Guan Ling recalled what Xing Ye had said and asked, "If the city lord wants to hunt down Benedict, does that mean this master is a bad guy?"
"How can you look at things so absolutely? The city lord might be a bad guy. The puppet he created wants to kill him. Isn't Benedict very pitiful?" Randy asked back.
His question stumped Guan Ling, who couldn't help but look back at Xing Ye. This big boss in his mind was silent at this moment, not saying a word.
There are too few clues at present, and Xing Ye feels that he cannot jump to conclusions. It is possible that one is good and the other is bad, or both are good and both are bad.
Old Nick said that it would take five to seven hours to walk along the river to reach the mine. This was obviously calculated based on the speed of the new puppets. A worn-out puppet like Xing Ye would have to stop to maintain his knees and wind up the spring after walking fast for three hours, so seven hours was no way to get there. They walked for a full ten hours, and it was already dark when they arrived at the mine.
"What exactly is the raw ore?" Guan Ling asked on the way at Xing Ye's signal.
Since Guan Ling talks a lot, Xing Ye lets him interact with Randy and others. Xing Ye and Cao Qian hide behind his talkativeness and don't let people analyze their personalities.
The city lord's son did know a lot: "Ore is the puppet's life energy. The energy in a piece of ore can keep the core of an old model puppet running for a year, and a new model for three months. As long as there is enough ore and the body is replaced frequently, the puppet can live forever."
No wonder the raw ore is so precious that it can be used as an equivalent exchange, it turns out to be the energy of life.
"Doesn't that mean that newer puppets die faster?" Guan Ling was a little nervous because he was the Tin Man.
"You are Old Nick's son. He will replenish your energy frequently. Don't worry." said the city lord's son.
Xing Ye touched the area where his core might be. He didn't know how long it had been since he had replenished his life energy. Could he be so unlucky that something bad happened? But bad luck was a common problem for players who defied fate.
"Does anyone here know how to use ore to recharge their energy?" Randy asked. "I suggest that once we enter the mine, as soon as we find ore, we immediately recharge our energy to avoid a sudden shutdown."
As a player who defies fate, Randy is really skilled and will not challenge his luck at all.
The city lord's son said: "I can't do it. There are shops in the city that specialize in charging puppets. They charge a fee. In addition, the owners of motor oil shops and repair shops also know how to do it. After all, it's necessary for business."
Everyone looked at Guan Ling, who waved his hands and said, "I, I don't know how to do it either!"
The atmosphere suddenly became heavy. If no one replenished their energy, the three fate-defying players would be in danger.
Xing Ye looked at Randy, suspecting he was lying. He knew the function of the ore and was collaborating with the city lord's son. Wouldn't he be using it to replenish his own energy? So he was probably testing them.
After thinking for a moment, Xing Ye asked cautiously, "Are there any signs of energy shortage?"
He can't appear too calm and sophisticated, and there's no harm in showing some weakness.
"I heard that the core area will feel uncomfortable and give the illusion of the soul leaving the body," said Randy.
He's quite skilled, seemingly having experienced the feeling of running out of energy before. If he's been out of energy and recharged himself before, then Randy is likely to be able to do so. He could have warned us when we first met, when we could still return to the city to recharge. But he chose to bring it up in front of the mine, perhaps to pry into our situation. Once he was sure we didn't know how to recharge, he could then ask for more. Xing Ye thought to himself.
They say they are cooperating, but they just won't fight. In fact, they don't trust each other. They don't actively tell each other their initial skills, and they will even conceal key information.
From these few sentences, we can tell that Randy is quite scheming. Is he worthy of being a high-level player?
Cao Qian looked at Xing Ye with some worry. For the first time, she felt that Xing Ye's momentum was suppressed.
The old puppets didn't have much expression, so no one could tell what Xing Ye was thinking. They only heard him say, "There's nothing we can do. It's too late for us to go back now. Let's wait until we find the original ore before researching. I have experience welding core wires, so I can feel where the core is. Maybe there's a way."
He did not act panicky or afraid of death, which made people think that Xing Ye was either confident or a reckless man.
"Since you are not worried, I can't retreat. Let's go into the mine." Randy suggested.
There was already insufficient light in the mine, and now it was dark. Entering the mine late at night was simply courting death.
"I have a prop," Randy said, pulling out a flashlight. "This is a QR code prop. I won it in a lottery somewhere. It doesn't have any special abilities, but it lasts for thirty hours. The only advantage is that it can be charged in a world with electricity and then taken to the next world without electricity."
