Chapter 276 The incident happened

Chapter 276 The incident happened

Chapter 276 The incident happened some time ago, when Han Zu had just left the bushes.

The people in the manor were "reset" by the system of the Infinite City. They were not impressed by the thing flying high in the sky and wrapped in a beam of light. They quickly returned to their respective positions, including the owner of the manor, Magnus, and his son Ha Jin. Little Jerome had some confusion on his face, but for some reason, he said nothing.

It didn't take long before dinner was prepared. During the preparation, Magnus returned to his study, and Ha Jin stayed with Jerome. Jerome always wanted to go to Magnus' study, so Ha Jin had no choice but to send Jerome back to Magnus' study first.

"I'm sorry everyone, I need to take Jerome to my father first."

After saying something to the four players gathered in the banquet hall, Ha Jin took Jerome away.

Alba wanted to go to Jerome's room alone. At present, the man who was suspected to be an insider of Infinite Company was most likely to be there, but the other three people would not let her go alone. If she insisted on going, it might arouse the suspicion of others. Alba needed to find a feasible way or an excuse that would not be so easily suspected.

Alba thought of Wei Mingchen. This person had been almost always with her after Cao Yuan was killed, especially when the four of them had acted separately before. For some unknown reason, Wei Mingchen had been staring at her. Alba thought that Wei Mingchen must be suspicious of something, and this was something that could be used, so Alba decided to take a risk and give it a try.

While Pei Zuocheng and Su Wen were questioning the servants in the banquet hall and trying to get information, Alba picked up a neatly folded napkin from the table next to her, touched her lips with her fingernails twice, and then wrote something on the napkin. During this time, Alba glanced at Wei Mingchen. Sure enough, he was always observing her movements, so the little action of secretly writing something on the napkin was naturally discovered.

Alba took advantage of the situation and after finishing writing, she walked around the banquet hall calmly, seemingly observing its structure. When she walked to Wei Mingchen, she slowed down, approached Wei Mingchen, stuffed the small napkin in her hand into Wei Mingchen's pocket, and then glanced at him.

Wei Mingchen was a little confused. He originally thought that Alba wanted to pass some message to others through the servants of the manor, but he didn't expect that the message was passed to himself. Alba shouldn't be idle at this time to do something useless, so she must want to tell him something, probably very important. So Wei Mingchen found a chance to look at what was written on it, and it said: "Pei, Su?"

After reading the message, Wei Mingchen put the napkin back into his pocket, walked to the fireplace in the banquet hall, threw the napkin in calmly, destroyed it, and then looked at Alba. Alba was on the other side of the banquet hall, standing in front of a decorative painting on the wall. Alba turned her head to look at Wei Mingchen, then waved to him secretly. Wei Mingchen also walked over and sat on a chair near her, observing Pei Zuocheng and Su Wen while communicating with Alba.

"What do you want to say?"

"They both left the manor once."

Alba spoke briefly, then left her seat and sat back in her original seat. When she looked at Wei Mingchen again, she was secretly excited. It seemed that her little plan was successful.

Wei Mingchen fell into deep thought because of Alba's words. In his thinking, he actually did not believe that the other three players, including Alba, were actually cheaters or accomplices of cheaters. It was just that because Alba basically acted with him, her suspicion would be smaller, but only smaller, and the possibility could not be completely ruled out.

But Alba's words made Wei Mingchen feel that Alba should also be suspicious of others, even himself. This behavior is understandable and a normal reaction. Now think about it, what Alba wrote on the napkin just now actually meant that Pei Zuocheng and Su Wen were highly suspicious. This makes sense because among the remaining four players, only two of them had left the manor.

Although the manor only occupies one-third of the complete map on the map given by the system, in fact, based on the clues obtained so far, it is not necessary to leave the manor to complete the main quest, and there are no side quests inside the manor that require leaving the manor. Although Pei Zuocheng and Su Wen are trying to track Jerome's whereabouts, this statement is not completely tenable.

In the Infinite City instance, some specific NPCs have their own activity ranges. When they don't accept a mission, they usually don't stay in one place. In order to ensure fairness in the instance, these NPCs usually have a large activity range, even after they have accepted a mission. If it were normal, their actions might not be a big deal, but now the situation is special, and Wei Mingchen began to doubt the real motives of Pei Zuocheng and Su Wen for leaving the manor.

In Wei Mingchen's opinion, although cheaters are powerful, they should mostly keep a low profile, so they need some meeting places to exchange information with each other. Under this assumption, leaving the manor where there are many eyes and ears is obviously the best choice. Although this alone cannot prove that Pei Zuocheng and Su Wen are cheaters or their accomplices, leaving the manor has indeed increased Wei Mingchen's suspicion of them.

Alba informed him at this time, so she probably knew something. However, since four people were present, it was not convenient to say it. So Wei Mingchen decided to find an opportunity to talk to Alba privately to see what information they each knew.

Soon, Ha Jin returned to the banquet hall and talked with the players. It would take about an hour to prepare dinner. During this time, they could go back to their rooms to rest for a while. After dinner was ready, Ha Jin would ask the servants to notify them, and then the four of them left the banquet hall together.

