Information Exchange
Night fell, and darkness enveloped the gray clouds in the sky. Only the scattered streetlights throughout the city shone intermittently, illuminating a small area around the city.
In a hotel at the edge of the city, Zhao Mou sat by the window, silently gazing outside. On the table beside him were two thin notebooks with the words "Ghost Notice" written in blood red on the cover, which stood out conspicuously.
The "weapon" stick that Qu Xuanqing brought back was also here with him, leaning against the corner of the room, next to two pairs of gloves that Yu Xing had bought with some of the fifty ghost warriors that Qu Xuanqing had brought.
He did a lot during the day. After finding a box of "notebooks" hidden in the hotel with the group, he figured out the layout of the hotel and studied Yu Xing and the others' findings. Only now is he resting.
His intense concentration had left him somewhat exhausted. He clasped his hands together, his fingers tapping unconsciously, his attention inexplicably drawn to the sky.
When he woke up on the Dead Silent Island, he was actually very puzzled as to what the gray clouds covering the island were.
Because it was only on the top of the island, it was like brain matter, pressing down heavily, as if it were surrounding the entire island.
At first, Zhao Mou attributed the gray clouds to the aura field of the Dead Silent Island itself, but later he discovered that the scene on the island did not seem to have a direct relationship with the existence of the gray clouds.
Therefore, he is now paying more attention to... the overall environment that covers the entire island is the most conspicuous, but due to the principle of "the darkest place is under the lamp," it is easy to overlook.
"Oh, what brings back such a melancholy little fox?" Yu Xing's voice suddenly rang out from behind, startling Zhao Mou, who was deep in thought.
He reacted in a moment of shock, and the result was that Zhao Mou's body tensed up for a second before he calmly turned his head.
"You're back." Zhao Mou paused for a moment at the still-forming shadows beneath their feet as he looked at the two extra people in the room.
"Um."
Almost instantly upon returning, Zhao Yijiu dispelled her ghostly state and successfully returned to her taciturn self.
Zhao Mou moved his buttocks off the windowsill, stood up straight, and asked succinctly, "The harvest?"
"A lot of reapings!" Yu Xing noticed the notebook on the table, walked over, picked it up, and flipped through it as she spoke, "The characteristics of five Plague Bodies, two Sacrifices, an invitation to a large dungeon, and... I also encountered ten Experience Masters."
Zhao Mou: "..."
What the hell? Say it again?
Perhaps the sentence contained too much information, for Zhao Mou finally revealed a different expression. He seemed bewildered, struggling to find the words, but ultimately only managed to utter, "Why... is this...?"
Didn't you explore further after Qu Xuanqing returned? Where did this experience tester come from?
How come it has five Plague-like traits? Did it go kill NPCs?
How did you find those two offerings? On this vast, Dead Silent Island, you guys are the most outrageous; how did you even manage to find them?
And, an invitation?
Zhao Mou stared at the nonchalant Yu Xing and his unusually calm younger brother with a complicated expression, wondering if he had missed three episodes. Where had these two gotten into all this trouble in just one day...?
"The ghost notification is quite informative." Yu Xing looked down and quickly flipped through her notebook. "It's thirty pages long, one unknown ghost per page. Not counting the plague creatures, it means there are thirty types of contaminants on Dead Silent Island."
Since there is no system to manage it at all times, the Ghost Notice is the only external aid that the deducer has on the Dead Silent Island.
The information on each page is very concise and clear, from top to bottom: the name of the monster, its level, attack method, characteristics, and other notes.
After Yu Xing touched the notebook, he felt a connection to it, as if it belonged to him from that moment on.
As a result, the words in his notebook were all left blank after the colon.
He smirked. "We've already encountered a few: the spider with human limbs, the faceless ghost somewhere between having children and not having children, the Female Ghost with an axe, the ghost in the painting, and the rusty man, the raw material for making spinal clubs. That makes five."
"Unfortunately, the ghost fighting the axe-wielding Female Ghost was blocked by the house and we didn't see it," Zhao Yijiu added, proving she was involved in the conversation.
"But why is the notification form still blank after it's been linked to me?" Yu Xing shook the notebook in her hand, making a rustling sound. "Don't the ones I've seen before count?"
Zhao Mou suppressed his doubts and explained, "Because there's no system to assist you, the ghost notification will only record what you see in real time."
"... That's really difficult." Yu Xing raised an eyebrow. This meant that even mutual communication couldn't fill the ghost notification form, so they would have to meet all thirty kinds of ghosts.
What does that mean?
Two months, sixty days, at least thirty times of reckless behavior, once every two days, which is quite average.
