Chapter 199: Suspicions
Yang Ji was shocked: "How did you know?"
Liu Qingling looked elsewhere with a sorrowful expression: "It's a long story. Ever since I secretly peeked at your sister-in-law's WeChat that one time... I've never wanted to eat durian again..."
[kneeling on a durian is a popular humorous metaphor for a wife severely punishing her husband]
The onlooking young masters: "..."
The world of adults is indeed something we don't quite understand.
But that didn't hinder their enjoyment of the drama.
However, the time for drama was brief. With the second "Boom!", signifying that demolition preparations above had begun, it was time to run if they didn't want to be trapped.
"Hurry up. I, Wei Shu, and Lei Miao are on the detective route. Those on other mission routes, reveal yourselves too," Yin Chengjue urged.
Hua Yun: "I, Rong Yu, and Liu Qingling are on the escape route."
That left the remaining three—Yang Ji, Xiao Xiao, and Qin Ke—on the treasure hunting route.
Lei Miao said, "Well, I'm the detective route's inspector. My undercover agent can verify my identity, so that water gun can be handed over to me."
Beneath the water gun lay an instruction manual. The water gun was loaded with colored water; spraying the colored water on the identified murderer would confirm the choice. As before, there were two chances. The three of them could each choose their suspected target the first time. The one with the highest votes would be considered the chosen target. If all three chose different targets, one wrong answer could be eliminated, and then a choice made between the remaining two, with the one receiving more votes considered the chosen target. Abstaining was not allowed.
"Wait, who is our undercover agent? The undercover agent should step forward now," Yin Chengjue reminded.
Yang Ji cleared his throat lightly: "Here. I'm the detective route's undercover agent. I can verify that Lei Miao is the inspector."
The others: "..." Who was it that stubbornly refused to admit being the undercover agent just now?
Yin Chengjue: "..." So, he's really the undercover agent.
Yin Chengjue looked at Wei Shu. Wei Shu had no choice but to raise both hands: "Yes, yes, I'm the undercover agent, the escape route's undercover agent. Huazi is my inspector."
Everyone turned their gaze to Rong Yu and Liu Qingling, wanting to know which of the two was the treasure hunting route's undercover agent.
Then they saw Xiao Xiao direct his gaze at Rong Yu: "Rong Yu is our undercover agent."
A flicker of surprise passed through Rong Yu's eyes, but he immediately responded with a smile, seemingly acquiescing.
"Then, these important items should be given to the team leaders of their respective mission routes first," Liu Qingling suggested.
No one objected to this.
"Now, is everyone ready?" Liu Qingling asked.
Everyone: "Ready!"
So, according to plan, Xiao Xiao turned off the lights, Lei Miao opened the door, and the group charged out to meet the mutants wandering the corridor.
Originally, their plan was to move as quietly as possible in complete darkness.
However, the corridor lights seemed determined to thwart them—they lit up the moment they stepped out!
The corridor lights were on!
Fully illuminated!
The mutants opened their mouths full of sharp teeth and let out strange roars: "Aoww aoww!"
Yang Ji: "Ahhhh!—"
Wei Shu glanced at Hua Yun with a slight sense of obligation. "Should we put in the effort and scream a little too, you know, to enhance the atmosphere?"
Hua Yun showed disdain: "Scream if you want to. I certainly won't."
While the young masters were not very good at creating horror vibe, they easily created a competitive running vibe. They stretched their long legs and thundered down the corridor.
Their immediate goal was to get off this floor; after that, they would focus on their individual mission tasks. For now, speed was everything!
They were moving so swiftly that, for the moment, the pursuing mutants couldn't even begin to close the distance.
The nine split into three groups, but their current goal was the same: they all ran towards the elevator.
The lower floor had been searched. The treasure hunting route hadn't found the Water of Life, so naturally they needed to go up. The escape route also needed to go up. The detective route's target was the murderer, so they naturally needed to follow the others.
Yang Ji quickly recited a tongue twister sequence. The elevator issued a "ding," successfully activated, and began its slow journey upwards.
Just as the elevator doors slid open and the mutants crammed inside began to swarm out, Yin Chengjue shouted loudly: "One, two, three, wooden man!"
The broadcast sounded promptly: "Player Yin Chengjue uses skill 'Wooden Man.' All players and mutants except Yin Chengjue himself must stand still and cannot move! Anyone who moves voluntarily will be considered in violation of game rules and immediately eliminated!"
Simultaneously, the mutants that had rushed out of the elevator froze in place!
The other players instantly: !!!
"Yin Chengjue! What kind of insane skill is this!" Wei Shu protested, though his feet obediently stopped moving.
