Chapter 342: The Fatal Flaw of Lin Xuan's Skill (Two in One)

The worst-case scenario still happened.

Chen Ran, Short and Fat, and Big Gold Tooth's time was up, and they hadn't been caught by the cats.

They cleared the stage directly!

Returning to the Initial Secret Room, which was the Secret Room with twelve doors.

Among the players who had previously cleared the stage, only Qiu Yinong and the Frying Pan Face Woman were still alive. The rest, such as the three-star woman, Guan Xiong, Zhou Zhan, and the Fitness Blogger, were already corpses.

Chen Ran raised an eyebrow and looked at Qiu Yinong.

Qiu Yinong pointed to the twelve doors. Only then did the three of them realize that eight doors were in a closed state.

Qiu Yinong said, "You guys are too slow. We've already cleared eight doors and four secret rooms. The corpses on the ground are the ones we killed in the other secret rooms."

After finding out, the three learned that the decryption in the other four secret rooms was all cat-and-mouse chasing games similar to theirs.

Seeing this, the three didn't ask for details anymore.

Chen Ran lit a cigarette.

'What I need to do next is...'

Just as he was about to think.

He suddenly realized that in his current state, he completely couldn't trust his own deduction.

Because Omniscience would use Distance-Free Technique to deduce the plan he wanted to deduce, and then counter him...

'Fuck! Is it really this disgusting?'

…

Along with the trio of Chen Ran clearing the stage, four people were left on the second floor: four Shu Renjuns.

They changed back to their original appearances, retracted their skills, and waited quietly.

Step, step, step.

Footsteps came from upstairs, and shortly after, a person appeared on the second-and-a-half floor.

"Not afraid?"

Hearing this, the four Shu Renjuns turned around to look, and it was actually Gao Lan.

"Why should I be afraid?"

"Aren't you afraid of being trapped in this Secret Room forever by Lin Xuan?" Gao Lan asked.

"Since the trio of Chen Ran could clear the stage according to the game rules, then once my two hours are up, I can also clear it. So why should I be afraid?" Shu Renjun smiled.

This single sentence instantly pointed out the flaw in Lin Xuan's spatial skill.

Namely: adhering to the Decryption Protocol.

Simply put, even if there were no cats in this building, only rats, logically speaking, according to the game rules, the rats would be permanently trapped inside. However, the cats were transferred away by a skill, not because they cleared the stage according to the game rules. Therefore, the remaining rats still adhered to the principle of clearing the stage if they weren't caught by the cats for two hours.

"I imagine that in the space where those two real cats were transferred to, there must be at least one rat. That rat most likely changed into the appearance of a cat, making those two mistakenly believe that the Secret Room is full of real cats."

"If there was no rat in their space, it would violate the Secret Room's Decryption Protocol. Lin Xuan's skill wouldn't take effect, and he wouldn't be able to transfer them there at all."

Seeing Gao Lan remain silent.

Shu Renjun said, "Lin Xuan's skill claims to be the most perfect spatial skill in Hell. But in fact, Veteran Players all know that the truly most perfect spatial skill is independence."

"Lin Xuan's skill is far from it!"

Independence: being free from the restrictions and bindings of the rules. Judging from the trio of Chen Ran clearing the stage, Lin Xuan's spatial skill was bound by the rules, so his skill was by no means the most perfect spatial skill.

This flaw was very fatal.

If it were announced, Lin Xuan's value would be immediately slashed in half. After all, if they knew this rule, the players who were spatially transferred would react accordingly like Shu Renjun, calmly waiting for the two hours to end and clearing the instance.

Other transferred players wouldn't need to rush to break the spatial skill either; they could also clear the Secret Room according to different rules.

There was a question here.

Logically speaking, even if they cleared the stage, wouldn't they clear it into the transferred space and still be unable to escape Lin Xuan's space?

What needed to be noted here was that Lin Xuan's skill could only radiate into the instance space, and couldn't radiate into the space of the 18th Level.

In other words, even if other players cleared the instance in other spaces, they would also return to the real 18th Level.

Therefore, once the flaw was announced, the transferred players could entirely clear the stage in other spaces and return to the real 18th Level.

They just had to treat Lin Xuan's skill like thin air.

From this, it could be seen that once this flaw was announced, Lin Xuan's skill would essentially be half-crippled, and his value would also drop.

Trying to Steal a Chicken Only to Lose One's Rice!

In another space, Lin Xuan sensed what Shu Renjun was saying, and his expression was extremely unsightly.

'Presumably Chen Ran and the others have also deduced this flaw. That damn senior, he scammed the hell out of me. Didn't he say it was a sure-kill against Shu Renjun? Why is it ending like this?'

Actually, what he didn't know was that the senior just wanted Chen Ran to see clearly the flaw of the Supreme Perfect Enlightenment Heart Cultivation, which was why he fooled Lin Xuan into setting up this trap.

