Although the content of the text message was hard to understand, it was good news that no one was injured. Zhou Jianyun personally drove over and delivered the two people waiting for tea to the inspection team.
The inspection team was busy with their work, often seen apprehending numerous criminal players who looked as if they had lost their parents. Even those who were not criminals found it hard to conceal their panic and fear when questioned.
In contrast, Cheng Tingyu's entire demeanor was the epitome of feeling at home. Without needing any guidance, he briskly walked to the vicinity of the interrogation room as if he knew the place like the back of his hand.
Following behind, Li Yetai clenched his right fist and pressed it to his mouth: "Cough, cough, slow down."
Cheng Tingyu stopped in his tracks, turned around, and smiled. "You too, please." He confirmed again, "Are you the one asking today?"
Li Yetai felt his own mental state, nodded, and then shook his head: "Not just me."
According to the inspection team's workflow, members involved in the initial exploration of the instance won't immediately engage in tasks requiring mental effort after disengaging. Her current role is mainly to provide some information, while the primary responsibility for inquiries lies with personnel sent by the inspector's office.
Entering the interrogation room, they each took a seat. Following his colleague's request, Zhou Jianyun specially placed a cup of apple juice in front of Cheng Tingyu.
They generally wouldn't change their deeply influenced beverage habits for outsiders, except for the impressive person who clears the dungeon with all participants in one go.
The efficiency of the inspection team was quite high; three minutes later, the main personnel for this inquiry had already been called to the scene.
Li Yetai and the others stood up to greet, "Inspector Nie."
The visitor's name was Nie Yuesheng, with quite handsome features, and he was considered one of the core members of the outer district's inspection team.
Like the other inspectors, Nie Yuesheng had a tall and upright figure, agile movements, and the department's signature light blue circles under his eyes.
Nie Yuesheng nodded to his colleagues, then sat down and quickly flipped through the materials in his hand. Without much small talk, he said directly, "The difficulty of the mall dungeon is higher than expected. I've already reviewed the basic information. Does anyone have any additional clues to add?"
The first to provide additional information were Li Fuci and He Xijiang, followed by Li Yetai. The latter showed a hint of helplessness, and after saying a few words, he shook his head: "Unfortunately, the inspector didn't play a crucial role this time."
Nie Yuesheng mentioned a name: "The data mentioned 'The Immortal Golden Theater'." He looked at Cheng Tingyu, "Had you heard this name before entering the instance?"
Cheng Tingyu spoke the truth: "I have no impression at all."
Nie Yuesheng nodded, his tone slightly tinged with relief: "This is a good thing."
"The 'Immortal Golden Theater' often advertises its performances. If someone hears about it a certain number of times, they will be forcibly pulled into the show to watch, and it is very difficult to break free from the state of being engrossed in the performance."
Speaking of which, Nie Yuesheng added a comforting remark: "You don't need to worry too much. The order in F0631 City is relatively stable, and the probability of such incidents occurring is very low."
He pulled out a sheet of paper with the information "Immortal Golden Theater" written on it and placed it on the table. The content wasn't particularly detailed, mainly out of concern that those who read it would be more easily targeted by the playwright.
"Because the cooldown period had never gone below zero, Cheng Tingyu wasn't too confident in his ability to evade the instance capture. He casually glanced at the information and said, 'So there will be four more scavengers in the instance?'"
Nie Yuesheng: "Still can't be sure."
Yote and the others might have come on their own, but it is equally possible that they were driven by some force, unconsciously entering the replica.
Li Fuzi felt a bit scared: "We were lucky. In the past, when the inspection team went through the copies, they encountered scavengers intruding more than once. Based on previous experiences, there was a high probability of some unfortunate events happening."
Cheng Tingyu heard this and smiled slightly.
Li Fuci felt that he could understand the other person's smile—for Cheng Tingyu, the presence of participants from opposing factions within the instance might not necessarily be a bad thing. On the contrary, it could help her confirm her suspicions.
The three members of the inspection team had almost finished reporting the information they had obtained. Next, it was Cheng Tingyu's turn. She got straight to the point and said, "After logging into the instance, the electronic voice in the marketplace reminded the participants that this was the thirteenth special sale."
"It is highly likely that we are not the first wave of people to enter the instance; the game has already been through several rounds before this."
She took out the "Hot Sale" flyer she had found earlier; the employees in the photos were all wearing uniforms and had their work badges on.
