There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

Xu Shuo finished watching the film, and it turned out to be a script that followed a bizarre and supernatural genre, with five players, a case happening, and a process of conducting an investigation to restore the story.

However, what ran through the whole course was omnipresent darkness and strangeness.

He rubbed his chin, thinking again of that hospital script. The longer the players stayed inside, the stranger the hospital seemed to become, sharing an uncanny resemblance with this "Dancer in the Dark" Scripted Murder Game.

Although he hardly noticed that sense of strangeness while in the game, the people around him had reacted.

From the initially calm Director Zhang, to the doctors, and then to the other hospital staff, their minds ended up as if they had been eroded, becoming paranoid and distorted.

...Playing these games really does consume spiritual power.

After Xu Shuo finished watching a "movie" and exited the list of performed scripts of that person, he casually followed them, becoming one among their four-digit number of fans.

Upon returning to the square, the hot topic that was being discussed had changed.

The person who posted was still the same one who had dominated the headlines before, but this time, the post had shifted from news reporting to plot analysis.

Xu Shuo clicked in to watch with renewed enthusiasm.

According to the poster's description, they had interviewed that "on-site" player and obtained relatively reliable information. Moreover, another one of the five players from that script had also contacted them.

With this, the events that occurred in the script started to be threaded together.

Everyone already knew from the previous playable scripts that the five player characters in "The Fifth Hospital" were: doctor, nurse, janitor, Patient No. 6, and Patient No. 8.

Seeing this, Xu Shuo paused: "..."

What?

He was stunned for a moment, then looked closely at that passage again to make sure he had not read it wrong.

Xu Shuo collected his thoughts and continued reading with a little more seriousness.

To complete this Scripted Murder Game, there were two approaches. The first method was to uncover the mystery of Patient No. 13's death, thereby breaking the hospital's time loop, after which the players could start the final battle.

The second method was for the players to collectively complete the main quest to 50% before Patient No. 13's death, directly triggering the game's end countdown, and then enter the final battle.

The players who had performed this script before had used the first method, and they had used the second one as well.

But in the strategy posts, most people believed the second method was best because it greatly shortened the time required to restore the story of the script, allowing for a quicker end to the game.

The veteran players all knew that the longer you stayed in the game, the more depleted their spiritual power became, affecting their judgment of the overall game.

However, the difficulty with the second method was how the players were to work together in unison.

After all, would anyone speak the truth in a Scripted Murder Game?

You could tell them, but they wouldn't believe you.

[According to the descriptions from those two players, their approach in playing was the second kind—they triggered the game's end countdown inadvertently.]

[It was just unintentional.]

Afterwards, the poster listed out the five main tasks from the past performances of "The Fifth Hospital" script.

Task One: Escape The Fifth Hospital.

Task Two: Set fire to The Fifth Hospital.

Task Three: Blow up The Fifth Hospital.

Task Four: Prevent The Fifth Hospital from being destroyed.

Task Five: Protect all the patients in The Fifth Hospital.

[Classic 211 mode, two independent tasks, one opposing task, and one global task. The doctor's role is relatively heavy, so it's normally played by the highest-level person among the five players.]

Independent tasks are to trigger the countdown mechanism, which are usually the easiest tasks.

Opposing tasks are intended to incite competition between players, making the game more rich and exciting, and they are also the tasks with the most rewards and challenges because one side is bound to fail.

As for the global task, that refers to tasks that can only be completed after the game has ended.

Global tasks are also often jokingly referred to by veteran players as "work dogs", because the players who get these tasks can't slack off after completing their own tasks like other players. They have to keep a close watch on the overall game until the end, without a moment's rest, otherwise, a small mistake could lead to task failure.

...

After reading up to this point very seriously, Xu Shuo realized a fact.

"Chen Chu," that character, wasn't a player character at all!

Then why was he assigned there?

Xu Shuo opened his Player's Handbook and flipped to the skills section. Chen Chu's Character Card was indeed obtained, the special skill was also received, and there were performance points too, yet this post was telling him that he played a role that didn't exist?!

Are the roles of players in every script fixed and unchangeable?

Or even if the characters in the Scripted Murder Game originally weren't "playable" roles, could they still be played and rewarded after a player entered?

He really had too many questions!

Why isn't there a manual for new users with this system?

Grumbling to himself, Xu Shuo continued scrolling through the posts, becoming even more serious now.

After all, it concerned the "nonexistent" character he played.

Xu Shuo still hadn't forgotten the warning prompt the system had once given him when he wanted to accept the memories of the Character Card, although he now felt that it seemed to have no effect on him.

...

Following the release of a new analysis post by this quite credible forum master, the entire square became particularly lively, with the thread quickly receiving thousands of replies.

