"Are you dead?" A hint of surprise appeared in ERROR's eyes.
No matter how low Su Jing's level is, he is still a circle leader recognized by the system. He even has the ability to compete with other circle leaders. How could he die so easily?
Could it be that the 'thing' that exists upstairs has the ability to compete with the circle leader?
A raised his head and glanced upwards.
"Su Jing, how did you die?"
Su Jian seemed to be frightened by the "thing" above. He hugged himself tightly and began to recall with trembling hands.
He used his supernatural powers and the deduction began.
Su Jing walked up the stairs to the upper floor.
At first there was nothing unusual. The stairs were so quiet that even the wind generated by the air flow could cause an echo.
Even during the deduction, Su Jian remained cautious and did not make any sound.
But as he walked, he felt that the stairs in front of him extended infinitely, and it seemed that he would never reach the top.
After climbing the stairs for a full two minutes, the distance didn't get any shorter.
Su Jing took out his magic wand, hooked the bandage on the handrail beside the corridor, pulled himself up forcefully, and stepped firmly on the top step of the stairs.
The corridor on the upper floor is very long, with different rooms on both sides, which look the same on the outside.
The simulation completely imitates the real situation, and the system even gives special prompts to white-name NPCs.
[System: You have arrived at the Unsmiling Attic of the Fairy Tale Kingdom. Here gathers the saddest and most unsmiling characters in the fairy tale world. You can choose to open any door and ask them for the key to the corridor.]
[Hint: Only by obtaining the keys kept by all the Unsmiling People can you open the Sky Corridor of the Twin Castles. The Fairy Princess is waiting for you in her bedroom. There is no other way to enter the other castle except through the Sky Corridor.]
[Tip: There is more than one way to obtain the key, players please cherish your life. ]
After hearing the hint, Su Jing guessed that what was going to happen next would not be so easy.
Only in extremely critical situations will the system remind you to "Cherish your life".
Su Qiong looked down the long, winding corridor, the end of which was beyond his reach. He could see at least twenty rooms.
Combined with the room on the other side, that means there are at least forty non-smiling characters here.
Su Jing thought to himself that since he was using the ability of order deduction, he would not really die, and would not even suffer any harm.
In order to explore more information, Su Jing pushed open one of the doors.
It was dark and dim inside the door.
There was a huge pot in the middle of the house. No one knew what was cooking inside, and it emitted a foul odor.
An old woman with a very old look and wrinkles on her face like tree grain was standing hunched over the big pot, holding a spoon tightly in both hands and stirring the pot vigorously.
Hearing the door open, she scooped a spoonful from the soup pot and looked at Su Jing.
"Would you like some of my soup?"
The spoonful of soup she scooped up was still bubbling, and there were some long, thin solid objects in it, similar to human fingers, which had been boiled to pieces.
"No! I don't want to drink!" Su Jing immediately refused.
The old woman's face immediately darkened, her tone gloomy, "My mixed soup is the best in the world, and you refuse to drink it? I'm going to boil you in the pot and make the soup!"
After saying that, the rice spoon in her hand turned into a hook and hooked the stick into the soup pot.
Su Jian reacted quickly and used his magic wand to resist. However, the old woman was far more powerful than him and easily boiled Su Jian into the soup pot.
Although Su Jian felt no pain during the deduction.
But being submerged in the hot, sticky and smelly liquid made Su Jing feel very uncomfortable.
After listening to Su Jing's description, the two people next to him showed a thoughtful expression.
"It seems that those NPCs upstairs are not easy to deal with."
"If we don't deal with them, we won't be able to get the key. If we can't get the key, we won't be able to meet the owner of the other building."
"It's difficult." ERROR rubbed Su Jian's lambskin vigorously. "There are too many NPCs. We have limited time. It's impossible to deal with them all in seven days."
"Hmm." Su Jian, already in a state of shock, said softly, "I don't want to cook it again."
"What should we do now?" A asked them, "Go upstairs?"
"Go ahead." ERROR's tone left no room for argument.
Even though they knew there was danger ahead, they had already been brought here and had to go upstairs to find out the situation.