"If the way to log into the instance is to obtain employee status, then the staff who were still in the store when the instance was formed have actually already met the criteria to participate in the game."
Li Yetai listened to Cheng Tingyu's narration, remained silent for a moment, then tilted his head back and downed a cup of strong coffee.
Although her sanity points had dropped quite a bit, looking at the person's communication stance in front of her, she instinctively felt that she wouldn't be able to get out of work mode and catch up on sleep anytime soon.
Cheng Tingyu: "However, there are discrepancies between the information provided by the survivors and the game that was conducted in the mall earlier. According to their account, the people who stayed inside the instance were beaten by the patrolling security guards after being trapped, but the patrolling security guards only attack those without identification."
"In the course of communication, the four who claimed to be survivors revealed two rules: the first is that stealing items from the shop will result in an attack, and the second is that causing damage to the shop will also lead to an attack."
"Survivors are ready-made cannon fodder for... scavengers. These two pieces of information are not difficult to verify, so regardless of whether their identities are real or fake, the rules they provide should have a certain degree of credibility."
Li Fuzi hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping himself.
She could tell that there was a noticeable pause in Cheng Tingyu's words before he mentioned the scavenger.
Li Fu had her doubts. In Cheng Tingyu's eyes, the level of suspicion of others always correlated directly with their expendability, but she had no evidence..
Cheng Tingyu said, "If the identity of the survivors is in doubt, then their purpose must be reconsidered."
"Scavengers, the inspection team, 'screwdriver' temps, and unidentified survivors—there are too many factions. To ensure that everyone's actions are more organized, I plan to stagger their scores."
The more points deducted, the easier it naturally became for her to lead him along.
Li Fu's face was wooden as he looked up at Cheng Tingyu with eyes that seemed to be gazing at a demon.
It's terrifying. Clearly just an ordinary player who hasn't even heard of the "Immortal Golden Theater," yet they managed to devise and execute a plan to manipulate participants from other factions in such a short time. Is this what they call talent?!
Li Yetai looked at Cheng Tingyu.
Sure enough, she hadn't figured out the method of restocking at the last second, but had intentionally delayed until the end to take action. As for pulling Li Fuci along, it was both a convenient help and a way to create a score differentiation.
Cheng Tingyu easily understood the meaning in Li Yetai's gaze and shrugged, "There's no other way. If we don't cut down the numbers enough, the scavengers won't be as obedient later on."
Li Fu turned his face away in silence—while everyone else was still worried about being attacked by the scavenger, the big shot had already started thinking about how to make the other party more obedient.
Nie Yuesheng: "When you suggested those two go to the third floor, did you already know they would fail?"
Cheng Tingyu: "There are bound to be risks in pioneering, and as for the third floor... there is indeed a route to complete the work hidden there." She smiled gently and said, "The speculations I told them at the time were naturally true. Lies must be told on the edge of a knife to be effective."
Li Yetai recalled the situation at that time. The two scavengers who left with the patrolling security guards only encountered trouble after reaching the third floor and some time had passed.
Cheng Tingyu: "They must have found the guest on the third floor, but encountered danger during the delivery of the goods."
"The 'Blazing Hot' Superstore Employee Handbook contains five points. Apart from the fifth point, which is about finishing work, the first point about finding goods and the second point about finding customers are tasks that employees need to complete. The third point, confirming the integrity of items and signing off, is a requirement for both parties. The fourth point, giving employee evaluations, is specifically for customers. These rules imply that within the scenario, there are at least two factions: employees and customers."
The inspector was also deep in thought. After leaving the dangerous replica area, Li Fuzi felt that his mind had become much clearer.
Five rules: the risks of the first and second can be controlled by the employees themselves, so the danger lies in the third and fourth.
Cheng Tingyu: "The mall dungeon has a strong role-playing style. From the very beginning, the login method emphasizes to participants that they need to maintain their identity as store employees."
"Afterwards, the 'Green Dolphin' clothing store and the 'Sky' fashion shop will be directly closed. There are two reasons: either the two scavengers upstairs failed to fulfill their duties as employees, or they have already lost their status as employees."
After making his conjecture, Cheng Tingyu did not immediately provide a conclusion. Instead, he said, "Those two scavengers followed the security guard's footsteps to the third floor, and the security guard's role in the scenario is to maintain order."
"Since the third floor also requires security to maintain order, the probability that customers themselves possess strong offensive capabilities is not very high. As for the patrolling security guards around, what kind of people would they attack?"
