Lucky billion players, you've never seen one before / I can accumulate my own luck

Even from a great distance, Fan Xiao could sense the terrifying power hidden within the other person's body.

In addition to the footsteps, there was also the ear-piercing sound of metal rubbing against the floor.

The shadowy monster appeared to be dragging some kind of heavy object.

At that moment, a bolt of lightning flashed, and platinum-gold light poured down onto the earth, penetrating the glass windows of the teaching building and slightly illuminating the corridor.

Guan Yao caught sight of a dark figure approaching from afar, immediately held her breath, and went into battle mode.

Fan Xiao glanced to the left and saw a sliding door to a classroom.

He immediately took out a stone from his storage space and threw it forcefully to the other side of the corridor.

Just as he saw the stone about to hit the wall in the distance, he seized the opportunity, approached the sliding door, pulled it open, and hid in the dark classroom.

The scraping sound of the door opening overlapped with the sound of stones hitting the wall, the latter drowning out the former.

Seeing this, Guan Yao quickly entered the classroom and hid herself in the darkness.

Before they could close the sliding door, the two of them immediately held their breath and focused.

Soon, the footsteps in the corridor quickened and became heavier.

The sound of the heavy object being dragged became louder.

Clearly, the tall, shadowy monster began to accelerate, rapidly approaching the spot where the stone had struck the wall.

The entire floor shook as the monster ran wildly.

A loud rumble—the sound of the wall cracking rang out.

As expected, the shadowy monster must have reached the spot where the stone collided with the wall and destroyed it.

Fan Xiao and Guan Yao both heard the extremely powerful sound.

The roar of the building being destroyed lasted for quite a while before stopping, after which the footsteps faded into the distance and disappeared completely.

"What was that just now? A dungeon boss?" Guan Yao asked suspiciously.

"maybe."

Fan Xiao said, "It could just be a minor monster, only a little stronger."

"As long as we don't let them close the distance, and use ranged attack items to deal with them, winning shouldn't be difficult."

"Powerful ranged attack items aren't as common as cabbages; not every player can have them."

After emphasizing this point, Guan Yao asked, "How do you know that monster reacts strongly to sound?"

"The lighting conditions here are extremely poor, and the lights are intermittent. From this perspective, the creatures here would be at a significant disadvantage if they relied on visual observation to lock onto targets. Moreover..."

Fan Xiao shrugged and said, "Haven't you seen the movie? Using sound to lure away monsters is a very common risk avoidance strategy. Why all the deep thought?"

"Is it……"

Guan Yao said, "I thought you were trying to kill two birds with one stone, both to lure the monster away and to use the monster to make noise and send location signals to our teammates."

"..."

Do you think this is like playing Go, where you think ten moves ahead for every one move you make...? Fan Xiao was speechless.

How come he hadn't noticed before that Guan Yao's thinking... was quite active?

You can think that way if you want.

Fan Xiao then said, "The noise here could indeed attract other players, but it's hard to say whether they're friend or foe. Let's keep a low profile for now."

"Our goal is to find a way to escape after we get here, and to apologize to that girl and atone for our sins."

The corridor lights came back on.

Using the dim light, Guan Yao glanced at the messy classroom and suggested, "How about... we go check out the school gate first?"

"The villa is blocked, Qingshan Academy is blocked, and here..." Fan Xiao shook his head: "It's probably the same."

"Not always."

Guan Yao cautioned, "Sometimes the way out is hidden in unexpected places."

"The lockdown of the villa and Qingshan Academy has created a fixed mindset in us, and we subconsciously rule out the idea of ​​leaving through the gate."

"Perhaps this instance was designed with such a trap."

"What is the basis for your judgment?" Fan Xiao asked.

Guan Yao replied, "We can find the answer by trying to understand the designer's mindset."

"Hmm... that could indeed be considered a solution to the puzzle. However..."

Fan Xiao said, "Sometimes dungeons are randomly designed by the game, sometimes they are jointly designed by the game and the dungeon boss, and only a few dungeons are designed entirely by the dungeon boss."

"If we want to use this method to figure out the real answer, we must first confirm whether the dungeon boss has a clear mind."

"and……"

He paused, then added, "If it were that easy to get out, the other players who got caught up in this would have already gotten out."

"Whether at the villa or at Qingshan Academy, we have never seen the missing person come out."

"Either this method won't work, or... going to the school gate is an extremely dangerous move."

“We can ask other people first,” Guan Yao said. “We don’t have any direction to explore right now, so we can only use the brute force method and try one method after another.”

"No need for that trouble, I'll give it a try," Fan Xiao said. "Wait here for me a moment."

Although he felt the probability that the school gate was the exit from Qingshan Prison was extremely low, Guan Yao's words were not entirely unfounded and could not be ignored.

In the past, he would have actively avoided such a risky and uncertain situation.

Now, with the spatial items Tina gave him, he wasn't so worried anymore.

Unless the dungeon boss can attack him through the mirror space, it doesn't matter if you're a little reckless.

"Are you sure you can manage on your own?" Guan Yao asked doubtfully.

