Luo Yingying and Li Wenjun turned their heads and found that the person approaching was a muscular man, not very tall, with bronzed skin and a bright smile that revealed a set of big white teeth.
“Are you the new teammate?” Luo Yingying asked curiously while holding her husband’s arm.
“I…” The muscular man was about to speak.
“Jiezi?!” Xin Meng suddenly exclaimed, her face changing dramatically!
This man, who else could he be but Jiezi!
Xin Meng’s eyes widened, almost doubting her own sanity!
In the first game, that NPC who infiltrated their team, framed them, and finally revealed his ferocious true face, had actually appeared before her again?!
Muscles, smile, white teeth, even the sleeveless vest he wore was identical!
Xin Meng couldn’t even convince herself that he just looked similar!
But how could this be? Wasn’t he an NPC? Wasn’t he the BOSS in the zombie game? Could NPCs really traverse the game like players?
No… no way!
Her eyes widened even more, her gaze fixed on the arm badge on the man’s arm!
Player badge!
How… how could this be…
Even though Xin Meng was calmer than the others, she couldn’t help but be shocked, her mind a chaotic mess, unable to utter a single word!
“What’s wrong? Xin Meng, do you know him?” Luo Yingying asked quickly when she saw Xin Meng’s strange reaction.
Xin Meng stared at Jiezi, her brows tightly furrowed, not speaking.
“I’ve never seen you before,” the man said nonchalantly with a smile, “You must have mistaken me for someone else.”
“Then what’s your name?” Xin Meng gritted her teeth and asked.
“Me?” The man grinned, “I’m called—Jie, Zi.”
Xin Meng: “……”
Jiezi continued, “I’m a player, look, look, I have a badge!”
After saying that, he deliberately raised his arm to show Xin Meng the badge with the SM-style logo, waving it in front of her eyes, looking quite pleased with himself.
Xin Meng gritted her teeth, but couldn’t say anything.
What on earth was going on?
If she said she had mistaken him for someone else, that would definitely be a lie! But the fact was right in front of her, this person had transformed from an NPC into a player?
How could such a thing happen!
“Did you kill a player and then steal his badge?” This was the only possibility Xin Meng could think of!
“Hey,” Jiezi sighed, “I’m clearly a player, your new teammate, how could you think of me like that? What grudges do we have? Really… don’t wrong me, I’m a good person, I wouldn’t do anything violent.”
Xin Meng was so angry that the veins on her forehead were popping out; she still vividly remembered the ferocious face Jiezi had shown when he ambushed her, and he claimed to be a good person? Who would believe that!
“You must have mistaken me for someone else, poor little brother, your eyesight is so bad.” Jiezi laughed heartily, “It’s okay, from now on, big brother will take care of you!”
Xin Meng: “……”
At this moment, Dou Dou, who had been inexplicably quiet since Jiezi appeared, suddenly stepped forward, grabbed Jiezi’s arm, and tugged at the badge.
“It’s real, can’t pull it off.” Dou Dou said to Xin Meng, “The player badge permanently follows the player, it won’t fall off even if you die, and it can’t be taken by others. It seems he really is our new teammate.”
Xin Meng’s gaze shifted gently to Dou Dou.
Dou Dou, however, turned his back to Jiezi, not knowing what he was doing, while Jiezi kept smiling, looking at Dou Dou without saying a word.
“It’s really true, can’t pull it off!” Luo Yingying also tugged at the badge on her own arm and found that it was indeed the case!
“Dou Dou, how do you know about this?” Li Wenjun asked Dou Dou, pondering more deeply.
Xin Meng had been staring at Dou Dou; this time he was too anxious and said something he shouldn’t have, even Li Wenjun noticed something was off.
Dou Dou stiffened, then laughed awkwardly, “I guessed, I guessed, because I tried pulling it off myself before, and it didn’t come off!”
But no one could accept his answer, even Luo Yingying looked at him suspiciously.
“Oh no!” Dou Dou was so embarrassed he could hardly laugh, then as if he saw something, he suddenly pointed at the building: “You Yi is here!”
Xin Meng had already sensed something and knew he wasn’t lying. She turned her head and indeed saw You Yi walking out of the building at a leisurely pace.
She immediately ran over, and as she got closer, You Yi reached out and pulled her into his embrace.
“What’s wrong?” You Yi immediately noticed that something was off with Xin Meng.
“It’s Jiezi!” Xin Meng whispered in his ear, “He’s appeared again! And for some reason, he’s become a player this time!”
You Yi glanced at Jiezi, receiving a smile from him, then lowered his head to say to Xin Meng, “Don’t be afraid, just observe the changes.”
I’m not afraid…
Xin Meng felt very conflicted; she really couldn’t understand how this character transformation was happening…
Right! Character transformation!
It seemed to have been mentioned on the card?
He took out the card and looked at the words on it: [Yin Yang Overlap, Role Exchange].
