I, the screenwriter, have experienced a resurgence of inspiration.

"The patrol route."

Chen Xi walked ahead, the paper lantern in her hand glowing green:

"From the first floor to the top floor, every floor must be patrolled. On the second patrol, a stick of incense must be inserted under the door of each household."

The second night patrol is limited to forty minutes; exceeding this time will result in consequences at your own risk.

No one asked, "What will be the consequences?"

Those who are standing here don't need to ask this kind of question.

"You will encounter residents in the hallway."

Chen Xi spoke as she walked, without turning back:

"Sometimes when we're patrolling, we'll encounter memorial tablets in the hallways. In these situations, we need to shout at them or just ignore them and walk past quickly."

"Memorial tablet?"

The American soldier's voice came from behind, speaking in English. The mixed-race translator immediately whispered a translation:

"A black wooden plaque with the name and dates of birth and death written on it."

"Then comes the most important taboo. You should already know what the first taboo is, so I won't repeat it."

Chen Xi held up a few fingers. "Remember this: Second, do not grant any requests from tenants in the hallway."

Third, when patrolling at night, if you see a white light, do not look up.

She only provided basic information that she could get from Uncle Biao—who knows if there might be some hidden traps if Uncle Biao asked her to lead new security guards.

Let's keep the hallway quiet for a while.

"..."

Then the Orthodox priest whispered something, and the mixed-race translator relayed his words:

"The taboos you just mentioned—they shouldn't be all of them."

Chen Xi stopped in his tracks as the stark white light of the fluorescent lamp shone down from above.

The eleven people stared at the obviously strange face, and when they realized that the person standing in front of them was a strange woman, they all became wary.

"Yes," Chen Xi added.

"This is not all I know. The fourth and fifth taboos were discovered by my teammates at the cost of their lives."

"If you want more intelligence, that's fine too—you'll need to exchange it for intelligence of equal value."

The mixed-race translator translated this passage sentence by sentence to the person behind him.

After a moment of silence, Amin looked at the priest, who in turn looked at the mixed-race child—Chen Xi then realized that the mixed-race child was actually in charge of the group.

"The person taken away by the Black and White Impermanence—"

The mixed-race child speaks Chinese very slowly, with inaccurate intonation, but carefully proofreads each word:

"They all returned to reality. They won't die when they're taken away, but they'll be forced into hard labor. They'll come back alive, but five or ten years of their lifespan will be deducted."

After she finished speaking, she stared at Chen Xi, seemingly trying to observe her opponent's reaction.

Chen Xi's expression remained unchanged: "I know that, it's worthless."

That "face" was like a smoothly polished mask, revealing no emotion.

In fact, her heart skipped a beat in her chest, followed by ecstasy.

If it's true, then Zheng Wenxuan may have already returned to reality!

But she didn't show it.

The first rule of intelligence warfare: Don't let your opponent know where your bottom line is.

"This message," she began, her voice as calm as if she were reading a meeting report, "I already know about it; it's not important intelligence."

The mixed-race translator's eyes flickered: "Someone—"

Her voice was more cautious than before as she added, "Someone took an item out of this instance. The item is called the Dream Pillow."

It's said to be a silver-grade item, and it's already been auctioned at Sotheby's Hong Kong, fetching a high price.

Chen Xi remained silent and quickly analyzed the situation.

Dream Pillow, a silver-level item, available at Sotheby's auction house.

These three phrases together mean that someone left the port instance alive, took the items, and completed the auction in the real world.

Items can be carried across instances, used in the real world, and circulated as commodities.

Even real-world auction houses have begun accepting transactions for duplicate items.

This means that the existence of the copy system is no longer a secret, but has been incorporated into the real-world economic system.

"There's no sincerity." Chen Xi shook his head.

"All you're giving me is trivial information that I can find out anytime."

The mixed-race child and the priest's eyes met in mid-air.

