As he murmured this question, Jian Qingrong had already identified the number one suspect in his mind: a ferocious octopus with no intelligence.
After his brain returned to his body, his physical strength increased to a certain extent. The place where his eyes were gouged out stopped bleeding as usual, and the empty eye sockets seemed to be covered with a layer of light mist.
The eyeball that originally resided inside was forcibly removed to another place, and the connection between the two sides was temporarily blocked by the game. Jian Qingrong could not use the little octopus to obtain information from other areas.
"It looks like it's doing well."
Every word was filled with a chilling chill.
For the Lord of Terror, the brain, heart, and eyes, three important organs, can carry its consciousness. When it returns, its will is unified, but when it is wandering outside, it will show some individual differences.
The will that the eyes can carry is far less than that of the brain and heart, so the IQ is low and the brain is cold. They are the type who will hide in the dark and never show up for their entire lives. The original heart was placed in the clone to sacrifice in order to deceive the game.
In a nutshell, these separate organs are invincible when combined, but are each "incompetent" when separated.
Jian Qingrong, expressionless, took the receiver and went to feed the patients midnight snacks, preparing to find a way to control these patients as soon as possible so that he could rely on them to pass through the first two areas and meet up with Wen Shi.
On the other side, the stairwell on the third floor.
The long phone call ended with the little octopus acting cute and coquettish.
Each call on the phone would not last too long. Of course, Jian Qingrong didn't know this. He was not the kind of person who would just sit and wait, and was used to taking time to do other things.
After waiting for a while, half an hour had passed. Just as Wen Shi was seriously thinking about whether the Seven Commandments President had overturned, Ji Yuanzhi suddenly made a gesture to keep quiet, and only a very slight sound was heard from the corridor on the third floor.
The footsteps were deliberately made quiet under extreme control, but because there were so many people, there was still some noise.
As the sound gradually grew louder, Wen Shi finally saw the person he was waiting for.
The figure of the Seven Commandments Guild President appeared in the field of vision, and some players walked out one after another. Wen Shi counted the number of people and found that two players were missing.
A small piece of skin was torn off the neck of the Seven Commandments leader, and he was taking potion to restore his health.
"I may explore the dangerous area later. If you are interested, you can come over."
He spoke very bluntly, knowing that not many people would follow after just going through a fight. Even if you follow the 3s copy step by step and only complete the tasks assigned by the game, the rewards are still very considerable.
In the end, only two players, a man and a woman, came over. The black market player was a natural slacker, but he seemed to have other things to do tonight, so he went downstairs in a hurry.
"Information exchange?" President Qijie easily guessed the reason why Wen Shi was looking for him.
The later it gets, the more unsafe it becomes. Not wanting to waste time, Wen Shi went straight to the point: "When you caught the escaped patient, did you get a clue about where he was going?"
The Seven Commandments leader's eyes flickered as he considered how much information to give.
The guild leaders all had a general understanding of each other. Yu Xingzhou glanced at him and sneered, "Don't try your useless tricks. You know the place and we have the key."
The fourth floor is more dangerous and the rewards are more valuable. The key is truly irreplaceable.
The Seven Commandments leader's expression did not change after hearing this. He naturally put away his previous calculations and turned to talk about the clue: "Between the third and fourth floors."
Wen Shi and others were stunned. Isn't that where they are now
I just walked back and forth and didn't feel anything special... Wen Shi turned his head and saw that there were no obstacles or other objects in the corridor except for a vague darkness. According to the structural design, there could be no secret door.
The president of the Seven Commandments would not lie about such a thing, so there was only one possibility left, that there was a hidden map between the two floors, and it needed to be triggered in some way.
Li Nan took the lead and everyone went up the stairs again.
After turning the corner and standing at the staircase on the fourth floor, Wen Shi raised his eyebrows: "One step less?"
The corridor was very dark, and everyone's attention was focused on the mission and preventing sneak attacks in the dark, so no one would deliberately count the steps under their feet.
The staircase they were currently walking up only had eighteen steps, but there were nineteen steps from the third floor to the corner.
Everyone retreated to the corner, staring at the extra and inconspicuous steps, trying to trigger the hidden map.
A female player in the team took out a lighting tool and bent down to look at the middle of the stairs: "This small area is darker in color."
"We have it here too, and the area is quite large."
Following the light all the way up, you will find that each step has some contrasting colors.
"It's a musical note." Wen Shi stepped back a few steps and moved his whole body upwards: "When you put them together, it looks like a musical note."
In the space of the cross, the True Spirit mentioned that Ao used to be a pianist, and musical notes were a representative element of himself.
The Seven Commandments president squinted his eyes and looked at it. "This note is drawn with a curved line. You can try to walk along this path, starting from the extra step."
Everyone's opinions are pretty much the same.
