Chapter 421: Drawing Lots
The speaker was Miao Yu. "On the first night, there's only one ghost. The lab is this big, just find a random place to hide, and the chance of it killing you is very small."
She spoke bluntly. "And for a ghost to become human, it has to kill a person. So that means at least one person will die tonight."
The other players fell silent. After a moment, Zhu Rumin said, "What if we don't draw lots to decide who the ghost is?"
"The instance task requires us to participate in the game. If no one draws lots, none of us can clear it," Miao Yu said.
"If we find and kill the ghost tonight, the rest of us can win," Mao Wei said in a deep voice. "Otherwise, there will only be more and more ghosts."
"Not necessarily," Chu Yuan said. "If the ghost successfully kills someone on the first day and becomes human, then there's no ghost, right?"
"The game rules are very clear. It says humans have to catch the ghost," Xu Huo said, making his presence known.
"Then can't we just cooperate and catch the person who drew the ghost lot, and clear the instance?" Wu Xiaonan asked.
"Will the person who drew the ghost lot cooperate with you?" He Chunsheng countered.
"I'm not great with numbers. Can someone explain how the ghosts multiply?" Wan Yunrong asked.
"First day, one ghost. Second day, two ghosts. Third day, four ghosts, and so on. Unless all the ghosts appearing that day are killed, the remaining people will keep turning into ghosts..." Ge Pan trailed off.
Actually, the best approach was to catch the player who drew the "ghost" lot tonight. That way, there was a chance to clear the instance, and they could either kill or release them. But no one wanted to be that "ghost."
"If we fail to kill the ghost today, there will be two ghosts tomorrow. If we kill one ghost tomorrow night, will there still be two more ghosts the day after?" Wan Yunrong asked in confusion. "Is that what it means?"
"That should be right," Zhu Rumin said. "The conditions given by this game aren't very precise. You only understand clearly while playing."
"So, are we drawing lots next?" He Chunsheng spoke up. "Picking one unlucky person?"
Who the hell would want that? With twelve people present, most would definitely demand that the results be revealed on the spot.
While the group was at a stalemate, Xu Huo said, "I think if the results aren't made public, anyone could become the ghost when drawing lots. No one wants to die on the first day of the game, right?"
"If you're caught as a ghost, the outcome might not just be failing the instance. I agree," Chu Yuan said. "Everyone has to play the game. There's no running away. Don't just think about killing others; consider your own life too."
"How boring is that?" Miao Yu said instead. "I don't care whether I'm the ghost or not. If I draw the ghost lot today, you're welcome to come and kill me."
Miao Yu looked slender and tall, but she had a well-proportioned, lean physique that radiated strength. It was clear she had good combat skills, otherwise she wouldn't have the confidence to say such things.
"I agree to keep the lot results confidential," Mao Wei said at that moment.
"I agree too," Ge Pan chimed in.
Zhu Rumin and Wu Xiaonan beside him thought it over and also agreed.
As for the others, except for Miao Yu who didn't care either way, most agreed to keep the results secret.
Finally, they had to decide how to draw the lots. There was white paper in the lab. For fairness, each of the twelve people took a piece of paper. Eleven wrote "human," and one wrote "ghost." Then they were all placed into the same opaque container. After that, they would randomly line up and draw one slip of paper from the container, with no one allowed to touch the slips inside the container during the process.
After Qiu Xiangdong wrote "ghost," all the slips were placed into the container. After shaking it, everyone lined up randomly, and Wan Yunrong, who was first in line, began drawing.
Twelve people went through one round, and it was done. Everyone held their slips without rushing to look at them. Instead, they tacitly left the room to find new hiding spots.
Since they couldn't trust each other, few formed pairs. Most went off alone. This lab had three floors with countless rooms, so hiding alone was safer.
"Looks like there are more people afraid of death after all. Otherwise, they wouldn't have all agreed to keep the lots secret," Chu Yuan said.
Xu Huo walked beside him without responding.
How could players agree to keep the lots secret just because they were afraid of death?
One against eleven seemed like the ghost lot player was at a disadvantage, but in reality, as long as the ghost lot player killed anyone, they could regain their identity. Meanwhile, unless the other players had overwhelming methods, it would be very difficult to instantly kill or capture them.
The "ghost" only appeared after the lights went out at night. Killing or capturing had to be done in the dark, which was inherently difficult. Besides, if they accidentally killed the ghost, the first day's ghost would be gone, and what would they play for?
Furthermore, even if they successfully caught the "ghost," it didn't guarantee everyone could clear the instance. Even for safety's sake, the first day's "ghost" had to survive. In a way, the increase in the number of "ghosts" also increased the chances of clearing the instance.
The "Humans Catch Ghosts" game required killing the "ghost." But if the "ghost" wasn't completely killed, every player might turn into a "ghost." If the hidden requirement of the second instance task was that only "humans" could catch "ghosts," then players who became "ghosts" had to regain their "human" identity. To regain the "human" identity, they had to kill a ghost, which in turn reduced the number of people who could potentially clear the instance.
Of course, it would be different if "ghosts" could also catch "ghosts."
But Xu Huo thought this possibility was very small. Even the speculation that "catching the ghost" would clear the instance might not be accurate, because this task requirement contradicted the "Humans Catch Ghosts" game. He leaned more toward the more difficult side—that even if they caught the "ghost" during the game, they wouldn't clear the instance.
It wouldn't be hard to verify this. Results might even come out today.
"This room isn't bad," Chu Yuan said, finding a room near the elevator. It was a large operations room with over twenty control stations and plenty of corresponding cabinets that could block the line of sight.
Xu Huo just casually glanced around before finding a chair to sit down and rest.
Chu Yuan couldn't go too far away. The two stared at each other for a while before he said, "You didn't draw the ghost lot, did you?"
Xu Huo unfolded his slip. It clearly had the character for "human" written on it.
Chu Yuan first covered his own slip with his hand to check before letting out a sigh of relief. "I'm human too."
"Since we're both human, I can rest easy," he said again. "The others know we're tied together. Even if someone wants to pick a target, they won't come for us tonight. On the contrary, we have a certain advantage. Maybe we can team up and kill the ghost."
"I don't want to go out," Xu Huo said lazily.
"Why?" Chu Yuan was puzzled. "We've joined the game. If we catch the ghost, can't we complete the instance early?"
"Catching the ghost isn't that easy," Xu Huo said. "Once the lights go out outside, we can't see anything. The ghost can only appear at night, but that doesn't mean it can't see."
(Chapter End)