"It's been proven that ghosts don't necessarily appear when two players meet, unless they satisfy a particular condition."

Bai Qiong pinched the item in his hand. "Keke and I have been together since the start of the instance, but we haven't encountered any ghost. Is it because we didn't meet the condition for the ghost to appear?"

Gu Mian nodded. "I noticed that the previous two groups of players who met were from different factions. Then, not long after, the ghost would appear... I speculate that only when two players from different factions encounter each other and conflict arises will the ghost appear."

Both Bai Qiong and Keke belonged to the Hunter's Faction, so even if they were together, they couldn't play any game like an eagle catching chicks.

Without any conflict, a ghost naturally didn't appear.

Keke looked somewhat puzzled. "What's the point of the ghost doing this?"

Gu Mian shook his head. "I don't know. However, I previously speculated that the ghost in this instance, like the players, also has a faction..."

Bai Qiong was somewhat surprised to hear this.

He frowned and asked, "Does the ghost in this instance also have a faction?"

Gu Mian nodded. "Yes, the ghost in the instance belongs to the Survivor Camp, and it is constrained by the Hunters. If Hunters and Survivors split up and flee, the ghost wouldn't even spare the Hunters a glance. That's why we aren't in any immediate danger and could even play a crucial role at a critical moment."

Shocked, Keke pondered for a moment. "Does this mean the ghost is also afraid of being caught by us Hunters?"

"Although various clues indicate that the ghost is constrained by the Hunters, we still shouldn't act rashly," Gu Mian said. "Because right now, I still don't understand why the ghost always hurriedly appears whenever Hunters and Survivors meet..."

Is the ghost helping players who are also Survivors?

Unlikely.

At this moment, Bai Qiong suddenly spoke up, "Right, I thoroughly searched this street and found a phone that can dial a number. Although I don't know what this has to do with the game of hide-and-seek, you two should take a look."

As he spoke, he lifted his hand. Gu Mian saw the phone he was holding.

"I just used this phone to dial the only number we found at the service center. The call connected, but there was no voice... Well, it wasn't completely silent. In any case, you'll understand when you listen..."

As he spoke, Bai Qiong tapped the phone screen, apparently inputting a phone number, then switched to speakerphone.

After a brief BEEP, Gu Mian heard a sound like the call being answered, but the other end remained silent.

Only the WHOOSHING sound of wind came through.

Gu Mian listened to the sound of the wind for a good while before Bai Qiong quietly said, "Wait a moment, there will be other sounds soon."

Hearing this, Gu Mian listened carefully again.

Sure enough, after just a few minutes, the faint sound of flowing water suddenly reached him, like a BABBLING brook.

But this sound of water didn't last long before it vanished, and then the faint sound of wind once again dominated the line.

Gu Mian glanced at the time on his own phone and signaled Bai Qiong not to hang up.

The current time was 9:41.

Gu Mian listened for a while longer after the water sound, and found that around 9:48, the sound of water reappeared, with an interval of seven minutes.

Bai Qiong said, "When I first made the call, I also subconsciously timed the interval between the water sounds; it was also about seven minutes."

Keke asked, "Are we supposed to find the place where the call was answered? There's a sound of water every seven minutes... Could it be near a timed faucet?"

As she said this, there was a hint of sheepishness on her face; she probably also felt that a "timed faucet" was something unheard of.

Bai Qiong shook his head. "This sound isn't like a faucet. It's more like a river."

That was truly strange. What kind of river would make a sound and then fall silent intermittently? Moreover, the intervals were very regular, always seven minutes.

Both of them were immediately puzzled. Where on earth had the person on the other end answered the call?

Gu Mian was also stroking his chin, contemplating the clues in this instance. They were extremely strange.

On the surface, this instance seemed to be a struggle between players from two factions, yet a ghost had inexplicably been mixed in—a ghost from the Survivor Camp.

And the instance was littered with strange clues, all of which seemed to be guiding the players to find something.

As he pondered, Gu Mian looked at Bai Qiong, who was deep in thought. "You two had better be careful. Players have no absolute safety in an instance. The instance wouldn't let one faction be invincible from the start."

Bai Qiong snapped out of his thoughts and nodded.

The current situation was indeed too strange.

If it was really as Gu Mian speculated—that the ghost belonged to the Survivor Camp and Survivors needed to evade Hunters—then the Hunter players in this instance would face no danger.

The instance would absolutely not allow that.

Why?

Why on earth put a ghost belonging to the Survivor Camp in the instance?

And why did the ghost always appear just in time when Hunters were chasing Survivors?

What did the clues found in the instance actually mean?

Gu Mian hadn't figured any of this out yet.

As he thought, he glanced at Keke beside him. The high school girl seemed to be pondering something. As for what exactly—it definitely wasn't a math problem.

Gu Mian withdrew his gaze. "Also, there's one more thing you should be aware of. I don't know how many ghosts are in this instance, but I just received a clue—it concerns the time 9:15."

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