Chapter 60.2
“This is the mirror formed from 360 broken mirror fragments coming together.”
Puppet Zhang stared at the broken mirror in a puzzled manner. He didn’t understand why Bai Liu was showing them the mirror when talking about the bomb.
“I previously discussed it with a friend of mine. How did the two thieves in the Mirror City Bombing get on the train with the bomb? An explosive that can explode several cars must be quite large. Where did these two thieves hide it to get through the security check? The news said it was hidden in the mirror. I always found it strange. What type of mirror can hide so many explosives?” Bai Liu murmured softly. Then he put his hands on the smooth surface of the mirror.
Water ripples suddenly appeared on the surface of the mirror, slowly spreading out and becoming a lake of mercury.
The smile on Bai Liu’s face grew wider. He slowly sank his hand into the incomplete mirror surface that was like a lake of mercury in front of everyone’s astonished eyes. He showed a satisfied smile as he cleanly pulled out a huge black bomb that was several times larger than the mirror. The black bomb fell on the ground, throwing out a cloud of dust and exuding the strong smell of gunpowder.
“Now I know.” Bai Liu patted the ashes off his hands. “It turns out it really was hidden in the mirror.”
Puppet Zhang was stunned. Then his mind spun quickly as he stared at the pile of explosives. “You have pulled the explosive out of the mirror. Does this mean the train doesn’t need to explode?”
Bai Liu didn’t speak much. He put his hand in the mirror and pulled it out again. Another big explosive was pulled out. He shrugged and spread open his hands. “No, I suspect the explosives are infinite. So this train and mirror must explode.”
Puppet Zhang’s expression quickly sank.
“So the plan requires the sacrifice of two players.” Bai Liu raised two fingers and explained without hesitation. “One person needs to send this explosive to the reservoir. I guess it will be difficult to return within two minutes. This is the first player to be sacrificed.”
Puppet Zhang’s brow was so wrinkled that it could pinch a fly. “This only needs the sacrifice of one player. What is the other player you want to sacrifice?”
Bai Liu smiled. “The second player to be sacrificed needs to use Du Sanying’s Fake Cloth and hold it after wrapping it around this mirror. The cloth is fake so it doesn’t exist or break in a certain definition. It can hold the broken pieces of the mirror so that after the explosion, we can avoid looking for the mirror pieces again. The cloth won’t break but it needs to be held by the player. This means they will be too close to the mirror and will likely be killed.”
“So the only question now is—” Bai Liu slowly bent his two fingers as he raised his eyes, the smile on his face meaningful. “Who are the two players who will die?”
“To be honest, apart from Mu Sicheng and Du Sanying, none of you have much value to me.” Bai Liu continued. “The health of Puppet Zhang and your three puppets has dropped to this point and the combat power you can provide is very limited. I don’t care if two of you die at the next station.”
Bai Liu’s mouth curved slightly and he gave a regretful and hypocritical sigh. “It is because you are all useless to me.”
The eyes of Puppet Zhang and his three puppets moved slowly to the smiling Bai Liu. Their expressions gradually froze. This guy was too skilled at getting rid of someone once they ceased being useful. He was serious.
However, Bai Liu was telling the truth. Even if he had acquired Puppet Zhang’s soul and his strength was the highest, it had little positive meaning to Bai Liu after this game. Not only was it little, it was also negative.
Puppet Zhang was a high level player of the Kings Guild. The fact that Puppet Zhang was controlled by Bai Liu would be announced on the small TV. Bai Liu thought that a large guild like the Kings Guild wouldn’t allow Puppet Zhang who was controlled by others to occupy a high position in the guild, let alone allow Bai Liu to control a player who knew a lot of information about the guild.
In summary, Puppet Zhang was a big problem for Bai Liu. It was best for him to die in the game. Then the Kings Guild wouldn’t need to trouble Bai Liu because it was just a grudge within the game.
However, Bai Liu would face a very difficult problem if he chose to send Puppet Zhang to his death. If Puppet Zhang died, his three puppets would be out of control.
