Seeing Wan Yunrong emerge, Gan Qing’s anger on his face subsided a bit. "What are you doing here?"
Wan Yunrong turned on the light. "Why can’t I be here?"
"Your hair has some dust in it, want me to wipe it off for you?" Xu Huo spoke.
Chu Yuan couldn’t help but glance at him, and the uninformed Wan Yunrong cautiously reached up to touch her own hair, saying, "No need..."
Before she could finish speaking, Xu Huo suddenly made his move, hand shooting toward her throat.
Wan Yunrong reacted quickly, immediately stepping back, but in the next instant, she was caught by a line. Before she could break free, Xu Huo quickly scratched her arm and then retreated, pulling back the piano string.
At the same time, Gan Qing, who had moved to strike, was also teleported ten meters away by Chu Yuan’s "relationship severance."
Both parties drew their distances and watched each other warily.
"Don’t be nervous, I just wanted to see if catching a ghost could clear the game," Xu Huo said, relaxing his stance.
His words made Wan Yunrong even more tense. She looked at Gan Qing. "I’m the ghost?"
"We all saw the Ghost Shadow on you just now," Gan Qing explained.
Wan Yunrong’s face darkened, and she turned to run.
"Wait!" Gan Qing quickly called out to her, "We didn’t plan to hurt you!"
"Since catching the player who has become a ghost doesn’t clear the game, killing you is pointless."
However, Wan Yunrong didn’t heed him, her form suddenly splitting into three, each darting down a different corridor.
The western half of the Deep Blue Laboratory was not as orderly as the eastern half, with more flexible corridor layouts. Being at a crossroads, when she ran out into three, each looking exactly like the real one, it left Gan Qing unsure of how to proceed.
Xu Huo then aimed at one of them and swung his sword. The Sword Qi barely grazed the top of Wan Yunrong’s head and sliced through the decorative piece in the corridor ahead.
Wan Yunrong did not stop her escape at the warning. Instead, she threw an electrified metal ball backward, creating a crackling electric net upon contact with the surrounding walls, protecting her back. By the time Gan Qing knocked down the electric ball, she had disappeared.
"She’s quite fast," Xu Huo commented.
"You didn’t want to kill her, so why make a move?" Gan Qing turned back and said, "It looks like she has no idea she’s the ghost."
Xu Huo nodded. The appearance of the Ghost Shadow on Wan Yunrong confirmed that Gan Qing wasn’t lying; he must have seen the Ghost Shadow on Zhu Rumin.
The first night, Chang Chengyong drew the ghost card, so he knew he had become "the ghost." The second night it was Zhu Rumin, and tonight Wan Yunrong was added, with one more spot left.
If Zhu Rumin was the one who killed Chang Chengyong, then the current "ghosts" would be those two, Wan Yunrong and another player whose identity was still unclear.
If it was Qiu Xiangdong, then these two plus Zhu Rumin.
From the current situation, it seems that the person who has become a ghost is unaware of it; the only way to tell is if the Ghost Shadow appears on them. The Ghost Shadow spontaneously appears on players who have become "ghosts" and can move freely.
Capturing the player who has become "the ghost" does not clear the game. Xu Huo verified this yet again with Wan Yunrong. If the Ghost Shadow can only appear by attaching itself to players, to catch it, it must be confirmed that there is only one "ghost" among the remaining players.
"If the ghost doesn’t know it’s become a ghost, then is it possible that we could also become ghosts?" Chu Yuan said.
"Very likely," Gan Qing replied. "If we don’t kill all the ghosts today, there will be four more by tomorrow night."
Peace Chunsheng, Chang Chengyong, and Mao Wei had died, leaving nine people left, with a minimum of two "ghosts." Tomorrow, four more would be added, making at least six "ghosts."
"Ghosts" killing "ghosts" could reclaim their human status, and although victory in the game wasn’t necessary, the copy task of capturing ghosts might somehow be linked to it. Before a method of clearing the level was found, maintaining the "human" identity was the safest.
"No wonder Wan Yunrong insisted on running away," Chu Yuan also realized that once the number of "ghosts" surged, in order to ensure their return to human form, players would inevitably slaughter each other. There might be "ghosts" among their trio too, and that was why Wan Yunrong didn’t want to take that risk.
"The game ’Catch the Ghost’ was designed for players to kill each other from the start. But even if only one ’ghost’ remains, the Ghost Shadow might not necessarily stay attached to that player."
To Xu Huo, killing each other seemed pointless.
"Have you encountered other people?" Xu Huo asked Gan Qing, "Ge Pan and Wu Xiaonan."
"I’ve only run into you guys," Gan Qing hesitated before adding, "I also bumped into a player from Dr. Deng’s group."
"It seems they really do want to wipe us all out," Chu Yuan said indignantly.
"What do you mean? Are Dr. Deng’s people targeting the ticket players?" Gan Qing pressed, "What else do you know? Were you fighting with a player from Dr. Deng’s group just now?"
"Those people came up to us wanting to kill on sight; if it hadn’t been for our quick thinking and fast escape, we would have certainly died at their hands," Chu Yuan said. "Who knows what got into them!"
Gan Qing’s eyes flickered, evidently picking up on something. After two seconds, he said, "We should stick together, it’s safer. Besides them, we also need to watch out for Ghost Shadow."
Xu Huo and his companion had no objections, so the three of them proceeded together.
The night was still not over, and in the pitch-black setting, using a light was tantamount to being a glaring target; therefore, all players unanimously chose to move in the dark.
On the third basement level, the Kong Siblings sat to the left and right of Dr. Deng, watching him organize some inconspicuous containers he had found in the laboratory.
"Are these it?" Kong Cheng asked.
Dr. Deng shook his head regretfully, "None of these, the potions here have been phased out over the last two years."
"You’re not deceiving us, are you?" the player who had previously used the vacuum cleaner said.
Kong Cheng cast a warning glance at him, "Zhao Bi, you can’t speak to Dr. Deng like that."
Zhao Bi shrugged, "I’m just stating the facts. We’ve found all the potions we could, the entire eastern half of the laboratory is practically empty. If these aren’t it, then it’s completely hopeless."
Dr. Deng’s expression didn’t look good, but he offered no rebuttal.
Of the six players the Kong Siblings brought, only three were here, the other three had followed the ticket players upstairs. It wasn’t hard to guess what they were up to, which led him to say, "Perhaps the thing the Beren Clan is searching for is no longer here."
"That’s absolutely impossible," Kong Cheng stated with certainty. "Since the creation of the Deep Blue Laboratory copy, this island has been under the control of the Beren Clan. It’s impossible for anything to come in or out without their knowledge."
"Couldn’t it have been taken by another player?" Dr. Deng said, frustrated.
Both Kong Siblings looked at him, and Kong Hui said, "Up to now, no ticket player has left Deep Blue Laboratory alive."
Dr. Deng had no response, but Zhao Bi smiled, "I’m going to the restroom."
"Don’t wander off," Kong Cheng reminded, "Lou Fu and the others haven’t returned yet."
Zhao Bi waved his hand nonchalantly, "Don’t worry."