Half Immortal

    Seeing Gao Ming's expression, Yan Wei knew he had guessed right.

    These two are not like other starting players who know nothing. From the very beginning of entering the dungeon, Gao Ming has been quite calm, and there has been no major problem with his direction. And he is also the first player to propose that "ladder" is an abstract game-breaking concept. Gao Ming didn't even linger on all the stairs of the Promenade Hotel like other players. It seemed that he was certain that "stairs" were not a concept at the physical level from the very beginning.

    Although Sun Shi is not as high-quality as a brilliant breakthrough, the "life-saving thing" he just said is enough to show that Sun Shi is not an initial player.

    The surrounding corridors are quiet and eerie, with portraits and mirrors intertwined, reflecting a bleak light. Yan Mingguang put away the blade and sat on the side in silence, not responding to what Yan Wei said, as if he had really inspired Yan Wei.

    Gao Ming pushed his glasses nervously.

    Yan Wei said very casually: "Whether it's a virtual game or this kind of life-and-death copy, as long as there is a sequence before and after starting the level, it is normal to have old players. But I I remember Lou seems to have said that after you pass the level, you will enter the next floor? Then why are there old players on the first floor? You seem to...don't want us to know?"

    His light brown eyes moved, his thin lips were slightly raised, and his voice was clear and clear.

    Yan Wei seemed to be chatting with friends. After speaking, he gracefully picked up the napkin at the table and wiped the corners of his mouth with some vegetable sauce. In the end, he actually had to take out the wet tissue paper he didn't know how many packs he had with him, and wiped the corners of his mouth again.

    Gao Ming looked at him, and gradually relaxed his vigilance.

    For a moment, Gao Ming sighed: "Actually, Yan Mingguang saw it, I don't say that you will guess it sooner or later. Yes, Sun Shi and I are not the initial players, we are descending players. "

    Yan Mingguang raised his eyes, a trace of surprise flashed on his calm face.

    Yan Wei blinked, her thick eyelashes trembling slightly. He murmured: "...downstairs player?"

    "Yes. If we can get out of the dungeon alive, you will find that the building is actually a complete world, it even has a living area and an entertainment area for players to live, where life and even the world we entered The same. You can also use your points to redeem everything and achieve everything... I'm going to say far, the most important point is that the building is very balanced."

    "There are three concepts under the rules: lift the building, drop the building, and gamble. Under the rules of the building, the number of floors does not have to be climbed one by one. You can go directly over several floors - this is called lifting the building. And why Sun Shi and I are in the first floor copy is because of descending the building. Starting from the second floor copy, in addition to the ascending stairs, there is also a descending stairs in the building. If the player finds the descending ladder before death, he can also leave the instance alive, but it is regarded as a failure of the instance, and he needs to lower the floor and re-pass the level. The difficulty of a high copy."

    Yan Wei sneered silently.

    Even if you drop the floor, it is an old player who is stronger than the current floor player, and the difficulty of descending and raising the floor will increase, which is very unfriendly to players who are already on this floor.

    This so-called balance is actually the law of the weak.

    He glanced at Yan Mingguang, this time Yan Mingguang said, "So you failed to climb the building and appeared on the first floor?"

    Yan Mingguang's tone was very light, and his voice was warm and cool, Gao Ming did not dare to neglect, and quickly nodded: "Yes, I am actually a second-tier player. Although there are two or three copies of Experience, but my strength is very ordinary. I failed when I climbed the third floor. I was lucky to find a ladder to escape. I was dropped two floors and appeared here. Sun Shi should be the same, he may have good luck with the previous dungeon He also brushed the props, so he escaped with the props in the studio."

    He frowned: "The gambling building...?"

    Gao Ming took off his glasses, rubbed his eyebrows, and said very worriedly: "Starting from the second floor, if the difficulty of the dungeon is much higher than the difficulty of the current floor - this is usually because there are too many players descending the floor. Or brought by the player who lifted the building, and the player in the building appraisal copy has the ability to survive, the copy will be broadcast live in the entertainment area of ​​the world inside the building, and the game will be opened."

    Betting? …interesting.

    Yan Wei smiled silently.

