Chapter 284 Crimson Mirror

"I'll pay for it."

The clown's voice was a little unclear through the blood film. Before Xu Zhiyan could figure out the payment code, the person in front of him disappeared.

"Thanks……"

As soon as he uttered the first word of "thank you for your patronage", it was drowned out by other voices.

In a flash, the sound of metal weapons colliding was heard!

After a 'clang' sound, there was a 'cracking' sound, and something cracked.

Xu Zhiyan closed his mouth, stuffed the payment code back into his bag, turned around and saw that the light blue cover around the astrologer had been shattered by the sharp black flying knife.

The clown disappeared, and only the astrologer with a tense expression stood there.

Her fingers were holding a prop that looked like a star disk. The disk was finely crafted, with twelve grooves inlaid on the outermost edge, and a shiny silver bead hanging above each groove.

The shattering of the light blue light shield caused the color of one of the silver beads to fade a lot.

The next second, a black figure as fast as lightning sneaked up to the woman's side silently. When Xu Zhiyan saw the clown's expressionless face clearly, the astrologer's second protective shield was also broken.

The silver beads on the star disk became dimmer.

After one blow, the clown disappeared again.

Through a layer of blood film, the sound of blood was mixed with a hint of surprise.

"The attack is OK."

The comments were made in an inexplicable tone from a superior.

Two rounds of attacks were completed in the blink of an eye. The clown's movements were not fancy, and each attack was purposeful and highly targeted, penetrating the astrologer's defensive props.

Xu Zhiyan finally repaired his language system: "You call this okay?"

Too fast.

Is this the strength of the players at the top of the leaderboard?

Not only the clown, but the astrologer also reacted quickly. The moment one layer of protective shield was cut into pieces, the second layer was added.

But she was still a step too late.

The Star Disk's protective shield could never be stacked up to two layers. Whenever the second layer began to be stacked, the Joker would have already shattered the original layer.

While the two were talking, a silver bead on the star disk went out because it had run out of power.

During this period, the clown repeated the original attack eight times without missing a single time. For the first time, Xu Zhiyan intuitively realized the difference between an offensive player and a supporting player.

If a weaker player came, eight of his heads would have been twisted off by the clown.

It wasn't just Xu Zhiyan who was shocked.

When they left the ruins and appeared in the museum corridor, the live broadcast room that lit up at the same time made the audience stunned for a moment.

[Damn, it feels like I haven't seen the Ugly Emperor for a long time.]

[Not only that! I feel like I haven’t seen Xiao Baiwan for a long time. 】

【? ? Upstairs, wake up a little. Didn’t we just see Xiao Baiwan this morning? I want to know why he came to the museum from the hotel.】

Since the live broadcast was always disconnected, the audience could not follow Xu Zhiyan’s perspective and had no idea what was happening.

But everyone understood that the Joker and the Astrologer were fighting again.

[The fateful battle has finally come! 】

[No! I don’t think Sister Zhan has a chance of winning! ]

[Aren't you talking nonsense? The Ugly Emperor is a well-known single-target strong attack output, and is most suitable for attacking in a small area. If we ignore the ranking, he and the Moon Goddess should be able to fight. ]

[+1, Astrologer is an AoE type after all. ]

[Wait! Don't make any predictions yet. I want to know what the tents around are? Clown flags?]

[Yes... this floor of the museum has been destroyed, why hasn't the punishment been imposed yet? This is so strange, is there a system bug? ]

In the blood film, Xu Zhiyan asked the same question as the audience.

"Didn't they say that there would be punishment for destroying buildings? These two people have been beaten to such a state, why hasn't the system punished them yet?"

He watched closely from the side, hoping to take advantage of the opportunity.

Based on the previous reactions of the players, it can be guessed that destroying things in the museum will be severely punished. Now an entire floor has been smashed. Can't two people who are not in harmony be struck by lightning?

If both of them died accidentally, he would collect the bodies and take back some supplies as a reward.

If the two people were seriously injured and unable to move, he could also provide some help and get some rewards.

