Chapter 1840: Chapter 1685: Escape Game 37

Miao Shuangshuang glanced at the players around her who were seriously watching Tang Jinyi: "The other players are basically newcomers, even the so-called veteran players have only gone through one or two games like us.

The only one who could compete with Tang Jinyi is Chen Mo, but he completely follows Tang’s lead, so it’s no wonder he wants to be the leader of the players."

Xiao Zhongjing wasn’t so optimistic about Tang Jinyi: "Being overly clever doesn’t necessarily mean true intelligence. In a game like this, gathering people’s loyalty is simple, but causing resentment is just as easy.

He is using his identity as a veteran player to gather those who are unsure of themselves and subconsciously looking for someone to rely on. Strictly speaking, these people aren’t truly convinced by him.

This situation is dangerous. If he fails to protect these people and even one player dies, his prestige will be diminished, leading to instability.

If more people die, he could even be hated by the players. In such a terrifying game, it’s too difficult to ensure no one dies."

Although no one died in Xiao Zhongjing’s first game, it was because Miao Shuangshuang, Chen Fei, and Lin Yu were all very strong players, with Zhao Chu also being capable among the newcomers, at least he didn’t hold them back.

The only burden was Ye Fuyu, who cherished his life too much to cause trouble and survived at the edge, relying on Miao Shuangshuang to uncover the secret at the last moment and pass the game.

But in this game, with so many players, the difficulty doesn’t even match his first game. It’s much harder to pass without any deaths.

Although Xiao Zhongjing’s performance in his first game was merely average, that was because he was observing and lurking under unawareness, not because he lacked intelligence. Without brains, he couldn’t have become a top-tier star.

Miao Shuangshuang and Xiao Zhongjing sat in a corner away from others, speaking softly, while Tang Jinyi continued to analyze, surrounded by others.

"There are two types of NPCs in the game. One is the adversarial NPC, which can’t be trusted and is the most dangerous entity for players.

The other type is helpful NPCs, whose role is to assist us players in successfully completing missions. Old Jin should be such an NPC.

Firstly, he provided us with information that there are monsters on this Shadow Island, so we shouldn’t go out at night.

Secondly, he gave us tools to resist the monsters, namely this bracelet. From these two points, Old Jin should be a trustworthy NPC."

Miao Shuangshuang rubbed the bracelet in her hand, disagreeing with Tang Jinyi’s statement. Xiao Zhongjing, seeing Miao Shuangshuang thoughtfully rubbing the bracelet, asked quietly: "Is there a problem with this bracelet?"

Miao Shuangshuang spoke softly: "Players can acquire weapons against ghosts in the game. If this bracelet truly can resist monsters, it would be considered a defensive weapon.

Whether found by ourselves or distributed by an NPC, obtaining a weapon would trigger a game alert. But we got this bracelet so long ago without any notification from the game."

Xiao Zhongjing had been educated about acquiring weapons in the game before, but he didn’t know that getting a weapon would immediately trigger a game alert.

In his previous novice mission, although passed, his performance was merely average, so his reward was only doubling his survival days to 120 and 200,000 in cash, with no weapons.

Upon hearing Miao Shuangshuang, he immediately understood her point: "You mean this bracelet can’t defend against monsters, so Old Jin as an NPC is untrustworthy."

Xiao Zhongjing didn’t believe that Old Jin casually distributed bracelets like souvenirs; otherwise, he wouldn’t have specifically required everyone to wear them. Moreover, Xiao Zhongjing had observed that the island’s residents indeed wore the bracelets.

This bracelet surely holds significance, but if not for defending against monsters, Xiao Zhongjing’s expression turned solemn, lowering his voice: "Could this bracelet have any negative effects? Should we still wear it?"

Miao Shuangshuang released the bracelet, speaking calmly: "Whatever the bracelet’s nature, we must wear it for now. Since Old Jin specifically asked us to wear it, he’s unlikely to let us remove it.

Old Jin is the Island Master, the highest authority here and a significant NPC. It’s better not to oppose him temporarily. Not wearing the bracelet and angering him might bring more trouble than wearing it.

Even if the bracelet has issues, it likely isn’t any straightforward harm from the bracelet itself. I suspect it’s more of a mark or serves another function. In any case, until we figure it out, we have to keep wearing it."

Xiao Zhongjing nodded, putting the almost removed bracelet back on, glanced at Tang Jinyi still stirring the crowd, and hesitantly asked: "Should we notify him of this discovery?"

Miao Shuangshuang shook her head: "Not for now. He’s an experienced player; he should have weapons and couldn’t have overlooked the bracelet as not a defensive weapon.

He may be deliberately misleading newcomers, preventing them from linking the game to obtaining weapons. Despite prior briefings, veteran players never informed newcomers about this.

It’s a veteran player’s thought process; they generally won’t proactively tell newcomers that weapons can be obtained in the game. This way, newcomers won’t actively search for weapons, allowing veteran players more opportunities to acquire them.

If newcomers are aware, with enough effort to explore, it’s likely one of them could fortuitously come across a weapon.

This reduces experienced players’ chances of acquiring weapons, so players in the know won’t expose such information."

Scarface and the buzz cut guy were like this. If Miao Shuangshuang hadn’t suspected it, those two short knives would eventually have been found and taken by those two veteran players.

Xiao Zhongjing frowned: "Didn’t he say that players share common interests, and shouldn’t scheme against each other?"

Miao Shuangshuang chuckled: "Merely withholding crucial information isn’t scheming. Besides, in one game, the number of obtainable weapons is very limited, often non-existent.

So many players vying for so few weapons, how can interests align then? From the start, player interests aren’t aligned.

The only shared interest is passing the game, allowing everyone to succeed. But how can others passing benefit more than oneself passing?

If players’ interests truly aligned, without mutual conflict, the game wouldn’t impose such strict penalties, prohibiting players from mutual murder or conspiracies."

Miao Shuangshuang spoke lightly, but Xiao Zhongjing breathed a long sigh, feeling a bit vexed. In a game fighting for survival, he genuinely didn’t want to expend energy dealing with players’ scheming.

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