Jiang Ye: "More specifically?"

Shen Zhiyi: "A brown tree, the branches and leaves are quite lush."

Jiang Ye: "..."

Shen Zhiyi: "There seems to be a hole in it that’s been eaten by insects."

Jiang Ye: "… That’s not what I meant by specific."

Shen Zhiyi was confused for a moment, "?"

Jiang Ye hesitated, finally sighing, "Forget it, find a safe place to hide, we’ll come find you after we finish the task."

Shen Zhiyi looked around and obediently agreed, "Okay."

Jiang Ye hung up the phone and pulled out the map to find where the trees were marked.

… Goodness, aren’t all the trees in this park?

Cheng Zhen whispered next to her, "Is that Zhiyi? Do you know where she is?"

Jiang Ye thought for a moment and said reluctantly, "… Sort of."

Tan Meng: "Where did she say she was?"

Jiang Ye: "Next to a brown tree with lush branches and leaves, and a hole eaten by insects."

Jiang Ye looked at the other two, "Have any of you seen it?"

Tan Meng: "?"

She suspected she had heard a fairy tale.

"Forget it, forget it."

Jiang Ye glanced at her watch and quickened her pace, "We don’t have enough time, let’s just go and do the first task."

Jiang Ye and her team rushed to the NPC in the central plaza.

They had six notes.

And of the remaining four notes, one had already been found by another player and filled in the music score.

So, Tan Meng was responsible for keeping watch for them, and Jiang Ye and Cheng Zhen were responsible for studying the music score.

The front of the notes had simplified notation numbers.

The back had the order in which to fill them in.

Jiang Ye followed this pattern and used a pen to fill all the simplified notation numbers into the gaps in the music score.

But they waited for a long time, and no one could find the last note.

"What should we do?"

Jiang Ye frowned, "Time is running out."

No one brought the note.

The elimination messages of the players who were caught while searching for the notes popped up one after another on their phones.

Tan Meng thought, "There are two minutes left, why don’t I try to find it again?"

"It’s too late."

Jiang Ye quickly looked at the people around her, "Why don’t you just make one up, Cheng Zhen?"

"Your musical sense is good, and you’re lucky, see which one fits and fill it in, let’s gamble."

The NPC next to them: "?"

He was about to stop them and say they couldn’t play like that, but Cheng Zhen glanced at it and said, "This score looks familiar."

She looked carefully, then wrote a number and handed it back to the NPC, "Try this one?"

NPC: "?…"

The NPC’s eyes widened when he looked at it.

He was about to say how accurate her guess was, when he heard Cheng Zhen say with a smile, "This is the ancient guqin score of 《Flowing Water》, coincidentally, I learned it when I was a child."

NPC: "..."

Can you guys even play like that?

But the NPC had to follow the script, he forced a smile, "Then… thank you for helping me complete my incomplete music score!"

He bowed slightly, and before he could raise his head, a group of players had already disappeared.

NPC: "?"

"Okay."

Jiang Ye led her teammates past the person in black, "We can go find Shen Zhiyi now."

The entire park is quite large.

Jiang Ye looked at the map and said, "Why don’t we split up?"

Tan Meng and Cheng Zhen both showed reluctant expressions.

Tan Meng said awkwardly, "… It’s not that I have to stay together, I just think… um, wouldn’t it be a little dangerous to split up?"

Cheng Zhen was even more direct, she held onto Tan Meng and Jiang Ye’s arms, "I don’t want to leave you two!"

Jiang Ye: "..."

Jiang Ye felt like she was taking care of two children, and she still had to find another directionally challenged child.

But there were benefits to having three people.

They could keep an eye on everything around them.

And Jiang Ye seemed to have a natural talent for avoiding the person in black.

According to her, it was a skill she developed from sneaking around playing games and avoiding the aunties in the orphanage.

In the end, they actually found Shen Zhiyi next to a tree.

Jiang Ye looked at the tree.

She had to admit, Shen Zhiyi’s description was quite accurate.

Jiang Ye: "How did you end up here?"

This was the most remote and desolate area in the entire park.

It’s no wonder Shen Zhiyi used the tree as a landmark, this tree was literally the only landmark here.

Shen Zhiyi said with a guilty conscience, "… I don’t know."

If she knew, would she still be here!

"Okay, let’s go."

Jiang Ye said, "It’s not safe here."

Not long after they found Shen Zhiyi, their phones rang.

Task Two was released.

【Task Two.】

【A person in black is locked up by the Hanshui River.】

【Please help the person by the Hanshui River fulfill his wish. After his wish is fulfilled, he will tell you the password to unlock the person in black’s cage.】

【If the task cannot be completed, the person in black will be released in six minutes.】

Shen Zhiyi looked at it and was eager to try, "Should we do this task?"

She had wanted to do Task One.

But she had gotten lost, and she didn’t help at all.

Jiang Ye looked at the map.

Their current location wasn’t that far from the Hanshui River.

She put away her phone, "Let’s go."

Jiang Ye and the other three carefully approached.

Behind the railing by the Hanshui River was a person in black.

Cheng Zhen peeked, "Is there a hint?"

Jiang Ye: "No."

Tan Meng: "Then how many digits is the password?"

"It didn’t say."

Jiang Ye said, "Only a warning that the person in black will be released immediately if you enter the wrong password twice."

She studied the panel and said, "But this kind of password is usually four digits or less."

The four of them looked up at the person in black behind the railing and couldn’t help but shiver.

Forget it, forget it, let’s not take any risks and just guess.

Not far from the Hanshui River.

The NPC who had taken the music score was worried.

