After listening to Jing Minghe's account, everyone fell into silence.
After a while, Tong Zheng was the first to break the quiet, "If this is the backstory, then how do we pass this instance?"
Jing Minghe guessed, "This instance has a hide-and-seek game, dividing us into two identities: some are ghost players responsible for searching, and some are ordinary players who need to hide."
As he spoke, Jing Minghe hesitated and continued, "I think the difficulty of this instance is that there are no clear task requirements or victory conditions. Everything must be deduced through analysis and speculation. What I say next is purely my personal guess. Whether to follow it or not, you can only decide for yourselves."
"You go ahead," Wan Zuo said, "Don't worry about affecting our judgment. We're not children anymore."
Jing Minghe smiled, cleared his throat, and said to everyone, "Based on the backstory I understand, and Wu Wen's experience, I personally believe that to pass this instance, one must understand the true intention of this hide-and-seek game and then act. Firstly, as ghost players, the objective is not to find other players, but to find the hidden child's remains. Of course, for ordinary players who are hiding, avoiding ghost players is not the point. The key is not to hide in the places where the child's remains are hidden."
Shen Rong listened and couldn't help but interject, "After all this talk, you still haven't explained how to pass successfully, it's all nonsense!"
You Mi rolled her eyes, speaking sarcastically for once, "If some people don't understand, it only proves they're stupid. Minghe said at the beginning that this is just his personal guess. According to Minghe's guess, there might be two conditions for successful passage. One is to find all the hidden child's remains. Another, perhaps..."
You Mi paused and looked at Jing Minghe, "Perhaps it's to successfully find the player who found the child's remains."
"What?" Shen Rong looked incredulous. "If it's the last option, then one must become a ghost player? And find the remains? So, those who have always been ordinary players are doomed?"
Wan Zuo frowned and said, "If Brother Huang's death was because he was a ghost player but failed to find the remains, then it indeed makes it difficult to choose."
To be a ghost player, one must either successfully find the remains or die.
As an ordinary player, even if one can successfully avoid death traps, it is still unknown whether one can leave in the end.
All of the above are mere speculations.
Tong Zheng sighed and said, "It seems that until the very end, we won't know the outcome of this instance."
"No matter what," Jing Minghe suggested, "everyone should be a ghost player once and find the remains."
"There's another problem," Wan Zuo said. "Even with the red-dressed little girl's remains, there are only seven in total. If every one of us can successfully find the remains when we are ghost players, then there will be people with no remains to find. Not to mention..."
Wan Zuo looked at Jing Minghe. "You've already been to the place where the red-dressed little girl was, and only found the red dress, not the remains. This means we might only be looking for the remains of those six children."
Besides Jing Minghe and the remains he found, there are seven people and five sets of remains left.
Wan Zuo worried, "Could it be that two people are bound to die?"
"There's one scenario," Jing Minghe said. "Last time, Brother Hao and I were simultaneously seen by Jia Dong during the hide-and-seek game, so the instance determined we were bound. It's just that I'm not sure now what 'bound' means."
"Bound?" You Mi looked at Jing Minghe and Chi Hao in surprise. "You and Mr. Chi were both discovered by Jia Dong at the same time? And then bound? How did you..."
Tong Zheng chuckled, "It seems these two wanted to do the same thing at the time and ran into each other. Truly a perfect understanding."
Jing Minghe shrugged and tilted his head to glance at Chi Hao, trying to find humor in the grim situation. He joked, "Yeah, I'm starting to suspect Brother Hao might be using the same brain as me."
"However," Jing Minghe continued, "although Brother Hao and I were unexpectedly bound, and even if finding the remains counts as success for both of us, I believe the conditions for being bound should be very harsh."
"Yes," Tong Zheng said, looking at Jing Minghe and Chi Hao with a hint of envy. "The 'simultaneously' aspect of being seen by ghost players at the same time must be grasped to a certain degree. Without perfect coordination, it's hard to achieve. Moreover, I think if two people are always together and are discovered by ghost players in this situation, they would likely be deemed as violating the rules."
Wan Zuo agreed, "Exactly. This situation is like two people hiding in the same place and being discovered by ghost players, which is indeed prohibited in the game rules."
Therefore, the current problem is, assuming Jing Minghe's proposed victory condition is valid, and it is the most difficult scenario to achieve, does Chi Hao need to be a ghost player again? And, with the mismatch in the number of remains and players, can those who have always been ordinary players leave in the end?
You Mi glanced at the time and broke the silence. "There's still some time until the next hide-and-seek game. We can think slowly. Why don't we all rest first? No matter what we have to do later, we need energy and strength."
"Sister You Mi is right," Jing Minghe said, standing up and stretching. "I suppose everyone is tired. Let's rest for a while."
There was actually another issue that Jing Minghe did not raise at this time, either because others had not noticed it or deliberately ignored it.
That was Jia Dong's situation.
According to Jing Minghe's speculation, Jia Dong should have hidden under the stage of the grand theater during the first hide-and-seek game, but he did not die. The little girl only tempted him to commit suicide, she did not kill him herself.
Later, Jia Dong became a ghost player and was intercepted by Jing Minghe and Chi Hao. Logically, he should have become an ordinary player who did not need to be found and could not move, which should have been safer than other players. As for whether he could eventually get out, that was the same as what others faced.
However, after this hide-and-seek game ended, Jia Dong's mental state deteriorated, and he was very afraid of Jing Minghe, who had just interacted with the little girl.
This was the first time Jing Minghe had been feared like this by someone. He really wanted to know if anything happened to Jia Dong after he and Chi Hao left, but he could not get close at all. This feeling was quite peculiar.
Tong Zheng noticed Jing Minghe's gaze and quietly asked, "Should I go ask him?"
Jing Minghe sighed, "In his state, it's unlikely to get any answers. You can try, but if you can't get anything, don't force it."
Tong Zheng nodded and turned to walk towards Jia Dong.