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Chapter 290 Behind the Head
Manjusaka huddled tightly in a room, listening intently to the sounds outside the door.

Not long ago, she met Nine Lives, who was also a hunter.

Meanwhile, the survivor "一生平安658" who was connected with Nine Lives told Nine Lives that two survivors were being followed by a ghost in an office building and hoped that he could inform the two survivors about being followed through other hunters.

When the call connected, Nine Lives was on his way to the Happy Valley supermarket. He had already guessed that the game of hide-and-seek might restrain the ghosts, so he was now focused on how to restrain the ghosts and had put the matter of catching the survivors out of his mind.

So of course he wouldn't bother to notify the hunters to help pass on the message. Even if all the survivors in this instance were wiped out, it wouldn't concern him. So Nine Lives didn't care about this at all.

Although he didn't intend to get involved in the survivors' affairs, after answering the phone, Nine Lives coincidentally ran into Manjusaka, who was alone at the time.

There was no harm in telling her about it, so Jiuming casually told Manjusaka about it.

However, the survivor who connected with Manjusaka was a player named "Nickname Already Taken," and not one of the two being followed.

Although she had no way to notify the two survivors who were being followed by the ghost, she had other ideas in mind.

"I rushed over here hoping to snag a bargain... Even if the ghost really makes a move, surely one of the two survivors will escape, right? If they do escape, they'll definitely run downstairs," Manjusaka muttered to herself as she hid in front of the house at the fifteenth-floor stairwell. "But why is there still no movement upstairs after all this time?"

She had already gone up to the nineteenth floor, but to be on the safe side, she went down a few floors and finally chose to hide on the fifteenth floor.

She hid here to block the survivors trying to escape downwards.

There are two survivors. If the ghost catches one of them, the other survivor can escape.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The ghost is chasing other survivors and certainly won't have time to bother with this matter.

As long as I hide here, I have a high chance of succeeding!
Fortune favors the bold, and no one could have imagined that the hunter would be chasing the escapee while in danger of being caught by a ghost.

Manjusaka waited quietly: "Could it be that the ghost attacked the two survivors on my way here?"

"No, I'm fast enough... I even used special items to get here in time, that ghost shouldn't have made a move yet, I'll wait a little longer..."

As she thought about it, she moved her head in the darkness, bringing her ear closer to the doorway.

Sure enough, she didn't have to wait long before the silence was broken by a flurry of footsteps coming downstairs.

Manjusaka pricked up her ears, listening carefully to the sounds outside.

Ji Bieli listened intently to the sounds coming from upstairs. There seemed to be no more movement up there, which meant that the thing from before hadn't followed them.

She breathed a sigh of relief and hid by the doorway, bending down slightly.

Luckily, I ran fast...

Her mind raced as she thought about it.

The doctor she had just spoken to told her that a hunter was following her.

Now that she's run through so many floors, why hasn't she encountered any hunters following her?

Was the doctor I just spoke to lying?
No, that's unlikely. If he were lying, it would be impossible for him to guess his floor location so accurately.

By the way, which floor are we on now?

Ji Bieli then stuck her head out to look at the sticker on the wall next to her; this was the sixteenth floor.

"Sixteen floors..." She pulled her head back down again. "I only ran down seven floors and I was already exhausted. It's because I used up too much energy climbing the stairs..."

But why hasn't the hunter that the doctor mentioned appeared yet?
Ji Bieli remembered that the person she had just spoken to said that the hunter had reached the nineteenth floor, but now she had gone down to the sixteenth floor and still hadn't seen that person.

She held her breath gently, listening to the sounds outside.

If that hunter were still alive, he would probably be above the nineteenth floor by now, right?

There was still no movement from above, and it was impossible for the ghost to have dealt with the hunter. She had previously speculated that the ghost couldn't possibly attack the hunter.

Why didn't I run into anyone? That's strange.

Ji Bieli had finished resting and crawled out from behind the door: "Let's ignore that hunter for now. The ghosts up there could come down at any moment. I need to get out of this awful place quickly..."

