Chapter 13 The Key and the Plan

After exchanging pleasantries with the other party, Feng Bujue received the key to Room C of Tianzi. Then, the four men bid farewell and left.

[Name: Key]
[Type: Plot Related]
[Quality: Common]
[Function: The holder and their team will gain ownership of Room C of Tianzi at the Cang Ling Inn]
[Can it be brought out of this script: Yes]
[Remarks: Even if you don't have the key on you, as long as someone on the team has it, you can freely enter and exit the room.]

"Oh, this thing seems to be able to be converted into a puzzle card after the script is over." Feng Bujue read the item description. "Si Yu, you should keep this. You are the strongest, not easy to die, and your inventory space is definitely more spacious than mine."

"Hey, I have the highest level here, and I'm a professional! It looks like I'm stronger, right?" Atobe interjected.

Feng Bujue changed the subject directly, "Speaking of 'professional'... I have a plan that I need your help with."

"Huh? What plan?" Atobe asked.

"Remember the beauty who commented on my martial arts when we were on the first floor of the inn?" Feng Bujue asked.

"I remember. That Meng Jiu mentioned... her surname was... Murong?" Atobe replied.

"At that time, I was carefully listening to the discussions of the surrounding NPCs. From their words, I learned... this Miss Murong should be a role similar to 'Baixiaosheng' (a know-it-all)." Feng Bujue stroked his chin and said, "In other words, she has a lot of information."

"You want me to go to her and get information?" Atobe asked.

"That's right, after all, you are a professional." Feng Bujue replied, "Use your professional skills to strike up a conversation with her. After you get to know her, you can say that you are new to the martial world, and you don't understand many things, and you want to ask her some questions."

"The 'professional' I'm talking about is a professional gamer, you're talking about a professional gigolo!" Atobe shouted.

"Don't worry, I'm not asking you to sell your body, just to communicate." Feng Bujue ignored the other party's complaints, and continued, "The interaction between players and humanoid NPCs can also refer to item d of the player interaction regulations—[Regardless of gender, any behavior that is judged by the system as sexual harassment, including the intention to implement it in the manner listed in items B and C for this purpose, will be restricted by the system, and the player's intention will not be transformed into the actual action of the character. Repeated attempts will be forcibly disconnected, and the player's citizen ID will be permanently added to the system blacklist, becoming a monitoring object with high priority.]

I have also checked the specific rules regarding this aspect of interaction between players and humanoid NPCs and monsters, and found that the restrictions are even stricter than the interaction between players. Players can still make a certain degree of intimate gestures under the voluntary circumstances of both parties, but there will never be any erotic interaction between players and virtual characters, and NPCs will never have any action in that regard towards you. However, it does not rule out the possibility that NPCs may have a good impression of players.

In short, you can go and strike up a conversation boldly, and you will definitely not be taken advantage of by the other party."

"Hey! That's a beauty! Not a burly hunk! Don't make it sound like I'm making a profit! Not being taken advantage of is a loss!" Atobe replied, "Speaking of which... you can recite the regulations word for word... and explain the setting that you can't fall in love in different dimensions so clearly... what kind of mentality is this!"

"Oh... well, because I hugged a female NPC in a script before. Of course, it was a very pure, Platonic hug." Feng Bujue replied calmly, "After that, I thought of a question... where exactly is the boundary of this setting? So I took some time to read some related game instructions."

"Hey, wouldn't it be much easier for us girls to seduce male NPCs?" Bei Ling said jokingly, "Anyway, we won't be harmed."

"I said... girl, you have to respect yourself..." Xiao Tan turned his head and looked at her intently.

"How are you going to seduce them?" Feng Bujue said, "Subjective behavior will be directly prohibited by the system. As for objectively, even if you want to show some leg or give some benefits, you can't change the appearance settings in the script, right?"

"Well... that's true." Bei Ling nodded, while glancing at Xiao Tan with a teasing look. Actually, judging from the tone of her response, she didn't know the answer to this question, maybe she just wanted to see how he would react.

"Okay, Jin Fugui (lit. rich Jin), what do you say? Are you going or not?" Feng Bujue asked.

"I warn you, it's okay to call me a gigolo..." Atobe didn't finish his sentence.

Feng Bujue interrupted, "Okay, gigolo, what do you think? If this Sect Leader was not yet married, I would have gone myself. With my glib tongue and my ability to pester, there is no reason for a failed negotiation. But in the current situation, it would definitely cause Miss Murong's resentment if I went to strike up a conversation. You can't let Xiao Tan go, right? It would be good if this kid didn't leak our own information."

"It's just a negotiation, why can't we girls go?" Si Yu asked.

"Hahahaha!" Feng Bujue laughed five times, and then said, "Good idea, I have always wanted to know, between two women who don't know each other, one of whom obviously has some kind of purpose, to approach the other... what kind of opening line should be more appropriate at this time."