Although the clown is dead and he may lose 500,000 points, the weird mask is a 2S prop and should not disappear so easily. At most it will be damaged. When the time comes, he will have the prop and it will not be a problem to pay for it.

Who would have thought that after waiting for so long, the two people fighting were still enjoying themselves and there was nothing wrong at all.

"……Oh."

Xu Zhiyan didn't wait for the answer from the blood, only a cold snort.

Hearing the other party's awkward mockery, he reached out and poked the blood film: "What's wrong?"

The pink membrane was poked and a bulge appeared. The blood hesitated for a moment, and was poked a few more times before it answered reluctantly.

"The damage to the museum is not determined by who caused the damage, but by who is more powerful within the area..." Its voice became smaller and smaller, and disgust and contempt almost overflowed from its words.

Xu Zhiyan withdrew his hand, and his pupils trembled slightly.

"Wait! So you're saying that now the punishment falls on you?"

There is no way anyone in the area could be stronger than Ghost Slice.

No wonder the small ATM ran away before dawn on the eighth floor. Just now in the ruins world, the blood was blurry and we had to wait a little longer.

Hearing the hint of worry and heartache in Xu Zhiyan's voice, the blood pressed down the excitement in his heart, and he said disdainfully.

"Small problem, but you can't come out until we get past the sculpture."

The sculptures on the square are the boundaries.

It just needs to leave.

Hearing Blood's arrogant speech, Xu Zhiyan immediately turned around and looked for the stairs.

Damn, the clown's props broke so many walls, and the battle with the astrologer damaged a lot of things. How much power would Slice have to consume to offset the punishment!

When he thought of this slightly perverted but obedient child doing voluntary labor, he felt his heart was bleeding.

Before Xu Zhiyan could move to the stairs, Xuefeng seemed to remember something and reminded him hesitantly.

"Do you still want your human teammates?"

"ah?"

Xu Zhiyan, who had already touched the handrail, paused.

What does that mean? What do you mean by "do you want more?" Jiang Huai and Yu Xiu are not cabbages picked up from the roadside, so of course they want it!

The blood film squirmed, and the sound of the blood was somewhat disappointed.

"It's so troublesome. The embedded attack range of the small mask is a bit large. I thought you were going to protect them just now... Never mind. Anyway, if we leave now, the whole museum will be shattered."

Before, it saw Xu Zhiyan staring at the fight between the two people in a trance, and thought that they would continue to watch for a long time, so when the out-of-control system's attack came down, it fought back fiercely.

The stronger the attack, the stronger the rebound.

Although half of its power was sealed, these attacks were not a big problem for Blood. It felt that it could accompany Xu Zhiyan from day to night.

Oh, from the scorching sun to the sunset sky, and then to the starry sky and the Milky Way, how romantic it is!

Someone who had already started drafting a love poem in his mind, without explaining too much just now, was now thinking about the punishment after the enhancement, and he came up with a brilliant idea.

"How about this, you don't need to keep the two humans in the mirror. I'll make you two new ones."

In order to prove its strength, it expressed it confidently.

"I guarantee that they will be stronger than your two current teammates." After saying that, Blood waited happily for Xu Zhiyan's answer. It felt that this method was simply perfect.

"…Pinch? Pinch two new ones?"

Xu Zhiyan could hardly believe his ears.

What the hell! When his teammates died, he made two new ones to replace them! Hearing the smugness in the man's arrogant tone, Xu Zhiyan felt his temples throbbing.

This guy is quite proud?

He suppressed the shock in his heart, patted his cheek and calmed down.

"No, we need to think about this matter carefully."

Retracting his hand that had already touched the stair railing, Xu Zhiyan tiptoed back to the corner where he had been hiding to watch the fight, and sat down against the wall with his knees hugged.

"How could a system attack destroy the entire museum?" Isn't this the lair of the out-of-control system?

"It's just some concrete power. It can be rebuilt if broken. The mirror is just a channel." The blood did not tell the other party that it had fought with the out-of-control system many times before.

