Finally, the bear-like man was the fourth in line to go to the bathroom.
It turns out that physiological reactions can't be stopped. He did drink a bit too much water before entering the dungeon...
Xia Jing and Taohuayan only went to the bathroom to wash their faces.
Looking at his wet face in the mirror, Xia Jing recalled the drowsy feeling he had felt when he just woke up, and seemed to be lost in thought.
Four people came out one after another very quickly.
"A lot of students are already outside." There was a small transparent window on the dormitory door. Little Glasses swallowed, nervously observing the outside, and said in a very familiar manner, "Comrades, what are we going to do next?"
Taohua opened the door directly, and the little boy with glasses screamed in fright.
——The student NPCs in the corridor just glanced at him strangely and walked away as usual.
In addition to the student NPCs, there were also four students standing in the corridor at the door of dormitory 417, which was located diagonally across the hallway.
The four "students" were two girls, a young man, and an... old lady.
One of the girls had a ponytail and was quite tall.
The other girl had hair that fell to her shoulders, big eyes, and a very sweet appearance.
The two girls supported each other and snuggled up to each other, each holding a dagger in their hands, nervously pointing it at the passing student NPCs.
The looks of those student NPCs became even more strange and alert, as if they were ready to call the police at any moment.
The old lady's hair was gray and her eyesight didn't seem to be very good. She was trying hard to look at the scene, and her expression looked a little confused.
She was also wearing the spring school uniform which was not harmonious at all.
As for the remaining young man… He cried out, "Ah!" and rushed over to Xia Jing and the others with peach blossom eyes, hugging the bear-like man, crying, "Brother Yang, you were in the other dormitory. I woke up and didn't see you. I was so upset!"
The man with peach blossom eyes, who was called "Brother Yang", caught him with a dark look on his face.
The man with glasses was surprised and asked, "Why are men and women living together in this dormitory?"
A guy living with three other women, is that okay?!
Speaking of this, the young man coughed shyly and said, "I also think this is a little inappropriate. It's really embarrassing!"
The girl with peach blossom eyes glanced at him sideways, obviously not buying his nonsense. After pushing him away with disdain, she said calmly to the two girls holding daggers, "Put the daggers away first. I don't know if you've ever entered a two-star dungeon before. The dungeons from two stars onwards are different from the one-star dungeons. It's not the style of running away from monsters right after entering."
The two girls were stunned. The girl with the high ponytail said nervously, "Ah, this is indeed our first time entering a two-star dungeon..."
They were newcomers who had been sucked into Smiley City not long ago. They had no points to buy a small holographic screen, nor did they have any channels to obtain any information. They only knew that there was only one rule to pass all the dungeons in Smiley City - kill monsters.
In all the one-star dungeons they had experienced before, monsters would come right up to them and the players would have to escape.
So they grabbed their weapons before leaving the dormitory, for fear that the octopus monster on the cover of this copy would rush over directly after opening the door.
Little Glasses was a little embarrassed.
Although it was not his first time to enter a two-star dungeon, he just made the same mistake as the two girls and was afraid to leave the dormitory.
However, in reality, the dungeons from two stars onwards are completely different from the one-star dungeons.
He explained, "One-star dungeons are basic dungeons. The monsters in these dungeons are very conspicuous. Basically, they'll appear in your field of vision as soon as the game starts. You'll know what the monsters look like, and as long as you can kill them, you'll pass the dungeon."
The man with glasses pushed his glasses up and sighed, "But for two-star and higher dungeons, the first thing players need to do to win is... first confirm what the monster is."
The two girls were stunned and asked in surprise, "What do you mean? In dungeons above two stars, can monsters disguise themselves? Disguise themselves as... humans?"
The bear-like man scoffed, "It's not just 'disguised as a human'. It's possible they're not disguised at all, but simply difficult for us to spot them, just like a chameleon blending into the surrounding color. Or perhaps they won't appear until the right moment, or even in a form we can't even imagine."
The two girls opened their mouths but no words came out.
The game hasn't officially started yet, but they already feel the difficulty.
"So be careful. If you kill an NPC by mistake or accidentally damage the dungeon environment, you will be locked in the system's black room." The man with glasses reminded.
The small black room is a punishment measure in the Smiley City dungeon game. Players who are locked up in it will not be able to participate in the game for a period of time.
