Huh? Isn't This A Galgame?

...Soul absorption?

Didn't expect this Doctor Lu to have such a skill.

It seems that for this skill to be effective, it requires absorbing the soul of a deceased character from a certain part into one's body?

How to absorb? Chop it up and eat it? But that might be excreted out again from the intestines.

So... is it to directly embed it into the flesh?

Is that why, upon entering earlier, I saw a noticeable bloodstain on Doctor Lu's shirt?

Wen Nan boldly speculated that if they hadn't knocked at that critical moment, perhaps Doctor Lu would have already cut open his flesh and embedded a character's body part into himself, making it a part of his own body.

This sounds... a bit perverted.

However, considering the diverse nature of this game, occasionally having such unique characters appear so players can experience a novel romantic journey seems quite reasonable.

But Wen Nan isn't interested in delving into such multifaceted and bizarre romantic relationships.

He just came to help the other players scout ahead.

Now it seems the path has been scouted—

Previously, Wen Nan thought that Leng Leng and Qingqing were two separate Strategy Characters, so apart from the already deceased butler Jiang Xueying, the remaining characters totaled eight, distributing evenly among eight players.

But then, new cases emerged, and from what Yu Shouling led him to see at the actual crime scene, Leng Leng and Qingqing's bodies were a pair of black chopsticks, which means they are likely deeply bonded and account for just one Strategy Character, assigned to one player.

Now, the number of Strategy Characters available to players isn't enough.

Moreover, Little W. the chinchilla also unexpectedly died, leaving three players in despair over losing Strategy Characters.

However, the game system did not immediately rule those three players out. From Wen Nan's experience, that means this map has an error-tolerance backup solution—

Clearly, the Doctor Lu before us is the error-tolerance backup solution.

His inherent skill makes him unable to resist collecting the souls of characters that die unexpectedly, embedding them into himself and making them part of him.

In this way, while his attributes are improved, he also inherits the memories of the characters he absorbs. Therefore, it's highly possible that he will also inherit the identity of the character targeted by players.

Thus, Li Zhenbei's military dagger corresponds to the snowflake porcelain vase Xueying (butler Xiao Xue), Zhao Lei's broadax corresponds to the chinchilla Little W. (Maid Susu), Wang Hao's handgun corresponds to the chopsticks (twins Leng Leng and Qingqing), eventually merging with Doctor Lu.

So, in future tasks, Li Zhenbei, Zhao Lei, and Wang Hao might have to share Doctor Lu as a Strategy Character with Luo Wei.

Hmm...

This scene is so beautiful that Wen Nan can hardly think further.

While his thoughts wandered, a system notification rang again in his mind—

9527: [The 1 point of emotional value you collected has accumulated 1 minute of effective time for your skill [No Color Allowed], all used up.]

9527: [The effective time of the skill [Soul Absorption] you stole has ended.]

9527: [Your skill [No Color Allowed] has entered cooldown, 12-hour cooldown time, please be aware.]

1 point of emotional value, only accumulates 1 minute of effective time...

So short?

Fortunately, Wen Nan originally just intended to test Doctor Lu's situation and didn't plan to actually use his skill.

However, it seems that this "painful yet joyful" emotional value is crucial for using the skill [No Color Allowed].

If that skill is needed at a critical moment in the future, efforts must be made to collect as much "painful yet joyful" emotion as possible.

But that's a matter for later.

For now, Wen Nan can't think of a situation here where this skill would be needed.

As he contemplated, Doctor Lu stood up, walked to his workstation, rummaged around, and took out two medicine bottles,

"It's not heatstroke, perhaps it's due to the stress from consecutive murders causing mental issues. Here are two bottles of calming oral medicine, take them back and dissolve in cold water."

As he spoke, he handed the medicine bottles to Luo Wei and Wen Nan.

Wen Nan didn't delve deeply into why he was also prescribed medicine, gladly accepting the bottles and leaving with Luo Wei.

As soon as the pharmacy room door closed, the three players nearby immediately crowded around, eagerly asking Wen Nan for results like students awaiting exam scores.

Wen Nan pointed his chin at the room behind him and said calmly,

"Rest assured, your characters are being nurtured behind this door, give Doctor Lu some time, and he'll hatch them for you."

The three players were left clueless.

What nurturing? What hatching? Is it a maternity ward or a reincarnation place? Why can characters spawn there?

Wen Nan didn't explain further.

One reason is fear of spoilers, and also, the "five-man scene" is difficult to describe.

Eventually, he patted the three players' shoulders, "Stay here and wait for Doctor Lu's good news, just lock onto him when he comes out."

Watching Wen Nan's departing back, the three players were utterly confused.

To be honest, if they didn't know that the player called Ye Jiu was a true master, they would suspect he had some mental disorder right now.

But since the master left a hint, they could only choose to trust him without any reason, despite not understanding.

...

...

There are still a few hours left until the first main task ends.

The original residents of the estate are busy dealing with the crime scene, and Wen Nan certainly doesn't want to return to the refresh point and be frozen.

Yu Shouling is still focused on "refining" the bodies of those women and has no time to give Wen Nan another essential oil massage.

In the end, Wen Nan returns to his guest room, planning to rest and adjust a bit, while pondering how to open the secret door on the ceiling.

Lying on the soft, comfortable bed, staring at the 12 rune patterns above, a familiar face unconsciously reemerged in Wen Nan's mind.

Tsk.

He raised his hand and pulled up the chat box labeled [slave] from the system, typing—

[What are you doing?]

Deleted.

[Why haven't you reported your itinerary to your master for so long?]

Deleted again.

[Aren't you concerned about your master's safety?]

Deleted once more.

Just as he was about to type the fourth one, a "ding" sound was heard, and a message popped up—

[slave: How many times will you delete and retype? What exactly do you want to say?]