"Hey, are these the lyrics of the nursery rhyme you heard during the day?"
Although Lu Shufan had taken the initiative to enter the game, he was actually very afraid of ghosts. He was so frightened that he put his hands into his sleeves and held onto the stone tablet.
Shi Yuntian scratched his head, "I didn't listen carefully, but the second half seems a little different."
"At the bottom of the river, in the barren mountains, the wronged souls have been covered in snow for eighteen years." Yu Qimiao recited the second line of the nursery rhyme on the stone tablet with a frown.
I originally thought that the nursery rhymes sung by those old bachelors were weird enough.
The version on the stone tablet, just by reading the text, made them feel a creepy sense of fear.
Su Jian is a new NPC who knows very little about human society.
He silently read the words on the stone tablet, observed the expressions of the three players, and calmly stated, "We are getting closer to the truth."
As soon as the words fell, a system prompt sounded in the air.
[System: NPC Su Jian has triggered the hidden quest [Them]. Please complete the quest based on the clues.]
After a moment of silence, a cold mechanical voice raised a question: [Why would an NPC trigger a dungeon quest?]
The system tasks of "IF" are mainly divided into two types, main tasks and side tasks.
You can leave the dungeon after completing the main quest, and you can get more points rewards by completing the side quests.
In addition, there are hidden tasks that are rarely triggered and are more difficult than the first two tasks.
If you complete the hidden task, you can not only leave the dungeon, but also get more rewards.
According to the rules of the game, no matter what kind of task it is, it is prepared for the players.
Why is the NPC triggered?
Su Jing: Ask me?
I also want to question the system.
He worked diligently to help players complete dungeons, but who would have thought that the dungeon mission would fall on his shoulders.
——The dog system does not pay this part of the salary.
Another half minute passed before the system finally accepted the reality and released the task details to Su Jing.
['Poor' dungeon hidden quest: They.]
[Mission Description: Find the 'them' who disappeared from Gangan Village, fulfill their wishes, and restore the truth of the dungeon.]
[Mission Difficulty: E (Peaceful)]
After the announcement, the system sound disappeared.
Several people looked at each other in confusion for a while, and Shi Yuntian scratched his head again, "I'm too lazy to use my brain when playing games, and I especially hate puzzle missions. What are the consequences if the mission fails?"
Su Qiong replied cruelly, "The game is lost."
As for the consequences of the game's failure, no one can tell at the moment.
"What do we do now?"
"Anyway, put the stele back first and don't alert the other players."
"Yeah, okay!"
Su Jing commanded the three of them to carry the stone tablet, and put it back to the village entrance with great effort. Then they sneaked back to the cave to sleep.
The wind was still blowing in in the middle of the night. Su Jing was unable to identify the source and simply gave up struggling.
After a whole day and late night of hard work, the three players next to me were exhausted and fell into a deep sleep with their eyes closed.
The next morning, they were woken up by the screams of other players.
"Ah! Where's my money?!"
"It's gone. All the money is gone."
"It's already this late, and you're still in the mood to look for money! Have you noticed that there are a few fewer people in the village?"
"There are more than just a few. I just checked door to door and found that there are more than 20 players missing."
The three sleeping people were awakened by the noise outside, and asked in a daze what happened outside.
Su Jing raised his bracelet and tapped it for a while, then suddenly remembered that he could speak, so why bother tapping?
He cleared his throat solemnly and explained, "The dungeon NPC took action, and they failed the mission."
Dungeon NPC?
After hearing Su Jing's reminder, they remembered that "IF" was completely controlled by NPCs.
Simply put, the dungeon they are in is completely controlled by the thoughts of the dungeon NPC.
In the past two days, the dungeon NPC did not take any action, which made them almost ignore the existence of the big boss.
Lu Shufan: "Do you know the reason?"
"I don't have enough authority. I'll go outside to investigate." Su Jing put away the operating panel and floated outside the cave to collect information.
Before they got up, Follow Me Winner had already sent people to collect all the information of the missing players.
Those who follow me will win. With the strategy in hand, you will enjoy the support and admiration of most players before entering the game, and the player information collected is very detailed.
Su Jing walked towards him, with obvious greed in his eyes, coveting the experience points and skills of the system NPC.
He quickly remembered something and touched his neck fearfully.
"Stay away from me!" He who follows me will win and draw a void barrier.
Su Jing stopped, raised his harmless marshmallow head, and pointed at the notebook in his hand that recorded the information.
"Want to see it? Why should I give it to you?" He scoffed, "You're just a system NPC, what do you not know?"
