The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 168: Do You Think What You Think Is True?

Eh?

Is Justin’s real name called Carney Casting?

Annan was a little surprised.

That said, Justin’s acting skill was pretty good.

Although Annan knew Justin wasn’t a good person, he didn’t expect this fellow to be a retired murderer.

Annan hadn’t noticed that Justin had a murdering intention on him at all.

Or to say, this is not acting.

Is he beaten up into fear?

Annan remembered that nightmare was born based on harbored regrets even until death.

For Carney Casting’s regret, is he seeking a quick death?

That way, he could have ended his life of harming others and himself long ago.

But if Carney kills “me” successfully, we can’t fulfill the mission. Also, Arthur and his four guards have to survive.

We can’t clear the dungeon by intentionally feeding the enemy.

Wait, I shouldn’t think so much about it.

This is just an easy dungeon instance. It doesn’t provide any decryption reward, so it’s useless to overthink it.

Also, the dungeon instance that does not provide decryption rewards may have different rules than other dungeon instances.

The scar-faced brawny man with the name [Jiu Er] floating on his head carefully glanced at Annan, who was in deep thoughts at the spot, “Feudal lord?”

“Ya, it’s me.” Annan recovered his senses quickly.

Annan asked Jiu Er, “What kind of person do I look like now? Describe my appearance and main characteristics.”

If Arthur Searing-Fang survived, he would become a big shot. Apart from anything else, his personal belongings alone revealed that he was a rich person.

Annan and other players would probably meet him in the future.

Annan was in the live broadcast room. When he asked this question, the players vaguely realized that they needed to pay attention to Arthur’s intelligence. Thus, when they encounter Arthur in the future, they will notice it as soon as possible.

“You now look like… a handsome young man but appear fanatical. You’re thin, not tall, and with scary eyes.” Jiu Er described it vaguely.

Annan listened to her description, feeling that he needed some wild inspiration to understand it.

Delicious Wind Goose on the side couldn’t stand the description either.

“Let me do it,” Old Goose commented before explaining to Annan. “This is Jiu Er. She isn’t familiar with this kind of stuff…

“You now look like a noble young man with golden curly hair, wearing a red and white standing collar cloak. You appear conspicuous, about 1.7 meters tall with a long face, fair skin, and special pupils like flowing lava. When you breathe, you will breathe out a faint white mist. It smells of sulfur.”

“En, I see.” Annan nodded approvingly.

He glanced at the name on Delicious Wind Goose’s head and asked, “Are you Old Goose?”

“Yes.” Delicious Wind Goose nodded repeatedly, then introduced Annan, “This is Yiyi, and this is Child.”

Ha, you all are too inexperienced.

If I’m an NPC, now I should be wary of why you can see others’ real names.

Annan shook his head silently.

Annan reminded the players, “I know you all are familiar with each other and can easily recognize each other. But if you aren’t with me, it is best not to do this in front of strangers. Everyone should introduce themselves.

“Otherwise, they may suspect that you have a curse vessel capable of finding out real names. Consequently, you may be targeted or killed.”

Hearing this, Delicious Wind Goose’s heart shuddered.

Only then did he realize these settings that players were used to were so unnatural in the eyes of the NPC.

If this wasn’t Don Juan Geraint, the person would have become hostile and conspired against the player group, turning the players into cannon fodder.

After all, it was fine to have the guard dead but not the wizard in this dungeon instance.

So Delicious Wind Goose nodded seriously.

“I will notify the rest when I go back.”

—Actually, you don’t need to do that.

Players are now watching their live broadcast.

They learned this information at the first moment.

Annan knew about this.

It was because Annan lurked in the live broadcast room, ready to peek at the screen at any time.

“We shall spread out first.”

Annan commanded, “Get down the carriage. I’m standing on the side far from the road and close to the woods. At this distance, crossbow’s arrows shot from the woods can’t reach here. Yiyi, your figure is relatively tall. You shall stand on my left. Focus on dealing with ambushing arrows, then stay on high alert in the direction of the woods with me.

“Jiu Er and Old Goose should hide somewhere. The requirement is that the two of you shall hide farther apart, but take note to have vision of each other and also the rest.

“Child, you are the shortest and thinnest. You try to see if you can go up the tree. You will be in charge of the carriage’s back. Gain a height advantage and cover my blindspot. Child and Yiyi, you two shall watch out for each other.

“Listen well, team. Don’t move away from your position at your own accord, lest one of your partners can’t find you or get assassinated.

“I think you are all equipped with a light crossbow and dye balls. If there is no friendly unit in your shooting direction, shoot with your light crossbow. If there is any friendly unit in your path, shoot with the dye ball and call out your party member’s name. Those who hear their name called immediately dodge away from the spot before reassessing your surroundings.

