Chapter 51

“It’s been so hot lately.” Xiao Li walked quickly into the room. He had only gone out for lunch, but his head was already covered in beads of sweat. He tugged at his collar and complained to the captain.

He was the new security guard transferred to No. 16 Middle School, mainly responsible for the surveillance room.

The captain smiled and looked up at him, pointing to a shopping bag on the nearby table. “Popsicles from Director Chen. Go ahead and have one.”

As he said this, he blew on the tea leaves floating in his own cup and took a slow sip.

Xiao Li immediately brightened up. “The director is so nice, giving us perks.”

“Well, the finals are coming up, so the school is on edge. They’re afraid the pressure will cause problems, so we have to be extra vigilant.”

The captain sighed and started talking about a student from the neighboring middle school, which made Xiao Li sigh with emotion as well.

As the two were chatting, the surveillance monitors not far away suddenly flickered twice. The images froze for a moment, and then, as if something had been triggered, the screens went black one after another, falling silent in an instant.

“What’s going on?” The captain quickly put down his teacup and ran over to check nervously.

Xiao Li didn’t dare to dawdle. With a popsicle in his mouth, he made a phone call. A moment later, he spoke hesitantly, “Director Chen said it seems like there’s a power outage?”

Meanwhile, Jiang Liu was leading her group up the stairs in the academic affairs office building.

“Incredible. Where did you get this?” Zhao Ziming gasped, looking at the blueprint in her hand. This kind of thing was always top secret. How could anyone get their hands on it so easily?

It was lunchtime, and the entire floor was empty. He could even hear his own echo reverberating through the stairwell, which sounded a bit eerie.

“Yang Caisi gave it to me.” Jiang Liu looked up at the sign for the sixth floor and pushed open the stairwell door.

The archives room was the last room at the end of the hall. It contained the files of almost every student, and access was restricted to specific personnel.

Taking advantage of the walk, she briefly explained the situation to the others.

Hearing that Yang Caisi might be trapped, Zhao Ziming’s heart skipped a beat.

Zhu Yan was even more incredulous. “Damn, there’s even competition between NPCs.”

He had naively thought that only players had to fight tooth and nail for survival.

Just as Jiang Liu was about to answer, her sharp ears caught a faint sound. She instinctively lightened her steps and gestured for the others behind her to be quiet.

They hadn’t run into anyone on their way, but unexpectedly, the door to a room ahead was ajar, and the faint sounds of conversation and footsteps came from inside.

Most of the doors here were locked. With nowhere to hide, Jiang Liu came face to face with someone walking out of the room.

The man wore a shirt, and his already sparse hair was combed meticulously, looking shiny and oily. His eyes were hidden behind thick lenses, so small they were almost invisible.

A flash of surprise crossed his eyes. When he saw the school uniforms on Zhao Ziming and the others, his face immediately hardened. “Which class are you from? What are you doing here?”

Damn it, don’t these people take a break at noon?

Jiang Liu cursed inwardly but smiled cheerfully and stopped. She secretly threw a punch at the back of the man’s head, knocking him out cold.

Zhao Ziming, who hadn’t had time to react, was speechless.

He opened his mouth, and after a long moment, gave her a thumbs-up, unsure of what to say.

This girl’s moves were so decisive. He bet the guy on the floor didn’t even get a clear look at their faces.

Behind them, Xu Meng and Zhu Yan were dumbfounded.

Jiang Liu nonchalantly retracted her fist. “No more nonsense. Let’s hurry.”

The building’s wiring was too complex for her to understand well, so she had only cut the power to this building. It should be repaired soon, and she needed to find what she was looking for before then.

Zhu Yan coughed lightly, his expression a bit strange.

He was now suspecting that following Jiang Liu was a mistake. What kind of good person spends their days picking locks and cutting power lines?

But once you were in, you couldn’t get out. At this point, he could only grit his teeth and follow.

***

Meanwhile, in the school dormitory.

Hou Yuqiang cursed, his hair dripping wet. “Why is the power out at a time like this?”

The air conditioner in the dorm wasn’t working, and he was already preparing to take a cold shower.

A lackey next to him handed him a towel and glanced furtively at the upper bunk on the right, where Jiang He was sleeping soundly.

His eyes darted around, and he spoke cautiously, “Boss, are we really going to cooperate with that woman?”

Although he didn’t know Jiang Liu’s methods, her demeanor during the day made it clear she was not to be trifled with. If they found any clues at night, could they overpower her and take the lead?

Hou Yuqiang snorted coldly, a shrewd light flashing in his triangular eyes.

“Let’s cooperate for now and see. If she’s really that strong, maybe we can use her.”

The lackey nodded, then glanced cautiously at Jiang He again. “What about him?”

At the mention of Jiang He, Hou Yuqiang’s face darkened, and he made a throat-slitting gesture.

Chen Ping thought sending someone to follow him would make him compromise, but he had truly underestimated him. Anything could happen in an instance. As long as he found a time to secretly get rid of the guy, what could anyone do if he claimed the person never made it out?

He casually tossed the towel aside and pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, looking at it cautiously once more. On it were eight large characters: [Set Things Right, Each to Its Own Place].

This was a Clue Pouch he had obtained with great difficulty. It contained key hints for clearing the level. As long as he followed its instructions, clearing the instance would be a piece of cake.

