Chapter 133: Lost

【”Shuangxi Town” evaluation grade B, reward 1000 points】

Qi Si floated in the darkness, watching the settlement text swirl around him.

After seeing the three words “Grade B”, he lifted his eyelids: “Skip.”

However, the Eerie Game clearly had no intention of entertaining him.

The prompt text that annoyed his obsessive-compulsive nature continued to refresh.

【”Shuangxi Town” ne clearance, reward 1000 points】

【Worldview deciphering rate 73%, reward 1000 points】

【Became the sole survivor, reward 3000 points】

【Total reward 6000 points, deposited into points account】

This instance’s settlement was relatively concise, with no prompts or rewards for unlocking achievements.

Qi Si had previously learned from the Forum that the determination for unlocking achievements was based on a te clearance of the instance, and could only be triggered if the evaluation grade was higher than A.

Whereas with a ne clearance and an evaluation grade lower than A, all rewards would be compressed to a pitiful amount, at most considered a “consolation prize.”

This could be described as a “winner-takes-all” scenario, where the gap between players who cleared perfectly and players just coasting along would continue to widen.

points, acting as a natural chasm, divided the player community into two groups: the “stars” standing in the spotlight challenging high-difficulty instances, and the “expendables” who could be sacrificed or caught in the crossfire at any time.

Just like now, although Qi Si wasn’t completely slacking off, because he failed to complete the main quest, the total reward points were even lower than the “Carnivore” instance in the Novice Pool; from the perspective of difficulty-to-reward ratio, this algorithm was very unfair.

If he had been clearing everything perfectly, Qi Si wouldn’t have thought there was any issue with this “unfairness”; but now that the bad luck had fallen on him, he couldn’t help but carefully ponder the designer’s psychology.

“Is this meant to encourage players to actively decipher the worldview? But judging by the difficulty, for many players, even if they tried their absolute best, success wouldn’t be guaranteed…”

Qi Si rubbed his chin, his gaze falling on the “Became the sole survivor” entry.

The 3000 reward points accounted for half of the total reward, and looking at the value, it was completely unaffected by the evaluation grade.

In fact, if his performance had been slightly worse, the reward for being a survivor would have become his most important source of points.

Driven by this distorted mechanism, inevitably a portion of players would conclude that “teammates are easier to deal with than Ghosts” and embark on the path of Slaughter-path players.

Among the remaining players, the strong would grow stronger and the weak weaker, gradually forming a relatively solidified and stable class structure.

Slaughter-path players continuously created sin, while the already stable power distribution was responsible for digesting these unstable factors, allowing the Eerie Game to realize the assembly-line production of sin in a stable and comfortable environment.

The settlement interface closed after a fifteen-second pause, and Qi Si looked at the top right corner of his vision, where the position that should have been occupied by the 【humanoid evil spirit】 card remained empty.

The Identity Card that had just gone through four instances with him now seemed to have truly gone “poof” and vanished.

Although the Forum said Identity Cards were useless, and Qi Si was often annoyed because Qi often spied on his game progress through the 【humanoid evil spirit】 card, this didn’t mean he could accept losing something that belonged to him for no apparent reason.

He asked: “Where is my Identity Card? I remember I already signed the Soul Contract; it was stated that all items would be transferred to the current body intact, right?”

Eerie Game: 【The Identity Card mechanism is special; it cannot be transferred via skills.】

Qi Si coaxed: “That wasn’t just a skill; it was the authority of a Contract that even an Evil God would covet. Please help me recover the data, thanks.”

Eerie Game: 【The Identity Card mechanism is special; it cannot be recovered through any special means.】

…It seemed there was no room for negotiation.

Qi Si rubbed his chin and feigned indifference: “The 【humanoid evil spirit】 card really wasn’t of much use to me; I already possess the ability of 【Lucid Dream】, the effects overlapped, it was too wasteful… This time, it just happened to free up a slot, making it convenient for me to bind a more valuable Identity Card in the future—for example, 【Crimson High Priest】, what do you think?”

Eerie Game: Heh.

The past cannot be pursued; there’s no point in dwelling on things that cannot be changed. Qi Si simply continued to study the reloaded system interface.

In the inventory at the bottom of his vision, the icons for the pocket watch, rose, Recorder, and Scepter were arranged in a row of small slots, identical to the order before entering the instance.

The 【Ghost Drivers Recorder】 and 【Sea-God Scepter】 had automatically returned to their places under the effect of the Contract, which counted as one of the few pieces of good news.

Qi Si took out the Sea-God Scepter.

【Name: Sea-God Scepter】

【Type: Item】

【Effect: Makes you appear more like a God (the more sin absorbed, the stronger the effect seems to be)】

Three lines of prompt text popped up before his eyes, without a single character of change compared to when he last looked.

The harpoon was still a harpoon, a harpoon with a blade…

Qi Si expressionlessly threw the Sea-God Scepter back into his inventory and proceeded to enter the store.

