At this moment, while the three members of the inspection team could still maintain their composure, the two scavengers had already displayed their agitation openly.
Following the patrol dummy to break through the spatial barrier was indeed correct, but judging by what happened to Kaso and Masi, there must be countless dangers ahead.
Cheng Tingyu, who suggested following the plastic mannequin to find the customer, was the last to walk out of the store.
Before Yote could speak, Cheng Tingyu said, "We just successfully eliminated two incorrect options."
Yote almost burst out laughing in anger but forced himself to hold it in, waiting to hear what she would say next.
Cheng Tingyu: "As for the way to clear the level..." She smiled apologetically, "I don't have any ideas right now either."
Qiqi glanced at her, pinched his earlobe, and asked, "So, do you need our help?"
From the malicious smile she wore, it was clear that her intention to help was far from friendly. The more likely outcome was that she intended to drag Cheng Tingyu down with her, ensuring they both got eliminated before their scores fell below the danger line.
When he sensed the other person's gaze, Cheng Tingyu also looked up and then curved his eyes into a smile. "Although I don't have any thoughts on clearing the level, if it's just about surviving, there are actually ways to do it."
Qiqi wanted to ask what it was, but suddenly stopped, a trace of uncertain suspicion flashing in his eyes.
Cheng Tingyu said softly, "Yes, this method can only be done by you. Neither the 'Screwdriver' nor the inspection team can do it, after all, we still have to abide by the city regulations." She looked at the four people who had once again sneaked out of the abandoned bathroom for some fresh air and said unhurriedly, "They are also in the instance, and they are not dead either."
Bai Wenji and the others froze: "..."
Qiqi: "Are you saying to give up being a store clerk and become like them?"
Cheng Tingyu's voice was gentle: "Simply giving up the status of an employee won't work." She took off her work badge and casually tossed it to Li Fuci beside her. After the latter caught it in a fluster, she shrugged at the others, "You see, even if I throw away my work badge, my shop is still open for business."
"So I think, what we need is not to discard our identities, but to exchange them."
Cheng Tingyu took back the work permit from Li Fu's hand, looked at Qiqi, and said, "Find two people from inside to replace you and become the shop's employees."
Li Fuzi frowned, "Doing this..."
Cheng Tingyu glanced at her and explained to the trainee inspector, "Scavengers operate differently from the inspection team. When they reach a dead end, they will definitely drag innocent bystanders into the mess, doing everything possible to ensure that I, who have yet to figure out a way through, face some consequences."
"Doing this can at least delay the time when they become desperate and make a last-ditch effort."
Li Fu said nothing: "..." She felt that Cheng Tingyu actually wanted to say that a cornered scavenger would fight back desperately.
In any case, "hound" is quite an accurate term to describe it.
Cheng Tingyu: "From the disclosed information, as long as identities are changed, non-store employees cannot actively sabotage other stores. Otherwise, they will most likely end up like those who tried to pick the locks before, being hunted down by patrol personnel, and..
"Right now, I have the highest score. As long as they can ensure their own safety, they will temporarily hold their positions. In case I suddenly come up with a way to clear the level before complete elimination, it will also be convenient for the two of them to switch identities again."
Li Fu understood her meaning.
If it were someone without an identity, they would come to seize her employee status if they found a way to pass through.
Qiqi's face showed a hint of mockery: "Do you really think you'll willingly give up your identity when the time comes?"
Cheng Tingyu looked at her and smiled, "Of course I'm betting that you won't be able to snatch my employee status when the time comes."
——A very reasonable plan, the only problem being that she unhesitatingly placed those four people in the position of sacrificial lambs.
He Xijiang and the others' gazes had already turned icy.
Cheng Tingyu was right just now; that indeed is a method only scavengers can use.
Cheng Tingyu was still refining his idea: "This instance requires identification to log in, and the login method is related to clothing. You can exchange your work ID and uniform with them, and then put on their jackets."
Bai Wenji and the others, whose fates had been altered by a single word, kept sobbing but did not dare to resist, only quietly begging for mercy the entire time.