It sounds like it is a good thing, but the timing of releasing the player from the small black room is often very dangerous, and many players died the moment they stepped out of the small black room.
The old lady moved aside, seeming to want to say something but stopping herself.
The bear-like man glanced at her and frowned. Before he could say anything, he heard a hoarse voice beside him.
"There are nine players in this instance, and one player hasn't appeared yet."
This reminder reminded everyone of this.
At this moment, Peach Blossom Eyes looked at Xia Jing carefully again.
The young man stood in the corner, in the shadow where the light did not reach. His presence should have been reduced to the extreme, but Peach Blossom Eyes did not really ignore him.
He glanced at the back of Xia Jing's neck, and this glance also attracted Xia Jing's gaze back.
The two looked at each other for a second, and the one with peach blossom eyes looked away first.
Hearing Xia Jing's words, the boy with glasses immediately jumped up: "Oh right, my brother and I entered the dungeon together, and he hasn't appeared yet. Since we are all students, he must be one too. Why hasn't he come out yet? Is he on another floor?"
At this point, the girl with the high ponytail pointed ahead and said, "Hey, look, there are a lot of people gathered at the door of that dormitory. What are they looking at?"
Everyone looked forward.
I saw seventeen or eighteen student NPCs gathered at the door of dormitory 411 in front of me. Some of them covered their mouths, some looked frightened, and they were talking in low voices.
Everyone suddenly had a bad feeling.
There is one player missing.
If everyone is a student, then he must be alone in another dormitory.
The boy with glasses felt nervous and rushed forward!
Xia Jing followed at the end of the group. Before leaving, he looked back at the dormitory they had just come out of.
414.
414, 417, the malice in the copy is simply overflowing.
Xia Jing put his hands in his trouser pockets, walked through the students who were whispering, and slowly walked into dormitory 411.
It's still a dormitory with four people.
On the upper bunk to the left of the window, you can vaguely see a person lying quietly.
The boy with glasses had already climbed up to the upper bunk via the ladder. He stared blankly at the person lying on the bed, his face expressionless.
Xia Jing stopped.
The girl with peach blossom eyes walked over calmly and climbed up the ladder. Halfway up, she was able to see the face of the person on the upper bunk clearly.
After a few seconds, he stepped back.
The young man asked nervously, "Brother Yang...what's wrong? What's going on?"
Peach Blossom Eyes: "Dead."
The two girls gasped.
The big-eyed girl said in disbelief, "Dead?! How could a player die right at the start? We've only been awake for a few minutes! And aren't the monsters in two-star dungeons different from one-star ones? Don't we have to find the monsters first?"
Peach Blossom Eyes said calmly: "We have to find the monster first. It doesn't conflict with the monster killing people at the beginning."
The old woman murmured helplessly, "What a sin! What a sin! How, how could someone die...?"
The bear-like man was also frightened by the first player's death at the beginning.
He suddenly realized what was happening, turned around, grabbed a student NPC by the collar, and roared fiercely, "What the hell is going on? How did he die? What did you see?! Who just left this dormitory?"
The man must have been killed by a monster. There is no guarantee that after killing the man, the monster might disguise itself as a human and blend into the crowd.
The NPC who was grabbed by the collar by the bear man was so scared that he couldn't speak clearly. "I-I-I don't know anything. The three of us in the dormitory saw that he was still unconscious before we went out, so we went to call him. Who knows what would happen? There was no one else besides us. His death has nothing to do with us. Let go!"
Xia Jing walked inside and climbed up the stairs just like Taohuayan did just now.
Tears fell from the boy's eyes. He murmured, "It's impossible! How could he die right at the start? Nothing happened. It's impossible for a monster to kill someone without making any noise... And this is only a two-star instance. I haven't heard of anyone dying right at the start of a three-star instance..."
Xia Jing stopped halfway up and carefully looked at the face of the dead person lying on the bed.
This player was about the same age as Little Glasses, with an ordinary appearance, and was wearing the same spring school uniform as them.
Maybe it was because we were in the game, so we couldn't see any signs of rigor mortis or livor mortis... He had his eyes closed, as if he was asleep, and his skin color, lip color, everything was normal, even quite rosy.
but--
There was indeed no breathing movement.
