"The Mountain Inn"??? Wasn't Expert Xu Xi the One Who Found It First?

Squinting, Xu Xi managed to make out a small portion of the text and began to ponder.

What rules? A code of conduct?

Some inns in the real world posted rules too, such as prohibitions against damaging public property or bringing in dangerous items like flammable and explosive materials. That was nothing unusual.

But judging from the words he could make out, the notice posted in this inn clearly wasn't that kind of rules.

Before he could think any further, someone came over to him.

"Huh?" The short-haired woman with glasses leaned eagerly toward the paper, trying hard to make out the words on it.

She had just searched part of the area herself but hadn't found any useful clues. When she turned and saw the quietest young man in the group staring intently at a wall, curiosity brought her over to take a look. She hadn't expected to find something.

Xu Xi was forced to step back twice.

[Seriously, why's this girl pushing in? She shoved our expert right out of the way.]

[Maybe she can't see the words clearly.]

[Even so, she doesn't have to block the whole spot. Expert Xu Xi can't see the paper at all now.]

Xu Xi was also a little annoyed at being pushed aside and having his view blocked.

If she wanted a closer look at the information on the paper, couldn't she have just asked him? It wasn't as though he wouldn't have moved.

Why did she have to shove him?

Still, he had already looked over the contents of the paper, so staying here any longer would be a waste of time.

Xu Xi was just about to look elsewhere when a deliberately lowered male voice reached his ears.

"Everyone, come over here for a moment."

The refined man stood in front of the reception desk, with the burly man beside him.

Once all five were present, he showed everyone what he was holding.

It was a notebook with a black ink pen tucked inside and a set of keys.

"We found these in a cabinet at the reception desk. You can take a look."

The others took turns accepting the notebook and flipping through it.

This seemed to be the notebook the innkeeper used to register guest information. The entries were organized by date and looked reasonably clear. There weren't many guests recorded, which made sense given how remote the place was.

The guests recorded earlier had all been marked as checked out. Only the three rooms on the last few pages were still marked as occupied.

The room numbers were 103, 202 and 204.

⌈June 16, 20xx⌋

⌈Name: Yang Wu Sex: Male Age: 24 Contact information: xxx... Room number: 202⌋

⌈July 26, 20xx⌋

⌈Name: Wang Xiang Sex: Male Age: 28 Contact information: xxx... Room number: 204⌋

⌈Name: Liang Wenxue Sex: Female Age: 26 Contact information: xxx... Room number: 204⌋

⌈July 27, 20xx⌋

⌈Name: Wang Xiuping Sex: Female Age: 52 Contact information: xxx... Room number: 103⌋

⌈Name: Xu Haoyu Sex: Male Age: 11 Contact information: None Room number: 103⌋

"Only these three rooms have no checkout information. It's very possible something happened at the inn that caused these five people to come to harm, and the inn was even abandoned afterward," the refined man guessed in a gentle tone.

The way to clear a dungeon was usually closely related to its background. What they needed to do now was piece together the clues and reconstruct what had happened at the inn.

The burly man swept his gaze over the other three and asked mildly, "What about you? Did you find any clues?"

"I found an unusual piece of paper on that wall, something like a set of rules, but most of the writing on it has faded away," the short-haired woman with glasses said before anyone else could speak, pointing in a direction.

[??? Wasn't Expert Xu Xi the one who found it first?]

[The refined guy found the notebook and keys first, and he still said "we" to include the burly guy. Expert Xu Xi found those rules first, but this girl just opened her mouth and took the credit for herself. Real smooth.]

[This girl's EQ is a little low, and of all the people whose clue she could steal, she had to pick Expert Xu Xi's.]

[Can we stop blaming everything on low EQ? She obviously did it on purpose.]

[Exactly. She rushed to speak because she was afraid Expert Xu Xi would say it first and leave her with nothing to say, right?]

Ji Yang frowned slightly and straightened his back a little from where he had been leaning lazily against his chair. He glanced at the clamoring bullet comments and analyzed the situation for the viewers in his own livestream. "This short-haired female player with glasses really wants to stand out. Obviously, she deliberately spoke up before Xu Xi to show what she could do, because she didn't find any clues in the area she searched."

"In multiplayer team dungeons like this, ability is usually considered very important. She's probably afraid that if she doesn't find any useful clues, she'll be treated as a burden."

[The streamer's right. To put it bluntly, she's afraid the team will abandon her if she doesn't show her value.]

[But she stole Expert Xu Xi's clue. What about him?]

[You're calling him an expert already. Do you really think he needs your recognition once or twice?]

[True. Capable people will show what they can do one way or another.]

[Actually... is it possible Expert Xu Xi just doesn't care about any of this?]

As soon as that bullet comment appeared, the entire screen seemed to fall silent for a second.

Ji Yang rubbed his chin and thought for a moment before slowly nodding. "True. We worry that our teammates will give up on us if we can't demonstrate our value. First, that's because we aren't strong enough to leave the team on our own. After all, there are benefits to being on a team: we can pool our ideas, and it also greatly reduces our chances of dying."

"Second, it's because we inevitably crave a sense of recognition. Being part of a group makes us feel far safer than being alone. To fit in, we naturally try our hardest to demonstrate our value and seek recognition from others."

"But we've all overlooked one thing: this player named Xu Xi is different from us. Judging from his first two dungeons, he clearly doesn't lack ability, and he disdains seeking other people's recognition, let alone going out of his way to show off."

"Perhaps what this female player did really doesn't matter to him."

[Yeah, exactly. We're all worried Expert Xu Xi won't get his teammates' recognition, but he might not care at all.]

[Person above, take out the word "might."]

[In the last road dungeon, it felt like Xu Xi only helped the other three because the four players were tied together. Otherwise, they might not all have cleared it in the end. But this dungeon doesn't look like one where everyone dies if one person does.]

[There's a deeper meaning to what you're saying, bro.]

[I didn't say anything. The authorities still emphasize sincere cooperation in dungeons, since every player who dies means a little more contamination in the real world. But as for human nature... those who get it, get it.]

The scrolling bullet comments were full of heated discussion.

Ji Yang's gaze returned to the livestream on the large screen in front of him.

He declined to comment on those views in the bullet comments. There were things the commenters could say, but as a public figure, he couldn't express his stance freely.

Still...

He didn't think someone who hadn't even bothered to give his teammates an explanation in the last dungeon would care whether his teammates lived or died.