Chapter 44: Natural Plant Museum (3) Like a knot of fate...
Irene was taken to another exhibition hall. Before leaving, Fei told her about the consultant's control ability. The other party waved his hand nonchalantly and said that he would not be affected.
The apparent final boss of the museum's ghost stories is the curator, while Irela is the second person hiding behind the scenes. The guide will provide rules that confuse right and wrong, and deliberately point people to the wrong path with a captivating smile.
Fei was not worried at all, and judging from her reaction, the museum's transition period was about to begin.
"Did you see Xiaoyu and the others on the way here?" Fei was more concerned about this. He remembered that Shiyu's class schedule was quite tight today, so how did he still have time to come to the museum? "Did these guys skip class together?"
It sounded like Fei really wanted to bring him back to school immediately. Chen Que quickly spoke up to clear things up for Shi Yu, who hadn't confirmed his skipping class yet: "That's not true. Xiaoyu doesn't have classes tonight. Didn't he say he'd come to the studio to see you after class yesterday?"
Fei was silent for a while. He thought for a long time but couldn't remember Shi Yu mentioning this matter. Then Shen Que realized that something bad was going to happen. "He might want to give you a surprise, but it doesn't matter. The key is that Xiaoyu doesn't know you've moved to a new studio yet."
"The museum is right next to the studio. He will definitely find something wrong. You've been in contact with them too much under the identity of 'Fei', and sooner or later he will be discovered." Shen Que muttered a lot, and when he looked up, he found that his friend was not listening at all.
He was even admiring the green plants planted inside the glass wall, and seemed to be thinking about whether to buy one for his studio.
Shen Que, who was fooled, said: "..."
Shen Que closed his eyes in anger. When he opened them again, darkness still covered his vision. Before he could recover from the shock, he heard Fei whisper, "The transformation has begun. Pay attention to the plants around you."
The impact was particularly heavy, one after another, accompanied by the faint sound of glass cracking, which suddenly rang in his ears, as if something was about to break free from the glass cover. The lights had been turned off at some point, but Fei could still see the changes in the room.
The skinny bony hand pushed the cracked glass wall. With a crash, a large area of glass collapsed and penetrated the phantom. Fei stood in front of the broken glass wall.
The lush Monstera grew countless hands, breaking through the thick stems and bypassing the huge, rib-like leaves with holes. Dense numbers of insects crawled on the strange leaves, forming strange spots and patterns.
The top leaves nearly touched the ceiling, and the drooping leaves to the side were also too high for a normal person to reach. Countless reptiles fell to the ground, blending into the same darkness. Fei took a step back, and the surging shadows pounced forward with bared fangs and claws.
In the blink of an eye, the swarm of insects disappeared, and a hand made of white bones stretched out towards the head of the human in front of it, wanting to crush the fragile life in its eyes. A shadow quickly climbed up like a black line, and connected to Fei's fingertips like the hanging string of a puppet.
He twisted his wrist and broke the joints of the huge bone hand. Before the remaining skeleton hands grown from the plant body tried to grab him, Shen Que suddenly shouted, "Use this!"
Shen Que threw the object over and then grabbed the vine that was approaching silently. The sharp dagger cut off half of the branch, and the night vision props allowed him to clearly see the liquid flowing out from the cut of the vine, which was a bright red color.
There were endless rustling sounds. Chen Que turned his back to Fei and slowly retreated to close the distance between him and his companions.
Fei successfully caught the object thrown by Chen Que. He looked down at the silver lighter in his hand, opened the lid and pressed the button. The rising flame danced in his field of vision.
Fei took a last glance at the luxurious lighter, then let go and threw it at the mutated plants. The burning flames illuminated the ever-changing night. He guided the blazing fire to continue spreading until all the plants were bitten by the flames.
After dealing with all the alienated plants in the room at once, Fei put out the fire to prevent the entire museum from being affected. However, these plants will not die completely. They will return to their original state at the turn of the day.
"I don't think using a lighter is necessary. There are other methods. I remember this brand was quite expensive." Fei was still thinking about the regret of missing out on a good resale opportunity. He sighed and said, "It would be better if I could just sell it on the platform."
Chen Que: "...I gave it to you but you didn't want it. You changed your mind after watching the strange story, right?"
Fei: "There's nothing I can do. The studio has already banned smoking, so as a producer I have to set an example."
"I see you're quite skilled at it, and you seem to know the guide well." Shen Que peeled away the charred leaves and branches of the plant, searching for something. He remembered this and continued searching while asking, "Have you played this dungeon before?"
Fei responded perfunctorily, clearly just trying to evade the issue. This intrigued Chen Que, "Not long after you left, I won a museum-themed dungeon. It's just another difficult dungeon, and the dungeon system was suddenly changed."
