Under close scrutiny, and they were going to arrest him?
Zhu Yan understood.
With her son dead, his aunt must have realized what had happened.
And with the earlier announcement from the female voice about "three players"...
After a moment's thought, Zhu Yan knew she must have blamed him entirely for her son's death.
The police had responded so decisively, which meant his attempt to leave the city while hiding his identity as a player had definitely been exposed!
Zhu Yan wanted to ask whether staying to participate in the instance would lessen some of the consequences in the real world.
For example, could he avoid being taken to the police station for a chat?
He silently voiced the question in his mind, but the female voice gave him no answer.
"Player, please make your choice as soon as possible."
Zhu Yan thought it over and chose "yes" in the end.
He didn't know what the police were planning, but he wasn't willing to compromise just like that.
In fact, he had no choice.
If he didn't enter the instance and confronted them head-on in the real world instead, the consequences would only be worse.
Entering the instance would naturally carry a risk of death, but he could also gain more information.
After clearing it, he could also receive a reward.
For some reason, Zhu Yan recalled the contradictory, almost addictive feeling he'd had when the reward was handed out earlier.
No, I can't think like that. Stay normal.
He told himself that, pinching his palm again to focus.
"Player, please note that you will enter the instance [Cat-and-Mouse Game] in six hours."
"Thriller creature level: Lv.3 ordinary Pseudo-human."
Hmm, a level-three Pseudo-human.
His [Roleplay] was already level four, and [Complaining] was level three.
Both abilities were sufficient to deal with the thriller creature, and Zhu Yan couldn't help feeling relieved.
What identity would the Pseudo-human appear before him in this time?
"Instance mission: Leave Anwu North Station while concealing your identity. Don't get caught by the police!"
"Instance time limit: None."
"Instance location: G3075 Train, carriage 7."
Carriage 7 was exactly where he was.
The carriage was softly lit, and the seats were comfortable. It looked nothing like a thriller instance.
Zhu Yan tried to slow and deepen his breathing until his abdomen relaxed again.
He should stay in form and keep his mood steady at all times.
After confirming that the announcement was over, he patiently read through his last ability.
"[Humiliation] Lv.2: Acts of physical violence you commit against a specific target will make them feel weak all over. This ability is ineffective against thriller creatures and players of level three or above."
"This ability is ineffective on yourself."
This ability was much better than fighting.
Fighting could only attack a single point, while this ability seemed to attack one point but actually affected the entire body.
The drawback was that its level was too low to deal with the level-three Pseudo-human in the next instance.
He settled into a comfortable position against the seatback and entered the Player Forum.
The forum was as quiet as ever. Zhu Yan patiently scrolled through the posts, with the nagging feeling that there were more blacked-out profile pictures than before.
He was looking for information on Pseudo-humans.
In the last instance, the Pseudo-human had been polite to the point of obsequiousness and had even praised him as "charming." That probably wasn't a coincidence.
Which of his actions had triggered the Pseudo-human's reaction?
If that was true, then all he had to do was repeat that action, and he could greatly increase his chances of survival in [Cat-and-Mouse Game]!
It was past ten o'clock, and the main lights in the carriage dimmed.
The floor lights glowed faintly. Zhu Yan drew closer to the window and took a few more sips of the hot, sweet milk tea.
He noticed that after his player account had been activated, a magnifying-glass-shaped search button had appeared at the top of the forum.
He tried staring at it for three seconds, then mentally entered "Pseudo-human" into the search box that popped up.
There were no posts, only a player nicknamed "Pseudo-human," whose profile was completely empty.
It seemed everything really was still just getting started. No one had even compiled information on a theoretically common creature like the Pseudo-human.
He returned to the homepage and patiently searched through the comments.
"I got eaten by a Pseudo-human. It was so scary. Goodbye, world."
"A Pseudo-human ate my mom in the Beginner Instance. She made sure I survived. I'm so sad. It feels like there's no way our abilities can beat a Pseudo-human."
Zhu Yan sifted through these desperate comments. After reading for a while, he finally managed to find one that was relatively useful.
It was a comment on a post asking for advice. The person who made the post had chosen to become a player in advance and wanted to know how to clear the Beginner Instance.
"My Beginner Instance lasted a long time. It was in a classroom, and there were over a dozen of us facing more than a dozen Pseudo-humans of different levels."
"I noticed something that might help you."
"Pseudo-humans follow the law of the jungle. The higher-level ones give orders directly to the lower-level ones. We used that pattern to work out roughly what level each Pseudo-human was. At first, the people with stronger abilities took on the higher-level ones, and those with weaker abilities went after the lower-level ones."
"Later, we focused our efforts and dealt with a high-level one, then had it order the lower-level Pseudo-humans around."
"Only five of the thirteen of us died."
Zhu Yan's interest was piqued.
In that case, some of his actions must have matched the characteristics of an "Advanced Imposter" perfectly.
Was it because [Roleplay] had been level three at the time, so the Pseudo-human mistook him for a level-three Pseudo-human?
Zhu Yan thought about it and decided that was unlikely.
[Roleplay] could only deceive. Judging from the ability's description, the stronger [Roleplay] was, the higher the level of thriller creature it could fool, but that was all.
Zhu Yan closed his eyes, calmed his mind, and carefully recalled every detail of the Pseudo-human's attitude in the instance.
Outside the train window, the night was pitch-dark.
Guan En struggled to keep his heavy eyelids open as he looked at the empty seat beside him, unable to shake a bad feeling.
Time was short, and the fastest way to get from where they were to Anwu City was by high-speed train.
The fare for this train was expensive, but it didn't take a roundabout route. By his calculations, they would arrive an hour before that little brat Zhu Yan, giving them enough time to meet their colleagues in Anwu City and coordinate.
It sounded like it would be a short, convenient trip.
But he couldn't help feeling that something was wrong with his boss.
First, there was the drowsiness. His boss, who had always suffered from severe insomnia, had actually slept like the dead in the taxi.
After waking up, his boss was drenched in cold sweat and evaded every question, as though something had frightened him.
Fifteen minutes after boarding the train, he had gone straight to the restroom, and by now, he had been there for nearly half an hour.
Guan En wanted to go check on him, but he was simply too exhausted.
He braced himself against the edge of the seat, but before he could stand up, he fell into a deep sleep.
"Loading ability."
"Congratulations on becoming one of the first players in the closed beta!"
Aboard the G3075 Train.
Zhu Yan slowly opened his eyes, with a rough idea in mind.
Thinking back, when the Pseudo-human had first come through the door, its attitude toward him had been normal and indifferent.
But after Zhu Yan changed into his younger brother's appearance and made it clear to the Pseudo-human, its attitude had noticeably changed.
If that was how it worked—
Then the key was that Zhu Yan had changed into someone else's appearance right in front of the Pseudo-human!
So being "able to take on more than one appearance" was an "attractive" trait in a Pseudo-human's eyes.
This time, he would demonstrate that skill again and test his theory.
He had to find a way to be alone with the Pseudo-human!
[Cat-and-Mouse Game].
Would the Pseudo-human play the role of the "cat"?
Zhu Yan slowly exhaled. Coming up with a plan had given him confidence, and he felt his entire scalp relax.
Since it hadn't happened yet, there was no use dwelling on it. He might as well rest.
Zhu Yan stared at his palm for another three seconds and closed the player page.
He set an alarm and felt the reclined seatback firmly supporting the back of his head, which was reassuring.
Slowly, Zhu Yan fell into a deep sleep.