plan
I raised my hand and touched my face, but it was blocked by the oxygen mask. However, I became more and more certain in my heart that the person in front of me looked exactly like me.
People's reactions to extreme fear are completely unpredictable. I felt my hair stand on end and my throat cramped, but I didn't turn around and run away. In a moment of panic, I even reached out and touched the young man's face for no apparent reason, but was blocked by the cold mask.
Perhaps my reaction was too dramatic, the young man was slightly stunned, and then burst out laughing.
At the same time, San Yi had been lingering around and blocking my retreat.
I thought he would just break my neck and skin me alive, and make a new coat for the young man on the spot. I couldn't beat him, so I glared at him dejectedly, thinking that I would rather die with dignity, come on.
But surprisingly, Sanyi just lowered his head to check the scuba gear he had temporarily hung on me, then raised his hand to hold my arm and twisted it. With a slight "click", my joint that was almost dislocated during the climb was put in place, and the swelling and pain subsided a lot.
The young man was not surprised at all, but turned around and swam forward, nodding for us to follow. The two of them led the way without any concern that I would run away.
I couldn't help but let out a cry, and I was stunned.
What the hell? Now that things have come to this, why don’t you just kill me and do some kind of end-of-life care?
I suddenly became anxious, so I grabbed the leash and asked the two men to talk clearly so that I could have a quick death.
San Yi paused, looked at me in confusion, and frowned, "Is there anyone else who is so impatient with life that he wants to die?"
I was completely confused by their attitude, and I began to feel doubt and strange.
They don't look like they want to harm me, but they are definitely trying to use my life to get away. So what's the point of being so affectionate and polite? Do these two psychopaths have split personalities?
I thought about it and it was even more wrong. They had such a big plan and finally tricked me into it. Why did they expose the plot themselves? It was not a pleasant feeling to fail at the last moment.
"Because it's too late. If a new outsider enters, that gaze will be alarmed and will come to patrol again soon. We must hide in the stone forest immediately."
The young man didn't look back. As if he could read my thoughts, he said softly, "The safety regulations we summarized are all tailor-made for you. They can give you enough information to protect you from making mistakes and get here safely. At the same time, they prevent you from knowing too much and not immediately discovering something wrong."
"But you really think too quickly, and your intuition in the face of danger is to a degree that we cannot control.
There were so many forks in the road, and the deputy followed our instructions and took you to a narrow path to let you suffer first when you entered the water. He also gave you so many intimidating hints and urgings, in order to make you alert and fearful, and stay away from those options we didn't want. "
At this point, I calmed down instead, and was speechless when I heard that.
I have to admit that the young man's plan sounds fine. It is human instinct to avoid pain and danger, especially in such an unknown and dark environment. After a normal person has experienced hardship once, he will subconsciously choose to avoid it.
But when I entered the water for the second time, I chose to repeat the same mistake and crawled into this one, which was almost the narrowest.
The reason I gave myself at the time was that oxygen was limited and I needed to start exploring as quickly as possible, and there was no time to find another way.
Looking back now, the reason was untenable. The waterway was too narrow to crawl through, and the exploration was too long, which would only consume more time, energy and oxygen. Choosing another waterway that was wide enough and had room for maneuver would only require walking one or two more steps.
The only reasonable explanation is that I was blinded and unable to break free, so I subconsciously chose the most embarrassing and difficult situation to detonate the crisis in advance, lure and lure those mandrills to attack me, and lead me to discover the trap.
This is the only solution.
The behavior of the mandrills is almost conservative and rigid. The death of a large mandrill during the day did not trigger any revenge, but instead they scattered like birds and beasts. If the explorer's environment is a little more relaxed, perhaps they will restrain themselves and continue to wait and see.
What awaits me then is a smooth and safe arrival in this space, where I will be made into human skin in an unprotected state.
I finally understood what was wrong with me along the way. It turned out that it was due to a self-tug-of-war under the guidance of various hints. At this moment, I felt a kind of extremely ridiculous and helpless disappointment.
"Were the deputy's reactions all just pretense?"
The young man shook his head and smiled:
"It's all true. Everyone who enters here will inevitably be affected. I just ask them to follow nature. No matter what changes occur after entering the water, they must show you the abnormalities truthfully. There is nothing false about the safety rules. Everyone who enters the water must abide by them.
As it turns out, he has lost contact now and there is a high probability that something has really gone wrong.
Lying to you would be the most foolish thing to do, I am not that stupid."
Well, at least the situation is somewhat clearer now. The information I got is not all false.
I slowly let out a breath, but I couldn't help but think that it was so unfair. How could there be someone who knew me so well? They were all playing tricks on my personality and habitual way of thinking. I was deceived to this extent before I realized that I was not as good as others.
