Deceitful Game

Chapter 48 Are you trying to cheat?

After they started walking, the flickering light became stable again.

Chen Bingwen looked at Gao Fan with some surprise.

He could certainly tell that the two people knew each other.

He was just wondering—was this little kid in charge of the team?

But he wouldn't know... Gao Fan had actually participated in many, many adventure games.

Gao Fan knew that all adventure games had similar mechanics.

To prevent players from using their abilities to get stuck at a cleared safe point and AFK without progressing to the next level, the game incorporates a mechanism similar to "anti-negative play".

Just like in a zombie apocalypse survival scenario, simply hiding in an attic and using your abilities to seal the door and buy time is definitely not going to work.

The game requires you to search for supplies while risking being discovered and infected by zombies. If you don't complete this "game content," accidents will happen quickly—for example, a zombie spawning poison gas, or a problem with the food storage.

Some former hosts who had graduated from the show believed that the stranger hosts they were matched with had tampered with the system. But Gao Fan was certain that it wasn't the host who did it... because he was convinced that Ms. "Ideal Country" wouldn't do something that forced people to confront danger directly.

Therefore, this must be a mechanism inherent in adventure games.

After all, it's an "adventure" game... without "danger," where would the adventure come from?

At this moment, Mingpo casually glanced to her left.

The students who were just visible a moment ago have now vanished again.

Although the classrooms were still endless rows of cramped, dormitories, there wasn't a single person to be seen at that moment.

Mingbo looked to the right again... and saw that the empty classrooms were now full of people again. In each classroom, students were writing furiously with their heads down, while the teachers watched them.

It was so quiet it felt like a real exam. The only thing that seemed off was that there were no teachers patrolling outside.

Clearly, they had entered some kind of separate space.

That's not surprising.

This girl is clearly not quite right—let's put aside the strange "2048" classroom for now, and just assume that this school building really has twenty floors and 48 classrooms on each floor.

Moreover, since they are clearly not in the same class, they won't be in the same exam room.

Shouldn't we ask them first which classroom their exam room is in and whether it's on their way?

Mingpo obviously didn't know where her classroom was, and Gao Fan and Chen Bingwen probably didn't either.

and so……

That girl probably knew perfectly well that none of them knew where the classroom was, which is why she didn't even ask!

Even if we take a step back, she should at least be curious about Gao Fan.

From his appearance, Gao Fan looks like a child.

In this day and age, nutrition is much better, and even elementary school students are probably taller than 1.3 meters. When she saw Gao Fan wearing a high school uniform, she should at least ask him something like, "What grade are you in?"

But she didn't ask any questions.

The reason is simple: she knew they couldn't answer it.

However, Mingpo wasn't in a hurry—following the clues was better than searching randomly on her own.

Moreover, he gradually got used to Gao Fan's presence...

This timid fellow is actually quite useful as an early warning aircraft. If there's any danger on their path, he'll definitely warn them.

With nothing else to do, Mingpo kept looking into the classroom on her right.

The teacher was proctoring the exam, the students were answering questions, and the girl was chatting with them.

The teacher is proctoring the exam, and the students are answering the questions.

The teacher is proctoring the exam, and the students are answering the questions...

……

The teacher is watching them.

After passing countless identical classrooms, the proctor suddenly turned around and stared blankly out the window.

He looked at them.

--oh?

Mingpo raised an eyebrow, but did not call anyone else to come and see.

He was the only one who noticed this detail.

In the next classroom, the teacher was still watching them. Their movements were stiff, like puppets.

The next few classrooms were exactly the same.

In the next classroom, a new anomaly occurred:

All the students stopped answering the questions and silently looked out the window at them.

In the next classroom, both the teacher and students wore eerie smiles, and the girl's incessant chatter completely ceased.

And as they passed the next classroom...

Almost all the students crowded around and pressed themselves against the window.

One after another, handprints were pressed tightly against the window.

In the next classroom, the teacher and students suddenly became enormous—

They wore eerie smiles and silently peered down at them through the windowpane.

It was as if they were the living people, and he was just a doll in a dollbox!

Suddenly, the girl in front stopped.

Mingpo also turned around.

There is no road ahead.

When you get to the front, all you see is a white tiled wall.

They turned around and found only a white tiled wall behind them.

Looking to the side, you'll find that the once towering teaching building, with its dozens of overlapping classrooms, has been replaced by a white tiled wall.

Mingpo roughly knew what was about to happen.

He sighed.

After everyone else looked towards the classroom, he was the last to slowly turn around and look at the classroom on his right.

That's a wall too.

All four walls were made of pure white ceramic tiles, leaving them with less than four square meters of space.

