Chapter 23 48h (6)

"How did it happen?"

Gu Qiufeng was greatly shocked.

He just wanted to be naughty.

After all, the other party was a player disguised as a white cat, and Gu Qiufeng was thinking about teasing him until the day when he could no longer pretend and was exposed.

Gu Qiufeng stared at the white cat trapped in the card in amazement for a few seconds.

He didn't pay any points, so this time he simply stored the white cat in the card.

In the last Phoenix God copy, Gu Qiufeng originally planned to use the storage skill to take Feng He away, but he didn't expect that Feng He would give up going with him in the end, so Gu Qiufeng had to settle for the second best and spent a large amount of points to forcibly pull Feng He out of the card pool.

He simply used his storage skills on the wooden man.

After all, Gu Qiufeng quite likes this little thing.

The activation conditions of the "Storage" skill are more restrictive than those of the "Card Drawing", so when Gu Qiufeng faces ghosts, he would generally prefer to spend points to draw cards rather than use the only "Storage" skill on ghosts. Moreover, the game system must first determine whether the stored items really belong to him, which is a prerequisite.

Gu Qiufeng: “…”

Gu Qiufeng was very messy.

It seemed like he accidentally encountered a system bug.

The game system does not seem to have explicitly stated that the target of the stored skill must be a special NPC or item in the dungeon.

But there is no way to "store" a player into his card!

How was this judgment made?

He just restrained the ragdoll cat, and the game considered the cat his?

Gu Qiufeng: “.”

Damn, he should have done a live broadcast, it would have been more of a show effect.

Moreover, a stored skill can only be used once. If this puppet is stored, then this skill is almost the same as if it did not exist.

Gu Qiufeng released the card from the still confused white cat.

It was rare. Looking at this cat brother who didn't know that he had become someone else's skill, Gu Qiufeng felt a little pity for him and didn't tell him the truth.

Instead, he patted the cat's head lovingly and said affectionately, "Go away. I have decided to let you go."

The ragdoll cat was frightened by Gu Qiufeng's disgust and stared at him with its big round eyes.

As if to say "What tricks are you playing now?"

Gu Qiufeng sighed: "Can't I turn over a new leaf and be a good person?"

Ragdoll Cat: “…”

Even ghosts would be scared to hear such nonsense.

However, in order to prevent Gu Qiufeng from regretting what he said, the Ragdoll Cat quickly jumped off the bed, pushed open the door that was not closed tightly, and scared Shao Qiu Shui, who was squatting at the door and eavesdropping, so much that she sat on the ground, and then quickly ran away from her.

Shao Qiushui was stunned: "Mr. Gu, the cat ran away!"

Gu Qiufeng nodded: "Yeah, I'll let it go for a walk."

Shao Qiushui swallowed and said, "What if it doesn't come back?"

Gu Qiufeng: "It's okay, I have special skills to catch cats."

Gu Qiufeng is just playing the long game to catch a big fish.

Anyway, the cat has become a card skill, and he can recall it whenever he wants.

There were rustling sounds of people changing clothes in the bathroom. After a while, Feng He came out with her long hair blown dry. When she saw Shao Qiu Shui, she was subconsciously stunned and reflexively wanted to step back and close the door.

Gu Qiufeng was very happy: "Xiao Fenghe, are you so virtuous as a man?"

Shao Qiushui's face flushed, and he quickly explained: "I didn't mean to eavesdrop just now, it's just that the time is up, we should go to the laundry room!"

Gu Qiufeng wondered: "Then why didn't you knock on the door?"

Shao Qiushui whispered, "There are many scenes in movies and TV dramas where cannon fodder breaks into the master's talisman painting scene, resulting in the group being wiped out."

She looked around and found that the room was really clean, and she was obviously disappointed.

Gu Qiufeng: “.”

What kind of middle school complex does this girl have that makes her so obsessed with catching ghosts through magic?

