Chapter 117

Chapter 117

Strangely enough, when Liu Buhua chopped off his arm, his left arm was still intact on his body. The only difference was that the pear blossom bracelet on his wrist had vanished.

Bu Jiuzhao had previously witnessed the marvel of this bracelet when Xie Yinxue stabbed his wrist with a red pen and remained unscathed. He knew the bracelet could substitute for Xie Yinxue when injured, but he hadn't imagined the bracelet could be used this way. No wonder Liu Buhua wished he "could have brought more pear blossom bracelets into the simulation."

Watching Liu Buhua pick up the severed arm and place it into the vaccine manufacturing machine, he asked the young man in front of him, "Is this a bracelet or an arm?"

Xie Yinxue replied, "It's both, yet neither."

On the other side, Liu Buhua seemed far more receptive to the new vaccine dispensed from the machine, given that it was crafted from his own flesh.

"This lightsaber might not be effective for hunting Kusha Pachas, but it does a fine job slicing human flesh."

The lightsabers provided within the simulation have extremely high blade temperatures, capable of cauterizing wounds to stop bleeding, akin to the electrocautery devices used in real-world surgeries.

Liu Buhua sighed, handing the lightsaber back to Xie Yinxue, and promptly prepared to inject the vaccine into his stomach.

However, Liu Buhua's seemingly casual comment made Xie Yinxue realize something: on the surface, the lightsaber appears to be a weapon designed specifically to behead Kamus, but if it's just for beheading, ordinary swords would suffice. Using machine guns might even be more convenient since their heads aren't protected by nano armor, right?

So, why would the simulation go through the trouble of introducing a flashy lightsaber, which, because of its cauterizing feature, actually hinders killing?

Unless... it has another purpose.

Like efficiently cutting through the participant's own flesh.

"Wait a moment—"

A sudden revelation flashing across his mind, Xie Yinxue abruptly stepped forward to stop Liu Buhua, saying, "Don’t inject it yet."

Liu Buhua paused, looking at Xie Yinxue in surprise, "Godfather, what's the matter?"

Xie Yin Xue turned around again, gazing at the man behind her with perpetually gray eyes and asked, "You mentioned earlier that there should be other Gamos in this copy, right?"

"Yes, but I'm not sure of their identities, and I can't sense them. It's as if..." Bu Jiu Zhao paused, furrowing his brows, "they don't exist."

This puzzled Bu Jiu Zhao as well.

When his disguised identity in the copy was that of an NPC, he could directly access some clues related to clearing the game and held the highest privileges. When he was a participant, although he couldn't directly get clues, he retained extraordinary physical abilities and was immune to all attacks except those that directly threatened his life. As a ghost, he knew the identities and locations of all other ghosts and the rules for eliminating participants.

Overall, his actions were constrained by the limitations of his disguised identity. Only if someone exposed his true identity as a ferryman NPC and completed a transaction with him, would he fully understand all the rules of the copy.

Currently, in this copy, he was the ghost NPC – Gamo. In theory, he should know the identities of the other Gamos, but the reality was the opposite: he merely knew that there were no taboos in this copy, and the only way to kill participants was to destroy their skulls... and so on.

Bu Jiu Zhao looked deeply into Xie Yin Xue's eyes, a trace of astonishment in his gaze.

The young man seemed to share his thoughts, his eyes shining brilliantly like stars. He smiled and said, "I think I know who the remaining Gamos are."

Bu Jiu Zhao also smirked, whispering, "I've figured it out too."

"Ah? How come you both know?" Liu Bu Hua, seeing their shared amusement, was completely puzzled. "Who is it? Why don't I know?"

Xie Yin Xue did not answer Liu Bu Hua's question directly. Instead, he said, "Bu Hua, I need you to do something for me now, something that might cost you your life. Are you willing?"

"I am."

Almost immediately after Xie Yin Xue finished speaking, Liu Bu Hua nodded without any hesitation, "What do I need to do?"

"Don't take this vaccine, or rather—" Xie Yin Xue held the syringe in Liu Bu Hua's hand, "wait until tomorrow to take it."

"Oh, alright."

Without questioning, Liu Bu Hua agreed.

Seeing Liu Bu Hua so compliant to Xie Yin Xue's request, Bu Jiu Zhao snorted with a hint of sarcasm, mockingly saying, "Xie Yin Xue, Liu Bu Hua really listens to you, doesn't he?"

Xie Yin Xue's eyes crinkled with amusement, replying playfully, "It would be nice if you were this obedient too."

Bu Jiu Zhao: "..."

Watching Bu Jiu Zhao rendered speechless, Xie Yin Xue found it even more amusing. However, he held back his laughter out of respect for Bu Jiu Zhao. With a resigned and amused shake of his head, he swiftly raised his lightsaber and slashed at his own right arm adorned with a pear blossom bracelet. Like Liu Bu Hua, he severed his arm to create a vaccine—executing the action seamlessly without hesitation or pause.

