Chapter 7 Endless Stairs (2)

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[The current level exploration degree is 30%. ]

[Eliminate NPC*1, +10 points at settlement. ]

Seeing the two messages received on the app, Yi Han became more determined and once again earnestly instructed, "You can knock the next few times. It's okay. I believe you."

"Well, okay then." Jian Chunqinglin was slightly stunned, her face slightly red, and she agreed in a daze.

Since there were no recipes or clues to pass the level in this house, the two of them went out and returned to the corridor.

Yi Han has currently obtained 30% of the exploration, 20% of which was obtained in Room -2001. The other 10% was obtained from the corridor between the 4th floor and the -20th floor.

After a rough calculation, Yi Han vaguely felt that something was wrong.

The exploration degree in the corridor is 10%, and the rooms that can be entered by knocking on the door 4 times total 80%. So where is the remaining 10%...

Yi Han was on the 4th floor when he entered the game. Although he did not go up, according to the architectural style of this old residential building, there were only 2-3 floors above at most, and it was impossible to provide another 10%.

Intuitively, this missing 10% might be related to the way out of the level, but without any new ideas at the moment, Yi Han had to write it down and concentrate on going upstairs.

This time, the two of them stopped at the -18th floor.

Yi Han glanced at Jian Lin beside him, and then saw this European emperor staring at the house number -1801, as if he had noticed something.

"Do you want to knock?" Yi Han asked.

The number -18... if it wasn't for the minus sign in front of it, it would actually be a lucky number that the public generally likes. But now that it appears on the door number of the -18th floor of a haunted building, it inevitably reminds people of the 18th level of hell... something like that, and it looks ominous no matter how you look at it. Why would the European Emperor choose such a number?

But facing Yi Han's inquiring gaze, he still nodded.

Seeing his thoughtful but uncertain expression, Yi Han suddenly had a feeling that this teammate might not just be "lucky" as he said. He might really have the ability, bloodline, or props in this area. Maybe it was still a relatively low-level ability, so he doubted his luck after knocking on the door last time, but in Yi Han's opinion, the result of knocking on the door last time was obviously good.

And this time, maybe I can really hit the target again and find the recipe for myself.

"Come on, European Emperor... help me find the recipe for this level. Otherwise, another ghost with 10 points will do." Yi Han remained calm on the surface, but in his heart he was silently cheering for European Emperor.

Then Jian Lin took a deep breath and knocked on the door gently.

After a while, the sound of dragging footsteps gradually approached the door, and with a "click", someone opened the door.

He was a middle-aged man with wrinkled skin, a slightly fat face, and abnormally small eyes that tucked under his eyelids, looking at the people outside the door with ill intent.

…He seemed to be holding a kitchen knife in his hand, with bits of mysterious minced meat remaining on the blade.

"You come at a great time. Dinner hasn't even started yet. Come in quickly." The man grinned and said scary words while making way for the two men.

Yi Han turned his head and saw that his teammates' faces were full of embarrassment again. He thought he had failed again.

Yi Han followed the male host into room 1801. Just like last time, the door was closed after they both came in.

But this time the lights were on in the house, and the male owner did not scare them like the female ghost did before. Instead, he led the two of them straight into the kitchen.

The kitchen was filled with a nauseating smell of cooking fumes mixed with the smell of raw meat. As soon as he entered the room, Yi Han saw a pile of minced meat and bones on the chopping board. The male owner must have been chopping these before he came out. He didn't know what kind of meat that was...

"I'm planning on having dumplings at home tonight. Since you're here, please help me." He put the kitchen knife on the chopping board, took out the flour and cooking boards, and immediately filled up the already small cooking table.

[System prompt: Because you knocked on the wrong door, you have triggered mandatory task 2, which is to help the male owner of room -1801 in the kitchen. If you fail the task, you will be considered to have failed to clear the game. If you succeed, you can return to the corridor to continue the game.]

Seeing the content of this task, Yi Han frowned.

At the last door, the NPC only asked you to demonstrate a piano piece for her. There were specific completion standards. It didn't matter how well you played, as long as you finished it, you passed.

But for this door, there is no specific standard in the task content. When and to what extent does helping in the kitchen mean? Is it enough to just wrap the dumplings, or does it have to be cooked and served on the table? Or does it have to be wrapped to the satisfaction of the male host?

Their main mission to escape from the haunted building has a time limit, so they can't waste too much time here.

Thinking of this, Yi Han turned around and looked at his teammates.

Jian Lin was very self-conscious. She turned around, took out her apron from behind the door, put it on, and then began to knead the dough clumsily.

Yi Han knew after just a few glances that he was not very good at cooking either, but he just needed to buy himself some time. Yi Han saw that the male host was instructing him from the side and probably couldn't get away, so he turned around and left the kitchen.

