Chapter 486 A Glimmer of Hope

Chapter 486: A Glimmer of Hope

"From now until the event starts, there are less than two hours left. Do you really have a way to cut the puppet strings?" Feng Ling narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at the other players seated on the sofa. Although her question was directed at "you all," she also seemed to be pondering a solution herself.

Her words fell like a heavy stone into a still lake. The expressions of the few on the sofa stiffened, plunging them into a heavy silence. Clearly, within such a short time, it was difficult for them to find a way to break free from their puppet identities in this game that manipulated fate. Once the clock struck, the script would once again seize control of their bodies and minds, turning them into puppets devoid of self, pulled along by the plot's strings.

Su Bai leaned against the wall, his gaze sweeping over everyone. He understood clearly that the script's control not only stripped them of their freedom but would also degrade and confuse their minds. By eight o'clock in the evening, before Lian Xiangyu and the others even regained their senses, they might be judged to have failed the game.

This sense of powerlessness hung over their hearts like a shadow.

In such a situation, a female player who had remained completely silent on the first day, diligently playing the role of a maid—a stranger who even seemed somewhat frail—now stepped forward with a determined look, asking them what they planned to do?

For a moment, they were at a loss for words. Silence spread, and the people on the sofa looked weary, as if they were too drained to even get angry or argue back.

Su Bai understood the other players' sense of powerlessness, but he could also comprehend Feng Ling's restrained demeanor that still felt aloof. Even he himself was similar.

Although he didn't know what scheme Feng Ling was plotting, Su Bai believed that, like him, she possessed the confidence to survive this game. It was precisely because they held enough trump cards, precisely because they weren't affected by that sense of despairing crisis, that he, Feng Ling, and Wu Hang always stood apart from the other players. And it was precisely due to the lack of that feeling of being trapped in a desperate situation that Su Bai couldn't immediately think of any method to clear the game aside from a brute-force approach.

In Su Bai's view, if the other players allowed it, he could try to find the director hidden behind the Blood Moon Lake Villa and force the director's hand to end the game early.

However, even players lost in the Nightmare World ten years later still firmly believed that every nightmare game held a glimmer of hope. So, Su Bai was still very curious about where exactly that glimmer of hope lay within this strange game instance of the Blood Moon Lake Villa.

The method Su Bai envisioned for clearing the game was to use his own power and the power of the puzzle pieces for a brute-force solution.

Feng Ling might have thought of a good method, but her approach was undoubtedly based on the premise that she herself wasn't controlled by the script—something the other players couldn't achieve.

So, as ordinary players, did Huo Lang and the others truly have a way to find this hidden glimmer of hope within just two short hours?

"Regardless, I think the game must have given us some hints, and these hints definitely aren't in this script," Lian Xiangyu broke the silence, frowning in thought. He tossed the script aside with disgust, as if touching it was like touching a virus. "We should review the information the administrator gave us, along with yesterday's voice and that director's evaluation."

Upon hearing this, Shen Dong'er finally calmed down a bit and said softly, "The director said our performance was too boring. That means this director subjectively hopes to see a performance that isn't boring, or a performance more exciting than this script.

"But if we want to make the performance more exciting, we have to modify the script! How can we, who can't break free from the script's control, modify it? Brother Huo, do you have any ideas?" Ning Yi looked at Huo Lang standing nearby. Clearly, this optimistic round-faced young man was well-respected among the players of Qingliu City.

"You know what, I actually do have an idea." Even at a time like this, Huo Lang could manage to give Ning Yi a comforting smile. "My idea is: if the mountain won't come to me, I'll go to the mountain. Since we can't change the script, we'll change ourselves."

"Change ourselves?"

"Exactly. Let me give an exaggerated example first. Suppose, before today's 8 o'clock audition event starts, the male or female lead in the script dies. Would we be able to change the script then?" Huo Lang said with a smile, uttering something terrifying that sent a chill down the spines of Lian Xiangyu and Ning Yi.

However, Su Bai and Feng Ling, standing to the side, had a gleam in their eyes, as if seeing something novel.

"Of course, I'm just making a hypothesis. If the male and female leads die, the most likely outcome is that the script falls into an even more boring predicament, devoid of even conflict or drama.

"Then it occurred to me: our game is called Blood Moon Lake Villa. There's not only a villa here but also a lake." Huo Lang looked at Ning Yi. "Ning Yi, I remember you're very good at swimming. You even performed as a mermaid at an aquarium before. If you're willing to take the risk... if the female lead is in a state of drowning when the script begins, would that change the script?

"Besides that, we can write a note to our future, script-controlled selves and hide it on our bodies, so that our controlled consciousness can see it. We can leave a note telling them that they are merely characters in a script, not their real selves at all, that their lives are being manipulated. Then how would the script's direction change? Of course, since our script-controlled selves might not believe our note, we'd also need to write down some secrets related to our own bodies, like birthmarks or scars...

"If our script-controlled selves can receive this information, the script's direction is bound to become bizarre. Perhaps that's exactly what the director wants to see!"

Su Bai nodded thoughtfully, acknowledging the "glimmer of hope" Huo Lang had found. This unconventional way of thinking might be exactly what the director wanted to see—a truly "exciting" performance.

Huo Lang's words opened a door to a new world for Lian Xiangyu and the others. The group immediately began discussing animatedly, completely unaware that Feng Ling, who had been standing behind them, had moved over to stand beside Su Bai.

Meanwhile, Wu Hang sat quietly in his usual spot, motionless, not even a hint of breathing audible.

In Su Bai's view, this guy who had become a player by borrowing a puppet body seemed capable of entering a "standby" state at any time.

"It looks like they've really found a way to break through." As Feng Ling said this, Lian Xiangyu and the others were considering whether wrecking the villa might make the plot even more exciting.