It could only be said that when venturing out, people with status were just different. Because his strength was great, his words, falling upon your ears, possessed a certain 【credibility】 bolstered by his strength.

For example:

If you don't know what 1+1 equals, and then an academic superstar tells you 1+1=3, do you believe it?

You definitely believe it. After all, the person telling you the answer is an academic superstar.

You wouldn't even think about what 1+1 actually equals, and would just directly copy the academic superstar's answer.

Inherent Common Sense is extremely harmful!

At this moment, Lin Xuan finally felt a sense of crisis. If Chen Ran survived in the end, this flaw would be used by Chen Ran as leverage against him.

It would result in: Lin Xuan not daring to announce Chen Ran's skill, and as a condition, Chen Ran wouldn't announce the flaw in Lin Xuan's skill either. Afterwards, Chen Ran would track him indefinitely, unable to be shaken off like a dog-skin plaster, and Chen Ran would use this to escape his current predicament.

Wan Feng's gold content was still increasing!

…

From the looks of it right now, if Lin Xuan wanted to completely kill Shu Renjun, the only way was to transfer the real cats from the other spaces over.

But Shu Renjun's skill had recorded the events that happened in this building. If he used his skill again, making everyone act according to the script, he could increase the number of times others produced illusions. Even if there were twelve real cats, it would be impossible to catch him.

In the cat-and-mouse game, the entire process for the players seemed very simple, but perhaps only they knew the difficulty of the battle of wits within.

Lin Xuan was deep in thought.

'Why is it so difficult to kill a player after reaching Three-Star?'

'It clearly wasn't this hard in One-Star Instances before, ahhhh!'

He had already realized at this moment that perhaps there was a problem with Heart Cultivation.

'Could it be that Heart Cultivation is a trap set up by the two alliances to maintain their rule?'

'Turning originally unpredictable thoughts into predictable thoughts?'

'Thus, the so-called hierarchy of Heart Cultivation levels appeared. Higher stars are stronger than lower stars, and it's very difficult for those of the same Star Rating to kill each other.'

'But if one doesn't Cultivate the Heart, how could they possibly defeat a player who Cultivates the Heart?'

'It's simply unsolvable!'

"Very despairing, isn't it? I'm in my forties this year. I've seen many Newbies like you. You think because you killed your way through opponents in One-Star and Two-Star Instances, you can keep doing it forever? Stop deceiving yourself!"

Hearing this, Gao Lan on the second-and-a-half floor abruptly widened his eyes and drew his gun at maximum speed.

"You lied."

Click, the bullet jammed. The next moment, Gao Lan was teleported away, disappearing from his spot, but a short while later, a Gao Lan appeared again.

This Gao Lan looked at Shu Renjun, his gaze landing on his hand. He saw that he was holding an object the size of a card.

It was an ID Card!

Players who had cleared the tutorial instance all knew that items carried on the body before death wouldn't disappear. Shu Renjun voluntarily saying he was in his forties just now was a Deceiver's Tongue. The previous Gao Lan thought the Deceiver's Tongue hadn't been broken, which was why he Judged him. But him holding an ID Card in his hand meant...

The Deceiver's Tongue had already been broken!

If Lin Xuan hadn't reacted quickly and transferred the previous Gao Lan away...

Gao Lan's fate could be easily imagined.

What was more fatal was that Shu Renjun's Deceiver's Tongue was broken in this Secret Room. The few people who had cleared the stage didn't know at all that his Deceiver's Tongue had been broken. If someone called him 'Youth' later, they would be lying.

In other words...

Shu Renjun had already laid the groundwork for the next round of Infighting.

He took a puff of his cigarette: "Actually, you have the Ninth Floor Master as your backer. If I kill you in this instance, it will be very troublesome. And I know the flaw of your skill. Once I have leverage over Chen Ran, I won't have to worry about you exposing Chen Ran's skill if you get out alive. That means there's really no need for us to fight to the death. We can completely join forces and eliminate the others."

Lin Xuan's expression was odd.

'The senior suddenly disappearing just now has already explained the problem. His skill can reach the players in the instance. One can imagine to what extent his skill has expanded.'

'A powerhouse of this level must be the top existence in the two alliances. There's a high probability he already knows the effect of Chen Ran's skill.'

'Then here comes the question, will he/she announce Chen Ran's skill?'

'No!'

'The reason is simple. Judging from the effect, Eternal Kingdom is extremely exaggerated. If its effect were announced, everyone would hunt down Chen Ran. If Chen Ran is pushed into a corner, he will use Eternal Kingdom on the 18th Level, going for mutual destruction.'

'The players on the 18th Level would die on a massive scale, and at the same time, the Deceiver's Tongues or rules accompanying these players would also disappear. The existing system of the 18th Level would suffer a fatal blow, perhaps even collapse completely. Don't forget, the resistance organization 【The Underworld】 also exists.'

