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Chapter 291 Survival on the Brink
A sudden, inexplicable chill rose up.

It instantly surged from the soles of my feet to my scalp, making the back of my head feel numb.

The red spider lily was hiding at the entrance to the stairwell. The space behind the door was large enough to accommodate one person, or even several more...

She stiffened her neck and slowly turned her head back.

A pale face was hanging behind his head.

"what!"

Ji Bieli was still climbing upstairs in fear when she heard a startling sound coming from downstairs. It was a woman.

Because Ji Bieli had suspiciously lightened her steps, she was moving very slowly and had only just reached the nineteenth floor.

The shouts below seemed to be coming from not far away.

Upon hearing the sound, Ji Bieli immediately stopped.

She gripped the handrail beside her and cautiously peered down through the gaps in the stairs. The stairs weren't as dark as the room; even without the lights on, she could barely make out some things.

Immediately, a man's shout followed.

She recognized the voice; the survivors had met each other at the start of the instance, and this voice belonged to one of them.

Then she saw a hand suddenly appear on the handrail of the floor below. The owner of the hand seemed terrified and was running down the stairs while holding onto the handrail.

A few seconds later, she saw another hand on the stair railing behind her.

The people who followed were also running frantically downhill, as if the two had encountered some misfortune.

Ji Bieli frowned. The two people running away frantically were definitely players, and one of them was very likely the hunter who had been following them. It was obvious to anyone with a brain that they had encountered a ghost.

Hearing the hurried footsteps of those fleeing below, Ji Bieli felt somewhat puzzled.

"Strange, are there really so many ghosts in this dungeon?"

There are two ghosts on just these few floors of the office building. If we're going to count this density, there should be at least four or five ghosts on the street.

But she did not see that many ghosts.

As the sounds of panicked escape from the lower levels faded into the distance, Ji Bieli didn't linger; she wanted to continue climbing upwards.

Just then, she suddenly realized that the floors above seemed to have been completely still.

"Strange, if a ghost were looking for me, it's impossible that it wouldn't make a sound. There must be a sound of the door opening and closing, right?"

But at this moment, the upper floors seemed to have become a stagnant pool, without any movement whatsoever.

There's not a sound up there, but some players down below have encountered a ghost...

Connecting these two points, Ji Bieli suddenly had a bold idea.

"Could it be that the ghost that was chasing me has gone down to the underworld?"

Was the ghost that was chasing those two players the same one that had been chasing me before?
But how could that ghost leap across so many levels in such a short time and directly jump over itself to the lower level?
Thinking of this, Ji Bieli's heart suddenly skipped a beat: "Could it be... that it can teleport?"

If the ghosts in this dungeon could really teleport, I'm afraid none of the ten players present would be able to leave this dungeon alive!

Ji Bieli's mind raced, but it didn't take long before she slightly suppressed her fearful expression, lifted her foot, and continued walking upwards.

"The doctor who called me said that ghosts who are survivors might not be able to kill. I'd better go to the rooftop and check out the situation in the city... Is it that ghosts can teleport, or is there more than one ghost in the dungeon..."

She felt a little more at ease and quickened her pace, running swiftly up the stairs.

Manjusaka suffered the loss of splitting up to escape when she chased someone last time, so she has no intention of splitting up to escape this time.

Upon discovering that the ghost was hiding behind her, she immediately leaped out and sprinted towards the stairs.

However, the survivor named "Nickname already taken" was either frightened by her or by the ghost, and sprinted even faster than her, rushing down the stairs in the blink of an eye. Manjusaka quickly followed.

Seeing that things were going badly, the person in the lead braked suddenly at a corner of a floor and rushed into the corridor.

Manjusaka didn't expect him to suddenly stop, and at that moment the ghost was already behind her; if she stopped, she would be caught.

There was no other way but to keep pushing downwards.

She clenched her fists and used all her strength to rush down the stairs like a monkey with its bottom on fire.

Manjusaka was not a nimble monkey. Just as she was desperately rushing downwards, her foot, which was a little unsteady due to the excessive speed, suddenly twisted, and the monkey instantly turned into a ball and rolled down.

