Everyone is finally here.

 

The Second Ability of the “Paper Substitute” QR Code — Substitution, This allowed to act as a substitute for the original person. It could talk and eat, but it couldn’t use starting skills or QR codes. Its only role was to act as a stand-in.

The ability to talk was limited to basic replies — for example, if asked “Good morning” or “Have you eaten?”, it could answer. But if asked anything beyond its capacity, it would just reply with “I don’t know,” “Never heard of it,” or “No.”

This ability clearly couldn't fool players, and Xing Ye never intended to.

As soon as the paper substitute Li Datou joined the team, a tall male player mocked: “Wow Li Datou, you were totally useless in the fight, then turned around and acted as a mouthpiece for the enemy. How the hell did you make it to the advanced world?”

Li Datou grinned honestly and replied: “I don’t know.”

Teammate 1: “…”

That was clearly not a real player. What kind of QR code was this? How many QR codes did that guy have? Was he carrying an arsenal?!

In truth, after Xing Ye stopped attacking, the six players could have counterattacked. He hadn’t gone all out, they were only lightly injured, and still had their points and QR codes.

But the thing was, Xing Ye could also activate broken-tier skills like “Kua Fu Chasing the Sun”, stop time, and draw multiple deadly QR codes to kill them all before they could react.

That whole fight was meant to intimidate, to make the others feel they had no chance, so they’d agree to a ceasefire and give Xing Ye time to explore the secrets of the world.

And he succeeded — none of them dared to fight back.

Even without “Kua Fu Chasing the Sun,” Cao Qian’s Swan Crystal and Xiao Jingzi’s “Alluring Beauty” could control enemies.

Compliant tools became stronger after QR code upgrades. But they lacked awareness and had to be operated manually by fate defying players. That’s why Wang Sifang couldn’t fully use his pendant — Xing Ye kept interrupting him.

Lu Mingze and Linlin, however, were different. They could use Xing Ye’s and Cao Qian’s points freely, launching surprise attacks. That was how Xiao Jingzi had once saved Xing Ye from Mad Aunt Yang.

At that point, Wang Sifang and Qin Xiao’er also realized the three who’d rejoined the group weren’t real. They yelled toward the wall where Xing Ye’s team was hiding: “What’s the point of using those things?!”

The paper substitute, Li Datou, replied: “To trick the villagers into thinking we’ve been around all along. That way, we can look for clues during the day.”

Everyone: “…”

Wang Sifang was furious, wanting to grab his pendant and attack, but feared the barrage of QR codes and held back.

One of Yan Hebi’s teammates, Niu Xiaohua, said: “Li Datou, you’re on our team. Why make a substitute of yourself? Were you on their team before? Don’t be stupid — in the advanced world, if you’re not on the same team, you’re enemies. They’ll just screw you over because you’re a noob.”

Yan Hebi shouted: “My teammates won’t hurt me. I trust them.”

Li Datou looked naturally honest, and with Yan Hebi’s comment, seemed even more naïve. As a woman, Niu Xiaohua had a good impression of Li Datou — he seemed easy to manipulate. But she hadn’t expected him to be this dumb.

Another teammate, Liang Ergou, patted Niu Xiaohua’s shoulder to calm her and called out: “What are you planning? Even if you delay things for two days, our sides will still be enemies. We chose to fight in the village because we don’t want to go up the mountain. This world is weird. There could be deadly traps up there. We want to finish this before going up.”

He had a point. Yan Hebi was about to argue back with something Xing Ye had taught him, but Cao Qian interrupted: “Bullshit. You’re just a coward hiding behind fake concern for others so you can benefit yourself.”

With that, she leapt onto the wall, coldly staring at Liang Ergou.

She was short and dark-skinned, almost blending into the night, making it hard to see her face. Liang Ergou squinted at her, unsure if she was a paper person, and didn’t dare attack — afraid of provoking the expert hiding in the dark.

“Have we met in a previous world?” he asked politely.

Cao Qian replied: “So what if we have?”

Her emotions were clearly unstable. Yan Hebi tried to pull her short legs from below, but it was like they’d grown into the wall — she didn’t budge.

Luckily, Xing Ye spoke up just in time: “Cao HeiHei, calm down. Focus on the big picture.”

Hearing that, she said: “Either we go up the mountain after two days, or you die here tonight. Your choice.”

