Chapter 185: Chapter 185: The Ghostly Butler - Lu Luo
As the clown spoke, a KEKEKE laugh escaped his lips.
BANG!
The rather fierce Bai Yuetong immediately fired a shot at him, using the very handgun awarded to her by the game center.
Logically, an ordinary revolver like that shouldn’t be able to injure a Transcendent like the clown, whose Constitution exceeded 50.
Not to mention, the clown’s agility was as high as 95; he could even dodge close-range bullets by reacting to the shooter’s movements.
Yet, this Third Tier monster, after being shot, stared at Bai Yuetong in disbelief.
"Ugh! Such a powerful weapon! COUGH, COUGH!"
The clown shook his head and his seemingly boneless body, then slid down the lamppost and crashed to the ground.
"Is he dead?"
"No."
Lu Luo was certain. He had felt it—the moment the clown was shot, his aura had weakened substantially.
This meant Bai Yuetong’s attack was definitely effective—remarkably so.
The power of that gun was enough to instantly kill an ordinary Third Tier Transcendent!
Unfortunately, the clown was no ordinary Third Tier.
"Time for a magic trick!"
With a BANG, the clown on the ground turned into a wisp of white smoke. On the other side, a new clown tiptoed over.
Seeing him tiptoeing, the surrounding crowd burst into laughter.
Although the clown’s antics were comical, no one present believed he would be an easy opponent.
He approached Lu Luo and said pointedly,
"This little Qiao Xiao Mi is so adorable; she must be very important to certain people, right? If you were to trade your Tokens for her, I imagine some people would be quite upset!"
As the clown spoke to Lu Luo, the others naturally turned their gazes toward him.
The implication in the clown’s words was obvious: Lu Luo had a significant connection to the Qiao Xiao Mi on the screen.
So, the question arose: if Lu Luo used all his game Tokens to redeem Qiao Xiao Mi, would he still be able to leave?
This question, now dawning on everyone, was precisely what Lu Luo was pondering.
Lu Luo glanced at Qiao Xiao Mi on the screen, then at the clown before him. Even with his confidence in his own strength, his expression couldn’t help but turn grim.
His previous performance in the surfing game could almost be described as godlike.
He had knocked away a Fourth Tier tiger-headed monster fish and killed thousands of bone-eating fish with the copied Requiem of Souls.
Yet, even such a performance had only garnered him just over 150 Tokens.
The others, combined, only had about 200 Tokens.
And now, the price to redeem Qiao Xiao Mi was 500 Tokens.
If they focused all their efforts on collecting resources to redeem Qiao Xiao Mi, it would take three game rounds to get her out.
The previous game had been difficulty level 5, featuring numerous Fourth Tier tiger-headed monster fish, countless bone-eating fish, and an unknown Fifth Tier sea beast. Moreover, it was underwater. In such a game environment, if it were a defensive battle type of game, Lu Luo himself would likely perish in the water, let alone his teammates.
Lu Luo’s guess regarding this outcome was that the game aimed to limit powerful players.
The game likely set an earnings cap; when strong players surpassed this limit, their earnings would drastically decrease.
This way, skilled individuals would still gain substantial rewards. The earnings of top players were somewhat guaranteed, but the gap between them and other players wouldn’t become excessively large.
This was a protective mechanism commonly used in many games.
For instance, in games from a certain "Penguin" company, a whale who spends 1,000,000 is certainly stronger than someone who spends 100,000. But the damage output from spending 1,000,000 might only be twice that of spending 100,000, not ten times. This was the top-tier limiting mechanism.
With such a cap on individual earnings, the entire team’s collective earnings needed to be very high to rescue Qiao Xiao Mi quickly.
"Alright, that concludes my introduction. Hurry and see what items you can redeem. The items here are incredibly powerful and hold special significance. For instance, they can be taken out of here... back to your real world!"
The clown’s reminder left the crowd stunned for a moment, but they quickly grasped his meaning.
This was a virtual world, yet items from here could manifest in the real world.
The Wasteland itself was full of bizarre occurrences, so its inhabitants were no strangers to the strange.
Thus, even though this amusement park was incredibly bizarre, these people quickly adapted to their roles as players.
To me, this already sounds like the power of a ’System Master’ from those ’infinite flow’ novels I read in my past life, Lu Luo thought. Has the power of an ancient Eighth Order Calamity reached such an absurd level? And what about the Ninth Tier Leviathan? Aren’t there any curious ’little babies’ out there who’ve tried to investigate?
