There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

Script Space.

Within a European manor of the utmost luxury, two people sat leisurely in the courtyard, enjoying a small drink in the warm sunlight.

Suddenly, one of the men, dressed in dark blue military attire, abruptly looked up. His sharp and icy gaze flickered, his eyes cast into the void, seemingly reading some message.

"What's wrong?"

The person opposite him pushed up his thick and old-fashioned rectangular black-rimmed glasses and asked with curiosity.

If players who had played "Five-star Hotel" were here, they would realize that this man in military uniform looked exactly like the Capital Commandant character from the game!

One could even say they were the same person.

Capital Commandant said expressionlessly, "I had a Script that just collapsed."

"Pfft…"

The person opposite him couldn't hold back and burst into laughter.

As a player of the "director" role, if a Script they had extracted had issues, players on their side would also receive corresponding messages.

Generally speaking, script collapse = script being pulled from the shelf, meaning that other players couldn't perform it anymore, which for director players meant a loss of income.

They all made a profit through Scripts they extracted, as long as players performed their Scripts, the director would gain points.

Therefore, a collapsing Script also amounted to cutting off someone's source of income.

The Capital Commandant coldly stared at him.

The man on the other side, however, was not the least bit intimidated, took a sip of his drink and mocked, "What, I thought the system's upgrade this time was because of the consecutive script collapses, but this BUG still hasn't been fixed... Damn! So the effect was just to screw over my trade market, huh!"

Saying this, he angrily slammed down his wine glass.

Seeing that the end of the month was nearing, he could have profited from the trade market fees and entrance tickets he was set to earn, but damn the system for rolling out a player-driven trading channel!

And it didn't even charge a penny in intermediary fees!

The more Xiao Yance thought about it, the angrier he became, and he grabbed the wine jug beside him, guzzling it down directly!

After relishing his drink, he belched and then asked, "Do you know the reason?"

The Capital Commandant gently swirled his wine glass, his face still devoid of any emotion, and said coldly, "An empty shell Character Card developed self-emotions and was eroded by an Abyss Creature in the opportunity."

"Wow, which player is this awesome, actually angering an empty shell character until it Awakened? Could they have done something... odd with that body?" Xiao Yance exclaimed in surprise, his eyebrows arching.

"You should be wondering, system extracted empty shell characters are just props without Self-Consciousness, so who could plant emotions into a prop?" Capital Commandant sipped on his glass, eyes slightly squinting.

"Wait, are you implying—before this round of the game even started, that empty shell was already taken over and lying in wait by an Abyss Creature? Otherwise, it shouldn't have developed self-emotions for the system to detect!"

"Maybe," Capital Commandant said, noncommittal.

Xiao Yance's expression grew solemn, "If that's truly the case, the Abyss can now cross the defensive line of the secondary Scripts. This is not good news."

The Capital Commandant didn't speak, looking at the gentle ripples in his wine glass, seemingly lost in thought.

Xiao Yance opened the forum and had already started checking the messages.

Besides, if that empty shell Character Card really was an early infiltration by an Abyss Creature, then the player who got possessed would likely not meet a good end.

Even all the players who Performed in that Script might have problems getting out alive.

…

…

[This theater performance has ended.]

Xu Shuo returned to the white space that only contained a red sofa and immediately checked the script settlement for this round.

This script assignment was quite complicated; players refreshed a total of twelve tasks, and four tasks failed.

Manager Zhang's task was blocked at the city gate; the alien army couldn't enter the city, and as for the task that obviously belonged to a Ninth District spy, it also directly failed.

It was said that failure of the main task would lead to punishment, but Xu Shuo still didn't know what that punishment specifically entailed. He had only heard Hong Rao mention facing monsters and advised him to try not to lose recklessly.

Perhaps, this is the doubt of a winner.

The rewards for this settlement were also quite generous: a character card with numerous skills, two special skills, and one artifact.

The name of the character card was "Yao."

Although he had dabbled in medicine for over a decade, being a doctor was only his cover profession; as a member of the Radiant Corps, his real job was a spy.

In addition to excellent espionage capabilities, this character card came with a special skill, "Yao: As an excellent spy, you possess superb disguise abilities. When transforming into Yao, you can disguise yourself as anyone you wish, but be careful not to be exposed."]

At first, Xu Shuo didn't understand the skill description until he tentatively used the skill in the space, transforming into Hong Rao...

Not only his appearance, figure, voice, and even the essence of his gender were changed.

It's just that he didn't know whether there were changes in genetic material and blood as well.

In any case, it was a very good character card, much better than the one he had as the village chief.

He had previously tried "Zhang Shou's" chef card opportunistically; poisoning was not only possible in the dishes he made himself, but also in other foods, although the nature of the toxin was somewhat random.

Simply put, it could randomly become a rejuvenating pill or a cyanide capsule.

While it may also be somewhat useless, it was at least better than the village chief.

Since they all originated from a level one script, Xu Shuo didn't particularly mind.

The other two acquired skills were also special; one was an upgraded version of Doctor Kong's own ability, and the other seemed to be provided by his identity as a member of the Radiant Corps.

["Special Skill 'Bright Vision': Congratulations on possessing the excellent vision power of a sniper. You can even use it to see deeper things, such as those cunning deceivers. However, it remains an active skill—lest you accidentally glimpse the darkness of the Abyss (Skill upgradable)."]

["Special Skill 'Radiance': The moon's radiance is your power, and the shining sun is also your power. Under the light, you can continuously gain energy and use it on yourself (Skill upgradable)."]

["Special Artifact 'Fin Needle of the Deep Sea': The water of the sea is inexhaustible, as the silver needles you throw (Artifact upgradable)."]

Upon seeing the first special skill, Xu Shuo felt a subtle strangeness at that moment. Thousand-Mile Eye, Wind-Assisted Hearing?

The ability of "Radiance" is something every member of the Radiant Corps would master after special training and rituals, incorporating the energy of the light into one's body to strengthen oneself or to cover weapons.

For example, bullets and cannons capable of piercing the iron walls of the Thirteenth District emit a burst of light upon impact because of the energy condensed within them being released.

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This is also why Radiant Corps members envelope themselves in black at night; if they didn't darken themselves a bit, they'd simply be walking spotlights.

"Fin Needle" was Doctor Kong's medical instrument. Xu Shuo took one out, casually threw it, and then magically produced another one.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

This skill was not bad; there was no need to pick up the thrown needle to reuse it.

Xu Shuo contentedly put away his rewards for this round.

Then, with a sense of exploration, he opened his Performed Scripts to take a look.

["Five-star Hotel" has been discontinued.]

Xu Shuo: "???"

What the hell, isn't this a bit too fast?

He had only just come out a little while ago!