Chapter 120 The Singer, Oh, Singer 53

At 9 AM the next day, the perfume restoration was complete.

As planned, Lin Xiangjun successfully snuck into Hu Zhengzheng's home and obtained the last two rules.

【10, Do not get too close to neighbors of the opposite sex; they are dangerous.】

【11, You should go out on rainy nights; there are many homeless people in need of help on rainy nights.】

The moment she obtained the rules, a system notification rang in her head.

"Congratulations to player 【Perfect Chrysanthemum Thirty-Six Folds】 for successfully collecting all the rules for this instance. The clearance rules for this instance are now being issued to you:

"S-rank clearance: Find 【The Perpetrator】 and eliminate him. Everyone in Xieyou Alley should like the Songstress's singing.

"A-rank clearance: Listen to the Songstress's singing, give her sincere praise, present her with a beautiful bouquet, and let her let go of her obsession.

"B-rank clearance: Clarify the truth of the matter and identify the hiding place of 【The Perpetrator】.

"C-rank clearance: Obtain Hu Zhengzheng's school uniform and textbooks to gain admission eligibility for Jade Lake High School.

"D-rank clearance: Survive for seven days in Xieyou Alley."

As the system rang in her head, Lin Xiangjun took notes in her notebook. By the time the system finished broadcasting, she had finished taking notes for this instance.

Among all the clearance rules, the most treacherous one was actually the A-rank clearance.

Asking a victim filled with resentment to forgive their murderer—this is something a sentient being could actually come up with.

Just imagine that scene.

If one dared to bring such a brain-dead proposal before Hu Zhengzheng, they would likely be ripped in half vertically by a sneering Hu Zhengzheng before they could even open their mouth.

Clear the instance? It would be lucky if she didn't grab the player by the feet and use their head to plunge the toilet.

A-rank is the most treacherous, and D-rank clearance is also inadvisable.

Hu Zhengzheng's lyrics were blatantly obvious; they might as well have plastered "If you really dare to stay in the instance for seven days, just wait for death" onto the players' foreheads.

"Don't coax, don't coax, let her cry; cry until the seventh day when the ghosts come knocking."

Given the nature of horror instances, Lin Xiangjun had every reason to suspect that on the seventh night, Hu Zhengzheng would very likely fall directly into a state of madness and launch an indiscriminate massacre against all players present.

Given Hu Zhengzheng's strength, if a berserk buff were added on top of that... if players had the strength to contend with that, they wouldn't be content with just choosing a D-rank clearance.

Currently, the only reliable methods are S-rank, B-rank, and C-rank clearance.

Lin Xiangjun chose S-rank clearance without hesitation.

C-rank clearance is also a trap.

【Jade Lake High School】 is a four-star instance, one star higher in difficulty than 【Songstress, Oh Songstress】.

Truly choosing this path would be no different from drinking poison to quench thirst.

Therefore, the safest options are still S-rank and B-rank clearance.

Confirming what she needed to do next, she closed her notebook and put all fifteen rules she had found together.

She had a general judgment on whether the other rules were right or wrong.

Only Rule 11...

Should go out on a rainy night?

Rainy night...

Wasn't last night a rainy night?

Lin Xiangjun not only went out but also followed the Old Lady the whole way.

If this rule is correct, that's fine, but if it's wrong...

Lin Xiangjun took out a bottle of contamination clearing potion and drank it all in one gulp.

It wouldn't matter if it were wrong; as long as it wasn't a death rule, and as long as she kept up with the contamination clearing potion, her life would still be well-guarded.

After all, the perfume had limited uses; after the usage time ended, she did not use it a second time.

Standing in the dark hallway, Lin Xiangjun drank the potion while thinking about what she needed to do next.

The rules were in hand, and she had a judgment on their general correctness; the clearance conditions were also in hand, and the general content of the story was clear.

Now, all Lin Xiangjun had to do was find 【The Perpetrator】 and send him to the afterlife.

Now there is good news.

As for where 【The Perpetrator】 is hiding, she now has two suspected locations and just needs to manually rule one out.

Now she has a B-rank clearance as a fallback.

Of course, with the possibility of aiming for an S-rank clearance, Lin Xiangjun would certainly not be content with just a B-rank clearance.

Anyway, there isn't much difference between S-rank and B-rank clearance; both require her to confirm the hiding place of 【The Perpetrator】. The only difference is stabbing him one more time—stabbing the scum one more time grants you heaps of underworld currency and items, which is even more cost-effective than Uncle Long's "One Slash 999"! Who could resist that? It's a waste not to stab him.

Besides that, there is another piece of good news.

Zhang Minxian came back alive.

When Zhang Minxian's slightly panicked voice sounded in her earpiece, the pork and green onion bun in Lin Xiangjun's mouth didn't taste good anymore.

"Zhang Minxian? You're back?"

"Yes, Miss Lin, it's me. I'm at the entrance of the alley now, heading towards Building 40."

That Zhang Minxian could come back alive was surprising to both Lin Xiangjun and Zhang Minxian herself.

According to Zhang Minxian, she was already about to die in the instance—she had prepared herself to die heroically.

Anyway, she could just get a new body if she died, and she would get a bonus, so she wasn't very scared.

However, perhaps Zhang Minxian was truly lucky; not only did she not die, but she also brought back an item.

When Zhang Minxian was gathering information, adhering to the principle of "taking a swing regardless of whether there are dates," she didn't let any potential source of information slip by.

This included the bar waiter, the resident singer, the kitchen staff cutting fruit platters, the bartender, the handyman, the Cleaner, the bar owner, and the Guests who frequently came to drink; she gave some benefits to everyone who might say something.

This included a middle-aged uncle who often sat in the corner of the bar drinking whiskey.

Zhang Minxian wanted to fish for information from him, so she ordered him two glasses of whiskey.

As it turned out, besides the tragic story of the man being laid off in middle age, his wife and children dying in a car accident on the way to pick him up on his last day, and his parents coming from their hometown to help with the funeral only to die of carbon monoxide poisoning, she didn't find out anything else.

When gathering information, it's inevitable to hear a bunch of useful and useless things; Zhang Minxian didn't care much, paid 6,000, and went back to work.

As it turned out, perhaps this body had fate with her; this uncle who drank her two glasses of whiskey happened to be the late-game BOSS of the instance.

He was supposed to have a sudden heart attack and die in his seat in the second half of the night, then turn into the late-game serial killer BOSS, launching indiscriminate attacks on all players and NPCs present.

However, this BOSS was very sentimental.

Perhaps his life was too tragic; he cherished all kindness, even if Zhang Minxian only treated him to two drinks.

Zhang Minxian was thus let off, and she walked out of the bar alive.

As she spoke, she nervously adjusted her clothes, which were almost torn into rags.

"The bar is an escape-type instance, so it got a bit messy, but I'm fine—oh right, Miss Lin, where is the instance progress, and what are we doing now?"