Chapter 271 175 Paulson Street (15)
The guest room area of the manor main building, fourth floor, Pei Zuocheng's room.
Four players gathered here, sitting on the sofa in the guest room, discussing the news that had just been spread with serious expressions. Although the four of them still had doubts in their hearts, they had more or less heard some rumors about the cheaters, but because of the technological power of the Infinite Company behind the Infinite City, they did not believe the news that cheaters had appeared in the Infinite City, especially during the guild competition.
Although there was no cheater among these four players, because the four of them did not stay together all the time, all four of them believed that even if there was no cheater among them, this time was enough for them to contact the cheater.
But the four people were able to discuss here at this moment instead of fighting because they could each prove that the others were in their sight and had not left, such as Wei Mingchen and Alba. Wei Mingchen had just seen Alba in the lobby on the first floor when he was asking the servants in the manor about information about side quests. Just as Alba said, she was basically at the fountain near the garden, where there were many servants in the manor and the possibility of side quests was also very high, so it was reasonable for Alba to appear in that location.
As for Alba, she had the same opinion about Pei Zuocheng. Wei Mingchen was located in front of the main staircase in the lobby on the first floor, with no obstructions in between. From Alba's perspective, she also saw Wei Mingchen. Wei Mingchen's activities had never left the lobby on the first floor. Alba thought that he might want to take on all the side quests that could be completed at one time, and then carry them out. This was indeed the case, and this was why Wei Mingchen basically did not leave the lobby on the first floor.
Pei Zuocheng and Su Wen. Although Pei Zuocheng is easily regarded as a suspect because of his ability to move, Su Wen is the only one among the four people who knows about this. From the previous discussion, Pei Zuocheng and Su Wen have reached a cooperation, so Pei Zuocheng did not use his ability to get rid of the others. Instead, he and Su Wen investigated the clues of the main task. During this period, the two did not separate, and the information they obtained was basically the same.
Although Wei Mingchen and Alba, Pei Zuocheng and Su Wen were able to testify against each other and guarantee each other's identities, they could not confirm each other. So even though no one said it openly, suspicion had already begun to arise between the four of them. Wei Mingchen and Alba suspected Pei Zuocheng and Su Wen, and vice versa.
In this situation, Wei Mingchen's situation is more serious, because he is the only one among the four people who knows Cao Yuan's identity. Cao Yuan is not only a member of his guild, but also his friend. So unlike others, he must find the truth. However, the chain of suspicion between the four people is gradually reducing the possibility of finding out the truth. Wei Mingchen knows very well that in the case of cheaters, whether it is true or not, the chances of finding out the truth by himself are very slim, so he must find a way to dispel the suspicion between the four people, and before that, he must ensure that Alba, who seems to be on the same front with him, can really stand on the same front with him.
So Wei Mingchen fell into deep thought. He had to find a way as soon as possible to first confirm whether Alba was a cheater. It would be best if he could determine the identities of all three people at once. But no matter what method he used, there were several most important conditions.
First, Wei Mingchen's intention cannot be discovered, because once Wei Mingchen's plan is seen through, even if there is a cheater among the four, or they are connected with the cheater, they can perform according to Wei Mingchen's intention to cover themselves and hide their identities. Therefore, no matter what method is thought of, it must be reasonable.
The second is to prove it. This step is both simple and difficult. The simple aspect is that as long as the four people can be within sight of each other, it can be done. The difficulty lies in how to get the four people together. After all, the tasks that both parties need to complete are in conflict.
Thirdly, Wei Mingchen needed an insurance measure to prevent himself from being unable to win a battle that broke out after the cheater's identity was exposed. It was true that Wei Mingchen was confident in his own strength, but he was far from being arrogant. Cheaters would definitely rely on special means, so Wei Mingchen needed a means to kill the cheaters while preserving himself to the greatest extent. Wei Mingchen was different from the other three players. His guild had enough points in the event to advance, so in the current copy, Wei Mingchen had the option to leave the copy directly. He only needed to give up the points earned in the copy. But the other three people, Pei Zuocheng and Su Wen, had no extra points to give up, so there was no way to exit the copy directly. And Alba was even more so. As a lone wolf player who was inexplicably pulled into the event copy, she had no points in the first place. Secondly, because of the particularity of her entry into the copy, she could only leave the copy after the copy ended or all other players died.
Although Wei Mingchen was not clear about Alba's situation, he believed that Alba should be no different from the other two and definitely did not have enough points to give up. So based on this, Wei Mingchen believed that this insurance measure must be able to wipe out ordinary players including himself. As the last insurance, he, who had enough points, could quit at any time without worrying about being killed. And if other players could survive with this level of insurance, they must have used cheating methods. Then, based on the game video after the event, Wei Mingchen would be able to find the cheater. Even if it was not him or them who killed Cao Yuan, it must be related to them.
Based on these conditions, Wei Mingchen thought calmly and quickly, and actually came up with a solution, as well as two safety measures that could be used as a last resort.
The solution was simple. In this situation, if they acted separately, neither side would feel at ease, and suspicion would not be resolved. So if they acted together, they could easily solve the problem. The four of them could supervise each other, and there was no need to worry about who could secretly pass on information. The rationality of acting together was also answered after Wei Mingchen's explanation.
