Xiang Xianwan had already held back her tears. Once she heard this sentence, she was directly comforted to the point of tears.
Low sobs emerged and filled every corner of the night.
One second, the atmosphere in the live broadcast room was depressed due to the weird development just now. The next second, the silence dried up.
[This was definitely the best comfort technique I have ever seen. I'm convinced.]
[This Chi Ting knows how to adjust the atmosphere. My hands and feet were cold, but now they feel much better.
[Just now, my hair was standing up. This apartment instance is a bit too evil!]
[This is a desperate instance where the groups have been wiped out ten times. What do you think?]
[Hey, what percentage was the highest progress of the previous groups?]
[I didn't pay attention when it first started. Then I started chasing from the second group. The 40% of the third group should be the highest progress.]
[Then how much progress has this group made so far? I will check… 25%? Is it 25% on the third day? Is this instance pushed according to the survival time?]
[The ones based on time are survival instances, but they are simpler.]
It was probably because what happened to the small team here spread, but many people entered the live stream room. The number of viewers directly doubled.
In this instance, several people participating in the video conference were still sitting in a stunned manner in front of their phones.
All this happened so suddenly that even Li Tao couldn't recover. This was until Xiang Xianwan almost started crying. Then he said in a hoarse voice, "Don't turn off the video tonight. Everyone can watch each other and pay attention. As for Chang Hefeng…"
He was reluctant, but he was indeed the best candidate since he lived on the 15th floor. He continued, "I'll go to the 16th floor in the morning to take a look."
Gong Jing also had some difficulty speaking. "Yes, it can only be like this."
Chi Ting sincerely felt that human beings who grew up in peacetime times were really fragile in the heart. If he let them go at this time, they just had to watch the whole process of alienation a few times, and they would be completely accustomed to the panic and fear.
After all, Chang Hefeng was the same as before. At the very least, he kept a decent human appearance throughout the whole process. This was a top-level treatment that many infected people envied in the apocalypse.
If he had any regrets…
Chi Ting recalled the scene just now and couldn't help sighing from the bottom of his heart.
Li Tao was already frightened. Now he noticed Chi Ting's actions and subconsciously asked, "What's wrong?"
Chi Ting looked at him and truthfully expressed his regret. "It is a pity that there is one less person."
Li Tao: "..."
Xiang Xianwan was originally a newcomer to the instance. She had finally finished crying. Then she heard Chi Ting's words and was reminded of the memories just now. Her tears suddenly welled up uncontrollably again.
Li Tao had already noticed Chi Ting's talkative nature and secretly scolded himself for even asking. "It's late. Let's all sleep first!"
He told them to sleep, but in fact, no one could fall asleep except for Chi Ting.
So in front of the large audience, everyone stared numbly at Chi Ting's sleeping face all night. Finally, they waited with great difficulty for the sun to rise.
There were no more NPCs acting outside, and a few people dared to end the call.
The moment Chi Ting exited the video call meeting, he saw Li Tao's invitation. He connected it while feeling strange. "Is there anything else?"
"It isn't a big deal. I just want to ask you for a favor." Li Tao was changing his shoes and preparing to start the expedition to the 16th floor. His expression looked quite tragic. "I don't know what will happen later. Once the time comes, if you find that I am showing any strange behavior then you must remember to smile fiercely at me."
"Ah." Chi Ting was very happy to receive a human's request for help, and the corners of his mouth were already floating up naturally. "Is that so?"
"F*k!" He was caught off guard by the kindness on Chi Ting's face and blurted out loudly. He rubbed his eyes again and again. "Yes yes, that's it. But don't smile now. Please don't smile at me unless I become abnormal. Thank you!"
Chi Ting restrained his smile while vaguely understanding Li Tao's intentions. He made an OK gesture.
Li Tao maintained the video call and went upstairs.
If it wasn't for the fact that there was no other way, he wouldn't have turned to Chi Ting for help.
They wouldn't be in danger if they left Chang Hefeng alone, but it was only by figuring out what happened that they could leave this ghostly place faster.
It was the so-called 'How can you catch a tiger's cub without entering the tiger's lair?'
At present, daytime in the Love Apartment could be considered a safe period. If something really happened and he fell into Chang He's state last night, he hp[ed that he could be blinded by the goodwill emanating from a distance from Chi Ting, and his sanity would return a bit.
