Escape from the movie theater (4)
Gao Shudao said, "Based on my speculation, that pool of water might be a space. We'll call that drop of water that can drive people mad 'Venom' for now. Both the venom and the knife are stored in the space, so we can't see or touch them. When necessary, they can come out and affect people."
Qin Man said, "But isn't space something you can carry around with you? Like us, we all have personal space, which contains ecospheres."
Gao Shu explained, "Personal space is just one type of space, and a relatively common one at that. There are also movable spaces, and their shapes are not fixed. Some spaces look like a puddle of water, while others look like a rock. I've seen different spaces in the previous games, so I'm quite familiar with this aspect."
Professor Pan said, "Who put this water feature there? What was their purpose? Did they want everyone watching the movie to die? But the audience members don't know each other, and it's impossible for them all to have a grudge against the mastermind. Could the mastermind be an antisocial personality?"
Qin Man said, "Maybe... otherwise there's no way to explain his motive. Does he think killing is fun? Then why doesn't he kill himself, but instead goes to such lengths to control an audience member and have them kill?"
Professor Pan asked, "In the previous cycles, did you see any unusual audience members? For example, when faced with a serial killer, did they not panic, but instead seemed somewhat excited?"
Jian Tanxi said, "I didn't see it in my field of vision... It was so dark in the movie theater, and the situation was so chaotic at the time, it was hard to notice that."
Others also said they hadn't noticed.
Qin Man said, "I think the mastermind might not be at the scene; they may have already left. Otherwise, with a serial killer going around killing people, the mastermind couldn't guarantee they would survive."
Everyone agreed that Qin Man's analysis made sense.
Gao Shudao said, "Then, let's confirm our objective for this round... Should we evacuate everyone near the water space?"
Professor Pan said, "Evacuation is useless. That drop of venom and that knife seem to automatically seek out the nearest person. Even if there's no one around, it can fly a little longer to find a suitable audience."
The rules of the game are that we need to find out why we are stuck on the same day and solve the problem in order to leave.
The cause has been found; only the problem remains to be solved. However, we don't know exactly what the problem is. In other words, why did this happen in the movie theater?
Jian Tanxi said, "I propose that our goal for this round is for everyone to survive."
Qin Man asked, "Did everyone survive?"
"Yes. As long as we're alive, we can respawn at an earlier point in time. Maybe we'll be here before the other players arrive. That way, we can observe who did it and see if that puddle has always been there."
Everyone thought it was a good idea.
So this time, instead of evacuating the people in row 6, everyone tried to find a relatively safe place.
Gao Shu suggested that everyone go to the back, but Mo Xiaoduo suggested that everyone go to the corner at the front.
Qin Man thought it would be best to hide under the seats, while Professor Pan suggested finding the place furthest away from the 4 seats in the 6th row as the crow flies.
After discussing it for a while, no consensus was reached.
Jian Tanxi said, "I've thought of a good place."
She pointed to the movie screen.
Qin Man asked, "Shall we stand at the bottom of the screen?"
Jian Tanxi: "No, we're hiding behind the screen."
Everyone thought it was a good idea. The movie screen is so big, a few people hiding in the back won't be noticeable and won't interfere with other people's movie viewing.
Based on Gao Shu and Mo Xiaoduo's escape experience, each round doesn't actually end until everyone is killed; there is a time limit.
In the round where Gao Shu and Mo Xiaoduo survived, they automatically respawned after hiding for a certain period of time. Moreover, none of the other spectators were killed either.
They estimated that the killer's killing spree lasted about twenty minutes.
So, all you need to do is stay alive for 20 minutes.
The players quickly headed toward the movie screen.
The screen was still displaying ads, but nobody paid any attention.
The players quietly hid behind the screen, unnoticed by most viewers. Even those who did notice didn't care, as it didn't affect their movie viewing.
About seven or eight minutes later, Huo Shuangshuang, who was sitting in seat 4 of row 6, went berserk and started stabbing people with a knife.
As before, the audience scattered and fled. But because the aisle was narrow and everyone was in a panic, they ended up huddled together, and no one could get out.
This made things easier for Huo Shuangshuang, making it even easier for her to chop people up.
The movie theater was filled with screams, cries, and running sounds...
Qin Man quickly activated her "Deaf Successor" ability, making herself unable to hear any sound.
Then, she covered Qu Chen's ears. Otherwise, Qu Chen would go crazy from all the noise.
The area behind the screen is a safe place for the time being, and few people think about it.
But gradually, some audience members in the front rows also realized they were moving over here.
Fortunately, not many people were able to get to the front, so it wasn't crowded for the time being, and no one pushed the players out.
