Chapter 922: Chapter 878: Oh No
The third group seems to have turned their luck around, landing on two consecutive Gold Coin Squares.
was relaying the direction of other groups in the group chat in real time.
"Now only one square separates the third group’s game piece from the starting room of the fourth group, a trap square," Liu Ruyan noted from the information 007 posted in the group chat, "Two rounds ago, the third group entered a Kuibu Square, and in their next move, they still have to move one step. In their next move, they can’t go up further, or they’ll land directly on the trap square. The Chess Player will likely instruct them to detour to the left."
Gu Mian looked at the Shared Death Square that the second group entered earlier: "We’ve already seen several repeated squares, so I think the board has more than one Shared Death Square. Perhaps the unlucky group in the next move will enter a Shared Death Square."
"The third group has already moved, and the fourth group is the only one left to make a move this round," Liu Ruyan considered the current position of the fourth group, "They’re right next door to us, just separated by a wall."
As she spoke, she looked toward the wall on her left, through which was the room where the fourth group’s game pieces were located.
"He’s likely to come into this room," Liu Ruyan speculated, "The fourth group’s game pieces are currently stuck with the Honest Ghost, and every round, they need to guess how many steps they will move next. If he turns into this room and enters the Kuibu Square, the next three rounds will all only need a one-step move, which means they avoid the gamble for the next three rounds."
Gu Mian nodded, "For the fourth group’s game pieces, coming to this room is indeed the best choice, but that’s assuming their Chess Player rolls a one this time. If they roll a two..."
If they roll a two, moving towards them would bypass the Kuibu Square and enter the next unknown room.
Gu Mian projected their group’s room as the upper left corner and discovered something interesting.
The Kuibu Square where he and Liu Ruyan were, the Honest Square where the fourth group’s pieces were, and the Gold Coin Square where the third group’s pieces were, were all in the same horizontal row.
Their square was adjacent to where the fourth group’s pieces were, and there was one empty square between the fourth and third group’s pieces.
This means whether the Chess Player rolls a one or a two, they can move their piece into a room occupied by another group’s piece.
If they roll a one, they could go directly left into the Kuibu Square they were in.
If they roll a two, they could walk two steps right into the Gold Coin Square occupied by the third group.
No matter which way they go, it’s not a loss; moving left means entering the Kuibu Square, letting their pieces survive at least three more rounds. Moving right means entering the third group’s Gold Coin Square, transferring the Honest Ghost over.
The third group’s Chess Player probably decided from the start to send their piece straight up to target the fourth group’s Chess Player since they had this idea in mind from the beginning. Therefore, the third group’s piece knows their mission is to eliminate the fourth group’s Chess Player.
However, the fourth group’s Chess Player wasn’t aware of the third group’s plan initially, and neither were their pieces.
Once on the board, the pieces and Chess Players can’t communicate, so the fourth group’s pieces aren’t aware of the third group’s plot and might not actively attack even if they walk into the room currently occupied by the third group’s pieces.
But it’s different for the third group’s pieces, who already have ulterior motives. Once they realize the visitor is from the fourth group, they may likely initiate an attack. If the fourth group’s piece dies in the room occupied by the third group’s pieces, the fallen Honest Ghost will attach to the third group’s pieces.
But there’s still a major premise.
No one knows what step number the fourth group’s piece guessed last round.
There’s no information exchange between pieces and Chess Players after the pieces are on the board. The Chess Player also doesn’t know what the guess was for the last round. If they guessed two but the Chess Player rolled a one, and they step into this room, they will die here.
Then the Honest Ghost will linger in this room.
If they roll a one, the fourth group would never go downward because the room directly below is the Shared Death Square that the third group just entered.
Unless the fourth group’s Chess Player wants to meet mutual destruction with their piece, they won’t go down.
"The fourth group is now surrounded," Liu Ruyan analyzed the current situation, "To the left is us, to the right is the deceitful third group, and below is the all-ending Shared Death Square, with the ever-threatening Honest Ghost tagging along. Looks like you’re not the unluckiest anymore."
Hehe, Gu Mian gave her a perfunctory chuckle.
At this moment, a figure suddenly appeared by the wall on the left.
Gu Mian and Liu Ruyan turned simultaneously to the source of the figure and saw a medium-height, square-faced middle-aged man.
Behind the middle-aged man was a towering ghostly shadow, appearing like the shadow of a giant, half white and half black.
Gu Mian immediately understood that these were the fourth group’s pieces, and the fourth group’s Chess Player had made their choice.
Upon entering the room, the middle-aged man had no time to pay attention to them and first looked at the other three walls. Seeing that no doors appeared on them, he heaved a sigh of relief.
He seemed to sense something wrong around his ankles, looked down in confusion, and saw that shackles had already clamped around his feet.
Then, the room’s description appeared before him, and the man’s face showed an expression of extreme delight as he read it.
There is no communication between the piece and the Chess Player; he did not know this was the Kuibu Square before entering, which is why he wore such a joyful expression.
At this point, the ghostly shadow behind the man emitted a hoarse, unpleasant voice: "Honest person, you’ve given me the true answer. This hundred Game Coins are your reward."
"Now, honest person, please tell me how many steps you will move in your next round?" The ghostly shadow didn’t give the man a breather and immediately began asking for his next round’s steps.
"One step! I will move one step in the next round!" the man hurriedly responded to the Honest Ghost.
The ghostly shadow, half white and half black, behind him nodded, "I have noted it, hoping it’s an honest answer."
After saying this, the ghostly shadow fell silent.