Hou Yuqiang had opened it almost as soon as he entered, but he still couldn’t decipher its meaning. A wave of frustration washed over him.

Set things right… what does that even mean?

He took a deep breath and fell into deep thought.

He had thought this instance would be more or less the same as the ones he had experienced before. But when midnight came and he was faced with the bloody Ghostly Shadows, he finally realized just how dangerous an Advanced Instance was—

“Dunzi!” Hou Yuqiang shouted, grabbing a stool and unhesitatingly charging at the hideous Ghostly Shadow, but it was like hitting empty air. The stool’s momentum carried it down onto Dunzi’s leg.

The immense impact nearly brought tears to Dunzi’s eyes. His face flushed red as he grabbed Hou Yuqiang’s hand and shook his head desperately.

Seeing his brother in such a state, Hou Yuqiang’s eyes also turned red. Without another word, he went berserk, punching and kicking the Ghostly Shadow, desperately trying to pull the person back.

Half of Dunzi’s body was already inside the photograph. A continuous stream of blood poured from the edge of the frame. From the outside, it was a gruesome sight, like a living person being executed.

Xu Meng’s heart pounded as she watched, and she couldn’t help but clutch her phone, looking to Jiang Liu for help.

They knew the solution, so their fear had lessened considerably, but they still couldn’t bring themselves to watch someone die without helping.

Jiang Liu pursed her lips. She hadn’t expected this guy with the triangular eyes to be so loyal.

The situation was not optimistic.

She had wanted to probe Hou Yuqiang for information, but she hadn’t expected his group to run around like headless chickens after entering, getting caught off guard by the living photographs. In less than three minutes, two of them were already in danger.

On the other hand, Jiang He, with his strong build and agile movements, was managing to protect himself by constantly dodging, but… it was still useless.

There were almost twice as many Ghostly Shadows as last night.

If one looked closely, they would see that their figures were more solid than the previous night. The gray, mist-like substance of their bodies was more defined, and black patterns were faintly visible on them.

In the blink of an eye, Dunzi’s head was pulled in, leaving only one leg struggling outside, held tightly by Hou Yuqiang.

She made a snap decision, giving Zhao Ziming a look. The two of them tacitly took out their phones and started taking pictures.

Hou Yuqiang’s eyes blazed with fire. When he saw her actions, his anger became almost tangible, as if he wanted to kill Jiang Liu with his gaze.

“Come and help!” He was truly desperate now. Seeing Jiang Liu had the leisure to fiddle with her phone, he didn’t hesitate to kick it out of her hand, roaring.

In the time it took to say that, his grip loosened. Dunzi was completely pulled into the photograph, disappearing from sight and leaving behind only a pool of sticky, dark red blood, which made Hou Yuqiang gasp.

Jiang Liu was about to speak but stopped, staring at the phone that had been smashed to pieces. She felt a headache coming on and could only be thankful… that the one smashed was Jiang He’s phone, which she had swiped that morning.

Fortunately, she was prepared. Just as a Ghost Hand was about to touch Hou Yuqiang’s neck, she flew forward and pushed him to the ground, letting out a light whistle.

As if receiving a command, Xu Meng and Zhu Yan exchanged a glance and turned on several digital cameras that were on the counter, taking pictures of the room from every angle.

As the flashes flickered on and off, the Ghostly Shadows near them seemed to be attacked by something, disappearing into thin air in an instant, nowhere to be found.

Hou Yuqiang was stunned, his eyes wide with disbelief. “What’s going on?”

Under the power of modern devices far superior to a mobile phone, the Ghostly Shadows vanished quickly. The room instantly fell silent, leaving only the few people calmly observing the photos and a wide-eyed Hou Yuqiang.

Jiang Liu sighed softly, staring at him speechlessly. “The situation is that you’ve been saved.”

She thought they had a purpose when she saw them during the day, that she could get some information from them. It turned out to be all bluster; they were even more clueless than her group!

Hou Yuqiang was still in a daze, but the two guys next to him reacted, staring at Jiang Liu. “You knew there was danger here all along?”

Jiang Liu crossed her arms, really wanting to slap each of them.

They seemed so clever in the morning, so why did they look like idiots now?

She felt inexplicably frustrated and kicked a stool on the ground impatiently.

How should she put it? She thought she had caught an important boss, but it turned out to be a clueless underling. It was a huge disappointment.

“Are you brain-dead? Is there any safe place in an instance?” she cursed, not wanting to waste any more time. She stared directly at Hou Yuqiang and spoke.

“Spit it out. What were you looking for during the day?”

If she had known they were a bunch of duds, she would have just knocked them out and interrogated them.

Hou Yuqiang didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he turned to look at his surroundings.

Dunzi had been swallowed by the photo, and the other two were covered in dust and grime. Only Jiang He stood blankly in front of a Ghostly Shadow, neither speaking nor approaching, uncharacteristically silent.

In contrast, Jiang Liu’s group looked as calm as if nothing had happened, clearly well-prepared.

He hesitated for a moment, his voice a little hoarse. “Can Dunzi still be saved?”

Seeing Jiang Liu nod readily, he finally stopped hiding things and told her everything he knew.

Jiang Liu had thought this matter was related to Qiao Ke, but she never expected—

The result was completely different from what she had imagined.