CH 10

Inside the utility room.

The place is cramped and cramped, the air is damp and dreary, and the damp has a musty smell typical of old, unoccupied houses, integrating into a feeling that a normal person would find uncomfortable.

Luo enquired about Xiao Lan’s plans.

[What’s next for you, sir]

Xiao Lan sat on a random bucket and crossed his feet in thought, ” Lin Yan doesn’t seem to know as much about this game as I thought he did, otherwise he wouldn’t have had to spy on me to get a clue to the smoke.”

Xiao Lan suddenly understands why the bosses in this game look so unforgiving, because the hard part of this game isn’t actually the bosses!

Zhang Dong is just a source of game clues, his actions are limited by the rules of the game and he is not free to kill players. The same goes for the female guides, who are really just part of the rules of the game.

All deaths stem from the player’s own actions and choices.

The real danger stems from – among the players – the betrayers.

They will try to find ways to test the rules and then lead their teammates to break them, which will lead to their death.

However, the game did not seem to give any special privileges to the Betrayer, and Lin Yan was able to gain Xiao Lan’s movement earlier by relying on the advantage of being a veteran player – props. Had it been a new player, the death rate in this game would never have been so high, with only four of the eleven remaining, or three if you exclude the betrayer.

In that case, there must be clues that Lin Yan doesn’t know about, and if he doesn’t, he has no way of destroying them in advance.

“Twenty minutes to go, let’s go back to a few places where we found clues earlier and check them out.”

Xiao Lan stood up: ” Luo, we still have a chance!”

Xiao Lan ran towards the location of the warehouse while telling Luo to keep a minimum of vigilance.

In his current state Luo is no longer able to probe as quickly and accurately as he did before, and although Luo says he can hold his own, Xiao Lan won’t allow him to exert his strength in this way.

Xiao Lan is not in a position to squeeze the life out of someone who has been sealed away for an unknown period of time and has used his powers many times since his reemergence without recuperation. Moreover, the matter of Lin Yan is still unresolved, and perhaps Luo’s power will still be needed for the final step, so it would be better to let him recuperate more for now.

” Brother Xiao ……” suddenly came a woman’s voice in a hushed voice, like a sob that made one’s skin tingle.

Xiao Lan turns his head and at first glance he doesn’t see anyone.

“This way.” The voice came from above.

Xiao Lan looks up to find Zhao Xiaohe cowering at the top of a tall iron shelf, eyes red, tears mixed with dust on his face, and what appears to be some scrapes, his whole face a sense of disheveled despair.

Xiao Lan felt something bad: ” Zhao Xiaohe? What’s going on?”

Zhao Xiaohe blew his nose and there was no hint of life in his tone:” Lin Yan , he …… ran out of nowhere and smashed what I found to pieces, he said we should all go to hell, why did he do that?”

She wiped her eyes, “There’s no time …… I can’t find a clue either, am I dead Brother Xiao.”

With that, the girl, who was probably still in high school, couldn’t help crying out in pain.

Her life has not yet blossomed, but she is forced into this odd game and witnesses her best friends dying one by one in front of her. In all honesty, she has done well, searching earnestly for clues, dodging death conditions, not being tricked by Lin Yan and even pulling herself together after facing the death of her best friend.

It’s hard to say if even an adult put in this situation could have performed like this.

Unfortunately, there is a betrayer in the team whose goal is to send everyone to hell.

Xiao Lan didn’t choose to say something uselessly comforting as he quickly said, “There are still twenty minutes to go, you still have a chance to find a clue. If it doesn’t work when it’s almost time, then take a gamble.”

“According to the rules of supermarkets, the easier it is to get your hands on the more profitable the item, the highest profit margin is on items at eye level, and according to human habits items on the right are more profitable than those on the left. Think about what Zhang Dong is and what he would buy.”

Xiao Lan gazes calmly at Zhao Xiaohe, his clear eyes are filled with determination and hope, and something Zhao Xiaohe cannot understand, except for the absence of fear.

Meeting his eyes, Zhao Xiaohe’s heart suddenly surged with courage, it was not the last moment, far from giving up! Even if there were no clues, she could still bet on her luck. She did not believe that she was doomed to die in the calculations of a villain.

After Xiao Lan said that, he left.

Looking at Xiao Lan’s determined back, Zhao Xiaohe wiped his face and regained his composure, secretly cheering himself on.

After bidding farewell to Zhao Xiaohe, Xiao Lan moves on quickly.

Despite putting on a great show in front of Aunt Xiao’s mother, he hasn’t found a clue of his own yet ……

[You have 15 minutes left, sir]

Boing! Xiao Lan is bitter at heart and simply runs.

Back in the warehouse director’s office, nothing was found.

[10 minutes left]

Treasury room, nothing.

……

In the last five minutes, Xiao Lan returned to the manager’s office.

Xiao Lan leapt straight out of the window, and with his current fitness level he would not have been injured by it.

Back by the lawn, Xiao Lan found the cigarette butts and bricks he had hidden earlier. There was no sign of anyone having moved around and it didn’t look like Lin Yan or the flower-armed gangsters had found their way here, which was good news.

Xiao Lan returned to the spot where he had found the cigarette butt and switched on his mobile phone torch to study every detail, and in the light of the light he finally spotted the trace he had missed before.

It was an extremely inconspicuous light grey mark, like some kind of liquid that had spread on the ground, absorbed the dust and then slowly evaporated. Over time, another layer of dust had accumulated on it, making it look even more inconspicuous.

Xiao Lan was a bit strange before. Although Zhang Dong was a lazy person and liked to complain, he always seemed to talk about it, but in reality he was a coward, even when he was scolded by his manager, he only dared to complain secretly on a paper box.

Even the disciplinary notice only said that he left his post without permission and abused customers, and did not show that this was a violent person.

So why was the warehouse director’s office smashed up like this?

And then there’s the time he ran under someone’s office in the middle of the night to crawl through a pipe and fell to his death. Although Zhang Dong doesn’t seem to be very smart, are these stupid acts the work of a sober person?

Is it safe to guess that he wasn’t sober at the time?

The simplest guess is – drunkenness – when the mind is not sober and the body still retains the ability to move. It’s no surprise just how humiliating things people can do when they’re high, and it’s not uncommon to be hyperactive and think you can daydream.

But Xiao Lan had not seen anything related to wine in any of the places he had visited before, so he had overlooked it. Now the trace on the ground gave him hope again. Perhaps Zhang Dong had thrown the bottle away after drinking, or had carried it with him and eventually collected it along with his body.

Xiao Lan reached out and pointed to the mark and said to Luo, “Luo, help me check if that’s a mark from the wine or not.”

It would be a real embarrassment if Zhang Dong had taken too long to pee and wasn’t too polite.

The pale shadow stretches out in a thin line, slowly covering the grey trace, and this time it takes longer for Luo’s writing to reappear.

[Yes, sir]

Xiao Lan is relieved at last.

“Ding dong–”

“Lucky people, our game is on, don’t keep me waiting!”

Zhang Dong’s hoarse, unpleasant voice rang out, and this would be the last time, regardless of whether or not he would finally pass.