His emotions stabilized further, knowing that he would either be killed on the spot or be safe temporarily.
This actual commander of the game of hide-and-seek, who spoke so much to me in an orderly manner, must not be a teacher who is bored. He was just suppressing me and breaking my defenses, letting me know that it is useless to be clever in front of him. From now on, I have to obey him obediently.
I suppressed my complicated emotions and thought about how to break the impasse. With the help of Sanyi's traction, I quickly caught up with the young man and arrived at the bottom of the underwater stone forest.
As soon as I saw it, I found that unlike what I had judged from a distance, the stone forest here was much larger. The stone pillars were spaced two or three people wide and were hung with rusty chains and hollow bells.
About 15 or 16 guys in full diving suits were moving among the chains, carefully checking the bells. Judging from their postures, they had obviously been in the water for a long time and were in a state of severe fatigue, almost collapsing.
Seeing the three of us coming, the guys stopped and called the young man "Boss". Then in an instant, more than a dozen pairs of eyes looked at me.
I couldn't help but look at them one by one, and immediately felt their anxiety and anticipation.
For some reason, my heart skipped a beat. I felt confused and the situation seemed to be getting stranger and stranger.
"Counselor, please."
Young man, no, the "boss" made a gesture and said with a smile: "As agreed, you will have to work harder next."
Agreement, what agreement?
I looked at him, and the boss looked at me too. For a long moment, his expression looked a little strange.
In some subtle deviation from the truth, I was like, what the hell are you talking about? What is the procedure for "hiring a consultant"?
The guys who were staring at me with wide eyes were stunned and looked at each other.
After a moment, someone whispered, "Aren't you a consultant?"
"I...I should be?"
I stuttered, really confused, why are these people becoming more and more polite and respectful, as if this is my territory. All the horror accumulated today has completely changed at this moment, making me feel up and down, like I am in a dream.
The guy breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's right. The boss said that a consultant has reached an agreement with our Hidden Man through Brother Zhang to explore the Stone Forest together. All those who are responsible for the reception must treat the consultant as their own father and ancestor."
"You coming here means our agreement still stands. We are right to listen to you."
"——Ancestor, do you have any other arrangements or instructions?"
I was stunned, and the boss sighed and looked at me helplessly. "As for the skinning and transformation, we can only know a limited amount. In Zhang's words, he can only hint at us to this point. More knowledge will lead to our complete loss of self, and it will no longer be possible to seek freedom and liberation."
"Now the assimilation between us has reached a critical point and cannot go any deeper, so I must remind you immediately, lest you be influenced by us in the chaos and lose your self-awareness."
"Advisor, please tell me first, what is your current understanding of Pseudo-Humans and Heavenly Clothes?"
I was in a trance for a moment and suddenly held my breath.
The inspiration illuminated my memory, and many fragmented images emerged.
First, there was a strange human body without skin, staring at me in the convoy. Then, in the corridor of the hospital, Taizi nervously grasped a piece of human skin and said madly that he wanted to make me like that. Then, Taizi was outside the stone forest, and several human skins that were draped outside were accidentally chopped by the mountain people.
Yes, that's what pseudo-people are like. They like to peel off people's skin and cover their bodies with it. This strange organization calls their targets Tianyi. And they have some ability to disguise themselves as their targets, hide in the crowd, and even read part of other people's memories, so that people are blinded and cannot detect.
These people also seem to have a strong obsession with ghost stories, so they are also looking for them.
…something seems to be wrong.
My heart beat faster and I suddenly got goose bumps.
It seemed that every one of them was certain, but some truly horrific essence was hidden, stuck at the most important juncture, making it impossible for me to remember it no matter what.
"Brother Zhang told us about the Mud Devil," the boss said. "He said that the truth that has troubled us for a long time is something we will never truly know even if we spend our entire lives. This is an absolute gap drawn by that truth. But we can refer to the mechanism of the Mud Devil to make guesses and associations."
He glanced at San Yi beside him with a bitter and miserable look on his face.
"At that time, the four of us had a meeting at Zhang's house. The only thing I can remember is that you, the consultant, suggested that we do a risky experiment to see where the limit of our cognition is.
I think it was at that time that, after constant hints and discussions, you, the consultant, almost brought us close to the truth. But at the moment we knew the truth, that power made us lose this part of our memory and retreated back to the safety line of ignorance. "
The boss paused for a moment, stared into my eyes again, and bowed slightly as if respectfully.
"...Advisor, we have cooperated fully with the plan and have already paid a lot. Even I was trapped here unexpectedly. The reason why I did not choose to sacrifice you to help me escape was also because of our agreement. You said you would give us the truth."
He smiled awkwardly, revealing his white teeth through the oxygen mask. "You're not going to tell me you've forgotten everything, are you?"
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