"It can't be time, nor can it be direction, so it's most likely [the number of spots]."

"There are only 13 escape slots in this instance."

Xiao Linlin was analyzing the situation very seriously at the moment, and Su Lin had a strange feeling in his daze: this girl should wear glasses.

Hmm, that might make her a bit like a female version of Conan.

"So, the question is: now that we have the escape slots, where are we supposed to escape to?"

"Big brother, do you remember the key we found in the first loop? It pointed to the dean's safe, but the number of keys didn't match 13. That means the contents of the safe are most likely related to clues about the escape location, or rather, to the [escape spot qualification certificate] itself."

"Given the strong impact of the escape mechanism itself, the number of team members displayed on the game map must exceed 13. It is highly likely that the mechanism wants to see different teams competing and fighting each other for escape slots."

"Therefore, I can be fairly certain that the contents of the safe contain both information about the escape location and the eligibility to escape."

Xiao Linlin paused slightly, seemingly waiting for Su Lin to process the information, before speaking softly, "Next, we'll continue in and just keep going up."

"What about the ghost doll?"

Su Lin asked, "What should we do if we encounter it?"

"Avoid it; it's an obstacle that you can't fight."

Xiao Linlin shook her head: "I guess the only possibility of defeating it is to improve the progress of decryption or to master some kind of counter item; but I'm not sure if killing it will bring any new benefits. Considering our escape needs, I suggest that we focus on decryption rather than fighting."

Su Lin took a deep breath: "There's still one more point of doubt."

"That fat guy also encountered the ghost doll before. Judging from his running speed, he definitely couldn't outrun it."

"Then why didn't he die?"

Su Lin frowned. The ghost doll was so fast that even he was pushing it to its limit. How could that fat man escape?

"key."

Xiao Linlin raised her wrist, and the key with the patient's number was on her wrist: "I thought it was my cunning that attracted it, but now that I think about it, the key should be on me."

"It has detected the presence of the key and may be specially activated into a more frenzied state, hunting down the unit that possesses the key."

When the fat man first encountered the ghost doll, he escaped because he didn't have the key.

To be honest, it's highly likely that the ghost doll was too lazy to kill him, since he wasn't the main target and could simply escape.

But Xiao Linlin is different. She is practically a thorn in the side of the ghost doll, a unit that must be killed no matter what.

"Okay, continue!"

Su Lin took a deep breath. He had fully recovered. To be on the safe side, he put a few more oral medications in his mouth to deal with any emergencies.

"Let's go, let's continue deciphering."

Su Lin picked Xiao Linlin up again and repeatedly confirmed her earlier instructions: "Avoid the ghost dolls and keep going uphill."

"Yes, we should be able to get out this time."

Xiao Linlin nodded gently: "The puzzle isn't difficult, it's just that there are too many misleading factors. After the first cycle, we've eliminated a lot of doubts, so we're pretty lucky."

Xiao Linlin was referring to the situation where the key was obtained in the first round. She speculated that this was the effect of "successfully advancing the decryption progress" and successfully advancing the frozen time loop slightly, which caused Su Lin's new talent effect to appear.

However, Xiao Linlin did not reveal some of these deeper analyses.

There was no need for it; she already knew how to escape.

"You're really smart."

Su Lin sighed, "The second round of the cycle, and we'll be able to get out?"

The game's opening information reveals that the mechanics were pre-planned for an almost infinite loop; if you can't escape, you'll stay there until you die!

But Xiao Linlin now had the confidence to escape in the second cycle.

That's incredibly fast!

"It's not difficult at all."

Xiao Linlin squinted her eyes and smiled happily: "Actually, it's a very simple thing."

Is it simple?

Su Lin rubbed his nose. He just couldn't figure out how Xiao Linlin had determined this information, or how many times she had gone through the process of deduction and thought.

Su Lin knew nothing about these things, nor did he need to ask.

She uses her brain, I use my fists.

Yes, it's a perfect match.

Su Lin carried Xiao Linlin back to the gap in the hospital's outer corridor. Before he stepped back in, Su Lin suddenly stopped.

"I've figured it out."

"Big brother, what have you figured out?"

"The content of Xu Zhiyi's prophecy."

Su Lin looked at Xiao Linlin in his arms and suddenly said, "The 'power of new things' she mentioned is not actually supernatural. She probably also figured out that I could actually predict the type of the next match."

"The new power she's referring to is you, your intelligence. She's also reminding me to learn to think more for myself, rather than simply using force to solve problems."

Su Lin murmured, "And what she meant by using the strength of old friends when necessary, weak old friends... actually it's not Song Daqiang and the others, but you, the follower is originally the [friend] of the escapee."

He suddenly realized that Xu Zhiyi's predictions had always been correct, but she just couldn't explain them clearly.

"is that so?"

Xiao Linlin blinked and smiled happily: "Then I'm really useful to big brother."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!