It meant that the roles of players and NPCs could be swapped? But it still felt wrong…
Although he didn’t know if this “role exchange” referred to Jiezi, the fact that this guy could appear here made Xin Meng extremely vigilant.
However, Jiezi seemed unconcerned about her thoughts, just smiling as he took out his own card and handed it to her.
Xin Meng took it with a sense of impending danger and glanced down.
[Have you played hide and seek?]
Upon hearing Xin Meng read this line, although everyone still had their own thoughts, they were all speechless. Luo Yingying, holding onto Li Wenjun’s arm, almost cried out.
“So it’s really like this!” Luo Yingying said with a mournful face, “I really don’t want to encounter children in a horror game!!”
… Real-world children are scary enough, let alone in this environment; she wouldn’t harbor any delusions of encountering innocent, cute, pure, and kind little babies.
Dou Dou couldn’t help but twitch his mouth. “I don’t like children in horror movies either.”
Meanwhile, Xin Meng held the card, her expression blank.
You Yi embraced her and softly asked, “What’s wrong?”
Xin Meng hesitated for a moment and quietly asked, “What does hide and seek mean?”
“What? You don’t know what hide and seek is?” Luo Yingying asked in surprise, “Didn’t you play it when you were a child?”
Xin Meng paused for a moment, then shook his head.
Luo Yingying still looked incredulous, “Then what did you play when you were a child?”
Xin Meng remained blank, finally saying, “I forgot.”
Luo Yingying twitched her mouth, just about to say how young he was to forget so quickly, when she heard Xin Meng continue, “I don’t know why, but the more games I clear, the less I remember about my past.”
“When I don’t try to recall, I feel nothing at all, but now, as soon as I try to think, I find my memories have turned into a blank slate, I’ve forgotten everything.”
The others were shocked!
Could it be that the game was gradually consuming their memories, making them slowly become people without a past, or even without thoughts?
Everyone couldn’t help but speculate about various bad possibilities, even reflexively starting to recall their own pasts.
“We still remember very clearly.” Luo Yingying and Li Wenjun even asked each other questions to verify whether they were also slowly losing their memories, but the answer was no.
They all remembered very clearly, even the colors of the cats raised by their neighbors when they were young, and the names of the people who bullied them in elementary school were still fresh in their minds.
Only Xin Meng showed such a reaction.
What was going on?
Everyone looked at Xin Meng, but his expression remained relatively calm, “I don’t know the reason.”
“This is a bit interesting.” Jiezi seemed very interested, taking a couple of steps toward Xin Meng, but Xin Meng was very vigilant and immediately retreated more than ten steps, making a big movement. Jiezi could only click his tongue and stop.
“Do you remember how you entered the game?”
“I don’t remember.” Xin Meng answered simply and clearly. “I probably just woke up after a nap and came here.”
Luo Yingying and Li Wenjun couldn’t help but look at You Yi, who had been silent; what expression would he have when his lover suddenly lost his memory?
The answer was—no expression.
Perhaps it was because Xin Meng’s emotions were too calm, or perhaps it was due to his own personality, You Yi didn’t seem as shocked as they imagined; his gaze became deeper, and his lips pressed tightly together.
When Xin Meng looked over, You Yi ruffled his hair, wrapped his arm around his shoulder, and pulled him into his embrace, softly saying, “Whether or not you have a past doesn’t matter; what’s important is the future.”
“Mm.” Although Xin Meng didn’t feel uncomfortable, nor did he have that so-called feeling of “missing something,” You Yi’s words still made him feel more at ease, warming him all over, “I’m fine, don’t worry.”
“How could this be?” Dou Dou murmured, staring at Xin Meng, unwilling to give up, asking, “Why is it only you who suddenly lost your memory?”
“I don’t know.” Xin Meng glanced at him, already suspicious about the matter between him and Jiezi, and seeing him persistently questioning, he said coolly, “Maybe I knew before I lost my memory, but now I definitely don’t know.”
Dou Dou’s expression was a bit awkward; he touched his nose and fell silent.
Jiezi looked at his cowardly appearance and snickered.
Not wanting to dwell on this issue, Xin Meng said, “So what’s next? What’s written on your cards?”
Luo Yingying finally reacted, “Ah… here, I haven’t had a chance to look yet.”
Her card read: [Ghost and Human, until one side is completely dead, the game ends.]
“So, what is hide and seek? What are the ghost and human?” Xin Meng looked at the suddenly silent crowd with confusion.
“Hide and seek is a game of tag, one person is the ghost, and the others find a place to hide. If the ghost catches someone, that person is out…” Luo Yingying said with difficulty.
“Is the ghost one person?” Xin Meng continued to ask.
“Usually, yes.” Luo Yingying nodded.
“But from the card, it doesn’t seem to be the case,” Xin Meng analyzed, “It’s very likely that the number of opponents is the same as ours, or even more than us, and if caught, it’s not just being out; it’s direct death, which would pose a threat to us.”
Luo Yingying’s face turned pale.