Chapter 277: How can you enter a horror game world and still get caught in the crossfire?
Inside the mysterious villa, a melodious chime rang out.
It also signaled that the meal time was over.
The chosen ones who survived had all passed the first test.
Everyone’s hearing seemed to be constantly improving. Sometimes, when the noise was too loud, they couldn’t hear whether the loli girl had said anything about eating.
At times like this, most chosen ones chose not to eat.
After all, eating might get you killed, but not eating should be fine.
There were many dishes, and you didn’t have to finish all of them.
You just needed to fill your stomach. Even if you were a little hungry, it was okay. Being hungry was better than being dead.
The chosen ones entered the horror game world at eight o’clock in the evening.
The meal time in the banquet hall was very long. Zhang Yangqing could roughly judge that the current time should be exactly ten o’clock at night.
Other chosen ones could also politely ask the maids or other guests to find out the correct time.
During the conversation, the maid would also reveal a detail.
That was, inside this villa, the bell would ring every two hours.
And [it could definitely be heard within the villa’s grounds].
This setting might be the horror game world’s way of accommodating blind people.
Or maybe these chimes hid some secret.
Regardless, for now, this became the basis for the chosen ones to judge the time.
Not every chosen one could have Zhang Yangqing’s ability.
Knowing how to judge time correctly was also a basis for whether the chosen ones could survive.
Because a rule mentioned a specific period.
[Rule 6: While staying here, if you hear shouting and knocking on the door from 12 a.m. to 1 a.m., please ignore it.]
People who had never been to a horror game world might think, isn’t it enough just to sleep in your own room at night?
No matter who knocks, just don’t open the door. After all, you don’t plan on going out anyway.
Experienced chosen ones could start to predict that this might be related to Rule 7.
[Rule 7: Find your other companion as soon as possible. They need you right now!]
In the horror game world, many seemingly unrelated rules can be cross-referenced.
But as for what kind of connection it is specifically, most chosen ones cannot determine that.
Because there’s no information to support it. They would have to wait and see if the villa owner and other guests can provide information later.
Sidney, the chosen one from the Raman Noodle Country, had received some passed-down experience.
He felt that the time period mentioned in Rule 6 was definitely when the horrors descended, or the time when others in this villa could make their move.
During this time, others would try to trick the chosen ones out and kill them.
Because Rule 4 stated that only your own room is safe when resting at night.
That meant the chosen ones’ rooms were safe havens, protected by the rules.
If the door wasn’t properly closed, or if you opened it voluntarily, the danger would be great.
Even chosen ones with extraordinary combat abilities should follow the rules as much as possible.
Because when the first two women entered the banquet hall, many superhumans hadn’t heard a sound. They even suspected that the two women were floating beings, or that they had a way to muffle their footsteps.
So, some dangers would follow the chosen ones silently.
When you can’t make a correct judgment, try to treat yourself as an ordinary person. That makes it easier to judge.
This was the skill that Gregori taught Sidney after comprehending Zhang Yangqing’s methods.
Following the process and gathering as much information as possible is definitely not wrong.
So far, Sidney had been sitting steadily at the dining table, listening to the conversations of others.
Zhang Yangqing’s way of judging was even more advanced. He seemed to already understand what “as soon as possible” in Rule 7 meant.
This was also the second difficult problem of the horror game world: how to accurately [go out].
According to the information provided by the maid, as long as you are inside the villa, the bell rings every two hours.
The time point mentioned in the rule was particularly clever.
Because the rule said 12 to 1 o’clock.
But there’s no bell at 1 o’clock.
It was already past ten o’clock. The villa owner was still talking non-stop. According to his words, he might take the chosen ones to see some places next.
So at this stage, the chosen ones could still gather information, which is part of following the process.
Skipping this stage would obviously mean missing out on a lot of critical survival information.
Following the process would take some time, but before 12 o’clock, that is, before the bell rings, the chosen ones must return to their own rooms.
This difficulty isn’t actually that great, because there would surely be other people around to ask.
But the next part is more difficult. After entering their rooms, can the chosen ones rest?
Of course not. Don’t forget, the companion mentioned in Rule 7 hasn’t been found yet.
If Zhang Yangqing’s guess was correct, after the bell rings at 2 a.m., the chosen ones might lose their so-called “partner.”
Because he judged that at this moment, the chosen ones didn’t have any information and couldn’t get away, so it must be the next time point.
The horror game world leaves the chosen ones one hour, from 1 to 2 a.m., to find their partner.
How to go out after 1 a.m. is the biggest problem to solve next.
If you go out too early, you’ll be eliminated by the horrors.
If you go out too late, you might not have enough time to find your partner.
Next, the villa owner would show the chosen ones and other guests around. During this process, there might be information that the chosen ones need.
At this stage, most chosen ones were still listening intently to the villa owner’s nonsense, basically going through the motions.
The slightly smarter chosen ones were starting to realize the importance of time.
And Zhang Yangqing already had three small goals.
First, find an item that can tell the time. Even if it’s useless to him, he still needs to find it. Who knows, it might have another use. This is thinking from the perspective of an ordinary chosen one.
