Chapter 23: Origin of the Instances

Bang!

The muzzle was aimed squarely at Ma Wenjie, but the moment the bullet left the barrel, it took a bizarre, sharp turn and struck Baili Qiangsheng directly between the eyebrows.

Baili Qiangsheng looked utterly bewildered.

'My name is Li Annan.'

'Am I going to die?'

'For a telecom scammer like me, someone who ruined countless families in life, I suppose I deserved to die a long time ago.'

'Let me think about this carefully.'

'Do I have any final wishes before I die?'

'I do!'

Baili Qiangsheng stood on his feet for a long time without falling. He raised a middle finger at Li Annan. Looking at his own original face, scenes of an unbearable life flashed through his eyes.

"Li Annan...

You are nothing but trash!"

'That felt good!'

The next instant, his consciousness dissipated. His body crashed heavily onto the floor, void of life.

Chen Ran clamped a Cigarette between his lips, not even sparing a glance at his garbage teammate. Fixing his gaze on Li Annan, he asked, "I have a question. The gun was aimed at Ma Wenjie, so why is Baili Qiangsheng the one who died?"

Zhang Yuan immediately went on high alert.

'In our previous deductions, the police had cornered the Masked Man. If the Husband wanted to kill the Masked Man, he had to take out the police first. That is exactly why the bullet Li Annan fired at Ma Wenjie curved and struck Baili Qiangsheng instead.'

'However, if Li Annan wants to answer Chen Ran's question, he will have to reveal both his and Ma Wenjie's identities. According to the rules of the game, anyone who exposes their identity loses the right to sit at the gambling table.'

Li Annan did not even look at him. After he fired the shot, the pistol vanished, reappearing on the left pan of the Scales of Judgment.

"Speak," Li Annan said, massaging his temples as he leaned back in his chair, quietly waiting for an answer.

Ma Wenjie lit a Cigarette, his eyes sweeping over Zhang Yuan and Chen Ran with open contempt.

"Some Veteran Players want Newbies to help them solve puzzles, yet refuse to explain the rules of the Hell Dungeon. What absolute scum."

Chen Ran sneered. "Does someone like you really have the right to criticize the character of others?"

Everyone present knew the truth: the soul inhabiting Li Annan's body was Chen Ran, and the soul inside Ma Wenjie was the Second Masked Man.

Did this scum, who burned fifteen people alive inside a Classroom, really have the right to talk about character?

"I didn't..."

"I have no interest in listening to you two degenerates discuss morals," Li Annan said, interrupting Ma Wenjie.

Anyone who ended up in Hell was far from a good person. Calling these two degenerates was perfectly fair.

"Have you ever wondered where the Instances and Secret Rooms in Hell actually come from?"

"In truth, players who have their lives taken by a Liar-Slayer don't truly die. The evil they committed in life transforms into an Instance, and they become NPCs within their own Instance. They live in constant terror, dreading the day a player clears their Instance, because once it is cleared, they experience true death."

"We call this kind of death..."

"Ultimate Death!"

At this point, a glimmer of madness appeared in Ma Wenjie's eyes. "Do you know what it's like? After the Second Masked Man became an NPC, he was terrified. He was so terrified of Ultimate Death that every single day, across three Secret Rooms, he was forced to watch his past sins replay. He repented over and over again, begging for salvation. That feeling is like having a sharp sword dangling right over your head, never knowing when it will finally drop."

"It is pure torture. The Second Masked Man is forced to experience the exact same agony his victims felt right before they died, every single moment of his existence."

"When players arrive, he feels both dread and excitement. He dreads Ultimate Death, but he is excited because he gets to show off his life's masterpiece and experience the thrill of killing all over again."

Ma Wenjie's manic face twisted into a grotesque, savage expression, making him look like a deranged artist.

Seeing him in such a state, Li Annan secretly wondered if this guy had actually been driven completely insane.

