Chapter 135

When they returned to the verification center, the red light had not yet come on.

Li Zhi looked around but didn't see Li Jianxi anywhere in the amusement plaza. She guessed he had been detained over at the maze to work off his debt.

Everyone was still continuing the previous conversation, egging Owen Dong on to perform a belly dance on the spot to liven things up.

Pei Hongyu suddenly walked over to Li Zhi. This was the first time he had taken the initiative to speak to her since entering the dungeon.

"Come with me."

The voices of her teammates joking around quieted down.

You Jingmeng said nervously, "What's he doing? He's not going to challenge Boss Zhi to a duel, is he?"

Li Zhi gave her teammates a reassuring look and calmly followed Pei Hongyu.

They walked all the way to the colorful mushroom kiosks before Pei Hongyu stopped. Turning to face her, he asked, "You noticed it too, didn't you?"

Li Zhi wasn't surprised that he had noticed something as well.

"Yes."

Pei Hongyu frowned.

"What have you found?"

Li Zhi shook her head.

"Nothing for now. It's hiding very well."

Pei Hongyu said, "I'm certain that everyone on my side is human. It's in your team."

Li Zhi raised an eyebrow.

"I'm also certain that everyone on my team is human. I think it's in your team."

Before Pei Hongyu could speak, she continued,

"There's no point arguing about this right now. Neither of us has concrete evidence. This is already the seventh round. We have to find it before the ninth-round vote. Neither of us knows exactly when the tenth-round voting will begin. If the voting screen appears before we've identified the mole, we'll be in a very passive position."

Pei Hongyu pressed his lips together.

After a long pause, he said in a low voice,

"I'll trouble you to repeat everything you all talked about just now."

Li Zhi began recounting the conversation she had deliberately steered everyone into earlier.

The livestream comments immediately exploded.

【AHHHHHH! You finally figured it out?!】

【The moment I noticed not every player's name was on the popularity rankings, I knew something was wrong!】

【So how did the two bosses discover it? The hidden clue hasn't even appeared yet!】

...

A moment later, after listening to everything Li Zhi had recounted, Pei Hongyu frowned deeply.

"You really can't tell who the problem is. But we can narrow down the range. Han Wenlin and Wei Xiao can verify each other. The celebrity players all know one another. That leaves Qi Yongyi, You Jingmeng, Cheng Jiayue, and Owen Dong."

Li Zhi said,

"Rule out Qi Yongyi. I've seen videos of him teaching martial arts before."

Pei Hongyu pondered for a moment.

"Let's observe for one more round. Once this round ends, we'll obtain the hidden clue. It should be related to the mole."

Li Zhi laughed softly.

"What if the hidden clue only tells us that there's a mole among us?"

According to the normal progression, players should only discover the existence of the mole after completing all nine attractions and obtaining the hidden clue—not like her and Pei Hongyu, who had already noticed something was wrong ahead of time.

So it was entirely possible that the hidden clue would simply tell them:

There is a mole among you.

Pei Hongyu frowned even harder.

"If that's the case... then everyone will have to prove themselves."

Making players distrust one another and turn against each other—that fit the system's usual twisted sense of humor perfectly.

After the nine attractions were cleared and everyone happily collected all nine answers, just as they were preparing to vote and clear the dungeon, suddenly informing them that there was a mole among them, and that they also had to vote out the mole before leaving...

Such a cruel joke would be an enormous psychological test for the players.

At that point, everyone would seem suspicious. Add a time limit on top of that, and the players would become even more panicked.

The system wanted to watch them tear each other apart.

The red lights around them lit up.

Li Zhi said,

"Let's go back and vote first."

The two of them walked back.

Everyone else was curious about what they had secretly discussed, but intimidated by the prestige of the two top players, no one dared rush over to ask.

The doors of the verification center opened, and everyone entered one by one to vote.

This round, Li Zhi's team voted for Painted Skin, the answer they had obtained from the Haunted House.

This was the seventh round.

Only two rounds of voting remained.

When she entered the verification room, she deliberately looked toward the blank area beneath the Hundred Ghost Wall.

It was still unchanged.

If her guess was correct, when the ninth round of voting arrived, that blank area would be filled with the players' names.

Eighteen players.

Nine names per row.

Exactly enough to fill that empty space.

That place...

Had been reserved for them from the very beginning.

She recalled what the system had announced over the broadcast when they first entered the dungeon:

"The real ghost has successfully infiltrated."

Even back then, it had already been warning them.

When they challenged the high-altitude attractions, the lights above the amusement park had formed what looked like a cross.

But it wasn't a cross.

It was actually the Chinese numeral for ten.

There were ten mushroom kiosks lining the roads.

There were also ten NPCs in the amusement plaza.

Anyone paying close attention would notice that many decorations throughout the park revolved around the whole number ten.

The nine amusement attractions represented nine ghosts.

But the Ghost Amusement Park itself...

Was also an attraction.

Which meant...

There were actually ten ghosts inside this amusement park.

And just as she and Pei Hongyu had deduced...

The last ghost had infiltrated the players' group the moment they entered the dungeon.

Who was it?

After everyone finished voting and came back out, the verification center closed once more.

Li Zhi and Pei Hongyu exchanged a glance without saying anything.

The group headed toward the final amusement attraction.

The staff member with colorful plastic rings hanging from her arm still stood smiling at the entrance.

"It only requires ten people."

Li Zhi turned toward everyone.

"One person doesn't have to go in. Who's willing to stay outside?"

Everyone looked at one another.

This was the final round.

Everyone wanted one last chance to perform well and gain more popularity. Besides, with both Li Zhi and Pei Hongyu participating, the challenge should be quite safe.

No one wanted to volunteer to stay behind.

