Chapter 78 - Escaping from Burial Grounds (IX)
Editor: Kitty
Specter was stupefied by Luo Jian’s question for a mont as if it was incomprehensible, but then he seemingly understood. Shortly after, Specter replied, “Of course you can.”
The dense fog seed to be dissipating.
It seed that Luo Jian had recovered the mories from his childhood that had slowly disappeared. Until now, Luo Jian could not rember what exactly the person had said in the past. Even if he asked Specter, who was in front of him now, he was afraid that he still wouldn’t rember it himself.
However, Luo Jian recalled the other party’s mannerisms when he talked, and they were completely the sa as what he was doing now.
Specter floated over and held out a hand. His warm palm pressed on Luo Jian’s head.
Luo Jian obediently lowered his head to allow him to make a ss out of his hair. Inwardly, he felt slightly and strangely aggrieved yet satisfied. These feelings made it so that he could not help but ask his paternal cousin, “That...... Brother, you saved just now, didn’t you?”
“En?” Specter thought for a bit. “I’m afraid I’m not the one who saved you. I just found you.”
“Found ?”
“Yes, you were lying there, and after that I moved you here.”
Luo Jian was surprised: “When you found , where was I lying?”
Specter tilted his head: “Are you going there? It might be dangerous there now.”
The man who saved him was not his cousin. Realizing this, Luo Jian’s head was full of doubts. If Specter did not save him, then the bandage wrapped on his neck...... Luo Jian then pointed to the bandage wrapped around his neck with his finger: “This was also not done by you either?”
“I thought you bound it yourself.” Specter sized up Luo Jian and said, “Do you need to change clothes? You look like a ss.”
Luo Jian was still wearing those ragged ancient garbs, and there were large patches of blood stained on it. At first glance, one would think that Luo Jian was seriously injured, but in fact, the biggest discomfort Luo Jian now felt was a little dizziness, most likely due to blood loss.
Specter casually tossed out a set of clothing, and it appeared identical to the clothes he wore now. Specter said, “My clothes...... They may be a little big, but they’re better than the ones you’re wearing now......”
Shortly after, Specter frowned: “Why are you wearing ancient garbs? Are you going to replace your identity?”
At this ti, Luo Jian felt that the clothes on his body were inconvenient and troubleso, and because of the huge number of blood stains, the clothes felt thick and sticky. Therefore, he took the clothes from Specter’s hands and planned to change into them. After he heard Specter’s words, he was puzzled about the new term he suddenly heard and asked, “Identity replacent&#k2026;&#k2026; What is that?”
Specter also seed to feel strange: “You don’t know about that?”
“I don’t know.” Luo Jian shook his head: “These garbs...... Soone else changed it for .”
Luo Jian could not say that it was a stalker who changed his clothes for him, but to his surprise, Specter quickly guessed sothing and said, “Didn’t you get this garb from so coffin?”
Coffin? Luo Jian’s face turned red imdiately. He rembered that he had been in the coffin with so stalker. This kind of topic was like a plot from Arabian Nights, and given its R18 nature, Luo Jian felt shaful talking about it. After stuttering and faltering in his speech for half a day, not a single helpful statent was spoken. However, Specter was obviously impatient. He stretched out his hand to ss up the hair on Luo Jian’s head and said, “Okay, let tell you a piece of interesting information I’ve heard. This is related to the problem of identity replacent in the secret chambers.”
Luo Jian squatted in front of his brother in a docile manner and began to listen carefully. Specter raised his eyebrows and started his long-winded speech.
“About identity replacent...... Well, let’s start with sothing simple and easy to understand. First of all, you should know that there are terrifying stalkers in the secret chambers. The newbie guide should have told you that.” Specter started the conversation: “How much do you know about stalkers?”
“Well......” Luo Jian tilted his head as he thought: “I was told that they were the strongest players in the secret chamber. If they failed or died for various reasons, the secret chamber would revive them and turn them into stalkers who have no self-awareness and only know how to kill.”
