Chapter 428: Requirements of the Instance Mission
The players had indeed sealed the elevator doors on the first underground floor.
This could only prevent Zhu Rumin or Qiu Xiangdong from returning to this floor; there was no restriction on them going to other floors.
Additionally, although the number of players had decreased, the game still hadn't progressed.
"Tonight, two more ghosts will be added," Ge Pan said to everyone. "There are only eight of us left, and we're all staying on the same floor. Don't lose your life just to win the game."
His words were heavier than yesterday's. If another situation like Chang Chengyong's occurred today, there would be no room for negotiation—they would simply kill and be done with it.
"Failing to clear the instance is better than losing your life," Wan Yunrong said first. "If I become a ghost, I'll definitely cooperate with everyone."
"That sounds nice," Wu Xiaonan snorted.
But Wan Yunrong didn't want to talk to her and turned her head away, completely ignoring her.
After that, the players had no further conversation.
Mao Wei sat against the wall, wiping a toy gun with a handkerchief. A few meters away, Ge Pan sat in a chair fiddling with an old video camera.
Miao Yu hadn't moved from his spot since entering the room. His distance from the others depended entirely on their intentions, making him very aloof.
Wan Yunrong played with her prayer beads, occasionally observing the other players.
Wu Xiaonan was filming a video by herself.
Gan Qing stayed far from the others, silently sitting there without playing with anything.
Xu Huo glanced briefly at everyone's situation, then chose a spot to close his eyes and rest. Chu Yuan couldn't move easily, so he could only sit next to him, but the kid was full of energy—even after two sleepless nights, he was still hyperactive and kept trying to strike up conversations with the other players.
Unfortunately, except for Wan Yunrong and Ge Pan, the others barely responded to him.
"If it weren't for me being tied to Xu Zhi, Zhu Rumin probably wouldn't have escaped last night," he boasted.
Xu Huo glanced at him but said nothing, tacitly agreeing with his words.
"That doesn't seem right," Wu Xiaonan interjected. "You didn't even hurt Zhu Rumin. It was Xu Zhi who landed the face punch. If anything, you're the one holding him back."
"Without me distracting her, he might not have hit her either," Chu Yuan said, showing no anger at being belittled. Instead, he patted Xu Huo's shoulder and said, "We cooperated pretty well."
"Do you want me to help untie the rope?" Mao Wei suddenly looked up.
Chu Yuan spoke before Xu Huo could. "Do you really have such a powerful item?"
Mao Wei said, "We could try, but it might damage the item."
Hearing this, Chu Yuan hesitated slightly. "Then forget it."
After hearing that, Mao Wei lowered his head and continued wiping his toy gun.
Chu Yuan chattered to himself for a while before shutting up.
Soon it was lights-out time, the same as the night before. As the lights went out, the players' flashlights lit up simultaneously.
"Who is the ghost?" Ge Pan looked around.
The players all looked at each other. Miao Yu said, "I don't sense anything unusual."
The other players nodded in agreement.
"Then we'll have to try through the glass," Ge Pan said, looking at Xu Huo and Chu Yuan. "You two go first—one outside the door, one inside. Understand, we're all alone here. We can't have anyone trying to escape."
Xu Huo nodded to indicate it was fine. He opened the door first and stepped outside, standing behind the glass window.
The other players inside the room looked through the glass but didn't see the ghostly shadow Gan Qing had described.
Then Chu Yuan also went out. He was fine too. Next came Ge Pan and Mao Wei. After those inside confirmed they weren't "ghosts," Xu Huo and Chu Yuan returned to the room to check the remaining players.
In the end, after every player had taken a turn outside, no one was found to have a ghostly shadow attached to them.
"How is that possible?" Xu Huo said. "There should be two more ghosts tonight."
"But none of the people present have a ghostly shadow," Miao Yu said sharply, staring at Gan Qing. "You're lying! The players who become ghosts don't have visible ghostly shadows on them!"
"Impossible!" Gan Qing immediately retorted. "I definitely saw a ghostly shadow on Zhu Rumin... unless none of us here is a ghost!"
"Use your brain," Wu Xiaonan stared at him. "If the two new ghosts aren't among us, then they can only be Zhu Rumin and Qiu Xiangdong. You yourself said Zhu Rumin is a ghost. How could she become a ghost again tonight? Even if she killed Chang Chengyong, she should have earned one exemption from the random selection. She couldn't be one tonight either. That means at least one of us here is a ghost."
But that ghost hadn't appeared now, which meant judging by the glass method didn't work. Since it didn't work, Gan Qing might be the one crying thief—he himself was last night's "ghost"!
Gan Qing was so angry he laughed. "If I knew I was a ghost, why would Zhu Rumin not defend herself and instead turn and run?"
"That doesn't necessarily mean Zhu Rumin was guilty. It happened suddenly—she might have just reacted instinctively," Chu Yuan said.
At the time, Wu Xiaonan had acted too quickly. Then Mao Wei's item stirred things up, and Zhu Rumin was injured and fled. Neither side had confronted each other, so she was assumed to be the "ghost."
Several pairs of eyes fixed on Gan Qing, and the atmosphere grew tense. At that moment, Xu Huo spoke. "Actually, as long as Chang Chengyong wasn't killed by Gan Qing, whether he's telling the truth or not doesn't really matter."
"If he's lying and there's no ghostly shadow at all, even if the two extra ghosts tonight happen to be Zhu Rumin and Qiu Xiangdong, we still have one ghost from yesterday here," he said. "If he's not lying and Zhu Rumin is a ghost, then at least one of tonight's two ghosts is here among us."
"And if yesterday's ghost was Qiu Xiangdong, the situation is the same as Zhu Rumin's—killing Chang Chengyong earns one exemption from random selection; not killing means he's still a ghost. So no matter what, at least one ghost is here."
"We just need to confirm whether catching a ghost clears the mission. Everyone's here—we can test them one by one."
"That sounds reasonable," Miao Yu said, stroking her chin before taking action. She grabbed each nearby player one by one to submit the mission, starting with Gan Qing.
The other players' expressions shifted slightly when they saw her act without warning, but they relaxed when she looked disappointed and moved on to the next person.
When she reached Xu Huo, the last one, Miao Yu withdrew her hand. "No clearance."
"Let me try!" Chu Yuan went second.
For fairness, every player tried once, and of course, no one succeeded in clearing the mission.
"Could it be that the ghost in the instance mission doesn't refer to the ghosts in the game?" Mao Wei said.
"Maybe the ghost has to meet specific conditions to become the ghost required by the instance mission," Ge Pan said, rubbing his brow. "But right now, no one knows what that condition is."
"It might be the ghostly shadow!" Chu Yuan suddenly slapped his thigh. "To be honest with you, I saw a ghostly shadow float by the night before last."
"You saw a ghostly shadow? Why didn't you say so before?" Ge Pan immediately said. "Maybe we've all been thinking in the wrong direction. The instance mission isn't asking for a player—it's asking for the ghostly shadow!"
(End of Chapter)