Four Split Personalities

Chapter 2139: Chapter 1004: Game Within a Game Within a Game (Part 2)

"The last time I had digestive problems was two months ago, and it was just severe abdominal pain."

Motan shook his head, and after a brief pause, looked up at the other person with a soft laugh and said slowly, "Miss Double Leaf, you... must not have been an ordinary person since childhood. Although Diana didn’t mention much in her letter, I can still roughly guess that you are anything but ordinary."

Double Leaf, who had nothing to do with the word ’ordinary’ either in or out of the game, nodded nonchalantly and asked, "So what?"

"Therefore, I think neither Miss Double Leaf nor Diana truly understands what it means to be an ordinary person like us in the truest sense."

Motan’s gaze was somewhat complex as he softly said, "In fact, at least in my view, being ordinary doesn’t mean being simple, nor does it mean being stupid or mediocre. Miss Double Leaf, you just complimented me as being smart, but that has nothing to do with me being just an ordinary bard who gets reprimanded for trying to stand up for my beloved and ends up being rescued. Similarly, my so-called helplessness... is mostly about things like ’having to write stories even when I lack inspiration’, ’being repeatedly turned away from joining the Cloud Traveler Inn’, or ’forcing myself to smile and tell stories to unlikeable audiences even when I’m in a poor state physically and mentally’."

[An ordinary person in the truest sense?]

Double Leaf mused to herself, and despite the fact that what the other person said didn’t touch on her areas of ignorance, the content still caught her off guard. After all, the concept of ’ordinary people’ had nothing to do with her, and she hadn’t really interacted with ordinary people.

But if this guy in front of her named Frank Hughes was telling the truth, then he truly was an utterly ordinary person...

Someone who could win over a genius like Diana and debate with a monster like herself without falling behind... an ordinary person.

Is that possible? Is that reasonable?

For a moment, Double Leaf found herself caught off guard and uncertain, just like the guy sitting across from her had been a few sentences ago, plunging into silence.

"Let’s change the subject."

Motan smiled considerately, not allowing those uncomfortable vibes to linger, saying, "For example, why didn’t you, sent by Kenneth to harm me, take the opportunity to do so before Diana returned last night and..."

He raised his index finger and made a throat-slitting gesture.

"If you’re asking why I didn’t kill you knowing Diana would certainly suspect something, and clearly aware that love has made her unforgiving towards me,"

Double Leaf laughed dryly and spread her hands, "the only explanation I can offer is—I haven’t lived enough yet."

Motan was momentarily stunned, then laughed silently, "I see."

"Moreover, Kenneth’s instructions to me weren’t simply to get rid of you directly, although I think he might have wanted to."

Double Leaf sighed lazily, "But perhaps out of consideration for Diana’s feelings, he told me to closely examine your character, Mr. Frank Hughes, and if there’s any indication that you’re harboring ulterior motives towards Diana... no, rather, if there’s even the slightest factor unrelated to love in your attitude towards her, or if your character is deemed unworthy of her, then I should find a suitable opportunity to deal with you."

"Honestly, that’s much better than I imagined the worst-case scenario to be."

Motan candidly laughed, and then looked sincerely at the yawning girl across from him, "So, Miss Double Leaf, what is your assessment of me?"

"Not so fast. After all, today is my first time meeting you, though the manner was somewhat unexpected."

Double Leaf waved her hand impatiently and said, "In any case, we’ve spoken openly now. If you intend to spend as much time with Diana as possible in the near future, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to interact, and I’ll have ample time to observe you."

Motan nodded slightly, "Of course."

"Just to be clear beforehand..."

Double Leaf pushed her glasses up and stared intently at Motan, "Since I’ve revealed my identity, any act that might arouse my suspicion equals a death sentence for you. Please believe me, Mr. Frank, the genius and beautiful girl sitting before you is far more astute than Diana described in her letter, so you best not try to hide anything from me, even if you know my intentions."

Motan exhaled deeply, wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead, and nodded, "I’ll keep it in mind."

"Let me show you a way out."

Double Leaf leaned back in her chair and lazily raised a finger towards the suite’s door, "If you truly have ulterior motives towards Diana, then leave this place immediately and vanish from Academy City, never appearing in front of her again. This one time, I can pretend I didn’t see, not only will I not take action against you, but I might even help cover it up, letting Diana ’heartbreak’ in a relatively peaceful way."

Motan chuckled, "Such a considerate proposal. If I didn’t truly love her, I might have already made a run for it."

"So, you’re planning to see this through to the end?"

"Just staying true to my heart."

"Heh, quite the courage you have..."

"I said earlier, I will only leave her if I am certain she’ll be happier without me."

"Then, I’ll assume that in the upcoming period, you’ll gladly accept any action I take towards you?"

"As long as Miss Double Leaf can consider me objectively, I have no complaints."

"Then it’s a deal?"

Double Leaf grinned, issuing a final confirmation.

"A deal."

Motan nodded vigorously, giving a firm response.

At this point, Double Leaf’s open strategy was fully activated, completely bringing Frank Hughes under her surveillance under justifiable reasons.

In fact, from the perspective of fulfilling Kenneth’s instructions, Double Leaf’s act of revealing her identity today was quite unnecessary, as she had mentioned before. Even if Frank truly had ulterior motives towards Diana, the probability of him slipping up would significantly decrease once Double Leaf had played her hand, an unavoidable fact.

However, if paired with an additional task of verifying whether Frank equates to Tan Mo, then that earlier showdown to legitimize surveillance becomes highly necessary. On the one hand, it lowers the opponent’s guard; on the other, it provides a universal reason for herself to conduct potentially probing tests.

In the Realm of Innocence, the differences between players and NPCs are very ambiguous, especially considering that most ordinary players Double Leaf is aware of can stay online for 24 hours of game time. Just by paying a bit of attention to words and behavior, the likelihood of being discovered is not very high, let alone someone like ’Tan Mo’ who, in her perception, is as cunning as herself.

Precisely because of this, many schemers poorly conceal their player identity, because the technical difficulty of this matter is really low. Based on this premise, if one pays too much attention to maintaining ’Frank Hughes’s image, even ’Tan Mo’ in Double Leaf’s perception could easily slip in concealing his player identity. Even if rationality might make him feel that ’exposing Tan Mo is more severe than exposing Frank’, his subconscious may inadvertently relax due to this half-year-long gaming experience.

Under this premise, Double Leaf is very confident she can catch him!

Intentionally assessing Frank, this advantage was voluntarily abandoned by the girl.

Yet, simultaneously, she had established another layer of unintentional calculation towards ’Tan Mo’!

And it was under the pretense that the latter was clearly scheming against her.

To put it simply...

While she lowered the review difficulty for ’NPC A’ Frank, she also completed a...

A plot within a plot within a plot under the assumption of ’Frank = Tan Mo’!

Chapter 1044: End