“Players?” Feng Bujue repeated the question, a smile spreading across his face. “What players? We don’t play any online games.”

“Er…” Hearing Jue-Ge’s response, Xiao Tan couldn’t help but glance sideways at him, thinking, “As expected of Jue-Ge… maintaining a straight face in a world connected by an online game, telling an NPC who may not belong to this online game world, and who is super-dimensionally aware of the essence of their existence, that he doesn’t play online games…” He really didn’t pay much attention to pauses when thinking, “In a way… this should be the legendary ‘lying through one’s teeth, triple edition’…”

“You know what I’m talking about,” Hirata glared at Jue-Ge. “You think… denial will work?”

“Heh…” Feng Bujue replied with a smile, “Then… assuming… and please note, it’s just assuming… assuming we are the so-called ‘players’ you speak of, what do you intend to do?”

“Consciousness_attack.” In less than a second, Hirata replied coldly.

Upon hearing this, Wang Tanzhi’s expression immediately changed.

“Sorry, I’m only in fourth grade; I don’t understand the word before ‘attack.’” Feng Bujue reacted swiftly, immediately stepping forward to block Xiao Tan, and quickly said.

“Is that so…” Hirata sneered, “But… it seems, your companion understood.”

“Tsk…” Feng Bujue thought unhappily, “This guy’s ability to read people isn’t bad…”

At the same time, Xiao Tan thought with great regret, “Crap… I forgot my elementary school student setting, and I’ve dragged Jue-Ge down again…”

Two seconds later, Feng Bujue replied to Hirata with a normal expression, “Oh? Is that so… Maybe it’s because… he’s good at English.” As he said this, he even looked back at Xiao Tan and asked, “Hayatarō, what does that word mean?”

“Consciousness.” Xiao Tan replied succinctly.

“Hehe…” Feng Bujue smiled after hearing this and looked back at Hirata, “So, you’re planning to use some kind of mental attack on us?”

“Yes.” Hirata replied.

“May I ask… why?” Feng Bujue asked, “Just because we are the so-called ‘players’?” He felt a lot of internal pressure, but his tone and expression remained relaxed as usual; when he said the word “players,” he didn’t forget to raise his hands and make “air quotes.”

“Isn’t that reason enough?” Hirata retorted, “Does ‘our’ hatred for ‘you’ need an explanation?”

“You might as well explain it,” Feng Bujue was trying to prolong the conversation with the other party to gather more information.

“Think about it from another perspective, Neko Saburo… or rather… Mr. Player, I don’t even know your real name,” Hirata said, “If one day, you found out that you were just a character imagined by someone else, how would you feel?” He paused, then continued, “When you realize… your origin, appearance, personality, experiences, etc., etc… are all made up by others; your every word and action is a fantasy depicted by another person with a pen or keyboard; and all the joys, sorrows, and pleasures you experience… those feelings that you thought were real are all instilled in you by others…”

“Huff…” Hirata sighed, “At that point, what’s left for you? Is there even the slightest thing on your entire being, from the mental to the physical level, that truly belongs to ‘yourself’?” He shook his head and forced a bitter laugh, “Heh… I can tell you that when you figure all this out… all that will remain in your heart is an endless, unfillable emptiness and sorrow… only ‘hatred’ can offer you some solace.”

“Ha! Hahahahahaha…” Feng Bujue suddenly burst out laughing upon hearing this.

His laughter was so strange and maniacal. Frankly, when I typed this line, I didn’t know what he was going to do next…

“I thought you were going to say something…” Jue-Ge said, shrugging after laughing for a while, “Don’t you think… that your own statement is a paradox?”

“What did you say?” Hirata’s face showed a hint of doubt as he asked in a deep voice.

“Let me put it this way…” Feng Bujue spoke slowly, “Suppose… as you said, your way of thinking and your every word and action are all arranged by others, then… at this moment, your questioning, thinking, dissatisfaction, and hatred towards your own existence… are undoubtedly arranged by the person who created you. In other words… it’s not you who are questioning, it’s not you who are thinking, and you don’t have any dissatisfaction or hatred… these are just things given to you by a creator with a pen or keyboard; your rather depressed emotions and behaviors… are essentially no different from complaining.”

“At most, the difference lies in the purpose…

Some behaviors are intended to provoke thought, some behaviors are intended to make people laugh, but in the end… these are not your ‘purpose.’ According to your statement, you never have any ‘purpose.’ Because everything about you ‘from the mental to the physical level’ is instilled by others.”

“This…” Hirata was already wavering upon hearing this…

“Conversely…” Feng Bujue’s narration continued, “We can make another assumption, for example… when the ‘creator’ turns their attention elsewhere, you will become an individual capable of independent thought and self-awareness. In that case, you have to admit that a part of your ‘existence’ does belong to yourself… perhaps your fate is controlled by a higher-dimensional being, but you are not one hundred percent involuntary.

Your relationship… is like the relationship between the creator and mortals in religion. You can complain that life treats you like a bitch, but you can’t say that your whole life is lived like an actor.”

“No… that’s not right…” Hirata’s eyes were filled with surprise and uncertainty, and he muttered words of denial, but he couldn’t further refute Feng Bujue’s theory.

“Although I don’t know what you guys are talking about… it feels amazing…” At the same second, Xiao Tan leaned close to Jue-Ge and whispered.

“To be honest… I thought about what he just said a long time ago,” Feng Bujue also turned his head and said to Xiao Tan in a low voice, “I’ve already stopped struggling with it.”

“So you used to struggle with it…” Xiao Tan said, “Wait… before that, would ordinary people think about that kind of question?”

“Ah–”

Just as they were talking, Hirata-kun, not far away, clutched his head and screamed loudly… falling to his knees.

In an instant, his outline began to fade; the color was disappearing from his body at a speed visible to the naked eye, looking like… he was being erased by correction fluid…

“Calm down, Hirata-kun.” At this moment, another voice suddenly rang out, “Don’t fall into the other party’s logical trap.”

Upon hearing these words, Hirata shuddered, and the fading stopped…

The next second, Feng and Wang turned their heads in the direction of the voice.

When they saw the speaker’s appearance clearly, both of them were shocked.

“Penguin Assistant…” Feng Bujue looked at the person who came and said with a frown, “You’re not dead…”

Penguin Assistant’s face was ashen: “Of course, I’m not dead.” As he spoke, he walked over slowly, “Did you think… Kuma Yoshi could kill me?”

“Oh…” Jue-Ge seemed to understand something in an instant, raising his eyebrows, “No wonder…”

Xiao Tan beside him was also thinking rapidly, muttering softly: “I see, that’s right… Kuma Yoshi couldn’t have committed such a beheading murder…”

“My ‘death’ was just an illusion.” Penguin Assistant walked all the way to them and continued, “And the purpose of creating this illusion was to test the time period when ‘you two’ controlled ‘these two bodies.’”

“It seems… you’ve come to a conclusion…” Feng Bujue’s expression was cold, and his tone became full of hostility.

“Although I can’t say it’s one hundred percent accurate, but…” Perhaps because of his race, Penguin Assistant rarely seemed to smile, even though he was speaking in a rather smug tone, his face was still unreadable, “…it’s pretty close.”