"As the main quest throughout this dungeon, the location it leads to must occupy a large proportion of this dungeon. Based on the current map distribution, I speculate that the area to complete the main quest should be around two-thirds. In an area of this size, the number of side quests must be sufficient, so we can act together. Alba and I will help you complete the main quest, and you will help us complete the side quests. Among so many side quests, there must be not only those that conflict with the main quest, but also those that can speed up the progress of the main quest. So no matter how you look at it, it is the wisest choice for the four of us to act together now. If we encounter cheaters, we still have the strength to fight, and we may even win the battle."
"But how can you be sure that the cheaters are not much stronger than us? If that's the case, wouldn't it be easy for the cheaters to wipe us out if we gather together?"
Pei Zuocheng raised his doubts, but soon got answers from Wei Mingchen.
"It's easy, because of Cao Yuan."
"Cao Yuan? What do you mean?"
Su Wen seemed to be thinking about something, and answered on behalf of Wei Mingchen why he raised this possibility.
"Because Cao Yuan was the only one left alone at the time. He was not with other players, nor with any important NPCs, such as Magnus, Ha Jin, Jerome, etc. If I remember correctly, when Ha Jin checked Cao Yuan's wounds, he said that Cao Yuan was killed by a sneak attack. In this case, it proves that the person who killed Cao Yuan was not sure that he could defeat him in a head-on confrontation, let alone kill him, so he used a sneak attack."
After listening to Su Wen's statement, Pei Zuocheng also understood what she and Wei Mingchen meant.
"That is to say, in this case, we have a rough guess about the cheaters, that is, they are not strong, so they chose to use a sneak attack. According to Ha Jin's examination of Cao Yuan's body at the time, he had two kinds of wounds on his body, one in front and one in the back, which means that there may be two murderers. The fact that it took two people to kill Cao Yuan is enough to show that their own strength is not that good."
"I have the same opinion," Alba continued. "I can probably confirm that even if they used cheating methods, the cheaters are not that strong. If the four of us act together, they should not be able to do anything to us."
"Why do you say that?"
"First of all, Ha Jin's inspection at the time said that there were no signs of fighting on Cao Yuan's body, nor on the ground or walls around him. According to the mechanism of the event dungeon, the strength levels of the players entering the dungeon are different, but the overall average level is about the same. So considering this situation, if normal means were used, even if Cao Yuan was a fool, he would not be unable to react at all. After all, in this kind of dungeon, causing damage to other players will also gain some points. There were no signs of resistance around Cao Yuan, including on his body, which means that the cheaters were much stronger than Cao Yuan when they killed him. So they must have used cheating methods."
"And there were at least two people who killed Cao Yuan. This means that the cheaters could not guarantee that one person could kill Cao Yuan quietly before he found out and resisted. That's why two people acted at the same time. In other words, even if cheating methods were used, the strength of a single cheater would not be too high, at least not too strong."
"Infinite City is a product of Infinite Company, so once there is a large-scale anomaly in the data, it will definitely be discovered. Therefore, the modification of cheating data will not be too exaggerated. In addition, due to the screening method of Infinite City's system, in certain circumstances, such as our current event copy, only people with similar strength can be matched together. Therefore, the strength of these cheaters when entering the copy should be similar to ours. In a one-on-one situation, the chance of winning may be high, but it is not 100%."
"That's right. No matter how many cheaters there are, if they want to kill the four of us at once, they will need at least eight people or more. Cheating data of this scale will definitely be detected by the Infinite City."
"So Wei Mingchen's idea is indeed the best option at the moment. I agree."
The rationality of Wei Mingchen's proposal was quickly recognized by the other three people, and the four of them decided to act together. At this time, after confirming that the four of them would act at the same time, Wei Mingchen also finalized the last two secret methods as insurance, which were two ways to wipe out the whole group.
First, before Cao Yuan got into trouble, the house they saw in the garden was initially thought to be a storage room by Wei Mingchen, but after a field investigation, he discovered that it was actually a greenhouse. When Wei Mingchen passed by, he used his ability to check the situation of the other three players who had died there before, and found that they were eliminated immediately after entering the greenhouse, so the greenhouse should not be entered. The reason why Wei Mingchen chose to do the side quest was to find out if there was a side quest that could explain the situation in the greenhouse, and he really found it.
The text of the side quest related to the greenhouse is very long, but to put it simply, the greenhouse is a restricted area in the dungeon, and you will die if you enter it. The only way to enter the greenhouse is to find a specific plant and take it into the greenhouse. Even so, the time you can enter the greenhouse is limited, and it is only three minutes.
Wei Mingchen had already completed this side quest, so the only item that could avoid the instant death effect was also consumed. Therefore, whoever enters the flower room will die. According to the underlying data of the event copy, only Wei Mingchen can use the system's built-in invincibility time when exiting the copy to stand inside for more than ten seconds. This is the safest way, but there is only one difficulty, which is how to find a way to trick others into entering, which requires further design.
The second way to wipe out the whole group is related to Jerome. That is, Wei Mingchen needs to seriously injure or kill Jerome directly when all four people are present. In this case, the guy who follows him, who has no six-dimensional value but is marked as a neutral unit by the system, will most likely hunt them down. According to the experience gained from previous copies, this type of unit is mostly a hidden boss or a powerful neutral unit, and this type of unit can only be dealt with using the copy mechanism. Judging from his behavior, it is mostly related to Jerome. So as long as Jerome is killed, there is no way to use the related mechanism. The difficult way to solve this problem is how to kill Jerome under the eyes of that guy, and this also requires detailed countermeasures.
But at least he had an idea. While thinking, Wei Mingchen continued to talk with others.