"The fourth stage is a resting point for players," Xin sighed as he pushed himself off the ground, "To be more exact, it's a temptation that traps the players."
Wang GuiYing looked to be a bit surprised as he heard this and he looked at the man attentively, waiting for him to explain further.
"It's a city that never sleeps. Filled with normal people enjoying their normal life. It tries to mimic the real world and if compared, it is better than the real world. Most players who reach this stage are people who have been fighting for their life till now. They reek of blood and the only makeup adorning their faces are scars. For them, this place is like a dream that they do not want to wake up from."
Wang GuiYing gulped as he heard this and couldn't help but once again peek out the window. If he hadn't taken Li Ling's help to enter this game, he might have also been one of the players who'd fall into the temptation of this normal city.
"In this stage, it doesn't matter what your role is. Whether you be an attacker or a healer, it's all the same. In the end, roles are completely useless in this stage. Everybody is equal and everybody is normal."
"Then how do you get to the next stage?" Wang GuiYing asked as he raised his eyebrows.
"By breaking out of the temptation," Xin spoke, looking as if he had a lot of experience, "I was once stuck for a whole year in this stage."
"..." Wang GuiYing finally understood why the man looked so experienced.
"If you meet your temptation then you must kill it. That's the only way of getting to the next stage."
Wang GuiYing frowned a little as he heard this, "Kill your temptation...? It's a person?"
Xin nodded his head, looking to be a bit hesitant as he spoke, "For you... That would probably be Zhou Xinyi."
"!!!"
"If you meet Zhou Xinyi in this stage, you must first make sure whether it's the real one or the fake one. If it's the fake one then you must kill it."
"How do I tell the two apart?"
"You should know the answer to that," Xin shrugged his shoulders as he responded.
"Then how did you get out of this place?"
"I killed you."
"..." Wang GuiYing blinked, repeating the man's words in his head, wondering if he was joking or not.
"You were my temptation," Xin looked into Wang GuiYing's eyes and spoke truthfully, "You kept me trapped here for a year and in the end, I had to kill you in order to get out."
Wang GuiYing gulped and took a step back, "Um... You don't doubt me, do you...? I mean, I'm me, not an illusion."
Xin let out a short chuckle as he closed his head and shook his head, "Don't worry about it, I know the difference between the real you and the 'you' from the illusion. After all, I spent a whole year with 'that' version of you."
Wang GuiYing sighed in relief and in the very next moment, he wondered if he was really supposed to be relieved about it or not. The man had just confessed that he had spent a whole year with him. Even if it was an illusion, it was still an illusion of him so it was only natural that Wang GuiYing felt a little weird.
"And what about you?" Wang GuiYing asked as he put his guard up, "Are you an illusion?"
Xin faintly smiled as he heard this question and instead of answering, he asked another question in turn, "Do I look tempting to you?"
"..." Wang GuiYing gulped as he put down his guard almost immediately.
Xin blinked, not knowing whether he was supposed to laugh or cry with that outright rejection.
"Well then, how do we find the gamemaster?" Wang GuiYing asked as he looked out the window.
Xin took a deep breath in as he made his way towards the window and spoke, "We follow chaos."
Oddly enough, that... Sounded like quite a solid plan...!
The two soon made their way out of the room and went down to the reception of the inn.
"Good evening," A rather young-looking woman greeted them with a sweet smile and the two immediately guessed her to be the receptionist in charge of the guests.
"Good evening," Wang GuiYing beamed as he stepped over towards her.
"Would you be going out to explore the city?" The woman innocently asked as she looked at Wang GuiYing.
The woman wasn't an eye-catching beauty, but she wasn't too plain either. Her face was pleasant to the eyes and had the power to make anyone feel reassured and calm. She looked honest and kind, almost as if she had never done anything wrong even once in her life.
"Ah, we were thinking about it," Wang GuiYing spoke in an obvious flirty tone, "But we are new here so we don't know much about this city. A beautiful lady like yourself must be quite knowledgable, do you perhaps have any suggestions?"
The woman smiled as she heard this but remained professional and didn't fall for his seduction as she spoke, "If you want to enjoy the nightlife here then you must definitely visit the night fair. It's not very far from here."
Xin's ears perked up as he heard this and he immediately approached the two as he asked, "Is the fair alright?"
"Huh?" The woman looked to be confused as she heard this sudden question.
"Has there been any recent incidents? Anything worth mentioning?" Xin once again asked as he looked at the woman.
"Well..." The woman thought about it for a minute before she suddenly clapped her hands together and exclaimed, "There has!"
Xin and Wang GuiYing shared a glance.
"It happened just a few days ago so even I'm not aware of the details. For the last few weeks, there was a serial killer terrorizing the fair. I heard that two foreigners came and helped arrest him. Everyone was thankful and considered the two men saviors but soon, those saviors turned into the most ruthless demons." The woman clicked her tongue as she spoke, looking to be angry about it.
"Thirty-eight people were suddenly burnt alive by them and it all happened in the middle of the fair. There are enough witnesses and due to all the proof, now those foreigners are wanted criminals. The police are after them but unfortunately, they haven't been caught yet."
"Let's go," Xin turned around and almost immediately left the inn, not waiting around to say anything further to the woman.
"W-Wait!" Wang GuiYing called out to the man as he tried to follow after him, but he still stopped to thank the woman who had given them this information, "Thank you for your help! I'll treat you to a drink later~"
The woman only smiled and didn't say anything as a response as she saw the two storm off.
"Something is weird," Wang GuiYing spoke as he caught up to Xin.
"Hmm"
"We saw those two ascending right before us. How could they have reached here a few days before us...?" Wang GuiYing asked as he side-glanced at Xin.
"Time moves differently between the stages. Sometimes it's slow and sometimes it is fast. It wouldn't have been shocking even if we were the ones to reach here before them."
"Oh..."
"But you are right. There is something weird about this situation," Xin added, his voice completely serious, "Why did they burn those thirty-eight people?"
Wang GuiYing frowned as he tried to come up with an answer but since they clearly lacked context, they couldn't make any safe guesses just yet.
"I mean... It's not shocking but it is weird that they did it in the middle of the fair," Xin continued, "They aren't the types to leave behind witnesses."
Wang GuiYing nodded his head without any hesitation, completely agreeing with the man.
"What if it's not them?" Wang GuiYing asked.
Xin chuckled shortly as he heard this and replied with another question, "Except for them, would anyone dare to burn thirty-eight people in a single go?"
"..."
That was a pretty reasonable argument.
"Do you know where the fair is?" Wang GuiYing changed his question.
"I know it like the back of my hand," Xin replied confidently, "I used to work as a tattoo artist there."
Wang GuiYing snapped his head towards the man and stared at him with utter shock. This was even more shocking than the fact that Li Ling and Zhihao had put fire to thirty-eight people in the middle of a lively fair.
"Don't look at me like that," Xin sighed as he spoke, "I was a tattoo artist but I wasn't actually good at it."
Wang GuiYing relaxed a bit since that latter half sounded more believable to him.
Just as Xin had said, the man really did know the way to the fair like the back of his hand.
With just a few minutes of walking, they had already reached the place where the incident had taken place.