Mo You's fabricated intel was as follows:

[

1. The Count likes listening to music, especially classical pieces. Even if you break a rule, as long as you show off a beautiful singing voice, the Count might soften his heart and let you off the hook.

2. Everyone in the castle has a sweet tooth. If you come across candy or chocolate, you must collect it. These sweets might save your life at a critical moment.

3. Do your best to win the Count's favor and become the "chosen child." That will be your only chance of survival.

]

For these three pieces of nonsense that Mo You cobbled together, eight players paid twenty thousand points each. Player No. 12 even lost their life because of it.

After returning to her room, Mo Bai couldn't shake Mo You's words: "A few more people dying is good for you."

Her feelings were a tangled mess.

She had arrived in the Infinite World not long ago, and this was the first time she had seen a player die so lightly right in front of her. Life felt as cheap as grass, and yet she felt the heavy weight of carrying another's death on her shoulders.

Mo Xiangyou sold fake intel just to find her, and then deliberately got several players killed "to help her clear the stage."

Mo Bai sat dazed in her room, her mind in chaos. So chaotic that she didn't even notice that the clock ticked past two in the afternoon.

Fortunately, someone knocked sharply on her door. The loud "thump, thump, thump" snapped her out of her daze, and she quickly went over and opened it.

It was No. 7, the girl with a high ponytail. She immediately pushed Mo Bai's wheelchair and started pushing. "It's already two and you're still in your room? The servants are coming to clean. They might toss you out along with the garbage."

"Really?" Mo Bai asked.

"Very likely. I've seen it happen before," the ponytailed girl answered.

She pushed Mo Bai toward a corner, running until they reached an empty spot. After putting on a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, she looked around carefully, then removed the glasses with relief. "Within a ten-meter radius, there's no one. No servants, no butlers, no monsters. I checked everything."

The gold-rimmed glasses looked refined and scholarly, completely unlike her fiery temperament. Mo Bai asked, "So that's how you can see what I'm doing through the walls?"

"These are 'Prying Lenses.' I accidentally obtained them in a forced instance. They're a reusable B-grade item that allows me to see everything within a ten-meter radius. Walls don't block it, space doesn't block it, stealth skills don't block it," she said proudly. "They've saved my life so many times."

"Why don't you wear them all the time?" Mo Bai asked.

"They only work for one hour a day. Go over the limit, and you'll go blind. If not, its grade would have been A already."

"Why did you come looking for me?"

The ponytailed girl laughed heartily. "Because you're smart."

Mo Bai blushed a little at her straightforward praise.

The girl admitted, "I'm a simple-minded person. In regular instances, I prefer combat types. Swinging weapons and smashing monsters are great. I hate these brain-grinding, rule-based dungeons. I saw that you were clever and pretty, like a little porcelain doll, so I decided to team up with you. I'll protect you, you do the thinking, and together we'll clear this forced instance. Sound good?"

"I'm a complicated person. Aren't you afraid I'll harm you?" Mo Bai asked.

"Not at all," the girl replied confidently. "I'm from the combat group, and my ability is called 'Extrasensory.' My five senses are sharper than normal, and I also have super intuition as a sixth sense. The moment I saw you, my intuition told me you'd be a trustworthy teammate. If I'm wrong, then that's my ability's problem, and I'll own up to it."

Mo Bai shook her head. "Then I should tell you this upfront. My Observation-class title effects are 'Admiration–Assistance' and 'Conquer–Sadism.' I may have triggered the Admiration–Assistance effect on you, so what's influencing you might be my title rather than your intuition."

"Even if it did activate, I'd have to admire you first to assist you, right? Well, I admire you quite a bit. That admiration is my intuition," the ponytailed girl said.

Mo Bai actually did want to team up with her. Both she and Gu Tiandong had weak combat power, so they needed a strong fighter.

But when forming a team, Mo Bai always disclosed her title effects first. If teammates found out afterward, they might think, "I'm being manipulated by an Observer," which would cause mistrust. So she chose honesty and let the other decide.

Sincerity is the strongest weapon.

Seeing that the ponytailed girl didn't mind her title effects, Mo Bai smiled and held out her hand. "My name is Mo Bai."

The girl shook her hand. “I’m Ding Xun.”

After forming a preliminary alliance, Ding Xun couldn't hold back and asked, "Tell me, after we ate all the lunch, why did more than ten percent of the food count as wasted?"

"I only have one hypothesis, but I'm not fully sure." Mo Bai said.

"Tell me about it," Ding Xun said.

"I'm certain everyone ate. The chewing and swallowing were real. So the problem isn't 'someone didn't eat,' but rather, 'someone had their lunch fed to someone, or something else.' That's what caused the waste."