At this point, the inspectors were slightly enlightened.
Even if an employee had a dispute with a customer over a transaction, it wouldn't result in a beating from security. However, if they lost their legitimate status, the plastic mannequins responsible for maintaining order would take action against any unidentified presence in the store.
Cheng Tingyu: "We rely on changing our attire and wearing badges to become employees, so as long as we destroy these two items, we can strip a specific target of their qualification to participate in the instance."
The people who were previously trapped in the instance might have been eliminated because their scores were deducted to a dangerous level, or perhaps they found a way to the third floor and unfortunately lost their qualification.
So when the inspection team entered the marketplace, the previous participants had already been completely wiped out. The game restarted, and the number of times mentioned in the electronic broadcast was a hint to the newcomers and a mockery of the losers.
Cheng Tingyu: "I have been pondering the true identities of the four survivors on the second floor."
"The electronic sounds in the mall provided me with a lot of information, involving three pieces of content about the VIP lounge, which were, in order, 'VIP lounge customers gave negative reviews on the beverages,' 'Customer satisfaction with the mall's service in the VIP lounge slightly increased,' and 'Customer satisfaction in the VIP lounge did not continue to improve.'"
Upon hearing this, not only the inspector but even Wei Xugu couldn't help but glance at Cheng Tingyu.
With such an outstanding memory, it's no wonder she could exhibit observational skills comparable to those of a detective.
Cheng Tingyu's lips curled slightly: "Upon comparison, you'll notice that only the first mention of the VIP lounge doesn't include the word 'inner'—there's a wordplay hidden here.
"I am an employee of the 'Little Tailor' clothing store. Even if I go to other areas, I can still be referred to as someone from the 'Little Tailor' store. The prefix here does not describe a location but an identity. Similarly, 'VIP lounge customers' does not refer to customers who are in the lounge, but to those who belong to the lounge."
Li Fuzi had a sudden flash of insight and abruptly realized: "Before the first announcement sounded, I had handed drinks to those four people!"
The others quickly realized the hidden reminders in those electronic notices.
No wonder the issue of drinks was only mentioned in the first hint, with no specific descriptions in the following two instances.
Li Yetai exchanged glances with his colleagues and instinctively turned his face away. For a moment, he didn't know whether to be grateful that the new recruits in the team had developed the good habit of carrying energy drinks with them, or to be deeply saddened that the drinks bought by the team were so bad that even the minor monsters in the game would give them a bad review.
Li Fu asked, "What was the reason for the second increase in satisfaction?"
Cheng Tingyu thought for a moment and said, "Since the second time mentioned 'inside the lounge,' it should be that the two scavengers' initiative to deliver the goods to the door made the customer deeply satisfied."
The others: "..."
Sure enough, ignoring customer satisfaction was the right choice.
Li Yetai: "In that case, there's no need to discuss the reason for the third drop in satisfaction. It must be because those customers waited too long and got impatient."
Li Fuzi thought to herself that it was indeed not suitable to think about problems when her sanity value was severely declining. It wasn't until she was led out by Cheng Tingyu and went through everything again that she realized the clues in the scenario were actually so obvious.
Cheng Tingyu: "Besides that, we also went to see the place where the survivors were hiding."
Li Fuzi, as one of the personnel who went to check the situation together, slightly shook his head at the others.
Don't look at her; she really didn't see anything at the time.
Li Fuzi was initially worried that the senior, after meeting someone as talented as Cheng Tingyu, would be reluctant to approve her promotion. However, when she realized that the senior who came along for the mission also failed to notice the clues that Cheng had spotted, she subtly felt relieved.
Cheng Tingyu: "The hiding place for the four people is an abandoned public restroom, with a few coats spread on the ground. Other than that, there are no traces of life."
Although they couldn't obtain food, to survive, they still needed to drink water. According to the survivors, they had to avoid patrolling security guards, so naturally, they couldn't just run into the corridors. As a result, when choosing a place to live, they had to stay as close to a water source as possible, while also considering their other needs.
However, there was naturally no water in the abandoned public health center, making it seem unlike the dwelling of survivors who were filled with fear but still desperately clinging to life.
At that time, when Cheng Tingyu and Kaso came in together to check the situation, Kaso must have had some suspicions as well. He just didn't voice them, and it was unclear whether it was because he had too much confidence in his companion or too little.
At this point, Cheng Tingyu was already eighty to ninety percent certain about the identities of the survivors.