Chapter 163 Hell Train (Unedited) The obedient boy called out to Liang Yan, "Master..."
Zhu Shengqing and Zhu Bieming, who were standing close to Liang Jun, also noticed her movement and turned around as well.
Zhu Bieming choked for a few seconds, "How come you're right behind us?"
Zhu Shengqing first glanced down at Liang Xuan's condition, then turned his gaze back to the monitor screen.
"Although we've been under surveillance, no one else has entered or left this area since we came in, so our movements won't be noticed for a while."
The obvious doubt on Liang Jun's face had not yet disappeared.
She had already mentally prepared herself for these low-level tricks of the system, so when she witnessed it all, Liang Jun didn't feel much of a stir.
But for some reason, she felt that she had missed some crucial information.
It's like there's always a strange voice in my head reminding me.
Liang Jun frowned. She stopped paying attention to Zhu Shengqing and Zhu Bieming's actions and continued to focus her observations on the screen.
Only the screen in the very center had a clear image; the other screens in the nine-square grid remained shrouded in red mist, as if Liang Jun and the others could never escape this fog.
When she gets into deep thought, she always has something in her hand—like a pen.
But there was obviously no such extra item at the moment, and Liang Jun's hands couldn't stay idle, so she couldn't help but gently touch the screen that displayed her figure.
Her trembling fingertips touched her own back. Liang Jun originally intended to use it to help with positioning, but who knew that as soon as her fingers touched it, the top and bottom borders of the full-frame screen suddenly popped up.
In a short period of time, Leung Chun has suffered a series of significant setbacks.
Her frozen fingers couldn't move, and her fingertips landed right on the pale blue progress bar.
Liang Jun blinked twice calmly.
Now, even if someone says that the guardian spirit is the true form of the system, Liang Jun can calmly and without batting an eye.
The three of them had been studying this place for so long, but none of them had noticed that it was all touchscreen-enabled.
Zhu Bieming's gaze had come casually, but when he realized what he had seen, he was utterly dumbfounded.
"Why is there still a progress bar?!"
Zhu Bieming seemed to have temporarily forgotten the pain under the bandages. His trembling hand pointed at the screen, his face full of disbelief, "These videos can't still be played back, can they?!"
The answer is correct.
Before he could even express his shock, Liang Jun had already slowly pulled back the progress bar that was currently at its end.
The central viewpoint is the surveillance room. Liang Jun wanted to take a closer look to see whose stronghold this was before they arrived.
Finding the target might bring us one step closer to destroying the system.
The screen was already tiny, and the pale blue progress bar was even more as thin as a hair.
Heavy breathing caused her fingers to tremble, so to avoid missing any more time points, Liang Jun simply held her breath for a while and carefully dragged the progress bar pixel by pixel.
But the scene on the screen did not meet her expectations. Liang Xun had already observed the footage before the three of them arrived, but no one had ever been to this huge monitoring room; only these dazzling screens were continuously broadcasting live.
The progress bar didn't provide a time reference, and Liang Xun didn't know when the dungeon would truly begin. She could only keep her hands busy, retreating little by little.
Suddenly at some unknown point in time, the dazzling array of digital screens on the screen gradually blurred, and the reddish-brown to grayish fog dissipated, as if several extremely penetrating rays of light slowly seeped in.
Liang Xun's attention became increasingly focused; she wished she could merge her entire body into the screen.
As the time in the surveillance footage continued to advance, the scene in front of Liang Jun became clearer and clearer.
The gravel road wasn't very smooth, and cement bags were piled high on both sides of the road; these were all for paving the ground.
The little yellow dog wagged its tail and ran out from the intersection at the bottom of the surveillance camera. Immediately afterwards, two girls of similar build walked out from below, chatting and laughing.
At the far end of the scene is a security guard's room, where an elderly man with a fairly sturdy back lifts the curtain and peeks out, chatting familiarly with two young women.
This comic-book-like film seemed to have played out in Liang Jun's mind not long ago. She could even tell what the next scene of the movie would be if she closed her eyes right now.
This perspective was captured by the surveillance camera directly above the gate of their residential complex.
Cold sweat climbed up Liang Yan's back layer by layer, and the wound under the gauze became sweaty, the sweat irritating her and doubling the pain.
Liang Xun's mind was a complete mess.
She staggered and fell to the ground, her legs curled up in front of her chest, her elbows loosely resting on her knees, while her hands completely covered her head.
Upon seeing this scene, Zhu Shengqing and Zhu Bieming were both at a loss.
They hadn't disturbed Liang Jun's thoughts and had been observing her surroundings, so they were completely unaware of what had happened to her.
Zhu Bieming was so concerned that he lost his composure. He was just about to bend down and ask Liang Xun how she was doing when Zhu Shengqing stopped him.
“She’s doing fine right now, we can tell.” Zhu Shengqing deliberately lowered his voice and pulled Zhu Bieming away. “She’s probably trying to figure something out, let’s not disturb her for now.”
It was also thanks to Zhu Shengqing's timely intervention in pulling Zhu Bieming away that Liang Xun's train of thought wasn't completely severed—
She remembered this surveillance footage.
There was a street lamp right across from the gate of the community. Every evening when Liang Jun came home from school, she would always notice the warm glow of the street lamp and the huge camera hanging below the lamp post.
But when did this become a location for the system to monitor players?
