Chapter 15 Welcome Party (XV)
Rehearsal area.
...Jiang Shuyue found that they had been standing still.
He and Jing Qiao walked for more than ten meters following the intermittent rhythm of the distant singing, but the stairs and the room opened in the wall seemed to be always more than thirty meters away.
Looking back, only the distance between the entrance and them had been lengthened!
Jing Qiao: "Be careful!"
He turned his head quickly and almost bumped into a stool beside him. As he twisted his body to avoid it, his cell phone fell out of his trouser pocket. With a snap, the screen turned upwards, emitting a bright light and... a silent caller ID.
...a mobile phone number starting with 137 is calling him?
Jiang Shuyue and Jing Qiao were both stunned.
The singing in the distance sounded faintly again.
Jing Qiao felt that this situation was too weird. She squatted down, hugged her knees, and asked fearfully: "Who would call you at this time?"
Jiang Shuyue came back to his senses, picked up the phone immediately, and said vaguely: "It's Su Mingyun's number. I just exchanged phone numbers with her..."
"They were able to get through to you in the aisle area? Or did they leave the dungeon?"
"I don't know. Let me ask." Jiang Shuyue's heart was beating very fast. "I, I'll take it and see."
He slid through the call, put the phone to his ear, and quickly pressed the volume button on the side of the phone to turn down the volume.
On the other end of the line, an equally low male voice sounded.
"Hey, Jiang Shuyue, is that you?!"
…dim light, vague singing in the distance, the girl next to him squatting on the ground, staring at him with wide eyes, fearful and curious.
Jiang Shuyue was breathing heavily, his palms full of cold sweat.
He heard Wang Lei's voice on the other end of the phone asking anxiously: "It's you and Jing Qiao, right? I heard your voices in the front room!"
…
Jiang Shuyue felt like he was about to have a heart attack.
He recognized it as Wang Lei's cell phone number at a glance, so his scalp exploded the moment he saw the caller ID.
A person who was supposed to be dead called himself. It was a horror movie, a pure horror movie.
Very good, it's okay, calm down, it's obvious that this graded copy is going to mess with him, just let him see what tricks it is trying to play.
He pretended not to see Jing Qiao's probing eyes and asked, "Are you... okay?"
Wang Lei said excitedly on the other end of the phone: "Of course I have something to do! I don't know what happened. I was just looking for clues in the room in front of you. There are too many things in here. I searched for a long time before I found something that seemed to be a clue to the monster generator. As soon as I got it, I was pushed out of the wall and sucked back in. Then I heard the sound of you talking outside!"
...Jiang Shuyue thought that this ghost was quite fake, but after hearing these words, his mind couldn't help but start analyzing.
"Wang Lei" didn't die and was still in that room? He was sucked back in the moment he was pushed out of the wall? Does this mean that he was pulled back into the dungeon the moment he cleared the level?
The rehearsal area dungeon has never been truly cleared. The time that the three groups of people were waiting after they were in their respective positions was not for the roommates in another dimension to complete the prop area dungeon, but for Wang Lei to complete the rehearsal area dungeon?!
But if the rehearsal area copy was not cleared, how did Jing Qiao come out?
Isn’t this too fake?
The best option after receiving a scam call is to hang up immediately, but since life and death are at stake, Jiang Shuyue decided to try harder to get some more information.
He looked at the door in front of him that was slightly open and asked cautiously, "We thought something happened to you. If you're okay, why don't you come out?"
Jing Qiao came over worriedly and mouthed: Did something happen to Su Mingyun and the others?
Jiang Shuyue leaned back slightly and stretched out his hand to signal her not to worry.
On the other end of the phone, Wang Lei said: "Damn, I don't want to face those two monsters again! And Jing Qiao..."
He said in a hoarse voice, "Be careful of her. She was just let go by the dancing monster. Before she left, I noticed something wrong in her eyes. I don't know if she was brainwashed by the dancing monster and said something to you when she returned. I can tell you for sure that she didn't get out by herself."
Jiang Shuyue was stunned.
"Don't waste time. Listen to me. I have the clue I found in the last round, but this instance is obviously not over yet. I suspect that we must get rid of both monsters before we can get out."
"One of those two monsters is a singer and the other is a dancer. I accidentally broke the rules in the last round. In this instance, you cannot move or speak loudly when you hear or see a monster performance. I moved and was located by the monster. Then the singer asked me if I liked its song."
