Chapter 30: The Way to Clear the Game

Chapter 30: The Strategy for Clearing the Level

Unlike the other three players, when Su Bai entered "Happy Community," he was assigned a role but did not lose his memory. He knew exactly where he came from and his purpose for being there.

Perhaps even "Happy Community" itself recognized that Su Bai was different from the other selected players. Thus, Su Bai's identity was not that of a resident, but rather a visitor.

In the background story "Happy Community" crafted for Su Bai, he was indeed an ordinary, unremarkable young man—a character as inconspicuous as air, so much so that he wouldn't even trigger an automatic door. Su Bai sometimes mused that he might have been given such a role because "Happy Community" itself wished him to remain low-key.

Anything bathed in the light of the Red Moon undergoes mutation. While buildings mutate at a slower pace, there are still numerous structures and complexes imbued with eerie powers, and even self-awareness.

Therefore, Su Bai did not dismiss the possibility that "Happy Community" itself possessed consciousness. He even suspected that the players' memory loss upon entering the community might be closely linked to the very existence of "Happy Community."

Returning to the narrative, since Su Bai's designated role was a "visitor," there had to be a "person" within the community awaiting his visit. According to his assigned identity, he was to visit an elderly woman in Room 402, Building 3. This woman was Su Bai's "aunt," unmarried and childless, her only companions in Room 402 being a dozen or so rescued stray cats.

Because he hadn't lost his memory, Su Bai immediately noticed something amiss with the digital clock on the wall as he entered Building 3. It didn't display the time at all, but rather strange numbers like 100:100.

The instant he saw these two numbers, Su Bai's accumulated experience from nightmare games rapidly kicked in. He began to meticulously recall the "New Resident Handbook" the administrator had mentioned at the game's outset. Combining this with the community's environment and the undeniably peculiar clock before him, a vague answer began to form in his mind.

Beyond the fourth rule concerning memory confusion, the "New Resident Handbook" contained an even more crucial fifth rule.

In the fifth rule, the administrator stated that this was a game with a "scoring system." Human players were valuable, each worth 10 points, while other residents were worth 1 point each.

Given a scoring system, a deduction system must also exist. And since this was a nightmare game, it was highly probable that every time a player died, 10 points would be deducted.

Why would players die? Naturally, they would be killed by other residents. In nightmare games, apart from humans, only eerie entities existed. Thus, the so-called "other residents" were essentially telling the players that, with the exception of a few selected players, all other inhabitants in "Happy Community" were ghosts!

The administrator's guidelines also warned that if the total score of human players dropped below that of the other residents, it would provoke their dissatisfaction. Based on experience, Su Bai could confidently assert that once the human score decreased, the ghosts in the community would begin to riot.

The lower the human score, the more terrifying the community would become!

Given the scoring and deduction system, there had to be some way to differentiate between eerie entities and humans. After all, Su Bai had only been walking in the community for a short while before sensing that "Happy Community" was teeming with countless ghosts.

The last time he had witnessed such a dense concentration of ghosts was in a cemetery.

Undoubtedly, the digital clock in the lobby of the residential building, which looked utterly out of place, was the most crucial scoreboard for this game. When Su Bai first entered Building 3, the numbers displayed were 100:100, which presumably represented the total scores of the eerie entities and human factions, respectively.

Knowing that both sides had a total score of 100 made "Happy Community" even more terrifying for human players—especially for Su Bai, who had just cleared the beginner level, possessed little strength, was physically weak, and whose true identity was that of an ordinary high school dropout!

Each human player was worth 10 points, so a total score of 100 meant that, including Su Bai, there should be 10 players in this game.

Each ghost was worth 1 point, so a total score of 100 meant...

There were 100 ghosts living in Happy Community!

100:100 might appear to be a perfectly balanced match, but for the players, it presented a dire predicament of 10 against 100, or 1 against 10! Moreover, as long as the players' total score fell below that of the ghosts, the ghosts were highly likely to suddenly rampage.

Su Bai didn't know what kind of riot the eerie entities would unleash, but it would likely involve all the malevolent spirits remembering their true identities, breaking free from the narratives fabricated by "Happy Community," and commencing a frenzied hunt and torment of humans throughout the community!

After much deliberation, Su Bai concluded that the simplest method for most players to clear the level was singular:

Play their roles well!

The "New Resident Handbook" recited by the administrator before the game mentioned that "all residents will experience varying degrees of memory confusion," confirming that not only players but also the eerie entities within the community would suffer from some degree of memory loss.

Under ideal circumstances, as long as players meticulously maintained their roles, they would prevent the surrounding ghosts from quickly regaining their memories due to stimulation.

As long as the ghosts' memories remained suppressed, they would likely not harm their daughters, grandsons, or nephews.

This might also be the reason why the "New Resident Handbook" specifically urged them to play their roles well.

