Free Web NovelThe red eyeball of the puppet on the left was brutally gouged out by the overly long fingernails of the puppet on the right.
In the next second, that hand, made grotesque by its impossibly long nails, grabbed the freshly plucked red eyeball and unceremoniously stuffed it into its mouth.
At the same time, the red-eyed puppet, whose face had been eerily blank and expressionless except for those crimson eyes, now cracked a blatant, unreserved smile across its features.
It seemed delighted, satisfied, and yet faintly tinged with a greed that could never be fully sated...
As for the red-eyed puppet on the left that had just had its eye gouged out...
Oh no, to be precise, it could no longer be called a "red-eyed puppet."
It would be more accurate to rename it a "no-eyed puppet."
Without its red eyeballs, it was left with only a pair of hollow eye sockets, appearing as pitch-black voids radiating a chilling cold, like two tiny black holes.
These black holes immediately reminded Jiang Ye of the cracks on Li Ku's body.
It was as if, behind those as well, lay two unknown dark spaces.
However, this no-eyed puppet, having lost its red eyes, seemed to have lost its soul once again.
It appeared even more vacant and lifeless than the puppets Jiang Ye hadn't yet injected with red eyeballs. It looked like the purest form of a puppet, perhaps incapable of even speaking...
At the same time, it had also lost its aggression, sitting there dumbly in its seat without uttering a single word.
This scene left even Jiang Ye stunned, let alone Shao Qingyun and the other four normal players.
Their bodies were tensed to the breaking point, terrified that the puppet that had eaten the red eye might pull out some other unpredictable move.
However, they could all tell that the changes in these two puppets had been triggered by Jiang Ye.
So, a series of subtle glances discreetly fell upon Jiang Ye once more.
It was at this moment that the victorious red-eyed puppet also spoke to Jiang Ye:
"Give me ten more pairs of eyeballs, and I'll ensure you can clear this stage."
Jiang Ye frowned. Before he could voice his doubts, the red-eyed puppet explained further:
"I've only just learned this myself—"
"Just like you guys can clear stages without dying, we permanent jurors can break the hidden rules of the 'Face Court' without dying either."
"The only cost is losing our juror status."
"So, as long as you pay ten more pairs of eyeballs, I guarantee that all twelve permanent jurors will vote for the death penalty, ensuring your clear."
"Of course, if you still have doubts, you can confirm one thing with Shao Qingyun next to you—"
"A fixed-status puppet must carry out its corresponding status duties."
"In other words, as long as I don't shed the identity of 'juror,' every time someone challenges the Face Court, I will appear in this jury room as a permanent juror."
"So, if I break our agreement, you can still find me accurately by challenging the Face Court again."
"And I'm explaining this not just to show that if I default, you can come after me."
"I want to express more—that because of this very feature, I don't want to continue serving as a 'juror' anymore."
Upon hearing these words, Jiang Ye naturally first turned to Shao Qingyun for confirmation.
Shao Qingyun was nearly too shocked to speak...
Because the fact that this puppet could utter such words meant it possessed normal human thinking and judgment abilities!
This puppet seemed to have been granted true life!
This... was this something that this "Ji Zixuan" had achieved?
Just by using those... red eyeballs?!
What the hell were those things?!
This puppet, now endowed with true life, seemed to want exactly that item, didn't it?
Shao Qingyun's heart trembled with overwhelming shock, but he didn't dare waste time and told Jiang Ye that the puppet was telling the truth.
[Obtaining the status of juror naturally means bearing the duties of a juror.]
[If there really was a chance to challenge the Face Court again, you could naturally find the juror precisely.]
However, Shao Qingyun quickly added—
[But the conditions for entering the Face Court are not easily met.]
[Moreover, the Face Court doesn't have just one stage.]
[Based on this characteristic, the status of juror should also be upgradeable.] frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
[The lowest-level jurors guard the first stage. Relatively higher-level jurors might appear in more advanced stages.]
That meant...
Even if there was a way to find this bizarre puppet, it wouldn't be a walk in the park.
[And...]
Shao Qingyun hesitated for a moment before adding another sentence: [According to our Boss's speculation, puppets that lose their 'status' should have a skyrocketing death rate, just like players without status.] freёweɓnovel.com
[So, the underlying code of red-eyed puppets should not allow them to voluntarily give up their status.]
By this time, the clear stage time limit had less than three minutes left.
Jiang Ye took a deep breath and directly asked the puppet:
"Do you know what happens to a puppet that loses its status?"
