Player Reload
Chapter 294 - 271 The Body

Chapter 294: Chapter 271 The Body

"Walking Dead?"

Joker said softly, "If something looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it can be considered a duck.

Similarly, if the person who survives thinks like me, behaves like me, and is dominated by my personality, then he is me."

Eugene scoffed, "You’ve replaced someone else’s body, brain, player ID. How is this different from deceiving yourself?"

"Human red blood cells renew every 120 days. Stem cells, every two months. Epidermal cells, 2-4 weeks. Other cells, as long as six or seven years, as short as one year."

Joker shrugged, "In up to seven years, a person is completely renewed from the inside out. Would you consider your past self a stranger?"

"No, but you didn’t mention, brain cells cannot regenerate."

Eugene gritted his teeth, "The brain’s neural structure doesn’t change. What you’re talking about with possession, rebirth, consciousness transfer—it’s just like showing the possessed person’s brain a movie based on your life."

"Correct, which is why I have brought this out."

Joker chuckled lightly, nudging with his toe the red USB-shaped object he had thrown on the ground earlier, "The relic biochip from the ’Cyberpunk’ universe, capable of rewriting the brain’s neural structure in a few months to achieve perfect possession.

Combined with my skill, a perfect possession is achievable."

The world of the Sea of Consciousness doesn’t require breathing, yet Eugene felt an intense suffocation. This madman in front of him who plots one scheme after another must have foreseen this moment when he first entered the Script Task, planning a terrorist attack.

Eugene struggled to say, "Before this, how many bodies have you switched?"

"Just about ten or nine."

Joker shrugged, "Due to the special nature of the possession skill, every time I switch bodies, I lose all skills bound to the player ID,

but unbound equipment and items can be completely inherited—as long as I remove everything from the Backpack before dying, waiting for the next body to pick them up.

Also, thanks to the ID change cards from Killing Field Mall and those cosmetic surgery clinics on the shabby streets, it’s very convenient to change appearance and become myself again after each possession."

Joker was frank and sincere, showing no intention of hiding anything. If he won the bet, all of Eugene’s belongings, including the Epic quality Gold Arrow, would be his. If he lost, then upon death, everything would be null, so there was no need to hide.

"Now, let’s begin."

With that, Joker snapped his fingers.

The lights around dimmed, and their figures gradually inflated, swelling to heights of twenty to thirty meters, like Giants standing tall on the earth.

"No matter how many times I repeat this, the illusion of turning into a colossal figure still satisfies me."

Joker rolled up his sleeves, picked up a delivery truck from the ground as if it were bricks, and stepping forward with a smile.

With no room to retreat, Eugene pressed his lips tightly together, adopting a boxing stance...

The long duration in the Sea of Consciousness passed in just a few seconds in the real world.

From Kurosaki Ichigo’s perspective, the oncoming Frankenstein was instantly killed by Divine Blade Shadowless, and Eugene, who made the kill, stood there, dazed and confused.

Kurosaki Ichigo hesitated, then patted Eugene on the shoulder, "Are you alright?"

"I’m fine."

"Eugene" looked down at the corpse of Frankenstein, shook his head, "Just didn’t expect, this guy to die so easily."

"Let’s not worry too much, we need to go."

The driver urged, as the protesting crowd at the scene was looking their way.

Even if the Stormtroopers knew they were actually secret agents from the City Hall, in front of TV cameras, they had to proceed with the arrest.

"Just a moment."

Eugene waved his hand and collected a bunch of equipment that Frankenstein had scattered on the ground, then jumped back into the car, "No need to go to City Hall, it’s pointless."

The driver frowned and asked, "Then where to?"

Eugene leaned forward, tapped a few times on the central control screen, opened the map, "Gather all our Strength, and search for other players."

————

Frankenstein is also dead...

In the deserted abandoned building, Li Cheng and Gray Rain looked at each other upon hearing the system notification.

Previously, Li Cheng had used the tablet left by Bartmos with hacking programs to infiltrate the Toy City’s shared network, uploading the nuclear plant video.

Concerned that the same tablet might be traced back if used again, Li Cheng and Gray Rain were now using toy phones bought off the street.

Watching the live broadcast of the parade on the phone, they saw the scene where Frankenstein attacked Eugene.

"First, Joker mysteriously died, and then Frankenstein foolishly tried to assassinate Eugene under the protection of City Hall, only to get killed himself. That’s two players down."

Li Cheng rubbed his chin, "What’s going on? I don’t understand at all."

"Could it be... a meme infection?"

Gray Rain also scratched her head, thoughtful, "When I play games, it’s like this too. In a match of ten people, if one plays exceptionally, the other nine are likely to degrade to the same level."

"So stupidity is infectious, huh?"

The corner of Li Cheng’s eye twitched. When Gray Rain first arrived in the real world, she was immediately captivated by various entertainment methods, wishing for extra 48 hours a day, spending all her time in online games.

Her addiction to video games was so intense that she split herself into five to play different types of games.

However, the more she split, the more her intelligence averaged out.

It was fine in single-player games, at most she couldn’t progress past difficult levels, but in multiplayer games it was disastrous, often frustrating teammates to the point of rage-quitting, screaming into the mic, "Are you even human?"

Initially, Gray Rain was worried, suspecting her true identity was exposed, typing in public chat, "Wait till I let my cousin come and trash you guys," then trying to merge her clones to boost her intelligence.

Eventually, she got used to it and could even righteously retort, "I only have four teammates, but five opponents, isn’t it normal to lose?"

Through a screen, wearing Information Integration Glasses, Li Cheng couldn’t understand either what Frankenstein and Eugene were up to. He thought for a moment, pulled out a piece of paper from the Suicide Notebook in his Backpack, and looked at the future death methods.

"We’ve been discovered."

His tone turned serious, the new prophetic painting showed several new ways he could die, all involving being beaten up by City Hall’s thugs.

And judging from the time displayed on his watch, it wouldn’t be more than... thirty minutes.

With still an hour left until the Gold Instant Bomb described by Ye Shen Yue explodes.

Buzz Buzz—

The sound of several Divine Eagle Gunboats approached faintly from afar, City Hall seemed to have made up its mind, disregarding the turbulent public sentiment, focused on killing the last two outsiders still at large.

"What do we do now?"

Gray Rain’s voice was tense yet excited, those gunboats patrolling over various city districts like fishing nets, obviously hadn’t locked onto their location yet, but it was only a matter of time.

"Find someone to help."

"Who?"

"Him."

Li Cheng picked up a piece of paper, drew another scene where, besides him and Gray Rain getting killed, there was a third victim—Gouchen.

The location depicted as at a subway station.