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墨書 Inktalez
Until Gu Ze ran into the bushes, disregarding the vines, Xu Nuan realized that the previous scene was not just her imagination.
Initially, when she discovered Xie Huai lying on the ground, Gu Ze had glanced over at the nearby bushes with an expression that seemed normal, so she didn’t think much of it. Later, when Gu Ze spoke to her, he would occasionally glance at those bushes as well, but it was subtle enough that she paid it no mind. When Xie Huai woke up and approached them, she noticed a moment of stiffness in Gu Ze, which she attributed to him being cautious of Xie Huai. Now it seemed that Gu Ze was actually wary of the person hidden in the bushes. Meanwhile, she had completely overlooked the movements in the bushes and was solely focused on suspecting Xie Huai.
It turned out that Gu Ze was deliberately putting on a show for the person in the bushes. Did Xu Hang notice this too?
As Xu Nuan lay on the ground, she couldn’t help but glance at Xu Hang’s expression and found him equally surprised. Suddenly, it dawned on her that Gu Ze was intentionally allowing their suspicions to surface in order to draw out the person lurking in the shadows.
No one could match this man’s cunning.
Sitting on the ground, Xu Nuan sighed and suddenly realized that Gu Ze had one injured hand and couldn’t move it. It was dangerous for him to enter the bushes, so she quickly got up to help.
Meanwhile, the others noticed that the vines of those carnivorous flowers had ceased their attacks and retracted. The parrot that could mimic Xie Huai's voice suddenly attempted to take flight but was caught by Xu Hang, who swiftly tied its leg with a rope.
Xie Huai sat dazed on the ground, confused about what was happening, while Deng Yinyin looked equally astonished.
As Xu Nuan rushed into the bushes, she took only a couple of steps before realizing that Gu Ze had already returned with something in tow.
Gu Ze brought back a man using his uninjured hand. The man appeared to be around forty years old, with disheveled hair and a scruffy beard. He wore thick glasses that obscured his eyes, making him look like a mad scientist.
Xu Nuan quickly deduced why Gu Ze could easily subdue this guy with one hand. The middle-aged man was only about five feet tall—shorter than Xu Nuan—and he was extremely thin. His white Tactical Jacket hung off him like a sack. His skin looked abnormal—neither white nor black nor yellow—with a strange hue that resembled someone who might be poisoned or someone who had undergone botched cosmetic surgery.
At this moment, the middle-aged man was being dragged away by Gu Ze while he struggled repeatedly.
“Who are you? Let me go!”
“Is he behind this?”
Xu Nuan observed that the middle-aged man was acting erratically, possibly just a poor Player driven mad by the game.
"You must be one of the First Batch of Players. Regardless of whether you’re behind this or not, you might still be useful."
Seeing Xu Nuan rush in alone and approach, Gu Ze, who had been in a good mood, intended to pat Xu Nuan on the head using his height advantage. However, he realized that his hand lacked strength and couldn't lift at all. So, he tightened his grip on the mysterious and somewhat deranged middle-aged man even more.
Xu Nuan twitched the corner of his mouth but didn’t notice Gu Ze's intentions.
The three of them stepped out of the bushes and found the three left outside suddenly getting along well, fiddling with a parrot that was struggling and squawking for help in Xie Huai's voice.
"Ah! Help! Someone is trying to kill the parrot!"
As Xu Nuan emerged, he twitched his lips again.
The middle-aged man, held tightly by Gu Ze, suddenly began to struggle desperately, shouting out loud.
"Don’t you dare hurt my precious! You bad people, get away!"
Xu Nuan thought this deranged middle-aged man resembled a child throwing a tantrum—quite immature.
Xu Hang and the others stopped fiddling with the parrot and turned to look at the middle-aged man.
"So, you did all this?"
Xu Hang's face was dark, and upon closer inspection, there was a hint of embarrassment. In fact, aside from Gu Ze, the others had suspected Xie Huai. Although Xie Huai wasn’t completely cleared of suspicion at that moment, they had just noticed that when Gu Ze chased after him, the vines had suddenly ceased their attack. They vaguely felt they were being toyed with.
"What are you talking about?"
The middle-aged man appeared foolish again, and with that demeanor, he was somewhat convincing.
However, Xu Nuan knew very well that in this game, one should never judge by appearances; those who seemed ordinary were often the ones who would stab you in the back.
"Hmm?" Xu Hang was extremely dissatisfied with the person who was struggling in Gu Ze's hands, and he kicked over the mechanical parrot as a threat.
"If you don't behave, I'll take this Mechanical Parrot apart and throw it into the lake."
"Uh, it's just a Mechanical Parrot. How could that possibly threaten him?"
Deng Yinyin disapproved of this childish method, glancing disdainfully at the middle-aged man.
"Let's change to something else..."
"Please, you bad guys, don't hurt my precious!"
Before Deng Yinyin could finish her sentence, the middle-aged man interrupted her excitedly, desperately expressing his affection for the Mechanical Parrot.
Deng Yinyin was taken aback and glared at the middle-aged man in anger, demanding, "Who are you?"
"Hmph, I won't tell you!"
The short man with an odd complexion and a thin frame suddenly turned his head away childishly, presenting only the back of his head to Deng Yinyin.
