Chapter 227: The First Missing Player

"Which painting did he damage?" Pan Siming immediately asked.Da Xiong pointed toward a portrait of an elderly woman ahead.

The group walked over, but instead of immediately taking the painting down, they all looked at Fan Shiji.

Fan Shiji paused for a moment: "What do you mean?"

"The meaning is that since you're already the second one anyway, that monster will definitely come for you tonight. Rather than involving others, you should be the one to do it," the gloomy man said.

Fan Shiji's expression turned ugly, "You're not planning to abandon me, are you?"

The group remained silent. Fan Shiji continued, "It's true I'm the second one, but who knows if you might be the fourth or fifth? What if we can't find the paintings in these two days? Should we just let it kill us one by one?"

"We're not like you, recklessly damaging paintings," the gloomy man said indifferently.

Fan Shiji looked angry, but the leather jacket woman spoke up at that moment: "It might not necessarily be because he damaged a painting."

"What did you say?" Pan Siming looked up.

"Fan Shiji dropped 'Still Time' at the front yesterday, but the painting wasn't actually damaged," the leather jacket woman said.

Xu Huo's gaze shifted from 'Silent Umbrella' to 'Still Time', then back to 'Silent Umbrella' again. Continuing her line of thought, he said: "I examined that painting, and it really wasn't damaged."

Fan Shiji breathed a huge sigh of relief, but then heard him add: "So the person the monster attacked after lights out might have been someone who damaged a painting, or attempted to damage one."

Pan Siming looked at the leather jacket woman, "What about you?"

"I didn't damage any painting, nor did I drop any frames or artworks," the leather jacket woman thought for a moment before saying: "But the one I got was a sketch, and when I touched it, some graphite powder rubbed off."

"Does that count as damaging the painting?" Xie Man exclaimed in surprise.

"That's the only thing I can think of," the leather jacket woman scanned the group.

"So there's no escape for me tonight?" Fan Shiji said through gritted teeth.

"There's another way," Xu Huo said: "You just need to find the fake painting today."

"Compared to us, you're safer. One more painting doesn't matter, one less doesn't hurt."

Fan Shiji showed a smile uglier than crying, reached out to take the portrait, removed the frame and saw that the corner was indeed slightly cracked.

"Did Deng Yu damage this?" Xu Huo walked over to take a look, then turned to ask Da Xiong, "You saw it?"

Da Xiong didn't look at the painting, but nodded vaguely.

Xu Huo glanced at 'Silent Umbrella' ahead, then asked: "Which room were you staying in on the left corridor yesterday?"

"The second one, why?" Da Xiong looked at him suspiciously.

"Your room was quite close to the exhibition hall. Why didn't you run outside at that time?" Xu Huo said slowly: "Hiding in the room should be more dangerous, right?"

"I was so scared I was completely stunned, I didn't even think of that!" Da Xiong said with slight anger: "I've only done one dungeon before, how could I think of so much!"

Xu Huo sighed, "Deng Yu might have run out."

Pan Siming gave him a thoughtful look, then said: "Let's focus on finding the paintings first."

"Up to you two," the gloomy man tilted his chin toward Fan Shiji and the leather jacket woman.

Fan Shiji's face turned pale as he hung the painting back up and immediately took down a second one, apparently planning to try them one by one.

The others scattered. Da Xiong hesitantly looked at Ni Tian, "Do you want to share a room with me tonight?"

Ni Tian's eyes were slightly red as she glanced fearfully at Xu Huo, then shook her head, "Thank you for your kindness..."

Before she could finish, Xu Huo placed a hand on her shoulder, tilting his head to point toward the statues, "Go check over there."

Ni Tian suppressed her anger, touched the corner of her mouth, and obediently went.

Several players who hadn't gone far witnessed this scene. Though their expressions varied, none intervened.

Completing the dungeon mission was their priority. As long as Xu Huo didn't kill anyone, maintaining superficial peace among players benefited everyone.

"I noticed you kept looking at the front several times. Do you think there's something wrong with those two paintings?" The leather jacket woman followed Xu Huo as he walked toward the front of the art gallery.

Xu Huo turned to look at her.

The leather jacket woman extended her hand, "Li Weiran. I have one more day than Fan Shiji, but I don't think trying paintings one by one will help us find the fake."

"However, there should be more than two fake paintings here. We could cooperate."

"Trying to get information from me?" Xu Huo gave her a flippant once-over, "Why don't you come to my room tomorrow night? Maybe that monster will give up if it can't find anyone."

Li Weiran withdrew her hand without any embarrassment, took bubble gum from her leather jacket pocket and popped five pieces into her mouth before saying: "Everyone was in the art gallery yesterday. If there were clues to be found about the fake paintings, someone would have completed the first task by now."

"Don't you think?"

Xu Huo smiled slightly and turned to leave. Li Weiran went to find Pan Siming instead, but was similarly rejected.

Li Weiran was clearly targeted by the hidden monster in the art gallery—who would cooperate with her at this point?

She circulated among several players, eventually having no choice but to repeat Fan Shiji's actions—taking down each painting one by one.

Xu Huo walked around the art gallery, stood in front of 'Still Time' for a while, then turned back toward the rooms.

"You're not searching anymore?" Ni Tian approached from the side.

"I'm hungry, going to eat first," Xu Huo headed straight for the rooms.

Ni Tian hesitated for a moment before following. Once the door closed, she couldn't wait to ask: "What exactly do you want? I've given you all my items and potions, why won't you let me go?"

Xu Huo took dry rations and water prepared by the art gallery from the cabinet, glanced back at her, "Do you want to share a room with Octopus Card Bear?"

"What's wrong with that?" Ni Tian said with resentment: "Are you suddenly so benevolent that you care about other players' lives?"

Xu Huo unwrapped the bread, "Whether he dies or not I don't know, but you might not survive."

Ni Tian paused, then asked suspiciously: "Are you saying that Da Xiong isn't trustworthy? How can you tell?"

"The player sharing his room, Deng Yu, disappeared, yet he came out completely unscathed—isn't that enough to indicate something?" Xu Huo countered, then added: "I didn't even kill you despite you being a Player-Eater. Am I not benevolent enough? Don't go looking for trouble. The tattoo on your shoulder has already been washed off. If I go out and say you're a Player-Eater, do you believe the other players would stop searching for paintings just to kill you first?"

Ni Tian felt utterly aggrieved. When she woke up in the middle of the night yesterday, she discovered the tattoo covering her number had been completely washed off with cleaning solution, and she was forced to hand over her only item and potion. Looking back, this man probably had already planned to rob her when he agreed to share a room.

Watching the man who was simply eating and drinking, she couldn't help but ask: "How did you see through my identity?"