Without caring about the embarrassment, Princess Camellia reviewed the entire process as soon as she recovered her strength, and she really couldn't find any violations.
Everything had happened so suddenly. If the game had determined he'd violated the rules, he should have been immediately suspended and punished. But so far, I haven't received any notification of a replacement host.
Princess Camellia narrowed her eyes. There were two main reasons for being punished. One was violating the rules, and the other was failing to do one's job well, which could cause serious hidden dangers.
Punishment also serves as a warning. A few months ago, a female player, said to possess a gift for prophecy, did something in a dungeon that the game determined would have negative consequences. The game moderator, who failed to intervene promptly, received a severe reprimand.
If I remember correctly, it was also a dead end.
The gloomy eyes immediately swept towards Ji Heng.
opposite.
Soul: "He seems to be looking at you."
Ji Heng disagreed: "The stimulation has affected his mind, don't pay attention to it."
Ignoring the murderous gaze, Ji Heng continued to analyze matters related to Feng Peng.
Princess Camellia withdrew her gaze. Ever since she entered the game, she had been paying special attention to Ji Heng because it was a dead end. The other party did not make many moves in private.
As if sensing something, he suddenly turned sideways and looked back. Outside the door of the reading room on the next floor, he could only see the corner of the clothes of someone who hurried in.
...Xu Yangyang.
From the mere glimpse of a shadow, Princess Camellia could already tell who was spying. Before she could even start downstairs, she suddenly looked up and saw a camera in the corner, someone watching from behind a wall using a tablet.
"What are you doing?"
The fingers holding the tablet went numb. Facing the host who had teleported in front of him, Zhu Yu tried to calm his heartbeat. "I just heard a scream and came out to see what was going on."
After saying that, she stood up and held on to the wall because her legs were numb from squatting.
Princess Camellia subconsciously felt some contempt. This was the fragility of the human body. It couldn't even maintain one posture for too long.
"I, I'm going to get busy first."
Zhu Yu ran away timidly with the tablet in her arms, and the moment she turned her back, the corners of her mouth curled up.
After she left, Princess Camellia glanced at every corner around her... Upon closer thought, except for Jia Kanhua, each of these players was suspicious in their own way.
At this moment, his eyes were colder than ever before, and he kept calculating who was doing something in private that might harm the game.
After pondering to no avail, he cursed inwardly, cursing the game as well... What a rotten system! Since they've discovered a potential threat, wouldn't they just wipe it out and be done with it? Why does it have to be distributed layer by layer to the subordinates?
Who will be held responsible if something really happens?
After a long time, Princess Camellia realized with great sadness that she would definitely be responsible when the time came.
·
Sur had no idea of the torment the host was going through, and even if he knew, he would probably just gloat over it.
The smiling merchant provided comprehensive service and left his props behind before leaving. With everything ready, he prepared to go take a photo with the old man.
"I suspect he did it on purpose," Soul said softly.
Hiding in a tricky geographical location, it is impossible to shoot from other angles.
Ji Heng smiled: "You can't get a tiger cub without diving into the tiger's den."
The old man was still pacing around the corner, and the content of his muttering changed from formulas to advanced chemical knowledge.
"Did you bring your smartest brain?"
Soul shook his head.
The old man no longer paid any attention to anyone.
Su Er asked quietly, "Is the back view okay?"
Ji Heng: "You have to take a photo from the front. Some special earthbound spirits can only be photographed from the front."
Sur made an OK gesture to show that he was ready.
Ji Heng looked ahead and raised his voice, "Feng Peng?"
The old man remained unmoved.
No matter what he said, the old man just wouldn't turn around.
Ji Heng's eyes darkened: "You read the formula wrong."
The old man turned around suddenly and roared, "Impossible!"
Snap!
Suer seized the opportunity and quickly pressed the shortcut key.
The old man didn't even hesitate and rushed forward.
Ghosts can teleport, but humans can't. Soul ran and threw props all the way, and for the first time he knew the feeling of burning money. Even so, the distance between the two sides continued to narrow.