"Did I mention it to you? It seems to be a newly born dungeon system, its name is 'Jade'. At that time, I thought you had become the system."
Chen Que was a little stunned when he didn't hear the whole thing at first, and his confusion was limited to that time. After all, it was normal for names to have the same pronunciation. But later, when he accidentally discovered a special rule, the survival clue provided by Fei Yu made that doubt emerge again.
Special rules are one of the few generous rewards in the Kwaidan game. They are both absolutely correct key rules and a necessary condition for the copy system to provide assistance.
That time, Shen Que just hurriedly wrote down the special rules and left. He had no time to study them carefully. He was busy dealing with U's people and dungeon monsters. His items were banned and his skills were severely restricted. In the later stages, he was almost in a dead end.
But he met this condition, and the newly bound dungeon system spoke for the first time. A cold, mechanical voice prompted the key part of the special rules, and then without further explanation, it said, "Eat it."
Chen Que held the heart-shaped fruit in his hand, as if he could feel the rhythm of the same frequency, as if the knot of fate was entangled together, living and dying together. It was he who dug this fruit out of someone's chest, rather than a red fruit that grew naturally on the tree.
"Players, please remain calm." The electronic voice stated the facts without emotion, without any fluctuation in its tone. "You have discovered the special rules. What you see is only the truth."
Fei Yu's words forcibly pulled him out of his trance. Shen Que finally regained consciousness and subconsciously refuted: "This has nothing to do with the special rules. The fruit is one of the channels for the specimen to parasitize. I can't eat it."
The dungeon system seemed to not understand his words, simply repeating the previous sentence: "Players, please remain calm. What you see is only the truth."
Shen Que had nothing to say about this human-computer system. He turned around and was about to leave, but the copy system named Feiyu no longer continued to follow the rigid procedure.
"Take a look at the fruit in your hand. Do you really think that it is the heart fruit of the tree?"
His steady steps stopped, he lowered his head, his gaze falling on the dark red snake fruit in his hand. His confused thoughts finally began to return to normal. What the copy system had been repeating was the most straightforward reminder.
"Players, please do not question the copy system you are bound to. I will provide you with appropriate guidance to ensure your safety."
The cold, mechanical voice remained calm, and it spoke in a tone that reminded Shen Que of Fei: "You must believe me, I won't let you encounter any other accidents."
Fei once said something similar, and what he said was that he would not let him die.
"Are you talking about the dungeon system called Jade?"
His recollection was finally interrupted by Fei. Shen Que took out the journal hidden in the pile of dead vines and handed it to his friend not far away. After taking it, the other party opened it and continued, "You said that the clues he provided were very similar to mine. It's really a coincidence."
"Perhaps the main system did this on purpose. After all, I managed to complete the game alive. It must be very unhappy." Fei's reply was unconvincing. He verified the integrity of the information. "If I were the real dungeon system, I'd be extremely busy. How could I manage so many players?"
Shen Que didn't know the truth, and of course he didn't know that Fei Yu, who had nothing to do and registered in the copy system, didn't need to care about how many people there were. He was different from those artificial intelligence systems. He only needed to pick a few players to confirm the situation occasionally.
Fei had only ever restored the museum's ghost stories, so he didn't fully understand the rules, let alone the specific content. He and Chen Que walked to the rest area outside and began to read the contents on the paper. The crooked words revealed the writer's panic.
"Why?! These plants are impossible to kill! I've tried everything, from burning them to cutting them down! As soon as day comes, they return to their original state! Impossible... What the hell is in this museum?!"
The series of words that followed were crossed out and altered beyond recognition, making them impossible to decipher. Fei's eyes passed over the mass of randomly scribbled black lines.
[I need to survive! This place isn't normal, there's no exit... Hall B! I need to go to another hall! The door might be there! I need to find the passage connecting the two halls!]
Fei finished reading the little information in the log and put it into the backpack on the panel. He asked Shen Que: "I remember that getting all the logs is one of the conditions for passing the level. We have to find the remaining ones. Are there any left in this hall?"
He did not intend to attack the consciousness of this ghost story, but after the ghost story arrived, it would gradually swallow up the nearby areas and then expand its territory. If he wanted to stop it, he would either have to get rid of the consciousness or go through it again as a copy.
Players of the ghost story game who piece together all the plots will not only enjoy generous rewards, but the dungeon will also be temporarily closed. The same is true in reality, and the ghost story will stop further expanding its territory.
"Yes, it's in the third exhibition hall on the fourth floor. There are very few logs in Hall A. Most of them are in Hall B and the greenhouse."
Shen Que only had time to say the first half of the sentence before the sudden explosion drowned out his voice. Fortunately, he reacted quickly enough to avoid the collapsing wall beside him.
Fei was not surprised. He looked at the people not far away. It seemed that it would take them some time to get to the exhibition hall upstairs.
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