PFRG: Chapter 49

There was no need to look at the red handkerchief on the girl with the ponytail’s hand. Such a reaction was enough to let others know who the person selected in this round was.

There was almost a collective sigh of relief.

The gentleman rabbit seemed to be very satisfied with today’s game, but the smile on his face was filled with an indescribable sense of incongruity.

He clapped cheerfully and announced happily, “That’s it for today’s game. I wish everyone a happy visit in the coming days! It is getting late. Remember to go back and have a good rest. Then I will see you tomorrow!”

There was a ‘click’ sound the moment these words came out.

As the lop-eared rabbit jumped down from the round table, a gentleman’s cane suddenly appeared in his hand. He moved on his short legs very gracefully in front of everyone.

Along the way, he didn’t forget to close the door properly when he left.

The surroundings became quiet again. However, the players’ expressions didn’t soften. Instead, they became uglier due to the gentleman rabbit’s departure.

After entering this instance, everyone observed carefully. The wind could be felt in this meeting room, but everywhere in their field of view was only white walls. There wasn’t even a window.

So where did this sudden door come from?

There was silence in the meeting room.

Everyone’s eyes were mainly focused on the pale-haired girl’s face in an inquiring manner.

At this time, they heard a slow male voice. “Why were you always staring at that rabbit just now?”

The person next to him replied very naturally, “Ah, I just think he is similar to you in some ways.”

Hearing this answer, Yue Ren nodded slowly. He instantly understood.

Chi Ting’s words were obviously teasing him that he always liked to play with human beings.

There seemed to be nothing wrong with this angle, but comparing it to the rabbit’s childish methods always felt like an insult to his taste.

Yue Ren gave a low snort. “I’m glad you pay so much attention to me, but I still have to say, I am definitely much better than that rabbit.”

The other players: “……”

From the first moment they entered the instance, they already noticed these two people were chatting like there was no one else around.

The beads were wrapped around their wrists so that they were connected together. This was obviously the state of a team.

They were also playing around so much. The relationship between the two grown men was extraordinary to the naked eye.

Yue Ren was talking to Chi Ting, but he obviously wasn’t happy about the sudden gazes that ruined the atmosphere.

He lazily looked up and tapped his fingertips on the table. “We just played the throwing handkerchief game. Are you now playing a new game of seeing who will talk first?”

The players also reacted to this reminder.

After exchanging looks, someone spoke first. “According to the rules, everyone needs to go back to the guest room to rest at night. Let’s hurry up and introduce ourselves first! Then I will go first. My name is Yu Gao. I used to be a college student. I have already cleared an instance four times.”

At this point, he pulled the short boy sitting next to him. “His name is Tan Haobo. He is relatively shy. He is my classmate, and we came in together. We have been together since coming to this unlimited world. We can vouch for each other. We definitely aren’t ghosts!”

The moment he finished speaking, a rough-looking man with a scar sneered noncommittally. “Dong Zai, a pig butcher. I also cleared instances four times, but it was solo. No one can testify for me. But I must say here that even if the two of you stick together, it might not be a good thing. Haven’t you heard that there are three ghosts among the eight of us? If the ghosts know each other’s identities, it isn’t impossible for them to vouch for each other.”

He glanced meaningfully at Chi Ting and Yue Ren as he spoke. He was obviously telling the players that it was true of these two people.

Yue Ren noticed this gaze and shook his wrist disapprovingly. The beads hanging on it made a slight sound.

The woman in a black leather coat took over. “Tu Shuhuai, from a biker gang. I cleared seven instances.”

The concise introduction made the other players take a second look.

Everyone was from the 13th World. Being able to clear the instances seven times in a row was definitely a very powerful existence in this new area. Everyone knew that the more times they entered an instance, the more difficult it was to ensure a 100% pass rate and survive. The number of clearances alone was enough to impress the other people present.

The thin man sitting next to the woman endured it for a long time, but in the end, his chest heaved, and he coughed.

He obviously wasn’t in good condition. He coughed for a long time before saying in a hoarse voice, “That… my name is Wen Weng. I am an unemployed vagrant. This is the second time I have entered an instance.”

The girl with the ponytail noticed other people looking over and recovered slightly from her state of fear. “My name is Fei Ying. I have passed the instances three times.”

There were the last two people left. Chi Ting was quite obedient. “Chi Ting, security guard. I have cleared the instance twice.”

Yue Ren: “……” This career switch was quite natural.

After a pause, he introduced himself. “Yue Ren, corporate drone. I have a bit of social fear. I cleared the instance once.”

These two people had acted so fearlessly before. As a result, each one had less experience than the other. This made the other players fall silent. The expressions on their faces seemed to have the words ‘this is it?’ written on them.

Chi Ting was also very speechless.

What he was speechless about was that this man actually dared to resume his role of a corporate drone with a bit of social fear. Didn’t his conscience hurt?

