Chapter 337: The Man with Zero Presence

Chapter 337: Chapter 4: The Man with Zero Presence

For Little Fatty, what just happened was a fully immersive, terrifying experience.

But for Duan Fei, the situation really wasn’t a big deal.

He had simply watched Little Fatty suddenly leave his side, run off to act like sworn brothers with the Land God, and after being called out, charge out and start running circles around him. In the end, he went berserk, and Duan Fei had to knock him unconscious.

Recalling the whole process, Duan Fei realized that what he and Little Fatty had seen seemed to be different.

The other guy saw nighttime, while he saw daytime.

The other guy seemed to have been influenced by something, while he was completely fine.

This was probably an effect of his Talent, but he wasn’t sure what it was exactly.

Dragging the unconscious Little Fatty, Duan Fei had no choice but to head back to the kitchen and get him settled.

Before he even reached the kitchen, he saw the door open. Cuihua rushed out after spotting Little Fatty being dragged by Duan Fei and asked nervously, “What happened?”

Just as Duan Fei was about to answer, he heard Little Fatty say, “Nothing’s wrong.”

“You’re awake? Wait, who are you?”

In Duan Fei’s eyes, he saw Little Fatty’s shadow get up and stand before Cuihua.

The real Little Fatty was still lying there with his eyes rolled back, but Cuihua didn’t notice the Little Fatty in front of him was a fake. Patting his chest, he said, “That’s good. Here, help me…”

A strange and evil smile appeared on the shadow Little Fatty’s face, but Cuihua, with his back to the shadow, was completely oblivious.

Seeing the shadow gradually grow larger, Duan Fei couldn’t hold back any longer. He raised his Crowbar and swung it viciously at Little Fatty.

With a sharp CLANG, Cuihua, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, directly blocked Duan Fei’s Crowbar with his Katsuo Stick and used the momentum to knock Duan Fei back.

Just as he was about to counterattack, he realized the person in front of him was his companion. So, he asked seriously, “Duan Someone, you…”

“Send Little Fatty a Feixin message, see if he responds.”

“Oh… disabled…”

“It’s disabled? It was working fine just now. Looks like they turned it off for the game experience. Forget it. Cuihua, trust me, something’s not right with this Little Fatty. I’m going to finish him off first.”

Meanwhile, the shadow Little Fatty looked at Cuihua in a panic and asked nervously, “Cuihua, who are you fighting with? Don’t scare me!”

This whole exchange completely stumped Cuihua.

Sorting through the current situation, he realized that Duan Fei could see Little Fatty, but wanted to kill him.

But Little Fatty couldn’t see Duan Fei; instead, he thought Cuihua was the one going crazy.

This kind of situation was too much for someone with his social anxiety to comprehend. His brain plunged directly into Chaos, unable to think of any solution.

Seeing that Cuihua’s brain was about to overheat, Duan Fei had no choice but to say, “When you can’t figure out the situation, just put it on hold for now. Right now, I have no way to prove whether I’m real or fake either. So why don’t you just keep an eye on both of us and wait for the real Little Fatty to wake up.”

“…Okay.”

Leading the two of them inside, Cuihua looked from Duan Fei to Little Fatty, feeling more and more confused.

One moment he’d think there was something wrong with Duan Fei, the next he’d think there was something wrong with Little Fatty. Then he felt something was wrong with both of them, and finally, he felt that neither of them had a problem.

Looking at the bewildered Cuihua, Duan Fei felt that he must have been affected as well.

The entire Daoist School seemed to be filled with a mysterious Power that was affecting everyone, including but not limited to causing hallucinations, confusion, and an inability to tell what was real.

‘But why doesn’t it affect me?’

Just as Duan Fei was pondering this, a groan came from the floor.

The Little Fatty who had fainted from fright slowly got up, rubbing his temples. Then he saw Duan Fei and jumped in terror.

With an “AWOO!”, he pounced on Cuihua, clinging to him and pointing at Duan Fei as he yelled, “Duan Someone, Godfather! You really are my godfather, right?!”

Cuihua, however, pushed Little Fatty away and pointed at the shadow Little Fatty on the side, stammering, “You… he…”

“Alright, stop fooling around. I’ll take care of the fake one.”

Raising his Crowbar, Duan Fei put on his usual friendly smile. Tapping the Crowbar in his hand, he walked toward the shadow Little Fatty.

The strange thing was, usually when he did this, these apparitions would either be scared out of their wits, or they’d talk tough, use a Skill, and then be scared out of their wits.

After all, Duan Fei’s Profession was a Summoner. With Divinity and Spiritual Armor, dealing with a few minor ghouls was child’s play.

If things got really tough, he could even call for backup from another world. All manner of monsters and demons would be brought to justice.

But the Little Fatty in front of him not only refused to surrender, but actually ignored Duan Fei’s existence, remaining completely unmoved even when Duan Fei walked right up to him.

It wasn’t until Duan Fei smashed the Crowbar into his leg that he let out a miserable shriek and yelled, “There’s a ghost!”

“You’re the ghost!”

After knocking the other party to the ground in a few swift moves, Duan Fei said to Cuihua and Little Fatty, “Find something to tie him up.”

“Tie who up?” Little Fatty asked in confusion. “I saw another me just a second ago, but then he was gone in the blink of an eye. So, Duan Someone, what’s up with this instance? Why is it so weird?”

“…Right,” Cuihua said, nodding his head vigorously.

Looking at his companions, who had been driven mad by the instance, Duan Fei prodded the shadow on the ground with his Crowbar and began to think.

The shadow was writhing in agony, yet it couldn’t see Duan Fei’s presence, only able to scream frantically, “A ghost, there’s a ghost!”

Hearing this, Duan Fei started to form a theory.

The other party… it seemed they really couldn’t see him.

But it felt pain and could be hit by him, which meant he could still affect it, even beat it up.

But the Little Daoist at the beginning could clearly see him. In that case, his Talent was obvious.

“In the eyes of ghosts, my presence is Zero.”

Seeing the words that appeared, Duan Fei knew he had guessed correctly.

No wonder it was nighttime in everyone else’s eyes, but daytime in his.

That was because the ghosts had already affected the other players’ perception, just making them feel like it had gotten dark.

The fake self Little Fatty encountered and the fake shadow that just appeared were all the work of ghosts. But since they couldn’t see him, the result was that he was completely unaffected.

Once he understood, Duan Fei stared at Cuihua and Little Fatty, then said to them, “Alright, I have something to tell you. From now on, just trust me. Everything I say is the truth. But you can’t trust each other, because either of you could be a fake. If you run into a situation you don’t understand, wait for me to come back and make a decision. Got it?”

“Godfather, why are you so confident?” Little Fatty asked.

“Don’t ask so many questions. Just trust me and you’ll be fine. Alright, I’m going to find the cabbage. You two continue getting ready.”

After speaking, Duan Fei walked out of the kitchen and once again headed toward the back mountain.