A sudden downpour nearly beat the patrol team that had stormed into the nobleman's bathroom to a pulp.
They were covered in perfumes, balms, and shower gels that the nobles had casually thrown at them. The leader of the players couldn't stand the terrible, mixed smell and sneezed several times.
"This heightened sense of smell is particularly unpleasant at times like this," the patrol captain thought. The combined scents were as overpowering as a stinking ditch.
He was actually quite excited. After waiting for two days, he finally met players from the other faction, and his character's quest was finally starting to move.
His role was to protect the 'anthill,' and as far as he knew, quite a few people had been given this task. Among the guards and service personnel on this floor, the other two players had similar tasks, as they were all working hard to maintain the anthill's normal operation.
Players suspect that this is a dungeon where two factions are fighting each other.
One side consists of those in power who want to protect the current distribution system, and the other side consists of the exploited who want to overthrow the current distribution system.
Yesterday's notification said that ghosts are 'male ants'. According to the rules of this instance, the 'nobles' who eat and drink well and don't have to do anything are either 'princess ants' or 'male ants'.
If we assume that the 'male ant' is an aristocrat, then it is a beneficiary of the current system. Perhaps it will need to be sacrificed in the future, but in the present, it will certainly enjoy the benefits.
Therefore, the 'ghost' is most likely from one of your own factions.
Of course, the possibility that they might be opposing their own class cannot be ruled out, but the likelihood is low.
We'll know the specifics when the information is updated tonight.
Let's not even talk about 'ghosts'—those are too far off; the ghosts in high-level dungeons are all incredibly well-hidden. Character quests, on the other hand, are something he can accomplish with a little effort. He was determined to find this hidden danger no matter what.
Therefore, the patrol captain argued his case and explained the situation in detail from the perspective of the nobles' safety: an unidentified person had infiltrated the fifth floor.
His words only fueled the nobles' fury.
"What? What are you lowly people good for? Is this how you guard the fifth floor? You even let an unknown person sneak in?"
After that, another bunch of bottles and jars were thrown at me, which not only hurt but also made my nose sting.
The hunting captain silently reminded himself of his player identity, enduring the humiliation; he couldn't possibly dodge. If they dared to dodge, they'd be standing there getting pelted with bullets all day.
No, perhaps they wouldn't even give him a chance to smash it, and would send him straight down there. This wretched place makes absolutely no sense.
In the past two days, the hunting captain has clashed with these pretentious and self-important nobles more than once or twice, and he can't help but wonder: why is my mission to prevent the anthill from being destroyed, instead of accelerating its destruction?
If his mission was to hasten annihilation, he wouldn't hesitate at all; he would directly have Gui Kasheng smash this trash dungeon and this group of trash nobles.
"Sir, this concerns the safety of all of you, so we hope you can do us a favor." No matter how much he disliked it, he couldn't say it out loud. The patrol captain forced a smile and explained once again.
The nobles, who enjoyed the best of everything, were also most afraid of death. They reluctantly agreed to allow two people to enter the pool, one for men and one for women, and both had to be clean.
With no other option, they had to immediately go find female soldiers and civilians, while the patrol captain stood at the door waiting, not wanting to let anyone slip by.
Most nobles looked down on the 'lower classes,' even requiring them to clean and tidy up when the nobles weren't around. Now, with soldiers and civilians standing at the door, two nobles, dissatisfied, decided to leave without even taking a bath.
They wanted to leave, and the patrol team dared not stop them or search them; they could only watch helplessly.
Because of the class consciousness instilled in them from childhood, the patrol team members didn't even dare to observe carefully, except for the players, who would take a closer look.
Of course, this was considered 'offensive', and the nobles had a very bad impression of him.
"If I can't find it, I'm afraid I'll have to cut off a corner and throw it down to the lower level," the patrol captain said with a wry smile.
Just then, a male nobleman came by, wearing a magnificent cloak that covered the upper half of his face, revealing burn marks on the lower half. He covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve, and a faint fragrance wafted over as he passed by.
"That's not it either," the patrol captain glanced at it, then continued to stare inside.
A few minutes later, the female soldiers and civilians arrived, and they sent out two people to thoroughly search the bathhouse. The men searched the men's bath, and the women searched the women's bath. However, after a chaotic search, they found nothing.