She walked toward the stairs, talking to herself.

But just as she took her first step, she suddenly felt something was wrong.

"I made such a commotion just now, any hunters nearby would definitely have followed the sound, but so far I haven't heard any other movement from them."

"I made such a loud noise, and the hunter didn't show up, which means... she's deliberately hiding!"

Why would they deliberately hide? Hunters are never afraid of survivors or other hunters; they are only afraid of ghosts. It was the hunter who was following them who knew there was a ghost in this building!

In an instant, Ji Bieli suddenly realized why he hadn't encountered any hunters following him even after descending so many levels.

She stared at the dark staircase in front of her, as if, in that instant, the staircase had ceased to be a staircase and had become a passage to hell.

"Now that they know there's something fishy up there, the hunters will definitely take a conservative approach and stay far away from the ghosts... The hunters who have already reached the nineteenth floor will definitely change their minds and go down to the lower floors."

If they just ran away, that's fine, but what if the hunter didn't run away?
Moreover, Ji Bieli had not heard any sounds of people fleeing in panic before.

"That person is very likely still hiding in this building! On the lower floors, waiting for me to escape downhill so they can catch me..."

No! Absolutely not!
In an instant, Ji Bieli was caught in a dilemma.

Above are ghosts, below are ambushing hunters.

Now, going up or down is a dead end.

The difference is that going upwards might lead to a more gruesome death, while falling into the hands of a hunter downwards might result in a more pleasant one.

But whether it's pleasant or not, in the end it all comes down to death!
"Should we gamble? Gamble on whether the hunter who's been following me has escaped this building?"

Ji Bieli took a deep breath and stared at the dark staircase.

She knew she didn't have much time to choose.

The ghosts above could come down at any moment, while the hunters hiding below could come up to check at any time.

Moreover, she had no idea which floor the hunter was hiding on; she could very well see the terrifying hunter just around the corner.

How to do?How to do?
Ji Bieli is now eager to ask someone for help.

But now, in this godforsaken place, no one will pay any attention to her.

The only way to communicate with the outside world is through the phone given to me in the dungeon...

She thought for a few seconds, then made a quick decision, grabbed her phone and retreated into the corridor. She randomly chose a room to enter, then huddled in a corner and dialed the number.

Gu Mian had just walked around the office building when her phone rang.

Without even looking, he knew it was Ji Bieli calling, because this phone could only be used to call Ji Bieli. Without thinking much, he answered the phone.

Immediately afterwards, an extremely faint sound came through the microphone.

The sound was so faint that Gu Mian almost thought Ji Bieli was on her last breath and about to die.

But it turns out that the player he was connected with is still alive and well. However, it's uncertain whether he will still be alive and well in the future.

During the phone call, Ji Bieli concisely described the current situation to Gu Mian, which didn't take long, only a dozen seconds.

People often stutter and speak unclearly when they are nervous, but what's rare is that Ji Bieli didn't stutter at all. Instead, she spoke fluently and clearly, allowing Gu Mian to immediately understand her current situation.

In short, it's like "There's a silent ghost upstairs and a silent hunter downstairs," and the question is, which path should you choose to die?

Gu Mian really wanted to help her find a third way, like jumping out of the window. Of course, if she had the "protagonist doesn't die when jumping off a cliff" rule, then it would be worth a try.

However, Ji Bieli clearly did not possess such a divine artifact.

So Gu Mian sincerely offered her opinion: "Upward."

As he spoke, he quickened his pace to walk around the office building. Gu Mian originally wanted to come up to the office building to catch a glimpse of the ghost's beautiful face, but when she got downstairs, she suddenly discovered that there was an amusement park not far behind the office building.

The tall drop tower was quite eye-catching, although it could no longer perform any freefall motion at this point.

“But you might encounter ghosts if you go up.” Ji Bieli took a deep breath.

“You said the ghost suddenly stopped moving while it was chasing you. I guess it might have stopped on a certain floor and was searching. This is the best time to go upstairs. The ghost will never guess that you have returned to the floor where you were being chased.”

