"Since we haven't seen a corpse yet, we can't rule out the possibility that the ghost, being a Survivor, is unable to kill people," Gu Mian said.

Ji Bie Li stopped in her tracks and thought carefully for a moment. "If it can't kill, then why does the ghost chase the Survivors? Could it be some sort of illusion?"

Gu Mian shrugged. "Only the ghost itself would know."

Although he knew she wouldn't see his shrug.

Then he heard Ji Bie Li's voice from the receiver, "What you said makes sense. I'll continue observing. But the fact that ghosts can be restrained by you Hunters is undeniable. So, I hope that if it comes to a critical moment, the Hunters will be able to take action."

Gu Mian nodded. "Naturally... By the way, are you currently in an office building over thirty stories high?"

Hearing him say this, Ji Bie Li almost dropped her phone.

She immediately covered the mouthpiece of her phone and looked around, searching for Gu Mian, who she suspected was secretly observing her.

But after scanning her surroundings thoroughly, Ji Bie Li couldn't find any sign of prying eyes. She took a deep breath and put the phone back to her ear. "Why do you say that?"

"We've been on the phone constantly. During this time, you seem to have been doing some rather strenuous activity. I initially thought you were running or walking quickly. However, you then said, 'I will continue observing.' In this city, the most convenient place to observe would be that office building. It's quite far from me, but because it's so tall, I can see it," Gu Mian said, looking at the distant building. "Also, you seem to be constantly climbing stairs. Only a building with that many floors would require such a lengthy climb."

Hearing this, Ji Bie Li suddenly laughed. "I'm almost afraid to keep talking to you. I suspect if we continue, you'll know exactly which floor I'm on."

Gu Mian looked at the distant high-rise building. "I don't need us to keep talking to figure it out. You're somewhere between the twentieth and twenty-fifth floor, right?"

Ji Bie Li's smile froze.

She glanced up at the floor number posted on the stairwell wall: twenty-first floor. A sense of foreboding suddenly welled up in her heart. "How did you know?"

How on earth did this person deduce that?

Gu Mian stared at the distant building and said, "It was nothing much. A short while ago, I saw a furtive figure with a flashlight pass by the nineteenth-floor stairwell window and head upstairs. She was moving very quietly, as if afraid of alerting someone... Hmm, she's a Hunter."

Thanks to that fool Manjusaka randomly waving her flashlight around inside the building, otherwise Gu Mian wouldn't have known which floor Ji Bie Li was on.

Hearing this, Ji Bie Li suddenly held her breath.

She strained her ears, listening intently for a moment. Indeed, she thought she could hear faint, almost imperceptible sounds coming from below.

Run!

Without thinking too much, she quickly hung up the phone and bolted upstairs.

Not much time had passed since the instance began. God knows what would happen if a Hunter caught her. She couldn't afford to be eliminated immediately and suffer the fate of losing her equipment, Game Coins, and Attribute Points.

But why would a Hunter know she was in this office building!

She had been very careful when she came up, only ascending after confirming no one was following her. Even after going upstairs, she hadn't dared to use her flashlight and had been extremely cautious when passing windows.

Why would a Hunter be trailing her!

But this wasn't the time to consider these things. She had to find a floor to hide on first. Presumably, the Hunter following her wouldn't know which floor she was hidden on...

Seeing that she had hung up, Gu Mian pocketed his phone.

He withdrew his gaze from the distant office building. Players these days, huh, one more cunning than the next.

After this thought, he shifted his gaze to the area behind the counter of the shop in front of him.

A dark figure was trembling behind the counter.

He unceremoniously entered the phone store and forcefully pulled out the person hiding behind the counter.

Unexpectedly, the one trembling so fiercely wasn't any Survivor, but the high school girl Keke, who was a Hunter like Gu Mian.

The beam of his flashlight shone on her face. Keke trembled again and gave an embarrassed smile. "I'm sorry, I'm just so scared. Even as a Hunter, I don't dare to run around recklessly in the instance. It was Mr. Bai Qiong who told me to hide here first..."

Gu Mian silently released the rather short high school girl. He remembered she hadn't seemed nearly this timid when the instance first started. How could she be shaking like a sieve now?

Besides, Bai Qiong and Keke had teamed up from the start, but now only Keke was visible.

Was Bai Qiong collecting clues nearby?

Sure enough, not long after Gu Mian had pulled Keke out, a man with a hideous scar across his neck appeared in his line of sight.

This player, who looked like a young man from the real world, still projected an air of friendliness, like a villain who had done countless evil deeds before turning over a new leaf. He looked somewhat astonished as he saw Gu Mian beside the counter. "Doctor? You found this place too?"

Gu Mian noticed something a bit off about Bai Qiong's wording.

"'I found this place too?'" Gu Mian touched his chin. "Did you two discover some clues that led you here?"

Bai Qiong nodded. As he did, the scar on his neck seemed to writhe with the movement. Most of it was a raised, shiny scar that glistened under the flashlight beam, looking quite terrifying.

Bai Qiong, however, didn't seem too bothered by it. He nodded and continued, "We found a string of phone numbers in the duty log of a phone company's service center. It was strange; there was nothing else in the center, just this string of numbers. It was probably hinting at something. I initially wanted to use the phone provided by the instance to make the call, but those phones can only connect one-on-one with Survivors. That's why the two of us came here."

He paused for breath before adding, "I told Keke to hide here first while I went to find a phone that could actually make calls..."

Looks like he found one.

Gu Mian wasn't in a hurry to ask about the phone, though. He glanced at Bai Qiong and asked, "Have either of you encountered any Survivors since the game started?"

Both Bai Qiong and Keke shook their heads.

Gu Mian asked again, "And judging by your reactions, you haven't encountered any ghosts either, right?"

Keke looked somewhat surprised. "There are ghosts in this instance?"

So they hadn't, then.

Bai Qiong wasn't overly surprised. He continued to shake his head. "We haven't encountered anyone or anything from the beginning until now. You're the first player we've met."

Gu Mian nodded. "What a coincidence."

Bai Qiong asked curiously, "What's the coincidence? Have you also not encountered any other players apart from us so far?"

Gu Mian shook his head. "No, not only have I encountered other players, but I've also encountered a ghost."

Keke was left speechless.

Gu Mian thought for a moment, then continued, "So far, I've encountered a total of four players."

"Two of them met each other, and then they immediately ran into one of the instance's ghosts. Both were chased off, scared out of their wits..."

Of course, if Nine Lives were present, he would definitely take issue with the phrase "scared out of their wits" and would probably try to change it to something like "making a glorious and strategic withdrawal."

Although both "fleeing, scared out of their wits" and "making a glorious and strategic withdrawal" mean running away, the latter at least sounds a little more impressive.

Gu Mian continued, "Besides those two who were chased by the ghost and fled, scared out of their wits, I also know of two other players. They had also just met each other when they were immediately chased by a ghost, also fleeing for their lives..."

This was what Ji Bie Li had told him.

"The data from these first two pairs suggests that whenever two players meet, a ghost immediately pops up. So, I previously speculated that there was a necessary connection between players meeting and a ghost appearing—until I met the two of you here..."

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