Chapter 420: Human Catches Ghost Game
"Does anyone mind if I take a few photos?" On the way, Wu Xiaonan took out her camera and asked everyone's opinion.
"What's there to photograph?" He Chunsheng said displeased. "What do you want to do with our photos?"
Wu Xiaonan smiled and explained, "Just collecting some material. Once the instance starts, we usually can't contact the outside world, so I only take photos and record videos. If you don't like it, I won't shoot."
"I don't mind." Ge Pan said amiably. "We're all just trying to make a living. I used to be a director without much fame, and I had to beg people everywhere when filming. That feeling wasn't good."
"Thanks." Wu Xiaonan winked at him playfully, then took a picture of him.
Except for a few people, most were still wary of Wu Xiaonan and didn't agree to be photographed. She was sensible enough to take only a few simple shots before turning to photograph the scenery elsewhere.
In the woods, there was a path trampled by previous players. Following the path through the forest, after more than two hours of travel without any incidents, they arrived at the surface building of Deep Blue Laboratory marked on the map.
The surface building was a massive hall adjacent to a waterfall cliff, covering over one hundred thousand square meters. The exterior was entirely made of solar-concentrating materials. Even though the laboratory had been abandoned for so long, the electrical facilities inside the building still operated normally.
Inside the hall, there was a laboratory blueprint. According to the map, the hall had three entrances. Taking the entrance Xu Huo and the others had used as a reference, one of the other two entrances was separated by a waterfall, and the other required crossing a forest with many poisonous insects. The main body of Deep Blue Laboratory was buried underground.
Taking the elevator from the hall down a hundred meters led to the laboratory. The laboratory was even larger than the hall, and the blueprint also showed areas under expansion.
The players walked around the hall but found no game prompts.
"The topic board should be in the laboratory." Ge Pan said. "Let's go down first."
The group headed toward the elevator.
"Speaking of which, the technology here is pretty well-developed. Even after all this time, everything is still in good condition." Chu Yuan looked around. "Compared to this, my hometown is a very backward place. Smart robots haven't even developed there."
"The technology level here isn't that great either." Wu Xiaonan said. "You saw it on the coast yesterday—the level of automation isn't high. Deep Blue Laboratory must have investments from other game districts."
"The hall is so clean, probably because the cleaning robots are still running."
"That's true. There are no human or small animal corpses here." Gan Qing said.
The twelve people entered the elevator, pressed the start button, and began moving slowly downward.
"Ding!" When they reached the first underground floor, the elevator doors slowly opened. A musty-smelling air rushed out from the darkness. The players waited three seconds before cautiously stepping out.
"Find the light switch." Miao Yu held up her phone. Just as she finished speaking, the lights in the corridor on this floor gradually turned on, revealing walls and rooms entirely sealed with metal.
The laboratory was relatively tidy. Some cabinets and chairs in the rooms were messily arranged but not overturned. Apart from some damage marks left by fights, there were no stains or rotting items. The musty smell came from books and some daily necessities in the rooms.
Other than that, the laboratory had been cleaned very thoroughly. The instruments and cabinets that stored samples had no glass containers left, and most related experimental materials had been moved out. Only some seemingly unimportant papers were piled up in the corners.
"There's nothing here." Miao Yu said somewhat disappointed. "I thought we might find some potions or something."
"This instance has been run who knows how many times. If there were potions, would they still be waiting for you to pick them up?" He Chunsheng sneered.
Miao Yu shot him a glance but said nothing.
"Be a man and be generous." Chu Yuan added sarcastically from the side.
He Chunsheng had a bad temper and was about to explode when Xu Huo interrupted them, "Has anyone seen the topic board?"
"Not yet. Let's go further in. There are two paths ahead." Zhu Rumin stepped forward, looked left and right, and fixed her gaze on the right side. "This way is blocked."
The group walked over and saw that the metal panels on both sides of the corridor had been forcibly peeled off and twisted together in the middle of the corridor by some unknown force. On top of that, thick patterned metal bars had been sealed, at least thirty centimeters thick at first glance.
"There are words." Wan Yunrong pointed at the metal bars and read, "'Never open it'... What does that mean? Don't go this way?"
When she mentioned it, the others realized that the so-called patterns on the metal bars were actually densely packed words. Moreover, the handwriting was not from a single person—clearly written by many. Just from the distorted handwriting, one could tell how terrified the writers were at the time.
Everyone couldn't help but feel a chill down their spines. Wan Yunrong stepped back and said, "There aren't really ghosts, are there?"
"Isn't catching ghosts your specialty?" Chu Yuan glanced at her.
"My skills aren't that good. I'll just buy some talismans. Actually catching ghosts? No way." Wan Yunrong rubbed her arms. "Let's not stand here. Let's go quickly."
Miao Yu, however, seemed eager to try. "What if we tear it down and take a look?"
"Don't," Ge Pan quickly said. "Since it's sealed, there must be a reason. What if it affects the instance clearance?"
"In horror movies, people with itchy hands usually die first." Gan Qing said. "Let's learn from the wisdom of filmmakers—if they say don't touch it, don't touch it."
Better safe than sorry. The players all shared this mindset and unanimously decided not to touch the metal wall. Soon, they found the topic board in a room along another corridor.
The topic board had the rules for the "Human Catches Ghost" game written crookedly on it.
"First, on the first night, draw lots to decide who is the ghost. If the ghost is not killed, the number of ghosts will double and grow randomly the next night until everyone becomes a ghost. Unless all existing ghosts are killed on a given day."
"Second, the probability of being attacked by a ghost increases by 20% in non-enclosed areas."
"Third, ghosts can only appear after lights out at night."
"Fourth, if a ghost kills a person, it can regain human identity. If a ghost kills another ghost to regain human identity, it is exempted from being randomly selected as a ghost once."
"Fifth, the game ends with victory if you maintain human identity."
Simply put, the players had to draw lots to decide a "ghost" before lights out. If the "ghost" was not killed, the number of "ghosts" would increase. This meant that even if the "ghost" killed someone to regain "human" identity, the number of "ghosts" might become two the next night.
Moreover, without completely killing the "ghosts," their numbers would keep increasing.
Additionally, "ghosts" could also kill each other, and doing so was more beneficial than killing humans.
"This is basically forcing us to kill each other."
(Chapter End)