Bai Liu thought about trying to use the Empty Old Wallet skill to control the three people under Puppet Zhang. It was just that the possibility of success was very small. First, these people were very wary toward him. They knew he had a control skill and his transaction skill required the active consent of both parties. He might be able to successfully trick the three people into opening a transaction with him in a few minutes but Bai Liu thought it was unlikely.
The second was that even if it was achieved, Bai Liu couldn’t manipulate anyone in the chaotic underwater situation. The soul banknotes were banknotes so they were afraid of water, just like Bai Liu. This was equivalent to Bai Liu’s skill being banned. If the weakness of his skill was known, his situation would become very dangerous.
Bai Liu would definitely put the broken lenses on himself before clearing the instance, so his reward was the highest. If this group of people knew that Bai Liu couldn’t manipulate the soul banknotes in the water, Bai Liu was likely to be attacked by a group of people and face the situation of being robbed of the fragments by a group of people.
Unfortunately, Bai Liu felt that Puppet Zhang had guessed he wouldn’t be able to control others underwater.
Puppet Zhang had seen the whole process of Bai Liu using the soul money to rescue Mu Sicheng in an emergency so he knew that Bai Liu used a paper item to manipulate the players. This was an important reason for Puppet Zhang’s death.
It was very likely that Puppet Zhang already understood the conditions, limitations and weaknesses of his personal skill. This was fatal to Bai Liu to a certain extent. If he released Puppet Zhang this time, he wouldn’t have the advantage of the other person not knowing his personal skill.
To be honest, Bai Liu had bad information. He knew this himself. After all, Puppet Zhang was someone who relied on a big guild and he had many channels unknown to Bai Liu. If Puppet Zhang could get rid of Bai Liu’s control and hunted Bai Liu like he did before, it would be impossible for Bai Liu to escape.
Puppet Zhang was likely to disclose Bai Liu’s personal skill. Bai Liu’s skill might be broad in use but it was also extremely restrictive. He needed to use money to trade it. If Puppet Zhang disclosed Bai Liu’s personal skill then Bai Liu would be in a dilemma.
Bai Liu’s eyes moved slightly and his calm gaze met Puppet Zhang’s dull and unclear eyes. Puppet Zhang had a dormant aggressive look like he was waiting for an opportunity to kill Bai Liu who only had a bit of health left. The opportunity Puppet Zhang was waiting for was about to come.
“Puppet Zhang will hold the exploding mirror,” Bai Liu ordered without hesitation.
Puppet Zhang’s expression changed. He hadn’t expected Bai Liu to choose him but he quickly calmed down and retorted, “If I die, the other three puppets will be out of control. Bai Liu, you can’t choose me!”
Bai Liu squinted and stared at Puppet Zhang who was short of breath. There was a shallow smile on his face. “However, I think that if I don’t pick you, I will be killed by you when I’m not prepared. After all, I only have a bit of health left. You are the biggest threat to me.”
Puppet Zhang subtly paused before speaking again. “Bai Liu, we have cooperated until now. I really don’t want to plot against you. I tried my best to protect you previously, right?”
He took a deep breath and exhaled, slowly raising his hands in surrender as he tried his best to stare sincerely at Bai Liu. “I know you still doubt me. I can give you everything on me. I just want to pass the level. I’m a player with a ranking around 200. You have controlled me. It is better to keep me than to kill me. I’m very valuable to you.”
Puppet Zhang’s throat moved and he bowed respectfully, revealing the back of his head and neck. “Bai Liu… Master, I swear I won’t kill you. You can let Mu Sicheng use the Judge’s Scale to determine if my words are honest. You can distrust me but can’t you believe in the item?”
It was a very submissive gesture.
Bai Liu started to laugh. He also bent over and cocked his head to look at the expression on Puppet Zhang’s face. “Puppet Zhang, this type of posture and linguistic psychological hints are no use against me. I’ve already played with you.”
He rolled his eyes languidly. “Puppet Zhang, do you know why from start to finish that I didn’t try to talk about cooperation with you and controlled you directly?”
Puppet Zhang on the ground was startled. He felt something unknown from Bai Liu’s smile.
