Chu Changge and the others were instance players whose bodies had been strengthened. Even if their Attribute Points hadn't been directly applied to physical enhancement, after so many instances, they wouldn't solely be thinking about food.

Although Gu Mian hadn't undergone strengthening, he had always been indifferent about eating. He never felt hungry when he ate less, nor bloated when he ate more.

But the NPCs in this instance couldn't say the same.

Especially Li Yibai; he hadn't eaten dinner the previous night, had toiled outside all night, and still hadn't eaten anything.

Gu Mian even suspected he hadn't had a chance to drink water during that time.

On the other hand, Yuan Qinghua and Guo Jimei, both NPCs in the instance, had eaten breakfast, so they didn't feel as hungry as Li Yibai.

The sound of footsteps running towards food outside the window seemed to make Li Yibai even hungrier.

He clutched his stomach with his hands, looking very uncomfortable.

Yue Nu was the first to speak. "I had breakfast at home this morning, so I'm not hungry yet. But you guys who didn't sleep last night must be starving, right?"

Of course, she wouldn't say something like, We're instance players, our bodies are incredibly fit, we don't need to eat, even though it was the truth.

On the surface, they had to maintain appearances, lest they appear too special and be voted out by the NPCs as ghosts.

She continued, "Why don't we head to the cafeteria first? The ghost will likely make a move tonight. I'm afraid we won't have the strength to act if we don't eat."

At the thought of what might happen after eight o'clock that night, everyone present grew somber.

But Yuan Qinghua, sitting opposite Gu Mian, didn't seem so grave. Perhaps because she hadn't been there the previous night, she couldn't yet comprehend that level of fear.

However, Li Yibai seemed too hungry to muster any strength to move.

After a brief discussion, they decided to send a few people to buy food and bring it back, while the others would remain in the classroom.

Gu Mian, being one of those who had been up all night, also feigned exhaustion, sitting in place and waiting for the others to return with food.

It was mealtime.

Yue Nu, Yuan Qinghua, and 007 went to buy the food. Guo Jimei, seemingly distrustful of Yuan Qinghua handling the food, went along as well.

The others, including Gu Mian, remained in the classroom.

It was five-thirty in the evening.

There were still two and a half hours until eight o'clock.

Gu Mian noticed Li Yibai squatting alone in a corner of the room, apparently fiddling with something in his hands.

He didn't need to guess; he knew it was the item Yue Nu had distributed to them earlier.

Gu Mian had already opened the small paper cube to inspect it. There was nothing inside; it was just a blank piece of paper folded into a small square, without even a single punctuation mark.

Chu Changge, next to him, seemed to have never unwrapped the item from the start; at least Gu Mian hadn't seen him do it.

Keke, standing by the window with her back to them, had also been tinkering with something alone for a while; it was unknown if she had discovered anything.

In short, when she turned around, Gu Mian didn't notice any particular expression on her face.

Li Yibai, after staying in the corner for a good while, seemed to be done. He put the item into his pocket, then turned and walked towards the table, his face showing no particular excitement.

Gu Mian couldn't analyze whether either of these two had found something significant.

Seeing that both of them had finished, Gu Mian finally had an opportunity to speak. "With Guo Jimei and Yuan Qinghua gone, there's something I want to say..."

"What is it?" Li Yibai, who had just sat down on a bench not far away, turned his head in surprise upon hearing this.

Keke also shifted her gaze to Gu Mian. "Are you going to talk about something related to those two? While they're not here?"

Gu Mian nodded. "Yes, it's related to them. Don't you find those two exceedingly strange? Since this morning, they've caused such a commotion. Guo Jimei insists she saw a ghost in broad daylight, but we all know ghosts pose no threat to us during the day. Yet Guo Jimei is adamant she saw Yuan Qinghua transform into a ghost."

Li Yibai also voiced his confusion. "Exactly. If she's telling the truth, then why would that ghost pop out in broad daylight? Just to give people a scare?"

