Chapter 16

In the cafeteria, the blond Holy Son was gathering all the teams that were searching the mental hospital to sort out all the information they had obtained so far.

After the ice-cold system prompt appeared, everyone's movements froze.

[Level S trainee Zhuge An. Cleared.]

No one could describe the feelings of the other trainees in the mental hospital after hearing this System Notification.

Probably everyone was dumbfounded.

Not to mention the trainees, even the viewers in the God's view of the livestream were shocked.

[F * ck, no way, how did Master Zhuge know the answer? What happened in those few minutes just now?]

[They just disappeared into thin air, and then Master Zhuge announced that they had cleared. I'm so confused.]

[Wait wait wait, me???? I'm slowly kneeling down, I'm really kneeling down. It's not even halfway through the second day, and the difficulty is close to Level S!!]

[Upstairs, you're not alone, I'm also kneeling down and watching the livestream … Amazing.]

[Is there a new batch of people in the infinite loop? Think about what Master Zhuge did in the Cursed Mask, and you'll think that clearing the level so quickly this time is nothing. Otherwise, do you think he picked up the title of No.8 for nothing?]

"Zhuge An cleared the level?!"

After a moment of silence, everyone whispered to each other in disbelief, and an intense discussion broke out.

At this time, Qin Ye happened to bring up all the teams that were searching the first floor of the basement.

"These two rookies got new information in the washroom not long ago."

He pointed at the two rookies standing behind him. "You can talk to His Excellency."

"S-Your Excellency, Holy Son."

Facing No.2, the loud-voiced rookie was obviously very nervous, and stammered as he spoke.

"Don't be afraid," Messiah said gently. "Just tell me the information you got."

"Just now, Xu Wenji and I were searching the washroom on the first floor of the basement."

The rookie tried his best to straighten his tongue. "Then we found a cubicle door that couldn't be opened … Just when we wanted to push the door open, the door suddenly opened. The black-haired Level S and the beautiful Level E walked out together. "

What else could two grown men be doing sneakily hiding in a narrow toilet cubicle?

Many people revealed meaningful expressions.

Messiah frowned. "Alright, thank you for your hard work."

Originally, this sounded like a small matter, but combined with the system prompt just now, the deeper meaning behind it could not be mentioned in the same breath.

"Weren't Zhuge An and the white-haired E-class walking together in the stairwell just now?"

He Jianlan stared at his blurry reflection in the spoon. "White Hair must have told Zhuge An about the S-grade item. Otherwise, he wouldn't have cleared the dungeon so quickly."

If Zhuge An had the ability to leave the dungeon alone, he would have cleared the dungeon a long time ago instead of dragging it out until now.

"In my opinion, the most important thing now is to capture that E-class."

Jiang Yuan said fiercely. "The clue on him must be very important, directly related to the main storyline of this dungeon."

Meng Tianlu also agreed. "That's right, we lack the necessary information now. Since someone has cleared the dungeon, this means that the clue of the S-grade item must be very important."

Many of the seniors were still secretly thinking about the black metal box they saw in the operating room.

Now that the first person had cleared the dungeon, no one could be sure if Zhuge An had gotten the mysterious S-grade item. If he didn't …

"Indeed. Your Excellency, we can't take the risk of dragging it out until the third day. "

"Yes, no one can say for sure what will happen on the third day. Moreover, there are so many rookies here who don't have the ability to protect themselves. All of them need the seniors to take care of them. They might not even be able to take care of themselves. Your Excellency, please think about it again! This clue is very important to us! "

Normally, an E-class rookie with an S-grade clue would not have a good ending.

If they wanted to protect the treasure, they had to have the ability to protect it. To be honest, if it weren't for the Messiah's protection, the seniors would have already used force to coerce the white-haired E-class. How could they let him be so arrogant?

Everyone whispered and looked at the Messiah.

In this situation where they lacked clues and had no clue, the Messiah was pushed to the forefront of the storm.

They all needed a clear path, a clear path in front of them.

In the face of life and death, people would become despicable. Zong Jiu was only an E-class. No one could guarantee that these seniors would not privately disobey the Messiah's orders and use other means to force him to reveal the clue about the S-grade item.

