Face-Swap

Face-Swap

If this were the real world, empty words would have a hard time moving people's hearts.

Fortunately, this was the otherworld.

Because of mental contamination, this place was strange and dangerous. But because emotions could infect others so easily here, people's hearts could also be moved with ease.

After he finished speaking, Mu Sichen sensed that a small Self Totem, identical to the sanatorium's Pillar, had appeared at the heart of every town resident inside the sanatorium.

Only its pattern was similarly blurred.

[Once the player fulfills his promise, the Self Totem in the town residents' hearts will take shape, and the player will possess a group of independent and autonomous Followers. They have the ability to distinguish right from wrong, but they may not necessarily obey the player's commands.]

The System told Mu Sichen.

"That's how it should be," Mu Sichen thought silently.

Not casually trusting others because of grand promises, and not completely obeying another person's commands. That was what made someone a normal person.

Mu Sichen stroked Little Octopus and stuffed the octopus plushie back into his inventory.

He now carried two promises on his shoulders: one to Qin Zhou, and one to the town residents of the sanatorium.

But the pressure had returned to a bearable range.

"Are you going to the Food Processing Plant?" Mu Sichen asked Chi Lian and Cheng Xubo. "Staying in the sanatorium can keep you safe for now."

Chi Lian said, "Safe, sure, but then we can't log out. I just received a system prompt telling me to help you fulfill your promise. It should be the same as last time. Complete the mission, and we can log out. Fail the mission, and we'll have to stay here forever. So what are we waiting for? Of course I'm going with you."

Cheng Xubo also nodded. "Exactly. We can't rely on you for everything while we sit around and drain the reserves, can we?"

Their attitudes had changed subtly from before.

It seemed that because Mu Sichen had set the tone for the Self Totem, they had become a little more proactive too.

"When we logged out last time, it was around 13:00 during 'Night.' Our luck is pretty good. We logged in again after three days, and after seventy-two hours passed, Big Eye is still keeping His eye closed. We're still in 'Night,' with seven hours left before 'Daylight.' We have a decent amount of time," Mu Sichen said.

At that moment, the Tentacle-Eye Mu Sichen had helped up said quietly, "Director, the time is wrong."

"What is it?" Mu Sichen asked.

The Tentacle-Eye answered, "Ever since the director purified the sanatorium last time, 'Night' has grown longer. Now 'Night' lasts fourteen hours, and 'Daylight' only has ten hours left. From 8:00 to 22:00, it is 'Night.'"

The time they had to act had increased again.

It seemed that after losing one Pillar, Big Eye's power had weakened.

Although the road ahead was difficult, the light of Hope was growing brighter and brighter.

"Thank you for the reminder," Mu Sichen said to the Tentacle-Eye... no, to a person named Cheng Xiaoliang. "And I'm sorry."

Cheng Xiaoliang's face reddened, and the tentacles on his head swayed twice. "It's also because I look too frightening. And... before, I sacrificed other people too. I even stole a pair of eyes."

The town residents in charge of the sacrifice also lowered their heads.

Mu Sichen said, "All right, then. We all did wrong. The environment, the atmosphere, and public opinion were all wrong too. From now on, we'll change them together."

Cheng Xiaoliang asked, "Director, do you know where the Food Processing Plant is?"

Mu Sichen shook his head. The System had not given him a map, so he had no idea where to go.

Cheng Xiaoliang moved his tentacles, pointed at himself, and said, "I've been to the Food Processing Plant before. The work pressure there is extremely high. It's not leisurely like the sanatorium. To escape the Processing Plant, I handed in a pair of eyes and exchanged them for a factory-exit voucher. Only then was I assigned to work at the sanatorium."

Mu Sichen had thought Cheng Xiaoliang had been born without eyes. He had not expected him to have handed them over himself.

"If you hand in your eyes, you can leave the Processing Plant?" Mu Sichen asked.

Cheng Xiaoliang shook his tentacles. "No. I also had to do something very bad before I could get that chance. Director, please don't ask. I'll tell you the route to the Processing Plant."

Cheng Xiaoliang found paper and pen and drew a route map.