Su Bai was no saint, rescuing people from dire straits. If possible, he would prefer to quietly look out for himself. However, if all other players besides Su Bai were killed, and the player score on the clock plummeted from 100 to 10, then the hundreds of malevolent spirits in Happy Community would all begin to hunt Su Bai alone.

Given Su Bai's current condition, it was highly improbable he could withstand a riot in Happy Community.

Therefore, ensuring the survival of other players was entirely advantageous for Su Bai, with no drawbacks!

Of course, "playing their roles well" was merely an idealized strategy for clearing the level. Since some players had begun to regain their memories, it was inevitable that one or two malevolent spirits might also have recovered theirs.

To prevent these one or two malevolent spirits, who had begun to show their fangs, from causing greater disturbances, and to ensure that the majority of the ghosts in the community remained unaffected by these anomalies, Su Bai chose to harness the power of the Evil Ghost Puzzle to discreetly eliminate those one or two malevolent spirits.

Since this was a 48-hour endurance battle, and Su Bai's most familiar and trusted Ghost Bride A Xi was still in a deep slumber, he selected a piece of the Evil Ghost Puzzle called "Black Umbrella," one of the few young male pieces in his collection.

Black Umbrella had two fatal wounds: a ligature mark on his neck and a completely missing left eye.

When Su Bai borrowed Black Umbrella's power, these two wounds would manifest on Su Bai's body, similar to the hole in the Ghost Bride's chest. Additionally, Black Umbrella had certain quirks. He would only lend his power to Su Bai if Su Bai dressed according to his preferences.

In fact, as long as Su Bai satisfied his clothing preferences, he could borrow Black Umbrella's power with minimal cost, allowing even the current Su Bai to use this power for extended periods.

In his previous life, Su Bai considered himself fortunate to have clean clothes in the nightmare world and lacked the elaborate attire to satisfy Black Umbrella's preferences. But in this life, the Mist Shop's warehouse could create any item from the human world, including clothes.

Although Black Umbrella's preferences made Su Bai, who favored simplicity, somewhat uncomfortable, they did make the ribbon around his neck covering the ligature mark and the eye patch covering his missing left eye seem less peculiar.

Moreover, Black Umbrella's power proved highly practical in this game. Not only could it subtly alter Su Bai's skin tone and hairstyle within a small range, but the missing left eye could also pierce through the disguises of eerie entities. Furthermore, Black Umbrella's power enhanced Su Bai's physical strength and the power of his limbs, and it improved his skill when wielding a long sword or other polearms.

This particular piece of the Evil Ghost Puzzle was certainly not the strongest within Su Bai, but at this moment, it was indeed the most suitable.

After using Black Umbrella's power to eliminate one or two malevolent spirits who had regained their memories, and incidentally saving Feng Ling, Su Bai again used Black Umbrella's power to change his skin tone and hairstyle. After changing his clothes, he continued to infiltrate the temporary team formed by Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie. After all, doors were abundant in this community, and Su Bai could almost always return to the Mist Shop to change his attire.

Regardless of Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie's true nature, as long as they took the lead in gathering the players, Su Bai didn't mind secretly boosting the players' survival rate. Even if Ning Yan and Fang Xiujie themselves showed abnormalities, Su Bai, lurking within the team, would not hesitate to deal with them.

These recent memories and experiences flashed through Su Bai's mind, yet the Su Bai sitting on the sofa maintained his timid grin as always.

"Su Bai, what is your trait?" Having received no answer, Fang Xiujie asked again.

Su Bai immediately lowered his head and said apologetically, "Sorry, my trait is 'Puzzle Ability Enhancement.' I've thought about it for a long time since acquiring the trait, but I can't figure out how to enhance it."

Su Bai chose not to fabricate a strange trait; after all, his trait was already peculiar enough. Without the help of Ghost Bride A Xi, Su Bai might have died in the nightmare game before even understanding his trait.

"...Puzzle?" Fang Xiujie's expression showed that he, too, was stumped by Su Bai's trait. "Sorry, I might also need some time to think about it. I hope I can offer you some help."

With that, Fang Xiujie tore off a piece of paper, wrote a string of numbers on it, and handed it to Su Bai and Feng Ling.

"This is my phone number in the real world. You can memorize it. If we can return to the real world, send me a message. I'll then send you the organized research findings and as detailed a plan as possible," Fang Xiujie said, sighing again. "Items with special powers can be brought into the real world, but ordinary items cannot be taken in or out. The reasoning behind this remains unclear to this day."

"Seriously?" Ning Yan, curled up in the single sofa, rolled her eyes dramatically. "Researchers and newcomers? This game is truly brutal!"

"Next, I'll discuss the specific strategy for clearing the level," Fang Xiujie said, seemingly oblivious to Ning Yan's complaint, his face still wearing a friendly smile.