CH 48.1

Emil, “How did you get out?”

Lin Jue, “A nun NPC let me out. I have to go wash my face.”

In the corridor, players poked their heads out one after another, showing inquisitive expressions.

Bai Lixin walked back into his room and went to the window to look out.

The grass was green, the branches were dense, the sky was clear, and the white clouds were soaring.

Even the sunlight was bright and dazzling.

In the backyard of the Red Apple House was an apple orchard, which couldn’t be seen from where Bai Lixin stood.

As far as the eye could see, there was a large, lush forest, and beyond it was an endless sea of water.

When he looked out from here, he had a sense of looking down. The ocean in the distance was not drawn into a line, and the blue waves were still visible.

From this view, it looked like they were on a hill that ran from high to low.

Looking to the side, to the side of the window was a long, winding tarmac road that stretched into the forest.

The road was the only way he could see led to the outside.

All in all, the Red Apple House felt more like an isolated place.

Away from the hustle and bustle of the crowds, alone in the middle of the island.

It was not clear whether this was designed to keep them away from pollution and noise, or to imprison them better.

Yesterday’s guests referred to them as “hope”, which must have been some kind of clue or hint.

Only one night had passed, and they had five days and four nights to explore.

Dijia’s identity this time should be that of an undead that could only appear at night, but he still didn’t know the significance of Dijia’s mark.

While Bai Lixin was thinking, Xia Chi had already finished washing up. He walked out of the bathroom with light footsteps and came over to Bai Lixin.

“Brother, what are you looking at?”

Bai Lixin silently looked at Xia Chi.

After a sound night’s sleep, Xia Chi, whose face was pale from guilt and panic yesterday, was already glowing today. His cheeks were rosy, and his eyes took on a youthful look.

When he smiled, his white teeth were particularly bright.

Bai Lixin, “You seem happy?”

Xia Chi froze for a couple of seconds and put away his smile, “Uh.”

He lowered his head in confusion and thought hard, “I think I had a good dream last night, but I can’t remember what it was.”

Bai Lixin, “I heard you shouting the name ‘Tan Yue’ yesterday.”

Xia Chi’s slumped shoulders stiffened slightly as he lifted his head in surprise and thought hard, “Oh, yes. Now that you mention it, I seem to have dreamt about Tan Yue.”

Bai Lixin was leaning lazily against the window, and the bright sunlight filtered in and spilled over him.

In the dappled sunlight, the youth looked like he was gilded with a golden glow, and when Xia Chi looked up, the warm sunlight made the tiny fluffy hairs on Bai Lixin’s cheeks turn a warm golden color.

He was stunned for a couple of seconds and spoke unconsciously, “Brother, you’re so beautiful.”

Bai Lixin cocked his head, raised his eyebrows, and continued, “Do you remember what you did in your dream last night? Think about it carefully.”

Xia Chi’s state was not quite right.

He looked too comfortable now.

Even if he was a rookie who had only participated in 3 games, he knew how dangerous the copies were. According to common sense, he would never achieve such a completely relaxed state during a copy as he was now.

Xia Chi’s brow furrowed, and after thinking carefully, he still shook his head, “I forgot, brother. I just felt so happy. I think it was a beautiful dream, as I’m in a particularly good mood in the morning.”

Seeing that Xia Chi really couldn’t remember anything, Bai Lixin didn’t press further and turned his head to continue looking out of the window, his gaze deep and heavy.

Xia Chi came over and followed Bai Lixin’s gaze, “What are you thinking about, brother?”

Bai Lixin, “I was thinking about where those ‘guests’ from yesterday came from.”

He pointed to the sea, “It looks like we are in the middle of an island.”

Xia Chi thought hard, “Right, oh, those fake-smiling guests drove yesterday. But you can only see half of the view from here. How did you know it was an island?”

Bai Lixin opened the window and a slight salty sea breeze immediately rolled in.

The pure white curtains rolled up, covering most of Bai Lixin’s body, revealing only his slender neck and warm, handsome face.

“By instinct, let’s find a chance to look at the other side later.”

Xia Chi was brought back by Bai Lixin’s words, his weirdly relaxed mood after waking up fell back down and his spirit tense again.

Recalling his state of mind after waking, Xia Chi looked at Bai Lixin with a slightly torn expression, “Brother, was I too excited and relaxed just now?”

Bai Lixin sighed, “A little.”

Xia Chi’s face changed slightly and his features screwed up, “Is it because of the copy?”

“Not sure.” The curtains swayed with a “swish” sound,sound, and Bai Lixin’s eyes fell on the medication by the window, “It could be the medication. Perhaps you were too stressed and your body wove a beautiful dream for you out of self-preservation, or it could be the copy itself. ”

“let’s go see how everyone else is doing. If everyone has the same condition as you, it’s not a personal problem.”

