Non-Dungeon Player
On the second floor, Xu Huo heard the other guests return to their rooms one after another. It was already past midnight, but the game hadn't given a second notice, which meant the dungeon had probably started as soon as he arrived at the Ancient Castle.
The game hadn't announced how many players were participating, though. Counting the guests mentioned by the middle-aged butler and the six people he'd seen in the hall, there were twelve players in total.
But that didn't mean all twelve were participants in this dungeon.
The qipao woman's invitation had been different from the invitation for dungeon players. The one he'd given the middle-aged butler when he entered was the qipao woman's invitation. The butler hadn't seemed surprised or refused him, which showed that even after the dungeon began, the Ancient Castle wouldn't turn players away.
That might be a feature of Non-Closed Dungeons: both non-dungeon players and dungeon players could enter the dungeon location before the time limit.
If so, there was a good chance that some of the other eleven guests had, like him, received invitations from the black market.
The dungeon's second task was to uncover the truth behind the guests' disappearance. If non-dungeon players had slipped in, that might be the truth—or part of it.
He'd have to wait until tomorrow to find out, but intercepting the qipao woman in advance had given him an edge.
He hadn't expected the qipao woman to be a Wanted Criminal. He'd thought she was just a low-level player who mingled in the castle city. Finding out she was a wanted criminal, too, was a coincidence—and it had also let him learn how to escape the penalty for missing a dungeon. No matter how comprehensive a system was, there were always loopholes to