Ji Yang continued to fast-forward through the replay.
"Next, the High-Ponytailed Woman discovered the underground passage beneath the wardrobe. I won't go into detail here, as several players have already analyzed it. Xu Xi had long sensed that this was a trap deliberately set by the thing in the shadows, so he refused to go down without hesitation."
[Actually, I have a question. Since Xu Xi wanted to kill the Refined Man and the Burly Man anyway, why did he remind them not to go down? Couldn't he just let them die inside?]
Seeing this kind of comment, Ji Yang shook his head and explained, "First, Xu Xi wasn't sure what exactly the thing in the shadows was. Losing two teammates when the danger isn't clear isn't a good thing. Second, those two aren't stupid. If Xu Xi didn't go down, they could naturally infer there was a problem."
"At this point, Xu Xi maintained his attitude of being displeased with the Burly Man, which lowered the guards of the Refined Man and the Burly Man a bit more. They weren't afraid of Xu Xi's overt negative emotions; what they feared was Xu Xi appearing completely nonchalant on the surface. After all, someone who can conceal their emotions is far more terrifying."
"There's another point. Xu Xi was also laying the groundwork for his next plan."
"He proactively suggested luring out the thing in the shadows. However, due to his previous attitude, the Burly Man, operating on the principle of opposing Xu Xi, strongly rejected his proposed hiding spot—the underground passage."
[I get it now. Master Xu Xi deliberately provoked the Burly Man's rebellious streak.]
[Burly Man: You tell me not to go down, I want to go down even more. You tell me to hide down there, I absolutely refuse to hide. I'm just playing around.]
[And then successfully played himself to death, right?]
"Pfft, haha." Ji Yang couldn't help but laugh at the teasing comments.
"Ahem, anyway, Xu Xi deliberately let the Burly Man stay above ground. If they could catch the thing in the shadows, great. If they couldn't, or if some accident happened and the Burly Man died, he didn't lose anything. He could also use this to observe what that thing actually was. Three birds with one stone."
"Okay, let's continue watching the part where the fake Yang Wu appears."
"I don't know if you noticed, but when Xu Xi swept the flashlight beam over, his gaze lingered on the Burly Man for two seconds."
"Let's pause and zoom in on the screen. Look here. There's an extremely fine cut on the Burly Man's wrist, clearly a fresh injury."
[So that's where Xu Xi later said the Burly Man was cut and injected with the toxin!]
[How good does your eyesight have to be to see that? I'm nearsighted, I genuinely didn't notice it at all.]
[Master Xu Xi doesn't have a god's-eye view; he's just more observant than us.]
"Getting injured in an instance is no small matter. Even a tiny cut like this can trigger some kind of change. For example, the Burly Man mutated because of it."
"But although Xu Xi noticed this, he didn't speak up to warn anyone. Because the Burly Man's injury perfectly served one of his purposes: to use it to observe the fake Yang Wu."
"When the Burly Man mutated, Xu Xi had it figured out. The fake Yang Wu could not only control the white humanoid thing, but also possessed something that could cause players to mutate through wounds."
[He both eliminated the Burly Man who challenged him and tested the fake Yang Wu's capabilities... Never offend Master Xu Xi. It's just like that 'ultimate wolf' comment said earlier, even in death you have to contribute some value.]
[Then why didn't he share this information with his teammates? They still needed to cooperate at that point, right?]
Ji Yang clicked his tongue twice. "Xu Xi not only didn't share with his teammates, he deliberately led his teammates to believe the fake Yang Wu was a pseudo-human."
[Huh?]
[The fake Yang Wu wanted to mislead the players into thinking the white humanoid thing was a pseudo-human, and Xu Xi misled his teammates into thinking the fake Yang Wu was a pseudo-human?]
[Why?]
[Because Xu Xi wanted to kill the Refined Man. Isn't it obvious? The Burly Man died, and he wanted the Refined Man to continue probing the fake Yang Wu.]
Ji Yang nodded.
"The fake Yang Wu deliberately incited the white humanoid thing's rampage, combined with the newly mutated Burly Man, creating immense pressure on the players—all to lure them to the cellar."
"Xu Xi saw right through this. In fact, you could say the entire progression of events was secretly steered by him."
"He wanted to know exactly how the fake Yang Wu controlled the white humanoid thing. But the hotel was too dark, illuminated only by flashlight beams. Something as subtle as powder, Xu Xi couldn't see. But even though he couldn't see it, he could speculate."
"Something that could attract the white humanoid thing from a distance, yet wasn't an obvious item like a candle, could only be scent. Something like perfume seemed unlikely. But if it was something like powder, you could just sprinkle a handful wherever you wanted the white humanoid thing to go. It's easy to carry and hard to detect."
"At this point, Xu Xi had probably already guessed that the fake Yang Wu wanted to lure them into the enclosed cellar, then lead the white humanoid thing and the mutated Burly Man there to kill them. So he chose to play along with the scheme."
[But the fake Yang Wu had already led the players into the cellar. Why suddenly reveal that he wasn't Yang Wu? I think that was unnecessary.]
"To buy time, of course," Ji Yang answered without hesitation. "To reserve time for the white humanoid thing and the mutated Burly Man to break down the door and evolve."
"I suspect even Xu Xi didn't expect that thing to evolve into a second-generation form."
"The Refined Man's death was definitely within Xu Xi's expectations. When the fake Yang Wu revealed himself, Xu Xi knew the other was stalling for time. So he acted at the last possible moment, counter-killing the fake Yang Wu and indirectly killing the Refined Man."
"The Refined Man was also a victim of his own cleverness. He also knew the fake Yang Wu luring them to the cellar was malicious, so he positioned himself closest to the cellar entrance. With all three players marked by the fake Yang Wu, the Refined Man naturally became the Evolved Creature's primary target."
"The fake Yang Wu dared to enter the cellar with the players because he definitely had a method to avoid being attacked by the Evolved Creature. The innermost compartment of the cellar was his escape route."
"The rest shouldn't need much explanation. You all should understand."
"In summary, throughout this entire instance, if not saying Xu Xi masterminded everything from behind the scenes, at least most of the time things progressed according to his script. In the end, he not only successfully cleared the instance but also happily achieved a triple-kill accomplishment."
[...I want to say something but don't know what to say. Thought about it and decided not to say it. Straight to the formation—Master is awesome!]
[Awesome +1]
[Awesome +2]
[...]
[Awesome +999]
The live stream comments were instantly flooded with the word "awesome," occasionally interspersed with a few complaints about the instance's difficulty.
[Isn't this instance a bit too complicated? My brain just can't keep up.]
[Seriously, can't brains be shared? (serious face)]
"Actually, this instance itself isn't complicated; you could even call it simple," Ji Yang said with a smile.
[? I'll assume you're joking.]
"I'm not joking at all. The white humanoid thing was released from Room 101 by the fake Yang Wu. The underground passage was the second layer of trap prepared by the fake Yang Wu after the white humanoid thing failed to kill the players. However, this trap was also seen through by the players, leading to the third layer trap—the cellar."
"If the fake Yang Wu hadn't appeared, the white humanoid thing would have been locked in Room 101. Once the players explored to the cellar and made a phone call, they could have cleared the instance with ease."
[...What a scheme within a scheme within a scheme, a triple-layered trap. That fake Yang Wu probably has a person growing out of his scheming mind.]
[Then what does that make Master Xu Xi, who saw through all of the fake Yang Wu's schemes?]
[He's the mastermind who became a spirit.]
[So this instance was originally an easy mode, but the fake Yang Wu single-handedly cranked the difficulty up to hell mode?]
[Fake Yang Wu, you really deserve to die.]