Chapter 2847: Floor Patrol
The two also noticed similar scratch marks at the doors of other rooms, and not just one or two, so they speculated, "Could it be that the small compartments that appear every day are all in the same position?"
"If the positions are the same, wouldn't that mean the players who came in earlier and we are actually staying in the same room?"
The two exchanged a glance, said nothing more, and headed off to other small compartments.
They were probably going to meet up with their companions.
Later, more people came out to move around, but sometimes when a door opened, it revealed unfamiliar faces, and other times it was people from the Purple Life Research Institute or the Hundred Forest Society. However, once they came out, they could be sensed, which meant that after midnight, the small compartments could become passages connecting different spaces, though the pattern of which passages connected where was still hard to figure out.
"It seems that after midnight, the instance boss temporarily disappears." Wang Xin waited a moment before saying, "The players who came out first weren't from the Purple Life Research Institute or the Hundred Forest Society. They were likely earlier players who figured out the pattern, so it's probably safe to move around now."
Once the small compartments could be opened, Yue Yan'er connected to her instruments and checked the data they had captured earlier.
At first, the footage was normal, but after the instruments recorded footsteps, the screens went dark not long after. She had secretly set up about thirty instruments, mainly in the west wing and the central building. There were originally some in the east as well, but the Hundred Forest Society had cleared them out.
From the preserved recordings, it appeared that the instance boss's floor patrol started on the fifth basement level of the west wing. The time it spent on each floor varied, but was usually between ten and fifteen minutes—the instruments didn't capture any players being killed, presumably because the players were no match for the instance boss.
The instruments did record some players who had been staying outside passing by, and even some unfamiliar faces.
"I didn't expect the spaces outside to be interconnected at night." Yue Yan'er watched a player suddenly appear from a corner of the corridor. "It seems like they unknowingly crossed through space, and then suddenly disappeared at the next corner."
"It's a shame so many instruments were destroyed. We don't know if the instance boss has to go through every building, or if the timing is fixed."
"It probably isn't." Xu Huo said, "Since players can unconsciously pass through different spaces at night, the instance boss's patrol route should shift across multiple spaces. Additionally, the central building doesn't have compartments for experimental subjects, and the number of small compartments there is fewer than in the east and west wings, so it might spend less time in the central building."
"It's a pity the instruments didn't capture much of the central building's situation. Otherwise, we'd know if there are many players moving around at night. If there are, it would mean the earlier players have already verified your guess." Wang Xin said.
"But I noticed that no matter which space you come out of, the positions of the small compartments are roughly the same." The Sparrow said, "I just saw new marks in front of our door too. Others must be using them to distinguish between spaces."
If the small compartments were in the same positions, then the marks left behind could help distinguish how many spaces existed in the research institute and which space one was in.
"That sounds a bit difficult." Yue Yan'er said, "You could walk back and forth on the same corridor twice. It's possible the spaces here are spliced together, rather than being several layers stacked on top of each other."
Xu Huo nodded, "That's how it seems so far."
Summarizing the current information, from 8 PM to 12 AM, the small compartments cut off the inside from the outside, forming sealed spaces. Players inside the small compartments could only hear the footsteps of the instance boss patrolling the floors.
The instance boss spent about ten to fifteen minutes on each floor during its patrol. The central building had fewer small compartments, so it was highly likely that the total time it spent there was the shortest.
Additionally, the positions of small compartments across different spaces overlapped significantly, with at least three or more spaces.
After midnight, the instance boss temporarily disappeared, allowing players to move around. However, the space portals in the building would open unconsciously, causing players to shuttle between multiple spaces without warning.
Putting all this together, hiding in the small compartments was relatively safe at first, but as time went on, the risk in the small compartments increased, forcing players to leave and find safe transitions.
"The longer the time, the more dangerous the small compartments become." Wang Xin said, "After a few more days, the small compartments might not even be safe before midnight. Then you'd have to weigh whether to enter them or not."
"And don't you think there are too few players moving around at night?"
He looked at the three of them, "There were quite a few players who came in earlier, and they've been here for a while. They can't keep hiding in the small compartments forever."
"What else is there to say? Most of them are probably dead." The Sparrow said, "If they weren't dead, would they dare to keep hiding in the small compartments?"
"Want to go out and take a look?" Wang Xin suggested, "This is a good chance to gather information from other players."
"No rush today." Xu Huo said, "On the first night, we're basically safe from life-threatening danger in the small compartments. If we go out and run into the instance boss, that would be bad."
"We don't know if the instance boss will reappear in the next six hours. At least we need to determine its appearance pattern."
Yue Yan'er and the Sparrow agreed.
"Alright, let's wait and see." Wang Xin said.
Yue Yan'er sent out a few more flying instruments, which captured two Purple Life Research Institute players moving through the building. They had apparently found the remains of a dead player and were standing near a small pile of dust.
"Do you know when that person died?" She asked the two through the instrument, "Before or after the footsteps?"
The one who responded was an easygoing middle-aged man with a buzz cut. He recognized Yue Yan'er's voice and answered, "The biological detection instrument I placed here shows this person died at 10:13 PM. The footsteps appeared around 10:30 PM."
"That doesn't add up." Yue Yan'er turned back to Xu Huo and the others, "The footsteps appeared shortly after we came in. Assuming they started from our location, spending ten to fifteen minutes per floor, just the west wing alone would take at least two hours, and that's not even covering everything."
And that was with multiple layers of space. Given the speed of the footsteps, there was no way they could have reached the central building by 10:30 PM.
If the timing didn't match, it meant the instance boss's patrol had no fixed pattern—it could appear anywhere at any time.
"Is there any other clue?" Wang Xin pressed further, "Why did the instance boss suddenly go to the central building to kill someone?"
"You're asking me? How should I know?" The buzz-cut middle-aged man said, "The instruments can't capture anything anyway."
"The time the instruments were destroyed is also a clue." The Sparrow said.
"Not necessarily." The buzz-cut middle-aged man added, "Some instruments get damaged just by being near areas with strong spatial fluctuations, especially after midnight."