Chapter 130: The Hard Road

Inside the conference room.

Chen Ran and Qiu Yinong met with the First Floor Captain. He was a long-faced man around thirty years old. Skipping the pleasantries, he addressed the two directly. "As far as I know, the Deceiver Alliance has raised the Bounty on Qiu Yinong to 1,000 points."

"This figure will attract many of the elite Three-Star Trickster-Speakers, who will use Tracking Talismans to hunt you down."

"My advice is for you to register and sign up. I will request a Lie-Slayer who has been stuck at the three-star rank to assist you."

The weight behind the phrase 'stuck at the three-star rank' was self-evident.

It meant this Player had the ability to advance to four stars at any time. The Captain's intention was glaringly obvious: he wanted to use Qiu Yinong as bait to devour seventeen Ghost Whisperers.

Logically speaking, this should have been a windfall for Chen Ran and his companion. However, if even a single one of their Skills was exposed, it would essentially guarantee their deaths...

Take the Wheel of Time, for instance. If a victim managed to walk out of the Instance alive and publicize the trigger phrase, Qiu Yinong's Skill would be rendered useless.

She would never dare to use it again. After all, she couldn't be certain if her opponent's drawing speed would be faster than hers the moment she uttered the phrase 'I lied.'

...then exposing the Eternal Kingdom would mean certain death for Chen Ran.

Consider the fact that the food, housing, various furniture, and items within The 18th Level were all created by Skills. A single activation of Eternal Kingdom could reduce all of this to ash.

Even more terrifying was the Common Sense dictating survival in The 18th Level: everyone must return indoors at night. But if the buildings ceased to exist, the fate awaiting all players was obvious. In other words, if Chen Ran were to use the Eternal Kingdom on the streets of The 18th Level, the vast majority of players would die from violating Common Sense—including himself.

Such a latent threat would prompt both the Liar-Slayer Alliance and the Deceiver Alliance to strangle him in the cradle.

They wouldn't dare act against him in The 18th Level proper, fearing Chen Ran would drag everyone down to hell with him, but inside an Instance, they would have no such reservations.

Therefore.

As long as the Eternal Kingdom was exposed, despite the vastness of The 18th Level, there would be no place for him to hide.

This was exactly why they couldn't afford to leave any survivors in the Instance.

For one, the trigger phrase of the Skill couldn't be exposed.

For another, the actual effect of the Skill had to remain a secret.

Neither of them spoke. One lit a Cigarette, while the other chewed her Chewing Gum, both lost in deep thought.

'This must be a probe from the Captain. If we agree, he won't suspect a thing.'

'But if we refuse, he'll realize there's a problem with us. And what kind of problem could a Player possibly have? It can only be related to our Skills!'

'On my Form, I wrote that my ability can prohibit a player from using their skills for an hour.'

'He must have noticed a flaw!'

'To stand in a prominent position, the price of such scrutiny must be paid.'

With this realization in mind.

Chen Ran exchanged a glance with Qiu Yinong. Receiving an affirmative look, he turned back to the Captain. "We can do that, but there's no need to register us. Just have that person join our squad temporarily, and I'll find two more temporary teammates."

The Captain looked at Chen Ran with a smiling expression, his bright eyes seemingly seeing right through the younger man's thoughts.

'What a cautious little guy.'

'If they registered, the squad would consist of three Professional Lie-Slayers. If things turned hostile within the Instance, it would be a two-against-three scenario.'

'However, if he finds his own teammates and things go south during the run, it would be four-against-one, or at the very worst, two-against-one.'

'Alas, Newbies...'

'They never truly grasp the sheer power of a top-tier three-star player. The gap in strength is too massive; no matter the numerical advantage, they wouldn't stand a chance.'

'I'm still a little unsure about the higher-ups' intentions. Some say that as long as Qiu Yinong remains an Amateur Lie-Slayer, we should just kill whoever she teams up with. After all...'

'Time-based Skills are far too precious. The owner must become a Professional Lie-Slayer; it's the only way we can rest easy.'

'Meanwhile, the Eighth Floor Captain believes Chen Ran's Skill also holds great value. Once he grows to an eight-star rating and they team up for an Instance, they wouldn't be at a disadvantage in terms of Skills even if they encountered a Ghost Whisperer leader.'

'Therefore, his suggestion was to kill whoever teamed up with Chen Ran... forcing him to become a Professional Lie-Slayer.'

'God damn it! They can't make up their minds, so they just kicked the ball to me!'

'Moreover, these two have likely already figured out that someone in the upper echelon of the alliance is selling information to the Deceiver Alliance. Because there is a massive number of Amateur Lie-Slayers, even if the informant were to search the archive room for their Player Files, it would probably take days. Consequently, these two are absolutely unwilling to become Professional Lie-Slayers.'

