NOVEL NEXT Ch. 12
Chapter 12: Analysis
“Um… you two, now’s not the time to show affection. Shouldn’t we first discuss what we should do next?”
Lin You’s helpless voice rang out.
Lu Feng immediately pulled his hand back awkwardly, while Yu Mo’s pretty face also flushed slightly red.
However, Lu Feng did not notice that at this moment, Liuli, standing beside him, seemed to have a trace of emotion flicker in her eyes. Lui Li
The group’s restless emotions eased quite a bit through their exchange.
They gradually calmed down and began analyzing the current situation.
“Ahem… then let’s first analyze our current situation—”
Lu Feng coughed to cover his embarrassment.
After pondering for a moment, he said,
“First of all, everything started after we entered the school. The original Xinli No. 1 High School inexplicably turned into this Evil Spirit High. Judging from the state of the academy now… it’s very likely we’re no longer in the original world. Everyone agrees with that, right?”
The other three nodded one after another, showing their agreement with Lu Feng’s words.
So Lu Feng continued,
“After that, a strange puppet claiming to be Teacher Zhu appeared. He said we would participate in a game, then wrote some game rules on the blackboard. After that, we ended up here…”
Lu Feng took out the game rules he had copied from his pocket and spread them out in front of everyone.
“According to that puppet, if we want to leave the school, we must participate in ten games. If he wasn’t lying… then after finishing this game, we’ll still have to play another nine before we can leave—”
Lu Feng pointed at the contents of the paper.
“So right now, thinking too much is useless. We should focus on finding a way to survive this current game first. What do you all think?”
As he said this, Lu Feng intentionally or unintentionally glanced at Liuli.
Ever since Liuli had revived in the school, her various actions had revealed many abnormal points.
Lu Feng did not know what secret she was hiding, but when he had the chance, he would definitely make her explain everything.
— As for Lu Feng’s suggestion, everyone nodded again.
Four pairs of eyes fell together on the copied game rules —
【First Game: Ghost Hunt】
【Game Rules:
An evil spirit will appear within the game scene.
Every two days, the evil spirit will kill one surviving player.
When the number of surviving players is fewer than half, the game ends, and the evil spirit wins;
Out of the 37 players, 5 have been chosen as evil spirit followers.
They will assist the evil spirit in killing the other players.
Their victory conditions are the same as the evil spirit;
Other than the evil spirit followers, game players must complete two tasks to achieve victory:
First, through limited clues, learn the evil spirit’s name in life and discover its cause of death;
Second, find all five evil spirit followers.
If even one remains undiscovered, the evil spirit wins.
During the game, only the evil spirit can kill players;
After the game ends, all members of the winning side will revive, while the losing side’s players will all be erased;
(The following three rules are only visible to the evil spirit followers)
#:#,?,/
#*#~~
#!*!?!/】
【Hints:
Certain special items can delay the evil spirit’s attacks;
When the evil spirit attacks, if multiple people are present, it will kill the player closest to it;
The evil spirit will not attack the same player twice in a row;
The evil spirit possesses an unknown ability.】
【Victory Rewards:
After the game ends, all players of the winning side will be given a score.
The player with the highest score can receive a reward from the high school and a “Right of Choice.”】
Evil spirit…
The first thing that unsettled Lu Feng was the word “evil spirit” in the rules.
This so-called evil spirit clearly was not just a metaphorical identity but a real, murderous evil spirit.
Every two days, it would kill a player.
When the surviving players fell below half, the game would end.
This meant that players had at most 38 days to fulfill the victory conditions.
Next came the mention of evil spirit followers in the second rule.
The evil spirit followers were obviously part of the same camp as the evil spirit.
These five chosen ones were mortal enemies of all other players.
That immediately raised a problem…
Lu Feng glanced at the other three —
Among Yu Mo, Lin You, and Liuli, could there be an evil spirit follower?
From a probability standpoint, the chance that one of them was exactly a follower was very low.
But low probability did not mean impossible.
