Chapter 99: CHAPTER 99

Hanyang Village was a bit far from where Jiang Ye and her team were.

On her way there, Jiang Ye unfortunately encountered the person in black twice, and the four of them even got separated. It took Jiang Ye a little while to find all her teammates.

So, when she got to Hanyang Village, her phone was vibrating nonstop.

She guessed that another player had been eliminated while completing a task, but she didn’t bother to look, she silenced the notification and continued to sneak towards Hanyang Village.

Sure enough, as soon as she arrived at Hanyang Village, she met a player who had been eliminated from inside.

The player asked them, "Are you here for the resurrection task?"

When Jiang Ye nodded, he shook his head and said, "I advise you not to try it lightly, the program team suddenly increased the difficulty, it’s impossible to play, just wait for the next task."

Jiang Ye was stunned, "What happened?"

The eliminated player sighed, "Just look at your phone notification."

Jiang Ye opened her phone while walking, and after flipping through several elimination notifications, she finally saw the temporary notice posted by the program team.

【Due to the large number of players in the venue, the task completion difficulty is relatively low.】

【Therefore, for this task in Hanyang Village, three more people in black will be added.】

【There will now be five people in black patrolling Hanyang Village at the same time.】

Jiang Ye: "..."

There were only seven players left in the program, and they were still considered a large number.

Is the program team being petty?

As the number of players in the game gradually decreased.

Their existence became more and more dangerous.

The remaining people in black would try their best to arrest them.

Although the people in black patrolling Hanyang Village couldn’t step out of Hanyang Village, they still posed a hidden threat to their completion of the resurrection task.

Jiang Ye looked up at Hanyang Village and then at the map.

Hanyang Village was a complex maze-like structure.

There were fifteen rooms in the fifteen corners of this maze, one of which housed the NPC Zhong Ziqi.

And the players had to find Zhong Ziqi in one of the rooms in this maze.

At the same time, players also had to avoid five people in black.

The difficulty of the task was not easy.

Shen Zhiyi quickly followed her train of thought, and when she understood, she couldn’t help but gasp, "It’s too dangerous."

She weighed her options and asked uncertainly, "Should we still do it?"

What if they didn’t complete the task.

It wouldn’t be worth it if they lost another player.

Jiang Ye was also a little tired from running and dodging for so long.

But she supported herself on her knees and panted for a while, then straightened up and shook her head, "We’re doing it."

Giving up at this point wouldn’t be a good idea.

If they chose to give up the task now, the program team would probably give them a selfish persona in the show, one that doesn’t care about their teammates or their group.

Jiang Ye didn’t want to take that blame.

If they tried their best, even if they died while completing the task, they could still earn a good persona of trying to save their teammates and working hard to complete the task.

Jiang Ye felt that this was a sure thing.

"Besides."

Jiang Ye looked at the map, "Although this situation is a little troublesome, it’s not entirely impossible."

She paused and suddenly smiled, "It’s just that I need a little help."

Fortunately, this resurrection task didn’t have a time limit.

So, Jiang Ye first sent the directionally challenged Shen Zhiyi to the top floor of a building near Hanyang Village.

From the window there, you could clearly see everything inside the Hanyang Village maze.

Then, Jiang Ye went to the elimination room to borrow a prop.

"What do you need this for?"

Lin Zui was curious, "You guys aren’t really planning to do the resurrection task, are you?"

Jiang Ye winked at her, "You guess."

Jiang Ye borrowed the prop and went back to Hanyang Village.

The prop was a megaphone, it was originally used by the program team for the eliminated players to shout to the players inside.

Jiang Ye turned on the megaphone.

Then, she held it up and stepped into Hanyang Village, and started singing loudly towards the inside.

She sang their first album’s title track.

The director team, who were monitoring the situation backstage, were stunned.

What?

They’re even taking this opportunity to promote their song?!

The people in black in Hanyang Village were indeed attracted by the sound.

Jiang Ye stood at the entrance and waved to them.

When they were about to catch her, she calmly took a step back and left Hanyang Village.

People in black: "..."

"Did you understand?"

