17 Qi Qiuxue's Ending

◎The fine rain wet her hair.◎

Geng Hao spoke passionately, as if he was giving an inspiring speech.

There were still lightning and thunder outside the door, and Wang Shuo's body was lying outside in a strange and horrible manner. It was really scary. The man who had just gone to check the contents of the note couldn't bear it anymore, so he walked around Dong Peng who was standing at the door, quietly walked forward and closed the door.

The sound of wind and rain was partially blocked by the door, and the originally quiet hall became even quieter.

For a long, long time, no one spoke.

Everyone seemed to have fallen into deeper despair. There were terrible villagers on the island, appalling taboos, and untrustworthy teammates around them. They were paranoid and cunning, and had long lost the kindness that humans should have.

No matter how high-sounding Geng Hao's words were, the tragic death of Wang Shuo still lingered in everyone's mind. If you really believed Geng Hao's words, who knows if you will be the next victim.

Who should I trust? What's the solution? Is there any chance of survival? Will I die miserably like Wang Shuo?

Zheng Miao's lips turned pale and she was shivering. The old window could not be closed completely, and the night wind blew in, making her feel cold all over. It was almost two o'clock, and there were only four hours left before she had to get up.

She didn't want to stay any longer, and after hesitating for a long time, she finally spoke bravely: "I, I'll go back and rest first."

As soon as he finished speaking, the other players around him seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Me too."

"I want to go back too. I'm so sleepy."

"And me."

The crowd quickly dispersed and fled back to their rooms. Soon, only a few people were left in the hall.

"Let's go." Qi Qiuxue called Li Yiqing and Liu Ge, "Let's go back too."

"Okay." Liu Ge nodded, pulled the still angry Li Yiqing, and the three of them went upstairs together.

It was obvious that Qi Qiuxue was not in a good mood. After spending a few days together, Liu Ge discovered that Qi Qiuxue was not a person who liked to show her emotions. She usually had no expression and it was impossible to tell whether she was happy or angry. It seemed like she didn't care about anything.

Both he and Li Yiqing are extroverts, and they usually make a lot of noise when they get together, which is inevitably annoying, but Qi Qiuxue has given them enough tolerance and patience. If Geng Hao hadn't been so shameless, Liu Ge might not have seen Qi Qiuxue angry.

——Although his expression looked no different from usual, except that his brows were deeply furrowed.

"How can I not be angry?" Li Yiqing later explained, "Axue is a designer in the real world."

Liu Ge didn't understand for a moment: "What's wrong?"

Li Yiqing exclaimed, "She hates it most when others copy her plans!"

Liu Ge suddenly realized: "No wonder."

The two did not dare to disturb Qi Qiuxue anymore. They said goodbye to her and returned to their rooms one after another. Qi Qiuxue turned around and went back into the house to wash up, then lay on the bed and closed her eyes.

Even though it was already past two in the morning, she still couldn't sleep. The faces of that man and Wang Shuo from this morning appeared in her mind again. Why? They both seemed to have died from taboos, but the places of death were very different. What was the difference?

She always believed that there was no unsolvable mystery and no situation that could not be broken. She began to think over and over again about what the hotel owner had said, and carefully compared the differences between the man and Wang Shuo. Gradually, she discovered something that was difficult to detect.

“…”

The night is getting deeper.

Qi Qiuxue finally began to feel sleepy. However, she still did not sleep well that night and had nightmares all the time. All kinds of bizarre images filled her mind: blood, ghosts, screams, which repeated over and over again in unpredictable ways, and finally everything returned to silence.

Gradually, footsteps were heard again in the dream, still coming from the corridor, one step, two steps, each step was taken very softly, but it was too quiet outside, so quiet that it was difficult to ignore the footsteps.

Who is it?

Qi Qiuxue struggled to wake up from her dream and quickly glanced at the time. It was already past five in the morning.

