Chapter 712 [(*^▽^*)]

So everyone left the square and walked towards the outskirts of the village. After leaving the village, they stopped in an open space not far away.

"How is it? Has anyone followed us?"

"No, it's just us."

"Phew... That really scared me to death. Those NPCs looked like they were going to rush up and eat us at any moment."

"Let's not talk about that. Did you find anything inside just now?"

"No, we didn't find anything."

"That last time took quite a while, much longer than the first time. Are you sure you've searched everywhere?"

"It's not that simple. You have no idea how thick the layer of coins is down there. How can such a short time be enough? I think we need to go down there again."

Everyone fell silent.

After what just happened, who among them would dare to go down and search now?

"Then we'll just have to wait until tonight."

"At night... there are ghosts and monsters at night, it's even more dangerous."

Are you going now?

"No, going now... we don't know what those NPCs might do, so let's forget about it."

"If all else fails, we can find other players and gather in the square at night. With more people, the ghosts will definitely not dare to make any rash moves."

"The ghosts that stay in the village at night are all from the first twenty-five house numbers, which means there are twenty-five powerful ghosts."

"It's not twenty-five, it's twenty-four. The villa numbers start from 2, not 1."

While they were arguing, Lin Leyou and Xue Rui, the two humans secretly observing them, realized that there was something wrong with the fountain in the square.

Although it's not immediately clear how this matter relates to their current predicament, it's at least a clue. If they can find clues to the mission, it can also distract those two ghosts.

As night deepened, the players who had been searching for the mechanism in the fountain used the time they had left to find many more players, and some even found another version of themselves.

However, there is only one possibility: one is human and the other is a ghost. That is, the player who previously went out together to hunt other weaker ghosts is also here at this moment.

"Is this the area?"

There are only players in the square now; there is no one else, not even a single NPC.

There were a total of forty-six people, which seemed like a lot.

"Yes, this is the area. Do you see it clearly? The gaps around this area are unusual, unlike the gaps in other places. The other gaps are filled with dust, but these are not."

The new players checked again and found that it was indeed the same as what they had said.

"That's right, that's exactly it. It seems this area should be an entrance?"

"I don't know what to do now. If I need to contact the authorities..."

"That might not be easy. How about we try to dig out all of these big bricks?"

Everyone paused slightly.

"Dig it out? That makes sense. It's not really suitable to dig during the day, but it's fine at night."

“I agree. We don’t need to use bombs. We can dig more quietly and avoid attracting the attention of other ghosts and NPCs. Besides, ordinary NPCs don’t go out at night. Only the ghosts that stay in the village will come out. But there are so many of us, so we don’t need to be afraid.”

At that moment, the ghost standing next to one of the players suddenly looked up and glanced in a certain direction.

The human next to him asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. I just felt someone's gaze on me. I probably gave up because there were too many people here."

"It seems that it is indeed dangerous for weak ghosts to stay in the village at night. They will be targeted first. I should have let you leave the village and go outside. I am enough to stay here alone."

"It's a bit late to talk about this now. We have to stick with these players and we absolutely can't be alone. If I'm alone, I'll definitely be eaten by the other monsters."

"Even leaving the village halfway through isn't allowed?"

"No, that gaze has already locked onto me. Tonight, I am their prey. They will seize me as soon as they find an opportunity, so we all have to be careful."

After exchanging a glance, the two squeezed into the crowd and reached the very center. "Hey, should we dig out these bricks? Just leave it to the other one; he's stronger."

Everyone looked over and realized that the other self he mentioned was the only ghost among them.

"That's fine, ghosts are stronger, but you can't do all the work by yourself. We'll all help. These bricks are quite heavy."

With everyone's efforts, they finally managed to pry up one of the bricks. Then the ghost came over, moved the brick away, and revealed an entrance underneath.

"There really is an entrance!"

"It's too narrow, I can't get in. Let me put the props in first and see."

"I'll give it a try too."

After the bricks were moved aside, what was revealed was indeed a corner of an entrance, a hole about the size of two fists, pitch black inside, and nothing could be seen clearly.

Everyone rushed to throw their surveillance equipment in, but the larger ones couldn't fit! Only the smaller ones could go in, and some even brought out puppet dolls.

If the doll was too big to fit directly in, they would squeeze it down to a smaller size and stuff it in. After all, these things were of very low value, so they didn't care if they were damaged.

But it was pitch black inside, and you couldn't see anything. In less than ten seconds, all of everyone's surveillance equipment was destroyed, leaving nothing behind.

Suddenly someone said, "Hey... are your surveillance equipment very valuable? Are they disposable or can they be repaired?"

Everyone fell silent. If it's a one-time use item that's very precious, then if it's damaged, it's truly gone. Cheap ones are better, like those puppets that were stuffed in later.

If it can be restored... it would probably require deducting points to do so.

"My surveillance equipment... it's irreparable. Once it's broken, it's gone. It was very expensive. I bought it from the system shop. Even a blue-grade one costs hundreds of thousands of points!"

Many people felt so sorry for them that their lips and faces twitched, but they still swallowed their bitterness.

Lin Leyou and Xue Rui, who were secretly observing the situation using surveillance equipment, were watching the scene closely, afraid that something they didn't know might happen.

"It seems that all the surveillance equipment that was taken down is gone."

Xue Rui said, "The situation is very complicated. We don't know what's down there. We haven't found it even after so many days."

Lin Leyou: "It's alright, it doesn't matter if they find out."

Xue Rui: "They're about to lift the second brick."

The players on this side of the plaza suffered huge losses, so of course they wouldn't let this extremely suspicious place go so easily. "Should we continue moving all the other bricks?"