Twenty minutes isn't a long time, but it's not short either; it's enough for players to hear a lot of screams and smell a lot of blood.
This is pure mental torture for the players; they'd rather just die.
To watch so many people perish without being able to help, and to have to hear their cries of death, is something no normal person could accept.
Fortunately, twenty minutes finally passed, and a new cycle began.
The player has been reborn for the seventh time and has 30% health remaining.
When Jian Tanxi woke up again, she found that the chair was shaking, but not as badly as before.
She looked at the movie screen and saw that a comedy was playing. People were riding in a car up a mountain road, and the car was bumping along, so the audience's seats were also shaking.
Apart from the original teammates on both sides, all the other audience members were different.
It seems they should have been reborn back to the time before the last movie finished playing.
Then they will have more time to investigate the truth.
The players were exhausted, so this was a good time for them to take a break.
Jian Tanxi seemed to remember something and said a few words to Qin Man beside her.
Qin Man sat closer to the aisle so it would be easier for her to walk out.
Qin Man nodded and said, "I'll go take a look."
She gritted her teeth and tried to stand up, but it took her about three minutes to succeed.
After getting up, she quickly walked to the 6th row.
After arriving at the sixth row, Qin Man pretended to be sitting in the sixth row and was about to walk in.
The players in the sixth row didn't suspect anything and all tucked their feet in, letting Qin Man walk in.
Qin Man walked to the middle of row 6, seat 3 and row 6, seat 4, and looked at the groove in the middle armrest.
She looked at it carefully several times to make sure she hadn't made a mistake.
Then she walked out, saying, "Sorry, I've got the wrong place."
After returning to the fourth row where the players were, Qin Man looked at all the players and gave them a wink, signaling them to come out.
Despite feeling heavy and tired, the players managed to stand up and walk into the corridor.
This time, they couldn't even sit upright anymore; they all leaned against the wall, bending their legs to sit, which was more comfortable.
The spectators nearby thought they were acting strangely, but they didn't say anything, since they weren't blocking anyone else's view.
Qin Man said to the other players, "I just checked the handrails between seats 3 and 4 in row 6, and there's no water in the grooves there."
Jian Tanxi said, "That's great. We can observe in a while and see who put that puddle of water in there."
Five minutes later, the previous movie ended, and the audience got up and left.
The players could no longer occupy the aisle, so they could only stand up with difficulty, stand against the wall, and slowly move towards the sixth row.
After the movie ends, all the lights in the theater will be turned on, making it very bright. So, if someone tamperes with the theater, players should notice immediately.
The people in seats 3 and 4 of row 6 stood up, but didn't seem to do anything.
Soon, everyone in row 6 had left.
Jian Tanxi went to check the armrest recess between seat 3 in row 6 and seat 4 in row 6 and found that there was still no water inside.
It seems that the puddle wasn't caused by the audience in the last game.
The players continued to observe.
After a while, a cleaner came in to clean.
Not long after, he arrived at the sixth row.
He cleaned for a while, glanced up at the players, and then continued cleaning. Soon, he reached the seventh row.
Jian Tanxi asked Gao Shu, "How was it? Did you see anything?"
None of the players got too close to the handrail. Gao Shu had the superpower of "super vision," so he should have seen it the clearest.
Gao Shu shook his head and said, "There's nothing there."
For the rest of the time, the players observed from the sidelines until the next audience came in. Seats 3 and 4 in row 6 were taken by Huo Shuangshuang, the girl with pigtails, and her classmate.
The theater lights dimmed, and after watching for a while, Gao Shu said to the players, "Still nothing."
The players were a little confused.
Logically, at this point in time, the puddle of water should already be in the groove of the handrail.
Otherwise, how would the mastermind achieve his goal?
The advertisements started playing on the screen, but the players were still standing in the aisle.
The audience members in the sixth row near the aisle looked at them with suspicion and asked, "Are you also sitting in the sixth row? Should I get up and let you in?"
Jian Tanxi shook her head and said, "No, we'll rest here for a bit and then go back to our seats."
The audience member just ignored them.
The commercial break ended, and the puddle of water still hadn't appeared.
The new film started, and the audience began watching, but the puddle of water still hadn't appeared.
The moment when Huo Shuangshuang went berserk in the previous rounds was approaching. The players watched her with great tension.
Three minutes to go.
Two minutes left.
One minute to go.
Time's up.
Huo Shuangshuang suddenly let out a scream.
Her classmate next to her asked, "What's wrong?"
Huo Shuangshuang said, "The 4D effects are too realistic. I'm a little scared. I want to sit on the steps."
"No, 4D movies are expensive because of the experience. If you don't experience it, you're just wasting your money. If you're scared, just sit up a little and don't sit still."
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