Xia Chi pursed his lips and his heart began to pound, “Then why don’t I skip my medication tonight? Brother, what comes at night?”

Bai Lixin’s mind immediately recalled that cold “brother”.

His cheeks suddenly flushed slightly and he coughed lightly, “A ghost.”

Xia Chi’s already far-fetched expression went completely numb, and his body stood stiffly in place as he stumbled over his words, “What kind of ghost?”

In Bai Lixin’s mind, an image slowly appeared in God’s perspective. He was slightly curled up in a pure white quilt as a cold chest approached from behind…

His shoulders stiffened, and Bai Lixin’s flushed cheeks burned a little more. “Ahem, I don’t know, I didn’t open my eyes, I only heard sounds.”

Xia Chi soul was already trembling but he still asked, “What sounds?”

—’Brother Jia loves you.’

A sea breeze rolled in and the curtains flew up abruptly, completely hiding Bai Lixin behind them.

Bai Lixin’s cheeks had turned the pink color of peach as he took a deep breath and let it out again, “That ghost can imitate other people’s voices, and it imitated your voice to call me. If you accidentally wake up on your own at night, don’t respond. Even if you hear my voice, the odds are it’s not me.”

By the time the curtains fell, the color of Bai Lixin’s cheeks had returned to normal, and the gentle call of the priest rang out in the corridor.

Xia Chi, “So, brother, why don’t we make a secret code? That way, we’ll know the person speaking.”

The voice outside the door grew closer and closer, and Bai Lixin shook his head, “No, we just entered the copy yesterday, and that ghost not only imitated your voice but even the tone of voice was exquisite, and it even knew to call me ‘brother’.”

“How do you think it knew your voice? That ghost might be able to read people’s memories, so even if we make a secret code, there’s a good chance that the other side will access it. The point of a codeword is to be safe, but otherwise, it will only increase the danger.”

Xia Chi lowered his shoulders in dismay. The door to the room was suddenly pushed open from the outside, and a man in a priest’s uniform without a single crease stood outside with a smile on his lips, “Did you sleep well, children? It’s time to go down for breakfast.”

The two looked at each other, and through the open door of the room, several players were already standing in the corridor.

Xia Chi had just gotten up, and his bed was still unmade. He was about to make it when he was stopped, “You’re very obedient, my child. But there is no need to clean up; a sister will come to clean the room later, so hurry up and go down.”

Bai Lixin spat out secretly.

You don’t even know how to knock on the door. The ghost was more polite than you.

The two of them went out and found a dozen people already standing in the corridor.

They quietly walked to the end of the line, and as they passed the players, Bai Lixin noticed that a small number of them had pleasant expressions, but most of them did not look very good.

The two different emotions put together made each other’s expressions a little more distinct.

Two more players came out of the room and stood behind Bai Lixin and Xia Chi.

The priest who was leading the group took a head count and asked the nun standing at his side, “How come there are only 18 people, where are the other two?”

The nun had a smile on her face and her voice was soft as she spoke, “These are all the people. There are two rooms that are missing one person each.”

“Nonsense!”

The low roar pulled the attention of all the players to the face of the priest.

The priest still had a smile on his face, but two arched eyebrows were frowning towards the middle but the corners of his mouth were still curved into a crescent.

The whole face resembled a clown mask, and even though he was smiling, the players could still feel his anger.

“I thought I told you not to open your eyes at night, and that you were not to answer whatever people called you.”

Bai Lixin’s gaze fell on the priest’s hands propped up on the gentleman’s cane, noticing that the backs of the other man’s hands were trembling and had blue veins popping up.

“It’s dangerous; you’ll be dragged away by the guy on the other side and you’ll never come back.”

Eighteen players remained, with two players gone.

It didn’t seem like anything had happened last night, but while he hadn’t heard any movement when he was awake, it could have happened after he had passed out.

Bai Lixin pulled up the task bar, and at the top of it, the number of surviving players was still 20. Even if they were taken away, the two players hadn’t died.

“Who is the guy on the other side?” A calm and cool voice rang out in the corridor.

Everyone looked over at the voice, and when they saw who the questioner was, their expressions all showed a few moments of surprise.

It was that elegant beauty from the 72nd floor.

Did he not grow eyes? Can’t he see that this priest NPC was about to explode? Did he pick this time to ask because he wanted to be confined too?

Sure enough, the corner of the priest’s lips that had been smiling fell, and a pair of eyes stared coldly at Bai Lixin.

Without the smile, the crowd realized that the priest’s eyes were extraordinarily dark, and there was no reflection in the middle of the pupils like most people, only an absolute deep black.

He looked just like a normal person when smiling.

But when his face was expressionless, his body looked stiff, like a dummy.