Xu Shuo had wanted to study it a bit more, but just then, someone drifted over to him.

"Boss, I've noticed you've been staring at thin air and spaced out for half an hour."

"..." Xu Shuo quickly came back to his senses, turned his head to look at Pei Sheng beside him, then looked down at the time on his laptop.

Yikes, neglecting my duties, forgetting about work!

Scrolling through forum posts is really dangerous!

Stupid game, you're distracting me from making money!

Without batting an eye, he closed the Player's Handbook, turned to Pei Sheng, and asked, "What's up?"

Pei Sheng pointed at his diamond-encrusted watch and said with a grin, "It's four-thirty, and I have half an hour left off work, so it's time to take you to the store to have a look."

Xu Shuo closed his laptop and stood up, "Let's go now then."

He was very attentive to the offline store because he planned to further develop it into Game City. When choosing the location initially, he had specifically looked at the positions of the two adjacent stores.

It's just that he didn't have the money to do something that big right now.

...

The two drove back to the trendy pedestrian street in Heiyu District. Since it was the legal holiday of May Day, there were many people these days.

The construction team Pei Sheng had contacted was also fast, already surveying the site, and when the two arrived, the person in charge handed over the draft design sketch to discuss the needed renovations.

"Three rooms need to be partitioned, using materials with better soundproofing. Additionally, a corridor should be separated here." Xu Shuo said, holding the draft sketch, explaining his rough idea.

"Boss, I actually think it's possible to make five rooms," Pei Sheng suggested, leaning in.

"Too cramped, not a good visual effect," Xu Shuo frowned.

"Then for this corridor, are you considering connecting it with the floors next door in the future?" He pointed to another line nearby and asked. Find joy at m-vl_em|p,yr

"Yep, one should have dreams," replied Xu Shuo calmly, nodding. Pei Sheng gave him an admiring look and a thumbs up.

The store's first floor originally was a beverage shop with pretty delicate decorations, which Xu Shuo did not want to completely demolish and rebuild; instead, he planned to transform the first floor into a reception and tea break room.

After inspecting the store, it was already past five-thirty when the two came out.

Pei Sheng had worked half an hour of overtime and hinted that he wanted overtime pay.

Xu Shuo stood on the sidewalk, listening to the chatter at his side, and casually glanced at the bustling street. Suddenly, at the same spot as yesterday, he spotted the same two people.

After buying milk tea, the girls continued to walk towards the place they had visited yesterday.

Xu Shuo had guessed at lunchtime that Xu Xi would probably go out to play with her friend again today since the May Day holiday lasted three continuous days, and they couldn't just lie at home the whole time.

However, he hadn't expected them to go to the same place again.

"Fengdu Escape Room," Xu Shuo read the sign aloud, his eyes showing increased interest.

"Ah?" Pei Sheng, who was beside him, heard the noise and instinctively looked towards the slightly chilling sign and narrow staircase, recognizing it as the place they had discussed yesterday.

"Let's go, I'll use your overtime pay to take you for a spin there."

Xu Shuo began walking over, with Pei Sheng full of question marks following along while saying, "Bro, that place doesn't suit my image! If others see me there, they'll think I'm so poor I have no money."

"You can do without the overtime pay, too," Xu Shuo replied.

"No, let's go! It's rare for you to give overtime pay. Even though it's in a different form, I must take it!"

...

The stairs to the escape room were dim, with a single ancient oil lamp-style lighting fixture on the narrow walls shining on the steps, emitting a creaking noise.

Although it looked nearly worn out and abandoned, the wood actually concealed a very sturdy metal staircase underneath.

The atmosphere was set quite well.

As Xu Shuo silently assessed it, he observed the still slightly dimly lit reception area after climbing the stairs.

The store played low and soothing music, without a feeling of eeriness, but rather quite relaxing, reminiscent of the lazy style found in a quiet bar.

Xu Xi was initially registering at the front desk when suddenly, it seemed like a radar went off in her mind, causing her to turn her head around abruptly and lock eyes with Xu Shuo, who was also looking her way.

"Quite a coincidence," Xu Shuo greeted with a smile.

Xu Xi was surprised; she truly hadn't expected to bump into her workaholic brother here.

However, when the following Pei Sheng saw her, his eyes lit up immediately, and he excitedly pushed past Xu Shuo to approach her, "You must be Xi, right? I'm a brother of your brother; could I perhaps get your WeChat?"

Xu Xi ignored him, while the girl standing next to her turned her head out of curiosity after hearing the voice. After a strange gaze over this man hitting on her friend, she followed Xu Xi's gaze backward.

Then the girl's eyes also brightened, and she happily said, "Xi, your brother is here too, that's perfect, let's play together?"