Jiang Ye threw the megaphone to Tan Meng, "You’re fast, you’re in charge of luring them."

Before coming to the show, Jiang Ye had studied the previous episodes.

The setting for the people in black is that they have to chase anyone who makes a sound, and anyone they see, but as long as the person disappears from their sight—even if you can use your intelligence to judge where they’re going, as long as they don’t appear in your sight, you can’t chase them anymore.

This is why Jiang Ye could avoid the people in black multiple times by using the complex terrain.

But on the other hand, according to the rules of the show, even if the people in black know that the players are luring them, they have to chase the players according to the rules.

So, that makes it easier.

As long as you keep jumping back and forth on the edge of the village wall, you can lead the people in black like you’re walking a dog.

The people in black inside and outside the village can’t communicate with each other, and if she hides in Hanyang Village, she won’t be threatened by the people in black outside the village, on the other hand, if she escapes Hanyang Village, the people in black inside can’t do anything to her.

This move is risky, but the odds are in her favor.

Plus, Tan Meng runs fast.

There’s no one better suited for this job.

Tan Meng caught the megaphone, "What if I get eliminated?"

Jiang Ye: "Then I won’t resurrect Lin Zui, I’ll resurrect you, okay?"

"Hmm…"

"Then it seems like I should work harder to save our captain."

"Tan Meng is in charge of this, Shen Zhiyi is in charge of surveying the terrain."

Cheng Zhen asked, "What about me, should I go in with you?"

"Two people isn’t convenient, I’ll go alone."

Jiang Ye said, "You just need to help me guess where Zhong Ziqi is."

Cheng Zhen: "..."

Cheng Zhen: "… You really trust my guess?"

"It’s better than guessing myself, right?"

Jiang Ye took out the map, looked at it again, and sighed, "If it were me, I’d probably have to run to fifteen houses to find him."

Cheng Zhen looked at it and pointed to a house on the map, "Then I guess this one."

Jiang Ye memorized the location, quickly rolled up the map, "Okay, it’s this one, I’m going."

"Wait, if you go according to your plan, the door will be blocked by me."

Tan Meng asked, "How are you going to get in and out?"

Jiang Ye tilted her head and blinked, "Who said I’m going through the front door?"

Tan Meng: "?"

Jiang Ye didn’t go through the front door, she just walked along the outer edge of the Hanyang Village maze.

As she walked, she called Shen Zhiyi, "Look at your map, if I go to the house marked G on your map, is that the shortest way in?"

Although Shen Zhiyi was directionally challenged, she could still understand this map.

She looked at Jiang Ye’s location, carefully compared it, and said, "Go a little further, hey, there, that’s about right."

Jiang Ye: "Thanks."

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Ye took two steps back and climbed over the wall into the Hanyang Village maze.

Jiang Ye’s cameraman: "?"

The cameraman quickly went through the front door to find her.

Jiang Ye landed safely inside and clapped her hands.

Why go through the front door, it’s so dangerous.

Isn’t climbing over the wall better?

After all, she had already lost her idol baggage, whatever.

Maybe they could even go viral with their silly girl group persona.

Not long after she went in.

Tan Meng used the megaphone to lure all the people in black inside the maze away from the entrance.

So, according to the route she had memorized, Jiang Ye easily reached the house that Cheng Zhen had guessed, and when she saw the NPC Zhong Ziqi, her eyes lit up.

Her guess was so accurate.

She had to worship Cheng Zhen as the goddess of luck when she got out.

Because she had been running around so much, Jiang Ye’s headband was soaked in sweat.

But she flipped her hair up, smiled brightly at the camera, "See, we’ve already achieved the first stage of victory."

The NPC heard someone coming and immediately started reciting his lines very professionally, "Hello, thank you for coming to see me."

He pretended to cough twice, "To thank you, this is probably what you need, take it."

Jiang Ye took the resurrection card from his hand.

Since the people in black couldn’t get in, she patiently listened to the NPC’s next lines.

"My time has come, I can’t fulfill my promise to Brother Boya."

"Please tell him for me, if we meet again in the next life, I will definitely listen to him play again."

"Don’t say next life."

