Chapter 711 [(*^▽^*)]
Now that the system has given him a heads-up, it's no longer a level completion task. In that case, there's no rush.
Just then, a player who was carefully examining every brick and stone in the square made a discovery.
Five or six players were huddled together in one spot directly in front of the fountain.
"Do you find this brick unusual?"
Everyone examined the brick closely, but ultimately couldn't see anything different. "What's different about it?"
"I've looked at it several times, and there's nothing different. I just did a prop test, but there were no results either. Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
"I'm sure I'm not mistaken, you're the ones who are wrong. This is the right place, this is the spot!"
It was only then that they realized that the bricks on this piece of ground did indeed look different from the surrounding ones. No, it wasn't just this one; several of the surrounding bricks were also somewhat... strange.
"What's going on? This one's here, and... wait? Could this be..."
"These bricks are different from the gaps between them and the surrounding ones. They seem to be movable. Could there be a secret passage underneath?"
At this moment, other players in the surrounding area also gathered around and overheard what they were saying.
"Whether there's a passage or not, we'll find out by trying."
Some players were about to take action, but were stopped. "Don't do anything rash. Can't you see that there are NPCs around watching us?"
"Yes, yes, that's too noisy, we can't do that... So what should we do?"
"Wait until tonight? Let it explode tonight."
"That won't do. If there's an explosion here tonight, I reckon it'll attract all the ghosts and living people. Wouldn't we be doomed?"
"If there's a tunnel, then there must be a mechanism. Let's look for it. That way, we won't cause too much of a commotion. The person who designed this entrance couldn't have blown it open with a bomb every time, could they?"
"That makes sense, let's find the relevant authorities."
Players started looking around for things that might be mechanisms. Regardless of whether they were, they touched, turned, and pried them open. If they could move, then they had found the right thing.
The dozen or so players searched the entire plaza, but they couldn't find any mechanisms or even anything similar.
Finally, they all turned their gaze to the fountain.
"Could it be hidden in the fountain? Or maybe in the fountain pool below?"
"There are coins piled up in layers below, making them hard to find."
"Aren't you going to give up looking?"
"We definitely need to find one, but it's broad daylight now, so it's not appropriate to go directly into the fountain pool. We should wait until night... or do you have any special props?"
Shake head.
"No, if we did, we would have thrown them in already. What about you?"
"How about we wait until tonight? Ghosts are scary at night, but with so many of us, they shouldn't bother us."
"Then come back tonight."
Some players were confused, asking, "Why do we have to wait until night? Even if an NPC sees us, so what? Isn't it safer to go to the fountain pool during the day?"
Everyone thought what he said made some sense, but is it really okay to be stared at by NPCs?
"So far, we don't think we've seen any police or anything like that maintaining order in the village. Have you seen any? Something similar would be fine too."
He still shook his head.
"I've never seen it. It's just the villagers living in the village on their own. There's nothing else."
Someone whispered, "I peeked into his house through a window during the day when everyone else was out. It was very simple inside with hardly anything. When I came out, I went out the front door openly. Some NPCs saw me, but I was fine."
"It seems there really are no police or anything like that. In that case, let's go down."
"This fountain pool is quite large. Let's have more people go down and search together. This is where the trap is most likely to be."
"Who's going down?"
"I'll go down."
"I'm going down too, what about you?"
"I'll keep an eye on things up here for you."
"In that case, I'll go down."
And just like that, they simply decided that six people would go down, each occupying a corner, rummaging around in the nooks and crannies.
They even had to turn over all the coins at the bottom of the pool, touch the very bottom, and feel every corner.
As expected, this behavior did attract the attention of the surrounding NPCs. Although they did not come forward to say anything, they all gathered around and stared.
The players who were helping to keep an eye on things felt uneasy being stared at by so many people, even if these people were no match for them.
"Hey, are you guys done yet? These people have been staring at this area, and something seems off. If you're done searching, hurry up and come up here."
Players who were still bending over and touching things in the pool looked up and saw a whole circle of NPCs surrounding them, all staring at them.
