Chapter 3: I Can Hear the Players' Inner Thoughts

The streets were bustling with noise and excitement.

People of all sorts had run out of their homes to see what the flower-stealing thief looked like; the main street was even livelier than during the New Year.

The Catchers were shouting to maintain order.

A young man with a bruised and swollen face was shackled in chains; facing the accusations, curses, and the mud and rotten vegetable leaves thrown at him by the crowd, he remained calm and composed, a faint smile occasionally appearing at the corners of his mouth, not taking his capture to heart at all.

Through the gaps in the crowd.

Lin Bai looked at the captured young man, and with one glance, he couldn't help but freeze on the spot.

Hovering above his head, strikingly, was a glittering name: 【Yu Mao】.

"What the hell?"

Lin Bai blinked, looked at the person again, and the name was still there.

The onlookers turned a blind eye to the name above his head, their focus remaining on his act of hooliganism itself, pointing fingers, laughing, and cursing.

A player?

Lin Bai swallowed a mouthful of saliva and subconsciously looked around.

Sure enough.

In the crowded throng, there were two other people, a man and a woman, who also had names above their heads: 【Lao Mi】 and 【Gengmi】, respectively.

Lin Bai took a deep breath and squeezed over to their side without changing his expression.

"... A mesmerizing game; every NPC is vivid and lifelike, and everyone has their own thoughts. It's hard to imagine how powerful the underlying computation must be to support such a realistic world!"

"Technology has no limits; you can never imagine what kind of strange things those scientists above can create. That idiot Yu Mao—someone had already tested the NPCs' bottom line, yet he still went to court death. He can't log off while detained by the Government unless he deletes his account; he's got it coming..."

"He didn't do anything substantial; he'll be out in less than two days. Of course, there's another possibility: he wants to go to prison."

"Why?"

"If the game is based on the real world, then prison has another title: the Super Talent Market. It's highly likely that many powerful NPCs are hidden inside, and you can learn many things you can't learn outside. Don't underestimate the level of any beta tester."

"He wants to mingle with the evil path?"

"Perhaps. This game is different from the ones in the past; you have to explore it yourself, and you can't use past experience to deduce things..."

"Lao Mi, is there a stupid NPC behind us who keeps peeking at us?"

"Must be attracted by your beauty!" The person called 【Lao Mi】 smiled and glanced at Lin Bai, saying without any scruples, "You don't think he can hear our private channel conversation, do you?"

"Maybe he's taken a fancy to you; that guy didn't even look at me properly. I think he's a G. The game promotion says it's built based on the real world, and there are all kinds of people in here..."

You're the G.

Your whole family is G.

Lin Bai cursed inwardly and moved his gaze away without changing his expression, but his heart was surging with stormy waves.

They really were players!

Had he transmigrated into a game world?

No wonder the city names in this world always felt so awkward: Jiamu City, Yimu City, Binghuo City...

If it were a game world, then these names would be perfectly normal.

But was this really a game world?

The air was flowing, all kinds of delicacies, mountain rocks, and trees were lifelike; if you snapped a wild blade of grass, sap would flow out.

The scent of powder on women, the smell of sweat on men, the bad breath from not brushing teeth...

Everyone had their own thoughts, families, occupations, joys, and sorrows; they would bleed when injured, need to eat when hungry, and need to sleep when tired...

If a game could be made to this extent, how terrifying must the people who made the game be?

How powerful a server would be needed to run such a game?

Did Earth have such a badass Game Company?

The most critical point!

If this was a game?

What was he?

If he was a player?

Why was there no attribute panel, and not even an option to log out?

If he was an NPC?

He clearly didn't belong to this world; he was an outsider, and he could see the players' names!

Moreover, those players with names above their heads also treated him as an NPC.

A transmigrator caught between a player and an NPC?

A headache!

Lin Bai was no stranger to game players; he had spent his four years of university swimming in an ocean of games.

He had come into contact with all kinds of games, including PC games, browser games, and single-player games.

He had done nine out of ten things that players did in game worlds.

Jumping over city walls, killing other people's chickens, teasing women in broad daylight...

All the strange events suddenly had a reasonable explanation; it was perfectly normal for players to do these things—even more reasonable than a system owner.

In a game, players were completely unconstrained by law and morality, except for the rules of the game.

Infinite respawns, rapid growth with experience points, and everything done in the game world would have no impact on reality...

With these premises, players could do anything in the game without scruples, freely releasing their nature, even wilder than the style of the cultivators in the xianxia stories Lin Bai told Luo Congwen.

Infinite growth; if you dare to show your health bar, they dare to draw their blades. Their behavior is uncontrollable and unpredictable. They spend money to become strong, and to satisfy their own desires for destruction and creation, or for the sake of an experience bar, they can do anything...

This is a player.

This is the Fourth Calamity.

Looking at the two players in front of him, then looking at the onlookers who were still watching the spectacle.

Lin Bai felt a complex mix of emotions; there is nothing more absurd or ridiculous than the world one has transmigrated into being invaded by players.

Upon encountering players, the advantages of a transmigrator vanish in an instant.

So what if he has a system? He is only one person, and there is no telling how many players there are...

Thinking about players farming him like a boss in wave after wave, Lin Bai felt his scalp go numb.

Hellish!

The conversation between the two players continued, without any regard for the presence of Lin Bai beside them.

The chat in the private channel gave them sufficient confidence.

A closed beta with no character wipes, high freedom, a game developed with the real world as a blueprint, with no game guides or walkthroughs, relying entirely on oneself to discover the mysteries of the game...

More and more game content spilled out from the mouths of the two players.

Lin Bai tried his best to collect all useful information.

Three days.

