At this moment, Ye Bugui stared at the door that remained closed and said softly, "Why hasn't she come out yet?"
“She’s the highest ranked one here,” Sherry swallowed hard. “She should be fine, right? Besides, it’s just a dream, she’ll be fine when she wakes up. It’s just that her sanity is draining too quickly.”
"Should we knock on the door?" Han Baobao asked worriedly. "Anyway, her roommate has already left."
No one answered the question; they were clearly weighing the pros and cons.
"How about..." Before Lu Shi could finish speaking, Zi Ling's door opened.
She collapsed to the ground, her hands trembling as she leaned forward, muttering something under her breath:
"I...I pushed the crystal away..."
A note from the author:
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 37
☪ Good Family Apartment 12
crystal?
Lu Shi looked bewildered. As an old-fashioned person, he had never been involved in the mobile game industry.
At this moment, Ye Bugui kindly...
crystal?
Lu Shi looked blank; as an old-fashioned person, he had never been involved in the mobile game industry.
At this moment, Ye Bugui kindly explained to Lu Shi: "This is a type of game where two armies fight each other, and the side that destroys the enemy's crystal wins."
"A game? A game like ours?" Lu Shi persisted.
"Uh..." Ye Bugui said succinctly, "After we get out, I'll take you out to play. Zi, Zi Ling, how are you?"
Lu Shi responded with an "oh," as he only showed his blank side when encountering new things. Right now, however, playing video games was already part of Lu Shi's plans.
Zi Ling drank a cup of milk tea before she felt better.
She cleared her throat and began to recount her experience in the dream with great difficulty.
“I entered the King's Canyon, you should all have played that game.” Zi Ling frowned, then continued, “But I became a minion in it.”
Apart from Lu Shi, everyone else looked curious and surprised.
"A lowly soldier?" Han Baobao clicked her tongue. "That's too tragic!"
“Yes,” Zi Ling shuddered, “and I found that I couldn’t control my body at all. When I saw the minions in front of me heading towards the middle lane, my first reaction was to retreat. After all, everyone knows that fights in the middle lane are very fierce.”
Ye Bugui tried very hard to suppress his laughter. Judging from Zi Ling's current state, she must have suffered a lot in this game, and it would be very inappropriate for him to laugh at her here.
But when Ye Bugui thought about the dream that Zi Ling was experiencing now, he couldn't help but laugh.
No wonder Zi Ling's live stream popularity soared to number one; the show's effect was indeed more eye-catching than Lu Shi's slow and methodical plot progression.
"But I couldn't move. My brain was working, but my body was being controlled. I could only watch helplessly as I reached the mid lane, then Xiao Qiao on the other side blew me into the air with her wind, and then a huge fan flew over and cut me in half at the waist."
Cao Ran frowned. As a female college student, she had certainly played this popular mobile game. But she hadn't expected that clearing minion waves would be such a terrifying task for the minions.
“I thought everything would be over once I died,” Zi Ling sighed. “But I quickly came back to life and became a minion in the top lane. This time, I was killed instantly.”
"And so, as a lowly minion in the canyon, I died and resurrected repeatedly. Later, I became disoriented. Who am I? Could it be that I have always been a lowly minion, and my memories as Zi Ling are actually fabricated by myself?"
Chen Xin had returned to her usual self by now. Listening to Zi Ling's description, she knew that Zi Ling's mental state had been off at that time.
"The moment my crystal exploded, I felt a sense of joy that I could be reduced to ashes. But soon, I came back to life, numbly and mechanically rushing to the front line, only to be killed by various techniques."
"Luckily, I won one game in the end," Zi Ling said with a complicated expression. "That time, all of my heroes were wiped out! I was so angry! Then I turned into a super minion and smashed the crystal with a few punches before I woke up."
Lu Shi listened with great interest, and he couldn't wait to drag Ye Bugui into a game right away.
However, he still knew what was most important right now. He raised his head, glanced at Zi Ling opposite him, and said softly:
“Besides you, the others also entered the dream and were killed in various ways. Apart from the fact that they all died in the end, your dreams have no connection whatsoever.”
“There’s a connection,” Ye Bugui interjected at this moment, “They felt immense malice in their dreams. I even have a feeling that their roommates are eager to kill them in their dreams.”
“But your dream is different,” Ye Bugui said softly. “In the dream, Gao Yang was asking you for help, and he seemed to trust you a lot.”
Everyone else looked at Lu Shi, clearly unaware of his latest developments in the dream.
After Lu Shi finished explaining everything, their first reaction was that Gao Yang was dead.
However, after listening to their analysis, they, like Lu Shi, were convinced that Gao Yang had a twin brother.
After discussing the agent from last night, the seven players looked at each other, seemingly unable to think of any new topics.
"Are you hungry now?" Han Baobao's stomach growled in perfect sync with the moment. "We checked our phones yesterday, but unfortunately it didn't help us clear the dungeon at all. I'm wondering if we can really survive here for seven days?"
"But your physical strength is still very good, right?" Lu Shi asked back. "If you don't eat, your physical strength will indeed be lost, but we can rely on physical strength potions to replenish it."
"In other words, your body is still healthy. Hunger is just a psychological reaction." Ye Bugui finished Lu Shi's sentence for him: "So the more you think about how you haven't eaten for two days, the weaker your body will become."
"Is that so?" Han Baobao was a little surprised, but after their words of encouragement, she immediately realized that her hunger had indeed decreased a lot.
“That’s right,” Cao Ran chimed in. “It’s only seven days. Just bear with it and it’ll pass. If you really want to bite something, why don’t you bite my hand?”
