After a few days of indulging in a life of pleasure and debauchery, the two entered the game promptly at eight o'clock.

[All players have arrived. Welcome back to Pyramid Survival Battle!]

Instance Name: [Slander]

Dungeon types: Survival, Puzzle.

Key words: self-awareness, self-discipline.

Task requirements:

The 12 players must survive for ten days in the sealed-off Building No. 3 without being discovered by the ghosts. (20 points)

Advanced task requirements:

Find clues and correctly solve the puzzle to leave the instance early. (25 points) [Survival points are awarded upon leaving the instance, up to a maximum of 45 points]

Special note: If this dungeon attempt fails, 25 points will be deducted.

After the system finished broadcasting, the people in the room started moving around.

Shi Jinzhe stood up and looked around the bedroom. It was about 20 square meters, not very big. The furniture was all old-fashioned wooden furniture, some of which was worn out.

He carefully examined the walls for cracks, then looked up at the ceiling to look for any obvious gaps. Finding no such marks, Shi Jinzhe immediately ruled out that this was an old prefabricated house.

Seeing that there was a separate bathroom, he pushed the door open and went in. After checking everything, Shekh also came back from the balcony.

She shook her head at Shi Jinzhe, "There are almost no signs of corrosion or peeling paint on the walls, so it's not an old house. However, the world is out of sync with our time. It's winter outside, and it's snowing heavily."

Upon hearing her words, Shi Jinzhe realized the room was a bit cold: "Were you chilled just now?"

"No, the windows can't be opened, the cold air can't come in."

"Winter is already cold, and the heating in this house is insufficient. I don't know if it's affected by ghosts, but since this house wasn't built long ago, the ghosts here won't stay for very long either."

The fact that the system can state the survival requirement of not being discovered by ghosts indicates that the ghosts have been residing in the building for a long time. Therefore, whether they were brought in from outside or were born from within, their existence time will not exceed the age of this building.

With a rough estimate of the timeline, Shi Jinzhe narrowed down the timeline of the event he needed to solve to be something that had happened in the last few years.

Just as I was about to say this to Shekh, there was a knock on the door.

QQ—

Shi Jinzhe walked quietly to the door. The yellow talisman on his body did not heat up, confirming that what was outside was not a ghost.

The bedroom door had no peephole, so he and Shekh stood on opposite sides of the door, using the crack as a boundary.

Shi Jinzhe opened the door a crack and saw a young man wearing headphones outside.

With brown hair, a small canine tooth showing when he smiles, and bright, sparkling eyes, he looks like a sunny, cheerful college boy who would get along well with everyone.

He took off his headphones and waved to Shi Jinzhe: "Come on, we've been waiting for the two of you."

Shi Jinzhe: "What are you waiting for me for?"

"Let's gather information. You've all been here all day and haven't left. Everyone wants to look for clues."

The man with the headphones lowered his voice and introduced himself: "My name is Huang Zhuoqiu. Actually, they sent me, the weakest one, to test whether the people in this house are still alive."

Shi Jinzhe and Shehe exchanged a glance inside the door.

Could it be that the system is delaying the two players' entry into the game again?

Last time it was a few hours later, this time it's a whole day later.

This time, the system didn't make them find the quest location themselves, nor did it make them wait. Instead, it opened the instance normally without their knowledge.

But then I thought about it again. They entered the instance at 8 o'clock this time, and the interval was also half a month. If it was delayed by a day, then it would be like the last time they met Jiang Yi, they would have to wait an extra day in reality, right?

Shi Jinzhe always remembered the words "don't let the ghosts find out," so he neither immediately agreed nor refused, only saying, "Wait a moment."

He closed the door and sensed that the life energy outside was standing still and hadn't left. He and Sheh waited quietly for another two minutes and confirmed that Huang Zhuoqiu had been guarding the door the whole time without moving.

Shi Jinzhe made the following mouth shape: "Very suspicious."

If he was forced to come by others, he should be in a state of anxiety and turmoil right now, instead of standing steadily and breathing so calmly.

After all, if he and Shekh didn't go out, it meant Huang Zhuoqiu couldn't deliver on his promise. The contrast between his two behaviors when his life was threatened was too great.

Shi Jinzhe: "Do you have any ideas?"

Shekh nodded: "Although I can hear all kinds of system announcements, I am not a real player. Every time I enter a dungeon, the number of players does not include me. Even my kill points are counted on your head. Logically speaking, if it is only missing you, then why does it say there are two people?"

She said seriously, "He just used the word 'you,' so how does he know there are two people in this room?"

Shi Jinzhe had been with her for too long, and subconsciously assumed that he and she were equals, so he didn't immediately react to the word "you".

But Shekh knew that she was different from the real players. The reason why no one noticed her each time was because the players dispersed at the start of the game and no one paid attention to the exact number of people.

How did Huang Zhuoqiu know that she and Shi Jinzhe had mentioned "you" before they even met anyone in the dungeon?

Either there was more than one person living in this room to begin with, or he is special.

This special quality could be that he has special items or skills that allow him to see inside, or it could be that he is the ghost they are trying to guard against.

To test this conclusion, Schech moved his feet at the doorway, pacing back and forth.

"How's it going? Any movement outside?"

Shi Jinzhe concentrated for a moment, then shook his head.

He took out a deep purple scepter, and a faint gray impurity drifted in from outside the door and entered the gem.

After absorbing the impurities, Shi Jinzhe sensed Huang Zhuoqiu's condition again and found that he was still staring intently into the room through the door, motionless.