Chapter 11 The Living Dead

Meanwhile, the group of players was utterly stunned by the sight of the player who had been turned into a human stick, planted in the ground with only his head exposed, and by the shocking headline about "only being able to pull out those who can’t be possessed by ghosts."

It took them a good while to fully regain their senses.

However, being awake didn't mean they could come up with a solution.

"What do we do?" Lu Xiaoyao asked, tears welling up in her eyes. "The strategy guide said something about talismans and exorcism, but now we can't do anything. The feng shui master is dead!"

Hu Yue and the others were also troubled. They had just pulled Wan's corpse, discreetly pixelated by the game, out of the ground.

A surprising bonus was that his personal bag was still with him, filled with tools like cinnabar and peach wood swords for exorcising ghosts.

However, the person who knew how to use them was gone.

The comments section was already filled with pessimistic voices, even speculating about the order of everyone's deaths.

It seemed no one believed they could clear the game anymore.

[This is supposed to be the newbie village? If the newbie village is like this, what will the later stages be like?!]

[Yeah, I don't even want to imagine what the other updated games are like.]

[Just came back from the forum. It seems like none of the first wave of players who went in this morning, whether it was the newbie village or other Blue Star series escape games, have managed to clear the game...]

[Ah... have escape games become this competitive these days?]

Now, everyone had even less hope for Lu Xiaoyao and her team.

Too tragic, too tragic!

Noobs encountering hell mode, so sad!

Mingmei, with nothing to do, sat in the shop. The system, Guigui, considerately provided her with a background viewing mode, and the live stream was exactly Lu Xiaoyao's channel.

Watching the constant stream of pity for the character called "Miss Bai," Mingmei also felt that this person was indeed quite pitiful.

Trying out an escape game for the first time, and this happened.

However, Mingmei absolutely wouldn't admit that she had tricked them. She had just seen people in the comments section saying that if Lu Xiaoyao hadn't mistaken the NPC for a player, things wouldn't have turned out this way.

What could Mingmei say to that?

She had clearly tried her best to warn them!

Just then, Hu Yue in the video stared at the pile of ghost-catching tools on the ground and said unwillingly, "Wasn't the feng shui master supposed to be a half-baked amateur? If even a half-baked amateur could use these, there's no reason we can't!"

"That's right!" Bai Xiao, who had studied all sorts of character guides, stood up at this moment. "I've read the feng shui master's walkthroughs, and I've analyzed the failures. I even remember the pattern he used to draw talismans!"

"I've read a little too."

Hu Yue also stepped forward, leaving only Lu Xiaoyao and the male teacher player, who had been crying his eyes out, without stating their position.

"I, I read it, but I can't do it," Lu Xiaoyao said, looking at her "fellow sufferer" beside her. The teacher player similarly said, "I, I haven't read it... The only thing I read was that you could clear the game by sticking close to the feng shui master."

Hu Yue & Bai Xiao: So tired.

Mingmei, who had just looked away, noticed that the rain outside the shop seemed to have stopped. So, like a typical shop owner, she planned to close up and rest. Walking to the door, she suddenly seemed to hear some strange noises. She looked up at the street outside her shop, and with just one glance, her pupils shrank in fear...

"Wow, ah, ah, ah! It's really, really working!"

In the already chaotic Zhang Manor, the four players each held a writing brush dipped in black dog blood and painted the servants who were rushing toward them. The brushstrokes, imbued with black dog blood, transformed the servants into life-sized paper figures.

This special effect terrified everyone present.

"No, no, that's not right! When black dog blood is splashed, aren't the servants possessed by ghosts supposed to fall to the ground and disappear? When did they turn into paper figures?!"

Hu Yue and Bai Xiao immediately realized that this was different from the original unchanged storyline. In the original storyline, these servants were possessed by evil ghosts. Now, now, even the people were gone?

