"What have you figured out?"
Everyone listened to Zhou Yingting’s words and immediately looked at her with some confusion.
"I know how to survive here for seven days without dying!"
Zhou Yingting spoke with a relieved expression as she addressed the group.
Everyone was momentarily stunned by her words, then they became excited, "Quick, tell us!"
"Remember when I said yesterday that this was a countdown? We lose a point for each night we stay, and the more empty rooms there are, the more points are deducted?"
Zhou Yingting looked seriously at the six people present.
They all nodded in unison, as it had just happened and none of them had forgotten.
"I think I know how the points are deducted. The points were deducted because I didn’t turn off the faucet, and in the empty rooms, the faucets automatically turned on at night but kept running because no one was there."
"Did you guys have any incidents of faucets being left on overnight while you slept these past few days?"
Zhou Yingting asked this while looking firmly at the others present.
The group exchanged glances and then shook their heads one after another.
None of the six of them had left a faucet running overnight.
If that’s the case, Zhou Yingting’s theory seems plausible.
Zhou Yingting then looked at Lin Yuxin, "You only returned to your room last night, did you check if there were any signs of flooding in the previous nights?"
Lin Yuxin was taken aback and quickly shook her head, "I don’t know, it was already late when I returned last night. I was so scared that I didn’t dare to check around!"
"Let’s go take a look."
Song Qingyun immediately suggested, wanting to verify Zhou Yingting’s hypothesis.
The evidence would be clear if the floor in Lin Yuxin’s room showed signs of flooding.
Lin Yuxin didn’t delay and led the way to her room.
Moments later, they opened the door, and almost as soon as they entered, everyone knelt down to inspect the floor closely.
Initially, nothing seemed amiss, but upon closer inspection, there were distinct water stains in some corners.
Seeing this, everyone stood up, now mostly convinced by Zhou Yingting’s guess.
"It really was flooded, so now we can conclude that if we don’t turn off the faucets, the countdown to death will start. If we turn them off every night, the countdown will stop?"
Gan Xinyang seemed excited at this revelation; if it were true, it meant he could survive.
"For now, I tend to agree with Zhou Yingting’s conclusion."
Song Qingyun pondered for a moment and then nodded.
He then looked at Zhou Yingting with some confusion, "But how did you determine this was related to not turning off the faucets?"
"Part of it was a reminder from your words, and the other part was the countdown on the talisman."
"When I first obtained the talisman, it didn’t display any numbers. It wasn’t until I returned near the room that it started showing numbers. I think something in the room triggered it, starting the countdown."
Zhou Yingting explained while pointing to the talisman.
The group understood, enlightened by her words.
Lin Yuxin appeared pale, "If that’s the case, if we were scared and all stayed together from the first night, wouldn’t we have been finished?"
"No, if we all stayed together, at least one room’s faucet wouldn’t have turned on that first night, so we’d have survived for one night."
Ying Shai shook his head, but his words sent a chill through everyone.
Because if they really had all stayed together that first night, it would have left them with only one night of leeway, and Zhou Yingting, misled by the ghost, meant certain death for all of them.
Fortunately, aside from Lin Yuxin and Song Qianqian, they all slept in their own rooms, buying them some extra time.
"Isn’t it said that only when the spiritual power drops to a standard level will we be possessed by ghosts and be in danger? It seems this instance isn’t attacking our spiritual power, why is that..."
Song Qianqian still didn’t quite understand why this situation occurred in the instance.
"Possession is just one of the conditions. Some ghost conditions, once triggered, can result in instant death without needing possession."
Zhou Yingting gave a brief explanation.
Previously, they’d been constantly attacked by the ghost, diverting their attention away from other threats.
"Now there’s still the problem of why you were the only one able to gather information about this Master while the rest of us were not."
Song Qianqian acknowledged this explanation, signaling her understanding.
But she still couldn’t understand why Zhou Yingting was the only one who could gather information about the Master; it couldn’t be just because she spent money?
If that were the case, this instance would be a deadlock for newcomers without resources.
"I think it’s because I’m the only one haunted by the ghost, so only I could gather this information."
Zhou Yingting speculated after some thought.
She was the only one haunted by the ghost and needed the things the Master placed there most.
This included the Barrier-Breaking Liquid, which would allow her to see the existence behind her.
But if anyone else obtained it, they would likely keep it to themselves and not share it.
Just like when Zhou Yingting returned with it, she wasn’t planning on sharing it with anyone.
If it fell into someone else’s hands, they might see the ghost behind her and become wary, potentially killing her or isolating her.
Thus, this restriction ironically provided an extra chance for survival.
"Yes, you didn’t specifically gather information on the first day. Even when you talked to that butcher, we were the ones who hijacked the conversation."
Lin Yuxin thought back and confirmed that on the first day, Zhou Yingting had indeed started gathering intelligence.
However, both she and Song Qianqian had interrupted and taken over the conversation.
They hadn’t realized that because of this action, they missed important information on the first day.
"Alright, let’s distribute the Barrier-Breaking Liquid, one drop for each of us. When we hear the faucet turn on at night, we each drop a drip."
"The entity left me, but it may move on to anyone else among us. It has some ability to alter what we see and hear."
"If it attaches to someone at night and misleads them into thinking the faucet is already off, that would be trouble." Discover more novels at NoveI-Fire.ɴet
This entity seemed to have limitations as it previously only misled Zhou Yingting, but now it could mislead others once it left her.
For safety, it was best to divide the Barrier-Breaking Liquid among them.
Items from the instance used within are considered normal.