With the lighting in his hands, Randy is bound to be the leader of the entire team.
Xing Ye didn't necessarily need to be a leader; as long as the other party wasn't hostile, he was perfectly willing to cooperate. If the other party could easily lead these newcomers to victory, Xing Ye wouldn't mind taking a break.
But Randy gave people a very uncomfortable feeling, especially the look in his eyes when he looked at the small mirror, which made people feel very uncomfortable.
Jingzi rubbed against Xing Ye and shook his hand again. Xing Ye knew Jingzi was uneasy and he couldn't fall for this trick, so he said, "I suggest we rest tonight and go in at dawn. Don't forget, the city lord sent people into the mines fully armed, and they haven't come out yet. It's so dangerous inside, and we have to break in at night. I don't agree."
Guan Ling and Cao Qian naturally listened to Xing Ye.
"I don't think it's safe outside the mine either. Every night we stay there increases the risk of losing our energy," Randy said calmly. "I didn't expect you guys to be so timid. What about you? Will you come in with me?"
The last sentence was said to the city lord's son.
The city lord's son seemed quite confident in himself. He nodded and said, "I also have a light function. And unlike the people sent by the city lord, we have initial skills and special QR codes, so we should have no problem protecting ourselves. Besides us, there are other players. We need to get clues before them to earn points."
Cao Qian, of course, listened to Xing Ye. Guan Ling grabbed a handful of pebbles, threw them on the ground, and said, "For odd numbers, listen to the boss. For even numbers, listen to Randy."
Xing Ye and Cao Qian: "..."
Fortunately, the number of stones found was odd, so Guan Ling chose to stay outside the mine overnight.
Randy's expression remained unchanged. He laughed twice at the three of them and entered the mine with a flashlight.
After she could no longer hear the footsteps of the two people, Cao Qian asked, "What's going on with them?"
"He's not a good person!" Mirror, who had been holding it in for a whole day, finally couldn't help but say, "I think Randy has bad intentions!"
Xing Ye trusted the mirror's ability to judge people. He patted the mirror to comfort him: "I know, don't worry, I will be on guard against him."
Guan Ling hesitated and said, "But the other party is a high-level player. It will be easy for them to deal with us, right?"
"I suspect he has limitations," Xing Ye said. "If someone is truly strong enough, what attitude would he have towards newcomers like us? At least he would be condescending."
Guan Ling thought of Di Kuang and agreed with Xing Ye's words: "We must beat him up first until he submits, and then we can become his little brothers and work for him."
Xing Ye: "...Not everyone would do this, but it's essentially the same. They're all leaders. But Randy's approach is more like using psychological tactics to break down our defenses. His methods are gentler, perhaps due to his personality, or perhaps he's just lacking confidence."
"We don't have enough confidence. I don't have a QR code for lighting. You and Cao Qian may run out of energy soon." Guan Ling said anxiously.
He felt that several people were in a desperate situation.
"No, it's not a desperate situation yet." Xing Ye raised his hands. "In fact, from the moment these hands can be used, we won't be in a desperate situation anymore."
In this world, Cao Qian had no way to show the QR code in her mobile phone to Xing Ye, but long before entering the Puppet City world, she had shown Xing Ye the QR code she had extracted from her previous world in the system space.
At the same time, Xing Ye still remembered several QR codes he once had in the campus world, and he could draw them all using the redraw pen.
"Do you still remember the QR code that Teacher Ding gave Cao Qian?" Xing Ye said, "We experimented with the use of that QR code last night."
"How to experiment?" Guan Ling was still not very clear about Xing Ye's abilities. He only remembered that pianos kept falling down in the campus world, like a mountain pressing down on his head.
"Let's experiment like this." Xing Ye clicked on the initial skill in his mind and began to draw a QR code in the air.
The description of the QR code that Teacher Ding gave to Cao Qian was "Students love the multimedia classroom the most because they can secretly play movies." Xing Ye had used the Redraw Pen to see the abilities of two unknown QR codes that Cao Qian possessed last night. How could he not be prepared in advance when they were going to explore an unknown mine the next day?
Guan Ling saw a transparent pen appear out of thin air in Xing Ye's hand. He drew a QR code in the air for nearly a minute. When he finished the last stroke, something like a projector appeared in the air.
The "Idle Projector" allows you to specify a player you've interacted with and, when they're not present, play back their past activities in that world. To use this, you must have a wall capable of projection, and the projection lasts ten minutes. Using the Redraw Pen allows for five minutes of projection.