Chapter 36: Is it fun to earn money with blood? (14) Regardless of...
Fear mixed with the dead silence lingered among the four people for a long time.
Even though they all knew that more than twenty people had gone missing in the past few hours, and they had seen the blood and "human body parts" during the investigation just now, seeing their companions lose their lives before their eyes still brought a strong impact.
After a long time, they vaguely guessed that Pingcuo's death was related to the rule card. Only then did they realize that violating the rules would not only bring danger, but also lead to direct death.
So at a certain moment, everyone turned back to the rule card as if the same program had been activated, and began to study the rules attentively.
...They originally wanted to bury the talisman first and wait for Aji to rescue them, but now it seems that it is too late!
The seven short rules were only two or three hundred words long, and all four of them finished reading them quickly.
Rules three, four, and five of the seven rules are all about animals, but they haven't seen any animals so far, and Pingcuo's death should have nothing to do with this; the sixth rule is about entertainment activities, which they haven't seen yet; the seventh rule is a requirement before leaving the park, and it doesn't seem to be triggered immediately.
So, after reading the entire set of rules, the four of them turned their attention back to the first two rules:
"1. To ensure your safety, please do not play in the water in the park. Please do not □□□□."
"2. If you feel any danger, please go to the flower bed on the west side, pick a purple flower, and wear it on your chest."
The most eye-catching part of the two rules is the four □. The deliberate concealment of key information makes people feel uneasy and unhappy, but when thinking about the details of Pingcuo's death, the hidden information here seems to make sense.
...Before Pingcuo was drowned, he had buried the talismans less than one meter away from the stream.
When he was in danger, they saw a dug pit with turned-over flowers and plants around it.
Coincidentally, the other four people did not encounter any obstacles from stones while digging, so they dug holes in the exposed soil at the edge of the flower bed and did not touch the flowers and plants planted in the flower bed.
So they quickly made a guess. The eldest, Tsering, pondered, "Should these four words be something like 'harming the flowers and plants'? Did Pingcuo accidentally disturb the flowers and plants while digging the pit, so he broke the rules and was killed?"
The others had similar guesses and nodded silently.
Solang's attention was focused on the second rule. He pointed at the words and said, "'If you feel any danger, please go to the flower bed on the west side, pick a purple flower, and wear it on your chest'"—doesn't this seem like a life-saving measure?
He paused, then said thoughtfully, "We are afraid because Pingcuo is dead. Shouldn't that also be considered 'feeling dangerous'?"
“Then shall we go pick flowers first?” asked Tsering.
"I want to pick them," Solang said casually. "Anyway, judging by this rule, picking flowers at least won't bring any danger. At most, it's useless. Why not give it a try?"
Everyone thought this suggestion made sense - in their view, it was just like the amulets that believers wear every day, with the mentality of "if it works, I'm lucky, if it doesn't, it's useless."
The four of them immediately decided to go to the "west flower bed" together. When they were about fifty or sixty meters away from the flower bed, they saw a large patch of purple flowers.
In the air behind them, three spirits floated quietly. Seeing how determined they were to pick the flowers, Ah Zhui was surprised. "No way, no way, no way?! Are we going to be wiped out right now?!"
"Not surprising." Si Ling shrugged.
In infinite flow novels, many things that are considered "common sense" are actually gradually explored through the construction of the world view. The author will often design forums, communication groups and other places to allow the characters in the book to master the gameplay as quickly as possible.
But for the few people in front of them, the copy came suddenly, and they had no time to explore it step by step. If they had never been exposed to this kind of work before, there would be no so-called "common sense" to speak of.
Therefore, they have no way of knowing that there may be fake rules in the rule story.
After witnessing their companions die for violating the rules, abiding by the rules became the only way out they could think of.
Si Ling looked at them expectantly, waiting indifferently for them to break the rules.
...In fact, they guessed that the four words hidden by □□□□ in the first rule were "harming flowers and plants", which was completely correct.
But they apparently didn't realize that the flower-picking requirement in the second rule was enticing them to violate the first rule.
When the four people picked the purple flowers mentioned in Rule 2 one after another, the mechanism of Rule 1 was immediately triggered. The strong wind swept in again, and the sand and dust accurately hit the eyes of the four people, forcing them to close their eyes and dodge.
When their vision returned, the scene before them had completely changed. The original garden had disappeared without a trace, and they were all in the desolate mountains. A few steps away was an ancient well with a dark gray well fence that was higher and octagonal.
The sky was gray, and the bleak wind blew across the wilderness, scraping across the treetops and grass leaves. The scratching sounds were dry and rough, filled with an uncomfortable depression.
The four of them looked at each other.
They all sensed the approaching danger, but in the brief moment of calm, no one could tell what would happen next. They could only wait, a desperate wait like waiting for death.
