The Red Cloak in the Mayor's Room

After emerging from the illusion, no more ghosts attacked Forgiveness Hat. The real surroundings also became visible.

Without hesitation, he charged into the small town, wanting to rendezvous with Xiao Xiao.

This was because his initial deduction had been completely wrong.

The entrance to the small town wasn't the boundary between the safe and dangerous zones. He had been attacked by ghosts even before entering the town.

"Moreover,"

Forgiveness Hat looked up at his surroundings, shrouded in mist.

They had stepped into this gray fog long ago.

"This entire area is the ghosts' domain. No living person has spoken to us from the very beginning."

"I also misunderstood one point: the area around the Lord isn't a safe zone either. The ghosts can target the Lord too!"

Thinking of this, Forgiveness Hat's brow furrowed again.

"If the Lord is killed, what will happen to us? What about the base? What changes will occur in the game's progression?"

He didn't know, but his intuition told him it wouldn't be a good thing.

"If I save the Lord in this situation, I'll definitely get a huge reward!"

If it were a dungeon that tested combat power, he would have run without a second thought. But this kind of ghost-themed dungeon was worth a try.

Forgiveness Hat had walked less than 50 meters when his smartwatch showed Xiao Xiao's red dot approaching.

A voice came from the gray fog:

"Brother Hat? Is that you?"

"It's me! Come here!"

Visibility was very low in the town, and they could only see each other after getting closer.

"Brother Hat! I knew you were still alive! That's great! Those two ghosts just now scared me to death!" Xiao Xiao exclaimed, a relieved smile on her face.

But Forgiveness Hat subconsciously kept his distance from Xiao Xiao. In this dungeon, he found it hard to trust his own eyes.

"Don't come over yet. I need to ask you a few questions to confirm you're really you."

Xiao Xiao: "Huh?"

Forgiveness Hat: "What was the view count of the video you posted on Bilibili the day before yesterday at 12 PM yesterday?"

Xiao Xiao: "How would I know that? I don't track my view data 24/7. That question is too hard, ask me something else, Brother Hat."

Forgiveness Hat raised the mace in his hand: "Think carefully. I'll give you three seconds. Three..."

Xiao Xiao: "Don't! Brother Hat! The situation is bad enough already, let's not fight amongst ourselves!"

"Two..."

Xiao Xiao: "Let me think... let me think..."

"One..."

Xiao Xiao: "Over 3 million! That's about the number. Bilibili's traffic is pretty good, my video should reach 3 million."

"Be specific!"

"Uh, 3.2 million?"

Forgiveness Hat grinned: "I'm sorry, you got it wrong."

Xiao Xiao was startled: "Don't hit me!"

"So you passed. You are yourself."

Forgiveness Hat lowered the mace and officially met up with Xiao Xiao.

Xiao Xiao was completely bewildered.

"Huh? What just happened?"

Forgiveness Hat pointed to the two-story building in the center of the town: "The Lord is there. Let's talk as we walk."

"Oh, I noticed that too. I was planning to find you so we could figure something out together."

Forgiveness Hat continued: "You should have noticed too, this town... has ghosts. They can create illusions to deceive us. And judging by the fact that they used our language, these illusion attacks might be tailored to our memories, so everyone sees something different. Of course, the illusions might also contain deadly attacks. We still don't know how the ghosts kill people."

"To prevent you from being a ghost impersonating you, I asked you that question. I watched your video yesterday afternoon and noticed the view count below: 2.835 million. That means I knew the answer, but it's almost impossible for you to know the exact view count at a specific time."

"If you couldn't answer this question, it proves you are yourself."

It took Xiao Xiao a few more moments to understand the logic.

"Oh, so you mean if I answered immediately or if I was forced to reveal the correct answer, I would be a ghost, right?"

"Exactly."

Xiao Xiao admired him: "You're amazing, Brother Hat!"

Forgiveness Hat's lips curved slightly, then he asked: "Tell me why you stayed in the town for so long after entering, and how you managed to escape?"

Upon hearing "stayed," Xiao Xiao's face turned red.

"At first, I was so scared I logged off."

Brother Hat: "?"

Through Xiao Xiao's description, Brother Hat finally understood what had happened.

After logging off, Xiao Xiao hadn't intended to come back online. But as she lay in bed, the more she thought about it, the angrier she got, until she finally worked herself up into a frenzy.

"It's just a game, what am I even afraid of? Ghosts can't possibly crawl through the internet to eat me!"

Just then, she suddenly remembered how a fan had tricked her into playing Outlast 2 before.

