The Real and Fake Troupe Leaders, Back From the Dead

“Sigh…”

“If you continue to abandon yourself to despair like this, the Yi Garden will eventually be ruined…”

The skinny old man looked to be in some pain from his injuries. He lay on the ground for a moment before shaking his head, getting up, and picking up his lantern.

He then took a rag from his pocket, wiped the blood from the ground, and tossed it aside.

Sighing, he left the dilapidated opera building. The main door slammed shut behind him.

Instantly, the ghostly opera tune once again began to echo within the weed-choked courtyard.

In the nearby bushes, the expressions on Wu Wang and Xiaoxiao's faces grew even stranger.

A Scarecrow quietly crawled from her hand. It fumbled for a moment in the spot where the old man had wiped his blood before scurrying back.

In its hand, it clutched a reddish-gray rag.

Xiaoxiao had sensed something was off the moment the man left. Why wipe up the blood just to toss the dirty rag into the grass? It didn't make sense.

That's why she had the Scarecrow fetch it.

Wu Wang had also noticed something was wrong, but for a much simpler reason. The words 【Surprise here】 had appeared in the grass.

Xiaoxiao unfolded the rag, her brow furrowed.

“There's writing on it.”

Wu Wang nodded.

“I'm not blind. You read it.”

Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes at him before carefully reading the text.

【The old troupe leader of the Opera God's Righteous Garden had a daughter named Lou Yu.】

【After she fell into a well and went missing three years ago, the old troupe leader died of excessive grief.】

【The most outstanding Wu Sheng (Martial Male Role) in the garden, Xiang Ji, who was also the old troupe leader's adopted son, took over the position of troupe leader.】

【Although the Yi Garden has flourished under his management, this old servant knows that the young master has never given up on finding Lou Yu.】

【If you two are willing to help the young master resolve this obsession, this old servant would be eternally grateful.】

After reading the message, the two of them looked up at each other.

Xiaoxiao couldn't help but ask, “Is that old man human?”

She wasn't cursing him; it was a genuine question. He had a body of flesh and blood and could be injured enough to spit blood, but how could a simple servant have discovered them hiding there?

"I don't know if he's human, but his words don't sound quite right," Wu Wang said, pointing to one of the sentences.

"Isn't the phrase 'fell into a well and went missing' a bit too ambiguous?"

Xiaoxiao had noticed that problem as well. Logically, falling into a well meant either falling to your death or drowning. What did "going missing" mean?

Had the body simply vanished into thin air?

The limited space on the rag only allowed for a rough outline. To learn more, they would have to find the skinny old man himself.

But when they gave chase, the old man was nowhere to be found. Somehow, he had moved with incredible speed, despite his injuries.

The two of them searched the garden for a long time but couldn't find him. Instead, they nearly ran into the patrolling guards.

As the patrols intensified, they had no choice but to return to their quarters.

A few minutes after he got back, Wu Wang heard rustling from the adjacent rooms. It seemed the other players had also been forced back by the guards.

Soon after, he heard the guards finish their patrols and take up positions directly outside their doors. Now, the players were completely unable to continue exploring.

Wu Wang couldn't help but complain.

“Seriously? This is a damn opera troupe, not the Prince's manor. Why are the patrols so tight?”

The auras of those guards were formidable, and the baleful energy radiating from their weapons was unsettling. The most crucial part was the hint from his 【Vision of Truth】.

【Elites capable of fighting one against a hundred】

How the hell are we supposed to play this?

There were four guards at the Prince's door and a full ten on patrol. It would take an entire regiment to deal with them.

Their existence was probably for the same reason as the security guards back in 【Fight Back to School】, to prevent players from trying to brute-force the instance.

Damn it! Who would try to brute-force their way through? Even without these guards, the Prince's power alone was enough to one-shot all of them.

Stuck in his room, Wu Wang had no choice but to take out the fortune-telling booklet he had obtained earlier and start reading. He gradually became engrossed in its contents.

The night passed in a flash.

Just as the sky began to lighten at the crack of dawn, a knock came at the door.

The skinny old man's voice came from outside.

“Master Bai, it's time for breakfast.”

He carefully pried open a seam in his bedding, stuffed the booklet inside, and then finally opened the door. When he first found the booklet, he had discovered that it couldn't be stored in his inventory. Presumably, the other players' special clues were the same.

This undoubtedly increased the difficulty of the instance. After all, these were not items that could be casually shown to others.

Take his booklet, for example. If someone else discovered it and learned of the troupe leader's intention to kill and dismember people, it would be impossible to dispel their hostility, even if he had a hundred tongues.

They might even team up to eliminate him first.

Having experienced the battle with Zhuge Yue, Wu Wang knew very well how hard it was to kill high-level players. The probability of him taking down several at once was far too low.

Besides, it wasn't the thief you feared, but being targeted by one. If they were constantly watching him, it would become a huge hassle and might even affect his progress.

So, he could only hide the item.

After leaving his room, Wu Wang sized up the skinny old man. The man showed no sign of anything unusual, as if he wasn't the one who had thrown the rag to him for help last night.

It seemed the only way to learn more about 【Lou Yu】 and 【Xiang Ji】 was to get the old servant alone.

By now, Wu Wang was basically certain. The troupe leader had to be the 【Indomitable Overlord】 from the information provided by his 【Eye of the Prophet】. The name and the events all matched.

The only question was whether the troupe leader was real or fake.

There were two of them now. One was Brother Ji, who was outside hobnobbing with the Prince. The other was the young master, who sang and lamented all night in the dilapidated opera building.

He had to find a way to identify the real one. The man's obsession was perhaps directly linked to the strange occurrences in the Yi Garden. The clue from the 【Eye of the Prophet】 had to be the key.

In other words, both the Prince and the troupe leader were crucial to clearing this instance. Now, it was just a matter of finding that crucial point.

"The rest of you masters, please follow this old servant to the dining hall to eat," the old man announced. "Master Bai, the young master has requested that you go to the opera building to eat with him and purchase medicinal herbs along the way."

Oh, right, Wu Wang thought. I still have to buy herbs and refine pills today.

He grunted in acknowledgment and headed toward the opera building on his own.

The other players watched his retreating back, their eyes filled with a mix of complex emotions. But what they all shared was a sense of utter helplessness.

No matter how you looked at it, this Joker, whose level was much lower than theirs and who looked like a clueless newbie, was the one making the most progress with the instance's NPCs.

After all, they still hadn't managed to exchange a single word with the Prince or the troupe leader.

Just then, the blue-haired executioner walked out of his room.

“Hurry it up, I'm starving. If I'm not feeling well and it screws up tonight's performance, you won't be able to handle the consequences, old man.”

His slovenly, devil-may-care attitude made everyone roll their eyes. Aside from that level-ten Joker, this guy was the one who annoyed them the most. No one wanted to deal with him.

Only Zi Jin, standing next to the page boy, narrowed her eyes as she studied the blue-haired executioner.

She sensed something was off.

Although the man's behavior was the same as always, there was an inexplicable aura of death about him.

What on earth did he do last night?