Ji Heng tried to stop him twice while escaping, but unfortunately the old man was too powerful. Without a head-on fight, his obstruction was like a drizzle and had little effect.
His usual running exercise was not in vain. At this time, Su Er did not forget to check the tablet and said with a breath: "You are right, there is no entity."
"Go to where the white fluff is dense."
Ji Heng could actually run faster, but he was always behind Su Erbu.
Having almost thrown away all the common attack items at hand, Sur wanted to turn back and confirm the old man's specific location.
"Don't look!" Ji Heng stopped him: "Just run."
Several times, Su Er felt a chill creeping up his spine, his mind going numb. Countless experiences had shaped his sixth sense, and the old man focused his attacks on himself. Even with Ji Heng behind him, the old man persisted in attacking him.
Holding his breath, he rushed into the reading room and took out the clay figurine. Almost instantly, the white fluff hidden in the pages of the book came out.
Unsure whether the old man would clash with Bai Xu, Su Er held the little clay figurine in his hands and took a deep breath: "May God bless you."
After saying that, he took off his coat, wrapped the clay figure and the props together and threw them over.
Because the old man's prop got stuck, the little clay figurine escaped the fate of being smashed to pieces on the spot.
The white fluff drifted over, and it knew the best way to get out, crawling out from under the coat to make sure it didn't get too far away from the old man. The white fluff attacked indiscriminately, and the old man opened his mouth in anger, inhaling, and swallowed hundreds of eggs in one gulp.
Su Er threw two healing items to the little man and quickly went around to the back door. He didn't forget to say to the confused Xu Yangyang nearby: "Why don't you run?"
Xu Yangyang reacted and rushed out faster than him.
When gods fight, mortals suffer. In the fight between the old man and the insect eggs, the small clay figure was unfortunately hit. When it struggled to crawl out, only half of its body was left.
Outside the door, Sur was guarding against the wall. He grabbed it and hesitated for a moment about which direction to run.
Ji Heng: "Go downstairs."
Rushing to the hall in one go, Sur lowered his head and took deep breaths, almost forgetting his normal heartbeat rate. After finally recovering, he immediately prepared to start squeezing the missing half of his body.
The little clay figure looked at him resentfully the whole time.
Sur opened his backpack and rubbed the mud off, sighing, "I've taken several protective measures. If I can't make it, then that's fate."
"I... forgive you." After fusing with the peach blossom, the clay man's IQ also improved significantly. It rubbed its hands and dropped some dirt residue, which seemed to imply that someone was a scumbag.
Suer and Ni paused their hands and injected some Yin energy into them.
The method was quite effective, and the little clay man looked at him with the same eyes as his father again.
After resolving the clay figurine's grievances, he looked towards Ji Heng. In the spacious hall, the latter was conducting a sweeping inspection from the outside in, touching everything within reach.
Su Er joked, "Looking for a mechanism?"
Ji Heng actually nodded.
Su Er was stunned.
Ji Heng was checking a display stand, not missing any tiny gaps: "The old man is not one of the three ghosts who came in. Perhaps he has been in the library all along."
Some evil spirits like to linger at places of death, and Suer has some common sense.
Ji Heng: "If our speculation is correct, he is looking for his own head."
The host specifically mentioned that players couldn't leave the library before tomorrow, so the quests the ghost had issued were definitely something the players could accomplish. After figuring this out, Soul said, "So the body is likely intact somehow, and it's in the library?"
Ji Heng nodded: "The rest area on the fourth floor is clear at a glance. The pottery gallery is only ten square meters, which is not enough for storage."
The museum is bustling with people and is open almost year-round. The second and third floors see the most traffic, so it wouldn't make sense to store it there. The lobby, on the other hand, wouldn't have the capacity to store it.
After listening to him, Su Er lowered his head and asked: "Underground secret room?"
Ji Heng murmured a faint "hmm" and walked to the door to re-examine the area. Every time his eyes passed by, he would pause for a moment, trying to determine where he would definitely not touch by mistake.
"A high place." Suer suddenly spoke in silence.
The lights in the main hall might be under maintenance and did not meet the requirements. Ji Heng stood up and walked towards the side door, his eyes finally stopping on the safety sign near the exit.
