"Main Quest progress updated.
"Explore Ye Jie High School and solve seven supernatural phenomena. Current Progress 1/7."
Hearing the system announcement, Passing Rain sighed in relief. She was braver than a normal player, perhaps even braver than a player like Brother Long, so when she saw the chilling newspaper clipping, she did not react too much.
However, she could not help but worry … because in the last call, Feng Bujue had told her that he had found the well and was preparing to deal with it. Passing Rain, who had gotten the information from the newspaper clipping, combined it with the song that she had heard earlier, naturally came to the conclusion that she should not look into the well. However, before the next call, she would not be able to contact Feng Bujue. This feeling of helplessness when she wanted to help was indeed torturous.
This was the effect that the system wanted. Perhaps their worry for each other was unnecessary, but this kind of worry would undoubtedly become a burden for them. Anxiety and fear were the same; they would make mistakes.
After Passing Rain heard the system announcement, she was temporarily relieved. She looked at the time on her phone. There were only two minutes left until 25: 00. She had basically finished searching the first floor of the main building, so she temporarily stopped and planned to go up to the second floor after this call.
At that moment, she heard the system announcement. "In this scenario, if you stay for too long in an area that you have already explored and do not attempt to push the game forward, you will be treated as' passive gaming ', and your baseline of Terror Points will increase as time passes."
Hearing that, Passing Rain sighed helplessly. She picked up her phone, the lantern, and walked down the corridor.
The concept of 'passive gaming' that the system mentioned was not present during the closed beta; it was only introduced during the open beta. Using the current scenario as an example, let's say that the people in the scenario were not Brother Jue and Passing Rain but two players who did not know each other. One of them was very cowardly and had a questionable personality. After the scenario started, he would find a place that he thought was safe to hide. Whenever he was on the phone, he would make the call and answer the call. He would never be held responsible. His teammate, on the other hand, was risking their lives in the school to solve various problems. They might even become a target because of the phone call. It was also possible that the two players were like that. They each found a place to hide and kept talking on the phone.
This was just one example. In other scenarios, there might be situations where the players used 'inaction' to survive. In order to prevent similar situations, the system added the concept of "passive gaming" during the open beta. If a player was judged to be AFKing, regardless of whether they were scared or not, their baseline of Terror Points would slowly rise. The longer they were AFKing, the higher their baseline of Terror Points would become, and when it reached one hundred percent, they would be forced to go offline. Only by mustering the courage to actively return to the game could this influence be gradually removed.
Of course, not every scenario had this setting. For some scenarios, like the jigsaw game that Feng Bujue had experienced and the lone city that was controlled by Sam Montier, the difficulty and clearing of the scenario were closely related to time. Dragging it out would lead to danger or immediate death.
Two minutes passed quickly, and the call time was up. Passing Rain arrived at the staircase, and as she walked up, she pressed the speed dial button on her phone.
"One, two, three, four …" Passing Rain counted the steps in her heart and put the phone to her ear.
Beep — beep —
It rang twice before Feng Bujue picked it up. "I'm fine. Are you okay?" That was his first sentence. He quickly answered a question that the other party might ask and then asked the question that he wanted to ask.
"Everything is fine. I'm on the stairs that lead to the second floor." When Passing Rain said that, she had already finished the first step. She turned 180 degrees to the left, and the second step was before her. After that, she would reach the second-floor corridor. "I just finished the first step. There are twelve steps." She continued to move forward. "You don't need to tell me about the song; I understand it. The hint is obvious."
Feng Bujue was startled before he laughed. "Hah … Now that you mention it, what should we talk about in the next conversation?"
"Just update each other on the progress of the quest," Passing Rain replied. She then added, "Don't ask if he's fine or if he's injured, because it's pointless to ask. Even if you know, you won't be able to help. It'll only add to your troubles."
Feng Bujue agreed with Passing Rain's suggestion, but what Passing Rain said was not something that Feng Bujue could say. At least, he could not be the one to say it first. Because he was a man. If he said something like that, it would be cold, indifferent, and cold-blooded … but when it came from someone as indifferent as Passing Rain, it did not feel out of place …
"Wow … You're so understanding. Actually, I was thinking the same thing!" Feng Bujue quickly reported his progress. "By the way, I'm now at the building in the northwest corner. I think the music room is here. I'm going to take a look."
"Thirteen …" Passing Rain suddenly said, "The second step that leads to the second floor … is the thirteenth step."
Before Feng Bujue could say anything, the call time was up. The call was cut off, and the busy tone came.
"Hello? Hello! " Feng Bujue yelled twice before hanging up helplessly. He mumbled to himself, "Hmm … the result is still quite interesting."
By then, he had arrived at the door of the music room.
After pulling open the door and entering, Feng Bujue used his flashlight to scan the whole classroom. The few rows of seats at the bottom did not look out of place, and there were no bloody handprints or scribbles on the walls. The only thing that stood out was the piano in the middle of the room.
Feng Bujue muttered under his breath, "So So Re, La So Re …" He took a deep breath. "Do you want me to press it? Will I trigger some kind of mechanism after pressing it, and then something will fall down from the cabinet?" He then turned his head and shone the flashlight on the glass cabinet that had music scores and teaching materials. However, the top of the cabinet was obviously empty.
"Hmm … If there is really something there, we can reach it by stepping on the piano stool," Feng Bujue said thoughtfully.
Feng Bujue's eyes slowly moved to the Beethoven statue on the low cabinet in the corner. It was a very common white plaster statue. It was carved with Beethoven's head and chest, and the size ratio was close to 1: 1.
Feng Bujue walked over and shone the flashlight on the statue. "Brother Fen, what do you think?"
He obviously didn't expect the statue to answer him. As he spoke, he placed his phone and flashlight on the cabinet on his right. He immediately tried to move the statue, but he found that the weight of this thing was normal, and there were no buttons or other mechanisms hidden under it. It seemed that it was indeed an ordinary decoration.
"Brother Fen, we're all artists. You're not giving me face." Feng Bujue joked as he picked up the phone and flashlight again.
In the end, he still came to the piano. Even though he knew that he would trigger some kind of bad flag, he still had to do it. He reached out his finger and pressed the notes one by one according to the song …
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