Chapter 68 Let’s Take a Bath Together (V)
Crash.
The boiling water continued to wash down, and the steam made the view hazy.
Mu Yu's black eyes moved left and right, scanning everything in front of him calmly.
There was nothing at the open door of the compartment, only an empty, slippery aisle, the tightly drawn curtain of the compartment opposite, and dark stains on the dark blue curtain.
Mu Yu blinked and turned his head quickly.
Behind him was still the old shower and white tiles.
“…”
He turned his head back and continued to close his eyes.
“——Mu Yu, Mu Yu, is that you?!”
The quiet whispers sounded again.
It was a man's voice.
...It’s Principal Dou’s voice!
The scalding water kept pouring down over Mu Yu's head. He did not respond immediately, but kept his eyes closed. Suddenly, he stretched out his hand and pulled the curtain of the partition shut.
The surroundings became quiet again, with only the lonely sound of splashing water ringing in the empty bathhouse.
Mu Yu hesitated, then pulled the curtain aside again. The whisper appeared again: "——Mu Yu, can you hear me?"
Mu Yu frowned slightly.
He continued to close his eyes and took a step forward to walk out of the shower area.
The whisper died away again.
He stepped back under the shower and a whisper appeared: "--Are you experimenting? You can hear it, right?"
——Draw the curtains, take a shower, and close your eyes. These are the three necessary conditions to hear whispers.
After Mu Yu made his judgment, he finally spoke: "...Principal Dou?"
"It's me!"
"Principal Dou," Mu Yu remained calm, "Where are you? Why can't I see you?"
"I don't know where I am either," the whisper was filled with confusion and fear. "I'm in a very dark and narrow place. There seem to be a lot of monsters around me, very huge monsters!"
"How did you get in?"
"I was taking a shower in Area 1, and I don't know how I got in," the whisper sounded painful, "Muyu, when you get out, remember to remind everyone not to go to Area 1 again, that place is very dangerous!"
Mu Yu asked sharply, "Principal Dou, what's wrong with you? Your voice sounds strange."
"I, I don't know. I'm very scared and my heart aches. The monsters are roaring and it's very loud," the whispering voice began to pant heavily. "I saw their tentacles. It seems that their tentacles are trying to reach out from the other side of the wall!"
Mu Yu turned around and faced the cubicle door.
The scalding hot water kept flowing down his cheeks.
He stretched out his hand and touched the cold tile. After steadying himself, he stepped out one leg and slowly leaned his body forward.
He tried his best to keep part of his body under the shower and continued the conversation: "Principal Dou, is this a near-death feeling?"
"I don't know. It seems different from the feeling of near-death outside just now. I feel like something invisible is wrapping me up, covering my mouth and nose. I can hardly breathe..."
Mu Yu pressed his face close to the cold tiles.
A painful voice came from the tiles: "I seem to be dying, Mu Yu."
——
"Classmate, your shower time is almost up." A rough and wooden voice suddenly sounded behind Mu Yu.
Mu Yu tensed his body, opened his eyes and looked back.
Old Li was standing outside the cubicle door, holding a cloth mop, with an expressionless face.
"……knew."
Mu Yu didn't move, and Lao Li didn't move either. Their cloudy eyes just stared at him.
Mu Yu let out a breath, took out his cell phone, and checked the time. He indeed only had less than a minute left in his shower.
He pursed his lips and could only turn off the shower, picked up the basin, wiped his hair with a towel, and walked out of the bathhouse quickly.
He quickly dried himself in the locker room, took off his wet underwear, changed into a pair of disposable underwear, put on all his clothes and pants, and finally glanced at the toiletries bag left by Principal Dou on the stool and walked out.
The moment he stepped out of the locker room, the six people in the lobby all looked at him. The next second, they all looked at the electronic screen on the front desk!
Mu Yu also looked over immediately.
The electronic screen went black.
A second later, a number "2" jumped out from the dark background!
This time there are two vacancies!
Everyone jumped up immediately and surrounded Mu Yu.