So far, all eight players had introduced themselves.

At the same time, the barrage in the live stream room also discussed it.

[What’s going on? I came in because this live stream room is very popular, but he has only cleared two instances? So what happened in the first two instances? How did he get so much attention?]

[Including the ghosts, these eight people have cleared the instance once or twice. Is this a gathering of newcomers?]

[I still want to ask why the player next to me is blocked. Is it a black screen outside? A bug? It actually defaults to the highest permissions. It is really annoying that I can’t see or hear the person!]

[After following the first half of this live stream room, I don’t know what to say for a moment. I want to ask. Is it possible to pass this strategy instance through violence?]

[A violent clearance? No matter what, just be glad that there is a person who has cleared the instance once as support. According to the previous situations, inexperienced people will definitely be pushed out as cannon fodder first.

[Reminder, those who want to immerse themselves in the experience, remember to turn on the anti-spoiler setting. You must remember this! Otherwise, if you know who the ghost is in advance, the live stream experience is really poor!]

In this instance, the eight people around the round table also digested the identity information they had learned so far.

Chi Ting entered a state of thinking. He stroked the strange stone on his chest thoughtfully and tapped it rhythmically with his fingers.

Judging from the current situation, among the eight people in the instance, there were four people who entered the instance together and could be considered as witnesses for each other. The remaining four were all solo players.

If he assumed that the identities of the players in the two teams were real, it meant that the three ghosts were hiding among the four people who were alone. The probability of discovering one of them was as high as 75%.

However, it was as Dong Zai said. If the ghosts knew each other’s identities, it was very possible to disguise themselves as a team of players in order to clear their suspicions.

In this case, from Chi Ting’s perspective, the probability of the two college students being ghosts was 100%. Then there would be one ghost among the remaining four people. Without any additional data, the accuracy rate of catching the last one was only 25%.

Of course, this was only from the perspective of him and Yue Ren.

For others, they had no idea who the real ghost was. From this point of view, he and Yue Ren were just as suspicious.

By this time, Chi Ting had also discovered the real difficulty of the game.

On the surface, what they needed to do was accurately find the three ghosts while minimizing casualties.

In fact, they weren’t the only ones looking for the ghosts. If they wanted all players to speculate from the same perspective as them, they undoubtedly needed to prove their true player identity first. The most difficult thing was to prove that they weren’t ghosts and to not be ‘driven away’ from here in advance.

However, how could people prove that they never had a certain identity?

What’s more, during this process, the ghosts would definitely try their best to disrupt audio and vision, obscuring the players’ internal judgment by any means.

Chi Ting’s eyes slowly swept over the people around the round table. Finally, he sighed helplessly in his heart.

It could be said that these ghosts were truly very cunning.

No matter whether it was the identity information or appearance, it was difficult to detect abnormalities simply through observations. Even after the game was over, the expressions on everyone’s faces seemed very nervous. At a glance, their scared expressions didn’t seem to be an act at all.

Oh yes, speaking of being scared—

The old god, Chi Ting, had been sitting at the round table until now. Suddenly, he realized a problem.

The moment this thought flashed through his mind, he looked back and met Yue Ren’s eyes.

The two of them looked at each other. After a moment of wandering, neither of them could detect the slightest hint of panic in the other person’s expression.

Chi Ting, Yue Ren: “……”

They were aware of each other’s respective situations, and this type of reaction was naturally normal. However, the important thing right now was the senses of the others.

Sure enough, after entering the analysis state, someone looked over suspiciously.

It was the college student called Yu Gao who spoke. “Sorry, I have a question. We just experienced a game. Why don’t the two of you feel scared at all? Could it be that you are both… ghosts?”

The words came out and the eyes of the surrounding people gathered together.

There was silence in the room.

In fact, Chi Ting himself thought there was nothing wrong with this logic.

Yes, why didn’t they feel scared?

If they weren’t ghosts, they should feel a bit uneasy in this strange environment, right?

The problem was that truly believed from the bottom of his heart that, except for the strange rabbit, this place was full of cute humans. It wasn’t worth being afraid at all.

As for the so-called ghosts, their shadows hadn’t been seen yet. It wasn’t too late to feel scared when they appeared.

Chi Ting’s logic was obviously very self-justifying, but unfortunately, it wasn’t self-justifying to himself.

Even he didn’t think this was a very convincing explanation.

Feeling the increasingly vigilant and skeptical gazes that fell on him, Chi Ting scratched his head while feeling a bit of a headache. Then he chose to throw this question out.

He tilted his head to look at the man next to him, revealing an expression asking for help. “Why don’t you answer?”

Yue Ren had already crossed his legs. It was obvious that he didn’t want to be the spokesperson.