"They're all D-level players, who would pretend to be something they're not in this situation? Wait for my news."

After saying this, Fan Xiao turned and walked towards the door.

Once he reached the outer corridor, he used his mental power to create a mirror, and his figure vanished from the spot in a flash.

The mirror created by his mental energy wasn't a completely physical object; he could make it dissipate on his own without leaving any trace.

Although it consumes some energy, it is much more discreet than directly throwing out a physical mirror to enter the mirror world.

The latter could be traced back to reveal his specific method of movement.

After four extreme distance teleports, Fan Xiao arrived at the gate of Qingshan Academy—no mirror could be created outside the school, so the fifth teleportation failed.

He looked around and saw that the nearby buildings and ground were intact, with no signs of a struggle.

"No battle has taken place here? Or... do the buildings here have an automatic repair function?"

Fan Xiao made some guesses about the suspicious points.

He quickly ran out of guesses.

Because from the buildings behind the square in front of the gate, a chorus of monster roars could be heard.

Using his night vision, Fan Xiao turned his head and looked up.

Through some of the windows, he caught a glimpse of many traces of monster activity.

And as time goes by, the number of monster figures that can be detected in the field of vision increases.

Several of them had even rushed out of the teaching building and were speeding toward his location.

The ground shook.

If we stay any longer, it's only a matter of time before we get surrounded.

"You'll be discovered if you stay outside!"

Fan Xiao immediately realized this.

He remained calm and quickly took out three small pebbles from his storage space, throwing them out of the school from three different directions.

At the same time, he teleported to the front door and reached out his hand towards the door.

An invisible wall blocked his way.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stretch his hand out.

The three stones thrown all hit the invisible barrier and landed on the ground inside the wall.

"You can see part of the scenery outside, but you can't get out..."

"Either there is a real spatial barrier blocking it, or... the scenery outside is fake, like a kind of visual projection deception, and the school wall is the boundary of Green Mountain Prison, and there is nothing outside."

Fan Xiao considered two possibilities.

He personally prefers the latter.

"mirror."

Without time to think further, Fan Xiao slipped into the mirror space before the monsters could surround him.

Without knowing specific information about these monsters, avoiding confrontation is the best course of action.

He quickly returned to the location he had left in four teleportations.

After standing in the dimly lit corridor again, Fan Xiao did not rush into the classroom next door, but first looked towards the other end of the corridor.

After observing for about ten seconds, he noticed that the walls and floors, which had been extensively damaged by the shadowy monster, were being automatically repaired at a slow and even pace.

It's as if this school... is alive.

"No wonder there were no signs of a fight at the school gate, so that's why..."

After figuring out the situation, Fan Xiao returned to the classroom.

Then, he saw Guan Yao, who was standing ready and had a serious expression.

His sudden entry caused the other person to reflexively raise their hands towards him.

In Guan Yao's fair hands, between her fingers were eight makeup tools, including an eyeliner pencil, an eyebrow trimmer, a concealer brush, a powder brush, and a cushion foundation.

"Are you... going to do my makeup?" Fan Xiao complained.

"As players' evolution rate increases, their skin condition will improve. There's nothing on your face that needs modification, so you don't need makeup. Hmm, it's better to be natural."

Guan Yao put away the prop she was holding and explained, "Soon after you left, footsteps sounded outside again. The shadowy monster returned and quickly passed through the corridor. Its footsteps disappeared again very quickly..."

“This monster’s movements seem unpredictable. I’m worried it might suddenly rush in and attack, so…”

"So you're going to give it a makeover?" Fan Xiao asked casually. "Were those tools you were holding just now one prop, or a set of props?"

Should I explain the function of the props in more detail?

Guan Yao rolled her eyes: "After you walked out of the classroom, you suddenly stopped moving... Do you have a teleportation device?"

“No,” Fan Xiao said, “I burrowed underground and disappeared.”

"Hehe..." Guan Yao didn't press further, and got down to business, asking, "How's the situation at the school gate?"

"Don't even think about it, we can't get out."

Fan Xiao said, "And it's best not to go outside the teaching building. Once you go out, it'll be like having a light bulb on your head; all the monsters will find you."

"It's dangerous and fruitless...this is another trap!" Guan Yao frowned. "There are so many traps in this dungeon! What do we do next? Do you have any ideas?"

"The direction is clear, and it is very clear."

Fan Xiao nodded and said, "We have deduced that the source of the 'Qingshan Prison Incident' was school violence. Under the revenge of the victims, many people went to hell because of the curse game."

"Qingshan Prison can be seen, to some extent, as a creation of the victims' wishes."

"In that case, the clues to how they got out must lie with the victims."

"As for how to find the victims..."

After pausing briefly to whet Guan Yao's appetite, Fan Xiao continued, "This matter needs to be completed at Qingshan Academy, I mean the 'normal school' where students are located, not here."

“We can find out who the perpetrator is by asking the students, and in turn, we can identify who the victim is.”

"This victim is the so-called 'murderer,' and might even be the boss of this instance."

"The murderer...how was that determined?"