It was a route map with only the route, and no landmarks or buildings at all.

"Outside is all heavy fog. There are no road signs, only a direction. There's no way we can walk there, right?" Chi Lian said.

"It's fine," Cheng Xiaoliang said. "As long as you follow this direction, no matter how you walk, you'll reach the Processing Plant."

"The Processing Plant should also be a "Pillar,"" Mu Sichen said.

Only a "Pillar" would have such a powerful pull, drawing the town residents toward it involuntarily.

The three of them organized their equipment and left the sanatorium.

Mu Sichen had originally wanted to leave behind some of the food in his inventory, but there were too many people in the sanatorium. This small amount of snacks would be a drop in the bucket.

Too few resources would instead create greater inequality. It might even lead to fighting over them, which would cause even greater losses.

So Mu Sichen did not take out the snacks. He only drew up a simple points system and compensated Cheng Xiaoliang with some points, so that he could exchange them for more food in the Future.

Because a "Pillar" could only erode and destroy from within, Mu Sichen had not opened the sanatorium for the time being. People outside could not enter, and even during "Night," no one stood guard outside the sanatorium.

Aside from Big Eye attacking a few times during "Daylight," no one had come to disturb the sanatorium's peace.

The three of them left the sanatorium smoothly and walked all the way toward the Food Processing Plant.

After about an hour, the fog gradually dispersed, and an enormous industrial park appeared in front of them.

Unlike the small sanatorium, the Food Processing Plant covered a huge area, so large they could not see the end of it at a glance.

"We're here!" Cheng Xubo said. "Do we go straight in and become employees?"

"Not yet." Mu Sichen stopped them.

He closed his eyes. Through the fog, his left eye saw a wanted notice pasted in front of the Processing Plant's main gate. Four photos were on the notice: the three of them and Yao Wangping.

In the previous battle, Shen Jiyue had been locked to the hospital bed the entire time, and he was also a patient, so his identity had not been exposed.

But the three players and Yao Wangping had switched identities, added rules, broken through walls, beaten up the Feather-Eyed Apostle, and seized the Pillar...

Big Eye had the ability "All that is known can be seen." Once He woke up during "Daylight," He would definitely be able to "see" everything that had happened inside the sanatorium.

Unless Big Eye was stupid, how could He possibly let them enter a "Pillar" again?

Mu Sichen told the two of them about the wanted notice he had seen.

Cheng Xubo sighed. "What are we supposed to do if they won't let us in?"

Chi Lian, however, was very calm. After thinking for a moment, she said, "How about we face-swap?"

"Face-swap?" Cheng Xubo said in surprise.

Chi Lian nodded. "Right. After we logged out last time, my ability leveled up! Let me see what the System says. Oh, it tells me that because I successfully assisted Mu Sichen in seizing a Pillar, my game level has advanced to Level 5, reaching the Keystone level, and I can cut more things now.

"Before, the most I could cut was paper and wallpaper. Now I can Cut and Paste things that are relatively surface-level and abstract. I think Cutting and Pasting faces shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Why didn't you say so earlier? It would have been so much better if we'd swapped faces back at the sanatorium!" Cheng Xubo said. "Where are we supposed to find faces for you to cut now?"

Chi Lian said awkwardly, "I didn't know we'd be wanted just now. I still didn't think it through. But it doesn't have to be a real person's face. A photo will do too, since it's an abstract thing. It's not like I'm really cutting off someone's face. Did you bring a phone?"

Cheng Xubo spread both hands. "Do you think this game lets you bring in a phone?"

Chi Lian: "...How about we go back to the sanatorium, change our faces, and come here again?"

Cheng Xubo: "It took us an hour just to walk here. If we make the round trip, we'll waste another two hours. But that does seem to be our only option."

"Then we can only go back," Chi Lian said with a sigh.

"Going back to the sanatorium won't work. Nothing in the Town of the Eye can be hidden from Big Eye's eyes. The faces of the people in the sanatorium must also have been recorded. Those faces may not work either. It would be best to use unfamiliar faces," Mu Sichen said. "Wait while I look."