'Therefore, that powerhouse absolutely wouldn't dare to expose Chen Ran's skill, otherwise Chen Ran would dare to use Eternal Kingdom, and The Underworld would dare to overturn the 18th Level. So...'

'Chen Ran's skill will not be exposed. Even if someone dares to expose it, they will be killed in advance by the top players of the two alliances.'

'Chen Ran is a ticking time bomb!'

'He can only be killed in normal instances, and in normal conflicts.'

'If he ever realizes that he is being schemed against and sniped by everyone, he will explode.'

'Shu Renjun dares to touch such a dangerous thing? That's right, he was an Unaffiliated Wanderer out of control to begin with, gambling on that possible sliver of survival.'

Lin Xuan rubbed his temples. He truly hated Chen Ran to death. Not to mention this guy was a dog-skin plaster, he was a dog-skin plaster carrying a ticking time bomb. With a slight lapse in attention, he would blow up an innocent passerby like Lin Xuan.

'Shu Renjun wants me to join forces with him?'

'What a joke. Although I'm a professional gambler, I'm not a lunatic!'

'He wants Chen Ran to live, I want Chen Ran to die. There is no possibility of me joining forces with him.'

'Moreover, I still have the trump card, Gao Lan, in my hand.'

…

In the Initial Secret Room.

Chen Ran and Qiu Yinong were in the corner. Chen Ran briefly recounted the effects of Shu Renjun's skill, the potential flaws of Heart Cultivation, and that all his information might have been learned by a certain someone.

Afterwards, he stopped talking.

This action made Qiu Yinong frown. She quickly figured out that it was probably because Chen Ran feared his thoughts were being predicted, so Chen Ran needed her to think of a strategy to break the predicament for him.

Perhaps Chen Ran didn't know, but actually, in the previous instance, Qiu Yinong had already deduced the existence of the Almighty's skill...

In other words, Qiu Yinong's past had also been completely stripped bare by Omniscience.

But Chen Ran didn't know this point. Therefore, in the conversation just now, he didn't mention Omniscient and Omnipotent and their trigger conditions. This led to neither of them knowing that Qiu Yinong's past had already been stripped bare by Omniscience.

Qiu Yinong pondered deeply:

'Chen Ran right now doesn't trust his own thoughts, so he wants to borrow my thoughts to help him figure out a counter-strategy.'

'First: Gao Lan must die!'

'Second: Shu Renjun might break the Deceiver's Tongue in the Secret Room, so we can no longer call him Youth, or even call him by his name.'

'Finally: Once hit by Shu Renjun's skill, the Forbidden Book will constantly record the events happening to everyone. Under constant repetition, the script will get thicker and thicker. Sooner or later, a situation of deviating from the plot will occur. Therefore, what Chen Ran needs to do is construct a Deceiver's Tongue. After being sucked into the Forbidden Book, he should immediately use Eternal Kingdom to escape the Forbidden Book.'

Having figured out these three points.

Qiu Yinong wanted to tell Chen Ran, but also considered that he might have been locked onto by someone.

'I wonder if what happens in Distance-Free Technique will be learned by 【someone】?'

She looked at Chen Ran, and the moment their eyes met, Chen Ran understood and nodded.

Thus, Qiu Yinong used Distance-Free Technique on Chen Ran, informing him of the three points within Distance-Free Technique.

Breaking away from Distance-Free Technique, both were frowning.

Qiu Yinong felt that even Distance-Free Technique would be learned by 【someone】.

Chen Ran, on the other hand, sized Qiu Yinong up and down.

'Her deduction is exactly the same as what I deduced while suppressing my Mental State just now.'

'Is she doing this on purpose, or is she doing this on purpose?'

'It seems I still have to follow the previous plan: randomly pick a time during the effect of Eternal Kingdom to think of a counter-strategy.'

It had to be said, every person still alive right now felt the pressure. Everyone was reviewing or pondering what they needed to do next in order to survive.

At this moment, the Four-Star Frying Pan Face Woman, who was in the middle of her review, suddenly spoke up: "I have a question. When we arrived at the second Secret Room of the instance, there were eighteen people, but in the previous cat-and-mouse game Secret Room, there were only seventeen people. Where did the remaining one go?"

Everyone was startled.

Indeed. Only two slaves died in the First Dungeon Chamber, so logically there should still be eighteen people. But in the cat-and-mouse game Secret Room, there were eleven cats and six rats, totaling seventeen people. Where was the other person?

Previously, on the first floor, Lin Xuan disguised himself as a real cat, so the number of people was twelve. But Lin Xuan was a rat, so the number of real cats should be eleven. One was missing.

However, the five people felt that it was probably someone who had been transferred to another space, a fatal blow prepared by Lin Xuan for the Five-Star player.