“Basically, there are no problems with your definition, but I’d like to add sothing more.” Specter was worthy of being an experienced old player; he relayed information to Luo Jian that he had never heard previously. He said, “The secret chamber does not only turn players into stalkers but also other things.”
“Other things?” Luo Jian had an ignorant look.
Specter raised a finger and said seriously, “The monsters you et in the secret chamber, the resurrected corpses, ghosts...... or all kinds of creatures that will attack you were previously all like you. They may have just been an ordinary player.”
“What the hell did you say?!” Luo Jian was imdiately frightened. He unconsciously rembered the monstrous creature he encountered when he was going around in circles previously, which may have been a woman when she was alive.
“Those...... monsters...” Luo Jian’s speech beca incoherent. He had not experienced many secret chambers, but he had already t many strange creatures and even took the lives of one or two of them.
“The secret chamber turns the players into these monsters when they fail or die in a secret chamber. Their endings are particularly depressing because they are different from the stalkers. They can’t shuttle in between secret chambers at will and can’t infinitely resurrect. They can only stay in a certain space set for them by the secret chamber, waiting to be killed by so new players.
“You can think of these poor monsters as those fixed-point monsters that would be refreshed in the ga. They can only constantly stay in one place. They experience the process of being killed, refreshed, killed, and refreshed repeatedly.”
Specter’s tone was a little strange, as if he had thought of sothing uncomfortable. He frowned and continued, “In fact, not even many old players know about this. It’s mainly because I’ve been in the secret chamber for too long and have t many different things in many different chambers that I gradually realized this.”
Luo Jian’s mood was very complicated. He raised his head up and glanced at his family’s brother and asked, “If I also died in a secret chamber, would this be my fate?”
Specter raised his head and gave Luo Jian a glance. He shook his head: “You are too weak right now. I’m afraid the secret chamber would be too lazy to turn you into sothing else. If you die, it would probably be a real death.”
Luo Jian said angrily, “Then it would be better to really die! It’s too cruel to be unable to rest in peace even after death!”
“Such a place like this would naturally be cruel.” When Specter said this, his face was expressionless. He lowered his head, and his face was barely visible under the black hood: “The secret chamber will not lose the chance to make use of every single player. This place intends to practice or experint with living human beings. Although it is cruel, it is not like the secret chamber does not give every player a chance.”
“A chance?”
“I’m referring to the identity replacent I ntioned previously,” Specter explained, “If the dead players are made into stalkers by the secret chamber, there’s a one-in-ten-thousand chance that they retain a certain level of sanity and awareness. These self-aware stalkers use this thod in order to get rid of the supervisory control of the secret chamber.”
Hearing Specter’s speech, Luo Jian suddenly felt his heart palpitate. For so reason, he felt a little worried, but Specter didn’t realize what Luo Jian was feeling. He continued, “You should have heard that the stalkers can replace so NPCs in the secret chamber, and they can have many identities such as a murderer, victim...... In the case of this tomb, they can also be the owner or funeral accompanint...... or sobody else.
“Similarly, not only the stalker can replace his identity, but players can also do so. The secret chamber will sotis set an identity for you when you enter a secret chamber.”
Specter’s words reminded Luo Jian of what happened in the “Flowers In The River And The Moon’s Reflection In The Lake” secret chamber previously. At that ti, the secret chamber had really set an identity for Luo Jian as the 35th student who had gone missing. He was also known as the second personality of the female student.
“In general, the identity that the secret chamber forcefully sets for you cannot be changed. Of course, if the secret chamber doesn’t set any identity for you at the beginning, then in theory, you have the opportunity to take the identity of so NPCs in the secret chamber and replace them!”
Luo Jian thought that the theory of identity replacent seed easy, but doing it was not so simple. He asked, “Must we trigger certain conditions first to do so?”
Specter smiled: “Yes, if you want to replace the identity of a NPC! Then first, you have to make sure that the NPC is a ‘replaceable NPC’! Of course, the secret chamber will not give any hints. This basically relies on the player’s deductions because in so secret chambers, you must rely on identity replacent in order to escape.”
