Li Tao remembered something when Chi Ting finished speaking. "In the beginning, I felt it was a bit strange that all players were assigned to above the 9th floor. Thinking about it at that time, I thought it was because the difficulty of the game would be too low if the number of floors was lower. Now that you say this, is it because the 8th floor and below…"
"It is possible." After all, everything came from Chi Ting's intuition. He didn't want to say things too subjectively. In the end, he decided to tell the truth. "In any case, everything will be clear as long as we go downstairs to take a look."
"..."
"Brother Chi, why do I feel like everything has become simple when it comes to you?"
Chi Ting stood up. Then upon hearing this, he looked over strangely. "Otherwise?"
This simple word stopped Li Tao.
Yes, otherwise?
In the unlimited world that depended on exploration, many things had no other way than to verify it in person.
"Okay. Don't think too much. Let's sleep first."
Chi Ting spoke while turning to enter the room. He opened the door, looked out and asked very gentlemanly, "You are guests. Do you want to sleep alone on my big bed?"
The three of them frowned. "N-No need…"
After this night's events and knowing that there weren't only NPCs in the apartment, who could sleep?!
Chi Ting thought this was human social etiquette. If there were guests then he should ask politely. After asking, he nodded to them. "Then good night."
"Good night…"
They thought they couldn't sleep, but after all, everyone was in a tense state these past few days. They were exhausted from being played with Yue Ren at night and they fell asleep one by one.
However, after closing their eyes for a while, everyone woke up at the time when sky was just getting bright. They went out at the first ray of morning light, impatient to make up enough favorability to leave this ghostly place on the 12th floor. It showed how huge their psychological shadow from the previous night was.
Chi Ting got up and yawned. He opened the door and saw three figures ready to go. He was shocked for a moment. "Have you guys already gained enough favorability? So fast?"
"For us, time is life." Li Tao was anxious but he didn't want to urge Chi Ting too much. He glanced at the bathroom in the master bedroom and suggested, "Brother Chi, why don't we go to the 11th floor to have a look after you wash up and have breakfast?"
Chi Ting naturally knew they hoped he would escort them. He looked at their suggestive and expectant eyes and was also a bit happy. "You guys, wait a bit. I'll be ready soon."
Ten minutes later, Chi Ting held a piece of bread to his mouth and followed Li Tao and the others to knock on the door of Room 1102.
In fact, Li Tao had a very entangled, ideological struggle when he remembered the identity of the player living on the 11th floor.
It could be seen that the impression Li Hou left on him in the lobby of the first floor was indeed very bad. This made him have a very eye-catching question mark on whether it was suitable for him to establish a good cooperative relationship with this person in the future.
In the end, it was Chi Ting's words that let Li Tao make a decision.
"Cooperate if we can cooperate. If he isn't suitable for cooperation, we can cut him off and go our own way." Chi Ting said so in a rather understated tone.
He knew that the last sentence was just a joke, but Li Tao somehow felt this was indeed the case. He thought about how there were only 7 out of the 12 people who entered this apartment instance together left. Therefore, he decided to unite as much as possible.
This was the second time that Chi Ting stood at the door of Room 1102. He rang the doorbell for a long time last night but got no response. Today, the person inside was finally willing to open the door.
The group of people sat down around the table.
Li Hou poured a cup of hot water for everyone and said, "The neighbor next door always comes to me for help in the past few days. I didn't think much of it at first. I didn't realize something was wrong until I saw the messages you posted in the group. I have been hiding at home and didn't dare to go out. In fact, I had already discussed it with Old Cheng to go downstairs together. However, since the day before yesterday, Old Cheng didn't reply to any of the messages I sent. I didn't know what was going on and could only wait for you to come downstairs. It is safer to act together."
Chi Ting sat there drinking hot water. He glanced at Li Hou from time to time without much expression on his face.
This Li Hou gave him a very strange feeling when speaking. It was as if all the emotions didn't match the content. For example, when he mentioned Old Cheng just now. He deliberately showed his attitude, but there actually wasn't much fluctuation in his expression, or he had seen too much life or death. Based on Chi Ting's understanding, human beings shouldn't behave like this when feeling complicated emotions.
Even so, Chi Ting didn't think that this person's words were all lies. Li Hou might be deliberately hiding something, but the content of his words were mixed with truth and falsehoods.
Of course, as a human being, everyone more or less had their own secrets. Chi Ting also had it. As long as it was within the right scale, he didn't want to explore too deeply.
On the other hand, Li Tao had a colored filter on Li Hou from the very beginning. He didn't know what was wrong, but he was still keenly aware that something was wrong. "So what you mean is that you don't know anything these days. You didn't act? Didn't you say in the lobby that you are an old player? You should have a good relationship with that Cheng Chao, right? If something happened to him, have you never thought of going to him?"
Li Hou glanced up at him. After a simple contact, he obviously regarded Li Tao as the backbone of this small group. He gave a very cooperative answer. "I went to look for him but he wasn't there."
Li Tao frowned. "He wasn't there?"
"There was no one. There were no traces of a fight and nothing in his house. Even his suitcase was missing my things. I wondered if he thought I increased the favorability too slowly and went downstairs alone. It was due to this that he didn't know how to face me. Therefore, he simply chose not to reply to my messages and pretended to be missing."
He spoke too lightly, but it made Li Tao feel a bit uncertain all of a sudden. "How do you know that he wasn't in an accident?"
"Accident Assimilated into the instance? But if that is the case, according to your description, shouldn't I have seen him when I went to him?"
