The woman's sharp nails were forced to stay on the side of her shoulder a few centimeters away.

The toilet plunger was placed across the front, preventing it from moving any further.

As soon as he touched the toilet plunger, the restaurant owner immediately withdrew his hand and retreated into the shadow inside the door in fear.

Tang Xinjue turned the toilet plunger, seemingly just blocking it lightly, and raised his eyes to ask, "Boss, what's up?"

The woman's facial muscles kept twitching, but she didn't attack again. She only managed a stiff smile: "It's just a joke, little girl, don't take it to heart."

After saying that, the woman really stood inside the door motionless, as if she wanted to watch Tang Xinjue leave.

——As long as she leaves the restaurant, she won't be attacked anymore? Or...

Watching the restaurant owner's nails return to normal, Tang Xinjue remained motionless, seemingly hanging around the door. "Boss, aren't you going to take me to the highway? This is my first time here, and I'm afraid I'll get lost."

The edge of the road where the convertible was parked was about five steps away from her.

“…”

The restaurant owner's face turned grim, but he finally said reluctantly, "You're already on the road."

Once you leave the building and are on the road, you are still subject to road regulations.

Tang Xin Jue nodded. "It seems the requirements of the 'Road Trip Guide' aren't just for tourists, are they?"

The other party avoided the question and continued stiffly, "As for getting lost... little girl, don't worry. Grandma Mayas will pray for you."

In the shadows, the woman smiled strangely once more. "No one will get lost on this road. Everyone will find their destination. Grandma Mayas is waiting for you at her home..."

"Oh. Then give me a bento."

Tang Xin Jue interrupted her and said matter-of-factly, "Remember to heat it up. Make sure it's enough for a day. Ask Grandma Mayas to reimburse you later."

Restaurant owner: “…”

The middle-aged woman turned around, daring not to speak angrily, and grabbed the child and walked into the kitchen, scolding him with the sound of spanking: "I told you not to run around outside and act wild, not to do your homework, and not to help. You only know how to cause trouble for me... I would rather have had barbecued pork..."

After beating the child, a few minutes later, the boss came out holding a lunch box, and the faceless child was peeking out from behind by leaning against the door frame.

"Here's the lunch box you requested, have a nice trip."

She bit the last four words very hard, her eyes fixed on Tang Xin Jue until her figure was left far behind on the road by the exhaust of the car.

After driving for twenty minutes, the convertible began to slow down and slowly stopped by the roadside.

Tang Xinjue let go of the steering wheel, suppressed the stabbing pain in his head and the discomfort churning in his stomach, and took two deep breaths.

Having just blocked the restaurant owner's attack, the right hand that had been holding the toilet plunger slowly opened its palm, revealing a cracked knuckle with blood flowing everywhere.

The power of ghosts should not be underestimated. Even if the toilet plunger is intact, the human body often cannot withstand it.

If they got into a fight with that NPC in the restaurant, they would inevitably suffer even if there were four of them in the dormitory.

Tang Xinjue's mind flashed with the restaurant owner's obviously fearful expression, and his brows furrowed again.

The restaurant owner lied, lied from beginning to end.

The watch belonged to Guo Guo, and both NPCs, one large and one small, bore signs of a struggle. His perception hadn't detected any danger or traps in the restaurant; the only sense of danger came from NPCs when they were enraged.

Moreover, the restaurant owner had an inexplicable fear of her... a fear mixed with hostility.

While he wanted to attack her, he seemed to be hesitant for multiple reasons, and finally gave up in the face of road rules.

Both the logic of the actions and the reactions in the details are very strange.

Even though I had the faceless child's coat in my hand, which could impose some currently unclear restrictions on the NPCs, this walk around the restaurant was too safe.

The safer it is, the more unreasonable it is.

There is no way that there is no danger in the exam copy. Coffee shops are safe, restaurants are barely safe, and roads are also safe...so where is the danger?

Tang Xinjue lowered his eyes, and the scenes he experienced on the road were disassembled and replayed in his mind, from waking up in the car, getting on the road, parking, and talking to NPCs... Every detail was magnified repeatedly, trying to find a point of entry that could be cracked.

The feeling of abnormality grew deeper and deeper, but it was as if there was a layer of fog covering the sea of ​​consciousness, and it was impossible to break through it and capture the truth.

Tang Xinjue rubbed his eyebrows.

If this is the only information we can collect, there is no way to determine the location of your roommate.

The only clue about her roommate was that Guo Guo had been to the restaurant, likely had a conflict with an NPC, and left behind a watch. However, after her observation, she found no familiar aura, whether inside or outside the restaurant or on the nearby highway.

She ignored the injury on her hand, opened her phone, and saw from the [Dormitory Member Status] that except for her who was slightly injured and lost two health points, the other three had full marks.

This is even more abnormal.

Even she hadn't been able to avoid getting hurt after just a simple exchange of blows. If the marks of battle on the two NPCs were caused by Guo Guo or other roommates, then their health bars wouldn't be intact.

What exactly is the problem?

The rumbling sound of his stomach broke the silence, and Tang Xinjue decided to clean up and eat first.