They didn't say anything, they just stared at each other, as if they were looking at a dead person, which scared the players who were still in the pool into quickly climbing out.
One of them even said loudly, "Stop looking, stop looking! Something fell in. It's just going in to find your connections, not doing anything else."
There was silence for a moment, but then a voice rang out from somewhere, "Did you find anything?"
"Not yet! I'm just scared by you guys. Why are you staring at me like that?"
Perhaps they really didn't take the coins from the pool, so after looking around, the NPCs all dispersed, and the atmosphere in the square returned to normal.
The players breathed a sigh of relief. "That was really scary. Were they going to attack us directly just now?"
"Probably not, but I think if we leave it unattended, it will definitely cause serious trouble."
"So what? You've been searching in the pool for so long, have you found the mechanism yet?"
Everyone shook their heads. "No, there's nothing inside. And the coins piled up at the bottom of the pool are very thick, making it difficult for us to reach the bottom bricks. We basically only searched the edges."
"So, you mean we didn't finish searching under the coins?"
"Yes, it's not feasible during the day. Someone will be watching us again later. Let's come back at night."
That makes sense, but nighttime is still more dangerous than daytime, since there are many ghosts and monsters at night. "I think it's safer during the day. Let them see if they want to."
“I think so too. We’re just staring at it, so what? We already explained that we were looking for something inside. We didn’t find it before, so it’s normal to go down and look for it again now.”
Everyone thought this method was feasible, but some of the players who had just gone down were unwilling to go down again. So, they chose a few more who weren't afraid at all and went down together.
Sure enough, after they went down this time, more NPCs noticed them and started to gather around them. They didn't know if it was their imagination, but they felt that the NPCs who gathered this time were standing closer than the previous group. The players who were standing outside explained it this time.
"Don't overthink it, they've dropped something in there, we need to go find it now."
Not long after, another voice rang out, seemingly from nowhere, "What's that you dropped? Let's help too."
Although the players heard the voices, none of the surrounding NPCs spoke. Perhaps one of the NPCs was blocked by them, but the voices were somewhat ethereal, and it was impossible to tell which direction they were coming from.
"No need, they can go down and find it themselves. If you go down, your clothes will get wet too, which wouldn't be good."
"Yes, yes, the fountain pool isn't very big anyway, they'll finish searching quickly. Besides... if something is lost, it might be in there or it might not be here. If we don't find it, we'll have to look elsewhere later."
After the player finished speaking, the surrounding NPCs did not leave, but instead slowly took another step closer, and the same voice rang out again.
"What's missing? Let's help look for it."
The players standing outside were starting to feel the strain. These NPCs were only two or three meters away from them, and the number of NPCs gathering outside was increasing, making it seem like the entire village had arrived!
Meanwhile, the players searching in the fountain pool also noticed something was wrong and climbed out. The player who had been so irritable earlier was now shouting again, "Seriously, it's just looking for something, is it really that big of a deal? Everyone, disperse!"
At that moment, that familiar voice rang out again, "Did you find it?"
He replied immediately, "Didn't find it!"
"What's missing? Let us help you look for it."
This time, the NPCs around them did not disperse when they came out of the pool; instead, they continued to surround them, though they did not approach any further.
All those eyes were fixed on them, sometimes darting back and forth between them, as if choosing their favorite.
Now none of the players dared to act recklessly, and the voice had been asking what they had lost and if they could search for it together. Did they really have to search for it?
What did they lose? What I said earlier was all made up, but now…
"No need, we'll find it ourselves. If we can't find it here, it's somewhere else. Don't block the way."
One player was quite bold and spoke up directly. After he finished speaking, the voice seemed to hesitate for a moment and then did not continue.
It took about five minutes for the surrounding NPCs to return to their normal state. They turned around and left, looking completely normal, as if they had never been surrounded at all.
The players breathed a sigh of relief after they all left.
"Come on, let's not talk here. Let's go to the open space outside the village to talk, and pretend to go out to look for something."
Now everyone had no objections. Who knows if the NPC who spoke earlier was actually observing them? Just to be on the safe side, they would definitely have to pretend for a while.
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