Yin Chengjue glanced at him: "Saying that, do you want to stay here by yourself?" As he spoke, Yin Chengjue picked up Rong Yu, who was also frozen in place, carried him into the elevator, then proceeded to haul several other immobilized people inside.
Wei Shu immediately changed his tune: "Oh! Dear God, what a humane skill card! It perfectly solves our current predicament. Oh! Handsome, dashing, elegant, and charming President Yin, could you trouble yourself just a bit more to let me also enjoy the support of your sturdy arms?"
Rong Yu smiled brightly: "Shu Shu, my CP's arms are only for me, you know~"
"Huh?" Before Wei Shu could react, Yin Chengjue grabbed him by the collar and, like lifting a chick, hauled him into the elevator.
Wei Shu: "Cough, cough, cough! Are you trying to strangle me!"
Yin Chengjue had already swiftly pressed the elevator's close button. At the same time, the Wooden Man skill's duration ended. The elevator began to ascend. The mutants left behind on the floor below could do nothing but watch as the elevator ascended, hammering their fists uselessly against the sealed doors.
But even so, the crisis wasn't over. Not only because there would likely be mutants waiting when the elevator doors opened above, but also for another reason—during the earlier corridor run, almost all of them had been touched by the mutants. The mutants' hands were coated with red paint. Looking now, every single one of them had red paint stains on their clothes to some extent.
"What does it mean to be marked with this? Does it mean we're infected too?" Rong Yu asked.
Yin Chengjue: "That's possible."
"Then what do we do? Will we turn into mutants too?" Wei Shu also grew anxious: "Does this count as mission failure?"
Liu Qingling suggested: "Then let's carefully search every room on the second floor to see if we can find an antidote!"
"Why look for an antidote?" Hua Yun wiped the red paint off his hands with a tissue. "First, we need to know that our mission routes don't say being infected by mutants results in mission failure."
"Eh? Now that you mention it, that seems reasonable!"
However, before they could relax, Qin Linlin's voice came through the broadcast again.
"Friendly reminder: Once players are stained with the virus paint from mutants, they will be considered infected with the virus. Within ten minutes of infection, if they do not obtain the blood of Experimental Subjects No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3, they will turn into mutants without independent consciousness, oh~"
"What? Experimental subjects? This whole lab has so many experimental subjects; how are we supposed to find Experimental Subjects No. 1, 2, and 3!" Wei Shu protested.
Rong Yu, Yang Ji, and Hua Yun: "..." They knew those three numbers marked on the bottom of their chairs were definitely going to cause trouble.
At that moment, the elevator doors opened.
However, to their surprise, no crowd of mutants lay in wait. The area outside the elevator was empty and silent—an unsettling quiet.
"What? No mutants?" Yang Ji found it hard to believe: "That can't be right? We saw so many before we ran down; it can't be that only the group that came out of the elevator earlier exists!"
"Could it be they returned to the rooms? Look, those rooms are all open now... Huh? What's this, surveillance?" Liu Qingling quickly noticed the monitor in the hall.
"What is this monitoring?"
Rong Yu said: "It monitors downstairs. We saw you from this monitor earlier, but didn't have time to watch much because the rooms soon opened and the mutants came out."
Yin Chengjue: "What triggered the rooms opening? Or, what happened before that?"
Yang Ji said: "We saw you on the monitor and wanted to regroup with you. Then we figured the elevator was our best bet, so we started working on the lock. The moment we got it open, all those room doors unlocked too."
"They came out of those rooms, but what about you?" Yin Chengjue looked around, finally settling his gaze on the room with the open door directly facing the monitor screen.
"That one. We were tied to chairs with ropes," Yang Ji proactively led everyone towards that room.
Yin Chengjue's tone was deliberately casual. "Impressive. Blindfolded and still managing to get yourselves untied. Do you all practice... similar skills at home?"
Liu Qingling: "Tsk tsk tsk, President Yin, we're still on camera here. Making such suggestive jokes really isn't appropriate, is it?"
Yin Chengjue: "...I meant practicing escape techniques... Teacher Liu, what are you thinking of?"
"Tsk tsk tsk, Teacher Liu, we're still on camera here. Talking about those games for two or more people involving props isn't very suitable, is it? The crackdowns are pretty strict lately! You can't even find much on Baidu anymore," Qin Ke said with a laugh.
"Hey! This isn't the bus to kindergarten! Time to get off!" Yang Ji said helplessly.
Yin Chengjue had originally wanted to fish for information to determine if they had encountered anyone else while tied up, but the conversation was derailed. It would seem too deliberate to ask again now.
The group entered the only open room together. They saw three chairs placed in the middle of the room, ropes scattered beneath them. The room's condition roughly matched what Yang Ji and the others had described.
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