Kaidan Game Train: Abide Rule or Die!
Chapter 432: Hopscotch

Chapter 432: Chapter 432: Hopscotch

Chu Yuan stopped wiping his blood as soon as he heard that, turned in a different direction, and ran, calling out as he moved, "Why would these people kill us? They’re not instance players... Could they be lying!"

"That doesn’t make sense, if they were players, why would they need to deliberately go a different way from us? Is it possible that the other half of the laboratory doesn’t play the ghost-catching game?"

It wasn’t surprising that the players who came with Dr. Deng should know some inside information. Even if there were ticket players among them, they most likely wouldn’t care about the outcome of the game or whether the instance was cleared or not.

If Ghost Shadow was lurking throughout the entire laboratory, any player, ticket holder or not, could potentially be attacked. It was just that these players were of a higher level, preventing Ghost Shadow from succeeding.

"Ah?" Chu Yuan suddenly acted as if he had an epiphany, "Are you saying that we didn’t see Ghost Shadow behind the glass window just now because tonight there’s a ghost among the players with Dr. Deng, and they’re trying to kill us because of the ghost-catching game?"

Xu Huo turned his head to look at him, "Do you think those players care about winning or losing the game?"

"That’s true," Chu Yuan scratched his head, "I guess they are not planning to clear the instance. They probably want to kill us to keep a secret that this laboratory must hold."

He appeared somewhat excited, "If so many players are looking for something, it must be something good. Why don’t we go look for it too?"

Of course, Xu Huo wanted to go, but he did not trust Chu Yuan. After a pause, he asked, "Do you have a way to avoid being killed by the other players? There might be more than just Dr. Deng’s people who want us dead."

Chu Yuan wasn’t stupid and immediately guessed what he meant, "Are you suggesting there are people among the players who came with us that belong to Dr. Deng?"

Whether or not they were Dr. Deng’s people was uncertain, but they might be linked to the Kong siblings.

"We have to at least prepare for that possibility," Xu Huo said, "We’re trapped in the laboratory now, and it would be easy for them to make a move against us, especially given the differences in player levels."

"We can’t trust the other players... Perhaps if we’re lucky, we could hide until the game is over."

Based on the skirmish earlier, those two players might be Rank-C. An explosion might not kill them, and even if they were severely wounded, it wouldn’t be much of a difference because there were also the Rank-B Kong siblings.

Naturally, not everything Dr. Deng said may be true, but there were already eight players on the other side. The likelihood of an ally of the ticket players being among them was also high. Under these circumstances, their situation was very difficult.

Chu Yuan looked hesitant, thought for a while, and then said, "I have a way to avoid them, but my special item can only hide one person."

Under the cover of darkness, Xu Huo watched his eyes change subtly.

"On the other hand, the laboratory is so big, it would not be easy for them to find us," Chu Yuan said optimistically, "Besides, there is a Ghost Shadow here. It wouldn’t make sense for Ghost Shadow to only target us and not them. The instance boss should treat everyone equally."

Xu Huo’s gaze lost its sharpness, "Actually, there’s another way, and that’s to end the instance early, to stop playing the game and just focus on catching the ghost."

"But Ghost Shadow is elusive, where would we go to catch it?" Chu Yuan said, "It’s not like we can find a ghost through the glass."

Because of Gan Qing and the others, they had hypothesized they could spot which player Ghost Shadow was attached to by looking through the glass window. They later realized this method didn’t work, as capturing a player did not reveal the identity of the "ghost". There was no way to know on which "ghost" would Ghost Shadow appear.

Moreover, how could they capture Ghost Shadow if they found it? If it was just a special item, then the one controlling Ghost Shadow should be the real ghost. But where would they find this person?

"If we go looking for Ghost Shadow, we will definitely encounter other players," Chu Yuan looked at him, "Next time we won’t get away so easily."

"Mutually assured destruction isn’t a bad idea," Xu Huo said, placing a specially treated bucket of alcohol in the corner. He tapped a small hole in the barrel, and the scent of alcohol immediately drifted out, quickly filling the corridor.

"You’re not thinking of blowing up the Deep Blue Laboratory, are you?" Chu Yuan exclaimed in shock, "The outside is all water!"

"Don’t you have an oxygen protective suit?" Xu Huo said, unfazed, "Put it on in advance."

Seeing that he didn’t seem to be lying, Chu Yuan hurriedly changed into the protective suit and said, "Aren’t you afraid of sinking the laboratory?"

"The material of the laboratory is special; it won’t sink. Choose the right spot, and the water may not even get in," Xu Huo explained. Even the glass windows on the lower floor, which allowed views of the sea below, were very sturdy and resilient. They had to be to withstand the water pressure and attacks from mutated fish. Destroying them wouldn’t be easy.

But it was still a good way to deter other players.

An explosion had just occurred; all players would know there was someone here adept at playing with fire. Dr. Deng wasn’t worried about flooding the laboratory, but would he not worry about them destroying the very thing they were searching for?

It was also a way to test whether Ghost Shadow was a special item spawned by the laboratory or a trick of a hidden boss.

Although Ghost Shadow moved mysteriously and elusively, it treated the laboratory with great care. In the eastern half of the underground first and second floors, besides the dormitories of the staff, not even a chair was out of place, and bodies were cleared to the third basement to be used for growing plants. To some extent, it was well planned and meticulous.

Whether or not an explosion would yield something valuable needed to be tested.

The alcohol he brought was limited; he couldn’t place it all on this floor. The best location was on the third basement’s periphery in the expansion area, where only the exterior had been wrapped, and the inside still wasn’t completely reinforced.

But now, Dr. Deng and others might still be on the third basement level, so he couldn’t go down yet.

After pouring two more buckets of alcohol, Xu Huo noticed someone coming up from downstairs.

The Silent Figurine’s effect had not yet worn off, so the person coming this quickly must have been drawn by the sound of the explosion.

He patted Chu Yuan, signaling him to hurry up and leave.

The two of them ran in the opposite direction of the elevator. After rounding two corners, numerical grid squares suddenly appeared on the two paths ahead.

Xu Huo instinctively stopped and turned around to go back, only to see that the path they had just taken was also covered in numerical grids, and now he and Chu Yuan were each standing in squares marked with the numbers "3" and "4."

"What kind of item is this?" Chu Yuan urged Xu Huo, "Hurry up and fly!"

Xu Huo grabbed his guitar string, but his feet failed to leave the ground. He then tried to move to the grids on either side; after two attempts, he successfully reached "5." However, trying to move out of "5" required several more attempts to succeed, and each grid move could only increase by one number at a time, without jumping.

"A new game, playing with squares?" he looked up towards the corner ahead, "I wouldn’t have guessed you’re into kids’ games."

"Who?" Chu Yuan hadn’t noticed anyone and followed Xu Huo’s gaze in response.

No one came out from around the hallway corner, nor was there any reply. Xu Huo couldn’t be bothered to engage in psychological warfare and just directly called out his identity, "Mao Wei."