Deceitful Game

Chapter 114 Divine Comedy

Chapter 114 Divine Comedy

"—Good news?"

Gao Fan repeated Ming Po's words with some doubt.

They were nearly blown up and then had their time stopped without any resistance. Now they've at least caught the attention of a Silver-level expert, and there's a possibility they've been discovered by other organizations as well.

How could this possibly be a good thing?

"Um."

Mingbo's lips curled up slightly: "Although we briefly found ourselves in a situation where we could die at any moment, at least we confirmed one thing."

"That is—even for high-ranking Deceivers of the Moon Silver level, their manifestations are still vulnerable. At the very least, bombs can kill them."

"—High attack, low defense, right?"

Ai Shiping realized what was happening.

Mingpo hummed in agreement.

While the title "Werewolf" can increase self-healing abilities, and some titles can heal others, which can be considered as improving survivability—but at least none of the titles that Mingpo knows of so far have the function of increasing "defense." Or rather, the attribute of "defense" simply does not exist.

He asked Gao Fan about this.

Gao Fan gave a definite answer: he knew about this from the beginning, which is why he was so frightened when he saw Mingpo that he turned around and ran away.

"Yes."

Gao Fan stated with absolute certainty, "Deceptive games will not allow players to increase their health bars."

At most, such mechanisms or punishments can cause permanent disability, and the degree of disability can be mitigated or recovered through treatment and self-healing—but ultimately, they are merely threats and stimuli. If it were a truly fatal mechanism like execution, it would not allow the deceiver to "forcibly survive."

"Reasonable."

Mingbo nodded.

For example, Lin Ya was executed by being shot by a small-caliber machine gun.

Theoretically speaking, if someone's body is strong enough to ignore bullets of this level, then even if they lose, it doesn't really matter. Because the "punishment" simply can't hurt them.

But that's obviously impossible.

Just like in "Death of the Minority," even though the dog dodged the falling stone sword, it still died from bursting blood vessels. If executions could be escaped, then the game would be meaningless.

Gao Fan continued, "That's why, no matter how strong a deceiver is, their body is still fragile. When we upgrade a title, we are ultimately upgrading our authority, not our life level or cultivation technique level."

"High-level privileges can resist the power of low-level privileges and even nullify the effects of some abilities and treasures—but even a charlatan of the Gold level can still be killed."

"I've heard that there are some extremely difficult games that nullify the active effects of titles and equipped treasures. Only the passive effects of titles remain active—those are the most brutal deathmatch games," and not entered through the "door."

"This kind of game usually only allows one person to survive. It's said to be a cheater's den, or you can only get in by using special treasures. But I don't know the specific details—it's all urban legend."

Ai Shiping quickly recovered from his dejected look.

He watched Gao Fan speak earnestly, his face serious and stern, and couldn't help but laugh—like watching a child trying to act like an adult. Even though this "child" was older than him.

"Xiao Fan really knows a lot of people."

Ai Shiping exclaimed, "I even know a senior like him who's at the Silver Moon level."

"The Red Queen is indeed a senior figure."

Gao Fan nodded: "She is a survivor of the Deception Game from ten years ago. In other words, she has been surviving in the material world for ten years."

"—Ten years ago?"

"Hmm. Although Deceivers are born every year, the density of Deceivers actually fluctuates, and the main locations are different. A friend of mine researched this and seemed to have some conclusions, but I didn't remember them at the time—it seems to be related to the birth and resurrection of the hosts."

"But I remember the conclusion—basically, the climax of the deception game comes about once every ten years."

Gao Fan thought about it carefully for a moment: "I remember that ten years ago, the main venues for the games were in England and Russia. The Idealist was also a liar in that class."

But what Mingpo cared about was something else entirely.

Those were details that only those who, like others in the realm of slaughter, would notice.

"Why is the Red Queen always smiling?"

Mingpo was somewhat puzzled.

If she were to lose control of her emotions or be assimilated by the title, then her pupils should constantly radiate a dim yellow glow. Every time Mingpo becomes slightly agitated, that glow is impossible to conceal—it's like a micro-expression, appearing the moment the thought arises.