"I've seen it all, even in the bathhouse." The soldiers and civilians inspecting the men's bathhouse lowered their heads. Inside, they saw three nobles; two were angrily splashing water on him, while one lay there with his hair down, seemingly asleep. He didn't dare to disturb him.
The soldiers and civilians who inspected the women's bath also said, "There's no one inside, and there's nothing to cover ourselves with."
The implication is that the intruder has not been found.
Not only did the nobles' faces darken, but the patrolmen's expressions were also quite unpleasant.
"Impossible!" The patrol captain couldn't accept this fact. The smell definitely stopped here, so how could it be gone?
This bathroom has only one entrance and exit, with no windows or anything like that. There's no suitable cover inside the bathtub either. What kind of skill did this person use?
"Drag him away," the nobleman, who had been holding back his anger, sneered.
"No, he might still be alive, just using special methods." Sensing something was wrong, the patrol captain still wanted to try and salvage the situation.
"Two lowly people have walked around, and the bathroom stinks. We have a coming-of-age ball tomorrow." A noblewoman pinched her nose with her delicate fingers that had never done any manual labor.
Looking at those two slender fingers, the patrol captain felt something flash through his mind, but he couldn't remember what it was.
"Just drag it out? He's spoiled the fun for so many of us, and you're still keeping him alive?" a nobleman sneered.
The player immediately sensed something was wrong. Were they not going to let him live? He panicked, broke free from the two soldiers' hands, and turned to run.
His escape only confirmed his rebellious intentions, and the nobles were furious: "Guards! Guards! Seize him!"
Ren Yifei was unaware that his arrival had put a player on the NPC's kill list. He was looking at the map, trying to find the way to the sixth floor, but he was at a loss.
The fifth floor was where the nobles ate, drank, and had fun. He looked around and found rooms, a ballroom, game rooms...
During this time, he also met many soldiers and civilians working here with the face of an 'aristocrat'.
There were quite a few soldiers and civilians working here; he saw at least twenty or thirty of them, and there were probably many more sleeping.
However, there are very few nobles. Judging from the room numbers of the nobles, there are no more than twenty nobles here.
As the saying goes, things are valued for their rarity, which is probably one of the reasons why nobles are so precious.
There were only twenty nobles; two days would be enough for the players to recognize them all. Luckily, he copied the face of one of the sleeping nobles when he came out; otherwise, any unfamiliar face would have been easily spotted.
Because the horns were not removed, he also had to let his hair down and chose a large cloak with the hood covering his forehead.
Ren Yifei touched his face; the bumpy, uneven texture felt so real.
It's unbelievable that there are such unlucky people among the nobles, some even burned by flames, and that he happened to be the one to encounter it. Of the three nobles at the time, he was the only one of similar stature to the other.
I wonder if they found the sleeping nobleman?
Ren Yifei looked through each room one by one. He knew he might not be able to reach the fifth floor again, so this time he simply looked through all the rooms roughly.
These rooms are completely undefended, as are the private residences; the doors can be opened with a simple push.
Judging from the decorations, these nobles all had different tastes. Some loved beautiful clothes, some liked exquisite toys, some loved music... and there was one with a particularly unique style, whose room was full of books.
In some of the rooms, he also encountered nobles who were resting.
Having already encountered them, Ren Yifei felt he had no reason to let them go, so he used his already limited resources to try and extract information from them.
As a result, they found two more people, but both of them only knew about their own little princesses in their own little world. They had been spoiled by the soldiers and civilians and didn't know as much about this anthill as Ren Yifei.
Even though Ren Yifei suspected the existence of the Queen, they were completely unaware of the coming-of-age ball they were so eagerly anticipating the next day.
They appear to be nobles, enjoying the best treatment, but everything they come into contact with is controlled by soldiers and civilians.
From birth until now, everything they have been given to them has been readily available by others. The nobles have never strived for anything, never pursued anything, and rarely thought about anything seriously. Everything is readily available to them.
"Like a pig in a pigsty," Ren Yifei thought to himself, and a famous saying came to mind: She was too young then to know that the gifts that fate bestows have already been secretly marked with a price.
This was written by Austrian writer Stefan Zweig for the 'beheaded queen,' but it doesn't seem to have any problem being applied to these nobles.
