"Hmm?" Lu Qing's hand holding the fan paused, and her brows furrowed. "Xiao Yi, I told you just now that within my Instance, 'Identity' is very important."
"Inside the Instance, even I am restricted by the rules. The help I can provide you is basically limited to this 'Identity' selection."
She looked down, only to see Ren Yi's eyes sparkling.
"No, Auntie, I don't just want a 'servant' Identity within the Instance," Ren Yi said slowly.
"What I want is the Identity of a 'Participant.'"
"A Participant?" Lu Qing was stunned for a moment, then her eyes crinkled as she laughed. "So that's what you're planning."
"I want to try something," Ren Yi nodded. "I want to see if my rule can be triggered by people other than Participants, or even people outside the Instance."
Ren Yi had always felt that there were major loopholes to exploit in his abstract rule.
For other Anomalies, the source of their power was very direct. They either needed to create emotions like fear within the Instance, or they needed to extract abstract energy like 'lies' or 'rebuttals.' In short, they at least had to be in the same space as the energy providers, and their targets were basically locked onto the Instance Participants.
But his rule happened to be "making others feel happy."
That range was vague. To be honest, when Ren Yi first saw this rule, he thought of comedians on television.
Without even leaving the house, they could bring enough "happiness" to others.
He had once asked Dr. Lin if there were Anomalies who could transmit emotions on a large scale and complete a harvest through some medium without directly contacting the target.
Dr. Lin's answer was affirmative, but he added a caveat.
"Don't even think about it. With your current little frame, don't worry about things that far off yet."
The main difficulty with this idea was how to spread this positive emotion targeted at himself on a large scale.
The most direct method was through television and the internet, but not every world had those things.
Ren Yi had once thought that when his abilities grew stronger, he might be able to create large-scale illusions that made people happy and then create a direct positive loop.
He hadn't expected the opportunity to come so soon. In this second Instance, the conditions for the experiment seemed to have come together.
Ren Yi explained his thoughts to Lu Qing. As she listened, her eyes gradually lit up. During the explanation, she glanced at Lu Zihan a few times, her expression practically overflowing with disappointment at his lack of ambition.
"Auntie, it's okay if it doesn't work," Ren Yi said, feeling a bit uncomfortable under her gaze. "You can just arrange a regular servant Identity for me. Even if I don't gain anything this time, I can accept it. I mainly just want to test this line of thinking..."
"No, this idea is very interesting." The corners of Lu Qing's mouth slowly curled up into a playful smile. "I'm curious too. I can fulfill your request."
She gently tapped her palm with the ribs of her fan, pacing as she spoke. "The real difficulty lies in how to have you replace a Participant and become one of the protagonists in the 'broadcast.' However..."
She stopped her steps, a faint light shimmering in her eyes. "You're in luck. I just happen to have a way."
"But one thing must be made clear beforehand." She suddenly withdrew her smile and turned to Ren Yi, her tone becoming serious.
"As you know, the Instance is constrained by the rules of both sides. Even if you sneak in as a Participant, there will still be rules generated specifically for you. I can help you hide and mislead, but I cannot make them disappear completely. You will have to deal with them yourself."
"I understand," Ren Yi nodded.
"Good." Lu Qing snapped her fan shut with a crisp click.
"Tomorrow morning, once the Participants are in place, we will make our move."
After everything was discussed, Ren Yi and Lu Zihan enjoyed A-mu's home-cooked stir-fry and spent a happy afternoon of rural life.
They slacked off and teased birds, chased Dahuang at the gate, and flooded an ant nest in the courtyard. In short, for the small creatures within the Instance, they finally managed to survive until nightfall.
Around midnight, Lu Qing led Ren Yi and the curiously observing Lu Zihan into the small side wing where the servants lived.
Ren Yi had been curious during the day about how this small single-story building, barely the size of two classrooms, could fit exactly one hundred Participants.
He had originally thought it was magic, but now it seemed it was simply exploitation.
Inside the building were dense rows of cubicles, like a stable. Each cubicle could only fit a single bed; it was difficult even to turn over.
"I originally planned to have them sleep on the floor," Lu Qing said as she walked. "But to ensure our actions tonight aren't discovered, I improved their treatment slightly and changed it to private rooms."
Ren Yi asked curiously, "Auntie, how do you plan to do it? Is your ability an Ammunition-type, or can you guarantee they will trigger a rule as soon as they enter the Instance?"
"Neither." Lu Qing gave a mysterious smile and removed a hairpin decorated with a hibiscus flower from her hair. "We'll use this."
"Mom, is that a prop?" Lu Zihan's eyes lit up.
"Props are what Participants call them; we generally call them 'Anomaly Artifacts,'" Lu Qing corrected him, then gave her son a disgruntled look. "Don't even think about it. It doesn't suit you. What, do you want to go around beheading people with a hairpin?"
"Hehe." Lu Zihan scratched his head.
As for Ren Yi, he could only let the tears of envy flow from the corners of his mouth.
Lu Qing casually opened the door to one of the cubicles. "There is a small interval between the Participants' descent and the formal start of the Instance. We need to get everything ready within this time. There's no chance to pick and choose slowly, so let's just pick one and see how Xiao Yi's luck is."
"Oh, is it possible we'll pick a girl?" Lu Zihan's eyes brightened.
"What are you looking forward to?" Ren Yi glared at his best friend, speechless.
The countdown ticked away second by second. At the very moment it hit zero, a human figure abruptly appeared before the three Anomalies.
Before that Participant could even see the scene in front of him, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck, and his entire body immediately went rigid.
Lu Qing elegantly held the golden hairpin with one hand and slowly slid it down from the Participant's neck. The Participant's skin peeled away like a banana peel, yet not a single drop of blood flowed.
Just as Ren Yi thought Lu Qing was going to peel off the Participant's skin for him to wear, she flicked the hairpin. The Participant melted into a stream of blood under his own desperate and terrified gaze, merging into his own skin.
Then, the skin rapidly shrunk in Lu Qing's hands. She used the hairpin like a needle to prick it a few times, and the skin finally turned into a protective charm about half the size of a palm.
Ren Yi and Lu Zihan watched the terrifying scene with complete calm.
"A pity, it's a man," Lu Zihan said with a hint of regret.
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