I went berserk in the game of gods.

Chapter 8 I admit that I have a gambling element

Cao Yu felt a little regretful that the choices of the model-like man and the frail woman refused to participate.

Although these two lacked combat power, there's a saying that goes something like this: when facing a ferocious beast chasing you, you'd better pray that you have a teammate who can run slower than you... Of course, Cao Yu wasn't going to use them as expendable resources; he still had a modicum of morality.

What he meant was that the role that people can play is not limited to fighting.

However, everyone has their own ambitions, so Cao Yu did not try to persuade them.

Of the remaining people, Chen Ran doesn't need to be worried about; they'll definitely follow him.

He looked directly at Zhou Fan and asked, "And you?"

Zhou Fan said, "Let's do it!"

Just kidding, with a pro leading the team, the risk drops drastically. Would he let such a great opportunity to rack up points slip by?

Among the graduates of the Fourth Academy this year, Cao Yu ranked fourth in the assessment, making him a well-deserved academic star with impeccable character. Therefore, Zhou Fan, like Chen Ran, not only treated Cao Yu as an "external brain" but also handed over decision-making power to him.

Zhou Fan even suspected that Cao Yu was hiding his true abilities—he was capable of ranking first, but only ranked fourth.

After all, the four colleges consist of both ordinary college students and children of the powerful and wealthy, and there are constant minor conflicts between the two groups. If an ordinary student takes first place and steals the limelight, it's easy to attract trouble... It sounds abstract, but the Federation is a class-based society, and the powerful and wealthy can really act recklessly. Their children are used to being arrogant and privileged from childhood, and they make up a large proportion of the four colleges. This phenomenon has existed since the colleges opened.

"Then let's set off," Cao Yu said.

I glanced at the player panel and saw that it was already 12:40.

"By the way, where are you guys planning to go?" Model Guy suddenly stepped forward and said, "These two side quests are completely baffling, we don't even have a direction to investigate. Have you really thought this through..."

"Stop," Cao Yu interrupted him, "You've already said too much. It's not proper to continue."

"..."

The model guy opened his mouth, but didn't say anything more.

……

Cao Yu and his group of five left the funeral home with Du Ruo's parents.

Mr. Du's car was a seven-seater SUV, which could just fit all seven of them.

To prevent accidents and protect the driver, the pretty girl sat in the passenger seat. Her props were best suited for dealing with unexpected situations coming from directly in front.

Cao Yu sat in the middle at the very back, with Chen Ran and Zhou Fan on either side of him.

They are now heading to Du Ruo's house.

Sitting in the middle row, Zhou Zheng, seeing how meticulous Cao Yu's arrangements were, asked curiously:

"Could it be that we will encounter danger on the way?"

"Just in case," Cao Yu said. "Such a big thing happened at the funeral home. Many of those who didn't experience hallucinations have reported it to the police, but nothing has been done. This is a big problem."

The pretty girl in the passenger seat... no, I should call her Annie.

Anne then added:

"I just called the public emergency number, but it was busy. It's probably chaotic outside."

"So, we might encounter other ghost attacks?" Chen Ran frowned and said, "Does our single status mean we're immune to Du Ruo?"

“This is a ‘safe house’ shelter, so it should be immune to other ghosts as well,” Cao Yu said. “When I say ‘just in case,’ I mean danger from humans.”

"People...that's right, people are in danger too." Chen Ran understood.

If all the ghosts show themselves, it means the end of the world has come.

In a desperate and oppressive environment, many people will go crazy.

In this city of music, there are quite a few people with gun licenses, they are full of martial spirit, and the "people are simple and honest". You might even encounter a gunfight while you are just strolling around.

However, none of the five had given up on the side quest.

Chen Ran, Zhou Fan, and Zhou Zheng felt that with Cao Yu leading the team, the risk was very low, so they decided to take the risk.

Annie, on the other hand, had a strong desire to achieve high dungeon ratings from beginning to end. Even if no one else participated, she would probably act alone.

Like Annie, Cao Yu also yearns for a higher dungeon rating.

Firstly, this way you can obtain a large number of evolution points, allowing you to quickly evolve and become stronger, and solve real-world problems as quickly as possible.

Secondly... in his "Strongest Player 1.0," there's a "Dungeon Achievement" system. According to his deduction, the higher his rating after clearing a dungeon, the more achievement points he'll receive. The implications of this are self-evident.

In addition, he was quite confident...

Inside the car, Du Ruo's parents overheard their conversation, but they trembled and dared not utter a word. They realized that these five men weren't police officers at all, but clearly five ruthless thugs!

As the vehicle started and left the parking lot, the funeral home gradually receded into the distance.