Of course, the nobles did not think so. They never doubted one thing: why were there old, weak, women and children among both laborers and soldiers, and why were there young people among the old?
However, none of the pampered nobles were adults.
These nobles are all the same age; tomorrow is their coming-of-age ball. The only exception is the youngest, who was just delivered.
This is something Ren Yifei only discovered after arriving here: a group without an age gap among the elderly, which is simply terrifying.
Could it be that the nobles arranged to give birth on that day? Or were they having more than twenty babies?
It's terrifying to think about.
Where did all the nobles who were over eighteen go? Did the younger nobles not have the chance to be born?
Could the key to solving these puzzles be on the sixth floor, where even the path is nowhere to be found?
"Could it be a movable staircase that extends down when needed and retracts when not in use?" He had already explored the entire fifth floor, and apart from a circle in the center, there were no blank corners on the map. Why was there no way to get to the sixth floor?
"Huh?" Just as he was pondering this, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration and came up with a clue.
If he went up to the fifth floor, he started directly from the second floor. So, is it possible that he went up to the sixth floor from another floor?
For example... that mysterious fourth floor?
"Bong!" A loud bang was heard, the ground shook, the wall that Ren Yifei was holding onto swayed, and panicked soldiers, civilians and nobles came out of the house, looking on in surprise and uncertainty.
The NPCs, who had never experienced the power of such firearms, were both terrified and bewildered; they had no idea what was happening.
Ren Yifei knew, and he was very curious about which player had been pushed to the limit.
High-level players have many trump cards, and their mortality rate is low unless they encounter a truly ruthless boss. However, this doesn't mean that players will always have a smooth journey; occasionally, they will be discovered by NPCs and forced to make a desperate escape.
"How pitiful," Ren Yifei said with sympathy as he walked over.
He was about to go back to the second floor, but then decided to try the fourth floor instead. The chaos he was creating here would make it easier for him to fish in troubled waters.
After walking for a short while, he heard hurried footsteps and immediately hid to the side.
A little while later, that unlucky guy arrived. He fought and retreated, taking down several NPCs in a few moves.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be the same player who had discovered him earlier, and the one chasing and attacking him was this player's former teammate.
Ren Yifei had thought this energetic player would sweep past like the wind with his pursuers, but instead, he watched helplessly as the person rushed into his hiding place. The two met face to face and stared at each other in disbelief.
"It really was you!" The player was furious, glaring at Ren Yifei's face. "I knew you had something wrong with you. Is this your skill?"
The pursuers arrived as he spoke, and the player ran again, but he was not giving up. He turned back and shouted, "This guy is the one who infiltrated! He's a soldier, he doesn't have wings."
"Sun!" Ren Yifei cursed, and ran after them, "You're courting death and dragging others down with you!"
"You attacked first!" the player managed to squeeze in a moment to turn around and retort.
The soldiers and civilians also began calling for reinforcements in their own way. A few breaths later, a group of soldiers and civilians emerged from their rooms and joined the chase.
Ren Yifei was panting heavily, looking like he was about to die.
The instigator even turned around and mocked, "You're such a weakling."
"If you're not a weakling, then go back and fight head-on! Why are you running away?" Ren Yifei retorted, panting heavily.
Actually, this player was also running out of energy; he had run much longer than Ren Yifei. But he stubbornly insisted on pretending that 'everything was under control': "Of course I have my own plan."
The problem is simply that we don't have enough skill items.
This player is really unlucky. Out of three items and three skills, only two are usable. It's a real disaster.
"You... how did you recognize me?" Ren Yifei was so excited he felt like he was on fire.
"It's obvious. You don't think you can become a disguise expert just because you can change your face, do you?" This player was also running out of energy. He hadn't even eaten dinner; these useless guys were really hard to please. If it weren't for his mission, he would have shot them all dead long ago.
Another group of soldiers and civilians rushed out in front of them. It was a patrol that had just been called in. They were fully armed and looked intimidating: "They're over there!"
Ren Yifei and his companion slammed on the brakes, only to find that their pursuers had arrived. They were caught in a pincer movement, surrounded by enemies on both sides.
"It's over."
Author's Note: Player: So what if you can change your face? You don't look like a disguise character at all!