On the evening of March 21st, a new post appeared on the game forums, published by the well-known strategy blogger [Yuhan].
#Hopeless Sea Instance Summary & The Full Story of the Puppet Master Incident#
[Post #1 (OP): This is Liu Yuhan. I happened to experience the latter half of the Hopeless Sea instance alongside Chang Xu and Si Qi. I see a lot of people are curious about what happened after Chang Xu ended his stream, so I'll start from there.]
[Post #2: How is Chang Xu? If you're okay, OP, he should be fine too, right?]
[Post #3 (OP) replying to Post #2: I'm very sorry, but Chang Xu was killed by the Puppet Master. I couldn't save him. I will now recount the entire sequence of events as they happened.]
[Post #4 (OP): There were initially three puppets in the instance: Lu Li, Ye Linsheng, and Hans. Si Qi was controlled midway through. I believe everyone has some understanding of the Puppet Master's skill effects and has seen the stream, so I won't go into unnecessary detail.
After Lu Li led the other players off the island, the Puppet Master relaxed his control over Si Qi. Believing the Puppet Master's influence was gone, Si Qi found Chang Xu and me, proposing we head to the altar to attempt a True End route clearance. Si Qi forced Chang Xu to shut down his stream because he suspected Chang Xu was colluding with the Sila Guild and might use the stream to pass them information.]
[Post #5: How could Chang Xu possibly be connected to Sila? He cut off his own pinky to prove his innocence!]
[Post #6 (OP): It was Si Qi's suspicion, and at the time, I also thought it had some merit. There was a time-based trick on the island—anyone who left at the wrong time would die, and the Puppet Master couldn't possibly have been unaware of this. The fact that Lu Li left Chang Xu on the island seemed like a deliberate act to keep him alive.
However, subsequent events proved we had been misled by the Puppet Master. Near the altar, he seized control of Si Qi again, took me hostage, and forced Chang Xu to retrieve an item called the "Poseidon's Scepter."
Chang Xu agreed. After he handed the scepter over, the Puppet Master killed him. He then tried to kill me, but fortunately, Si Qi managed to regain control of his body using an item, allowing me to escape.]
[Post #7: So does that mean the player with the censored name was definitely Si Qi?]
[Post #8: How could anyone break free from the Puppet Master's control? OP, are you sure you weren't tricked?]
[Post #9 (OP) replying to Post #8: I am certain Si Qi broke free. He cut off the little finger of his right hand, proving it in the same way Chang Xu did. He possesses an Identity Card whose effect is unknown, but it likely played a significant role in his escape.]
[Post #10 (OP): One more thing worth noting: the puppet, Lu Li, had a Kyushu Guild badge, and an investigation confirmed he was indeed a member of the Kyushu Guild. Furthermore, the Puppet Master was very familiar with Chang Xu's personality, as if they knew each other from before. I suspect many guilds have been infiltrated by Sila. I urge all guilds to conduct internal investigations.]
Under Qi Si's control, Liu Yuhan had laid out a distorted version of the events from the latter half of the *Hopeless Sea* instance, helping to clear Qi Si of some suspicion.
At the same time, it dragged the Kyushu Guild through the mud, setting the other guilds on edge, thereby muddying the waters and diverting the conflict.
Liu Yuhan's account had always been well-regarded, and since her version of events was logical and well-supported, no one questioned it at first. Instead, comments poured in offering comfort or condolences for Chang Xu's death.
With some careful guidance, the players' anger was directed squarely at the Kyushu Guild, with many indignantly demanding an explanation.
It was as if, had it not been for the Kyushu badge, players would never have trusted Lu Li, and the final tragedy would have been averted...
All of this unfolded exactly as Qi Si had anticipated. He had chosen to claim Liu Yuhan's soul in part because of her good reputation.
While he didn't care for gossip, he was keenly aware of the immense power of public opinion. In modern society, controlling the narrative was crucial, and when used properly, it could prevent a great deal of trouble.
Of course, some players deduced that Qi Si was the anonymous MVP.
Qi Si simply ignored them. He neither confirmed nor denied it, letting them guess all they wanted. After all, they had no proof.
Amid the chaos, a new voice piped up.
Some complained that Chang Xu had cut his stream midway, causing their invested points to go down the drain. Others grumbled that he was clueless, squandering a god-tier start. And then, there were those who pushed a maliciously speculative post to the top:
#Suddenly, I'm starting to think Chang Xu was actually a bit suspicious#
[Post #1 (OP): You guys think there's a chance we've all been misled by stereotypes? Who says someone who streams can't be from the Sila Guild, or a slaughter-stream player?
As soon as Chang Xu entered the instance, he deliberately tailed Si Qi, and then Si Qi got hit with the puppet threads. How could that be a coincidence?
Besides, is Chang Xu really dead? Didn't Yuhan say the *Hopeless Sea* instance is basically a dream? Dying in a dream doesn't necessarily mean you're dead for real. Maybe it was just a self-sacrificing ploy to gain sympathy.]
Qi Si was monitoring the related discussions and saw the post the moment it appeared.
He laughed again, a sound of genuine, heartfelt delight.
Laughing, he began to write furiously in his notebook, the one titled *Such a Tragic Death*. His face twisted into a bizarre expression, a rictus of joy so intense it bordered on sorrow.
