Chapter 236: Maxed Out Immediately

Once the plan was in place, Wen Xishu quickly began to execute it.

He first began to control Britney, using her to express his own idea—cooking.

To Wen Xishu, Britney felt just like Wenren Jing in the Tower of Desire. Don't let her lack of combat power fool you; attracting attention doesn't necessarily mean you have to draw aggro or taunt.

Britney had been on a reality show since she was a child, playing the only "real" version of herself. Under the demands of the audience, she had mastered many skills for pleasing others from a young age.

For example, dancing, singing, and cooking. She was simply too proficient at these.

Subsequently, Wen Xishu asked many "Benevolent Ones" about the food they liked.

After obtaining a confirmed recipe, Wen Xishu began to extract the overlapping parts of what most people ate.

There is a huge cultural difference in diet between Southerners and Northerners, but it is not necessarily true that what Southerners love, Northerners hate.

One could even say that for many things, tastes are universal.

Britney's gourmet cooking plan was approved by the Benevolent Ones. Because this plan looked like it had only benefits and no drawbacks for them.

After all, Britney could not go out to purchase food; the ones responsible for purchasing food were the trucks from the Mild Symptoms Zone.

Soon, the trucks from the Mild Symptoms Zone began to depart, and Britney, controlled by Wen Xishu, feigned that she had just remembered something she needed to give last-minute instructions for.

The Benevolent Ones still allowed it, and so Wen Xishu saw the trucks purchasing food.

This truck had already been targeted by him. After adding some food that needed to be purchased, Wen Xishu watched the truck leave.

Britney's grand display of cooking and high-profile actions were also intended to attract the attention of the Great Benevolent One behind the scenes.

The first step of the escape plan was thus completed.

That night, Wen Xishu switched to Zhou Fei and Chris respectively. But this night, he didn't get any interesting experiences.

Chris was still in the confinement room, and Zhou Fei was still in the collective ward of the Moderate Symptoms Zone.

Zhou Fei was fed medicine for the second time. Although he had a strong drug resistance, he still fell into a state where he would speak his thoughts aloud.

But Wen Xishu had already adapted.

Regardless of whether it was the environment where Zhou Fei or Chris was, once he had experienced it once, Wen Xishu was very proficient at handling it.

It was not yet time to use Zhou Fei and Chris.

The next morning, Wen Xishu switched to Britney.

He began to control Britney to cook. The truck had actually returned to the Mild Symptoms Zone three hours after Britney requested the food purchase.

However, by that time, it was already past the Benevolent Ones' meal time.

Right now it was morning, and Britney began to process a large pile of ingredients.

While touching these ingredients, Wen Xishu's memory unlocked again.

This memory had no special features; it was all Britney's performances. In that past show, which was comparable to The Truman Show, Britney had learned many dishes.

They were all requested by the audience. This also made the dishes Britney cooked the most mainstream choices, capable of satisfying the tastes of the majority.

Of course, these were not important.

What was important was—

Wen Xishu unlocked an ability that made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

【Memory accumulation reached the first stage, unlocking the Benevolent ability: "Simp Faith."】

【Simp Faith: When you deliberately act coquettishly, those who are infatuated with you will be even more infatuated with you.】

【Rule Six: Memory xxxx, can xxx lock xxxx】

Wen Xishu was stunned.

He was immersed in the game of letting the three escape, but he ignored one point... he was currently playing a woman.

"I hope the food is delicious enough that I don't have to use this ability."

Playing a beautiful woman and acting coquettishly toward a group of Benevolent Ones? That was too chilling.

However, this prompt also gave Wen Xishu a clue.

"So the three of them are truly 'Qualified Ones.' It seems they have all mastered some initial sequences."

"But the game setting, or the rule, is that one must perform certain specific behaviors to trigger memories. Only when enough memories are triggered can abilities be unlocked."

"Looking at it this way, Britney's ability might not be the only one."

