Original Sin Theory
"Cooperation isn't out of the question, but the hospital is powerful, and they won't expose their secrets to us. So what's your plan to get benefits from the hospital?" Lu Li asked with interest. The hospital in this instance world is extremely powerful, with a well-organized armed force and many unreasonable black technologies.
"Looks like you underestimated me! This instance world seems to be dominated by the hospital faction, but there's another force that they can't handle," Min Zidao said excitedly. "According to the intelligence I've gathered, there are seven types of masked monsters in total."
"Giant, fire, planktonic, beast, flight, Marine Species." Relying on his almost cheat-like charm, Min Zidao had gathered quite a bit of information. "And then there are the Insect Species."
"When facing wild beasts, my ability at most conveys goodwill so they will see me as one of their own," Min Zidao said. "But when facing Insect Species, I am their natural master."
"Most insects are extremely sensitive to pheromones; pheromones are their means of communication. With my Mutation ability, I can completely control all Insect Species," Min Zidao said earnestly. "As long as we gather the power of the Insect Species in this Morgue, what do we have to fear from the hospital when we control this power?"
"Besides, I don't want to go head-to-head with the hospital." Min Zidao shook his head and said, "This hospital is hiding too many secrets. If we push them too hard, they might cause some trouble. So my plan is to take control of the Insect Species' power, then sweep through this Morgue, collect the information in that booklet, and use force to compel the hospital to give us what we can, instead of passively waiting for the hospital to give us handouts."
"If that's the case, why don't you just go and subdue the Insect Species by yourself? Why take me with you?" Lu Li nodded, acknowledging Min Zidao's plan. Although the plan still had some flaws, it was quite feasible.
"To be honest, brother," Min Zidao said sincerely, "While I'm quite satisfied with my abilities, I must admit I don't have particularly strong direct combat skills. Furthermore, insects only accept specific pheromones, meaning they require special formulation."
"I need some time to analyze the pheromones before I can create them, and most insects are social creatures that live in groups. They are very dangerous, so I need the two of you to help me fend off the Insect Species attacks so I have enough time to analyze them," Min Zidao said.
Min Zidao's reasons were quite sufficient, but Lu Li's increasingly keen sixth sense could tell that although he wasn't lying, he was hiding something, suggesting he had other intentions. However, it would come down to whose methods were more skillful.
"Since that's the case, then I'll agree!" Lu Li said with a smile.
"Then what are your code names?" Min Zidao smiled gently. Although he didn't know why the man had sensed his pheromones, it was fine as long as he agreed. His methods were not limited to pheromones.
Lu Li narrowed his eyes, glanced at the Nurse beside him, and noticed Min Zidao's wording. An idea popped into Lu Li's mind, so he smiled and introduced her to Min Zidao, "I forgot to introduce you, this is my friend. We just happened to meet in this dungeon. My name is Lu Li, you can just call her Strange Light."
"Bizarre and fantastical? You two are really lucky to meet in a game instance." This obviously fake name didn't catch Min Zidao's attention. He continued, "However, as I mentioned before, I have a method for entering the same instance together. We can turn this luck into a certainty. If we join forces, we should be able to easily complete the instance."
Upon hearing Min Zidao's words, Lu Li thought to himself, "As expected, this guy is treating the female nurse as a player." And there's a reason for that. First of all, the mask the female nurse is currently wearing is the Shadow Mask that Lu Li gave her, and it's the same set as Lu Li's own, so they seem to be connected.
The female nurse remained expressionless throughout, her mask unchanged. Coupled with her mutated abilities, which deviated from the ability system of this instance, she was likely mistaken for Alienation Path.
In particular, the mask on the back of the female nurse's head collapsed when she awakened her abilities, and since everyone on Mask Continent except for children has two masks, it's not surprising that the nurse wearing only one mask was mistaken for a player.
Once Lu Li understood the key point, he immediately used the mask to order the nurse not to make any facial expressions. At the same time, he also discovered a problem that he had overlooked before: the mask issue.
The Masked Man in the original instance can only see the front of their mask, not the second mask behind their heads. When the nurse awakened her ability, the mask behind her head shattered, but the masks behind the heads of the other ability users she had seen in the original instance were still intact.
While searching for Insect Species with Min Zidao, Lu Li secretly used the mask to contact the female nurse and obtained a lot of information.
Before the female nurse awakened her ability, she could only see one mask, but afterwards she could see the masks on the back of other people's heads.
Regarding the two masks, a cult in this world has proposed this idea. The cult's propaganda clearly states that Masked Man has a second mask behind their head that accumulates original sin. This mask will truthfully reflect the Masked Man's emotions, and when the emotions accumulate to a certain level, they will flood into the void in their mind, causing the Mask Rampage.
The propaganda also points out that the Mask Rampage is evidence of this. The berserk mask is actually a second mask, a vessel of original sin. Of course, if it were just propaganda, it wouldn't be classified as a cult. The subsequent content is the root cause of being classified as a cult.
The cult prophesied that the second mask was a vessel of original sin, and that the City Special Combat Unit' action of destroying the mask after Mask Rampage was wrong, because once the vessel broke, original sin was spilled onto the world. Once this theory emerged, the entire doctrine shifted to the Original Sin Theory, demanding that believers sacrifice everything to cleanse themselves of original sin. Later, it was proven that those high-ranking members of the cult were merely using the Original Sin Theory to amass wealth. Even after they were executed, Giant Species of Mask Rampage.
"That cult must have discovered part of the truth," Lu Li thought. All the players could see the second mask, as could his summoned Shadow Assassin, and even the nurse whose mask on the back of her head had shattered after receiving some of his Shadow Magic. Lu Li guessed, "Only outsiders can see the true nature of the world?"
"So what's the deal with the higher-ups in that cult? And this." Lu Li pulled out a coin, the Masked Man's currency, the Mask Coin. This coin had masks on both sides, one crying and the other laughing. He didn't think it was a coincidence.