Chapter 459: So That's How It Is

She glanced at the limp, incontinent man beside her and the still-numb older man, and her odds of winning increased a bit.

If only these two people remained to compete with her, her chance of survival would be much higher.

The Gray Puppet's lips twitched with difficulty for a moment, then finally spoke again: "The… last… entrant… die… die… die…"

For some reason, it lingered on the word "die" for a long time, making everyone present feel their scalps go numb.

"All right," Cheng Shuili said, hands in her pockets, stepping forward to interrupt it, "I already know the answer to this question, but there's another one…"

Her gaze swept past the Gray Puppet and locked onto the blood-drawn circle on the floor; she tilted her head slightly and asked, "If no one enters the circle within ten minutes, how is the so-called random selection of a character for death carried out?"

Before her words even finished, Qing Qing's kiss blurted out in confusion: "Huh? Why ask that?"

"Aren't they all just dying? Why ask so precisely?"

The three short-haired women over there, intimidated by Cheng Shuili's displayed strength, didn't utter a sound.

But looking at their expressions, they were also filled with deep confusion and a hint of anxiety.

Although it's unclear why the Gray Puppet calls this woman "boss," asking anything and getting an answer from it is no different from cheating.

Since we're cheating, we should ask genuinely useful questions!

For example, how to break the Blood Ring, how to leave the Instance safely, how to let everyone survive?

Having privileges, she just does whatever she wants…

"Really deserves to die."

The short-haired woman's lips twitched, but she made no sound.

She didn't hate the fact that such privileges existed in the Instance; she hated that the person wielding them wasn't herself, and thus naturally came to hate Cheng Shuili, the one who possessed those privileges.

The older man and the obedient man who had carried the corpse also had unpleasant expressions; the short-haired woman, still wary of Cheng Shuili and Qing Qing's kiss's strength, only dared to move her lips, making no sound.

Those two were actually bold enough; seeing Qing Qing's kiss speak up, they also began to mutter quietly:

"Well… isn't this wasting an opportunity?"

"You want to figure out how the random death works… does she even want to try what it feels like to be randomly erased?"

Their voices were kept very low, but in this silent theater, they were still faintly audible.

Qing Qing's kiss furrowed her brows, turned her head, and gave them a cold glance.

Those two were only concerned with satisfying their momentary verbal gratification; noticing that glance, they instantly fell silent, shrank their necks, broke out in a cold sweat down their spines, and hurriedly lowered their heads, too afraid to look again.

And Cheng Shuili seemed completely oblivious to these noises.

She simply stared silently at the Gray Puppet, waiting for an answer.

This question seemed absurd, but for Cheng Shuili it was vitally important.

If the execution isn't governed by any rule, but rather the Gray Puppet standing beside the circle from the start…

As the puppet's boss, she should be able to command it to stop moving, right?

This status was given by the Instance, and she had gone through it with the puppeteer!

Therefore, this point absolutely needs to be clarified.

As for other questions that could directly end the Instance…

This Instance isn't the hide-and-seek Instance Cheng Shuili previously participated in.

That was a monthly day off, not to mention, or rather it was Ge Wudi's temporary use of a Special Dungeon Opening Card that caused this extremely hasty temporary Instance.

This Instance is not only official, but also the second server-wide Instance; the system surely prepared with all its might, making the chance of problems extremely small.

Since her character legitimately exists, there must certainly be measures in place to prevent direct clearance.

Cheng Shuili guessed that if she directly asked how to safely end the Instance, the Gray Puppet would surely give a useless answer.

Given the tight time, she naturally needed to first clarify the most important question, then verify those trivial ones.

The Gray Puppet again fell into that stuttering silence.

Its head twitched slightly, as if receiving Cheng Shuili's command signal.

After several seconds, the hoarse voice finally sounded again: "... ran... dom..."

It repeated the word, as if chewing its meaning, each syllable drawn out long and heavy: "... by... the... puppeteer's... will... decides..."

That answer was extremely vague, almost amounting to nothing said.

Qing Qing's kiss couldn't help but roll her eyes: "Will? What will? A meteorite falling from the sky randomly smashing someone to death?"

Cheng Shuili also furrowed her brows; she was asking how to execute the selected person, not how to choose. She repeated her question coldly, after a not-so-patient wait, the Gray Puppet spoke again: "... by... by me... to... execute..."

By it to execute!

Cheng Shuili's eyes finally showed a hint of satisfaction, and Qing Qing's kiss also belatedly caught on.

She instinctively glanced at Cheng Shuili beside her; although that person's expression hadn't changed, she felt that Wu Ya's lips seemed to have curled up by two pixels!

"So that's how it is! So that's how it is!"

In her excitement, Qing Qing's kiss couldn't control her volume and blurted it out!

That shout, in the silent theater, was especially jarring, prompting the three short-haired women to look over in bewilderment.

Qing Qing's kiss, however, didn't have time for their gazes; her eyes shone, she fixed her gaze on Cheng Shuili, lowered her voice, and spoke rapidly:

"So… if the next round, no, even this round! If the countdown ends with no one entering the circle, and the randomly selected person is anyone, as long as you can command this puppet to not execute…"

"Then, theoretically, random erasure can be avoided!"

Cheng Shuili picked up her words, her voice calm but carrying a certainty born of understanding the rules: "The key lies in who the selected person is, and…"

Her gaze swept over the three short-haired women; that calm look made them feel a bone-chilling chill.

"And, whether the priority of the execution command can be overridden or interrupted by my order." Cheng Shuili added.

Qing Qing's kiss immediately understood her meaning.

If the selected one is those three "small fry"…

they could gamble, seeing whether between the puppeteer's will and the puppet boss's command, the puppet would obey which.

And if the ones chosen are the two of them…

Qing Qing's kiss embraced the arm, her gaze scanning up and down the Gray Puppet's body.

Every time it moves, the lights dim; she has never even seen how the Gray Puppet attacks players, knowing very little about it.

Moreover, with the Juchang completely dark, to her it was hardly different from closing her eyes.