After emerging from the illusion, no more ghosts attacked Forgiveness Hat, and the real surroundings finally revealed themselves.
Without hesitation, he rushed into the town, intending to meet up with Xiao Xiao.
Because his initial deduction had been completely wrong.
The town entrance was not the boundary between the safe zone and the dangerous zone. After all, he had been attacked by ghosts even before entering the town.
"And besides..."
Forgiveness Hat raised his head and looked around. Everything was shrouded in mist.
They had entered this gray fog long ago.
"This entire area is the ghosts' domain. From the very beginning, no living person has spoken to us."
"I also misunderstood something else. The area around the lord isn't a safe zone either. The ghosts target the lord too!"
Thinking of that, Forgiveness Hat frowned again.
"If the lord gets killed, what happens to us? What happens to the base? How will the game's progression change?"
He did not know, but his instincts told him it would not be a good thing.
"If we save the lord under these circumstances, we'll definitely get a huge reward!"
If this had been an instance that tested combat power, he would have run without a second thought. But in a ghost-themed instance like this, it was worth taking a shot.
Forgiveness Hat had walked less than fifty meters when the red dot representing Xiao Xiao on his Smartwatch drew near.
A voice came from within the gray mist.
"Brother Hat? Is that you?"
"It's me! Come over here!"
Visibility in town was poor. Only after they approached each other did the two finally see one another.
"Brother Hat! I knew you were still alive! That's great! Those two ghosts almost scared me to death just now!" Xiao Xiao cried, her face breaking into a relieved smile.
But Forgiveness Hat instinctively kept his distance from Xiao Xiao. In this instance, he found it difficult to trust his own eyes.
"Don't come any closer. I need to ask you a few questions to confirm that you're really you."
Xiao Xiao: "Huh?"
Forgiveness Hat: "How many views did the video you posted on Bilibili the day before yesterday have at noon yesterday?"
Xiao Xiao: "H-How would I know that? I don't stare at my view count twenty-four hours a day. That question's way too hard. Ask something else, Brother Hat."
Forgiveness Hat raised the Wolf Tooth Club in his hand. "Think carefully. I'll give you the time it takes to count to three. Three..."
Xiao Xiao: "Don't! Brother Hat! Things are bad enough already. Don't let us start fighting each other!"
"Two."
Xiao Xiao: "Let me think. Let me think."
"One."
Xiao Xiao: "Over three million! Around that number! Bilibili's traffic should be pretty good, so my video should've hit three million."
"Be more specific!"
"Uh... 3.2 million?"
Forgiveness Hat grinned. "Unfortunately, you got it wrong."
Xiao Xiao jolted. "Don't hit me!"
"So you passed. You're the real one."
Forgiveness Hat lowered the Wolf Tooth Club and officially met up with Xiao Xiao.
Xiao Xiao was utterly baffled.
"Huh? What just happened?"
Forgiveness Hat pointed at the two-story building in the center of town. "The lord is in there. We'll talk as we walk."
"Oh, I noticed too. I was planning to find you so we could figure something out together."
Forgiveness Hat continued, "You probably noticed too. There are ghosts in this town. They can create illusions to deceive us. And judging by the fact that they used our language, their illusion attacks may create different scenarios based on our memories. Everyone sees something different. Of course, those illusions may also contain unavoidable lethal attacks. We still don't know how these ghosts kill people."
"Just now, to prevent the possibility that you were a ghost in disguise, I asked you that question. Because I watched your video at noon yesterday and noticed the view count below it: 2.835 million. In other words, I knew the answer, but you had almost no way of knowing the view count at a specific time."
"The fact that you couldn't answer that question proved that you were really you."
Xiao Xiao had to turn the logic over in her head several times before she understood.
"Oh, you mean that if I answered without hesitation, or if you forced the right answer out of me, then I'd be a ghost, right?"
"That's right."
Xiao Xiao said admiringly, "You're amazing, Brother Hat!"
The corner of Forgiveness Hat's mouth lifted slightly. Then he asked, "Tell me why you stayed in town for so long after entering, and how you got out of trouble afterward."
At the mention of staying behind, Xiao Xiao's face reddened.
"At first... I got so scared that I logged out."
Forgiveness Hat: "?"
Only after hearing Xiao Xiao's account did Forgiveness Hat learn what had happened.
Xiao Xiao had not planned to log back in after going offline. But the more she thought about it while lying in bed, the angrier she became, until she got mad at herself.
"It's just a game. What am I scared of? It's not like ghosts can crawl through the internet cable and eat me!"
At that moment, she suddenly remembered the experience of being tricked by her fans into playing Outlast 2.