She tried to walk as lightly as possible, for fear of disturbing the person outside the door, and tried to verify whether everything she had just heard was a dream, but when she lay down and looked out through the peephole, there was no one outside and it was silent.

There was only a window. A window located in the corridor facing her door had been pushed open at some point, and the night wind quietly slipped in, accompanied by the rustling of leaves.

-

When I woke up in the morning, the reminder board popped up again, issuing an ultimatum to every player: [Today is the fourth day, and time is running out. I hope everyone will seize the time and work hard to complete the task.]

If the mission is still not completed before 6:00 AM on the sixth day, the game will be considered a failure, and all players will be left in the game, unable to return to the real world.

“…”

Qi Qiuxue got up earlier than usual this morning. When Liu Ge went downstairs, she was already sitting at the table eating breakfast silently.

After what happened last night, everyone's condition was obviously worse. There were only a handful of players who came to have breakfast. Most of them were in a daze and in poor condition. They were even more wary than before. More and more people began to realize that no one could be trusted in the dungeon except themselves.

The atmosphere at the dinner table was extremely solemn. After Liu Ge, Chen Wei and Zhang Xin appeared. Dong Peng arrived at the table a little later. During the meal, he kept trying to talk to the two of them, but they avoided him.

Afterwards, Geng Hao also appeared.

Qi Qiuxue silently observed his state. Geng Hao was a flamboyant person who liked to be admired. Once he discovered something, he would definitely have an expression of confidence on his face. But now he was frowning, pursing his lips, and was in a really bad mood.

It seemed that after a night of thinking, he had gained nothing.

Qi Qiuxue withdrew her gaze and no longer gave him any glances.

After dinner, Xiaoxiao arrived on time. It was already the fourth day, and all the players were exhausted both mentally and physically. Some had even given up struggling. The fog on the island was getting thicker, and everyone's condition was getting worse.

Before getting on the car, Qi Qiuxue stuffed two pieces of paper into the hands of Li Yiqing and Liu Ge respectively.

"What is this?" they asked in unison.

"The route map," Qi Qiuxue said, "shows the simplest and most time-saving routes from the hotel to the mask shop, the temple, and the orchard. I'm 90% sure the route is accurate. I need you to familiarize yourself with the bus's direction as soon as possible after boarding it and write down everything drawn on it."

"Oh my god." Li Yiqing looked around and saw that no one noticed them, so he quickly opened it to check. "Axue, you are amazing! It's only been a few days, and you've memorized such a complicated route!"

"But I can't guarantee 100% accuracy," Qi Qiuxue said. "No matter how much you talk about it on paper, it's better to see it with your own eyes."

Liu Ge looked at her: "Axue, what do you mean?"

Qi Qiuxue said calmly, "What I mean is, I need you two to go out tonight."

Liu Ge's eyes widened after hearing this. "If we follow the rule of delaying the time by one hour every night, dinner tonight will be over at one in the morning. We can't go out after the sacrifice begins. This is a taboo."

"I know." Qi Qiuxue said, "But I think there is a loophole in this taboo."

Liu Ge shook her head, not completely agreeing with her point of view. After all, if they guessed wrong, what awaited her and Li Yiqing would be an inescapable death: "But..."

"It's okay." Qi Qiuxue interrupted her, "I'll go and verify it myself. You can go out again if you're fine."

Liu Ge still had some concerns: "Axue, you..."

Qi Qiuxue glanced at her sideways and called her name very seriously: "Liu Ge, don't forget what you promised me."

"Didn't you say that as long as I ask, you will do your best to help me? Have you forgotten?"

Indeed, she did say that.

Liu Ge paused, staring at the person in front of him for a long while, and finally gave in: "Okay, Axue, I'll do whatever you say."

Qi Qiuxue finally smiled and turned her gaze towards Li Yiqing's face: "Ah Qing, what about you?"

