Free Web NovelChapter 939: Chapter 891: Life Is Hard, Lanlan Sighs
It’s another empty room.
After Liu Ruyan opened the door, she showed the contents behind it to Gu Mian, who was behind her.
Behind the door, it was completely empty, with nothing inside. 007 mentioned in the group chat that they rolled a one this time, so Liu Ruyan only needed to move one step.
Gu Mian looked at the empty room behind the door. They had encountered three empty rooms consecutively, just as Liu Ruyan had said—the instance might have issued instructions for all ghosts to help 007 kill, so the ghosts had all left.
This time, the instance hadn’t paused again for maintenance to capture the ghosts back to work. Did they think it was unnecessary? Or was there no ability to pause the instance anymore?
"Is it still an empty room?" Hao Laoshi peeked in as he watched Liu Ruyan step into the room.
Although he had just heard Gu Mian and Liu Ruyan talking at length, he still didn’t understand why Gu Mian had to stop here this round. He was only amazed that Gu Mian dared to directly violate the instance rules now; it seemed to have advanced compared to the last time they met.
After Liu Ruyan left the room, she considerately closed the door, and the one-minute countdown above the door frame continued.
This was Gu Mian’s countdown. After the Chess Player made a decision, the piece must advance according to the Chess Player’s choice within a minute.
"Is it really okay to stop here?" Hao Laoshi nervously stared at the countdown above the door frame, which had already counted down to "thirty."
"There might be a problem."
"Huh?" Gu Mian’s answer left Hao Laoshi momentarily stunned.
"When the countdown ends, my head might explode, splattering you with blood."
Upon hearing this, Hao Laoshi instinctively stepped back two steps and swallowed, "You’re kidding, right... right..."
Meanwhile, the Chess Players from other groups also noticed something unusual with Gu Mian’s side.
"It’s still an empty square. Now Group 1 has encountered three empty squares consecutively, just like at the beginning." Guigu watched the actions of Group 1 at the chessboard. Such encounters with several empty squares might seem surprising if it happened to others, but it was quite ordinary for Gu Mian.
After Group 1 finished their move, it should be Group 2’s turn, right...
Group 2’s piece had entered Group 1’s starting room a few rounds ago. It seemed like Group 2’s Chess Player wanted the piece to kill Group 1’s Chess Player, but what puzzled Guigu was that Group 2’s Chess Player took a long time before letting the piece enter No. 1’s starting room, giving the Chess Player inside ample preparation time.
However, based on the subsequent situation, Guigu realized that Group 2’s real aim might not have been to have the piece kill Group 1’s Chess Player, but rather to have Group 1’s Chess Player kill their piece, thereby reaching the one square on the board that Group 2’s piece couldn’t get to.
"The treasure box is in the square to the left of Room No. 3." Guigu muttered to himself, and upon realizing where the treasure box was, some ideas surfaced in his mind.
At that time, Hao Laoshi wasn’t far from the treasure box square, and it seemed like Group 1 had no inclination to take the treasure box and was moving in the opposite direction.
At that time, he could have sent Hao Laoshi directly towards the treasure box square, as the rewards for treasure box squares in this special instance would be substantial, given the severe shortage of food and resources among the dozen people outside.
Guigu knew Gu Mian was a frequent visitor to the replacement list, understanding that these resources were insignificant to them.
However, if he wanted Hao Laoshi to take the treasure box, they would have to pass through two unknown squares, unsure of what dangers might lie there.
Guigu hesitated for a few seconds between Hao Laoshi’s safety and resources, ultimately choosing Hao Laoshi’s safety.
Guigu knew he wasn’t very smart, but he also understood that human life is always more important, especially since Hao Laoshi had a family waiting for him outside.
He used to believe that intelligence was innate, and no matter how hard some people tried, they could never get a quick-thinking mind.
When everyone was alive, he loved to follow others and would rely on Han Shan when faced with situations requiring thinking or brainstorming.
Later, as people around him dwindled, Han Shan also died.
In the end, all the familiar faces were gone, leaving him all alone. He had also broken down and despaired in the darkness, but when dawn came, he still had to wipe away the tears and enter the instance.
He knew there were still dozens of ordinary people they had once gathered outside, and someone needed to lead them.
In the subsequent instances, he no longer had anyone to rely on, so he forced himself to think, desperately trying to find a path through the instance.
After going through several instances like this, he surprisingly felt his thinking becoming more flexible and smarter than before.
It was only then that he realized that people could actually become smarter later in life.
While looking at the chessboard screen in front of him and reminiscing about past events, Guigu suddenly felt that Group 1’s movements were unusual.
"How long has it been? Why is there still a piece from Group 1 staying in the original square?" He frowned and glanced at the Group 1 piece still with Hao Laoshi on the same square, "The countdown should be over, right?"
At the same time, Anzhi Tianlan in Room No. 3 was also staring perplexedly at the square where Gu Mian was located.
Both pieces from Group 1 had moved this round, with only one advancing, while the other remained in place.
"What’s Group 1’s piece doing now? Are they comfortable enough to want to die?" Anzhi Tianlan was used to the various behaviors exhibited by Group 1’s pieces, but blatantly breaking the rules like this still puzzled her.
Watching the unmoving Group 1 piece in the square, she felt like she had almost grasped something, but then her thoughts faded like ripples on a lake.
Just as Anzhi Tianlan was feeling puzzled, Group 2’s piece finally moved.
It wasn’t easy for the Group 2 piece to still be alive. However, judging by its sluggish speed, it wasn’t far from death. But the Group 2 piece was pretty smart, knowing its slow pace and crawling toward the center of the room in advance, to avoid failing to reach the door within a minute when their turn came around.
Now that the Group 2 piece was moving sluggishly, it seemed the Group 2 Chess Player had given up struggling, having no mood to plan a route for the piece, just letting it move to the right.
However, since Group 2’s piece had moved, it meant Group 2’s Chess Player had already made a choice, and evidently, Group 1’s piece had finished its countdown before Group 2’s piece could make a choice.
Anzhi Tianlan looked again at the square holding the unmoved Group 1 piece: "Not dead?"
No sign of death emerged from the square, and the unmoved Group 1 piece remained safe with the Group 4 piece.
Seeing this blatant rule-breaking yet indestructible Group 1 piece, Anzhi Tianlan almost wanted to laugh coldly.
Just what kind of people were these Group 1 pieces, differing from others from the start?
First, they encountered many empty squares consecutively, then they failed at the math square without a scratch, and now they boldly planned to stay in one square indefinitely despite breaking the rules.
Anzhi Tianlan was almost suspicious that this person might be an internal instance member, specifically entering to mock them, the ordinary players.
However, not everything went according to Group 1’s piece’s wishes. At the very least, they were the farthest from the treasure box square across the entire board, separated by a full diagonal line from the treasure box square.
"But..." Considering this, Anzhi Tianlan furrowed her brows.
The Group 1 Chess Player clearly wasn’t ordinary. Surely, he had discerned the treasure box square’s location, so why would he direct the piece in the opposite direction?