"All fear comes from within. As long as I'm not afraid and follow the mechanics, no matter how terrifying it is, it can't hurt me."
After calming down for a while, Xiao Xiao decided to log in again!
She was going to fight like a man!
"I, Weapon Master Li Mo Xiao, will never be scared!"
After psyching herself up like that, she put her helmet back on.
After entering the game, Xiao Xiao grabbed her Wolf Tooth Club and started chasing the ghosts around, beating them wildly. Although she dealt no damage, she certainly put on an impressive show.
The two ghosts failed to scare Xiao Xiao, and she stopped following them as well.
After a brief stalemate, the two ghosts vanished. Two hands reached out from the gray fog behind her, grabbing her and trying to drag her somewhere.
But after Xiao Xiao floated in midair for a moment, the two ghostly hands failed to move her and then set her back down.
Only the sound of a woman going "Eh?" rang through the air.
Forgiveness Hat interrupted, "Eh???"
Xiao Xiao said, "Uh, it was 'eh'! A little higher-pitched than yours. It sounded surprised. But after I fell back down, no ghosts came to grab me again, so I hurriedly followed my watch's location marker to find you."
Forgiveness Hat fell silent in thought for a moment.
"Maybe there's some kind of mechanism preventing the ghosts from dragging you into an illusion. Those ghosts may have been surprised too. And judging by the timing, it felt like I was trapped in the illusion for a long time, but only one minute had actually passed. We escaped at almost the same time."
"Oh, right! I also got some experience!" Xiao Xiao raised her watch for Forgiveness Hat to see.
Successfully defended against Phantasmal Illusion. No intrusion detected. Experience +300
Forgiveness Hat was astonished. "You weren't dragged into the illusion, and you got that much experience? A hundred more than me! What kind of mechanic is that? Don't tell me the ghosts in this game judge people by their looks too???"
Xiao Xiao spread her hands, indicating that she had no idea.
"Forget it. We'll talk after we rescue the lord and get back."
The two chatted as they arrived before the only two-story building in town.
The two wooden doors were tightly shut. Black mist seeped through the gaps, as though some terrifying creature lurked within.
"Come on, let's go in. Worst case, we die once!"
"Yeah!"
The two pushed open the wooden doors.
The wooden door before Cheng Shaofeng opened.
Nothing appeared.
The place seemed empty. It was merely the unremarkable home of Salt Well Town's richest man, the Town Chief.
He looked at the empty grand chair in the center of the room.
"So... you did all of this? What are you? A ghost? A soul?"
Under the scan from his base, a humanoid outline appeared in the depression there.
The space in that spot flickered rapidly like a mosaic. A red cloak gradually appeared before Cheng Shaofeng. It was empty inside, yet it seemed to wrap around a graceful figure.
"Hehehe~ A brat from Duoyu Academy. As expected, nothing can escape your Quantum Scanner. Why are you here in Four Mountains?"
Duoyu Academy?
What kind of place was that?
Cheng Shaofeng did not rush to deny it. Instead, he asked, "I have my reasons for being here. How did you recognize me as someone from Duoyu Academy?"
"Hehe~ Your traits are easy to identify. Every one of you has a protective shield that no energy or matter can penetrate. Only your Duoyu Academy can create technology like that."
Cheng Shaofeng nodded without saying anything else.
"Since you know you can't break my shield, why did you bring me here?"
"Hehehe~ I've long heard that the people of Duoyu Academy are all learned scholars, technological masters with astonishing logical abilities. I have a question I've pondered for ten years. Let's see whether you can answer it."
Cheng Shaofeng smiled disdainfully. "Oh? What if I can answer it? And what if I can't?"
The Red Cloak floated up and flew before him. Immediately afterward, an immense force tore him off the ground. It felt as though countless hands had appeared around him, pulling at and stretching his body.
Warning! Under Phasing Attack! Under Phasing Attack! Nano Shield automatically activated. Power continuously draining.
A silvery-white Nano Shield appeared around Cheng Shaofeng's body. The power that had barely decreased before now began dropping rapidly.
A voice came from within the Red Cloak. "If you answer correctly, I'll let you go. No matter what you came to Four Mountains for, I can offer you some help. But if you can't answer, then stay and keep me company."
Cheng Shaofeng's eyelid twitched violently.
This was bad!
He had overplayed his hand!
What did he know about Duoyu Academy?
What the hell did he know about advanced technology? He was just some forum lurker who always asked others for answers!
"Um... if I say this is all a misunderstanding now... is it too late?"
"Listen to the question!"
Before you continue