Li Hou looked at Li Tao. "It was because I didn't see him that I was relatively relieved. Not seeing him meant he didn't encounter any dangers while on the 9th floor. As for whether anything happened after he went downstairs, I'm afraid I can only confirm it when going down."
Li Tao didn't speak again because he realized that Li Hou's words were right.
If Cheng Chao, who lived on the 9th floor, was really assimilated like Chang He then he should still be active in the apartment where he lived. This absence might actually prove his safety. As for what happened after he left the 9th floor, they would only know after confirming it with their own eyes.
Li Tao nodded. "Let's not talk about this. No matter what, we have to gain enough favorability first."
After all, they had to continue going downstairs. There was a brief exchange before they said goodbye to Li Hou.
It wasn't until the door behind that closed that Li Tao glanced back at Room 1102 and said, "I always think this Li Hou is very strange. He must be hiding something, especially the way he looked at us…"
Li Tao's personal skill wasn't very rare and wasn't strong enough, but it was really useful in key moments.
During the time when he was in the apartment, he could clearly feel the aura emanating from Li Hou's side. It was obvious that there was no kindness.
For a while, Li Tao didn't know what this old player with a sense of superiority wanted to do. He thought badly but eventually shook his head. "It doesn't matter. We should increase favorability first. Alas, Brother Chi, you wait—"
Before he could finish speaking, Chi Ting had already pressed the doorbell. He looked back and smiled when he saw Li Tao's hand still frozen in mid-air. "What's wrong?"
Li Tao wanted to cry but had no tears. "We're still not ready."
He needed some time for preparation, in case he met another pervert like Yue Ren.
Chi Ting paused for a moment before he understood. He said happily, "Don't worry, this neighbor is easy to talk to. I contacted him last night and we had a very good conversation."
"Last night?" Xiang Xianwan looked stunned. "Brother Chi, did you ask for that cup of hot water from him?"
Li Tao's focus obviously fell on the other side. "So that Li Hou didn't open the door for you last night? F*k, I knew that kid was unreliable. He is a complete egoist."
"For human beings, it is okay to be selfish once in a while." Chi Ting was about to appease the anger of this group of people when he noticed the door opening in front of him. He turned back with a smile. "Hello, I'm here to return yesterday's cup—"
Seeing that the big man inside was about to close the door after seeing him, he quickly reached out to block it. He reopened the door that was almost closed little by little. There was almost no pause in his words. "I brought the cup and other friends. Is it convenient for us to go in and sit?"
The expression of the big NPC inside gradually distorted. "..."
The three people who saw the scene in front of them: "…?"
Brother Chi, are you sure you had a very good and pleasant exchange last night?
In the end, the big NPC let them in due to Chi Ting's power.
He didn't hesitate to cooperate when he understood their intentions.
Looking at the task of peeling beans that was released by the other person, Chi Ting couldn't help being a bit surprised. "Are you sure we only need to peel beans for you and each one will give 10 favorability points? Isn't this too obviously giving away points. Isn't it not good?"
The big NPC repeatedly said, "No no, we have such a good relationship. It is appropriate to give some points."
He just wanted them to finish peeling and leave quickly. The rest wasn't a problem at all!!!
Chi Ting smiled with satisfaction. "Then thank you."
He put his hand on the big man's shoulder and could feel the burly body trembling.
Therefore, four people sat in front of a basket and each peeled 10 beans. They successfully increased favorability to the green value and left.
"It is really worthy of Brother chi. It would be good if we could proceed smoothly all the time."
Li Tao looked at Chi Ting with anticipation. He was full of confidence about the next progress. Then when they came to the opposite apartment of Room 1103 and knocked on the door, the confidence he just built up was severely hit. "Why is no one answering? Are they not at home? No… is it another corporate drone design?"
Based on his subconsciously dilated pupils, it wasn't difficult to see that everyone had PTSD about the words 'corporate drone."
"No, I saw 1103 in the owner group. If I remember correctly, he should be an ordinary shopkeeper.' Chi Ting looked at the closed door in front of him and frowned. After thinking for a moment, he turned and rang the doorbell of Room 1101. "I'm sorry to bother you again."
The big NPC had finally sent this person away. Once he saw that Chi Ting found him again, he wanted to cry. "Brother, is there anything else?"
Chi Ting pointed to the opposite door. "Do you know where your neighbor went?"
Looking in the direction he pointed, the big NPC thought about it for a long time before replying. "He… disappeared two days ago."
The three people watching from the side exchanged looks with each other. Vaguely, there seemed to be the very familiar strange feeling again.
Then they heard Chi Ting continue to ask, "What do you mean by disappearing?"
The big NPC withdrew his gaze and looked at them directly. His fear of Chi Ting had unknowingly left and there was only an emotionless void. "The meaning of this disappearance naturally means that he no longer exists."
The corners of his lips slowly rose in a grin. "It doesn't matter. Tenant changes are a very common thing. Such a warm and loving big family is stared at by many people. You see, didn't you just move in a while ago? Get used to it."
It was obviously a very rough voice but it was like a sharp blade gently cutting at the heart.
Just as Li Tao was feeling a vague discomfort, Xiang Xianwan suddenly noticed something and exclaimed in a low voice, "Ah, look."
It was also at this time that they discovered the movement restriction of the 10th floor had completely disappeared at an unknown time.
The tenants of Room 1103 no longer existed.
So they only needed to gain enough favorability points from Room 1101 to go downstairs. Was this what it meant?
It might seem like a good thing, but what was going on with this apartment?
The player assimilated and the NPCs disappeared. Could this instance still work?