[He cleared two instances so easily and could quietly screw over his teammates along the way. I don't think this instance can stump him.]
[Hey, the part about screwing over teammates is still just speculation, isn't it?]
[Master Xu Xi really has zero enthusiasm for the instance, huh.]
[The previous commenter put my thoughts into words. I was wondering why Master Xu Xi always felt a bit off. Turns out he's just too passive about the instance. Other players are very active and work hard to find clues, props, and ways to clear it as soon as they enter. Master Xu Xi is just... casual.]
[More than that. He just silently follows his teammates, letting them do whatever.]
[Looking at it this way, Master Xu Xi is a more qualified spectator than us netizens.]
[I'm crying. How can you all say that about Master Xu Xi? He's just genuinely treating himself as a player. What's wrong with that?]
[Hahaha, damn, you guys are really mean.]
——
After the initial discussion, everyone had a better grasp of this instance.
However, even the High-Ponytailed Woman, who hadn't spoken much at first, participated in the discussion. Only the young man on the side remained silent from start to finish.
The Burly Man was getting a bit dissatisfied again.
Everyone was working hard to analyze clues, but this guy, well, he hadn't said a word the whole time.
Just as he was about to make a few pointed remarks, the High-Ponytailed Woman said calmly, "I need to mention something. Just now, when we were coming over from Room 103, I noticed the door to Room 101 didn't seem to be locked."
The Burly Man immediately swallowed the sarcastic comment that was about to leave his mouth.
He still understood priorities. Clearing the instance was the most important thing right now, so he said, "Then let's go check Room 101 next."
However, the High-Ponytailed Woman shook her head. "I clearly remember that when we passed by Room 101 on our way to Room 103, the door to Room 101 was tightly shut."
This...?!
Xu Xi had been tangled up over whether the Short-haired Glasses Girl had died indirectly because of his actions. Hearing this, his heart skipped a beat, and he immediately tossed that so-called guilt to the back of his mind.
Regardless, the Short-haired Glasses Girl was already dead.
If it really was because he turned on the flashlight, then... he sincerely apologized. Sorry >_<.
If it wasn't, then considering the person was already gone, he would magnanimously forgive her for snatching his clue earlier.
But Xu Xi tried hard to recall. Had he noticed whether the door to Room 101 was locked when he passed by?
...He didn't seem to have noticed at all.
He had been busy looking at the room numbers.
Before the others could speak, the High-Ponytailed Woman continued, "We held the candles and lingered at the front desk for quite a long time without attracting that thing. But as soon as we separated and entered rooms, that thing came out."
"So you think that thing was originally inside Room 101, and someone, or something, let it out while we were entering the rooms?" the Refined Man asked with a serious expression.
"Exactly," the High-Ponytailed Woman nodded without hesitation.
The Burly Man immediately took out the key ring and started looking for the key to Room 101. After a moment, his expression turned ugly. "There's no key for Room 101 on here."
As expected.
The thought that besides that eerie white humanoid thing, there was also an unknown entity hiding in the shadows, secretly watching them, made everyone break out in goosebumps and sent a chill down their spines.
"We still need to explore Room 101. Even though we're not completely in the dark about this instance anymore, we still have no idea what the clearance method is," the Refined Man said thoughtfully after a moment of consideration.
He didn't advocate blindly avoiding danger. The more you avoided it, the more you'd lose the initiative. Sometimes, dangerous places precisely held important clues.
No one objected.
None of them wanted to dawdle in the instance. The longer they dragged it out, the smaller their chances of clearing it would become.
Even if they might die the next second, they had to charge forward.
After all, these instances required players to gamble with their lives.
"But we can't just barge in blindly either," the Refined Man said. He had courage but wasn't reckless. After pondering for a moment, he suggested, "We can't do anything about the thing in the shadows for now, but we can figure out a way to lure the white humanoid thing in the open to a fixed location, to avoid accidentally running into it face-to-face."
The Burly Man asked curiously, "What method?"
He had figured it out by now; this Refined Man's brain was truly sharp.
"Since that white humanoid thing was let out, that proves it can be locked inside a room. We just need to light a candle in one room, lure it into that room, then close the door and lock it inside," the Refined Man said with a slight smile.
"The thing in the shadows needs a key to open doors. Except for Room 101, we have the keys to all the other rooms. So we don't have to worry about that thing letting the white humanoid out again."
Genius!
Xu Xi marveled inwardly.
How on earth was this Refined Man's brain wired?
The Burly Man and the High-Ponytailed Woman's eyes both lit up.
This was indeed a good method.
But there was also a problem.
The Burly Man asked pointedly, "Who will light the candle? And what if there are other white humanoid things in the remaining rooms?"
The Refined Man said helplessly, "No choice. We'll just have to gamble on that."
As for who would light the candle...
"You go!"
The Burly Man suddenly lifted his chin and looked at Xu Xi.
Me?
Xu Xi was stunned.
"You go! We were all discussing seriously just now, and you didn't participate at all. You can't just reap the benefits without contributing. You need to do your part too."
Seeing this scene, the live stream comments also erupted.
[Well, well, well. Look at this.]
[Is Master Xu Xi being targeted?]
[But what the Burly Man says does make some sense. Master Xu Xi's participation is a bit low.]
[Oh, come on! If Xu Xi hadn't reminded them to blow out the candles earlier, would they even be standing here ordering him to light a candle now?]
[That's true. Who was it that said before, as long as you don't provoke the Burly Man, he won't pick a fight? I ask you, what is he doing now?]
[Burly Man, don't you dare court death. The last one who offended Master Xu Xi, the Woman with Glasses, is already stone-cold dead.]
[I have a feeling the next one to die might be this Burly Man.]
[Feeling +1]
Xu Xi didn't know that the outside world had even started betting on whether he would kill the Burly Man later. He was still surprised that the Burly Man wanted him to light the candle.
He could naturally tell the Burly Man seemed to be targeting him a bit, but he didn't remember offending the guy.
"I'll go instead."
To everyone's surprise, the High-Ponytailed Woman actually volunteered.