“Once you have determined that the identity of the NPC is replaceable, then after that, you need to get the props, clothes, accessories, or so other symbolic things from them by the NPC’s own free will. This ans that they have given their identity to you, changing you from a player to an NPC in the secret chamber! When you get this identity, you will have so special rights! If you can obtain the identity of the owner of the tomb, you may have so special rights to command so of the creatures in this tomb like funeral accompanints or control the activation of certain chanisms.”
After hearing Specter speak such a long string of words, Luo Jian vaguely understood a lot of the doubts he had earlier. He squinted his eyes and rubbed his chin as he fell into thought: “That ans that in this way, I can obtain certain conveniences in the secret chamber through identity replacent, and sotis it can directly beco the key to allow escape from the secret chamber, right?”
“That’s right. You’re smart,” Specter praised him.
Luo Jian was slightly nervous as he felt the jade pendant on his neck. He had so new conjectures in his mind, so he raised his head and asked his cousin. This was the first ti that he took the initiative to expose his questions related to the stalker. He asked, “Brother...... I would like to ask if there is such a possibility? If a stalker enters the secret chamber and replaces the identity of a certain NPC, but after that, he actively gives the identity to another player, can it also be regarded as a successful identity replacent?”
Luo Jian’s words made Specter squint his eyes. He stared at Luo Jian for a while and smiled: “Well, if there is such a thing, then you have successfully replaced the identity of an NPC in this tomb.”
Specter’s words seemingly made Luo Jian a little happy. He laughed. This made him recall that ti when the stalker refused to let go of him in the coffin. Was this the reason why the stalker changed his clothes?
But Luo Jian was not happy for long because Specter cruelly interrupted him when he was recalling that mory. He had a seemingly imposing expression on his face. He stared at Luo Jian, and his voice was very low: “That stalker, did he take your things?”
Specter’s sudden question stupefied Luo Jian, who hesitated for a while and nodded.
“What did he take away?”
“Er......” Luo Jian blushed: “Clothes and so sort of things like that...... It was all taken away.”
“What about your weapon?!” Specter’s voice grew louder, and he stared at Luo Jian with wide eyes. It seed that he was furious, which made Luo Jian feel at a loss. He stamred and said, “It was also...... swapped.”
Specter stopped talking and rely looked at Luo Jian. It seed that he was speechless. He stared at Luo Jian helplessly and scolded, “You are so stupid! As I said before, if a certain stalker remains sane, their best choice to get rid of the supervisory control of the secret chamber is to replace the identity of a player!
“For all players, the best form of identification is their weapons. If their weapons are replaced, they will have to give up their identity to a stalker! After that, as long as he took all your items and changed into your clothes, he will be identified as you by the secret chamber, and his status will be successfully changed from a stalker to a player again!”
Specter’s words were like a sharp warning to him. Luo Jian could not squeeze out any words at that mont and could only remain in standing in his position on the spot in a daze. All of this surprised him. Luo Jian had also wondered why the stalker had deliberately gotten closer to him and whether he had so obscure purpose, but Luo Jian had always trusted Xing Yan. After all, towards this man...... Luo Jian could not help but admit that he had so feelings for him.
But now, Luo Jian was only able to stand on the spot with a pale face. His heart was full of anxiety, and this made him feel extrely fearful.
“What would happen to if my identity was robbed from ?”
“Identity replacent would also exchange your identities. If he gives you his weapon, you will replace him to beco a stalker.”
T/N:
Fleur: I feel that if this is true, the MLs of this story (XY and DL) are very different from the regular MLs. Although it could be said that they have so feelings for their shous, the actions they carry out are quite self-driven.
Kitty: That was quite the plot twist? I did not see that coming at all! I feel bad for LJ, but XY’s (possible) ulterior motive makes this all so much more interesting!
Fleur: Yeah! ikr, but I hope XY doesn’t betray LJ
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