Chapter 192: Blowing Up His Mindset (2)

"If you still want to ask how I thought of Western bloodletting therapy..."

Chen Ran turned his head to look at the wall calendar, then back to the child's wristband. "I remember there was a foreigner named Charles II who was killed by that Western medical system in 1685."

[Lin Xiuyuan] fell silent. In the silence, five minutes quickly passed.

The Middle-aged Bald Doctor came up to [Lin Xiuyuan]. Just as he was about to ask, he was interrupted by him: "Whatever. Anyway, the one having black bile drawn is Lin Xiuyuan."

The next moment, a black liquid was drawn through the needle, along the tube, and into the Blood Bag.

[Lin Xiuyuan] dropped his head...

Dead.

When it was Chen Ran's turn, he gave the same answer he had just spoken: "Draw blood from the vein in the child's left arm."

The Bald Doctor used a knife to cut open the vein in the child's left arm and began letting blood. Simultaneously, the needle pierced into the back of Chen Ran's hand also began drawing blood.

He didn't care either, looking at [Lin Xiuyuan] who had "died" once again.

Chen Ran continued to output, "In the first Secret Room, Lin Xiuyuan's corpse was burned beyond recognition. Yet the one standing before us had no burn marks when he first appeared. This means that someone's Skill can highly likely repair corpses. Then it's very strange, if that's the case..."

The corners of Chen Ran's mouth curled up. "So, is it possible he's just playing dead?"

Diwu Zeyi nodded. "It's highly probable. After all, if someone's Skill effect is corpse control, the corpse is already dead. I really can't imagine how it could die again."

Long Hui also nodded along. "Speaking of which, if you and Diwu Zeyi faced this situation, how would you break out of it?"

Chen Ran thought for a moment. "Back when I was in school and got cornered in an alley by several guys, they not only outnumbered me but were also burly. Knowing I couldn't escape, I would specifically pick the most arrogant one and chase after him, hitting only him. It didn't matter how the others beat me; I'd only hit him."

"Are you sure doing that wouldn't get you beaten to death?" Long Hui's expression was odd.

"Exactly. I thought about it, and doing that really made it easy to get beaten to death. So I changed my strategy and specialized in attacking the lower body..."

"No, bro, doing that makes it even easier to get beaten to death, okay."

Listening to the three casually chatting and joking, [Lin Xiuyuan] could no longer keep up his disguise.

"I say, the three of you, could you give me a tiny bit of respect?"

The three put away their playful expressions, and Chen Ran looked at him seriously. "Your Skill should have two effects. It's highly likely that one effect is corpse control, and the other restores the corpse to its pre-injury appearance."

"Earlier, Long Hui's intention was probably for you to dispose of the other fifteen yourself, but you only snapped your fingers. There's an ambiguity there. Whether you actually disposed of them or not, I don't know, but you do. I imagine you plan to wait until this physical body is ruined, then transfer to one of the fifteen physical bodies on the floor by the front desk to achieve Sloughing Off the Cicada's Shell and trick us into a lie."

Words like "should," "highly likely," and "I imagine" made [Lin Xiuyuan] feel that he wasn't on the same wavelength as these three.

He found that every sentence the three spoke was achieving Avoidance of Lying. It could no longer be described as cautious; it was straightforwardly telling him:It's impossible for us to be tricked into a lie.

'The Three-Star players are one thing.'

'But how did even a One-Star like Chen Ran deduce my entire plan?'

'And without a single error.'

'Standing in front of them, I feel like I've been stripped naked, with absolutely no privacy to speak of.'

'I know they are doing this to break my spirit. I also know that they know that I know. Yet they are doing it anyway...'

'Their meaning is obvious: stay on the sidelines and don't cause trouble. We don't have time for you right now; we'll deal with you later.'

'Come on, it's me! The grand final BOSS of the Instance! Which player wasn't terrified out of their wits upon seeing me in the past?'

'Yet this time, I'm the one terrified, and I even have the illusion that I'm unpresentable.'

'If I do nothing and wait for them to decide a victor, it will be my turn to be killed.'

'Furthermore, what Chen Ran said earlier about being cornered and picking the most arrogant one: is he hinting at me that we should join forces and screw the two Three-Star players to death first?'

'With my plan completely deduced by them, what value do I have?'

'In life, I was merely a One-Star Player. Among this batch of players, all the One-Star players except Chen Ran and Qiu Yinong were eliminated in the first Secret Room.'

'Simply put, if I fight alone, I truly only belong at the kids' table.'

'Therefore, Chen Ran must have given me a hint. What does specializing in attacking the lower body mean?'

'Playing dirty?'

'Using underhanded tactics?'

'Wait!'

A flash of inspiration crossed his mind.

'They don't dare to kill me right now. Does that mean I can...'

'Lie unscrupulously?'

'However, if the Three-Star players get screwed and ultimately choose mutual destruction, they will either Judge me to death first to end the Instance, or Judge Qiu Yinong to death first...'

'Holy crap!'

'I understand now. No wonder Chen Ran asked about the judgment of an Unknown Lie in the second Secret Room.'

'So he was waiting for this!'

'He knew I was eavesdropping. That means Chen Ran asked about the judgment of an Unknown Lie on my behalf?'

'He assumed I wasn't a Ghost Whisperer, so he wanted me to tell an Unknown Lie to trigger my Skill. Although he guessed wrong, if I can still use my Skill once more...'

'It doesn't seem that simple.'

'OMG!'

'I'm about to grow a brain!'

Just as he was thinking, he heard Long Hui say, "Of the five patient rooms, one should be related to heart disease. This bed is the spleen. Could the five rooms respectively be..."

"Heart, Liver, Spleen, Lungs, Kidneys?"

"This time, we entered the first room on the left. I think next time, we can enter the first room on the right."

"In novels, to heighten the atmosphere, don't they always leave the suspense for last? We can verify in advance whether the first room on the right is related to the heart. If it isn't, then it's highly likely the middle room."

[Lin Xiuyuan]: "..."

'Alright then!'

'I can clearly see it now: a divergence in thought has appeared among these four.'

'Diwu Zeyi and Long Hui are constantly blowing up my mindset, attempting to make me accept my fate. Chen Ran appears to be blowing up my mindset on the surface, but he's actually pointing the way for me...'

'I faintly have a feeling that if I can't deduce the plan hidden in Chen Ran's words within this patient room, my fate...'

'Is only a dead end.'

...

"Yo, I couldn't tell you were so well-versed in novel tropes," Chen Ran teased. Pausing for a moment, he added, "How about this: after we leave this patient room, we split into two groups. One group goes to the first room on the right, and the other goes to the middle room. How about it?"

Diwu Zeyi and Long Hui exchanged a glance.

Silence spoke louder than words.

Simply put...

They knew his plan, it didn't know his plan, and she cooperated with his plan.

The crucial point was whether it could deduce his plan, whether he could kill him, and whether she could cooperate with him.