Wen Xishu began to look forward to Chris and Zhou Fei's abilities. If Britney's ability was to strengthen the attributes of the Benevolent, making those who like the Benevolent like them even more...

Then would the abilities of the Wise and the Brave also make their character positioning more obvious?

This rule suddenly gave Wen Xishu great inspiration.

"Wait a minute, although I am controlling them, I am not them... Only after I know their memories can I unlock their abilities."

"And they themselves actually remember these memories."

"What I need to do is to acquire the memories they already have, but for now, the way to acquire memories in the game is by doing certain specific things."

"But can I exploit a bug?"

Wen Xishu suddenly thought of an experiment.

Lunch time arrived quickly.

With the help of the character Britney, Wen Xishu made very delicious food.

It could be said that today's canteen in the Mild Symptoms Zone was the place where all the Benevolent Ones longed to gather.

Under Britney's operation, the canteen soon attracted a large number of Benevolent Ones.

From Britney's perspective, Wen Xishu saw these Benevolent Ones collectively drooling to satisfy their gluttony.

Honestly, this scene was quite terrifying.

Because when normal humans are hungry, although they also secrete saliva, it is not exaggerated. But at this moment in the canteen, except for a few real people, almost everyone was drooling; this was no longer an idiom, but a concrete quantifier.

Wen Xishu was very satisfied with this effect. He let Britney stay in the kitchen to create the illusion that she needed to continue cooking food.

At the same time, Wen Xishu began to switch the character to Zhou Fei.

……

……

Moderate Symptoms Zone.

Even during the day, the wards in the Moderate Symptoms Zone were dim.

Wen Xishu suddenly opened his eyes and sat up.

Because Zhou Fei had a habit of sleepwalking, he would not attract too much attention when doing things.

The Benevolent Ones in this Benevolent Hall were now all fighting against their own desires. Because even Zhou Fei himself felt a strong sense of hunger.

Although he had not been completely parasitized, with the help of empathy, Zhou Fei had already felt the deliciousness of the food.

And the real Benevolent Ones would feel it dozens of times more intensely than Zhou Fei.

Today, no Benevolent Ones came to take away any "quasi-Benevolent Ones," not because there was no one in the ward to take away, but because the Benevolent Ones were all too greedy.

In the ward, the sound of insects crawling could be heard. This time, it was a bald middle-aged man who completed the parasitization process from human to Benevolent One.

He sat up straight, very similar to the tea-selling old man from yesterday.

But the difference was that no white-coat took it away; it stood up by itself, drooling, and began to move toward the Mild Symptoms Zone.

It was also with the help of this point that Wen Xishu judged that now was the best time to act.

Wen Xishu controlled Zhou Fei and arrived at the stairwell.

That concealment rune was still there.

"Unlike the game, in the game, this thing switches in two minutes."

Wen Xishu really wanted to take a bottle and pack it up, but in the end, he touched the rune, and Zhou Fei's body began to become transparent.

At this very moment, the camera could actually see the process of Zhou Fei disappearing.

But Wen Xishu still did it, because he gambled that no one would notice this corner.

He won the bet.

Next, Wen Xishu controlled Zhou Fei and began to walk toward the Severe Symptoms Zone.

Wen Xishu was already very clear about the structure of the ward.

Not long after, he arrived at the courtyard on the first floor, and then Wen Xishu walked out of the courtyard.

Outside the courtyard was an open terrain, where he could see some Benevolent Ones dragging their still-unfamiliar new bodies, walking toward the Mild Symptoms Zone with twisted postures.

Wen Xishu was certain that the opposite direction was the direction of the Severe Symptoms Zone.

So he controlled Zhou Fei to walk toward the Severe Symptoms Zone.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, Wen Xishu finally found the entrance to the Severe Symptoms Zone.

Although the Mild Symptoms Zone was the real Severe Symptoms Zone, after all, it had already been occupied by the Benevolent Ones...

But the nominal Severe Symptoms Zone did indeed have the feeling of a Severe Symptoms Zone.

Surrounded by high walls, it was like a heavily guarded prison.

