Chapter 769: Rules Guests Must Follow
[This instance is rated D. As a guest, you must abide by the following rules:]
[① Each guest room can only accommodate two guests. When the number is less than or greater than this, the guests in that room will no longer be welcome guests.]
[② Once a guest selects a room, no changes are allowed. Arbitrarily switching positions will only make you a less welcome guest.]
[③ Before 9:00 PM, all guests must return to their rooms, and they cannot leave before 8:00 AM the next day. If you remain outside, you will no longer be a guest of the villa.]
[④ From 9:00 PM to 8:00 AM the next day, you may not enter any guest room other than the one you are staying in.]
[Welcome guests have the chance, from 8:00 AM to 8:00 AM the following day, to randomly become the undisclosed owner of the villa for one day. Players who obtain the owner identity will have the following privileges:]
[① The right to enter any room in the villa.]
[② The right to go outside at night.]
[③ The right to arbitrarily kill one player.]
[Please note, all players: a competent owner must abide by the following rules:]
[① Maintain the cleanliness and hygiene of the villa.]
[② Must not damage the original structure.]
[③ Must not leave the villa.]
[Players who violate the above rules will become unwelcome guests the next day when they lose their owner status.]
[Clearance mission: Become a qualified villa owner.]
[Clearance time: Unlimited.]
The electronic screen displayed the text for only a short time before it quickly disappeared, causing some players to let out low cries. Those who were less guarded directly said, "What the hell, I haven't finished reading it yet!"
Whether it was real or not, after the electronic screen vanished, the villa's lights came back on. And when the players checked their game panels, there was no notification in the background either, meaning this game introduction was a one-time thing.
This was probably the first time they had encountered such a situation, and some players looked displeased. Not everyone had a photographic memory; many had only skimmed through it once and hadn't reached the point of memorizing the details.
Of course, there were also quick-witted players who immediately used items or other tools to record the screen.
Now things were getting complicated. Before the instance had even officially started, players might already be fighting over this game introduction.
Of course, the game's distinction between "temporary owner" and "guest" was also meant to stir up conflict among the players.
Xu Huo walked to the window and tried to push it open, but it wouldn't budge. The front door was also locked. That meant, until they cleared the instance, the players' range of activity was limited to this villa.
Other players also tried to see if they could open the villa's doors or windows, but none succeeded. One or two attempted to use items to attack the house, but their companions stopped them—some remembered the rules set for the temporary owner. Even the temporary owner couldn't damage the villa, so as guests, they certainly couldn't either. If they became "unwelcome guests," they might lose the chance to become the temporary owner and, of course, wouldn't be able to clear the instance.
The game rules wouldn't be shown a second time, so some players went to look for rooms.
The villa had three floors. The first floor only had two bedrooms, with the main rooms concentrated on the second and third floors. They had to share rooms in pairs, so the players, who had only just met, began hastily finding partners they got along with.
Xu Huo's group had six people, the raincoat man's group had seven, and there were originally nine people in the villa, making a total of twenty-two, to be distributed across eleven rooms.
A few players chose their rooms first, and Xu Huo was one of them. He picked a room near the stairs. It was worth noting that the villa's staircase was in the middle of the floor, with four bedrooms on each side—not exactly facing each other—along with a study, a lounge, and a game room. The entire second floor had thirteen rooms in total.
"Can I room with you?" Lu Zhen followed him over.
Xu Huo glanced at her. "Sure."
Lu Zhen showed a grateful smile. Before Xu Huo closed the door, seven of the eight bedrooms on the second floor had been taken, and the remaining people went up to the third floor.
It was almost 9:00 PM, and the players successively closed their doors. The villa quickly fell into silence.
Xu Huo's silence was extremely oppressive. After staying in the room for a while, Lu Zhen grew so nervous she swallowed hard. She went to wash her face and then came out to ask if he wanted to freshen up.
Earlier, Lu Zhen had been caught in the rain for several days, her face pale and bloated. Now, after replenishing with some potions, she looked much more normal, no longer resembling the ghostly woman from before. She seemed like a fairly delicate girl, but she had a natural wariness of Xu Huo, even walking around him after washing up.
"You can choose your own partner," Xu Huo said.
Lu Zhen opened her mouth. "I didn't know them before either."
They had just been trapped together in the woods, temporarily banding together to face the risks. But now that they were inside the instance venue, it was hard to say whether that brief camaraderie would still be useful. Plus, their potions were severely depleted, and it was likely someone would try to target others. Tired people would definitely become the first targets.
"By the way, how did you find this villa?" she paused and then asked. "We wandered around in the woods for several days. Is there some kind of mechanism?"
"You were just lost, going in circles," Xu Huo said, understanding the situation when he encountered the raincoat man's group. "It's truly baffling that so many of you could get lost together."
Lu Zhen's expression shifted slightly. She opened her mouth as if to say something but ultimately held it back.
Xu Huo went to the bathroom.
There was only one bed in the room. When he came out, Lu Zhen was still sitting nearby, not yet asleep. He walked straight to the sofa. "You take the bed."
Lu Zhen looked at him gratefully and quickly said, "You're too kind..."
"Then I'll take the bed?"
The rest of her words got stuck in her throat. Lu Zhen shut her mouth and sat down on the edge of the bed.
At 9:00 PM, the lights in the villa went out again. The heavy rain outside masked some faint noises, and the room was pitch black. About ten minutes later, someone in the room used a lighting tool.
Light seeped in through the glass window that wouldn't open.
Lu Zhen also took out a lighting item, like a small nightlight, which only illuminated a small area by the head of the bed. Still, the room had a bit of light now.
Xu Huo found some food and soon heard the sound of a hungry stomach rumbling. He casually tossed a pack of biscuits over. "Are you an E-rank player?"
Lu Zhen knew she couldn't hide this fact, so she admitted it outright. "Bad luck. I happened to run into someone stealing the fragrant wood... This instance is strange. It uses an expensive type of fragrant wood as a medium. Where the wood moves, people might get pulled into the instance."
"But not a single ordinary person was brought in," Xu Huo remarked.
"Actually, most people still daring to move around outside now are players. Ordinary people, even those protesting, only stay within their own residential areas or in zones under player organization supervision. The chances of encountering a random instance are very small."
(Chapter End)