Chapter 377 Rusty City Strange Stories

[You cannot leave the factory until the instance is finished.]

This note from Gan Mi was written very simply. The paper didn't feel special and there were no hints on it.

But apart from the contents of the note, Xu Zhiyan did not find any rules preventing him from going out.

Leaning against the mountain of goods at the factory door, Xu Zhiyan couldn't help but throw the crumpled note into the ingredient testing instrument.

"Unknown ingredients?"

He raised an eyebrow and put the things away.

The result was a little unexpected, but it made sense when you think about it carefully.

How could something that can restrict individual players in a copy be an ordinary thing? It is normal that the ingredients cannot be detected. If they can be detected, then wouldn't he be able to mass-produce rules?

But now we don’t know whether Gan Mi found this note in the factory or got it from the props.

The brighter the place, the darker the shadows. At the factory gate, Qi Shanren put down the box and ran back to Xu Zhiyan, as if there was a monster in the darkness around him that wanted to eat him.

The audience in the live broadcast room were a little confused when they saw this scene and had not yet reacted.

[Is Xiao Baiwan grounded? 】

[Strange, he didn't trigger any mechanism, right? ]

[If I hadn’t just seen Xiao Baiwan really hit an air wall, I would have thought he was avoiding work.]

[Go, go, go, Xiao Baiwan is still very conscientious in treating customers. ]

[But no matter what, not being able to leave the factory will still have an impact, right? Don't forget that players still have the mission of the city rescue team. ]

However, the angry and yelling that everyone imagined did not occur.

Except for the slight frown at the beginning, Xu Zhiyan soon relaxed his expression and a faint smile appeared on his face again.

At this point, he was calmer than anyone else, and even wanted to ask Gan Mi where the thing came from...

If it is a replica, there must be more.

As for the props? The possibility is relatively small. The props that can change the rules must be expensive. Is Gan Mi crazy to change the rules for him?

Xu Zhiyan was unable to leave the factory, and the task of shipping finally fell on Qi Shanren's shoulders.

After only two moves, Qi Shanren was almost soaked in cold sweat, sitting on a large cardboard box and panting heavily.

"Bored?" Xu Zhiyan handed over a bottle of energy drink with a smile.

Qi Shanren took the bottle and drank half of it, then shook his head and said, "No, no... I just feel like someone is always watching me. The monsters outside the cafeteria must be around here too."

Although he hadn't heard anyone calling him yet, Qi Shanren had already prepared himself mentally.

The pain of being dismembered before was too intense. Now he was extremely alert and determined not to let himself become so miserable again!

“Boom—”

He threw the empty bottle aside, patted his cheeks to build up his courage, and once again carried the box full of handicrafts out of the factory gate...

The night deepens.

The number of cartons is reduced little by little.

The thick fog appeared quietly at some point, but the strange thing was that the fog only appeared outside the factory, while the factory area separated by a door was still as peaceful as before.

Xu Zhiyan looked down at the time. Well, it was twelve o'clock. It was time for the monsters to appear.

Qi Shanren, who returned from the fog, was even more trembling than before. As he entered the door, his legs went weak and he almost collapsed to the ground. He barely managed to stand by holding on to the box.

"Boss Xu, Boss Xu...the monster we saw in the cafeteria today seems to have appeared again!" He pointed at the thick fog and swallowed nervously while speaking in an attempt to relieve the pressure.

But there are still quite a few boxes, and if I insist on moving them, I will probably have to make more than ten trips back and forth.

Seeing the customer so nervous, Xu Zhiyan thought for a moment and decided to achieve the most perfect effect with the least effort.

"Don't worry, the monsters outside can't hurt you at all."

Xu Zhiyan quickly analyzed the reason and took out the night shift sign-in book and opened it.

From the time and names above, it can be seen that although the two people on night shift often skip work, their names are written from the first page of the sign-in book until yesterday.

"What does this mean? It means that as long as you follow the rules, even ordinary NPCs won't die!"

Xu Zhiyan's solemn voice finally calmed down the frightened Qi Shanren.

"Xiao Qi, we are players. You have the items I placed on you. You have also entered a five-star dungeon. Both your physical and mental qualities are better than those of NPCs."

"What have the NPCs here seen? They may have spent their entire lives in a small dungeon. What about you?"

"You've been through so many dangerous things and survived. Would you be scared by such a small mental impact? What's more, we still have the tools to solve the problem."