Shao Qiu Shui coughed twice shyly, then said excitedly: "Then Mr. Gu, let's go to the laundry room to catch ghosts, no, wash clothes!"

Her face was red and her eyes were shining, and she didn't look scared at all like she did in the previous timeline.

After the main group gathered and got on the elevator smoothly together, Gu Qiufeng found that there was no problem with the elevator this time.

He told Shen Yubo and Yu Chiang about what happened in the elevator.

Shen Yubo said, "The last time our elevator had problems, it was probably caused by that cheongsam woman. She wasn't sure where we were going, so she had to manipulate the elevator to get us directly to the twelfth floor. The bald man had been lying in ambush on the twelfth floor, ready to attack Gu Qiufeng."

"The error in the floor number and the abnormality of the elevator will make us suspect that this is not the original floor. Instead, it may be a trap of some ghost. The attention paid to human players will be greatly reduced, which will make it easier for them to take action." Gu Qiufeng exclaimed, "What an excellent teamwork."

But no matter what, there is still a layer of secret between people's hearts. Even with such a cooperative teammate, the bald man never told the cheongsam girl the real way to pass the level until his death, so when the cheongsam girl was about to take revenge on Gu Qiufeng, she accidentally neglected the NPC, which led to her death.

Yu Chi'ang was panting all the time, as if he had just come from somewhere, reacting to intense exercise.

Gu Qiufeng noticed it and asked in a low voice: "Are you feeling uncomfortable?"

Yu Chi'ang shook his head: "It's okay. Senior, do you remember?"

He seemed to still be expecting Gu Qiufeng to recall their first encounter a few years ago. When he raised his eyes, there was some imperceptible earnestness in his eyes.

Gu Qiufeng said calmly: "I'm sorry, I really don't remember what happened so long ago."

"Is that so?" Yu Chiang lowered his eyes, looking a little depressed. "Before, on the bus, I noticed that the senior was looking at me, and I thought he recognized me."

Gu Qiufeng: “.”

It’s unfair, he is just a beauty lover.

The atmosphere in the elevator suddenly became awkward. Gu Qiufeng touched his nose and said helplessly, "If you call me senior, you should know that I dropped out of school after I got a serious illness in my junior year. My brother has been taking care of me. When I woke up, he told me that because of the illness, my short-term memory was damaged, so I don’t remember some things in college. I didn’t forget you on purpose."

Yu Chi'ang: "Then the senior never came to school again, but became a manager for a star."

Gu Qiufeng was silent for a long time, then asked: "Do you look down on your agent?"

"No." Yu Chiang said coldly, "Whatever the senior does is good."

Gu Qiufeng: “…”

Why did he feel that this kid was openly praising and secretly mocking him?

Yu Chiang was visibly angry.

Even the first one out of the elevator.

Gu Qiufeng glanced at Yu Chiang's angry back in confusion.

I don’t understand. If they had only met a few times, why was Yu Chiang so angry?

When they arrived at the laundry room, the dark red curtains were still heavily drawn. Yu Chi'ang first closed the windows, then simply and roughly took down the curtains and held them in his arms.

The sunlight suddenly poured into the quiet laundry room, adding a warmer feeling.

Shao Qiu Shui put the blood-spattered clothes into the washing machine near the door, swiped the card, and the washing machine started humming.

The three players checked all the washing machines first this time, and Gu Qiufeng judged: "The girl is gone."

The girl who died in the washing machine seemed to be just like the bald man, her existence forever erased in this cycle.

Shao Qiu Shui let out an "ah" in obvious disappointment.

Gu Qiufeng was a little amused: "If you want to see a ghost so much, don't forget who scared you to tears in the elevator just now."

Shao Qiu Shui stuck out his tongue and said, "That's probably because of the fear of the unknown. Now that I have masters like you around me, I'm not afraid anymore."

"Master?" Shen Yubo looked at Gu Qiufeng in confusion.

Gu Qiufeng shrugged and signaled her with his eyes not to expose their identities.