"All fear comes from within. As long as I'm not afraid and just follow the game mechanics, nothing can hurt me, no matter how terrifying."

After calming down for a bit, Xiao Xiao decided to log back in!

She was going to fight like a real man!

"I, Weapon Master, Li Moxiao, will absolutely not be intimidated!"

Cheering herself on like this, she put on her helmet again.

Once in the game, Xiao Xiao immediately grabbed her mace and started beating the ghosts, and even though it didn't deal any damage, it certainly showed some spirit.

The two ghosts hadn't scared Xiao Xiao, and Xiao Xiao wasn't going to follow them around anymore.

After a stalemate for a while, the two ghosts disappeared. From the hazy mist, two hands stretched out and grabbed her from behind, trying to drag her somewhere.

But after floating in the air for a moment, the two ghost hands couldn't pull her, and then they let her down.

Only a woman's voice in the air let out a "Yee?"

Brother Hat interrupted, "Yee???"

Xiao Xiao: "Uh, yes! Yee! The tone was a bit higher than yours, sounding a little surprised. But after I fell from the air, no more ghosts tried to grab me, so I quickly followed the smartwatch's location to find you."

Brother Hat pondered for a moment.

"Perhaps there's some kind of game mechanic that prevents ghosts from pulling you into illusions. These ghosts might have been surprised too. And if we look at the time, it felt like a long time passed when I was in the illusion, but in reality, only 1 minute went by. We escaped almost simultaneously."

"Oh, right! I also gained some experience!" Xiao Xiao held up her smartwatch for Brother Hat to see.

[Successfully defended against Phantasmal Illusion, no invasion, Experience +300]

Brother Hat was surprised, "You weren't pulled into the illusion, and you gained that much experience? 100 more than me! Wow, what kind of mechanic is that? Do the ghosts in this game judge by looks too???"

Xiao Xiao shrugged, indicating she didn't know.

"Never mind, let's talk about it after we rescue the lord and go back."

The two walked into the town, chatting, and arrived in front of the only two-story building.

Two wooden doors were tightly shut, and black mist seeped out from the cracks, as if hiding something extremely terrifying.

"Let's go in. Worst case scenario, we die once!"

"Yeah!"

The two pushed open the wooden doors.

The wooden door in front of Cheng Shaofeng opened.

Nothing appeared.

It seemed empty inside, just the home of the richest mayor in Salt Well Town.

"This is the mayor's house. It's my first time coming in."

He looked at the empty Grand Tutor's chair in the center of the room.

"So... you did all this? What are you? A ghost? A soul?"

Under his base scan, an outline of a person appeared in that spot.

The space around that area flickered rapidly like a mosaic, and a red cloak gradually appeared before Cheng Shaofeng's eyes. It was empty inside, but it seemed to wrap around a graceful figure.

"Hehehe~ Little brat from Duoyu Academy, as expected, nothing escapes your Quantum Scanner. How did you end up in Four Mountains?"

Duoyu Academy?

What place is that?

Cheng Shaofeng didn't rush to deny it. Instead, he countered, "Of course, I have my reasons for being here. How did you recognize me as someone from Duoyu Academy?"

"Hehehe~ Your characteristics are too easy to distinguish. Everyone there has a shield that no energy substance can penetrate. This kind of technology can only be made by your Duoyu Academy."

Cheng Shaofeng nodded and didn't say anything more.

"Since you know you can't break my shield, why did you call me here?"

"Hehehe~ I've heard for a long time that people from Duoyu Academy are erudite and everyone is a master of technology with amazing logical abilities. I have a problem here that I've been thinking about for 10 years, and I wonder if you can answer it."

Cheng Shaofeng sneered at the corner of his mouth, "Oh? What happens if I answer it correctly? And what happens if I don't?"

The red cloak floated up and flew in front of him. Immediately, a immense force lifted him from the ground, and it felt like countless hands were stretching his body.

[Warning! Phasing Attack received! Phasing Attack received! Shield activated automatically, power is being consumed continuously!]

A silver-white nano shield appeared around Cheng Shaofeng's body. The power that had barely depleted before began to drop rapidly.

A voice came from within the Red Cloak: "If you can answer, I'll let you go. Whatever you're here in Four Mountains for, I can offer some help. If you can't answer, you'll have to stay and keep me company."

Cheng Shaofeng's eyelids twitched violently.

Damn it!

I overplayed my hand!

How could he possibly know anything about Duoyu Academy!

What did he know about advanced technology? He was just a beggar on the forums!

"Uh, is it too late to say this was all a misunderstanding?"

"Please listen to the question!"