“What are you waiting for?” Rong Yi was poked by the nurse behind him, “Go away!”
She turned around and found that in the waiting area, there were only four steel nurses left, including her, and eight regular nurses.
One of the regular nurses had a pink armband, who was the nurse leader who had just spoken in the NPC rest room.
Other NPCs might have gone to prepare for other tasks. Rong Yi thought to herself.
“The skill level of the players this time is quite average, neither very fast nor very slow,” the nurse leader rallied, “Currently, the remaining fourteen players are within a ten-minute time difference, so gear up with all your might and let’s go—”
“Nurse Leader!” a nurse raised her hand, “There are… thirteen players there.”
The nurse leader turned to look and indeed there were thirteen people sitting in a circle on the ground!
“How is this possible!” She was puzzled, “According to the elimination data from the previous levels, there should still be fourteen remaining!”
Rong Yi: …Hi.
“What should we do, should we wait?” a steel nurse asked, “If a player is missing, we won’t be able to start the second round of the game.”
The nurse leader, anxiously tapping on the floating screen, said, “The chairman is urging for player casualty rates. Let’s get through this round first. I’ve already instructed the surveillance team to search the lower levels to eliminate that player before this level.”
Clapping her hands, Luna emerged from behind the crowd, walked silently into the middle of the gaming area and sat down cross-legged between Raymond and the finger man.
The finger man jumped in shock, almost getting up, but was pressed back down by the steel nurse behind him.
Seeing his demeanor different from the previous levels, breathing quickly, eyes wandering, and hands trembling slightly, Rong Yi guessed he might have been startled by Luna’s illusion.
Ignoring the players’ hostile gazes, Rong Yi followed the nurses to the field. Along with the three steel nurses maintaining order in the field, there were a total of fifteen nurses in this level.
Except for the nurse leader standing on the side looking like the host, this was a one-to-one match according to the number of players.
Imitating the other nurses, normal and steel nurses stood spaced apart, forming a large circle behind the players.
The nurse leader unpinned the armband and handed it to the closest regular nurse.
“Players who survive ten rounds of the game can smoothly proceed to the next level!” the nurse leader said sweetly.
She clapped twice, and the broadcast began again:
“Throw, throw, throw the handkerchief gently behind the children. Don’t let him know…”
The nurses, following the song, slowly rotated clockwise behind the players, passing the pink armband rhythmically.
When the armband reached the nurse behind Rong Yi, the song abruptly stopped.
The pink armband floated down gently behind Luna.
Indeed, in this level, Luna was still the NPC demonstrating the death method.
As the players nervously turned to check if they were the chosen ones, the nurses had already started to aimlessly flee, either quickly or slowly.
The nurse who threw the armband was instantly submerged among eight identical peers.
The scarecrow picked up the pink armband and clumsily scrambled within the group of nurses.
Rong Yi had been closely watching that nurse. As Luna was about to grab the wrong person, she hurriedly rushed over, surreptitiously stretched out her wicked foot, tripped the wrong nurse, and staged a fake fall, colliding with that nurse.
Luna was stunned for a moment, then followed the motion of the fallen nurse, pointing towards the correct one. The nurse happened to dodge to the left, glancing at the supervising head nurse nearby whose view was blocked by a few others. So, she subtly shifted her finger slightly to the left without leaving any trace.
“Sigh?”
Seated across from them, Zhang Haiyang observed this scene attentively. Being timid, he was particularly sensitive to details, trying to explore every possibility that could help him survive.
Initially, he thought it was a coincidence when the steel nurse pointed at the correct nurse after falling. But when the correct nurse moved, the steel nurse’s finger also moved lightly, indicating that it wasn’t just a mere coincidence.
He softly whispered his discovery to Luo Huayue beside him, and Luo Huayue cast a doubtful glance at the fallen steel nurse.
They had heard Raymond tell Luna’s story and about how Rong Yi disappeared with Luna on the third floor.
