Conan: I'm Really Not the Manipulator

He gritted his teeth and after an unknown amount of time, he spoke tremblingly:

[…As long as I clear the game, can you really send me back? ]

[Yes. As long as you complete the game, you can wake up in the real world.]

The system told him very affirmatively.

……

[Lust: ...So I agreed to the system, and then I drew the ID 'Lust' and entered this game.]

[Lust: When I came in, I landed in a room with an incinerator. Two people grabbed me and wanted to throw me into the furnace. I fought back desperately. During that time, I accidentally used my ring to open the system and pressed that string of garbled characters in the group chat... I knocked those two people unconscious. One of them had a lot of blood on his face. I don’t know how he is now...]

The player whose ID was Lust stopped typing, his hands still shaking slightly.

He couldn't speak and could only communicate with others by typing, but he could see and hear. From the reflection of the window glass next to him, he could see what he looked like now - a monster without a head but with consciousness.

Until now, he still felt as if he was in a dream.

Speaking of reality, it is absolutely impossible for a person without a head to survive in reality.

But even though it was a game, everything I just experienced felt too real.

The blazing heat of the incinerator, the hands that tightly grasped his shoulders and ankles, the large amount of blood that splashed out when he fought back, the strong stench, and the distorted expressions on their faces...

"..."

He forced himself not to think about whether he had killed someone, whether it was self-defense, or whether he should go to jail... After calming down, he reached out to the pop-up window again.

A little man was sitting on the pop-up window with his legs crossed. Unlike the one without a head, he had many heads, three in total. The middle one was a human head with sparks coming out of his mouth. There was also a sheep's head and the last one was a cow's head.

The little man's skin was a strange purple color, and his upper body was bare, revealing a fat and soft belly. His figure was very similar to the Maitreya Buddha in the temple.

He still remembered Maitreya Buddha, but he couldn't even remember his own name... Thinking of this, he felt bitter and astringent.

Others who traveled through time and space lived a life of luxury, but he ended up in this horrible state. The only thing to be thankful for was that he had a chance to go back.

…Otherwise, he couldn’t imagine how painful it would be for his parents to lose their only son.

[Lust: After they fell, I was afraid that someone else would come in, so I thought about running away immediately. The group chat has a location function for the chat partner, and I found that you were nearby, so I hurried over to find you, using a skill.]

He paused, hesitated for a moment, and then continued writing.

[Lust: My active skill is 'Stormy Darkness', and my ability is black fog, which is the one on my neck. They are versatile, they can block attacks, and they can also act as eyes and ears, allowing me to see and hear. I can spread the fog particles as coordinates and move to other places.]

That's how he got up. He let the tiny mist particles float out of the ventilation duct first, all the way up, and finally came to this room.

[Lust: The skill introduction mentioned that the mist particles can also invade other people's brains, read and delete other people's memories... But I haven't tried it, so I don't know if it can be done. As for passive skills and tasks, they have not been generated yet. ]

He was somewhat self-deprecating, as he had lost his own memory but gained the ability to read and delete the memories of others.

This skill is dangerous and annoying - no one likes others to pry into their privacy - but even so, he still chooses to explain it clearly to the other party.

He suddenly traveled through time and space, and his body became like this. The only people he could seek help from were other players with the same origin as him.

He didn't remember his parents, but he remembered what they taught him: don't be arrogant when asking for help, after all, the other party didn't owe him anything. He had nothing now, so he could only show his sincerity first.

Even though the man pointed a gun at him and fired as soon as they met, it was normal, he knew how scary he was now, and he put the weapon down after he explained his origins.

Thinking of this, he began to carefully look at the teammate in front of him.

The teammate is as handsome as a star, with long curly hair, deep facial features, and a temperament very much like a scumbag... rather casual and frivolous, and seems unreliable.

Judging from his facial features, he doesn't look Asian. The system didn't say that all players were from the same country. If he was really a foreigner, he should be thankful that the system provided them with Japanese translation, otherwise, as he only knew Chinese and his English was average, he wouldn't be able to communicate with this teammate.

"My ID is 'Rage', you can call me 'Aoyagi Akimitsu'."

The man named Aoyagi Binkou got out of bed and walked step by step to him.

The moonlight coming in from the window seemed to melt into those light brown eyes. He saw that his eyes were exceptionally gentle, looking at him patiently.

"You really don't remember anything about what happened before you traveled through time?"

His voice was gentle, and even when he asked questions that bordered on questioning, it didn't make people feel uncomfortable, as if he was interrogating them. On the contrary, it gave people the feeling that he genuinely cared about them.

Chapter 8: Aboriginals and Travelers (Part )

[Lust: I haven’t forgotten the basics. I remember that I was a college student. I repeated a year before I was admitted to the university of my choice. I am currently a sophomore. I haven’t forgotten the games I played, the movies, anime, and novels I watched…]

[…But I don’t remember many details of my life, my name, or my family.]

"You don't even know your current name?" Qing Liu Binguang looked at him, "Then what should I call you?"

He was stunned for a moment, then he realized that he didn't know what his current name was. He was so busy looking for his teammates that he forgot such an important thing.

Before he entered the game, the system told him that it would not allow them to rob other people's bodies, but would create a new body for them, and the memories of the people around them would be generated at the same time, so they would not feel strange towards them. At the same time, their identity information would be registered on the system interface.