Fortunately, at this moment, only a few low-level guards remained. Fortunately, the Severe Symptoms Zone would transfer some people to the Mild Symptoms Zone from time to time, so the back entrance of the Severe Symptoms Zone was open. It was just that there were four patrolling guards.

Yes, there were still guards.

Although most of the Benevolent Ones were driven by desire to go to the Mild Symptoms Zone to enjoy gluttony.

But there were still a small number of Benevolent Ones who were given death orders to guard some places.

Wen Xishu controlled Zhou Fei, carefully, without making any sound, bypassed the guards, and entered the Severe Symptoms Zone.

After arriving at the Severe Symptoms Zone, Wen Xishu was not unfamiliar.

Because Chris's memories were also in his own mind, with the help of Chris's understanding of the Severe Symptoms Zone, Wen Xishu controlled Zhou Fei—passing through one electrotherapy room after another, passing through dark corridors and stairs leading to the basement, and finally arrived outside the confinement room.

The door of the confinement room was locked. Chris could not escape from here.

Zhou Fei, who had no key, could not open this door to let Chris out either.

In fact, the correct approach is to wait for Chris to come out of the basement.

But Wen Xishu was already impatient to conduct an experiment.

Wen Xishu controlled Zhou Fei and arrived outside the confinement room where Chris was located.

It was extremely quiet here.

Because this was a relatively central location in the high-dependency ward, there were no guards.

After Wen Xishu controlled Zhou Fei to arrive here, the progress became stuck.

Zhou Fei could not open the door, and Chris could not get out.

But next came Wen Xishu’s brilliant maneuver: he began to forcibly switch characters.

Generally speaking, the prompt to switch characters only appears when a character is in a safe state. But it had appeared before when Chris entered the confinement room and an emergency switch was needed.

At that time, Wen Xishu was still thinking about ensuring Britney’s safety, so he did not perform an emergency switch, but instead arranged for Britney to return to her room.

So Wen Xishu understood that if you do not ensure a character’s safety, you can switch at will.

Wen Xishu forcibly switched to Chris’s perspective.

Inside the confinement room, everything was pitch black.

But Wen Xishu suddenly spoke:

"Zhou Fei. You’re here."

At this moment, Zhou Fei was in a state of having just finished a "peculiar experience."

Wen Xishu had known earlier that the three characters had their own wills; when their emotions fluctuated significantly, they could even briefly suppress the will of Wen Xishu, the controller.

Zhou Fei was very surprised at this moment; he had actually come all the way from the medium-dependency ward to the high-dependency confinement room under the control of that will...

And inside the high-dependency room, there was actually someone who knew him?

Zhou Fei’s feeling was like this—

He had been faking sleepwalking, but it seemed that after faking it for too long, he would actually start sleepwalking.

This place had major problems, and his own body seemed to have been implanted with some kind of will... he seemed to be gradually starting to merge with something.

It could even control his actions.

There were several times when he woke up... and felt that his posture was different from before he went to sleep.

This sensation was also appearing in Britney at this time.

Earlier, when Wen Xishu switched to other characters, he ensured that Britney was resting and sleeping.

But this time, when Wen Xishu switched to Zhou Fei, Britney was in the kitchen.

Britney was a bit bewildered:

"How did I... inexplicably make so much food for them?"

Far away, Britney was also doubting her life.

But it was far less than the confusion in Zhou Fei’s mind at this moment.

"The things your uncle’s family did to you were very bad. You shouldn’t give bad people a chance. Do you regret it now?"

Chris’s voice sounded somewhat weak.

Zhou Fei was greatly shocked:

"Who exactly are you, and how do you know about my past?"

Chris laughed:

"I am the one who can save the three of you. You should have discovered by now that those living in the wards are not human."

Zhou Fei did not speak.

Wen Xishu knew that Zhou Fei was still in a state of confusion.

Wen Xishu said:

"The character I am controlling now is named Chris, a retired soldier. You have another partner named Britney. She is a household-name superstar."

