Chapter 432: Hopscotch
Upon hearing this, Chu Yuan stopped wiping his blood and ran in a different direction, saying as he ran, "Why are these people trying to kill us? They're not Instance players... Unless they were lying!"
"That's not right. If they're players, why would they deliberately split off from us? Isn't the other half of the laboratory playing the Human Catching Ghost game?"
This wasn't surprising. The players who came with Dr. Deng probably knew some inside information. Even if some of them were Ticket players, they likely didn't care about the game's outcome or whether the Instance was cleared.
If the ghostly shadow roamed the entire laboratory, both Ticket and non-Ticket players could be attacked. It was just that those players were higher-level, so the ghostly shadow hadn't succeeded.
"Hey?" Chu Yuan suddenly looked enlightened. "Are you saying that the reason we didn't see the ghostly shadow from behind the glass window earlier is because tonight there's a ghost among Dr. Deng's players, and they're killing us because of the Human Catching Ghost game?"
Xu Huo turned his head to look at him. "Do you think those players care about winning or losing the game?"
"True." Chu Yuan scratched his head. "They probably don't plan to clear the Instance at all. Coming after us is likely to silence us. This laboratory definitely has secrets that can't be spoken."
His expression grew excited. "Something that can bring so many players here must be good stuff. How about we go find it too?"
Xu Huo naturally intended to go, but he didn't trust Chu Yuan. After a pause, he asked, "Do you have a way to avoid being hunted by the other players? And it might not just be Dr. Deng's people trying to kill us."
Chu Yuan wasn't stupid and immediately caught his implication. "You mean there might be some of Dr. Deng's people among the players who came with us?"
Whether they were Dr. Deng's people was hard to say, but they might be connected to the Kong siblings and those few players.
"At least we need to prepare for that possibility," Xu Huo said. "We're trapped in the laboratory now. It's easy for them to make a move on us, given the difference in player levels."
"We can't trust the other players either... If we're lucky, we might be able to hide until the game ends."
Judging from the earlier clash, those two players were probably C-rank. The explosion might not kill them, and even serious injury wouldn't make much difference, because there were still the two B-rank players, the Kong siblings.
Of course, Dr. Deng's words might not all be true, but there were already eight players on the other side. It was highly likely that allies were mixed in among the Ticket players. In this situation, their position was very difficult.
Chu Yuan hesitated for a moment, then said, "I have a way to avoid them, but this item of mine can only hide one person."
Xu Huo's gaze in the darkness shifted slightly.
"But the laboratory is huge, so it won't be easy for them to find us," Chu Yuan said optimistically. "Besides, there's still that ghostly shadow here. There's no reason for it to only target us and not them. The Instance boss should treat everyone equally."
The sharpness in Xu Huo's eyes faded. "Actually, there's another way: end the Instance early. Instead of participating in the game and catching the ghost, just focus on catching the ghost."
"But the ghostly shadow appears and disappears unpredictably. Where do we catch it?" Chu Yuan said. "We can't find the ghost through the glass."
Based on Gan Qing and the others, they had speculated that they could identify which player had a ghostly shadow attached through the glass window. Later, they found that method didn't work. Catching a player also couldn't identify the "ghost's" identity. There was simply no way to know which "ghost" the ghostly shadow would appear on.
And even if they found the ghostly shadow, how could they catch it? If it was just an item, the one controlling the ghostly shadow would be the real ghost. Where would they find that person?
"To find the ghostly shadow, we'll definitely run into other players," Chu Yuan looked at him. "Next time, it won't be so easy to escape."
"Mutual destruction isn't a bad idea either," Xu Huo said, pulling out a bucket of specially treated alcohol and placing it in a corner. He knocked a small hole in the bucket, and the smell of alcohol immediately wafted out, quickly filling the corridor.
"You're not planning to blow up the Deep Blue Laboratory, are you?" Chu Yuan said in shock. "There's water all around us!"
"Don't you have an oxygenated protective suit?" Xu Huo said nonchalantly. "Put it on in advance."
Seeing that Xu Huo didn't seem to be joking, Chu Yuan quickly changed into his protective suit and said, "Aren't you afraid of sinking this laboratory?"
"The laboratory is made of special materials; it won't sink. If we choose the right spot, the water might not even get in," Xu Huo said. He knew that even the glass windows on the lower floors, which showed the underwater scenery, were very sturdy and durable. Otherwise, they couldn't withstand the water pressure and attacks from mutated fish. Destroying them wouldn't be easy.
But this was still a good way to make the other players wary.
The explosion had already happened, so all players would know there was someone here who was good with fire. Dr. Deng might not worry about flooding the laboratory, but wouldn't he worry about this person destroying what they were looking for?
At the same time, it could test whether the ghostly shadow was a special item born from the laboratory or a means of the hidden boss.
Although the ghostly shadow appeared and disappeared unpredictably, it seemed to cherish this laboratory. On the east side, the first and second underground floors, aside from the staff dormitories, didn't even have overturned chairs. The bodies had been cleaned up and taken to the third underground floor to nourish the plants. To some extent, it was very organized and clean.
Whether it could blast out something good, they would have to try to find out.
The alcohol he brought was limited and couldn't all be placed on this floor. The best spot was in the expanded area on the outer edge of the third underground floor, which was only wrapped in an outer wall and not yet fully reinforced on the inside.
But for now, Dr. Deng and the others might still be on the third underground floor, so they couldn't go down yet.
After pouring out two more buckets of alcohol, Xu Huo sensed someone coming up from downstairs.
The Silent Figure's effect hadn't worn off yet, but the other party had arrived so quickly, probably drawn by the explosion.
He patted Chu Yuan, signaling him to leave quickly.
The two of them ran in the opposite direction of the elevator. Just as they turned two corners, numbered grid squares suddenly appeared on the two forked paths ahead.
Xu Huo instinctively stopped and turned back, but when he looked at the ground, the path they had just come from also had numbered grids. Moreover, he and Chu Yuan were now standing on squares marked "3" and "4" respectively.
"What kind of item is this?" Chu Yuan urged Xu Huo. "Hurry up and fly!"
Xu Huo grabbed the strings, but his feet couldn't leave the ground. He tried moving to the adjacent squares, succeeding only after several attempts to reach "5". But when he tried to move out of "5", it took several more tries to succeed. Each move could only increase the number by one; he couldn't jump.
"A new game? Playing hopscotch?" He looked up at the corner ahead. "I didn't expect someone like you to enjoy children's games."
"Who?" Chu Yuan hadn't noticed anyone and followed his gaze.
No one came out from the corner of the corridor, and no one spoke. Xu Huo couldn't be bothered to play psychological games with him and directly called out his identity, "Mao Wei."
(Chapter End)