There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

The post wasn't about "Abyss Sigh."

After all, the results of that script hadn't come out yet.

The incident started when a bored player, looking for scripts to watch in the video section, got interested and wandered into the low-rank script area.

He wanted to see how the newbies fumbled and struggled in the scripts, awkwardly and resentfully bungling their lines—just to entertain himself.

But as he was scrolling through the videos, he casually clicked on one and found that the beginning was fairly calm, the middle gradually became eerie, and by the end, it turned into a full-on killing spree!

Holy shit, it's a Level 1 script!

Holy shit, the newbie is going on a killing spree!

The player, shocked, checked the newbie's personal panel, and then discovered that the other had only three performed scripts, and in those three scripts—the other new players—

were all brutally killed.

The news spread from one to ten, and from ten to a hundred, until the entire forum came to rubberneck, and naturally, the shocking post made it to the top of the trending searches.

Low-rank players were crying in the comments, terrified that they too might encounter this ruthless player who spares no teammate.

They were just newbies who had barely started in Script Space, with hardly any skills or items saved up, certainly unable to compete with someone who kills a thousand enemies at the cost of injuring eight hundred of their own!

No newbie was unafraid after watching the video!

Why would Script Space let such a psychopath into the newbie-killing area?

What about the promise that newbies would be carefully nurtured?!

"This guy..."

Xu Shuo looked at the post in silence for a while, then after a long pause, he said, "He's 'Patient 13' from 'The Fifth Hospital,' right?"

New players might not know who the protagonist in the video was, but veteran players who had seen numerous scripts could usually recognize the person's identity pretty quickly.

After "The Fifth Hospital" was taken down, there was a major blogger who had analyzed that there must have been an NPC who had awakened, though many people thought that it was Doctor Chen Chu who had awakened at the time.

Only Xu Shuo knew it might be Luo Kun.

Because he knew the story of the hospital was repeating itself, which wasn't a memory an NPC should retain.

Luo Kun had ended up not getting much of Xu Shuo's attention later on because of his busy work schedule and numerous tasks—though he had never paid much attention to Script Space issues.

Unexpectedly, he had come across news of Luo Kun today.

Indeed, that kid was pretty good at causing trouble, even making it onto the headline of the forum's hot searches.

With that guy's malicious and twisted psychopathy, it didn't seem too surprising that he would directly attack other players in the script, even killing them.

Those few new players were just a bit pitiful.

But now that Luo Kun had been exposed, other players would probably be on alert if they encountered him...

Oh, almost forgot, their memories seem to get blurry once they enter the script, right?

Damn, those new players might not be able to avoid it.

Xu Shuo opened Luo Kun's personal panel, glanced at his player level, then looked at his own level, and fell into contemplation.

Hong Rao lamented from the side, "An awakened NPC in a script is quite a rare player, but I didn't expect it to be him—this batch of newbies is in for trouble."

Psychopaths aren't easy to deal with, especially an antisocial one.

Xu Shuo suddenly remembered something and said, "I seem to recall seeing that there was another awakened NPC?"

"Actually, including him, there have been five awakened ones so far," Hong Rao said.

"That many?" Xu Shuo raised an eyebrow.

Hong Rao smiled, "Characters who die in the scripts tend to Awaken more easily, and the other one you mentioned, it's because he saw the analysis post of that previous hospital, right? His name is Yang Lei?"

Xu Shuo nodded.

Hong Rao continued, "Yang Lei is quite famous on the forum. He originally was an NPC within a script, very devoted to his mother. Perhaps because he saw his mother die too many times, he eventually broke down and Awakened. Because he is well-behaved and has a pitiful backstory, many people in the Script Space are his 'mom fans'."

Eh? So he didn't become a villain?

Xu Shuo was slightly surprised, but didn't really take it to heart, as he had only asked in passing.

So not all Awakened NPCs have extreme personalities; there are still some characters who wish to repay the world with kindness while Luo Kun is simply sick.

Xu Shuo clicked to follow Luo Kun's personal information and then paused, before asking in a serious tone, "By the way, can I block a player from seeing my personal information?"

Seeing his expression, Hong Rao raised an eyebrow and said, "Of course, you can just block them, that feature is available."

Following Hong Rao's guidance, Xu Shuo entered his own profile panel and found Luo Kun in the "Following" list to block him. Then, somewhat to his surprise, he located Luo Kai in the "Fans" list and promptly blocked him too!

Hong Rao couldn't see who he was blocking because she didn't have permission, but it probably related to the person they were just talking about.

She laughed, "Speaking of which, the 'The Fifth Hospital' script you were part of was the one where Luo Kun Awakened, right? Are you worried he might come to settle the score?"

Xu Shuo replied noncommittally with a grunt.

Being targeted by a madman is no pleasant experience. Even though it was unclear whether Luo Kun would actually come after him, Xu Shuo wanted to eliminate the slightest possibility right from the start!

Xu Shuo disliked such troubles.

"By the way, how much have your Performative Points grown at your level?" Hong Rao leaned in to ask.

"Eighteen thousand," Xu Shuo checked his level.

"Uh, you need to accumulate fifty thousand Performative Points to advance to Rank Two, but actually, the maximum Performative Points you can get from a Low-Rank script is three thousand," Hong Rao hinted with her words.

Xu Shuo's gaze flickered, meaning he would have to go through at least fifteen Low-Rank scripts and perform exceptionally well each time to accumulate enough experience to reach Rank Two!

And so far, he had only Performed in two scripts...

Looking at his "Fans" list again, the number of followers seemed to have increased since the last time. It wasn't feasible to block every new follower; that would be too inefficient.

If the number of followers kept increasing in the later stages, other players would definitely start noticing something unusual.

What a hassle.

Xu Shuo rubbed his forehead with a frown.

Hong Rao blinked, her dark purple pupils shimmering, her face breaking into a teasing smile as she watched him.

Serves you right for rejecting the scripts I recommended. Now the trouble has come!

Xu Shuo silently sighed and surrendered, "How about arranging a few more scripts for me then, and don't worry about the rest periods."

Hong Rao immediately swiped open a new system interface, displaying several scripts with mysterious and dark covers, all Rank One.

She had guided many students and was adept at maximizing their benefits in their newbie phase.

"I want the kind that are simple and can be cleared instantly," Xu Shuo said, looking at the list of scripts.

"..." Hong Rao.

Clear instantly?

Was he really that averse to Low-Rank scripts?

However, Xu Shuo was considering something else entirely. If this space allocated scripts based on strength, given Luo Kun's performance, Xu Shuo guessed that he probably wouldn't come across the simpler scripts.

Once he advanced to the second phase, there'd be no chance of encountering each other. As long as he advanced faster each time, that would suffice!

Plan confirmed!