Otherwise, the other companions would have helped them clear the way in vain, and the choice of the first night would have been wasted.
He could imagine that after other players entered the second circle, they would definitely start with the simplest mountains.
Suppose they gain nothing today and try to conquer a simple map tomorrow. Their progress will be a whole day less than that of other players, wasting the advantage of entering the dungeon first.
"Yes, we must go upstairs." Even though Su Jing was afraid, he agreed with ERROR.
A had no objection, "Let's go."
The three of them went up the stairs, and just as they had seen in the simulation, the stairs seemed to never end.
Su Jing had experience in deduction, so he used bandages to fix the railings in the corridor and pulled them up one by one.
The layout upstairs is similar to the deduction scene, with a long spiral corridor and the same door.
Su Qi came to one of the doors and whispered to them, "I just entered this door and died soon after."
"You have too few clues. We don't know how to deal with the hot spring woman. Let's avoid this door first."
"Yeah!" Su Jing nodded repeatedly.
He definitely didn't want to be boiled a second time.
ERROR and A walked in front, carefully observing the surroundings, and did not find anything unusual.
All the doors look exactly the same, so no sound can be heard from outside.
"It would be much easier to deal with them if we could see what's going on inside the door."
But the three of them did not obtain the ability of 'X-ray'.
Needless to say, every time he cleared a dungeon, he was lucky not to have his points deducted. Even if the system deducted half of his points, ERROR cleared dungeon one, defeated many high-level NPCs, and his ranking returned to the leaderboard.
But he didn't have any special powers, so he gave all the prop rewards to his companions.
A was not restricted by the system. With his ability to kill the entire field by himself, he regained his position in the top of the player rankings and also obtained props and skill weapons given by the system.
"I have a tool you can use." A pulled out a weapon from his backpack and explained expressionlessly, "Mr. S, press the controller to destroy the entire circle, or die with the circle's owner."
ERROR showed a subtle disdain, "You'd better put it away."
The controllers were certainly powerful, but they didn't want to blow up the entire circle, nor did they intend to perish with the fairytale princess.
Although the Fairy Tale Princess is only level 296 and is a member of the red circle, players are inexplicably not afraid of her.
It's not just because the princess is cute.
The main reason is that the princess is at such a high level that if she really wants to kill all the players, she can do it in the novice area.
The princess is more like a naughty little girl than an NPC who wants their lives.
"There's a second item." Facing ERROR's look of 'How do you have so many items?', A casually took out the second item, "A blank card. You know how to use it."
Although the blank card is a one-time prop, it can revive a player in a circle without a resurrection mechanism.
Using it to spy on what's going on inside the door is simply a waste of talent.
"Let's think of other ways." ERROR looked around at the closed door, secretly wondering if the people inside would notice if he drilled a hole in the door.
"If you just want to see the general situation inside, I have a way." Su Jing gently shook the magic wand.
"What method?"
Su Jing didn't say anything. He untied the bandage hanging under the magic wand, spread it out into a long strip, and stuffed it in through the crack in the door.
"Su Jian?"
The two big guys next to him showed puzzled expressions at the same time, not understanding what Su Jing was going to do.
Previously in the novice area, when Su Jian was responsible for guiding A, he had never used the bandage's exploration function because all rooms could be broken into.
As for ERROR, he put Su Jian into the coffin as soon as he came out of the dungeon, so he had no time to study Marshmallow Su Jian.
"My bandage can roughly sense the surrounding situation through breath. Moreover, it can get into any place where the wind can pass through." Su Jian quietly inserted the bandage into the crack of the door. Although he couldn't see clearly, he could roughly understand the situation inside.
The first door has a ferocious hunter inside and the walls are covered with the hearts of prey. He looks very tough.
Inside the second door, roses bloomed, creating a dreamlike scene. However, the roses took root in the body of a beautiful woman, who was in great pain and sobbing continuously.
"I feel like her task should be relatively simple. Just chop down the roses, right?"
A didn't comment immediately, "Let's look at a few more."
"NPCs are very powerful. If we misjudge them, it will be terrible." ERROR agreed with A's statement, "Look at a few more and find the most reliable one."
"good."
