The room looked almost identical to everyone else's.
Ning Qiushui searched around the room and finally decided to tuck the small wooden tablet bearing the character "Ruan" inside Tang Jiao's pillow.
"Just one?"
"One is enough."
Ning Qiushui answered Liu Chengfeng's doubtful question.
"She isn't completely off her guard, either. Put in too many, and she'll notice."
Liu Chengfeng was still uneasy.
"Will she die?"
Having this thing in the room didn't guarantee death. Ning Qiushui had survived the first night.
From Ning Qiushui's account, as long as they lay motionless in bed and made no sound when the ghost appeared at night, they would be fine.
"Don't worry too much... If she doesn't die tonight, I have another move ready."
There was a chill beneath Bai Xiaoxiao's languid voice.
With both hands in her pockets, she made no attempt to hide the murderous intent in her eyes.
She had never had much sympathy for people like Tang Jiao, and she certainly wouldn't show her any mercy.
Once the three of them had finished, they checked that they had left no traces, then cautiously slipped out of the room.
Afterward, they went to the dining hall for dinner.
After their analysis during the day, Liu Chengfeng now looked at the dining hall differently, scrutinizing it.
He soon realized that Ning Qiushui had been absolutely right. With this architectural style, how could it be a dining hall? It was clearly a hotel!
The villagers had deliberately converted the original guesthouse into a dining hall, then turned an empty building that hardly anyone ever stayed in into a guesthouse. It was difficult not to read something into the motives behind those changes.
Carrying their trays, they entered the room where they had agreed to meet at lunch. The atmosphere was still subdued.
Fortunately, no one was missing this time.
When Tang Jiao saw Ning Qiushui and the others enter with their trays, the hand she had been about to pick up food with visibly froze. She lifted her eyelids slightly and swept a startled glance over the three of them, then quickly regained her composure.
"You're finally here! You were gone so long, I thought something had happened to you!"
Tang Jiao let out a breath with feigned relief, a smile on her face.
But now that the three of them knew what Tang Jiao had done, they couldn't help finding that utterly hypocritical smile sickening.
On the surface, she rallied everyone to search for a way to survive. Behind their backs, she had sold them all out.
"Nothing much. After checking out the Everlasting Well, we stopped by Fangcun Pond as well, so we were held up a little."
As soon as Bai Xiaoxiao finished speaking, the young woman sitting to their left said eagerly:
"Now that everyone's here, let's quickly exchange clues!"
Everyone nodded.
"We'll go first. This afternoon, we went to Maple Leaf Bridge..."
The bespectacled man who spoke recounted their experience at Maple Leaf Bridge in a trembling voice. In truth, their so-called "clues" were little more than useless surface observations.
Still, Tang Jiao and her companion listened very attentively. Once the bespectacled man finished, Tang Jiao even offered a few insincere compliments, saying his clues were very useful, and that perhaps they could find a way to survive once they pieced them together with clues from the other locations.
A flicker of delight appeared in the eyes of all three members of his team. Then they turned in unison toward Ning Qiushui and his companions.
"By the way, Ning Qiushui, did you find anything this afternoon?"
"What was at the Everlasting Well and Fangcun Pond?"
In response to the bespectacled man's questions, Ning Qiushui calmly recounted everything they had experienced that afternoon, though he concealed some of the facts about the female ghost in human skin. He merely said that, fortunately, Bai Xiaoxiao had a powerful lifesaving Ghost Artifact; otherwise, all three of them would have died there.
He had a real knack for telling stories, like a professional storyteller. Even hearing about it secondhand from Ning Qiushui, everyone could sense how perilous the situation had been!
Only after he finished did they realize they were drenched in cold sweat!
Tang Jiao, sitting farthest from Ning Qiushui, showed a flicker of displeasure in her eyes. But it was quickly replaced by a vicious look and a cold sneer.
You've got some damn good luck... Too bad it can save you once, but it can't save you forever!
At the thought of the "things" in their rooms, Tang Jiao couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from rising.
These seven idiots probably had no idea she was playing them like fools.
By the time they realized it, it would already be too late.
With the Spirit Medium's promise and help, she would surely be the last person left alive. Not only would she complete the mission on the Blood Gate and leave this place, but she would also receive a Ghost Artifact bestowed by the Blood Gate!
The thought excited Tang Jiao so much that even the fingers holding her chopsticks trembled slightly. But she quickly composed herself, drew a deep breath, and addressed everyone:
"We've found quite a few clues now, but I still need some time to think certain things through. Let's meet here again for breakfast tomorrow. By then, I'll put together all the clues we've gathered for everyone, including those from Fangcun Pond and the Binding-Evil Shrine."
"Thanks for all your hard work today. Head back and get some rest once you've finished eating. This village isn't very safe at night!"
The other team vaguely sensed something was wrong. Everyone had shared their clues tonight, yet Tang Jiao, who had organized all of this, hadn't revealed a single thing.
They might have been newcomers, but they weren't stupid.
Just as they began wondering whether Tang Jiao had been playing them, Bai Xiaoxiao said coolly:
"Tang Jiao, we've all shared our clues, but you're keeping yours to yourself... Isn't that a little inappropriate?"
"If you can tell us tomorrow morning, why can't you tell us tonight?"
As soon as she finished, the bespectacled man adjusted his glasses and timidly chimed in:
"Exactly!"
"Just tell us what you know!"
"That way, we can all use the clues to think about how to survive tonight. Two heads are better than one, right?"
If Bai Xiaoxiao's words had laid the fuse, the bespectacled man's agreement was the spark that lit it.
Seeing everyone's eyes fixed on her, Tang Jiao's expression visibly stiffened.
Under the table, she clenched her fists.
Damn you, Bai Xiaoxiao...
Ever since she had seen the look in Bai Xiaoxiao's eyes at noon, she had suspected this woman wouldn't be easy to fool. She was probably a veteran who had passed through several gates, too.
Generally speaking, there was nothing wrong with the intelligence of newcomers inside the Blood Gate, but under the crushing pressure of ghosts and monsters, they were less wary of other humans.
The pressure of their terrifying surroundings made them quick to trust strangers.
That made newcomers very easy to fool.
Tang Jiao had exploited this time and again, without fail.
She had three Ghost Artifacts, all earned by "guiding newcomers" through Blood Gates at the first two difficulty levels.
This time, however, she seemed to have run into trouble.
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