If this steel nurse was intentionally helping Luna, then could she—
Sitting together, they easily exchanged thoughts, gradually forming a bold guess.
“Could that steel nurse be Rong Yi?”
When the last person, Zhi Hunan, was told, he appeared perplexed, as if he hadn’t understood, his eyes darting around frantically.
Raymond sighed. Zhi Hunan’s intelligence had plummeted since Luna’s illusion on the third floor; he might need to see a psychiatrist after leaving the game.
Raymond opened the floating screen and scrolled down the long list of friends to find the grayed-out “Rong Yi.”
In the system, she was currently marked as “Offline.”
Initially, Raymond thought she might have overestimated her abilities on the third floor, but infiltrating the enemy as an “NPC,” though absurd, suited Rong Yi’s unconventional style.
She was always so unpredictable.
With Rong Yi’s help, Luna managed to catch the correct nurse amidst the chaos. The head nurse was bewildered, facing an unprecedented situation.
This floor’s game of handkerchief dropping was already full of traps. Multiple similar nurses were mixed in to confuse players, making it difficult to spot the one dropping the badge and lead to failed captures.
But Luna actually got it right?
Could she really differentiate, or was it just luck?
The head nurse furrowed her brow slightly.
Perhaps it was just luck after all?
Adhering to the game’s rules was ingrained in her code, and even if it was unbelievable, she declared Luna the winner. The caught nurse let out a scream and was instantly torn into blood mist by the game’s rules.
The players shuddered.
Whether sitting on the ground catching others or standing and being caught, was this brutal outcome inevitable?
The answer was unquestionable. This was the style of the Lucky Carnival.
After her victory, Luna assumed the nurse’s position and joined the handkerchief game.
As music played, the nurses and a scarecrow began to dance.
Rong Yi glanced at Luna behind her, feeling a squeeze in her heart.
If this scenario, under the current dean’s management, was malevolent towards Luna and purposely stopped the music when the badge returned to Luna’s hand, she, being the sole scarecrow and not very agile, had a high chance of being caught.
“But do not let her be caught, the fate of a failed player will not be any better than that nurse’s.”
Luna can of course be resurrected, but the reason Rong Yi became an NPC is to help Luna regain her confidence and establish her prestige among other NPCs.
A NPC who loses to a player right at the start of the game, what prestige could they possibly have?
The correct answer to this question is that the armband must not remain in Luna’s hands.
She was very close to Luna, making it easy to snatch the armband, which was the only thing worth celebrating. But she was not a true NPC, who knows if she could still resurrect after being killed by the rules?
Therefore, she must quickly let go of the armband after obtaining it. Or…
She glanced at the slender figure of the ordinary nurse in front of her, her delicate waist concealed under the snug pink nurse’s uniform.
All these thoughts occurred in an instant, as the armband began to be passed from Luna’s hands, and the first one reached Rong Yi’s hands.
In the broadcast, the girl’s voice softly sang, showing no signs of stopping.
Rong Yi held the armband in her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“Ding.”
Oh no. The small pin was still attached to the armband, not removed, lightly tapping on her metallic palm.
She unfastened the pin with one hand and handed it forward to the ordinary nurse in front of her, then gave it a slight poke upwards, pressing it.
The pin was firmly attached to the sleeve of the nurse’s uniform.
The nurse did not notice, following the rhythm, she handed the armband to the steel nurse in front of her.
As the steel nurse took it, she hesitated and even stumbled, disrupting their footsteps, causing chaos in the entire formation.
Rong Yi continued to create chaos in the middle, intentionally stumbling clumsily, bumping and knocking down a mess.
The nurse captain frowned and looked over. The song continued monotonously until the nurses reorganized their formation, and the two initially confused nurses finally realized that the pin was caught in their clothes and hastily removed it.
The broadcast seemed to have sung enough and finally stopped.
Rong Yi quietly calculated in her mind. The length of this music cue, if the armband was passed according to the normal rhythm, would just complete one full circle, reaching Luna’s hands.