D-level contaminants are out of the question; they only have abilities like the Human-Limbed Spider and the Ghost Painting. The Axe Female Ghost is probably at level C, which is enough to wipe out their current group.
What about B and A? We don't even know how many of these two levels there are, let alone... some of them might only appear in dungeons. Finding those few types of ghosts in the vast dungeons is a challenge of luck in itself, unless you can get detailed information on the distribution of ghosts. But whether such information exists or where it is is also an unknown.
Yu Xing felt that the probability of collecting all the Ghost Notices within sixty days was probably lower than the probability of him losing his memory on the spot. Before finding the correct distribution map, the existence of the Ghost Notices could not be regarded as a condition for passing the level, but only as an auxiliary information item.
"This is pointless," he muttered. "Just for this notebook, I have to buy a backpack."
"... We're not so poor that we can't even afford a backpack." Zhao Mou sighed, "The things you brought back can be exchanged for a lot of initial funds, and even information can be traded for resources with others."
Yu Xing slammed the notebook shut and threw it back on the table. "Where's Qu Xuanqing?"
"After bringing the things back, she found the notification letter with us, and then went out with Huang Bai. They haven't returned yet."
"I see." Yu Xing glanced at the sky outside. She wasn't too worried about Qu Xuanqing. At least the trip to the art museum proved one thing: although the plague creatures on the island weren't human, they still retained some human thinking and habits, and were even strictly restricted by their own architectural rules. Whatever obstacles they couldn't overcome, they could be discussed.
Huang Bai is no ordinary girl, Qu Xuanqing is even less to be feared. These two, with their intelligence and martial prowess, are a perfect match.
"Would you like to change rooms?" Zhao Yijiu asked suddenly after listening quietly.
Daisy's daughter had warned them not to get out of bed at night.
In horror simulations, if an NPC says something like this, it means that disobeying it will definitely have very bad consequences.
Now that there's one more person in their regular room, I wonder if it will trigger a chain reaction.
"Let's leave it at that for today and try out the rules. You and I will sleep in the same bed. If we get attacked by ghosts or something tonight, I can handle it, and if you really can't, you can use your shadow to teleport away." Yu Xing didn't let the two Zhao family brothers sleep together because, under the same conditions, Zhao Mou was far too fragile.
If the ghost attacks Zhao Mou, this mentally challenged player is very likely to die on the spot.
He certainly didn't forget to ask Zhao Mou's opinion, "Do you think it's feasible?"
Zhao Mou thought about it and decided that it was worthwhile to test the waters on the first night. After all, Daisy's daughter had said that they couldn't go into each other's rooms. Zhao Yijiu, who suddenly appeared in the middle of the night, wasn't punished today because Daisy's daughter went easy on him because of one of the three of them. It didn't mean that it would be like this every day.
Daisy's daughter's temporary leniency was due to her "kindness," but her continued rule-breaking without knowing the consequences is simply foolish.
After today, Zhao Yijiu will need to book a separate room, so that the three of them will no longer have the opportunity to test the rules together.
"Sure, but," Zhao Mou said, his eyes crinkling as he adjusted his glasses, his smile chilling, "Before we discuss what to do tonight, I think you need to explain to me under what circumstances you can meet the experience instructor."
He smiled without revealing his eyes, like a parent who knows their child has made a mistake. "A Jiu, in her ghostly form, went out and had some fun with the abilities of the Shadow Wizard, didn't she?"
Zhao Yijiu pursed her lips, silently turned her head away, and faced the back of her head towards Zhao Mou.
Zhao Mou continued, "And my dear captain, after learning this, not only didn't stop it, but insisted that A Jiu take him along on this adventure, is that right?"
Yu Xing, true to his unwavering spirit, leaned back on the table and crossed his arms. "We only went because we knew what we were doing. As it stands, the benefits of going out and having fun outweigh the drawbacks. The amount of information and gains far exceed what we would have had if we had followed the plan. Isn't that a good thing? We've also prepared a backup plan. If things go wrong, we can just use our shadows to come back."
He didn't mention that the Ghostification Zhao Yijiu was ostensibly to "have fun" for him, but actually a deliberate attempt to cause trouble. This was a cover-up for Zhao Yijiu. His last sentence was utter nonsense; the Ghost Wine didn't care whether they could come back or not, and couldn't possibly keep going in and out of an already started instance.
Ghost Wine can only be taken in, not taken out.
"That makes a lot of sense, but why weren't you notified me beforehand?" Zhao Mou wasn't completely fooled. "If you were really that capable, why bother sending Qu Xuanqing away? She had no idea about your follow-up plans."