They looked around anxiously, and the easiest thing to imagine was undoubtedly that something was crawling out of the well.
But after waiting and waiting, there was no movement from the well, and people's imaginations unconsciously changed direction, and they began to imagine that there was a ghost behind them...
This kind of imagination made the four of them unconsciously put their backs together and formed a circle.
Knowing that they were one of their own was effectively alleviating most of their fears, but it also prevented them from seeing each other completely, and they began to worry that their companions who were out of sight would disappear without anyone noticing.
...your companions disappear one after another, and before you know it, you are left alone - this is a horror element that transcends culture and is very common in Chinese horror, Japanese horror, and Western horror.
Moreover, silence in the midst of fear is also a catalyst. If there is a trace of panic breathing from yourself or your companions in the silence, it will make people even more panicked.
Solang swallowed his saliva and suggested, "Let's... take turns counting, one, two, three, four, to ensure everyone is safe..."
Following a set process step by step can make the panic fade.
Everyone nodded, and Tsering immediately started talking: "One."
Solang said: "Two..."
"three!"
"Four."
Then again, Tsering: "One."
Solang: "Two."
"three."
"Four."
"five."
The calm, low, hoarse and sinister male voice made everyone turn their heads suddenly.
Then they saw Phuntsok.
Pingcuo, who drowned, was right next to Tsering, and had just finished counting with his eyes lowered.
He looked normal, except that his face was wet and drops of water were dripping down his cheeks.
Tsering's pupils suddenly shrank, and the bullet flew two meters away.
But the next second, he suddenly became dazed...
Pingcuo is dead?
No, Phuntsok is here.
Pingcuo died of drowning.
Phuntsok is here...
Everyone was falling into the same trance, and a completely irrational new cognition began to spread in this trance.
Pingcuo is not dead.
He should have been dead, but he wasn't.
Why didn’t he die? Because he was protected by a “god”, a truly immortal god.
What an awesome power! And what a power that makes people worship Him! If they all worship Him, they will all gain this power!
A few steps away, Ah Zhu shuddered.
...Although she knew that "Pingcuo" was the mysterious Xuan Chi, and she also knew that this was all planned, and she also knew that in the rule-based ghost story, it was just a basic thing for participants to be contaminated for breaking the rules, but it was still quite scary to witness this contamination process.
In addition, under Si Ling's suggestion, Hyun Chi came up with the classic Chinese horror element of "quietly appearing beside you" to reasonably advance the pollution process, and the efficacy of the combination of Chinese and Western medicine was doubled.
Ah Zhui had never been so grateful that he was a demon and not a human.
.
About fifteen minutes later, the four survivors left the garden calmly.
They quickly dispersed, and Heiji hadn't walked far when he ran into a familiar junior. He immediately smiled and said, "I'm just about to go to the convenience store to buy some water for everyone. Would you be willing to come with me?"
The junior fellow disciple did not suspect anything and walked with Heiji. At Heiji's request, he also called a few more people to help carry water.
Another half an hour later, the group walked out of the convenience store.
The fellow student wasn't carrying any water, but he was carrying a large bag of snacks. As he passed the temple next to the convenience store, he noticed a few believers chatting on the side of the road. One of them happened to be someone he knew, so he walked over and calmly raised the bag. "I'm going to offer my tribute. Want to come with me?"
The believers naturally would not refuse.
…
In the western restaurant, Fang Liyi was still stubbornly holding on, which caused the western restaurant copy to be always paused, but it was no big deal.
In the mission group organized by Lucifer, each group of students kept reporting on their progress. By dusk, the number of missing persons in the manor had risen to thirty-seven, including nine of the Tumba family's main targets.
In order to avoid causing panic among the believers, the Tumba family temporarily blocked the news. When faced with people who asked about the whereabouts of their relatives and friends, they only said that these people were selected by Gongbu to undergo a seven-day retreat.
The core members of the Tumba family represented absolute authority in the eyes of believers. For a time, no one questioned the authenticity of this explanation. Instead, many people expressed envy and jealousy towards their "chosen" relatives and friends.
During these hours, Si Ling and his team were inevitably ridiculed several times. Around six in the evening, Aymeric privately messaged Si Ling and said kindly, "We've taken down two major targets. I'll give you one as a token of my gratitude for your help last time."
Si Ling politely replied: "Thank you, no need."
After putting away the Tongming Plate, she mobilized her magic to rise into the air, and happened to see a few more people walking out of the park together, and a few more walking into a convenience store. The leader happened to be Cui Lijin.
Everything went smoothly.
Si Ling thought.
…
Everything went smoothly.
Aji thought.
The spell he arranged for everyone to place in the afternoon worked.
Through them, he sensed a powerful spiritual force, which was the power of the opponent hidden in the dark.
The talisman silently marks the opponent, and no matter who the opponent is, he will slowly surface.
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