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Chapter 873 It's not that I'm not updating

The fat man listened more and more and more, feeling that this sounded like villainous behavior: "Could it be that Miss 007 will eventually become the big villain and turn around and kill us all?"

“It’s not impossible,” Louis began to fan the flames.

As the topics became increasingly outrageous, 007 didn't know what expression to make, and could only laugh awkwardly.

Gu Mian noticed that ever since they came out of the Ghost Expo instance, everyone had started to laugh awkwardly, just like the raters.

"You two are having such a good time chatting, I almost don't want to disturb you." Just then, another voice came from the doorway.

Gu Mian turned her head and saw Liu Ruyan.

There were an unusually large number of people coming to see him today.

Liu Ruyan took a few steps towards the door, leaned against the wall and looked at Gu Mian: "There's something I feel I need to tell you. Xie Bi'an has woken up. You can ask him any questions you want to ask."

As she spoke, her gaze swept over Chu Changge once more, a cryptic smile appearing on her face.

Chu Changge didn't secretly strangle Xie Bi'an yesterday. Gu Mian thought that after they left Xie Bi'an's room, Chu Changge, who was left alone there, would kill Xie Bi'an.

It looks like there's still a lot to do today; Gu Mian feels like she's so busy she barely has time to breathe.

Xie Bi'an can be put aside for now; the immediate priority is to deal with 007's matter.

"Are you going to go with 007 too?" Gu Mian asked Louis.

He seemed quite willing to impart his knowledge about animal trainers to 007.

“Of course,” Louis replied matter-of-factly. “I can teach her how to become an animal trainer more quickly and easily. I was once an animal trainer myself, but I wasn’t successful. But I can see that she has potential.”

Louis seemed quite satisfied with 007's talent.

This wasn't the first time Gu Mian had heard Louis praise 007's talent as a beast tamer. During the circus instance, Louis made no secret of the fact that 007 was more suited to be a beast tamer than himself.

Back then, Gu Mian was worried that 007 would suddenly change his style and become an evil villain. After that, he would often advise 007 to be a good person, which left 007 completely confused.

Gu Mian didn't know why Louis was so determined to train 007 into a perfect animal trainer, but since 007 himself wanted to do so, he shouldn't stop him.

"Good luck." Gu Mian sincerely wished her well, giving her a "good luck buff," though she didn't know if it would actually work. "If you need money..."

Gu Mian knew that 007's mode of transportation was a children's rocking car that could swallow money. She originally planned to give 007 some game coins, but then she remembered that she didn't have many game coins left in her pocket, so she changed the subject.

"If you're short on money, you can ask Chu Changge for some." Fatty had used up all his game currency in the last dungeon using the "money makes the world go round" skill, and he didn't have many game currency left in his pocket.

The wealthiest person present is Chu Changge.

Upon hearing Gu Mian's words, Chu Changge stood up, as if he was about to immediately carry out the task of handing over the game coins to 007.

007 quickly waved his hand: "Thank you, but no need. I've already earned enough game currency from entering dungeons these past few days to travel."

Chu Changge sat down again.

"Miss 007, are you really leaving tonight?" the fat man asked reluctantly. "Can't you stay a little longer? Maybe the doctor can find some special teleportation item in the next dungeon that can send you to your destination in a flash, and then send you back in a flash."

If Gu Mian's wish system works, she might actually be able to find this special item in the dungeon.

"Or maybe we can just retrieve a special item that can teleport Renle Mountain right in front of us," the fat man began to fantasize, "so that Miss 007 won't have to go through all that trouble."

“That’s not very realistic,” Gu Mian said. “You might as well wish to enter a dungeon that can teleport, just like the No. 444 bus, where you get on here at the apartment and get off at the door of your home in Renle Mountain.”

"But didn't you crash into that bus, Doctor? I remember it so clearly. You were driving your hearse and you just swerved right up to it. The ghosts inside were waving at you enthusiastically... Doctor? Doctor?"

As the fat man was talking, he suddenly realized that the person in front of him was gone.

He opened his mouth wide and turned his head several times, but couldn't find where Gu Mian had hidden.

