69novels Page 166
Page 166
"Assuming Mr. Ichikawa is telling the truth, and he did receive a special warning that the first hour of the dungeon is a safe time, then what should be done with that one hour of safe time if nothing of value can be obtained on the corresponding floor? It's already the third stage; no one would dare to leave the floor they were teleported to at the very beginning of the dungeon and go to search the first, second, and third floors, right? Wouldn't that be a complete waste?"
"There is one possibility that could explain this situation."
Hearing Kotoko Iwanaga's question, Asagiri slowly spoke.
"This one-hour safety period is not for us players, but for lone wolf players to team up. They need to use this hour to find players on the same floor to team up with, and stay in the same room with their newly met teammates when the carpet gradually turns red, otherwise they will encounter danger."
12
Chapter 12 Vines from Hell.
"So that's what it means..."
Kato Megumi muttered something to herself, then looked up at Asagiri and asked in confusion.
"But these are players who don't know each other to begin with. If they're in the same room during the dangerous period when the carpet turns red, there's a real possibility that something like murder and phone theft could happen, right?"
"Not too possible."
Upon hearing Kato Megumi's question, before Asagiri could reply, Iwanaga Kotoko offered her explanation.
"The public notice for the instance says to keep quiet. Unless there is a huge difference in strength between the two sides, or you have some kind of ability to block sound, even if you kill the player in the same room, you are likely to attract the attention of things in the hallway outside."
After Kotoko Iwanaga finished speaking, Asagiri immediately added to the story.
"Although the warning said not to be alone, it didn't say how many players could fit in a room. After two solo players team up, they will definitely continue to look for other solo players to team up with. With multiple players in one room, even if a player wants to attack another player, they probably won't dare to do so. Of course, there might be situations where players who originally entered the dungeon together pretend not to know each other, trick a solo player into staying in the same room with them, and then take the opportunity to attack. And the most important point is..."
"After the carpet turns red for the first time, most players who were hiding in their rooms will leave. At that time, the lone player who has passed that period but has no teammates will become the target of everyone's attacks."
……
Later, the four members of the Asagiri Squad entered the dungeon at the door of room 7012.
Have you gathered any clues?
Upon hearing Asagiri's question, the bespectacled, mature male player, whom his teammates called Mr. Ichikawa, answered without hesitation and with a sincere expression.
“We investigated this floor and the stairwell, and encountered three player teams hiding in the rooms along the way, but we did not choose to make contact with them. After all, the atmosphere is quite tense right now, and rash contact could easily cause misunderstandings. Besides, we have already found a partner to cooperate with.”
"The room was nothing special. All the rooms we investigated had the same layout. The door couldn't be locked, and there was no intelligence or usable supplies inside. The stairwell, which is the fire escape, was very dark and unlit, so we didn't dare to go in."
After listening to Mr. Ichikawa's words, Asagiri nodded noncommittally.
"Well, so we didn't find any useful information. Bring us the water, three bottles."
"it is good."
When Mr. Ichikawa's two teammates heard Asagiri directly ask for drinking water, their expressions turned somewhat unpleasant. They seemed to think that this mysterious player was being too arrogant by directly asking for the drinking water that their team had without offering any help.
Mr. Ichikawa, the team leader, did not complain at all. He took out three bottles of mineral water from his inventory and handed them to Asagiri and Yuuki Asuna, who was standing next to him.
His idea was simple: since his team only had three people, even if they had to spend seventy-two hours in the dungeon, twelve bottles of mineral water would be enough if they were careful with their drinking. Besides, as time went on, the other player teams would definitely find food and drinking water that posed no safety risks. At that point, the compressed biscuits and drinking water that his team had would be worthless.
Since you've decided to latch onto someone powerful, then don't overthink it; just sincerely do so.
After receiving the three bottles of purified drinking water, Asagiri glanced at the carpet that was gradually turning red under her feet and said to Mr. Ichikawa in a calm tone.
"Just a reminder, don't stare at the carpet for too long, and while the carpet is turning red, don't look outside through the peephole in the door."
"Thanks for reminding me, then..."
Mr. Ichikawa glanced down at the carpet, which was gradually turning red, pointed to room 7011 opposite 7012, and tentatively asked Asagiri.
"Can we stay in the room across from yours?"
"can."
"OK, thanks."
Once back in room 7012, after closing the door and hanging the security chain, the four members of the team remained silent. After all, the dungeon's public notice stated that they needed to keep quiet and avoid making any noise while the carpet turned red.
Kato Megumi took the bottled water from Yuuki Asuna, gently unscrewed it but didn't drink it. Instead, she handed it to Asagiri first, and only took it back after Asagiri finished drinking. Without the slightest shyness or awkwardness, she drank from the same bottle of water as Asagiri.
In the dead silence, time ticked by, and after a few minutes, Kotoko Iwanaga frowned slightly, glanced down at her phone, and then raised her hand, putting her two white index fingers together to make a "ten" sign in front of Asuna Yuuki, Megumi Kato, and Asagiri.
All three of them understood the meaning behind Kotoko Iwanaga's gesture.
