Chapter 34

Chapter 34 Thirty-Second Short Video.

At first glance, the words in that notebook seemed like the seniors had revealed a lot of information to those who came later, but in reality, aside from bringing deeper fear and despair to whoever read it, there was nothing especially useful in those contents.

Were the ones who left those words really players?

Or to be more specific, were the three who shared experiences, insights, and strategies in that notebook really all players?

There was nothing special on the first floor, so Ning Rong and Zhou Yujing went to the second floor. There were many rooms on the second floor, none of them locked, so they could all be opened. The bedding was still there, but everything was covered in a layer of dust.

Ning Rong opened every drawer she could, but unfortunately they were all empty. There was nothing inside. Zhou Yujing checked all the quilts and pillows on the beds, and likewise found nothing.

This game did not even have a single NPC, making clue gathering especially difficult.

After thoroughly searching the second floor, Ning Rong and Zhou Yujing headed to the third floor.

[01 and his group started searching the first floor.]

[Tch, White Hair and Red Hair picked up that notebook. The two of them are treating it like treasure and carrying it on them.]

[Guess why 01 threw the notebook away immediately?]

[White Hair and Red Hair are in danger.]

After arriving on the third floor, the rooms had a much stronger sense of daily life.

Ning Rong casually opened one room. On the desk were unfinished snacks. Various study supplies were spread across the tabletop. Dolls were scattered all over the floor. It looked as though the owner of the room had only stepped away for a little while.

But the dust in the room showed that this "little while" meant a very, very long time.

After looking through the clothes in the wardrobe for a bit, Zhou Yujing guessed, "It should be a girl's room."

Ning Rong gave a soft acknowledgment. "Let's check next door."

Next door was likely a boy's room. Toy cars and other toys were everywhere, and there were several children's picture books on the desk.

The room after that was the master bedroom. It was kept very clean. Sunlight streamed in through the window, and tiny specks of dust could be seen floating in the air.

Zhou Yujing pushed shut the last drawer, stood up, and said, "Rongrong, there's nothing. No photos, no identification, no property documents... nothing."

[So this is an A-rank instance? No NPCs is one thing, but the clues are pitifully scarce too!]

[The main problem is that once the safe period ends, the players start losing their memories. How are they supposed to deal with that?]

After searching every floor, Ning Rong and Zhou Yujing returned to the first floor and sat down on the sofa they had used before.

As for why they found no clues anywhere in the villa, Ning Rong had two guesses.

First, previous players had taken the clues away.

For example, if she chose to take that notebook, then later players probably would never encounter it.

Second, this game simply did not have any obvious clues.

Though not necessarily. After all, they had not searched the small garden yet.

After resting for a while, Ning Rong and Zhou Yujing left the villa and went to the small garden behind it to look for clues.

Although it was still called a small garden, the place had already become barren. Weeds grew wildly everywhere. Flowers had long since disappeared. Even the soil carried a sense of desolation.

Ning Rong did not break mentally. Zhou Yujing did not break mentally either. Instead, the audience in the livestream lost patience first.

[If the game wants players dead, it should just say so. How is anyone supposed to clear this?]

[There's nothing at all, and they're just supposed to wait to die?]

[This game came out less than half a month ago. I followed one run before. What we currently know is that the notebook brings danger and must be kept away from.]

[And then? That's it?]

[That's it. The players didn't find anything useful.]

While Ning Rong was still examining the withered branches and fallen leaves, Zhou Yujing quickly walked over and said, "Rongrong, I found a pile of old things that used to belong to a pet."

"Let's go take a look."

"Okay."

Ning Rong followed Zhou Yujing to a corner of the small garden. All kinds of trash were piled there. Aside from some unrecognizable objects, Ning Rong identified a cat climbing frame and a pet bed.

It seemed the owner of this villa had once kept pets, but knowing that did not seem particularly useful.

Zhou Yujing glanced at the time. "Rongrong, there are still four hours before the safe period ends."

[That fast?]

[Damn, time passed way too quickly.]

[The villa is huge, and there are many rooms. To avoid missing important information, every room had to be searched carefully. In that case, spending this much time is completely normal.]

[01 got key information!]

[What? I'm going over there right now!]

On the other side.

After failing to find any useful clues for a long time, 01 activated his skill, [Key Information].

In reality, there are always small games that profit through advertisements. If players feel they cannot clear a level, they choose to watch a short video. After thirty seconds, the game gives a hint for clearing the stage.

With a hint, passing the level becomes much easier.

But... not every player can clear a level just because of a hint.

After all, in order to make money, game companies do not give the most direct hints. Sometimes one hint is far from enough. If one hint is insufficient, then another short video must be watched to obtain a more useful clue.

In real life, players can naturally choose to watch countless short videos in order to pass.

But a horror game is not reality.

