Translator-Rhapsodite
Editor-Pierce, Proofreader-adjective
Coming out of Yao Wanguan’s store, it was almost ten o’clock at night.
At this point, they couldn’t do anything else and could only go straight back and rest for the night. While walking back to the Apartment—the same path as to Lian Ge—Ji Dong suddenly remembered something.
“Oh, by the way,”
He tugged on Ren Jianmo’s sleeve, “What’s that small item you used in [Painted Wall of Souls]? It looked like a mini gashapon machine. What is it?”
Ji Dong thought that it should be a collectible item. Otherwise, with such an incongruous shape and material, it would be completely contradictory to the “ancient charm” of the [Film].
But he really couldn’t remember when Ren Jianmo got such a strange little machine.
“Are you talking about this?”
Ren Jianmo reached into his coat pocket and directly pulled out the [Pedigree Identification Machine] then handed it to Ji Dong.
Teacher Dagen had never seen this thing before and was very curious. He leaned over to study it with Ji Dong.
“Someone gave it to me.”
Ren Jianmo casually made up a story about the origin of this collectible item, and then briefly explained its purpose and how to use it.
“What?”
Ji Dong listened and his puppy eyes drooped slightly at the corners, holding the gashapon machine in his palm, looking shocked:
“If I had drawn a blue bead at that time, what would you have done?”
“Heh.”
Ren Jianmo laughed, “That’s simple.”
He replied: “I just have to use my ability, give you a command, and let you fall on the ground, problem solved, right?”
Ji Dong: “……”
Oh, Ren Jianmo had an ability called [God Said, ‘Let There Be Light.’] which could command a target through a simple suggestion.
Complicated commands would not work, but making someone fall to the ground was easy enough.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Moreover, according to the principle of using the [Pedigree Identification Machine], falling to the ground was indeed a small “misfortune,” which would be offset by one another. It was indeed a clever way that would cause no loss for both parties.
——Just…It’s just…
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He began to ponder when he got up and washed. Should he just draw the next [Film] card today and be done with it? This way, they could gain more time to prepare. After all, he wanted to find another training robot to further improve his skills!
However, for some reason, a thought kept circling in his head. Every time it appeared, it produced a subtle sense of discomfort, gradually turning into a feeling of “I’m not ready yet.”
This strange feeling persisted until he saw the twin siblings, Fan Hemian and Fan Luming, downstairs of the Apartment.
“Ugh, this was really frustrating!” Fan Luming said.
Fan Hemian saw Ji Dong and breathed a sigh of relief, then pouted unhappily. “You’re unbelievably slow! We’ve been standing here for a whole hour!”
Ji Dong: “???”
Although he already vaguely understood why these two siblings were looking for him, he still cautiously confirmed, “You’re here to find me?”
“Yep.”
Fan Hemian nodded calmly. “We had no choice. None of you told us your real names, so we couldn’t search for your room number in the address book. We had to use this stupid way of waiting for you to come out.”
“My sister was afraid that you would leave early. Today, we came five minutes before 8 o’clock and waited for you here.”
Fan Luming stomped his legs, which were starting to feel sore from standing. “After waiting for an hour, she started to worry that you wouldn’t come out today. She was so anxious that she was pacing around here just now.”
“Hey!”
The older sister kicked her younger brother, who kept badmouthing her. “Don’t talk nonsense. I wasn’t anxious at all!”
The siblings bickered for a bit, then Fan Hemian quickly brought the conversation back on track.
“My name is Fan Hemian, the ‘Fan’ from Fan Lihua and the ‘He Mian’ from ‘the spring courtyard quiets as cranes sleep’, and my brother’s name is ‘Lu Ming’, the ‘Lu Ming’ from ‘Deer call happily to one another, eating wild mugwort’.”
The girl extended her hand to Ji Dong and introduced both of them by name.
“The situation is my brother and I had a falling out with our old guild. Currently we are two lone wolves, so…”
Fan Hemian was unusually nervous and stumbled over her words. “So, would you be willing to take us into your team?”
Although Ji Dong was the nominal captain of the three-person team, he couldn’t decide for the other two members.
He exchanged contact information with the Fan siblings and promised to discuss it with his companions before giving them a reply.
Twenty minutes later, Ji Dong met up with Ren Jianmo and Mo Tiangen. They spent one point to rent a small meeting room in Lian Ge and began discussing whether or not to accept the two new companions.