Xia Jing reached out and touched it, then withdrew his hand when he felt the cold body temperature.
The player was lying on his back, his expression calm...it was hard to describe.
Xia Jing's gaze swept across the tear marks in the corners of the man's eyes, then he looked at the mobile phone on the man's right hand, reached out and clicked it, but it was turned off.
The next second, hurried footsteps broke into the dormitory.
"Make way, don't gather here. It's late. Hurry up and go to the cafeteria to eat, and then go to morning reading!"
Xia Jing turned around and saw a female NPC who looked like a teacher walking in with four security guards and two medical staff, and started to drive people away.
"We'll take care of things here, so please don't just stand there and watch," the female teacher said coldly to Xia Jing and Xiao Yanjing, who were still standing on the ladder, with a stern look. "Come down quickly, both of you! Don't move anything, and don't delay first aid!"
First aid is no longer effective and we don't know how long the person has been dead.
But Xia Jing didn't say anything and just went down the stairs.
Not long after, driven away by the security guards, several people were forced to leave the student dormitory and slowly followed the student NPCs to the cafeteria.
Sitting down in the cafeteria, the group had no appetite at all.
They heard the sirens of ambulances and police cars, and turning back, they could vaguely see medical staff running out with a stretcher in the distance.
The clock in the cafeteria showed that it was already seven o'clock, which was not early for any high school, so there were only a few students in the cafeteria.
The eight players sat on both sides of a long table, looking at each other.
"Do you think the monster was right next to us just now?" asked Gao Ponytail anxiously.
"I don't know, but the three NPCs who shared a dormitory with the dead brother don't look like monsters..." the young man said in confusion.
Peach Blossom Eyes said, "The difficulty of a two-star dungeon isn't high, but it's not so low that we can identify the monster at a glance."
"I'll think about this morning's matter later. Now let's take this opportunity to introduce ourselves. At least tell each other's names first so that it will be easier to communicate."
Little Glasses sobbed.
The old lady sighed and patted his back to comfort him.
"Then tell me first, what's your name?" The bear-like man stared at the peach blossom eyes.
Peach blossom eyes glanced at him: "My name is Song Yang."
The bear-like man clenched his fists: "...You really are Song Yang."
When the young man just now called the man with peach blossom eyes "Brother Yang", he sensitively thought of that name.
The man named Song Yang said nothing, as if he was too lazy to hide his identity.
Although Xia Jing visits the forum, he doesn't use it very often.
He had never heard of the name "Song Yang" before, so like several other almost newcomers, he looked at Peach Blossom Eyes curiously.
Her peach blossom eyes are very beautiful. She looks like a painting when she sits there. Her calm look gives people an inexplicable sense of security.
The young man was a little depressed by the early death at the beginning of the game: "My name is Jia Qing, and today is actually my first time entering a two-star dungeon."
"No wonder," the bear-like man snorted and laughed, "I was wondering why Song Yang would come to a two-star dungeon. You two are friends, right? Are you here to help your brother gain experience?"
Song Yang still didn't bother to pay attention to this guy. Jia Qing muttered sullenly, "...helping the brothers gain experience is not your business."
The girl with a high ponytail whispered, "My name is Wang Yueran, her name is Xu Jin, and we are friends."
The big-eyed girl Xu Jin was silent.
Although the temperature was not low, she felt cold all over.
The man with glasses said hoarsely, "...My name is Liu Yi, and my brother's name is Huang Mo. We've both cleared two two-star dungeons before. I didn't expect... if I had known earlier..."
His eyes turned red again.
"You don't have the ability to predict the future either." Jia Qing wanted to comfort her, but didn't know what to say, so he just kept silent.
The bear-like man said coldly, "My name is Jin Nan. What about you, Fatty? What's your name?"
At this time, the "fat man" Xia Jing, who had a face like a steamed bun, turned his eyes and looked at him lightly.
Jin Nan paused.
...Then I subconsciously touched my arm and felt a little chilly.
"It's a bit too much to call him fat. He's still quite thin." Jia Qing complained in a low voice.
Xia Jing raised his lips, not caring at all, and said slowly: "My name is Xia Jing."
Song Yang sat next to Xia Jing.
His eyes gently swept across Xia Jing's neck again.
On the slender neck, near the right ear, there is a small human face mark that is not covered.
