Chapter 2612: Chapter 1750: Between Each Other

In other worlds, this would be a good thing, but the problem is, this is a totally messed-up world.

The NPCs players like will be killed — or corrupted, fallen. If players discover it early, maybe they can solve it. But if they discover it late, then they’ll watch helplessly as the other party falls, transforms into a Demon, and have to choose whether to kill her or be killed by her.

Or during a battle, their harem is killed by the enemy... NPCs rarely resurrect after dying unless it’s a Soul Card. Moreover, after they’re killed, their souls are taken into the Evil God’s Subspace, permanently becoming its playthings.

And more cruelly, players will still see them in the Evil God’s realm.

Previously, in the game, Duanmu Huai once joined a random party to do tasks in the Corrupted Foil’s forest. There, in a forest, everyone discovered fruits growing on a twisted, rotten tree, and those fruits bore faces resembling humans. When the party’s Commander saw one of the fruits, he immediately broke down, crying, and utterly collapsed.

Later, everyone learned that the face on the fruit belonged to the former NPC deputy the Commander had during his newbie days, a character he liked a lot, always taking her with him wherever he went.

The outcome was that once, while eliminating a Corrupted Foil nest, his deputy was killed. No corpse left, only a pile of rotten flesh.

After that, this player also fell into despair for a long time before recovering.

Who would’ve thought that walking into the Corrupted Foil’s garden would stab him again.

Afterwards, the Commander lost his mind, going mad with a desire for revenge, which of course ended in a disastrous failure.

In response, those veteran players had only one thought.

Heh heh heh, this pain is truly delicious!

That’s right, players like the newbie Commander are not few in number. Some break down after such blows, cursing "what a crappy game" and quitting immediately, but many players continue playing, although with changed attitudes, reflecting deeply after the pain.

This is where the mechanical playstyle and Insect Race playstyle originated.

Insect Race, well, we’re all part of the Insect Swarm, not heartbroken or saddened if a few die.

The mechanical playstyle is the same; machines are mere data, dying is inconsequential, flesh is weak, mechanical ascension, what you require is a steel heart.

The rest change to Soul Walkers; after all, as long as you have a Resurrection Card, you don’t have to worry about your accompanying NPC dying.

Of course, new players keep joining the game endlessly. And those who’ve suffered trauma do the same. Then they post on forums below their accounts, some furiously denouncing the game company, some crying and howling in anger, questioning why, why the game company tortures them this way.

For instance, once a player posted saying that he initially started playing to fill the void after breaking up with his girlfriend. In the game, he met a beautiful, gentle girl on a planet, who treated him warmly, always cheering him on. This deeply moved the newbie’s fragile heart, and he swore that after finishing the tasks here, he’d leave the planet with this girl.

Of course, if it had truly ended like that, it wouldn’t be a "bad ending."

But the problem was, this newbie was too capable; not only did he uncover the secrets of the cult hidden on the planet, but he traced it back to the origin, ultimately discovering — the girl was actually a vessel used by the cult to summon the Evil God’s attendant.

When the newbie arrived at the ritual site, the girl who had been by his side had already twisted into a pink, ugly, distorted monster.

Then the newbie had to personally kill her.

Even without collecting the equipment she dropped, he ran to the forum to cry about it.

Regarding this, the veteran players’ attitude was basically...

"Heh heh heh, this damned pain is sweet, this is what I wanted to see!"

"Welcome newbies officially to Star Ocean Online!"

"This overflowing text full of anger and sadness reminds me of the days past, I too was once this young..."

This pitfall was stepped in by many players, for a simple reason. Even if you see the earlier accounts of others crying about it all over the forum, you would only think they lacked skill or just had bad luck. If it were you, you definitely wouldn’t make those mistakes. Plus, the veterans have summed up their experiences and lessons for you; just follow the guide to avoid pitfalls, right?

However, the reality is — everyone confidently goes to step into it and then returns crying, becoming one of the forum’s Chang Ghosts, starting to derive pleasure from others’ pain.

In this aspect, Judges are somewhat like doctors to patients. Doctors don’t empathize well with patients because there are so many patients that if they empathized with each one, their mental state would be exhausted or even collapse. After becoming a Judge, players’ relationships with other NPCs are similar to that of doctors and patients. When seeing you in difficulty, they’ll help, wanting to resolve it, but they won’t get overly emotionally invested.

Duanmu Huai is like that too.

He gets along well with most people in the Tribunal, even having close contacts with some, but there’s a differentiation. When they encounter some irreversibly dire situations, Duanmu Huai must be able to make judgments and cut ties without emotional involvement.

For example, with spellcasters like Naruse Mio and Frieren, if — if their Spiritual Energy runs amok causing spiritual hazards, what should be done?

Should it be like in animations or games, calling them back with deep affection?

Or should it be direct purification?

Duanmu Huai would naturally choose the latter without hesitation.

Excessive emotions are just a burden that obstructs action.

Therefore, no matter who he faces, Duanmu Huai will keep a degree of distance to avoid this. To speak extremely, even if companions like Ann and Mary who are close allies were killed or corrupted before him, Duanmu Huai must make measured decisions calmly avoiding reckless retaliation.

"That’s how Judges are."

Duanmu Huai shrugged.

"The things we should do don’t change, and what we need to do doesn’t change, so maintaining a certain distance is very important. Otherwise, you’ll just be crushed."

"Hmm... I don’t think it’s like that."

"Is that so?"

"Hmm."

Facing Duanmu Huai’s response, Hei Chuan Chi Yin nodded with a smile.

"Because Xiao Ai, you’re willing to keep a distance, it means you actually care about them, right? After all, if you didn’t care, there’d be no need to keep your distance—because even if they perished before your eyes, it wouldn’t wave your resolve. Like previously, those two girls you bullied, Xiao Ai, you didn’t feel any guilt, did you? But keeping a distance actually admits their presence influences your emotions, right?"

"........."

Duanmu Huai silently stared at Hei Chuan Chi Yin, then shook his head.

"You’re wasting your talent as an actor; I think you’d be more suited as a detective or fortune teller."

"Fortune teller? You mean divination? Why divination?"

"Because you’re really good at understanding others’ thoughts, isn’t it easy to calm others this way?"

"Isn’t that supposed to be a therapist’s job?"

"Fortune tellers surpass therapists."

Therapists just tell you to relieve yourself, not to argue with others over pointless matters, it’s bad for your health.

But fortune tellers are straightforward; they’ll directly tell you that person isn’t compatible with you, getting along will only cause trouble.

Yeah, people generally prefer the latter.

"Dingling..."

Just then, the phone rang, Duanmu Huai answered it, and a hurried voice came through.

"Miss Duanmu, Miss Hei Chuan, where are you!?"

"We’re shopping, and dealt with a group of Noise that appeared out of nowhere... So why hasn’t the clean-up crew arrived yet?"

Duanmu Huai looked around while holding the phone. Although they appeared in time, preventing major damage to the underground mall, usually, soldiers would arrive to seal off the area, but he and Hei Chuan Chi Yin were chatting here for quite a while without seeing a single person.

"Saint Xiang Academy was attacked by Noise! There are a lot of them! Please hurry..."

However, before finishing, the call was cut off, leaving only the busy tone of "toot toot toot".

"Oh man."

Duanmu Huai glanced at Hei Chuan Chi Yin.

Could it be that the giraffe got mad enough, attempting a sneak attack?

This could be interesting.