Su Er looked up and said, "We need a fire escape."
No one knew where the escalator was placed, so Ji Heng moved a few tables and helped to stabilize it.
After going up, Ji Heng slowly felt around and found a coin-sized depression in the area where the luminous figurine was. He tried pressing it, but there was no response, so he tried again with more force.
Su Er had been staring at the wall when the ground suddenly shook and he quickly steadied the table. When everything calmed down, he saw a tunnel near the small door.
Ji Heng dusted off his hands and jumped down. He stopped the passionate young man who was about to move forward and stepped onto the stone steps first: "You light from behind."
The air was filled with the smell of disinfectant. There were no handrails on either side, and the stone steps were built in a spiral shape, making one feel dizzy.
Soul: "This place looks like a secret base. Is there a security alarm?"
"The stone steps are covered in dust," Ji Heng said, glancing down at the footprints left behind. "It proves they've been abandoned for a long time."
Su Er looked at it calmly: "It doesn't matter if there is an alarm. The worst that can happen is that I will be arrested again."
"…"
Although he was sure that such a thing would not happen, after hearing what he said, Ji Heng suddenly became less sure.
Fortunately, Sur was just unlucky and had not yet mastered the skill of being a jinx. After he went down the last flight of stairs, no alarm sounded.
A secret room that no one had visited for years was inevitably covered in spiderwebs. But here, there was only dust; not even a single insect could be seen in the cracks in the wall. At the front was an oval-shaped freezer, with just half a human face visible.
Pale, with a tinge of purple oozing from the underside of his skin. Frost settled on the frozen man's eyelashes, which occasionally trembled slightly due to the airflow within, as if ready to open at any moment.
Su Er's throat moved involuntarily: "I thought this kind of thing could only be seen in TV dramas."
"Scientists' imaginations are definitely no less than directors'," Ji Heng said, stepping forward to observe more closely. "Most of the plots played out in movies and TV shows are things they practiced decades ago."
This frozen man was none other than the old man Feng Peng who had attacked them madly before.
Ji Heng stared at the closed eyes of the corpse and suddenly felt a severe headache. Suer hurriedly helped him up.
"What's wrong?"
Ji Heng: "At that moment, the scene of me and him arguing suddenly emerged in my mind."
Su Er wasn't surprised; he'd had a similar experience in the Book of Answers dungeon. Games weren't omnipotent, and as they continued in the dungeon longer, some of their forgotten memories would gradually break free.
Handing over a tissue: "Wipe the sweat."
Ji Heng took it in his hand but did not use it. Instead, he looked back at the cryostat: "He chose to freeze not to be resurrected."
He is too old and won't live long.
Su Er asked cautiously, "Do you remember exactly how we argued?"
Ji Heng laughed: "I'm not that fragile yet."
It was just the tip of the iceberg of memory. At most, I felt a little physically uncomfortable. "The old man kept saying that he was the only one suitable to be the core, and hoped that I would give in."
"Central?"
Ji Heng nodded. He was not as concerned about this matter as Su Er: "Open the warehouse."
Sur found the power source, switched it on, and stepped back a few steps, a chill spreading everywhere. The corpse remained motionless in the mist, no signs of resurrection. He waved his arms to dispel the chill, then walked over to the old man. His fingers touched the corpse, and an indescribable cold, slippery sensation numbed his scalp.
"I'll do it." Ji Heng had already grasped the dagger in his hand at some point.
Soul: "Really want to dissect it?"
"There's no other shortcut to get the brain." Ji Heng glanced at him and said, "I can do it alone, you..."
"I'll go look for information and contact Li Shuo to inquire about the Central."
When he finished speaking, Suer had already walked up the stone steps.
"…"
"When life and death are at stake, we naturally have to share the hardship, but there's no need to buy one get one free when it comes to disgusting things," Su Er said with a shy smile on the stairs. "I'm still young, and I'm not suitable for watching overly bloody scenes."
Ji Heng: "…Go ahead."
Su Er nodded, said "Ah", and left without any reluctance.