He applied a hemostatic spray and simply repaired his injured palm with a large Band-Aid. Tang Xin Jue opened the lunch box and couldn't help but stop when he smelled the food.

It’s not that the food smells bad, but when hunger reaches a certain level, the blood sugar level is too low, which naturally causes nausea and vomiting.

It was four o'clock, less than an hour after she had finished a cup of hot coffee. Yet her stomach felt empty, and hunger spread throughout her body.

Tang Xinjue calculated the time in his mind: when driving on this road, the rate of physical energy consumption is about ten times the normal rate.

So even though she had only been driving for an hour, it felt like she had been driving for six hours straight, and her hunger was growing rapidly.

From this point of view, there is a reason for the NPC to "give" her food - without these foods to fill her stomach, ordinary people simply cannot survive on the road for more than two hours, let alone get to "Grandma Mayas's house" before dark.

If this reason is valid, then the next logic will follow:

Granny Mayas wants her to succeed in her mission.

The NPC entrusted by Grandma Mayas also has a common goal and cannot refuse the candidates' requests for help to complete this journey.

There was no obvious danger in front of him, but Tang Xinjue's eyes became more and more gloomy.

What is more disturbing than the undefeatable ghosts is the elusive sense of the unknown caused by the lack of information.

It was as if an invisible hand had covered her eyes. Even though the road was clear, she felt like she was walking alone in the fog, unable to determine the direction.

The stabbing pain in her head lingered, as if trying to remind her of something. Every time Tang Xin Jue tried to grasp it, she was shattered by her chaotic thoughts.

After a while, she put away the half-eaten lunch box, and after confirming that her strength and satiety had recovered, she suppressed her chaotic thoughts and continued driving on the road.

…

When the third building appeared, Tang Xinjue quickly identified it without any hesitation.

Because it is exactly the same as the previous two, painted with oily green all over.

This is a gas station.

The steering wheel turned, and the car drove into the gas station and stopped steadily. After accelerating all the way, the fuel gauge just slipped into the dangerous zone where refueling was urgently needed.

Everything seemed to have been carefully calculated and arranged to ensure that the car could continue to drive on the road.

The gas station was very quiet. Tang Xinjue honked the horn, and the green door next to it was pushed open, and a yellow figure in a special uniform walked out.

This time, it was a thin young man with pale skin and messy hair. He didn't have the exaggerated smile of the previous two NPCs, but instead looked very indifferent.

The young man came over, first looked at the car, then glanced at Tang Xinjue, and pulled the corner of his mouth weakly: "How much?"

Tang Xin Jue: "Fill it up."

Without saying a word, the young man pulled out the gas pump, stood in front of the gas tank and started refueling.

Less than two seconds later, he suddenly said, "Oh, it's broken."

What's wrong? Tang Xinjue subconsciously turned his head, but the moment he felt the danger, he reacted and quickly dove forward and bent down.

The gas pump passed over her head and hit the ground ten meters away, with wisps of burnt black gas rising from it.

The young man walked over slowly, checked it a few times, and shrugged, saying, "The gas pump is broken. Let me change it for you."

After saying that, he walked into the green station building and closed the door.

The coolness of the gas gun still lingered on her neck. Tang Xinjue raised her head. Years of fighting and chasing in nightmares had made her almost able to imitate the young man's action of throwing the gas gun.

Just "broken"?

She didn't get angry or question anything, and there wasn't even a trace of emotion on her face as she had just escaped a disaster.

Without any friends around, she didn't need to communicate with anyone. For a moment, the expression on this face was almost identical to that of the young man just now, cold and emotionless.

Turning around, he saw a line of words printed on the door the young man entered: No entry for non-employees.

In this exam, every object marked with a prohibited symbol gave her a strong sense of danger and rejection.

Looking away with no interest, Tang Xinjue opened the door and got out of the car, measuring the gas station step by step.

The gas station was about two or three times the size of the restaurant. There were no other vehicles or people, and outside were bushes covered in fog.

After quickly completing a circle, there was still no new discovery, and the young man still had not come out of the station building.

Tang Xinjue turned his wrist slightly and was about to knock on the door when he suddenly stopped.

In the corner of his eye, a small figure sneaked out from the bushes.

He turned around suddenly and before the little figure could run away again, Tang Xinjue had already grabbed the other person's hat.

It's the faceless kid!

"Why did you follow me here?"

Finally seeing something new, Tang Xinjue asked with interest.

The faceless child, whose hat was grabbed, was like being strangled. He was spun around without any power to resist, looking very weak and helpless.

But his arms were still flapping, trying to grab the things in Tang Xinjue's pocket.

Following the direction the child's hands were trying to reach, Tang Xinjue raised his eyebrows: That was Guo Guo's watch.

"You steal or even rob others, and you still have the nerve to ask for them?"

Tang Xinjue felt a little funny, but then he was stunned. A guess that he had never thought of suddenly appeared in his mind.

Seizing a fleeting intuition, she asked directly, "Did someone give you this watch?"

The child stopped struggling and nodded.

"Who gave it to you?"

A few seconds later, in Tang Xinjue's sight, the little boy slowly raised his hand and pointed at herself.