Buddhist player

Looking at the plus sign on his sanity value in his attribute panel, Bai Chen had a subtle expression.

He remembered clearly that the last time he checked his stats, his sanity was -217, but after not checking for a while, it had dropped to -232.

He understood the plus sign; it was simply a 1/10 sanity bonus to his total attributes, excluding sanity. But what about the sanity that was also reduced?

"There's absolutely no pattern to it... Looks like I'll have to pay more attention to its numerical changes next time."

Bai Chen waved to close the attribute panel and stood up from the table.

For the past two weeks, besides refining medicine, he has also been busy with other things. Thanks to the various high-level materials he purchased at great expense, the more than 100 kinds of strange poisons on Yin Hongxiao's body have been almost cured.

However, he still has no way of dealing with the most crucial element, the [Sound Puppet]. He speculates that one of the medicinal properties used to concoct the [Sound Puppet] is at least of gold quality.

He has only recorded one type of blue-quality medicinal property, let alone gold-quality ones.

Although the detoxification process was thwarted, Yin Hongxiao remained remarkably calm. In her daily life, besides ordering takeout, watching TV, snacking, shopping online, and researching and downloading information, she also made sure to practice her martial arts every day without fail.

The poisons were not harmless to her; they were constantly toxic to her body. Just take the [Sound Puppet] poison alone, which would wear down one or two points of her attributes every day, not to mention the mixture of other poisons.

Before the more than 100 kinds of strange poisons on her body, excluding the [Sound Puppet], were completely cured, her level dropped by at least 6 to 7 levels, and her martial arts realm dropped even more drastically.

Bai Chen found it quite admirable that the other person could maintain such a calm demeanor under these circumstances.

"Mandatory mission... If that's the case, my mandatory mission is probably coming soon."

After mentally estimating the time, Yin Hongxiao put a potato chip in her mouth. Her behavior and clothing style, which had begun to shift towards that of a homebody, nodded thoughtfully.

"you?"

Unconsciously, Bai Chen paused for a moment.

"Yes, the mandatory mission has a high priority. As long as my Chosen One panel isn't completely useless, I can't escape it."

Lying reclined on the sofa, Yin Hongxiao reached out a hand towards the milk tea on the coffee table and made a response with her mouth.

"But thanks to you, I'm feeling much better now, so I should be fine, maybe even... thank you."

Yin Hongxiao's eyes lit up when she saw the milk tea that someone had handed her.

Bai Chen: "..."

...He suddenly felt a pang of nostalgia for that elegant, traditional-style girl who had sat so properly just two weeks ago.

So, what exactly did the other party experience during the past two weeks when he was busy refining medicine day and night?

.............................................

...Bai Chen was awakened by the sound of raindrops hitting the glass.

The rain pounded relentlessly against the car window with an almost brutal force, producing a dense and muffled pattering sound, and my forehead felt icy cold against the glass.

Bai Chen frowned slightly and opened his eyes.

Although he had guessed that the mandatory mission might be unusual, he hadn't expected the opening to be so...sudden.

He was yawning and washing up just a moment ago, and then he appeared here, without even a proper buffering animation in between.

Sitting up straight, Bai Chen looked around.

He was currently on a bus traveling in a downpour, in the last row by the window. From there, he could see almost the entire interior of the bus.

However, Bai Chen frowned after just one glance.

—The reason is simple: there were too many people on this bus.

With just a quick glance, he judged that there were at least thirty people on the bus. He didn't think that all thirty-odd people were players; there must be ordinary people among them... or NPCs.

This kind of start is usually the most troublesome.

...But the others don't seem to be much better?

For example, in the beginner's trial, there's the Falling Maple Leaf who infiltrated their team right at the start...

A few thoughts swept through him, and Bai Chen, feeling slightly sleepy, reached out and pressed his temples.

Suddenly pulled into a mandatory mission, he was still a little sleepy... probably.

The bus seemed quite old, and with the heavy rain outside, the entire vehicle was constantly bumping along. Coupled with the occasional hoarse engine noise, it was worrying that the bus might break down in the downpour.

Perhaps because of the heavy rain, the atmosphere inside the car was oppressive, with a faint smell of gasoline and damp earth in the air that made one feel nauseous.

Bai Chen only felt better after he opened the window a crack. The cold rain hitting his face instantly refreshed him.

(...With so many people on the bus, the main target of this mandatory mission is most likely not on the bus, but at the location where the bus will stop when it breaks down...Right now, there are no mission prompts and no sense of danger, so let's just improvise.)

Bai Chen glanced at the people inside the car and exhaled.

He had just checked himself, but apart from a backpack, he hadn't found any valuable clues. Although he had a cell phone, it had no signal, so it was probably just for show. It really didn't leave him any clues at all.

Compared to the current situation, the novice trials were so much better back then...

While inwardly complaining, Bai Cheng took advantage of the location to examine the passengers on the bus one by one, trying to see if he could find one or two players among them.

People like the elderly, children, and mothers holding babies can mostly be ruled out. As for the remaining people, just look for those with unusual behavior, such as cautiously observing their surroundings or remaining alert; they are likely to be on your team...

"vomit!!!"

Just as Bai Chen was thinking about this, seemingly due to motion sickness caused by excessive bumps, the man sitting in front of him suddenly vomited all over the carriage. In an instant, an extremely unpleasant rancid smell filled the carriage.

Seeing that the other passengers were startled and looked over, the man raised his hand as if he wanted to say something, but the next second, with a jolt of the bus, he vomited all over the floor.

Bai Chen: "..."