NOVEL WEB Chapter 16 - Seeking Help from Outside
Looking at the lamb meat bun in his hand, He Gu immediately fell into deep thought.
Rule #1 said that dorm managers not wearing uniforms could be trusted.
But the cafeteria rules stated that there was no lamb-related food.
Yet now the dorm manager had given He Gu a lamb meat bun.
That meant, in all likelihood, one of these two rules was wrong.
So did the cafeteria really have lamb buns or not?
And could the dorm manager without a uniform really be trusted?
He Gu felt he had grasped some clues but was still confused.
So far, He Gu had seen the dorm manager four times.
He Gu started to carefully recall the scenes of seeing the dorm manager.
The first time was last night when He Gu went to the shop to buy things. He saw the dorm manager at the dorm building entrance.
At that time, the dorm manager wore a red vest and had a kind smile on his face. He reminded He Gu that the shops were all closed.
Of course, it turned out one shop was still open, and He Gu bought food.
The second time seeing the dorm manager was this morning when He Gu was almost dragged into the next dorm room by the sleepwalking Wang Tao.
The third time was just now when He Gu came back from the cafeteria and encountered a bizarre event (or hallucination) at dorm room 212.
And the fourth time was just now when the dorm manager gave He Gu a lamb meat bun.
After this recollection, He Gu immediately noticed something interesting.
Of the four times seeing the dorm manager, two times he wore a red vest, and the other two times he wore a uniform.
And the two times he appeared in uniform, He Gu encountered danger.
But on second thought, it was He Gu who encountered danger first, and then the dorm manager appeared.
Although the dorm manager in uniform looked frightening, in the end, he did not bring danger to He Gu. Instead, he rescued He Gu from danger both times.
Thinking of this, He Gu seemed to understand something.
Although there was no solid evidence yet to draw conclusions, He Gu felt he roughly knew what was going on.
But there was still one question He Gu did not figure out.
Why did he suddenly encounter a bizarre event at dorm room 212?
Logically, in the World of Strange Tales, one would not encounter attacks without violating any rules.
Could it be that He Gu had broken some hidden rules?
Or was it just a simple hallucination?
He Gu frowned in thought but could not reach a definite conclusion.
If only there was some way to verify whether what he saw at dorm 212 was truly a hallucination.
“Hmm? Verify it…”
He Gu’s eyes suddenly lit up, as if he thought of something.
Immediately, He Gu took out pen and paper from the cabinet and quickly wrote a line on the paper. He then held up the paper to his chest.
…
At the same time.
On Earth.
In the live stream room of Dragon Nation’s World of Strange Tales, the screen showed He Gu holding up a piece of paper with one line written: Did anyone see anything inside dorm 212 just now? Please give a hint.
Seeing this scene, the bullet screen in the live stream room instantly became lively.
“Wow! What is he doing? Doesn’t he know if anyone was in dorm 212 or not?”
“He must be writing this for the officials to see! He wants the officials to give a hint!”
“He is voluntarily asking to use a hint opportunity? Did he discover some clues?”
“There are only 3 players still alive. He Gu has been leading in every aspect. He must have his reasons for doing this.”
…
Command Center of Dragon Nation’s Strange Events.
Seeing the live stream, all the elites involuntarily froze.
It was the first time a player had asked the officials for help in this way in the World of Strange Tales, and only asked such a casual question.
After a few seconds, the duty supervisor immediately shouted: “Quick, pull up the live stream video from just now!”
“Go through the dorm 212 part frame by frame. Don’t miss any valuable clues!”
The Command Center instantly became busy.
Soon, a video clip was projected onto the big screen.
The footage was played at 0.5x speed.
In the video, He Gu was holding the bun he just bought from the cafeteria and briskly walking up the stairs.
On the second floor, He Gu suddenly stopped and looked suspiciously at dorm room 212 directly facing the stairs.
A few seconds later, He Gu slowly walked towards dorm 212 and stood outside, seemingly listening for sounds.
But the technician had turned up the video volume to max, and aside from general background noise, no other sounds could be heard.
After a few more seconds, He Gu pushed open the half-closed door of dorm 212.
Inside dorm 212, the curtains were tightly drawn, and the light was very dim.
The room was empty, without a single person.
Yet in the footage, He Gu stood frozen at the doorway, his gaze somewhat blank.
He just stood there in a daze for almost 2 minutes before suddenly stepping forward as if to walk into the room.
Then, the dorm manager’s hand pressed down on He Gu’s shoulder from behind…
The people in the Command Center repeatedly watched this footage in slow motion, then looked at each other speechlessly.
“Is there anything abnormal about this footage?”
“It feels a bit bizarre, but there doesn’t seem to be anything abnormal.”
“No, why did He Gu suddenly stop at the dorm 212 door? Why did he open that door? What attracted him?”
“But there was nothing in that room!”
“Can’t say nothing was there. In the end a black shadow that looked like a black cat flashed by in the corner.”
“I don’t understand. What is he trying to alert us to by sending this message? Or is he trying to get confirmation from us about something?”
“Maybe it’s related to his talent. He hasn’t revealed his talent yet. Perhaps he can see or hear some things we can’t.”
“We only have 3 chances to send hint messages. Should we reply to his message?”
…
Inside the Command Center of the Strange Events, the elites were engaged in heated discussion.
They even repeatedly watched those 2 minutes plus of footage from He Gu at dorm 212 multiple times.
…
World of Strange Tales.
After waiting for half a day without a response, He Gu simply laid on his bed to ponder and wait.
After about half an hour, He Gu finally received a hint message from Dragon Nation:
[After repeated checks, no one was inside dorm 212, possibly just a black cat passing by. Also, only 3 players alive currently in this instance. Several minutes ago, the other two nations’ players exhibited abnormal behavior, suspected hallucinations. No erroneous rules parsed yet, please act prudently.]
…
Due to the 100 character limit per hint message, this message was very concise, telling He Gu everything they could.
Seeing this message, He Gu immediately perked up.
As expected, what he saw in dorm 212 was a hallucination.
Moreover, the hint stated the other two surviving players also exhibited suspected hallucinations minutes ago.
That meant He Gu having hallucinations was not a coincidence, but part of this instance!
But what exactly caused the hallucinations?
He Gu suddenly recalled that after coming back from the cafeteria, he had felt unwell until he finished the bun, then he felt better.
Could it have something to do with the cafeteria rules?
Faintly, He Gu felt he was gradually touching upon some things hidden in the dark, but not clearly yet.
Just as He Gu was lost in thought, his phone suddenly vibrated.
He Gu took out his phone and saw it was Counselor Fang calling him back.