"What happened in there? How come there are two empty seats?"
"Have you found Principal Dou?"
"Why did you get your hair wet?"
Amidst the buzz of conversation, only Lu Chongnian had a frown on his face.
He walked over and reached out to touch Mu Yu's cheek.
The cheeks were abnormally red.
His slightly cool hand felt the abnormally high temperature almost the moment it touched it.
Lu Zhongnian's eyes turned even colder. He held Mu Yu's face with both hands, ignoring the surprised and subtle looks and uncomfortable coughs from everyone around him. While cooling Mu Yu down, he asked, "What's going on?"
Mu Yu also subconsciously rubbed Lu Zhongnian's palm - there was no other reason, it was just that Lu Zhongnian was like a piece of jade, with a cool feeling.
Mu Yu's whole body is now hot, and the heat cannot be dissipated in his body. He really needs to hug something cooler than him... or a person, to cool down.
He highlighted what he had seen and heard in the bathhouse, and everyone was shocked.
"——Principal Dou is in the wall?!"
Mu Yu chose a more cautious statement: "I can only say that the sound came from the wall. That voice was Principal Dou's voice."
Fu Xiaoju was very perceptive: "Do you think... that voice might not be Principal Dou?!"
"After all, I didn't see him." Mu Yu picked up the towel and continued to wipe his wet and dripping hair. He said calmly, "You know, it's very easy for dungeon monsters to disguise themselves as players."
There was silence in the lobby for a moment.
It was scary enough that Principal Dou was inside the wall, but it was possible that it wasn't Principal Dou himself, but a monster in disguise? ?
"But it's also very strange--" Mu Yu said halfway when the towel was taken over by Lu Zhongnian.
Lu Chongnian pulled him to the chair and pressed him down. He wiped his hair while frowning. He reached out from under Mu Yu's clothes and touched his waist, which was also burning hot.
Fu Xiaoju's eyes glanced around with a somewhat twisted expression.
Mu Yu said seriously, "Because I ran all over the bathhouse and didn't see Principal Dou. It was as if he disappeared out of thin air. So at first I was very confused about how this could happen. But if there is a special space behind the wall and he went in there, then it seems to explain it."
Zhao Anyi concluded with an unpleasant expression: "So, that voice could still be the real Principal Dou, and what he said could be true. Can't we go to Area 1 to shower?"
“No, that’s actually where the contradiction lies.”
Mu Yu said word by word: "If there is a space behind the wall, there must be clues there. That's Principal Dou, how could Principal Dou not understand this?"
Everyone was stunned.
"Even if players will die if they go in, someone has to go in and get the clues, otherwise all of us will die in this dungeon. But the 'Principal Dou' I just heard is about to die. He obviously didn't find anything, but he is still warning us not to go to Area 1 - is this really Principal Dou's style?"
As the principal, it is true that Principal Dou does not want his students to die.
But Principal Dou must also understand that without someone dying, no one can survive.
Not going to Area 1 might seem like a way out for the remaining seven of them, but in fact, the end of this road might very well be a dead end.
Given Principal Dou's intelligence, he should never say something like that.
——Even if they were really in a desperate situation and developed fear on the verge of death, their principal Dou would not.
The lobby fell into deathly silence.
Wang Shi was at a loss: "...Then, are you sure there is a special space behind the wall?! Could it be that even this is a lie?"
Bird suddenly interrupted: "If this is fake, then the sound inside the wall must be fake, so why did it choose to use this excuse to fool us?"
Although Brother Bird is not as smart as people like Mu Yu and Lu Chongnian, after experiencing a copy, he has understood the design ideas of the copy. He has evolved!
Wang Shi: "Maybe Area 1 is the only safe area. That voice doesn't want us to go there. It wants us to die...?"
Brother Bird: "If it was just for this, then there was no need for it to invent a 'special space'. Why didn't it just say that it was a ghost now and died because it took a shower in Area 1? Wouldn't that be simpler and less buggy?"
Wang Shi: “…” It seems to be right.