He opened his inventory, reached inside, rummaged around, and really did pull out a phone.

It was his own phone. Even the Game Pod app was on it, though there was no signal.

"Captain Mu, how did you bring your phone in?" Cheng Xubo stared, dumbfounded. "That's too magical, right?"

Mu Sichen had not expected the phone to follow him in either, let alone the backpack and the snacks.

Chi Lian and Cheng Xubo, by contrast, had brought in nothing except the clothes they were wearing.

Before entering the game, Cheng Xubo had actually bought a pile of fireworks and firecrackers, along with some parts and tools. He had planned to make improvised explosives by hand after entering the game, to add a little attack power. If they ran into a monster like the Feather-Eyed Apostle, he could set off fireworks and blow up its eyes, then see whether it could still kill people with its gaze.

Unfortunately, Cheng Xubo had prepared an entire large box, and not a single thing had come in with him.

Only Mu Sichen had not only brought snacks, but even his phone had followed him in.

Mu Sichen opened his phone album and let Chi Lian choose photos suitable for face-swapping.

While Chi Lian chose, Mu Sichen quietly locked eyes with the octopus plushie in his inventory.

The octopus plushie's eyes did not move at all. Even their usual watery sheen was gone. It seemed a little nervous.

He kept feeling that the reason he could bring in so many things had something to do with this plushie.

When he had found the phone earlier, he had also touched one of the octopus plushie's tentacles. That tentacle seemed to have been poking at the phone again and again.

"Although you shouldn't randomly take my phone, thank you this time," Mu Sichen said to the octopus plushie.

A highlight instantly appeared in the plushie's eyes, and they became watery and glossy again.

Mu Sichen zipped his backpack shut, thinking that he absolutely could not let Yao Wangping see this thing.

Yao Wangping was definitely a fanatical Follower of Qin Zhou. If he saw Qin Zhou's Totem turn into something like this, his faith would probably collapse on the spot from shock.

By then, Chi Lian had already found suitable faces among the photos and changed them one by one for the three of them.

To face-swap, she needed a front-facing, clear selfie, and the face shape had to be suitable. The requirements for the photo were very high. A passport-style photo would be best.

Fortunately, Mu Sichen was a part-time work maniac.

He often helped his classmates take photos suitable for signing up for various exams. The campus photo studio charged ten yuan. He charged five. His phone had a pile of front-facing white-background photos of his classmates.

Chi Lian chose a pretty female student's photo for herself, and picked a male student with slightly thinning hair for Cheng Xubo.

When it was Mu Sichen's turn, after his face was changed, he opened the front-facing camera on his phone and looked. His heart jolted, and he nearly threw the phone away in fright.

The face Chi Lian had chosen just happened to be He Fei's.

The last time Mu Sichen had seen He Fei was when He Fei had secretly climbed into his bed in the middle of the night because of the octopus plushie. That night had been terrifying enough that Mu Sichen had temporarily developed a psychological shadow toward this face.

"Can you change it to someone else?" Mu Sichen asked.

Chi Lian looked guilty. "Changing one face costs 500 Energy Value. Although I've risen to Level 5, I only have 1,200 Energy Value. I even borrowed 300 from you just now."

Mu Sichen opened his Energy Value and checked. Sure enough, 300 was missing. He had originally had 5,000, but now it had become 4,700.

Although his Energy Value had been replenished after he leveled up, digging over one Big Eye Follower cost more than 3,000. Even 5,000 was not really enough. Having Chi Lian borrow 300 still hurt badly.

If they changed faces again, it would cost another 500.

"Forget it. We'll use this one," Mu Sichen said, enduring it.

At least He Fei was quite handsome. Besides, he would have to face He Fei in the future anyway. This was a good chance to get used to this face.

After changing into three completely unfamiliar faces, the three of them went to the Food Processing Plant at ease.

Like the sanatorium, there was a registration desk at the entrance, where the three of them had to register their names and information.

The names they had used before at the sanatorium definitely could not be used again. The wanted notice outside had the three names Sha Big-Eyes, Chi Lian, and Cheng Xubo pasted right on it.

