A dozen minutes after Wan Zuo left, Shen Rong found that she still couldn't move. Not only could she not move, but compared to the half hour she had to hide while waiting for the normal players after being selected as a ghost player, her body felt increasingly stiff, as if she would turn into a rigid stone if she remained still any longer.
Why was this happening?
Shen Rong wondered, she had clearly swapped identities with the ghost player and should be the safest person now.
But the strangeness she felt made her increasingly uneasy, as if something terrible was about to happen.
This unease led Shen Rong to recall an event after the last hide-and-seek game ended.
At the time, as soon as the hide-and-seek game ended, she left her hiding spot and, on her way back to the banquet hall, encountered Jia Dong, who was frozen in place. Jia Dong called out to her, asking for help.
But seeing Jia Dong seemed fine and in no need of rescue, and given that Jia Dong was covered in blood from his previous serious injuries, which made him look unpleasant, she merely glanced at him indifferently, completely ignoring his plea for help, and turned to leave.
Thinking back to this now, Shen Rong felt suspicious.
Was this the reason Jia Dong attacked me later? Simply because I ignored him? Or was there another reason?
Just as Shen Rong was in doubt, a few lines of text suddenly appeared in the void before her eyes: "Seek help from the first person who sees you. If they are willing to save you, you will gain freedom; if not, you will be trapped on the cruise ship forever!"
Shen Rong stared at the lines of text in the void before her, unable to snap back to reality for a long time.
She didn't understand why this was happening.
·
After being swapped with the ghost player, Wan Zuo rushed to the first-floor restaurant and found a skeleton in a hidden compartment beneath a large refrigerator.
It was still early, so he decided to find someone randomly and then look for a skeleton, preferably Tong Zheng or Ke Wuwen, as they both had clear objectives.
As for which of the two, no one could be sure; it was all up to fate.
To avoid meeting the previous ghost player, Shen Rong, and causing unnecessary trouble, Wan Zuo chose to go up from another route.
The third and fourth floors were guest rooms. He already knew that normal players couldn't open the doors to the guest rooms, so they couldn't be hiding there.
The cinema and theater on the fifth floor had already been searched by Jing Minghe. They should, in theory, be safe hiding spots, but he wasn't sure if Tong Zheng and the others would risk it. Su Dan Novel Network.
After hesitating, Wan Zuo decided to check there first. If he didn't find anything, he would continue upwards.
Just as Wan Zuo was about to turn towards the cinema, he suddenly heard a collision sound from the sixth floor and quickly turned and ran towards it.
As soon as he reached the sixth floor, Wan Zuo heard a loud thud from the card room. Without thinking, he immediately rushed into the card room.
The moment he stepped into the card room, Wan Zuo's anxious expression turned into one of bewilderment. He saw Tong Zheng dismantling and overturning the gambling tables one by one, demonstrating considerable destructive force.
"Wan Zuo?" Tong Zheng stopped what he was doing and looked at Wan Zuo in surprise. Just as he was about to ask, two lines of text suddenly appeared in the void before his eyes.
Congratulations on successfully transforming into a ghost player. Please work hard to complete the mission.
Wan Zuo is the ghost player for this round of hide-and-seek?
A question flashed through Tong Zheng's mind, but he saw that Wan Zuo was already frozen in place, unable to move.
Before Tong Zheng could ask, he heard Wan Zuo speak first, "Mr. Tong, don't just stand there, hurry and find the skeleton! I've already found one, it's under the refrigerator in the first-floor restaurant. You'll have to look elsewhere, I'm sorry."
Tong Zheng understood. He walked up to Wan Zuo, gently patted his shoulder, and smiled, "You don't need to be sorry. I understand, and I know your thoughts. This instance is too draining, and I also hope it ends as soon as possible."
After speaking, Tong Zheng did not leave the card room but re-entered, saying to Wan Zuo as he walked, "Thank you for coming to find me. It's also thanks to you coming now that I have a direction. If you hadn't come, what I would have faced would not have been victory, but life and death."
Wan Zuo watched Tong Zheng's retreating back as he walked into the card room and couldn't help but smile.
Jing Minghe's team not only had many people but also not a single weak link. It seemed he had to work even harder to earn their recognition.
In less than ten minutes, Tong Zheng found a skeleton under the gambling table at the very back of the card room.
Wan Zuo, frozen at the door, looked astonished and couldn't help but ask, "How did you know there was a skeleton under there?"
Tong Zheng wrapped the skeleton with something he found and replied, "I didn't know. During the last hide-and-seek game, I was here. I sat by the table near the door and observed every table and chair in this room. At that time, I felt that the tables at the back had some issues. If I hadn't suddenly heard Wu Wen's voice, I might have encountered danger as well."
After speaking, Tong Zheng walked up to Wan Zuo and asked, "Are the replaced ghost players always unable to move?"
Just as Wan Zuo was about to speak, he found that his body was not as stiff as it had been when he was frozen, so he tried it.
"I can move!" Wan Zuo exclaimed excitedly. After discovering that his restraint had been lifted, he reached out and firmly patted Tong Zheng, who was standing before him, guessing, "It seems that as long as the player who replaced me finds the target, my restraint will be lifted."
After saying this, Wan Zuo hesitated and then asked Tong Zheng, "I have a bold idea. Are you willing to try it?"
Tong Zheng raised an eyebrow slightly. "You want to go find the next person with me?"
"Yes," Wan Zuo couldn't help but feel admiration for Tong Zheng again. "It's just that I can't guarantee whether it will bring danger to the other person or to you and me, so..."
"It's alright, let's go together," Tong Zheng explained. "Actually, my thoughts are the same as yours. Now there are only Wu Wen and You Mi left. There's still more than half an hour before the game ends. Wu Wen has a clear target, and it won't take too long. But You Mi is different. If we can help her search, perhaps we can end this hide-and-seek instance."
Wan Zuo noticed Tong Zheng's words and asked doubtfully, "Why didn't you mention Shen Rong?"
Tong Zheng sneered. "She's not within my consideration. If you want to help her, then I'm sorry, I can't accompany you."
"What a coincidence," Wan Zuo smiled. "I thought the same. By the way, I wasn't the ghost player originally chosen for this hide-and-seek game. Shen Rong was. I was replaced by her."
Tong Zheng was stunned for a moment, then nodded. "I see."
"I know where she is. We should try to avoid her when we go looking."
Tong Zheng asked upon hearing this, "You've already found the skeleton, so she should have been released from the restriction like you, right?"