Si Yu stared at Feng Bujue, and was silent for a long time before saying, "Okay... let the professional go."

"Okay, you guys don't sing a duet anymore, I can give it a try." Atobe replied weakly, "But I declare, if that NPC ignores me, then I can't do anything."

"How~ can it be~ Why is Gigolo-bro belittling yourself?" Feng Bujue said in a drawn-out tone, "A handsome and fair-skinned appearance like yours is bound to have a certain market among older unmarried women in ancient times. Even if she doesn't like you very much, but facing a person who looks relatively weak and has no outrageous behavior, she will at most politely say that she has no common language with you, and ask you not to harass her anymore."

Feng Bujue paused, and then said, "And if... Miss Murong thinks it's okay to chat with you, then it's easy." He stood up and said, "If my judgment is correct, this NPC should at least know most of the settings in this martial arts world like the back of her hand. And what is common sense to her is already very valuable information to us. Therefore, you can ask her as much as possible about this kind of well-known information that only we don't know."

"Got it, I will act according to the situation." Atobe replied, "At this moment, that Miss Murong should still be sitting in the inn lobby. You made such a sensation just now. If the guests of my broken sword teahouse go downstairs now and greet her in front of everyone, it will definitely be difficult for her to answer. I think I'll change the timing."

"Yeah, that's what I meant too." Feng Bujue said, moving the key on the table in front of Si Yu. The latter took it silently and put it into her inventory.

"Let's talk about the second thing." Feng Bujue said, "That's the Six Swords of Flower Shadow... Now they need me, this person with 'Congenital Pure Yang Inner Energy' to help..."

"Although we have temporarily delayed it for a day, tomorrow, when that Lin Chang teaches you the martial arts mental cultivation method, and Su Shang needs you to protect her when she's channeling the skill, it will definitely be exposed that you have no inner energy." Bei Ling said, "Solving this problem is far more important than collecting information, because once this matter is messed up, our situation will be quite bad. At that time, even if the Six Swords of Flower Shadow do not directly become hostile to us, they will have no reason to continue to protect us, let alone give us any benefits."

"That's right... this is very tricky." Feng Bujue responded, "At this stage, I have thought of two ways. First, I strongly recommend..."

"Kill Su Shang?" Si Yu immediately said what Feng Bujue was thinking.

"Yes!" Feng Bujue replied decisively, "And it's best to make it so that the corpse can't be found, and there's no way to investigate, so that others don't even know whether she's dead or alive. This way, at least before the duel, no one will mention the matter of channeling skill."

"You're too cruel..." Atobe looked at Feng Bujue with a rather surprised expression, "The last time I saw you killing zombies, I vaguely felt that you have the temperament of a murderous maniac... Now, in order to keep a secret, regardless of whether the other party is a good person or a bad person, you will kill them..."

"When you play Mario, before you step on the Goomba, have you considered whether they are good or bad?" Feng Bujue asked.

Atobe was stunned for a moment, and frowned after a few seconds, "This is not the same thing, right?"

"Tch..." Feng Bujue turned his head away with a displeased expression.

"Changing the subject." Si Yu commented succinctly.

"Humbug failed." Bei Ling continued.

"I also object to killing people casually. First of all, let's not talk about whether the other party is likely to have Boss-level strength... Even if we can kill her, we can't guarantee that we won't be discovered during the fight and when disposing of the body." Xiao Tan actually put forward a constructive suggestion.

"There's no need to worry about this. If I'm determined to kill her, I have a way. After killing her, I'll cut her into six pieces on the spot, wrap them in rags, put them in my inventory, and no one will know..." Feng Bujue continued.

"It's already been planned to this point..." Atobe was sweating, thinking about what kind of person the guy in front of him was.

"However... what you said also makes sense." Feng Bujue changed the subject and said, "You reminded me. I saw a post on the forum that said that the style of players' actions in the script may affect future growth. For example, players who follow certain morals and principles in the script and try to do good deeds generally have better endings in the plots they clear. Players who have been doing evil in the script and are cruel and cold-blooded in their actions may encounter more depressing plots. Not only that, this post also said... The skills, items, etc. that players randomly get are all related to the player's style of action."

"Heh... Devil Bat Phantom Shadow..." Xiao Tan's first reaction was to say the name of the skill that Feng Bujue gave him.

"Unfathomable Maniac..." Bei Ling also continued.

Feng Bujue said, "If this setting really exists, it can indeed explain a lot of the situations I encountered when I was solo queuing..."

"Is this also a kind of... non-explicit attribute?" Si Yu said.

"Perhaps... From this, it can be inferred that players who are regarded by the system as Lawful Good and players who are Chaotic Evil will definitely be very different in the later stages of the game. Not only skills, equipment, titles... their game experience along the way will also be different." Feng Bujue said thoughtfully, "In this way... we should not kill innocent people indiscriminately. Within the scope allowed by the main quest, we should try to stand on the side of justice and do chivalrous things. Lest you and I be regarded as villains by the system."