In other words, within the control of the current hospital director, the instance did have ill intentions towards Luna;
At the same time, the length of each music cue was determined before the rotation began and could not be adjusted according to the live situation.
Knowing this latter point made Rong Yi secretly excited.
This way, she could deceive the instance by temporarily changing and messing up the live situation, even if she couldn’t let the armband fall into the designated nurse’s hands, at least she could prevent it from landing in the hands of both her and Luna!
After finally prying the armband from the nurse who had untangled the pin with difficulty, among the prior chaos, the pin had torn a coin-sized hole in her sleeve.
She left the armband behind Zhong Zhi Ming.
Before he could react, the nurses had already started running around in confusion, mixing up each other’s positions.
Rong Yi kept a close eye on the nurse with the hole in her sleeve, trying to create a more noticeable mark.
Suddenly, she heard Luo Huayue’s crisp voice, “Dr. Zhong! The human nurse with the hole in her sleeve ran to your left, catch her!”
Rong Yi quickly looked at the nurse captain, who clenched her fist but remained silent.
Players in the same game can remind each other!
This is a multiplayer elimination game. Many players, in order to reduce competition, won’t remind other players of clues they see, preferring to watch them get eliminated by the rules and win without getting their hands dirty.
But as they journey together, and because Rong Yi always has strange ways to save everyone, there is no sense of “kill or be killed” among them. Instead, they always think of helping each other and clearing the level together.
Even the game’s NPC, Monde, after Rong Yi leaves, brings the unconscious and confused Tiger Man up, not leaving him to be eliminated by the NPC on the next level.
Even Raymond himself doesn’t know why he did that.
He just vaguely feels that if he didn’t, Rong Yi would probably be very angry.
Well, making the target player angry at the host is a major broadcasting accident!
Watching the head nurse’s performance, Rong Yi thinks that the game does not prohibit this kind of behavior.
So, she boldly speculates that in this instance — or maybe in the entire Lucky Carnival — there is another hidden basic rule:
While the game rules may be brutal, there is never a dead end.
Beyond strict cruelty, there are always rules that allow players to break the deadlock!
Yes! By breaking the hostile and competitive mindset towards each other, providing hints from the player across the table is the key to passing this level unscathed!
As for the limited number of exits — by supporting Luna’s return, isn’t she valuing her compassion for life and completely changing the rules of the instance?
Before it ends, she will help Luna complete a struggle to overthrow the regime!
The more rules she has mastered, the more confident Rong Yi feels. She plunges into the chaotic pile of nurses and casually drags the dazed Luna in.
In the chaos, she plucks a straw from Luna and neatly inserts it into the torn sleeve of a nurse nearby.
Zhong Zhiming: …
A straw stuck on the head, this is too obvious!
The doctor swiftly rushes in and, among several identical human nurses, precisely grabs the nurse with the damaged sleeve!
The head nurse tightly purses her lips.
… That’s right.
Zhong Zhiming’s victory makes the players excited!
Several players familiar with Rong Yi have already mastered the method after the first two rounds: as long as they keep an eye on who the correct nurse is for the opposing player!
Moreover, compared to the remaining players, who are the majority, including half of the circle, the remaining players not participating in their cooperation does not affect the implementation of this plan.
Even if the nurses are in chaos, there is no need to fear, after all —
There are moles among the NPCs!
The caught nurse is turned into a mist of blood in front of Rong Yi, blood splattering on the metallic face.
She coldly hangs her face, like the other NPCs, disappointedly returning to continue the game.
Where the head nurse cannot see, Rong Yi’s dangling metallic hand gestures towards Luo Huayue and the others, giving a thumbs up.
Eight turns left.
Let’s combine forces inside and out and enjoy it to the fullest!
Author’s Note: When I was young, playing “pass the handkerchief” was done with only one person passing from behind. For the sake of gameplay, the rules were changed slightly and “hot potato” was introduced.
What fun games did you play when you were young? Tell me about it, maybe I’ll include it in the next instance, hehe.