"Then let's go to the archives room." Gu Qiufeng said, "I heard from classmate Shao that the first floor is where the backup data of all residents of this apartment building is stored. I think it's very interesting. Do you want to take a look?"

Shao Qiushui immediately raised his hand: "I want to go!"

"You are not allowed to go." Gu Qiufeng pressed down her excited hand, "What if you encounter danger? We can't guarantee your safety in the archives room."

The information stored in the archives room is likely to be clues about the NPC's death, so it is not a good idea to let Shao Qiu Shui go with him.

Ah Xiu looked at Shen Yubo who was beside her. Shen Yubo hesitated for a moment, then said to Gu Qiufeng, "I'm sorry, I'm worried about Ah Xiu being outside alone."

Yu Chiang said, "I have other things to do."

Gu Qiufeng nodded: "Okay, I'll go then. Fenghe, you take care of Shao."

"Sir." Feng He said, obviously disagreeing.

Gu Qiufeng then patted his head soothingly and said, "Don't worry, if there is real danger, I will use my skills."

The laundry room passed peacefully.

It was not until the elevator reached the first floor that Gu Qiufeng relaxed a little.

After three cycles, the first erroneous death node finally passed.

Judging from the reactions of the bald man and the cheongsam woman, the time of TE achievement of each NPC should be different, so there will be a timeline gap. The timeline of the bald man and the cheongsam woman is obviously higher than that of Gu Qiufeng, and the TE ending time of the bald man NPC should be earlier than that of the cheongsam woman. At present, his number of cycles should be the most among all known players of Gu Qiufeng.

At the same time, the amount of information known is also the most.

Each NPC has a TE ending in a different time period. If they die outside of the time period, the cycle will repeat itself like Gu Qiufeng. However, if they take the wrong branch during the NPC ending period, for example, the NPC should have survived but died instead, they will be counterattacked like the bald man and the cheongsam woman, ending the cycle and officially dying.

Gu Qiufeng can even infer from the current amount of information that his NPC's TE ending should be achieved earlier than Shen Yubo's, because he has one more timeline than Shen Yubo.

"I'm going to the library." Shao Qiu Shui said weakly, "There are a lot of people there, maybe it's less dangerous to sit down."

Gu Qiufeng responded: "Okay."

Anyway, in his opinion, there is no safe place in this campus full of weird students, and it is the same no matter where you go.

But it’s better not to tell Shao Qiu Shui about this.

After saying goodbye to Shao Qiu Shui and Feng He, Gu Qiufeng first went to the dormitory management office to check out the place.

This is mainly because the place where the files are stored is locked, and according to Shao Qiu Shui, the key is in the hands of the dormitory manager.

Gu Qiufeng thought that he would first observe the temperament of the NPC dormitory manager. If he was difficult to deal with, he would bring Shen Yubo or Yu Chiang with him next time.

The side of the first-floor corridor facing the outside was made transparent, and the sunlight from outside poured in, creating a fine golden halo at the door of the dormitory manager's apartment.

After trying to knock a few times, Gu Qiufeng found that no one answered.

He thought to himself, what a coincidence! Why not just go in and see what good things are stored inside the dormitory?

Just when Gu Qiufeng was standing at the door of the dormitory manager's apartment, wondering how to get in, a hoarse female voice suddenly came from behind him: "What are you looking at?"↓

Gu Qiufeng looked back and saw a middle-aged woman wearing bright red pajamas and playing opera on a cell phone.

"Are you one of the students who moved in?" asked the middle-aged woman.

Gu Qiufeng noticed that her eyes were very cloudy, as if they were soaked in a pool of yellow water.

Although the copy did not specify the season, Shen Yubo and Shao Qiu Shui were both wearing skirts, and Yu Chiang was wearing a sweatshirt and shorts, so it was obviously not winter. However, the middle-aged woman in front of him wrapped herself tightly from head to toe in thick pajamas.

"Teacher, I just moved in." Gu Qiufeng said, "Can I borrow the key to the archive room?"