Even just a bit was fine!
The corridor of the 16th floor was very neat and tidy. It looked like a warm and peaceful day against the background of the pink wall.
Li Tao knocked on the door of Room 1602 with apprehension.
After a few seconds, there was the faint sound of slippers hitting the ground from inside.
Li Tao raised his phone high and made sure that Chi Ting on the screen was pointed directly at him.
In the midst of the sound of the door unlocking, he took a deep breath, and his body was tense as he prepared to face all unimaginable things that might happen. Then he was completely stunned the moment the door opened.
"Chang… Chang Hefeng?"
Li Tao's disbelieving words came out, and Chi Ting also saw the figure that appeared upside down on the screen of the lowered camera.
He blinked and turned the screen 180 degrees.
"What's the matter with coming to see me so early?" Chang Hefeng looked like he had just woken up. Based on his bleary-eyed appearance alone, it seemed that everything last night was just their illusion.
If it weren't for the fact that there were so many people present, Li Tao would've wondered if everything was a dream. "You… are you okay?"
Chang Hefeng wondered, "What can happen to me?"
"Do you remember what happened last night?"
Chang Hefeng replied, "Last night? I was sleeping last night."
Li Tao saw his appearance of nothing happening and was gradually forced to accept the reality that nothing happened. "Since you are fine, why don't you come back and continue the meeting with us?"
He turned sideways. His gaze passed over Chang Hefeng's side and caught a glimpse of the mobile phone still on the coffee table. "You left the phone on all night? Why didn't you call us to tell us that you were safe when you came back?"
"Mobile phone? What mobile phone?" Chang Hefeng looked back into the living room doubtfully. "I accidentally broke my phone while exercising. Why can't I understand what you are saying?"
Li Tao watched Chang Hefeng's gaze pass over the phone like it was nothing and felt a cool breeze rushing over his back. He instinctively shivered and had no time to delve into the impatience in Chang Hefeng's tone. "It is just.. the phone on the coffee table. You used it last night to have a video meeting call with us."
"Don't make trouble. There is obviously nothing on the coffee table. I just said that my phone has been broken and was sent for repair. What is going on with you?" Chang Hefeng became more and more impatient. Finally, he pushed Li Tao out the door. "I have to go exercise with Ah Wei this afternoon. If you have nothing to do, don't bother my rest."
In fact, there was no need for him to push at all. Li Tao had already spontaneously taken a few steps back.
Li Tao stared straight above Chang Hefeng's head, and his eyes widened slightly.
What appeared there was clearly a favorability bar that only NPCs had.
After the value changed by -5, Li Tao's heartbeat accelerated. He quickly took the camera to show Chi Ting. There was no need for Chang Hefeng to push away this person. He was already running downstairs without looking back.
"Y-Y-You saw it!" After rushing all the way back to Room 1502, he closed the door. Li Tao's voice as he lay against the door was a bit hesitant. "H-H-He…"
"He was assimilated by this instance, I guess." Chi Ting had witnessed the whole process. His mood was as calm as ever, and he didn't forget to criticize it. "These things like to turn other species into their own kind. I can only say that this habit is really very bad."
"Those things? You mean NPCs?" After all, Li Tao had also experienced several instances. He soon forced himself to regain his composure. He pondered on Chi Ting's words and suddenly glared. "If you already know this, why didn't you remind me first?"
"I said it was a guess, a guess. What if I guessed wrong?" Chi Ting coaxed him very patiently. "Didn't you say that Xiang Xianwan was scared to tears by me last night? What if I scared you to cry again, right?"
Li Tao: "..."
It sounded reasonable, but he didn't know if he should curse at this sentence or not.
"Forget it, I have to tell them about Chang Hefeng first." Li Tao switched from Chi Ting's video call to send a message. Then he thought about it. "So Chang Hefeng is really assimilated by the instance, and there is a favorability bar above his head. Can he be considered as completely becoming an NPC? He doesn't seem to remember what happened before, and he can't see the phone on the coffee table. Does this mean that everything related to us players has been erased from his world?"
The more he analyzed it, the more he couldn't help cursing. "Thinking about what happened makes me cold… the question now is, why was he the first to be assimilated. Why was he the first among us to be assimilated? What is the rule behind this…?"
The message was sent out smoothly. Then Li Tao heard Chi Ting's answer. "It should be because of favorability, right?"