Qi Xinzhu, at his side, also looked at Lu Luo with a worried expression.
"Lu Luo, what do we do now?" Qi Xinzhu asked. "If we use all our Tokens to save Xiao Mi, we might have to pay a heavy price."
Qi Xinzhu knew very well that Xiao Mi’s situation was dire, and her presence made their team’s prospects even bleaker.
Whether due to sentiment or because of Qiao Xing, abandoning Qiao Xiao Mi was not an option.
If anything happened to Qiao Xiao Mi here, Qiao Xing would likely line them up for beheading one by one upon their return.
"We absolutely have to save Qiao Xiao Mi; that’s not up for discussion," Lu Luo stated. "The current issues are how to save her, how to allocate Tokens, and our upcoming game choices."
Lu Luo was conflicted. For safety, the obvious choice was to stick to the same game type and not split up. He was confident that after a few rounds, he could lead everyone out safely. However, Qiao Xiao Mi’s presence turned this straightforward plan into a distant hope.
Furthermore, after rescuing Qiao Xiao Mi, she herself would likely need a set of keys to exit. Compounding the difficulty, Qiao Xiao Mi was an ordinary person with no powers, even weaker than Bai Yuetong.
"Is this clown targeting us?"
Lu Luo nodded. "He is indeed targeting us."
"Why?"
"It might be the will of this place’s master, or perhaps the clown’s own decision," Lu Luo explained. "However, I can tell you one thing: once the game’s rules are established, not even the game master can alter them arbitrarily. Therefore, we must learn to use the rules here to our advantage."
Although this ’fixed rules’ theory was merely Lu Luo’s speculation, he felt it was better to share it with everyone given the current circumstances.
Qi Xinzhu, Gu Fangyi, and Zhou Kai didn’t fully grasp Lu Luo’s meaning, but Bai Yuetong seemed to have an inkling.
Bai Yuetong asked, "You’re saying that once rules are established, not even the game master can change them at will? Are you certain about this, Lu Luo?"
Bai Yuetong’s expression was skeptical, but after a moment of thought, Lu Luo nodded. "Reasonably certain."
"If that’s the case," Bai Yuetong mused, "then we could actually consider splitting up."
"Explain your reasoning," Lu Luo prompted.
"If the rules are indeed fixed, then the game descriptions here must be accurate and reliable," Bai Yuetong elaborated. "Intelligence games will genuinely be about intelligence, and survival games about survival, provided they don’t employ reverse psychology or trickery. If everyone plays to their strengths, we should achieve significant gains—more than enough. For example, I’m very confident in my intellect. If I were to play an intelligence game now, as long as it isn’t a trick and doesn’t use physical limitations against me, I should achieve a good score. Just like in the first game, I might even get a gold key. The others should fare similarly. Then, the team’s overall performance can alleviate your burden, and the Token pressure for rescuing Xiao Mi will be greatly reduced."
[Dumb Hair’s analysis was logical and convincing.]
Lu Luo had actually considered Bai Yuetong’s line of reasoning before, but he had been hesitant. Even after she voiced it, he remained hesitant. There was a very real possibility of death in these games, and he didn’t want any of them to get hurt. He realized he had become uncharacteristically indecisive, weighed down by the potential losses.
"Lu Luo," Qi Xinzhu said, "Bai Yuetong can be annoying, but I think she has a point. We each have our strengths. By choosing games and strategies that suit us, we can achieve optimal results. Our priority is to save Xiao Mi and get everyone out, which requires a significant amount of Tokens. So, let’s split up!"
Qi Xinzhu clearly saw Lu Luo’s hesitation and internal conflict. She knew she needed to help him commit to this course of action.
"I agree," Gu Fangyi nodded.
"I agree as well," Zhou Kai chimed in.
"You don’t need to worry too much about others’ safety," Bai Yuetong added. "At least, from what I’ve experienced so far, as long as we operate within the rules, it’s similar to what you described—I haven’t encountered any real danger."
Lu Luo nodded. He glanced at the timer and realized the countdown for the second round hadn’t even begun.
Just then, those who had actively chosen a game in the first round began to return from the main hall entrance. Some wore expressions of regret, others of pride; it seemed everyone had experienced different outcomes and reaped varying rewards.
Only after everyone from the first round had returned did the countdown for the second round officially begin!
The three game options for the second round were: Combat, Puzzle, and Impossible.
This time, the group made their decisions quickly: Gu Fangyi and Qi Xinzhu chose Combat; Zhou Kai and Bai Yuetong chose Puzzle. And Lu Luo chose Impossible.
