Mask Carnival
The Yugi mode on the second floor has been basically figured out: you enter a room, complete some kind of Spirit Communication Game, and then receive varying amounts of points based on the Yugi's level of danger.
After leaving the room where they circled and blew air, the three teams of strategists separated again and could not meet in the corridor.
Yu Xing and Zhao Yijiu continued walking down the long, dark corridor. Just like before, they could see the staircase by simply turning around.
In the end, Yu Xing still didn't tell Zhao Yijiu how she got the wound on her wrist that wouldn't heal for the time being. He didn't want to say it, Zhao Yijiu couldn't get a single word out of him and had to give up.
Does it hurt?
It will definitely hurt.
Zhao Yijiu knew all too well what it felt like to have such a wound on your body, so she admired Yu Xing even more for appearing completely unharmed.
Don't be fooled by Yu Xing's occasional feigned innocence or emphasis on how "weak" he is. When things really get tough, he's far more manly and tolerant than anyone imagines.
After a while, the leaderboard was refreshed.
[Current Points Ranking]
01, 04:62
05, 06:60
02, 07:44
03, 08:14
Yu Xing and Zhao Yijiu ranked first. Their 55 points from the two Spirit Communication Game, plus the 7 points they earned from selling drinks at the beginning, allowed them to overtake Chengzi Xiao Yan.
The second and third places were both normal, but the fourth group's points increased at an unexpectedly slow pace.
That was Zhang Xiangling and Zhu Ming's group. Since going up to the second floor, Yu Xing hadn't seen the two of them. He now strongly suspected that this Group One hadn't gone up to the second floor at all, but had stayed on the first floor to sell alcohol.
That shouldn't be the case.
Although Zhu Ming seemed dejected, Zhang Xiangling was a quick-witted woman, so she couldn't possibly be unaware that the second floor was the real battleground.
You have to understand, the group ranked last will be eliminated, so there's no way she wouldn't come up.
"Could we find anything else?" Zhao Yijiu discussed with Yu Xing for a few moments and then offered a conjecture.
"Maybe. After all... this night shift is supposed to last six hours, and this is only the first hour. It's hard to say whether other rules will come up later." Yu Xing considered for a moment and gave a conservative conclusion. "When the bartender found out that a customer had given me a tip, he also said that I would need it in an hour or two."
Zhao Yijiu frowned. "Isn't this a lie?"
"You have to consider whether it's necessary. Something like this, if saying it doesn't achieve the effect of playing tricks on people and it's easy for me to notice something's wrong, the bartender doesn't need to say it. But she said it, so I suspect it's something the system forced."
Yu Xing shook his head and added, "Besides, the three halls on the first floor are set up so realistically that it's not necessarily just for deceiving the players. You saw it yourself; after the first points ranking was announced, any player with a brain knew to go up to the second floor, so the first floor became useless. I don't think such a large area of useless scenes will appear in the simulation."
In other words, he anticipates that the first floor will still be useful later.
Perhaps a new rule will emerge that incentivizes players to compete against each other, allowing them to earn points just like those on the second floor.
Meanwhile, Zhang Xiangling and Zhu Ming, who had the lowest scores, were selling wine in the Other Shore Hall.
To be precise, it was Zhang Xiangling selling the wine all by herself, Zhu Ming was just passing by.
After selling another bottle of wine, Zhang Xiangling saw Zhu Ming dozing off against the wall. Her voice was filled with exasperation. "Can't you do something? Even... even if we got the news about the event on the first floor in half an hour, you can't be this lazy!"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Ming merely raised an eyelid and casually shifted his weight onto another leg. He lazily replied, "No need. The points difference will naturally be made up once the event starts. I don't want to move."
His tone was flat, like a straight line without any ripples. Anyone could tell that he meant no dissatisfaction or arguing; he was simply stating a fact—he didn't want to move.
Zhang Xiangling sighed deeply. She had never seen such a lazy strategist before. This kind of temperament was deeply ingrained in Zhu Ming, like a brand.
She even suspected that Zhu Ming's Persona Mask was named Lazy!
I really don't know how someone like that survives so many simulations and even gets promoted to a high level.
That's right, Zhu Ming, a lazy person, is actually considered advanced.
This is also why Zhang Xiangling only verbally expressed her dissatisfaction and didn't dare to really blame the other party... She was only an intermediate-level employee and didn't have as much seniority as Zhu Ming.
Furthermore, the information about a special event that would be reported on the first floor at 1:30 a. m. was obtained by Zhu Ming while he was dozing off.
This is outrageous!
Zhu Ming didn't care what his teammates were thinking. In fact, when they were forming a team, he could tell at a glance that the diviner who called himself A Yu had a special aura and must be very strong. He wanted to team up with A Yu and then openly follow behind and slack off, but A Yu refused him.
He was too lazy to choose. When Zhang Xiangling came to find him, he nodded without saying anything—it didn't matter who was left anyway. He didn't want to take the initiative to find others; chatting was too tiring.
However, if Zhu Ming knew that Zhang Xiangling was complaining that his Persona Mask name should be Lazy, he would probably still refute it; his Persona Mask is called Nameless.
The reason he's "nameless" is because the system, in accordance with his personality, simply didn't bother to come up with a name...
"Even if the event is in our favor, we still need to collect more tips and ghost money, otherwise our advantage might be taken away." Zhang Xiangling didn't give up trying to persuade her. She had figured it out: at least three of the four men in this simulation would never show any mercy to women. Beauty, which was usually useful, would be completely useless in this simulation.
So she resigned herself to her fate and changed her approach, appealing to his emotions and reasoning with him, finally moving Zhu Ming to "condescend" to his will.
Seeing Zhu Ming greet the new customer with a face that looked like he was about to die of sleep, Zhang Xiangling breathed a sigh of relief, touched the complete drinks menu in her vest pocket, and confidently began a new round of sales pitches.
Half an hour passed quickly.
In the past half hour, Yu Xing and Zhao Yijiu completed two Spirit Communication Game of moderate difficulty, earning a total of 80 points.
Points are awarded on a per-person basis. As long as multiple people are in a room, everyone who participates and survives will receive the same number of points.
Suddenly, just as they continued to wait for the next guest to ring the bell, a broadcast-like announcement rang out from somewhere in the corridor.
The voice was gentle and warm; just by listening to the timbre, Yu Xing imagined a refined and elegant ancient scholar. Unfortunately, the content of the broadcast quickly shattered this illusion...
"Dear customers, thank you for your patience. The Mask Carnival you've all been waiting for will officially begin in one minute. The vending machines on the first floor will be open, and customers on the second floor can also enter the first floor to participate in the activities. To ensure that other customers on the second floor are not disturbed, the second floor will be closed in thirty seconds. During the event, the first and second floors will be temporarily separated. We hope you have a great time."
As expected, a special rule has emerged!
Yu Xing had anticipated this and quickly understood the content of the broadcast.
This means they have thirty seconds to choose whether to stay on the first or second floor during the event. After thirty seconds, the Bridge of Helplessness stairs will disappear!