Logically speaking, something like the "recipe" is most likely to be in the kitchen, but he had already looked around a few minutes after the mission was issued. This kitchen is very simple, with cabinets and other things exposed. There is no recipe he is looking for, and there is no other place to hide things.

He went straight into the bedroom. Without the owner of the house watching him, Yi Han could finally start rummaging around without any restraint.

Wardrobe, bedside table, under the bed... Not finding the item in the second bedroom, I went to the master bedroom.

Because this type of old house does not have a living room or dining room, the master bedroom is usually used as a comprehensive room that can accommodate a dining table, sofa, TV and bed.

As soon as Yi Han entered, he saw a very old round table with foldable corners placed in the middle of the room. Several round stools with knitted cushions were placed around it. It was obvious that there was only one person at home, but they prepared such a big table and so many stools. I don't know who they were going to invite to eat.

Walking around the dining table, behind it is an old sofa and a TV.

Yi Han only took a glance and saw a piece of paper emitting a faint light in the gap of the sofa.

[Recipe: Honey Chicken Legs]

...The European Emperor is indeed the European Emperor. Yi Han couldn't help but glance at the direction of the kitchen where his teammates were. Not long after he left, the sound of chopping meat was heard again. They should have been continuing to prepare dinner.

Without further hesitation, Yi Han took out a blank recipe from the system inventory, integrated this page into it, and the relevant instructions appeared.

[Recipe: Honey Chicken Legs (already learned)]

[Instructions: After consumption, depending on the deliciousness, it will improve leg muscle strength and increase jumping ability. Duration: 2 hours.]

...eat chicken legs, so do you replenish the legs?

This dish is obviously different from the braised pork last time. The therapeutic effect of braised pork is immediate, and it can heal wounds and restore health immediately after eating; while the chicken legs this time add a buff to the eater, similar to the snacks with buff effects made by players who have specially learned cooking skills in traditional games.

This reminded Yi Han of a more important hidden setting, which is the cooling time for using this type of enhancement medicine/food.

Anyone who has played the game knows that there is usually a cooldown period when using health-recovery potions or buff snacks. During this period, only the first use of the potion can achieve the full effect. If you drink it again within a short period of time, the effect will be halved or even disappear. There is also a limit on the number of buffs that can exist on each player at the same time. If the number reaches the upper limit, even if you eat it again, it will only cover the previous buff, and the total number will not increase.

Yi Han had thought about this problem before. If the braised pork could be eaten unlimitedly, then as long as he was not killed on the spot in this escape game, he could always rely on it to revive with full health countless times. Even if it was an S-level item, it should not be possible to be so amazing.

All the dishes in this recipe must have hidden restrictions on consumption, but they are not clearly written. Fortunately, Yi Han still has the ghost of his former boss who knows the rules very well. His answer to this is: the hidden cooling time for all dishes is 24 hours.

A player can only eat 3 dishes in 24 hours. The same dish can only be eaten once.

With this rule in mind, and the fact that the bonus effect of the honey chicken legs is limited to 2 hours, Yi Han bought the ingredients first, put them into the iron pot, waited for 1 minute and took out the finished product - but did not eat it immediately, but put it in the inventory for future use.

Now that he had obtained what he wanted most, Yi Han no longer had interest in a detailed search. He quickly checked other places and prepared to return to the kitchen.

So far, he has entered the room twice, and gained "10 points" and "Recipe: Honey Chicken Legs" respectively, but there is no progress on the clues to pass this level.

When he walked into the kitchen, he was still thinking that after his teammates completed the mandatory task of helping in the kitchen, he would use force to threaten the NPC male owner to see if he could dig out some clues.

As soon as I entered the room, I saw flour all over the floor, the cooking table, and the two people who were cooking. The bowls and chopsticks were all over the floor, in a mess, as if they had been smashed by Yi Han.

The teammate wearing an apron heard him come in and turned around with a pale face.

Only then did Yi Han see clearly that Jian Lin's hand was being held down on the chopping board by the male host, who was holding a kitchen knife in his other hand, as if about to cut.

"What are you doing?!" Yi Han frowned, took the pot with his backhand, and walked forward quickly.

With a loud bang, the man was knocked unconscious to the ground before either of the two people present could react.

Jian Lin was stunned.

The NPC male owner, who could have lived to the end of the mandatory mission and then been used to violently interrogate for clues... was judged by the system to be seriously injured and completely lost the chance of a comeback in this game, so he disappeared on the spot and was forced to log off.

[…Eliminate 1 NPC, +10 points at settlement.]

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Yi Han: ...My hand was too quick and I couldn’t stop it.