Cheng Tingyu glanced over there, ignored it, then walked past He Xijiang and went over to Wei Xugui.
The two who came together began their first close conversation after entering the dungeon.
Cheng Tingyu: "How are you doing now?"
Wei Xugui's tone was calm and unruffled: "Thank you for your concern."
They came together as a pair, but the feeling they gave off was even more distant than the other participants. Talking to them felt like trying to make conversation out of nothing.
On the other side, the targets chosen by the scavengers to change clothes were Bai Wenji and Ding Shile. After being forced to put on work uniforms, they trembled as they walked into the respective shops, their legs weak, seemingly unable to support the weight of their own bodies.
In front of the Quan Sen Clothing store, Cheng Tingyu looked at Wei Xugu, his face showing a hesitant expression of "wanting to say something but finding it inconvenient to speak."
Wei Xu Gui: "…What exactly are you trying to say?"
Cheng Tingyu: "I always feel that the confidentiality here is not very good. No matter how we communicate, it's easy for others to find out."
Wei Xuguang: "So?"
Cheng Tingyu: "Try to understand it on your own."
Wei Xu Gui remained silent for a moment, then urged, "…Have you finished your tasks? If so, hurry back to the shop."
Cheng Tingyu smiled and didn't rush to leave. Although the others paid some attention to their conversation, considering that since entering the dungeon, Cheng Tingyu had always seemed a bit slow-witted, they didn't pay much mind.
"Dong——"
The insistent electronic sound rang out once more.
Qiqi and Yote, having changed their clothes, hid early in a corner. Du Ranqing and Ding Shile dared not stay with the two of them and found another restroom to hide in. Bai Wenji stood pale-faced in Yote's shop, while Ding Shile huddled in Qiqi's shop, looking utterly despondent.
Wei Xuguang glanced at her and said in a hoarse voice, "If you don't leave now, you'll be caught by the patrol."
Cheng Tingyu nodded slightly and left Quansen Clothing, but instead of heading towards the little tailor, he ran straight to the entrance of the Sika Deer Clothing Store. He pulled out an [old pen from the cold-proof house], scribbled all over a piece of clothing, and then turned around and ran away.
"..."
At the moment of turning around, the sound of the patrolling model had already reached Cheng Tingyu's ears.
A shiver of icy dread instantly gripped her heart, and the "thud, thud, thud" of bouncing seemed to echo right against her back.
Cheng Tingyu lowered his head and rushed towards his own shop at the fastest speed.
As she sprinted, the abnormal chill at her back followed her like a shadow.
The outline of the corridor had undergone an abnormal distortion; a short path now stretched so long that its end was almost out of sight.
Cheng Tingyu's eyes were fixed on the ground, trying his best to ignore the anomalies around him.
——You must never look back.
——If you turn back at this moment, you will surely see something extraordinarily terrifying.
Above, the pale light flickered.
She couldn't tell the direction at all; it was only during each patrol that the plastic mannequins would go around to various shops. When they moved their bodies, it would produce the sound of heavy objects hitting the ground.
Cheng Tingyu, with his nerves taut, strained to distinguish the sources of different sounds. He dashed towards the "Little Tailor" clothing store, racing down the corridor like a gust of wind, and finally stumbled into the shop.
Perhaps it was due to the intense exercise, or maybe for some other reason, her heart kept pounding.
The blood coursing through her veins inexplicably turned cold, the feeling of fear lingering, and her reflection was clearly visible in the dressing mirror inside the store..
And the other shadow following behind her.
At the entrance of the clothing store, there was a metal threshold that emitted a piercing sound whenever something heavy rolled over it.
The sound continued incessantly, as if that heavy object was being moved little by little into the shop.
Cheng Tingyu stood up straight.
The tension transformed into invisible fine needles, making her feel a certain kind of mental sting.
She adjusted the rhythm of her heartbeat through deep breaths, then slowly turned around and said in the tone of a "Little Tailor" employee, "This shop is already being managed by someone."
"..."
The plastic mannequin's half-body had already crossed the threshold, and in its exaggeratedly large black eyes, a faint hint of red glimmered.