Still, he reluctantly spoke because it was Chi Ting who wanted something from him. “I think this question itself is very strange. Why should we feel scared? The rules have made it clear. The mark needs to be stacked three times before we can be ‘driven away.’ This already means that no matter who is chosen in this round of the game, there is no life-threatening danger. In other words, we will be safe on the first day here.”

Having said that, Yue Ren rested his chin on one hand and looked in Yu Gao’s direction in an inquiring manner. “But you are different. You know that we will be punished if we vote incorrectly, and we have only entered the instance for half a year. However, you are so anxious to come to a conclusion. Normal players would be worried about triggering the penalty mechanism. Shouldn’t we wait until more clues are collected before voting carefully? Among the eight of us, only ghosts would hope for the number of wrong votes to increase. The more, the better. After all, only in this way can they better promote the speed in which the mark stacks.”

The tone of his voice was drawn out at the end. The appropriate blank space made his words more intriguing.

Hearing this, even Chi Ting couldn’t help taking a second look.

Playing with the heart was truly this man’s forte.

In a few words, Yu Gao changed from the questioning party to the suspected party. His face turned pale, and he stood up from the chair in a panic. “D-Don’t talk nonsense! I’m just raising a reasonable question. Don’t speak for no reason!”

Yue Ren lazily looked up and smiled slightly. “Why are you so anxious? Aren’t we all sitting here and discussing things calmly? I’m the same as you. I am just raising a reasonable question.”

The vigilant gazes that had originally fallen on Chi Ting and Yue Ren partially dispersed.

After such a conversation, it was obvious that the other players weren’t sure who to trust. They looked at Yu Gao with suspicion.

The skinny man named Wen Weng thought for a long time. This time, he hesitantly spoke. “But no matter what, this girl should at least be a player, right? After all, in the first round of the game, she was the first one among us to be selected?”

The moment these words came out, Tu Shuhuai straightened her leather jacket and stood up. “Uncle, the instance has just begun. I advise you not to draw conclusions too early. Look carefully at the rules of the game. There doesn’t seem to be any mention that the handkerchief can’t be thrown to a ghost.”

As she said this, she glanced at the girl with the ponytail calmly. “Have you ever thought about whether this is a cover-up trick by the NPC and the ghosts in the instance? If you are deceived by this, you will be in trouble. Don’t even think about passing the next instance.”

Such suspicion made the girl with the ponytail tremble involuntarily. Her voice was already trembling slightly. “Believe me! I’m not a ghost. No… my jealousy mark has already stacked up by one layer. I’m really being targeted by the ghosts!”

“No matter whether I believe it or not, let’s wait until we find other clues.” Tu Shuhuai saw the girl’s cute appearance, and her originally tough tone softened slightly. “Okay, this is only the first time. We can’t get any results from sitting here. Why not go back and have a good rest first? Let’s see if we can find some useful information during the day tomorrow.”

Without any further nonsense, she turned around and walked toward the extra door the gentleman rabbit had left through.

Seeing that there was one less person at the round table, the others exchanged looks with each other and stood up one after another.

Just as they were about to leave, they found that the girl with the ponytail was sitting there stiffly and not moving.

Yu Gao was afraid of being hit again and made speechless by Yue Ren, so he didn’t dare to look at Yue Ren. The moment his eyes passed over the girl, he couldn’t help asking, “Your name is Fei Ying, right? Why don’t you go back…?”

Then he suddenly realized. “Ah, you are afraid of that!”

Fei Ying raised her head, and her red eyes could be seen. It was obvious that she was trying hard not to cry. “Ghost, the ghost has already targeted me… Can I not go back to my room at night? I am really afraid when alone…”

The tall and sturdy Dong Zai snorted coldly. The scar on his face trembled slightly. “I advise you to go back to your room obediently. If you break the rules and implicate us, be careful that I won’t give you a good look!”

Yu Gao also showed a helpless expression. “Sorry, there is really nothing we can do about this. The rules say that everyone must be in their room at night. If we are punished, we will all be in danger. You just have to be patient. One night will pass quickly.”

After being rejected one after another, Fei Ying could only look at the last two people with her last hope.

She had just been hit, and her overall condition was very bad. This made her eyes with hidden tears look particularly moving.

Facing this extremely pitiful look, Chi Ting thought for a moment with a soft heart. Then he sighed softly and patted the girl’s shoulder in a comforting manner. “Don’t worry, there won’t be any trouble ahead. You can’t die on the first night. At most, it is just a ghost scaring you. If you see them once, you will get used to them.”

Yu Gao: “?”

Fei Ying: “…QAQ!!!”

Chi Ting didn’t understand it very well. He was clearly comforting her well. Why did this girl start crying instead?

In the midst of the doubts, Yue Ren’s chuckle entered his ears. “That’s good. You are the best person I have ever seen at comforting people.”

Chi Ting: “……”

There was no evidence, but he always felt that this man’s words were mocking him.