Chapter 52

Chapter 52: Speculation and Inquiry

By now, night had fallen in the Innocent Realm. The slightly damp air carried a hint of chill, and occasionally, nameless insects that only emerged after dark let out a few low chirps that lingered long in the silent woods.

The moonlight was somewhat cold...

Mo Tan's eyes were cold as well. The shift in his personality and mindset had him thinking in ways completely different from before. All the concerns that occupied his Lawful Good persona—such as the safety of Cole and Little Ai—were cast aside in an instant.

For Mo Tan at this very moment, only one thing demanded his attention: the instant disconnect he experienced when the game first became accessible today, followed by nearly five hours (in-game) of blank time.

"I was in the 'Lawful Good' state when I prepared to log in." Mo Tan irresponsibly borrowed the Alignment Grid to distinguish his various personalities, pondering, "Then I got disconnected the moment I entered the game. When I came to, there was already a blank of about five hours—which translates to roughly two and a half hours of real time at the normal ratio..."

While thinking, Mo Tan's hands weren't idle either. As he organized his pack, he was also swiftly swapping out his equipment. After all, he had looted quite a haul from the heretic stronghold in Pato City earlier—the few pieces he'd equipped before logging off last time were far from everything.

There were still many items that required careful comparison against his own circumstances before he could decide on a loadout...

"Although none exceeded three hours, each disconnect lasted a different amount of time." Mo Tan muttered softly to himself while changing into a pair of tall boots, then began applying poison to a short dagger with a dark blue blade: "I can't rule out even longer blank periods in the future..."

After sheathing the dagger upside-down in the leather scabbard at his waist, he took out the [Hundred Faces] mask, which had finished its cooldown, and began adjusting his appearance.

[It's basically as clear as day now—there's another personality I don't know about that's also in this game, and it's very likely already created a character. But I have zero other intel...]

Pressing the mask onto his face, making himself look like a human male with a somewhat pale complexion, Mo Tan draped back over his shoulders the white robe he'd bought in the city earlier.

[What a challenging detective game this is~]

A slightly roguish smile returned to his face as he strolled from the woods onto the path, his expression utterly relaxed and carefree—he even hummed a little tune.

He had already adjusted his emotions and completely cast aside his earlier troubles. After all, only fools would fret over problems that couldn't be solved in the short term—such behavior accomplished nothing but adding needless worry.

Perhaps in his other two personality states, he might act a bit foolish, but that would never happen to the man he was right now.

Even though the current Mo Tan was the one most concerned about the "blank time," he had absolutely no intention of wasting effort on futile pursuits.

Problems that can be solved are not worth worrying about, because all you need to do is just do them.

Problems that cannot be solved are equally not worth worrying about, because even if you worry, it won't make a damn difference.

This is not a mindset of giving up or letting things drift downstream—in fact, it's quite the opposite...

【I will definitely find you, though perhaps not right now, but that's fine... the game has only just begun~】

The young man on the path staggered along as if drunk...

Yet he always felt that he was the most sober person of all.

...

【Tan Mo】

Health Points: 220/220

Stamina Points: 210/210

Acuity Points: 400/400

Profession: Deceiver Level 5 (127/900); Thief Level 2 (140/150)

Faith: None

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Talents: Chaos, Guile, Sophistry, Unbeliever

Base Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 15, Intelligence 14, Constitution 11

Civil Attributes: Eloquence 12, Charm 12, Knowledge 11, Leadership 4

Combat Attributes: Guile School Level 9

Skills: Confuse, Tempt, Hide, Steal, Cut Throat, Reverse Spin Stab, Escape, Kidney Strike, Swift Stab

Lockpicking Level: 9

Special Equipment: Hundred Faces

Weapons: Evil Ice Shard, Ritual Dagger

Shoulder: Grey Gauze

Upper Body: Snake Skin Armor

Lower Body: Dark Weave Leggings

Feet: Comfortable Light Shoes

Appearance (No Attribute Bonus): Belted Robe

PS: To avoid taking up too much space, more important equipment will be introduced separately in the future, or introduced immediately upon acquisition like the Hundred Faces mask.