While continuing to talk, Xu Zhiyan did not forget to take out the remaining drink that could restore the rust spots on the body.

“You have to believe that you can accomplish the task.”

Seeing that Qi Shanren had recovered a lot, Xu Zhiyan continued: "Besides, I can't leave the factory this time, so I can only rely on you."

Qi Shanren felt a little dazed after hearing this encouragement. Although he felt like a weakling, he relied on luck to get out of the five-star copy alive.

But...but anyway, he still has the props and the things to deal with the rust.

And most importantly, no one has ever relied on him in a copy before, and he has always been the one to rely on others.

It turns out...it turns out that he is also a reliable person who can be relied on in the copy?

Xu Zhiyan felt that he had laid the groundwork and was about to say something more exciting to complete this round of encouragement. But before he opened his mouth, he saw Qi Shanren suddenly look serious and pick up the large box beside him.

"Boss Xu, don't worry! I can definitely complete the task!"

“…”

Xu Zhiyan looked at Qi Shanren, who suddenly seemed to be energized, and was stunned for a moment. He had to swallow the brainwashing speech he had already prepared... cough, the encouraging speech.

Although the process was a little different from what he expected, the result was perfect.

Looking at Qi Shanren who was moving boxes out non-stop, Xu Zhiyan laughed for a moment, took a deep breath, and put away his smile.

After comforting Qi Shanren, he also had to do what he should do.

Taking out a pack of biscuits from his pocket, Xu Zhiyan tore open the package, threw a piece on the ground, and waited quietly.

It is written in the manual of Workshop No. 8 that you are not allowed to eat during working hours and craftsmen will not eat. If someone asks you for food, you must refuse it sternly.

Because he had spent a short time in the workshop, Xu Zhiyan did not verify the content of this relevant rule before.

But just after Qi Shanren threw the finished drink aside, he noticed that the remaining boxes were changing. Some of the boxes that were closer even changed direction without touching each other.

Turning his head to look at Qi Shanren who was busy in the thick fog, Xu Zhiyan heard chewing sounds while he was thinking...

That came from the box closest to the cookies.

The sound was so quiet that when Qi Shanren's footsteps sounded, they were completely inaudible.

Xu Zhiyan looked at the box calmly.

In the lonely dark night, a box about the size of a pillow began to move slowly. It moved little by little, and its target location was where the biscuits fell.

As the box moved in front of the biscuits, the sound of packaging being torn was heard again in the air.

Xu Zhiyan tore open a new pack of biscuits and stuffed them into his mouth. The crispy biscuits were crushed by his teeth, making a crunching sound.

Suddenly, a deafening sound rang in his mind.

"I'm so hungry, so hungry, so hungry..."

'I want to eat too, I want to eat too, I want to eat too...'

"I'm so hungry..."

'Please give me some, please give me some, please give me some...'

The strange pleading sounds kept repeating, one after another.

Fortunately, Xu Zhiyan had prepared himself mentally before eating the biscuits. His eyes just widened slightly, but he didn't show anything abnormal.

After a moment, he squinted at the boxes that were approaching him at a speed almost invisible to the naked eye.

Qi Shanren happened to walk in at this time. Without waiting for Xu Zhiyan to stop him, he picked up a box and brought it to the door. He was not affected until he came back.

After making sure that Qi Shanren couldn't hear the voice that sounded like mental pollution, Xu Zhiyan held up the biscuit and spoke slowly.

"If you want to eat, you have to exchange something, right?" He smiled innocently.

The workshop rules state that crafts will not eat food, but the guard booth's handling rules do not give any such instructions.

The only difference between the handicrafts here and those on the conveyor belt is whether they are packaged.

The two security guards had been on night duty for such a long time without any accidents, and there was no shortage of food in the drawer, which meant that there was no danger in eating in front of the packaged handicrafts.

The packaging step is like sealing...

Thinking of this, Xu Zhiyan pursed his lips and took out another bag of biscuits from his pocket.

If packing is a seal, then what about screwing? What about putting stickers on crafts? Are these actions also part of sealing the things inside?

"Tell me why you are hungry. Whoever gives the best answer will get the cookie."

When Qi Shanren came back to move the boxes again, he saw Xu Zhiyan squatting in front of several boxes, shaking biscuits in his hand and mumbling questions.

