INSIDER Chapter 148

The moment the little girl Julie completely disappeared, Lu Chu and the others realized that the curse on this mansion had been lifted.

The gloomy atmosphere around them vanished abruptly, and the chilling, eerie feeling that had been sending shivers down their spines also dissipated. In a daze, it seemed as if the dense darkness was gradually fading. Through the dusty windows, the night sky, glittering with starlight, could be faintly seen.

Sun Haoran let out a low laugh. “Very good. This round ended so easily. Lu Chu, you truly are different, or rather, as a ‘player,’ you really are different.”

Lu Chu said nothing.

Although the curse was broken, he didn’t feel much joy in his heart. Instead, he felt a faint but heavy sense of sorrow.

How many more people in this game were suffering so tragically? And their tragedy was not due to their own actions. They were arbitrarily created by the “rules” and had their life’s trajectory decided without consent. They might never understand why they lived or why they died.

Wang Heng and the other two had already entered a semi-frozen state the moment Julie disappeared and died. Their lives had ended here.

Sun Haoran glanced at 7 with the corner of his eye, then looked at Lu Chu. “No one else in this world will be as lucky as you.”

“But now, we can only live for ourselves,” Song Gui interrupted Sun Haoran. “We have to survive first. Only then can we have hope.”

Lu Chu smiled slightly at these words. “Yes, so we should first discuss how to find the world of ‘Total Sensory Loss.'”

Yuan Kejie eyed Sun Haoran critically. “We’ll filter out possible tasks and tell you about the relevant ‘games.’ You then check each world to see if it’s the one with the ‘sensory loss’ theme.”

“Sounds interesting,” Sun Haoran raised an eyebrow. “But have you thought about how I’ll tell you which task is correct when you’re inside the ‘rules’?”

Song Gui laughed and looked Sun Haoran up and down. “Are you playing dumb now? You should know best how to tell us.”

Sun Haoran’s expression didn’t change, but his smile was mischievous. “What do you mean?”

“He means,” Yuan Kejie said, “in the ‘Cleansing Day’ game, you were able to tell those players a lot of information and had many people attack us. There’s no reason you wouldn’t know what to do now. Come on, brother, are you pretending not to know, or did you never plan to tell us?”

Lu Chu also looked at Sun Haoran, waiting for his explanation.

7 exuded a chilling aura, clenching his fists. His muscles bulged, looking like a leopard ready to pounce and tear apart its prey.

Sun Haoran snickered. “Just joking. Why are you all so excited?”

Roche rolled her eyes at him. “Keep talking nonsense and you can go to hell.”

Sun Haoran walked over to the frozen Wang Heng and plucked a hair from his head in a bored manner before speaking to the others. “Every time a new illusion appears, you wait for me at a random edge of the illusion.”

Song Gui looked at him. “That’s it?”

Sun Haoran shrugged and smiled. “That’s it.”

Yuan Kejie asked, “If that’s the case, can’t Qi Li do it too?”

“He’d better not,” Sun Haoran said lightly. “The penalty for entering and exiting the ‘game’ is already severe enough. Entering illusions controlled by other ‘rules’ is similar but places a greater burden on his body.”

“That’s not your concern,” 7 said coldly. “Tell me the method.”

Sun Haoran stared at 7 for a moment, then laughed nonchalantly. “Fine. After all, it’s not me who will suffer. Just talk to the ‘rule’ bound to you. It will tell you how.”

7 nodded.

Lu Chu looked at 7 with clear eyes. 7 looked back at him. “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.”

“Okay.” Lu Chu nodded, not stopping 7. He trusted him. 7 was capable of anything and would not be confined by any obstacles.

As they discussed, a door silently appeared before them.

Yuan Kejie saw the door and summarized, “So, we go back, stop our tasks, and focus on noting down all tasks related to ‘sensory loss.’ When the illusion appears, we head to the edge, inform the ‘cleaners,’ and they check each world while we continue looking for tasks in our rooms until we find the ‘Total Sensory Loss’ task.”

“Yes,” Lu Chu nodded. “Stop doing tasks unless someone’s wristband runs out of time. Then we do a few tasks to gather more time and continue searching.”

Song Gui thought for a moment and then asked everyone, “How much time is left on your wristbands? I think we should use Lu Xiaochu’s time as a reference since he joined last.”

Yuan Kejie raised her hand. “I agree.”

Everyone else nodded.

Lu Chu recalled and said, “I had about 200 minutes left on my wristband last time. This task should add roughly 65 minutes.”

“Entering the illusion costs 5 minutes each time, so we can enter it about 50 times without doing any tasks.” Song Gui calculated, speaking solemnly. “That’s enough. Quite a few times.”

“In that case, let’s hurry up,” Yuan Kejie said excitedly. “I see hope for going home. I’m almost in tears!”

Lu Chu also said, “Yes, let’s go. We don’t have much time. If we delay, the door might disappear.”

They all walked through the door one by one.

Lu Chu was the last. Before entering, he looked deeply at 7. He knew that once he stepped through this door, 7, who had always watched over him, would endure immense pain.

And all this was for her.

Because of this, he could not afford to be weak or indecisive. The only way to end 7’s suffering was to escape this game. Everyone was working towards this goal, and Lu Chu knew he had to succeed.

With this thought, he smiled warmly as he bid farewell to 7 and stepped through the door.

Outside, Sun Haoran looked at the bloodied, calm, and even slightly gentle 7, a complex expression flashing in his eyes. He mocked lightly, “Ah, isn’t it nice?”

As soon as he finished speaking, 7 kicked him to the ground. Sun Haoran’s already battered body looked no better than 7, who was punished by the rules.

“Talk less if you care about your life,” 7 said coldly.