007 and Liu Ruyan also disappeared along with Gu Mian.

Now only Fatty Chu Changge and Louis remained in the room.

"Where's the doctor? Why did he suddenly disappear?" The fat man had a guess in his mind, but he was not quite sure he could believe it.

“They’ve obviously entered a dungeon,” Louis said from the side. “A special dungeon.”

The fat man was shocked: "Has another condition for entering a special instance been triggered...?"

As he spoke, he noticed that Chu Changge was staring in one direction. The fat man turned his head and looked in the direction Chu Changge was looking, and saw that the end of his gaze was two flower pots the size of washbasins.

Just a short while ago, Gu Mian pressed the two seeds in her hand into the flowerpot. A few minutes ago, Fatty was still looking around for a watering can to water them.

But unexpectedly, one of the seeds has already sprouted, matured, and borne fruit.

The plant that grows has two huge leaves at the bottom, and a chessboard is supported on the two big leaves.

Once the mysterious seed matures, it will produce random rare and special items. This chessboard is the fruit that the mysterious seed produces after it matures.

The fat man took a few steps closer and opened the information panel of the chessboard.

A chessboard fraught with danger

[Description: This is an entry ticket to a special instance. Each game requires the participation of four players. When four of these items are in existence, the special instance will be unlocked.]

"It's a dungeon entry ticket." The fat man looked at the chessboard supported by two large leaves.

Because the chessboard had already served its purpose, it was gradually becoming transparent and disappeared from everyone's sight in just a few seconds.

"The doctor has been pulled into a special instance again," the fat man thought about the item description he had just seen. "The description said that the special instance will only be activated when there are four of these chessboards."

There's only one of them.

"This thing was grown from a seed given by the Ghost Expo. There were quite a few players who entered the Expo instance before, so there should have been three other players who grew the chessboard from the seed before Gu Mian. Now, the four groups of players who have the chessboard have entered the instance together." Chu Changge had already come behind the fat man. He had also seen the description on the chessboard before it completely disappeared.

The fat man felt that Gu Mian had been far too busy lately: "But the doctor just returned from Paradise World yesterday."

"But I just came out of Paradise World yesterday!" At the same time, Gu Mian, who had entered the instance, also made the same statement.

He, 007, and Liu Ruyan were in a sealed room with walls on all four sides. In front of them was a huge game panel with a description of the current instance. [Board Game]

[Introduction: A chessboard composed of sixty-four rooms, each with surprises or shocks waiting for you. Enjoy!]

Number of participants: 12 people (four groups)

[Mission: Players are to be assigned either as players or pieces. In each group, one player acts as the player and gives commands in the initial room, while the other two players act as pieces. The pieces will explore other rooms, and the first group to find the hidden treasure chest on the chessboard wins.]

007 looked at an electronic chessboard in the center of the room.

The electronic chessboard is waist-high, with the screen facing upwards. The brightly colored screen displays a square board composed of sixty-four square grids, arranged in eight rows and eight columns.

There is a number on each of the four corners of the chessboard.

The number in the top left corner is "1", and below it is a line of smaller text: "This is your starting room".

In their "starting room," there are also three little human icons.

007 tried moving around a bit and found that the little person in the grid also moved a little.

Starting from the top left corner, rotate counterclockwise downwards. The next three corners are numbered 2, 3, and 4. Each numbered corner has three little figures. The four corners of the board should represent the initial rooms for the four groups of players.

She saw that the little figures in the other three numbered squares were also moving, seemingly familiarizing themselves with the surroundings.

Gu Mian also noticed the chessboard in the center of the room: "Do you remember the Ghost Elimination game instance? That instance also had sixty-four rooms and a similar table display screen."

However, the Ghost Elimination game instance is located in a building, and it's standing upright.

The current copy is on a chessboard, and it's horizontal.

Although they are different in shape, Gu Mian still suspects that the programmers who made these two copies made such similar maps because they were lazy.

Gu Mian also encountered the bubbly evil god in that map.

Come to think of it, Gu Mian still remembered that the room the evil god was in was "605".