"Watching, is it... traveling?"

"I just remember that I was short of money... Oh, gray-blue work clothes... Are you a migrant worker?"

“Visiting relatives and friends…”

Qi Shanren was stunned, his expression was very confused.

Xu Zhiyan waved at him, put a biscuit on the top of the box and said, "Go ahead, it's okay, put the biscuit on top too."

Qi Shanren did as he was told.

After a while, there was only one box left, and it was already past one in the morning.

He took up the box with the biscuits on it and left the factory, walking into the fog. With all kinds of noises echoing in his ears, he didn't dare to stop or answer.

After placing the boxes at the labeling area at the door, Qi Shanren looked outside the empty factory and quickened his pace.

Xu Zhiyan sat at the edge of the green belt, holding a biscuit in his hand and biting it occasionally.

Seeing Qi Shanren coming over, he threw a biscuit over and asked, "What's going on outside? Is the box okay?"

"not good."

Qi Shanren held the biscuit and shook his head.

"It seems that when I was moving boxes out, someone else was also taking them away. I, I don't know what's going on."

Xu Zhiyan listened and nodded.

After all the boxes were moved, the fog outside the factory began to dissipate, and soon the outside was illuminated by the street lights with exceptional clarity.

"There's something wrong with these handicrafts. Remember to put away your workshop worker uniforms and don't wear them." He spoke carefully.

Just now, he used food as bait and got a lot of information from the artifacts in the box.

They have memories as people.

Although it is very vague and I can hardly remember any details, this undoubtedly proves that they were most likely human beings before they were made into handicrafts...

But thinking of this, Xu Zhiyan became a little uncertain.

Because he got the same answer from several artifacts. If each person retained a little memory when being made into an artifact, then there is no reason why they would be exactly the same.

Could it be that the factory is not turning living people into handicrafts, but simply replicating their memories?

Just as Xu Zhiyan was thinking about more details and trying to find clues, the sound of speeding wheels was heard outside the factory.

"Bang--"

After the loud noise, a police car with the word "Traffic" on it slammed into the street lamp outside the factory.

The two of them subconsciously looked up and saw the car accident scene.

The situation is too dire.

The extremely fast speed caused the entire car body to be firmly embedded in the street lamp. No body could be seen, only scattered organs that were squeezed and exploded.

Qi Shanren's face turned pale and he almost vomited.

Xu Zhiyan didn't have time to think about it, he quickly opened the guild panel and asked about Jin Sheng's situation.

【Xu Zhiyan: @Jinsheng, are you okay? A driver just crashed and died in front of the factory gate. The situation doesn’t look good.】

The police car with the word "Traffic" printed on it is obviously a car from the Rusty City Traffic Brigade. The dead people are most likely players. It is still unknown what caused the car accident.

Jin Sheng's answer came after a few minutes.

[Jinsheng: The rule here is that you are not allowed to drive at night.]

[Jin Sheng: But the few of us who didn’t violate the rules are not doing well now…]

After those two messages, there was no more news.

Rusty City Traffic Brigade.

The entire scene was in a mess, as if it had been swept through by something. The ground was littered with debris and body parts, blood splattered everywhere, and two heads with their eyes open rolled far away.

Jin Sheng was forced into the corner of the office. He held Xiaoyi in his arms, his whole body tense.

In front of him, Xinan, holding a double-edged knife, pressed a black square on the rule on the table. After a moment, the color of the skin on the back of his right hand changed rapidly, and a raised slot appeared under the simulated skin.

Xinan inserted the diamond into the card slot and took two car keys from the table.

Before leaving, he threw the blood on the double-edged knife onto the wall, walked in front of Jin Sheng, squatted down and looked at him at eye level.

"You are his teammate. I can either not kill you or let you go peacefully." Xinan used an affirmative sentence.

Seeing Jin Sheng holding the summoning box tightly, he said with sarcasm in his tone.

"You don't have to tempt me to do it. Even if the items you set up have decent passive damage, it's still easy for me to kill you. And even if I don't kill you, the people of Utopia will kill you."

"You, him, and him, including the one who just drove the car, no one can escape. I just arrived a little earlier."

He obviously knew more, but he didn't intend to say too much to Jin Sheng.

"Next time you see me, don't attack me first." After saying that, Xinan put away the knife, turned around with the car keys, and prepared to leave.

"I'm only here to find a car... and give him my regards."