The man finally breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at Gu Mian and Liu Ruyan in the room. In fact, when he first entered the house, he realized there were two people inside, but at that time he was eager to confirm if he had guessed the right steps in the previous round, so he didn’t pay attention to the two inside until now, when he had the time to observe Gu Mian and the others.
It was quite a shock at first glance.
"You, you?" Hao Laoshi exclaimed in surprise at Gu Mian, "Why is it you again?"
"A familiar face." Liu Ruyan spoke up from the side, "You recognize Gu Mian but not me?"
Upon seeing Liu Ruyan’s face clearly, Hao Laoshi stuttered even more, "You, you, you... why are you here too..."
What a coincidence—since the global game started, Gu Mian has encountered Hao Laoshi five times already.
The first meeting with Hao Laoshi was in Coach Che’s instance. At that time, besides himself, there were also Chu Changge and Xiao Qiao. The instance’s death protection mechanism hadn’t closed yet, and dying in the instance wouldn’t mean permanent death. While evading the ghost with Hao Laoshi, Chu Changge mercilessly threw Hao Laoshi to the ghost to save himself. Of course, Gu Mian didn’t know about this at the time and was only told by Mr. Hao during a later encounter.
The second meeting with Hao Laoshi was in the High School Horror instance, and Liu Ruyan was also there. They likely met during that instance.
The third encounter was during the college entrance examination event, and the fourth was in the Death Filming instance.
This is the fifth time.
Chu Changge’s ruthless behavior left an indelible impression on Hao Laoshi, so every time he saw Chu Changge afterward, he would be trembling and stuttering in fear, his expression timid—just like how he is now facing Liu Ruyan.
"What’s wrong?" Seeing Hao Laoshi so afraid of Liu Ruyan, Gu Mian asked, "Did she also throw you to the ghost?"
"What do you mean throw to the ghost?" Liu Ruyan, unaware of Hao Laoshi’s grudge with Chu Changge, looked at Gu Mian in confusion.
"No... no..." Hao Laoshi shook his head, stepping away from Liu Ruyan and moving closer to Gu Mian.
The black and white ghostly shadow followed him, which turned out to be the Honest Ghost.
Gu Mian noticed that the ghostly shadow seemed to shrink significantly in size as it moved over.
Hao Laoshi glanced at Liu Ruyan a few times in fear, then turned his eyes to Gu Mian with a hopeful look: "It’s you! I can’t believe I’m running into you here."
Having gone through so many instances with Gu Mian, Hao Laoshi knew very well how to handle things correctly.
He knew that encountering this familiar face in the instance meant guaranteed compensation.
Why does he look so hopeful? Gu Mian felt a bit awkward as Hao Laoshi watched him.
"It’s really great to meet you in this instance. I thought if I took a few more steps, I’d be dead. You have no idea how scared I was to move just now, afraid the number our Chess Player gave wouldn’t match what I guessed last round. But now I’m not afraid at all... When can we leave here?" Hao Laoshi barely finished speaking before revealing his true intentions, seemingly wishing Gu Mian could immediately create a big hole in the board to eject them from the instance.
Gu Mian glanced at the Honest Ghost behind Hao Laoshi. The Honest Ghost had transformed from a large shadow into a small figure almost entirely hidden behind Hao Laoshi, a stark contrast to its imposing aura when first entering the room.
Gu Mian reached out and pulled the black and white ghostly shadow from behind Hao Laoshi, placing it behind himself.
Free game coins should not be wasted.
The ghostly shadow struggled a bit, seemingly not fond of Gu Mian’s arrangement, but resistance was futile, and soon it became still under Gu Mian’s oppressive aura.
Current situation made Hao Laoshi laud Gu Mian as a good person.
The good person asked, "Who are the remaining two people in your team? Is there someone named Renle Mountain?"
Mr. Hao heard the name for the first time and shook his head in confusion, "Never heard of him. Do you know which group I’m from? You... you two should be the two pieces from the same team, right?"
Gu Mian’s group started moving with two pieces in the first round. Gu Mian was part of the first group. When their group was moving, the pieces of the other three groups were still in the starting room and could see the board situation.
Hao Laoshi, of course, saw it, too, so upon discovering two people in this square, he instinctively thought they were the two pieces from the same team.
"Yes," Gu Mian nodded, "We are both from the same team. I know you’re a piece from the fourth group and the second to move. The first one stepped on a trap square and died."
"How do you know that?" Hao Laoshi widened his eyes at Gu Mian. After taking the field, he was completely unaware of the board’s situation and didn’t know the other groups’ movements. He hadn’t expected Gu Mian to be so well-informed.
But upon closer thought, if it were Gu Mian, knowing everyone’s movements on the board wouldn’t be too surprising.
"We have special items that allow us to communicate with the Chess Player," Gu Mian looked at Hao Laoshi, "That’s how we know everyone’s movements on the board. Did you know that the Chess Player from Group Three has already directed their piece toward your starting room?"
"Within three turns, your Chess Player will be in trouble if nothing unexpected happens," Liu Ruyan added fuel to the fire from the side.
"What," Hao Laoshi’s face showed an anxious expression, "Do the pieces from Group Three plan to enter our starting room to kill our Chess Player? That can’t happen... It needs to be stopped..."
"Are you close with your group’s Chess Player?" Gu Mian asked, "Does your group’s Chess Player have the ability to protect themselves?"
"I think so. He’s been through many instances and has a strong physique. But he doesn’t have many special items right now. He said whenever we’re in danger on the board, he gives us special items, leaving only a few useful for command," Hao Laoshi replied anxiously.