After standing there alone for a while, Ji Heng had already found the operating point. When he thought of the scene of the other party running away from the battlefield, he couldn't help but tremble with a smile.
The network connection in the lobby was not good, so Suer walked to the main entrance and sent a message to Li Shuo while thinking about how to break open his skull with a dagger.
·
The Camellia Princess wanders around the library like a ghost, monitoring the players.
Su Er, Ji Heng, Xu Yangyang, Zhu Yu... these four people are the key monitoring targets.
He started by following Zhu Yu, who was the least suspicious. At first, he thought that this girl was venting her anger by hurting herself. But when he saw her messing with some mysterious liquid and trying to implant insect eggs into her body, his expression suddenly changed.
Failed again.
Zhu Yu felt regretful. No matter how careful he was, the insect eggs would eventually melt.
"You want to cultivate yourself into a bug-man?"
The sudden sound made Zhu Yu shiver, and he quickly lowered his head timidly.
Princess Camellia stared at her coldly.
In silence, Zhu Yu slowly raised his head. The game did not allow items from the dungeon to be taken out, but if the bugs could live in the body, there would be a chance to take away the eggs and spread them in the real world.
She said in a very normal tone: "I just want to do an experiment."
If the real world is destroyed, there will be no players. What choice will the game make then?
From those few words, Princess Camellia almost guessed her true purpose. Her eyelids twitched uncontrollably. No wonder the game used punishments as a warning. If she got kicked out, she'd be in big trouble!
Zhu Yu added with a smile: "No violation."
"It's still unknown whether you can leave the copy alive." Camellia Princess looked at her deeply and disappeared from the spot.
The possibility of a living creature being taken away was extremely small. Princess Camellia came up with several countermeasures just in case, and she did not give up paying attention to other people.
Xu Yangyang was in the bathroom, and he first located Ji Heng.
In the underground chamber, Ji Heng's hands were covered in blood, and the corpse's head had a hole cut in it. His reaction was several times more sensitive than Zhu Yu's, and he raised his head almost the moment the host appeared.
When dealing with someone who appears to be a gentleman but is actually treacherous, the most practical thing to do is to be frank and honest.
Ignoring the bloody scene, Camellia Princess got straight to the point: "Have you ever done anything detrimental to the game?"
Ji Heng completely removed the corpse's brain and uttered two outrageous words: "Guess."
"…"
"This world is rotten to the core. Didn't you want to destroy it and defraud the insurance company before?"
Ji Heng's words made Princess Camellia's face change color, and her fingers slowly closed together... He knew, he actually knew everything.
"Let's make a bet."
Camellia Princess: "What?"
"If it really comes to a crisis, I have a way to get Suhr out, but you will definitely stay and accompany the world to destruction."
…
The most frustrating conversation I've ever had in my life ended.
Princess Camellia left the secret room and wondered what kind of trump card Ji Heng had left. She took a deep breath and couldn't help but curse: "Idiot!"
A group of lunatics who wanted to destroy the world just happened to be caught up by me.
Entering the main hall, not far away, Su Er was leaning against the door, reading a message from Li Shuo on his tablet. Just this morning, a resident had mysteriously died at home, with numerous flower arrangements found on his body.
After reading it, I felt a little heavy for a moment. The worst thing had happened. The insect eggs had begun to spread.
Feeling an extra presence, Soul looked up and found that Princess Camellia was standing not far away, her eyes fixed on the tablet in his hand.
"There's no need to gloat over someone's misfortune," he said calmly, standing up. "No matter what the truth was three hundred years ago, I will never be truly disappointed in human civilization. As long as it's possible, I will save it at all costs."
In the next two minutes, Su Er didn't receive the expected ridicule, and he couldn't help but feel a little puzzled.
Princess Camellia closed her eyes. Among those players who wanted to destroy the world, the one in front of her was simply a breath of fresh air.
If everyone is so kind and beautiful, how could he be judged by the rules as failing to supervise properly!
Princess Camellia opened her eyes and walked over, a rare tenderness in her eyes: "Tell me, what kind of little angel on earth are you?"
"…"