Chapter 43: Speculation
Lin Han walked in front, pretending that he saw nothing.
He finally realized that this Wen was actually no different from a ghost. Even if he didn't look back, his mind was filled with the other person's mouth swaying in front of him. In this gloomy environment with not even enough light, it was even more terrifying.
Lin Han didn't even remember what he looked like.
I don't know what his eyes look like, what his nose looks like, and I'm not even sure what color his hair is.
I only remember his mouth.
Lin Han shuddered.
Especially when the lights kept flickering, Lin Han felt that his mental state was not good enough. He didn't dare to move forward or look back, and his mind was full of random thoughts. It was really difficult for him to take two steps forward. He was afraid that a ghost would appear when the lights came on, and he was also afraid that the person following him would disappear. He could only lower his head to look at the short distance ahead, and then glance at the feet behind him with his peripheral vision, secretly groaning in his heart.
He couldn't let himself be trapped in this terrifying atmosphere and emotion. Lin Han began to calculate the general situation of this copy based on the information he had obtained.
The "Haunted House" dungeon is probably not as simple as it appears. Apart from the possible dangers in the dungeon itself, the players are also in a competitive relationship. This means that they will not cooperate or live in peace like in the "Factory" dungeon, and may even kill each other for a chance to survive.
He was lucky today that he didn't die. The first player he met directly added him to the team. Even though he didn't have any good intentions, Lin Han was going to take Wen to find someone, and he also had the idea of dealing with other people in his mind.
Everyone has their own ulterior motives and takes advantage of others.
Lin Han subconsciously replaced the word "kill" with "solve", which would make him feel more at ease.
Of course, the dungeon settings are not so superficial. Lin Han guessed that before a specific time arrives or before specific conditions are met, players cannot attack other players with the same identity. Otherwise, after the dungeon starts, the stronger party can completely use violence to forcibly wipe out the remaining players to achieve the purpose of completing the task. In some ways, this completely loses the fun of competing for the dungeon.
Depriving the weak of the possibility of winning, there is no suspense, Lin Han believes that the "New World" will not set up such a low-level copy.
Wen seemed to have obtained some rules that Lin Han didn't know about from a place he couldn't see. In addition to "ghosts only kill people who are alone", there may be other rules that he didn't tell Lin Han. So just by looking at Wen's behavior after meeting other players, we can confirm whether Lin Han's guess is correct or not.
Or maybe this is an alternative hide-and-seek game, where players can attack each other, but there are ghosts in the haunted house. Everyone's choice depends entirely on luck: whether to eliminate their competitors first or be discovered by the ghosts first. It is even possible that the others will fight and die, and the person who luckily hid did not encounter the ghost and became the only lucky person to pass the level.
If Lin Han were given a haunted house theme and asked to set it up, it would most likely be one of these two situations.
Moreover, both humans and ghosts should have rules to abide by so that both sides can be in a pseudo-fair state. After all, humans can die but ghosts cannot, so humans are at a disadvantage. Combined with the fact that Wen just chose to avoid ghosts, Lin Han guessed that the setting of this copy would most likely lean towards rule-based killing.
The rule to restrict ghosts should be that when there are three or more people within a certain range, the ghosts cannot take action.
There were two of them there just now, but the ghost still came over. If they hadn't hidden quickly, they would have been found by the ghost. So the two of them were not safe.
Although it is said that "ghosts only kill people who are alone", Lin Han believes that people who are alone will die if they meet ghosts. Two people can hide, and the survival rate is 50-50, depending on whether the ghost finds the people. When there are three or more people, the ghost will not approach.
Three people are likely to have their own agenda and get rid of the weakest third party. Once the number is reduced to two, without the constraints of rules, under the oppression of ghosts, the "last survivor" will be decided more quickly.
The third is the number of people who are most convenient to reduce.
Lin Han was thinking in his mind while stopping in the dark, waiting for the lights to come on before moving forward.
They had left the corridor they had just walked through and passed through an artificially enclosed aisle, approaching a place similar to a lobby. They had not yet entered, but they had seen through the glass on the door that there were several rows of seats placed together inside. It seemed to be a place for customers to wait. There was also a counter on the right, but it was not very clear.
The layout here really looks like a haunted house, a place that provides various scripts for people's entertainment, but... this kind of scene in the real world itself is scary enough. The timid ones may be scared to scream. It is even more terrifying in this copy. After all, all kinds of weird things can be done here.
Lin Han is quite courageous, but not too courageous.
He looked at the flashing "Emergency Exit" sign not far to the right of the door. The green light illuminated most of the room, casting a cold, dim light everywhere. Lin Han took a deep breath. The dark entrance under the sign did not give a sense of safety at all.
But they couldn't stay here for too long. If the ghost came back, they would be blocked here with no place to hide.
Lin Han withdrew his gaze and turned sideways to approach Wen who had been beside him.
Although the haunted house was dilapidated, the air conditioner was still cooling. Lin Han arbitrarily concluded that the air conditioner was still working and would not accept any other explanation.
Although Wen looks like a ghost, his body temperature is hot. When you get close to him, you can feel some warmth, which is a unique sense of security in the haunted house.
"When the lights come on, we'll go into the hall and go to the counter to see if there's any information."
Lin Han paused, then continued, "There should be a space behind the cabinet on the left where you can hide if there's any movement."
You must find a safe spot before going out to avoid losing your composure when encountering danger.