In truth, Lu Luo was adept at both Combat and Puzzle games and felt confident he could succeed in either. But he aimed for something more, so he chose the "Impossible" game—an option almost no one else selected.
"Is everyone ready?" Lu Luo asked.
"Yes!" they replied.
"Then let’s go."
As the team leader, Lu Luo was the first to push open the game room door. He didn’t know what kind of horrors awaited him, but he felt his current self should be capable enough to handle whatever came his way.
...
After pushing open the door, Lu Luo found himself in a rather unfamiliar space.
Before him lay a set of clothes, looking both strange and formal: a tailcoat, a bow tie, white gloves, and a coffee-colored vest. It was the classic attire of a butler from the movies!
The only deviation from a standard butler’s attire was a gentleman’s mask with a mustache placed beside the clothes.
After Lu Luo donned the butler’s attire and the mask, he felt a powerful will descend upon him.
[Indescribably powerful! The intensity of this will surpasses even that of the Nightmare Demon!]
Lu Luo remained silent, quietly experiencing this power transforming his body. His skin began to decay, parts of his flesh sloughing off to reveal bone beneath. Yet, Lu Luo made no move to resist. He hadn’t been harmed, and the Observer hadn’t issued any warnings of malicious intent. This alteration was merely a superficial change in appearance.
When he looked into a nearby mirror, Lu Luo was quite startled by his new appearance!
He had transformed into an aged butler. However, one half of this butler’s face was rotten, while the other half was a pale blue skull. One eye socket held a flickering, ghostly flame; the other eye was covered by a monocle.
One arm was skeletal, gripping a cane that concealed a sword blade. His other arm had become a hook attached to a chain.
His legs were also abnormal: one still somewhat resembled a leg, while the other was a wooden peg. What the hell is this?!
[Host, in this getup, you’d definitely have a lot of people wanting to take photos with you at a cosplay convention.]
[Second Round Game: Ghostly Manor]
[Normal Game Mode: 10 players enter this manor to collect treasures. Any item can be exchanged for Tokens; even a candle holds value. However, the truly valuable items within the manor are treasures hidden among mundane objects. The value of these treasures far exceeds that of ordinary items. Find the treasures within the manor, bring them out, and exchange them for Tokens. Remember, the manor is also dangerous; it’s best not to act alone. Friendly Reminder: Some items are very valuable but also very heavy. Choose wisely between value and life. The game ends at dawn on the second day. If you are still alive, you will receive all rewards. If you die, corresponding Tokens will be deducted. If you have no Tokens, your lifespan will be deducted. If you have no lifespan left, you will truly die!]
[Hunter Game Mode: You are now the manor’s ghostly butler—Lu Luo. All your attributes are at their normal values, but the manor has also bestowed upon you a curse and abilities. Your Cultivation Techniques cannot be used, but your Sequences can. You have gained the Butler’s Abilities:
Ability 1 - Master Key: As the butler, you can open any door in the manor.
Ability 2 - Phantom Form: You can enter a ghostly state for 1 minute (cooldown: 10 minutes).
Ability 3 - Hook: You can throw your hook to grab players.
Attribute Modifiers:
- When facing 1 player: Attributes at 100%.
- When facing 2 players: Attributes drop to 10% for 5 minutes.
- When facing 3 or more players: Attributes drop to 1% for 10 minutes.
Mission Requirement: Kill at least 6 players.
Friendly Reminder: Drag the corpses of killed players into the furnace. The earnings they acquired while alive will become yours.
Additionally, you are not the only one guarding this manor.]
The moment Lu Luo saw the game description, a familiar game title immediately popped into his head: Dead by Daylight!
Of course, this game is somewhat different from Dead by Daylight, he mused. In fact, this Ghostly Manor game seems far more complex.
The butler isn’t a killer with absolute power like in that game. Under certain conditions, the butler’s strength can become incredibly weak—weak enough to be killed by the players.
And the players’ earnings become the butler’s earnings. So, I not only have to let players gather items but also isolate, hunt, and then incinerate them.
A true game of life or death... People without enough Tokens or lifespan will actually die!
Lu Luo didn’t dwell on whether these players were innocent. He had no other choice right now.
His primary concern was his own survival. Second, the survival of his loved ones and friends. Only then did the fate of these strangers enter his considerations.
He was already struggling to ensure his own survival; playing the saint at a time like this would be no different from willingly offering himself up for slaughter.