Second, find the person who likes roses, seek their help, or complete their task to gain their assistance.
Regarding this goal, other chosen ones might need hints, but Zhang Yangqing already had an expectation.
Third, find out information about the person who received him and brought him to the villa, to get information about his companion.
Even if he gets help from the person who likes roses, he can’t just search blindly, right? The villa looked huge, and he was blind. Even if the villa owner opened the place up for the chosen ones to search, it would probably be hard to find clues within the specified time.
So, how to get in touch with that head maid might be very important.
This was Zhang Yangqing’s prediction for what needed to be done in the second stage after gathering a certain amount of information.
Zhang Yangqing didn’t think his predictions were entirely correct, but the horror game world is about making bold assumptions and carefully verifying them.
With seven or eight predictions in mind, one of them is bound to be correct, or at least close.
Then, when danger appears, he can promptly compare it with his predictions and take certain measures to avoid it, or directly solve it!
This was also why other chosen ones often rely on a “flash of inspiration” to avoid danger when they encounter it.
And Zhang Yangqing always remains calm and composed. The more he considers, the more likely he is to have a way to deal with things.
After all, if you rely solely on flashes of inspiration, what if you encounter danger and no inspiration comes? You’d be doomed.
Inside the banquet hall, while the villa owner was speaking, the maids had already cleaned up.
The chosen ones were sitting relatively close and seemed to hear a woman’s voice saying something to the villa owner.
They also heard the words “it’s ready.”
Here, the chosen ones couldn’t see, but it was actually the head maid speaking to the villa owner.
The villa owner nodded and then got straight to the point.
“To be honest, I only recently learned from my father’s will that he actually left me a treasure in this villa. Many of you here have lived in this villa before. I would like to trouble you all to help me find this treasure. Once it’s done, I will surely reward you handsomely.”
The villa owner’s voice was somewhat high-pitched.
From his words, the chosen ones could infer that there were many unknown secrets in this villa.
The other people had also lived here before.
According to the villa owner’s next statements, they could tell that he didn’t know exactly what the treasure was either.
But the will contained a few key sentences.
[When you become aware of its existence, it will appear.]
[When you find it, you need not be afraid.]
[It is different from you, yet the same as you.]
These three sentences were the secret code left by the previous owner of the villa.
The villa owner was also straightforward; he took out the will and passed it around for everyone to see.
Of course, the chosen ones, being blind, could only ask a nearby maid to read it out loud, then feel the will for a while before passing it on to others.
At this stage, the maid faction probably wouldn’t lie.
The chosen ones also began to realize that the reason this horror game made them blind might be because some things can only be found by blind people.
Or perhaps, only blind people wouldn’t be afraid.
“Could it be mirrors?” speculated Sidney, the superhuman from the Raman Noodle Country, because the rules mentioned them.
But after thinking for a while, Sidney couldn’t explain it clearly. That was the gap in experience.
Many other chosen ones also thought of mirrors.
After all, according to the three important pieces of information in the will, weren’t they just talking about the reflection of yourself in the mirror?
Especially the third message: It is different from you, yet the same as you.
The reflection in the mirror looks just like you in reality, but is in a different state.
Chosen ones who thought of this began to judge: Do the first two messages mean that if I find the right mirror and imagine myself, then it will appear?
Basically, all three could match, but here’s the problem: the villa owner said “treasure.” What does the reflection in the mirror and yourself have to do with a treasure?
Could it be that the reflection in the mirror will hand the treasure to the real you?
Currently, there was no informational basis for this, so the chosen ones could only make preliminary judgments.
Then, they would listen to the analysis of the other guests. After all, they weren’t the only ones here.
Weren’t the others also here to help the villa owner find the treasure?
Maybe this was a hidden task, or maybe it was the final scoring task.
But as for exactly how to search, and whether to search or not, the chosen ones weren’t in a hurry. They needed to wait for the next rules to determine what they should do.
“It’s fine for you to ask us to find things, but if we damage some of your valuable items in the villa, you can’t blame us.”
A raspy voice sounded. It seemed somewhat aged, or perhaps the raspiness accentuated its world-weariness.
You couldn’t get that feeling without decades of smoking.
And he seemed to know what was here.
“No problem. Anyway, this villa isn’t very valuable. It’s certainly not as valuable as the treasure my father left behind. You could even tear down the villa if you want.”
Said the villa owner.
This sentence sounded normal, but it seemed a bit off, didn’t it?
From the villa owner’s tone, the chosen ones could sense that he seemed to know something but wasn’t telling the guests.
There was a feeling that he was afraid the guests would pocket the treasure.
Kim Jeong-ki, the chosen one from the Stick Country, was getting into the swing of things. He felt that the villa owner must have sent people to search for this kind of thing before.
But either it couldn’t be found in normal places, or normal people couldn’t touch it. That’s why he invited all the guests who had lived here before.
After the villa owner finished speaking, a nasal, raspy voice sounded.
This voice inherently carried a sense of urgency and cunning.
“You said that, but can I choose my own reward?”
This sentence made everyone present turn their heads, because it seemed to reveal something.
