Chapter 99: New World Weird Museum.

Welcome to the Museum of Weird Things...

[Mission: Please find the exit and escape from the museum.]

【Time: 12 hours.】

[Number of people: 7]

[Special reminder: The exhibits in the museum are all protected items, please do not damage them.]

Gu Rong stood in the long corridor, which seemed to have no end in front or behind, like an unfathomable tunnel of time and space.

006 said: [Host, the game has been restarted!]

Gu Rong blinked slowly.

Perhaps because he had waited too long, he was unable to respond for a moment.

After pausing for two seconds, Gu Rong was not panicked or frightened by what he saw, but rather felt more expectant.

He took a deep breath, took a step forward, and said, "I'm a player this time?"

006 also realized: "Oh, right, the host is a player this time, not an NPC. But who are the other six players?"

Soon, they found out who the other players were. From somewhere ahead, they heard panicked running, screams, and cries.

"Ahhhh help! Rongzi, Tang Xiaoyue, where are you? Don't leave me alone! What the hell, what the hell, what the hell is this place?!"

006: [……]

Gu Rong: “.”

Gu Rong followed the source of the sound. This corridor seemed to have no end... In fact, it really had no end.

But the sound was extremely clear, as if there was only a wall between them.

The strange thing is that although they can hear the voices, they can't see the people, as if they are separated in two different spaces.

In addition to Zhou Yan's screams, Gu Rong could clearly hear the "dong dong" sound of his shoes stepping on the solid wood floor. The sound was crisp and made the corridor seem even more empty.

Zhou Yan was still yelling, "Oh my god, what's that sound? I'm alone, how can I hear other people's footsteps? Ahhhh, help me, help me!!!"

Gu Rong was not affected at all and continued to walk towards the source of the sound. His steps were orderly, neither hurried nor slow, and he did not show any panic at all.

When they reached a certain place, Gu Rong suddenly reached out and grabbed someone's shoulder accurately.

Then, Zhou Yan's voice cracked with fear as he shouted from the side: "Ahhh, a ghost is trying to catch me..."

“…It’s me.”

Gu Rong grabbed Zhou Yan directly.

The two stood face to face in the same corridor.

Zhou Yan was still gaping, but upon seeing Gu Rong, he instantly fell silent and burst into tears of joy: "Rongzi? Woohoo, that's great! I finally found you! Everyone else suddenly disappeared, I was so scared!"

Gu Rong saw that Zhou Yan was really scared, his whole body was trembling, his eyes were red, and he looked like he was crying from fear.

006: [The host was dragged into this game when he was two years old, and he never got scared and cried. Tsk tsk tsk.]

Gu Rong ignored 006's complaints and gave Zhou Yan a brief explanation.

They were pulled into an infinite game, and they could pass the level by completing system tasks.

Zhou Yan said: "I also heard a voice just now. Is that the system? But why are there only two of us? Where did everyone else go?"

Gu Rong said, "If I'm not mistaken, apart from the seven people who were dragged into the game, everyone else is still in the normal museum."

When Zhou Yan heard this, his face turned pale.

So, they were still in the same place, in the museum, but while the other students were browsing in a normal museum, they were pulled into another dimension.

It’s terrifying when you think about it!

Zhou Yan was still afraid, but seeing Gu Rong was so calm, he could only pretend to be calm: "Rong, Rong, why aren't you afraid?"

Gu Rong said: "Oh, I'm used to it."

Zhou Yan: “?”

Gu Rong patted his shoulder and said, "Don't be afraid. Follow me and I'll help you win."

Zhou Yan: “…”

Rongzai seems to be the legendary max-level boss!

"Rongzi, let's go... the corridor has changed." Zhou Yan said, pointing behind Gu Rong.

Gu Rong looked back and found that the originally dark and endless corridor had turned into a normal winding corridor. There were also more exhibition halls and exhibits in his sight. It was very similar to the museum in the real world, but not exactly the same.

Museums in the real world are divided into two floors, while this museum is divided into Hall 1 and Hall 2. Between the two halls is a smooth artificial lake with a pavilion in the middle of the lake.

The place where Gu Rong and the other person were standing was right at the exit of Hall 1, and they could see the artificial lake and the entrance to Hall 2.

There is a sign next to it showing the museum route map. There are six exhibition halls in total, and the location of each exhibition hall is marked.

Gu Rong retracted his gaze and said, "Let's go and start from Pavilion No. 1."

Zhou Yan: "Look, what are you looking at?"

Gu Rong smiled with curved eyes: "Look at the exhibits."

Zhou Yan: “…”

*

Of course, the purpose of visiting a museum is to see the exhibits.

Zhou Yan followed Gu Rong in a daze the whole time, looking like a cannon fodder.

The two came to the first exhibition hall. Originally, the exhibits in the first exhibition hall were porcelain from various dynasties, but this time the porcelain was gone, and instead, human sculptures in various postures were displayed.

These sculptures are so lifelike and vivid that they look almost real.

Zhou Yan asked, "Are these all ancient people?"

When Gu Rong saw these sculptures, he thought of the copy of "Mental Hospital" and the living sculptures that Prometheus placed in the library.

Strangely enough, even though so much time had passed, Gu Rong still remembered every detail of the game with remarkable clarity. The longer time passed, the more vivid the memory.

Gu Rong didn't tell Zhou Yan that these were most likely living sculptures, for fear that he would shout again.