The fortune teller had divined for Gu Mian outside, saying that he would meet the evil god again in this instance.

Gu Mian pondered the room number "605".

“I also think this dungeon map is somewhat similar to the match-3 game dungeon,” 007 nodded. “The fortune teller told me she predicted you would encounter the evil god in this dungeon. Do you think he’ll be in 605 this time?”

It's possible, but not entirely certain.

Furthermore, this map does not label each chessboard room with a room number; only the four corner rooms (numbered one through four) have serial numbers.

The location of a non-existent "room 605" could be determined by counting columns and rows, but the chessboard has four sides, making it impossible to determine which side is the "first floor." If we were to assume each of the four sides as the first floor in turn, there would be four "rooms 605."

Moreover, the evil god wasn't necessarily in room 605. Gu Mian remembered that he often ran around the dungeon as a player.

As Gu Mian looked at the electronic chessboard in front of her, she saw that some people in the other three corner rooms were gathered together discussing something, while others were exploring the room. Could there be an evil god in this room?
Just like in the match-3 game, the unexplored rooms are in hidden mode. You can't know what's inside from the game board, let alone what the "surprise" and "fright" mentioned in the description will be. You have to explore them yourself.

"This is..." 007 saw an electronic die on the left side of the electronic screen, but this die was different from a normal die; it only had two dots, one and two.

“It’s the flag bearer’s prop.” Liu Ruyan looked at the game panel. “The rules of this board game are below.”

[Rules for Players: Players cannot leave their initial room; each turn, the player rolls the dice, and the number rolled determines the number of spaces their piece will move next, with each room representing one space; each turn begins with the player in the first initial room rolling first, and the next player can only roll after their piece has moved, with the order of rolling determined by the initial room number; the player decides the direction of their piece, and has sixty seconds to decide each turn; a player cannot allow their piece to enter a room they have already entered; at any given time, each player can only have one piece on the board outside their initial room, and the second piece can only move after the first piece is eliminated (except in special circumstances)]

After reading through this long list, Gu Mian felt like she was watching some kind of strange tale about rules, unable to leave the room or enter the same room repeatedly.

Fortunately, the rules for the pieces below are very simple and can be read at a glance.

[Game Piece Rules: You are just a useless piece. There are no rules you need to follow. Just remember not to stay in one room for more than ten minutes after the game starts.]

Gu Mian suspected that the ten-minute rule was designed by the programmers to speed up the game and prevent pieces from staying in one room for too long because they were afraid to move.

"The rules for the player are so long." 007 frowned as he looked at the long list of rules.

"To put it simply, this thing is suitable for Chu Changge to be, or even a fortune teller," Gu Mian concluded.

Chu Changge is patient; he might even summarize and analyze all the rules after reading them, and then start to deduce the location of the "treasure chest" in the mission.

If the fortune teller is the chess player, it's even simpler. She can just start calculating when choosing a direction. She's practically invincible in this instance.

Unfortunately, neither of them is here.

After reading the "Rules for Players" and "Rules for Pieces", new content will appear on the game panel.

[Note: All movement and teleportation-type special items are disabled in this instance.]

If all pieces on the board are dead or unable to move, and the treasure chest has not been found, the surviving player and pieces will automatically leave the instance.

Before the game starts, players can draw a random bonus.

[The game will begin in five minutes. Players, please confirm your identities as soon as possible.]

After reading all of this, it's finally over.

At the same time, Gu Mian saw a five-minute countdown appear at the top of the monitor. After the countdown ended, the board game would officially begin.

Next to the countdown is a "Draw Bonus" button.

“This bonus is like a newbie gift pack when you first start playing a game,” Liu Ruyan said. “It can make a difficult game a little easier.”

However, the button was made too rudimentary, which inexplicably reminded Gu Mian of game pages that claimed "99999 damage in one hit".

This button definitely can't be pressed by Gu Mian. If he presses it, he might get some kind of bomb bonus and blow up all three people in the room on the spot.

With time running out, they decided to have 007 do the pressing.

007 was lucky; he drew a bonus [It takes two to tango].

Oh no, it's already past 10 o'clock! Gugu, don't fall down!