If an ordinary person saw this scene, even if they didn't scream in fright, they would probably be panting heavily in panic.

—But strangely enough.

All four of them remained silent.

Chen Bingwen, serious and vigilant; Ming Po, relaxed and carefree; Gao Fan, speechless; and the girl whose expression was unclear.

As if waiting for someone to speak first, the four of them didn't exchange words, discuss anything, or even look around anxiously. They simply looked in their own directions, and no one reacted in any other way.

The standoff lasted for about ten seconds, the eerie silence making the atmosphere awkward.

"that……"

Gao Fan decided to break the silence.

The moment he opened his mouth, the ground suddenly collapsed!

Whether it was an illusion or not, Gao Fan even heard the girl let out a faint sigh of relief at the moment of impact.

He suddenly couldn't hold back anymore.

Although it should have been a rather terrifying scene, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Hahahaha..."

Gao Fan's childish yet sharp laughter echoed in the void.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Hearing Gao Fan's laughter, Ming Po, who was falling, couldn't help but laugh out loud: "What a pity! What a pity! It's such a shame we didn't get to see it!"

Attorney Chen, however, only felt a tingling sensation on his scalp and a chill run down his back.

—Are his two temporary teammates a little mentally unstable?

The next moment, Chen Bingwen suddenly woke up.

He found himself still in the exam room, even though more than half of the exam time had already passed.

How long did I sleep?

How much time is left?

In that instant, his back was truly soaked with cold sweat—this was the most terrifying moment he had ever experienced.

But then he realized something was wrong...

Not only was my own paper already filled with answers, but other students were also writing something at lightning speed. The sound of pens slicing across the papers was very clear.

He was about to look up.

But just then, the rule suddenly flashed through his mind.

[Exam Room Behavior Prohibitions: Talking, peeking, passing items, cheating...]

Before looking left and right, Chen Bingwen suddenly stopped himself.

This might be considered cheating!

So... it's okay to look up, right?

He looked up and saw the teacher on the podium looking at him.

Why are you looking up like that?

The proctor asked sternly.

Chen Bingwen quickly lowered his head and pretended to check the test paper as if nothing was wrong.

And you know what... his answer sheet was quite full. Although he had completely forgotten the high school math content, he felt that his answers were actually quite decent.

After looking at the exam paper for a while, I felt that the proctor should look away.

Then Chen Bingwen looked up again.

As a result, the proctor was still staring at him.

This time, he was no longer on the podium, but had walked halfway through the journey.

Why are you looking up like that?

He asked again in a stern voice.

Chen Bingwen quickly lowered his head.

But in his panic, he couldn't control his gaze.

He glanced around instinctively.

But in that one glance, someone suddenly grabbed the back of his collar!

The proctor, who was on his way just a moment ago, had somehow appeared behind him.

"What are you looking at?"

He asked, "Are you trying to cheat?"

"No, I didn't..."

Chen Bingwen quickly explained.

His eyes trembled uneasily, and he subconsciously looked up again.

But this time, his head suddenly felt like it was exploding, and a metallic sound like tinnitus rang in his ears—

The lights flickered intensely, and everyone in the classroom turned to look at him.

But it's not turning around like you would, nor is it sitting backwards...

Instead, everyone sat forward, but he turned his head 180 degrees and looked back at him!

Their expressions were incredibly solemn, and their eyes could even be described as filled with resentment.

One by one, the lights in the classroom went out, and one by one, the students stood up.

"Are you trying to cheat?"

"I asked the proctor."

"I didn't, I didn't..."

Chen Bingwen was drenched in sweat and couldn't help but explain.

"Are you trying to cheat?"

The proctor's voice grew louder and louder, and Chen Bingwen's tinnitus became more and more severe.

And those students who stood up grew taller and taller.

They were like telephone poles, so tall they seemed to pierce the clouds, their faces obscured. Was it...an illusion?

Suddenly, the cell phone rang.

One after another.

The incessant ringing of cell phones echoed from every utility pole, creating a cacophony of distractions.

Only the proctor's voice, like a thunderclap in the darkness, boomed: "Are you trying to cheat?"

"It was all his idea!"

A piercing scream from a girl rang out.

The next moment, accompanied by a violent, earthquake-like tremor, the classroom was plunged into darkness.

Chen Bingwen's vision went black, and he fainted again.

When he woke up again, he found himself, "Xiao Ke" and "Gao Xiaofan" sitting together with a dark figure whose features were indistinct.

The four people sat at the four corners of the table, just like they were playing mahjong.

"Tell me," the voice emphasized, "who is the mastermind?"