Ten minutes passed between the carpet turning red and Kotoko Iwanaga sensing the strange aura.
However, this information is not very meaningful. This time you have ten minutes, but next time you may only have five or three minutes. Don't take chances. When the danger sign of the carpet turning red appears, the right choice is to immediately go to the nearest hotel room.
"Sizzle sizzle... sizzle sizzle..."
The moment Kotoko Iwanaga sensed the strange aura, the four members of the team in the room suddenly heard a static sound, like a radio changing channels.
Strangely, the sound didn't seem to come from the corridor, but rather as if it came directly from my mind; even if I covered my ears, the volume didn't decrease.
Besides the static, there was also a rustling sound coming from the corridor, as if something was sliding on the carpet outside.
Seeing Asagiri stand up, Kotoko Iwanaga gently placed her right hand on his shoulder, first shaking her head, then pointing to herself, meaning that she knew Asagiri wanted to look outside through the peephole, but it would be better for her to do it.
Immediately afterwards, Kotoko Iwanaga walked slowly to the door, her lovely face showing no fear or hesitation, but rather a resolute expression...
Just then, she stopped, as if she had discovered some serious problem that could be fatal.
Seeing Kotoko Iwanaga suddenly stop moving, Asuna Yuuki and Megumi Kato couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts. They wondered if they were about to face a terrifying danger that even the audacious Kotoko Iwanaga was afraid of, after only an hour in the dungeon.
Just as they were feeling incredibly tense and ready for battle, they saw Kotoko Iwanaga turn around, point to the peephole on the door with a tearful expression, and the meaning was very clear: there were only four words.
She couldn't reach it.
Seeing this, Asuna Yuuki and Megumi Kato breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn't help but look speechless.
Are you putting on a mime show here? It's actually quite artistic.
The peephole on the hotel room door is about 1.55 meters high, but Kotoko Iwanaga's height...
He is only 1.5 meters tall.
In addition, since the height of her eyes is definitely lower than her height, even if she tries her best to stand on tiptoe, it is difficult for her to reach the peephole. Moreover, if she accidentally bumps into the door and makes a sound, that would be bad.
Asagiri seemed to have anticipated this situation. She stepped forward, reached out and patted Kotoko Iwanaga's head, then bent down slightly, peered through the peephole of the door, and began to observe the scene outside.
What came into his view was that the opposite wall and the carpet in the corridor were covered with something that looked like ivy, except that the wriggling things were not plants, but strange things with skin, like strips of meat.
This scene can only be described as disgusting.
A few minutes later, the fleshy strips suddenly started crawling faster, their fragile skin rubbing against the wall, leaving large patches of blood. The sound of flesh rubbing against flesh was instinctively unsettling, and the sight of the fleshy strips sliding rapidly became increasingly bizarre and distorted.
The next second, the face of an old woman covered in blood and wrinkles suddenly appeared in Asagiri's field of vision, staring at him through the cat's eyes with a pair of terrifying eyes with an abnormally large proportion of white.
Asagiri's expression and eyes did not change in the slightest, nor did she subconsciously avoid the old woman's gaze outside the door; she simply continued to observe calmly.
The old woman wore a neat, dark purple kimono, a stark contrast to her filthy face, and with her appearance, the fleshy strips outside temporarily ceased wriggling.
A few seconds later, the old woman suddenly disappeared again, and the strip of flesh on the door of room 7011 across the street suddenly began to wriggle and gradually turned into a human figure wearing a long black trench coat and a dark gray mask.
Upon seeing this, Asagiri couldn't help but frown slightly.
Oh ho, a pirated copy?
Although you can't see the front, just from the back view, it does look very similar to my own outfit, it's almost indistinguishable from the real thing.
Just then, the imposter "Shadow" suddenly raised his hand and knocked on the door of room 7011 across the street. Immediately afterwards, a strip of flesh next to him suddenly opened a crack, forming a mouth with teeth, from which came out the exact same voice as Asagiri, even the tone was exactly the same.
"The carpet has returned to its normal color; you can come out now."
Mr. Ichikawa and his two teammates inside room 7011 did not respond. Seeing this, the imposter "Shadow" raised his hand and knocked on the door twice more, his voice becoming louder and even carrying a hint of twisted madness.
"Didn't you hear me?! It's me! Open the door!!!"
"Open the door! Open the door! Open the door! Open the door! Open the door!"
13
Chapter 13 is too easy.
Asagiri didn't say anything to remind them, but just quietly looked through the peephole on the door. Mr. Ichikawa and his two teammates, who were in room 7011 across the street, were obviously not stupid. They had no intention of opening the door and did not look through the peephole on their own door.
Are you kidding me? That one outside can't possibly be the real thing!
Indeed, the tone and voice of the thing outside were exactly the same as Asagiri's, but judging from the three players' brief interaction with Asagiri, Asagiri was not the kind of person who would be so enthusiastic as to knock on the door to remind them after the carpet returned to its normal color.
They've survived to the third stage, how could they be so easily fooled?