This is a sign of having been in a safe house.
And at this moment, is this young man using the human skin mask prop?
Song Yang glanced thoughtfully at Xia Jing's big face, small inverted triangle eyes, flat nose and thick lips.
As if noticing his gaze, Xia Jing turned around and smiled playfully.
Song Yang: "..."
There was a feeling of being choked.
Looking at this person's smile up close, it's quite lethal.
Song Yang felt that this person was definitely smiling like that on purpose for him to see.
Jin Nan's eyes turned and his gaze finally fell on the old lady.
His tone also became sarcastic: "Old man, you didn't come to the wrong set, did you?"
His rude tone made the others frown.
To be honest, in a dangerous dungeon, no one wants their partner to be an old man.
However, everyone is forced to enter this terrifying world, and enters high-star copies in order to obtain higher points so that they can escape from this terrifying world sooner.
There's no need to be sarcastic.
Wang Yueran looked at Jin Nan warily, let go of his sisters, and held the old lady's arm.
——More importantly, although Smiley City does not allow players to kill each other, there is a head-count points rule.
If a player dies in a dungeon, his points will be evenly distributed among the remaining surviving players.
Therefore, some players will exploit the rules in the dungeon to harm other players and steal head points.
The elderly, weak, sick and disabled groups like grandmothers are often the primary targets of these brutal players.
Wang Yueran whispered, "Grandma, it's okay. Two-star dungeons seem to require more brainpower, unlike one-star dungeons where you need to run around and fight. This is actually a good thing."
She wanted to comfort the old lady, but she just asked, "...Child, what kind of place is this?"
A meal for several people.
The old lady trembled and said, "I, I just went out to buy some vegetables and was hit by an electric bike. Why didn't I go to the hospital? Instead, I came to school? And how could someone die? A healthy child, how could he die..."
Several people showed incredible expressions.
Song Yang confirmed: "Grandma, is this your first time entering this place?"
The old woman nodded blankly. "When I woke up, I saw a lot of small paintings. A voice told me to pick one, but they all looked scary. I didn't know how to choose, so I just picked this one. What on earth is this place? Can we call the police?"
Following the old lady's last hesitant words, Jin Nan smiled silently and leaned back in his chair.
——The old lady is actually a complete novice!
Wang Yueran and the others were also stunned.
When pure novices are first absorbed into the world of horror, they will receive an explanation of the system rules of Smiley City in their consciousness.
They have no way to retreat, but they can choose which copy to enter at the beginning.
But the old lady probably didn't hear clearly, or maybe she didn't understand, and she actually chose a two-star dungeon right away...
Jin Nan said, "You can take your burdens with you wherever you want, I won't care anyway!"
After saying that, he stood up and prepared to leave the cafeteria.
Everyone reacted and frowned even more tightly.
"What a burden! How uncultured!" Wang Yueran whispered, "Grandma, don't listen to him. We will protect you!"
There are elderly people in several families present. Even if the old lady is a complete newcomer, she still needs to be taught some rules. They can't stand listening to Jin Nan's words.
"Where is he going?" Jia Qing asked stupidly.
"It's already half past seven, and classes are about to start at every school." Xia Jing said softly.
Coincidentally, a student came running out from a distance, a bun in his mouth, and shouted at them, "Why don't you leave? The first period is Chinese. If you are late, Teacher Zhang will scold you!"
The NPC gave the information.
Song Yang stood up and motioned Jia Qing to help the old lady up: "Let's go to the classroom."
*
This is a high school, no doubt about it.
The school is not big, and it only takes a few minutes to run from the cafeteria to the teaching building.
Following the NPC, the group arrived at Class 22 of Senior High School.
There are about fifty students in a class. At this time, all other students are sitting in their seats obediently and reading aloud in the morning. There are exactly nine empty seats.
No, for them now, "nine" is no longer "just right".
Liu Yi thought of his brother and wiped his eyes.
There are nine seats, and there are three pairs of seats sitting at the same table. Two of the pairs are in the middle of the classroom, and one pair is in the first row.
The other three seats are located in the last row of the classroom, on the left side near the aisle, and on the right side near the window.
On the way here, the few of them had a brief exchange.
They still don't know where the octopus monster is hiding.
