The Kong siblings’ side also lost two players, leaving six people currently. If Zhu Rumin is added, that makes seven, but three of them are injured. Chu Yuan, Wan Yunrong, Gan Qing, and Miao Yu are mainly responsible for drawing the fire from everyone except Kong Hui.

The Black-Shirted Player, the Severed Palm Player, the Player in Gelatinous Coat, the Female Player with Severed Arm, and Zhu Rumin and Kong Cheng.

Among these people, some will also split off to protect Dr. Deng, so both sides have roughly equal numbers, giving them a chance to fight.

The location is chosen to be the underground first floor. After studying their positions, the group began making their own preparations.

Players cannot fully trust each other, so they cannot reveal all their trump cards. It’s normal for everyone to have their own plans.

Xu Huo also left midway, returning only a few minutes later.

After that, it was just a matter of quietly waiting for the Kong siblings to bring their people over. With luck, maybe they would leave one or two players to stay with Dr. Deng in the western half of the laboratory.

However, even after the lights came back on, there was no movement from the Kong siblings’ side, and no one used the elevator.

Chu Yuan grew somewhat anxious. “They’re not planning to just drain our stamina by waiting, are they?”

“Does staying here drain your stamina?” Wu Xiaonan sat by the wall, eating food she brought herself. “I think they were probably delayed by something.”

“Right, so many players bringing an ordinary person in must mean they have important business.” Wan Yunrong seemed to relax a little.

“Then let’s rest for a bit first,” Xu Huo said. “We’ll know whenever the elevator comes up anyway.”

Staying in a state of high tension wasn’t a solution. The group sat down to rest where they were.

“Though, it seems the Ghostly Shadow didn’t appear again last night,” Gan Qing remarked. “I wonder if Qiu Xiangdong has turned into a ghost.”

“Isn’t dealing with the Kong siblings the priority right now?” Wan Yunrong glanced at him.

“I don’t mean anything else, I’m just wondering who killed the players on the Kong siblings’ side,” Gan Qing said.

Although Ge Pan didn’t explicitly say what happened to the player with the vacuum device, it’s highly likely he died. They had previously seen a player from Dr. Deng’s side die from suffocation. He Chunsheng and Chang Chengyong also died from suffocation. If there’s a suspect, Qiu Xiangdong is a very strong candidate.

Perhaps the player controlling the Ghostly Shadow isn’t a boss hidden within the Deep Blue Laboratory, but is right among them.

“Otherwise, why did he run away right from the start?”

Gan Qing’s suspicion wasn’t without reason. The players also secretly hoped that the Ghostly Shadow not appearing on their side meant it had gone to cause trouble for the Kong siblings and the others.

In fact, it was the Ghostly Shadow that entangled the Kong siblings and the others during the latter half of the night.

Zhu Rumin used an item to hide within the pile of corpses for a while. She only went out to find Kong Hui after Xu Huo and the others had cleared the corridor connecting both sides.

However, she wasn’t clear about the situation outside, so it was after Zhao Bi died and the Kong siblings took their people upstairs.

She missed both groups and only went up in the elevator to find people after Xu Huo and the others came back down.

She quickly reunited with Dr. Deng and the others. At that time, Kong Hui was venting her anger at Ge Pan because they hadn’t encountered anyone at the player ambush location Ge Pan mentioned.

In this situation, everyone knew Ge Pan’s item had failed, but fortunately, he hadn’t shown himself, so he could go back.

Because the ambush plan failed, the train ticket players were likely scattered. Ge Pan’s task was to persuade them to regroup and, best case, incite them to take the initiative. Dr. Deng was a suitable decoy.

The Kong siblings wanted to wait passively for their prey, but who knew Ge Pan would go and never return? Kong Hui lost patience and took people to the corpse storage area, but for some reason, the elevator suddenly stopped operating.

She merely tried to dismantle one elevator, and then a strange thing happened. The Female Player with Severed Arm standing behind her silently disappeared. The Player in Gelatinous Coat who was with them also didn’t notice how the other vanished.

“Could it be those train ticket players didn’t go up?” Kong Hui speculated, splitting up with her companion to search. They eventually found the female player’s body in a corner where dust particles were slightly disturbed. She had died from suffocation.

“This wasn’t done by the train ticket players,” the Player in Gelatinous Coat said. “Could it really be like Zhu Rumin said, there are other people here?”

“Impossible,” Kong Hui stated categorically. “If there really were other people, the Bolun Family wouldn’t have kept it from us.”

“Maybe they don’t know either. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have sent people in repeatedly and still failed to find the real potion.”

Kong Hui seemed brash but was actually quite cautious. With one player dead, she wasn’t in a hurry to go up. Instead, she retreated to the western laboratory to verify things with Zhu Rumin.

Zhu Rumin recounted the events in detail and said, “I was trying to get close to Wu Xiaonan to find an opportunity to strike, but I didn’t expect the Ghostly Shadow to appear on me. Those people weren’t pushovers, so I had no choice but to flee.”

“So, there really is a Ghostly Shadow?” Kong Hui frowned and looked at her brother. “The Bolun Family didn’t tell us the whole truth.”

Kong Cheng, however, said, “They wouldn’t dare. During the time we were away from Sayir Coast, the Bolun Family also sent players in several times. Some returned empty-handed but with minimal casualties, but twice they were completely wiped out.”

“The speculation at the time was that the train ticket players did it,” Kong Hui said.

“It seems that may not be the case now,” Kong Cheng said. “Those who returned alive knew nothing about the Ghostly Shadow, meaning they hadn’t seen it. But three of our people have died from suffocation.”

“Just like the train ticket players’ deaths,” Zhu Rumin couldn’t help adding.

“So, to this point, all the players who have died were killed by this so-called Ghostly Shadow?” Lou Fu was somewhat skeptical. “Have you seen the Ghostly Shadow?”

Zhu Rumin shook her head. Just as she was about to say something, her gaze suddenly jumped past him to the Glass Window behind him, and she exclaimed in panic, “Ghostly Shadow!”

Everyone immediately turned around, but only had time to see a fleeting afterimage quickly flash by.

The Kong siblings shot forward. Kong Hui actually managed to block the Ghostly Shadow’s path directly ahead. She grabbed her twin swords and chased the shadow, slashing along the wall. After one round, over a dozen deep, long sword marks appeared on the wall, but the Ghostly Shadow drifted away without any hindrance.

“Selective Hit!” Kong Cheng reached out toward the Ghostly Shadow from a distance. That gloomy, terrifying female ghost figure was suddenly pinned against the wall. As Kong Cheng exerted force, a thin, shadow-like substance slowly began peeling off the wall.

Like a layer of adhesive tape stuck to the wall, the Ghostly Shadow made a tearing sound as it was pulled up. However, after a struggle between the two forces, the Ghostly Shadow still couldn’t be peeled off. It broke free, re-adhered to the wall, and quickly vanished into the darkness. Before the Kong siblings could give chase, a sudden cry of alarm came from Dr. Deng’s direction. The two immediately turned back, only to find another Ghostly Shadow had entangled Zhu Rumin!

Zhu Rumin’s head was enveloped, and she was struggling continuously. The people beside her didn’t go to rescue her. Instead, the Player in Gelatinous Coat took out a gelatinous bag, blew into it, and the palm-sized transparent bag suddenly grew to human height. He draped it over Zhu Rumin’s head, trapping her and the Ghostly Shadow together inside!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep