Last night, Chris had once again treated patients at the Black Clinic until late before closing, so he slept until eleven the next morning.
But when Chris shuffled sleepily into the living room and saw what was inside, he snapped wide awake.
"Uh, wait, what... what did you guys do?"
Chris stared at the five player corpses neatly lined up in the living room, and his head began to ache.
I know you players can cause trouble. Two of you died on the first day, which already gave me a pretty clear idea of your talent for getting yourselves killed.
But it's only day three. How did five of you die already?
No, something's wrong. Something's very wrong!
Looking at the three players gathered around the fireplace to warm themselves, Chris suddenly realized something.
It's around eleven in the morning. Didn't all the players go out to have fun around this time yesterday?
Why are they staying so obediently in the apartment today?
Shit, they've caused trouble!
Chris hurriedly opened the player logs and found last night's entries. He soon discovered that all ten had acted together.
The logs covered everything from their trip to some location and their fight against three experts to Lin Ruoyu taking two others into the Noble District and firing captured Flintlocks at the Bagnian Crown Prince's carriage.
When he reached their escape, Chris noticed that only Lin Ruoyu had gotten away smoothly. Of the other two players, one had been killed and the other captured.
On the minimap, Chris could see that the surviving player was now somewhere very bad... the Bohemian Palace.
Chris really hoped the captured guy would keep his mouth shut and not blurt out anything he shouldn't.
No, I can't count on a player keeping his mouth shut. I have to plug this hole as soon as possible.
The question is, how?
Chris's head throbbed.
For the moment, he had no idea what to do.
I'll revive the five players with corpses and the one without first.
Chris went down to the basement and spent about ten minutes taking care of that. Then he came back upstairs and beckoned to Lin Ruoyu, signaling for him to follow him into the master bedroom.
From the players' activity logs, Chris could tell that this veteran Police Simulator player was the leader of the ten. Talking certain things over with him would be the most effective approach.
After closing the door, Chris looked at Lin Ruoyu, who stood before him looking perfectly obedient. For a moment, he wasn't sure what to say.
"About last night... why?"
"Huh? Why?"
Puzzled, Lin Ruoyu asked Chris a question in return.
"Why what?"
"Why did you go assassinate the Bagnian Crown Prince, my older brother by blood?"
"No particular reason. If you're going to restore your kingdom, that First Prince is an obstacle. Getting rid of him is a good thing."
Lin Ruoyu spoke cheerfully, giving no thought whatsoever to the consequences of what he had done last night.
What consequences could there even be? Even if there are any, they don't have much to do with me. At worst, I'll just die.
Death wipes the slate clean.
Chris was momentarily speechless. Lin Ruoyu's words left him at a loss for what to say.
"I remember not giving you that quest."
"I know."
"Then why did you do it? Couldn't you have done something else?"
"Huh? Then what are we supposed to do? What quests are we supposed to take?"
Lin Ruoyu questioned Chris again, and this time, he really did leave him stunned.
At first, Chris wanted to say they could do anything: join a gang, get a job, or even open a tavern!
But the words caught in his throat. At that moment, he suddenly realized that perhaps he really ought to shoulder the blame for what the players had done.
Chris had to reflect on why he had summoned the players to this world.
It was because he had an online shopping platform, but his means of making money were limited and extremely unreliable. So he had decided to launch a game, bring players in to play it, and have them buy game-time cards from him.
That was Chris's problem. It wasn't as though the players had been clamoring to enter the game.
Then, after summoning ten players and receiving a hundred thousand yuan, had Chris done anything for them?
No.
Apart from ten sets of clothes and three free revivals, Chris hadn't devoted any more attention to the players, let alone arranged any main quests or side quests for them.
Because Chris was busy providing free medical care at night, he had no energy left to spare for the players.
His thinking at the time had been, My game is hardcore, so the players should find their own fun and seek out their own quests.
That thinking was deeply flawed and irresponsible.
Ten players had entered the game and been left to explore the map themselves. Two had died and two had been arrested on the very first day. Chris had to take responsibility for that.
Chris had summoned the players. He had also known perfectly well that these Chinese players from the future were unfamiliar with the local environment, yet he hadn't warned them beforehand or provided any beginner guidance. He had simply let them go outside.
Chris couldn't shirk responsibility for the outcome. That was still his fault.
Then, because the players had neither supervision nor a main quest, they had wandered aimlessly outside, encountered an unidentified NPC, been led astray, and run off to the Noble City in the middle of the night to assassinate the Bagnian Crown Prince.
Whose fault was that?
Without a doubt, it was still Chris's.
He recalled a nasty, easily offensive saying... if you take a dog out without a leash and it bites a passerby, who's fully responsible?
Walking a dog without a leash is just one dog walking another.
Fuck!
Chris clutched his head in both hands. Looking at Lin Ruoyu, he let out a sigh like a dying man's last breath.
When I really think about it, all of this is my own fucking fault!
I've thrown a boomerang called "players," and it's come back to smack me in the head!
All Chris could do was wave Lin Ruoyu out of the master bedroom, then sit on the bed himself, his mind in turmoil.
What should I do next?
Give the players a quest and have them escort me out of Inyama, or...
Chris didn't know. He had no idea whether the people who came knocking later would be Inyama's police or the Bohemian Royal Guard.
As far as Chris was concerned, the players' methods and movements had been far too sloppy. Being tracked down was practically a certainty.
Besides, he had never concealed the fact that ten people had moved into his home. It was only a matter of time before the consequences of the players' actions caught up with him.
What should I do?
After thinking for a long time, Chris's gaze gradually grew resolute.
"I can't just sit here and wait to die..."
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