Jiang Ye interrupted him, took out her phone, and asked seriously, "What’s wrong with you? I’ll call 120 for you."

She smiled, "Don’t be afraid, times have changed, we have to believe in modern medicine."

NPC Zhong Ziqi: "?"

When Jiang Ye finally climbed over the wall again, Tan Meng had already lured the people in black around the maze ten times.

She returned the megaphone to Jiang Ye and panted, "If you didn’t come out, I would have died of exhaustion."

People in black: "..."

They were also about to die of exhaustion.

Jiang Ye waved to the people in black inside Hanyang Village, "Thank you all for your cooperation, I hope you’ve all learned our title track 《One and More》, if you have time, welcome to our concert."

People in black: "..."

Backstage director team: "..."

They had only invited 5tars to be guest stars for one episode.

But they had turned it into a home game.

Singing, teasing NPCs, luring people in black, constantly pushing the boundaries of the rules, what can’t they do?!

•••

Elimination room.

The staff interacted with all the eliminated players, "Who do you think will complete the three resurrection tasks?"

"I guess 5tars."

"Of course! They’re so good!"

"I heard too! They were really amazing in that last task!"

Staff member: "Lin Zui, do you think your teammates will resurrect you?"

Lin Zui was a little worried about Jiang Ye and her team’s abilities.

She thought for a moment and joked, "… As long as they don’t get themselves eliminated, I’ll be fine."

But as soon as she finished speaking, Jiang Ye ran quickly towards the resurrection room, beaming, "I completed the task!"

Amidst cheers, she went through the open window and directly pasted the resurrection card onto Lin Zui’s watch.

Beep, beep, twice.

The resurrection card was activated.

Lin Zui’s watch, which had only been alive for six seconds, started to spin rapidly.

"Captain."

Jiang Ye held out her hand, "Welcome back."

•••

Not long after Lin Zui was resurrected.

Everyone’s phones vibrated at the same time.

Task Four was released.

【Upon learning of Zhong Ziqi’s death, Yu Boya was heartbroken and broke his qin, vowing to never play again.】

【But if Yu Boya breaks his qin, he will summon thirty people in black.】

【Before the five-minute countdown, everyone needs to go to the medical clinic and find the divine doctor Bian Que, and cure Zhong Ziqi’s illness, in order to stop Yu Boya from breaking his qin.】

Jiang Ye: "..."

Why is this story getting more and more magical?

But thirty people in black would make it impossible for everyone to hide, they had to do this task.

Jiang Ye and her group went to the medical clinic and found Bian Que.

"I can cure this illness."

The NPC playing the role of the divine doctor Bian Que spoke slowly, as if he was going to drive everyone crazy, "But I need four herbs."

He listed four locations, then said, "The herbs are hidden in these four places, if you can collect them for me, I might be able to try."

Lin Zui guessed, "This should be the final task, right?"

"But four different places, you probably have to complete four small tasks, will the time limit be a little tight?"

"Let’s do it, let’s gamble."

"If it really doesn’t work."

Jiang Ye said, "We can go find Yu Boya first, grab his qin, then he won’t be able to break it."

Lin Zui: "?"

Lin Zui looked at the others in confusion, and they all nodded.

Cheng Zhen: "That’s right."

Tan Meng: "Support."

Shen Zhiyi: "… That’s actually possible."

Lin Zui: "???"

What have her teammates been up to while she was gone?

"Alright, then let’s split up, five of us, we’ll each find the four herbs and Yu Boya."

Taking into account Shen Zhiyi’s poor sense of direction, Jiang Ye circled the closest location on the map for her and said, "You can find this, right?"

Shen Zhiyi: "… I’ll try."

Jiang Ye looked at her.

Shen Zhiyi remembered Jiang Ye repeatedly emphasizing confidence to her during the third performance, and she immediately changed her mind, "I can."

"Okay."

"Then let’s get ready to go."

Jiang Ye held out her hand, "Good luck, we have to win to the end!"

They high-fived each other and scattered in all directions.

The spring breeze blew through the girls’ hair.

For the same goal, they started running in different directions in the wind.