Tang Jianghe recalled briefly, “Actually, what I say most often is simply that the specter won't attack the players for a certain period of time.”
“As for how many shichen that safety lasts, it depends on how many people have triggered the specter's Death Rule, as well as the cruelty of the rule itself.”
“The more players trigger the rule, and the more cruel it is, the shorter the duration of the safety.”
Xuan Liu nodded secretly. “As expected of Master Tang. Later, when we need you to use your talent to restrict the specter's attacks, would you be willing to follow my commands?”
Tang Jianghe nodded. “Of course. But why not now?”
Xuan Liu said, “Lady Consort Rong mentioned earlier that the novice benefit is the word ‘time.’ The first person died right when we entered the dungeon, which was exactly midnight.”
“The second death, Heroine Zhuang, occurred approximately a half-shichen later.”
“If I'm not mistaken, the specter in this dungeon attacks players once every half-shichen, killing only one person at a time.”
“Of course, this is just my speculation for now. It isn't set in stone.”
“Once another half-shichen passes, if the specter truly appears, it will prove my theory. When that time comes, I'll ask you to use your talent, Master Tang, to restrict the specter from acting against us. The longer the duration, the better.”
“Our main quest is simply to survive for a whole day. As long as we can stall, everything else will fall into place.”
“And of course, during your sleep, I will absolutely guarantee your safety.”
Tang Jianghe gritted his teeth and nodded. “No problem.”
Although his special talent was incredibly powerful, he would fall into a deep sleep the moment he activated it.
During this period, no matter what anyone did to him, he would be completely unable to wake up.
Therefore, in previous dungeons, he would never use it unless it was absolutely necessary.
Even if he had to, he would make sure to find someone trustworthy to protect him beforehand. Otherwise, how could he have survived to this day?
Xuan Liu asked again, “Master Tang, do you have any specter items?”
Since things had reached this point, Tang Jianghe saw no need to hide anything.
“I do, though I don't have any permanent specter items. I only have two consumable ones, and both are auxiliary types that affect a specter's actions. They aren't particularly precious.”
Xuan Liu replied, “I see.”
He then asked for more details about the two specter items.
Tang Jianghe sighed.
He had been vague earlier because he didn't want to go into detail, but now that Xuan Liu was pressing him, he couldn't keep hiding it.
“One is a piece of rouge paper, which can only be used once.”
“Once used, it can attract the specter's attention for ten seconds.”
“During this time, the specter won't attack anyone. However, once the ten seconds are up and the restriction is lifted, if I have a Death Lock on me, I will become the specter's primary target.”
Hearing this, Zuo Lin'an's expression turned somewhat odd.
Rouge paper?
Wasn't that basically ancient women's lipstick?
The image of Tang Jianghe, a middle-aged man, using such a thing was bizarre.
Unaware that Zuo Lin'an was eavesdropping in the shadows, Tang Jianghe continued, “The other item is a copper coin. As long as you hand it to the specter, you can buy yourself a life.”
Hearing this, Xuan Liu suddenly thought of something.
“Could this be the special talent, 【Life-Buying Coin】?”
“A player with that talent only needs to craft a copper coin with their own hands to trigger it, transforming the coin into a 【Life-Buying Coin】.”
“By giving the coin to the specter, they can force the specter to abandon its attempt to kill them, while also randomly removing one Death Lock from their body. It has a nine-day cooldown.”
Tang Jianghe nodded. “Indeed, it is that very coin.”
“I spent quite a sum of silver to buy this. Of course, the effect of this 【Life-Buying Coin】 is inferior to the 【Death Doll】, so the price was slightly lower.”
But no matter what, it was still a life-saving item. Even if it was slightly cheaper than the doll, ordinary people still couldn't afford it.
Tang Jianghe said, “This can also be considered a one-time consumable specter item. Of course, the 【Life-Buying Coin】 is a talent creation and can be traded freely. If anything unexpected happens to Rong'er later, Father will give this coin to you.”
Tang Wanrong looked touched. “Father... I already have the specter item Xuan Liu gave me. It is better for you to keep this coin for yourself.”
“Besides, I still have the 【Death Doll】 bestowed by the Emperor, so you don't need to worry, Father.”
Tang Jianghe was stunned for a moment before realizing that his daughter was far more precious than himself. It was only natural for her to have a doll.
Furthermore, the doll's effect was indeed much better than the coin in his hand.
“Alright, Father will listen to you.”
Tang Wanrong turned to look at Xuan Liu. “Xuan Liu, Father has these items to protect himself. You must not demand them from him.”
Xuan Liu nodded calmly. “Please rest assured, Your Highness.”
Their detailed conversation had completely benefited Zuo Lin'an, who was eavesdropping in the shadows.
He had been pondering how to uncover these players' secrets—such as their talents and specter items—but he hadn't expected Xuan Liu to be so helpful, exposing everything through a simple interrogation!
Of course, Xuan Liu's intention was definitely to figure out everyone's trump cards so he could better coordinate subsequent matters and protect Consort Rong.
He simply never could have imagined that Zuo Lin'an was capable of overhearing them.
However, this made Zuo Lin'an feel a bit anxious. Special talents, plus so many specter items, and even talent creations...
Although players considered the 【Death Doll】 superior to the coin, for him, the coin's effect was actually more troublesome because it specifically targeted him.
This was because the coin could force him to abandon his attack, whereas the doll could not.
Moreover... he hadn't forgotten the three commoners whose presence had been incredibly faint.
The trio seemed terrified and helpless, but who knew if they were actually cunning schemers plotting in secret?
“What a pain!”
Zuo Lin'an pondered what he should do next.
According to his previous plan, his next target was Li Tie.
But was he really going to just follow the routine, attacking once every hour, and leave everything to fate in the end?
Zuo Lin'an felt he couldn't just sit and wait for death. After careful consideration, a brilliant idea suddenly struck him.
His rule indeed only permitted him to kill on the hour.
But that didn't mean he could only attack on the hour.
Even if it wasn't on the hour, he could still wander over to the players and pretend to launch an attack.
If he was lucky, he could force them to waste their specter items or bait out their talents ahead of time. That way, when he actually went to execute his rule, they would have no trump cards left.
Furthermore, doing this would also confuse the players' deductions regarding his rule.
After all, if he attacked exactly once every hour, the players could easily deduce his rule based on the novice benefit, 'time.'
That would be highly disadvantageous.
It would be best to make them misjudge his Death Rule, as long as they didn't associate it with killing on the hour.
“Exactly! Why didn't I think of this earlier?”
It really was due to a lack of experience.
Zuo Lin'an checked the time. There was still a while before 2:00 AM, so there was no rush.
He would wait a bit.
Once it reached 1:30 AM, he would head over and test it out.
Rate on N.U.
