Chapter 11: Intelligence-Reducing Skills

Upon hearing these words, Xiang Zhuo instinctively leaned back and scratched his head. Then, he moved over to Mo Qi’s side and gritted his teeth, saying, “Consider me unlucky to meet you. The mission is already tough enough. I can’t let your death increase the difficulty further. I’ll protect you until we complete the mission!”

Mo Qi raised an eyebrow slightly. Xiang Zhuo had already mentioned twice the phrase “until we complete the mission,” indicating that Xiang Zhuo might not hesitate to harm him. Their current cooperation was just a temporary measure, and conflicts of interest would arise once the mission reached its conclusion.

Furthermore, Xiang Zhuo’s current behavior was somewhat out of character.

Mo Qi still remembered how adept Xiang Zhuo had been when he first discovered her. Now, however, he seemed to exhibit signs of reduced intelligence, leaving her unsure if it was her own misconception.

At present, the most crucial task was to check Qi Qiaoyan’s phone. Mo Qi swiftly browsed through the photos, chat logs, and memos from the past three days.

Among the photo albums was an encrypted collection that required a password to unlock. Mo Qi couldn’t open it for now, so she focused on examining the chat records one by one.

The earlier WeChat messages were from friends close to Qi Qiaoyan. They read: “How are you?”, “No matter what happens, you still need to come back for class,” “I helped you forge a sick note today. The teacher said it’s a one-time thing, so hurry back to class,” “Even if you get a warning or punishment, it’s not a big deal. As long as your academic performance and ideological scores are outstanding in the next year, they won’t go on your record,” “I’ve asked the counselor to help you change dorms. From now on, you won’t share a room with Ke Xiaoxi, so you don’t have to worry about her anymore.”

It seems Qi Qiaoyan still has a few friends who are all trying hard to help her.

Further down, Mo Qi found an apology message. She read it carefully and discovered it was from the student who had asked Qi Qiaoyan to run the 800 meters in her place. It was this student’s negligence that led Ke Xiaoxi to discover Qi Qiaoyan running in her stead and report her to the school.

Further down, Mo Qi unexpectedly found a chat dialogue between Ke Xiaoxi and Qi Qiaoyan.

Mo Qi clicked to open it and saw that each message was followed by a prompt saying, “She has enabled friend verification. You are not her friend yet. Please send a friend request. Once the request is accepted, you can chat.” Ke Xiaoxi had already deleted Qi Qiaoyan as a friend, while Qi Qiaoyan persistently sent messages, mostly in voice format.

“Did you think you could ruin me like this, Ke Xiaoxi? I know all about your little schemes.”

“You just can’t stand anyone being better than you. It was only in our freshman year when I scored higher than you on the exam, and you’ve been suppressing me ever since. You don’t like Guo Mingzheng either; you’re just jealous that Ruan Hongdou is more talented than you, so you stole the guy she liked.”

“I saw your phone’s lock screen password the other day. It’s the date when Xiang Wansi made a mistake during the broadcast. Have some shame. You’re always jealous of everyone. It disgusts me.”

“Ke Xiaoxi, why don’t you just die? The whole world would be better off without you!”

Mo Qi clicked on one voice message after another, each filled with Qi Qiaoyan’s bitterness and resentment.

“I know how to make you die, and no one will ever suspect me, Ke Xiaoxi. Today is the happiest day of my life!”

This was the last message Qi Qiaoyan sent to Ke Xiaoxi.

Today, June 27th, Mo Qi entered “0627” on the encrypted album and unlocked it.

Inside, there was a photo depicting a crystal box identical to the one in the game, but with the addition of a hand wearing a colorful bracelet typically worn during the Dragon Boat Festival.

Mo Qi looked at Qi Qiaoyan’s left hand, where she also wore a similar colorful bracelet. It seemed that this photo was taken by Qi Qiaoyan herself, holding the box in her left hand and her phone in her right hand.

Zhang Zhuo always accompanied Mo Qi and looked at his phone this time, saying, “So the Crystal Box is an Entity, and Qiao Yan is the one who got the box and made the wish that caused Ke Xiaoxi’s death. She didn’t realize that making a wish comes with an equal price. Because she didn’t fulfill it, it led to her life. The second wisher appeared, indicating that the box is no longer with Qiao Yan. Who else is it? There are thousands of students in this school. If we can’t find out why the wish box attracts people, we’ll be looking for a needle in a river.”

Xiang Zhuo pondered for a moment and said, “Currently, the characteristic emanating from Qiao Yan, this wisher, is hatred. The reason for the hatred is Xiaoxi’s jealousy, triggered by a disciplinary warning. Perhaps we can look into the disciplinary actions the school has taken against students during this period.”

Mo Qi glanced at Xiang Zhuo with faint interest, noticing a flicker of intelligence returning to him, albeit inconsistently.

In that glance, Mo Qi couldn’t help but feel impressed, thinking to herself, “Experienced players indeed have their ways. This approach is promising.” She felt a hint of admiration for Xiang Zhuo, but this was just a passing thought. Despite the expired duration, her “Gaze” skill unexpectedly activated again, causing Xiang Zhuo to once more gaze back at her with a dazed expression and a silly smile.

Mo Qi: “…”

Does MD have no restrictions or cooldown time on this skill? Why can it be continuously activated without any limitations?

With a silly grin still on his face, Xiang Zhuo continued, “Next, we need to do three things. First, find Ke Xiaoxi’s phone because the voice message mentioned the lock screen password, suggesting there might be information inside. Second, figure out when Xiang Wansi made the broadcasting mistake to unlock the screen. Third, go to the student council to check the student disciplinary records.”