At this time, Atobe asked, "Then what is your second method?"

"If you can't kill, then injure." Feng Bujue said, "If Su Shang suffers a certain degree of injury, making her temporarily unable to channel that Ming You Jue Qi Guan (name of a skill), won't this matter be delayed?" He looked at everyone, "Game time is limited, and we can't possibly stay until the fourth day, so... as long as we delay it until the evening of the day after tomorrow, this matter will be mixed up forever."

"This method is okay." Bei Ling pondered, "Um... but how to injure that Miss Su needs to be discussed carefully."

"That's right... First, we definitely can't openly injure her, we can only do it secretly." Feng Bujue said, "Second, we can't let the other party suspect that we did it afterwards." He crossed his hands in front of his chest and shook his head, "If Bei Ling hides in the distance and takes a cold shot at her, it can be easily done. But that way, the other party will definitely suspect us. Because only we weirdos are likely to carry out a sneak attack in a way that they can't explain at all."

"Even if we use methods that other martial arts people would use to assassinate, we would still be the most suspected, right?" Xiao Tan said, "You just agreed to the Six Swords on this matter today. Within a day, Su Shang was assassinated and injured... To be honest, even if someone happened to attack her during this time, we would be the ones suspected."

"I have thought of a way to assassinate her that will not be suspected." Feng Bujue said, "It is also the most ideal way... mass poisoning."

"Your thinking..." Atobe was speechless. Feng Bujue's way of thinking was too jumpy, and he always suddenly came to an outrageous conclusion.

"The reason is simple." Feng Bujue explained, "In order to cover up that we want to assassinate Su Shang, we will assassinate everyone at the same time. In this way, on the surface, she just encountered a poisoning incident that was not specifically aimed at her."

"Heh... heh... 'Try to stand on the side of justice and do chivalrous things'..." Xiao Tan repeated Feng Bujue's words just now with squinted eyes and a twitch at the corner of his mouth.

Feng Bujue pretended not to hear, and continued, "In order to pursue a realistic effect, we can also collectively poison ourselves in the incident to cover people's eyes and ears."

"You're going crazy..." Atobe said.

"There's no way, in order to ensure that a lie is not exposed, you have to fabricate an even bigger lie." Feng Bujue said, "At this moment, we have fallen into this situation... You have to understand that our current safety and freedom are all built on the basis of lies. As long as one thing is exposed, a series of illusions will collapse.

If we want to gain a foothold in this town, or rather... 'survive', we must do our best to pretend and hold on to the end. Every minute and every second, we have to find a way to maintain the mysterious and powerful image of this Broken Sword Teahouse sect. If the people outside know our true strength, it will basically be difficult to continue playing this script. In that situation, the only way I can think of is to hide in the mountains. The premise of going to the mountains is that we can leave this town alive, no... this street."

"That's right." Si Yu also said, "In terms of combat ability, as long as three NPCs with the same strength as the woman last night come, we must use firearms, otherwise we will be wiped out after a while." She looked at Feng Bujue, "At this stage, if Jue-bro's behavior is exposed, then in the eyes of people in this world, he is a fraud. Then... almost everyone may fight with us."

Feng Bujue continued her words, "In short, if we really start a full-scale war, and those heroes understand our routines and know the basic characteristics of firearms, we will be dead."

"Either pretend to the end, or become a public enemy..." Xiao Tan pondered.

"It's like during World War II, a Jew strayed into a Nazi party. The only way to get out alive is to make the people around him think he is also a German." Feng Bujue shrugged.

"Let's talk about the poisoning..." Atobe said.

"If successful, we can achieve our goal without being suspected, or rather... even if the Six Swords have a little suspicion of us, but it's not the kind of feeling that can be confirmed." Feng Bujue replied.

Xiao Tan thought as he said, "Um... As long as there is poison, anyone can do the poisoning. If only a few people or even one person are poisoned, the suspected target will soon be locked on... the person who has a conflict of interest or a grudge against the poisoned person. However, if it is a large-scale poisoning that seems to have no specific purpose, it is difficult to lock down the suspect. As long as we don't show any flaws when we commit the crime, and we are also poisoned afterwards, then..."

"Okay, three questions." Bei Ling couldn't help but interrupt, "First, where can I find a poison that won't kill people, and still has dozens of servings? Second, how can I evenly poison the people in the inn? Third, how can I successfully implement the first and second points while ensuring that I am not discovered and that there are no traces to be found afterwards?"

Feng Bujue said, "Good question." He tilted his head and spread his hands, "I have no clue at all."

"Then why are you so excited?"

"That's why I said it was the 'most ideal way', as for how to achieve it..." Feng Bujue said, "We still have a day and a night to think of a way."