I went berserk in the game of gods.

Chapter 83 What's there to choose? I want them all!
"This gatekeeper's pass... a protective barrier that only allows the living... doesn't this mean there's something sinister about our academy?"

"Why are you still wondering about this now? Aren't those spirits and monsters we encounter in the city just a type of ghost?"

What kind of work permit do you think is the best to choose?

Among the players who entered, in addition to Cao Yu, Yang Chan, and Xi Gou, there were three other players who were matched.

Among the players, they were among the more active ones and had already started discussing things.

Cao Yu took a moment to observe them.

Of the three, one looked like a brown bear, both fat and robust.

A person dressed in black training clothes, holding a long sword in his hand, looked and had the demeanor of a martial artist.

Brown Bear and Martial Artist are both male players... Cao Yu looked at the third person, who was wearing thick clothes and a special mask. He was the last player to enter the instance.

His appearance and build made it difficult to tell whether he was male or female, but he had spoken during his escape, and his voice sounded male... so let's call him the masked man.

The masked man noticed Cao Yu's gaze, nodded, and said "thank you."

Although he was safe for the time being, the masked man had not forgotten the close call he had just experienced.

Without Cao Yu, the mere thought of how difficult it would be for them to find the Seventh Evolution Academy while being pursued by monsters... makes one's scalp tingle just by imagining it.

They may eventually get here, but it will definitely not be as fast or as easy as it is now.

At the very least... they won't be able to keep a single bottle of their medicine stock.

"The cleaner's pass is obviously the most important; its authority allows access to all locked doors in the academy via facial recognition. Without a doubt, it's a powerful tool for intelligence gathering. However..."

The masked man spoke:
"If you only want to complete the main quest, you don't actually need that much information. The Cleaner's Certificate is probably for players who want to get high ratings, which means... if you choose the Cleaner's Certificate, you might face the most dangers?"

“I agree with that,” the fat brown bear agreed. “Comparatively, a gatekeeper’s pass is much safer.”

"No, a gatekeeper's pass isn't necessarily safe." The martial artist said seriously, "The gatekeeper's pass's authority is to consume stamina in the gatehouse to generate a protective shield that only living people can pass through... Think about it, under what circumstances would a player need a protective shield? And what will happen once you run out of stamina?"

Brown bear: "..."

It seems... that makes sense.

"So the dorm inspector's pass is the safest?" The sycophantic senior joined the discussion: "After all, its authority is to be the last to be attacked when danger occurs. In this way, as long as there are many players around when danger occurs, it's equivalent to having an invisibility skill."

"The dormitory inspectors are dealing with all the students in the college."

The mature woman stepped forward. She glanced at Cao Yu first, then continued with a smile:

"Didn't my junior joke before that the people in this college might all be monsters? If that's true, I think the dorm inspector's badge is actually the most dangerous one."

The simp senior: "..."

"From what you're saying, all three types of documents seem to be the most dangerous?" Xi Gou asked Cao Yu. "Captain, what do you think we should choose?"

"What's there to choose? There's no rule saying you can only bring one ID." Cao Yu laughed, "Of course we want them all."

After saying that, he took one of each of the three types of documents and hung them around his neck.

Please note that each player can only wear one ID.

The game's notification sounded.

One sheet... Cao Yu thought for a moment and began to experiment with different ones.

He quickly concluded that players could only wear one ID at a time.

However, the documents can be replaced at any time.

So this restriction isn't actually that strict.

He put the dormitory inspector's and security guard's badges into his storage space, and only hung the cleaner's badge around his neck.

What? You're asking him to get more documents? What about the two players who haven't even entered the academy yet...? Those two are wanted criminals who have committed crimes; they can be treated like dirt.

Then, Cao Yu tossed Xi Gou a security guard's pass and Yang Chan a cleaner's pass.

"I've finished choosing, you guys choose," Cao Yu said with a smile.

In his view, the work permits at this college that are involved in intelligence investigations are not limited to the cleaner's permit; the same applies to the gatekeeper's permit.

One of the gatekeeper's responsibilities is to register the information of people entering and leaving the college—this could be crucial intelligence that he needs to keep in hand.

He would undoubtedly feel more at ease with Greyhound as the gatekeeper.

After all, they're practically one of us.

"I'm a student, can I choose first?" the mature woman spoke up right after Cao Yu. "..."

The other players realized that this guy was pretty shameless.

Cao Yu then said:

"There's no need for everyone to worry too much about the identification. The player panel shows that it's 11 a.m., while the cleaners and attendance inspectors work at night."