Ji Bieli bit her lip: "Yes! You're right... but what if it's just finished searching a floor and is coming down the stairs when I go upstairs?"

Gu Mian stroked his chin, not telling Ji Bieli that the ghost seemed to be able to teleport.

In his understanding, if a ghost chasing a person suddenly stops moving, it has most likely teleported to another place.

In other words, the ghost is very likely no longer on the upper level at this point.

However, it's only a possibility, not certain.

As Gu Mian pondered, she said, "Office buildings don't just have one staircase, do they? There are at least two."

Ji Bieli suddenly realized: "You want me to go up the other staircase?"

“No,” Gu Mian denied, “go up the stairs you came down from.”

Ji Bieli was somewhat taken aback.

"Since that ghost stopped to search the floors, it means that it also suspects that you will use tricks to deceive it. Moreover, judging from its erratic behavior in the dungeon, this ghost is not mentally challenged, and seems to be plotting something. A ghost with intelligence like this will definitely suspect that you have slipped to another staircase to continue down the stairs."

Gu Mian paused at this point, then continued, "You're standing on the stairs where you escaped, right?"

Ji Bieli nodded and hummed in agreement, even though he knew the other person couldn't see him nod.

“That’s right,” Gu Mian said. “We haven’t heard any sound of someone coming downstairs for a while now. It’s very likely that the ghost has moved to another staircase. So you’d better hurry up, because it might search your floor at any time.”

Ji Bieli didn't waste any more time. After thanking him, she hung up the phone.

She looked at the stairs in front of her, took a deep breath, and then quickly ran up them.

Gu Mian watched as the other party hung up the phone, then put her phone back in her pocket.

Although the ghost may no longer be in this building, it's always better to be safe than sorry.

As he pondered this, he continued walking towards the amusement park ahead.

Manjusaka waited for a long time, but no one came down from above.

She couldn't bear the loneliness any longer, so she slowly pushed open the door and looked outside.

The corridor was completely dark, with only a faint glimmer of light filtering through a window at one end, making the entire corridor visible only by this dim light.

Looking at the empty staircase, Manjusaka frowned in surprise: "That shouldn't be the case. At least one person should have run down. Could it be that the ghost was so powerful that it killed both survivors at the same time?"

Just as she was talking to herself, she suddenly heard the sound of someone going up the stairs.

It came from above!
She was startled. Could it be that the survivors above had already spotted her down below?

Are there ghosts up there? Survivors would rather go find ghosts and die than come down.

Just as Manjusaka took out her flashlight and was considering whether to chase after them, another sound of people going upstairs rang out.

This time the sound came from below.

Manjusaka immediately took two steps back, staring warily at the stairs in front of her.

There are two people.

One is going up the stairs.

One person was going up the stairs below, and the other person was getting closer and closer to her!
While remaining vigilant, she listened intently to the sounds coming from below.

The sounds below seemed hurried, not like the sounds a ghost would make when climbing stairs.

Manjusaka frowned and slipped behind the stairwell door, waiting for the people below to come up.

If only he were a survivor...

She prayed silently.

Even if you don't catch the one mentioned above, catching another one isn't a huge loss.

Sure enough, the footsteps going upstairs grew closer and closer until they echoed throughout the floor, and Manjusaka finally saw who it was.

It was a person, but she had never seen them before.

Hunters have all met each other, while unfamiliar faces are definitely survivors!
The man crept up the stairs furtively; he was a young man. The two were now very close, and Manjusaka could even see his player nickname.

"This nickname is already taken"

It was the same survivor who had been on the phone with him!
What a coincidence!

She silently huddled by the doorway, not moving an inch, waiting for the unfortunate fellow to get as close as possible before delivering the final blow!
As the survivors drew closer, they were almost on the stairs to this floor.

Manjusaka was somewhat excited.

But just then, she suddenly realized that something was wrong with the back of her head.

(End of this chapter)