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Chapter 287 Factions
"It's her!" Yi Shengping sighed inwardly.

He saw another survivor standing in front of an office window.

At the start of the instance, the survivors didn't trust each other, so they went their separate ways from the beginning.

Everyone's minds were working quickly. When the hide-and-seek rule came out, they suspected that there might be an evil spirit hiding among the players, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Only the bespectacled man and the fat man seemed to know each other before; the two of them hadn't separated.

Apart from the two of them, the remaining three people, including myself, all scattered and showed no intention of teaming up to do dungeons together.

"That alien spirit was still chasing me... It's impossible for it to suddenly reappear on that office building across the street! Unless it can teleport."

However, if the spirit in the dungeon can teleport, there's no need for it to chase you for so long; it could just teleport right in front of you.

While thinking about it, Yi Shengping muttered to himself, "So it's highly unlikely that Ji Bieli is an alien spirit in disguise..."

It's better to gather together right now. It might not be very safe, but it'll give us some courage, right?

He looked up at the office building in front of him, then stepped forward, wanting to meet up with Ji Bieli, whom he had just seen.

However, Ji Bieli did not linger by the window for long. She seemed to be talking on her phone when she quickly walked past the window.

"Don't walk so fast..." Yi Sheng Ping An watched Ji Bieli leave and hurriedly lifted his foot to chase after her.

But just then, he suddenly saw another figure appear in front of the window that Ji Bieli had just passed by!
Something is following Ji Bieli!

Yi Shengping's heart skipped a beat. Before he could see clearly, he quickly darted to the corner and peered intently at the window.

The office building was pitch black, but because I was in front of the window, I could see the faces of the people inside quite clearly.

Only after a lifetime of peace did Yi Sheng Ping An realize that the person following Ji Bieli was neither a hunter nor a strange spirit, but another survivor.
He recognized this face.

This person was the bespectacled man who had been with the fat man earlier.

The fat man was always three meters away from the players, so Yi Sheng An Ping didn't see the fat man's nickname. However, he remembered the bespectacled man's game nickname, which seemed to be "Chu Mei Ren".

Yi Shengping looked at the office building window with some confusion: "Is he a survivor too? Why is he sneaking around behind the other survivors? Where did that fat guy who was with him go?"

Just then, he noticed that the bespectacled man passing by the window suddenly turned his head slightly, as if looking at him sideways.

A feeling of terror suddenly rose from the bottom of my heart.

He quickly shrank back, hiding himself tightly in the corner, no longer daring to show his face.

After a long while, he finally dared to peek out.

When I looked over there again, Ji Bieli and the bespectacled man had disappeared, and there was no one else in sight.

He breathed a slight sigh of relief, knowing he had lived a peaceful life.

He frowned, looking troubled. "That beauty Chu is definitely following Ji Bieli! Why would she follow other survivors? This person is dangerous..."

At this point, he had given up on his plan to go up to the office building to reunite with Ji Bieli.

"Peaceful Life" shrank back: "Who knows what kind of monsters I'll be matched with? It's safer to be alone. I'll just keep hiding by myself... But that woman seemed to be on the phone just now. Was she calling someone from the Hunter faction?"

Communicating with the hunters would obviously be disadvantageous for them.

But why would Ji Bieli talk to the other party?

Is there some reason why survivors and hunters must communicate?

Yi Shengping was conflicted, and subconsciously glanced at the window where two figures had just flashed by.

But just then, he suddenly saw something else in the window—

A distorted human figure.

His scalp tingled, and he quickly pulled his head back.

"How could this be... that thing, following behind Ji Bieli and Chu Meiren, how is that possible!"

Of course, I, who live a peaceful life, would recognize this distorted shadow!

Not long ago, he was chased so badly by this terrifying humanoid that he was running for his life.

At that time, this thing was still behind him. How come in just a short while, it was in front of him and even climbed up to the tall office building!

This is something that absolutely cannot be done at a normal speed.

Can it really teleport?
It can suddenly appear anywhere.