Ding Xun wasn't completely dense. After hearing this, she suddenly understood: there were 10 seats, but 12 people at the table, so there were two extra. Those two accounted for one-sixth, over ten percent. And the third dining rule hinted they had to find them, and eliminate at least one, or they would suffer during dinner.

Mo Bai enjoyed talking to people like Ding Xun, who could grasp things quickly.

But the next second, Ding Xun frowned. "But the intel said the Count likes listening to music. Player No. 12 sang beautifully, so why did he die? Does the Count prefer jazz instead of bel canto (opera)?"

"You never wondered if the intel was fake?" Mo Bai asked helplessly.

Ding Xun looked thunderstruck. "Fake? But Mo You is the most famous person in Peach Blossom Land! Selling fake intel... Does he have a death wish?"

Mo Bai thought to herself: Mo You doesn't want to die. He just believes he can't survive anyway. And he resents most players, so he doesn't mind dragging hundreds down with him.

She couldn't say this, so she only said firmly, "I'm certain the intel was all fabricated. Don't believe it."

"But you collected all those desserts, wasn't that to bribe the monsters in the castle?" Ding Xun asked, referring to the way Mo Bai swept up food that morning. She wanted to imitate her but hadn't been fast enough.

Mo Bai flushed. "Those were for me, I ate them."

"The Observation players… eat that much?" Ding Xun muttered. "But the pretty girl in the light-blue dress next to me barely eats anything."

She was referring to Gu Tiandong.

"Appetite is a personal matter. Let's talk about how we're going to clear this stage," Mo Bai said quickly, steering the topic away.

Ding Xun returned her attention to the instance and groaned, "I spent 20,000 points buying intel, then another 20,000 on that stupid 'Nightingale's Voice' card to show off my singing, and wasted an item slot. What a huge loss!"

"So you were the one who bought that 20,000-point C-grade card?" Mo Bai asked.

When she and Gu Tiandong were browsing the market, they'd seen that the Nightingale's Voice card had skyrocketed from 1,000 points to 20,000 points.

This type of C-grade card drops from a daily dungeon, but because the rewards from this dungeon are very meager, few people bother with it, making Nightingale's Voice a rare find.

Yet the seller had six copies and auctioned them off to the highest bidders.

The card had no use except to improve singing skills; the system buyback price was only 500 points. Listing it usually meant it would never sell. But the seller set a minimum price of 5,000, and many mocked him for being clueless.

To everyone's shock, three copies sold almost immediately at 5,000. Then the seller raised the price to 10,000, and two more were sold.

The last one was fought over by two buyers; one bid up to 20,000 before giving up.

Card trading was anonymous. No one knew the buyer or seller. But the one who bid 20,000 became known as Peach Blossom Land's biggest fool.

And that "fool," it turned out, was Ding Xun.

"Your super intuition didn't stop you from buying it at that price?" Mo Bai asked.

"It did. When the price hit 5,000, my intuition said only an idiot would buy it," Ding Xun said.

Mo Bai: "Then why…"

Shame filled Ding Xun's face. "So I hesitated and missed the 5,000 and 10,000 prices. When only one card was left, I couldn't hold back anymore and betrayed my intuition."

Mo Bai comforted her. "It's fine. Points can always be earned back."

"Then use your brilliant mind and tell me who scammed us?!" Ding Xun growled.

Mo Bai sighed. "The seller knew you all needed the card, and deliberately made the supply one short of demand, forcing you into a bidding war. The only person who had that information… is the one who sold you the intel."

Mo Xiangyou.

He spent 200,000 points for the intel on Phantom Butterfly and then earned 215,000 from selling fake intel and junk cards. Not only did he not lose anything, but he also made a 15,000 profit.

A ruthless swindler who cheats people out of their money and lives.

After grieving for a minute, Ding Xun perked up. "Forget about that. Anyways, what should we do next?"

There was a lot to do: avoid the Phantom Butterfly, avoid Player 11, find Gu Tiandong, locate the two hidden monsters, and search the castle for a way to break the Count's spatial ability.

Mo Bai thought for a moment, sorted priorities, and said, "First find Guest No. 5. He's another ally. Then find Player No. 1 or No. 2. I suspect they're the two hidden monsters. While doing this, avoid other players as much as possible. They're dangerous."

"How can you be sure No. 1 or No. 2 is the hidden monster?" Ding Xun asked. "We saw them with our own eyes. They looked normal."

Mo Bai said, "They were sitting on either side of the Count. And when the Count asked us to state reasons to avoid punishment, he didn't start from No. 1, but from No. 12, the farthest from him. Those two coincidences are enough to make me suspicious."

Ding Xun gave her a thumbs-up. Mo Bai thought she was being praised, but then Ding Xun said, "Choosing you as my teammate, I'm a genius!"

Mo Bai: “…”

Are all combat-type players this narcissistic?