Chapter 29: See What Else is in the Pocket

Detective?

Zhou Zhi thought for a moment before he remembered this matter: when they were on the carriage, Judy had asked where the detective gentleman had gone, but at the time he didn't pay attention, subconsciously asked back, and then replied he didn't know, and the other party didn't say anything more. To his surprise, these few brief words were remembered by Tyler. "Uh, maybe it's a person who provides information? Why, is he important?"

"Then let me ask you another question, have you ever seen the host's face?" Tyler said.

"No." Zhou Zhi was certain about that, "He's always wearing a mask... or rather, two masks. Anyway, ever since I first saw him, he's been like that."

"Sichuan opera masks." Tyler emphasized, "Because he's the GameMaster, it isn't strange to us whatever he looks like, but a person wearing a bizarre mask cannot normally interact with people in this world."

This world...

Zhou Zhi suddenly realized what the other person meant to say.

"That's right, if Paradise isn't just a simple game, then for the host to communicate with others, he would need a tangible identity. And an identity that would be suitable in a serial murder case... Detective obviously is a good choice."

"Are you saying that the detective gentleman Judy inquired about... is actually the host himself?"

"And not just some fictitious phantom, but his actual entity." Tyler chuckled lightly, he seemed very satisfied with Zhou Zhi's shocked expression, "Of course, these are all just my speculations, don't go asking Mr. Host about this. Actually, what I'm most concerned about isn't this point..."

"Then, what are you concerned about?"

"Naturally, the reward. You see... if you follow this train of thought, since the tasks we are searching for aren't concocted out of thin air, then who is our real employer?" The Englishman leaned slightly forward, the lamp's shadow wavering on his face, "Is it the host, or is it Miss Judy?"

"Does it make a difference..." Zhou Zhi swallowed, "Isn't it only Paradise that can bring us here?"

"Of course there's a difference, just like subcontracting and direct contracting. But you're so young, I reckon you might have difficulty grasping this."

It's just cutting out the middleman's profit, Zhou Zhi was about to speak when the host suddenly appeared in the center of the living room.

"Ah!" Zhou Zhi was startled.

"What's wrong?" Chaoyang looked at him.

"No, no, nothing." Zhou Zhi glanced guiltily at the ceiling, "Is Paradise about to close?"

"No, the task is updated, eliminate the mastermind behind the scenes—Kuiqi, the police chief of the North City Police Station. You can open the task interface and check the detailed instructions."

"Wow, there wasn't a task interface before, you guys improved it so quick." Zhou Zhi said while opening the new interface, "But this time is really long, it feels like we're onto the main storyline."

"I have a question, Mr. Host." Tyler spoke from the side, "Do the players have to stick it out until the task ends? What if someone wants to leave early?"

"Paradise always prioritizes the requests of the customers, either of you can choose to stop the game at any time." Chao replied swiftly, raising his right hand at the same time, making a gesture as if to snap his fingers, "Mr. Tyler, are you wishing to end your journey in Paradise now?"

"No, no, you misunderstand, I was just asking casually." Tyler quickly waved his hands.

Chao put his hand down again.

Zhou Zhi had already finished reading the task details and couldn't help but click his tongue, "This person is really despicable, even Zhou the Skinflayer has more conscience than him!"

"Who's Zhou the Skinflayer?" Tyler asked, "A relative of yours?"

"It's your relative!" Zhou Zhi gave the Englishman a look, "But there are only two of us left, and the other side has bodyguards; it seems there's little chance we could make it in for the kill."

"A new stage of the task also unlocks new exchangeable items; you can take another look at the weapon exchange column."

"No matter what, this task difficulty is too high..." Zhou Zhi suddenly stopped mid-sentence, stunned, because he saw a weapon in the exchange column that was disarmingly familiar to him.

An automatic rifle named the CQ-B.

The exchange point cost was 1000 points.

At the same time, the number above the exchange interface also started to change, displaying the figure +1200.

"The earlier phase of the mission has been settled, with a total of 1200 for the main rewards and extra rewards, which you can use in the new phase of the mission," Chaoyang added.

For Chaoyang, this was also a gamble—the firearms themselves were not the problem, but each bullet used by the gun was not freely included. He needed to spend wishing power to construct them, and the total consumption of several hundred bullets was much more than that of the firearms themselves, which was why he did not want to provide modern weapons from the start.

Compared to swords, bows, and crossbows, their operating costs were just too high.

It was only after obtaining Judy's wishing power that Chaoyang had the extra capacity to make these. If this mission failed, it would mean all his investments had gone down the drain, and before the next contract came, he would basically be reduced to eating dirt.

While Zhou Zhi was still in a daze, Tyler had already exchanged for the rifle and expertly switched off the safety, pulling the bolt back with a click to chamber a round.

"Hahaha... This really is a fun toy, just a pity that Mr. Anthony and my friend Joe didn't make it to see it."

"It seems you're not new to this rifle."

"Of course, a replica of the M4, Joe and I have played with it quite a bit," Tyler didn't deny, "But I've mainly used it on the shooting range before, this is the first time in actual combat."

"But I've never used a real gun before..." Zhou Zhi felt quite uneasy. He might mess around, but he always steered clear of illegal activities. "By the way, since there are translation tofu, is there such a thing as firearms tofu?"

Chaoyang was left speechless by the question. The so-called 'tofu' was actually soul memory, which had to be something in his own possession to share with Paradise players; and the prerequisite for fictional objects was that he had touched the actual object, and only after completing the recording on-site, could he replicate it in Paradise—the two were not the same thing.

In other words, he wouldn't necessarily know how to use the items he created.

However, Chaoyang quickly thought of a solution, "I'm sorry, Paradise doesn't have such a prop available at the moment. How about this, I'll let another player provide you with firearms experience—his consciousness will enter this body, then give you real-time guidance, while I'll reduce the rejection between you two, giving you as much control over the body as possible."

"Eh... You can do that!?"

Just as Zhou Zhi was about to ask how it worked, he suddenly felt a swelling in his head, followed by a voice that rang directly in his mind, "Hey, host, I haven't agreed to this yet!"

"Zhang Ge!" Zhou Zhi was shocked, "You're still alive!"

"What do you mean I'm still alive, can't you speak properly!"

"No, what I meant is that you could actually come back to the game..." He looked at Chaoyang with joy, "Then the other people are actually also..."

"They can also see your progress. As I said before, you are a team; the game is only considered a failure when all of you are wiped out," Chaoyang replied calmly.

Of course, he knew that wasn't actually the case, such as he could decide at any time to cut off the soul perception, plunging these people into a deep sleep, or send them back to their original bodies. But at times like these, there was no need to go into such detail.

"You can think of the others as being in OB mode for now. As for Mr. Zhang's question... I did it because I sensed a strong emotional fluctuation from you after you learned about Haiya Mira's situation; if you think it's inappropriate, I can also withdraw the suggestion."

Zhang Zhiyuan's voice suddenly choked, "I, I didn't ask you to take it back... but could you ask my opinion first next time?"

"Then why not simply revive Joe and the others?" Tyler asked, puzzled. "Having an extra hand would greatly increase our chances of success, right?"

"Wait, I remember there's a resurrection scroll in the exchange interface, only it requires 1000 points," Zhou Zhi was already quite familiar with these items.

"That's right, I never said revival was impossible from the beginning, but unfortunately, it cannot be used for a new phase mission."

"Why not?"

"Because of time," Chaoyang explained, "Creating a new body takes at least an hour, and there's less than two hours until dawn. If Kuiqi isn't exterminated before daybreak, the mission will be considered a failure. If you want to achieve the final victory, then you need to act quickly."