Chapter 52
Chapter 52
“What is going on?!” Xu You had also seen the group chat messages on her watch. She poked her head out from the aisle and looked toward Wei Sen. “Wasn’t Xia Susu eroded by an Eerie Entity?”
Wei Sen thought it over. “My guess is that as long as someone is only eroded by an Eerie Entity but hasn’t died, they can still clear the Instance and return to the Real World. Judging from the group chat, people in the same team are prioritized for teaming up. Chen Lin isn’t here this time, so our small group was short one person, which is why we got this new teammate.”
“She’s lucky enough. She’d lost her sanity, but she still managed to follow us out through that door.” As Xu You spoke, she sent a message in the group.
[Xu You: @Xia Susu Are you human or a ghost?
Xia Susu: You’re the ghost!
Huang Xinze: Where are you guys?!
Xu You: 43F.
Huang Xinze: You’re passengers?
Xu You: You’re not?
Huang Xinze: Susu and I are flight attendants!
Wei Sen: Did you find your identity rules?
Huang Xinze: We did, but we can’t reveal them…
Xu You: Same here.
Wei Sen: OK.]
It seemed that this time, different identity rules could not be disclosed to one another, Wei Sen thought. But the Passenger Code in her hand did not say they could not reveal their identities.
In that case…
The second half of the Passenger Code definitely had a rule stating they could not disclose the rules to non-passengers!
That was currently a Hidden Rule. If Huang Xinze and the others’ rules had not already stated this point, they might very well have violated the Hidden Rule by sharing the rules!
At that thought, Wei Sen hurriedly reminded Lin Xiaoxue beside her, “Xiaoxue, the Passenger Rules can’t be revealed to anyone who isn’t a passenger. Don’t send them in the group chat either.”
Lin Xiaoxue, who was still carefully reading the rules, nodded. “Got it, Sister Sen!”
“This time, the rules only have the first half. We still need to find the second half. And we don’t know whether any of them are rules affected by Contamination.”
As Wei Sen spoke, she thought of the Eye of Chaos that the Mysterious Organization had given her as a reward.
“Xiaoxue, check whether you have any Anomalous Artifacts on you!”
Wei Sen took out the glasses she had found on herself earlier. She had originally thought they belonged to the original owner of this identity, but now that she thought about it, these glasses were probably the Anomalous Artifact!
Lin Xiaoxue searched herself up and down again and pulled a paper person cut from white paper out of a hidden pocket in her clothes.
“This is my Substitute Paper Figurine?!”
“Yeah. Just how did The Organization do this? They can actually make us obtain Anomalous Artifacts out of thin air in a new Instance.” Lin Xiaoxue was completely baffled.
Wei Sen shook her head. She did not know the secret behind it either.
Lin Xiaoxue carefully put the paper figurine away. “No matter what, these things are very useful. I’ll put mine away for now and use it when necessary!”
Wei Sen glanced at the rules in her hand and decided to try using the Eye of Chaos.
She put on the pair of black glasses. The originally normal rules suddenly gained an extra line of red text out of thin air.
[2. No matter when or where you are, for your personal safety and the safety of other passengers, please be sure to follow the flight attendant’s instructions! However, this only applies if she is wearing this airline’s uniform. Otherwise, please ignore any requests from him and do not answer!]
After she finished reading it, the Eye of Chaos’s function stopped working, and the red text disappeared along with it.
Sure enough, it could only be used once.
As Wei Sen thought this, she told Lin Xiaoxue that there was something wrong with the rules. Then she asked Huang Xinze in the group to send a picture of their uniforms.
Huang Xinze quickly tossed over a smug selfie.
[Huang Xinze: Well? Your bro still looks handsome in a male flight attendant uniform, right?
Xu You: /puke/
Xia Susu: [Image] Let me show you the prettiest flight attendant.]
Wei Sen zoomed in and carefully studied the photos Huang Xinze and Xia Susu had sent. Their uniforms were dark blue, with a symbol like an infinity sign on the chest. Written above it were the words “Ether Airlines.”
“Ether?” Wei Sen wondered aloud.
Could it be the Ether Group from the Zhihui Primary School Instance again?
Wei Sen still remembered the group photo she had seen in the Principal’s Office. The white man in the picture clearly had deep ties to Ether Group.
