Chapter 22: Four Seasons Protection Guide (IX)
After the question was raised, the dormitory fell into silence for a moment.
The possessed ghost showed signs of struggle on its face, its facial features were distorted, and the pain was even worse than being burned by the [Light of Righteousness] buff.
Several people watching: ...Is it so painful to answer a question?
Is it because of the examination rules that we are not allowed to disclose it?
After a while, "Zhang You" gave up struggling, like a dead fish that had lost hope: "I, can't answer."
Seeing the toilet plunger about to fall, it quickly added: "It's not that I don't want to answer, it's that you asked too difficult a question!"
After its halting explanation, everyone finally understood the general idea.
Many ghosts like it are just controlled by instinct and weak consciousness. They can't even "think", let alone complete complex systematic problems in their brains.
It is extremely rare to find someone like the one who possessed Zhang You's body and is able to think and communicate. He is very likely to continue to upgrade.
It is precisely because of this that it values its life so much that it is willing to communicate with Tang Xinjue.
Tang Xin Jue nodded, "In that case, I'll give you one minute to speak out everything that comes to mind."
"By the way, since your IQ is limited, you should have some self-awareness and stop trying to lie."
Possessed ghost: ...My ghost life has never been so frustrating!
Not daring to delay, it could only bite the bullet and rack its brains: "When we smell human scent, we will float over. In the past, we would usually be blocked by the door. But [Spring] is different. We can enter the dormitory randomly. The more people in the dormitory, the more of our kind will come in... Oh, right!"
It suddenly remembered something, and a trace of fear appeared on its face: "When the bell rings, we must leave here, the farther the better, otherwise we will be awakened--"
The voice of "Zhang You" stopped abruptly.
[Detected that the copy creature has spoiled the exam content, erased! ]
When the reminder sounded in everyone's ears, Zhang You's body trembled, and the cold feeling on his body suddenly disappeared. The focus of his eyes expanded and contracted, and he regained consciousness in an instant.
At the same time, the light in the room suddenly changed.
Outside the balcony window, the mist had turned into vines and branches, and the green branches and leaves filled the entire window, making the light in the room dim and green. At first glance, it seemed as if the entire outer layer of the dormitory was surrounded by layers of overgrown plants.
——As the last ghost in the dormitory was killed, the last deception also dissipated, revealing the true scene of spring.
"I felt that the ghost just now disappeared, just like it evaporated suddenly."
Zhang You spoke with lingering fear.
Since the possessed ghost was frightened by Tang Xinjue, she regained some consciousness. Although she could not control her body, she could hear the whole conversation between Tang Xinjue and it.
The living people looked at each other, and no one spoke for a while.
"If I heard correctly...was it just wiped out?" Guo Guo's voice was as soft as a mosquito's, with fear written all over his face.
"That's right." Tang Xin Jue answered as he untied Zhang You's bonds, "That ghost just accidentally revealed the spoiler, so he was eliminated by the exam rules."
She was not surprised.
The game itself is a two-way constraint. Xiaohong in the first copy was ruthlessly punished for failing to express gratitude to the NPC, and only a head was left of the whole ghost.
But apart from her, the other three people in the dormitory were seeing punishment due to rules for the first time and were stunned for a while.
"But in this case," Tang Xinjue called back his roommate's attention: "In addition to the current situation, we also need to understand what it reveals."
Her eyes were bright. “And this spoiler may be related to the next level we will face.”
In a way, they got a great bargain.
According to the possessed ghost, as long as spring continues, new ghosts may enter the dormitory at any time.
In order to prevent someone else from being suddenly possessed, the four of them huddled together closely, so that if the temperature of the people around them dropped, they would be immediately sensitive.
The four of them sat in a circle. Zhang You took out his malicious sensor, and Guo Guo also took out a temperature measuring meter with an alarm function. The two sensing props were placed in the middle, sensing dangers all around at 360 degrees.
After finishing all this, they finally had the heart to eat breakfast.
After being attacked by a ghost, not only will the body feel cold and weak, the health value will be reduced, and even the appetite will decrease. Zhang You and others stopped eating after a few bites, and waited for Tang Xinjue to finish eating so that they could analyze the current situation together.
Tang Xin Jue, who was chewing a biscuit while being stared at by three pale little faces: "..."
After finishing her meal, she turned on her phone and a hoarse voice came out:
"When the bell rings, we must leave here..."
Roommate: "??? When did you record the audio?"
Their attention was so focused on the ghost at that time that they actually forgot there was this method!
"...Run as far as possible, otherwise you will be woken up..."
Zhang You's unfinished words came to an abrupt end, leaving only endless blank space.
"If I'm not mistaken, this paragraph should be considered as a spoiler." Tang Xinjue said.
The only question is, what is waking up? What does the ringing of the bell mean?
Guo Guo touched his head sadly. He felt that since he started playing the game, his head had been getting balder and his brain cells were dying horribly.
Zhang You thought for a moment and said, "I guess it might be referring to a more powerful monster. When the bell rings, the monster wakes up and devours these little ghosts, so they have to escape."
Guo Guo touched his head, "Maybe the one who woke up was a ghost-catching Taoist priest! When the bell rings, the Taoist priest will fly into the dormitory with a demon-catching banner in his hand, sweep away the demons and uphold justice..."
Zheng Wanqing's eyes were empty, as if she had given up thinking, "It could also be Ultraman."
Guo Guo: "We are discussing the exam content now, can you be more serious? Ultraman?"
Zheng Wanqing: "Are you serious, Lin Zhengying?"
"Okay, okay, stop arguing." Zhang You quickly stuffed a piece of biscuit into each of their mouths to block their mouths.
Tang Xin Jue hesitated for a few seconds and said, "I think Zhang You's guess is more likely."