Clearly, tonight wasn’t a good time to fight — not only because of Xing Ye’s strength, but also because of the hands in the black mist. If not for the lingering effect of “Requiem”, the corpses wouldn’t care who was ally or enemy — they’d attack all paper people indiscriminately.

That was another reason both teams agreed to a temporary cease-fire.

The six players left in defeat, bringing their paper substitutes with them.

After they were gone, Xing Ye and his team returned to Aunt Yang’s small mud house. Along the way, hands from the black fog tried to attack Yan Hebi and Qian Daniu, but with Xing Ye and Cao Qian’s protection, they returned safely.

Inside, Yan Hebi looked around and commented: “So poor…”

Xing Ye glanced at him and said: “Tell me what happened today.”

Yan Hebi was about to speak when Qian Daniu interrupted: “Wait!”

The three turned to her, not sure what she wanted.

She scratched her head — her once neat pigtails were now a tangled mess. After the chaos of the night, she’d gone from a charming, doll-like girl to a muddy little lunatic. She hadn’t realized how messy she looked. After instinctively fixing her hair, she said: “Don’t you think tonight was just insanely chaotic? Ever since Yang Xiaomao came out of the black fog, I’ve had no idea what’s going on!

“Weren’t the people in the black mist the murdered villagers? Aren’t we the good guys who are supposed to help the living? Yang Xiaomao — how did you figure out the corpses in the fog couldn’t be trusted? Why did the two sides start fighting? How come you seem to know everything? Also, who is Li Datou? Does Cao HeiHei know the enemy team or something? No — never mind that one.

“Anyway, can someone please explain what the hell is going on? I’m just a normal person!”

Qian Daniu was also on the verge of breaking down.

Ever since she and Yang Xiaomao’s group left the large house where the sacrificial offerings had been held, the plot felt like it had suddenly hit fast-forward — not just 2x or 4x speed, but 16x, 32x speed. She truly couldn’t keep up anymore.

During the earlier fight, she had been completely confused. It was only when Cao Heihei jumped onto the wall and fought with Liang Ergou that her “melodrama antenna” picked up something, and her brain cleared just a little — the rest, she still didn’t understand at all.

Looking at the bewildered Qian Daniu, Xing Ye said: “Having the desire to understand is a good thing. It’s way better than some temporary teammates who just want to coast and take advantage without doing any real work.”

He then turned to Cao Qian and asked: “Did you get it?”

Cao Qian shook her head blankly: “It’s too messy. There wasn’t even time to take notes, I can’t keep track of the plot at all.”

As for Yan Hebi, who had only just joined the team, he understood absolutely nothing.

Xing Ye sighed and began by briefly explaining to Yan Hebi the situation with paper people, living people, and the living corpses in the black mist. After confirming he had grasped the background, Xing Ye continued: “The living corpses in the black mist seem not to attack living people and were very friendly to me — but there are several flaws in that.

“First, the village chief in the black mist was overly eager to tell me everything — yet deliberately avoided certain key questions. It was like he only wanted me to know part of the truth, hiding the rest. That doesn’t match his kind demeanour — meaning he was likely lying or being deceptive.

“Second, besides the village chief and Aunt Yang, no one else in the black mist ever spoke. That’s strange. The mist contains countless people. Are they all so obedient that not one made a sound?

“Third, during the day, Aunt Yang behaved completely differently inside the house compared to outside. That suggests that being indoors somehow blocks a mysterious force that controls villagers. I don’t yet know what this power is, but I know it can control people to some extent. At night, Aunt Yang inside the house also behaved differently than the Aunt Yang in the mist — which made me start to associate the black mist with the mysterious controlling force during the day.

“So… could it be that this is one single power — one that controls the living during the day, and controls the dead at night?

“Based on these three suspicious points, I’m certain the black mist is hiding something, deliberately misleading us into helping them kill all the paper people. At the same time, it’s also acting as a kind of quest-giving NPC, pushing us into conflict with the guard team, until we’re fighting to the death.

“And so, I’m very sure — the true goal of this world is to pit the two teams against each other, and also to incite a war between paper people and living people. If we play the game by that logic, we haven’t technically done anything wrong — that’s how most players would approach these tasks.

“But if we go down that path of mutual slaughter, then we’re playing right into the system’s hands. We’ll never get a chance to challenge the final level.”

 

 

Translator : DarNan