“I want to go too!” The freckled girl immediately raised her hand, afraid that she’d be left behind.
“Take me too! I’ve read many detective novels!”
“And my dad is a forensic doctor!”
“Let me go! I’m the class’ best athlete. I grew up learning martial arts!”
To Gao Ming’s surprise, these students didn’t have a firm grasp on death. Or rather they believed they had the protagonist’s plot armour. Many of them volunteered to go with Gao Ming.
“You better consider this properly.” Gao Ming said expressionlessly. These students really had taken him as an NPC. “I don’t know what is inside the hotel. Criminals and killers are easy to deal with. However, you might encounter things that you do not understand. They will drag you into the mist, and you’ll experience something worse than death.” Gao Ming calmed the students down with a few words. “Plus, I need to stress this. This is not a game. You’ll die if you die here.”
A few students put down their hands. Only the freckled girl and the bespectacled kid didn’t back out.
“Doing nothing is not going to change our situation. Waiting for the rescue might not be a bad choice, but I prefer to have control over my own fate. If this is a game, there has to be a reward after clearing the mission. It might be a stat raise or skill gain. It’ll definitely help us get to know this place better,” Lee Wen directly left his seat.
“Alright. The three of us and the class athlete can come with me.” Gao Ming pointed at the student at the back. He was reminded of Xi San when he saw him. “What’s your name?”
Even though he was not tall, Liu Wu was physically fit.
“What about the two of you?”
“I’m the monitor of Class 13, Chen Jing.” The bespectacled student picked up his bag. He was still a bit scared.
“My name is Shen Tuxiao. You can call me Little Xiao.” The freckled girl was a ball of energy and was very brave. With her hair tied into a ponytail, she appeared sharp.
“No! None of you is allowed to go anywhere! Leave the job to the adults!” Teacher Lee grabbed Gao Ming by his clothes. “I don’t care who you work for! You have no right to get the students to do something so dangerous!”
“I’m not forcing them. This is for their own good.” Gao Ming lightly nudged Teacher Lee away. “Blindly protecting them will only harm them. Do you wish to see them die off one by one? Killers are the easiest threat to deal with. The invisible existence is the true danger.”
“Teacher, let me go with him. I know you are understaffed. We also want to help.” Shen Tuxiao said directly. She didn’t even grab her bag and planned to go empty-handed.
“If only you were so focused during classes!”
The people on the bus argued while problems appeared with the private cars. The drunk youngster woke up from his dream and wanted topee. He was held back by his friends.
“OI Guo, stay still!”
“Damn it, I can’t hold it in anymore! If you don’t let me go, I’ll pee in your car!” The car door flew open. When Ol Guo saw the black mist, he was taken aback. “What’s going on?”
“The death row inmates from Hen Shan Penitentiary have escaped and apparently are hiding in this town!” His friends immediately grabbed him. “They might be spying on us now! Five students have already gone missing!”
Ol Guo shrunk his neck, but he couldn’t hold it anymore. “I won’t go far. Just that electric pole over there. You can come with me.”
The black mist thickened. There was a thin shadow 4 metres away from them.
“Then, you better be quick!” Accompanied by his friend, Ol Guo headed into the mist. He was panicky. Before he arrived, he started to undo his belt.
Hearing this, his friend turned away from Ol Guo, “We told you to stop drinking so much. You refused to listen. If your wife finds out, she’s going to scold us.
“Are you done? Are you so drunk that you don’t know how to piss anymore?”
The place was scarily silent.
“Ol Guo?” As he turned around, the young man’s pupils widened. Both Ol Guo and the thin shadow had disappeared. A scary thought appeared in his mind. Could the thin shadow they saw not be an electric pole?!
The young man stumbled towards the direction of the headlights. “This is not good! Ol Guo is gone!”
A living human disappeared as if dispersed into the wind. The young man quickly shared his experience with everyone. He didn’t see the ghost or anything. This unknown fear broke the young man’s defence. He hid inside the car and refused to come out.
Jing Tuoshen shook his head. He could see these people’s sad future. He led the security members around all the people and cars. After ensuring the signal of Recorder 003 was not there, he prepared to leave.
“Hey, are you leaving just like that?” Brother Larry let go of his partner, “I need to see your superior! I have an important project at Immortal Pharma. I need to get back to Xin Lu as soon as possible!”
Larry told his girl to get back into the car as he caught up to Jing Tuoshen. He didn’t notice how strangely the other security members were looking at him.
The oil lamp could only burn for another two hours. Then, they would need a new source of human oil. They had to do that without being discovered by the thing inside the black mist.
“Don’t you need to go with them?” Shen Tuxiao followed beside Gao Ming and pointed at Jing Tuoshen.
“They belong to the investigation centre, and I’m a horror game player.” Gao Ming smiled lightly. “We are alive at night and walk through various anomalies. We are in the company of curses and ghosts. In the end, we’ll become the owner of Han Hai.”
When Gao Ming said that, the eyes of the students glowed. Was he not acting like an NPC?
“In other words, the ghosts aren’t invincible, and we can find methods to fight against them.” Chen Jing pointed out the question.
“Theoretically, yes. The more anomalies you experience, the stronger you’ll be.” Gao Ming extended five fingers. “The strength of a horror game player is defined by five stats: Strong Heart, Strong Body, Yin Soul, Brain Power and Attachment. If you’re into exciting, real death games, you’re at the right place.”