Most people had decided, and the few who objected would only appear guilty, so everyone returned to the room on the first underground level where the problem board was located to wait.
The waiting process was excruciatingly dull. Wan Yunrong couldn’t help but strike up a conversation with Wu Xiaonan, "Do you think becoming the ghost in the game would leave any special mark?"
Wu Xiaonan was helping Zhu Rumin wipe the powder off her face, which was already clean. She said, "If there is one, that would be best, to prevent accidentally hurting others."
Wan Yunrong sighed, "It would be nice if someone could just step forward and admit it."
"Could it be that the person chosen to be the ghost doesn’t know they are the ghost?" Chu Yuan suddenly ventured.
"How could that be possible?" Gan Qing said, "If that were the case, what would be the point of playing the game?"
Participating in the game and securing a victory were clearly bonuses. Reversing that logic—how could the game continue if the "ghost" didn’t even know their own identity? The game itself would lose its purpose.
Besides visiting the bathroom, the players did not move around at will, and soon it was the same time when the lights had gone out the previous night, but the lights remained stubbornly on.
"What’s going on? Isn’t the lights-out time the same every night?" Ge Pan asked, puzzled by the glaring light outside.
"It seems they never said that lights-out would be at a fixed time," Miao Yu stated.
Players looked at each other, and finding no anomalies among themselves, could only brace themselves to wait, but even by one o’clock in the morning, the lights in the laboratory still hadn’t gone out.
"I want to go to the bathroom," Wu Xiaonan stood up and said.
"Wait, you can’t go now. What if the lights go out after you leave?" Wan Yunrong objected.
Wu Xiaonan shifted her legs unnaturally, "It’s fine if I go out by myself, isn’t it? You are all here, so it’s not like the ghost would run out."
Chu Yuan rolled his eyes, "Who’s worried about you getting killed by the ghost? We’re worried that you’re the ghost."
Wu Xiaonan said sternly, "Even if I were the ghost, where could I hide? The laboratory is only so big; surely you wouldn’t expect me to sort it out right here!"
"You...!" Wu Xiaonan was not lightly angered, and beside her, Zhu Rumin tried to defuse the situation, "Everyone is just concerned about your safety; nobody can guarantee that there isn’t any other danger in the laboratory."
Wu Xiaonan let out a cold laugh, "Well then, let a few of you follow me. Two ghosts still wouldn’t make up half the group."
"I’ll go as well," Miao Yu said, moving her arms a bit, "If the lights don’t go out all night, are we expected to hold it in until we die here?"
"Who else wants to go? There are stalls in the bathroom, so let’s not worry about gender at this point."
"I pass," Wan Yunrong waved her hand.
"I’ll accompany you. I’ll wait outside, safer with more people," Xu Huo nudged Chu Yuan’s arm, signaling him to keep an eye on Wu Xiaonan.
So, it was the five of them who went out, leaving Ge Pan, Mao Wei, and the other six in the room.
The three ladies entered the bathroom, while Xu Huo and Chu Yuan waited outside. Chu Yuan complained, "You should have come earlier or drunk less water. Haven’t you seen the movies? In this kind of situation, something is bound to go wrong..."
Before he could finish, the lights in the corridor went out.
Voices came from inside the bathroom, and Xu Huo calmly glanced at Chu Yuan, "Haven’t you seen the movies? Your situation is what’s called a jinx."
Chu Yuan hurriedly turned on the illuminating light, and given the strange Ghost Shadow he had seen last night, he nervously checked around. "It seems quiet over there too."
Miao Yu and her two companions came out of the restroom, and after sizing each other up for a few seconds, they all sped up their pace towards the rooms—since the ghost wasn’t among them, falling behind could mean missing a good opportunity.
Just as they reached the outside of the rooms, a figure suddenly kicked open a door and dashed out without looking back, followed by several other players.
"Chang Chengyong ran off, he’s the ghost..." Gan Qing burst out right after him but stopped at the door, staring in astonishment at Xu Huo and the four others, "Zhu Rumin..."
Zhu Rumin’s expression changed dramatically, but the next second, Wu Xiaonan, who was closest to her, struck with both palms, "Double Peaks Piercing Ears!"
Although it was called Double Peaks Piercing Ears, two transparent plastic sheets appeared out of nowhere and tightly clamped Zhu Rumin between them, slightly flattening her, but she managed to turn her head sideways and said to Wu Xiaonan, "Are you even a woman with that kind of strength?"
Wu Xiaonan’s expression froze for a moment, and the "Double Peaks Piercing Ears" loosened accordingly.
"She’s running!" Chu Yuan pulled out a Crossbow Arrow, aiming at the woman squeezing out of the plastic sheets, but it was blocked by the other’s metal arm guard.
The Crossbow Arrow connected to a steel wire was deflected towards Wu Xiaonan, actually forcing her back and inadvertently aiding Zhu Rumin’s escape.
"Zhu Rumin, look here!" Xu Huo called out, throwing a black ball down!
Zhu Rumin reflexively looked up but was struck in the face by the black ball coming from a tricky angle, causing her to fall backwards, right as Miao Yu crossed her arms and drew twin blades from beneath her coat, slashing at her waist!
But the blade didn’t harm Zhu Rumin; instead, with one hand pressing on Miao Yu’s arm for leverage, she sprang up with a kick aimed at her head.
Miao Yu quickly raised her arm and protected her head with the flat of her blade, being pushed back a few steps; however, Zhu Rumin’s leg was injured in the process.
This brief exchange of blows gave enough time for Ge Pan and the other players to react. After Gan Qing gave a warning, he and Qiu Xiangdong went after Chang Chengyong, leaving three people in the room.
Mao Wei was the first to throw something resembling a hand grenade forward, but when it exploded, it released a flurry of cotton candy-like fluff, completely blocking Zhu Rumin together with the corridor.
Miao Yu and Wu Xiaonan were also affected by the proximity, tearing off the sticky substance from their bodies and switching to long blades and swords, stabbing and sweeping towards Zhu Rumin’s position.
You couldn’t hear sounds through the fluff, but when Wu Xiaonan’s sword was drawn, there was blood on it.
By the time the players had completely torn open the fluff, Zhu Rumin was gone.
"There’s blood on the floor, we can catch up," Wu Xiaonan was the first to pursue.
The other players weren’t far behind, apart from Qiu Xiangdong and Gan Qing, who had gone after Chang Chengyong, the rest headed in the direction Zhu Rumin had gone.
Following the blood droplets to the elevator, Wan Yunrong instinctively wanted to get in, but Miao Yu stopped her, "If she took the elevator, it wouldn’t be just sitting here waiting."
The interval between their arrival wasn’t long enough for an elevator trip up or down.
"So you’re saying she hid in one of the rooms?" Wu Xiaonan turned around and began searching from room to room.
"Women are really scary," Chu Yuan remarked, unable to help himself: "Just now the two of them seemed as close as sisters with different fathers, even going to the bathroom together, and now they turn on each other, stabbing at the first sign of trouble, impressive."
"If Zhu Rumin is the ghost, then she approached Wu Xiaonan to kill her," Xu Huo said. Could they not turn on each other?
"There are too many rooms in the laboratory; let’s split up to search," Mao Wei suggested.
"Okay, I’ll go with him," Ge Pan responded.