Seven people stood in a vertical row, making sure that every step was taken within the area as much as possible. Wen Shi was in the third position. When there was only a small distance left, he watched the figures of Li Nan and Yu Xingzhou in front of him suddenly disappear quietly like smoke.
The scene was too weird, but there was no possibility of turning back halfway, so Wen Shi calmed down and quickly walked the remaining two steps. Almost instantly, he heard a whistling sound of wind, and his body was suddenly pulled downward by an invisible force.
The altitude was not low, and with a strong sense of weightlessness, Wen Shi seriously suspected that he would land headfirst. Given the difficulty of this instance, he had to be on guard against the game playing this trick.
Just as Wen Shi was about to activate his transformation skill, several sticky silk threads passed through the beam and entangled the young man's waist. Wen Shi was steadily suspended in the air, and his body, as tense as a fish, bounced twice.
Yu Xingzhou controlled the props from below and slowly lowered him down.
Due to this delay, Ji Yuanzhi, who was behind Wen Shi, arrived first. The experienced players had special props to deal with this situation and had prepared in advance. There were very few people who fell down headfirst like Wen Shi.
"Thank you." After Wen Shi stood firm, he still felt slightly dizzy.
The Seven Commandments leader and the remaining two players also came down smoothly at this time.
It was a closed place with no light on all sides and the air felt suffocating.
Because the space was small, with only a few walls and a door, it was easy to tell what was inside. After making sure there were no monsters, the female player continued to look around with a flashlight.
With her light, the others were also looking around the environment they were in. The walls were covered with notes of varying sizes, and even the beams were no exception, showing that Ao was still a little bothered by giving up the piano.
Directly in front of him was a black door with the three words "Dean's Office" written in blood directly on the door panel, with the handwriting being sloppy and hideous.
Li Nan took out the key obtained from the previous side quest and inserted it into the keyhole. Strangely, the key got stuck after only halfway in. He tried it again and confirmed that it did not match.
In the photo, there was a faintly visible small door next to the bookshelf. Wen Shi said, "There is another room inside. We can try to break it open violently from outside."
When it comes to violence, the quieter the better.
"I'll do it." The president of the Seven Commandments took out a paper clip, adjusted the bending arc, and successfully opened the door.
There must be people coming here often. Apart from the unpleasant air in the closed environment, there is no smell of dust.
Wen Shi deliberately compared it with the photo, and found that the interior layout was almost exactly the same, even the books placed on the bookshelf were no different.
The player behind him took down a few books and flipped through them hastily, but there was not much useful information.
Finding nothing, everyone's eyes fell on the small door next to the bookcase. The red warning sign on it looked very abrupt: Do not trespass.
There is no need to post this in a private office, which means this is most likely a death rule for players.
It only asked not to trespass, not to say not to enter without permission. Li Nan walked to the door without hesitation, and this time the key in his hand finally played a role.
With a click, the small door opened smoothly.
Wen Shi walked a few steps inside with a frown, always feeling that something was not right.
"zoo."
After listening to Li Nan's words, Wen Shi went to look again and inexplicably felt that they were very similar. If you ignore the laboratory table, there is basically no other items except these skeletons after entering the door, as if something was kept and imprisoned here before, and someone came to feed it regularly.
He looked around: "But I always feel like something is missing."
While everyone was observing carefully, a male player who was supposed to be in the safe area and had not even stepped into the room suddenly felt his feet go weak. He didn't take it seriously at first and glanced down casually.
The moment his indifferent gaze swept across the two empty trouser legs, the male player's face changed drastically.
"ah-"
The exclamation was short and rapid, and the player's body below the knees quickly disappeared. Without the support of his legs, he fell halfway backwards. The female player next to him was about to catch him, but the Seven Commandments leader suddenly took a few steps back into the inner room, and there was a crackling sound in the air. He was using the skill [Almighty Explosion].
The female player quickly took a few steps back.
There was a rapid current in the air, as if something was being forced back. The sleeve of the Seven Commandments leader was dissolved, and a small piece of flesh at his elbow was dissolved. If it had been slower, the arm would have been lost.
"WTF?"
It came and went without a trace, as if it was being attacked by the air.
With a bang!
First, the outer door slammed shut. Because the male player was at the back of the group and was attacked outside the door, after he was attacked, everyone reflexively took two steps back inside.
Less than a second later, there was another loud bang, and the door behind the player closed.
Without any extra time to think, Yu Xingzhou was soon attacked. Relying on his almost beast-like instinct, he used props to avoid being swallowed, and his trouser legs were slightly damaged.
When the invisible monster touches the item, it disappears temporarily.
"Go get the information." There were only a few things in the room, and the only valuable ones were the information on the table. The moment Yu Xingzhou spoke to Ji Yuanzhi, he used [Time Pause].
"Five seconds." This space dimension has other rules that restrict the use of his skills, and the time limit for using his skills is limited to five seconds.
