"What's that?" Upon seeing 007, the first thing Gu Mian noticed was the object in her hand and her arm, which actually had skin on it. Come to think of it, this was the first time Gu Mian had ever seen 007's bare arm…

007 hadn't expected Gu Mian to show no joy at encountering an old acquaintance, and she couldn't help but feel a surge of exasperation. But seeing that the two people beside Gu Mian also showed no signs of a "joyful reunion in a strange land" kind of emotion, 007 suppressed her rising temper and slowly raised the object in her hand.

As she lifted it, 007 felt a little dazed. Had human relationships really grown this cold? No reaction at all to seeing a former teammate?

It was already completely dark. Who knew if the streetlights on either side of the road were just shoddy fakes; the light flickered faintly, enough to give one a headache.

At this moment, Gu Mian was intently observing the object in 007's hand.

It was a piece of paper.

Noticing the curiosity of the three, 007 quickly spoke, "Isn't this instance called 'Close Your Eyes'? When I entered, I found myself in a classroom, and this was on my desk… These are the rules for 'Close Your Eyes'. I originally wanted to wait at the cafeteria entrance to see if I could meet other players, but I didn't expect to not find anyone…"

She hadn't found anyone. Instead, on her way back to the classroom, she'd run into three acquaintances who looked like they could stir up trouble.

Gu Mian had already taken the paper from 007 and begun to read it carefully. It was a piece of paper, like a small flyer but slightly larger, with a red and black color scheme, printed with cheap-looking bloodstains. The first line of text was in a large, bleeding font effect, which looked incredibly tacky. The smaller black text below, however, looked much more normal.

['Close Your Eyes' Game Rules]

[1. There are twelve players in total, including 3 'ghosts' and 9 'civilians'. Every player is aware of only their own identity. If all members of one side are eliminated, the other side wins.]

[2. After nightfall, the 'ghosts' begin their actions. Between 20:00 and 03:00 the next morning, 'ghosts' may select one player to kill. Once a player is killed, all 'ghosts' must cease further killing that night. If any 'ghost' kills again (i.e., a second victim is claimed by the 'ghosts' that night), that 'ghost' will die along with the player they killed.]

[3. At 03:00 each day, all players will participate in a public vote for their suspected 'ghost'. The player with the most votes is eliminated. After the vote, the system will announce the current number of remaining players for that round.]

[4. In the game, 'civilians' cannot kill other players; 'ghosts' can kill any player.]

Gu Mian fell into thought. Three ghosts…

Fatty, beside him, muttered, "Isn't this fourth rule specially prepared for the Doctor? Right, they're probably afraid civilians might turn around and saw off the head of a ghost chasing them."

Gu Mian continued reading. Below the rules were twelve signatures:

Gu Mian, Meiren Chu, Wang Pan, Lin Qi, Yue Nu, Xu Keke, Pan Yue, Zhang Pingfan, Guo Jimei, Li Wentao, Yuan Qinghua, Li Yibai.

Zhang Pingfan? Gu Mian noted the name. Just a short while ago, Xu Xingcheng had asked him if he had seen Zhang Pingfan.

Under the dim streetlight, 007 began, "It seems the instance wants us to participate in a real-life version of 'Close Your Eyes'. And it's not just us six players participating, but also the original inhabitants of this instance."

007 used to refer to the instance's native inhabitants collectively as NPCs. However, after her experience in the Fairy Tale City instance, she found she couldn't quite bring herself to call them that anymore, so she'd switched to a different term.

Seeing the people before her still scrutinizing the list, 007 spoke again, "My class is Senior Two, Class Thirteen, and there's another player from my class."

As she spoke, she pointed to the list in Gu Mian's hand, her slender index finger landing on the name 'Yue Nu'.

No wonder this name is so peculiar; she's a player, Gu Mian thought.

"That's her. Besides her, Li Wentao and Pan Yue on the list are also in my class, but they are original inhabitants of this instance," 007 said, seeming to recall something. "Li Wentao and Pan Yue know quite a bit about 'Close Your Eyes'; they started playing it last week in the evenings…"

The instance natives definitely knew more than they did. After all, for these six players, entering this instance was like losing their memories.

007, standing before them, continued, "This is the sign-up sheet. The people who signed it were all planning to play this game, and indeed, these twelve were the ones who ended up participating. However, the game had just started and everyone had just received their roles when the power went out, so the game had to be stopped."

Just as Chu Changge suspected, Gu Mian mused, rubbing his chin.

'Close Your Eyes'—the board game—had to be stopped for some reason, leading to this game escalating into a real-life version.

At this moment, Chu Changge, who was beside them, spoke up, "First, players only know their own identity. This means the three 'ghosts' don't know who the other 'ghosts' are. Since a 'ghost' can kill any player, there's a possibility of 'ghosts' killing other 'ghosts'. Therefore, 'ghosts' will likely be hesitant to act."

"Second, according to rule two, after one player is killed that night, any 'ghost' who kills again will die along with the player they killed. But rule three states that the player count is only tallied after the public vote. This means that before the 03:00 AM vote, the game won't reveal who died that night. Since the 'ghosts' don't know each other's identities, they also won't know if another 'ghost' has already secured a kill before them. This makes it extremely risky for a 'ghost' to kill."

"Lastly, 'civilians' cannot kill other players, but 'ghosts' can kill anyone. An observant 'civilian' could potentially use this to identify a 'ghost'."

"In summary, these rules are quite disadvantageous for those playing as 'ghosts'."

Chu Changge's string of deductions left 007 almost breathless. She found herself in a slight daze, mulling over his words several times, and finally realized—damn, he was absolutely right!

Gu Mian, however, was accustomed to this. He looked at the list before him and asked 007, "Speaking of which…"

Lost in thought, 007 snapped back to reality and looked at Gu Mian. "What is it?"

Gu Mian held up the paper. "Which one is your name? This one?"

He pointed to the name "Lin Qi". Among the twelve names, this was the only one that could correspond to 007's nickname.

007 nodded. "Your names… Gu Mian, that's you, right?"

The name Gu Mian was practically household knowledge; he was nicknamed Gu Sanwan. In this harsh environment, killing Gu Sanwan would earn a hefty sum of Game Coins—enough to make someone who loved money too excited to sleep for three days and nights.

Gu Mian touched his guitar case, suddenly recalling that in this instance, he couldn't just kill someone to silence them.

At this moment, Chu Changge suddenly spoke, "Actually, a game like 'Close Your Eyes' has a certain principle."

A principle? 007 hadn't intended to dwell on Gu Mian's name. Even if he really was Gu Sanwan, she couldn't bring herself to stab the Doctor who had saved her life. Who knew, if he encountered danger in the future, she might even have to risk her own life to save him.

Therefore, 007 was easily drawn in by Chu Changge's words. "What principle?"

Chu Changge pushed up his glasses. "The survivor principle. The simplest way to clear this kind of game is for only one survivor to remain. That survivor's faction will definitely be the winning side."

Fatty, beside them, grimaced. "Brother Chu, you make it sound so easy! There are twelve people. One killed at night, one voted out during the day—wouldn't that take at least six days for everyone to be eliminated? And the rules don't allow players to kill each other…"

"No," Chu Changge shook his head. "For example, if it were me, it would only take one day."

007 frowned slightly, listening intently. "How would you win?"

Chu Changge looked at her. His lips parted, and he uttered words that sent a chill down her spine, "Contract killing. Hire someone to kill all of you. I could win right now."

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