Chi Lian made up the name Liu Yiyi. Cheng Xubo called himself Wang Wuliu. As for Mu Sichen, he called himself Chun Xiaoyan, which read aloud was a homophone for "Stupid Little Eye." He was walking farther and farther down the road of cursing Big Eye.

Unlike the sanatorium, the person at the Processing Plant's registration desk was obviously a Follower, one level higher than a volunteer.

This volunteer issued the three of them name badges as usual. Only this time, there were no identities or names on the badges, but a multicolored color card with dozens of colors on it, rich and vivid.

"We can't lose this, right?" Cheng Xubo asked.

The Follower's gaze swept over their name badges, and a trace of greed actually flashed in his eyes.

He shook his head and said, "No need to worry. If you lose it, you can go to the office and get a replacement."

"When 'Daylight' is about to arrive, can we leave the Processing Plant?" Chi Lian asked.

The Follower said, "Of course you can. We have normal working hours here. Before, work began at 9:00 and ended at 19:00. These past few days, the Great Being has been unwell, so 'Daylight' has grown shorter, and quitting time has changed to 21:00."

Cheng Xubo rubbed his head. "Are there days off?"

The Follower said, "Work at the factory is so easy. Why would anyone need rest?"

Cheng Xubo turned back to the other two and whispered through gritted teeth, "Damn, this is worse than my company. We work 996. Here it's straight-up 997, and they still say the treatment is good. Bullshit!"

Mu Sichen patted Cheng Xubo's shoulder comfortingly. One could tell from that thinning hair just how hard this Follower of his had it at work.

"What are we supposed to do in the factory?" Mu Sichen was not in a hurry to enter. He wanted to ask about the situation first.

The Follower had a very good attitude toward them, his face blooming with a smile. "You are the highest-rank employees, so you will work in the Energy Zone. That is the easiest position in our Bright-Eye Processing Plant. Every day, you only need to start the processing machine once, and then you can eat, drink, and play. You can even bring some food back to your families."

As he spoke, the Follower could not control himself and licked his lips.

Mu Sichen noticed that his gaze had remained fixed on their chest badges the entire time, as if there were something delicious on the badges.

Mu Sichen asked again, "How many employee ranks are there? What do they do?"

The Follower answered patiently, "High-rank employees work in the Energy Zone. Mid-rank employees work in the Assembly Zone. Low-rank employees work in the Farming Zone."

"What determines an employee's rank?" Mu Sichen asked.

The Follower finally grew a little impatient. "I'm only the gate guard at the registration desk. You need to ask the workshop supervisor questions like that. Take this access card, go to that factory building, and swipe your card when you enter and leave."

Seeing that he could not get anything else out of the Follower, Mu Sichen took the other two toward the Energy Zone.

Chi Lian touched her chest badge and said, "I keep feeling like that Follower's eyes were so strange. It was like he wanted to eat this chest badge as food. I want to change badges."

Mu Sichen frowned slightly and said, "Don't change it yet. I have a feeling this chest badge isn't something that proves our identity. Changing it won't help."

The interior of the Processing Plant was extremely large, and strangely enough, the fog here was relatively thin.

When they looked up, behind the thick fog in the sky, it actually seemed as if sunlight was faintly shining through.

"This place is so normal it doesn't feel like Big Eye's territory," Cheng Xubo said. "It's like an ordinary industrial park."

"Here, the more normal something is, the more wrong it is," Mu Sichen said. "I feel this place may be even more dangerous than the sanatorium. Everyone, be careful. No matter what happens, observe first, then stall. If someone really forces you, keep stalling until you absolutely can't stall any longer."

As he spoke, a vacant-looking employee pushed a cart of packaged bread past the three of them. Mu Sichen saw that his chest badge had only three colors, black, blue, and green, completely different from the multicolored color-pattern cards the three of them had.

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Author's Note:

Qin Zhou: I swear I absolutely wasn't trying to sneak a look at Chenchen's phone. I just felt that Chenchen looks at his phone every day instead of looking at me. Am I not even as cute as a phone? I'm going to hide the phone!

Mu Sichen, certain: You are not as cute as a phone.