Under everyone's gaze, the Messiah closed his eyes tiredly.

He finally spoke.

"He will join us."

####

Zong Jiu pushed open the door of the ward.

The high school student stood outside, his eyes constantly glancing behind him. "Brother Jiu!"

"Brother Jiu, did you hear the system notification just now? Zhuge An cleared the level! "

Sheng Yu's face was full of shock. He couldn't help but raise his hand to gesture to fully express his current feelings.

The white-haired youth looked at him meaningfully. "Yeah, I'm surprised too."

In fact, Zong Jiu accepted it well. After all, whether or not Zhuge An cleared the level had nothing to do with him. He only knew that he had obtained all the information he wanted from Zhuge An.

What really surprised Zong Jiu was Sheng Yu's flawless acting.

In fact, from the beginning, Sheng Yu and Zhuge An were the top two people in Zong Jiu's list of suspects to eliminate the mole.

The reason for eliminating Sheng Yu was simple. Because he didn't exist in the original text.

From Zong Jiu's perspective, this was actually quite understandable.

Because he replaced the original owner and said those words in front of the trainees' dormitory. Just like Lorentz's Butterfly Effect, the butterfly in South America flapped its wings and in two weeks, there would be a storm in Texas. Under this kind of influence, it wasn't incomprehensible for the plot to deviate.

When Sheng Yu came to talk to him in the cafeteria with a tray, although Zong Jiu was surprised, he didn't suspect Sheng Yu. Also, in the original text, there was a random mission to find the mole. Therefore, Zong Jiu assumed that since there was a mole in the original team, Sheng Yu, who joined later, wouldn't be a problem. Thus, he directly eliminated Sheng Yu.

Then why was Zong Jiu so certain that Sheng Yu was the mole?

It was because the original text mentioned the original owner's death.

In the original text, the cannon fodder vase went to the washroom with another newbie. Unfortunately, they encountered the first horror of the mental hospital in the washroom.

Zong Jiu didn't know exactly what horror it was. This was because when horror writers wrote about their first death, they wouldn't specify how they died. They would only exaggerate the horror and emphasize the tragic state of the corpse to maintain the mysterious and scary atmosphere.

But even so, Zong Jiu still obtained a valuable piece of information from the original text.

The original owner went to the washroom and the newbie waited outside the washroom. Because he was too scared, the original owner didn't close the washroom door and received his lunch in the middle of peeing.

The original owner's head fell off his neck and the sound of something falling came from the washroom. The newbie didn't even dare to go in and look. He was so scared that he turned around and ran. In the end, he was killed in front of the washroom door.

In the end, the newbie's body disappeared and the original owner's head was made into a mop and thrown into the washroom's dirty sink.

According to the plot, the two people who went to the washroom should have died.

But Sheng Yu didn't die. Not only did he not die, he also accurately described how glasses went to the washroom.

At that time, Zong Jiu tightly gripped the ballpoint pen in his sleeve and his muscles tensed.

Would the ghost choose to kill the two stragglers who were sent to him at the same time? With enough time, it was impossible to only kill glasses. Plus, in the original text, it was a double kill. This comparison was even more unexpected.

He became suspicious of Sheng Yu.

To verify this conjecture, Zong Jiu snuck into the washroom in the other dimension.

By the way, Zong Jiu vaguely knew that there was another dimension in this instance. This was because in the original text's description of Vincent, there was a vague description of the second floor of the basement.

But in the beginning, Zong Jiu thought that the second floor was the only way to enter the other dimension. He didn't expect to be dragged into the other dimension alone.

Zong Jiu saw glasses' corpse in the washroom in the other dimension.

Sure enough, the cut on his neck was very smooth. Compared to the so-called "ghost in the other dimension", it was more like a human's hand.

Although He Jianlan didn't look very smart, and his deductions were full of loopholes, he was still right by accident.

Glasses had been murdered by someone.

Now, the answer to who the mole was was was obvious.

But this didn't mean that it was over. Because there was still a mole in this instance.

Zong Jiu didn't know if Zhuge An was aware of this, but Zong Jiu was very clear about it.

