Cultivating in Online Games

Chapter 57 - Counting on You

Faced with this situation, Dugu Zhuo’s thoughts raced. He had to figure out what exactly was happening.

The person in front of him was indeed Ye Zhou, but he seemed to be constrained by a mission or something else, forcing him into his current behavior. He clearly needed the cooperation of others.

Dugu Zhuo’s top priority was to figure out what Ye Zhou could and couldn’t do, to better assist him.

Previously, he thought Ye Zhou didn’t reveal the truth through private chat because Lian Haokong might have the ability to hear the team’s voice chat. However, upon reflection, that didn’t seem to be the case.

When they saw Lian Haokong, Ye Zhou subtly hinted at Lian Haokong’s identity to prove he knew him. At that time, Lian Haokong was in the first-floor hall and didn’t react, showing that he didn’t notice Ye Zhou on the second floor. Team voice chat is private; even a cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage would need to concentrate to overhear it. In the noisy hall, Lian Haokong wouldn’t pay attention to their private room unless he deliberately focused on someone.

When Ye Jian and others entered the private room, Ye Zhou seemed indifferent, allowing them to stay as long as they were quiet.

However, when they began using team voice chat to tell Ye Jian about the first main storyline, Ye Zhou could hear it, likely due to system permissions.

Ye Zhou didn’t throw them out immediately and even shared his views on the matter, indicating that Lian Haokong wasn’t paying attention to them and hadn’t heard their team chat.

If so, why did Ye Zhou react differently and eject Ye Jian and the others when no one was monitoring them?

This indicated that Ye Zhou was wary not only of Lian Haokong but also of some invisible constraints.

What were these constraints?

To test what restricted Ye Zhou, Dugu Zhuo boldly approached and wrote in his palm. He was sure Lian Haokong wouldn’t notice, but Ye Zhou still didn’t dare to write back, only lightly scratching his palm.

Thus, Dugu Zhuo concluded that Ye Zhou wasn’t wary of any player or NPC but of himself.

At this moment, Ye Zhou had to act according to a certain behavior pattern and couldn’t deviate from it. So, when Ye Jian and others badmouthed Ye Zhou in front of him, he had to throw them out if he heard them.

However, when Ye Jian used the megaphone and all the players were discussing Ye Zhou, he acted as if he hadn’t heard anything, sitting calmly by the window. This showed that in this behavior pattern, Ye Zhou wasn’t supposed to notice the megaphone, just like the NPCs downstairs who didn’t look up.

I see.

Dugu Zhuo had completely figured it out. Ye Zhou’s task was probably to act as a powerful NPC, without breaking character. He wasn’t being monitored by someone but by the task itself.

Even if Dugu Zhuo wanted to help Ye Zhou, he couldn’t let Ye Zhou know openly; he had to disguise it and assist him in his role.

As for who Ye Zhou was pretending to be…

Dugu Zhuo smiled wryly. From his posture and tone, and the comment about not being interested in the new Xuanjian Sword Master, he had guessed who Ye Zhou was pretending to be.

Dugu Zhuo hadn’t intended to let Ye Zhou get involved in the Xuansu Two Swords plotline. He didn’t want Ye Zhou to remember his past life and hoped they could continue like this. He wanted to help Ye Zhou recover his soul and stay with him in the game.

Unfortunately, things seemed to be against his wishes. It seemed like Ye Zhou had to participate in the main storyline, everything pushing them forward.

Was Ye Zhou destined to remember that past? Dugu Zhuo looked deeply at Ye Zhou and stood up. “Senior, may I boldly guess that you are ‘hiding your identity’ here and do not wish to ‘reveal your identity’?”

Dugu Zhuo had completely guessed his task! Ye Zhou was overjoyed, wanting to nod repeatedly, but he said, “I dislike people who think they are clever.”

While speaking, Ye Zhou mentally sent signals to Dugu Zhuo, Did you hear? I’m complimenting you, which means you’re right!

Dugu Zhuo followed up, “It seems my enemies don’t dare to act in such a crowded place. Thank you for your assistance. I will leave the room now and not disturb your ‘view’.”

Are you leaving? Ye Zhou glanced at Dugu Zhuo.

He then heard Dugu Zhuo say, “It seems you have some difficult issues. I will go down and ‘assist’ you in solving them.”

He winked at Ye Zhou and left the room.

Ye Zhou breathed a slight sigh of relief. With no one else in the room, he didn’t have to maintain his posture and could relax a bit.

He was slightly worried, unsure how much Dugu Zhuo had figured out and whether he could both explore the main storyline and understand Lian Haokong’s intentions while helping him play his role.

“Counting on you!” Ye Zhou silently cheered Dugu Zhuo on in his heart.