Chapter 13: The Familiar Ten-Minute Wait!

At this moment, apart from Zhang Yangqing, all the Chosen were exceptionally exhausted.

Between playing with the children, assembling wax figures, and moving cabinets in Zone B, it was impossible not to expend some physical energy.

The Chosen had to move things in fits and starts for a long time before they finally finished.

Over an hour had passed, and there was only half an hour left until the next patrol.

How they all longed to return to the security room for a rest.

But just then, the phone rang; it was the delivery driver.

The Chosen answered the phone with trepidation and began to communicate with the driver.

The driver said he would arrive in ten minutes and asked the security guard—the Chosen—to receive the goods.

Then, he hung up.

John, the Chosen from the Eagle Nation, began to recall the rules.

Rule 6 stated that the delivery drivers were good people, and one should try their best to satisfy their requests.

However, the rule did not say one *must* satisfy them; the Chosen could choose not to.

Therefore, based on information gathered previously, John inferred that nothing bad would likely happen if he didn't comply.

If you did satisfy their requests, you might obtain some useful intelligence.

After all, it was only 3:30. According to Rule 10, someone would come to take over the shift at 8:00 AM, which meant clearing the dungeon.

This implied there were still two more patrols at 4:00 and 6:00.

An extra piece of intelligence meant an extra layer of safety, and a better understanding of this strange wax museum.

Besides, Rule 6 clearly stated that the delivery drivers were good people, so he prepared to see what the driver wanted first.

However, with ten minutes left before the driver's arrival, the Chosen still had enough time to prepare.

The vast majority of the Chosen knew that these ten minutes were certainly not meant for resting.

At the very beginning, the Strange Tales dungeon had also left them about ten minutes.

Many people hadn't realized their phones were out of power and needed charging, and they died in the first stage because of it.

These ten minutes were also quite cunning.

Those who had survived until now, unless they were exceptionally lucky, were not lacking in intelligence.

The Chosen all reached for their maps in unison.

Soon, all the Chosen discovered that in addition to the security room, lobby, small exhibition hall, showroom, and restrooms, many new locations had appeared.

These were: the restaurant, monitoring room, power distribution room, staff lounge, archives, and storage room.

By this point, most of the Chosen were hungry and thirsty after a series of busy tasks.

So, the first place they prepared to go was the restaurant. After all, Rule 8 stated that if you were hungry, you could go to the wax museum's restaurant, where you would find what you wanted.

"When dining, ensure there is only one person around you. If you need to heat up food, remember to check for flammable materials nearby, otherwise, it will cause irreparable damage."

The first part likely wasn't a trap. Regardless of the hidden meaning behind the latter part of the rule, finding food was definitely the right move.

Otherwise, the Chosen would be unable to complete the upcoming patrol tasks.

When faced with hunger, the human instinct is to seek food.

Therefore, the vast majority chose to check out the restaurant first.

Zhang Yangqing and a small number of others went straight to the monitoring room after seeing the map.

Because only by going to the monitoring room first could one roughly know what else was hidden here.

Compared to the stumbling gait of the others, Zhang Yangqing was much more relaxed—or one could say he was just a little hungry.

After all, he had basically done nothing in the showroom.

He had only expended some energy dodging and weaving.

The fierce ghosts had done all the hard and tiring work for him.

To command ghosts like that—it was likely something very few Chosen could pull off.

Zhang Yangqing wasn't the first; in previous Strange Tales dungeons, there had been Chosen who used the spread of false information to make ghosts deal with other ghosts.

John also arrived at the monitoring room; basically, everyone holding a key had come.

In the eyes of these brilliant individuals, hunger was definitely a trap.

Just after entering the monitoring room, Rahman, the Chosen from the Pyramid Nation, said, "I knew this place was fishy, but why is it like this? What message is this trying to tell me?"

It wasn't just him; everyone who entered seemed to have discovered the anomaly in this monitoring room.

The entire room had nearly two hundred different surveillance feeds.

Most areas within the wax museum were under surveillance.

This wasn't strange; after all, it was a wax museum, so having many cameras was normal.

But the abnormal part was the other hundred-plus surveillance feeds.

These cameras were spread across the streets and alleys of the city.

It gave one the feeling that the surveillance was overly strict.

One could even see a vehicle slowly driving toward them; perhaps it was the truck transporting the wax figures.

The surveillance almost covered the entire route the transport truck had taken.

Could these cameras be there to check if the transport truck had been swapped midway?

John, the Chosen from the Eagle Nation, felt very strange. Didn't the rules say the delivery driver was a good person? Then what was the point of monitoring him?

Rahman, the Chosen from the Pyramid Nation, even had a hypothesis: the rules said the delivery driver was a good person, but what if the driver had been swapped midway? Then he might not be a good person.

If he wasn't a good person, then they definitely shouldn't open the door for him.

So, he decided not to go to the restaurant for the time being and to figure this out first.

After all, Rahman was one of the four people who had obtained a key, so he could be considered a keen observer.

Every Chosen seemed to have different ideas.

The other Chosen who entered the restaurant felt that these ten minutes were likely meant for them to fill their stomachs.

Zhang Yangqing had also thought of the point Rahman raised, but after watching for a while, he went to the restaurant, seemingly wanting to confirm a few things first.

The restaurant was quite large. Many venues had dining areas to allow people to rest for a while before continuing their tour.

But without a doubt, buying food at these venues meant the prices were doubled.

As for how many times they were doubled, it depended on the conscience of the person who set the prices.

After all, money can be earned again if lost, but if you lose your conscience, you can earn even more.

Zhang Yangqing was speechless at the prices marked on the wall: 9 yuan for a cup of cola, 24 yuan for a chicken leg. If the prices in the Strange Tales world were similar to reality, this was a threefold increase.

It was clear how much conscience the person who set the prices had.

Pushing open the kitchen door, the Chosen searched for the food they wanted.

Soon, they found two relatively large steaks in the refrigerator.

Having been hungry for so long, everyone was incredibly eager for food.

Seeing such delicious food, many of the Chosen were constantly swallowing their saliva.

However, they hadn't forgotten the rules. Rule 6 explained: "When dining, ensure there is only one person around you. If you need to heat up food, remember to check for flammable materials nearby, otherwise, it will cause irreparable damage."

Since it was written in the rules, it depended on how everyone interpreted it.

At the very least, most people would follow the rules to ensure they didn't offend the ghosts.

Literally speaking, there were two obvious rules here.

That is, if you were discovered while eating, there might be danger.

But Rule 2 said there was only you in the wax museum.

If there was only yourself, where would other people come from? Were the rules self-contradictory?

Obviously, that was impossible. Since the rules were written this way, it was to tell everyone that there was definitely something fishy going on.

Those who had been to the monitoring room suddenly realized.

The surveillance! Yes, it was the surveillance!

Being watched by cameras—wasn't that the same as being watched by people?

There was only me in the wax museum, but it didn't say there was no one outside the wax museum.

Wasn't the delivery driver a person?

Moreover, Rule 1 stated: "Anyone is prohibited from entering or exiting, regardless of any requests from inside or outside the door!"

In other words, it might not just be the monitoring room that could see the surveillance inside the wax museum. The rules were reminding them to avoid the cameras!