Gu Rong stopped in front of a row of sculptures.

There are five sculptures displayed side by side in front of him. What attracts Gu Rong is the shapes of these five sculptures.

In the middle was a nun with half of her hair covered. In the exposed half of her head was a dead fetus with skinny limbs and a grinning mouth.

The first person on the nun's left was an oversized, bristly giant holding a bristle brush. The second person on the left was a priest with long silver hair, a handsome face, and lowered brows, exuding a divine aura of salvation.

The first on the right is an old man with a proud, eyeless face and sunken eyes. A single blood-red eye juts out from the palm of his raised right hand. The second on the right is half a skeleton and half a handsome man, with a long tongue wrapped around his neck, like a hodgepodge of creatures.

006 said: [Host, these are the five administrators of the Mental Hospital dungeon.]

You don't need to recognize it, you can see it at a glance.

Gu Rong pondered for a moment and said, "I think I know what the exhibits in the other exhibition halls are."

006 said: [That's right. Since the first exhibition hall is associated with the first instance, the other exhibition halls should be associated with the other four instances.]

Then he was puzzled again: [But there are six exhibition halls in total, but only five copies. What is the remaining exhibition hall for?]

Gu Rong said: [Of course it’s the original “Strange Museum.”]

006: [Huh? The original "Strange Museum"?]

Gu Rong said: "Think of the old version of the game as Game 1.0, and the restarted version as Game 2.0. Since the five exhibition halls correspond to the five copies of Game 1.0, where does the original "Weird Museum" go? It can only be stuffed into Exhibition Hall 6."

006 said: [Yes, the host is smart! ]

Gu Rong: [……]

He is not two years old yet, why does he need such praise?

[However.] Gu Rong looked at the sculpture in front of him and said, [We'll have to visit other exhibition halls to find out the details.]

"These sculptures are so lifelike, why don't they put them in glass display cases?"

Zhou Yan's voice attracted Gu Rong's attention.

He leaned in closer to examine the sculptures. "By the way, Rongzi, the system's voice said earlier that we shouldn't damage the exhibits. What if we do damage them?"

Gu Rong spread his hands and said, "Maybe it will have to replace the damaged exhibits and become new exhibits."

Zhou Yan: “…………”

Zhou Yan was originally moving forward, but upon hearing this, he immediately moved away from the sculptures with a grim expression.

If you accidentally knock someone off an arm or leg, you'll have to stand on it and become a sculpture.

This is not just scary!

Just then, footsteps were heard behind the two of them, accompanied by voices.

It's the other five players.

"Huh? The exhibits in this exhibition hall seem to be similar to those in the Mental Hospital dungeon."

“The showroom has changed.”

"The game was under maintenance before, and now it's reopened. Could it be a bug?"

"No one is more familiar with The Museum of Weird Things than Mr. Xie. Mr. Xie said the exhibition hall has changed, which means it's a new copy after the refresh."

Gu Rong was stunned and immediately turned around to see five familiar figures.

Zhuang Yu, Chen Hanxiao, Lin Xuezhuo, Zhao Jiuquan, Xie Lingjiu.

"?"

Gu Rong blinked, and then blinked again.

He quickly turned around and said, "No, what's going on? Why haven't they aged at all?"

006 was also shocked: [That's right, how come they still look like the host when he was a child? ]

Zhuang Yu and the other four were just the same as they were when they parted before, without any change at all, as if they had come directly from the previous copy, not from fifteen years ago.

Gu Rong made a prompt decision and decided to put on a disguise first, otherwise it would be very troublesome to explain. Besides, Zhou Yan was next to him, so he had to explain to both sides.

Of course, the most fundamental reason is that everyone else still looks the same as when he was two years old, without changing at all, but he is no longer a NPC.

He didn't know, nor was he sure, whether that friendship belonged exclusively to "Zizi".

Gu Rong pulled Zhou Yan over and whispered, "We don't know their situation, so let's not reveal their real names. I'm Lu now... Let's just call it Xiao Lu, it's easier to remember."

Zhou Yan was stunned: "Why is it called Xiaolu? Oh, deer antler, right? Xiaolu, okay, I remember it. Then my name is... Xiaoxian."

Gu Rong: “…”

It took Gu Rong half a second to connect Xiaoxian (Xian) with Zhou Yan (Yan).

Soon, five players came closer.

They had already seen Gu Rong and Zhou Yan.

When they saw Gu Rong, everyone was stunned and fell silent for a moment.

Shen Hanxiao looked Gu Rong up and down, his eyes widening as he exclaimed, "Wow, this kid looks like an enlarged version of a little devil!"

Gu Rong: “…”

If I remember correctly, Shen Hanxiao is sixteen, one year younger than him now, right? Who is he calling a little friend?

The others nodded in agreement.

"If you say this is the grown-up Tuanzi, people will believe it," said Zhuang Yu.

Gu Rong: “.”

Gu Rong pretended to be calm, but when he turned around, he met Lin Xuezhuo's gaze as deep as a pool, as if he had seen through him.

Turning around again, the big black snake behind Xie Lingjiu saw that he was still as fearful as before, with half of its head hidden behind Xie Lingjiu's dreadlocks.

Zhao Jiuquan next to him looked at him mysteriously and made a gesture to him.

Gu Rong: “…………”

Why does it feel like the vest hasn't fallen off, but it feels like it's the same as not wearing it at all?