CH 103

Seeing no further response from the boss's office, Xiao Lan left the office door.

The entire first floor looks the same as before, just a conference room plus the boss's office, and the Conference Room 2 mentioned in the message is still nowhere to be seen.

Xiao Lan stood at the entrance to the staircase, at this point the whole staircase looked the same as before and the players could be heard, as if the danger was far away.

It is also not clear whether Cain's attack is a one-off or if it will recur.

Xiao Lan searched through his props and the only ones he could use to get out of the situation were probably [You Can't See Me] and [Reverse Time]. [You Can't See Me] required a target to use, so if he wanted to use it, he would have to find Hidden's presence; [Reverse Time] was just like reading a file and starting over, so neither prop was good in this situation.

The best way to do it again is still to dodge it with a skill, eliminating presence or spatial movement or something like that should work, as long as you can get off this section of the ladder.

But Xiao Lan's skill cooldown is far too long, and with the way things are going, this game is not expected to last much longer, certainly not long enough for his skill cooldown.

So he doesn't want to use his skills as a last resort.

Ugh, I wish there were more bosses who would leave him alone because of his poverty.

Holding on to the Bones of Dalet, Xiao Lan resumes his trek up this flight of steps.

Surprisingly, however, the walk went very smoothly. There was no sense of space closing in, no sense of danger on your back, and even the sounds from downstairs didn't disappear at all.

He made it to the ground floor just fine.

Xiao Lan looked back at the staircase and pondered if Cain had already left, or if he could only strike once when he launched an attack on a player?

Unable to find any evidence for the moment, he returned to the office where he had been before with his suspicions.

--

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Outside the office, the players of the game were gathered and many of them came up to Xiao Lan to ask about the situation.

Only Luo noticed that Xiao Lan was in a different state than before and he quickly walked up and stood beside him, "Is there something very dangerous going on?"

Xiao Lan nodded and told the crowd about the encounter on the stairs.

As he listens to Xiao Lan's calm account of his life-threatening crisis, Luo's hand drops to his side and clenches into a fist, then forces himself to unclench it after a moment.

Luo tells himself that this is what Xiao Lan has to go through to grow up, that if he wants to move forward and become stronger, he is destined to encounter danger, perhaps even more danger than this time. No one is in a position to take this on for him, as this would limit Xiao Lan's potential.

Luo took a deep breath, following the human's example, to calm the killing intent in his heart, and the elegant smile returned to his face.

He continues to stare quietly at Xiao Lan, listening to the other man's account.

Xiao Lan concluded, "From what I've experienced, Cain's attacks don't have much range, and those who are good at fighting can sense a sense of threat before it strikes, and it only attacked me once; it's unclear if it has a limited time to attack or if there is a limit to the number of times it can do so."

Mu Yang played with the console, "It looks like you can use props to fend off or stall for a while and then create an opportunity to escape, whether you can or not is up to each individual."

The faces of the crowd were not good after hearing this. This kind of invisible threat was too troublesome, even if everyone was an intermediate player and had more or less some means to save their lives, it was not easy to deal with this kind of situation.

Besides, not every one of them has keen combat instincts, and they may not even know how they will die in the end.

Hu Zhai is a little worried: "Is there a person chosen every hour?"

"Is it really just one person?" Luo spoke up, meeting the puzzled looks of the crowd, he reached out and pointed to the open door of the program office not far away, where the players' workstations were located, "The players who became programmed are already here, right, but why are there three seats there?"

The players' eyes turned in disbelief to those around them.

Cheng Wenyi and Mo Dan were the only two people in the program, but there were really only three workstations in the office.

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Mo Dan took a few quick steps into the office and searched the extra workstation.

A few moments later he came out with a frown, "No, there's nothing, there was a work permit at the planning table, but there's nothing at all here, Faye Luo, did you make a mistake?"

Luo just kept his usual elegant and decent smile and didn't respond.

Xiao Lan was aware that Luo's memory was not affected and he chose to trust Luo at this time.

The rest of the players also found the extra workstations suspicious and, in connection with the fact that memories can be tampered with, they were also more inclined to think that someone had really gone missing.

Hu Zhai's fat face was bitter: "One person for the first hour, two for the second, so wouldn't the third hour be ......"

Hua Bei frowned, "I don't know if there's, what's the pattern ......"

Xiao Lan pulls out his work permit, which he clearly has with him, and still gets selected, and wonders what death condition is triggered? And what did he and the other chosen player have in common?

Is it a case of going to work and touching the fish?

No, he wasn't the only one groping for fish.

Suddenly Xiao Lan had a flash of light: "Is there now one for every department that has had an incident?"

When the players thought about it, yes, the first time something happened it was planning, the second time it was art and programming, so that it was exactly one in one department. Could it be that the pattern of this choice is actually not only the work permit, but also related to the department they are in?

Xiao Lan compared his work permit with those of others and found no difference.

He returned to his station and began to examine it for himself, a station he hadn't spent much time in. The workstation looked uneventful, with no strange charms or totems or anything that would look like death.

Xiao Lan did not stop there, but continued to examine the table and chairs. In the corner of the table Xiao Lan found a Little Xiao '1', a small relief in a very hidden position, the same colour as the table, which could easily be overlooked.

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Xiao Lan touches the number: "It's like some kind of logo."

Then he saw "2", "3" and "4" on the other tables, which were supposed to be the seat numbers.

After Xiao Lan had made his suspicions known, Mu Yang and Hu Zhai went to check out the program and the planning office respectively.