    Gao Ming continued: "If a dungeon starts live broadcasting and betting, players in the world in the building can choose to use points to bet on the success of the dungeon. Players who win the bet can choose the next one. The right to the dungeon. The player who loses the bet will be passively placed in the dungeon that the least people choose - which is usually the hardest. Casinos are very fascinating, but there are also many players who lose the bet because the dungeon is too difficult and die. on this shortcut."

    "What about that floor...?"

    "That's why I don't want you to know." Gao Ming wiped his old-fashioned black-rimmed glasses with a frown, "You should hear the beep now."

    Before Gao Ming finished speaking, the sound of Lou's reminder sounded in Yan Wei's mind.

    [Because you already know the existence of the world in the building, the remaining functions of the information panel will be opened for you in advance. Players can now enter the exchange mall, casino interface, etc. from the information panel. ]

    [It is detected that the player discovers the rules of the building in advance in the first floor, opens the mall, and the casino panel, and the player gets a reward: 1 point for body index, 1 point for perception, and 1 point. At the same time, in order to balance the copy, the difficulty of the copy has been increased. ]

    [It is detected that the difficulty of the dungeon exceeds the limit, the current dungeon passively opens the casino, and players in the dungeon with the existing casino interface can also participate in the bet. ]

    At this moment, the same prompt sounded in the minds of all players.

    [Please note to all players that the difficulty of the instance has been increased. ]

    [The location of the instance is the Promenade Hotel, and the duration of the instance is shortened to three days. There are currently two days left for the dungeon. If the ladder is not found before midnight tomorrow night, it will be regarded as a failure to clear the customs. The limit of ghosts in the dungeon is reduced, and the possibility of death triggering is increased. The probability of props dropping is relatively high, and the customs clearance rewards are doubled. Please all players look for clues and try to survive. ]

    The world in the building, the center of the entertainment area.

    In the gambling building area, the lights are dazzling and flickering, and the three-dimensional projections on the open square are suspended in the noisy mid-air-that is the current situation of the live copy of the dungeon which has been greatly increased in difficulty due to various reasons.

    In the screen, the skeleton kissing the idol scratched the player's heart, the pale-faced baker used the player's liver to make a blood-red cake, and the corpse soaked in water... Cruel and **** scenes came one after another.

    Players in the building who were not in the dungeon walked under various stereoscopic projections, frantically searching for difficult dungeons worth betting on.

    Someone suddenly fell to the ground with a sad face, and muttered: "I lost the bet... I'm done, I was assigned to the dungeon of the ninth-level difficulty!? I'm just a fifth-level player... I'm dead... Why do I bet that the players in this dungeon will pass the level? No one can pass this kind of difficult dungeon!!"

    Suddenly, an open space in the square slowly fluctuated, the air above it trembled, and a new copy of the live broadcast was projected.

    —that is actually a very difficult first-tier dungeon!

     "What's going on? A new high-difficulty dungeon has opened the casino? Or is it the first floor?"

    "Is this because too many players descended the building to increase the difficulty, or did some newcomers know all the rules of the world in the building before the dungeon was released, so the balance mechanism was triggered?"

    "Is it because there are too many players down the stairs? I know that player! It's called Sun Shi, I have cleared the first level dungeon with him before, he is not the initial player. But there are too many newbies in the first dungeon, After the difficulty is raised, the whole army is usually wiped out..."

    The man who lost the bet just now rushed over with bright eyes, and without hesitation, put all the remaining points on his body on this copy, saying: "I will press this copy Failed! Novice dungeon, how could it be successful... I can switch back to a simple dungeon right away!"

    “…”

     After Gao Ming explained everything, he looked at the difficulty of the dungeon with some resignation.

    But Yan Wei, who he kept talking about protecting and taking care of as much as possible, was not troubled, but instead studied the information panel alone with great interest.

    For a moment, Yan Wei frowned slightly, turned on a button on the information bar, and said: "I turn on the privacy button of this casino, and the projection of the casino will never cut to me again. perspective, and saw Mosaic's face as well?"

    His eyes are bright, his expression is casual and natural, and his good-looking face is full of challenge.

    Gao Ming looked at it for a moment, then nodded: "Yes. But... If we clear the level, players who have not turned off their privacy rights will also get feedback from the casino. You close it like this, although no one I'll know about your situation, but it won't do any good."

