289: Utilizing rules

After much thought, Gu Qinghan couldn't make any meaningful conjectures.

There were too many possibilities for such an unknown matter; it could even be the effect of a powerful item or piece of equipment.

Temporarily setting the matter aside, Gu Qinghan couldn't help but look at the Witch again.

His lips curved slightly as he softly uttered a few words:

"I refuse to cooperate."

"Alright, then I'll tell you the exact location... Huh?"

The Witch was about to continue speaking when she suddenly realized that Gu Qinghan had not agreed to her request for cooperation.

A look of confusion appeared in her ruby-like eyes as she stared at Gu Qinghan and asked, puzzled:

"Why? You and he already have a reason to kill each other.

I remember a saying in China: 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'"

Gu Qinghan nodded, but quickly corrected her:

"That saying is correct, but how can I know that you won't be my enemy?"

The Witch was momentarily speechless. In her opinion, she had already lowered her stance considerably.

Moreover, Gu Qinghan's power was evident to all, and she thought he would be confident enough to engage in this cooperation.

But Gu Qinghan was precisely this cautious.

Piao Jun, who had been following Gu Qinghan, couldn't stand it anymore. He extended a hand towards the Witch.

Then, he pinched his thumb, index, and middle fingers together and rubbed them.

"What does that mean?" The Witch was utterly confused.

Piao Jun rolled his eyes and said with a hint of disdain:

"Benefits, guarantees.

Do you think you can cooperate with this guy without losing a layer of skin?"

"Ah... huh?"

The Witch's mind didn't quite catch up for a moment. Although both parties could understand each other's language, understanding different cultures still took time.

But she was clearly a very intelligent woman and quickly understood Piao Jun's meaning.

"I thought we were already friends," she said to Gu Qinghan with a wry smile.

Gu Qinghan nodded, then extended his hand:

"I think so too. So, as a friend, shouldn't you give me a welcome gift?"

The Witch: "..."

She felt that Gu Qinghan was being unreasonable but didn't know how to refute him.

After some thought, the Witch sought Gu Qinghan's opinion:

"I'll give you the approximate location of our faction. You can come find me when you're free.

I don't have anything too valuable on me right now, and I need to save my magic crystals for the Auction House, so..."

"Alright, I'll definitely go if I get the chance."

Gu Qinghan immediately agreed, completely shedding his previous unapproachable demeanor.

The Witch was both annoyed and amused by Gu Qinghan, but she still told Gu Qinghan the location of her faction.

Time passed by, minute by minute, and everyone below had found opponents they wanted to challenge and completed their challenge tasks.

In the end, only some of the VIPs on the top floor had not yet participated in a challenge.

All eyes converged again, lingering between the Masked Man in the sky and the top-floor VIPs.

A Professionals from the Chinese military gritted his teeth, about to step forward, but was stopped by Gu Qinghan.

He looked at Gu Qinghan, puzzled, and asked:

"What's wrong? It's just us left now."

Gu Qinghan gave him a reassuring look, then suddenly looked up at the sky and said:

"Shouldn't this little game be over? Everyone has completed their challenges."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone looked at Gu Qinghan in shock.

In their eyes, the Masked Man was a mysterious and unchallengeable existence; only a few brave souls dared to speak to him.

After all, when those people were killed by the Masked Man earlier, there were no warnings whatsoever.

And now, even though some VIPs hadn't completed their challenges, Gu Han dared to directly demand an end to the game.

Time seemed to stand still as everyone waited to see what would happen next.

They even wondered if the mysterious Masked Man would suddenly attack Gu Qinghan.

But to everyone's surprise, the Masked Man slowly nodded and uttered words that left everyone somewhat dazed:

"Very good, all guests have completed their challenges.

The second half of the Auction House is about to begin. Please wait a moment."

With that, the Masked Man's figure slowly dissipated into the air.

However, everyone noticed that as he left, he cast a glance in Gu Qinghan's direction.

"Holy crap, Gu Qinghan, that was pretty cool!"

Piao Jun was the first to exclaim, with a hint of admiration in his eyes.

The remaining VIPs on this floor also looked at Gu Qinghan with the same gaze, their hesitant expressions appearing somewhat comical.

Chu Tian also came closer, scrutinized Gu Qinghan from head to toe, and asked:

"Aren't you afraid he'll kill you?

And even though there are still people on our floor who haven't challenged, how did you know this game could end?"

Gu Qinghan seemed to have just emerged from deep thought. He looked at the circle of people around him and said:

"Actually, I'm not sure either, but this is just a guess of mine.

When he announced the rules earlier, he said that every guest needed to participate in a battle.

But are we on this floor just simple guests? We are VIPs.

VIPs should have some privileges. I just guessed that we might not have to participate in battles like ordinary guests."

Gu Qinghan's words silenced everyone. At this moment, they realized that it seemed to be true.

But what they didn't know was that Gu Qinghan only tried this because he felt completely safe.

He had already completed two battles anyway, so even if the game shouldn't have ended, he wouldn't be the target of punishment.

Gu Qinghan pondered for a moment, then added:

"All of you who participated in the last Auction House should have noticed a problem.

That is, as long as we follow the rules here, we won't actually be killed.

Like the 'Truth or Dare' content in the latter half of the last time, wasn't that also something we negotiated with the Masked Man?

As for the battles that didn't start for a long time, and the people the Masked Man casually killed, they probably violated some rules.

However, he deliberately waited until this moment to kill them, perhaps to make us nervous?"

Gu Qinghan's analysis made cold sweat break out on their foreheads, even though his tone was uncertain.

Finally, Gu Qinghan summarized in one sentence:

"To survive here, you must honestly abide by the rules.

But if you want to avoid being led by the nose, you must actively utilize the rules here."

Gu Qinghan shared this statement with the intention of showing goodwill to everyone.

Although he wasn't afraid of some of the people there, from a certain perspective, they were on the same side.

The feeling this Auction House gave him was that it was deliberately hiding some rules beneficial to them, intending to put them in a deadly situation.

If his feeling was correct, then the more of these people who survived, the less pressure he might feel.

Silence. The dozens of VIPs on the top floor all fell silent.

It wasn't until the swirling portal leading to the Auction House reappeared beside them that someone bowed slightly to Gu Qinghan:

"Thank you."

The crowd reacted like a chain reaction; everyone said thank you to Gu Qinghan.

To some extent, Gu Qinghan had saved them again, and these words might save them many more times.