Chapter 310: Growing in Adversity

Lin Xuan was getting creeped out by the two's stares, so he hastily said, "Everyone, I presume you all have already deduced that this is the first Secret Room of the Instance. We've had our Infighting for so long; it's time to decrypt the Instance Secret Room."

The crowd stood up.

They began to observe the Secret Room. Next to the sofa were a few empty wine bottles, the TV was still playing 'GG Bond', and there was a mobile phone on the table.

Chen Ran picked up the phone.

He found two text messages in the drafts.

First message: Call the police.

Second message: I am hanging outside the window.

'These two text messages should have been left by the Child, intending to send the guardian to jail.'

'There might be a question here: after the police retrieved the phone, why did they determine that this was left by the guardian?'

'Since it was left by the guardian in advance, then this was a premeditated crime, and the guardian would definitely be interrogated.'

'And in fact, it indeed was a premeditated crime, so the guardian's final outcome was highly likely being sent to jail.'

Chen Ran put down the phone.

He looked at the east wall. Unlike before, there were curtains on the east side of the living room.

Opening the curtains revealed a window. Outside the window was pitch black; it was late at night.

Looking down, this resident's apartment should be on the tenth-plus floor, perfectly matching their previous deduction. They hadn't seen the window before simply because it was blocked by a wall created by the Ghost Whisperer's skill.

A Ghost Whisperer could enter the Instance in advance.

The Youth had previously stated that he did not set up the Whisperer's Escape Room, and the Three-Star and Four-Star Hunter Teams were all Liar-Slayers.

Therefore, it could be deduced that among Lin Xuan's four teammates, there was a Ghost Whisperer.

Up until this moment.

Only then did Chen Ran seriously observe Lin Xuan's teammates.

His teammates consisted of two men and two women.

Earlier, Qiu Yinong had told him that she saw a calico cat when she was in the Dormitory Building Secret Room.

Coupled with the Ice Room and the ice sculptures...

'A Ghost Whisperer who can turn into a cat, and also an ice sculpture. Why does this feel a bit like... the Teddy Dog from the rules Apartment in the Hell Maze?'

'The Teddy Dog was transformed from a player, who was also a Ghost Whisperer. Turning into a cat in the dormitory, turning into an ice sculpture in the Ice Room, and also a Ghost Whisperer...'

'It can basically be confirmed that a certain teammate of Lin Xuan is that player we encountered in the Hell Maze rules Apartment.'

'That player in the rules Apartment wasn't of high rank, probably a Three-Star.'

'At the same time, among Lin Xuan's teammates, there is also a Ghost Whisperer who can create walls.'

'Then, out of Lin Xuan's four teammates, the skills of two can be confirmed.'

'The remaining two haven't made a move from beginning to end; there's a high probability they are the bodyguards assigned to him by the Ninth Floor Master, and very likely Four-Stars.'

Chen Ran looked at the four people.

Two of them avoided his gaze, while two of them were unafraid of his gaze.

His eyes landed on the two players who were unafraid of his gaze, one man and one woman.

The man was about thirty years old with ordinary looks—the kind of face you wouldn't be able to recognize if tossed into a crowd.

The woman was in her early twenties, with a flat pan-shaped face, and wore thick, heavy glasses on the bridge of her nose.

'These two dare to meet my gaze, meaning they believe their Distance-Free Technique is stronger than Short and Fat's.'

'They should be the Four-Star bodyguards.'

Chen Ran retracted his gaze.

He then looked at the Fitness Blogger. To be honest, the fact that he managed to survive exceeded Chen Ran's expectations.

'The Fitness Blogger should be a Three-Star.'

'It's very strange; he didn't appear in the Ice Room earlier, and he is a Ghost Whisperer.'

'If I were Lin Xuan, I definitely wouldn't let this guy go. I would have to drag him into the Ice Room.'

'The fact that he didn't appear leaves two possibilities.'

'One: Unable to be selected.'

'Two: A camouflage-type skill.'

Having figured this out, Chen Ran moved his gaze away and looked at Big Gold Tooth.

'This guy's intentions, as well as his skill, are all an unknown variable.'

…

Lin Xuan looked at the crowd who had fallen into deep thought again and felt a bit frantic. He secretly cursed that players in Three-Star Instances all seemed to have an endless amount of problems to think about. Couldn't they just decrypt properly?

Not long after.

The crowd finished their thinking. Lin Xuan said, "This is the First Secret Room of the Instance. Since everyone is familiar with the process, let's not dawdle."

Indeed, they had delayed for too long in this Secret Room; it was time to end it.

The crowd stopped thinking about other things and arrived at the door of the first bedroom. The Fitness Blogger pushed the door open.

Inside, it was still a Child's room, containing various toys, airplanes, robots, etc.

They had all experienced this before, so they only briefly glanced at it before moving to the door of the second bedroom. After opening it, the floor inside was littered with empty wine bottles, and there was medication for treating manic depression on the bedside table. Other than that, there was nothing else.

Following that, they went to the third bedroom.

Needless to say, this time no one chose the first stone sphere; everyone hid behind the second or third stone spheres.

After the floor vanished and the first stone sphere exploded, they looked towards the window.

A hole had been blasted open in the window.

The Fitness Blogger had great strength. He took out a Climbing Hook, swung it forward, and hooked it onto the opening of the window hole.

The Climbing Hook was connected to a rope, and the other end of the rope was tied to the iron cage of the second stone sphere. This way, the crowd could follow this rope and climb outside the window. After all, the floor had vanished, so this was the only way.