"I think it would be better to pause for now."

"Why?"

"All the surveillance cameras just disappeared or malfunctioned, which means there's definitely something bad inside. We must find out what's inside. If we rashly open this entrance, things might get very dangerous..."

Everyone looked at each other, and actually preferred this approach, even though it was a bit troublesome.

"If it's too dark inside, let's drop a light orb down first. I happen to have a few here, let's drop it down and see what the situation is like down there."

As he spoke, he took out three walnut-sized round balls from his backpack, pressed them twice, and they lit up.

He casually tossed all three glowing orbs into the hole, and everyone around crowded around to look down. Fortunately, because there were so many people, no one could get too close to the hole, otherwise they would block other people's view.

That's why they had time to react and dodge the attack that rushed out of the cave.

Shortly after the three orbs of light were dropped, while they were carefully observing them, a sudden noise came from below. Before they could even see what was happening below, the three orbs of light suddenly shot out from inside.

If the people around hadn't dodged quickly, they probably would have been hit on the head.

Especially with that speed and force, if it really hit someone on the forehead, it might cause a concussion.

Everyone stared in disbelief at the three orbs of light that had shot out and landed on the ground. There was complete silence; no one knew what to say.

"what to do?"

Everyone fell silent.

"We can't just not try to find a solution, can we?"

Everyone stared at each other, unsure of what to do.

"How about we send a puppet down with the ball of light to take a look? At least we can see what it is. Puppets are cheap anyway, so we won't be heartbroken if they break."

"That's how we'll do it; there's no other way."

Dozens of elite veteran players gathered together, but they could only watch helplessly as this situation unfolded.

As a result, three puppets were thrown in, each holding a ball of light in its soft hands. This time, the owners of the three puppets were able to see the situation below more clearly through the puppets' perspective and the balls of light inside.

"It looks like tentacles."

What lay before them were the three broken, no longer glowing orbs that had just been thrown out, while the puppets remained below. However, some tattered cotton wool from inside the puppets could still be seen on the wreckage of the orbs.

"Tentacles? What are they like?"

"It looks pitch black and seems to be covered in scales. Maybe it's not tentacles, but the tail of some monster."

"I just didn't see it clearly, there wasn't enough time."

"I mean... isn't that Ghost Number One down there?"

"Huh?!" Everyone was shocked.

"If that's the case, then wasn't there a living person underground during the day? And how come a living person hasn't died after being trapped down there for so long?"

At this moment, someone suddenly said, "So many NPCs have been behaving strangely during the day. Could it be that they're trying to prevent us from finding this entrance and letting the people inside out?"

"So what exactly are the monsters inside?"

They looked at each other, and finally someone asked, "Shall we continue opening it?"

At this moment, everyone fell silent. They thought this was a clue to the main quest, but now it seemed that it wasn't; instead, it was the imprisoned Ghost Number 1.

etc!

"So what if it's a ghost? Who can say that this isn't a clue to the mission? Don't you want to know why Ghost Number 1 was imprisoned under the fountain?"

"Could this reason be related to our mission?"

"I'm not sure, but it's an important clue. Are you going to put the brick back now and pretend nothing happened?"

"Of course not!"

Everyone was against it, of course. Now that it has been discovered, we should continue to investigate and make a decision only after confirming that it is not related to the mission. But right now, the question is... just how strong are the ghosts and monsters here?

Suddenly someone said weakly, "I think this ghost is quite strong. After all, it's number one, the strongest of all ghosts. So... do you think that if it really wants to come out, these bricks might not be able to stop it at all?"

Silence reigned.

Everyone looked up at him, and they had to admit that what he said made perfect sense.

Now they dare not speak too loudly, lest they anger the ghosts below, who would then overturn all the bricks above and suddenly attack, grabbing, killing, or eating them.

Everyone started discussing quietly. Although they were worried, they finally decided to move another corner piece to enlarge the entrance a bit.

At least let them see clearly what's inside.

"How about during the day? At least there won't be any ghosts during the day."

"NPCs will definitely try to stop us during the day, so this must be done at night!"

In the end, everyone decided to continue.

Another piece of the door was moved aside, but people still couldn't see what was inside. After this piece of the door was moved aside, it was discovered that the entrance was not a very large entrance, but a narrow and long gap.

It is only about ten centimeters wide, but the length is unclear.

“In that case, let’s move the bricks in front. This isn’t the entrance; it seems to be just a crack.”

Now everyone was motivated. After moving a few more bricks, a gap ten centimeters wide and two meters long was fully revealed to everyone.

At this point, no one dared to approach any further. If something were to fly out from inside and pierce their foreheads, that would be the most frustrating defeat.

"I still can't see anything; it's pitch black inside."

"Should we throw more puppets down?"

"Is throwing the doll still useful now? It will just get destroyed, and the light orb that was thrown in will be broken and thrown out."

"Huh?!" Someone noticed something strange. "The surveillance equipment was destroyed, but this orb of light was thrown out after being destroyed. Why is that?"

Everyone was equally puzzled. "I don't know, could it be that they hate light?"

"The gap is right here. Since that's the case, we can just shine a flashlight in. I'll try it first."

After he finished speaking, he casually took out a flashlight, turned it on, and shone it inside. This time, they were able to see a little bit of what was going on inside.

The gap was truly a gap; even when the flashlight shone through, only a limited area could be seen. Therefore, he gradually moved the flashlight closer to the gap.

As the flashlight approached, its beam illuminated more areas, and a fleeting, ethereal shadow flashed by in a corner.