"I do." The puppet's tone was casual, as if it didn't care at all, "Enter the Qiankun Burial Ground, endure the erosion of sun and moonlight to a certain degree, then suffer excruciating pain until death."
"Ordinary puppets would indeed feel instinctive fear at losing their status and entering the Qiankun Burial Ground."
"But for me, the opportunities in the Qiankun Burial Ground outweigh the risks."
"Moreover, it won't be as hard for me to gain a new status as it is for other puppets."
"So, the cooperation I'm proposing is a win-win."
The puppet's tone was full of conviction.
His voice was indistinguishable from the others, but Jiang Ye caught a familiar note in his tone.
After a moment of thought, he asked directly: "You're the one who questioned me the second time, and also the first one who asked to leave my body."
Because Shao Qingyun and the others were present, Jiang Ye didn't mention the words "clone consciousness."
But without a doubt, the "revived" puppet before him had been taken over by a strand of "clone consciousness" from within his body.
This situation seemed somewhat similar to Guiwen's body-seizing.
But he wondered—could this clone consciousness, having already occupied one body, still seize another like Guiwen could?
And also...
The eyeball that this guy had swallowed...
It probably contained another strand of clone consciousness.
So, by swallowing the eyeball, had he merged with that other strand of clone consciousness?
Or was that consciousness merely imprisoned within his body?
As Jiang Ye pondered, he saw this puppet fall silent for a moment, then suddenly change its tone:
"I'm the one who questioned you the first time."
Sure enough, the tone had shifted to the confident, assertive one.
But Jiang Ye frowned upon hearing it—just a moment ago, the puppet hadn't spoken in this tone.
Faking it? Or...
"You can understand it as a dual-soul fusion. Just like Yang Wenchao and Wan Xin."
"..."
Hearing this explanation, the corner of Jiang Ye's mouth twitched slightly.
So, the two strands of clone consciousness hadn't merged at all—instead, they could take turns controlling this body!
Emmm...
So why the hell did you two fight to the death over a single pair of eyeballs just now?
And so, was Jiang Ye himself now something like a dual-soul fusion, only with N souls?
But time was tight, and Jiang Ye had no more time to dig deeper.
After a brief thought, he agreed to the cooperation.
Within his red eyeballs, icy blue cold light flickered as pairs of differentiated eyeballs shot out one after another.
He didn't care at all how these clones fought over the eyeballs and casually remarked:
"For easier communication, let's call the ultimate winner among you No. 1?"
Almost as soon as the words landed, the puppet on the right side of the head seat snatched all ten pairs of eyeballs with lightning speed and swallowed them all.
However, this time, it seemed to need a bit of time to digest. A full half minute passed before it replied to Jiang Ye: "Whatever."
"Then, next..."
No. 1's arm suddenly stretched out and retrieved a black remote control from its workstation.
With a casual press, a black voting box popped up in the center of the conference table, like a mahjong table revealing its core.
"To show my sincerity, I'll set an example."
Saying this, No. 1's arm stretched out again and pressed against the voting box.
The next second, No. 1 withdrew its arm and issued orders to the other eyeless puppets.
Soon, all twelve permanent jurors—No. 1 as the red-eyed puppet, and the remaining eleven as eyeless puppets—had completed their votes.
Jiang Ye didn't dare waste any time. He pressed his hand against the voting box, and a prompt automatically sounded in his mind:
[Ding!]
[Juror authority triggered!]
[You may use the Erasure authority on the current defendant!]
[Do you wish to use this authority?]
[Yes/No?]
Not the death penalty, but the Erasure authority?
This...
This feeling was very similar to how Li Ku had described the Sun People erasing Moon People!
But pure-blooded Sun People players seemed able to erase Moon People individually!
And without any conditions, they could directly erase them!
While here...
It seemed to require the collective decision of all 18 jurors to carry out the erasure?
Time was tight, and Jiang Ye didn't dare overthink. He instinctively moved to select [Yes] to fulfill his clearing condition.
But just before he made the final choice, his eyelids suddenly twitched, and an indescribable feeling welled up in his heart.
At the same time, the words spoken by that voice belonging to Zhou Qiming surfaced in his mind again—
"What if the defendant who must die to clear the stage is the original body you're trying to save?"
Unfortunately, there was simply no time to verify this.
Jiang Ye took a deep breath and quickly made his choice, pulling his hand away from the black voting box.
Without needing him to say anything, Shao Qingyun and the others acted swiftly, one after another placing their hands on the voting box to make their choices.