Because when Zong Jiu kicked open the three cubicles in the washroom and checked that there was no one inside, he took the time to look at the sink in the washroom.

The sink was empty. There was a large spider web under the faucet, and a black spider was spitting silk on it. If someone wanted to put a mop inside, they would have to break the spider web.

Not to mention, when Zong Jiu kicked open the door, Glasses' head wasn't made into a human head mop and put into the sink like in the original novel. But later, when Messiah led the seniors to search, the mop was put in without anyone noticing. It was impossible to say that there was no accomplice.

Also, Sheng Yu didn't appear in the original novel, but the main system still issued a random mole mission. It was easy to deduce that, in addition to Sheng Yu, there was another mole among the original trainees.

Who could it be?

Zong Jiu listened to Sheng Yu as he pondered.

Sheng Yu was vividly describing the scene in the stairwell to Zong Jiu.

After he finished, he mysteriously lowered his voice. "Brother Jiu, did you see those two people?"

Not far from the corridor, the two newbies were intentionally or unintentionally approaching. The words "We are watching you" were almost written on their faces.

Sheng Yu: "I feel like they are watching us. What should we do?"

Zong Jiu shrugged. "What should we do? We've been abandoned by two powerful people. Why don't we go to the cafeteria first?"

From all the clues, it seemed that Sheng Yu's mole card had a very high level of clearance. Otherwise, there was no way to explain how an F-class could kill people so easily and move the corpses to a different dimension before Zong Jiu.

He definitely had the key that Zhuge An said could open the dimension at will. It was also the original text of the Virginia Code before it was encrypted. As long as he had the key, he could clear the main mission of the normal card. Zhuge An was the best example.

Zong Jiu was very curious about Sheng Yu's goal and what the mole card's main mission was.

If Sheng Yu simply wanted to kill people for fun, or kill all the trainees, he could've completely exposed the fact that he was an E-grade in the toilet. Or, he could've stabbed Zong Jiu before Zong Jiu could find a flaw in the plot.

But Sheng Yu didn't.

Not only that, he didn't even have the slightest intention of adding fuel to the fire or sowing discord.

He played the role of a high school student who knew nothing about the world almost perfectly. He called Brother Nine as he followed behind him and pretended to be innocent.

Zong Jiu didn't believe that he didn't have any ulterior motives.

But … this reminded him of the prophecy that Zhuge An said before he left.

"Where are you going? Hmm? "

A low voice suddenly came from above.

A man in a white coat slowly walked out from the shadows.

The dim light cast a deep shadow on his ordinary silhouette. He looked like a demon that escaped from the abyss.

The doctor looked at the four people in front of him with interest. His gaze lingered on the white-haired youth for a long time.

Zong Jiu felt like he was being stared at by a poisonous snake. He couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

"The nurse has been looking for you for a long time. You should go upstairs and take your medicine."

Sheng Yu asked curiously, "Take medicine? What medicine? Isn't the time to take medicine at night? "

Dr. Chu didn't say anything. He pointed behind them and the eerie smile on his face deepened.

On the oil lamp hanging on the wall, the clock slowly pointed to ten.

Ten o 'clock!

Sheng Yu and the other two newbies were in disbelief.

How was this possible? They clearly remembered that they didn't even have lunch!

[F * ck, why is it ten o 'clock all of a sudden? I'm confused again.]

[Wasn't it just twelve o 'clock? What the hell is going on?]

[Could this be a time decryption dungeon? But that can't be right. I saw Master Zhuge deducing that this is a space-type puzzle dungeon on Master Zhuge's livestream. What's going on?]

Zong Jiu stood at the side, his eyes darkening.

When the glasses died and Zong Jiu was pulled into the alternate dimension, it was exactly ten o 'clock.

This moment could very well be the opening of the alternate dimension!

The white-haired youth suddenly looked up.

But now, the doctor with the gold-rimmed glasses was still standing there. The scenery around them didn't change at all.

"Go upstairs and take your medicine. Everyone's waiting for you."

The doctor's eyebrows curved as he reminded them out of kindness. "It's not a wise decision to wander around in a group."

"Oh, right."