"All things are revived, the weaker ghosts awaken first, followed by the stronger ghosts, and the difficulty increases in sequence. It is more reasonable to follow the order of the levels in the previous dungeons."
"Little ghosts eat people, and big ghosts may eat little ghosts. So they can only be active before the big ghost wakes up."
Guo Guo clapped his hands: "In this case, the bell sound is the boss's wake-up call! Get it!"
Tang Xin Jue frowned: "But if this sentence only contains this piece of information, will it be considered a spoiler?"
Even if they didn't know about it in advance, when the bell rang and the ghosts fled, they would still realize that something was wrong and increase their vigilance and defense.
——But they only stayed on guard because they didn’t know more about the “boss”.
In short, from the current perspective, whether we know it or not, the impact on this dormitory is not even as great as understanding the patterns of the ghost's whereabouts.
Could it be so simple that the information could be judged as "exam content spoilers" or even cause the spoiler to be directly eliminated?
Tang Xin Jue frowned, "If I were the rules, I would at least think that the disclosure of this information would have a decisive impact on passing the exam and change the fate of everyone in the dormitory."
Zhang You thought seriously: "You mean, there is still hidden information that we haven't found?"
Tang Xinjue nodded and was about to speak when the temperature measuring instrument between the four people suddenly rang.
Zhang You's malicious sensors followed closely behind, and two palm-sized props began to beep, each one faster than the last, indicating that the enemy was approaching.
A new ghost has entered the dormitory!
Several people tensed up instantly, and Tang Xinjue said in a deep voice: "Focus your attention and don't give them a chance to take advantage of you."
In the game of fighting against ghosts and spirits, willpower is a very important factor. If one side shows weakness, the other side will become stronger.
The dormitory members held each other's arms. Tang Xinjue used one hand to hold the toilet plunger, and Zheng Wanqing held the enchanted icicle. The two stood near the dormitory door and were the first to feel the coldness coming towards them.
"careful!"
Tang Xinjue swung the plunger, sending the cold feeling towards Zheng Wanqing. At the same time, Zheng Wanqing shouted and smashed it down hard. The icicle made a crisp sound, and a phantom dispersed in the air.
One set of cooperation, one solution!
Guo Guo said quickly: "There are still people at the door, be careful!"
Tang Xin Jue immediately stabbed behind her, but Buff reacted faster than her:
[Ding Dong!]
The two phantoms turned to ashes at the same time.
Tang Xinjue frowned.
The worst thing about the passive buff is that you cannot control how to use it, and it is easy to consume it in unimportant places.
After a few times, the little golden symbol in my mind had faded to the point of being almost invisible. It was obvious that it couldn't last much longer.
"Holy crap! There's one on the lamp! It fell down!"
Following a scream, Guo Guo's temperament suddenly changed, his facial features drooped, and he began to grin and chuckle.
There is no doubt that Guo Guo won the prize again.
Zhang You and Zheng Wanqing acted swiftly at the same time and pinned the man down. The ghosts were driven out howling and were quickly dispersed.
"It's safe for now ."
After carefully checking the dormitory twice with the sensor and confirming that there were no ghosts hiding, Zhang You breathed a sigh of relief.
The next second, the sensor beeped again.
Everyone: “…”
It’s not over yet!
The new wave of attacks was obviously more dangerous. Even through the dormitory door, several people seemed to hear the sharp howling of ghosts, which were rapidly floating towards the door.
Everyone inside the door held their breath and waited, their nerves tense, ready to take action at any time.
——Just before Scream was about to appear through the door, all movement suddenly stopped.
“Boom—Boom—”
The bell rang.
The approaching chill receded like the tide, and the ghosts fled away.
Several people looked out the balcony at the same time, in the direction where the sound came from. The bell continued to ring, and it rang twelve times in total before stopping.
"Is the monster about to appear?" Guo Guo was very nervous. "What should we do?"
Tang Xinjue didn't say anything. She was thinking about something. Her brows were furrowed tighter and tighter, and her eyes flickered.
After a while, her brows relaxed suddenly, and she raised her head abruptly: "The bell sounds more than just represent monsters!"
"What?"
"The bells don't just represent monsters, they probably represent some kind of rules."
Finally figuring out the question that had been lingering in his mind, Tang Xinjue spoke quickly: "And this rule should be directly related to the exam process - it is more likely that it does not belong to the spring instance."
This was also the crux of her doubts: If the possessed ghost was revealing the content of the current copy at that time, why was there no problem with the previous sentence, but it was cut off when the bell rang?
unless--
"The sound of the bell and the resurrection of the ghosts do not belong to the same instance. In other words, the two instances were still intertwined until the bell rang. When the bell ended and the unknown monsters awakened, it was already the content of the next instance. Therefore, the game rules will determine spoilers."
What is a spoiler? It is an advance disclosure of future things.
Tang Xin Jue said word by word: "Because it talks about the content of the autumn exam."
autumn?
Zhang You hesitated: "But now the game doesn't indicate that spring has passed..."
"This is exactly the key point." Tang Xinjue thought without hesitation, "Just like I never said that the dormitory is absolutely safe, the rules of the game have never been stated. There will be a hint every time the season changes."
The dormitory door can block ghosts the first time, the second time, but will it definitely block ghosts the third time?
Similarly, there are hints from winter to summer and from summer to spring, so are there hints from spring to autumn as well?
Rules that are never clearly stated will never be 100% effective.
"If it's autumn now..." Zhang You's face turned pale, "Why do we have to hide this in the exam?"
Tang Xin Jue exhaled, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly: "Every change has a purpose. If the protective function of the dormitory door disappears, ghosts will become dangerous to students. Then, if the reminder of the change of seasons disappears, what danger will it bring to us?"
