Although it’s unclear what issue could arise from losing the invitation, considering the Girl in the painting’s mask also does not correspond to an invitation, the issue shouldn’t be significant.

And the Player was mostly angry, immediately turning around to attack Xu Huo the moment the invitation disappeared.

Defense Prop rotated in action to block the opponent’s Prop attack. Due to the location, Xu Huo didn’t use "The Fog of Dimension" for Defense Attribute, but used "Revolving Lantern." However, the "Revolving Lantern" has limited occurrences against the Characteristics, and under the pincers of two Players, it ran out quickly. He was then pulled to the ceiling by the Characteristics effect, sticking firmly to it.

The two Octopus Mask cooperated seamlessly, one poisoning with a sharp tool, the other completely sealing the surroundings, giving him no chance to escape.

This was when the purchased Mechanical Suit Set came into play. The suit, usually shrinkable to accessory size, spewed membrane-like metal, quickly enveloping him entirely, not only blocking Prop attacks but also withstanding the poison tightly.

"Still a fat sheep!" The two said this, but in reality, their eyes already held vigilance. Yet at this moment, the temporarily discarded Girl in the painting lunged forward, broke through their Defensive Barrier like before, and at that instant, the Materialized Item supplemented, enveloping and assaulting a Player’s body.

Though the Defensive Barrier was broken, this didn’t mean the Player didn’t have other Defense Props to make up for it. Even at close range, the opponent’s Defense Props were still protecting the important parts of the body, the Materialized Item only penetrating both shoulders, injuring one thigh.

A force suddenly erupted from this Player, bouncing off the Materialized Item and shaking off the Girl in the painting. However, at this time the Girl in the painting took out a bunch of paper animals. They might not have an obvious effect on the corridor, but still, they were quite good at destroying Defensive Barriers, especially in large numbers.

The Player retreated to one side of the corridor, inevitably leaving some flaws in defense. These flaws became opportunities for the Materialized Item and Secant Line. They didn’t immediately kill the Player, but the continuous injuries were enough to push him back.

The other Octopus Mask that was flanking them had long fled, leaving this one alone to struggle, also finding a staircase to escape upstairs.

"Don’t chase." Xu Huo stopped the Girl in the painting, even though there were only three floors below, those two Mermaid Mask still ran downstairs without hesitation, showing there might be something or someone upstairs they rather not face.

He took out the invitation he had snatched, slightly different from the ones seen before, the Octopus Player’s invitation slightly thicker and heavier, but upon flipping it, the invitation suddenly turned into a stack.

"What’s this?" The Girl in the painting curiously leaned over.

Ten in total, Xu Huo looked at the small pattern differences on the invitations. From the ornamentation, similar to his invitation, these should correspond to Piranha Masks.

Taking out his own invitation stacking it, these invitations quickly merged, finally forming two invitations, one slightly heavier, the remaining one identical to the previous Piranha Mask invitation.

"I know, combine ten and merge into one." The Girl in the painting took the invitation from his hand, then the Mermaid Mask on her head transformed into Octopus.

"Ten Piranha Invitation can produce an Octopus Mask." Xu Huo gestured for the Girl in the painting to give him the invitation, after which her mask did not blur like the Player’s, instead changed back to Mermaid like before.

The masks he and the Girl in the painting wore were brought by Fish Banquet’s staff. Is it due to the mask’s inherent specialty, or does an upgraded mask differ from ordinary masks in this aspect?

To verify his idea, he randomly chose a clownfish Player, took his invitation, and when lost but alive, the opponent’s mask pattern became slightly blurred. Yet upon reclaiming any invitation, be it his own or someone else’s, the pattern would restore to normal.

This corresponds to a special identifier.

Xu Huo had the Girl in the painting put on the clownfish mask, and upon removing the invitation, the mask on her head immediately became somewhat blurred; not a significant difference, likely unnoticed in unclear light.

Storing the Mermaid Mask in the luggage compartment, Xu Huo placed the remaining Piranha Invitation back onto the Player, though the invitation was there, no new mask was generated.

Apparently, the number of masks matches headcount, not identity; invitation replacement can change mask pattern, lacking a mask, possessing only the invitation won’t generate new masks, only by seizing others’ masks. As it stands, the features of various fish masks seem similar; masks of players without invitations and masks of service personnel have identity indication function.

The Girl in the painting pointed to the Octopus Mask on his head.

"I won’t change my mask for now." Xu Huo left the Piranha Invitation with the clownfish Player, taking her away.

Instead of ascending, he planned to return to the first floor.

By now, it was almost dark, people at the banquet hall over there were becoming fewer, players who had eaten and drank their fill were about to begin their nightly entertainment.

The corridor wasn’t easy to leave traces of battle, every so often there would be service personnel replacing damaged carpets and decorations, doing cleaning along the way, so the venue remains neat, difficult to discern where anything had occurred.

From the fourth floor to the first, Xu Huo didn’t see the Mermaid Mask again, but there were many people traveling together, lingering outside the rooms.

According to the previous female player’s account, aside from those drawing fish masks by lot, others could open any room from outside, yet couldn’t avert the dangers inside the rooms.

Naturally, even if the player spoke truth, it would certainly be a truncated truth. If masks drawn could safely find open rooms, why would other players allow them time to hunt for rooms?

There must be undisclosed rules, and the main purpose of seeking cooperation with them likely was trial and error—during the door-opening process, she didn’t go opening each door systematically like the Girl in the painting but merely pretended to twist every doorknob.

Speculation is one thing, but requires testimony. Xu Huo first thought of service staff since they were undoubtedly more informed than those players missing vital information, but he quickly dismissed this idea because there were too many service personnel, and they had forced limitations, anytime might end up dead, not that disclosing Fish Banquet’s relevant information would surely get them killed, but giving false information was too easy.