When she got up, there was no other sound around her except for her rapid breathing.

"No...nothing's chasing me?" Manjusaka touched her aching joints, her eyes widening in surprise as she looked around. "Did he go after someone else?"

The ghost behind me could have almost touched me with a single reach, but it abandoned me and instead chased after another survivor who wasn't close to it.

At that moment, Manjusaka suddenly remembered that it had been the same last time.

Because of her unclear mind, she almost "threw herself into the arms" of a ghost when she was being chased not long ago.

But the ghost didn't seem to appreciate it and relentlessly pursued the survivor...

Because she had just had a close encounter with a ghost, Manjusaka remembered the ghost's large head. She thought about it and realized that the ghost she had just encountered looked exactly like the one she had met last time.

The ghost abandoned her both times.

"Is it a coincidence once, or twice? Doesn't this ghost actively pursue its predator?"

Manjusaka did not stand still to think; she was considering the matter as she descended the stairs.

"And every time I was closest to it, it would abandon me and chase after other people..."

"There's something wrong with this ghost; it must be controlled by the hunter!"

Manjusaka was very fast; she had already run down several floors, so she arrived at the bottom in no time.

She didn't stand casually at the entrance of the office building, nor did she leave immediately. Instead, she found a slightly secluded corner nearby and hid inside.

"If the demon is controlled by us hunters, then how is it controlled by us?"

Manjusaka frowned, squatting in the corner, deep in thought.

Just then, she suddenly realized that her phone had started vibrating, and that person was calling her.
Wasn't he being chased by a ghost just now? How come he's out of danger now?

The person who called... was it a ghost?

Manjusaka hesitated for a moment, then answered the phone.

If it's a ghost calling, hang up immediately!

Unexpectedly, as soon as the call was connected, a somewhat exasperated voice came from the other end: "Sister, I kindly contacted you to pass on information given to me by someone else, how could you betray me like this?"

What is being conveyed?
Manjusaka was completely baffled.

Meanwhile, Ji Bieli had already climbed to the rooftop, but the view below was not clear from the top of the thirty-plus-story building.

But she wouldn't have climbed to the thirtieth floor if she hadn't prepared.

After climbing up, Ji Bieli quickly took out a pair of glasses and put them on.

Flight attendant's glasses

[Introduction: This is an award given to outstanding employees of the 'Time Escape' train. Wear it and you'll be the most outstanding train attendant.] [Function: Significantly improves vision after wearing, allowing you to see small objects up to 100 meters away.]

【Side effects: Due to the highly detailed vision, prolonged use may cause dizziness. Please use with caution】

The streetlights in the city were still sparsely lit, and after putting on these glasses, I could see things nearby by the light.

Just as Ji Bieli put on his glasses, he saw Manjusaka below, who was huddled up in a ball, making a phone call.

“I’ve never seen this person before… She must be the hunter who was secretly following me before.”

Ji Bieli stared in the direction of the red spider lilies, her eyes narrowing.

He looks like he's thinking of something bad.

"Is she connecting with the survivor she's facing?"

Upon seeing this, Ji Bieli suddenly remembered the hunter she was facing off against. While looking down, she took out her phone and made a call.

"The hunter I'm facing is smart. He's probably discovered something again by now. It'd be better to exchange information, and I should also tell the hunter faction about the ghosts being able to teleport..."

"However, this dungeon is really unfair to the survivors. The hunters seem to be in no danger at all. Why is there a dungeon that is so biased towards one side of the players?"

The other party hasn't answered yet.

Ji Bieli stared at his crotch below while muttering to himself.

"Players are divided into two groups in this instance, much like the team-based combat instances I've participated in before."

Players are divided into several groups and must compete to determine the winner; if one group wins, the other groups lose. However, this instance seems to be different. The mobile phones that allow communication between the two factions seem to be teaching players the concept of "win-win".

But is this really the case?
Is this instance really designed to allow both groups of players to win together?

Ji Bieli clenched her fists: "Whether the two groups win together or fight each other to the death, I will never be the losing group."