Fu Xiaoju is also very knowledgeable now: "Generally speaking, as long as a special setting appears in the copy, no matter whether this setting first appears in the fake rules or the monster's lies, this setting itself is very likely to exist, but its existence may not be the form the monster told us."
Zhao Anyi: "In order to confuse the players, the copy will mix the truth and lies together?"
Fu Xiaoju: “Yes!”
Liu Yu was confused: "So what is going on now? Which ones might be false and which ones might be true?"
He can hardly keep up with these people's thinking!
Mu Yu said methodically, "Area 1 is connected to a special space. Principal Dou entered that special space. I think this is very likely true. But I am not sure whether the voice I heard was Principal Dou's."
"If that voice was made up by the replica, then it's easy to understand. This just proves that there is an important clue in Area 1. The replica just doesn't want us to find that clue."
Therefore, the first goal of the players who enter the bathhouse in the next round is to figure this out.
——What secrets are hidden in Area 1?
In addition, there is another question, why are there 2 vacancies in this round?
Is this number random, arbitrary, or is there some pattern?
Everyone looked at Lu Chongnian and Zhao Anyi.
Lu Zhongnian's number is 3, Zhao Anyi's is 4, and they will be the next two to enter the round.
At this moment, Lu Chongnian finally finished drying Mu Yu's hair with a serious face. Although it was impossible to achieve the same effect as using a hair dryer, at least there would be no more dripping.
Zhao Anyi took deep breaths continuously, his expression serious, and was already making preparations.
The time is 10:16, and there are still 44 minutes left until the end of the dungeon. The players behind all have important tasks to accomplish, so they have to speed up their pace.
Mu Yu gently pinched Lu Zhongnian's fingertips, just as Lu Zhongnian had reminded him when he entered, and whispered, "Be careful."
Lu Zhongnian stroked his neck again: "Are you still hot?"
"It's okay, it will cool down in a while, it's okay."
"Okay," Lu Zhongnian pressed his head, then picked up his bag, his face faded, and said to Zhao Anyi, "Senior, let's go."
*
The locker room was quiet.
The two boys were not familiar with each other.
Lu Chongnian was a man of few words and Zhao Anyi was nervous, so after they came in, apart from the rustling sound of people changing clothes, no other sounds could be heard for a while.
Zhao Anyi sighed inwardly, he still couldn't understand why he encountered such a thing when he just came to take a shower. He was full of thoughts and took off all his clothes except for his underwear... After hesitating for a while, he still didn't dare to take off all his clothes.
If I really die in there, dying naked would be too...
He turned around and said to Lu Zhongnian awkwardly: "You..."
He almost bit his tongue, looking shocked: "--You're wearing swimming trunks?!"
Lu Zhongnian paused in taking off his shirt.
He exerted a little force with both hands, pulled off his shirt, put it on the bag, and then responded calmly: "Yeah."
The boy has a standard inverted triangle body shape, with a lot of muscles on his body, and his porcelain-white skin makes him pleasing to the eye.
The plain and simple black swimming trunks on his lower body made him look like he was going for a swim rather than a bath.
Zhao Anyi was puzzled: "...Did you bring your swimming trunks because you had a 'premonition' before you came here?"
Lu Zhongnian still said "hmm".
Zhao Anyi: "...That's great."
Unlike him, he only has one pair of clean underwear. If he has to go in two or three times, he can only move around in wet underwear. The thought of it makes him feel suffocated.
Just as he finished thinking, he saw with his own eyes Lu Zhongnian took out a black quick-drying shirt from his bag and put it on quickly.
Then the inverted triangle disappeared, covered tightly.
Zhao Anyi: “…………”
No, do you have to cover it so tightly? !
Wait, are you wearing swimming trunks to keep them waterproof or just to be conservative, you conservative handsome guy!
What's wrong with letting people take a second look at his abdominal muscles? Does he have a wife at home? !
Zhao Anyi suddenly recalled the sticky energy between Lu Chongnian and Mu Yu in the lobby just now, and his head seemed to be hit hard. After waking up, he was in a trance.