At the same time, Lin Xiaoxue was checking the information on her watch.
“Xia Susu?!” she cried out.
The middle-aged woman who had been looking out the window turned toward her at the sound. “What is it?”
“N-Nothing…” Lin Xiaoxue looked at the middle-aged woman with an unfamiliar, nervous gaze.
The woman smiled kindly. “What’s gotten into you two today? You’re acting so strange. Are you just too nervous because it’s your first time traveling far from home?”
“We’re fine, Mom. Go on and enjoy the view,” Wei Sen said, taking over the conversation.
Mom nodded slightly. “All right. If nothing’s wrong, keep your voices down. Don’t disturb the others.”
“Okay.”
Only after Mom turned back to the scenery did Lin Xiaoxue let out a breath of relief. She lowered her voice and said to Wei Sen, “Sister Sen, it feels like ‘Mom’ is pretty normal. She’s not an Eerie Entity, right?”
Wei Sen said, “Mm. These passengers are different from the Eerie Entities in the Zhihui Primary School Instance. They should all be normal people, not Order Keepers.”
“Phew~ Then there’s nothing to be scared of!” Lin Xiaoxue broke into a smile.
“Don’t let your guard down.”
The watch vibrated again.
[Xu You: If anyone finds useful information, sync it in the group.
Xu You: @Xia Susu If you don’t want to be corrupted by Eerie Entities again this time, then stop doing stupid things.
Xia Susu: ??? If it hadn’t been for you people at the school, I would’ve left with Sister Xue ages ago!
Xu You: …
Lin Xiaoxue: (>_<)
Huang Xinze: @Zhu Zhaoyang, why isn't the new teammate saying anything?
Zhu Zhaoyang: Hello, everyone. I'm seated in 22A.
Wei Sen: How many Instances have you cleared?
Zhu Zhaoyang: This is my fourth.
Huang Xinze: Damn, that's awesome, bro!
Zhu Zhaoyang: The ones I cleared were all C-rank Instances. They weren't hard, and they didn't give many Merit Points.
Xu You: Then you must have gotten a lot of Clearance Rewards!
Zhu Zhaoyang: What's a Clearance Reward?]
Wei Sen and Lin Xiaoxue looked at each other.
"Sister Sen, this guy has already cleared so many Instances. How has he never gotten a Clearance Reward?" Lin Xiaoxue was full of confusion.
"Let's ask."
[Wei Sen: Invitation.]
Wei Sen did not say it outright. Instead, she sent the keyword into the group chat to test Zhu Zhaoyang's reaction.
[Zhu Zhaoyang: What kind of Clearance Reward is an Invitation?
Huang Xinze: What are you talking about? Why don't I understand any of this?
Xia Susu: You guys have Invitations too?]
"Sister Sen, something's wrong." Xu You leaned in and said, "Why did even Xia Susu receive an Invitation, but Huang Xinze didn't?"
Wei Sen said, "Once the plane is flying steadily, let's meet up and share information. After all, there's still one person in the group, and we don't know if he's trustworthy yet."
Lin Xiaoxue nodded as well. "Exactly. If this Zhu Zhaoyang turns out to be another person like Xia Susu, we'll be in trouble."
"There's one more thing. This time, we're Group A, but why does our group still only have six people? Group B clearly has seven," Xu You said.
Wei Sen had noticed that too, and sent another message.
[Wei Sen: Did none of your previous teammates enter this Instance?
Zhu Zhaoyang: They're all dead.
Wei Sen: When the original team's numbers are short, do they get teamed up with other people?
Zhu Zhaoyang: Are you guys newbies?
Wei Sen: Yes. This is our first Instance after the Trial Stage.
Zhu Zhaoyang: Only one of your teammates died in the Trial Stage?!
Xu You: No. All of us survived.
Zhu Zhaoyang: Wait, why are there only six people in our group? Where's the other one?
Wei Sen: There should have been seven originally?
Zhu Zhaoyang: Yeah! From the Trial Stage to the later Instances, every group has always had seven people. There's never been a situation with only six.]
"Why are we the only ones with six people?" Lin Xiaoxue asked, utterly baffled.
From behind them, Xu You said faintly, "What if there are actually seven of us too… and the other teammate is someone we can't see?"