Su Qiong checked three more rooms and chose the fifth room, where a gloomy musician sat in front of the piano, pressing the scales but making no sound.
He sat there alone and haggard, as if he had lost all hope.
Su Qiong guessed why he didn't smile and turned to seek the opinions of ERROR and A. After quickly reaching a consensus, he carefully pushed open the heavy door.
“Squeak—”
The room was so quiet that the sound of the door opening seemed particularly harsh.
Su Jing was startled by the sudden sound and reflexively looked towards the piano, fearing that he would alert the NPC and anger it.
The musician NPC sat there quietly, without any change, as if he couldn't hear anything.
A: "Maybe, he really can't hear."
ERROR: "When encountering uncertain guesses, just do this..."
He strode up to the musician, stretched out his hands, and clapped them hard beside his ears.
The musician sat there motionless, without any reaction.
ERROR, out of a serious attitude, clapped his hands twice more.
The musician still did not move, his eyes staring straight ahead, without focus.
"He can't hear or see." ERROR concluded.
"Ah." Su Jing let out a short cry.
He was clearly just an NPC in the game, but at this moment he was very empathetic and felt genuine pity for the musician.
The musician has been sitting in front of the piano and must like his piano very much.
But now he can neither see nor hear, and cannot play his beloved piano. No wonder his lifeless eyes reveal a deep melancholy.
"He can't see or hear. How are we supposed to make him smile?"
Anyway, telling jokes and making funny faces just don't work.
Players once again clearly realized that in the "IF" system, the simpler the task is set, the more difficult it will be to complete the task.
A: "We should use the clues in the room to infer his wish."
"The clues in the room." Su Jing re-examined the room.
This room was simpler than the previous ones, with nothing in it except a piano and a piano stool.
The musician's wishes are not difficult to infer.
"Is anyone there?" The plot point was triggered and the musician asked.
His voice was filled with melancholy, without a trace of happiness.
If the joy level is 100, he should be around -20 now.
"Yes." Su Jing replied.
After saying this, he didn't hear the musician's response, so he answered again in a very loud voice.
"I'm here!"
"Su Jing." ERROR covered his ears and reminded helplessly, "He can't hear."
"Ah." Su Qi covered his mouth, feeling a little embarrassed, "I forgot."
The musician couldn't hear Su Jian's response and wasn't sure if there was anyone there.
ERROR observed the situation and made sure that the musician would not suddenly go berserk before reaching out and patting him on the shoulder.
"Sure enough, there is someone. Can you help me realize my wish?"
ERROR turned around and saw Su Jing's sparkling eyes. He patted the musician on the shoulder twice, which represented a two-word answer.
The musician tremblingly took out a piece of music and handed it in the direction of the person being photographed.
ERROR didn't ask any more questions, because he wouldn't be able to hear anyway.
After taking the music score from the musician, A and Su Jian immediately came over and saw that the handwriting on the score was messy, with many notes overlapping and difficult to distinguish.
Musician: "I am the best musician in the fairy tale kingdom. I once played with the birds and harmonized with the streams, bringing the most beautiful music in the world to people."
"The world was jealous of my talent and locked me up in the attic, depriving me of the most important things. I lost my eyes and ears, fell into a world without music, and was in great pain every day."
"I wrote this piece of music when I had just entered the attic and was not yet in such pain. My greatest wish is to perform this piece of music."
The musician spoke of his dream, and musical scores and buoys appeared in front of several people, which looked similar to the scoring mechanism in KTV.
There is a string of small words in the upper right corner of the scoring buoy.
Completion: 0%
[Friendly reminder: You can only get the musician's smile if the completion rate reaches 95% or above.]
Su Jing looked down at the piano, then at the music score, and finally at the 0% of the scoring mechanism.
How could his NPC student possibly play a simple piano piece with 5% completion on his first try?
Moreover, given this messy and indistinguishable score, even the best pianist would find it difficult to achieve such a high level of completion.
"Can you talk about piano?" Su Qiong asked.
"Yes." A answered concisely.
ERROR said lazily, "Yes."
Su Jing slowly typed a question mark.
It turns out that among the four people in the room, he is the only one who can't play the piano.