Just then, Gu Mian on the other end of the line suddenly answered the phone.

He answered hastily, just in time to hear the second half of Ji Bieli's sentence.

Gu Mian asked, somewhat puzzled, "What did you say?"

He had already left the amusement park by then.

It's worth mentioning that the amusement park even has electric rides; Gu Mian spotted the Ferris wheel slowly rotating at a glance.

On the ground beneath the Ferris wheel, a stream of water was flowing slowly.

If you sit in one of the cabins on the Ferris wheel, you can hear the gentle sound of flowing water when that cabin passes the lowest point, and at other times you can only hear the whooshing sound of the wind.

Therefore, when Bai Qiong made the call, the other party must have been in one of these rooms!
There must be some clues in that room.

While calculating the time it takes for the Ferris wheel to complete one rotation, Gu Mian was also searching for the room where the phone call was answered.

He didn't let his guard down and searched every room on the ground floor.

Unfortunately, there was nothing inside.

Perhaps Bai Qiong and Ke Ke have already found this place and taken away the clues... That would be best.

At that moment, Ji Bieli's voice came through the microphone: "I just discovered that ghosts seem to be able to teleport..."

Gu Mian had already noticed this.

However, he did not interrupt Ji Bieli by saying something like, "How come you only just realized this? You're such an idiot." Instead, he nodded and said "yes" to indicate that he understood.

Ji Bieli seemed very curious as to why he wasn't surprised at all.

A strange tone came through the microphone: "Aren't you surprised?"

Gu Mian gave a perfunctory reply: "Ah, I'm really surprised."

Ji Bieli: "..."

It seems this person already knew.

She took a deep breath and then continued, "I just heard that ghost chasing after two people; it abandoned the hunter to chase after the survivor."

“You don’t need to panic like this,” Gu Mian said. “I guess this ghost can’t attack survivors or hunters for the time being. It has the terrifying ability to teleport, but so far no one seems to have died, at least not yet…”

But just as Gu Mian finished speaking, Ji Bieli on the rooftop suddenly heard an unusual sound.

That sound seemed to come from a door opening nearby.

She shuddered, immediately hung up the phone, and listened cautiously to the sounds coming from outside.

The sound seemed to be coming from downstairs, and it wasn't far from her!

What's going on? Are there other players in this building... or has that ghost come back? Wasn't it chasing another survivor just now?

Just then, Ji Bieli suddenly noticed that the woman downstairs had stood up.

She was still on the phone, but her expression suddenly turned serious.

Just then, another door was pushed open.

Ji Bieli carefully observed the expressions of the people downstairs. Whenever the sound of a door being pushed open rang out, the expressions of the people downstairs became even more inscrutable.

It seems the hunter could also hear the terrifying sound of the door being pushed open... and he heard it through his phone.

It seems that the person she was talking to was the survivor who was being chased by the ghost earlier.

Thinking about this, Ji Bieli suddenly had an idea.

Ignoring the danger of being discovered, she pressed herself against the edge of the building, carefully observing the expressions of the people below.

Ji Bieli needed to confirm whether the ghost was truly as the doctor had said, and would not harm the survivors.

But the outcome disappointed her.

Not long after, a scream came from the floor below.

Ji Bieli gripped the edge of the rooftop tightly, completely ignoring the scream from the meeting, and instead focused intently on the people below.

The woman below looked extremely anxious. The call seemed to have been disconnected, and she tried calling it back many times, but it still seemed no one answered.

There was no one available to answer the phone anymore.

Upon seeing this, Ji Bieli's legs suddenly went weak, and she knelt down on the rooftop.

The doctor guessed wrong.

Ghosts... can kill survivors. As it stands, only hunters are absolutely safe!
After that scream, there was no more sound from below.

At this moment, the woman below inexplicably rushed back into the building.

The red spider lilies darted swiftly up and down the stairs.

"As long as the hunter can catch the ghost, everyone in the instance will be safe!"—This is what the survivor she was talking to told her before he died.

(End of this chapter)