Chapter 34: Pocket Watch

The situation was at a loss. Lucheng was so vast, where could one find a Tang Pengan?

He also turned off his cell phone and even disconnected from the internet, clearly demonstrating his strong defenses.

The black backpack appeared in N's hand, which was quite heavy. He reached in to take it out. Tu Lanxun was afraid that he would take out another skull, but fortunately it was just a chain with a round flip-top pocket watch tied to it.

The pocket watch was very old, heavy and thick, with a steel case covered with fine scratches. He opened the lid and was shocked to see the hands stopped at the Roman numeral XII. The watch face was made of crystal, slightly round and convex, and it moved around automatically like an eye, searching for its target.

Tu Lanxun took a half step back and said, "This must be something from the early 20th century."

N smiled: "You have good eyesight. Hey, look at this watch, isn't it responding?"

Tu Lanxun: "How can I react? It's just creepy."

This is a pocket watch that is mysteriously possessed and has only one function: to find someone.

However, the "person" it is looking for is not a "person", but a ghost.

N patiently explained, "The function of this watch is to allow people to see the world of ghosts, that is, the underworld. Ghosts, of course, are people from the underworld."

There is no doubt that this is a game prop. It was not taken out before because it can only be used by living people, and the consumption will cause huge backlash.

"Give it to Tang Weining. Tell him to hold the watch chain, think about the clues related to 10110101, and use his intuition to feel the surroundings."

Tu Lanxun hadn't taken it yet, "Do you need to close your eyes?"

"All right." N placed the pocket watch on the coffee table. Tang Weining's eyes widened instantly. "Why... suddenly there is a... watch?"

Tu Lanxun didn't explain to him, but just repeated the two instructions. Tang Weining, who was superstitious about these strange and magical things, walked over tremblingly, bent down and picked it up: "Miss...you are weird...or there is a weird around you..."

His voice stopped abruptly. The moment he picked up the watch chain, Tang Weining's two eyes looked in different directions. The scene was a little funny. The next second, he threw the pocket watch away and screamed: "Ah! I saw it!"

Tu Lanxun asked immediately, "Did you see 10110101?"

Tang Weining shook his head, his legs weak as he sat on the ground. "I saw the inside of my own eye sockets. There were blood vessels, bright red, and veins moving! It felt like I was back in my mother's womb."

He regained consciousness, realizing the old pocket watch had a remarkable history. He awkwardly crawled over to pick it up and even painted it blue. N said, "He can't do it, but that's not surprising. This watch is very particular about the wearer's physique."

In previous games, the chances of this watch matching with the player's main controller were very low. It was a dangerous item. Forcing a player to hold a watch that didn't match would result in a loss of health and sanity. The few players who did match didn't lose any stats, but...

It’s just that the real players in the VR helmet are prone to mental damage. In mild cases, they may not be able to sleep well that day, and in severe cases, they may be so weak that they need to see a doctor for a period of time.

Tu Lanxun did not answer N.

The first second she got the pocket watch, she fell silent. Her five fingers clenched the watch body uncontrollably. The crystal dial spun rapidly and the hands kept shaking in place, but Tu Lanxun's hand did not move at all.

N smiled coldly, "Interesting. First time I've seen it so active. I have to lift the fob to activate it."

Tu Lanxun subconsciously hooked her finger on the watch chain, and the watch automatically dropped, moving like a pendulum in front of her. N asked, "What did you see?"

"It's very dark." Tu Lanxun opened her eyes, but her eyes were unfocused. At this moment, the world in her vision was pitch black. The outlines of all furniture, walls and even residential floors disappeared, leaving only endless void.

N's voice seemed to come from far away: "Think about 10110101. Any information about it will do. Name, social account profile picture, words spoken, the look in its eyes when it was in Tang Pengan's body..."

Tu Lanxun did as she was told. It felt like a worm was twitching in her head. It didn't hurt, but it was very strange. When the worm was twitching to the point of about breaking out of her brain, a mysterious force hit her eyes. She even felt like her skull was sucking her eyeballs in.

A point of light appeared, like a distant candle flame, floating and jumping.

More spots of light followed, all darker and farther away than the first one. Tu Lanxun lost the sense of distance, but felt as if they were in the suburbs of the county outside the city, or even in another city, and they could not be seen any further away.

She felt like she was standing in the middle of a dark and eerie "starry sky", except that what was twinkling were not stars, but the countless candlelights of the funeral hall.

They couldn't see her. It was a one-sided peeping and gazing at her from a distance. But just as you couldn't see clearly whether someone was looking at you on the surface of a star, Tu Lanxun didn't know whether one of those candles with their backs to her would suddenly turn towards her.

Perhaps when she was looking at the spirit, the spirit was also looking at her.

N listened to her mumbling description and quickly said, "It's rare to be able to sense something so far away. If there are so many, there are two possible reasons: your understanding of 10110101 is vague, and many ghosts fit your understanding. Also, your intuition, or search engine, is too sensitive, like a net with too fine mesh."

The brightest candle flame is most likely 10110101.

Tu Lanxun walked out under N's ​​instructions. She had no idea of ​​the direction, but strangely, when the pocket watch began to move in a circular motion under her hand, the candlelight became blurred as if covered by tears, and she gained a sense of direction that was unrelated to her vision.