"I can control the three of you. My mission is to help the three of you escape from here."

Zhou Fei said:

"Why should I believe you?"

Wen Xishu did not explain:

"You will bite your own finger."

Subsequently, Wen Xishu immediately switched to Zhou Fei’s body and bit his own finger. Then he instantly switched back to Chris.

Zhou Fei only felt his consciousness blur for a moment, and then he felt the pain in his right index finger.

"You!"

Wen Xishu said:

"Do you believe me now? If I wanted to kill you or harm you, I wouldn’t need to go through so much trouble. Of course, you can also choose not to believe me; you can continue to stay here and become a part of them."

"My task is to ensure that at least one of the three survives anyway, but I hope all three can survive, and the four of us can solve the mystery together."

"But if you don’t cooperate, that’s fine; I can also choose the other two, or even just one of them."

Zhou Fei was a wise man after all; after being silent for a long while, Zhou Fei said:

"So, the large-scale abandonment of their posts earlier was also done by you?"

Wen Xishu thought to himself, this kid is finally catching on.

He wanted the three to work together, but since he could only control one person at a time... he had to test whether the other two could act according to his instructions while he was controlling someone else.

Now it seemed that his test was very necessary and highly effective.

Wen Xishu said:

"Yes, Britney, her food attracted these monsters, which gave me the opportunity to take you away. Although it might not be this time."

Zhou Fei said:

"But what are you going to do? I can’t open the door to this confinement room."

Wen Xishu said:

"First, I need you to start telling me about the events in your life that had a significant impact on you. I hope you can state them in a concise and refined manner."

This was also what Wen Xishu intended to have Zhou Fei say to Chris later.

He was already convinced that by triggering various actions in the Hall of Benevolence, he could unlock memories, and once enough memories were unlocked, he could gain skills. This was like an upgrade mechanism.

It’s just that the mechanism wasn’t about fighting monsters or killing enemies, but self-exploration.

But right now, Wen Xishu felt that was too slow.

He wanted to exploit a bug and dig out all the memories from Zhou Fei and Chris at once.

Zhou Fei was naturally afraid of exposing his privacy:

"Why? Since you can control me, can’t you read my memories?"

Wen Xishu controlled Chris and said:

"I can’t. Instead of wasting time doubting me, you’d better cooperate with me. Zhou Fei, I need you to do this, and I can take you away. If you think this is some kind of conspiracy, you might as well think: do they have any need to plot against you?"

"Although you have strong drug resistance, how much longer can you hold on?"

These words made a lot of sense.

Zhou Fei had actually discovered long ago that the 'benevolent people' here were not human. They seemed to obey a certain will, like insects.

At this very moment, Zhou Fei also felt that he was an insect, and Wen Xishu was that insect queen.

But he also truly felt...

Wen Xishu’s motives were different from those of the benevolent people.

Whether to be transformed into a benevolent person or to trust Wen Xishu—Zhou Fei made this choice quickly:

"Alright..."

At this moment, Zhou Fei began to recount the more critical experiences in his memories.

Wen Xishu also successfully began to exploit the bug. Because just as Zhou Fei was halfway through his story, Wen Xishu tested it by switching to Zhou Fei’s perspective.

Soon, Wen Xishu received a prompt.

[Memory accumulation reached stage one, unlocking Wise Man ability: Non-logical Behavior Preference.]

[Memory accumulation reached stage two, unlocking Wise Man ability: Small-scale Error Interpretation Correction for Rules.]

[Memory accumulation reached stage three, unlocking Wise Man ability: Overload Drug Resistance.]

[Memory accumulation...]

Zhou Fei began to level up crazily.

Wen Xishu suddenly realized that if he followed this speed of leveling and character attribute enhancement—it was possible he wouldn’t need the key to the confinement room.

Perhaps... once the Brave Chris reached the maximum level, he would be able to walk out of the confinement room on his own.

At the same time, Wen Xishu also detected some clues from Zhou Fei’s memories.

(End of chapter)