01's skill did not require watching short videos. However, the cooldown on his skill was very long—twenty-four hours. That was already after he had upgraded the skill to its maximum effect.

Under normal circumstances, he could clear games using items. Only when he truly lacked information would he activate his skill.

This time, after activating it, the hint he received was—

[The Correct Timeline].

Now that was a little interesting.

The young girl tilted her head and analyzed the literal meaning. "Captain, we haven't encountered a single NPC right now. That's obviously abnormal. Does this mean we're not on the correct timeline?"

Uncle Zhong frowned tightly after seeing the hint. "But how do we get onto the correct timeline?"

That was the most critical question.

01's skill was extremely useful at key moments, but it also had major limitations.

His skill could point out the most critical factor, but how to reach that factor required him to figure it out himself.

Without that limitation, he could easily clear games relying on his skill alone, and games would hold no difficulty for him at all.

But precisely because of that limitation, the games still remained highly challenging.

In 01's view, if a game were too easy, it would be rather boring.

01 casually said, "Keep looking for clues. If there aren't any..."

The young girl blinked. "Captain, if there are no clues, then what do we do?"

01 smiled lazily. "Then we wait another twenty-four hours."

Because after twenty-four hours, once the cooldown ended, he could get another clue hint.

The young girl and Uncle Zhong: ...

This game was already hard enough. Could you please stop making cold jokes, dear Captain?

Unlike ordinary players, every time 01 entered a game, he enjoyed the process.

He enjoyed the feeling of challenging the game, and also the thrill of not knowing what lay ahead.

But his teammates were clearly not as relaxed and carefree as he was.

Seeing Uncle Zhong's expression grow increasingly grim, 01 casually patted his old partner on the shoulder and said in an even lighter tone,

"Don't be so tense, old friend."

Uncle Zhong sighed.

Although he had long known the captain's free-spirited and lazy nature, he still could never quite get used to it.

Only...

Even though 01 always looked unreliable, his two teammates knew very well that he was the most dependable captain.

Since the captain said there was no need to be so tense, they really could relax a little.

After all, the captain was still standing in front to handle things.

[01's skill really is pretty strong.]

[Top tier in the previous version, but in the new version we still have to look at Little Newcomer.]

[Actually... if Juanjuan grows stronger, that would be good too.]

[Don't mention Chi Juan in Little Newcomer's livestream room, thanks.]

[If you hadn't said it, I would've forgotten that thing existed.]

[Bringing up Juanjuan in the official girlfriend's livestream room is clearly malicious.]

[But I wasn't wrong, was I? The Rewind skill really does have huge future potential.]

[Can Rewind compare to Big Sister's multiple skills?]

[So what if she has multiple skills? Can Little Newcomer bring dead players back to life? She can't! But Rewind can!]

Without Ning Rong knowing it, her livestream room had started fighting again.

It could be said that ever since she first stepped into the game teleportation point, her livestream room had always been full of storms and conflict, constantly full of topics.

First there was the relationship topic with Zhou Yujing, then Chi Juan's Rewind topic, and then the issue of Ning Rong's own skills.

As the safe time grew shorter and shorter, Ning Rong finally decided to activate the skill [Smash People With Money].

This skill was actually somewhat similar to [Money Can Make Ghosts Turn Millstones]. It was just that Ning Rong was used to using the latter, and the latter truly was very useful.

This time, with [Money Can Make Ghosts Turn Millstones] sealed, she finally decided to seriously develop the skill [Smash People With Money].

The target of this skill was not actually limited to people. It was even more suitable for all kinds of NPCs.

Since there were no other methods to try anyway, Ning Rong simply decided to test it first.

She pulled out a large handful of game coins from [Personal Space]. At a rough glance, there were probably tens of thousands.

Audience: ...

[Every time I see Big Sister pulling out money, I get amazed again.]

[Rich Big Sister is seriously too cool!]

[There aren't even any NPCs in this game. Let's see whether the skill can activate this time!]

Ning Rong thought this way: since it was a game, then there had to be NPCs.

Just because they could not see them did not mean they truly did not exist. Since they existed, useful information could always be obtained from them.

Surely the main character of this game was not the villa itself. If that were the case, there would be no reason to leave all those bedding items and daily necessities in the rooms.

This place clearly had traces of once being lived in.

Holding several tens of thousands of game coins, Ning Rong directly asked the air,

"Tell me what we should do next."

A gust of wind suddenly rose in the quiet small garden.

The wind blew through that pile of old belongings. When it finally stopped, Ning Rong discovered that several bells once used by pets had rolled out from the pile.

Audience: !!!

[Brothers, there really are NPCs! There really are!]

[Those NPCs were hidden way too deeply!]

[No matter how deeply the NPCs hid, weren't they still tricked out by Big Sister's skill?]

[As expected of Big Sister, opening the way with money again!]