Chapter 1015: The Charisma of the Storyteller
The female player thought for a moment. "Maybe everyone has different hobbies. I occasionally cook to relieve stress too."
Her culinary skills were indeed good, and she quickly prepared several small dishes. The three of them were about to have a meal in Dr. Zhang's room when Zhou Yuanzhu, drawn by the smell, walked in, contributed a freshly made cold dish, and sat down to eat with them.
Chi Minghong and Zhou Yuanzhu were both quite talkative people, and their conversation was about trivial matters, so the meal was relatively harmonious.
During this time, Teacher Fan and the bespectacled man passed by the door once, while the other players didn't show themselves.
"It's daytime in Zone 002 now, so nothing should happen." After the meal, the long-haired female player said, "I didn't sleep well last night, so I need to take this opportunity to catch up on some rest."
This was normal procedure. Chi Minghong and Zhou Yuanzhu also returned to their respective rooms to sleep.
Xu Huo closed his door and rested for two hours. When he woke up, he discovered that another person had died in the villa.
Integrating the entire villa into his spiritual realm, he used his vertical pupil to patrol the second floor. Soon, he found the long-haired female player's body in a room marked with a blood-red circle. The hat player was crouching beside her, examining her.
The female player had many signs of a struggle on her. The fatal wound appeared to be a penetrating injury from a sharp weapon to the chest. Unlike the person who died last night, her body hadn't been destroyed, and the killer didn't seem to be the person crouching in front of the corpse.
The room's door was closed, clearly indicating that the hat player hadn't called the others immediately after discovering the death.
He first examined the body, then checked the traces of the struggle left in the room, and finally returned to the corpse. Using the blood beneath her, he drew a circle around the female player and crossed her hands over her chest, arranging her in an ambiguous pose before leaving the room.
Only the long-haired female player's blood was in the room. The person who killed her might not have been injured, and the traces left by the props didn't have a clear direction either.
This time, it seemed to be another death match that had completely blocked out all noise.
Footsteps approached from outside the door. Xu Huo didn't linger. The moment he withdrew his spiritual power, he heard shouts from upstairs.
He hurried upstairs with Chi Minghong and Zhou Yuanzhu, following the others into the room.
"Another one dead." Chi Minghong frowned. "Don't the little notes only appear after midnight?"
"Could someone be taking advantage of the chaos?" Teacher Fan asked.
"Probably not." The muscular man's expression was serious. "If it were a grudge between players, why would they specifically come to this room? If it were a sudden attack, it should have happened in her or her opponent's room. Look at all these traces here—it shows the fight happened right here."
"Isn't it easy to lure someone out?" Miss Ding scoffed lightly. "Don't forget she's a woman. Luring a man or two isn't difficult."
"Everyone knows this room is problematic. I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to take the bait voluntarily," Xu Huo said.
"Only you would believe in some kind of ritual." Miss Ding rolled her eyes, then paused before adding, "But luring someone out is one thing, and whether there's a little note is another."
"Last night, we were all misled. The instance background mentioned that 'little notes appear after midnight, only one note each time.' This shouldn't be interpreted as only one note appearing after midnight every night, but rather that notes start appearing after midnight last night. Although there's only one each time, the timing isn't fixed."
She glanced at the muscular man. "Therefore, I also believe that a second note appeared in the last three hours."
"Looking at it that way, the content of the note isn't hard to guess," the bespectacled man said. "It must be to kill someone and arrange a ritual."
The group fell silent. If every note was more or less the same, combined with the instance name, it was very likely that half the players would die in the first round—this was a life-or-death competition. No one would stop until a result was reached, but that didn't mean the remaining half was safe. More notes would definitely continue to appear.
"The clearance requirement is to find a note. It doesn't say you have to follow the note's instructions," Teacher Fan said quietly. "You don't necessarily have to kill."
"And what if you can't clear it then?" Miss Ding retorted. Who would want to go through all this for nothing?
That logic made sense.
Everyone exchanged glances, subtly sizing up the people around them.
Twelve people was still a bit too many. Besides the notes, they could also actively reduce the number of participants.
Xu Huo could see that the lip ring player and Miss Ding were getting restless. He spoke up in advance to interrupt them, activating his trait "Charisma of the Storyteller": "Everyone, listen to me."
The eleven people present all looked at him involuntarily.
"I don't think the dead person is necessarily the one who didn't get the note," he cleared his throat and said. "Suppose the note's requirement is for the finder to kill a player and then perform a ritual. If the attacked player kills the finder in self-defense, does that count as completing the note's requirement or as a successful clearance?"
"With unclear rules, I'm afraid no one knows for sure."
"Furthermore, killing someone and deliberately arranging the body in a strange pose is probably related to solving the instance. At the very least, we need to figure that out before anything else. We're all here to clear it, and of course, the higher the rating, the better. This instance doesn't seem too difficult. If we can't even improve our rating here, won't upgrading be an endless wait?"
The instance clearance rating was related to a player's level advancement. The better the quality of the clearance, the fewer instances were needed for an upgrade, along with corresponding upgrade permissions. Players who upgraded faster would also receive better and more rewards, all of which could save lives in the game.
The others seemed swayed by his words, their previous aggressive postures easing. The lip ring player said, "How about from now on, we keep our doors open? That way, everyone can see what everyone else is doing. Instead of hiding things and wasting people, let's figure it out with the third note!"
"I have no objections," the muscular man nodded.
This was the best solution for now.
"Since everyone has to return to their rooms at night, let's act together during the day," Chi Minghong said. "Although the instance doesn't explicitly require staying in rooms at night, it's better to be cautious and avoid breaking the rules. It's best if no one goes out at night."
"What if a note appears at night?" the bespectacled man asked.
"Then it appears. It's not going to disappear..." Chi Minghong paused. "Even if it does disappear, there will definitely be another one. Only two people have been involved in the ritual so far. Even if we don't look for the notes, the notes will come looking for us."
That actually made a lot of sense.
"Then it's settled." The lip ring player looked around at everyone. "Since we've agreed in advance, I hope everyone will abide by it. If anyone stabs someone in the back... Hmph!"
(End of Chapter)