When Yu Xingzhou opened his mouth, everything was paused in an instant. Even a tiny speck of dust stopped in the air and no longer floated.
The player was trapped outside of Yu Xingzhou's skills.
With only a distance of several meters, Ji Yuanzhi still used the speed-boosting props and rushed to the experimental table at the fastest speed.
The injured male player was obviously beyond saving. He was locked outside the door and everything below the abdomen was eaten clean. His broken intestines mixed with blood were scattered all over the floor and flowed in through the crack in the door.
"Damn it." The president of the Seven Commandments frowned fiercely, picked up a piece of broken intestine, and found teeth marks on it.
This means that the monster that just disappeared ran outside the door to eat again.
"Do you want to break the door?" asked the female player.
The Seven Commandments president shook his head: "The game prompt sound hasn't appeared yet. Even if you run out, you may not be able to leave this space."
Wen Shi stood by the wall and shared the same view. Rather than running away, he was more puzzled by the order of the monster's attack. Just now, in front of the male player were the Seven Commandments Guild President and the female player. After attacking the two of them, the monster skipped the female player and rushed directly to Yu Xingzhou who was in front.
Why go far away when near
Wen Shi discovered that Li Nan and Yu Xingzhou were also staring at the female player.
A person's subconscious reaction cannot be faked. There was a hint of relief in the female player's eyes that she was not attacked. She did not look like she was possessed and controlled by a monster.
When his eyes fell on the other person's slightly trembling hand, Wen Shi suddenly realized that something was missing in this room.
lamp!
It is definitely not normal to deliberately not install lights in a place where a laboratory bench is placed.
"Turn off the flashlight."
Acting faster than she thought, the female player put away her props, and the whole room was instantly plunged into a terrifying darkness. She realized later that the monster avoided her because she needed to provide props for lighting, and lighting might be one of the conditions for the monster to attack people.
The only sound left in the room was heavy breathing.
This kind of restriction is a bit disgusting. There is not even a trace of light around. Even if you transform at a certain temperature, your night vision ability will not play a big role. In a dark environment, players must use lighting props to see the internal environment after entering the space.
It is only a matter of time before you get infected.
Ji Yuanzhi had already obtained the information, and when his fingers touched the edge of the paper document, the system prompt sound appeared in everyone's mind at the same time.
[You have successfully obtained the feeding log*1]
[You have successfully discovered that light can become an accomplice of monsters]
[Special Mission: Dean's Pet
Mission content: Collect six important clues related to the dean's pet. The current mission completion progress is 2/6
Note: You can leave the Dean's Office after collecting three items.]
For this kind of escape mission under given conditions, even Li Nan's money would be useless. It was even more impossible for Ji Yuanzhi to directly interpret the information, as he could not afford the backlash of forced cracking.
Mentioning light, one almost immediately thinks of shadows. Wen Shi was almost attacked by a similar monster in the archives room. At that time, the second alarm sounded, and the monster suddenly ran away for some reason, and in the end, nothing happened.
The president of the Seven Commandments had the same thought in mind, but what they were facing now was obviously much more powerful than the one in the archives room. The monster in the archives room lay dormant for several minutes before launching its attack.
The five-second time pause had passed, and the sound of corpses being devoured reappeared at the door.
Ji Yuanzhi said in a very low voice: "The feeding log is mosaiced, and the system reminds you to leave here to unlock it. At present, it seems that this monster likes to hide in the shadows and devour from the bottom up."
Before he finished speaking, he felt his shoulders sink. The breath was very familiar. He probably guessed what it was, so he didn't shake it off immediately.
Wen Shi, who had turned into a black cat, squatted silently on Ji Yuanzhi's shoulder, with one foot almost stepping on the other.
Among all the people present, Wen Shi was definitely in the most dangerous situation. Even if he used sword skills, he had to know where the target was first. This monster seemed to be very good at hiding its breath.
Wen Shi has a clear understanding of himself. Facing such elusive monsters, his reaction ability and the number of props he possesses are far inferior to other players. Many rare props can only be obtained in dungeons and cannot be purchased with points alone.
Light is only one of the conditions for a monster to attack people, and it does not mean that if it lasts for a long time, it will not attack people in the dark. If the monster continues to attack later, Wen Shi will be the first target of the attack.
Choose the softest persimmons.
This is the instinctive choice of all living things.
He is the softest.
The black cat asked seriously: "Do you think it would be safer for me to be in someone's pocket, or to stand on the shoulders of a giant like I am now?"
Ji Yuanzhi: “…”
Bang.
The sudden voice interrupted the conversation. Wen Shi was startled. The outermost door seemed to be opened by someone.
Heavy, undisguised footsteps sounded in the room. Hearing the sound of the monster eating, the person stopped at the door, and a pair of sinister eyes scanned the room, finally stopping at the small room.
Inside the room, everyone's breathing almost stagnated as they all thought of the same possibility: Ao was back.
(End of this chapter)