The base point of the Scarlet Hotel dungeon is time.

The Möbius strip sculpture, representing countless reincarnations, was created by him.

The base point of the museum's copy is the mirror.

The mirror is not that strong, but the image will always replicate some power, so it is not that easy to destroy.

"Souls that have completely turned into mirrors will be directly reshaped into mirrors, but humans who have not yet turned into mirrors will be trapped in the ruins world forever."

It doesn't care much about the fate of the remaining humans.

"Oh, if you want, I can also reshape a few for you, the dog owner." The out-of-control system replicated its appearance and made it into a monster, but as a price, the blood also gained some of the mirror's abilities.

"No! No! No need!"

Xu Zhiyan tried to stop him.

My goodness, he really wanted to open the bloody skull and see what was inside!

However, through the blood, he did have some guesses about his companions.

It is currently known that the system often inserts NPCs into out-of-control copies. Combined with the kitten's experience, these companions cannot be alive. It is likely that they died outside and were sent in by the main system as a connection.

Yes, this is an out-of-control copy. If there is no associated person, the player may not even get the initial news.

Just thinking about the NPCs who would be pulled here to continue being used as tools after death, Xu Zhiyan felt somewhat contemptuous of the main system.

Fearing that Xue Xue would say something weird again, he quickly changed the subject: "There's one thing I can't figure out. Since those props are going to be thrown into the ruins world, why can they only be thrown into one world?"

Yu Xiu's mood was too calm, and he failed to open the space backpack as prompted, but Jiang Huaique's props were thrown wherever he went.

“There’s so much space…”

Shouldn't it be thrown evenly?

The blood didn't seem to have thought about this question, but it had come into contact with the two systems that were fighting in the copy, and after a little thought it gave the answer.

"It doesn't matter which world you throw it in. You only need to throw one of those things."

The operating principle is the same, so it doesn’t really require that much.

"I've seen what you threw. Theoretically, you only need three. One in the hotel, one in the museum, and the last one can be thrown randomly in the small world."

As for the main system wanting to reclaim the hotel where it was entrenched, Blood didn't care.

Anyway, they were planning to pack up and go find the main body soon. The hotel had been worn out and only a shell was left without any NPCs, so it didn't have the spare time to block the main system.

Xu Zhiyan was stunned when he heard this.

Perhaps it was the businessman's keen sense of smell that made him realize the problem quickly. He always speculated about the main system that was incompetent with the greatest malice.

Triple the number of guild items will greatly increase the difficulty of completion. If all players' items are interoperable, then no matter how these things are placed, they can definitely reach the three required by the main system. However, if the task is not completed, the player will not get the reward.

“…What a dog.”

Xu Zhiyan smacked his lips and frowned.

Suddenly, he thought of something and muttered softly, "It's a pity that I found out too late. If the main system already knew that I knew about this, I'm afraid -"

"It doesn't know."

The blood interrupted Xu Zhiyan's muttering.

"You are safe with me, and the contents of the blood film will not be known to others."

Xu Zhiyan was stunned.

This sentence seemed familiar, and he couldn't help but think of Doctor Bai in the previous world. When he fell ill, the slice that was most similar to a ghost hugged him and kept comforting him, saying "It's safe here."

But the subtle touch didn't last long.

What Blood said next sounded like he deserved a beating.

"So in the blood membrane, you can't resist anything I do to you. Well, that means I am relatively upright."

“…”

Xu Zhiyan couldn't help but hold his forehead.

Damn it, how could he mistake this perverted tsundere who spends every day in a pool of blood and walks his bird with Dr. Bai? The personalities of these two people are really different!

Listening to Xueliu's words that hinted at seeking credit, Xu Zhiyan stroked his hair in a familiar way and gave a perfunctory compliment: "Yeah, so can you, who is honest, tell me how to get my teammates and others out of the ruins world?"

Should he wake up? But he felt that Jiang Huaiqie had realized that something was wrong with the world, but why didn't he wake up?

This question is a bit difficult.