The surroundings were still pitch black, with no sky, no ground, no high or low, but she was able to stop accurately in front of the entrance door, wait for Tang Weining to help her open the door, then step over the threshold and go down the stairs.

But every time she moved a certain distance, something was pulling at the tissues in her brain. It didn't hurt, but there was a pulling sensation.

It is as if the part responsible for judging direction is pulled by a thin thread, and its force will be directed in the direction where it needs to go next.

Tu Lanxun walked downstairs and boarded the car. Tang Weining drove in the direction she specified. After an unknown amount of time, the candlelight, which had originally been as small as a grain of rice, was already swaying not far from Tu Lanxun. They had arrived.

"That's enough, let go." N's voice was chilling.

Tu Lanxun regained his normal vision and found himself in front of a youth football club.

She and N sat side by side in the back seat of the car. N stretched out his hand towards her, then quickly retracted it, withdrawing the gesture of supporting her. "Are you feeling uncomfortable? Don't you want to faint? Don't you have a headache?"

"Is it okay if I'm a little sleepy?" Tu Lanxun yawned.

N stared at Tu Lanxun for two seconds, then turned back. The two people and the ghost got out of the car. Tang Weining followed her mysteriously: "Miss, I just heard a voice talking to me..."

Tu Lanxun was really a little tired. If this trip went well, he would be able to hear his dead wife speak later.

"Hello, ma'am. Please sign in." The security guard in charge stopped us. He was puzzled. "Hey, Mr. Tang? When did you come out?"

N suddenly appeared behind the young man and blew at him. The young man sat back in the gatehouse with a dazed look in his eyes and automatically opened the pedestrian door.

The two men and the ghost ran in, heading straight for the training area in the same direction they had been heading. Tu Lanxun had asked N why he couldn't continue using his pocket watch after joining the football club. N had replied, "You can easily read it when the candlelight is far away, but what if it's placed right next to your eyeball, a millimeter away?"

——Even if you don’t get burned to death, you will be blinded by the light.

N looked at Tu Lanxun from time to time, fearing that she would faint suddenly. After all, turning the pocket watch meant that the consciousness of a living person entered the underworld, which was very dangerous. As the old saying goes, it was easy to be affected by evil spirits. To put it more scientifically - the signal types were different and could not be integrated, which was cross-frequency.

Unfortunately, Tu Lanxun was in good health and the cool breeze even drove away his sleepiness.

They came to the training ground. The football club was in good condition, with short and lush green grass. It was the men's team training now. The boys were sweating in their long socks and jerseys, but Tang Guangming was not among them.

It's strange. Shouldn't Tang Pengan come to the club to look for his son?

"I smell Bai Chao's death." N said. He looked up and saw that the base of the low-rise building next to him was the functional area of ​​the club.

Tu Lanxun started running and turned two stairs to the men's changing area on the second floor. Tang Weining pushed the door, but it was locked from the inside. She kicked it and the door smashed open.

Tang Weining looked at Tu Lanxun in horror, as if he couldn't expect that such a young, cute girl who looked like a little black sheep could be so agile. Tu Lanxun didn't have time to pay attention to him and just rushed in.

A burning smell permeated the air. Behind a locker somewhere, a cotton T-shirt wrapped around a small, hard object was ablaze. Tang Weining, with his sharp eyes, spotted the white porcelain beneath the burnt fabric. He cried out, "Ouch!" and lunged forward. "Chaochao!"

Tang Pengan walked out with bloodshot eyes. Regardless of the scorching heat, he grabbed the burning object and was about to throw it out of the window. Tang Weining started fighting with him. The two identical men punched and kicked each other, and soon made a mess on the ground.

Tu Lanxun noticed a small figure lingering behind the counter and asked tentatively, "Xiao Guang?"

Unexpectedly, Xiaoguang timidly glanced at the Tang brothers, then turned and ran out the door, crying and screaming, "Daddy, don't kill me! Daddy, don't kill me!"

N sneered, and a small cold rain fell. The burning T-shirt lasted less than ten seconds before it automatically went out. The white porcelain angel inside was burnt black.

Tang Peng'an's strength and agility were much worse than on the train. He was unable to defeat the weak but furious Tang Weining. He fled and directly opened the window and jumped down from the second floor.

If the situation wasn't so tense, Tu Lanxun would have really wanted to sigh. These two brothers had exactly the same idea of ​​jumping off the building to escape.

"Miss, please take a look. Can Chaochao be saved?" Tang Weining asked anxiously, holding the angel statue that was just hot but now cold.

Tu Lanxun had no idea and could only look at N. N said, "It's been badly damaged, but the soul is still there. Let's take it back and talk about it later."

Tang Weining lifted his shirt and wiped it again and again, still not satisfied. A light flashed in his eyes that Tu Lanxun couldn't understand. "Was 10110101 here just now?"

N sneered, "Yes." His expression was also quite strange, "But he's not in Tang Pengan's body, nor in spirit form."

?

Then it can only be... in Tang Guangming's body?

It wasn't surprising, but the child was a little pitiful. N stood there sneering to himself. Tu Lanxun asked Tang Weining, "Why are you asking this?"

Tang Weining was becoming increasingly convinced of her. After a pause, he spoke with a hint of hope, "Miss, do you think a person's soul can directly enter another body? I'm not talking about temporary possession, or complete possession...resurrection from the dead?"

Tu Lanxun didn't know how to answer. He only saw N sneering silently, and his eyes became even more sarcastic.