Lu Zhongnian picked up the towel, glanced at him calmly, and asked in a cold voice: "Senior, do you want to exchange for a self-defense item?"
"Ah? Me?" Zhao Anyi was in a trance and looked at the red vending machine in the corner hesitantly, "Are your demon coins limited?"
"Don't think about this for now."
"... Let's just forget it. According to what you said, if a monster really appears, it can't be solved by just fighting and killing. In the end, the key lies in the rules, right?"
Zhao Anyi scratched his cheek and asked, "What are your plans after you go in? I'll listen to you."
Upon hearing this, Lu Zhongnian looked towards the entrance of the bathhouse and said calmly:
"After entering, players must go to one zone each. In our round, it would be best if one player goes in zone 1 and one player goes in zone 3."
Zhao Anyi realized that, so far, only District 3 was something they knew nothing about.
"District 1 is best for veteran players. Senior, if you can, go to District 3. If not, go to District 2."
Although the water temperature in Zone 2 is high, it is at least safe based on the current situation.
"Okay, then I'll go to Area 3," Zhao Anyi gritted his teeth, "I just want to get out of the dungeon as soon as possible."
The two of them got ready and walked into the bathhouse.
There were two kinds of soap, red and green, placed at the entrance of the bathhouse. Lu Zhongnian chose the red soap without hesitation. Zhao Anyi was puzzled: "Why?"
The rules suggest that red soap is used when the player feels very light. Is Lu Chongnian feeling unwell?
Lu Zhongnian said: "We are all in good health. According to the rules, we all use green soap. But since this rule exists——"
His cold eyes swept across the words: "If you feel your body is very light, you can choose red soap, it can make you calm; if you feel your body is very heavy, or everything is normal, you can choose green soap, it is the most versatile."
"——That means that you may feel unwell later."
Zhao Anyi's face changed.
When will this happen?
It could only be after they had been in the bathhouse.
But by then it would be too late to change the soap.
Zhao Anyi was sweating coldly, and quickly took a piece of red soap, his thoughts turned -
"What about Mu Yu and Fu Xiaoju...?!"
In the lobby.
Fu Xiaoju paced restlessly around the locker room door for a few circles, then returned to sit on the small bench.
He glanced at Mu Yu and was about to speak when he suddenly noticed the red soap in Mu Yu's basin and was stunned: "You chose the red one?"
Mu Yu paused and said vaguely: "Well, yes."
Fu Xiaoju was curious: "Why? Are you feeling unwell?"
"without……"
"Then why??"
Mu Yu held it in for a while, but under Fu Xiaoju's curious gaze, he had to give up resistance and confess.
"Are any of us feeling unwell right now? Of course not. Are the two situations mentioned in the rules, 'feeling light' and 'feeling heavy', nonsense? Of course not. Doesn't that mean that we might encounter one of these situations later?"
"If you think about it carefully, don't you think that the green soap's reminder of 'feeling heavy' is actually a cover-up, because when people see this rule, their attention is definitely drawn away by 'everything is normal'."
"When everyone is healthy, everyone will choose green soap. But when they really feel unwell, do you think it is more likely that they will become heavier or lighter? Obviously the latter!"
Fu Xiaoju: “…”
"If we choose green soap at the beginning, then we won't be able to choose again until we use up the soap. And if there's real danger, then we're doomed. So we should choose red soap at the beginning."
Fu Xiaoju: “…………”
Mu Yu sighed: "I didn't tell you because I was afraid you would feel pressured."
The rest of the onlookers: “…………” Damn, it’s really stressful! They also felt the pressure the moment they heard it!!
Fu Xiaoju: “…………” Wipe, wipe, wipe, he had played all the copy games in vain, and fell into the trap again? !
Return to the bathhouse.
Lu Zhongnian and Zhao Anyi, who was sweating coldly, took the soap and took a step forward.
At this moment, a sound of water suddenly appeared in the depths of the quiet bathhouse, splashing, splashing.
They both stopped at the same time.
Someone is taking a shower in there?!
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