Cheng Tingyu glanced at the work badge he was wearing and added an explanation: "Employees can't always stay in the store. It's also their duty to exchange sales experiences with peers and promote the store's goods to others."
She didn't know if the plastic mannequin was something that could be communicated with; she just wanted to see if she could influence it with words.
After all, for working people, the ability to use persuasive language is an essential workplace skill.
"Creak."
The heavy plastic mannequin moved a bit closer to the inside of the store once again, the contours of its perpetually smiling lips now appearing even more pronounced.
Inside the Water Blue Clothing Store.
He Xijiang felt that the light in the corridor was dimmer than ever before.
His shop was right next to Wei Xu Gui's, also situated between the Plum Deer Clothing Store and the Little Tailor.
He Xijiang could hear hurried footsteps in the corridor, but he didn't see Cheng Tingyu's figure.
He thought, the other party's previous deduction was indeed correct; this copy indeed contained hidden and folded spaces.
It didn't last long; the sound of human footsteps in the corridor disappeared.
He Xijiang raised his head and made eye contact with the patrolling security guard who had walked up to his door.
Since entering the instance until now, he had lost three points. Next time he reported, he would lose another one. The opportunity before him was the final chance to clear the level.
He Xijiang wasn't sure how much sanity he had left, but he was probably on the verge of losing his mind.
...or rather, he had long been tainted by a mild madness.
The erosion of sanity in the marketplace dungeon is extremely severe. The most lethal aspect of this kind of damage lies in the fact that participants within it have no idea when exactly their normal cognitive abilities were taken away.
He Xi Jiang reached out and covered his head.
Is he still his normal self now?
The sounds outside were very quiet. After more than a minute, the patrolling security guards finally left, but the noise of their moving bodies did not gradually fade away as it had before.
The thumping sound outside grew more frequent and strange, as if all those plastic mannequins had gathered together.
Suddenly, He Xijiang heard two piercing roars, like the desperate struggles of a trapped beast on the brink of death.
That was the voice of Kiki and Yote.
Their voices were extremely shrill, as if they were experiencing something extraordinarily terrifying.
Above the marketplace, an indifferent electronic voice sounded.
"Patrol personnel have discovered two thieves on the second floor of the mall. I repeat, patrol personnel have discovered two thieves on the second floor of the mall."
In the abandoned public health center.
The scavengers were very strong, but both Kiki and Yote realized that they couldn't fully utilize their abilities as players.
The force that restrained the plastic mannequins from attacking the orderly shop assistants now descended upon those who had been judged as thieves.
...Why are they thieves? Weren't the previous four people always fine?
The space in the abandoned public health facility was becoming distorted. Kiki and Yote were clearly running down the corridor, but they ended up in an abandoned compartment.
Outside the cubicle stood a plastic mannequin dressed in a security guard uniform.
There was no way to act.
There is no way to escape.
No matter how you run, it's a dead end.
What lay before him was the strangeness of reason, the strangeness of unreason.
If there were only one security guard, there would still be a chance to use a companion to attract attention and escape, but there were as many as eight mannequins surrounding them.
A vague thought emerged in his mind: they were actually one round away from truly being in a deadlock. Why did the young man from the "Little Tailor" shop urge them with words to put on the survivors' clothes one round early..
The thought had not yet fully formed when the two "hounds" felt a chill on their arms.
The chill seeped through the skin, penetrating bit by bit until it completely permeated the flesh and blood.
The entire process took a very short amount of time. By the time he realized what had happened, his arms had already fallen to the ground with four "thud, thud, thud, thud" sounds, like two pieces of dead meat.
The scavenger's body was naturally covered in numerous scars. At this moment, whether they had faded or still remained, they all burst open, as if filled to the brim with swollen contents, reaching the breaking point like a poor-quality plastic bag, torn into pieces. Bright red liquid splattered from the cracks.
"——Aaaaaaah!"
Excruciating pain occupied all remaining conscious thoughts. In that final moment, whether it was Jote or Kiki, all they could see in their vision was a thick, blood-red color.