NOVEL WEB Chapter 42 - A Key Sent by Zhang Chao?
With that thought in mind, He Gu swallowed back the words that had reached his lips.
The old lady glanced at He Gu impatiently, “Speak up, are you He Gu or not?”
He Gu hesitated for a moment, then said, “Auntie, I am 444.”
Upon hearing this, the old lady suddenly fell silent, her face expressionless as she stared at He Gu.
After a few seconds of silence, she placed the box in her hands on the ground and turned to leave without uttering a word.
Watching the old lady depart, He Gu let out a sigh of relief.
That was close!
Although this new Instance wasn’t as deadly as the previous one right from the start, it was fraught with danger. A slight lapse in caution could have led to him falling into a trap!
After exhaling deeply, He Gu picked up the Express Delivery box from the ground and returned to his room. After closing the door, he finally glanced at the delivery note on the box.
There was no sender’s name written on the delivery note, but the recipient was indeed He Gu.
“I just arrived here today. How could someone have sent me something already?”
He Gu was puzzled and quickly opened the cardboard box.
Inside the box was a thumb-length key, a thick, quadrangular one at that.
He Gu took out the key and looked at it with suspicion. He soon found a note at the bottom of the box.
The note had only one line:
“Keep this key safe. It may help you unlock the door to the truth.”
…
The moment he saw these words, He Gu’s expression became grave.
He recognized it. This was Zhang Chao’s handwriting!
What was going on!?
Logically speaking, the previous Instance had already ended, and those who were part of it shouldn’t be in contact with him.
But why would Zhang Chao send something to him?
“The key…the door to the truth…”
Looking at these words, then at the key in his hand, He Gu’s thoughts were a mess.
The key’s function must be to unlock some door or cabinet or something. But the truth…
Could it be that to clear this Instance, he needed this key?
With the limited information he had, He Gu shook his head, clueless.
After safely storing the key, He Gu carefully examined the note again.
Upon turning the note over, he found more words on the back. However, this side wasn’t handwritten but printed:
“Clearance Conditions:
1. Survive for 15 days to clear, Clearance Rating: B;
2. Uncover the secrets of the herbal medicine factory and escape, Clearance Rating: S;
3. After uncovering the secrets, destroy the core of the herbal medicine factory and escape, Clearance Rating: SSS;”
…
After reading these lines, He Gu fell into deep thought.
These clearance conditions…seemed a bit too demanding!
The simplest way to clear was to survive for 15 days!
Keep in mind, the previous instance was so difficult, yet it only required survival for a week.
Moreover, by the third day, the survival space for the challengers was drastically reduced, almost every corner was a dead end!
The second method of clearance… uncover the secrets of the herbal medicine factory… The factory was so large, and He Gu hadn’t even seen the tip of the iceberg. The difficulty was foreseeable.
As for the third method, after uncovering the secrets, he had to destroy the core of the herbal medicine factory… This level of challenge was like dancing in the palace of the King of Hell!
With this thought, He Gu took out the key again for another look.
Perhaps this key truly was the key to clearing this Instance?
He Gu was somewhat overwhelmed. This Instance… the difficulty really was not low…
…
Meanwhile.
Earth.
After entering the World of Strange Tales, He Gu had already entered the second Instance.
Correspondingly, there was also a challenger selected by the World of Strange Tales in each country, and the live broadcast rooms for bizarre events in all countries had lit up again.
However, at this point, the live broadcast rooms of several countries had gone dark again.
The reasoning was simple. When the elderly woman who just delivered the package called out names, several people subconsciously responded and died on the spot.
Dragon Nation’s Command Center for Bizarre Events.
Twenty-four elite members were having a meeting at this moment.
“New challengers entering the World of Strange Tales from other countries usually start by waking up from a dormitory bed. Only He Gu has fully experienced the process of completing procedures at the Human Resources Department, receiving items, and then going to the dormitory.”
“In other words, so far, in this instance, only He Gu has met the stationed Coordinator, Teacher Fang, and encountered a little girl in a red skirt as soon as he went upstairs.”
“This is normal. By convention, challengers who continually challenge instances will encounter more events than those who are new to the World of Strange Tales. This means that continuous challengers face more dangers, but also have more opportunities.”
“What we can confirm now is that the 5th rule: ‘Don’t respond when someone calls your name’ is real, and it is an Instant Death Rule.”
“Also, the three rules about sticking your back to the wall when you see a person in red clothes in the factory area, no children in the factory area, and the dormitory building only having four floors, are not Instant Death Rules according to He Gu’s experience, but their authenticity still cannot be determined.”
“He Gu knows everything you’ve mentioned, we don’t need to remind him!”
“Are there any more valuable discoveries? Are there any findings from challengers in other countries that are worth referring to?”
“None… At present, almost the whole world is watching He Gu and using him as a reference…”
“By the way, that key should be a critical item. We should pay special attention to this direction.”
“Indeed, it’s a tetrahedron key. There aren’t many locks that use such a key.”
“Turn on the scene recognition system, constantly scan and identify all locks or other locks appearing in the live broadcast picture, and sort out all suspected locks that match that key!”
…
The World of Strange Tales.
He Gu put away the note, left the room while flipping through the Employee Handbook.
According to the map in the Employee Handbook, Canteen No.4 was not far from the Building No.4 where He Gu lived. He could reach it by crossing a living area.
The so-called living area was actually a small community formed by several employee dormitory buildings of a traditional Chinese medicine factory, including a store, a small restaurant, and even a barbecue stall.
However, probably because most people were at work at this time, the living area was very quiet, with only a few scattered pedestrians.
While looking at the map and walking, He Gu pondered the rules written on the last page of the Employee Handbook.
After upgrading the Eyes of Delusion Breaking, He Gu could instantly discern which rules were instant death and which were not.
At the same time, it could be determined that instant death rules were all real.
So the false rules would only be among those non-instant death ones, which helped He Gu eliminate a lot of interference.
Speaking of which, did he stumble upon a bug?
However, with the current clues, it was still impossible to distinguish the truth of those non-instant death rules.
As usual, He Gu focused his attention on the hidden message that only he could see.
“When you are alone with someone, they may lead you to the light or drag you into hell.”
This time’s hidden message was still not clear, and even felt a bit ambiguous.
However, it was not difficult to judge that the core of this message was “being alone with someone”.
Did it mean that when he was alone with someone, he might get help or clues, or he might encounter danger?
He Gu couldn’t be sure, but he kept this in mind.
So, He Gu thought all the way, and after walking for about seven or eight minutes, he saw Canteen No.4.
Canteen No.4 was large, looking like an indoor stadium from the outside, with six entrances alone. It seemed that it could accommodate at least a thousand people dining at the same time.
However, at this time, there weren’t many people coming to eat, making the Canteen seem somewhat deserted.
He Gu didn’t rush in but started to explore door by door.
Soon enough, He Gu indeed found an A4 piece of paper on the glass door of Door 4:
**Rule Two**
1. Please ensure a balanced diet of meat and vegetables during meals.
2. Ensure that the number of dishes served per meal is an odd number.
…
Hidden Message: What heals you could also be a poison.
…