"No need!" Han Baobao immediately shook her head, like a rattle-drum: "I'll hold back. But there's another problem: only one person can stay in the dorm in the end. Does that mean we have to kill them?"
No one answered the question this time. Lu Shi originally thought that he could learn about his roommate from the dream, and maybe find a way to pass the level.
Unexpectedly, their dreams were completely different, so it was clear that they couldn't follow the plot line.
And so we returned to the very beginning.
“Perhaps,” Chen Xin stood up, “we can wait until the last day to take action.”
"Actually, there's another way." Sherry, who had been silent until now, stopped covering her mouth and emerged from the shadow of her dream: "We're afraid of our roommates, actually we're afraid they'll attract the waiters. Is it possible that we could team up and kill the waiters first?"
Her idea was so brave and crazy that even Ye Bugui, who was known for his recklessness, did not immediately answer Shirley's question.
Lu Shi thought for a moment and surprisingly found the idea feasible: "Currently, the waiter can easily kill us. But do you all remember the four doors on the third floor? Is it possible that we can find a way to weaken him behind those doors?"
Although Ye Bugui had already told Lu Shi that the waiter's near-invincible status, capable of defeating everything, was a real possibility, Lu Shi still felt that even the most powerful person had weaknesses.
There are also powerful figures who have fallen in the cultivation world. They were once regarded by ordinary cultivators as immortal beings, but in the end they still died.
“But…” Zi Ling thought of the black handprints crawling all over the ground that day, and goosebumps rose all over her body: “Don’t you think those doors on the third floor are very dangerous? One door leads to nothingness, another leads to a group of ghosts, and the other two doors probably aren’t safe either.”
“But if we don’t try,” Lu Shi said bluntly, “we’ll just be waiting to die. I might still get information from my dreams, but you only have one path left: to kill your roommate.”
Zi Ling indeed fell silent.
After experiencing that dream last night where she died countless times, Zi Ling became much more afraid of death.
She even felt that if she could lie on the floor forever, as long as she was alive, that would be enough.
But she quickly shook off such negative thoughts; if she had really thought that way, she wouldn't have been far from dying in this instance.
She didn't want to die yet; she still had so many things to do!
After a period of inner struggle, Zi Ling finally regained some of her former composure:
“You’re right, we can’t just sit here and wait to die. We’ll continue upstairs today. Oh, and we should also ask the tenants on this floor why they moved into this apartment.”
Seeing Zi Ling regain her spirits, Lu Shi was also very pleased. In such a perilous world, having a reliable team is also very important to clear the level.
“Then I think,” Han Baobao, the most timid of them all, raised her hand, “let’s keep looking at our phones tonight! No matter what, we can’t give up on this path. Maybe we can actually find some information!”
"How did you suddenly become so brave?" Cao Ran looked at Han Baobao with some surprise: "Before, you would definitely have preferred to curl up and wait for someone to carry you."
"I don't want to die." Han Baobao sighed, her expression full of worry for Cao Ran: "My sixth sense is terrible this time, so I might as well take a gamble."
"Don't overthink it," Cao Ran gently patted Han Baobao's cheek with his hand, "We can all survive, and then go back to study together and prepare for the final exams."
"You don't have to mention exams." Han Baobao shuddered and said seriously, "I don't even think this dungeon is as scary as the final exams anymore!"
Seeing that the atmosphere among the crowd had finally eased, Ye Bugui didn't say anything more, but instead, just like yesterday, knocked on doors one by one.
They were met with a rebuff once again. Before they could even speak, the people inside opened the door, saw their faces, and immediately slammed it shut.
Finally, it was the noblewoman who had been observing Lu Shi the whole time who answered their questions:
"Why did I move in? Because I'm here on vacation!"
"Don't you think this place is very retro and nostalgic? Living here, I always fantasize that I am a female star from the last century."
Lu Shi smiled slightly and ended the conversation: "Thank you, have a pleasant vacation."
He turned around and shrugged: "Nothing today. Looks like we can give up on finding other customers."
"Well, now we only have two options: the third floor or our roommate." Zi Ling bit her lip. "Alright, let's go upstairs!"
Before going upstairs, Zi Ling stood at the front and said very seriously, "We don't need to go to the rooms we've already looked at. We'll have someone guard the room at the end of the corridor that opens by itself."
"I'll do it." Han Baobao raised her hand: "I... I'm not very capable, and I'm afraid I'll just hold you back. Leave the lookout duties to me."
“Alright.” Zi Ling nodded, her gaze falling on Lu Shi: “I know you are very strong, Demon Lord. So I hope you can help me at the crucial moment.”
Faced with Zi Ling's sincere attitude, Lu Shi nodded solemnly: "Of course, as I said, we are now on the same side, and I will take action."
"Would you like me to do another divination?" Chen Xin asked softly.
Then everyone shook their heads, which made Chen Xin awkwardly touch his cheek, feeling quite humiliated.
As the seven of them left the second floor and headed towards the third floor, the woman sitting at the front desk suddenly gave a chilling smile.
But when they stood on the third floor, everyone, including Lu Shi, froze in place.
"How could that be!" Zi Ling's hair had quietly grown longer. "Last time we came, there were indeed four doors, right?"
She turned around and heard Ye Bugui's affirmative voice: "My memory is good. The last time we came here, there was a corridor with a red carpet and four tightly closed doors."
"Then why has this place completely changed?" Sherry's voice sounded unreal as she stared at everything before her, hardly believing it was real.
A dark street appeared before them, the original carpet replaced by a concrete road.
The doors at both ends of the corridor are gone. Now, on one side is a fence covered with withered grass, and on the other side is a black door with a distinctly vintage feel.
On the streets, there were many people coming and going.
But these people have no feet; they float in the air.