Blood thought for a moment before answering hesitantly.

"It's difficult. I don't think the main system intends to let people who go in come out alive."

Unlike the circus area it had just entered, the world of ruins was tightly sealed, and even it had no way to enter and exit freely, not to mention that there seemed to be nothing worth traveling through.

"Maybe some ruined worlds still have some power left? For example, the cornerstone items of a dungeon, or the broken heart of the world... Tsk, they're all garbage."

It was as arrogant as ever and was very disdainful of this.

"If you need, I can help you replicate all the people who enter the mirror."

The implication is that the people inside may not be able to leave on their own.

After listening to this, Xu Zhiyan pursed his lips and did not answer.

He quickly called up the guild dialog box and started typing rapidly on it.

[Did you realize that...]

Suddenly, his fingers stopped.

"If, I mean, if they 'wake up' more obviously, can they definitely leave like the clowns?" Xu Zhiyan asked.

If Blood's speculation is true, the players who were sucked in will not be able to escape from the ruins even if they wake up in a world without gaps. Wouldn't it be even more dangerous to see the real players?

Blood's words and Jiang Huai's news appeared at the same time.

"uncertain."

[Xu Ba Pi! I really saw a ghost!]

Damn, is the Jianghuai Partridge awake?

Xu Zhiyan was stunned and quickly started a conversation with the other party.

…

In the ruins world.

Jiang Huaique sat at his workstation, his whole body tense.

One hour ago.

After much hesitation, he left early to place the props and went to a hotel near the office building under the pretext of feeling unwell.

When he placed the food in an empty corner, the cooks who were supposed to be cooking in the kitchen all ran to him for some reason, surrounded him and stared at him.

He almost fled back to the company.

But there are problems in the company too.

His colleagues were acting more and more strange. Every few minutes, someone would come to ask him why he didn't eat the snacks his sister brought. Was it because he didn't like them?

Jiang Huai Que felt puzzled.

The reason he didn't eat at first was because he wanted to finish his work, and later it was because he forgot.

But no matter what, what does it have to do with these people whether he eats or not?

Once the seeds of doubt are planted.

The anomaly becomes more and more obvious.

Finally, he couldn't bear it anymore and grabbed the package of plums, opened it and ate one, then reached into the bag and fumbled out a bottle of drink.

Ah, it’s the brand that I couldn’t bear to buy yesterday. It costs more than ten yuan a bottle, which is too luxurious.

The food my sister sent me is really delicious...

No, that's not right.

Some memories exploded in my mind.

It shouldn't be like this.

In order to buy back their parents' house as soon as possible, he and his sister were extremely frugal on weekdays. Not to mention snacks, even when celebrating holidays, they only bought discounted dishes and cheap soda in the supermarket.

The two of them had been poor before, and the elder sister was even more frugal than him, wishing to spend every penny carefully.

He looked down at the drink in his hand, his eyes becoming dazed.

How could my sister possibly send such an expensive gift...

Suddenly, he found that the liquid in the drink began to become turbid, and soon, the red viscous liquid filled the bottle, and after churning for a while, even an eyeball popped out.

Jiang Huaique's hand holding the soda shook and he felt a little uncomfortable in his stomach.

“Boom—”

The soda fell to the ground, and the eyeballs inside rolled a few times, then floated up again, staring at him.

No, something's wrong.

Jiang Huaiqie was breathing heavily and wanted to say something.

But when he turned around, he noticed that no matter where his colleagues were, their eyes were vaguely on him.

He forced himself to calm down.

calm……

The enhanced five senses come in handy at this moment.

Jiang Huaique heard an almost inaudible sound in the crowd.

"Does he know?"

"He's not in the right state..."

"But my sister came here, he should be comforted."

"Look again, look again."

"He didn't."

"He didn't look like he noticed anything."

Jiang Huai Que was shocked.

More memories flooded into his brain like a marquee.

That was a few years later.