The smile on Bai Liu’s face remained but his eyes were calm and it seemed like he could pierce a puppet. His voice was full of admiration. “It is because you are very similar to me. People in this world who want to maximize interests have similar thinking. We are both greedy. From the beginning, I wanted to get the most from you, just as you want the most from me.”
“There were two ways to get the most things, trading or snatching. You disdain to trade with me but what you want is on me. No matter how much you pretend that you want to work with me, the only way you can get these things is to kill me and rob me, right?”
Bai Liu smiled. “So from the beginning, I never considered cooperating with you. It is because cooperation is too shallow for people like you and me. It can be violated at any time. Didn’t you violate the cooperation with me? I also relied on this to finally control you. I managed to use this to control you. Why do you think I will let you go?”
It was foolish to believe that an equally ambitious smart person would completely surrender to himself. Bai Liu fully agreed with this view. Every time he and Lu Yizhan played a game, even if there was a cooperative relationship in the early stage, Bai Liu wouldn’t hesitate to kill Lu Yizhan at a critical moment to win the most benefits. It was because he knew Lu Yizhan had a good brain and would definitely try to kill him to become number one in the game.
“In addition, use the Judge’s Scale to verify the honesty of your words?” Bai Liu laughed and looked down. “I’ll correct a small mistake in your words.”
Bai Liu’s mouth twitched slightly and he approached the shocked Puppet Zhang, whispering, “Judge’s Scale isn’t Mu Sicheng’s item. This should be your item. It was stolen by Mu Sicheng, right? You want me to believe in an item that you’ve played around with? I’m not that stupid, Master.”
Puppet Zhang stared at Bai Liu before instinctively looking at Mu Sicheng. Puppet Zhang thought Mu Sicheng had told Bai Liu about this matter but he soon came back to his senses. Mu Sicheng absolutely wouldn’t tell anyone where his stolen goods came from. This was Mu Sicheng’s professional habit to protect himself. It was impossible for Mu Sicheng to tell Bai Liu where his items came from!
Mu Sicheng was equally shocked. He didn’t tell Bai Liu who he stole the Judge’s Scale from. Mu Sicheng instinctively asked Bai Liu, “How do you know I stole this item from Puppet Zhang?!”
“Isn’t it because he played the same trick on you once before using Liu Huai?” Bai Liu leaned back against the wall, eyes closed and one hand played lazily on the chair. “People have a strong trust in the things they are familiar with and use them again and again.”
“In the juncture of life and death, Puppet Zhang didn’t want to use his own items and instinctively tried to make me believe in your items. You were hostile before… do you think this is possible? Considering your skills, I think this is the most likely answer.”
Puppet Zhang had palpitations as he felt he was seen through. His palms on the ground were immediately soaked with sweat. Sweat dropped down his jaw and he looked at Bai Liu with fear.
This fellow Bai Liu… from the very beginning wanted to kill him and planned it. From the time he was controlled, Bai Liu prepared for his death. Was this really a newcomer? Why was there no psychological barrier to killing in the second game? What did this person do in reality?
“Okay, the next step is to choose one of the three of you to send the bomb.” Bai Liu moved his gaze to look at the three people in the corner while not speaking. He was dizzy from excessive blood loss and fatigue. He shook and was helped by Mu Sicheng again.
Bai Liu lowered his head and coughed violently. Mu Sicheng looked at Bai Liu strangely. “Do you really want to choose Puppet Zhang to hold the mirror? You have controlled him. He should be valuable to you, right? Why don’t you save his life?”
“There is value but it is too wasteful for you to guard me. I can only kill him.” Bai Liu casually shifted the blame as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. It was red and he should’ve coughed up blood again.
Bai Liu just shook the blood drops off his hand without caring. “I chose Puppet Zhang to hold the mirror because after I fall into the water, my control is likely to fail and I can’t control everyone. If Puppet Zhang decides to fight back, you can’t deal with it. However, you can deal with the rest of the puppets. Thus, it is okay for them to be out of my control.”
“At the next station, I’ll control them to collect the broken lenses quickly before the explosion occurs. Then we can take the broken lenses and run. Their movement speed isn’t as fast as you and there is Du Sanying’s 80 points of good luck. This is enough for the three of us to pass the instance.”
Proofreader: Purichan