Chapter 70 The Number of Graves is Paramount 32 Sixth Middle School
Wu Wangwang had only guessed at first, but after hearing what the man said, she became even more certain that those medicines were all acute medicines, and it was impossible for someone to drink water all night and then die from drinking too much in the morning.
Ling Yuanshan raised his doubts: "Even if that's the case, how can he drink water all night? I saw the amount he drank this morning, and if it had been any more, he would have died. It's impossible for him to drink water all night and not die."
“That’s what I’m suspicious of. Haven’t strange things been happening in your boys’ dorm lately? I suspect that the one drinking water at night wasn’t human, but the one who did it this morning must be a crazy player.” Wu Wangwang recalled that these past few days they had been saying they saw players doing strange things, but when asked, the players always said they hadn’t done anything.
Things seemed to be connected in this way. The first boy exclaimed in astonishment, "Could it be that the ghosts in the boys' dormitory follow a rule that mimics human behavior? If they mimic for a certain period of time, the person being mimicked will die?"
The second man has been less irritable lately. He shook his head and said, "No, no, if it's a matter of imitation, then the first one to die should be that big guy who was walking around with the dormitory supervisor. He was the first one to be imitated."
Upon hearing this, the others nodded in agreement.
Watching the students discuss, Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan exchanged a glance and suddenly realized that the students seemed to have passed the initial stage of fear. They were beginning to absorb everything about the game and were becoming more and more like players.
When they are no longer afraid of corpses, blood, or ghosts and can pick up weapons and fight, they will become qualified players. Even if they continue to participate in the game in the future, they will have the ability to protect themselves.
Since there was no holiday and time was limited, Ling Yuanshan clapped his hands and said, "What you all said makes sense. If we want to know the answer, we just need to go to the dormitory again and see what's wrong with their dormitory. But the police are investigating now, so we can't go there. So all we can do is try to ask the NPCs."
"Inquire? Aren't we being targeted by all the NPCs?"
"They seem to be willing to do anything that could kill us, all because of the mortality rate?"
"Yes, that's what you said before. What can we find out if we ask?"
...
The students started asking questions all at once, finding Ling Yuanshan's statement very strange.
Ling Yuanshan smiled and said, "There are many ways to get information. It's not just about what the other party says that counts as an answer. You can observe their demeanor when they are moving around freely, or ask them some seemingly silly questions, and then decide whether to believe them, how much to believe, or the opposite based on their answers."
"This is too difficult, isn't it? We've only just entered, how could we possibly learn it?" The students felt it was unlikely they could do it, and they also thought that a newbie like Ling Yuanshan, who had only entered the instance once, probably couldn't do it every time either.
Unless he is exceptionally gifted and has maxed out his emotional intelligence.
Wu Wangwang raised an eyebrow at this moment: "No, you'll know once you try it. The setting of NPCs without names is actually very rigid. It's like when you hit a lot of numbers in a match-3 puzzle, it will make an 'unbelievable' sound. This is set up. It may not give you information, but you can get the information you need from the limited information the NPC has."
“That’s right, there are only two of us, but there are too many people in the dormitory, including players whose rules are not quite the same as ours. It’s difficult for just the two of us to quickly and discreetly obtain a lot of information. It took us a week to collect basic information about ten of us, which means we don’t have time to ask for other information. But if you can help us, we can save a lot of effort.” Ling Yuanshan tried his best to encourage the students.
They should have risked their lives to learn these skills, but they were innocent. Ling Yuanshan was willing to lend them a hand. His past experience of being unable to save newcomers still bothered him, but now he could skillfully tell newcomers what to do to survive.
If this were a free-exploration instance with fewer restrictions, Ling Yuanshan could easily spend several days without rest gathering all the information, then check it with Wu Wangwang to find the key content. But now their time is fragmented and limited by school rules, and most of their time is spent locked in the classroom doing exercises.
Anyone locked up like that would become numb within a month, but in a game, numbness can be deadly.
The students agreed. Having already gone through a trial, they didn't feel excited or anything, but remained cautious. After all, they had been tricked by an unknown object in their drawer on their first day of class, and since then, everything seemed like a trap, which was a good thing.
They then went to the cafeteria for lunch. Since the latest death was in the boys' dormitory, Ling Yuanshan could no longer skip lunch break. Besides, the dormitory supervisor would definitely be stricter now and wouldn't pretend to be deaf and dumb like in the first week. This was a good opportunity to go back to the dormitory to investigate.
After getting their food, everyone scattered throughout the cafeteria, approaching familiar NPCs and starting to harass them.
Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan didn't separate. With Ge Nan and Gao Hu as backup, it was fine for them not to separate. Now, whether in the eyes of the referee players or the original NPCs, they were inseparable in order to survive.
Ling Yuanshan had been to the dormitory that morning, and he remembered who the deceased's roommates were. After looking around the cafeteria, he walked straight in one direction. In between, he took a moment to say to Wu Wangwang, "The four people at the table we are facing right now are all the deceased player's roommates. I've noticed that because of the subject selection, even if they are in the same class and the same dormitory, they may not necessarily play together. So these four are very special."
