"W-what?" Ren Yifei was stunned by these words. Was this even human language? What did he mean by "observe how he dies"? Was he not afraid of getting beaten to death first with such a foul mouth?
"Just kidding." Ke Bei sat down. "But you are really dangerous. Based on the depth of the senses, you are in the first tier. Hmm, there's also Zhao Rui and Chen Rui."
A joke? Ren Yifei mentally crossed it out. It wasn't a joke at all; he was telling the truth with a smile.
"I am Zhao Rui." Zhao Rui peeked out from behind her friend and said weakly, adding that "Chen Rui jumped off a building and died yesterday."
"What? Was that Chen Rui who jumped off the building yesterday?" A member who knew Chen Rui's expression changed. When they discovered that someone they knew had died in this incident, the feeling of death approaching became even stronger.
Ke Bei showed no surprise, clearly knowing, perhaps even very clearly: "I know, and I also know that some people sensed something was wrong and tried to escape, but ended up dying outside. This shows..."
"Escape is pointless!" a member blurted out.
"Yes," he nodded with a smile, "as long as the 'connection' between us remains, this matter will not be over."
Anyone who participated in that ritual, whether a performer or a spectator, established a connection with a certain entity through the event.
This is a fatal connection, especially for the human side.
Monsters don't necessarily mean harming people, but when humans inadvertently glimpse their existence, it's enough to plunge them into a chaotic mental world.
Chen Shen did indeed hire a charlatan, but what the charlatan said was true.
That was the information Chen Shen wanted everyone to know: it was an invincible and unapproachable force, but if nothing was done, they would only face certain death.
"Should we call the police?" One of the members couldn't hold back anymore and burst into tears. "If we call the police, they will protect us."
"Who would believe something like that?" one player scoffed, then lowered his head to drink his milk tea.
Several people agreed, all feeling that calling the police would be useless.
Although the other players didn't say anything, they had the same thought: how could they go to the police for something that happened in the dungeon?
"Call the police!" It was Ren Yifei again. His face was full of fear. Being targeted by death had terrified him. Even if calling the police was unreliable, he seemed prepared to take the plunge.
"We don't even know who the enemy is. I don't want to lose my life like this, so I will definitely call the police!" He spoke faster and faster, and finally almost shouted it out.
Some members of the community were already wavering, and influenced by this area, they also felt it was appropriate to call the police. Their upbringing had taught them that if they were in trouble, they should go to the police.
As a result, those who wanted to call the police and those who felt that calling the police was useless and even a hindrance quickly turned into a battle.
The crowd was buzzing with discussion, debating whether to call the police or not. Saman watched them argue, and when it was almost time, he spoke up, saying, "I've already called the police."
Huh? The two sides stopped arguing, and the player was also stunned.
The players were somewhat surprised, as this wasn't going according to their plan.
Players tend to use "makeshift solutions," and they instinctively resist the official police system. If it were an NPC calling the police, that wouldn't be surprising. NPCs in high-level games have a high degree of autonomy, so such incidents are not uncommon. But the one calling the police is clearly a player, and seemingly the true form of the ghost—is he deliberately self-destructing?
"I've said it before, I want to know the truth more than any of you. Don't I know that if I tell the police, I won't be able to escape either?" At this point, Samantha should have added a touch of bitter sadness, but he couldn't fake it, so he looked up at the sky and then looked down.
"Regardless of what controlled me back then, I don't deny that I did it, and I'm willing to bear the consequences. But I need to know exactly what was harming me!"
The club members were all moved by what he said, and suddenly realized that the vice president had a tough time. He knew nothing at all, but when he woke up, he had become a terrible priest with terrible wounds on his body, and he was misunderstood by others.
Saman lowered his head slightly, making it impossible to see into his heart through his eyes: this move of revealing his scars and showing weakness had a better effect than expected.
Upon realizing his unusual identity, he took the following precaution: he called the police.
At first, the police didn't believe it, but when Saman showed the wound on his collarbone, and then one thing after another happened at the school, they had no choice but to believe it.
The police then notified the school leaders, which led to the current measure of closing the campus.
The reason he called the police wasn't because he was noble; it was simply that the more chaotic the pool, the safer he, the fish, was.
The national institutions within the instance are no less powerful than those in the Desolate Corner, a fact that his friend Afei has already proven. Furthermore, he is an extremely important witness to the incriminating case, so the state will offer him some protection.
Saman was eager to try using official forces to fight against the Desolate Corner.
"You called the police, so the school is closed today because of that?"
There were no fools present; they immediately connected it to the broadcast this morning.
Out of the blue, they were told there was some kind of acute epidemic at their school. At the time, they found it strange—was such a thing possible? How come they knew nothing about it? Now, connecting it to what Saman had said, they understood.
