This instance seems to favor the Hunters excessively, mainly because there's no definitive line between Hunters and Survivors. Their identities could swap at any time. As long as a player is smart enough, they can secure a relatively safe identity.

The existence of the cell phones is presumably to facilitate communication between the two roles and promote identity swapping.

Unfortunately, the Survivors viewed the Hunters as formidable foes from the start. They had trouble even making a call, let alone getting close.

Fatty frowned. "Doctor, are you suggesting that Ji Bie Li has also discovered the true nature of this instance?"

Gu Mian nodded. "She was in the office building where the ghost resided. That's why I suspect she overheard when the ghost was captured."

It's highly likely that she heard the ghost being captured, and then heard the sound of its captor, a Hunter, being killed by the ghost in retaliation. That's how she discovered the truth about this instance.

Then, Ji Bie Li thought of me and wanted to swap identities with me, a Hunter.

"Let's head to that building first," Gu Mian said as he started to move.

Fatty, somewhat anxious, closely followed Gu Mian.

After hanging up the call, Ji Bie Li felt as if a heavy stone had been lifted from her heart.

She planned to wait on the first floor, ready to jump out and catch the Hunter's attention as soon as she saw him.

As long as he takes the bait and comes to capture me, I'll be safe.

Luckily, this Hunter has no idea that the ghost can swap identities with a player…

Oh, if I hadn't found out that the Survivor chased by the ghost, the one called "Username Taken," hadn't died, I probably wouldn't have known how deceptive and cunning this ghost was, to have deceived everyone.

With this thought, Ji Bie Li became puzzled again.

I discovered the ghost's scheme through the still-living "Username Taken."

But this surviving player was later dragged to the front of my room. It seemed like someone deliberately did that, as if they wanted to pass this information to me.

It wasn't the ghost, and it didn't look like the nearly-dead Survivor crawled over here himself... So who dragged him to my doorstep?

Another player?

Had someone already found out that the ghost was tricking the players, so they dragged the living "Username Taken" over to warn me?

Strange. If they wanted to alert me, why not just tell me directly?

So strange...

Just why did that person do that?

At that moment, as Ji Bie Li was engrossed in her thoughts, she suddenly heard a faint noise—the vibration of a phone from behind her.

It was almost touching my back!

My phone is still in my hand. Then whose phone is vibrating…?

Taken by surprise, Ji Bie Li barely had time to react before her throat tightened violently. A choking sensation overwhelmed her, and her consciousness blurred.

Just before she blacked out, she thought she saw another person's reflection in the broken glass window before her…

After Gu Mian led a trembling Fatty into the office building, the first corpse they found belonged to Manjusaka.

The girl with the high ponytail, her face no longer able to hold its usual icy smirk, lay horizontally in the hallway, her eyes wide open in anger.

Even her cherished fruit knife lay discarded to one side.

Hidden behind Gu Mian in the darkness, a frightened Fatty watched Manjusaka, who looked like a hanged ghost.

Gu Mian picked up the fruit knife from beside the wall, slid it into the girl's pocket, and continued forward.

He spoke as he walked, "I guess it was her who captured the ghost. She was quite the heroine."

Fatty peeked his head out, then quickly pulled it back. "But Doctor, if the ghost has turned into a Hunter, won't it swap identities with a Survivor when it catches one?"

Gu Mian replied, "That depends on the definition of 'catching.' If the ghost doesn't actually 'catch' you, but just stares you to death, that can't be considered 'catching,' so naturally, there's no swapping of identities."

Stare to death...

Upon hearing this, Fatty suddenly remembered something.

It seemed like ghosts in horror movies didn't usually strangle their victims themselves. Most of the time, they only needed to glare menacingly or reveal a ghastly pale face. Or else, they'd extend a hand to drag people into the darkness. With a quick cut of the scene, the person would already be dead.

Ghosts that kill people with their own hands don't seem all that terrifying...

Heart still pounding, Fatty skirted Manjusaka's corpse and continued to follow Gu Mian. "So, Doctor, what are we doing in this office building?"

Gu Mian replied matter-of-factly, "Of course, we're here to drag out the missing Chu Changge and see what on earth he's up to."

From the beginning of this game, there was no trace of that fellow Chu Changge. Not even the ghost knew what he was doing.

After wandering around the office building for so long without seeing Chu Changge, Gu Mian even suspected he had long since been swallowed whole by the ghost, his bones completely digested.

While Gu Mian was leading a trembling Fatty through the office building, Bai Qiong was anxiously scratching his head. He was currently holed up in a basement, frantically pressing buttons on his cell phone.

Following the clue about a water sound every seven minutes, he found a Ferris wheel with a seven-minute rotation cycle. A stream even flowed beneath it.

After finding the Ferris wheel, he then discovered a key in one of its cabins—

the key to the basement storeroom of Changle Community West Zone, Building 65, Unit 3, No. 109.

The key had a label, which was how he knew exactly which room it belonged to.

Having obtained this item, Bai Qiong rushed non-stop to that community's No. 109 basement storeroom.

This place was a small storeroom. It was quite empty, containing only a wall-mounted telephone and a copy of the "Hide and Seek Handbook."

A label next to the telephone read: "This telephone can call all other players' cell phones."

This phone could reach all the players' cell phones in the instance—upon realizing this, a rather ominous premonition arose within Bai Qiong.

Without hesitating for long, he opened the "Hide and Seek Handbook."

[Hide and Seek Handbook]

[1. Player factions are determined, divided into 'Hunters' and 'Survivors'.]

[2. Hiding and pursuit are conducted separately.]

[3. If a 'Survivor' is caught, they must accept punishment, swap identities with the 'Hunter' who caught them, and continue the game.]

[4. The game of hide and seek ends when all players of one faction are eliminated or the game time limit is reached.]

Instantly, Bai Qiong's entire attention was captured by the third point.

"If a 'Survivor' is caught, they must accept punishment, swap identities with the 'Hunter' who caught them, and continue the game..."

He read this point over and over, a feeling of dread rising in his heart.

At first, the ghost was a Survivor, so it couldn't do anything to other players.

But if it was captured by a Hunter and their identities swapped...

Bai Qiong suddenly remembered what the Doctor had said not long ago: the ghost always appeared when Hunters and Survivors gathered but never attacked Hunters.

The ghost had been misleading them all along! Misleading them into capturing it!

No!

This absolutely cannot be allowed to happen.

As he thought this, Bai Qiong quickly walked towards the nearby wall-mounted telephone. He had to inform the Hunters about this immediately!

Gu Mian was the first to receive the call because his name was at the top of the Hunters' list, and Bai Qiong was dialing in order from top to bottom.

"Doctor?" Bai Qiong's tone was extremely urgent. At this moment, Gu Mian had just pushed open a door.

Gu Mian instinctively nodded. "It's me."

"Listen," Bai Qiong's urgent voice came through, "Whatever you do, don't capture the ghost!"

But before he could finish, Gu Mian interrupted him, "I know what you're going to say. You're going to say that if the ghost is caught, its identity will swap with the player's, right?"

Bai Qiong paused slightly. "You know so clearly... Could it be that you...??"

"Of course," Gu Mian glanced at Manjusaka's corpse in the distance. "Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth."

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