...Up to this point, what Wang Lei said was exactly the same as what Jing Qiao told them.
Jiang Shuyue had a premonition in his heart.
He clenched his phone and heard Wang Lei say, "I feel like the rules here are a little off. The first rule is a little problematic, so can we trust the next two rules? I didn't answer it according to the rules. I said, I think it's OK."
“…Is that what you said?”
Wang Lei hesitated: "Yes, actually I also felt that this answer might not be a good answer. I felt that there was something wrong with the answer specified in the rules, but I didn't know what the correct answer was. I thought I might die, but the singing monster really disappeared!"
"Then the dancing monster asked Jing Qiao if she wanted to dance with it. Seeing that I didn't follow the rules and was let off, Jing Qiao didn't accept the invitation as the rules said. She rejected the monster, and as a result..." Wang Lei's voice suddenly became dry, "The monster danced in front of her, and then her eyes became strange!"
"I called her but she ignored me and turned around and went through the black wall. I wanted to chase her but was stopped by the dancer monster. I accepted its invitation and danced with it, and then the monster disappeared. You know what happened next. I stayed in this dungeon to look for clues..."
Jiang Shuyue's mind started to get confused.
Although he clearly thought it was a scam call, he suddenly thought that what Wang Lei said seemed quite logical... ?
If their memories had been tampered with, they would have already discovered that something was wrong with the first rule, so it would be natural for them to distrust the remaining two rules.
But this is just Wang Lei's one-sided statement, and it is still very likely a scam call. There are too many suspicious points about Wang Lei's "resurrection".
Wang Lei said depressedly: "I know it's hard for you to believe me now, but the only purpose of the monster after brainwashing Jing Qiao and releasing him is to deceive you and make you not know which rules you can believe and which rules you can't believe. Once you break the rules, you will die."
"Think carefully, there must be something contradictory about Jing Qiao. You can't be completely insensitive to it, right?!"
Jiang Shuyue suddenly recalled the look Mu Yu gave him before she left.
At that time, Lu Chongnian pressed Mu Yu's head and walked away without saying a word, but looking at Lu Chongnian's attitude, this person must know what Mu Yu was hinting at him at that time.
Jiang Shuyue didn't like Lu Chongnian. He felt a sense of rejection from the first moment he saw this guy. It was the instinct that arose in his body when he met a strong opponent.
But precisely because of this instinct, he knew very well that Lu Chongnian was definitely a very powerful person.
Lu Chongnian and Mu Yu are both very smart, quick-thinking, calm and rational. Once they make a hint, it will definitely not be aimless.
He himself was one step behind them.
He didn't understand.
"...I think that although Jing Qiao still looks like herself, she may be dead...Anyway, this is the solution to this instance. I don't want to come out again. Come on over here. Oh, you can't stop on the way here. If you stop, the room will become farther away. That's what I did just now!"
"That singing monster must be deliberately trying to complicate things this time, so it kept singing and stopping to keep you guys on the same spot."
"If you believe me, you will just rush forward. You don't have to stop even if it sings. If it flashes with the dancing monsters, just answer them as I say. You only need to rush 30 meters in one breath to reach this room!"
Jing Qiao came closer and called softly, "Jiang Shuyue?"
Jiang Shuyue retreated without leaving a trace and asked Wang Lei a question in a hoarse voice: "...What clue did you find?"
"It's a piece of paper," Wang Lei said, a little confused. "It seems to be a passage from Principal Dou's speech at the first party after the Xinlian Theater was built."
"What exactly does it say?"
Wang Lei read: "'Everyone will face many important and critical choices in life, but no one choice is enough to determine a person's life. You can grow up to be excellent researchers, engineers, architects, writers, historians, journalists...' That's it. There is no further text."
"Is that all? Nothing else?"
"Yes, this paragraph is printed on the paper. I don't know what it means. When I picked up the paper just now, I was pushed out of the wall. I thought this should be the clue, but you may have to come and see what happened specifically-"
He stopped abruptly, only because the sad singing in the distance stopped again.
Jiang Shuyue's ears were filled with the sound of his own heart beating.
He heard Wang Lei breathing rapidly on the phone and whispering, "Run."
At the side, Jing Qiao looked ahead in confusion, then looked at him: "Are we still going to run?"
