Chapter 246 Escape Room (10) - Interrogating the NPC
To find out what was going on, Si Zhong went back to the wall he suspected.
He first reached out and knocked on the wall, but didn't find anything special about it that resembled a door.
A normal person would go back to the library and check the walls there again, but Si Zhong didn't have time for that. He simply pulled out a short knife from his waist.
His Cold Star Dawn Blade could cut through iron like mud, so cutting through a wall would be a piece of cake for him.
He raised his hand and began to slash at the wall with his knife. Soon, a large hole was cleaved open on the other side of the wall, a hole big enough for him to pass through.
Si Zhong saw that there was indeed another hidden space inside, and there was an NPC staring in surprise at the hole in the wall.
He smiled slightly and stepped inside.
He tapped the wall with his knife in his right hand: "Tell me, what kind of formation is this?"
The NPC saw that the person had not only found the place, but had also entered.
Startled, he jumped up from his seat and hid to the side, still clutching something in his hand.
This did not escape Si Zhong's notice. With a single movement, he vanished from the spot and reappeared in front of the NPC.
Before the NPC could even use what he was holding, Si Zhong grabbed him by the neck and plunged his knife into the NPC's wrist where he was hiding the item.
"ah--"
A scream escaped his lips but was choked back down, the sound distorted and short.
The NPC's hand loosened due to the blow, and the item in his hand fell to the ground.
Si Zhong glanced down at the object on the ground; it was a key.
He didn't know if this key was the same thing he was looking for. The NPC's other free hand slapped towards Si Zhong.
Si Zhong was not about to let anyone touch even a finger of his, so he drew his sword and chopped off the hand that the other person was slapping at him.
"ah--"
Another strange scream rang out.
Si Zhong: "Shut up and answer my question properly."
The NPC was trembling with pain and couldn't hear his questions at all.
Si Zhong frowned, took out a painkiller from his spatial storage, and threw it directly into the NPC's mouth.
This is an item he obtained in a certain dungeon. It has a rapid pain-relieving effect, and the NPC calmed down quickly.
Si Zhong didn't repeat himself and went straight to asking questions: "What's the use of this key?"
The NPC, still terrified by his ruthless actions, trembled as he replied, "Yes, it's the key to leave here."
Si Zhong: "Leave here?"
NPC: "There is no door in this place. You can only leave with a key."
Si Zhong: "Why is there no door in this place?"
NPC: "Because...because this is the monitoring room."
Si Zhong raised an eyebrow: "Monitor what?"
NPC: "The surveillance is trying to find the killer's whereabouts. If they get close to the truth, we will notify the killer to leave immediately."
As long as they don't catch the killer, there's nothing they can do.
Si Zhong listened and pondered for a moment, and then he understood why the system gave two solutions, because solution one was fraught with difficulties.
Regardless of the quality of the clues provided, even if you obtain them, there's still this monitoring NPC around.
This is deliberately creating difficulties for the players.
Si Zhong: "What's the situation with that female ghost?"
The NPC was completely bewildered: "What female ghost? This is a school, where would a ghost come from?"
Si Zhong glanced sideways at the NPC, then at the monitor screen on the wall, and pointed to the screen showing the female ghost corridor, asking, "It's here, there's a female ghost."
The NPC looked at Si Zhong with an expression that suggested he was mentally challenged. Si Zhong noticed this and glanced at him sideways, which startled him and made him instantly serious.
He answered tremblingly, "B-Brother, this is just an ordinary corridor. Where did all this weird stuff come from?"
Si Zhong raised the blood-stained knife and gestured twice in the air towards his cheek, a clear threat.
The NPC was so frightened that his legs trembled, but he still insisted on his original statement.
Si Zhong understood that the NPCs and ghosts in the dungeon were two different factions, each serving their own role.
There are no ghosts or monsters in the eyes of NPCs; only players can see them.
For NPCs, their job is to prevent players from entering the instance to find the truth.
In their eyes, they may not even know that the players exist, and only think that the players are just dungeon characters.
Si Zhong looked at the split screen again: "I didn't see any cameras in these places, so why can you see them here?"
NPC: "I...I don't know, but it's possible, and it's only possible here."
Si Zhong understood; there were some things that even NPCs couldn't explain.
He smeared the blood from the blade onto the NPC's deathly pale face, actually just to wipe the blood off the blade.
If one cheek of an NPC wasn't clean enough, they'd switch to the other, and eventually even wipe it on the NPC's clothes.
After wiping away all the bloodstains, he put the knife back into its sheath at his waist.
He released the hand that was gripping the NPC and raised an eyebrow at the ground, gesturing: "Pick up the key and give it to me."
The NPC, now free, knew he couldn't win and didn't dare to cause any trouble. He obediently squatted down, picked up the key, and handed it to Si Zhong.
After receiving the key, Si Zhong examined it carefully. The key's shape resembled that of an ancient key, long and round.
He held up the key and asked the NPC, "How do I use it?"
The NPC explained, "Just hold it up to any wall and say 'open,' and it will open a hole. The hole will close after you leave."
Si Zhong turned to look at the hole he had just made in the wall: "So now we don't need a key, right?"
The NPC followed his gaze and understood what he meant: "No, this hole will recover soon. This room is a bit special; it's like a living room."
As soon as he finished speaking, Si Zhong indeed discovered that the wall had begun to repair itself.
The damaged wall bricks are gone, and the original hole has been restored to a complete wall.
Si Zhong: "This wall is normal? If you don't explain it properly, I'll kill you."
The NPC quickly waved his hand, then suddenly remembered that one of his hands had been pierced and the other had been chopped off.
Fortunately, the bleeding stopped and he didn't feel any pain.
"I really don't know why, this place has always been very mysterious."
All we know is that as long as we protect the murderer, everything here will function normally.
Si Zhong seized on a key word in his words: "Us?"
The NPC then realized he had let something slip and quickly shut up.
Si Zhong snorted coldly and made a move to draw the knife from his waist again.
The NPC panicked: "I'll talk, I'll talk! I was assigned to guard this place by the principal, and everything that happened at the school was approved by the principal."
Si Zhong: "So, the school tacitly approved of the murder?"
The NPC stammered for a long time but didn't dare to say anything.
Si Zhong: "Forget it, since the principal knows everything, I'll just go ask him directly. You're no longer of any use, so there's no need to keep you around."
Upon hearing this, the NPC dared not hide anything any longer; this person in front of him was truly capable of killing.
"The principal said that the reason why there are murders at the school every year is because the school is cursed."
However, as long as we protect the perpetrator, the school can continue to operate smoothly.
That's why I was assigned to work here, and he even gave me this key.
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