Chapter 25: Others Fear Making Mistakes, But I Don't!

Within the world of ghost stories, Li Zhenpi had no idea he had caused a massive catastrophe.

Returning to the security room, he looked at the red dagger in his hand, feeling increasingly confident. An unprecedented sense of pride swirled within his heart. It was as if he had accomplished something truly great; he just wondered if the people back in his hometown had seen it. One could even say that Li Zhenpi’s efforts were made for their sake.

Meanwhile, the people far away in his hometown were already waiting to attend his funeral.

Li Zhenpi was the first man to be mourned before he had even died. Experts from the "Bangzi" country had predicted that his probability of survival was extremely low. After all, he was currently the only person in the entire field who had managed to slaughter the eerie ice wax statue.

The expert group from the Bangzi country didn't know whether to laugh or cry. This kid wasn't brave when he was supposed to be, but he was incredibly fierce when he wasn't supposed to be. They had finally managed to get one capable fighter inside, only for him to have almost no hope of survival now.

Li Zhenpi’s popularity had plummeted from second place to second to last. Why second to last? Because the person in last place was already on the verge of giving up.

When all the Chosen Ones entered, they were in a normal state, and Rossi, the Chosen One from the "Ramen" country, was no exception. Having lived in fear until 5:50, without even replenishing food or water, his spirit and will had begun to blur under the high tension. He remained curled in a corner, appearing motionless. If his large screen hadn't been lit up, everyone would have thought he was dead.

Li Zhenpi from the Bangzi country still had a tiny sliver of a chance of living, mainly because he was a professional athlete and possessed a special weapon.

Rahman from the "Pyramid" country belonged to the smarter type. He was unwilling to break any rules; he only needed to find a way to live steadily within the rules and the available intelligence. The rules did not state that one had to eliminate a specific entity to win, so he felt there was no need to destroy the cryo-sleep chamber, let alone kill the eerie ice wax statue, which might even backfire. After all, he didn't fully trust the female entity. He couldn't judge whether the frail female entity or the eerie ice wax statue were good or bad based solely on the rules and intelligence. Therefore, he chose not to offend or harm either of them.

Perhaps the key lay within the encrypted letter in his hands.

Many Chosen Ones shared similar thoughts with Rahman. Out of the 14 Chosen Ones, only five had gone to destroy the cryo-sleep chamber, and Li Zhenpi was one of them. The others were either observing or looking for new places to hide. Since the secret compartment in the archives was provided by the female entity, she could naturally find it as well; one couldn't simply run there to hide and wait for death just because there was danger.

Timing it perfectly, once the eerie ice wax statue had left, Rahman searched the archives for books that could decode the encrypted letter. Within five minutes, he found a translation book that matched symbols to their meanings. However, since this was an archive filled with books and shelves, the emptiness made him feel slightly uneasy. It would be better to return to the small nest in the security room. That place was the "spawn point" for all Chosen Ones, and as a spawn point, it was relatively safe.

It could be said that everyone was using their own unique methods to survive.

Zhang Yangqing’s thinking, however, was much simpler and more direct. He knew from the very beginning that the female entity was lying. This didn't even require intuition; it was easy for him to judge. As long as a person recognizes their own identity, they can judge problems according to the logic of that identity. Others merely thought they were normal security guards, but Zhang Yangqing knew he was playing the role of a "vicious security guard."

In this world of ghost stories, there was a set of clearly opposing existences: the eerie wax statues and the security guards. The eerie wax statues wanted to get out or kill the security guards. Zhang Yangqing had analyzed this: ordinary eerie wax statues were no match for the security guards and merely wanted the guards to let them out. Special eerie wax statues, however, seemed to want to kill the security guards to obtain something—perhaps the hidden secret of the wax museum, a secret known only to the security guards, or a secret that only a security guard could unlock.

From this analysis, what did the security guard have that others did not? The access card.

There was a detail that the Chosen Ones had consistently overlooked: only a security guard's access card could open certain doors equipped with security locks. But the eerie ice wax statue could also open them, as seen from the surveillance footage. If he truly wanted to leave, he could just walk out himself.

Based on the female entity's words, Zhang Yangqing deduced the opposite of her claim: the ice wax statue wasn't there to strengthen the entities, but likely to weaken them. Combined with the setting that the ice wax statue leaves at the same time every day, he could roughly deduce that the statue was also a "security guard." However, many Chosen Ones assumed he was the entity boss and that the mechanisms here were designed by him, so they never thought in that direction.

The reason Zhang Yangqing could guess this was because the female entity said the ice wax statue comes down at the same time every day. She said *every* day. Anyone familiar with professional security knows this—especially security guards protecting valuable items. They patrol during designated times at night and must appear before surveillance cameras at specific intervals. Otherwise, the control room would detect the guard's absence and trigger an alarm.

The female entity's goal was to make the security guards kill each other to achieve her purpose. As for what she intended to do with the access card, Zhang Yangqing didn't know yet. So, he planned to verify his hypothesis first. He would appear directly next to the eerie ice wax statue; if the fellow attacked him, it would prove he wasn't a security guard.

Of course, Zhang Yangqing didn't believe his guess was entirely correct. But so what if he was wrong? If he was wrong, he would just kill them both. While others were afraid to offend either, Zhang Yangqing was prepared to fight both to the death.

Clearly, after seeing him, the eerie ice wax statue left without any intention of attacking him. Zhang Yangqing was naturally correct.

He then began to wonder what special places the access card could open, which was why he had been wandering around the third floor. While others were still seeking ways to survive, Zhang Yangqing had already begun the decryption process. However, after a tour, he hadn't found any so-called secret rooms. Zhang Yangqing judged that perhaps the time hadn't come yet and the secret rooms hadn't opened. During the twelve o'clock patrol, nothing was open except the lobby. At two o'clock, other maps would only open once a map was found. This was a clear hint that he needed to find something to activate the secret rooms.

He then planned to return to the security room and wait for the next time slot. It was at this moment that he crossed paths with the eerie ice wax statue, creating a scene that everyone found bizarre.

In the security room, while everyone else was working hard to decode the letter, Zhang Yangqing was complaining that the stool was too hard and uncomfortable to sit on.

Soon, six o'clock arrived—the final patrol. Whether they could survive depended on how they handled this one.

It was at this moment that the Chosen Ones' mobile phones suddenly rang.