Chapter 94: Ghost Whisperer, Fishing in Murky Waters

Inside the Secret Room, Chen Ran and Lin Jiabao groggily woke up in their chairs.

"Cough! Cough!"

Lin Jiabao choked out the sounds, greedily gasping for air before turning to glare fiercely at Chen Ran.

Chen Ran ignored him. Instead, he pulled out his Cigarette Case and carefully counted the number of Cigarettes left inside.

'The Cigarettes are basically my totem.'

'The amount inside is exactly the same as before I fell asleep, which means...'

'I have returned to reality.'

Lin Jiabao also recalled everything that had transpired within the four layers of their dream. His first priority was to verify whether he had truly escaped it.

Neither of them was in a rush to leave.

"I need your help," he requested.

"Hold on a second, I need to ask you a question first," Chen Ran interrupted.

"Go ahead," Lin Jiabao permitted.

"Was Lin Jiabei also a Player when she was alive? And if so, did she possess a Liar-Slayer skill? What was its effect?"

Lin Jiabao fell completely silent, not answering until he had smoked his Cigarette down to the filter. "That is exactly what I wanted to talk about. She and I share the same body, but when matching in the 18th Level..."

"We are entirely independent of each other. For example, if I am in control of the body when we enter an Instance, she will not appear for the entire duration of that run."

"If she takes control and enters an Instance, then I will not appear at all during that run."

"As time went on, even though we are physically one entity, a gap formed in our Star Ratings. I am a One-Star Player."

"She is a Two-Star Player."

"And that is why this is the most difficult One-Star Instance. Once she loses her status as the Successor..."

"It will be extremely difficult for you all to survive!"

Chen Ran was speechless. "..."

...

In the Third Secret Room.

The moment the text on the heavy door changed, the four people who had been resting their eyes with fake sleep immediately snapped them open.

[Lin Jiabao: 73 minutes and 25 seconds.]

[Chen Ran: 73 minutes and 39 seconds.]

This recorded time was incredibly strange. It clearly had not been calculated based on the passage of time in the third layer.

However, for the four of them, and especially for Qiu Yinong, the heavy anxiety hanging over their hearts could finally be set aside.

On the other hand, Geng Hao and Liu Xing both wore extremely ugly expressions.

'Chen Ran lost!!'

Immediately after, they watched as the heavy door was pushed open and the two men walked out.

Chen Ran took off his Red Badge and handed it to Lin Jiabao, which meant...

Chen Ran now only had a Blue Badge on him, becoming a member of Qiu Yinong's faction.

As of now:

Blue Faction: Chen Ran, Lin Jiabao.

Red Faction: Geng Hao, Liu Xing.

Qiu Yinong's Poker Chips: 800 million.

Lin Jiabei's Poker Chips: 1.2 billion.

That outcome was fine on its own, but what truly surprised the four of them was the time gap. In the [Extreme] difficulty, it had taken Chen Ran and Geng Hao several hours. Yet, in the [Hell] difficulty, Chen Ran and Lin Jiabao had only used seventy-three minutes.

Lin Jiabei asked out of genuine curiosity, "What exactly did you encounter in your Escape Room Game?"

"We were hunted down by a mob," Chen Ran replied, lingering fear evident in his tone.

The four of them were shocked. It was widely known that in a normal Instance's Secret Room, Players usually died from triggering traps or from Infighting.

But a [Hell] difficulty Secret Room actually involved being hunted by a group of NPCs.

That required more than just brains; it was a grueling test of a Player's physical capabilities as well.

However...

They suspiciously sized up Chen Ran's slender frame and the fragile, weak-looking Lin Jiabao.

'These two...'

'To survive being hunted by a mob of NPCs is nothing short of a miracle.'

The Young Heiress—Lin Jiabei—suddenly felt an inexplicable palpitation in her chest.

'Something is wrong!'

'In the first two Secret Rooms, Chen Ran proved to be decisive and ruthless. Since he was able to turn the tables in a desperate situation, he should also have...'

'The ability to counter-kill Lin Jiabao!'

'Moreover, he had two viable options:'

'First: Upon exiting the Escape Room Game, he could have baited out a lie and killed Lin Jiabao.'

