Chapter 39: They Have Gone Blood-Crazy!

"Mhm." Ling Yun nodded.

"Daddy, there's no one here. Do you think big brother will be able to find us?"

Ling Yun pondered for a moment. "Do you want him to find us?"

"If big brother finds me, then I'll lose! But big brother is so silly, if he can't find us, will he cry?" Duoduo pursed her lips, looking worried. She had finally reunited with her father and brother, and she didn't want to make her brother sad. She silently made a decision: if her brother didn't find them in a little while, she would go with her father to find him!

"Someone is coming!" Ling Yun’s brow furrowed, and he became instantly alert. The players here were more terrifying than the rules of the Ghost Forest. Fortunately, Duoduo was by his side, and he could protect her.

"Hey kid, why is it you?" The man with yellow hair saw Duoduo, a look of disdain flashing in his eyes. He glanced at Duoduo, then shifted his gaze to Ling Yun. "Brother, how come I haven't seen you before?"

Ling Yun did not speak, only staring at him coldly. The man with yellow hair felt uncomfortable under his gaze and turned his attention back to Duoduo. "Kid, who is he?"

"He's my daddy!" Duoduo tilted her little face up, looking at the man with yellow hair as if it were obvious.

Upon hearing this, the man with yellow hair dismissed his suspicions. Before the hide-and-seek began, this kid had indeed been looking for her father. It seemed the man before him was not a hidden NPC.

*Zzzzt...*

The light overhead flickered and suddenly went out. Zhang Yangfan let out a sinister laugh. "The countdown is over. Have you all hidden well? I’m starting to catch people now!"

"Daddy, big brother is coming to find us. Let’s hide properly." Duoduo held one of Ling Yun's hands, reaching out into the darkness with the other.

Hearing her words, the man with yellow hair paused. "Kid, who is your brother?"

"The little boy who was just talking!" Duoduo had no defenses against the man with yellow hair and answered honestly.

The man with yellow hair scoffed, not taking her words seriously. *Is this brat crazy?* he thought, his eyes darting around.

There weren't many people left alive, and the ghosts were out killing at random again. To avoid being found by the ghosts, one could only hide and wait for the lights to come back on. But he had never been one to sit and wait for death; he wanted to hold the initiative in his own hands.

"Kid, are you afraid of the dark? Uncle has a flashlight here. Come over, and I'll give it to you." The voice of the man with yellow hair drifted into Duoduo’s ears.

Duoduo hesitated and was about to step forward, but Ling Yun pulled her back. "Stay here and don't move. I'll go!"

Ling Yun knew exactly what the man was planning and walked forward slowly. Seeing that the kid had been replaced by her father, the man with yellow hair gritted his teeth, intending to fight him to the death. Hearing footsteps approaching, the man with yellow hair clenched his fists and swung them rapidly in Ling Yun's direction.

Ling Yun waved his hand, and the man with yellow hair instantly dissolved into a puddle of blood.

The light overhead suddenly flickered on. Fearing it would startle Duoduo, Ling Yun quickly returned to her and covered her eyes with his hand.

"Daddy, is that you?" Duoduo raised her hand, trying to move the large hand covering her eyes.

Ling Yun bent down and picked her up with one arm. "The light is harsh. Close your eyes, Duoduo, it will be over soon."

"Okay!" Duoduo nodded obediently and lowered her hands. Ling Yun carried her away to find a new hiding spot.

The watches on the players' wrists were flashing red incessantly. The countdown had suddenly jumped from 32 to 29. Barely having counted to 26, it skipped again to 19.

The middle-aged man in the dark realized something was wrong. "What’s going on? Why is the countdown shortening?"

The teenager traveling with him nodded, frowning. "Yeah, when the countdown started, it was from 99. Now it’s at 19! If this continues, won't the countdown time keep getting shorter and shorter?"

"You guessed right. When the countdown can no longer be shortened, the lights here will never turn on again." A woman’s voice suddenly came from ahead.

The corridor was pitch black everywhere; nothing could be seen. The middle-aged man and the teenager didn't know how many people were ahead or if they were friend or foe, so they instinctively retreated a few steps. The three-person team ahead, also unsure of the situation, stood far away.

"We found a small card with these game rules written on it. Our team only has three people, and we are weak, so we can only do our best to stop the people here from killing each other."

"You can't stop them; they've gone mad with killing. As long as props refresh, they will keep killing!"

The teenager shook his head, his eyes brimming with fear. Just a moment ago, he and the middle-aged man had almost been hacked to death with an axe. Fortunately, they ran fast and escaped the ordeal. But another elderly woman had not been as lucky as them. Because she was slow, she had been hacked to death by that person!

[Finally, someone guessed the game rules without looking at the hints on the card. But unfortunately, they can't stop those people!]

[The countdown has already started from 19, which means that if two more people die, the lights in the corridor will stop turning on.]

[Can these people just be a little more united and stop killing each other?]

[Even if they don't kill each other, it won't change the final outcome. Don't forget, when the countdown ends, Zhang Yangfan will start catching people. They can't escape!]

The live stream chat was scrolling rapidly. Before the "Death Hide-and-Seek" began, they hadn't thought the Hell-tier instance was that terrifying. After all, they had previously watched the "Sweet Home" instance from Duoduo's perspective. Although Ling Yun and Zhang Yangfan were ghosts, they treated Duoduo like family. This gave them the illusion that Hell-tier instances weren't all that bad. But the "Death Hide-and-Seek" successfully made them feel what a real Hell-tier instance was like!

[The Hell-tier instance is too scary. I'm going to Room 3's stream to calm down.]

A small number of viewers drifted away from Room 1. Unlike the brutality of "Death Hide-and-Seek," the hide-and-seek game in Door 3 was significantly more harmonious. All players were transformed into the "mouse" faction, and what they had to avoid were two cat-headed, human-bodied monsters. Players caught would be killed by the monsters.

Just like in Room 1, props refreshed here as well. The props included cat teasers, catnip, and cat food. When caught by a monster, players could use the props to escape. As long as they successfully survived for three days in the game, they would clear the level. Finding and solving hidden clues could also clear the level.

A pair of young siblings automatically formed a team after entering the instance. They were lucky; the game hadn't separated them. After several rounds of searching, they had obtained quite a few props.

April, however, was not so lucky. She had originally intended to let Director Zhou take the heat when she encountered danger so she could seize the chance to escape. But as soon as the game started, she was separated from Director Zhou. With her plan failed, she set her sights on the pair of siblings not far from her.