On the streets, in office buildings, in schools, and... behind me.

A chill ran down his spine; he suddenly felt as if he were being watched by something terrifying.

Yi Shengping slowly and timidly turned his head to the side. There was nothing behind him except a mud wall with its walls crumbling and the corner of the wall was completely blackened.

He breathed a sigh of relief, then slowly twisted his body, trying to control his trembling.

If this alien spirit is that powerful, then not only will the survivors be wiped out, but also the five hunters in the dungeon, making a total of ten people!

Is this an unsolvable anomaly? Giving players no way out?
No, the game shouldn't have dungeons that force players to die unilaterally. No matter how dangerous the dungeon is, there should be a way for players to survive.

Is there some clue in this instance that they haven't discovered? Only by finding this undiscovered clue can they survive the relentless pursuit of this inescapable alien spirit?
Players should communicate with each other to exchange clues.

Yi Shengping looked up again at the window of the office building in the distance: "Now we need to notify Chu Meiren and Ji Bieli that they have been targeted by the alien spirits, so that they can escape quickly!"

But I can't exactly run up to the office building and tell them directly.

You should know that there is a terrifying alien spirit in that office building!

Going up there would be putting yourself in danger.

The phone given in the dungeon doesn't allow you to communicate with players of the same faction...

Suddenly, his peaceful life was plunged into distress.

But just then, a thought suddenly struck him: "That's it! I can call the hunter Jiu Ming who corresponds to me and ask him to tell the other hunters he encounters. Maybe there's a hunter who corresponds to Chu Meiren or Ji Bieli around him!"

This way, the hunters can inform the two of the otherworldly spirits that they are being followed.

This method takes too much time, and it's uncertain whether there are other hunters around Jiuming. Even if there are, there's no guarantee they'll be the same hunters as Chu Meiren or Ji Bieli. Although there might not be enough time, it's still better than doing nothing.

As he thought about it, he took out his phone, gritted his teeth slightly, and then dialed the number.

Gu Mian was on the phone with Ji Bieli.

Not long after he left the stationery store, he received a call from Ji Bieli. By then, Gu Mian had walked to another street. It was clear how prosperous this street had been back then, with the entire street lined with mobile phone shops. Gu Mian even began to suspect that the mobile phone from the dungeon had been stolen from this street.

He stood in front of the cell phone stand, silently listening to the voice coming from the receiver.

I never expected that Ji Bieli was actually a female player's nickname.

At the very least, the voice is female.

He didn't know whether the other person used a voice changer.

Of course, Gu Mian did not expect that this survivor would dare to call him. He had already prepared himself to have no conversation with Ji Bieli in this instance.

"I've discovered something. I never understood the purpose of the cell phone in this instance before, but after discovering this, I think it makes sense now. The cell phone is to facilitate the exchange of clues between our two factions."

Ji Bieli didn't say anything like "Hello, are you Mr. Hunter Er?" She started by saying a bunch of things that seemed very reasonable but were actually nonsense upon closer inspection, making Gu Mian deeply appreciate the power of words.

"What's the matter?" Gu Mian didn't ask stupid questions like 'Who are you and where are you?' but went straight to the point.

He didn't really want to continue listening to this kind of nonsense that sounded reasonable and impressive, but was actually completely useless.

While chatting with Ji Bieli, Gu Mian also searched the mobile phone shops on the street.

The mobile phone store had all kinds of mobile phones, in every color imaginable, all quietly displayed in the counter. It seemed the owner hadn't considered taking these colorful little things with him when he left.

The store has all kinds of charging cables and earphones, but the packaging is covered with a thick layer of dust. If you take a deep breath, you can inhale the dust into your nose and sneeze loudly.

There are many things that can be hidden behind the mobile phone counters. Gu Mian was listening to Ji Bieli talk while checking behind the counters of each store.

As far as Gu Mian knew, hide-and-seek was Fatty's specialty. As long as there were no other capable teammates around, he would usually find a relatively safe place and dive in, passively slacking off in the dungeon.