“Remember. It’s fine for Child and Yiyi to give warnings. However, Old Goose and Jiu Er try to keep silent unless you are certain that the enemy is by your side.”

Annan went utterly beyond the players’ initial expectations.

Annan commanded in an orderly manner, showing the professional qualities of an excellent commander.

Annan appeared like a twenty-five years old blond youth filled with surging self-confidence and unquestionable leadership aura.

It wasn’t too surprising if Annan was indeed a twenty-five years old wizard.

But the problem was that Annan was only twelve years old in the eyes of the players.

—He was indeed an elementary school student.

Are all elementary school students in other worlds monsters these days?

“We have a clear goal. The opponent is capable of instantly killing any of you. He must have long-range attacks such as crossbows or bows. To me, he is completely invisible.

“So if we take any one point as the center and look around, we will only be killed by him one by one. So we have to reverse our lineup. We shall look inside from all sides, observe each other’s position, and utilize Child and Yiyi as baits.

“As long as I can determine the general direction, I will directly launch an area attack. You are responsible for alerting me whether the enemy survived and correcting the attacking trajectory for me.

“The goal this time is to defeat the enemy with one casualty or less. Do you understand?”

Annan’s eyes were sharp. He spoke swiftly but loud and clear, “Why are you dumbfounded on the spot? Get in position quickly!”

“Yes!” The four guards responded quickly and then dispersed.

The players who watched the live broadcast were a little bit stunned.

“—Why is Don Juan so professional?”

“—I don’t know. He shouldn’t have learned this kind of survival skill at his age.”

“—This isn’t a survival skill. It’s already proficiency in managing home base and setting up guard posts!”

“—I think the Gerant family may be a military force.”

“—That’s probable.”

Annan looked at the comments and kept silent.

This was a strategy he had already thought of before the nightmare.

Although this dungeon instance was here to upgrade the players quickly, it was also part of the process to showcase his strength and identity.

Annan had to take off “the Don Juan Geraint’s mask” eventually.

Moreover, “David’s identity” was at a rare spot of not intersecting with Annan Austere-Winter’s identity.

Annan had started his arrangements.

He had to gradually show the abnormality, revealing his true identity to the players bit by bit.

He would have the players gradually start to doubt his true identity but make them nervous, excited and avoid having them felt deceived.

It appeared complex, but it could be done easily as long as it was apparent to the players that their benefits were far more remarkable if Annan changed back to his true identity.

Also, Annan had to let the players know that he didn’t deliberately deceive them, that their relationship had been like this from the beginning. Then, everything would work.

Simple and straightforward.

The players were now in a situation similar to “amnesia,” just like Annan.

They had no idea what their true identity was.

When others said they were “Don Juan Geraint” private soldiers, Annan didn’t deny it but didn’t admit it either.

Annan just said, “These people are my guards.”

—But why couldn’t they be Annan Austere-Winter’s guards?

After all, the real Don Juan escort either escaped or died.

There were cleaned death, easily traceable.

At that time, the players would suddenly realize: Ah, it turns out that I’m Austerian.

Do you think what you think is true?

I will give you the information that makes you grow suspicious of me!

When did you have the illusion that I didn’t use misdirection?

Sure enough, even Annan didn’t utilize the bullet text to incite momentum. Players had already begun to discuss the status of “Don Juan Geraint” in the family and the situation that the Gerant family might face now.

After all, the players would tend to use some minute details to speculate about the plot that was beyond reach.

“—Feudal lord!”

But at this moment, Annan suddenly heard Yiyi’s nervous voice.

“…That person…isn’t he?”

Did you see it?

That’s fast?

Annan was a little surprised.

Then he lowered his head without a trace and glanced at the direction Yiyi was pointing with her chin.

He assessed twice repeatedly, but there was no one there.

So, Annan immediately shouted, “Attack!”

He opened his clenched right hand.

A dark gold gemstone burning with flames rose rapidly like the sun. The brilliance was getting brighter and brighter. When it rose to the highest point, it turned into a huge, somewhat illusory eyeball (ward).

The pupil of the eyeball was like the pupil of a snake!

At this moment, Jiu Er, Yiyi, and Child all immediately attacked in that direction.

But, Annan still didn’t see where the enemy was.

It felt like he was a Starcraft player who was oblivious to the obvious.

But Annan quickly realized that the three of them were shooting dye balls!

This meant that Delicious Wind Goose and Carney Casting were close to each other!

The distance was so close that friendly fire was plausible!

“Don’t move. I’ll go over and take a look.”

Annan replied decisively in a low volume.

Yiyi was frightened by this command as if her soul escaped her body.