This was obviously just not right, but the handsome young man on the 72nd floor didn’t even seem to realize the seriousness of the problem and spoke once again, “On the other side, which side?”

He finished, adding, “You said it yourself yesterday. Questions can be asked outside at meal times.”

The priest’s pupils swiveled for a moment, and his expression began to slowly return to normal, “Oh, yes. I did say that. The other side is the world of the dead, and once you enter the world of the dead, you will not be able to return to the world of the living.”

Bai Lixin’s eyes dropped.

Was it another inner world?

A smile returned to the priest’s eyes, “Well, children, my temper was not very good just now. But I did it for your own good. Now that supplies are scarce outside, the Red Apple House is the only pure place in the world. What no one else can eat, you are enjoying to your heart’s content.”

They followed the priest downstairs to an extremely hearty breakfast.

Bai Lixin walked at the back and made a point of observing the priests and nuns.

They walked a little stiffly, yet in a very rhythmic manner.

It was as if everyone had been uniformly conditioned to take the same sized steps, with their knees raised at the same height and angle.

The curvature of the smiles were all exactly the same too, so you could say that the details were taken to the extreme.

The day seemed to be truly peaceful, and after breakfast was rest time. The smiling priest took them to the apple orchard where they had been yesterday, only saying that they were to have fun and that they would call them in for lunch when it was time.

The two missing players were a man and a woman.

Bai Lixin remembered that the female player had just reached the 200th floor. Despite their absence, the players in the orchard maintained their expressions.

They were veteran players, and fear and numbness must find a balance.

Lin Jue called the people together, and he sat under the same big tree from yesterday, still sitting in the same posture, and still playing with the small dagger in his hand.

“I went to the confinement room last night,” Lin Jue spoke lightly, “and received a task there.”

Curiosity flashed in the other players’ eyes as they heard Lin Jue continue, “That’s what I meant. Exploring the copy at night has a higher chance of triggering the tasks.”

“It wasn’t a big task, and I’ve already completed it.”

The crowd was stunned, and one by one, they secretly opened the task bar without saying anything.

In the task bar, that 200,000 pool of points had somehow been shortened by 3000 points to 197,000.

A player spoke up boldly, “Can you tell us what the task was?”

Lin Jue gave off a very strong aura, with traces of fierceness and ruthlessness between his eyebrows. He was like a cheetah in the grassland, making people look at him with fear.

Many of the players here were actually a bit afraid of Lin Jue.

Lin Jue gave that player a sidelong glance and said, “The task was really simple. I had to stay in the confinement room for one night, but I had to stay awake.”

Another player spoke up sharply, “That simple?”

Lin Jue, “Yes.”

The player who spoke was wearing a pair of box glasses, and the man with the glasses was somewhat incredulous, “This is an S-rank copy, how can it be so easy?”

Bai Lixin sat quietly in the corner, his gaze falling on Lin Jue’s fingertips.

Lin Jue pondered for two seconds, “If you really say so, there is something in there. The confinement cell was quite busy at night, I was squeezed into the corner and almost suffocated.”

“There were a lot of people in the confinement cell?”

Lin Jue, “That’s not true, I was the only one.”

Hearing Lin Jue’s words, the players’ faces changed with a swish.

Lin Jue was the only one there, yet he was squeezed into a corner.

It’s not a human being that squeezed him!

This mission was to spend a night with a ghost? And stay awake?

Was that so simple?

The big boss’s simplicity wasn’t the same as theirs, was it?!

“I tried to open my eyes in the confinement cell.”

Lin Jue’s next sentence caused curiosity to flash through the other players again.

Opened his eyes? And then what?

Lin Jue, “I saw a bunch of stunning cuties. Opening your eyes at night is no problem, but pay attention to your facial expressions, and…”

He squeezed his thumb and index finger and made a zipping motion around his mouth, “Shh, don’t make a sound, be a silent lamb.”

“My guess is that the two players responded to the ghosts’ calls and were taken.”

“Right.” A female player spoke up, “I didn’t take my medication and the ghost imitated my voice, calling my roommate to my bed. I was so surprised that I wanted to alert the other player, but couldn’t speak up. I could only secretly pray that she had fallen asleep or ignored me.”

“But she responded.”

“Then I heard a muffled sound, as if she had been shoved into something and dragged away.”

The female player took a deep breath, her face starting to look a little worse as she recalled the events of last night.

A male player spat out, “We’ve already reached the 200th floor; how can we still make such cheap mistakes? The NPCs warned us before they left that we shouldn’t respond even if our names are called.”

However, he didn’t get much of a response to this spiteful comment. After reaching the 200th floor, everyone was used to seeing death. No one had the energy to laugh at another person’s mistake, because no one knew whether the next mistake would be made by themselves.