'Second: He could have left Lin Jiabao trapped in the Escape Room Game forever. Then Qiu Yinong would lose her capital to continue gambling, and Chen Ran, possessing the most Blue Badges, would take over.'

'Having these two options available, Chen Ran actually used neither. That is highly suspicious.'

'Could it be because of Three Flowers Converging at the Peak?'

'In matters like this...'

'It is better to err on the side of caution!'

Having reached this conclusion, she acted.

Lin Jiabei pulled out her Liar-Slayer. It was an Ethereal Blue Pistol. Under everyone's astonished gazes, she raised the weapon and aimed it squarely at the ceiling.

"Ghost Whisperer: Fishing in Murky Waters!"

The Secret Room plunged into darkness, leaving everyone feeling intensely uneasy. It was common knowledge that a Ghost Whisperer's Skills were generally physical entities, though exceptions certainly existed.

Lin Jiabao's Three Flowers Converging at the Peak was not a physical entity skill. It was highly improbable for two non-entity Ghost Whisperers to appear consecutively, right?

Furthermore...

Her Liar-Slayer was an ethereal blue color, which proved that her Skill was at least at the Ego-Tier!

In the pitch-black darkness, Chen Ran furrowed his brows. He couldn't help but recall what Lin Jiabao had just told him.

'A Two-Star Player.'

'Which means her Liar Hunter Skill is level two. It should definitely be stronger than a level one Skill.'

The light abruptly returned.

Everyone hastily scanned their surroundings, only to see a Dice the size of a Rubik's Cube now resting on the long table.

The Dice was spinning endlessly.

After about five seconds, the Dice finally came to a halt. The face pointing upward read: 3.

"Your luck is quite poor," Lin Jiabei declared with a radiant smile.

Before anyone could process her meaning, they were stunned to discover that the colors of their respective Chest Plates were rapidly flashing back and forth between red and blue.

Not only that.

The [Normal] difficulty that was originally displayed on the heavy door was also changing.

It rapidly cycled through the six difficulty levels: Very Easy, Normal, Average, Hard, Extreme, and Hell.

And it wasn't over yet!

On the heavy door...

Two new lines for [Participant] appeared. Right beside the [Participant] prompt, the names of the six people were constantly swapping back and forth...

Ten seconds later, the color swapping on the four Chest Plates finally stopped.

Blue Faction: Geng Hao, Chen Ran.

Red Faction: Lin Jiabao, Liu Xing.

Twenty seconds later, the shifting difficulty level of the Escape Room Game on the door also came to a halt.

[Hard]

Thirty seconds later, the flashing participant names on the door stopped as well.

Participant: Chen Ran.

Participant: Liu Xing.

With the sole exception of Lin Jiabao, the other four looked at Lin Jiabei with faces full of absolute horror.

The young girl sneered coldly. "Do you see the Dice on the table? Every time an Escape Room Game ends, the Dice will roll once. Even I don't know what number will show up."

"It all depends on your luck. The number rolled dictates the number of times Fishing in Murky Waters will trigger." Pausing for a moment, she added playfully, "This Skill has no direct effect on its wielder."

Hearing this, Chen Ran sank into deep thought.

'The number rolled is the number of times Fishing in Murky Waters activates.'

'The number rolled just now was three.'

'The Chest Plate colors, the Secret Room difficulty, and the participants—all three of these elements were constantly swapping.'

'Chest Plates: Two colors.'

'Difficulty: Six levels.'

'Participants: Four people.'

'Which means...'

'As long as people or objects exist in different categories, they can be affected by Fishing in Murky Waters.'

'This move relies entirely on random uncertainty, specifically designed to shatter an opponent's pre-planned strategies.'

'It seems she faintly suspected that Lin Jiabao and I had reached some sort of agreement.'

'Logically, I should trick someone into telling a lie right now to break this Skill.'

'But Qiu Yinong used the Wheel of Time in the previous Secret Room. If I activate the Eternal Kingdom, her Wheel of Time will be broken as well, saddling her with the lying attribute.'

'This is going to be difficult...'

'Is this the acute sense of danger possessed by a Two-Star Player?'