The first batch of closed beta players had entered their world three days ago, a few days later than when he transmigrated into this world.

Lin Bai did not believe there was no connection between the two.

After all.

The system suite he possessed also had an unknown origin.

When a living, breathing world suddenly becomes a game world, Lin Bai instinctively felt suspicious of everything around him.

However, the information he could currently collect was too scarce, making it impossible to perform any Divination into the future.

Whether it was a conspiracy or destiny, there was no way to define it.

In this strange world, he was just like the players, also in the exploration stage.

Nowadays, his own survival was a problem, even more difficult than for the initial players; considering those extraneous things was clearly premature.

Perhaps.

Temporarily playing the role of this special NPC well was the only chance to discover the truth.

Taking a step back.

Using the system he possessed to become a boss was better than being a clueless, ordinary NPC who knew nothing of the truth.

Being able to see through the difference between players and ordinary people, and hearing the players' private conversations, was enough to keep him clear-headed in this world.

Players will level up; right now they can be captured by Catchers and pelted with eggs by the surrounding masses.

But later, when their levels are high, if they look back at these NPCs, they could probably wipe out a whole crowd at once.

There is no guarantee that there won't be high-level players with twisted senses of humor who come back to trouble these newbie village NPCs, so he must grow alongside the players and ensure he can run faster than them.

Players level up by farming experience.

Lin Bai could naturally level up through system rewards; as for that damn Nine Suns True Scripture, when the time comes, he might have to practice it whether he wants to or not.

An NPC who doesn't want to be a boss is not a good NPC!

If he is to be one, he will be a boss who can never be defeated.

Infinite motivation surged from within Lin Bai's body, and he redefined the direction for his life.

Keep a low profile?

Impossible!

From the moment the system attached itself to him, keeping a low profile was forever out of the question for Lin Bai.

When the world was no longer the world he perceived, Lin Bai examined the task again with a different mindset.

What better way to understand their dynamics than by following the players?

Players are superstitious about their past experiences and do not believe that any NPC would know their conversations.

To Lin Bai, these guys were transparent, with no secrets at all.

Recalling the actions of quest NPCs in games, combined with the two players' speculations about the game, Lin Bai walked confidently toward the two players.

Players possess thoughts different from ordinary people; one cannot treat them as ordinary people.

The two players stopped talking and looked strangely at the NPC walking toward them.

"What does this guy want?" Lao Mi said.

"God knows, I felt something was off about him just now," Gengmi said, "A quest NPC?"

"Aren't game quests supposed to be triggered by us?" Lao Mi said, "Do the NPCs in this world not like communicating with strangers?"

"He's coming over," Gengmi said.

"Two sirs, could I have a few words with you?" Lin Bai took a deep breath and asked hesitantly.

"Of course," Lao Mi's expression tightened; he gave Gengmi a wink and smiled.

A flash of surprise crossed Lin Bai's eyes, and he rubbed his hands together unconsciously: "It's a bit hard to say. I have an ancestral skill of physiognomy, and I've been observing you two for a long time. I discovered that your fates are somewhat special; how should I put it, it's that kind of dragon-phoenix destiny destined to soar and achieve great success. To be honest, I have never seen such a physiognomy on anyone around me before..."

Looking at the rambling NPC in front of them, Lao Mi and Gengmi exchanged a glance. Lao Mi said: "Is this guy a scammer? Or did he really see something?"

Gengmi smiled: "Isn't a scammer more interesting? Maybe he's a special NPC; let's hear what he has to say."

Listening to the unscrupulous conversation between the two players, Lin Bai remained calm on the surface, but his tone became increasingly embarrassed: "... You might think I'm a scammer, or that I'm joking with you. After all, I don't look like a fortune teller."

"But I truly couldn't help myself; your fates are too peculiar, you are simply a Dragon and Phoenix Among Men. I was worried that if I missed this chance, I would never find it again. That feeling is just like being born a few decades early and being determined to make friends with a City Lord before they rise to prominence. That is the feeling you give me now. This is the turning point of my life, and I must seize this opportunity."

Lin Bai's words were mixed with some local information to conceal his identity and create an illusion for the two players.

If the other party were normal people, they would be lucky not to be beaten up for this line of talk, but are players normal people?

Clearly not.

Lao Mi asked, "What do you plan to do?"

"I want to hang out with you." Lin Bai looked at Lao Mi, his gaze burning and his tone earnest. "If possible, I want to acknowledge you as my big brother. You look like outsiders; if there is anything inconvenient for you to do in Jiamu City, you can find me to do it. Of course, if you have any benefits, don't forget me either. When you strike it rich, could you give me a little boost?"

"Of course." Lao Mi agreed readily.

No player would actively refuse an NPC who delivers themselves to their door with their own plot, even if they were a swindler; who knows if they have follow-up quests?

Even if there weren't any, during the game's closed beta, wouldn't it be cool to bring along a servant or take in a pet!

Moreover, he was highly likely to be the first player in the Eastern Continent region to receive an NPC lackey. Posting it on the forum later would surely make a whole crowd of people envious.

"Really?" Lin Bai looked at Lao Mi in front of him with surprise, subconsciously clenching his fists.

"Of course." Lao Mi's eyes narrowed as he smiled, nodding affirmatively. "From today on, you are my brother."

"Big brother." Lin Bai looked at the player before him with excitement, his voice trembling slightly, his integrity shattered all over the floor.

"Brother." Lao Mi reached out and patted Lin Bai on the shoulder, feeling as if they had met too late.

Lin Bai: Players are much easier to fool than natives; my quest is finally on the right track.

Lao Mi: Starting the game by taking an NPC as a lackey, I'm going to make it big.

(End of this chapter)