After a long while, the mixed-race child slowly said:

"We discovered a small copy in a prefecture in Japan, and the copy is called 'The Grudge of the Jorogumo'."

This copy is currently under strict control by Tokyo. To my knowledge, the Japanese government removed a spider egg from it.

She paused for a second, then looked at Chen Xi with a sly smile, a small mole on her chin making her look especially adorable.

"I can use the method of entering this instance to exchange for a forbidden item in your possession."

Chen Xichen quickly began to think.

The Japanese government has intervened in the management of copies, and Tokyo is actively controlling the entry and exit of copies.

This is not just intelligence, but also a fragment of a map—trading a taboo for a dungeon isn't too bad.

"if you can."

The mixed-race man took a ballpoint pen out of his pocket and gestured to her:

"Both sides wrote down the information they were exchanging on their hands, counted to three, two, one, and then opened them together."

Chen Xi's brow twitched: Ordinary items cannot be brought into the dungeon, either the mixed-race person in front of him has already obtained a backpack, or this ballpoint pen is a game item.

Regardless of the possibility, it is enough to prove the other party's strength.

The mixed-race translator first wrote a few letters in his palm, and the priest glanced down at them to confirm that they were correct.

Then she handed the pen to Chen Xi.

Chen Xi took the pen, turned around, and wrote two words in her palm.

After finishing the last stroke, she handed the pen back to the mixed-race translator.

"three."

"two."

"one."

Both hands are opened at the same time.

In the dim light, the mixed-race child had the word "SPIDER" written on his palm.

spider.

On Chen Xi's palm was written the words "Empty House".

They looked at each other, then spoke at the same time:

"To enter 'The Grudge of the Jorogumo,' you must carry a spider with you and then crawl into the instance by following the silk threads spun by the spider in an abandoned shrine in Saitama Prefecture."

"No living person lives in an empty house. If a living person wants to avoid being eaten in this building, they must live with ghosts."

The transaction is complete.

The night patrol continues.

Finally, the two parted ways at the stairwell. Chen Xi watched their figures disappear before turning and heading upstairs.

……

……

Whether intentional or not, this team was assigned to rooms on the 17th floor or below: 1304, 1404, 1504, 1604—

The area above the seventeenth floor is the control zone for Chen Xi's team; Chen Xi plans to hand over the area below the seventeenth floor to them.

This arrangement was not for the other party's safety, but for isolation—to prevent them from coming into contact with Chen Shulan.

Chen Xi needs Chen Shulan's help, so she won't push her collaborator to the other side.

Back in 1702, Kang Xiaojia and the others were waiting. When they opened the door and saw a stranger, they all became wary.

"It's me, Constable."

Chen Xi quickly shared the information, and the others all relaxed.

Being captured by the underworld officials means you can return to reality alive.

Although it is not yet certain whether this information is true or false, if it is true, then the arrested citizens and Zheng Wenxuan may all be alive!

They can even use this method to escape the instance if they encounter danger.

"I think it's best to avoid using it if possible. Trying to exploit dungeon bugs can lead to terrible consequences."

Jiang Chen's expression was solemn, while Chen Xi frowned and vigorously wiped the ink stains from her palm.

……

……

……

……

Meanwhile, the mixed-race team checked into the haunted house, and the group was discussing Chen Xi's team.

"I left words in her palm."

The mixed-race man proudly raised his hand, and from the other end of the writing on his palm came a faint, indistinct voice, like a conversation from a great distance:

"There were indeed only four of them."

[Eavesdropping Marker (Copper): Once a marker on an office worker's desk, it was later abandoned. Leaving a mark on an object will produce a sound. (Duration: 10 minutes.)]

She looked at Amin and the priest, her smile fading, replaced by the cold indifference of someone in a superior position.

"The four o'clock night patrol: Amin, Ashan, Jiaxin, the four of you go to offer incense. Father Clerva and the others are responsible for protecting me and going to the upper levels to find someone."

No one raised any objections.