With that thought, his hand immediately pulled back.

He looked around left and right, then took the initiative to speak up:

“I’m not really interested in participating in the ‘Today’s Special Offer’ activity. I just happen to have some mask-type items I’d like the shopkeeper to help me modify. Could the shopkeeper please come out so I can explain in person?”

Right after he said that, he heard that low voice suddenly let out a cold “hmph.”

That light snort seemed to carry an invisible force.

It directly shook the [Shop Rules] sign off the wall.

The [Shop Rules] fell to the floor, landing face-down—perfectly revealing the so-called [Today’s Special Offer] event on the back.

[Mask Shop – Today’s Special Offer:]

[All customers who enter the shop and, within 100 minutes of viewing the “Today’s Special Offer” event, manage to identify the shopkeeper hidden among the masks, will receive the following rewards:]

[1. Three free mask modification opportunities (permanently valid)]

[2. One-time opportunity to freely pick a mask from the disguise mask warehouse]

[3. One VIP membership card for this shop]

[Once you identify the hidden shopkeeper, shout “I found you” to confirm your selection.]

[If the identification is correct, you’ll receive the Today’s Special Offer reward.]

[If incorrect, there is no punishment.]

[Each customer has one free chance to identify.]

[You may pay the following prices to gain additional chances:]

[Second identification: 10 Survival Points.]

[Third identification: 100 Survival Points.]

[Fourth identification: Disguise Mask (Customer Face version) ×1]

[Fifth identification: Disguise Mask (Customer Face version) ×3]

[PS: Human-skin sand used for making disguise masks on-site can be supplied in unlimited quantities by the shopkeeper.]

Unlimited supply, huh…

This Today’s Special Offer event definitely smells like a trap.

If anyone gets hooked trying to identify the shopkeeper and pays once or twice, they’re likely to fall into the sunk cost fallacy—thinking, “I’ve already guessed three times and got nothing. Wouldn’t it be a waste not to go all in?”

With that mindset, they might just grit their teeth and use their own face to make a disguise mask…

After all, the reward for correctly identifying the shopkeeper is quite tempting.

And the psychological impact of sunk cost can’t be underestimated.

Jiang Ye didn’t really mind handing over one of his disguise masks.

But he was absolutely unwilling to pay Survival Points for a second or third identification.

Moreover…

He stared at the signboard on the floor, still lying face-down, then suddenly looked around cautiously and asked:

“Will the contents on the [Shop Rules] change later?”

Yes, he was a little worried the shopkeeper might play tricks on him.

Sure enough, the moment he said that, the low voice snorted coldly again.

Then, the signboard that had fallen to the ground whooshed and flew back up to the wall.

This time, the board split into two, becoming two separate pieces displayed side by side, showing [Shop Rules] and [Today’s Special Offer] respectively.

At the same time, the low voice spoke again, tone clearly impatient:

“Neither the Shop Rules nor Today’s Special Offer will change arbitrarily.”

Alright then, Jiang Ye felt reassured.

To be honest though, he had originally considered directly identifying the signboard with the [Shop Rules] as the shopkeeper.

But now that the board had split into two…

He suddenly wasn’t sure which one to pick.

Besides, he hadn’t looked at the other masks yet.

So, after glancing once more at the [Shop Rules] and [Today’s Special Offer] boards, he turned and walked toward the other mask display areas.

The masks on display throughout the shop were all kinds of bizarre designs.

Going through all of them would probably take one to two hours.

But Jiang Ye’s goal wasn’t the displayed masks.

He suspected that the shopkeeper might be hiding in one of the items that didn’t look like masks.

Because of this suspicion—that the shopkeeper could be disguised as an item that didn’t resemble a mask—he kept his arms crossed in front of his chest the whole time, careful not to accidentally break any rules.

Since he wasn’t aiming to participate in the [Today’s Special Offer] event…

He browsed the shop like a casual window shopper, without much attention.

What would take a normal person one or two hours to walk through…

He finished in just a few minutes, and ended up back at the shop entrance where the [Shop Rules] board was displayed.

In the end, Jiang Ye still believed the most likely hiding spots for the shopkeeper were those two boards: [Shop Rules] and [Today’s Special Offer].

Besides those, he stood by the wall and read through the [Today’s Special Offer] event again.

Comparing it with the [Shop Rules], he noticed a small detail—

The first rule on the [Shop Rules] said not to touch “this shop’s” mask-type items.

In the description of [Today’s Special Offer], it stated that the shopkeeper is hidden “among the masks.”

That part didn’t specify “this shop’s masks.”

And Jiang Ye had entered the store with the intention of modifying some masks.

So he was carrying a total of eight masks on him!

Now he wasn’t so sure—could the shopkeeper be hiding in one of the eight masks he brought with him?