Unexpectedly, the dormitory manager was quite easy to talk to. He didn't even ask Gu Qiufeng what he was doing with the keys. He just said "um" and took out a bunch of keys from his waistband.

Her hands looked older than her age, like dry, wrinkled bark.

"Give."

The dormitory manager took out a small key and handed it to Gu Qiufeng, then put the key chain back on his waistband.

The keys collided together, making a series of crisp tinkling sounds.

"Don't lose your keys. Don't mess up the archives room." The dormitory manager said slowly, "Don't make noise or fight, and don't play with fire in the archives room. It will cause a fire."

She kept talking and panting, giving people the illusion that she might faint at any time.

Gu Qiufeng made way for the dormitory manager and watched her open the door of the apartment with the key.

The sleeves of her pajamas hung loosely on the dormitory manager's wrists.

Gu Qiufeng raised his eyes slightly and saw the empty, thin white bones in his sleeves.

"Anything else?" Before entering the room, the dormitory manager looked up at Gu Qiufeng who had not left yet.

Gu Qiufeng quickly retracted his gaze and respectfully showed an extremely sincere smile: "Thank you, teacher."

*

The archive room had been in disrepair for a long time. As soon as Gu Qiufeng opened it, the whole old and corrupt smell rushed over with a gloomy wind, as if trying to drive him away.

Like the laundry room, all the windows were tightly covered with bright red goose velvet curtains. The room was dull and dark, shrouded in a layer of blood.

Several rows of large iron shelves are neatly displayed in the archive room, piled with densely packed file boxes.

Gu Qiufeng took a look and felt a little headache.

How can so many people live in one apartment?

He walked a few steps inside and found that there was white paper on the edge of each shelf, with the year marked with a big red marker.

It turns out that the information of all students was collected.

Gu Qiufeng found this year's shelf.

The shelves are divided into twelve layers in total, and each layer contains files for one month.

Gu Qiufan fanned his nose to smell the strange smell.

A question suddenly occurred to him.

Is the time in the copy exactly the same as in reality?

Although there is a clock in the dungeon, it only shows the current time.

What month is it in the copy?

If what Shen Yubo said was true, the prototype of this copy was taken from the fire at Yucheng University half a year ago. So were they in half a year ago, or now?

Gu Qiufeng gently rubbed the tip of his tongue with his teeth.

Although the dormitory manager's attitude was so nice, Gu Qiufeng did not forget the "kind reminder" she kept repeating.

It was obvious that he couldn't stay in this archive room for long. If something came out, and Gu Qiufeng accidentally violated the regulations, who knows what bad things would happen.

He decided to start by looking for files by current date.

As soon as he opened the file box with the most recent date, Gu Qiufeng saw a personal information form.

"Shen Yuxiu, Department of History".

Guessed it right.

Gu Qiufeng breathed a sigh of relief. He did not read Shen Yuxiu's information for long, but quickly flipped through the pages, trying to find Shao Qiu Shui from the dance department.

Each person's personal information is a thick page, which includes basic information such as college, class, age, as well as a description of the university, achievements and awards, and even a class photo.

Except for the important NPCs, everyone else in the photo has black holes on their faces.

Gu Qiufeng quickly flipped to the bottom of the file and finally saw Shao Qiu Shui's information.

Compared to others, Shao Qiu Shui's information is thicker.

He scanned the pages quickly.

"Dance Department Shao Qiushui

Age 19

"Secretary of the League Committee of Class 3, Second Year of National Dance"

Below is a series of awards Shao Qiu Shui has received.

Shao Qiu Shui has been practicing dancing since she was young, and has also participated in various competitions since she was young. It seems a bit suffocating because the time of various awards is not much different, and there is almost no rest time.

This personal profile clearly records Shao Qiu Shui's experiences since kindergarten, including which school she attended, her position, awards, grades and even the evaluation of her class teacher.

It's densely packed, yet a little scary.

