A Linguistic Trap

The changing room was neither too big nor too small. Although the supervisor said that ghosts could come and go as they pleased, no ghosts had entered so far.

Yu Xing gave a sweet smile, "It's nothing serious, I just... wanted to chat with the supervisor."

"You're really free, huh?" The foreman was about to glare and yell at her, but seeing Yu Xing's Da Hong robe, he swallowed his words. "What do you want to talk about? Let me tell you, you'd better go back to work. If you annoy me, I'll expose your identities."

"So, you mean as long as I don't bother you, that's fine?" Zhao Yijiu blurted out, which earned her a cold snort from the supervisor.

Following Zhao Yijiu's lead, Yu Xing continued, "Yes, could you tell me, for the supervisor, how long would it take for us to annoy you?"

He was not afraid of the foreman's threats at all.

According to his deduction, this is a safe house, but it's time-limited. It's absolutely safe within a certain time limit, but after that time, they'll be found out. So, even if they curse the boss, the Sheqing Ghost, in front of the foreman, the foreman can't do anything to them.

Sure enough, sensing their confidence, the foreman sighed, "Half an hour. You can hide here for half an hour."

"Thanks, supervisor. You're such a great guy." Yu Xing praised him sincerely, then leaned closer to the supervisor. "After the party, are we off work? After all, with an event like this where people kill for fun, I don't believe the former employees will still be in the mood to sell alcohol and boost sales after surviving. Hey, don't deny it, the bar's former waiters were also alive. I've confirmed that."

"... You already know all this, so why are you asking me!" The supervisor was furious.

"Isn't this just to confirm? So, what you said at the beginning—that we leave work at six o'clock and the results will be reviewed six hours later—was a lie, just like saying we can't laugh or cry?"

"Yes, yes, yes. Is there anything else? If you don't want to stay here, then you can. I'm going to play on my phone now; I'm not in the mood to talk to you."

Therefore, the actual duration of this simulation was not six hours. Even when the leaderboard appeared, it only stated that the person with the highest score at the end of the simulation would receive an extra reward, and the person with the lowest score would be eliminated, without mentioning the time at all.

The actual process of this simulation should be divided into two lines. The first line is to sell alcohol, complete tasks to obtain clues, then participate in this carnival party, survive, and obtain more points. If allowed, you can also use ghost money to buy some things.

The second path involves going up to the second floor, completing various Spirit Communication Game to earn higher scores, avoiding the carnival party, and then comparing scores with those on the first floor after the party ends.

Yu Xing grinned and pressed her advantage. "No, wait, I have a small favor to ask... I'd like to ask the supervisor for help."

The foreman finally glared at him. "You want my help? You've got some nerve. What do you think I'd do to help you?"

Yu Xing straightened the wrinkles on his red robe and said slowly and matter-of-factly with a smile, "Since you're the foreman, when your subordinates encounter difficulties they can't solve, the foreman should step in to help, right?"

That makes sense, but the supervisor doesn't want to admit it.

Yu Xing continued, "For example... if the employees really can't see what's being sold in the vending machines, the supervisor could tell us and help them out?"

Zhao Yijiu looked up: Yu Xing's solution was to directly ask the supervisor?

However, the foreman's reaction clearly proved that Yu Xing was right.

"Damn it! You guys clearly didn't complete the bartender's task, how did you know I could tell you this?" The young supervisor angrily unbuttoned his black vest. "Clearly..."

"The rules clearly state that Group One 08 cannot tell anyone, but we still found out. So you find it troublesome?" Yu Xing finished the second half of the sentence for the team leader.

08 is Zhu Ming 'Group One, and it's the only Group One he hasn't encountered along the way.

Since Zhu Ming and Zhang Xiangling have been on the first floor for so long, they must have discovered something of interest. It seems that they have completed a task similar to the one given by the bartender of the Other Shore Hall Forgetfulness Hall, which was to "find the evil spirit and make it drink the water from the Beneath the Forgetfulness River." They have received advance notice of the carnival party and learned about the role of the manager, a bartender who only appeared once and seemed to have become useless.

This was something Yu Xing had anticipated. After the timid and discouraged Ghost revealed some information, he easily figured out the true role of the foreman NPC.

"Actually, the vending machine isn't the thing in the Yellow Springs Hall; it's you yourself."

I still remember that wavy tilde in the system tasks.

[You can exchange ghost money for items at the bar's vending machine!]

If the Yellow Springs Hall hadn't had a two-meter-tall machine in the corner, and the ghosts hadn't called it a vending machine, the strategist would definitely have wondered what a vending machine actually was.

However, due to the above misleading information, the researchers have fallen into a false impression one by one.

Zhao Yijiu listened attentively from behind, and secretly remembered what was said: she might encounter this kind of misleading textual trap again in the future.

"Alright, you can buy things from me. But I have to ask, how did you get this information?" The supervisor looked helpless yet puzzled.

