Chapter 176 - 175: Such an Intense Experience?

Chapter 176: Chapter 175: Such an Intense Experience?

Taking the lead was a boy named Ashton Fletcher. Having reached the end of the corridor, he came to a halt. Suddenly, in the incredibly eerie setting, the iron gate rattled violently. A low, terrifying sound echoed out, instantly causing the crowd to scream.

Rian Sinclair, on her side, was actually doing fine. She had been slightly startled but recovered immediately, keeping her hand pressed against the wall. On the other side of the gate, the players only took off their blindfolds after the sound of reading ended.

Then, a boy spoke toward the main door. "Officer Forrest, you need to find the security guard and tail him quietly. Don’t get caught. Stay five meters away from him, and after he puts down his keys, you need to grab the shift handover schedule."

"I’ll go get it first," Rian immediately replied. "You guys finish drawing the map over there."

"Okay, no problem."

Leaning against the wall, Rian made her way through the corridor to look for the security guard.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the gate, everyone sized up their surroundings. It was impossible to see much of anything. The dim lighting, coupled with the suspenseful background music, almost scared them all to death.

Everyone remembered their tasks and searched for clues. Even though Sarah Forrest was terrified, she was still feeling her way along the wall. She soon found an empty space and exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "The window is over here with me!"

The boy closest to Sarah walked over. "I’ll get it."

Before she could respond, he reached straight in and pulled out a notebook and a pen.

Sarah knew that this person held the identity card for Connor Grant. Soon, everyone gathered around. The player acting as Connor Grant began drawing a map of the academic building under the dim light.

Meanwhile, Rian had also spotted the security guard. She quietly tailed him into the security room. After a quick scan of the room, her gaze landed on a schedule. She snatched the duty roster and made a run for it.

She was immediately discovered. The security guard chased straight in her direction. Hearing the heavy footsteps behind her, she realized why the female staff member had given her that look earlier—the very first solo mission turned out to be a chase sequence! She started off sprinting, but noticed the security guard was always maintaining a safe distance from her. When she slowed down, he kept that same distance.

It turned out this security guard was pacing himself entirely based on her speed. However, giving him a crackling stun baton with a built-in flashlight was surprisingly considerate. As they ran in the same direction, the baton actually illuminated the path ahead for Rian.

After finally shaking off the guard, Rian leaned against the wall and prepared to head toward the main gate. Suddenly, she saw a woman with disheveled hair, wearing a white JK uniform skirt.

Great, an absolute jump scare. It seemed Leo Forrest’s solo mission was quite thrilling.

This person was the protagonist of the story—Cassie Lane.

Rian naturally recalled the rules the staff had mentioned earlier: Do not let the female ghost see your clean little face!

Having just lost the security guard behind her, there was no way Rian could run back. She had no choice but to cover her face, press herself against the wall, and slowly inch her way toward the ghost.

Then, it felt like she had stumbled into a brothel. The ghost was stroking her neck and gently blowing air on the tips of her ears. What female ghost? This was just a little succubus! Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Rian freed one hand to push away the face leaning dangerously close to her ear.

As she squeezed past the NPC, she heard a faint male voice utter, "What the fuck?"

She realized the actor was a man. She had initially assumed the ghost was played by a girl, never expecting it to be a boy. However, she did not dwell on it, continuing to cover her face and hug the wall as she moved forward.

But the actor playing Cassie Lane was stunned. Why wasn’t she afraid? She even freed a hand to push his face away? And she actually just walked right past him?

The NPC felt his dignity had been provoked! The field controller was also screaming frantically over the headset, "Chase her! Chase her!"

The field controller was an overly dramatic college student. Earlier, he had been completely captivated by Rian’s beauty, but seeing this display instantly cured him of his crush.

Rian felt a chill run down her spine and took off running. The NPC chased madly after her. How could Rian have known she would be hunted down like this? As she rounded a corner, she bumped right back into the security guard she had shaken off earlier.

Now, Rian found herself being frantically pursued by both a man and a ghost. She even took the opportunity to glance back. One was brandishing a crackling stun baton, while the other was charging with disheveled hair. She couldn’t help but wonder if NPCs were completely invisible to other NPCs.

They certainly had an abundance of professional ethics!

Meanwhile, the players still waiting outside the main gate could hear a series of shrill, terrifying screams mixed with the security guard’s cursing, but they didn’t hear a single peep from the female voice that had spoken at the beginning.

The group was seized by panic. They hadn’t even gone inside yet, and the game was already this intense?

Sarah was terrified, but she still called out to Rian, "Ria, are you okay?"

Hearing her voice, Rian immediately replied, "I’m doing alright. It’s just that I’ll probably lose a few pounds by the time I get out of here."

Hearing Rian’s joking tone, Sarah didn’t feel quite as scared anymore.

Running at the forefront of the chase, Rian was simply speechless.

Wasn’t this immersive experience dialed up a bit too high?

She was still holding the duty roster and hadn’t handed it to her teammates yet. If they kept chasing her like this before her teammates even came inside, there would be no end to it. Rian felt like she had run at least two laps around the area. Although she wasn’t particularly tired herself, she could clearly sense that the two NPCs were exhausted.

She spoke up to persuade them. "Stop chasing me for a second. I’m not afraid of you two anyway. Wait for me to let my teammates in, and then you can go chase them! Chasing me is useless; I’m just an ordinary player!"

Had her oblivious teammates known, they would have thought, "We really thank you for this, Officer Forrest!"

"Then stop running!" yelled one of the NPCs.

Hearing the voice behind her, Rian rolled her eyes without breaking her stride. "Should I just stand still and wait to be caught?"

As she ran ahead, she faintly heard the two NPCs curse, "Fuck!"

However, the footsteps behind her finally stopped. Rian jogged forward for a while longer until she reached the main gate. By this point, she was so tired she was speechless.

The people outside the gate heard the approaching footsteps. Rian slipped the item in her hand through the crack in the door. "Hurry up and open the gate."

Rian leaned against the wall to rest for a moment. But the field controller watching from the monitors was absolutely fuming! He had never encountered such a badass player before—one who could make the NPCs completely break character!

As she rested against the wall, Rian heard her best friend’s voice. "Ria, are you okay? Are you hurt? Weren’t you scared doing the solo mission? Wait for me, we’re coming in right now!"

Leaning against the wall, Rian gave an objective evaluation. "I think as long as you carefully follow the rules the staff mentioned earlier, it’s not scary at all."

This was merely her own opinion, but she didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. Then, she heard an unfamiliar female voice ask, "Is it really not scary?"

Rian recognized the voice as belonging to the girl from the couple they had met at the start. After thinking it over once more, she gave a relatively fair reply, "I don’t find it scary."

The crowd fell silent. Rian didn’t think much of it; after all, she genuinely didn’t find it frightening.

Soon after, the main gate opened. Rian stood to the side, waiting for Sarah. Three people passed through before it was her turn, but the moment Sarah stepped out, she threw herself straight into Rian’s arms.

Rian smiled and patted her back. "Let’s go. We need to head to the classroom first, or the security guard will catch up with us."

No sooner had her voice faded than a shrill female scream pierced the air. "What the hell is that! Why didn’t you tell us sooner!"

Hearing the ear-piercing scream, Rian frowned uncomfortably but didn’t say anything. A moment later, the sound of the NPC security guard cursing loudly echoed through the corridor.