He wanted to check the system, but hesitated, looking towards the door worriedly: [Will the people below come over? ]

This place is not far from where he escaped. Will the people below come up one by one? Or should they escape first?

"Don't worry, this is a special ward, no one will come here for the time being, we can communicate as much as we want."

He didn't know why, but as soon as Aoyagi Binkou opened his mouth, his restless heart inexplicably calmed down. This teammate's voice seemed to have a kind of magic that made people unable to help but believe him.

[Lust: Please wait, let me take a look...]

He was about to close the group chat when he felt a chill on his back, as if a gust of cold wind suddenly passed through his body.

"...?"

He looked back, black mist surging around his neck, and there was nothing behind him.

Not far from him, the moonlight shone through the window onto the two people standing by the window, leaving two long black shadows on the ground. Further away, there was a dressing mirror, in which were the images of him and Aoyagi Binguang.

There were only two of them in the room, no third person.

……illusion?

He turned around blankly and continued to check the system.

----

"..."

Aoyagi Akimichi looked at his teammates, and then exchanged glances with the clone that he had created with [Big Lie] standing behind them.

——This time-traveling player who is a teammate cannot see an avatar that is exactly the same as him.

In fact, at the moment when the group chat flashed, Qingliu Bingguang not only clicked in to check the content, but also used his own skills. He wanted to try whether this ability was as magical as described.

So when "Lust" entered the room, there were only him and his clone in the room, and the attack was carried out by the two of them together.

But the other party was only communicating with him and didn't notice the clone at all.

And just now, the clone tried to touch him, but his hand went straight through his body.

It was not until this time that Aoyagi Binkou reluctantly believed that his teammates could not see his clone and that his skills had no effect on them.

Although this point was mentioned early on in the rules, given Aoyagi Binguang's personality, even if he was held hostage by the system, he would not fully believe in the rules given by the system.

After a closer look at those rules, there are many loopholes - for example, you cannot lie to your teammates or allies, so what is the standard for lying?

Is it just that telling lies is prohibited? Or is it also prohibited to tell the truth in a disordered chronological order? If a player learns a piece of false information and thinks it is true, can he pass this wrong information to other players?

And skills.

Is it true that a player's skills will not work on teammates? Are there any special circumstances?

Aoyagi Binkou was eager to figure this out, especially after hearing the other party talk about the ability of the skill.

If the description of the skill by "Lust" is true, then the ability of [Dark Storm] is definitely much stronger than [Big Lie]. It can resist attacks, move across the room by leaving coordinates, and even read and delete other people's memories.

This kind of skill involving memory is not only good for you, but it can also save you a lot of trouble in future actions.

But now it was someone else who got it, and Aoyagi Binguang only felt deep disgust, resistance and defensiveness.

"Lust" had no idea what the person in front of him was thinking, so he told him his information honestly.

[Lust: I don’t know what this body is called now. There are three question marks in the character name column. My age is 21, which should be about the same as my original age? My animal messengers are rabbit and scorpion. The tasks and passive skills are still being generated...]

Before Qing Liu Bingguang finished reading his words, he continued:

[If you think I look scary, would you like me to try to communicate with you in the messenger form? If I were a rabbit, I should be able to type with my paws.]

"…Are you sure your animal form will have a head?"

Aoyagi Akimitsu once again looked at the time traveler in front of him with strange eyes.

The rules do not mention anything about the player's messenger form or what happens after they transform into an animal.

Will they still retain their humanity, or will their thinking become animalistic? In this state, will their senses and physiology be like humans, or will they become like these animals? How long will it last? How can it be removed? Will it have any effect on the human body after it is removed?

He doesn't know anything yet, how can he dare to try it rashly?

[Lust: I’m not sure, but since I have this function, I must try it. And this is a hospital ward. If medical staff come to check on the ward and see a headless man here, it will be a big trouble. I don’t want to become a city legend on the first day of my time travel...]

When Aoyagi Binguang saw him say this, he did not try to stop him.

This is a good thing for him. It is better to have teammates willing to step on the landmine first than to take the risk alone.

"Lust" began to fiddle with his messenger form, and behind him, the clone created by that skill was quietly looking at Aoyagi Akimitsu.

Aoyagi Binguang had not yet canceled his skill. He found that the face, from the hairstyle to the nose, mouth, and the clothes on the body, was exactly the same as his own. The only difference was that there was no shadow under the feet of the clone.

The clone can be seen by the naked eye, and what it says can be heard by the ears, but it cannot be captured by any camera.

——Because, he is just a lie.

His heart moved, and he suddenly asked: "Can't you really see it?"

【Lust: What?】

Aoyagi Binguang regretted what he said the moment he said it. Just as he was about to open his mouth to fool around, an inexplicable huge resistance came from his throat, making him unable to utter a sound for a while.

He felt a lightness of his fingers, and the snake-like demon flew to his side again, holding a sign much smaller than the system pop-up window.

【Please note that teammates cannot lie to each other. 】

Qing Liu Bingguang was stunned for a moment, worried that "Lust" not far away would see this, but then he saw the snake-shaped demon quickly took out a second small sign out of thin air.

[Players can only see each other's corresponding demons and system pop-ups, but cannot see emergency prompts. 】