He lowered his head and glanced at the gold watch on his wrist casually. "It's almost time for the ward rounds. The head nurse should have told you that the hospital has a rule that forbids night wandering.

"If you violate the hospital's rules and are caught wandering at night."

The man brushed past Zong Jiu. Behind the glasses, his eyes slowly turned dark and malicious.

"Disobedient patients … will be punished."

After the corner of the white coat disappeared into the gap on the second floor, Sheng Yu said with a trembling voice, "Brother Jiu, why is it already ten o 'clock? What should we do?"

Pretend, you continue to pretend, I will quietly watch your performance.

Zong Jiu kicked the ball back. "Ah, looks like there's no other way. Let's go upstairs and find the Son of God."

They walked to the entrance of the cafeteria. Under the watchful eyes of the nurses, they went through the process of taking their medicine again.

Zong Jiu's hand, which was holding the pills, slipped into the pocket of his oversized hospital gown. When he looked up, he happened to hear the conversation between the head nurse and the other nurses.

"Tomorrow will be the third day since this batch of patients arrived. Looks like we'll have a break again."

Strangely enough, this was the first time they had heard this conversation.

The monotonous voice gradually faded away in the empty corridor. The newcomers' hairs stood on end and their legs trembled.

In fact, the atmosphere in the cafeteria wasn't any better.

Everyone's face was filled with anxiety and fear. They didn't even notice Zong Jiu and the others walking into the cafeteria.

Messiah's face was solemn. "Time has been sped up."

The seniors were silent. Their expressions weren't any better.

Just a moment ago, they were still discussing the list of patients to go to the second floor underground. The next second, a nurse with a medicine basket appeared out of nowhere and coldly informed them that it was time to take their medicine.

Time had been sped up by ten hours!

What was even scarier was that they didn't know why time had been sped up.

Was it because Zhuge An had left the dungeon early, causing the dungeon's difficulty to increase in the later stages? Or was it because there were variables in the original dungeon? No one knew.

"We can't delay this any longer. Tonight, everyone has to go to the second floor underground with me."

The newcomers were shocked. "Do we have to go as well?"

"Didn't you hear what the nurse said?" He Jianlan said coldly. "If we drag this on past tonight, no one can guarantee what will happen on the third day. After midnight, it will be the third day. "

"But, but …"

In the eyes of these inexperienced newcomers, in this short period of time, the words' second floor underground 'had become synonymous with scourge.

"But what?!"

One of the seniors said impatiently. "If it weren't for the Holy Son's kindness, we wouldn't have cared about the lives of you newcomers. The Thriller Trainee Selection isn't a survival quest. Normally, there are rewards for helping newcomers, but not only are there no rewards for helping you, you're disobedient and an eyesore. In other words, whether you live or die has nothing to do with us. "

The golden-haired Holy Son gave the old man a look to stop him, then turned to comfort him. "If you stay in the dormitory, in this situation, you'll most likely die."

"Follow me, I'll do my best to ensure your safety."

When he said the last sentence, Messiah glanced out of the corner of her eye, her azure blue eyes looking toward the entrance of the cafeteria.

Everyone's gazes turned to look at him.

The white-haired youth stood there, calmly accepting the baptism of everyone's gazes and sizing him up.

These gazes were filled with worry, greed, and undisguised desire.

Zong Jiu didn't seem to feel it. He stretched his limbs, even stretched on the spot, and yawned.

Some of the seniors were indignant and wanted to speak up, but they were all stopped by Messiah.

The golden-haired Holy Son looked at him, his eyes full of sincerity. "Now that Zhuge An has cleared the dungeon, can you join us again?"

Zong Jiu didn't have a reason to agree.

Leaving Messiah's organization and turning to Zhuge An was the result of careful consideration for him.

However —

"Okay."

Zong Jiu agreed readily.

[Hmm? Why did he agree again?]

The bullet screen was full of question marks. [No, I thought he would at least struggle a little.]

[Damn, it's different to be good-looking. After hugging the Holy Son's thigh, he hugged Master Zhuge's thigh, and after he came back, the Holy Son was actually willing to take over. I'm jealous, sisters.]

[This works too?? Our Ah Jiu said that he would rather die than submit! Grandpa Qing Jie!]

