81: Change of mindset

Everything happened too fast; everyone could only watch as Ellie was dragged into the darkness.

The sconces on both sides of the corridor began to flicker again, as if they could go out at any moment.

A violent, icy aura emanated from the stairwell, causing Dai Xiaomei and Chen Ze to tremble involuntarily and instantly sober up.

“Ellie!!”

Dai Xiaomei exclaimed, almost instinctively rushing towards the stairwell.

However, Chen Ze, who had come to his senses, was quick-eyed and quick-handed, grabbing her from behind.

“Are you crazy!”

“Don’t go to your death!”

Although he didn’t know why Goethe didn’t reappear after grabbing Ellie, the most important thing now was to escape!

Even if they all rushed forward, Chen Ze didn’t think they could fight Goethe!

At the same time, a hint of guilt arose in Chen Ze’s heart.

He should have been the one taken.

Just now, after seeing that pitch-black stairwell, he felt a shiver of fear deep down.

So, he decided to let Old Black scout ahead.

Who knew that Old Black was also incredibly timid, and the two of them kept pulling back and forth, resulting in Ellie being the one taken in the end.

In the livestream room, countless viewers witnessed Ellie being taken away.

In an instant, the bullet comments rapidly surged.

Almost ninety percent of them were shocked by Ellie’s actions.

“Oh my god!! Old Woman, what are you doing!?”

“Wuwuwu, I’m so touched, the little girl didn’t hesitate to sacrifice herself to save the Old Woman!”

“The emotions in that little girl’s eyes just now were so human-like! Is this really an NPC?”

“No, Chen Ze and Old Black are too timid, aren’t they?!”

“Go for it! A little girl is braver than both of you!”

Besides being shocked by Ellie’s actions, many people also started criticizing Chen Ze and Old Black.

They had all seen the pulling and shoving between the two just now.

It could be said that if it weren’t for the two of them, Ellie wouldn’t have chosen to sacrifice herself to save Dai Xiaomei.

Of course, many people also began to doubt whether this was truly a virtual NPC because of Ellie’s actions.

Ellie’s tone and facial expressions just now were too human-like.

They had never seen a virtual NPC that could be so realistic!

In the corridor, the atmosphere became somewhat dead silent for a while.

After grabbing Ellie, Goethe seemed to be dealing with something and did not choose to reappear.

The flickering sconces in the corridor also returned to normal.

However, the escape had just begun.

Goethe was clearly not serious yet, toying with them as he slowly hunted them down.

Dai Xiaomei came to her senses, her face filled with regret and self-reproach.

If she had reacted faster, Ellie wouldn’t have been taken.

“Did Ellie just tell us to go to the fourth floor?”

Taking a deep breath, Dai Xiaomei’s inner self changed.

Although her face was still pale, her eyes clearly became clearer, devoid of the previous anxiety and confusion.

If Dai Xiaomei’s mind was previously filled with thoughts of how to muddle through the challenge, now, she had only one thought: to rescue Ellie!

“It seems so!”

Chen Ze pursed his lips and nodded.

Ellie’s actions also somewhat shocked him.

For a moment, he felt inexplicably ashamed.

Even a little girl could be so fearless; why was he, a grown man, still so timid?!

Without even thinking, Chen Ze could guess that there were definitely many people in the livestream room criticizing him.

He had originally planned to gain popularity through this livestream, but after this incident, he estimated that while his popularity would increase, his haters would definitely increase as well.

He couldn’t keep being so timid; he had to make some changes!

Secretly making up his mind, Chen Ze took a deep breath, and his eyes became firm.

Old Black was holding his phone at this time, his expression not looking very good either.

He had seen all the bullet comments in the livestream room, and looking at those comments criticizing him and Chen Ze for being timid, he opened his mouth but couldn’t say anything.

Those comments were all true.

Just now, he really was timid.

“Let’s go, to the fourth floor!”

Dai Xiaomei seemed to have become the leader of the team at this moment; after seeing Chen Ze nod, she unhesitatingly led the way back.

It was clear that Goethe seemed to wait a while before reappearing each time he took someone.

And this period was everyone’s chance to catch their breath.

Moreover, judging from Ellie’s unfinished words, the previous system prompt was not comprehensive.

Just like when they first entered the castle, after the game rules changed, perhaps the items in the castle also changed accordingly.

There must be something important on the fourth floor, otherwise, Ellie wouldn’t have told them to go there.

They couldn’t blindly try to rescue people right now.

If Goethe took another person, it was likely that no one would be able to clear the challenge today.

Unless Li Zhou intervened.

But Li Zhou was the owner of the Haunted House; how could he possibly help players clear the challenge?

Furthermore, if Li Zhou intervened, this challenge would become meaningless.

The audience in the livestream room would also lose interest.

After all, what they wanted to see was immersive tension and excitement; if Li Zhou intervened, then clearing the challenge would inevitably become very easy for everyone.

That way, there would be nothing to watch.

At this time, the number of viewers in Li Zhou’s livestream room had reached nearly two hundred thousand.

More and more people were becoming aware of his official livestream room.

Unlike the others, when he saw Ellie being taken away, his expression barely changed at all.

This kind of situation was realistic.

From the very beginning after entering the castle, everyone had actually performed very poorly.

Their ability to get this far was entirely based on Song Yang and Dai Xiaomei having cleared it once before.

And that time, apart from the final clearance, most of it was almost entirely due to Yuan Hao.

Whether it was Chen Ze, Old Black, Song Yang, or Dai Xiaomei, their hearts were still filled more with curiosity and fear regarding the castle.

They had no experience with escape rooms, nor did they know how to calm down and think about how to clear the challenge.

They had simply relied on brute force to get this far.

Now, the bravest Song Yang had been taken, and Ellie, who knew some of the castle’s rules, had also been taken.

If they wanted to clear the challenge, Dai Xiaomei and the others had to be absolutely foolproof.

“Boss, will Ellie be okay?”

At this moment, Fang Xiaolu looked at Li Zhou beside her and suddenly spoke.

Her tone was filled with deep concern.

As an employee, she was different from those netizens.

She knew very clearly that Ellie was just a virtual NPC.

Generally speaking, NPCs were different from players.

Players could revive, but that didn’t mean NPCs could as well.

Fang Xiaolu was very worried that something would happen to Ellie.

Li Zhou smiled and said softly, “Didn’t you see the previous prompt?”

“The system said that to clear the challenge, you have to rescue the captured teammates.”

“If those captured teammates died, there would be no need to specifically remind you to save them.”

“Don’t worry, she’ll be fine.”