     "Why is there no benefit? Gao Ming, when the difficulty increased, Lou rewarded me with a point. What do you think this point is used for?"

    Gao Ming was stunned for a moment, and after a few seconds, he was suddenly enlightened by Yan Wei's reminder: "This is a hint for players to bet!"

    "Abandoning the feedback of opening the live viewing angle, and at the same time letting those who watch the projection know nothing about us - knowing nothing means they won't bet," Yan Wei smiled, " The odds of a successful customs clearance will naturally be high, and at this time I bet on a successful customs clearance, and the feedback I receive will be much better than simply turning on the projection.”

    He put his only point into the casino interface, and without hesitation, he chose the option of "player's perfect clearance" and placed a bet.

    Yan Mingguang also did all this without saying a word.

    Afterwards, Yan Wei patted Gao Ming on the shoulder with a calm expression, and said to him: "Thank you for telling me this. I promise, I have brought not only an increase in difficulty... but also a turnaround. times the reward.”

    The young man stood up slowly and gathered up the sides of the trench coat. There was a shallow smile on the corner of his mouth, and the increase in difficulty that made all the players disgusted did not affect him at all, but instead made his eyes dotted with confidence.

    "Let's go," Yan Wei raised an eyebrow, "Let's go to the hospital."

    Gao Ming suddenly couldn't accept Yan Wei, who had such a big contrast, and until the three of them arrived at the hospital, Gao Ming still didn't come back to his senses.

    Afterwards, after watching Yan Wei enter the hospital with his own eyes, Gao Ming pretended to be a food delivery man and communicated with the security staff for a while. After getting the information, Yan Mingguang knocked out the security guard, Yan Wei put on security clothes, and chatted with a new intern for a while.

    It didn't take long for Yan Wei to perform everything from the deliveryman to the security guard to the intern to the doctor in the archives, and finally retrieved the needed clues in the archives.

    Gao Ming was stunned: "You, you always pretended...?"

    He was a little ashamed: "My class got an axe..."

    Yan Wei just smiled silently, printed out the retrieved file, and said slowly: "The copy time is compressed, we only have thirty hours left, we have to Hurry up and find the key. There is indeed a major clue in this hospital. The owner of the hotel, who is also the painter of all portraits, saw a patient in the psychiatry department of this hospital ten years ago. "

    The printer rustled and printed a medical case and a medical staff file.

    Yan Wei first picked up the case from ten years ago.

    Beside him, Yan Mingguang slowly spread out the painter's self-portrait they got. The case is side by side with the self-portrait, and the man in the self-portrait is exactly the same as the photo of the patient in the case!

    "The painter came to this hospital ten years to see a mental illness," Yan Wei turned to the next page, describing his condition, "He said he had a mental disorder. He originally He is very talented in painting, and the portraits he draws have innate aura. Coupled with his pursuit of perfection, every painting is very delicate. He made a lot of money from portraits, and even started a career because of it. He has a promenade hotel dedicated to displaying paintings. But one day, for some unknown reason, his aura seemed to be exhausted, and he could no longer draw the eyes that made the portraits come alive…”

    The painter then became manic.

    He came to the hospital to see a doctor, took various medicines, and even hired a professional psychologist at the hospital to give him psychological counseling every few days. But it didn't seem to be of much use. Instead, his psychological barriers became more and more serious, and he could no longer draw vivid eyes.

    Yan Wei turned the case record to the penultimate page, and the diagnosis on it also stated that the patient's condition was getting worse and worse.

    But on the next page, which is the last page, ten years ago on July 3rd, the painter recovered.

    "This..." Gao Ming looked surprised, "The day before, the condition was getting worse, but the last page was completely healed? This..."

    Yan Wei had a vague guess in his heart: "He suddenly found a way to draw eyes. And, on the same day, on July 3rd ten years ago, the psychiatrist who saw him disappeared. already."

    Yan Wei scrolled down again - that is the information of the doctor who saw the painter.

    In the upper right corner of the document, there is a photo of the ID card. The woman in the photo is wearing a dangling braid, a white lab coat, and a gentle smile.

    And she looks…

    It is the only complete portrait of a female doctor in the studio on the top floor of the hotel!