Just when the four of them arrived at the guest room area, Wei Mingchen suddenly mentioned that he had left some mission props in the guest room and he needed to go back to get them, because the four of them would act together next. Alba, out of "suspicion", decided to act with Wei Mingchen. Although Wei Mingchen's room was not in the same location as the other three players' guest rooms, the actual distance was not far, only a staircase and a corridor away. With the two of them supervising each other, Pei Zuocheng and Su Wen did not say much, but just told the two of them to hurry up.

"No problem, it will only take five minutes. Of course, if you two are worried, you can go together."

"Not really."

Wei Mingchen's invitation did not seem to be just a courtesy. He seemed very confident that he had nothing to do with the cheater. It was this frank move that reduced Pei Zuocheng's suspicion of him.

After leaving the two, Wei Mingchen walked up the stairs, and Alba followed closely behind him. A minute later, they arrived at Wei Mingchen's guest room. After opening the door, they walked in and started talking.

"Time is running out, so I won't waste any more words. I suspect that the two of them are probably related to the cheater."

"How to say?"

"When they left the manor, it was when the two of us were hiding in Jerome's room. Do you remember the man who came in? He might not be an NPC. The man arrived some time after we went in. If you say it was a coincidence, it's not very convincing, and he was obviously looking for something with a purpose."

"Indeed, if they hadn't triggered the hidden NPC's defense mechanism, they might have succeeded. But one thing is strange. The man didn't seem to know that we were in Jerome's room at the time."

"When the man came to Jerome's room, we were just about to leave. If the man hadn't knocked on the door first, we might have left. Now it seems that the man was testing whether there was anyone in the room, as if he knew our whereabouts very well."

"You mean you think they revealed our whereabouts? But that doesn't mean they have any connection with the cheaters."

"There are two points. First, when Cao Yuan died, there were only four players left, namely you, me, Pei Zuocheng and Su Wen. So where did that guy who was obviously not an NPC come from? Second, it is the defense mechanism of the NPC without facial features. Anyway, with my strength, I did not discover the existence of the attack in advance, let alone dodge it in advance. That guy's reaction was too fast. Logically speaking, his strength should be much stronger than any of us. According to the matching mechanism of the Infinite City event copy, do you think this is possible? If it is not because of the use of cheating, I can't think of any other way."

Wei Mingchen thought about it and felt that what Alba said made sense. Even Wei Mingchen did not notice any attack before the shovel was embedded in the wall. Moreover, the defense mechanism was not designed for normal players. This was why Alba and himself were not attacked when they were searching in Jerome's room before.

When Infinite City was first released, it actually had an anti-cheating function. Unlike other entertainment games, the anti-cheating system of Infinite City added a special defense mechanism to the NPCs in the game. Once abnormal data is detected entering the scanning range, this defense mechanism will be activated. In the beginning, these small details were written in the declaration at the time of registration, but because cheaters have only appeared now, many players have forgotten that the defense mechanism is not aimed at normal players. Fortunately, Wei Mingchen and Alba are not one of them.

Alba took advantage of this and made Wei Mingchen completely believe in her. Now Wei Mingchen can be sure that Alba has nothing to do with the cheater. In this way, Alba can achieve her goal of communicating with the insiders of the Infinite City with the help of Wei Mingchen.

"So what are you going to do now?"

"I haven't made up my mind yet, but I'm planning to leave this dungeon. Regardless of whether they are cheaters or not, it's probably not a good idea to stay here any longer. If I remember correctly, you should have enough points, right? Can you exit the dungeon now?"

"Yes, why are you asking this suddenly?"

"If we are unfortunate enough to run into a cheater, I hope you can do me a favor."

"What's the deal?"

"If we run into cheaters and cannot avoid fighting, I will hold them back. I hope you will leave the dungeon directly."

"Do you want me to report the cheaters directly to the authorities using the video recording after I get out?"

"Yes, once we meet, the process video will record the identity of the cheater. As long as the official takes action, they can be dealt with. If you act quickly enough, you may be able to get the official to terminate the dungeon before I am killed."

"I see. Compensation points. That's what you're thinking, right?"

"You can say that. After all, my points are not enough, and in this special period, going out to do missions is not a wise choice. We should go back. If we delay any longer, it will arouse their suspicion."

"Ah."

Wei Mingchen picked up some things he found in the manor and returned to Pei Zuocheng's room with Alba. Wei Mingchen was indeed not lying. Those things could indeed complete some side quests, but the person who collected them was not Wei Mingchen, but the dead Cao Yuan.

On the way back, Wei Mingchen noticed that Pei Zuocheng and Su Wen seemed to be having a conversation, but after they entered the room, the conversation came to an abrupt end, which further deepened Wei Mingchen's suspicion of them. Coincidentally, at this time, Su Wen proposed to find Magnus to continue the main task, and Wei Mingchen also proposed in a timely manner that he was going to do some side quests and use up all the props in his hands.

"But in this case, we will have to split our forces into two groups again. In this case, won't we be easily attacked by cheaters?" Su Wen said.

"We can keep a certain distance, so that no matter what goes wrong on either side, the other side can provide timely support." Alba agreed.

"Then it's settled."

So Pei Zuocheng and Su Wen left the guest room first. After they walked out of the room, Wei Mingchen and Alba looked at each other and left as well.

"Maybe you should be prepared now. I feel something is wrong." Alba whispered behind Wei Mingchen.

"Ah."