They spoke in lowered voices.
“What do we do? My friend rushed to the top floor just now and didn't even see anyone before being directly repelled. I saw we couldn't force our way in, so I left first.”
“Now there are only a dozen or so specters left of us. That's not even enough to test the waters.”
“How about we check the cafeteria first? If the cafeteria doesn't work out, we can try the academic building.”
“The academic building? You don't even need to consider that. It's occupied by an Emperor, and he's surrounded by powerful players. There are absolutely no openings.”
“And they've even organized people to hunt specters outside. The closer you get to the academic building, the more dangerous it is.”
“Yeah, when the Scarlet Dream first started, I appeared over there and happened to run into them. Honestly, if I hadn't been fast enough to conceal myself and run away, I might have been repelled on the spot.”
“Oh, by the way, several other specters appeared there with me at the time, but they didn't react fast enough, and now they're already gone.”
Zuo Lin'an asked, “So the specters near Academic Building No. 5 have already been cleared out?”
The speaker was very honest.
“Yes, there shouldn't be any specters left near the academic building.”
Zuo Lin'an: “Then do you know how many specters they've repelled?”
The other pondered for a moment and did a rough calculation.
“Probably about thirty to fifty.”
Zuo Lin'an frowned. He really hadn't expected these players to move so quickly!
If they were allowed to keep killing like this, tonight's Scarlet Dream would not go well!
Zuo Lin'an suggested, “Why don't we go find the principal first?”
“The principal is the dungeon boss. He can keep track of the real-time situation of the entire dream at any time. With him around, it will be much easier for us to take action.”
With the principal around, things would indeed be much better.
After all, the principal's existence itself was equivalent to a human, long-range, 360-degree communicable surveillance camera. Staying near him would make it easy to keep track of all player movements at any time.
And right now, Zuo Lin'an was thinking about the cards in Xuan Yi's hands.
As the dungeon boss, the principal should know who held all the cards, right?
Maybe when the time came, he could negotiate slightly with the surrounding specters to have them cover him while he snatched the cards.
After all, for them NPCs, as long as they got their hands on all these cards, even if the players survived to the end, they wouldn't be able to clear the dungeon.
It could be considered achieving their goal in an alternative way.
Right at that moment, the principal they were discussing suddenly appeared not far away. In the blink of an eye, he stepped into the pitch-black little woods.
“Principal?!”
Everyone gathered around.
The principal nodded silently.
“The Emperor at the academic building has arranged for players to go out in shifts to hunt specters, but for some reason, they won't go too far from the academic building.”
“If we attack their hunting squads, they will quickly receive reinforcements. Therefore, do not approach the academic building for now.”
“And the cafeteria.”
“Right now, there are about a hundred or so players in the cafeteria, all hiding on the second floor.”
“Most of them are martial artists. They have over eighty specter items in total, and the number of specter items with the ability to repel specters is unknown. Their talents are also unknown.”
“So give up on that for now as well.”
Zuo Lin'an: “Then, Principal, do you mean we should target the players in the dormitory area first?”
The principal nodded. “Yes.”
“The players in the dormitory area are split between the boys' and girls' dormitory buildings. There are fewer people in the boys' dormitory building, only ninety, while the girls' dormitory building has about a hundred.”
“However, the distance between the two dormitory buildings is quite far, so they won't affect each other.”
“Furthermore, the players left behind in the dormitory buildings are basically those whose school uniforms were snatched yesterday. These people couldn't even protect their own school uniforms, so they are clearly the easiest bunch to deal with.”
Zuo Lin'an nodded inwardly.
He agreed with what the principal said.
Although Xuan Jingyuan's side posed a massive threat, they would actively send out teams to hunt specters.
In that case, as specters, they could lure these hunting squads away from the academic building and ambush them in turn.
The two heads on the principal's neck turned, looking toward the dormitory buildings.
“Let's go. To the boys' dormitory first.”
Someone suddenly asked, “Principal, are we the only ones left?”
By now, sensing the principal's specter aura, other specters scattered elsewhere had also gathered here during their conversation.
But even so, there were only twenty-eight specters in this small patch of woods, including the principal.
The principal fell silent for a moment, as if sensing something, before letting out a soft sigh.
“There are three more rushing this way... Ah, they've arrived.”
Zuo Lin'an looked in another direction and indeed sensed three specter auras.
Now they had thirty-one specters in total!
The principal continued, “Everyone is here. Let's move. I will head to the top floor first to scatter those players, and you all take the opportunity to kill as many as you can in the chaos.”
The players left in the dormitory buildings were different from those at the academic building.
The players here had been abandoned. They wouldn't unite as a single entity like the Emperor's side at the academic building. Once the principal appeared, chaos would definitely ensue.
Just as Zuo Lin'an was about to rush forward with the principal, the principal suddenly called out to him.
“Student Zuo.”
Zuo Lin'an was taken aback. “What is it?”
The principal glanced back.
“A player has come out alone from the academic building. Looking at the direction, they're heading toward us. Go check it out first, and preferably block them.”
“For a player to dare come over alone, their methods must be extraordinary. We can't let them get close to this place, nor can we let them discover that we are organized.”
Zuo Lin'an nodded. “Understood.”
To deal with a single player, he was indeed the most suitable choice.
Then, Zuo Lin'an asked another question.
“Principal, do you know which players hold the 【Gate Permit】 cards?”
The principal sensed for a moment.
“They're too scattered.”
Zuo Lin'an: “Just the distribution over at Academic Building No. 5.”
The principal: “Xuan Yi has five, Gu Hedao has one, and Xuan Jingyuan has one. A total of seven.”
Zuo Lin'an looked toward the dormitory area. “Are there any cards here?”
The principal nodded. “Yes, but the players in the dormitory area only have three cards in total. I'll hand them to you once we collect them later.”
A trace of surprise flashed in Zuo Lin'an's eyes, but he still nodded.
“Alright, Principal.”
It seemed the principal realized they could have their NPC students hide the cards.
After answering the questions, the principal didn't waste any time. He led the other specters, along with Xu Youyou, toward the boys' dormitory building at top speed.
Zuo Lin'an was left behind alone.
But he didn't wait in the woods for the lone player to arrive. Instead, he turned around and took a few large strides, heading toward Academic Building No. 5.
Around the riverbank, he saw the person who had come out alone, just as the principal had described.
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