Even the chosen ones could tell that he probably knew about some of the treasures in the villa.
But the man with the nasal, raspy voice didn’t seem to care. That was exactly what he was after.
“Of course. Apart from my father’s treasure, you can choose anything else in the villa for yourself.”
The villa owner was also a generous person. Since he had invited everyone here and had already stated that tearing down the villa was fine, only the treasure was valuable.
Then he naturally wouldn’t care about the rest. His tone seemed to indicate he would keep his promise.
From this, Zhang Yangqing could tell that the purpose of the other guests coming here might be to scheme for something.
Because their words more or less indicated that while living here, they had discovered the villa’s secrets or had come into contact with some treasure.
And then, for some reason, they hadn’t gotten it. So, upon receiving the invitation from the new villa owner, they came.
It’s just that the man with the nasal, raspy voice was more straightforward, while the others were hiding things.
Zhang Yangqing felt that this villa owner might not be entirely trustworthy either. After all, the homeowner hadn’t appeared in the rules yet.
But one thing could be judged: the villa owner currently wouldn’t try to kill the chosen ones or the other guests.
His purpose in inviting the guests might be to use them to test things or to open certain places.
These places might only be opened by special guests. Perhaps he, being blind, was also invited for such a purpose.
Because there were certainly many deadly mechanisms, rules, viruses, horrors, and some unspeakable things inside the villa.
The conversation continued. The banquet hall was filled with the sound of everyone discussing, like a puzzle-solving expedition team.
The vast majority of chosen ones here remembered everyone’s voice characteristics.
Besides the long-haired onee-san and the loli girl they had met at the beginning.
The other two guests were male.
The raspy voice probably belonged to an old man. The nasal, raspy voice belonged to a middle-aged man.
This gave the chosen one from the Pyramid Country a flash of inspiration.
“I feel like people from four different age groups have been brought together?”
At least judging by their voices, they did represent four different ages.
Whether this mattered or not, he still made a note of it.
Last time, the chosen one from the Pyramid Country was really embarrassing, and he was a powerful high priest.
With the fall of the high priest, the prestige of the Pharaoh’s Guardians, a major faction, began to decline.
This time, the one who came up was a superhuman from another faction.
This superhuman wasn’t very powerful, ranking in the lower-middle tier among superhumans.
It wasn’t that it wouldn’t matter if he died. The Pyramid Country’s clearance expert, Rahman, judged that this chosen one was quite smart. No matter how weak his combat ability, he was still stronger than an ordinary person.
Having some ability to protect himself while not acting recklessly like a top-tier superhuman made him relatively stable.
So the Pyramid Country sent him.
Starting from ten o’clock, after discussing for about half an hour in the banquet hall, the villa owner began to show them some places.
The so-called places: where he thought there might be clues.
There was a fairly large gallery on the first floor of the villa.
The guests followed the owner’s pace and slowly stepped into the gallery, as if entering a dusty history.
A wave of primitive simplicity hit their faces, carrying the sediment of time and the traces of history.
The audience watched the big screen. The walls around them were covered with various ancient paintings, each one full of stories and mystery.
And the styles of the paintings were different, seemingly representing different civilizations.
The lighting in the gallery was dim, but it gave a sense of tranquility and peace.
These paintings were quite old. Some could even be traced back centuries. They were all rare masterpieces.
The audience was dazzled.
When the villa owner led everyone through the gallery tour and elaborated, asking them to observe carefully to see if there were any clues here, the chosen ones were speechless.
This was a damn gallery, full of paintings. How was a blind man like me supposed to see anything?
“Um, can I touch the paintings?” Since I can’t see, I have to think of other ways. Maybe touching them and feeling the texture might yield unexpected results?
“Go ahead. If you think any painting has a clue, you can take it back to study slowly.”
The villa owner was only this accommodating right now.
You could also tell that he didn’t seem interested in these valuable paintings.
Here, the first conflict appeared, a quarrel between the raspy-voiced old man and the loli girl.
The raspy-voiced old man said somewhat angrily that the chosen ones shouldn’t touch them with their hands. These were precious paintings from all over the world.
Some of the paintings in the gallery were collected by him and the villa’s previous owner with great difficulty, back in the day.
Touching them with hands would damage the integrity of the cultural relics and be a great loss to the gallery.
He had already mentioned this in the banquet hall.
And he had intentionally or unintentionally used his words to subtly mock the current owner of the house for not treating these paintings as treasures, calling it a desecration of the paintings.
The loli girl, being outspoken, directly retorted, saying these were just things you plundered from other places. A bunch of robbers, and you still dare to criticize others for damaging cultural relics.
If the raspy-voiced old man was so righteous, then he should return all these famous paintings to their original places!
If you can’t do that, then you have no right to criticize others here.
At this point, the raspy-voiced old man was left speechless and angry by the loli girl. He had no reason to argue back. There were too many people present, and it wasn’t convenient to start a fight, so he could only choose silence.
The other chosen ones were fine, but this earl superhuman from the Britannic Country was stunned on the spot, utterly at a loss for words.
He felt like he had been insulted too.
How can you enter a horror game world and still get caught in the crossfire?