Instead, Bu Jiuzhao averted his gaze, unwilling to witness Xie Yinxue's act of self-harm.

With the vaccine in hand, Xie Yinxue gazed at the clear and pure antibody serum, murmuring, "In my life, I've admired few. But today, I hold great respect for Chen Yun."

Bu Jiuzhao glanced sidelong at him, raising an eyebrow, "Why bring her up now?"

Xie Yinxue simply replied, "Those with kind hearts are always worthy of admiration."

He looked around the meditation chamber, where the grotesque machinery designed for a cannibalistic vaccine production stood ironically beneath a wall inscribed with the character for "goodness." What a paradox.

"Indeed," Liu Buhua, seated on a meditation cushion, posed in a monk-like posture, said, "Us three, unwilling to live off the limbs of others, find solace in this meditation chamber. It feels as if we've attained enlightenment."

At this, Bu Jiuzhao glanced up at the large ink character on the wall.

After a moment, he closed his eyes, kicked away the cushion and sat on the floor, stating coldly, "Alas, I'll never be a Buddha."

Xie Yinxue, not seated on the cushion either, softly said, "Does one need to be a Buddha to be kind-hearted?"

Silence filled the chamber, a stillness in time.

But the river of time stops for no one. It continued its course, moving closer to midnight—the second day in this alternate realm.

At 11:58 PM, Liu Buhua abruptly opened his eyes, reminding Xie Yinxue, "Father, midnight approaches. I can skip the injection, but you must take it. What if something happens to you?"

"Nothing will."

Xie Yinxue smiled, his gaze shifting to Bu Jiuzhao.

"The sole method to kill a participant is to crush their skull," Bu Jiuzhao spoke without opening his eyes, sensing Xie Yinxue's gaze upon him, "Much like killing a Kama."

As the statement concluded, the clock struck midnight.

—A day had passed.

Xie Yinxue, Bu Jiuzhao, and Liu Buhua had all skipped their vaccines the previous day. Yet, as the new day dawned, none of them transformed into famished spirits, as Kurt had described.

"What does this mean?"

Liu Buhua, feeling his unchanged body, pondered, "Did Kurt deceive us?"

"The guide NPC hasn't deceived us," Xie Yin Xue remarked. "The reason we remain unchanged is because, in this instance, Gamor is us."

Just like the previous instance, this one played with words as well. Even Xie Yin Xue was momentarily baffled.

Initially, he believed the speculation that Gamor was among the veteran warriors and identified as Bu Jiu Zhao. However, he miscalculated the number of Gamors. Before today, there was only one Gamor - Bu Jiu Zhao. But with today's arrival, two new Gamors emerged: himself and Liu Bu Hua.

Kurt was right when he said they'd transform into Kusopascha if they refrained from the vaccine. Indeed, Gamor is a Kusopascha, just a new variant.

More crucially, even if they resist taking the vaccine for another day or even until the seventh day, they won't die.

As Bu Jiu Zhao mentioned: the only way to die in this instance is if one's skull is destroyed.

Given this restriction, even if they lost all their limbs, they wouldn't perish as long as their heads remained. Perhaps, considering the high-tech setting of this instance, the medical technology here is outstanding?

Grasping Xie Yin Xue's point, Liu Bu Hua exclaimed, "Wow, does this mean we don't have to take the vaccine anymore?"

Xie Yin Xue replied, "We still need to."

Every day the participants take the vaccine, they remain "human." If a participant resists for a day, they transition from "human" to the new Kusopascha - Gamor. Resist another day, and they revert from "Gamor" to Kusopascha. They won't die outright but will become prey to the other participants.

"The vaccine was never essential for our survival," Xie Yin Xue said, clutching the vaccine he made from his own arm the previous day. "It's a disguise to prevent us from being killed."

The design of this instance is sheer brilliance.

Gamors get vaccinated every two days, and with five available limbs, sacrificing only three limbs can help them last until the end. They can effectively conceal their identity amongst the participants by crafting vaccines from their own four limbs, leveraging the powerful healing abilities of the nanotech armor and the hemostatic lightsaber.

As Zhuo Chang Dong stated, participants can abandon their humanity and survive by daily taking a limb-made vaccine; or they can uphold their inherent goodness, preferring death over using another's flesh, only to find this third way to live that doesn't involve beheading a Gamor.

Yet, the first path is arduous: Kusopaschas are swift and hard to hunt.

The third way isn't straightforward either: if one's identity as Gamor is exposed, they might risk beheading from participants choosing the second path, seeking a direct pass from Kurt.

After understanding these rules, Xie Yin Xue even theorized why the Kusopaschas are so resilient: perhaps, before their complete descent into ghoulish forms, they were humans clad in nanotech armor.

Man eats man, ghost eats man, man eats ghost, ghost eats ghost.

The brutal and cold reality that billions dwindled down to just thirty thousand in this instance might just be this.