Central Television.
[Oh shit oh shit ahhhhh my trypophobia is acting up save me]
[Is this the camp? This damn place is a ghost den, isn't it??]
[1, 2, 3... wow, countless, simply countless. This batch of players really hit the jackpot.]
The players inside the instance couldn't see, but netizens outside could see everything clearly.
[Luckily that Daisy from Hans Nation didn't open her eyes, otherwise she would have been greeted by over a dozen big, watery eyes.]
[That leather-clad woman from Bear Nation was targeted so badly. Not only was she pushed into the water, but she was also held down by five or six eerie shadows, not allowed to surface.]
[That pool water is so green it's reflective, my god. It's so dirty I feel like touching it would cause an infection.]
[That black brother also had it rough, basically lying right into the eerie shadows' nest.]
[The two players from Kimchi Nation and Kangaroo Nation were smart. They sensed something was wrong and closed their eyes, playing dead. Otherwise, what awaited them would have been a forest full of mop-heads.]
[Damn it, who understands how weak and helpless I felt when I saw densely packed eerie shadows appear all around these two people!]
[When it comes to being smart, it's still our Master Xu Xi. He perfectly avoided all this torture. Oh, I almost forgot, there's also that Rice Nation guy. He retreated fast enough, I guess.]
As the live stream comments scrolled frantically, host Jiang Jin also spoke up: "These two eliminated players look rather miserable."
"After all, these players' actions were somewhat improper." Mindful that he was still on a live broadcast, Luo Zongyun phrased it rather tactfully.
However, the netizens didn't have as many reservations.
[More than just improper, it's like wildly dancing on top of their graves.]
[Don't forget to add, on tens of thousands of graves.]
[Gotta hand it to the production team, real masters at courting death.]
[The mop-heads: We were already annoyed being dead, and now there are bored people coming to our home to jump around wildly.]
Yao Han looked thoughtful for a moment before tentatively asking, "So, this instance requires ignoring these eerie shadows, right? I saw three players seemed to pass the challenge safely by doing just that."
Lin Miao shook his head. "Not entirely."
Luo Zongyun also said, "From what we can see now, the eerie shadows' behavior is chaotic. This means there likely aren't any 'rules' governing them. We can't predict what they'll do next."
The two hosts were visibly startled upon hearing this.
Yao Han said in surprise, "No 'rules'? Then wouldn't the players be completely unable to fight against these eerie shadows?"
"You could say yes, but..." Lin Miao paused. "We need to note one thing: the eerie shadows didn't kill the eliminated players. If they wanted to, all the players in the camp could have been wiped out the moment they stepped through the gate."
"So, the key point isn't really how to fight these eerie shadows. Whether they have 'rules' or not isn't important. What's important is the eerie shadows' attitude towards the players."
Luo Zongyun nodded; his thoughts basically aligned with Lin Miao's. "If you don't provoke or ignore those eerie shadows, they might indeed let you go. Of course, unless you're unlucky and happen to catch their eye."
"The eerie shadows' goal is very clear: they want all players to leave the camp. Why they want to do this is what we need to think about."
Lin Miao looked at the players gathering again on the big screen and sighed softly. "The remaining players need to change their mindset quickly."
At this moment, Jiang Jin suddenly asked with a slightly hesitant expression, "Our Hua Nation contestant Xu Xi withdrew from the competition right at the start, which aligns with the eerie shadows' goal. Logically, that should be a good thing. But from what you two said, withdrawing might not necessarily be good?"
He asked directly, and the netizens in front of their screens were immediately enlightened. The comment section instantly flooded with "Right!".
The two experts couldn't help but exchange a look.
"The eerie shadows' intimidation and obstruction can be seen as danger, but also as a warning. What they least want the players to come into contact with might be the key to clearing this instance." Luo Zongyun said seriously. "I believe Xu Xi must see this. His judgment in past instances can't be fake."
"As for his thoughts, unfortunately, I really find them hard to fathom." Luo Zongyun gave a small shrug.
"I think he's waiting for the other players to find that key." Lin Miao suddenly said. "I mentioned earlier, he's waiting for the real danger to emerge. But I'm also very curious, when that time comes, how will he ensure he can come into contact with that key?"