Like Ge Nan and his friends, they came from completely different classes, different dormitories, and different majors, but they got along better.
As they approached, Ling Yuanshan stopped beside them with a cold expression: "After what happened this morning, how can you still eat?"
The students around were all trained by the school rules, and if something like this happened in the real world, everyone would have gathered around to watch the spectacle. But in the game, outside of the established rules, the NPCs really only do their own thing, and when the players hear the commotion, they quietly observe.
The male player's death this morning was so sudden that they weren't prepared at all, and now they can't find any clues to investigate. Unexpectedly, Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang, those two busybodies, actually helped them investigate.
The four NPCs at the table ate their meal mechanically. Ling Yuanshan was not satisfied and continued to ask questions, but he did not make a move. The school rules stated that making a move would result in a demerit.
After asking several times, the NPCs said they had finished eating. They ate very quickly, and after finishing, all four of them looked up at Ling Yuanshan at the same time, revealing eerie smiles. Their pale faces and dark eyes made them look abnormal.
They even spoke at the same time: "We can eat, we eat normally, why can't we eat?"
After saying that, the four of them got up and left with almost identical movements and speeds, as if they had copied and pasted each other.
Ling Yuanshan looked down at Wu Wangwang: "What did you hear?"
“The rule is that anything other than what’s in the cafeteria will trigger the death rule if it enters your mouth. It just wasn’t there before, but now it seems that the player drank water from outside after getting thirsty.” Wu Wangwang’s expression was somewhat serious.
Ling Yuanshan has been extremely busy these past few days, and he was only able to get some water by being forced to go to the cafeteria. But he will have to stay in the dormitory for long periods of time in the next few days, so how could he not drink water?
Now that this has happened, they're being told that even the water outside isn't safe, and only the water in the cafeteria is safe to drink.
The two exchanged a glance, quickly finished their food, and then found the other students. On their way back to the dormitory, they asked them if they had been drinking water recently.
They all nodded, saying that they were not quite in their right mind on the first day of their arrival due to punishment, and were too nervous and thirsty on the second day. However, they dared not drink anything casually, and since they all had water cups, they waited until mealtime to pick up their drinks from the cafeteria.
As they spoke, they each pulled out cups of different colors from their backpacks.
They get their water from the cafeteria, which is supposed to be safe, but in reality they can only drink it secretly in their dormitories. If they drink it in the classroom, it counts as eating in the classroom. So, they used to drink their breakfast in the cafeteria, bring the empty cups into the classroom, and come back to get water at noon. In the afternoon, they would not bring their cups to the classroom but would put them in other lockers.
After school in the afternoon, they would drink water and then take their empty cups to refill their water bottles before returning to their dormitories. Fearing there might be problems in their dormitories, they would still feel safe with the first locker they saw, and would store their water bottles in the locker before taking them back to their dormitories in the evening.
It's a bit of a hassle, but if they don't do it this way, they won't even be able to get water. The rule that they can't drink water in the classroom seems to be set up to prevent them from going to the toilet too often. They can't keep an eye on them, so they can only use this clumsy method to get water.
The students weren't very experienced, but they still managed to ask some questions, which could be considered gossip. Some NPCs had a gossip attribute, and since the morning was quite lively, they naturally became loudspeakers, spreading the news everywhere. It was lucky for the students, who were newbies, to have stumbled upon this opportunity.
The gossip NPC said that the deceased hadn't been appearing in the cafeteria much since Saturday.
Saturday and Sunday are exam days, so no one has time to run around. Even Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan couldn't find the time. Exams take a lot of energy, and they also have to control their scores, so their daily behavior is similar to that of NPCs. Therefore, they didn't notice if the players had any accidents.
After all, the players are restless and difficult to gather together, unlike the eight students, who are like chicks following their mother hen and won't run around.
Now, hearing them talk about it, Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan realized that the problem had arisen so early.
"Did they say why they weren't coming to eat? There aren't any other places to eat at the school," Wu Wangwang hurriedly asked.
The woman nodded: "Yes, they said something with a strange expression, that if you're full, you won't come to the cafeteria to eat. I didn't understand, but it felt like there was some connection. For example, if you're full from drinking water, you won't want to eat."
Wu Wangwang immediately pointed out, "That's it. But if it's not in the cafeteria, there's no water anywhere else. Did he drink the teacher's water?"
Ling Yuanshan suddenly thought of something and said, "I have an idea, but I'm not sure. I need to go back and check. When you go back to the dormitory, be careful not to let the water from the faucets in the dormitory enter your mouth. I just don't know if we can sneak into that dormitory."
Hearing Ling Yuanshan say that, Wu Wangwang roughly guessed what he wanted to do, so she took out the spray and stuffed it into his hand: "Don't worry, I'll take care of it."
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Author's Note: [End of Chapter]
Wu Wangwang: Passing items is too troublesome. If only we had a copy item, we could just copy and paste each other's items, and then we'd all be max-level players! [Starry-eyed]
Ling Yuanshan: ...I could at least crack a joke with the last one, but this one... just go to sleep. The planners never have good intentions. [laughing and crying with face covered]
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