His sister disappeared for a few days and came back soaking wet one rainy night, and told him solemnly that he was not allowed to walk alone in the future. At that time, he didn't know why, nor did he understand why his sister didn't call the police, until he was also forced to enter the infinite game.

Everything happened suddenly, but fate would not give him time to adapt.

Luckily, he and his sister were quite adaptable, especially him, whose naturally powerful body prevented him from dying quickly in the early stages of the game.

Game points come faster than real-world salary.

They soon made enough money to buy back their parents' house.

Yes, the wish came true...

Although the process and the future are bleak, this at least provides some psychological comfort for the two.

My sister is very powerful and talented. She quickly awakened her characteristics. Although they are not eye-catching attributes, the skills she awakened also made my sister a better player.

Jiang Huai Que never awakened his characteristics, but he was very satisfied.

Later, my sister died.

Why?

After receiving the news of being number one on the list, this question troubled Jiang Huaique for a long time.

It’s obvious that his sister is so much better than him, it’s obvious that his sister has awakened her special characteristics, and it’s obvious...it’s obvious that he is the one who should die.

He didn't understand, and he still doesn't understand until now.

The cell phone vibrated, interrupting Jiang Huaiqie's memories.

It’s news from Xu Zhiyan.

He was stunned for a moment, picked up the soda that fell on the ground, patted the dust off it as if nothing had happened, and put it back on the table.

Don't think about it.

His teammates are still waiting for him.

In the eyes of Jiang Huaique who had regained his memory, the surrounding scene changed again. The correct scene and the real ruins merged together, and his colleagues became half human and half red monsters.

[I remember.]

[It's a little troublesome now, don't worry, I'll tell you if I can't handle it.]

He was not sure whether Xu Zhiyan had encountered any trouble outside, and he thought he could try to solve the problem first.

In the live broadcast room, the audience screamed.

[My old swan, I think the current state is worse than pure monster mode! ]

[The male mother's memory has been restored, so there may be some deviation in the perception of the world. ]

【Ah——I’m dead.】

[Fuck! Don’t look at Xiao Jiang anymore, go look at Xiao Baiwan!]

In the museum corridor.

Xu Zhiyan, who was leaning against the wall, stood up after reading the message from his teammates, and kept making plans in his mind.

"Can I talk to a system that's out of control?"

Although the blood was puzzled, it gave an affirmative answer.

"If you want."

Xu Zhiyan nodded.

It’s good to be able to communicate, and being able to communicate means more possibilities.

Jiang Huaique recovered his memory and did not leave the ruined world. Fortunately, he did not seem to be in any danger of life for the time being. Since the main system is unkind, don't blame him for being unjust.

Next, he must maximize his interests while protecting the lives of his companions.

He reached out and touched the blood film, his voice filled with impatience: "Be good and listen to my instructions later."

The blood did not answer, but the color of the entire blood film turned a lot redder. It was obvious that it was very pleased with Xu Zhiyan's sweet words.

In the corridor, the battle between the Astrologer and the Joker continues.

The astrologer is clearly at a disadvantage, but she has countless props in her hands, and it is difficult for the Joker to kill her easily. He needs more time.

Right at this moment!

A translucent barrier suddenly appeared, separating the two people.

The unretracted attack landed on the blood-colored barrier without making any sound, as if it had been digested.

“Pah, pah, pah—”

Xu Zhiyan clapped his hands to make a noise, forcing the two people who were fighting to stop what they were doing and look at him.

"Good afternoon. Although this is a bit sudden, I still think I should inform you two."

His voice came through a layer of membrane, a little muffled.

"In order not to disturb your fight, I will make it short."

"Your fight triggered the punishment mechanism, and my items are offsetting these punishments. If nothing unexpected happens, you will die as soon as I leave."

Xu Zhiyan gave a standard smile.

"How much do you two plan to pay for your lives?"

The Astrologer did not give up the fight, not necessarily because he had no backup plan. The Joker definitely did not want to die in the copy, and it would be great if the two men could bid. These two men looked very rich, and he was looking forward to it.

He wants to make money from the system, but he can't let go of the players' money either!