Therefore, apart from the guardhouse which needs to be guarded, the rest of the staff can actually take advantage of the daytime to investigate intelligence.

All four cleaners' certificates can open the locked door, so the most efficient approach is... to split up and work separately.

"...Should we split up?" the simp senior asked, frowning. "Isn't that unsafe?"

The point is to avoid danger. If it's safe, how can we draw out the danger? How can we gather more intelligence and trigger side quests...? Cao Yu laughed:
"Since it's an academy, it must have places like libraries and archives. You can also get information by talking to students and teachers."

We have a lot to do, and it's hard to say how much useful information we'll get. We can only increase our investigation efforts first. For example... we need to look through the school's student roster and personal information, right? That's a lot of work.

Let's split up. I'll keep two of the four cleaner's passes; you can share the remaining two. Just leave three more people to guard the gatehouse.

"Should we keep three people in the guardhouse?" the bodyguard suggested. "I think keeping one... no, two people on guard would be enough."

"Don't forget, there are still two criminal players who haven't come in yet."

Cao Yu reminded him:
"Those two are both D-level players. If a conflict breaks out, they won't be able to handle it with just the two of them. With three of them, even if they make a commotion, it should be enough to stall until we come to our aid."

"What if those two criminals ask for your work permits?" the sycophantic senior asked. "You took three, they didn't..."

“There were 12 work permits. There was one for each of the nine of us. I took two extra. Chen Jian is already dead... so there was one left over.”

Cao Yu grinned and said:

"If those two come in, throw the remaining card to them and let them divide it among themselves. Also, tell them... that without a work badge, they have no identity in this academy, and something terrible will happen."

"..."

Is it really that insidious?

No wonder three people were left to guard it. If only two people were left, this plan to incite the snipe and the clam to fight would not work.

"Wait a minute, Captain," Greyhound said thoughtfully, "I have a feeling you've inadvertently revealed the truth? Not wearing your work badge... could it be that you've really encountered something terrifying?"

"Who would know?" Cao Yu said, "Why don't you give it a try?"

"...I think I'll pass." Xi Gou chuckled awkwardly, then changed the subject, "Speaking of which, that guy in the camouflage uniform earlier, he must be a staff member of this academy, right? Do you think... he knew about the special privileges associated with these badges?"

"They probably don't know, right?" the bodyguard offered his analysis. "The access level of the gatekeeper's pass basically indicates that something's fishy here. Under these circumstances, who would dare to stay in the school? I reckon that when the locals look at these work permits, they probably just see them as ordinary documents."

"It's also possible that they're all monsters," the mature woman said. "It makes sense that monsters hire powerful players to maintain the academy's rules, doesn't it?"

After a pause, she added:
"If that's the case, then it means that these monsters are afraid of something in the academy, so they've asked the players for help."

"...Your statement is far too dangerous," the martial artist asked. "Why do you always think that the people in this academy are all monsters?"

"No, it's just a hypothesis," the mature woman said with a smile. "I haven't made a judgment yet because the information is insufficient."

"Speaking of monsters... what do you think of the monsters we encountered outside the academy before?"

The brown bear suddenly brought up the monsters outside the academy and offered his opinion:
"When I first encountered the giant baby monsters, I thought... I thought it was some kind of drama at the Seventh Evolution Academy, about unmarried mothers, abandoned babies, and vengeful ghosts seeking revenge. Those giant baby monsters were calling for their parents and craving hugs... which made sense. But the monsters I encountered later, I just couldn't understand them."

"Oh?" Cao Yu said, "I didn't realize you were so perceptive."

"It's actually just a guess based on stereotypes."

The brown bear offered its own reasoning:
"After all, the dungeon's name is related to the academy, and the background content mentions a dangerous event that seems to be supernatural. I'm wondering if it could be some classic case of school bullying? Like the bullied person died and became a ghost, haunting the academy? Or something like an unmarried woman having a child and abandoning the child, and the child becoming a vengeful ghost to come back and claim her life?"

He asked Cao Yu:
"What do you think?"

"There's no need to be so polite with your address."

Cao Yu was generous and offered a suggestion:

"Using stereotypes to guess will limit your thinking. Seventh Evolution Academy, do you think the focus is on the academy or evolution?"
Don't forget, the dean of this academy is described in the background as 'the only level seven researcher in Vicheng'.

I think the focus of our intelligence investigation could be shifted towards this 'Mr. Lin Youwei'.

He stopped there.

Since everything is still unclear, he won't utter anything that's purely speculative.

He needs verification.

(End of this chapter)