Mo Tiangen felt that after the three consecutive instances, he believed that as the difficulty of the [Film] intensified, the restrictions on the three-person team would gradually increase.
Moreover, compared to strangers suddenly joining, people whom you’ve previously worked with would cooperate more smoothly.
From their experience in [Painting Walls of Souls], it seemed that the Fan siblings were quite decent in both mind and ability, and the direction of their psychic abilities also complimented them, so at least they would never become a drag to the team.
“Including the last [Film], have the siblings experienced seven B-level difficulty [Films]?”
Mo Tiangen rubbed his chin. “Leaving aside other things, they should be richer than us in experience. After they join us, they should be able to provide us with some of the information that we are currently lacking.”
After Mo Tiangen expressed his opinion, he thought about it and added, “However, I want to know why they had a falling out with their previous guild.”
He stated his doubts. “I don’t want to have untrustworthy teammates.”
It was no secret that the Fan siblings had a falling out with their previous guild.
Also, Fan Luming had once vaguely mentioned to Ji Dong in the last [Film] that their previous guild leader wasn’t a good person.
But the reason as to why the leader “was not a good person” was not clear because the siblings were not the type to talk behind people’s backs, and they still hadn’t explained it until now.
Ji Dong also believed that if they planned to accept the two, they must first ask clearly what the grudge was between the Fan siblings and their previous guild.
On the other hand…
“I think that when they are in the same position, the two of them should be trustworthy.”
Ji Dong carefully recalled the details he observed in the last [Film] and said:
“Because they were both trying their best to protect each other.”
Mo Tiangen slightly furrowed his brows. “What do you mean?”
Ji Dong pondered how to describe his feelings.
“The previous [Film] was originally a ‘battle royale,’ right? The kind where only one person can survive in the end.”
He looked at Ren Jianmo:
“But since they are close-knit twins, after hearing the rules of ‘hide and seek,’ they didn’t think of following the rules. Instead, they actively sought cooperation and wanted to find another way to clear the game so that they could survive together.”
“Yes.”
Ren Jianmo nodded. “They were the ones who came to me first and said they wanted to cooperate.”
Mo Tiangen felt that he understood Ji Dong’s meaning.
“For these twins, their relationship is both a weakness and a reason that makes them strong. Because of each other’s existence, they cannot only think about saving themselves but also consider how to keep their other half alive. Therefore, they value teamwork more than most participants.”
“It’s only by staying in a stable and well-coordinated team that these twins have a better chance of clearing one [Film] after another together.”
“When we met Su Rong and the others at the bar yesterday…”
Ji Dong spoke and secretly glanced at Mo Tiangen. He saw Teacher Dagen’s face turn black in an instant and couldn’t help but find it funny. He quickly gave an awkward cough and suppressed the laughter that threatened to spill from his lips.
“Su Rong said that unless we are strong enough to crush everything, we still need companions. I think what she said makes sense.”
Ji Xiao’niao spoke and turned his gaze to Ren Jianmo.
“Among the three of us, only Ren Jianmo can truly be considered strong.”
Ren Jianmo met Ji Dong’s gaze.
“No, I’m not that strong.”
He lightly hooked his lips, “At least, not yet.”
Ren Jianmo couldn’t remember what he used to be like.
However, he was certain that if Ji Dong wasn’t his companion, he would never have thought of cooperating with others. In [Painted Wall of Souls] he alone would not have been able to achieve a perfect ending.
Or perhaps it should be admitted that if he had been alone at that time, Ren Jianmo would have had a great chance of not even being able to find the correct way to clear the game.
Ji Dong looked at his two companions and asked for their opinion: “Should we continue to choose B-level difficulty this time?”
Mo Tiangen said of course they should choose B, what else could it be?! If it weren’t for Fan Luming’s healing ability, he would have died from excessive blood loss caused by the previous [Film]. He felt that with his current ability, challenging A-level difficulty would be too daunting.
Ren Jianmo shrugged and said he had no objections.
“So, I have a proposal.”
Ji Xiao’niao lightly tapped the conference table with his fingertips.
“Although I heard from the Fan siblings earlier that they wanted to try challenging an A-level difficulty [Film]… if they’re willing to change their minds and choose B-level difficulty again, how about letting them join our team?”
They’re expanding now. Hoping these new add-ons are worth keeping.