Chapter 1024: Truth and Illusion

Within the entire sewer, Ling Mo and his group had only encountered two Face-Changing Monsters. One had transformed into Yuwen Xuan, and the other was the “Ling Mo” before them. As for the “corpses” scattered around, Ling Mo suspected they were failed experiments, mere byproducts utilized by the Progenitor.

Though Face-Changing Monsters excelled in transformation, their combat prowess was weaker than that of ordinary Humanoid Monsters. Ling Mo understood this well, which was why he could confidently make such a statement.

Under the watchful eyes of the group, Ling Mo crouched in front of the Face-Changing Monster and extended a Tentacle… Moments later, the monster jerked its head up, eyes snapping open with a gasp. But in that instant, Ling Mo slammed it back to the ground, speaking his first words to the “fake Ling Mo” with venomous authority: “Change back.”

After a brief struggle, the Face-Changing Monster complied. Under the stunned gaze of everyone, its facial skin began to peel away rapidly, revealing a wrinkled, skinless visage.

Before the monster could utter a word, Ling Mo pressed his hand firmly against its forehead and said without turning, “You all should leave. I’ll handle this.”

“But…”

“Go on.” Yuwen Xuan and Mu Chen began ushering people out. Once everyone had left, Xia Na shut the door behind them, standing beside Li Yalin. In the dim light, the group lingered at the door, exchanging uneasy glances.

A minute later, Ling Mo emerged from the room.

“What happened to the monster?” Gu Shuangshuang hurriedly asked.

“It’s dead,” Ling Mo replied, rubbing his temples.

From the back of the group, Skinny Monkey felt Ling Mo’s gaze flicker over him. He shrank back, avoiding eye contact, muttering, “Good riddance…” Beside him, Zhang Xincheng, unaware of the context, nodded in agreement, “It’s best that such monsters are dead.”

“So… did you learn anything? Do you know where Ye Lian is now?” Mu Chen inquired.

“About that…”

Ling Mo was about to respond when a voice echoed from the corridor: “You won’t find the answers there. They can only come from me, right?”

Miao Zhe emerged from the shadows, his body appearing even more emaciated, his head seemingly larger. Just as Ling Mo had described, his body suffered from severe “aftereffects.”

“Heh… what a coincidence,” Ling Mo remarked.

“Rather than coincidence… it’s more like constant surveillance,” Mu Chen observed, glancing around.

Not only Mu Chen, but everyone else felt the same way. The timing and location of the Monster’s appearance were just too off…

“There must be something we’re missing… Right, Ling Mo asked me before if I felt anything unusual… Now that I think about it, this feeling is similar to when we were searching for enemies and were eventually led into this game… It’s the feeling of being watched! That’s it. It’s exactly this feeling…” During the game, this sensation was even more pronounced.

Back then, Mu Chen speculated that the Monster was hiding in a nearby building, spying on them… But in this environment, such a thing was clearly impossible… It could hide, but it definitely couldn’t follow them all the time…

“And I bet you haven’t learned anything,” Miao Zhe said confidently. Seeing Ling Mo remain silent, he continued, “The next clue…”

“It should be the next step in the plan,” Ling Mo interjected.

“How exactly are you monitoring us? You call this a game?” Mu Chen couldn’t help but ask.

Miao Zhe paused, then suddenly smiled mysteriously, “Alright then, for the next step, as long as you find this answer, I’ll tell you the girl’s location. How about it? You can ask me questions to get clues. Then I’ll ask you a question in return… Don’t worry, my questions also contain clues, but you must answer them. If the answer is wrong, I’ll attack you once… You can defend, you can dodge, but I won’t tell you who I’ll attack.”

Everyone exchanged glances, and Ye Kai cursed, “That’s so sneaky!”

Whether the attack starts or not, everyone will inevitably fall into a state of paranoia. Once one person retreats, the others might scramble to hide as well. Even if this doesn’t happen, when someone is attacked, others might feel relieved or guilty… And the person attacked might harbor all sorts of resentment…

This game rule is essentially a psychological torture and test…

“Alright, I’ll play with you,” Ling Mo spoke up at this moment.

“Captain…” The others tried to stop him.

