Jiang Cheng turned his head and met the old man's gaze for a moment before deliberately looking away. "Take the camera," he said to the other man. "Let's go."
Just as everyone was about to step through the courtyard gate—
"Wait."
At the words, everyone stopped and turned around.
The old man approached with difficulty, leaning on his cane and holding a black bag in his hands.
"Since your camera can't be used anymore, you can take this one instead." Before the man from Room 406 could react, the old man thrust the black bag into his arms.
Not knowing what the old man meant, the man instinctively tried to push the bag away.
But the old man gave him no chance. He turned and shuffled back into the courtyard, then shut the door with a creak.
Inside the backpack was a black camera.
It was an extremely old model, with some corners so badly worn that the metal underneath showed through.
Still, at least it worked.
Looking at the camera that had come from nowhere, the Fatty couldn't help feeling uneasy. He muttered, "What's this supposed to be? A reward for accidentally triggering a side quest?"
Jiang Cheng stared at the closed courtyard gate and shook his head. "This doesn't look like a side quest."
After all, when they'd first been briefed on the mission, they'd been told that the equipment they needed had already been delivered to the equipment room.
So they were bound to come here.
And the camera breaking earlier had been arranged, too.
In other words, everything that had happened from the moment they entered the courtyard until now had been staged.
Like the guide woman, the old man was an NPC.
His purpose was to deliver this camera to the players.
This was a bona fide main quest.
After hearing Jiang Cheng's analysis, the man holding the camera grew terrified.
His body trembled, as if he were about to throw the camera to the ground at any moment.
It was as though an evil spirit were hiding inside it.
No one stepped forward to comfort him.
Just then, Jiang Cheng walked over. He took the camera, examined it carefully, then put it back in the black backpack.
He slung the bag around the man's neck and patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Don't be afraid. Try to look on the bright side. I don't think anything will happen to you."
"Okay, okay, now that we have a camera, what's next?" the Fatty pressed.
The Ponytail Woman thought it over briefly. "Let's take pictures of a few students at random and see if there's anything wrong with the camera."
It was undoubtedly a clever approach. After all, no one knew whether using the camera might trigger a vengeful spirit's attack, and students were the best people to test it on.
As luck would have it, just after they left the equipment center, several female students dressed in a very fashionable style approached from the side.
The man took out the camera, knelt on one knee, and was about to snap a picture of them.
"This doesn't seem right." A small, timid voice came from behind them, its tone quite pitiful.
Everyone turned to look.
It was the Sleepwear Woman.
She lowered her chin slightly and pressed her toes together. It seemed she knew her suggestion probably wouldn't be accepted, but she still mustered her courage and continued, "After all, they're innocent. We're the ones who came into this world from outside."
Her voice grew even quieter in the second half of the sentence, and they had to listen carefully to make it out.
Just as the Fatty was inwardly cursing the white lotus for her fine acting, the middle-aged man in the vest, who had been hiding at the edge of the crowd, jumped out. The Fatty vaguely remembered his name was Zhou Taifu.
He immediately pointed at the Sleepwear Woman's nose and cursed her out, gesturing so wildly he looked like a monkey that had lost its banana.
He kept repeating the same thing: if she wanted to die, she could die, but she shouldn't drag everyone else down with her.
It was clear that the man with the camera was also irritated at being interrupted.
But most of his attention was still focused on the Ponytail Woman.
It seemed she was the one who ultimately got to give orders.
The Ponytail Woman didn't rush to speak, either. Her gaze gradually shifted to the Sleepwear Woman, a hint of scrutiny flashing in her eyes.
"Gentlemen," the Suit Man said, still wearing that refined expression. "This isn't the time to argue."
He emerged from the woods along a narrow path, with the Hat Man following behind him, looking gloomy.
Jiang Cheng looked toward the direction the Suit Man had come from.
The woods on this side were quite dense, and the narrow path was hidden among the trees. It was extremely well concealed.
"You said you'd meet us here at noon," the Fatty began. "Where did you go?"
The Hat Man sneered and was about to retort, but the Suit Man cut him off.
Turning his head, the Suit Man replied with a smile, "Sorry for the trouble, Brother Fatty. We ran into a few things, but we've just taken care of them and come over. We haven't disrupted the original plan, have we?"
"Not exactly," Jiang Cheng replied. "It's just that you didn't show up on time, so we thought—" He paused, looking embarrassed. "You can understand, Big Brother. This is the Dream Realm. Anything can happen. As soon as you were late, we assumed you were dead."
The smile on the Suit Man's face faltered.
"Don't push your luck!"
The Hat Man had clearly been through something unpleasant; he'd looked sour when he arrived. Now that he'd heard Jiang Cheng talk like that, he immediately rolled up his sleeves, ready to blow his top.
"Don't get me wrong." Jiang Cheng hurriedly waved his hands and immediately hid behind the Ponytail Woman, looking terrified. Stretching his neck out, he shouted, "I didn't mean to insult you! I just suspect you're not human!"
"Why, you—"
Seeing the situation about to spiral out of control, the Ponytail Woman had no choice but to step in.
But to everyone's surprise, she chose to side with Jiang Cheng.
Facing the Suit Man and the Hat Man, who had stepped forward, she said, "I think his suspicions are reasonable. You need to prove that you're not ghosts, but people."
Before you continue