Yu Xing smiled, recalling the discouraged Ghost who had fled in defeat. "Of course, it's thanks to my intelligence! Foreman, bring me the inventory list, shall we?"

"I don't believe in any cleverness or intelligence! We haven't even done the task, where would we get clues from!?" the foreman cursed inwardly, but still obediently pulled a blank piece of paper from his pocket.

The writing on the white paper was very small, all in blood-red ink, and if you got close enough to smell it, you could smell a faint scent of blood in the air.

Perhaps because the items in this world appear different to the diviners than to others, the system thoughtfully provided a prompt, retranslating the items on the blank paper in a way that the diviners could understand, right in front of Yu Xing and Zhao Yijiu.

[Sheqing Dreamscape: Offering, when fused with the Deducer's Persona Mask, has a high probability of forming a dagger-type weapon. Can be exchanged for 5,000,000 Netherworld Coins]

[False Carnival: Offering, when fused with the Deducer's Persona Mask, will most likely form a compass-shaped offering. Can be exchanged for 5,000,000 Hell Coins]

[Meng Po's Soup): Item. Drinking it has a chance to purify 10-30 points of Personality Assimilation Degree (regardless of the actual Personality Assimilation Degree). Extremely valuable. Can be exchanged for 5,000,000 Hell Coins.]

The very first three items were enough to make their hearts flutter.

Yu Xing focused his attention on [Sheqing Dreamscape]. What he lacked right now was a weapon, and this was like a pillow delivered to someone who was about to fall asleep.

But he can't afford it now.

Besides the initial tip of 100,000 ghost coins, he killed seven discouraged Ghost and received 700,000 ghost coins, Zhao Yijiu killed ten discouraged Ghost and received 1 million ghost coins. Together, they only had 1.8 million ghost coins, far from 5 million.

Moreover, the Meng Po's Soup seems quite tempting. Although Yu Xing herself doesn't need it, if her future teammates have a high degree of Personality Assimilation Degree, having the Meng Po's Soup would be equivalent to having an extra chance to reload their status.

According to Qu Xuanqing, the item shop after the Differentiation Tier only sells recovery items for those with a mutation level below 30%. Once the strategist's Personality Assimilation Degree exceeds 30%, there is no turning back. They can only watch themselves go further and further in the direction of distortion until they become a monster or die along the way.

Therefore, the Meng Po's Soup is truly precious!

Yu Xing wanted it too.

In an instant, he made his decision—to kill the woman in red!

Beneath these three expensive items lie many other things, such as:

[Cursed Puppet: Item. Use to curse one person with bad luck (lasts after one use), until the target dies. Can be exchanged for 3,000,000 Ghost Coins.]

[Beneath the Forgetfulness River: Item, a type of wine, used to send someone to hell. Can be exchanged for 3,000,000 Nether Coins]

[Unfillable Greed: Item, a type of alcohol. Drinking it increases Personality Assimilation Degree by 5%. Can be exchanged for 1,000,000 Ghost Coins]

[Carnival Party Exemption Coupon: For one hour after use, the ghosts will stop searching for you, even if you remove your mask. However, this scroll will expire if you are discovered attacking a ghost. It can be redeemed for 800,000 Ghost Coins and can be redeemed repeatedly.]

These are just some of the items; there are props, drinks sold at the bar, and, for many, the most precious life-saving item: the [Carnival Party Exemption Coupon].

However, for Yu Xing and Zhao Yijiu, the exemption scroll was unnecessary, because obtaining it only provided a little more protection. If they wanted ghost money and points, they still had to kill ghosts.

Aside from the exemption certificate, there were quite a few things that the impoverished Yu Xing could fancy, but since he already had things he wanted to buy and his ghost money was limited, he had to give up on the others.

"Anything you like? The two of you have enough ghost money to buy two exemption certificates." The foreman looked down at his phone again.

"Zhu Ming and Zhang Xiangling probably bought exemption certificates from you. But we don't need them," Yu Xing said. He glanced at the calm Zhao Yijiu, thought for a moment, and then said, "Let's go kill those twin twins in red."

The foreman's phone made another close call with the ground.

The pale-faced young foreman looked at Yu Xing, who had uttered such outrageous words, in disbelief; "What nonsense..."

What was even more unbelievable was that the seemingly more composed human in black didn't hesitate at all, simply replying, "Okay."

The foreman opened his mouth.

"Good my foot!"

Do you think you can just kill someone in red like that? What's wrong with this world? Have I gone mad after I died?

Yu Xing and the other person got up and walked towards the door of the changing room. Yu Xing suddenly turned back. "The safe time is cumulative, right? If we come back after we've saved up enough money, you won't throw us into the ghost horde, will you?"

"It's cumulative..." the foreman murmured.

Yu Xing smiled and waved to the supervisor, "That's alright then, you can continue playing on your phone~"

When they stepped out of the locker room, the latest points leaderboard had already been updated.

Yu Xing glanced at it.

[Current Points Ranking]

01, 04:492

05 (deceased), 06:200

02 (deceased), 07:195

03, 08:164