A and ERROR are a warrior and a programmer respectively. Their jobs have nothing to do with fine arts. How could they possibly play the piano?
ERROR saw his confusion and smiled and replied, "I'm mainly responsible for game design. To make a good game, of course all aspects should be involved."
A explained, "I've been trained in disguise since I was a kid. When necessary, I need to pretend to be different characters, so I learn character skills."
All right.
Su Jing understood.
He is the only loser in the world.
"Then, can you play this music?"
"this……"
“It’s a bit difficult.”
If the system provides normal sheet music with a completion rate of over 95%, it is not a big deal for people who can play the piano.
Unfortunately, only 5% of the fragments in this music score can be distinguished, and we also have to rule out the possibility that the blind musician made the wrong grid.
Even if Chopin were alive or Mozart appeared, it would be difficult to complete it perfectly.
"Do you remember the content of the music score?" A asked the musician.
The musician couldn't hear the question, so ERROR wrote the question word by word on his shoulder.
The music festival waited for him to finish writing, then shook his head regretfully, "I've been locked up here for too long, the music in my heart has long been blurred."
A has a cold expression.
How can I play a piece of music that I have forgotten?
"But," the musician added, "if I can see my manuscript, I can remember the music."
"So the main quest is not to play the music, but to help him restore his eyesight."
"How can we help him regain his eyesight? Will it be helpful to take him out of the Buxiao Loft?" As soon as Su Jing asked, the 'Kindness' system immediately answered.
[System: NPCs cannot leave the No Laughing Attic. Even if there is a way to take them away, the stolen items will not be returned.]
"Oh, it's useless."
ERROR thought for a moment and said slowly, "His original eyesight was taken away."
"That's what it sounds like."
"We don't need to take him out. As long as he regains his sight, we can complete this mission." ERROR continued, "IF follows the law of conservation. Nothing will disappear out of thin air. There must be a way to take it back."
"Excuse me for being blunt, but there are so many high-level NPCs imprisoned in the Buxiao Attic. It would be difficult for just a few of us to get them back."
ERROR also takes this issue into consideration.
The situation was deadlocked again.
Su Qiong held his face in his hands and thought seriously for a long time. His eyes lit up again, "Do I have to regain his original vision so that he can see?"
"Not necessarily."
"There shouldn't be any immune rejection reactions in the game."
"So!" Su Jian announced excitedly, "I have extra sight and hearing!"
After the sacrifice, Su Jian had a complete body, naturally with eyes, ears and a mouth.
He had previously used the "Win with Me" skill to gain experience points and exchanged them for a full set of sensory systems. The experience points did not disappear with the system and were kept in his own space.
Thinking that those who obey me will win, Su Jing silently lit a candle for him.
Someone who is trying to pass the level somewhere and follows me wins: What kind of candles are you lighting? I'm not dead!
The system prompts Su Jian that unnecessary objects can be recycled.
But Su Jing did not choose to recycle it, and kept the exchanged senses, although he didn't know what they were used for.
Now, he finally found the correct way to use it.
Since it is something that can be exchanged through the NPC bracelet, it should also be usable by the NPC, right?
Su Jing came to the musician, walked around him, and found his NPC bracelet.
He held the musician's hand and helped him open the control page, and found that the musician's KPI was hundreds of times higher than his own.
It's sour.
Although Su Jing is the leader of the circle, he is very poor and has to work hard in the system to maintain his circle.
According to the settings of "IF", players can add friends with other players and transfer points.
NPC bracelets have the same mechanism and should also be able to transfer items and KPIs. However, most NPCs in the game are in subordinate or antagonistic relationships, and few use these functions.
Su Jing transferred the sensory system to him through the bracelet and clicked to use it immediately.
When used successfully, an incredible focus appears in the musician's eyes.
"My eyes? I can see!" The musician was overjoyed, and his joy level immediately reached 100%.
According to the rules of the No-Smiling Attic, as long as the NPC smiles, they can get the key even if they have not completed the main quest.
The moment the musician smiled, the first key appeared in Su Jing's palm.
The system reminds them that the mission in the room has been completed and they can leave.
However, Su Jing did not leave the room immediately.