Then again, the few known rules of Hell were undeniably terrifying.

Downward Compatibility: Big fish eat little fish, and little fish eat shrimp. You will always encounter players stronger than yourself in an Instance. Death is only a matter of time.

Ultimate Death: Being shot by a Liar-Slayer is not the end. Hell will forge the evils you committed in life into an Instance, turning you into an NPC trapped in a constant cycle. Only when a player clears your Instance do you truly die. It is the ultimate form of torture.

Three Types of Lies: Emotional Lie, Common Sense Lie, and Sentimental Lie. These are lies that no normal person can avoid. The only way to bypass them is to turn yourself into a Sage—someone who appears completely free of worldly desires on the outside, yet endures agonizing torment on the inside.

Furthermore.

Li Annan realized that if players turned into Instances whenever a Liar-Slayer took their lives...

Did that mean...

That the Instances within Hell were truly endless?

He took a drag from his Cigarette to calm his nerves.

After inhaling deeply, he decided to play it safe and asked, "You still haven't told me why you possess a Liar-Slayer."

This question held a hidden trap.

If Ma Wenjie admitted to being the Second Masked Man, he would lose his right to stay at the gambling table.

If he didn't admit it, the statements he made during their previous bet would turn into a Future Lie.

Zhang Yuan and Chen Ran also understood his intention.

They thought to themselves, once Ma Wenjie—the Second Masked Man—died...

They would clear the Instance!

To their surprise, Ma Wenjie casually took a drag from his cigarette. The madness vanished from his face as he drawled, "Simply because Ma Wenjie is a player. It's only reasonable that he possesses a Liar-Slayer, isn't it?"

"Some people here are Newbies who have never been to The 18th Level of Hell. They don't know about the Id, Ego, and Superego—the three systematic Mind Cultivation Methods. Relying on a little bit of petty cleverness, they think everyone else is stupid. I think they should consider themselves lucky that the Second Masked Man's home turf has nothing to do with Heart Cultivation and is entirely a battle of wits."

Ma Wenjie's words carried a pointed implication.

He then looked at Zhang Yuan and Chen Ran, his eyes brimming with disdain. "You pieces of trash, let me show you what a real Liar-Slayer Skill looks like!"

The pupils of the other three shrank sharply.

Pieces of trash?

That statement from Ma Wenjie was a one hundred percent lie.

However.

Just as Li Annan, Zhang Yuan, and Chen Ran were about to draw their Liar-Slayers...

The Secret Room went black!

Pitch black.

A darkness so absolute they couldn't see their own hands in front of their faces.

And within that darkness, all three of them heard Ma Wenjie's icy voice:

"Liar-Slayer: Soul Transference!"

The sound forced the Judgment Command they were about to speak back down their throats.

Their intuition told them that the moment they uttered the Judgment Command, they would undoubtedly die.

A moment later.

Light returned to the Secret Room. As the four people looked at one another, their eyes were filled with shock.

Li Annan didn't snap back to his senses until the cigarette wedged between his fingers burned all the way down, stinging his skin.

'I am Cheng Si!'

'I was controlling Zhang Yuan's body just a moment ago.'

'But right now.'

'Zhang Yuan is in my line of sight, Ma Wenjie is in my line of sight, and so is Chen Ran.'

'Does that mean my soul...'

'Was transferred into Li Annan's body?'

'The prerequisite for using a Liar-Slayer is sacrificing one Guaranteed Judgment.'

'Just now, Ma Wenjie told a lie. He discarded his chance to judge himself, and used it to transfer all four of our souls once again...'

'This way, even if we know that Ma Wenjie—the Masked Man—lied, we have no idea whose body he was transferred into, so we wouldn't dare initiate a reckless Judgment.'

'What a powerful Liar-Slayer Skill!!'

'This intensity... is far beyond what a Novice Instance should have...'

'Unless the final Settlement Reward for this Novice Instance includes a Liar-Slayer Skill!'