Miao Zhe smiled and said, “Alright then…”

“What I mean is, I’ll play with you alone. You can simplify this game completely… If I’m wrong, then you attack me,” Ling Mo continued.

“Wait…” Yuwen Xuan and the others quickly called out.

Miao Zhe looked at Ling Mo with interest and said, “You might end up being tortured to death by me…”

“Enough with the chatter, let’s begin. By the way, since we’re both mental ability superhumans, you should know lying won’t work,” Ling Mo said.

“Heh… you’re quite the madman… Alright, ask your questions. But you only get three chances. The first time, I’ll break your arms; the second, your legs; and the third, I’ll blow your brains out,” Miao Zhe replied. 𝙍𝓪Ν𝐨𝐁Εʂ

Ling Mo seemed unfazed, as if he hadn’t heard a word. He immediately asked his first question, “The ‘method’ you used to monitor us, we’ve seen it before, haven’t we?”

Miao Zhe thought for a moment and nodded, “Yes… do you know how you saw it?”

Everyone was momentarily stunned, then looked horrified. In this situation, Ling Mo couldn’t fight back. If he answered incorrectly, his arms would be forfeit.

“Face to face,” Ling Mo answered. “Its true form is quite surprising, isn’t it?”

“Sort of…” Miao Zhe raised an eyebrow, seemingly a bit surprised. “Do you know where it is now?”

“It’s right around us,” Ling Mo’s answer shocked everyone. They immediately looked around but found nothing.

Miao Zhe’s expression turned grim. He gave Ling Mo a deep look and nodded, “Yes… my last question is, how do you know this?”

“I’ll tell you in a moment,” Ling Mo said. As soon as he finished speaking, a loud “bang” echoed from the crowd.

He quickly stepped back, dragging a tripped figure from the ground and slamming it against the wall.

At the same time, Miao Zhe noticed a tall figure had appeared behind him, and a girl wielding a Scythe was coldly staring at him from the side.

Everyone was stunned. In the silence, Ling Mo threw the figure harshly in front of Miao Zhe.

The figure struggled to get up, looking at Ling Mo with a complicated expression, “Captain, what are you doing?”

Ling Mo said, “You’re the so-called ‘monitor.’”

“You’re crazy!” the figure shouted immediately.

The others widened their eyes, unsure of what to say…

“It’s simple. Among all the corpses we found, you and I were the only ones missing. And now, I’ve found the Monster that turned into me, but I still haven’t found you…”

“That’s it? That’s ridiculous…” the figure wiped the soot from his face, looking disdainful.

“And the reason we didn’t find you is because the Face-Changing Monster that turned into you is you yourself,” Ling Mo said. “And that’s just one clue… the real reason is that we’ve been under surveillance all along. And right here, there’s a significant flaw.”

On the street, he was being watched by that “Zombie.” At Rosen Company, he was monitored by a “Parasitic Monster” hidden inside a little zombie. And in the sewer, he was under the surveillance of the Face-Changing Monster that had transformed into Yuwen Xuan. This meant that no matter what, the Progenitor had to use some sort of “medium” to keep an eye on him.

The same principle applied to Mu Chen and the others. Whether they encountered those Survivors or were constantly crushed in the subsequent games, it was all because they were under the watchful “eyes” of surveillance.

“I started to suspect this when I noticed there was no one else around Mu Chen and his group. But the real confirmation came when I saw that arrow,” Ling Mo continued. “No matter how powerful the Progenitor is, it couldn’t possibly sneak up on us, draw an arrow on a nearby pillar without anyone noticing, and then disappear without a trace. And coincidentally, you were the one who discovered that arrow. As for why it was hastily drawn, I believe it was because a new plan was suddenly put into motion.”

“There are many more coincidences… If you think about it, everything related to this plan was either discovered by you or brought up by you. This explains why we’ve been led by the nose all along, until I proposed a new action plan, forcing you to come up with this current plan in a hurry. You feared what I might reveal, so you couldn’t wait to have Miao Zhe disrupt us, right? If you had a bit more time, maybe you would have devised a more thorough plan, but what you didn’t anticipate was my swift actions. Whether it was finding the ‘fake Ling Mo’ or interrogating it promptly.”

Ling Mo looked up at him and Miao Zhe, asking, “Where is the real Skinny Monkey?”

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