Wang Lei: “Run!”
Jing Qiao: "Jiang Shuyue?"
Jiang Shuyue gritted his teeth, stood up suddenly and ran forward.
Jing Qiao was stunned for a moment, then quickly caught up with him and shouted behind him: "Jiang Shuyue? Why are you running so fast!"
Jiang Shuyue was running while still wondering, which one is real?
Jing Qiao? Wang Lei?
Wang Lei? Jing Qiao?
Which of these two people can be trusted? !
To be honest, Wang Lei has explained the clues to this extent, and Jiang Shuyue really doesn't think what he said is false.
But the confused and panicked look on Jing Qiao's face as she chased after him didn't seem fake, did it?
He feels like a fool now?!
Ah? Is he a fool? But he took the college entrance examination himself, so the score can't be fake, right?! He got into Lian University by himself, right? ?
Jiang Shuyue felt like he was going schizophrenic, and then he suddenly had an idea.
They had just advanced at least ten meters, and visually, the stairs and the mysterious room under the stairs were always thirty meters away.
But theoretically speaking, the actual distance between them and the stairs was only about ten meters.
Wang Lei said that he only needed to run 30 meters in one breath to reach the room.
is that so?
...Or trying to trick him into something?
Jiang Shuyue stared at the road under his feet, ran step by step, and calculated the distance he had run in his mind.
Five meters, eight meters, ten meters, twelve meters——
It's almost here.
In theory, he was about to reach where the steps should be.
Will he just run over on flat ground, or will he fall down the invisible steps? !
Which one?!
Jiang Shuyue exerted all his strength, pushed the ground with his left foot, raised his right leg, and leaped a distance of nearly two meters.
He felt himself falling, his heart was beating so hard that it seemed like it was about to explode.
Then his feet landed smoothly on the ground.
On the ground with no height difference from before.
——The steps are not hidden here!
At this moment, his strong intuition told him that running thirty meters in one breath was really the right way to reach the mysterious room!
Jiang Shuyue felt relieved and was about to move forward when singing suddenly sounded in the front. He was caught off guard and took a step forward without stopping.
"Jiang Shuyue!" Jing Qiao called in a low voice.
Jiang Shuyue froze.
call.
A stream of cold air came from nowhere and gently brushed across his cheek.
The originally dim light flickered twice and went out at this moment, and the surroundings fell into complete darkness.
And in this terrifying darkness, an even darker, slender shadow suddenly appeared in front of them.
Jiang Shuyue was panting, with his mouth slightly open, and raising his head little by little.
…very high.
Its body is thin and long, with its head touching the ceiling, like a giant.
She has an elegant and slender neck and a thin waist. Although she is dressed in pure black, you can still see that she is covered with a beautiful dress. The dress falls straight down, with faintly visible wrinkles. The hem of the dress drags on the ground, forming a black flower.
A quiet and beautiful female face with a pair of huge, elf-like ears standing upright on both sides of the face, and eyes that were white and empty like voids.
Like a strange black sculpture, it slowly bent down towards Jiang Shuyue, cold air continued to surge around it, and its empty eyes approached silently, hanging above the human's head.
Like a god, he looked down upon him quietly.
Jiang Shuyue could hardly breathe.
This is... a monster.
In the corner of the vision, a more flowing black skirt flashed by, and a low cry from Jing Qiao came from the side.
Jiang Shuyue's pupils trembled, and he turned his eyes sharply, only to see a dancing black shadow like a snake, entwining Jing Qiao's legs, chest, abdomen, and neck, like a spider weaving a web and trapping its prey in it.
Singers, dancers, all appeared.
The singer's voice was faint: "My audience."
"Do you like my singing?"
…
Jiang Shuyue was breathing rapidly.
"Jiang Shuyue, answer in a low voice!" Jing Qiao was trapped in the dancer's sleeves and skirt and was at a loss, but she still reminded him anxiously.
"Jiang Shuyue, don't answer it according to the rules!" Wang Lei's voice was unclear on the phone.
Boom, boom, boom.
His heart felt as if it was being tightened, and his stomach twisted in knots. No matter how he tried to calm himself down, he couldn't get rid of the reaction. Jiang Shuyue then realized that this was a feeling of near-death inflicted on him by a monster.
Without answering the questions, he would soon die.