Thinking of this, he nodded.

He continued, "To be frank, although I rarely visit the Alliance Ancient Tower, I've still managed to grasp some of your information. Your situation is extremely precarious. The 18th Level operates strictly on profit and supreme benefit. The kind of situations you see in novels about martial sects—where they nurture you and shower you with resources just because of your great talent—will absolutely never happen here."

"We only care about one thing: whether your Skills will be able to help me or the other higher-ups in the future. If they can, then you are of some use to us."

"Useful, perhaps, but not indispensable. It's not as if we absolutely must help you. After all, Newbies arrive at The 18th Level every single day, bringing bizarre and novel Skills into existence with them. If you die, we'll merely sigh in pity and wait for the next useful Skill to be born."

"You two... should understand what I mean, right?"

His implication was quite veiled.

To put it simply: Your current situation is fraught with peril. Transitioning to Professional Lie-Slayers can save your lives, and I will even cover the conversion fees. However, you have to prove useful to me. In the future, you must remain stuck at my Star Rating, enter Instances with me, and use your Skills to help me clear them one by one. As for when you might be allowed to rank up? I won't say; you can guess for yourselves.

In other words, there were only two options laid out before them.

Option one: Become Professional Lie-Slayers.

They would be exploited by the First Floor Captain, their intel would be sold to the Deceiver Alliance, and then they would be hunted down by the Deceiver Alliance anyway.

Moreover, if the First Floor Captain ever learned Qiu Yinong's trigger phrase in the future, he would use it to blackmail her, ensuring she could never leave his squad. And if he learned the full effects of Chen Ran's Skill, he would assassinate him outright.

Of course, Chen Ran and Qiu Yinong could also choose to bide their time, eventually trapping the Captain to his death within an Instance...

But the man was no fool. Before entering an Instance, he would likely force the two to declare a Future Lie—a binding oath that three would enter, and three would leave alive.

Option two: Continue as Amateur Lie-Slayers.

In that case, their predicament would remain...

Incredibly dangerous!

This danger could stem from the impending Hundred Ghost Feast, from the Deceiver Alliance down the line, or even from...

The Liar-Slayer Alliance itself!

...

After he finished speaking, he continuously observed their expressions. Who would have guessed...

Neither of them showed any shift in emotion, acting as if they hadn't understood the underlying meaning of his words at all.

Chen Ran replied, feigning an overwhelmed sense of flattery, "Thank you, Captain! Then it's settled. Have that Player who's been stuck at three stars meet us at The Gatehouse the day after tomorrow, at seven-thirty in the morning."

"Alright, it's a promise." The Captain nodded with a smile. Without a hint of displeasure on his face, he watched the two of them depart.

Returning to the main hall, Chen Ran tracked down Mei Zhixu, who was working odd jobs, and told her to simply find two temporary teammates.

Upon returning to their rented apartment.

The two sat opposite each other as a long silence descended upon the room. Both were filled with regret, realizing they had suffered a loss due to their inexperience. When they first arrived at The 18th Level, they had suspected there was something wrong with the Form. They had been incredibly cautious, even obscuring the true nature of their Skills, yet they had still fallen into a trap. It was simply impossible to guard against!

Filling out the Form was the equivalent of filtering the Skills of Newbies. If a Skill was powerful, it would be presented to the higher-ups, and then...

They would be targeted by the upper echelon.

Simply put, a Newbie was like a fresh college graduate, and the alliance higher-ups were like corporate bosses. When they saw the resumes of the Newbies, if the applicant proved personally useful to them, they would employ all sorts of methods to recruit the rookie into their own company to work as their subordinate.

To put it bluntly, they were recruiting Cannon Fodder.

Whenever a Captain-level Lie-Slayer lost a member in their squad, they could simply pick a replacement from their pool of Reserve Teammates—people exactly like Chen Ran and Qiu Yinong.

Which meant.

When Captain-level squads from either alliance entered an Instance, the Captains wouldn't speak up proactively. Instead, they would let their teammates engage in Lie-Judgment against the opposing side. That way, as long as the Captain didn't trigger a trap, they were practically unkillable. The only ones who died would be their teammates, and since they had an endless supply of Reserve Teammates, their deaths wouldn't matter in the slightest.

It was glaringly obvious. Just a moment ago, the First Floor Captain was attempting to turn Chen Ran and Qiu Yinong into...

His Reserve Teammates!

'Hell indeed...'

'It really is a place where the wicked torment the wicked!'

Within the silent room, Chen Ran lit a Cigarette and smoked quietly, while Qiu Yinong slowly chewed her Chewing Gum. Neither of them had any intention of breaking the silence.

A short while later, the cigarette was snuffed out, and the chewing ceased.

"Do we kill him?"

"We kill him!"