Yu Xing shrugged and gave a forgiving smile, "It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. I'll definitely let you know next time. Oh dear~ I'll tell you everything in detail right now. As for Xiao Ququ and Wen Qinghuai, we'll find an opportunity to talk about them in a public area later."
Seeing that Yu Xing seemed sincere, Zhao Mou calmed down. He didn't bother looking at Yu Xing's face; it just looked irritating. He turned around and ruffled Zhao Yijiu's hair. "You're all tired. Let's eat first."
Zhao Yijiu didn't dodge this time.
The basic hotel room only included one meal a day. They had already eaten lunch, so they had to pay for dinner themselves. Fortunately, the food wasn't expensive. Having earned a lot of money that day, they happily went to the restaurant, except for Zhao Yijiu. To avoid unnecessary suspicion, he stayed in the room and asked them to prepare dinner there.
Zhao Mou also called Wen Qinghuai along the way.
Yu Xing had a deep impression of Zeng Lai's resentful look when she called Wen Qinghuai out for dinner; Zeng Lai was the one who shared a room with Wen Qinghuai.
As Wen Qinghuai closed the door, he could still hear muttering through the crack, "Although I've already eaten, I've missed the chance to eat with my brothers. I've lost out..."
The restaurant had a clock; it was 8 p. m., a little late for dinner. But when they approached the restaurant, they found several people still sitting inside.
It was the Group One had returned from their exploration. Xu Huan and Carlos were there, and Tan Lin and Zhong Ling, the two independent individuals, were eating quietly. The other two members of the hourglass were nowhere to be found.
The two teams exchanged glances, and Carlos, ever the flirt, secretly winked at them. Aside from that, there was no further communication; they remained at peace, with no intention of exchanging information.
This situation usually occurs either because the person feels they have too little intelligence and lack bargaining chips, or because they feel they have enough intelligence and that exchanging intelligence is like helping others.
Neither of them exposed the other. Yu Xing took the menu and found that the food wasn't very cheap either, averaging 10 Ghost Warriors per meal, the same price as a bandage.
He compared the room prices again and found the prices on Dead Silent Island truly puzzling. Or was the basic room rate actually a rock-bottom price?
The exorbitant price of the luxury suite caught Yu Xing's attention. What made it so special that it commanded such a high price?
Although I really wanted to try staying there, the rules state that once the room is upgraded, you can't go back to the basic room, which means you have to pay more every day. I can only change rooms when I'm sure I'm on the right track.
Hmm... I'll ask Daisy tomorrow to see how much money I can get for those bone balls.
Yu Xing felt a faint sense of satisfaction; it's good to be rich.
After finishing their meal, they asked the faceless maid for some food and asked her to deliver it to their room in half an hour. Then they returned to their room and began organizing and exchanging information that would take up the entire day.
It wasn't until after nine o'clock that Qu Xuanqing and Huang Bai returned under the cover of night. Both of them had minor injuries. According to them, they had completed three small building instances in the afternoon and evening.
Even Yu Xing was a little surprised by the efficiency, so she specifically found an empty public room to inquire about the details.
Qu Xuanqing's wounds had been treated, and she said, "I originally only planned to enter a dungeon to test it out, but I didn't expect Huang Bai to be so efficient at solving puzzles and even more skilled than I imagined. There was very little pressure when the two of us entered the dungeon."
"So you pushed three in a row?"
"Hmm, a clothing store, a bakery, and a small bookstore." Qu Xuanqing gave a brief overview. The three dungeons weren't very difficult, similar to the one where they tricked the last female customer out of Kraun shop. Of course, the rewards weren't great either; they only brought back supplies and a small amount of money, without getting any weapon rewards.
"Huang Bai isn't a celebrity predictor; she's probably just manipulating the data," Qu Xuanqing concluded. "Her fame doesn't match her actual ability, but when she was with me, she didn't seem to hide that anymore; you could call it surrendering."
Yu Xing narrowed his eyes, his choice of surrender, or rather, sincerity in cooperation, was the same as Carlos's.
Why did they all choose to reveal themselves to him during this event in the Dead Silent Island instance?
The switch between Zeng Lai and Zhao Ruru also carried a hint of strangeness.
If it's not a coincidence, then it means that these people know some inside information, the only difference being how much or how little.
Yu Xing chuckled, and after explaining the day's deliveries to Qu Xuanqing, he returned to his room, asked for a suitable set of clothes, took another shower, and prepared to go to sleep.
Zhao Mou said that nightfall on the island refers to 10 o'clock, and he timed it perfectly.
When he lay down on the bed, Zhao Yijiu had already closed his eyes and seemed to be asleep, but as soon as he moved, Zhao Yijiu moved back to give him enough space.