"It's me again?" The Fitness Blogger wore a bitter expression. He was the one who opened the door, and now he was also the first one to climb over.

"Don't worry, we'll establish a Future Lie that we won't cut the rope."

Hearing this, the Fitness Blogger felt slightly more at ease. After the crowd established the Future Lies, he still felt it wasn't safe enough, so he took out another rope from his bag, tied it around himself, and clipped the carabiner on the other end onto the iron cage. This way, even if someone cut the main rope, he still had a layer of protection.

Having prepared his safety measures, the Fitness Blogger grabbed the rope and climbed bit by bit towards the outside of the window.

Soon, he was standing at the opening of the window hole.

However...

When he looked at the scene outside, he couldn't help but frown. Outside was high in the air.

It wasn't the Second Chamber!

Logically speaking, having decrypted the First Secret Room up to this point, they should have cleared it. Next, the players should head to the Second Chamber. But the exit of the First Secret Room was high in the air!

A Second Chamber fundamentally did not exist.

The Fitness Blogger turned his head. "Outside is high in the air, there are no other Secret Rooms."

The crowd was taken aback.

'Could it be that this Secret Room is a Whisperer's Escape Room after all?'

Seeing the unfriendly looks in the crowd's eyes, Lin Xuan hastily waved his hands and said, "This is the First Secret Room of the Instance, absolutely not a Whisperer's Escape Room."

Chen Ran looked thoughtful.

'That's the third time.'

'Lin Xuan stated for the third time: this Secret Room is the First Secret Room of the Instance.'

'If what he says is a lie, then there are two possibilities.'

'One: This is a Whisperer's Escape Room.'

'Two: This is an Instance Secret Room, but it's the second Secret Room of the Instance!'

'But the problem is, from a logical perspective, neither possibility is very likely.'

'Firstly, Lin Xuan exhausted all his methods in the Ice Room but still failed to coax out lies from the thirteen of us, so there's no need for him to make an unnecessary move.'

'Secondly, if this is the second Secret Room of the Instance, why is the scene exactly the same as the First Secret Room?'

At this time, Gao Lan spoke faintly, "Do you guys think there's a possibility that this is the second Secret Room of the Instance? The reason it resulted in this current situation is because there was a problem with the order in which we opened those three bedroom doors?"

"How so?" Chen Ran asked.

"Judging from our deductions, this is a triple homicide case: that is, the Child, the adult, and the third person are all murderers. If this isn't a Whisperer's Escape Room, our previous deduction in the First Secret Room was that the Child was the ultimate beneficiary. But could there be a possibility that the clues in the second or third Secret Room will lead us to deduce that the adult or the third person is the ultimate beneficiary?"

"In other words..."

"If it's an Instance, then this Instance should have three endings. We just opened the Child's door first, so it corresponds to the Child's ending... This perhaps, is the true triple homicide case. Simply put, all three people got the result they wanted in the murder: the adult killed the third person, the Child sent the adult to jail, and the third person died."

Hearing this, the crowd looked at Lin Xuan. This guy had been constantly repeating earlier that [This is the First Secret Room of the Instance.], and we also instinctively believed that this was the First Secret Room of the Instance, further reinforced by the fact that the scene was identical to the First Secret Room.

Thus, a Deceiver's Tongue was born.

Just now, the Fitness Blogger climbed to the hole blasted open in front of the window and confirmed there were no Secret Rooms outside. Thus, the Deceiver's Tongue was broken.

That meant, as an objective fact, someone had cleared the First Secret Room.

Whoever said [This is the First Secret Room] again would not be protected by [Deduction Instances do not contain lies], which equated to lying.

How sinister!

Seeing this, Lin Xuan closed his eyes, feeling a deep sense of powerlessness. He didn't choose to suppress his Mental State, allowing himself to experience the taste of despair. This made him realize what kind of beasts this group of players were!

'Did it have to be this twisted?'

'My killing move only coaxed out lies from two Slaves, yet this level of Deceiver's Tongue didn't even coax out a single lie!'

At this moment, he experienced the same deep sense of powerlessness that Chen Ran had felt when facing Three-Star Players for the first time. No matter how many schemes you deploy, I can still see through whatever you are thinking.

This was the chasm between ranks!

Only by understanding this gap would one know their own shortcomings.

Growing in adversity—wasn't this also a kind of romance that life ought to have?

Perhaps this was the difference between a house flower and a wild weed. Lin Xuan was a house flower, protected by people sent by the Ninth Floor Master, only experiencing this kind of powerlessness now. Chen Ran and Qiu Yinong were wild weeds by the roadside; they had experienced this kind of powerlessness in their previous Instance.

Simply put, Chen Ran and Qiu Yinong had already crossed this threshold, while Lin Xuan was currently crossing it.

This was also the reason why, in the meticulously crafted Lie-Judgment scenario of the Ice Room, he only managed to coax out the lies of two Slaves. It was simply because he lacked an experience of turning the tables from a state of despair.

His Instance experience compared to the players present was still slightly lacking. Take Chen Ran for example: if it were him, he would have set up another Whisperer's Escape Room outside the window, and wouldn't have repeatedly said things like [This is the First Secret Room of the Instance], which were meant to mislead others but easily allowed others to notice clues.

As Lin Xuan experienced this despair, he began to examine whether the cleverness he perceived in himself was merely a shallow trick easily seen through by others.

'I need to settle my mind.'

When he opened his eyes again, the players present distinctly felt that Lin Xuan's aura had undergone some kind of change, becoming more reserved.