A room, and it has to be a unique room.
Xiao Cheng almost instantly identified the two cells representing the female and male ants.
"Then let's go take a look." Fang He saw through her thoughts at a glance and picked up the candle lamp from the bedside table.
Stepping out of the room through the main door, a row of wall lamps hangs in the corridor. Even with the addition of candlelight, the light is still dim, barely enough to make out the scene before you.
A camera with a faint red glow hung in the corner, while the main quest message appeared above their heads.
“Live streaming…it always feels a bit strange,” Fang He said thoughtfully. “But up until now, apart from this newly released task, this kind of setup seems to be completely useless.”
"Perhaps more features will be unlocked with experience points," Xiao Cheng guessed, while using the light from the wall lamp to observe the strange cracks on the wall.
She suddenly stopped in her tracks.
There was a crack there, illuminated by the light, and under Xiao Cheng's deliberate observation, it was impossible for it to hide.
She tapped lightly with her finger, listening carefully to the sound coming from the crack, and then confidently pushed the wall.
It really was a secret door.
"It's only a dozen or so steps away." Xiao Cheng frowned as she looked at the winding, dark corridor that appeared before her.
“I only briefly walked through the visible path, but the structure here is far more complex than we imagined.” Fang He showed no extra expression. He walked into the hidden door in front of Xiao Cheng, then held the door open with one hand to prevent it from closing, while holding out the other hand in front of Xiao Cheng.
"Let's go, I'll clear the way for you."
Xiao Cheng looked at his face, half of which was hidden in the darkness.
“Ah… let’s go,” she said.
But she didn't respond to the hand reaching out to her. Instead, she put both hands in her pockets and unconsciously rubbed her fingers together.
It's a bit cold, probably because of the overly dark environment here.
Fang He didn't seem to care too much about her reaction. He withdrew his hand expressionlessly, picked up the candle, and lit the way ahead. The dim light cast their shadows on the uneven wall, making them look like two menacing monsters.
Fortunately, although the corridor was winding, it didn't take long to reach the end.
Xiao Cheng looked up at the worn-out nameplate on the door panel.
BY.
The structure of this room was almost identical to the previous one. After that, Xiao Cheng and Fang He found six more rooms. The secret passages and rooms were intertwined. The only thing they had in common was a metal nameplate with the letters BY printed on it.
“They’re all soldier ants; I originally thought worker ants would have more nameplates.” Xiao Cheng frowned.
"The allocation of identities is strange. Apart from the queen ant, the only identity we lack is that of a soldier ant, and soldier ants are responsible for defense and combat, so at first I thought it was a good thing."
"We'll deal with whatever comes our way. There's really no other way until then." Xiao Cheng seemed particularly easygoing in this situation.
They first went to the room representing the female ant, which looked much more luxurious than the other rooms, especially the large bed with its semi-transparent gauze curtains, which was pink and delicate, making it look particularly princess-like.
"It looks like there's a clue at first glance," Xiao Cheng commented quite objectively.
However, the moment the two stepped into the house, the door slammed shut with a loud bang, and a sturdy metal railing rose up from the ground, blocking the doorway completely.
At the same time, three lines of large, glittering gold text appeared on the ceiling of the room.
[Prerequisite quest completed; side quest now available.]
[Party side quest from characters five and six: Propagation and Growth.]
[Quest Reward: Freshly Baked Queen Ant x1]
Xiao Cheng: "..."
Fang He: "..."
They can only sit on the edge of the bed, staring at each other.
In other words, they arrived peacefully, but ended up unable to leave.
“The railings can’t be opened by hand, and we don’t see any suitable tools here,” Fang He said. “But given the current situation, there are still advantages. At least we can roughly guess who we are.”
“We can put the main quest on hold for now, so let’s talk about the side quests.” Fang He pointed to the four large, bright characters on the ceiling.
To reproduce and thrive.
"What are we talking about?" Xiao Cheng scoffed. "What kind of crazy side quest is this? I might as well wait until I wear down that railing over there."
“It’s not impossible.” Fang He thought it over carefully. “After all, with enough effort, even an iron rod can be ground into a needle.”
Xiao Cheng: "...So do you have a better idea?"
"Now that the side quest has been unlocked, there must be progress outside. The other players are all here. Although I haven't seen Number Three, I'm sure you have. Later, whichever of them realizes we're missing, they should come looking for us."
"Do you think there's a hidden door in this room?" Xiao Cheng asked him suddenly.
"It's hard to say, but we can look for it."
So the two of them started searching through drawers and cabinets again, but unfortunately, they found nothing.
"Looks like we're going to be locked up here." Xiao Cheng slumped back on the bed. "Let's wait and see when they come looking for us."
*
Inside the passageway, Number Three raised an eyebrow in slight surprise as Number One and Number Two walked towards him: "You two are here too? I thought it would just be Number Six and me."
"Stop with this pointless nonsense and get straight to the point. What's your side quest?" Number One asked impatiently.
“Let’s find the granary, after all, I’m a worker ant.” Number Three pointed to the top of his head. “Can’t you see? The mission reward comes from the queen’s protection.”
"Then it seems we share the same identity and mission," the second woman said calmly, then extended an invitation to him, "So, want to come together? Anyway, the situation here is unknown, and more people mean more strength."
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