"I guess it might be to confirm identities," Gu Mian suddenly said.

"Confirm identities?" Li Yibai repeated, puzzled.

"Precisely," Gu Mian affirmed with a nod. "The three ghosts don't know each other's identities. To avoid accidentally killing their own, they'll definitely try their best to probe everyone else's identity."

Li Yibai still didn't understand. "If the ghost needs to investigate others' identities, why would it jump out in broad daylight to scare people?"

"Think about it," Gu Mian continued. "In this game, if you were a ghost, forced to kill cautiously because you don't know the other two ghosts' identities, what would your reaction be if you discovered another ghost in broad daylight?"

"I'd be... happy..." Li Yibai said, struggling with the words. "Unless that ghost appeared before me in a particularly nasty form..."

He paused again, as if pondering something. "No, even if the ghost appeared in a very nasty form, I wouldn't scream like Guo Jimei did all the way from one end of the corridor to the other... At most, I'd yelp once, and then, realizing the situation, quickly shut up..."

At this point, Li Yibai seemed to have a realization. "Are you saying the ghost appeared during the day because it wanted to determine our identities by observing our reactions to it?"

"Exactly," Gu Mian confirmed.

And the ghosts in this game were very selective about their targets. If it chose to scare Chu Changge, regardless of whether Chu Changge was human or ghost, he would maintain his "unflappable even if Mount Tai collapsed before him" poker face.

If it scared me... Gu Mian mused. Perhaps I'd be treated to an unexpected, beautiful guitar performance?

Just then, Keke's voice came from the side. "If that's the case, doesn't that mean Yuan Qinghua is a ghost?"

"Not necessarily," Chu Changge interjected. "First, what we've been discussing is merely a hypothesis, based on the assumption that 'Guo Jimei is telling the truth.' In reality, what she said might not be true at all."

"Second, even if Guo Jimei is telling the truth, do you remember Li Wentao from last night? Keke, last night you and Pan Yue also saw Li Wentao, who was suspected of being a ghost, but it turned out he wasn't; the ghost was someone else."

Keke fell silent for a moment before asking, "Are you saying ghosts... can disguise themselves? Disguise themselves as other people to interfere with us?"

"Precisely," Chu Changge said, adjusting his glasses. "Even if Guo Jimei is telling the truth, what she saw might have been a ghost disguised as Yuan Qinghua."

Gu Mian glanced at Chu Changge. "Speaking of which, I don't recall ghosts having disguise abilities in the games of this type I've played."

Li Yibai flinched slightly. "The games like this I played before didn't involve real deaths either. Anything could happen now. We should be careful..."

Gu Mian retracted his gaze. "Returning to the topic," he said, "I'm bringing them up because I suspect one of them is a ghost."

Keke turned to Gu Mian. "What?"

"As I said earlier," Gu Mian explained, "if Guo Jimei isn't lying, it means a ghost was trying to determine others' identities by scaring them. When Guo Jimei saw the ghost, all six of us were together; there was no opportunity for one of us to be the culprit."

"If we exclude Guo Jimei, then the ghost that did the scaring must be among Yuan Qinghua, Zhang Pingfan, and Pan Yue."

"And if Guo Jimei was lying, then she is very likely one of the three ghosts. You all know that in these games, ghosts will do their utmost to make their identity seem like that of a civilian. How do they do that? Guo Jimei provided an example. A poor girl frightened by a ghost—if it weren't for her inability to produce evidence that she didn't vote last night, anyone would think she was a pitiful civilian."

Li Yibai looked partly enlightened, partly confused. "Based on what you said before, I thought Yuan Qinghua was the ghost. But now, it seems more like Guo Jimei..."

Gu Mian continued, "The main reason that makes me certain the ghost is one of Yuan Qinghua and Guo Jimei is the voting slip in Yuan Qinghua's hand..."

Just then, they heard footsteps approaching from the corridor.