Zhou Fan then asked Cao Yu:
"By the way, why are we going to Du Ruo's house?"

"What do you think 'Ti Ou Yuan' is?" Cao Yu asked him in return.

Zhou Fan thought for a moment and replied:
"Hmm... The side quests are to investigate 'Tiouyuan' and save the world. It's hard for me not to suspect that 'Tiouyuan' is the source of the chaos in the world."

This world wasn't haunted before, otherwise it would have been in chaos long ago. Now it's suddenly haunted, and 'Tiouyuan' is the source of the chaos... Perhaps the reason for the appearance and mischief of ghosts is 'Tiouyuan'.

Therefore, to investigate the "Ting Ou Yuan" (a type of ghost story), we can start by investigating the ghosts and then work our way back. Currently, we know of two ghosts: Du Ruo and his girlfriend. We already know about Du Ruo, but we have no leads. Our only breakthrough lies with his girlfriend.

This is a fairly logical guess.

Whether this is correct or not remains to be verified.

Zhou Fan continued:
"So why don't we go check out Du Ruo's girlfriend's house?"

"Based on the background of the game, we made the following conjecture: 'After Du Ruo's girlfriend died, he returned on the seventh day after her death and killed Du Ruo.'"

Cao Yu did not answer the question directly, but said:

"Yesterday was the seventh day after Du Ruo's girlfriend's death. Du Ruo also died yesterday. The time of death, as determined by the autopsy, was around 9 p.m. last night."

Here's a detail worth noting—how long does the first seven days after death actually last? From early yesterday morning to 9 pm last night, there was an interval of more than 20 hours.

Did Du Ruo's girlfriend appear at 9 PM and instantly kill him, or did she appear in the early morning, scare and toy with him all day, and then kill him at 9 PM?

"Uh...it seems like either is possible?" Zhou Fan couldn't guess.

"Let's assume the second scenario first—that Du Ruo's girlfriend is the culprit, and it started in the early morning."

Cao Yu offered his own guess:
"As a result, Du Ruo will inevitably launch a detailed investigation into this matter under the impetus of 'fear of ghosts'."

He was a criminal investigator before his death, and he had more experience in investigations than we did. He should have been able to find out what we could find, and in more detail.

He might have followed the clues and found the source of the "Lament of the Marriage." And he died in his own home…

"You suspect that Du Ruo left investigation materials at home?" Chen Ran joined the conversation.

“I admit I have a gambling element,”

Cao Yu smiled and suggested:
“If you don’t want to gamble, you can go to the police station first, or to Du Ruo’s girlfriend’s house. You can even go to a nearby temple. If there are ghosts in this world, what about gods? You can look into these things. Let’s split up.”

"...I've watched so many horror movies, and none of the ones where they split up have a good ending!" Chen Ran shook his head vigorously: "Let's forget about splitting up. Even if you bet wrong, it won't take much longer."

Everyone else refused as well.

Zhou Zheng, who was sitting in the middle row, took the opportunity to ask Du's mother about Du Ruo's belongings, and was told that her room had not yet been tidied up.

At this moment, Mr. Du suddenly slammed on the brakes, and the inertia caused everyone in the car to lean forward.

Cao Yu quickly steadied himself and looked at the windshield. He saw that outside the car were a dense pile of colliding vehicles, which were like garbage piled up on the road, blocking the way completely.

Cao Yu asked Chen Ran to open the car window. The scorching summer air rushed in, and the deafening blare of horns filled the air, along with screams, wails... and even gunshots, creating chaos.

Large crowds squeezed through gaps in the traffic and fled against the flow of vehicles, their faces filled with fear.

Further ahead, Cao Yu saw groups of people huddled together, fighting each other.

Inside the car, both Mr. and Mrs. Du fell into a hallucination and began tearing at each other and choking each other.

The scene that happened in the funeral home was repeated.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Zheng knocked out Mr. and Mrs. Du.

"It's another kind of ghost!" Zhou Fan's face was grim, but there was relief in his eyes: "We weren't hallucinated, the safe house was very effective! But how did Du Ruo's parents get affected? Didn't they break up?"

"They're a married couple. Maybe verbally breaking up won't work; they'll have to get a divorce?" Chen Ran guessed.

Cao asked Annie, who was sitting in the passenger seat, "Isn't that a hospital up ahead?"

Annie was holding up the phone she had stolen earlier, using the telephoto lens to observe things in the distance.

She quickly replied, "It's the hospital."

When Du Ruo was haunting the place, she used a corpse as her vessel; once the corpse was destroyed, the strange phenomena stopped.

Hospitals typically have morgues...

(End of this chapter)