Only after all 18 jurors had made their selections did the black voting box burst forth with a green light, accompanied by a "ding" sound:
"Primary voting box settlement complete!"
"This vote has collected 17 Erasure shards!"
"Death penalty execution failed!"
"The defendant is sentenced to life imprisonment—lifetime incarceration!"
Along with this announcement, another prompt rang out simultaneously in the minds of Jiang Ye and the others:
[Ding!]
[Face Court: Stage 1 clear failed!]
[Juror status revoked!]
[Players without status, please prepare for exile!]
Accompanying this prompt, Jiang Ye and the others were not immediately teleported away.
The clear stage timer in the upper right corner of their vision still had about 10 seconds remaining...
The five normal players, including Shao Qingyun, snapped out of their daze from the prompts and glared at No. 1 puppet with barely concealed fury.
No. 1 frowned, swept its gaze across the five of them, and then abruptly fixed its stare on Jiang Ye.
It said almost definitively: "The one who cast the opposing vote should be you."
Jiang Ye didn't answer; instead, he asked it: "The death penalty wasn't carried out, and we didn't clear the stage. Will you still lose your juror status?"
"Yes." No. 1 answered bluntly, "As long as a death penalty vote is cast, you will."
Jiang Ye nodded: "Then, I look forward to meeting you in the Qiankun Burial Ground."
As he said this, the countdown for the clear stage time limit hit zero, and all six players present had their vision go black simultaneously.
Jiang Ye felt a knot of tension in his heart.
Because he couldn't be sure whether he would be "exiled" along with Shao Qingyun and the others, as the prompt had stated...
Or whether he would return directly to the eerie Black Smoke.
He hoped for exile.
That way, he might still have a chance to challenge the Face Court again and re-investigate the situation regarding his original body.
Not only that, but he might also be able to contact other players and get involved in other "cases"...
This tension didn't last long.
Before long, the scene before Jiang Ye's eyes abruptly changed.
The gloomy sky seemed to hang incredibly low, pressing down with an inexplicable weight.
Yellowish-brown dust filled the air, blurring the line of sight.
An ancient and majestic city stood amidst the swirling dust, exuding an aura of inviolable dignity.
Beyond that, several figures clad in silver-gray armor, like guardians of the city, stood at attention—one hand gripping a silver spear, the other holding a silver shield. Their bearing was equally sacred and untouchable.
The silver-gray armor even covered the faces of these guards.
But from the single word "Scram!" that one of the guards barked out, Jiang Ye could tell—
That was his voice!
Or rather, the voice shared by all red-eyed puppets!
So, did the body beneath this guard's armor also belong to a red-eyed puppet?
Because of this confusion, his reaction was slightly delayed.
Shao Qingyun and the others had already retreated far away from the city before they even heard the "Scram."
But Jiang Ye, who was a beat too slow, suddenly felt a fierce gust of wind!
It was the guard's spear, directly and unreasonably swinging horizontally at him!
Just as he was about to counterattack, another whip—far faster than the spear—wrapped around him, yanking him up into the sky!
Jiang Ye had initially thought that the gloomy sky was just low-hanging clouds.
But when the whip's momentum slammed his body into the "sky"...
He suddenly realized that this low-hanging "sky" was actually solid!
What material had been used to build this fake sky?!
As he was reeling in shock, a deep voice, impossible to distinguish as male or female, came down from the "sky":
"So you're really a newbie who wandered in by accident... First time here?"
Before Jiang Ye could recover from his shock, the voice asked again:
"Are you a Ninth Day player? Do you have any authority status?"
"..."
Jiang Ye remained unresponsive, looking as if he had gone dumb.
In reality, it was because Zhou Qiming's voice had popped up again in his mind:
"I once saw an ancient city like this in a memory I stole from a bus driver using [Grudge Memory]..."
Jiang Ye had no idea what [Grudge Memory] was, nor did he remember any bus driver.
He wasn't too shocked that Zhou Qiming claimed to have seen this ancient city before.
What truly surprised him was...
Based on his speculation, the slightly stronger portion of the clone consciousness within him had chosen to leave his body.
That is, it had entered No. 1 puppet's body to form that dual-soul fusion thing.
And Zhou Qiming, this strand of clone consciousness, should not be weak.
Yet, he had actually chosen not to leave...
As he pondered this, Jiang Ye felt his body being slowly lowered.
His body, which had been pressed against the "sky," dropped to the ground.
The whip that had coiled around him also retracted back into the "sky."
From the "sky," that voice, impossible to distinguish as male or female, rang out again: "Scared stiff already?"
