【Question】

Caught someone who might know! What do you want to ask?

[Option 1]

……

[Option 28]

……

The options keep popping up, flipping down as fast as they can.

Is it because there are too many thoughts in your head?

Zheng Zhuo saw that the options continued to increase.

He decided to ask one by one.

Until then, though......

"This place has been discovered!"

The thief said quickly.

"We can't stay here! It's too dangerous. I know there's a place that's safer. ”

……

…………

………………

With a "squeak" sound, the thief pried open the wooden plank at the end of the corridor on the first floor.

Underneath it, as the thief said, there was a narrow basement.

Zheng Zhuo stood behind with a saw blade in his hand. The thief was ahead, carrying water and food into the basement.

"I bet even if someone came looking for it, they wouldn't find it - it's absolutely secret!"

The thief assured. He speaks very quickly and has a certain local accent. Zheng Zhuo always took half a beat to understand what he was saying.

“……”

The thief's accent is definitely not the local accent of the city where Zheng Zhuo lives. Zheng Zhuo lives in the south, but the thief, he thinks, has a northern accent.

……

While the thief was moving things, Zheng Zhuo asked him about the contents of the [Vote] page. And learned some information.

A thief is also a thief in reality. After entering the palace many times, he ran out of money, and when he left the detention center, a middle-aged man on the side of the road accosted him.

"You look so bad."

The thief didn't want to pay attention to him, but the middle-aged man told him about the app and instructed him to download it on a strange web page.

This software is said to help people make a lot of money. After using the software with the mentality of trying it out, he fell into the world from the sky like Zheng Zhuo, but so far, he has not met the middle-aged man.

"It's been three rounds! I didn't earn anything! Came in just to have a good meal. It's really......"

"That's right."

It's not the same as my experience. Zheng Zhuo thought.

He searched for this software himself. There are no middle-aged men.

He asked about where to find the truth, who was stronger, where it was weirder, where it was safer, and so on. However, the thief stated that his course of action was to use his ability to [move] to "hide first, then pick up the leaks", and that he did not investigate at all, and was completely unaware of these things. He also appeared in town on the morning before the bells rang twice, the day Zheng Zhuo arrived. At that time, he appeared in the house where he is now.

"I don't know what happened to the aborigines." The thief said, "Some of them look like people I know." I've tried to talk! But in the end I gave up - they didn't know me at all! There were also some participants – I had never seen them in real life. After returning to reality, I haven't met it either. ”

"There's a card next to [the subconscious world]."

Zheng Zhuo thought for a moment and asked.

"What's written underneath your card?"

"Uh, this, this......"

“……”

Saw blades work. Not only can you pry open the plank, but you can also pry open other people's mouths.

"Yes...... It's an orphan. ”

The thief said.

"I've always been on this card. All three times. I don't know what the others are, I've seen some on the interface...... I was impressed by ...... [Heroes] or [Rulers]. ”

He thought hard.

"Those should be codenames? After all, no one wants to say their name here. I didn't pay much attention to that - I knew I had a bad brain, I couldn't think about it! In the second game, no one was eliminated, and there were twelve people gathered together in the end. I think there should be twelve participants in a game - I know that—"

They sat opposite each other in the basement for a while. Zheng Zhuo asked him some more questions about "death" and "out".

"Why"

"I don't understand either."

The thief said.

"Maybe some people quit voluntarily, right? After all, it's kind of painful to be eliminated—"

The thief laughed dryly. The voice was hoarse as if it had been torn apart.

……

All the items have been moved. Zheng Zhuo entered the basement with the thief.

They parted tacitly, huddled in a corner.

Zheng Zhuo asked a few other questions intermittently, and then they all fell silent.

Zheng Zhuo was almost asleep. But he still held the blade tightly. In a dim light, he felt light shine through the cracks in the floor.

It's dawn.

The light fell on the thief's face, and he frowned and slowly opened his eyes.

“…… I fell asleep. ”

The thief said slowly, and then reacted to something.

"I wasn't killed, I wasn't tied up...... Can I consider our collaboration established? ”

“……”

Zheng Zhuo remained silent.

Seeing that Zheng Zhuo was silent, the thief rolled his eyes and saw his wound.

"Your ...... Your hands are serious! ”

He immediately continued.

"Right...... Yesterday...... You seem to have asked me about the treatment...... I'll help you get the medicine! ”

“…… You're going to run? ”

No, no, no, no.

The thief hurriedly waved his hand.

"My food, water, belongings...... It's all here! I can't run! I will...... I would like to express some sincerity in cooperating. ”

Before Zheng Zhuo could nod, he bounced up from the ground and pushed the plank open.

Not good. Zheng Zhuo wanted to catch the thief. But his right hand had no strength.

Zheng Zhuo's hand stretched out into the air. The thief jumped up and ran out.

The cover "bang" and closed again.

……

Zheng Zhuo immediately stood up and reopened the cover! He feared that the thieves would block up the basement or come back with dangerous items.

But what he saw was the thief actually running out of the back of the house. He didn't look back.

Does he really want to show sincerity?

Zheng Zhuo was afraid that the thief would set the fire, so he didn't dare to stay in the basement, so he left there and sat next to the gate instead.

He decided to wait.

However, after a long time, the thief did not return.

And, over time.

Something is not right.

……

It's so quiet.

The sun is gradually rising. Little by little, the town is getting brighter.

However, he did not hear anyone.

Zheng Zhuo cautiously pushed open the door.

The streets were deserted.

After waiting for another ten minutes, Zheng Zhuo slowly walked to the street.

Silent. Not to mention the other participants, not even a single phantom.

Zheng Zhuo walked up and down the street cluelessly. After a while, he saw the sign of the pharmacy, pushed the door and walked in.

The pharmacy was empty.

Zheng Zhuo walked around the counter, took some hemostatic powder and anti-inflammatory powder he knew, and bandaged his shoulder with a simple bandage.

He wasn't skilled, so it took him more time than he thought.

But during this time, neither the thief nor the clerk showed up.

“…… Where have all the people gone? ”

Zheng Zhuo began to feel uneasy, so he walked out of the pharmacy again.

The sun has risen very high.

It's daytime.

The streets were as quiet as late at night.

Zheng Zhuo quietly retreated behind the door and opened the voting page.

……

【Voting】

[Suddenly there is no one on the street! What's next? 】

[Option 1]

[Stay in the pharmacy and wait and see what happens]

[Option 2]

[Return to the thief's empty house and wait for the thief to return]

[Option 3]

【Go to the hotel where you will stay on the first day】

[Option 4]

[Go to the vicinity of the previously discovered semi-open underwater cave]