Su Jing had limited social experience and could not understand the sarcasm in Jin Da Ti's tone.
He said in a sincere and soft voice, "I'd like to trade you some other information, is that okay?"
He who obeys me wins: Oops, my conscience seems to hurt a little.
In fact, Su Jing could have complained to Shi Yuntian and forced him to hand over the book, or used "one less head chop off" as a bargaining chip.
Su Jing, however, chose to exchange information and negotiated the terms politely and sincerely.
He who obeys me wins After some self-examination, he found that this NPC had not done anything excessive from beginning to end, except chopping off his head (? ).
On the contrary, I was the one who coveted the NPC's clues and points, and always made things difficult for him in a harsh tone.
The man who obeys me softened his attitude a bit, raised his chin and gestured, "Tell me your conditions first."
Su Jing has a lot of clues in his hands, and one clue can affect the whole body.
If I tell him that whoever obeys me wins, I might reveal the hidden mission.
Su Jian didn't mind guiding one more player, but he promised Yu Qisui in advance that he would keep the secret for the time being.
After thinking for a moment, Su Qiong replied, "I can tell you the elimination conditions."
"Really?" The one who follows me wins didn't say anything, but the player next to him got anxious first.
They just want to get through safely, so they don't care about hidden tasks.
When I opened my eyes in the morning, I found that half of the players in the dungeon had disappeared. It felt so scary.
The unknown is always the most terrifying.
The players were in a panic and just wanted to find out the elimination conditions as quickly as possible to save their lives.
He who obeys me wins. Hearing their urging, he stopped bargaining and handed the book to Su Jian.
Su Jian flipped through the book roughly, focusing on the information of the missing players, and had a rough idea in his mind.
He returned the notebook and told Whoever Follows Me Will Win, "The ability of the NPC in this dungeon should be similar to mortgage or tribute. Players who made money yesterday use currency as collateral. Players who didn't make money yesterday use themselves as collateral."
“How could it be…”
"So, the money we worked so hard to earn will disappear inexplicably. If we don't make money, we will disappear instead."
Su Qiong: "Based on my understanding of the system, this is the case."
The players were collectively silent.
Their current despair is not because of poverty itself, but because they thought they could get out of poverty by working hard last night.
It was not until this moment that they understood why the system said that "poverty" was an incurable terminal illness.
Born as a servant, you will never be able to turn over a new leaf.
Su Jian had previously been unable to feel any emotion, but at this moment, he seemed to be infected by the deep despair. He played the role of an NPC guide and reminded everyone, "Please follow the rules and strive to survive."
He gathered up his cloak, returned to the cave, and explained his conclusions to Yu Qimiao and the others.
"You mean, the dungeon NPCs either make money disappear or make people disappear?"
"Yes." Su Qi nodded, revealing significantly more information to them. "I was searching for clues in the city yesterday, and I was also keeping an eye on the status of each player. The twenty or so players who disappeared were all those who had no income yesterday."
"You're amazing. You found the key clue while also taking into account so many details." Lu Shufan said decisively, "I won't call you a waste anymore."
"..." Su Qiong silently cast his gaze at the pensive Yu Qishou, "Is there a problem?"
"I believe you, but—"
Yu Qimiao opened his backpack and said, "The money I earned is still there."
"Huh?!" The two paupers who had returned to the time before liberation overnight were dumbfounded and questioned the fairness of the system.
"The system won't favor one player over another on principle. Furthermore, the dungeon NPC did use a skill yesterday." Su Qiong pondered for a long time before adding, "The dungeon NPC's skills are conditional, and you must have circumvented them. Did you do anything after entering the dungeon?"
"No." Yu Qimiao shook his head honestly, "I've been with you guys since we entered the dungeon."
Lu Shufan: "I understand! It must be because you left some of your money in the city!"
Su Jian denied it, "Impossible, cities also fall within the scope of dungeons."
To take a step back, even if the money left in the city does not disappear, the part left in Gangan Village will disappear.
"It's a headache. Never mind. As long as the seven seconds of money are still there, the three of us can pass the level." The two brothers Shi Yuntian put their arms on his shoulders, their intentions were very obvious.
Yu Qimiao threw his arm down and said coldly, "Just because I didn't trigger it today doesn't mean it won't trigger in the next few days. To be safe, everyone should find a way to complete Su Jian's hidden mission."
"Okay, I'll listen to the boss!"
There are no buses into the city today and tomorrow, so they have plenty of time to search.
On the third day of the Gangan Village dungeon's opening, other players had already turned the publicly accessible land upside down. Su Qiong had also carefully searched around Gangan Village that evening upon entering the village, but found no useful clues.