"Oh, Chang Xu, you poor thing, you really are... Look at you. You died, just like that, and now, who's left to say a single word in your defense?"
...
In the suffocating, inky blackness, Chang Xu sat cross-legged, his back straight as he stared into the void before him.
He didn't know how long he had been sitting there. Time was immeasurable, space intangible. Only the symbolic darkness of nothingness remained, a constant companion that submerged him in boundless silence.
So this is death?
Nothing had substance. Even the sharp pain from before was gone. All meaning, reality, and concepts that proved one was "alive" had vanished in an instant, as if they had never existed at all...
"I couldn't beat the Puppet Master. He killed me, so I died."
It was simple, so simple that Chang Xu felt a little frustrated.
For years, he had been accustomed to solving problems with force, which allowed him to avoid contemplating unanswerable paradoxes. This was the first time he had been defeated so thoroughly in terms of strength, his sense of security shattered. He had no choice but to seriously review the details behind the incident.
But he soon discovered that, for him, the situation had been an absolute no-win scenario.
Unless he had clairvoyance and knew from the start who the three puppets were and could eliminate them, he would inevitably be forced to trade the Poseidon's Scepter for Qi Si and Liu Yuhan's lives once they were captured.
But he wasn't a god. How could he have known the whole picture from the beginning?
The Puppet Master's late-game strategy was a complete and open trap. Chang Xu knew it was a setup, but he had to walk into it anyway.
As for abandoning Qi Si and Liu Yuhan and simply waking himself from the dream of the Hopeless Sea...
In Chang Xu's mind, saving his own skin by leaving his companions behind was worse than death itself.
After mulling it over for what felt like an eternity and getting nowhere, Chang Xu decided to stop thinking altogether.
And so, he silently stared at a point in front of him and continued... to let his mind drift.
At some point, the black space began to change. Bizarre, phantasmagorical mists churned before him, taking on various forms. A pair of brilliant golden eyes opened in the void, their cold gaze radiating an irrepressible sense of danger.
An ethereal, hazy voice drifted from beyond the heavens, yet it also seemed to resonate from the depths of his mind. "Chang Xu, I bestowed upon you the scepter that symbolizes power. You were meant to be invincible with its supreme might, yet you relinquished it to another out of a hollow fear. I am very disappointed in you."
Chang Xu's head snapped up, his dark pupils fixed on the golden eyes. "Who are you?"
The voice didn't answer, continuing its monologue. "Fortunately, the rules detected the hand that secretly reached for the gambling table. I can still act as arbiter to maintain fairness, promptly erasing the discrepancy caused by that cheater and restoring the chess pieces to their positions before the game began."
The deliberately abstruse phrasing was as cryptic as any oracle from antiquity.
Chang Xu asked, "What gambling table? Who cheated? And what do you mean by chess pieces?"
"You do not need to know these things. You need only know that all will die. After the final judgment, at the advent of the final outcome, that is when true rebirth and apocalypse will begin," the voice from the void stated coldly. "I once erased a portion of your memories for the sake of your conviction. I will now return them to you. I hope you will provide a different answer when we meet again."
A beam of golden light descended from above, engulfing Chang Xu.
A cacophony of voices erupted around him, a mixture of malicious words blending together, each one distinctly audible.
"Stay away from him, he's a monster! Anyone who gets close to him will have bad luck!" The exaggerated tone was crisp, the voice of a child.
"He's got a screw loose, talks to the air all day. The aunties say he's surrounded by ghosts!"
Long-forgotten memories were repainted with vivid color. Chang Xu's body tensed reflexively, his brow furrowed.
He looked around but couldn't see the source of the voices. The sharp words seemed to emanate entirely from the depths of his own mind.
"That big idiot looks scary, but he never talks back. Go on, try it if you don't believe me!"
"Hey, new kid, go cuss him out a bit. Prove you're not a coward, and then we'll let you be one of us."
Whispers, spoken in the secretive tones of gossip. He had never consciously tried to remember them, but once triggered, the memories returned complete.
Chang Xu remembered now. At the orphanage, he had been ostracized for a time because he was born with the ability to see ghosts.
He had never been able to comprehend complex emotional mechanisms like hostility and isolation. Anything that didn't threaten his life, he saw no reason to engage with. So he simply remained silent, finding an empty corner to quietly play with a Rubik's cube or some other small toy.
Perhaps because of his indifference, the other children at the orphanage grew bolder, beginning to treat him as a final boss they had to defeat, as if provoking him was proof of their bravery.
They broke his things, threw trash in his food, and even ganged up on him, trying to beat him up...
To live an undisturbed life, he had no choice but to beat up every one of those overconfident kids. Those who wouldn't submit, he beat again and again...
In the end, he got what he wanted: a safe and quiet environment.
Specks of light flickered in the void, and voices not from his memory began to sound, muffled and stripped of all characteristics, yet exceptionally cold and clear.
"If cultivated properly, he'll be our trump card. If something goes wrong, it's not a big deal. He's just an orphan..."
"He seems easy to control. With timely intervention from a psychologist, there shouldn't be any major problems..."
A scene materialized before his eyes, as if painted into existence by an upward brushstroke.
Silver alloy walls, glaring white lights, a room with only a small window... It was unmistakably the interior of the Weird Investigation Bureau.
Chang Xu's pupils contracted.