"D-don't worry about it! It's good as long as they're dead!" Lu Xiaoyao said, trembling, as she slapped a talisman onto a paper figure, causing flames to erupt. The paper figure, engulfed in flames, finally stopped moving.

"Look! It works! The talismans you drew really work!"

Lu Xiaoyao shouted excitedly, and the others also breathed a sigh of relief.

As expected of the newbie village, they were making things easy.

If the talismans drawn by the half-baked feng shui master were effective, then their imitations were also effective. Bai Xiao, with her outstanding memory, was indispensable, as she was the one who drew the talismans.

"Let's not delay, let's go find the key evidence!" Bai Xiao and her group stood in front of the flower corridor, looking at the path leading to the backyard. "Only by destroying the Zhang family's contract with the ghosts can we break the game!"

During this period of cooperation, the four had unknowingly formed a team centered around Bai Xiao. Whatever she said, the other three would follow.

But this time, Lu Xiaoyao hesitated.

"What's the point of finding the Zhang family's contract with the ghosts?"

As soon as Lu Xiaoyao finished speaking, Hu Yue and Bai Xiao reacted first and looked at Lu Xiaoyao, asking, "What do you mean? Could it be that your game clear isn't this?"

Speaking of which, Bai Xiao had studied the game guides for every character in *Ghastly Wedding*, ensuring that she could adapt no matter which character she was randomly assigned.

According to the guides she had seen for Miss Bai, wasn't the end also to act with everyone to escape the Zhang family?

"My clear is to get rid of the fate of being Zhang's bride and escape White Water Town." Lu Xiaoyao's face gradually turned pale as she spoke. She looked at Bai Xiao and asked, her lips trembling, "Big Sister, has the final mission for Miss Bai always been this?"

It was indeed Bai Xiao's ugly expression that answered Lu Xiaoyao. Hu Yue on the side was also the same. Although she didn't have as much preparation as Bai Xiao, she knew the basics.

She looked at Lu Xiaoyao and replied word by word, "No, Miss Bai's mission originally only had the first half, getting rid of the fate of being Zhang's bride, and didn't have the phrase 'escape White Water Town'."

"My, my ultimate mission seems, seems to have changed too." The male player playing the teacher also interjected at this time, his face pale and cold sweat dripping down. "My mission is also 'escape White Water Town'."

After saying that, Hu Yue and Bai Xiao looked at each other, confirming that their missions had not changed and were still to break the Zhang family's century-old secrets and escape Zhang Manor.

So, what's the difference between escaping Zhang Manor and escaping White Water Town?

"Does escaping White Water Town mean we don't have to risk it with the big boss here?" The male player suddenly asked a question that didn't seem very intelligent.

Lu Xiaoyao directly retorted, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

Male player: ...Aren't we, aren't we on the same team?

[No way, no way? Are they going to start fighting among themselves at this time?]

[Eh! This male player is sus?]

[No, whether it's escaping anywhere, isn't leaving Zhang Manor the first step? Why not follow the two young ladies together?]

[Yeah, yeah, who knows, maybe helping them escape Zhang Manor now, will mean they help them escape White Water Town later!]

Although Lu Xiaoyao couldn't see the various words flying across the comments section, they hadn't yet reached the point where they had to part ways with Bai Xiao and the others because of the different final missions.

"You help us first, and then after we get out, we'll help you escape White Water Town together, okay?"

It was Bai Xiao who said these words first. She and Hu Yue weren't sure they could escape from Zhang Manor on their own. Similarly, judging from the abilities of Lu Xiaoyao and this male player, it was hard to say whether they could get out if they left them.

"Okay~"

Lu Xiaoyao nodded first. What was the point of two noobs relying on each other, even if their missions were the same?

To go to the Yellow Springs together?

So, when she realized the male player's words were not right, she immediately retorted.

And the male player, seeing that Lu Xiaoyao agreed so quickly, secretly looked at Hu Yue and Bai Xiao, and finally could only nod in agreement...