“I’ll ask one question… there aren’t any evil spirit followers among us, right?”
Lu Feng asked the other three, but all he received in return were uniform shakes of the head in denial.
Of course, Lu Feng knew how foolish his question was.
Anyone with even a basic grasp of the rules would never expose themselves as a follower.
The reason he asked was more for his own psychological comfort, and also because…
He really hoped there wasn’t an evil spirit follower among the four of them.
Lu Feng was certain that he himself was not a follower, but he had no way of knowing if the others were.
And they also had no way of knowing about him.
In extreme circumstances, if they started questioning each other’s identities and thoughts…
I know I’m not a follower, but does the other side think I am? Do they think I believe they are? Do they think I think they think I am?
(This, in short, means: I say I’m not. He says he’s not. He says he thinks I believe he is or isn’t. I say I think he believes I am or am not… a bit convoluted, but once you think it through, it makes sense.)
At this point, a “chain of suspicion” would form.
Within such a cycle of mutual distrust, the credibility of information plummeted to almost nothing.
This lack of trust mirrored the “Dark Forest” theory proposed in The Three-Body Problem.
Thus, there was only one way to break the “chain of suspicion” — trust.
But in this situation, where could trust come from? Without proof of one another’s identities, complete trust was impossible.
Realizing this, Lu Feng sighed inwardly.
To prevent such a situation from arising, this small group they had just formed needed at least a baseline of mutual trust.
Otherwise, once the “chain of suspicion” emerged, it could never be severed.
“I’m not an evil spirit follower either. Although I know you may not be able to completely believe me, but…”
“No, I believe in Xiao Feng!”
Lu Feng’s words were cut off.
He looked at Yu Mo in astonishment.
The girl’s face was flushed red, yet the gaze she cast at him was filled with unwavering trust.
“Th-this… why though?” Lin You could not help but ask.
“Because instinctive behavior doesn’t lie.”
Yu Mo pointed at the three rules that Lu Feng had not written down.
“… The rules said, ‘The following three rules are only visible to the evil spirit followers.’ Which means only followers could see them, and the rest of us could not.”
“So… what does that prove? Lu Feng could’ve easily just chosen not to write them down on purpose…”
Yu Mo gave Lin You a somewhat disdainful look and continued,
“Think about it. If you were in that strange and terrifying situation, and suddenly became a follower, when you saw those rules, would you instinctively copy them down? Or deliberately avoid writing them to disguise yourself?”
After hearing Yu Mo’s explanation, Lin You revealed a look of sudden realization.
“Oh—I get it now. In moments of fear, people can’t think that deeply. So copying everything word-for-word would be an instinctive action. Since Lu Feng didn’t copy down the followers’ rules, that means he really couldn’t see them!”
“Exactly, that’s it!”
Saying this, Yu Mo puffed out her chest proudly and looked at Lu Feng, as if waiting for him to praise her.
But just then, Liuli suddenly spoke up,
“I don’t agree with your reasoning.”
Liuli frowned slightly, looking at Yu Mo.
“If Lu Feng is someone relatively calm, then it’s entirely possible he deliberately avoided writing those rules at the time. His goal would be to show us exactly this now, in order to gain our trust.”
“…Huh?”
Even Lu Feng himself was stunned.
Did Liuli really think he was that scheming?
Come to think of it, ever since Liuli’s revival, Lu Feng had felt changes in her personality.
But now… it wasn’t just a change.
She had practically become an entirely different person!
Yu Mo clearly grew unhappy hearing this.
She frowned tightly at this girl she had just met,
“Do you even know Xiao Feng? Why say such irresponsible things?”
Liuli shook her head.
“I don’t know him well, that’s exactly why I must remain cautious toward him.”
“Then you go ahead and stay cautious. I believe in Xiao Feng.”
“Then you can blindly believe him. I’ll stay cautious.”
“… Um, whether you two believe me or not, shouldn’t we first think about what to do next…”
Lu Feng hurriedly stopped their argument.