Li Yiqing suddenly realized that Qi Qiuxue would only call her "A Qing" when she asked something for something, but it had to be said that Li Yiqing could not resist her calling her that.

So finally she nodded gently: "I'll listen to you too."

"What about you, Xue? Aren't you coming with us?"

"I still have things to do." Qi Qiuxue said slowly.

-

The day ended quickly. Unlike the past, the number of masks in the mask museum had changed again. Everyone still remembered Wang Shuo's tragic death at the door last night, but when the players went out in the morning, his body had disappeared, leaving only his face, which was placed in the museum together with Liu Dawei and the man with little presence.

In addition, there were more and more strange fruits on the tree, and there were still tiny traces of digging under the tree. Xiaoxiao kept staring at them closely, and Qi Qiuxue couldn't find the opportunity to explore.

Several players were accidentally injured during the tour. Many places on the island have not been well developed and still retain their original appearance. Some people scratched their calves on the way forward by thorns, and some accidentally fell and broke their arms. Dong Peng was even worse off. Maybe he was guilty, but he insisted that he saw the dead Wang Shuo in the thick fog. Frightened and panicked, he bumped into a protruding rock and blinded one eye.

It was already very late when the bus took a group of people back to the hotel. After dinner, it was already one o'clock in the morning. After the hotel owner left, Dong Peng and Geng Hao broke out into an argument.

"Think about it, think of a way, what have you deduced?!" Dong Peng was blind in one eye, and he was struggling with Geng Hao with gritted teeth. Geng Hao had said nicely before that as long as he helped him kill Wang Shuo, he would definitely take him alive. But now, not only could he not find a way to survive, he even lost one eye in the repeated hallucinations and terror!

"Why are you in such a hurry?!" Geng Hao had practiced martial arts before, and Dong Peng was injured and couldn't move easily. After several struggles, Geng Hao finally knocked Dong Peng to the ground. "I've already said, I'm thinking, I'm thinking, don't you understand?!"

"Besides, what's the point of you? Don't you have a brain? If you have the ability, come up with an idea yourself. Don't rely on me for everything!"

The quarrel was so intense that the other players did not dare to intervene, nor were they willing to do so, and they just let the two of them fight among themselves, arguing endlessly.

The villagers who went to offer sacrifices had left one after another, and it became quiet outside again. Apart from the sound of rain, the only sound that could be heard was the noisy quarrel inside the house. Amidst this chaos, Qi Qiuxue opened the door of the hotel.

Zheng Miao quickly noticed her actions and instinctively wanted to pull her back. He didn't know why Qi Qiuxue was so upset: "Zhang Xue, what are you going to do? Come back quickly..."

Before she could even utter the word "come", Qi Qiuxue had already stepped out of the door.

"I left something outside." She said before leaving. "I want to find it back."

The room suddenly became quiet. Even Dong Peng and Geng Hao, who had been arguing with each other, stopped quarreling. At this moment, everyone's eyes were focused on her.

Everyone was waiting, waiting for Qi Qiuxue's ending.

But unexpectedly, what greeted her was not death, no tiles falling from the sky, no splashing blood, only rain.

The fine rain wet her hair.

【Author’s words】

Coming

Thanks to the little angel who threw the shallow water bomb: Shi Yi 1;

Thanks to the little angel who threw the rocket launcher: Shi Yi, 2028. 1;

Thanks to the little angel who threw the grenade: Shi Yi 2; 2028. 1;

Thanks to the little angels who cast mines: Mancao, Langli's two dogs; Ruoxi, Lu Baibaibaibaibai, Spicy Rabbit, Internet Addict, Rabbit Huhu, Don't Want to Go to Work, Live in Harmony with the World, Qiu Lang is Beautiful 1 Fairy 1;

Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Lingxingxing, Zhishang, 2028. 10 bottles; Jinxi 5 bottles; 12345 4 bottles; 73681998, Don't Want to Go to Work, Jingran Qinjiarenyi 1 bottle;