In the end, not only did Zong Jiu agree, he even took the initiative to announce some information.

"Actually, it's useless to tell you guys about my clue."

The others:? Then tell us!

"Everyone, think about it. Our main mission is to survive for three days."

Everyone nodded.

"But now, it's only been two days, and Zhuge An has run away. Why do you think he can run away? "

Zong Jiu's tone was rhythmic as he guided them patiently. "Of course, it's because — he's the mole!"

Everyone was skeptical, but after thinking about it carefully, it did seem to make sense.

That's right, why did Zhuge An run away in advance when the main mission was to survive for three days?

Of course, this meant that Zhuge An's identity card and main mission were different from theirs!

"Sigh, you guys really misunderstood me."

The white-haired youth was filled with righteous indignation. "Zhuge An, this old man, is so despicable and shameless. Not only did he pretend to agree to cooperate with me, but he also tricked the clue out of me! Public morals are degenerating day by day, and people's hearts are not what they used to be! "

"Sigh, after this mole cleared the level, he probably took away the S-grade item."

Zong Jiu pretended to raise his arm. "The clue I have is useless now, so it's okay to tell you guys. But I didn't expect that you guys would still be willing to help me play. You guys are so nice. "

Although Zong Jiu didn't usually act, if he really wanted to act, who wouldn't be a crossover actor?

After hearing that the S-grade item had been taken away, everyone's expression looked like they had swallowed a fly. The elders looked at each other, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Logically speaking, now that Zhuge An wasn't here, Zong Jiu could just say whatever he wanted.

If Zhuge An's usual conduct was as upright as the Holy Son, then it was likely that no one present would believe his words.

Unfortunately, Zhuge An wasn't a righteous character. This guy was both righteous and evil. He had an eccentric personality, but his intelligence was close to that of a demon. He didn't do things according to common sense, so many people had mixed feelings about him. Many of them were victims who were used as pawns by him in the instance dungeon, and they hated him to the core.

He had played a very big game of chess, so stealing an S-grade item was nothing. Pretending to cooperate and then tricking information was really Zhuge An's usual style.

Moreover, Zhuge An was their number one suspect for being the mole.

So, when Zong Jiu put in his best performance and made Zhuge An the scapegoat for free, most of the others believed him.

Not to mention the trainees in the cafeteria, even the bullet screen was suddenly enlightened.

[F * ck, no wonder he had to pull him to the corner of the ward and even used an S-grade item. So, during the period when we weren't watching the live broadcast, he was threatening and tempting the newbie.]

[Sounds so tragic … I've heard that Master Zhuge betrayed everyone in the 'Cursed Mask'. This E-grade is so tragic, he'll probably be traumatized by Master Zhuge in the future (candle.jpg)]

[Hahahahaha! Am I the only one who thought that Zhuge An was the mole from the beginning?! Sure enough, it turns out that my guess was right.]

Don't ask, if you do, your reputation will be ruined. You deserve to ask.

"It's fine."

On the other hand, Messiah looked relieved. "We didn't invite you to rejoin us because of that clue."

The blond saint smiled faintly. "Anyway, welcome back."

Since the saint had expressed his stance, the others could only accept it unwillingly and secretly take precautions.

The main reason was that Zong Jiu's explanation was reasonable. Otherwise, there was no way to explain why Zhuge An could leave early.

He Jianlan, who had been yelling that Zong Jiu was the mole, fell silent. He looked like he was trying to find a loophole in his words, but to no avail.

Zong Jiu curled his lips.

He inwardly thanked Zhuge An, this perfect scapegoat, without any sincerity.

Although Zong Jiu could start looking for the key to clear the level now, there was no need for him to explore the second level with Messiah.

But other than clearing the level, Zong Jiu also needed a large number of survival points.

The white-haired youth's gaze swept across the high school student standing behind him.

He had always been a greedy person.

Since he had such good conditions, why didn't Zong Jiu complete the Random Mission as well?

He could only rely on his wits to clear this dungeon.

Once this dungeon was over, he had to heal his hand and let the cards dance on his fingers again.

Then … he would regain his reputation as a magician.