In the end, Chi Yi suggested,

"Other than Zhizhi and Pei Hongyu, everyone else can play rock-paper-scissors. Whoever loses stays outside."

Pei Hongyu said coldly,

"Ah Shan isn't participating. She goes in with me."

Tang Nanshan helplessly shook her head at him.

"It's fine. I don't have to go in either."

She beckoned to everyone else.

"Come on. Rock-paper-scissors."

After several rounds among the nine of them, Owen Dong lost repeatedly and ended up becoming the one who had to stay outside.

For a moment, no one knew whether that counted as bad luck or good luck.

After all, not going inside meant not having to face any danger.

He only had to wait outside here...

And could safely clear the dungeon.

Owen Dong sighed and waved his hand.

"Forget it. You guys go."

Pei Hongyu glanced at him.

The ten of them scanned their tickets and entered.

As soon as they stepped inside, the pitch-black area suddenly lit up with colorful lights.

Directly ahead was a rack holding eight rows of brightly colored balloons. Each row contained eight balloons. Rotating rainbow lights accompanied a cheerful tinkling melody, giving the place an innocent, childlike atmosphere.

Next to the balloon rack was the ring toss area.

It also had eight rows, with eight plaster figurines standing in each row. In every row, only one figurine was red while the others were white.

A staff member walked over and asked with a smile,

"Who will play ring toss, and who will shoot the balloons?"

Everyone exchanged glances.

This round's gameplay seemed completely different from the previous eight rounds.

They all had a bad feeling.

Pei Hongyu asked coldly,

"What are the rules?"

The staff member's smile became somewhat eerie, and even his voice turned sinister.

"The rules for this round are as follows. One person plays ring toss. One person shoots balloons. The other eight people will hide inside the balloons."

Everyone's expressions changed.

The staff member slowly smiled.

"The game consists of eight rounds. Each time you successfully land a ring, you'll receive a clue to one teammate's location. Deduce where your teammate is hiding, and you'll avoid making your teammate's head explode."

Only then did the ten of them finally understand how this round worked.

And once they understood...

Every face turned ugly.

The balloon rack had eight rows.

Each row contained eight balloons.

One player would be hidden somewhere within each row.

Landing a ring earned a clue, allowing them to determine a teammate's position and avoid shooting them while playing the balloon-shooting game.

But if the ring toss failed...

They wouldn't receive any clue.

That round would become a blind shot.

A one-in-eight chance...

Of personally killing your own teammate.

Simple.

Brutal.

Bloody.

This was the system's final "surprise."

Cheng Jiayue burst into tears.

"I... I don't want to become a balloon..."

Pei Hongyu said coldly,

"Then what do you want to be? The one throwing rings, or the one shooting? Can you guarantee you'll land every ring and get every clue? Or can you guarantee that if no clue is obtained, you'll be able to calmly shoot at a balloon that might contain your teammate's head?"

Cheng Jiayue's face turned deathly pale.

Even her sobbing became quieter.

In this round...

Whether you were the ring thrower...

The shooter...

Or one of the balloons...

You would all be under enormous psychological pressure.

But who was willing to entrust their life to someone else?

What if the teammate failed to land the ring?

What if the shooter hit you?

At least...

The ring thrower and the shooter would survive.

Li Zhi suddenly asked the staff member,

"When a ring lands successfully, does the clue directly indicate where the teammate is, or does it require solving a puzzle to determine their location?"

The staff member froze for a moment.

He clearly hadn't expected her to notice that detail.

After a brief pause, he answered,

"You'll have to solve a puzzle."

Li Zhi asked,

"Is there a time limit?"

The staff member replied,

"After landing a ring, you'll have one minute each round."

Li Zhi nodded in understanding.

She turned to her teammates.

"The key to this round is the ring toss. Not only do you have to land the ring, you also have to solve the clue within one minute. Whether our teammates live or die depends entirely on the person throwing the rings."

Her gaze swept across everyone's faces.

"Who..."

"...is willing to throw the rings?"

Who was willing...

To bear responsibility for the lives of eight people?

If they missed...

If they couldn't solve the clue within one minute...

If the shooter was forced to fire blindly and hit a teammate...

At that moment...

Everyone hesitated.

Throwing the rings might let them survive.

But without sufficient ability...

It meant exchanging eight other people's lives for your own.

Whether out of conscience...

Or fear of being drowned in the audience's condemnation...

At least in this moment...

None of them wanted that responsibility.

After a long silence...

Li Zhi said quietly,

"I'll do it."

Chi Yi's eyes suddenly stung with tears.

"Zhizhi..."

Li Zhi held out her hand toward the staff member.

The eight plastic rings were slipped onto her wrist.

She turned to face her teammates.

"Trust me."

Trust me.

Chi Yi gritted her teeth.

"I trust you! I'll be one of the balloons!"

Qi Yongyi and You Jingmeng also stepped forward.

"I trust Boss Zhi too. I'll be a balloon."

The others had no real choice.

The balloon shooter also needed excellent marksmanship.

Even if Li Zhi identified the correct position...

If they missed with the gun...

Or accidentally shot a teammate...

They probably wouldn't even make it out of the dungeon before the others beat them to death.

Pei Hongyu became the shooter.

He had once been an expert at a shooting club.

The eight players were led away by the staff member.

Only Li Zhi and Pei Hongyu remained where they stood.

Pei Hongyu turned his head.

He saw Li Zhi holding the plastic rings, standing behind the white line of the ring toss area, quietly studying the setup.

Her expression remained as calm as ever.

As though what she held in her hand...

Was not the weight of eight human lives.

At that moment...

Pei Hongyu finally admitted it.

He was not as good as Li Zhi.