Gu Mian was still grabbing Coach Cheâs fragile collar.
Coach Che fell silent for a moment before continuing, "Even though youâd find out sooner or later, if I told you now, my head might well end up as lamb skewers in a crematorium."
He seemed to have a strange obsession with crematoria and lamb skewers.
Gu Mian raised his eyebrows and let go of him. "So everything in this instance is normal?"
Coach Che nodded silently. "Although I donât know how you came across these files, in theory, players shouldnât have access to them."
As he said this, he frowned. "How did you manage to get your hands on the student files?"
Gu Mian glanced at him and confidently answered, "I stole them, of course. You should know that one of the NPCs in this instance is the class monitor."
At these words, Coach Cheâs face twitched slightly before he let out a sigh.
Before he could even fully exhale, Gu Mianâs next sentence caught him off guard.
"So the NPCs in this instance using special items is also part of the deal?"
Coach Cheâs brow furrowed deeply. "What did you say?"
"The NPCs can use special items," Gu Mian looked straight at Coach Che. "Judging by your reaction, this wasnât expected."
Coach Che seemed stunned for a moment, then decisively said, "You have to get out of this instance as soon as possible. Donât ask why... Iâm getting out of here."
Gu Mian watched as Professor Che suddenly brought out something and squeezed it hard.
Instantly, the man before him vanished, leaving Gu Mian standing alone with his guitar.
Thankfully, no students were around to witness this, or they mightâve been deeply traumatized.
Gu Mian gazed at the spot where Coach Che had stood.
So, he told me to get out of the instance.
It was well known that there was only one shortcut to leave an instance: get it announced publicly.
But he didnât know where to start with this one.
Moreover, he couldnât understand why Coach Che would say those things and run off so quickly, as if the instance was about to explode.
ăMeanwhileă
Keke and the others were unable to find the missing Li Yibai.
After searching for several hours until dusk, they ran into Chu Changge and Yuan Qinghua, who were also wandering near the school.
Yuan Qinghua was the first to spot Keke and the others. She ran up to them, asking, "What are you guys doing here?"
Guo Jimei and Pan Yue instinctively took a step back, since Guo Jimei had previously unveiled Yuan Qinghuaâs identity.
Only Keke was desperate. "Li Yibai has gone missing. Have you seen him?"
At this, Yuan Qinghuaâs expression turned odd. After hesitating for a while, she said, "Earlier, we saw a group of people near that unfinished building by the school. They said someone had jumped off the building and committed suicide, so we went to see..."
She paused before continuing, "It was Li Yibai."
"What!" Behind her, Guo Jimei took a large step forward. "Li Yibai committed suicide?"
"Yes," Yuan Qinghua hesitated, then nodded. "The bystanders said there was another female body found on the roof when the police inspected it. She died horribly, and from the description, it sounded like Lin Qi..."
Pan Yue widened her eyes. "Li Yibai wouldnât have jumped because he saw Lin Qiâs body, would he? But why would he go to an unfinished building?"
"I donât believe it!" Guo Jimei glared aggressively at Yuan Qinghua. "Where is it? I want to see for myself."
Yuan Qinghua quietly pointed in a direction. "Over there."
Guo Jimei and the others immediately ran towards it.
The sun was setting. They hadnât run for long before they saw a crowd huddled in the distance.
Sunlight, slanting from the horizon, cast long shadows of the huddled crowd.
"Excuse me, excuse me..." Guo Jimei began to fight her way into the crowd.
Keke and Pan Yue followed closely behind.
Then, a mangled corpse appeared before them. It was Li Yibai.
They froze on the spot.
He lay alone in the middle of the crowd, his brief existence ended.
Sighs reached their ears.
"Such a fine young man. Itâs a shame heâs gone."
"I heard there was also a young girl. Her death was just as tragic."
After some time, Guo Jimei heard Chu Changgeâs voice from behind her. "Letâs go."
Guo Jimei slightly lifted her head. Looking at the distant orange sky, she said, "I finally understand why you voted for Yuan Qinghua last night."
ăBy this timeă
Gu Mian had been sitting listlessly in the classroom for several hours. He watched as the sky turned from light blue to orange, then to blue-black. Outside, students had left class, returned, and even eaten dinner. It was now six-fifty in the evening.
After all this time, the others still hadnât returned.
Only the two corpses of the Yue Nu women accompanied him in the classroom. How considerate of them.
Out of sheer boredom, Gu Mianâs gaze rested on one of the corpsesâ hands. It appeared she had been clutching something at the moment of death.
Gu Mian knew she must have been holding her phone.
After the ghost killed her, someone took her phone and sent that video to Pan Yue, leading to 007 being voted out directly.
The ghost definitely wouldnât do such a thing, so the identity of the video sender was a mystery.
This should have been a baffling situation, but Gu Mian understood.
Just as he was still staring at the Yue Nu womanâs hand, the sound of footsteps suddenly came from the corridor. He looked up.
As soon as he lifted his gaze, he saw Guo Jimei entering the room, her expression unreadable.
Behind her were Pan Yue, looking uneasy, and a somewhat fearful Keke.
Lastly, Chu Changge and Yuan Qinghua entered.
Five people.
Gu Mian looked at them. "Where is Li Yibai?"
Keke bit her lip. "He... he committed suicide..."
But before she could finish, Pan Yue cut in, "What suicide! How could Li Yibai just wander into an unfinished building? Someone must have lured him there and pushed him off! It must have been the ghost!"
Keke tried to calm her. "Donât be like that. The ghost canât kill during this time period... Li Yibai couldnât have been killed by someone else."
Just then, Guo Jimei suddenly spoke. "Alright. Today, one less civilian. So, among the seven of us now, there are two ghosts and five civilians."
"Zhang Pingfan is completely unreachable. Even if heâs a civilian, someone we canât contact is useless. Effectively, that leaves two ghosts and four *active* civilians."
"If weâre lucky and manage to vote out both ghosts in the next two rounds, we still have a chance to survive. However, if we continue to be unable to contact Zhang Pingfan, and we misvote even once, weâre in deep trouble. If we misvote twice consecutively, itâs game over for us civilians. And thereâs another path to defeat: if we make one wrong vote, then in the two rounds following that, if we make just one more mistakeâeven if we correctly vote out a ghost in betweenâby the time the fifth voting round of the game arrives, it will be down to one ghost versus one civilian. Thatâs a terrible position to be in."
"Let me be blunt, Meiren Chu! I finally understand why you forced Li Yibai to make a choice yesterday! By using Lin Qi to provoke Li Yibai into suicide, the rest of the game falls almost entirely into the ghostsâ control!"
"You and Yuan Qinghua are the two remaining ghosts!"
The classroom fell silent. Gu Mian, listening from the side, clicked his tongue.
Such meticulous reasoning.
"Gu Mian, Keke, Pan Yue! Tonight, the four of us will vote out Yuan Qinghua first. In the second round, weâll vote out Meiren Chu! That way, three of us can survive. Otherwise, none of us will!"
Gu Mian adopted a righteous expression. "I agree."