After frantically knocking on the door for a good ten seconds, the imposter "Shadow" seemed to realize that the person inside wouldn't open it. Its body twisted and wriggled, transforming back into a long strip of flesh and blood, and began to wriggle rapidly into the distance, disappearing a few seconds later.
Asagiri's gaze did not leave the cat's eye; instead, she continued to observe while pondering in her mind.
Based on the scene just now, we can roughly judge that no matter what the meat-like thing is, it has the ability to disguise itself as a human and possesses a certain degree of intelligence. It knows that it has had contact with the three players in the opposite room, so it chose to disguise itself as itself and knock on the opposite door.
Strangely, although the "meat strip" initially transformed into human form and stood at the door of room 7012 where the four members of the team were, it did not choose to knock on the door of its own room, but instead knocked on the door of the room opposite.
If it were a mindless monster, it might be a coincidence on a whim. But since it possesses a certain level of intelligence, this is the choice it made. So why did it make this choice?
Is there a limit to the number of times it knocks on the door each time it appears? Or does it think that because 7011 and 7012 are too close, the sound it makes when it's faking something will inevitably be heard by the people in the other room, so it chose the three players that it thinks are easier to fool?
If it's the second one, does that mean that thing can sense the player's mental state and thus select players who are easy to target?
If someone is alone in the room, what will that thing do? Will it just push open the door and stick those fleshy strips through the crack?
Asagiri knew that the public prompts for dungeons would vary depending on the player's individual circumstances. For example, when Asuna Yuuki came to the hotel dungeon last time, the public prompt for her was "Try to avoid direct confrontation with evil spirits," while the public prompt for him was "Quickly finish the battle."
However, this time, the public hints he received were no different from those received by Asuna Yuuki and the others. If the pattern of the special hints given by the system had not changed, it would mean that even he would encounter danger if he acted alone.
the most important is……
Asagiri didn't understand what the risks were in looking through the peephole into the corridor.
The scene just now was indeed as scary as a horror movie for ordinary people, or even more so. But even for ordinary players who had experienced several dangerous dungeons, it wasn't a particularly terrifying scene, let alone for him and Kotoko Iwanaga, who had no fear.
Is it because the instance has just begun that there is no danger yet, or is it that I have actually been subjected to a certain degree of mental corruption without realizing it?
Human Asuras are immune to any type of mental attack, but even so, before giving that special prompt, the system still assessed its own mental strength.
Is it because danger doesn't belong to the "mental" category, or is it...?
Does it not fall under the category of "attack"?
About ten minutes later, Asagiri saw through the peephole that the carpet in the corridor outside was gradually returning to its normal color.
He didn't go out directly, but turned around and walked into the room. Looking at Yuuki Asuna and the others who looked nervous, he spoke softly.
"The dangerous time is over."
Asagiri had certainly considered the possibility that the carpet outside returning to its normal color was actually a trap to lure players inside the room into making noise.
But the logic remains the same: the game's system isn't the type to punish players when they haven't made a mistake. If the carpet returns to its normal color, it's an illusion that even he can't see through, so who among the other players can? Even in the third phase, it's impossible for such a completely unpredictable and unsolvable predicament to occur.
Moreover, looking through the peephole to observe the color of the carpet outside is inherently a risky action.
After Asagiri told Asuna Yuuki, Kotoko Iwanaga, and Megumi Kato about what she had just seen, the three women all looked thoughtful and felt something was strange.
The reason they felt strange was the same as Asagiri's: it wasn't that the difficulty was too high, but rather that the difficulty seemed a bit too low.
Is it a strange creature that can transform into a player's appearance, knock on the door, and trick the player inside into opening it?
This is way too simplistic! Even if there are monsters outside, and even if there really are players outside, the players inside the room wouldn't open the door on their own.
"If it were a situation like this between members of our team, where one of us goes missing and then reappears outside knocking on the door, even if we know it's probably fake, we might still choose to open the door. But to pretend to be a complete stranger and knock on the door... that's just too naive. No one could possibly fall for it."
Listening to Kotoko Iwanaga's analysis, Megumi Kato nodded and said softly.
"Yes, this level of test... doesn't even come close to the difficulty of the third stage, does it?"
Just as the four were discussing, they suddenly heard a commotion coming from the corridor outside the door.
Asagi walked to the door, opened it, and stepped outside, she heard a faint whooshing sound coming from her left.
"Thump!!"
Asagiri raised her left hand and caught a fleeting shadow in the air. The arrow was still trembling and making a faint sound.
"Hug...sorry..."
The female player who shot the arrow clearly didn't expect someone to suddenly walk out of the room and, coincidentally, block the middle of her arrow. She first subconsciously apologized, then suddenly realized what had happened and looked incredulous.
Wait a moment……
The player, dressed in a long black trench coat and wearing a dark gray mask, was not hit by his own arrow in a situation that would catch a normal person off guard. Instead of dodging, he caught the flying arrow directly.
Is this human?
Meanwhile, a male player standing next to the female player looked past the morning mist at the player running towards the distance of the corridor, his face showing anxiety.