced by the system at the start of the first stage didn’t match the total number of players inside and outside the safe house?”
“I noticed. There were a few extra.”
“Does that mean a monster had already infiltrated our group at that time?”
“But the numbers matched up again the next day.”
“That suggests the monster had already swapped skins and successfully infiltrated our ranks.”
“…”
“Damn, could it be that besides Li Li, others among us have also been replaced?”
“What are they planning by going to such lengths to infiltrate us?”
“Haven’t we already mentioned it? To have us dig up graves and find treasure.”
“Why don’t they dig themselves? Didn’t they grow any hands?”
“Maybe they can’t dig themselves? Ever since we reached the mountain peak, the fake Li Li has been standing on the edge of the cliff, as if afraid of this big banyan tree.”
Everyone looked up at the same time, staring at the huge banyan tree overhead.