Chu Changge, on the other hand, does whatever comes to mind, and it's possible he might abandon Fatty in some corner and go about his own business.

It has to be said that, in a sense, these two are quite a good match.

Gu Mian was trying to find a 200-pound fat man behind these mobile phone counters that could hide a lot of things.

Ji Bieli's voice kept coming through the receiver: "It's something I witnessed not long ago..."

She paused for a moment at this point: "About fifteen minutes ago."

Gu Mian glanced at the time; it was exactly 9:30.

Fifteen minutes ago, at 9:15, the game of hide-and-seek had just started fifteen minutes ago.

Gu Mian remembered that she seemed to have just seen the ghostly figure standing on the teaching building at that time.

Did Ji Bieli also see something at that time?
"At the start of the game, I went into a stationery store and drew a map of all the places I passed through... Then I quickly fled in a direction away from you, until I hid in a hotel called Baodu Hotel. I hid in the 'Fengqing Pavilion' room on the second floor."

Gu Mian was surprised that this person introduced himself right away, which slowed down his search of the mobile phone counter.

Ji Bieli is definitely not hiding in the hotel anymore, otherwise she wouldn't have been so bold as to tell the hunters where she was hiding.

Gu Mian listened intently to the sound coming from the receiver.

He heard Ji Bieli's breathing was somewhat rapid, and there were faint footsteps coming through the receiver, as if she were walking quickly somewhere.

Perhaps they are doing some kind of physical labor?

"I happened to be at the second-floor window and witnessed a chase between a survivor and a hunter. There's a small alley behind the hotel, and I saw two people run into it with my own eyes. They were both players, and I don't need to tell you which side they were on, right?"

of course.

Gu Mian thought that it was unlikely that the hunter would be chased by the survivor and scream in pain.

There will also be no situation where survivors turn around and relentlessly pursue the hunters.

"They didn't chase for long before the alien spirit appeared..."

Ji Bieli paused slightly at this point: "I didn't see when it appeared, but when I spotted it, it was already very close behind the hunter."

"Only a fool would play hide-and-seek in a situation like this. After discovering the supernatural entity, the two players reacted quickly—they ran away."

"However, that hunter in your faction might be a bit off-track. She probably wanted to split up and escape, but didn't realize what was happening and turned around and ran towards the direction behind her—that's the direction of the alien spirits."

"She seemed to realize what was happening, but by then the spirit was already very close, and it would be too late to turn back. So she took a deep breath and ran quickly behind her."

After saying this, Ji Bieli stopped.

A few seconds later, a slightly amused voice came through the microphone again.

"It's strange. That alien spirit actually chased after our team's survivors without hesitation. Even though the hunter was closer to it and easier to catch, the alien spirit didn't even glance at her."

Gu Mian thought for a moment before speaking, "You mean the alien spirits in this instance won't attack us hunters?"

Ji Bieli continued, "Otherwise, how do you explain why it doesn't hunt predators that are easier to catch? I think the otherworldly spirits in this instance might also be bound by something, such as the instance's rules. I thought about it for a while and suddenly remembered a strange rule when we first entered this instance..."

"The statement 'The faction is divided into two groups, with five players selected as hunters and the rest as survivors'?" Gu Mian interrupted her, stroking her chin.

Ji Bieli's somewhat surprised voice came: "You already found out?"

“I felt something was off when that sentence came out,” Gu Mian said. “There are two factions. One faction includes ‘five players’ while the other faction is described as ‘other units.’ Doesn’t that mean that there are other things besides the five players in your survivor faction?”

Ji Bieli was stunned.

She was so surprised by Gu Mian's matter-of-fact tone that she was speechless.

After a long pause, she continued, "Since you discovered early on that the alien spirits could be restrained by the hunters, why didn't you do anything to restrain the alien spirits in the dungeon?"

Gu Mian then said matter-of-factly, "I need to find two people first..."

Ji Bieli felt smoke rising from the top of her head.

(End of this chapter)