His current total points were 【52700】, which was considered high among players who had cleared five instances, but it wasn’t of much use to him.

He wasn’t like other players who exchanged points for life-saving items at the slightest opportunity; compared to consumables, he preferred special items with interesting mechanics like the 【Water Mirror Mask】.

—The kind he couldn’t afford in the short term.

Qi Si browsed through the dazzling array of items and then clicked into the section selling clearance videos.

He searched for the three words “Shuangxi Town”, spent 10 points to buy an S-grade te clearance video, skipped to the ending part, and watched it at double speed.

The method to achieve the te ending was very simple: all players go down the well together, bring Xu Wen on the seventh day, and follow the Coffin out of the world beneath the well.

In the ending footage, the secrets of Shuangxi Town were exposed, causing an uproar in public opinion; the Eerie Investigation Bureau had to dispatch Investigators to resolve the problems in Shuangxi Town and rescue those trapped inside.

After the Eerie was deciphered, the residents of Shuangxi Town rapidly aged and rotted into bones; the corpses beneath the well were fished out, cremated, and buried in a nearby cemetery.

【No one has the qualification to define the value of life, and no one can demand the sacrifice of others. Only when the collective cherishes the well-being of the individual can they safely weather every disaster.】

【”Shuangxi Town” True End – “Severing Calamity” has been recorded】

The video ended there, and Qi Si, having been caught off guard by a dose of chicken soup for the soul, twitched the corner of his mouth slightly.

What he was more concerned about was that the player who posted this video had the surname “Xiao” and was called “Xiao Fengchao”; the voice was also very familiar, and he wondered what relationship it had with that “Little Xiao” in the ne ending.

“I always feel that this so-called ‘Eerie Investigation Bureau’ is very likely related to reality…”

“Yang Yundong, Chang Xu, and the ‘Jiuzhou’ Guild—these people and forces with strange behavioral patterns, could the federal official organization backing them be this ‘Eerie Investigation Bureau’?”

Qi Si bought nine more clearance videos by “Xiao Fengchao”, rounded out his points, and then exited the store interface.

The dark background dissipated like mist, and the exquisitely carved bronze table solidified before his eyes like a sand painting.

Qi Si sat on the antique high-backed chair, and the full-length mirror reflected his image with black hair and red eyes.

The influence of the Identity Card seemed to be irreversible; despite the 【humanoid evil spirit】 card being inexplicably unbound, his appearance still exuded a touch of eerie strangeness.

The golden branches on his right side flowed like a stream, and two golden leaves hung down tremblingly, flickering on and off.

Qi Si tilted his head slightly, gazing quietly at the two leaves, lost in thought.

Before the 【Sea-God Scepter】 evolved to a certain degree, he did not plan to rashly contact the Balance Church again.

This church had grown wildly for so many years; the existence of “Gods” and the like were just symbols to them, a banner used to incite the rabble.

How much reverence the power-holders actually had for “Gods” was completely unknown.

When the time was ripe, it wasn’t impossible for them to just push someone out to impersonate “God”.

Qi Si did not believe in ideals and faith; he only believed in interests.

He intended to impersonate Qi and direct the Balance Church to help him do some things, but he had no doubt that once people saw the powerlessness and weakness of “God”, it would inevitably lead to crazy counterattacks, cannibalization, and blasphemy.

“The cards in my hand are still too few. Although Liu Yuhan can guide the public opinion on the Forum, her own strength is always problematic, and her means to deal with threats in reality are not much more than mine.

“Moreover, once something happens to me and my control over her declines, she would likely be the first to come and finish me off…”

“However, given her courage and moral values, in all likelihood she wouldn’t do anything to me directly, at most posting on the Forum to expose what I’ve done.”

Qi Si thought of something funny, curled his lips, and reached out with his fingertips to touch Liu Yuhan’s leaf.

The moment he touched it, he gained a god’s-eye view, looking down from a high vantage point at Liu Yuhan’s every move.

Liu Yuhan was in an instance called “Strange Island”, surrounded by dim light; he could vaguely see it was a cave painted with sacrificial murals.

A bonfire was burning in the center of the cave, flickering and jumping, looking like it could go out at any moment.

Six people were lying or sitting haphazardly around the bonfire, both men and women, who looked like players.

Liu Yuhan was sitting in the spot closest to the firelight, head bowed quietly and demurely, holding a notebook and writing and drawing.

By her leg, there was, shockingly, a wooden little finger wrapped in thin threads.

“Encountered the Puppeteer again? Truly a persistent ghost…” Qi Si narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

The next second, a flash of lightning seemed to cross his mind, and his expression turned strange in an instant.

He stared at his inventory, looking back and forth over and over again.

Over and over, there were only four items; the icon of the white finger bone was nowhere to be seen.

Where is the 【Evil God Finger Bone】? Where did such a big 【Evil God Finger Bone】 of his go?

Could it have been left behind in the “Shuangxi Town” instance?