Where's the cute girl we were promised? She's completely wiped out S-rank dungeons!

As she said this, Qiao Ran blinked and put a hand to her ear:

"What? You're asking about the answer to the first condition for passing the level? Okay~ I'll explain it to you now~"

Zhao Meng, who was holding her breath to listen to what was happening, thought: "...Huh?"

Cui Xiaofei, who was nervously biting his nails: "...Hmm?"

Song Yuan: "Who asked you that?"

"You don't understand," Qiao Ran said, resting her chin on her hand and striking a pose for the imagined live stream camera. "To attract fans and increase their engagement, you need to explain every single question about the instance clearly. Just let me explain; I'll definitely make everything that just happened clear."

It doesn't matter. It just so happens that Cui Xiaofei and Zhao Meng haven't met the first completion requirement yet, so at least within this instance, they have a temporary cooperative relationship. Therefore, Song Yuan nodded in approval.

"Then go ahead and explain. Just give a simple explanation, don't waste time."

Qiao Ran: "Actually, the answer to the first condition for passing the level is very simple—"

Condition 1 for passing the mission: Find out the truth behind the disappearance of the three volunteers.

It is now certain that these three people are all dead. The cause of death was intentional murder, and their bodies were cooked and eaten by the villagers as ordinary meat. Some of the less palatable parts were even thrown to the pigs and dogs in the village; that's how the bodies were disposed of.

Why did the villagers kill these three people? Was it out of hatred? Or was it an accidental killing? Actually, neither.

The reason is simple: there was no reason; he killed simply because he wanted to.

It's a ridiculous answer, and some serious gamers might get really angry hearing it. But that's the truth:

The food may have been rather bland these past few days, and human flesh may be easier to obtain than pork—because pigs need to be fed day after day to grow up, but humans can be caught and eaten directly.

The people in this instance don't seem like normal "people," but more like a pack of numb wild beasts. They can't understand this kind of twisted psychology—after all, the thought process of NPCs is beyond the comprehension of players.

Therefore, based on this, we can derive the conditions for a player's death in the game.

Based on the clues found at the village chief's house, it can be deduced that the condition for death was: "being seen".

That's right, it's that simple. When the village is in daylight, the player is essentially in a short period of safety—that's why the days here are so much shorter than the nights.

Unfortunately, the "investigation" process can only be carried out at night, so players can only leave their dormitories to search the entire map. If they are discovered by NPCs along the way, the NPCs will immediately call the police, attracting a large number of villagers who will then devour the player alive, just like those three volunteers.

This death condition is not a code-based kill. Players can rely on their own superior skills to fight against monsters, as long as they try to interrupt the NPC's screams, such as using control skills like those of Qiao Ran and Zhao Meng, or attack skills like those of He Xiao.

As early as when Qiao Ran asked to use the restroom, the persona "Cui Xiaofei" that Qiao Ran was impersonating had already switched places with the real Cui Xiaofei.

After escaping, Qiao Ran's first action was to climb over into the village chief's house. The key action to trigger the "ghostly face-to-face" event is opening the wardrobe; the ghost will appear behind the player when it is closed.

So Qiao Ran didn't open the wardrobe; she simply took out her identity card and placed it in the most conspicuous spot. After guiding He Xiao to open the wardrobe and completing all this, she gracefully slipped out of the bedroom window.

The plan was a great success.

Before this, Song Yuan had proposed another condition for death that was equally likely: to grant the children's request to let the female teacher "be their mother."

However, during her two days in the village, she paid attention not only to the village chief's house but also to other ordinary villagers. She didn't find any clues that seemed to indicate the second condition for passing the level.

This means that "granting the child's request" is not a death condition, but rather the key to unlocking a new scenario. Given the system's tendency to "not spare anyone, regardless of age or gender," it's highly unlikely that it only torments female players. Male players will definitely have corresponding storylines to follow as well.

Unfortunately, all three men hadn't taught a single class to the children in the past two days for various reasons, which prevented this plot point from being triggered.

After hearing Qiao Ran's explanation, Zhao Meng and Cui Xiaofei also received a notification from the system:

[Ding~ Congratulations to player Zhao Meng for achieving the first completion condition: finding the truth behind the disappearance of the three volunteers]

[Ding~ Congratulations to player Cui Xiaofei for achieving the second completion condition: finding the truth behind the disappearance of the three volunteers]

Cui Xiaofei stopped biting his nails and sobbed with tears in his eyes, "Even if I clear the game, I'm still going to die. The vice president will definitely kill me."

Qiao Ran smiled: "He's said that many times on the way, just ignore it~ Speaking of which, have you found the second condition for passing the level?"

Song Yuan nodded, took out the strip of cloth, and unfolded it. Four characters could be vaguely discerned on it:

"Take her home."

These four characters were painstakingly rubbed onto the cloth with blood. Over time, the bloodstains have turned black and hardened, but it's easy to see that the owner of this cloth must have written these four characters with a mixture of longing to return home and despair.

After showing the strips of cloth to the three of them, Song Yuan folded them up again and put them away.

The second condition for passing the checkpoint is to "bring the children out of the mountains." This "children" does not refer to children in schools, but rather to those who have traveled thousands of miles across the mountains and are now trapped in this small mountain village.

Those women who were trafficked to this mountain village felt like they were in hell, deprived of their freedom.

When players arrive in this instance, they are given the identity of "a village teacher disguised as a detective," a highly misleading identity. This leads players to believe that the "children" are children in the school or a specific child in the village, causing them to go astray.

Even if you threw all the children in the classroom like shot puts into a mountain, you still couldn't meet the second condition.

Qiao Ran shrugged: "Playing word games again, don't you have any new tricks?"

There's no way around it. Even though it's a word game, you still can't deduce the truth without understanding the plot.

[Ding~ Congratulations to player "Song Yuan"! You have discovered the true meaning of the second condition for clearing the level!]