Deng Yinyin gritted her teeth, wanting to strangle that parrot. But then she realized it was a mechanical parrot and that she couldn't strangle it.
Xie Huai, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up.
"This parrot is deliberately acting so convincingly and can even mimic my voice. This man's identity is anything but ordinary, and these vines are likely under his control."
Deng Yinyin awkwardly retracted her hand, which had been reaching to grab the parrot, feeling quite embarrassed as she looked at Xie Huai.
The middle-aged man suddenly turned his head again, chuckling in a way that sent chills down their spines.
"You are all selfish fellows, quick to suspect your own companions, yet none of you have seen through my tricks."
His sinister tone made everyone's faces flush with embarrassment and anger, before he reverted to his erratic demeanor.
"Haha, what I create is truly useful! It's so much fun to activate the mechanism before the System does—hahaha, so amusing!"
"You created this?"
Xu Nuan, always focused on the key points, stepped forward and began rummaging through the pockets of the middle-aged man's oversized coat. Just as he reached out to scratch her like a claw, she pulled out a particularly intricate remote control that was only as big as a finger.
Standing up, Xu Nuan didn't notice that the middle-aged man had suddenly gone quiet. She held the remote control up to examine it closely, feeling uncertain.
"Could it be that he uses this to control those man-eating flowers?"
"Not sure. Don't mess around."
Xu Hang warned Xu Nuan, urging her to restrain her eager hands. They were already exhausted and couldn't withstand another wave of attacks.
Xu Nuan managed to control her fingers just in time, refraining from pressing any buttons.
Xie Huai looked at the middle-aged man with an expression that could only be described as that of a killer.
"Why aren't you hurrying? I was counting on you to explain things to me!"
The now-silent middle-aged man merely stared blankly at the ground, ignoring the distant Mechanical Parrot.
Xie Huai was extremely frustrated; anyone would feel uneasy when their teammate suspected and questioned them. Now, with this seemingly guilty party acting like a fool, his anger boiled over.
Just as Xie Huai was about to confront the middle-aged man and demand answers, Xu Hang stopped him.
"Xie Huai, it's our fault; we misunderstood you."
Xie Huai halted his movements, speechless, and stepped aside.
Xu Hang felt somewhat awkward and glanced at Gu Ze, who was still gripping the middle-aged man tightly.
"His identity is suspicious; let's take him with us."
Gu Ze nodded in agreement.
Unexpectedly, Xie Huai, who had initially intended to remain silent, suddenly spoke up, his gaze piercing as he looked at the quiet middle-aged man.
"You are the Designer of this game, aren't you?"
Gu Ze, Xu Nuan, and Xu Hang were all taken aback simultaneously.
The three of them were aware of what a Game Designer entailed and had already guessed the man's identity. They had refrained from directly asking out of concern that the other two might overthink things. They planned to take the middle-aged man along and gradually extract information from him. Little did they know that Xie Huai would be the one to reveal it first.
Xu Nuan quickly looked at Gu Ze, her eyes questioning how Xie Huai knew.
Gu Ze shrugged, probably having guessed it.
Their usual behavior had not been hidden from Xie Huai and Deng Yinyin. If one had a bit of sense and combined it with the strange occurrences in the game, it could be figured out. Especially since there were always people trying to get close to Xu Nuan or causing her trouble under the banner of Qin Yaojie, their words often hinted at matters related to the game.
"What Game Designer?"
Deng Yinyin's loud voice resurfaced.
"The designer of this game? Why would a designer play this game? Wouldn't that mean they are cheating? Is there even a point in playing?"
What Deng Yinyin expressed was Xu Nuan's long-held thought. She did not understand why Qin Yaojie would return to play this game. As a designer, shouldn't they be sitting in the control room? If a designer came to play the game, what was their purpose? Who was sitting in the control room?
Xu Nuan exchanged glances with Gu Ze and Xu Hang, preparing something to calm Xie Huai and Deng Yinyin when the previously quiet middle-aged man suddenly spoke up.
"No, no, designers must come to play this game," the middle-aged man's voice was sinister; if one listened closely, it was filled with fear and terror.
"It was that person's request," he suddenly trembled all over. "That terrifying man, it was he who demanded we come in! It was him!"
The middle-aged man began to struggle violently, shouting.
"Let me go! I want to leave! This is not the game I wanted! I want to escape!"
Xu Nuan believed that this man had been stimulated in some way, causing him to alternate between normalcy and madness. She was very interested in what he referred to as 'that terrifying man.' As she walked closer to him, she intended to crouch down and have a chat.
"Nuan," Gu Ze said disapprovingly, but seeing the determination in Xu Nuan's eyes, he reluctantly backed down. "Be careful."
"Mm."
Xu Nuan nodded and then crouched down to meet the gaze of the struggling middle-aged man.
"What is your name?"
Xu Nuan's voice was soft and gentle, a tone that Gu Ze had longed for but never experienced. He couldn't help but glare at the middle-aged man.
Meanwhile, Deng Yinyin seemed somewhat indifferent.
"He's a lunatic; how could he possibly give his name?"
However, to everyone's surprise, the middle-aged man suddenly stopped struggling and stared intently at Xu Nuan, causing Gu Ze, who was holding him, to feel quite tense.
Xu Nuan smiled, waiting for the man's response, but she didn't expect him to say right away,
"I've seen you before."
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