After he finished speaking, Mo Qi pulled out a cracked phone from his pocket. “This is Ke Xiaoxi’s phone.”

Xiang Zhuo nodded. “Alright then, let’s go check the password and disciplinary records.”

Mo Qi dialed Liao Ruxue’s number expressionlessly. “President, are you asleep?”

“I haven’t slept. I’ve been thinking about (how to kill) you,” came Liao Ruxue’s elegant voice.

Beside him, Xiang Zhuo scratched his ear, clearly having overheard their conversation.

“I need the student disciplinary records. You have them, right?” Mo Qi said.

Liao Ruxue replied, “Of course I have them. When do you need them?”

“The sooner, the better,” Mo Qi responded.

“I’m in the student council office. If you want them, come get them yourself this time. I won’t send the forms to you again. I can’t verify your identity over the network,” Liao Ruxue added.

“Alright, I’ll come right away. By the way, President, has Xiang Wansi made any noticeable broadcasting mistakes?”

Liao Ruxue replied, “There was one instance, a significant mistake. She cried in the broadcasting room on the spot. That day, I comforted her along with the counselor.”

Mo Qi asked, “Do you remember the date?”

Liao Ruxue replied, “Of course I remember. I have a good memory. Do you want to know? Come to the office and see me. I can’t wait to meet you.”

“Coming right away,” Mo Qi responded.

He ended the call expressionlessly and said to Xiang Zhuo, “Let’s go.”

Xiang Zhuo followed behind, tilting his head. “Do you have something going on with the student council president? No, seriously, you found this clue too easily, didn’t you?”

Mo Qi stopped and looked at Xiang Zhuo. “Didn’t you say the better the luck, the higher the cost?”

“Yeah, but it seems like you didn’t pay much,” Xiang Zhuo remarked. “Maybe you sacrificed a bit of charm?”

Mo Qi rolled his eyes. “I wish it were just my charm I had to sacrifice! Remember to protect me later.”

Instead of heading straight to the student council, he went to search near the grass patch near the School of Social Sciences dormitory.

Currently, there are already two entities that want to kill him. Eliminating one would be a step in the right direction.

Xiang Zhuo obediently followed along without questioning.

Mo Qi increasingly felt that Xiang Zhuo’s intelligence was gradually declining. Suddenly, he had a guess, opened the gaming app, and sure enough, the skills had been updated again.

Mo Qi remained silent, contemplating the implications of the “Intellect Descent” and “Gaze” derived skills. If the target of the gaze belonged to the same faction as Mo Qi and hadn’t triggered the adverse effects of “Love You to Death,” there was a 10% chance of activating the “Intellect Descent” skill. During the gaze’s effect, their intelligence would gradually diminish, making them obedient to Mo Qi’s commands. While it offered the advantage of controlling teammates, the downside lay in the potential for teammates to initiate a “bad teammate” chain reaction, potentially causing serious harm to the team.

“Truly worthy of its SSR-level status, such skills that can deceive both others and oneself are indeed rare.

No wonder Xiang Zhuo almost transforms into a game commentator, answering every question without the slightest guard, evidently having his intellect artificially diminished.

Only when the Gaze skill wore off did Xiang Zhuo reveal a hint of his analytical ability as an experienced player.”

“Xiang Zhuo, what are the player relationships like in the game?” Mo Qi asked casually as they walked, seizing the opportunity to gather more information.

Xiang Zhuo smiled sweetly, “Players can form teams, compete, or be enemies. In adversarial relationships, if one side achieves final victory, the other team’s accounts will be terminated, and all their points will go to the winning team. Additionally, the winning team will randomly receive a powerful mission item card or scene card from the defeated team.”

“Mission item card?”

“The mission item cards are different from those obtained through points exchange. They are acquired only after completing missions, often with incredible abilities and minimal negative effects. They can be lifesavers in critical moments.”

“What happens to the player when their account is terminated?”

“Terminating an account means both real-world and in-game erasure. Once terminated, the player’s existence is completely wiped out from the real world, as if they never existed.”

Mo Qi halted in his tracks, looking at Xiang Zhuo. “My game system warns me that failing missions or exceeding the time limit will terminate my player account.”

“If the mission fails, all participating players will have their accounts terminated. However, if the mission succeeds, only the losing team in adversarial relationships will face account termination. Regular competitive teams that don’t achieve final victory can still earn some participation points.”

“You mentioned earlier that our collaboration is temporary. Does that mean we are in a competitive relationship?”

“Indeed. Until final victory, I’ll strive to achieve it before you do, gaining higher points and mission item cards that only the ultimate winner can obtain.”

Although Xiang Zhuo had a diminished intellect, his physical reflexes and strength remained intact. His stamina far surpassed that of a normal person, allowing him to evade the attack just in time before being entangled by the grass.

The two had already reached the spot where Mo Qi had previously stared at the small grass. As expected, the grass was not completely dead and once again bypassed Mo Qi to attack Xiang Zhuo.

Logically, the grass should be most intent on killing Mo Qi. Why, then, would it attack Xiang Zhuo with such ferocity, even more so than when dealing with Mo Qi?

As Mo Qi watched Xiang Zhuo struggling with the grass, a thought suddenly struck him: both times the grass attacked Xiang Zhuo, it coincided precisely with the moment he used his “Gaze” skill on Xiang Zhuo.