"Favorability?" Li Tao switched back to the call again and was awoken by these words. "Ah yes, Chang Hefeng has always been very active when increasing favorability. If my memory serves me correctly, he told me before that he almost filled up the favorability level with those of the same level."
"If it hasn't happened to the few of us then it should be this." Chi Ting nodded. "So increasing the favorability should be moderate. It can't be too high or too low. People still need to leave a certain social space to be polite. However, increasing favorability is so tiring. Normal people shouldn't increase it too much."
After speaking, he noticed that Li Tao's expression had changed. "What's wrong?"
"I remember that Xiang Xianwan has always gotten along well with that little girl before. In addition… Yesterday, she left for our convenience and went to play a game with that child for a long time. Will she be targeted next?"
Li Tao fiddled with his phone, and his expression sank completely. "There hasn't been a response to the message I sent her. Don't tell me I jinxed it?"
Chi Ting paused for a moment and quickly glanced at the rising sun outside. "I'll go and take a look.."
Before he finished speaking, he cut off the communication and rushed out the door.
Chi Ting arrived on the 13th floor and heard footsteps rushing down from upstairs. It should be Li Tao rushing down as well.
The door to Room 1302 was open, and there was no one inside.
Chi Ting stopped and glanced at the scratches left by an obvious struggle on the door of Room 1301. He frowned slightly and directly kicked it open.
Li Tao rushed downstairs three steps at a time. What he saw at a glance was the scene of someone directly breaking it. He couldn't help sucking in a breath. "F*k! So brave?"
Immediately afterward, his voice completely stopped due to the scene that entered his eyes.
In Room 1301, a variety of dolls almost covered his entire field of view.
On the table, on the chair, on the bookshelf…
The moment the little girl in the Lolita dress looked back, all the dolls seemed to look toward his side in unison.
This sense of being stared at by unknown objects from all directions was enough to make everyone's backs sweat.
Chi Ting put his hands in his trouser pockets and walked in directly.
His shoes clicked on the ground, and he stared straight at the figure on the sofa.
Xiang Xianwan sat there motionless. Her arms were hanging in mid-air as if embracing something.
She had been changed into a pink princess dress and a huge bowknot with a veil covering most of her face. He could still vaguely distinguish the dazed feeling and despair in her empty expression.
A tear fell like this the moment Chi Ting walked in.
Perhaps it was because she captured the last glimmer of hope, but she opened her mouth very hard. It could be vaguely seen from the shape of her mouth what she said: Help… me…
Gloria was still holding the carefully selected necklace in her hand without having time to put it on. She faced Chi Ting, the uninvited guest, and the expression on her face had completely cooled. She was pouting. "What are you doing? Don't bother me while I'm making a cute doll."
Chi Ting stopped and realized that the densely packed dolls around him seemed to have moved very subtly in his direction.
In this regard, he just lazily lowered his eyes.
In fact, strictly speaking, Chi Ting wasn't a nosy person. But what could he do? Right now, a lovely human being was asking him for help!
It must be known that for a long time, he couldn't find a chance to hear this cry for help.
Chi Ting slowly stretched out his hand and casually pointed to Xiang Xianwan on the sofa. "Are you sure that this is really your doll?"
He looked directly at Gloria. Once he thought about how unfavorable to world peace that the things this NPC was doing were, a displeased expression gradually appeared on his face. "I remember reminding you before that children shouldn't covet things that don't belong to them. It is impossible to be spoiled by adults forever."
Gloria froze when such a cold gaze swept over her. Then her eyes gradually filled with anger.
Apparently, her patience with Chi Ting had finally reached its limits. "You are a person who is really—surprisingly annoying!"
[Gloria's favorability -50.]
At the moment when her favorability dropped again, Chi Ting watched the favorability bar above Gloria's head change from the previous orange to a striking scarlet.
It was the color of blood.
The cold and suffocating killing intent roared intensely toward him at the same time.
He clearly saw all the dolls in the room moving in unison, enveloping him little by little.
Chi Ting pinched the red stone hanging against his chest, and the corners of his mouth curved up a bit coldly.
+100 was the green value and -100 was the red value.
Reaching the green value was to open up the permission for other floors, while reaching the red value was to break the NPC's inability to do anything to the players' actions.
Fortunately, his conjecture seemed to have been successfully confirmed again.