In short, this is the current attribute and equipment status of the character Tan Mo. From this, it can be seen that his strength has improved considerably in a short period of time. Although he still doesn't rank among the top-tier players due to factors like online time, equally, there are very few people who could obtain a Unique Epic special equipment like 'Hundred Faces' from the very beginning. All in all, it's passable~

By the way, this character currently has the highest Lockpicking Level among all players, bar none.

While walking toward Karan City, Mo Tan browsed through his friend messages. As for who the sender was, there was no need to elaborate... after all, this character of his had only one friend so far—Futaba.

"Complaints, nonsense, nonsense, nonsense, probing, nonsense, probing, complaints..." Mo Tan shook his head and sighed as he browsed through the massive amount of information: "Doesn't this guy have anything nutritious to say?"

Nevertheless, Mo Tan still pondered how to reply after reading through all that 'nonsense.' The reason was mentioned before—he didn't want Futaba to gradually lose patience with a certain 'game' between them, otherwise he would lose a lot of fun~

'If you're really that bored, why not use the time to think about how to find me, or accumulate some advantages for yourself, instead of blabbing on like some gossipy old woman all day about nonsense that might expose your weaknesses~'

Mo Tan sent Futaba a message dripping with malice, never having been particularly courteous toward his partner—especially since their last "meeting," his attitude had only grown worse.

A few seconds later, he received her reply.

"So how exactly would you determine whether those weaknesses are real or fake? Couldn't I just be deliberately misleading you?"

Completely unlike her earlier trash talk, Futaba—knowing she was conversing with him in real time—showed no sign of being rattled, and instead attempted to unsettle Mo Tan in return.

"Because I'm smarter than you." Mo Tan replied without a second thought.

"Oh? I'd love to know where that confidence of yours comes from—stupid test machine? Or stupid self-assurance?" Sitting by the campfire at the Fenrir base, Futaba watched Ned, who looked somewhat uneasy in the distance, while firing back at Mo Tan at lightning speed.

She'd felt inexplicably restless when logging into the game today, though she couldn't pinpoint why—just an overall discomfort, as if something bad was about to happen.

"Don't bother with such transparent probing." Mo Tan was somewhat surprised by her recklessness, then, as if a clever idea had just struck him, added: "You should know our positions right now aren't exactly equal."

Futaba paused for a moment, then quickly caught on—Tan Mo must be referring to the fact that she still didn't know what he looked like. When they'd met in the Public Space that day, she hadn't hidden her appearance, but Black had come pixelated. So despite both knowing each other's in-game aliases, the information they held still wasn't symmetrical.

At least for the "game" between them, Futaba was at a disadvantage.

But...

"Doesn't matter—the fun of a game has never been about fairness~"

Reading Futaba's reply, Mo Tan was briefly stunned, then let out a foolish chuckle after a long pause. His expression sobered slightly as he replied: "I'll give you a chance. I'll make a few random guesses about you—if I'm right, you answer one of my questions; if I'm wrong, I answer one of yours. How about it?"

"Not fair!" Futaba shot back instantly. "If you guess something like my gender being female, wouldn't I be at a huge disadvantage?"

"If you deliberately lie or simply refuse to answer, there's nothing I can do about it, right? So would you consider trusting that I'm not that classless, and agree to this proposal?"

Futaba was left speechless, about to fire back a fierce refusal while making it clear she didn't believe for a second that this guy had any class, when another message suddenly popped up...

"Besides, the fun of a game has never been about fairness, has it?"

Her own words from earlier had been thrown back at her verbatim.

A minute later, Mo Tan—still strolling along at a leisurely pace—received a brief reply.

"Fine! Go ahead and guess."

Mo Tan let out a whistle, then replied without hesitation: "I guess you're a woman."

"@#¥%&@!!!!!"

A string of garbled text popped up in the blink of an eye, carrying within it the barely contained fury of a certain girl.

"Then I won't hold back—may I ask what color underwear you're wearing today?"

Mo Tan asked this question with a heart as calm as still water, a query that could easily be reported as sexual harassment...

"SCREW OFF!!!"

Futaba, who had never possessed any ladylike reserve to begin with, replied with what seemed like flames shooting from her eyes, cursing aloud at the same time.

