Chapter 160
Chapter 160
Cheng Miao still could not move. The only other surviving players, Xiao Wen, Xiao Qing, and Yun Su, had also gathered in her room.
Seeing Cheng Miao’s condition, Xiao Wen and Xiao Qing were curious but did not dare ask questions. Under Qi Jiajia’s watchful glare, Yun Su voluntarily moved two steps farther away.
Cheng Miao still could not move, and Qiudong’s group refused to leave her side no matter what.
Jiang Chen smiled, tapped the floor twice with his Gentleman’s Cane, and rose gracefully to inspect the scene.
Gu Fan’s death was not without cause. She had known Ah Qi and Xiang Ping before the Game, and after their time inside it, the three had long since become friends who would risk their lives for one another.
After watching her friends and companions die so brutally before her eyes, she had been unable to remain calm.
So when she saw the injured Kojima appear in the corridor, Gu Fan charged him with her Item without a second thought.
She moved so quickly that Lin Zhu did not have time to stop her.
Later, Gu Fan and Kojima crashed through a door together and rolled into the studio. Kojima knew the studio extremely well. By using the terrain to his advantage, he made Gu Fan accidentally touch that painting.
Afterward, Kojima emerged from the studio with a dark expression and staggering steps. He returned to his bedroom, ignoring Gu Fan, who had become dazed after touching the painting.
When Lin Zhu found Gu Fan, she was already dead.
Her lifeless body lay on the floor, a hole opened in her skull. On an easel, someone had used her blood and brain matter to paint an image of the long-necked woman.
The painting was unfinished, but those few sparse strokes were even more disturbing than the completed works.
Lin Zhu had no time to care about fear or disgust. He hurried away to find Cheng Miao.
By then, Cheng Miao’s weakness debuff had ended. She rose from the bed and stretched, feeling as though she had returned from another lifetime.
In the future, unless it was absolutely necessary, she would never let a spirit possess her again.
Cheng Miao could find nothing to say about Gu Fan’s death. Losing a companion was often impossible to accept. If it had been her…
She did not know what she might have done either.
Cheng Miao’s gaze passed over everyone before her. Fortunately, all of her people were still here.
She led the group to sit in the living room. Kojima was wounded and probably would not emerge for a while.
Even if he was a villain, he was still only human. To experienced players with Items, he was not truly much of a threat.
In a few concise sentences, Cheng Miao shared everything she had experienced while possessed by the spirit.
“Then Yuko died long ago! What is the thing we’ve been seeing? A ghost?” Xiao Qing clutched Xiao Wen’s hand so hard that Xiao Wen grimaced in pain.
“Not a ghost.” Cheng Miao shook her head. If it had been a ghost, her buff would have detected it long ago.
She had an idea, but still turned toward Qiudong and Jiang Chen, who had actually seen the truth.
Earlier, Cheng Miao had given Qiudong a hint, and he and Jiang Chen had gone to Kojima’s room.
They had planned for one person to lure Kojima away while the other examined Yuko, only to discover that Kojima was not in the room at all.
After forcing the door open, both men became trapped in a hallucination. That was why they had nearly failed to return in time to save Cheng Miao.
“She’s a doll, isn’t she?” Cheng Miao looked at Jiang Chen. He nodded, his gentlemanly manner making Xiao Wen blush involuntarily.
“A doll?!” Xiao Qing failed to notice her best friend’s reaction and cried out in shock.
Cheng Miao nodded. “When Lin Zhu realized the hint meant ‘doll,’ our deduction was incomplete. The hint has two meanings.”
“First, it tells us that dolls are the key to triggering the hallucinations. Second, it reminds us that Kojima is a famous dollmaker whose creations are indistinguishable from real people. The Yuko we’ve been seeing all along is also a doll.”
“But… Yuko can talk, move, and smile.” Xiao Qing still could not believe it. The castle now seemed even more sinister to her, and she sat ramrod straight, pressed against Xiao Wen.
Cheng Miao rubbed her fingers together, her thoughts drifting. “I don’t know whether any of you watched an American horror movie in the real world where a dollmaker turned her husband into a doll.”
“You’ve seen puppet shows, right? Every movement of the puppet is controlled by the puppeteer, and the puppeteer imitates its voice too. Some skilled puppeteers can even speak through ventriloquism.”
Xiao Qing shuddered. She had never imagined that the gentle, frail-looking Yuko had been fake from beginning to end!
“Kojima is very clever. The Yuko doll dispelled most of our suspicion. Until just now, we couldn’t find anything wrong with him. We even suspected the castle itself.”
“Right, right. We discussed whether the house might be cursed or something.” Xiao Wen rarely spoke up, but lingering fear showed on her face too.
Cheng Miao shook her head. Who could have known the NPC in this instance would be so cunning and put so much thought into deceiving a few visiting guests?
Her gaze flashed across the group and settled on Jiang Chen. “Where’s Gu Jian? I haven’t seen him for a while.”
Jiang Chen shrugged. “Who knows? He probably found somewhere to sleep or went off to do something bad.”
“Hey, Old Jiang, that’s not very fair. When have I ever failed to make enormous contributions to clearing an instance?”
Speak of the devil. Gu Jian appeared soundlessly behind the group, draped over Lin Zhu like a little monkey.
Leaning on his Gentleman’s Cane, Jiang Chen smiled. “Oh? Then tell us what you found.”
Gu Jian swept back his hair and sat beside Cheng Miao. After looking her over, he clicked his tongue. “You’re in quite a sorry state, Miss Cheng.”
Cheng Miao spread her hands. There was nothing she could do about it.
The next second, her eyes widened as Gu Jian opened his palm like a magician, revealing a brass key.
“This… How did you…?” Cheng Miao felt as though her tongue had tied itself in knots.
She had thought letting a female ghost possess her was shocking enough. When had this man gotten hold of the front gate key?
Gu Jian tossed the key into Cheng Miao’s arms like a piece of meaningless trash. “Here. You look so miserable, you can have it.”
Holding the key, Cheng Miao did not know what to say. Gu Jian was a player who always took unconventional paths. He rarely participated in discussions and treated clearing instances like a game.
Cheng Miao could tell that Su Yang was a psychopath who wanted everyone dead, while Qi Jiajia neither hated the instances nor especially enjoyed them.
Only Gu Jian was truly obsessed with instances. He explored them not to clear them, but to satisfy his personal curiosity and interests.
Gu Jian sprawled inelegantly across the sofa. “You can give it back if you want. But by the time I decide to leave, none of you may be able to get out.”
Remembering how Gu Jian had insisted on staying behind to watch the show at the end of the apartment instance, Cheng Miao could only thank him with a twitching mouth and put away the key.
“Now we have the key, but we can’t run outside yet.” Seeing Xiao Wen and Xiao Qing stare at it, Cheng Miao explained gently.
“The instance said we have to stay until Yuko’s birthday, so we must stay until then. Going out now might cost us our lives instead.”
Xiao Wen and Xiao Qing knew what was good for them. They nodded and looked away.
It was nearly evening. Kojima had entered his room and not emerged again.
Cheng Miao spread her hands. Wonderful. The NPC had gone on strike.
It seemed they would have no more food before leaving the instance tomorrow.
The players had no choice but to return to their rooms early. This was the final night. If they endured until the next day, they could leave the instance.
Unexpectedly, something still went wrong.