But she never showed any brilliance throughout the entire process.

This shows that she has excellent control over her mental state.

But somehow she seemed a little abnormal.

"Ah, I know that."

Gao Fan's eyes lit up slightly, and his tone became more lively.

Although he had lost his appetite, he picked up his chopsticks again to avoid spoiling the mood and began picking through the food: "This isn't really a secret, or rather, it's a rather rare piece of common knowledge."

"When charlatans reach a higher level, they begin to accumulate bargaining chips to exchange for treasures. The most important of these are treasures used to compensate for weaknesses and to calm the mind."

"Calm down?"

Mingbo repeated the word: "Really—calm?"

"On the other hand."

Gao Fan laughed and said, "The title of Red Queen is very powerful, but it also has strong negative effects—one is that she will always have severe headaches, and the other is that she will have strong killing intent whenever she is in a bad mood."

"She compensated for these negative effects with treasures—one to numb the pain, and the other to keep her feeling happy."

"Most permanent treasures are actually a mixed bag for the average con artist. Numbing pain can make people ignore their injuries or make them slow to react. On the other hand, constant happiness can make people careless, fall into traps, or be taken advantage of."

"But these treasures often have a remarkable effect on certain con artists. So they will spend a lot of money to buy these treasures—"

At this point, Gao Fan paused and added, "Or they might come directly to kidnap or rob. But as for the mental anchor point, unless the owner of the anchor point opens the door himself, no one else can enter—even if they forcibly break through the outer wall, they can only enter the real space that overlaps with the anchor point's real location."

"Take my home for example—even if someone tries to force their way in and uses various weapons to open my door, they can only enter my uninhabited home in the physical world, but they cannot enter my mental anchor point."

"So, as long as you stay in the anchor point, no one else can rush in and kill you. The base is absolutely safe, that's the logic. But as soon as you leave the base, you may encounter danger—even if the group lying in ambush doesn't kill you, as long as one person escapes alive, the time you left will be exposed."

"So many people will travel back from the future to this precise time coordinate to try and kidnap you. Although you can try to escape by accelerating your own time with leverage—but it's also very dangerous. If the treasure is really valuable enough, there's even a possibility that a high-level conman might come and stop time directly."

Just like the Red Queen.

Although Gao Fan didn't say the last sentence, Mingpo already understood.

—I absolutely cannot reveal that the Dionysian Shrine is in my possession.

Mingper became even more aware of the dangers she would face if she exposed this secret.

Just then, Mingpo's phone rang.

Who would call him at this time?

Mingpo remained silent for a few seconds after seeing the string of garbled characters on the caller ID.

This is... a ghost call?

He remembered that Miss "Nameless" had used this treasure to contact him.

Its effect is suspected to be to directly call a specific person.

But Wuming probably doesn't know that his current title has become "Madman," so who would be the person calling?

However, there's nothing to be afraid of.

So Mingpo answered the phone.

"Hello there."

He greeted them calmly.

"Hello, Mr. Madman."

The voice that came from the other end of the phone was one he had never heard before.

It was a mature, gentle, and composed female voice, even carrying a hint of—kindness?

"You and your teammates may encounter some unpleasant and rather tricky troubles ahead."

But we can solve this problem for you.

"If you wish to meet with us, please remain where you are and do not leave. The meeting is expected to take fifteen minutes. To be clear, this meeting is not mandatory. If you do not wish to meet with us, you may leave now without any problem. If you have no further comments or suggestions, I will arrive at your location in ten minutes. All costs incurred for this meeting will be reimbursed by us."

The other person's words were polite and well-organized, making me feel quite comfortable.

Mingpo tapped the chair with her finger and suddenly asked, "May I ask, what kind of organization are you?"

"We are the strongest existing group of con artists, dedicated to maintaining the stability of the timeline and the material world. We are also the only legitimate organization that has established long-term cooperative relationships with the governments of various countries."

The other person's voice was gentle, calm, and proud: "We are [Divine Comedy]."

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