It seemed as if Shao Qiu Shui had been quietly observed by invisible cameras from the very beginning.

The awards took up three pages, and if you flipped further, you would see Shao Qiu Shui’s family situation.

"My father has been a long-term alcoholic and domestic abuser. He has a record of multiple traffic violations and assaults on neighbors and pedestrians, but he has a long history of mental illness, so he has not committed a criminal offense. He is currently unemployed."

Gu Qiufeng frowned slightly.

This doesn't seem like a university registering the information of its students. This is a bit over the bottom line.

He continued reading.

"According to observation, Shao Qiushui's father was diagnosed with mental illness in xx. Before that year, his father was engaged in psychological diagnosis and was a highly respected authority in the industry."

"When Shao Qiushui was 17 years old, his father died, and the cause of the death was an overdose of diazepam tablets."

"My mother is a musical actress and often goes on tour abroad, so she leaves my child at my grandparents' house."

"His mother was a patient of his father and suffered from bipolar disorder."

"According to monitoring, Shao Qiushui does not have any symptoms related to mental illness, is mentally healthy, has excellent personal qualities, excellent academic performance, and is well-rounded in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor development."

"But Shao Qiushui's relationship with his mother seems to be at odds. Because his father used to gamble, the family is heavily in debt and not financially well off. Shao Qiushui's grants and scholarships should have all been used to supplement the family income."

Gu Qiufeng read it but didn't find any useful information, and felt inexplicably irritated.

What kind of university would dig into a student's life so carefully?

Gu Qiufeng stopped reading and turned two pages back.

What followed were some photos of Shao Qiu Shui, including class photos and photos of him winning awards at events.

The last page is a photo of Shao Qiu Shui's family of three, but it is not in color due to printing.

In black and white, Shao Qiu Shui, still a little girl, stood in front of a couple with superior looks.

Gu Qiufeng took a look and was about to look away when he was suddenly stunned.

He quickly flipped back to some photos of Shao Qiu Shui's activities during his college years.

There was a rustling sound of paper pages in the quiet archive room.

Gu Qiufeng slowly held his breath and looked at the stitches on Shao Qiu Shui's neck that were becoming increasingly obvious.

The girl in the photo has a bright expression, and around her stitched neck there is always a pair of charred hands from fire.

Those photos seemed to have been paved with a gray filter by the years. Under this filter, not to mention the dark faces of other people, even Shao Qiu Shui's bright face added a bit of cold and weird feeling.

Judging from her childhood photos, the suture marks on her neck first appeared in elementary school. Shao Qiu Shui wore a red scarf with the Young Pioneers logo and grinned with her toothless mouth and made a "yeah" gesture to the photo.

The charred hands had not yet appeared on her neck at that time.

Even when Shao Qiu Shui was a junior high school student, the girl was still childish, with a high ponytail without bangs, and the stitches on her neck were more obvious.

While she was wearing her school uniform, a pair of charred, mummified hands vaguely circled her shoulders.

When he was in college, those hands got closer and closer to Shao Qiu Shui's neck.

The girl has grown up and has learned how to put on delicate makeup and dress appropriately for herself, and she smiles just the right way to the camera.

She smiled sweetly, but the stitches on her neck were shocking.

And a pair of mummified hands had already grabbed her neck.

Suddenly, a long sound of music came from the distance, probably indicating that the afternoon class was about to end.

Afternoon classes at university usually end at around five or six, basically when the sun is about to set, so it’s best not to linger in the ghost world until dark.

Gu Qiufeng sorted out several copies of personal information. The capacity of a file box was limited, with only six copies in total. It was estimated that there was another file box containing the NPCs that the players were responsible for.

He planned to find the NPC in charge of the bald man or the cheongsam woman and look at their biographical information.

Just as Gu Qiufeng stuffed the file box back, he suddenly saw a pair of charred hands taking the file box away from the other side of the shelf.

A pair of cloudy, bloodshot eyes slowly turned in the gap and looked at Gu Qiufeng.