Players, Please Board the Train

[This dungeon is D-grade. As a guest, you must follow the following rules:]

[① Each guest room can only accommodate two guests. When there are fewer or more than this number, the guests in that room will no longer be welcome guests.]

[② Once a guest selects a room, no changes are allowed. Randomly switching positions will only make you a less welcome guest.]

[③ Before nine o’clock at night, all guests must return to their rooms, and cannot go out until eight o’clock the next morning. If you remain outside, you will no longer be a guest of the villa.]

[④ From nine o’clock at night to eight o’clock the next morning, you cannot enter any guest rooms other than the one you are staying in.]

[Welcome guests will have the opportunity, from eight o’clock in the morning to eight o’clock the next morning, to randomly become the villa’s undisclosed master for one day. Players who obtain the master’s identity will possess the following privileges:]

[① The right to enter any room in the villa.]

[② The right to go outside at night.]

[③ The right to kill any player.]

[All players please note that a competent master must follow the following rules:][① Maintain the villa’s cleanliness and hygiene.]

[② Cannot damage the original structure.]

[③ Cannot leave the villa.]

[Players who violate the above rules will become unwelcome guests the next day when they lose their master status.]

[Clearance Mission: Become a qualified villa master.]

[Clearance Time: Unlimited.]

The electronic screen’s display time wasn’t long, and it quickly disappeared, causing some players to let out low cries. The naive ones directly said, “What the hell, I haven’t finished reading yet!”

Whether it was real or fake, after the electronic screen disappeared, the villa’s lights turned back on. When players checked their game panels, there was no notification from the background either, meaning this game introduction was a one-time thing.

Probably the first time they’d encountered this situation, some players’ faces didn’t look good. Not everyone had a photographic memory. Many people had only skimmed it from beginning to end, not to the point of remembering details.

Of course, some players reacted quickly, immediately using items or other tools to record the screen.

Well, now things were messed up. The dungeon hadn’t even officially started yet, and players might already start fighting over this game introduction.

Of course, the game’s distinction between “temporary master” and “guest” was also meant to stir up conflict among players.

Xu Huo walked to the window and tried to push it open. It wouldn’t budge. The main door was also locked tight. In other words, before clearing the dungeon, the players’ range of activity was limited to this villa.

Other players also tried to see if they could open the villa’s doors or windows, all without success. One or two attempted to use items to attack the building, but their companions stopped them—someone still remembered the rules set for the temporary master. Even the temporary master couldn’t damage the villa, so as guests, of course, they couldn’t either. If they became “unwelcome guests,” they might lose the chance to become temporary master, and naturally, they wouldn’t be able to clear the dungeon either.

The game rules wouldn’t be played a second time, so some players went to look for rooms.

The villa had three floors. The first floor only had two bedrooms, with the main rooms concentrated on the second and third floors. They had to be two per room, so players who had just met moments ago started temporarily pairing up with those they found agreeable.

Xu Huo’s group of six, the raincoat man’s group of seven, plus the nine originally in the villa, made exactly twenty-two people, needing to fill eleven rooms.

A few players chose rooms first. Xu Huo was one of them. He picked a room near the stairs. It was worth noting that the villa’s staircase was in the middle of the floor, with four bedrooms on each side—not exactly facing each other. There were also a study, a lounge, and a game room, making a total of thirteen rooms on the second floor.

“Can I room with you?” Lu Zhen followed him over.

Xu Huo glanced at her. “Fine.”

Lu Zhen showed a grateful smile. Before Xu Huo closed the door, seven of the eight bedrooms on the second floor had already been taken, and the remaining people headed to the third floor.

It was almost nine o’clock, and players had successively closed their doors. The villa quickly fell into silence.

Xu Huo’s silence was extremely oppressive. Lu Zhen stayed in the room for a while before nervously swallowing saliva. She went to wash her face and came out to ask him if he needed to freshen up.

Earlier, Lu Zhen had been soaked in rain for days, her face pale from exposure. Now, after supplementing with potions, she looked much more normal, not like the female ghost from before. She seemed like a fairly clean-cut young girl. She was naturally wary of Xu Huo, and after washing up, she walked around him.

“You can choose your own companion,” Xu Huo said.

Lu Zhen opened her mouth. “I didn’t really know them before either.”

They had just been trapped together in the forest, temporarily banding together to counter the risks. But now that they were inside the dungeon venue, who knew if that little bit of camaraderie from before would still be useful? Besides, their potions were heavily depleted. It was hard to guarantee that someone wouldn’t try to target others. The tired ones would definitely become the first targets.

“By the way, how did you find this villa?” She paused before asking again, “We wandered around in the forest for several days. Is there some kind of mechanism?”

“You were just lost, going in circles.” Xu Huo had already understood this when he ran into the raincoat man’s group. “For all of you to get lost together is truly baffling.”

Lu Zhen’s expression shifted slightly. She opened her mouth as if she had something to say but finally held it back.

Xu Huo went to the restroom.

There was only one bed in the room. When he came out, Lu Zhen was still sitting on the side, not asleep. He walked straight to the sofa. “You take the bed.”

Lu Zhen looked at him gratefully and quickly said, “You’re too kind…”

“Then I’ll take the bed?”

Her remaining words got stuck in her throat. Lu Zhen shut her mouth and sat down on the edge of the bed.

At nine o’clock, the villa’s lights went out again. The heavy rain outside masked some subtle sounds. Inside the room, it was pitch black. About ten minutes later, someone used a light source in the room.

Light shone through the glass window that wouldn’t open.

Lu Zhen also took out an illumination item, like a nightlight, only bright enough to light up a spot by the headboard. Still, the room now had a little bit of light.

Xu Huo pulled out some food. Soon, he heard the sound of a hungry stomach. He casually tossed a pack of crackers over. “Are you an E-grade player?”

Lu Zhen knew this fact couldn’t be hidden, so she admitted it outright. “Bad luck. I happened to run into someone stealing sandalwood… This dungeon is strange. It uses an expensive kind of sandalwood as a medium. Wherever the sandalwood moves, people might get pulled into the dungeon.”

“But not a single ordinary person was brought in,” Xu Huo followed up.

“Actually, most people still active outside now are players. Ordinary people, even those protesting in marches, are only in their own neighborhoods or areas under player organization supervision. The chance of running into a random dungeon is very small.”