[No matter what, just trust Master Xu Xi.]
[So the master saw through the essence of the instance at first glance right after entering? No wonder he withdrew so coolly. Turns out he knew the little ghosts were troublesome but not the key.]
[Alright then. I was worried Master Xu Xi might be at a disadvantage because of the unequal perspectives between the two sides.]
[Am I the only one who wants to know how exactly he figured it out? (super quiet)]
[This is already 248's sixth instance, haven't you gotten used to it yet?]
[To put it abstractly, maybe he saw it while listening to the Director explain the instance background.]
[Not abstract at all.]
[Another question: why couldn't we see the other mop-heads in the short-haired woman's live stream after she was eliminated earlier?]
At the same time, Yao Han asked a similar question.
"Probably because she was possessed." Luo Zongyun quickly gave an answer. "It's like she alone gained the ability to see ghosts. That's why we couldn't observe them."
[Isn't the mechanism of these mop-heads a bit overpowered?]
[Good grief, they have mechanisms when you need mechanisms, and numbers when you need numbers. Completely unsolvable. Now I firmly believe they really went easy on the players.]
At this point, the development inside the instance also reached the point where Buriman hoped to cooperate with Xu Xi but was mercilessly rejected by him.
"Our Hua Nation contestant Xu Xi firmly rejected the cooperation invitation from Rice Nation contestant Buriman." Jiang Jin promptly stated.
Lin Miao exchanged another look with Luo Zongyun.
"It seems we were overly worried." Lin Miao said with a helpless smile.
To not even bother feigning politeness towards a player in the same situation, who naturally shares a cooperative stance... if you say he doesn't have confidence, that's definitely false.
"At this moment, I also want to borrow Contestant Xu Xi's brain." Luo Zongyun said jokingly. "I'm really looking forward to his subsequent performance in this mixed-team competition."
[If it were any other player, I'd say 'bro, stop pretending, life is important.' But this is Xu Xi.]
[This mixed-team competition has truly opened my eyes. First time seeing so many ghosts.]
[I'm wondering if Master Xu Xi will eliminate all the other players in the end.]
[Probably. It's not like he doesn't have that capability.]
...
"You closed your eyes after sensing something was wrong?" Daisy raised the corner of her eye slightly, thoughtfully repeating the question.
"Yes." Kuxia nodded gently. "We actually didn't recite that scripture, but changes still occurred around us."
"There was no wind, yet the air became unnaturally cold, as if something was about to emerge, and not just one thing."
Gessalin took over the explanation: "We chose the latter option between quickly leaving and closing our eyes to stay silent. Facts proved this choice was successful."
She didn't say it was the right choice, only used the word 'successful'.
"If that's the case, our experiences might have some common points." Daisy recounted what she heard and felt after covering her eyes.
Winifred sighed. "So, only I was chased all over the place by the bluish-grey supernatural being and the eerie hands?"
"Eerie hands?" The others were immediately attracted by this term.
They were all familiar with the description of that thing from the leather-clad woman's account, but what were eerie hands?
Seeing this, Winifred briefly explained his encounter, causing the others to feel their scalps tingle.
"I didn't expect that thing to have summoning abilities." Daisy's expression turned rather unpleasant.
"No, not summoning." Winifred denied. "To be precise, it was a call. Those eerie hands... might be the same kind of supernatural being, companions of that weird hanging entity."
This could be judged from the fact that the eerie hands didn't disappear after that weird hanging entity was shot by his gun, and from the fact that they were attacked simultaneously in different locations.
The breathing of the other five people immediately became heavier.
"Should have guessed there was more than one of those things." Gessalin tried hard to calm herself down. "What about that leather-clad woman? What did she experience?"
Winifred shrugged. "I'd like to know too, but unfortunately, we were separated. By the time we arrived, she had already fainted by the poolside, completely soaked."
Now only the Mass Grave group remained.
Ichimura Kota glanced at Yurien and decided he would speak up.
He was afraid the other might spout some useless nonsense again.
After learning about Saha's elimination process, everyone's expressions became subtly complex.
