Chapter 15: Classmates' Reminder

Jon withdrew his gaze and began to move. He quietly made his way to the window.

To avoid unnecessary expenditure of psychic energy, Jon bent down and crouched against the wall below the window, a blind spot from the outside view.

He then reached out and grabbed a corner of the curtain but did not pull it open immediately.

Jon hesitated slightly.

There was still one critical point of confusion for him.

Based on his previous deductions, these entities that might threaten him had a mutual repulsion relationship.

Jon had already deduced that the shadow could drive away the dog, and the ranger could drive away "It."

Continuing logically—

The dog, controlled by "It." naturally couldn't drive "It" away.

With three lines of repulsion established, the last line could be inferred— "It" could drive away the shadow.

But now the situation was that the dog was already controlled by "It."

"It" might even be inside the dog.

So, when Jon pulled the curtain open, he couldn't be sure whether "It" would drive away the shadow first or the shadow would drive away the dog.

Thinking this, Jon chuckled and shook his head.

Facing this suffocating pressure and the perilous situation where a single misstep could be fatal—

Jon felt no trace of tension. He remained calm and composed.

He even found the current situation increasingly intriguing.

Jon tightened his grip on the curtain, his eyes fixed on the space under the bed.

If the dog made a move, he would pull the curtain open immediately.

After all, in such a critical moment, there would be no time for hesitation, he would have to take a gamble.

However, a few minutes had passed since he entered the room.

The controlled dog didn't seem to have any intention of attacking.

Perhaps "It" thought the player hadn't discovered the dog under the bed and was waiting for the player to let down their guard and fall asleep before making a move.

Meanwhile, in Jon's class—

The classmates watching the live stream broke out in a cold sweat as Jon approached the window.

"Holy crap, what is Jon doing?"

"Did he hear something weird in his house?"

"But the rule about the ranger is wrong! Players 2 and 4 already suffered because of it!"

"What should we do? Should we use the free communication to warn Jon?"

The live stream's perspective was fixed, always following Jon.

So the students in the class had no idea what was happening inside the instance and could only make rough guesses.

In the recent live stream, the classmates couldn't see the shadowy figure outside the window.

So the information they had was limited to the fire on the first floor and the dog's unknown whereabouts… they didn't know the predicament Jon was facing.

Seeing Jon about to pull the curtain open, the classmates grew increasingly anxious.

The two previous players who had opened the curtain suffered significant setbacks. Not only did they lose a revival opportunity, but they also entered a weakened state after being revived.

In Exam Room 42, the only female player, Helen, was bedridden after her ordeal.

She neither had dinner nor started a fire. Since leaving her grandmother's room, she had been lying motionless on the bed.

Now, her classmates were in despair.

If Helen continued in this state, she would likely struggle to survive the perilous first night.

Many viewers of the live stream had a suspicion in their minds.

The so-called three revival chances seemed more like a trap, luring indecisive players into gambling, making them think they had a second chance.

In reality, these revival opportunities were meaningless when facing certain death.

Just like Player No. 3, Leon.

He broke the rule, and when the dog transformed into a Werewolf, Leon was killed three times in less than a minute!

It was just a painful torment, repeated three times.

"Class president, what should we do now?"

"If we wait any longer, it will be too late!"

"If Jon revives and enters a weakened state, we're in big trouble..."

Everyone in the class turned their eyes to Hanson, hoping he could make a decision.

Hanson, sitting in the chair, had a serious expression with furrowed brows.

Jon had been exceptionally smooth from the beginning until now.

He faced every difficulty with great ease, skillfully resolving each one.

Hanson knew his task—

To analyze the progress and situations of different players by watching the live stream.

To help Jon eliminate wrong choices at critical moments.

But the challenge was, sometimes he didn't know what Jon was thinking.

Hanson took a deep breath and finally made up his mind: "I'll contact him right now. Mr. Black Goat, I want to use our class's free call."

Mr. Black Goat nodded, and with a simple gesture, an old rotary phone appeared on the podium.

Hanson ran to the podium and picked up the phone.

He quickly got in touch with Jon.

...

At this time, in the bedroom on the second floor of the forest cabin.

Jon suddenly heard Hanson's anxious voice in his ear: "Jon, don't open the curtain! Rule No. 7 might be wrong!"

"Once you open the curtain, the ranger's outpost will emit a red light!"

"If a player is exposed to that red light, they will die painfully, and even if revived, they'll be extremely weak!"

"That's what happened to Players No. 2 and No. 4."

"They still haven't recovered! Please be careful!"

"And also, don't feed the dog or sleep with it. Otherwise, it will turn into a terrible Werewolf and kill the player uncontrollably!"

"..."

Since the call was limited to five minutes.

Hanson quickly relayed all the gathered information to Jon.

Jon listened, frowning.

He felt that some of the information was affecting his judgment.

Jon interrupted: "I believe Players No. 2 and No. 4 were affected because they opened the window at the wrong time!"

Hanson fell silent, he definitely didn't want Jon to take any risks.

Jon continued, "If Rule No. 7 exists, it means it's not completely wrong."

The classmates watching the live stream still hadn't grasped one crucial point.

That is, the note left by the grandmother hadn't been tampered with. It was only due to cognitive pollution that some incorrect information appeared.

So, every rule on the grandmother's note is critical.

Even if some might be wrong, they are still highly referential.

What players need to do is discern and deduce the grandmother's original intentions from the details.

Jon sighed lightly, "Besides, I'm pulling the curtain, not opening the window. The dog controlled by 'It' has already infiltrated my room."

Hanson suddenly realized, "I see, now I understand."

He quickly recalled the previous events.

Hanson looked down at the note in his hand. The predicament Jon was facing should be the one described in Rule 16... It seemed Jon had determined that this rule was correct.

Jon quickly instructed, "Alright, there's no time to explain further."

He added, "In the future, just tell me what other players did and what happened, don't give me your conclusions."

The classmates in the room were slightly dissatisfied with Jon's somewhat arrogant attitude on the live stream.

"Seriously, Jon is so full of himself!"

"He acts like none of us are as smart as he is!"

"Wait—something's wrong. Look at the window!"

At this moment, in Jon's live stream.

The ranger's outpost spotlight swept past the window again.

The black silhouette remained outside the window, and the classmates only now noticed the eerie figure outside.

"Look at the window, there's a figure outside!"

"Is Jon hiding in the blind spot below the window?"

"It's probably related to Rules 15 and 16, right? Are these two rules wrong?"

Just then, in the live stream.

From behind the bed sheet hanging off the small bed next to Jon, something's head began to slowly peek out.

Seeing this, Jon didn't hesitate for a moment and immediately pulled open the curtain in the room.