The simplest speculation is that if the octopus monster disguised itself as a human, it is most likely either a student or a teacher.
At first they suspected that the monster was hiding among the students, but when they thought about it carefully, they realized that the monster looked like an octopus on the cover, but its entity might not necessarily have a fixed shape and it would need to break into the dormitory like a human to kill people.
When playing the copy game of Smiley Face City, you must think freely.
The monster could also be a fluid, so no matter who it is disguised as, it or they could kill the player silently.
If you calm down and think about it, there is even a possibility.
——The player named Huang Mo was not killed directly by the monster, but simply triggered the monster-related death mechanism.
In view of this, they no longer need to view the entire instance through the limited lens of the morning incident.
With so little information, it's better to make a guess based on intuition.
After reading too many supernatural novels, Wang Yueran, Xu Jin and Jia Qing all agreed that in campus dungeons, the monsters might actually be teachers.
So, for now, in this class... whoever is closest to the podium may be closest to the monster.
There are two seats right below the podium.
"The students' names are posted on the corners of each table," Song Yang glanced quickly, "It seems we don't have to assign seats ourselves."
Jin Nan frowned and looked around. He found that his seat was the empty seat in the last row. He breathed a sigh of relief, walked over quickly and sat down, looking at the other people with a gloating look.
Song Yang and Jia Qing's seats were next to each other, in the middle row facing the podium.
The sisters Wang Yueran and Xu Jin were also sitting together, just in front of Song Yang, Jia Qing and the others on the right.
Liu Yi sat alone in the empty seat by the corridor.
The two seats in the first row facing the podium were written with the names "Xia Jing" and "Jiang Chunhua".
Xia Jing raised his eyebrows.
Everyone's gazes were focused on Xia Jing and the old lady.
It seemed that they had become the two people closest to danger among the eight people at this moment.
At the same time, they are also the two people with the best chance of killing the monster.
But a thin young man and an old man, it's really...
Wang Yueran opened his mouth: "Grandma..."
Song Yang thought for a moment and tried to walk towards the first row.
Next to him, a student wearing thick glasses immediately looked up and coldly reminded him, "Class is about to start. Go back to your seat. If you are caught by Teacher Zhang, you will bear the consequences."
Song Yang stopped.
"It seems that the dungeon doesn't allow players to change seats at will. It's better to sit in your own seats," Liu Yi, who wore glasses, reminded quietly, "Besides, we can't be sure that there will be any danger during class."
The most likely consequence of breaking the copy rules is being locked up in a small dark room, which will not change the situation and will lead to non-combat casualties, which is meaningless.
Wang Yueran watched from the side, feeling a little anxious.
She took out a dagger from her space bag and stuffed it into the old lady's hand: "Grandma, I have extra weapons here, take them first. If anything happens, we will all help you!"
Jia Qing also quickly contributed the extra weapons he and Song Yang had in the space bag.
The old lady is old, but at this point, she already understands everything she needs to understand.
Although it was bizarre, she was no longer afraid of death.
She simply accepted Wang Yueran's kindness and said, "I can't use more than that. Thank you, but please take them all back. Ah, be obedient."
Xia Jing withdrew his gaze from Song Yang.
He smiled slightly and said to the old lady, "Grandma, shall we go over and sit down?"
The old lady nodded, replied "Hey", then hunched her back and walked to her seat in the first row and sat down under the complicated gazes of the crowd.
When Xia Jing sat down beside her, she comforted Xia Jing and said, "Child, if you can't beat the monster, just ignore me and run away. You are still young, and I am old. It doesn't matter if I die—"
"Grandma." Xia Jing interrupted her grandmother.
Although his voice is rough and hoarse, his slow tone still gives people a gentle feeling.
It is also like a clear spring, which can inexplicably make people calm down and feel at ease.
Xia Jing smiled: "The most important thing in the game is to think about how to play, not how to die."
At the classroom door, the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard.
The female teacher who had driven them out of the dormitory in the morning walked quickly into the classroom, and swept her stern eyes coldly over everyone in the classroom.
And his purpose of entering the copy game——
Xia Jing looked at the female teacher, gently twirled the pen, and a faint smile always hung on his lips.
——Besides having fun, the purpose is to catch monsters and bring them back.
Cut it into eight pieces and make full use of it.