Not far away, Ned was startled. He had no idea what had gotten into this usually quiet, sweet-faced squad member. In the brief moment he'd been lost in thought, Futaba, who had been sitting obediently by the campfire, had suddenly leapt to her feet and shouted at the air.

But Ned only glanced back once and didn't pay much mind to the slightly neurotic girl. He was in a foul mood himself and had no energy to deal with such matters...

"Hmm, so you're not wearing any~ Then my next guess: your alignment is 'Chaotic Neutral'!"

Futaba stared at the latest message from the other party, standing frozen as if struck by lightning. After repeatedly confirming that what she'd just said was absolutely "SCREW OFF!!!" she felt a chill run down her spine.

"Chaotic Neutral—yes, or no?"

Futaba stood there with a dazed expression for a long while before barely managing to calm herself down. She then gritted her teeth and replied, "Yes."

"Question: Are you also under 160 centimeters in real life?"

"Is being under 160 centimeters a crime?!"

Being led around by the nose like this felt absolutely terrible. She should never have agreed to deal with that shameless, classless, neurotic bastard!!

But backing out now would mean losing!

Her slender brows furrowed slightly as Futaba gnashed her teeth in thought, not even noticing that Yinna, who had just returned to the base, was greeting her.

Then Mo Tan's message popped up again: "Is your class Berserker? The kind that's especially powerful when excited but a bit lacking in intelligence?"

"No!" Futaba replied immediately. "My turn to ask—what's your true name?"

Two seconds later.

"So you're giving up this question?"

From the text alone, Futaba could imagine the utterly vile tone of that guy's voice, along with the look of someone staring at an idiot.

Revealing one's true identity was the greatest taboo for any hacker. Futaba hadn't actually expected the other party to answer honestly anyway—that last remark was less of a "question" and more of a counterattack against the earlier underwear-color inquiry. But...

"I'll give you one more chance."

Mo Tan actually said that.

Futaba immediately calmed down and rapidly typed with her mind: "Your race and class."

Clearly, that guy was deliberately giving her a chance to reduce the information asymmetry. Though somewhat annoyed, her best choice right now was still to quickly ask some substantive questions.

"That counts as two questions, but whatever—Half-Elf, Level 2 Thief, and Level 5 Deceiver."

Mo Tan replied with apparent generosity, then immediately continued with his third round of guessing: "You take your mother's surname."

After Futaba raised a more constructive question, Mo Tan's speculation began to take on a more serious tone, which also conveyed a certain signal.

He was getting serious too~

"Wrong, I don't take anyone's surname." Futaba replied just as generously, as if she had already repaid the favor of Mo Tan answering two questions at once earlier, but only she knew that this answer was completely inconsequential. She immediately followed up: "What's your approximate location?"

"The small road between Pato City and Karan City." Mo Tan quickened his pace: "I'm guessing you're just like me—the only person on your Friend List is yours truly."

Fully in the zone now, Futaba chuckled: "Wrong, I'm not as antisocial as you. Besides you, there's another guy on my Friend List~"

Mo Tan stopped in his tracks, scratched his hair helplessly, and muttered with a low laugh: "So it really is just Tan Mo and Hei Fan as friends... What a shame, that 'other guy' is me too~"

Of course, he wouldn't reply with that. And by now, Futaba's next question had already arrived.

"What's your average daily playtime?"

Mo Tan narrowed his eyes slightly and answered very obediently, "truthfully": "Basically online all the time. If I don't reply, it's just because I can't be bothered with you. Don't mind it."

That statement was super mind-worthy, wasn't it!!!

Futaba puffed out her cheeks in frustration, waiting for him to continue.

Then a full five minutes passed before she received a new message, which read...

"The place you're in has slave trafficking."

Futaba was, of course, completely baffled, then shrugged and replied: "I don't know, what do you mean?"

"If you don't know, go find out. Reply to me once you have a conclusion~" Mo Tan replied instantly.

"Hey!" Futaba shouted in exasperation: "Didn't we agree that I just had to answer?! What do you mean 'reply once you have a conclusion'!?"

But this time, no matter how many messages the girl sent, he never replied again.

On the small road

"Anyway, you've got nothing better to do~" Mo Tan lay casually by the roadside, plucking a red leaf beside him, a smile in his eyes: "Might as well do me a favor..."

Chapter Fifty-Two: The End