Players, Please Board the Train

Chapter 428: Dungeon Task Requirements

The players really did seal the elevator door on the first underground floor.

This could only prevent Zhu Rumin or Qiu Xiangdong from returning to this floor; there were no restrictions on them going to other floors.

Furthermore, the number of players had decreased, but the game still hadn't made any progress.

"Two more ghosts will be added tonight," Ge Pan said to everyone. "There are only eight of us left, and we're all staying on the same floor. Don't gamble your life just to win the game."

His words were heavier than yesterday's. If a situation like Chang Chengyong's happened again tonight, there would be nothing left to discuss—they'd just kill the person outright.

"Failing to clear the dungeon is one thing, but it's still better than losing your life," Wan Yunrong was the first to speak up. "If I become a ghost, I'll definitely cooperate with everyone."

"That sounds nice," Wu Xiaonan snorted.

Wan Yunrong really didn't want to talk to her, turning her head away and completely ignoring her.

After that, the players had no further conversation.

Mao Wei sat by the wall, using a handkerchief to wipe a toy gun. A few meters away from him, Ge Pan sat in a chair fiddling with an old video camera.Miao Yu hadn't changed her position since entering the room; her distance from the others depended entirely on their intentions, creating a very detached atmosphere.

Wan Yunrong played with the Buddhist prayer beads on her wrist, occasionally observing the other players.

Wu Xiaonan was filming a video by herself.

Gan Qing stayed relatively far from the others, remaining silent and not fiddling with anything.

Xu Huo gave a brief glance over everyone's situation before choosing a spot to close his eyes and rest. Chu Yuan, unable to move conveniently, had no choice but to sit down beside him. But this guy was full of energy, still very excited despite not having rested much for two nights, occasionally trying to strike up conversations with the other players.

Unfortunately, apart from Wan Yunrong and Ge Pan, the others mostly ignored him.

"If I weren't tied to Xu Zhi, maybe Zhu Rumin wouldn't have escaped last night at all," he boasted.

Xu Huo glanced at him but didn't say anything, tacitly acknowledging his words.

"You don't look the part," Wu Xiaonan chimed in from the side. "You didn't even injure Zhu Rumin. It was Xu Zhi who landed a face-smash. How does that not make you the one dragging him down?"

"Without me distracting her, he might not have hit her either," Chu Yuan showed no anger at being looked down upon. Instead, he patted Xu Huo's shoulder and said, "We actually coordinated pretty well."

"Want me to help you untie the rope?" Mao Wei looked up at that moment.

Chu Yuan spoke before Xu Huo could. "You really have such a powerful item?"

Mao Wei said, "We can try, but it might damage the item."

Hearing this, Chu Yuan's expression showed a hint of hesitation. "Then forget it."

After listening, Mao Wei lowered his head again to wipe his toy gun.

Chu Yuan talked to himself for a while longer before also falling silent.

Soon, it was time for lights out again. The lights went off at the same time as the night before, and the players' flashlights lit up simultaneously.

"Who's the ghost?" Ge Pan looked around.

The players all looked at each other. Miao Yu said, "I don't feel anything unusual."

The other players also nodded.

"Then we can only test it through the glass," Ge Pan looked at Xu Huo and Chu Yuan. "You two go first. One goes outside the door, one stands inside. Understand, we're all alone. Who's to say someone won't take the chance to run?"

Xu Huo nodded, indicating no problem. He took the lead, opened the door, walked out, and stood behind the glass window.

The other players inside the room looked through the glass window but didn't see the ghostly shadow Gan Qing had described.

Chu Yuan then walked out as well. He also showed no problem. Next were Ge Pan and Mao Wei. After the people inside confirmed they weren't "ghosts" either, Xu Huo and Chu Yuan returned to the room to check the remaining people.

The result was that after every player had gone out and taken a turn, no one with an attached ghostly shadow was found.

"How is this possible?" Xu Huo said. "Two more ghosts should appear tonight."

"But there's no ghostly shadow on anyone present," Miao Yu's gaze turned sharp as she looked at Gan Qing. "You're lying! There's no ghostly shadow to be seen on a player who becomes a ghost!"

"Impossible!" Gan Qing immediately said. "I definitely saw a ghostly shadow on Zhu Rumin... unless there's no ghost among us!"

"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 said yourself Zhu Rumin was a ghost. How could she become a ghost again tonight? Even if she killed Chang Chengyong, she should have gotten one immunity from the random selection, so it couldn't be her tonight either. That means at least one of us is a ghost."

But this ghost hadn't appeared now, which meant judging the ghostly shadow through the glass didn't work. Since it didn't work, Gan Qing might be the thief crying "stop thief"—he himself was the "ghost" from last night!

Gan Qing laughed in extreme anger. "If I knew I was the ghost, why wouldn't Zhu Rumin defend herself? Why would she turn and run instead!"

"That doesn't necessarily mean Zhu Rumin had a guilty conscience. It happened suddenly; maybe it was just an instinctive reaction," Chu Yuan said.

Wu Xiaonan had acted too quickly back then, and later, with Mao Wei's item stirring things up, Zhu Rumin got injured and ran. There was no confrontation between the two sides, and she was simply assumed to be the "ghost."

Several pairs of eyes stared at Gan Qing, the atmosphere gradually growing tense. At this moment, Xu Huo spoke up. "Actually, as long as Gan Qing didn't kill Chang Chengyong, whether what he said is true or false isn't that important."

"If he lied 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 yesterday's ghost here with us," he said. "If he didn't lie and Zhu Rumin was the ghost, then at least one of tonight's two ghosts is also here among us."

"And if yesterday's ghost was Qiu Xiangdong, the situation is the same as with Zhu Rumin: kill Chang Chengyong and gain one immunity from the random selection; don't kill and remain a ghost. So regardless of the situation, there's at least one ghost here."

"We just need to confirm whether capturing a ghost can clear the dungeon. Everyone's here; we can just test them one by one."

"Sounds pretty logical," Miao Yu rubbed her chin and then took action first, grabbing the players near her one by one to submit the task, starting with Gan Qing.

Seeing her act without a word, the other players' expressions changed slightly, but they relaxed their brows when they saw her turn to the next person with a slightly disappointed look.

When it was finally Xu Huo's turn, Miao Yu withdrew her hand. "Didn't clear."

"Let me try!" Chu Yuan went second.

To be fair, every player tried once. The result, of course, was that no one successfully cleared the dungeon.

"Could it be that the 'ghost' in the dungeon task doesn't refer to the ghosts in the game?" Mao Wei said.

"Maybe the ghost can only become the ghost required by the dungeon task under specific conditions," Ge Pan rubbed the space between his eyebrows. "But right now, no one knows what those conditions are."

"It might be the ghostly shadow!" Chu Yuan suddenly slapped his thigh. "To be honest with you all, 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. What the dungeon task requires isn't the players at all, but the ghostly shadows!"