When Mu Yang returns a few moments later, he nods and says to Xiao Lan, "The empty seat is '1'."

Hu Zhai is also back: "The empty space for planning is also a '1'."

Xiao Lan: "It is now certain that the players involved in the incident all had seat numbers '1' and it is likely that the order in which Cain struck the players was according to their seat numbers."

Mo Dan: "So why is it planned first?"

Xiao Lan: "Because he didn't have his work permit with him, and in the conditions of death, probably not having a work permit with him takes precedence over the seating order."

At this news the players covered their ugly and bizarre work permits, something that was a matter of their lives.

In fact, Xiao Lan had a guess, wondering if the order of death for those in the back of the seating row would move up if they lost their work permits, but unfortunately none of the players wanted to test that with their own lives.

Mu Yang looked around at the crowd, "That means that the people who will be in trouble in the next round, according to the pattern known so far, are those whose seat number is '2' and are ...... three."

The players' eyes fell on Hua Bei, Cheng Wenyi, and Hu Zhai.

Mo Dan snuck in the crowd and sighed in relief that he wasn't the one who was going to die this round.

Hua Bei's face is white: "It's not good... ......"

Hu Zhai's voice was a little shaky: "Why do I feel that this boss is full of malice towards the planner, there are only two of them, if I don't die in this round, will it be me in the next round?"

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Hua Bei wondered, "What about the fourth round? According to this pattern, there should be four people in trouble, but there are only three departments in total?"

Mu Yang poked at the console and said coolly, "It's possible there will only be four of us left then."

If all three players who were spotted in the third round are destroyed, the number left is exactly four.

You're a young man who doesn't hesitate to talk about your own boss.

Cheng Wenyi raised his eyebrows at Mu Yang's words and said even more coolly than Mu Yang, "Add ten essays to the essay, celebrating good people."

"Mee-woo~" Xue Li agreed, licking its pink fleshy pads in the process, and Xiao Lan couldn't help but look at it a little more.

On hearing the sad news, Mu Yang's game boy fell to the floor with a clatter.

He must now be desperate to turn back time and give his mouthy self two big slaps on the wrist for talking nonsense!

However the game is unpredictable as to how many players will survive this one, and it is actually possible that there will be less than four players in the fourth round.

It may even be the case that some sectors are already dead before the fourth round.

Therefore, the death condition of splitting the headcount according to sectors will be difficult to establish in the fourth round.

Xiao Lan: "I always felt that by the time the fourth round came around, which was 4:44, there might be a different twist, after all, 4:44 sounded like a good time for the boss to make a big move."

"It's just a guess, of course." Xiao Lan added to avoid them being too alarmed.

The players' faces were even more bitter, even if they were guessing, but they weren't looking forward to the big move at all, really.

To make matters worse, it was now past 2:44 and less than two hours to 4:44.

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The players grabbed a clue and exchanged it.

Luo took out the pieces of paper and the bloodstained notebook he had found earlier.

Mu Yang pulled out a scrap of paper he had found in the trash, the handwriting so ugly that it was unforgettable, and it was in the hand of the original planner.

Luo took the piece of paper and matched the notches to the ones in his notebook, which matched perfectly.

This is indeed the part of the notebook that was torn away.

The players' eyes fell on this piece of paper, which read: "Facing the moon, Fu Shan pours the Yin Yue idol with a spiritual spring and recites a spell to seal it".

Xiao Lan points to the word 'mantra': "This must be a reference to the phrase 'He who comes from nowhere goes back to where he came from'."

Hu Zhai looked confused: "What is the Fu Shan Spiritual Spring? And what is the Yin Yue idol?"

The players who locked eyes with him were also confused. The office looked very modern and the surroundings were like a villa area, where did the mountain spring and the idol come from?

The trash game is afraid it's not trying to screw them over?

--

After exchanging leads.

Once again, the players split up to look up in these rooms in the hope of getting a clue to these two items.

Two of the rooms had been previously explored by other players and found to be unproductive, so Xiao Lan targeted the ones that had not yet been opened.

By the door, Mu Yang and Hu Zhai are engaged in a harmonious and friendly discussion about each other's lockpicking skills.

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Mu Yang crouched by the wall playing a game: "Make it quick, if not, go and borrow the key from Hua Bei."

Hu Zhai wipes the sweat from his forehead: "I've been practising this for a long time, it'll be ready in no time."

Cheng Wenyi, holding his cat, is in his usual watchful mode, his hair has been slightly altered and he seems to have taken the time to fix it, almost as if he's here for a photo shoot.

At the sight of the two Xiao Lan's approach, Cheng Wenyi adjusts his handsome posture to lean against the wall, making sure that every detail of himself is perfect, his eyes sweeping over Luo's body, a hint of hostility rushing through the air.

Luo also swept past Xue Li in the arms of Cheng Wenyi ...... as he took a step closer in the direction of Xiao Lan, a hint of hostility surging in the air.

At this moment they both felt what it means to be a fated opponent.

Xiao Lan, unaware of this, approached the two men struggling with the door and asked if they needed help.

Seeing this, Mu Yang reached out and poked Hu Zhai's bouncy shoulder, gesturing for him to round off and move away.

A second later, the door opened.

As Xiao Lan enters the room, Mu Yang looks at Hu Zhai with suspicion: "Have you been practising your craft for a long time?"

Hu Zhai: "......"

I suspect he was switched on.