Liang Xun had already scrolled the progress bar to the front, but the only scene she remembered was when she went to the flower and bird market with Qin Miao. All the previous life records were gone.
Since the monitoring points haven't changed, it means that my current location is no different from the gate of the residential area in the real world.
Liang Jun looked up at the dark camera.
In this way, the locations can be matched up.
She was completely engulfed by the red mist in her bedroom before falling from a height that perfectly matched the height of her room.
So, from that time on, had she already perfectly fallen into the trap woven for her by the system?
A chill ran down Liang Jun's spine.
It's all fake.
There was no flower and bird market, no little turtles, no orchids, no "Plum Blossom Divination," and no lemonade.
Everything she has experienced with her own eyes so far is a wonderful new world tailored for her by a system that has penetrated deep into her brain.
The moment she stepped out of the store, she wasn't greeted by heaven, but rather by a direct train to hell.
Thinking of this, Liang Jun's pupils trembled violently.
Since everything was fabricated by the system based on her experiences, then what about Zhu Shengqing and Zhu Bieming in front of her...?
Perhaps it was telepathy, but the two brothers, who had been facing away from her, turned around in unison.
Zhu Bieming's expression was initially calm, but after noticing Liang Xun's unusual look, a sense of vigilance suddenly appeared in his eyes.
"What's wrong?" He moved quickly and accidentally stepped on the gauze hanging from his leg, staggering several steps back, but still endured the pain and looked at Liang Xun. "What's wrong?"
Although Zhu Shengqing didn't make many subtle moves and wasn't particularly good at expressing himself, he subtly moved closer to Liang Xuan, trying to increase her sense of security by closing the distance.
However, the wariness in Liang Jun's eyes had not subsided.
"you……"
She suddenly realized that if she were to fully articulate this question, it would clearly be a sign of distrust towards them.
So Liang Jun hesitated for once.
Seeing this, Zhu Bieming became even more anxious, and for a moment he even forgot that he could read her mind.
"What's wrong with us? Just tell me straight. This beating around the bush isn't like you."
Liang Xun took a deep breath and carefully asked, "Are you... fake?"
"Huh?" Zhu Bieming froze on the spot.
After a few seconds, he seemed to come to his senses and replied hurriedly, "How could we be fake! We've come all this way with you!"
As if to prove his innocence, Zhu Bieming put on his usual joking persona again, seemingly about to step forward and obediently call Liang Yun "Master" at any moment.
To nip the problem in the bud, Liang Yan shoved Zhu Bieming's head away.
Zhu Shengqing kept his hands in his pockets the whole time, and the white gauze on his forearm was particularly noticeable.
"Whether it's true or false, you'll have to judge for yourself." His eyes still held that slight smile. "If you believe we're real, then we are real."
My mind was already in a mess, and this answer only made it worse!
Liang Jun waved her hand dismissively, then stood up, leaning on Zhu Bieming's shoulder.
"Forget it! I'm not going to think about these things anymore!"
The only clue at present is these annoying screens in front of us.
Liang Jun leaned forward again, staring at the only central square that showed the image for a long time, but still felt that she had missed something.
Why are there only nine monitors for each instance...?
Liang Xun pondered this question, her intuition telling her that she might need to carefully compare it with other copies.
Using what little memory she had left, Liang Jun retraced her steps and found the surveillance footage of Wilson College and Wuxie Amusement Park that she had just seen.
Unlike the other few near-black screens, these eighteen screens perfectly displayed the target scene located by the surveillance cameras.
Wilson College's surveillance cameras are located at nine points: the school gate, teaching buildings, offices, dining areas, cafeteria windows, library, study rooms, and the two dormitory buildings for men and women.
Wuxie Amusement Park placed a surveillance camera at each step of the mountain's stairs, providing seven different perspectives from each step. Additionally, there were separate camera positions at the park's main entrance and the Ferris wheel.
These are all routes that players must take during the game, and no player can escape the camera's capture.
Liang Jun already had the answer in her heart.
But for final confirmation, she still needs to compare it with another copy.
"Has either of you seen the surveillance footage from the store copy?" Liang Jun asked the two.
Zhu Bieming tilted his head and thought about it carefully, his eyes showing a blank look.
Instead, Zhu Shengqing took the initiative and walked to a certain spot first, saying, "I see it, it's here."
Under his guidance, Liang Jun also found the new nine-square grid.
The scene displayed on the monitor was exactly as she had imagined—eight cash registers and the store entrance.
Liang Jun's heart sank even further. "The system doesn't place cameras randomly. It needs to ensure that every player is under its precise control, so the surveillance footage will only show places where the player is sure to be."
She tilted her head back, staring intently at the obsidian-like observer.
"So, the system knew we would come here all along; this is the most ingenious part of its elaborate plan—"
Liang Jun chuckled, "It deliberately made us see these things."
"deliberately?"
Zhu Bieming's voice rose at the end, giving the impression that he was about to unleash his fury at any moment.
Zhu Shengqing patted him on the shoulder, signaling him to calm down.
"So what are you planning to do next?" Zhu Shengqing looked down at Liang Xun, a doting smile on his lips. "Want to go all out?"
Liang Jun never expected to hear those words come out of his mouth.
She also became interested and raised an eyebrow, "For example?"
Zhu Shengqing said in a serious tone, "Smash it."
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A note from the author: Friendly reminder: What you see now may not be what actually happened.
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