According to normal methods, even if you dig three feet deep into the entire village, it would be difficult to find anything useful.
Fortunately, Su Jing discovered a key clue last night.
Lu Shufan just felt that the nursery rhyme was weird and didn't dare to listen carefully.
But Su Jing did not have any concept of "horror". He memorized the nursery rhyme and carefully analyzed the message the lyrics wanted to convey.
Last night, the bus returned to Gangan Village, and the nursery rhymes sung by the old bachelors were slightly different from the first day.
But the two lines of lyrics on the stone tablet clearly responded to the two nursery rhymes on the first day.
If you put the two versions together in an alternating manner, the nursery rhyme will become:
Man: Gangan Village, bare poles, where is my gold mountain?
Woman: Gangan Village, bare poles, your gold mountain is there.
Man: Ask mom, ask sister, where is my gold mountain?
Woman: At the bottom of the river, in the desolate mountains, the wronged soul has been covered in snow for eighteen years.
Listening to the male and female voices separately, you can clearly hear a question and an answer.
The final answer to this question is -
'At the bottom of the river, on the barren mountain.'
If Su Jing's inference is correct, these two places are where "they" are.
Considering the second half of the sentence, "ghosts of the dead," I'm afraid the ones I'm looking for have already...
He told this analysis to several other people. Yu Qimiao and Su Qiong had similar ideas and decided to split into two teams to look for them.
Lu Shufan was timid, so compared to the extremely strange river bottom, he chose the relatively less strange barren mountains.
Su Qiong and Yu Qi Miao made an appointment to explore the Gan Gan River at night.
No, it should be called Sun and Moon River or Yang and Yin River.
Only when you encounter a demon and cross the river, will you have the chance to discover the true secret of the Yangyin River.
"That stone tablet is inscribed with the words: Men should not enter this river." Yu Qimiao looked down at himself and asked worriedly, "How should I cross the river?"
Su Jian looked him up and down, and said seriously, "I have a way. Are you willing to give yourself to me?"
"...I'm willing." Yu was stunned for seven seconds before answering.
What solution does Su Jing have?
It was so solemn that Yu Qi Miao almost thought that some marshmallow was proposing to him.
"Little Dianxin, what do you have in mind?" Lu Shufan asked directly.
Su Jing didn't answer, but waved the bandage and drove him out.
Lu Shufan was cruelly expelled from the house, and dragged his heavy body to follow Shi Yuntian to explore the barren mountains.
I heard from Su Jing that there are several abandoned caves in the village.
The last time he went there, he tried his best but couldn't pry open the sealed door of the cave.
Shi Yuntian walked to the abandoned cave and saw that the door lock was still intact.
I guess the players coming later won’t be able to pry open the door.
"Get away from me." Shi Yuntian drew out his heavy blade, aimed it at the cave door, and chopped it down fiercely.
"Boss Shi, can you do it?" Lu Shufan knew that Shi Yuntian's heavy blade was a novice benefit given by the system to every player, so it looked scary.
There are several players in the dungeon who have reached level two and three by killing mimic NPCs or other players, but they are helpless against the door.
The masters were defeated one after another, and Shi Yuntian was just a low-level player...
Preface retracted.
Lu Shufan was slapped in the face before his psychological activities were fully formed.
There were only a few "crackling" sounds, and the heavy door cracked into several cracks, and then shattered into several pieces under a full-strength blow.
Shi Yuntian, carrying a knife, strode into the abandoned cave, but did not find them or their corpses.
The abandoned cave was larger than the one they lived in. It was very deep and it was unknown how many meters it extended.
On both sides of the cave, against the walls, there are several large iron cages.
It looks like an iron cage used to keep dogs in a slaughterhouse, with several iron chains inside.
The two men walked forward and saw at least a dozen cages.
When you reach the end, a heavy door appears in front of you.
"Strange, there is nothing here." Shi Yuntian touched his head, suspecting that Su Jing's analysis was wrong.
Lu Shufan was rarely serious. He squatted down and pulled up an iron chain, silently looking at the handcuffs and shackles at the end of the chain.
He gestured with his hand.
The size of the handcuffs and shackles was slightly smaller than his own skeleton, but they were clearly human size.
"Don't look at it, they're all iron cages." Shi Yuntian said casually, "This is a real-life dungeon. No matter how haunted it is, it's impossible to turn a living person into a cage."
"People cannot be turned into cages." Lu Shufan's eyes were gloomy.
"If..."
"What about turning people into dogs or pigs?"
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