Mom, don't cry? What kind of mission is this?" Guan Ling said in a daze.
Xing Ye said to Cork, "I have an important question for you. Please answer honestly. Your answer will determine the safety of Pinocchio and Puppet City."
Kirk was a little afraid of Xing Ye, and nodded with trembling body.
"Kill Benedict and Puppet City will be free forever. Will you be happy?"
Kirk shook his head frantically, nearly losing it to her. "No, no, no, I never wanted to kill the Master. The Master is our creator. I would never have such an idea!"
Xing Ye asked patiently, "Are you sure you really don't want to? Think it over first. Don't worry, we know how to kill him, and you don't need to get involved. If you can't bear to part with Pinocchio, we can trick Benedict into installing a heart for him and then kill the Master right after that."
"No!" Kirk almost screamed, and a sound of breaking wood came out of her throat.
Xing Ye nodded: "I understand. Remember to ask Old Nick to fix your throat."
Pinocchio heard Kirk's voice and reached out to touch her throat.
"Does he really have no feelings?" Xing Ye asked Xiao Jingzi. He couldn't do the job of sensing love.
The mirror looked at the little wooden puppet and said, "Yes, it's a very simple emotion. The strength with which he hugged me and Kirk was completely different. Look, he was completely attached to Kirk. He must be reluctant to leave her."
"How can you have feelings without a heart?" Cao Qian asked puzzledly.
"Perhaps this was Benedict's wish," the mirror thought for a moment and said, "a father pouring his emotions into a puppet for his son, and the puppet responds to his emotions."
Guan Ling whispered, "That's ridiculous."
Xing Ye agreed with the mirror's words: "This is a fairy tale world. Nothing is impossible. It's incomplete to extrapolate from the perspective of the real world."
Seeing that Kirk and the puppet were still hugging each other, Xing Ye's shoulders slumped, and he said with a headache, "This is really a very troublesome task. If it was just to kill Benedict, it would be easier."
He found it difficult, so Cao Qian and Guan Ling must be even more helpless.
"I..." Jingzi wanted to speak, and he secretly looked at Xing Ye.
"Go ahead." Xing Ye said.
"I don't think we can take Pinocchio with us," said the mirror. "It should stay with Cork."
After hearing what the mirror said, Kirk hugged the puppet tightly, fearing that the puppet would be snatched away by Xing Ye and others.
"It will cause more complications..." Xing Ye felt that this was a bit troublesome, but when he saw that Kirk was like a mother whose child was about to be taken away, he always felt that what he did was indeed too much and was forcing them to be separated.
"Okay, let the little Pinocchio stay here, but make some scratches on his body so that if someone wants to find him again, it will be difficult to recognize him." Xing Ye nodded helplessly. After all, he was not cruel enough.
Kok was distressed. She couldn't bear to see the puppet get hurt, so Xing Ye patiently explained, "Those people will definitely come after you. Your darkroom is cleverly designed, making it completely invisible to outsiders, but it can't escape actual measurement, and they will eventually find it."
"Then what should I do?" Kirk asked Xing Ye for help fearfully.
Xing Ye taught her: "Leave the puppet outside. The puppets of the richest man's son and the mine owner's son were obtained from outside just like us. They have a fixed mindset and will never think that the puppet you put outside this time is the real thing.
If you tell them that the puppet is with the mine owner, just like you lied to us, they may or may not believe you. But it doesn't matter, either way it's just a matter of buying time.
If they find the dark room, I will tell them that I was here and took a puppet, and they will come looking for me. Of course, to be on the safe side, they may take all the puppets in the dark room, but they will not take the one you put outside.
Because they have been cheated once, they will instinctively think that this is a scam as well.
People often fail to see the truth that is right before their eyes."
Not only did Cork think it made sense, but the other two teammates were also stunned. This was too dark. If Xing Ye was hiding something, they would definitely not be able to find it.
"Of course, if the puppet is left outside, people might vent their anger on it," Xing Ye continued. "Someone with a bad temper might hit it. You can't get too nervous at that moment. Unless they're really going to tear the puppet apart, you have to hold back and pretend you don't care. The more cruel you are, the more they'll believe it's a fake."
Kirk couldn't bear to hear Xing Ye's description and hugged the little wooden puppet with heartache.
Cao Qian was also quite reluctant: "Is there no other way? Do I have to be beaten?"
Xing Ye shook his head: "I can speculate on the direction of things, but I can't figure out people's hearts, especially when they are free from moral and legal constraints, how far they will go. No one knows."
Some people would vent their anger by hurting the weak. Xing Ye himself would not do such a thing, but he could not guarantee that others could control their emotions.
At this moment, the small mirror tugged at the corner of Xing Ye's clothes and whispered a reminder: "QR code."
QR code? Xing Ye recalled the campus world, when he gave the precious QR code to Lin Jingxue and prayed for her salvation.
There are QR codes in the Melee world, and each one represents a skill related to that world. This means that the QR codes may not be provided to players, but may also be used to protect ordinary people in this world.