Because he saw the musician pick up the music score and reverently touch the notes he had written.
"Sure enough, it's the best song, the music of my heart." He looked at the players, "Want to listen?"
There are two castles in the Fairy Tale Palace. To reach the other castle of comparable size, you must collect the forty keys to the Unsmiling Attic.
They had very little time left to explore the castle, and they had to choose other areas to conquer tomorrow, so time was of the essence.
But Su Qiong came to the pianist, faced the long sheet of music, and said seriously, "Okay, I want to listen to your music."
ERROR and A stared at him for a while without any objection.
It was indeed something Su Jian could do. They would only be surprised if he really left cruelly.
The piano piece was very long, but when Su Jian listened to the time, he felt that it ended very quickly.
He clapped his hands vigorously, "Nice!"
"Thank you for your compliment. I will create even better music. When we meet next time, I will let you hear the most beautiful music."
"Okay, I'm looking forward to it."
Su Jian left the musician's room and stood at the door, looking left and right, hesitating which direction to choose.
They had just seen the houses on the left.
The houses on the right are a completely unfamiliar and unknown area.
When Su Jing was hesitating, he heard someone calling his name.
"Su Jian!"
Yu Qimiao and Shi Yuntian dealt with the NPCs and went to the top floor to meet them, but were blocked by a staircase that was impossible to climb.
When Su Jing heard Yu Qimiao's voice, he hurried over and pulled him up with great effort. He also introduced the situation on the top floor and showed him the key he had obtained.
"So that's how it is. I understand." Yu Qimiao climbed up the stairs and asked Su Qiong what he thought first.
"I want to go to that room first." He pointed to one of the rooms, which was the room full of roses just now.
The daughter, who was used as bait by Rose, kept crying and seemed to be in great pain.
"good."
No one had any objection.
Shi Yuntian gripped the heavy blade tightly and said proudly, "My weapon is very useful. When the time comes, I can just chop it off with a single blow."
Although Fairy Tale Kingdom is a personal website, they have already formed a tacit understanding and are very clear about their position in the group.
"Su Jing, open the door."
Su Jing reached out and grasped the door handle, turning it slightly to the left.
As soon as the door opened a crack, strong and tough vines immediately stretched out from inside and rushed towards Su Jing.
Su Jing reacted quickly and took two steps back.
A immediately stood in front of him, restrained the vines with a silver whip, and then let Shi Yuntian cut them off with a knife.
When one of the vines was cut off, it became very angry, and more vines came out from the crack in the door and tried to attack them.
A colleague who is resisting the vines turns on the scanning function of the bracelet.
As he expected, Rose is an NPC with a level, and the level is not low.
Even if they cut away the vines that came over, there were still more vines, swaying like tentacles.
The woman let out an even more miserable scream, more roses grew from her body, and her face became even paler.
"As long as we cut off the rose's roots and rescue her, we can get the key, right?"
After Shi Yuntian finished speaking, the woman's crying became even more shrill, even more sad than when the vines were growing just now.
"Don't hurt it! Don't hurt my child!"
"Child?" The players were stunned.
Shi Yuntian was careless and his wrist was entangled by the rose vine.
Only then did they see clearly that the vines were not attacking them with branches and leaves as they had imagined, but with pairs of babies' hands!
The green little hand had nails and fingers, tightly grasping Shi Yuntian's arm, as if a newborn baby was clutching the world tightly.
Shi Yuntian hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether he should chop it down.
A moved quickly and cut the rose vine immediately.
"Wake up, he's not a real child."
When the woman heard this, she suddenly became excited.
"It's my child, they are all my children! They are my most important treasures!"
Hearing the word 'most important', Yu Qi Miao took out the equivalent exchange bag and said politely, "Excuse me, can you make a deal with me?"
Half a minute later, the transaction was successful and the rose vines were temporarily retracted.
Everyone looked at Yu Qi Miao at the same time, and the same thought came to their mind: black-hearted capitalist!
"Come into the room first." Yu Qimiao reminded slowly.
The rose was hurt and shrank back into the woman, greedily absorbing nutrients.