Lin Han waited to hear a "hmm" in response to him, and he didn't need to open his mouth to say "hmm", but the other party didn't say anything.
“…”
After a moment of silence, Lin Han swallowed and slowly raised his head.
In fact, he hadn't even looked at Wen's face before. His eyes were only fixed on the other's chest. He pretended to look up but actually looked down. Now he finally met the other's cold gaze reluctantly, and the little warmth he had absorbed from being close to the other was scared away.
Wen just glanced at him, then looked out through the glass on the door. The green light flickered on his face. He had his eyelids half drooped, looking as gloomy as a devil.
He nodded and opened the door first.
The dust on the door fell off and there was another creaking sound, which startled Lin Han's heart.
This commotion is a bit too loud.
He turned his head to look at the dark passage behind him. Just then, the light came on again. He had no time to think about it. He could only rush out during this time and tiptoed into the hiding place he had initially taken a fancy to.
There were no footprints on the hall floor, so no one had been there before them.
Wen followed him.
The sound of his footsteps was completely drowned out by Lin Han's.
As for the footprints they left behind, Wen will deal with them.
The ghost might search along the footprints, which Lin Han discovered from Wen's small movements.
On the way here just now, when he lowered his head to look at the shoes behind him, he found that the dust on the road where he walked was spread out like a mosaic, and he could not tell which direction the passers-by were going.
Perhaps this was the reason why he insisted that Lin Han walk in front.
The ghost they met before lost its direction when it stood at the door and did not notice them even though they were only separated by a wall. The reason was that the footprints on the ground had been wiped out by the smell.
Lin Han didn't ask, and he pretended that he didn't notice it at all.
This compartment is not big, it is simply a small space separated by several metal cabinets. There are shoe racks on three sides, with cloth shoes on them. Some are neatly arranged, while some are in a mess, some are overturned, some are tilted, and some have fallen to the ground.
Most haunted houses provide comfortable shoes to customers to avoid accidents when running around in the scenes, and this one is no exception.
Lin Han sighed as he looked at the scene in front of him. It was obvious that the haunted house was in operation.
This is not a good thing.
The business hours indicate that there are staff and players here. They can be said to have replaced the players who had already entered the venue, but there are empty spaces on the shoe racks. Who took the shoes that were originally here?
There must be at least five, six, seven, eight or nine staff members, so it’s easier to guess who the ghost is.
When I think of such a long line of ghosts following behind me...
Lin Han: My head hurts even more.
The only thing he was thankful for was that the cloth shoes he saw when he first came in were all gray or brown. If they were bright red, he would probably have turned around and rushed out as soon as he came in.
Wen still didn't react.
He couldn't speak because of his mouth problem, which made it difficult for the two of them to communicate. In addition, perhaps because of his strength problem, he was indifferent to all the dangers here and didn't take them seriously at all. Although he had no objection to Lin Han's behavior, he had almost no desire to communicate with Lin Han.
It was agreed that he would follow, but now it has become that he is "following" Lin Han, and Lin Han can only find a way out on his own.
They stood here for two or three minutes. There was no movement outside. Lin Han stuck his head out and saw that everything was normal. He decided to consider this place a safe place. After all, it was a haunted house, so it would be reasonable to go in and see ghosts.
Lin Han first touched the counter. He had wanted to come here for a long time. He grabbed a small flashlight on the counter. Although the beam of light was small, the pure white light made him feel a lot more at ease.
He was reluctant to use it and put it in his pocket first.
The counter was covered in dust, and it looked like no one had been there for a long time. The adhesive strips behind the posters on the wall had lost their stickiness, leaving only one poster with half a corner still hanging. The rest had fallen to the ground and curled up, with broken and yellowed edges.
Lin Han lifted it up and took a look, only to realize that this was not a haunted house, but a secret room, featuring various escape room scripts. There were seven posters corresponding to seven scripts, covering a hotel, a prison, an ancient castle, an ancient tomb, a school, a home, and an old house with the red embroidered shoes that Lin Han feared - the poster showed a woman in a red wedding dress floating in the lake, with a wet red veil covering only half of her face. The exposed face was pale, with red lips smiling, and a pair of red shoes neatly placed on the shore.
Lin Han: “…”
Lin Han had played many escape room games with Song Ziyi, but he was better at puzzle-solving ones. It looked like there was an 80% chance that these seven scripts were horror and chase scenes, which made his eyes go dark again and again.
What you fear will come to you.
Lin Han took a deep breath and looked back at Wen behind him. He was obviously not interested in these posters and the small flashlight hidden by Lin Han. He stood beside them like a big Buddha, but still met Lin Han's gaze directly.
He is very observant and will notice Lin Han's secret glances at him immediately. He should be very suitable to be used as a danger alarm.
Lin Han thought so and immediately turned her head away from him.
Compared to the green light of the "emergency exit", the dim ceiling light was not much better. No matter what time it was, he would still feel nervous when he saw or smelled it.
When I didn't see him, I was afraid that he would suddenly disappear, and when I saw him, I was afraid of him again.
Wen's wounds seemed to be healing very quickly. The wound on his lip had stopped bleeding, but there was a dark brown bloodstain on his chin, as well as on his chest. There was also a dark and wet spot on his collar, which made him look like an evil ghost who had just eaten a human and had not had time to wipe his mouth.
After Lin Han confirmed that the person next to him was Wen, although he was afraid, he still had an inexplicable sense of security, which made him dare to continue rummaging through the drawers in this gloomy and strange hall.
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