Jiang Ye: "Let’s go find some clues."

As soon as Jiang Ye and the others approached him, they tentatively asked, "What’s your wish?"

NPC: "..."

Why is it you guys again?

But he had to follow the script, he sighed, "I hope someone will listen to me play the qin."

"Then we’ll listen to you play."

"No, no."

The NPC said seriously, "I need someone who understands music to listen to me play."

He sighed again, "Unfortunately, it’s hard to find a true confidant in this world."

Jiang Ye: "I should understand, play it."

Cheng Zhen: "I understand too."

Shen Zhiyi: "I learned it before, I should be able to understand too."

Tan Meng: "… If I’m just a listener, I might be able to?"

NPC: "???"

The NPC subtly gave them a hint, "I need a confidant who can truly understand what my music is saying."

Cheng Zhen said seriously, "Okay, I passed the guqin grade 8 exam when I was eight, wasn’t it me who recognized your music score?"

"You don’t believe me?"

"If you don’t believe me, let me play a piece for you, then you’ll believe me."

Cheng Zhen actually sat down.

She touched the qin and frowned, "Why do I feel like something’s wrong with this qin?"

NPC: "..."

Can you please follow the game rules!

Just as he was about to refuse to cooperate.

Other players finally brought another NPC.

They forced the confused NPC onto the seat in front of him, "This person said he’s proficient in music, he’ll definitely be your confidant!!"

Jiang Ye: "..."

Oh, so that’s how it’s played.

NPC: "Really?"

But the person sat down and didn’t listen for long before leaving.

The NPC immediately shook his head, "No, no, it’s not him."

Cheng Zhen puffed out her cheeks, "… Why doesn’t he believe me?"

Jiang Ye: "..."

Jiang Ye had also figured out the game rules, she tried, "Why don’t we go look again?"

As they were talking, other players had brought several more NPCs.

The scene was like trying on Cinderella’s shoe.

Each person sat down and listened for a while, shook their heads, and left.

Finally, after the last person finished listening, he spoke.

"Ah! What a majestic sound! Like a mountain!"

"Ah! What a vast sound! Like flowing water!"

This NPC was clearly an extra, his line delivery was like a robot.

Everyone: "..."

Jiang Ye finally understood the script of this game.

"I understand, a confidant who understands the music of mountains and rivers."

"They are Yu Boya and Zhong Ziqi."

Jiang Ye patted Cheng Zhen’s head and simply explained why the NPC didn’t listen to her, "After all, we can’t break up the official couple."

Cheng Zhen: "..."

Cheng Zhen glanced at the time.

These two NPCs hadn’t finished their lines yet.

But there were less than two minutes left before the person in black was released.

So, while they continued their lines, Cheng Zhen couldn’t help but interrupt the NPC, "… But Zhong Ziqi died first, didn’t you notice that he was just playing four bars of a repeated section?"

After Cheng Zhen said this, Jiang Ye suddenly seemed to realize something, "What did you say?"

NPC: "..."

NPC: "Wait…"

Jiang Ye did not wait for the NPC to stop her, "Which section did he play?"

Cheng Zhen thought for a moment and quickly recited a string of simplified notation.

NPC: "No…"

Jiang Ye had already completed the rapid conversion in her mind, and quickly entered the numbers from the beginning of these four bars into the password box.

Click.

The railing was successfully locked.

Task Two completed.

NPC: "..."

The NPC was stunned.

No way!

The task for this section was supposed to be to wait until he finished his lines, and then give the players his music score when he thanked them, the section marked in red pen was the key to unlocking the password.

How could someone directly decipher it based on what he played?!

Everyone else: "?"

The other players were also stunned, "What’s going on… ear-listening and transcribing music?"

"That’s the basic skill of a girl group member."

Someone whispered to Tan Meng next to her, "Now, can’t anyone who doesn’t meet this standard debut?"

Tan Meng: "..."

Not really.

It’s just that some people are extremely talented.

•••

"Hey, director, what do we do with these little girls who don’t follow the game rules at all?"

"Can you play like this! Make up the notes if you can’t find them! Decipher the code before the NPC gives the clue?"

Director: "..."

The director thought, I didn’t expect this either.

He just wanted to invite the members of this popular girl group to be the atmosphere makers.

He thought they were bronze, who would have thought they were kings?

"..."

"Why don’t we increase the difficulty of the next task."

The director thought, "Also, tell the person in black to patrol their surroundings more. In short, these few people can’t be together, otherwise, it’ll be too scary."

•••

At this point, more than half of the recording process was over.

There were already several unlucky players in the elimination room.

Someone joked to Lin Zui, who was eliminated first, "Your teammates are all outside, aren’t you lonely?"

"To be honest, I also want them to come in and keep me company."

Lin Zui also joked, "But I hope they run around outside a bit more, let them get tired."

At the same time, a new task was released.

【Task Three.】

【After parting with Zhong Ziqi, Yu Boya missed Zhong Ziqi very much.】

【Please help Yu Boya find Zhong Ziqi.】

【Zhong Ziqi lives in Hanyang Village.】

【There are twenty-five residents in Hanyang Village, players need to avoid the two people in black who are patrolling in Hanyang Village, find Zhong Ziqi among the twenty-five residents, and send a meeting invitation to Zhong Ziqi on behalf of Yu Boya.】

【If the task is successful, players will receive a resurrection card, which can resurrect one member in the elimination room.】

Jiang Ye read this message twice and put away her phone.

"Let’s go."

She rolled up the map in her hand, her eyes shining, "Let’s go resurrect Lin Zui!"