When a few players approached, they found that there was no pistil in the center of the rose. Instead, the petals wrapped around a baby's face, which was smacking its lips.
"My children, aren't they adorable?" the woman was barely breathing, but she still struggled to speak. "It's a pity I won't be able to be with them for much longer. I wonder what will happen to them after I die?"
"What is your wish?"
"I hope someone can help me take care of the children and raise them."
A woman's wish is not difficult, but raising a child is not an easy task.
What's more, these "children" need to suck blood and gnaw bones. You can guess with your toes that raising them must be very dangerous.
Su Jing looked at the woman and then at her "child".
"Your child..." Su Qi originally wanted to ask, 'Why did your child turn into a monster?' But fearing to anger the woman, he changed the question, "It depends on you very much. Can I hear its story?"
"Okay." The woman raised her hand with difficulty and stroked the rose bone. Her hand was pierced by the thorns and had several wounds, but she seemed not to feel the pain.
The woman began to recall her story with her child, and a trace of kindness appeared on her face.
"I'm a gardener's daughter and grew up surrounded by flowers. My father taught me that flowers are living things and we must take good care of them."
"Later, all my family members passed away, and only I and these flowers were left."
"At first, I took good care of them, watering and fertilizing them every day, and the flowers grew better and better."
"Not long after, I met the person I love. All my thoughts were focused on him, and I gradually lost the mood to care for the flowers. Flowers that have lost nourishment gradually began to wither. But I felt that the flower of my love was in full bloom, and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him."
Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but complain, "Love-brained?"
"Love-brained."
"But I never imagined that the flower of love is so false and fragile. The man deceived me. He was clearly engaged, but he accepted my love and asked me to have the baby. I went looking for him and begged him to be with me, but he cruelly rejected me."
"I was so sad that I dug the child out in agony and buried him in that flower field."
Su Jing: “…”
He was just a string of code that was only a few days old and didn't quite understand the human world.
Until now, Su Jing finally realized the horror of love brain.
"My flowers have revived. They absorbed my child's resentment, so they decided to take revenge on the man by tying him up and torturing him until he was covered in wounds."
"Should!"
“Is it actually a cool story?”
Soon, the woman told them with the following story: You are overthinking it.
"I should obviously hate that man and take revenge on him. But seeing him suffer, my heart is so sad."
"So I cut the vines that bound the man, let him down, and told him to leave quickly."
"Before he left, he scolded me harshly, saying I was a monster who practiced witchcraft. He also spread this rumor, causing everyone to isolate me. No one dared to approach me."
After hearing this part of the story, the players felt mixed emotions.
Although the woman was pitiful, it was impossible for them to sympathize with her.
"And then?"
Su Jing looked at the flowers on her body and wanted to ask directly, why is the 'child' growing on your body.
"To prove I wasn't a monster, I dug up the flowers and burned them right in front of them. The onlookers soon dispersed, leaving only me and the flowers reduced to ashes."
"For some reason, I fell asleep and had a long dream. In the dream, I saw my dead child, crying and asking me why I cut off his hands? Why did I set him on fire? He was just trying to protect his mother."
To this day, the woman still remembers the child's cries.
"I want to protect my mother."
"I'll protect Mom with all my strength."
"Why did Mommy hurt me?"
"It hurts so much, Mom, Mom, Mom..."
When the woman woke up, she could still hear countless voices calling for her mother, which gave her a splitting headache.
She covered her head in pain, as if possessed by a demon, and grabbed the burnt remains of the rose and put them into her mouth, swallowing them along with the dirt.
A few days later, she felt a new life coming into her womb.
After a few more days, a tender bud grew out of the belly button and soon produced flower buds.
After the bud bloomed, a baby face appeared inside, crying and calling for her mother.
"He is my child. I will protect him with my life and dedicate everything I have to him." The woman stared at the flower bud and murmured absentmindedly.
"what to do?"
"The situation is a bit complicated. Simply cutting off the roses won't make her smile."
"We have to find a way to reconcile them. How can we reconcile them?"
Usually, if you want two people to reconcile, you should find the cause of the conflict.
The biggest contradiction between the woman and his 'child' is -
"Scumbag!" Several players said in unison.
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