That would make for ten total choices—

The [Shop Rules] mask, the [Today’s Special Offer] mask, and the eight masks he brought.

How should he choose from these ten?

Or maybe the shopkeeper had anticipated this kind of logic, and deliberately hid among the masks on display?

Thinking of it from that angle, it became a psychological game.

This so-called psychological game starts with one logical premise: seeing how many layers deep you can go in your thinking, and predicting how many layers the opponent believes you can go.

Only by predicting the opponent’s prediction can you hope to reach the correct answer.

Of course, luck also plays a big part.

Jiang Ye calmed his mind and analyzed carefully—

According to the principle of “hidden in plain sight,” the [Shop Rules] and [Today’s Special Offer] masks were indeed the ones most likely to be overlooked by customers, and thus, where the shopkeeper might be hiding.

But thinking even deeper—

As long as the customer reacts in time while reading [Today’s Special Offer], realizing they can’t touch the [Shop Rules]…

Then they’d naturally think of the possibility that the [Shop Rules] is also a mask.

And once that idea comes up, there’s a fair chance they’ll try identifying the [Shop Rules] mask.

In Jiang Ye’s mind, he could already imagine a particular scene—

A handsome and confident customer, after reading [Today’s Special Offer], gives a cold smirk and says: “I found you.”

Then identifies the [Shop Rules] mask, and claims the [Today’s Special Offer] reward.

Such a scene—the customer was indeed handsome.

But if the shopkeeper acted like that, wouldn’t he be a bit too dumb?

Besides, during the whole process, the [Shop Rules] mask even fell to the ground.

Jiang Ye figured the shopkeeper probably had a prideful personality.

It didn’t feel like someone like that would let the mask they’re hiding in fall to the floor.

And later, the way the [Shop Rules] mask flew back to the wall in sync with the shopkeeper’s voice also seemed a bit forced.

It felt more like a deliberate attempt to draw the customer’s attention to the [Shop Rules] mask.

So from that perspective, Jiang Ye eventually ruled out the [Shop Rules] mask.

His attention now shifted to the eight masks he brought with him.

These eight included six from Lin Ling, one disguise mask, and one Special-Class Maniac Mask that he had snatched from Guan He.

The one-hour time limit for the Special-Class Maniac Mask had, of course, already passed.

But that mask could be used ten times in total.

Which meant ten separate one-hour uses.

Among these eight masks, which one would the shopkeeper be hiding in?

Any of them was possible.

Maybe the shopkeeper had simply picked one at random based on probability.

Was there some extra detail he had overlooked?

Jiang Ye suddenly recalled the very first thing the shopkeeper said when he entered the store—

“Tsk tsk, what a handsome and charming face.”

Back then, he thought the comment was about Zhang Minghan’s face…

But thinking about it now—could that have been a clue?

Or maybe… a deliberate misdirection?

Whether it was a hint or a trap depended on reasoning through the shopkeeper’s mindset.

Was this shopkeeper someone playful at heart, who enjoyed playing mind games with others?

Or was he purely a profit-driven realist, only interested in his own gains?

If you considered how the [Shop Rules] turned out to be a mask, the shopkeeper did seem like someone trying to set people up, tricking customers into breaking the rules;

And the [Today’s Special Offer] description also felt like it was designed to lure customers into paying extra for more chances to guess.

Especially pushing them toward using disguise masks.

All of that seemed to point toward the shopkeeper being a calculating opportunist.

But—

Jiang Ye had reasoned this far.

And what had allowed him to do that?

It was his love of psychological games.

If the shopkeeper wasn’t just as obsessed with playing such games…

Then it would’ve been hard for Jiang Ye to get to this point.

So—

The reasoning that the shopkeeper was a greedy opportunist was actually part of the shopkeeper’s deliberate misdirection!

In that case…

Jiang Ye’s gaze swept over his eight masks, then pointed to one of them and shouted:

“I found you!”

There was a moment of silence in the air, then that deep voice spoke:

“Confirm your selection?”

“Confirm!”

This time, a burst of laughter rang out in the air:

“Hahahahahaha!”

The voice no longer had a filter on it.

And following that laugh came the same line Jiang Ye had heard when he first entered the store—

“Tsk tsk, what a handsome and charming face!”

This time, the admiration was clearly much more genuine.

And with that line, a slightly chubby, bald middle-aged man appeared in front of Jiang Ye, grinning like the Maitreya Buddha.

“Not bad, kid. You figured it out from my little hint, didn’t you?”

Jiang Ye grinned and teased, “What hint? I just picked it at random with a counting rhyme.”

The Maitreya-like man’s smile stiffened, and he shot him a glare—then immediately burst out laughing even louder.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep