“That… no,” Jing Minghe shifted his body sideways. “It’s just a bit crowded.”
Chi Hao reached out and put his arm around Jing Minghe. “Don’t move around. You said there was something. What is it?”
Hearing Chi Hao’s question, Jing Minghe suddenly remembered that he really couldn't move around, or he might accidentally step on that pile of things.
“It’s remains,” Jing Minghe replied. “A small pile of remains. We need to figure out how to get them out first.”
As soon as Jing Minghe finished speaking, Chi Hao handed him something. “Use this to pack them.”
“What is this?” Jing Minghe took the item Chi Hao handed him and lifted it up. It was a small bag, only big enough to hold a volleyball. “Hao Ge, isn’t this bag a bit small? How about I go find a piece of cloth to wrap these remains in and take them out?”
After speaking, Jing Minghe suddenly remembered something. He had seen this small bag at the prop card vending machine in the lounge area.
“This… could it be an expansion bag?”
“Yes.”
After receiving Chi Hao’s affirmative answer, Jing Minghe recalled the information he had seen about the expansion bag. It looked very small but could hold ten times its own volume. Although not as expensive as a shapeshifting ball, it still cost a hundred points.
Chi Hao had already given them some points to help You Mi buy the first-aid kit, then bought a shapeshifting ball for him. Now he was taking out another expansion bag.
So, how many points were on Chi Hao’s prop card? Could it be that all the rewards Chi Hao received were just prop card points?
That didn’t seem right either, as Chi Hao clearly had a medical card and a regular shopping card, which he had seen with his own eyes.
“What are you thinking about?”
Chi Hao’s voice interrupted Jing Minghe, who was lost in thought.
Jing Minghe retracted his thoughts and said, “Nothing. I’ll pack these remains first. Hao Ge, why don’t you go out first? It’s really too crowded for you to stand here, and I can’t squat down.”
His body pressed close to Jing Minghe, Chi Hao was also starting to feel restless. Confirming that there was no danger inside, Chi Hao nodded and stepped back slightly.
But he didn’t leave. Instead, he reached out to support the screen, creating more space for Jing Minghe.
Before long, Jing Minghe had packed up all the remains.
Bringing the remains out from behind the screen, Jing Minghe asked, “Look now? Or wait until after the game?”
Chi Hao asked, “Did you find anything while you were packing?”
“No,” Jing Minghe shrugged. “No, but I can tell these are the remains of a child. Nothing else is particularly special.”
“Then let’s wait until after the game.”
“Okay.” Jing Minghe agreed and tied the bag.
He didn’t press Chi Hao on why he had so many points to buy so many good items. If Chi Hao didn’t want to say, asking would only put him in a difficult position.
Moreover, Jing Minghe felt there might be another possibility.
That is, Chi Hao himself didn’t know why his point rewards were inexplicably abundant, just as he didn’t know why the situations he encountered in every instance were somewhat different from others.
“Hao Ge,” Jing Minghe, carrying the small bag, turned to Chi Hao. “Next, to the grand theater?”
“Mm.”
“Then let’s go.”
Because Lu Da and Huang Rongfei had both died on the fifth floor, no one chose to hide on the fifth floor this time.
Jing Minghe thought this was good. That way, no one would disturb his and Chi Hao’s exploration.
Chi Hao looked at Jing Minghe, who had a smile on his face, and asked, “You seem very happy?”
“Of course,” Jing Minghe turned and smiled at Chi Hao. “Because we’ve proven one thing: some things only appear during the game.”
“We might still be in mortal danger.”
Jing Minghe paused. He suddenly wanted to ask Chi Hao a question. “Hao Ge, do you think you’ll die here?”
“No.”
“So confident?”
“You won’t either.”
Jing Minghe gave a helpless smile. “Although I think so too, but…”
“I’m here,” Chi Hao interrupted Jing Minghe. “You won’t die.”
Chi Hao’s words were somewhat ambiguous.
Jing Minghe lowered his head and gave a bitter smile, laughing at himself for thinking for a moment that perhaps Chi Hao liked him too.
But on second thought, as partners who had experienced life and death together and were very tacit, Chi Hao naturally wouldn’t want him to die. It must be him who was deluded to think Chi Hao liked him.
To hide his small thoughts, Jing Minghe smiled and patted Chi Hao’s shoulder. “Hao Ge is just confident, isn’t he? So, should I thank Hao Ge for being willing to watch over me?”
Chi Hao’s brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. “Let’s go, time is running out.”
·
Ke Wuwen had been wandering around the arcade for nearly an hour. He didn’t know where to hide.
After the game started, he came to the arcade and kept hesitating where to hide. It wasn’t until half an hour had unknowingly passed that he still hadn’t made up his mind.
When he realized that so much time had passed, he started to wonder. Half an hour had passed, but he hadn’t hidden well, and nothing else had happened. The instance hadn’t given him a warning that he needed to hide quickly.
So, the only risk of him wandering around outside was being found by a ghost player.
With nowhere else to hide, he finally decided to temporarily hide behind a slot machine.
But after hiding for a while, he felt that the area behind the slot machine was too conspicuous, so he started wandering again, looking for a more secluded hiding spot.
Ke Wuwen didn’t know if it was his good luck. It had been over an hour, and the ghost players hadn’t found this place yet? So, he kept wandering while carefully listening for approaching footsteps.
Just as Ke Wuwen walked next to the basketball machine, footsteps from afar approached from outside the arcade.
The footsteps grew closer. Ke Wuwen looked left and right and found a space under the basketball machine. It was enclosed on three sides with solid panels, and at the back was a small upward-facing ladder. The ladder was movable and could be pulled out.
There was no time to hesitate. Ke Wuwen directly went behind the basketball machine, pulled out the small ladder, crouched down, and crawled in. He pulled the ladder back a bit. Fortunately, he was small, so even if the ladder wasn’t fully retracted, it could still block him.
As soon as Ke Wuwen hid, and before he could carefully listen if the footsteps had entered the arcade, he heard another sound.
“You’re here? Have you come to play with me?”
It was a child’s voice, sounding somewhat eerie.
“Who?” Ke Wuwen whispered, but no one responded.
Did I mishear?
Just as Ke Wuwen was wondering if he had misheard, a child’s face suddenly appeared before him. The child’s face was bruised and purple, with fresh red blood flowing from the corners of his mouth and eyes.
“Ah!”
Ke Wuwen screamed in fright. It was clearly very dark under the basketball machine, so why could he see this terrifying little ghost so clearly?