"I'm not too sure about that. They just told me to stay at school and that experts would be coming." Saman's gaze swept over the faces of the other players.
The players in the crowd looked displeased: "Good grief, this guy isn't even planning to eat, he's just flipping the table! With the officials involved, won't we players be restricted in our actions?"
Samantha understood their feelings all too well. He, too, had once been a player who disliked government interference in dungeons, but now he'd personally brought the police to their doorstep.
This move is a classic case of killing a thousand enemies while destroying eight hundred of your own, but Saman isn't planning to make a big splash in this round.
Perhaps only Ren Yifei truly felt that this path was the right one.
This dungeon is very difficult from the start, but the challenge lies not in finding the ghost, but in finding the mysterious power hidden behind the dungeon and protecting yourself.
They aren't the experts on this; the local NPCs are. To get more experts involved in this decryption effort, we'd definitely need to deploy a behemoth like a national agency.
"This is wonderful." Upon hearing of official intervention, the pessimists among the members actually had the illusion that they were about to be saved.
No matter what, the official force is always stronger than these small, independent groups.
Of course, the players wouldn't sit idly by; they had to gather as much information as possible from these club members before the official team arrived.
They quickly convinced everyone present to cooperate, and then created a new group.
The group owner is the president, Wenli. However, Wenli prefers finding clues and analyzing, so the real administrator is Chen Shen, who has always done a very good job in this regard.
As usual, Chen Shen first gave a speech that aroused the members' desire to survive, and then revealed his true purpose.
She hopes that the members who played a role in that ritual can describe in detail their attire, actions, and any occasional unusual behavior.
Even if you didn't participate in the performance but watched the whole thing from the sidelines or took photos, you can still compare them one by one.
"Let's gather these clues together first. When the police arrive, we will provide them with these valuable clues directly, saving time for both sides." Chen Shen had considered things carefully, taking into account the feelings of most of the members – they just wanted things to end as soon as possible, and it didn't matter who solved it.
As expected, Chen Shen's request was accepted by most people, and they began to actively recall that day.
"I remember we actually arrived at the ceremony quite early that time, but it didn't start until 6 p.m.," one member recalled. He added, "Because I'm an impatient person, I kept looking at my watch and that's how I remembered the time."
Another member chimed in, "Indeed, I had to wait until six o'clock. I came over around five and waited for a whole hour."
"Oh, right! I just remembered something." A girl in the crowd suddenly remembered something.
She was bare-faced, and her eyebrows were shorter than usual. She's clearly a girl who wears makeup regularly, but this time she didn't even have time to do her eyebrows, indicating a recent decline in her quality of life.
"I remember that the vice president's long wig was made of real hair back then, and it was almost a meter long. What's even more terrifying is that the roots of those hairs were connected to the entire piece of skin."
A whole piece of skin? The imaginative members had already conjured up images of murder and skinning.
The girl seemed to be contemplating some terrifying image, shrinking back as she said, "At first I thought it was a wig implanted in silicone, and I was wondering why wigs these days are so high-quality? But now..."
She was terrified by her own imagination, and her body began to tremble.
Everyone turned their attention to Saman, who remained calm and collected: "The one dressed as a woman is the original owner of this body. What does she have to do with me, Lin Guanyue?"
"I couldn't find a wig made of real human hair in my dorm room."
"Maybe it wasn't that the wig was attached to the scalp, but rather... that the hair strands got stuck in the scalp after the wig was put on." The club tried to comfort the frightened members, but their advice was even more frightening than the original.
"Shut up."
As this group of people huddled together, joking and laughing, the terrifying shadow seemed to be dissipating from overhead. They all felt that the future was bright, and that the shadow of death would eventually pass.
"Hey, you've been drinking with your head down for ages, haven't you finished yet?" An NPC nudged the person next to him.
This person had been talking the whole time, but suddenly fell silent, head down, seemingly drinking milk tea.
Ren Yifei glanced in that direction; he remembered it was a player. Just as he was about to turn his gaze back, he froze, staring at the red liquid in the transparent plastic cup.
This is the cup for the signature milk tea. Does the signature milk tea contain red jam?
A strange thought flashed through his mind, and Ren Yifei's expression changed slightly. However, before he could remind him, the NPC casually nudged the person who was drinking milk tea with his head down: "Brother, don't you have anything to say?"
No one expected that such a casual push from the NPC would cause the player, who was looking down and drinking milk tea, to fall to the ground, milk tea and all. The milk tea rolled on the ground, spilling some with a rusty smell.
Everyone sensed something was wrong, and upon closer inspection, their hearts sank.
The person drinking milk tea had a blood-soaked plastic straw sticking out of their mouth, their eyes wide open, and they were already dead.
"ah--"
The shadow of death once again loomed over the group, more intense and terrifying than ever before.