Xing Ye took out his QR code, which he got from the fountain in front of the City Lord's Mansion. It should not be suitable for Pinocchio.
There were two more QR codes at Guanling. Xing Ye asked, "Where did you get these two QR codes?"
Guan Ling thought for a moment and said, "One is in a residential area, and the other is at my home. There's a parchment scroll in Old Nick's toolbox with a QR code on it."
Xing Ye: "Please describe the two QR codes."
Guan Ling clicked the black and white bracelet, looked up into the air and read, "The one in the residential area says 'There's no domestic garbage in Puppet City, what a good thing,' and the one at home says 'I can only protect you this once.'"
Xing Ye made a decisive choice: "Use the QR code you found at home, and the beneficiary is Pinocchio."
"What?" Guan Ling couldn't believe his ears. "I finally found a QR code and used it on the puppeteer? The description clearly says it's disposable protective equipment. And maybe it can even be used to control the puppeteer. How practical!"
"Use it if I tell you to!" Cao Qian kicked Guan Ling on the butt.
"Ouch! Don't hit me, don't hit me. I'll just use it. Seriously." Guan Ling clicked on the QR code and said, "There's actually a dialog box for selecting the target to protect."
After Guan Ling chose the puppet, a ball of transparent silk thread wrapped around the puppet and sank into his body.
"Line of Cohesion" is a QR code specifically designed for mechanical items. It can reassemble completely destroyed mechanical items without any loss, giving them a chance to be reborn.
"What a useful QR code!" Guan Ling felt deeply distressed. "It's like we can be reborn in this world once. Boss, can you redraw it?"
"Generally, I can't redraw this special delayed QR code. It's just a life-saving talisman, how can its effect be halved?" Xing Ye shook his head. There was also a "review note" in the campus world that could not be redrawn before.
Guan Ling was so heartbroken that he looked at Pinocchio with a unhappy look.
"And this is a delayed QR code. During its validity period, I cannot use other QR codes." Guan Ling muttered.
Cao Qian snorted coldly, thinking that he really didn't know how lucky he was.
She still remembered the last time Xing Ye gave the piano to Lin Jingxue and completed the side quest, getting 5,000 points and a rare QR code.
Cork is the key clue puppet, and players, concerned that she might hold intelligence, will not harm her. However, Pinocchio is different. Players don't know that Pinocchio is the young master they're looking for, so they're likely to smash the puppet without hesitation.
So the "thread of cohesion" only needs to be used on Pinocchio.
After making all the preparations, Xing Ye took a puppet and left, pretending that he had obtained the body of Benedict's son.
"Where do we hide this puppet?" Cao Qian saw Xing Ye walking towards her house with the puppet. "My home?"
Xing Ye said, "I want to give the puppet to Linda and ask her to protect it. Remember, this mission doesn't have specific points, but rather randomly assigns points based on Pinocchio's gratitude. If Linda helps hide the fake puppet, it will effectively delay other players and those with ulterior motives, buying time for Pinocchio's wish to come true. This will also be considered Linda's active participation in the game."
Guan Ling opened his mouth but didn't dare to refute. However, he still found an opportunity to secretly ask Cao Qian, "I still remember the boss's ruthless actions during the final battle of the last world, the decisiveness of shooting Di Kuang to death. I always thought the boss was a ruthless person, but now... is he actually a saint? One moment he wastes QR codes to save Pinocchio, and the next moment he wants to share mission contribution points with other players? Linda is not our teammate!"
Cao Qian also found it strange. She was sure that Xing Ye was a principled man, but not one who was overly kind-hearted. So why did he do this?
Both of them were confused, but neither dared to ask directly.
Linda happened to be home at the time, so Xing Ye asked Cao Qian to call her out and briefly explain that this was the body of Benedict's son, an important prop that might be snatched away. They would distract the other three, and Linda would not be implicated.
Unexpectedly, Linda refused very bluntly: "No, I still have enough points to last for a while, and I don't want to get involved in such a dangerous matter for the time being. If they find out and want to kill me, even if I don't die, it will hurt."
Cao Qian and Guan Ling were so angry that they wanted to smash the wall. The boss would only share points with you if he thought highly of you, but you are so ungrateful.
I thought Xing Ye would use all kinds of means to persuade (force) Linda to agree, but I never thought that Xing Ye would just ask this one question, and when he saw that Linda didn't agree, he left with the puppet.
Why?
The two of them didn't understand Xing Ye's behavior at all. He seemed very kind, but not very sincere. It was really just a casual question.
The two chatted quietly in the back, trying to figure out Xing Ye's thoughts. Little Mirror followed Xing Ye and whispered, "You tried your best."
With his words, Xing Ye felt a little better.
Randy had mentioned that if Linda continued to slack off, she would eventually be doomed. Xing Ye, knowing this, couldn't just sit there and watch, so he decided to help Linda, but she refused.
Life and death are determined by fate, and Xing Ye has done his best.