Jing Qiao: "Jiang Shuyue, or you just believe Lu Chongnian and the others once, and answer it according to the rules!"
Wang Lei: "Jiang Shuyue, don't answer it according to the rules!"
"Jiang Shuyue!"
"Jiang Shuyue!"
"——Jiang Shuyue, we have all the clues, don't die here!"
Jiang Shuyue woke up suddenly.
He felt his throat was so dry as if he hadn't had water for several days, and it was painful.
He coughed, clenched his hands, took a deep breath, and made up his mind.
A slender black monster stood in front of him, slowly turning its face and lowering its head further, with its huge ears hanging above his head.
Mu Yu and Lu Chongnian both found Jing Qiao suspicious.
Wang Lei had already read all the clues to him.
Wang Lei did not lie to him. He did not lie to him by rushing over and then letting him fall on the hidden steps more than ten meters away. He was almost certain that the method Wang Lei described to reach the room was true.
Although there are still many things that I don't understand, if Jing Qiao lied at the beginning, it is inevitable that there will be contradictions now.
One of the two people must be telling a lie.
After comparing them, the balance in his heart had already tipped in his favor.
The most important thing is the clue to the monster generator.
That clue really doesn't seem fake.
Jiang Shuyue clenched his fists and slowly opened his mouth.
He could even imagine that the clues to the remaining two areas must be the remaining parts of the speech. Putting the three fragments together, they could get a clear location of the monster generator. This location should be consistent with the original intention of Principal Dou when he first built the New Lotus Theater.
His thoughts suddenly stopped.
etc.
etc!
——But, Wang Lei is a new foreigner?
He is not a science and engineering person!
He just said with his own mouth that there was only that paragraph on the piece of paper, nothing else. From what he said, there wasn't even a title.
So, how did he know that it was a part of Principal Dou’s speech when the Xinlian Theater was built... ?
Jiang Shuyue knew that the University of Science and Technology had many fans of President Dou, and many students applied to the University of Science and Technology just because of President Dou. They could recite every word President Dou said by heart.
Because he knew this, he didn't feel anything was wrong when Wang Lei said that just now.
But Wang Lei...he is a newbie!!
Is it possible that he is studying in Singapore but his heart is in science and engineering? ?
My body is in New Foreign Language School, memorizing foreign language words, but my heart is in Polytechnic, memorizing President Dou’s famous sayings??!
It's not impossible, but how likely is it?!
Moreover, if he could really recall that this was the content of Principal Dou’s speech based on this paragraph of text without any direction, then how could he not know what the next part of this paragraph would be, and how could he be so confused? !
Jiang Shuyue suddenly felt terrified.
He came to his senses.
There are so many things that don't make sense about "Wang Lei is still alive". How did he get fooled from "this is just a scam call" to "although there are still many details that are unclear, Wang Lei should be real"? !
Jing Qiao saw him standing there in a daze, feeling terrified and anxious: "Jiang Shuyue? Jiang Shuyue!"
Jiang Shuyue shuddered and swallowed: "I'm fine, I know how to answer."
...His intuition still told him that the clues and information conveyed by "Wang Lei" and the method to reach the mysterious room were all true.
It's not a lie.
But what he said about their experience in the last round must have been all lies.
He spoke both truth and lies, racking his brains to trick him into not answering according to the rules, so the second rule of the rehearsal area must be a true rule.
And according to Lu Chongnian and Mu Yu's thinking - in the absence of other clues, you can choose to default the rule to be true!
Jing Qiao couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when she heard him say that, and reminded him again and again: "Remember, answer in a low voice!"
Yes, the only thing to note is that he has to answer this question in a low voice, because the dancer monster next to him never stops dancing from beginning to end.
Jiang Shuyue's mood was a bit complicated. Jing Qiao had been reminding him all the time, afraid that he would make mistakes, but he still doubted her. Thinking about it carefully, she had not done anything suspicious from beginning to end...
He exhaled, calmed himself, and opened his mouth again.
Then he stopped again.
He paused, looking at the huge ear above his head.
It is impossible that Jing Qiao had not seen such a striking feature in the last round.
It is impossible not to have seen it, and it is impossible to have forgotten it.
…
…
…whispering “You did a great job” is also a wrong answer.
Jing Qiao and Wang Lei are both untrustworthy.
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