Chapter 96 Character Death "Shh, she's here."...
The thick, black liquid was flowing down the uneven surface of the pumpkin carriage.
The minuet still lingers high and melodious, the violin rhythm slow and long, signifying that the piece has entered its final movement.
The carousel hadn't stopped yet; as the giant pumpkin carriage turned, the black blood traced a path on the ground.
Liang Jun was a little unsteady on her feet. She braced herself against the spiked club in her hand to barely stand.
Her body seemed to weaken instantly; her mind couldn't muster the right words to describe how she felt.
Liang Jun could only stand there in a daze.
Her feet trembled, and she felt like a novice sailor standing on the deck of a ship struggling against giant waves.
The dizziness made her extremely uncomfortable. Liang Xuan could feel her stomach twitching, her brain contracting, and her limbs aching.
She opened her mouth again, and what came out was still a mouthful of black blood.
Unlike before, this time there were some unusual blood clots scattered on the surface of the pumpkin carriage.
"Sister Yao!"
"team leader!"
Ge Lin and Luo Chuange, who witnessed the whole thing, cried out in shock.
They instinctively wanted to dismount and rescue them, but somehow the rules that applied to Liang Jun and Qi Zhixia didn't seem to work on them. The two struggled for a long time but still couldn't get off their horses.
Luo Chuange was still working hard on the saddle, a thin layer of sweat showing on his neck.
"Captain! How are you?!"
The sound seemed to be coming from afar. Liang Xun tried to open her eyes wide, but the scene before her was still blurry and she couldn't see clearly.
"I'm fine, don't worry..." She thought her response was loud, but in reality, it was barely a whisper.
Luo Chuange seemed to shout something at her again, and Ge Lin also seemed to be gesturing at her for a while—
But Liang Jun could neither hear nor see clearly.
Just when she thought that everything in this world was about to become so illusory, a very prominent voice rang out again.
It was clear and loud, far surpassing the sound field produced by everyone else present.
[Hidden rule triggered.]
3. During facility operation, unidentified objects may appear. Please do not panic, but do not touch them directly. These objects pose a threat to your life. Use any available tools to indirectly contact them until you defeat them.
Not only Liang Jun, but all the players in the carousel area received this hidden rule.
Although Liang Jun, as the one who triggered the rules, was not yet fully conscious, her underlying logic was still stubbornly holding on.
She understood that her current unusual situation must be due to the hidden rules; but it was clear that the third rule that had been triggered was not enough to explain her current situation.
It seems the system wanted to ensure a good gaming experience for the player; even though she could barely hear the sounds from the outside world, she could still hear the NPC voices inside the dungeon clearly.
The previously hoarse narration seemed to have become clearer, echoing continuously above the carousel—
"The angel's halo can still purify all evil—although it has been punished by demons."
"This filthy land will once again bury the despicable souls, and the wavering guests will forever lie here. The fairytale ball is built on this pile of bones, drawing nourishment from sin, and giving birth to flowers overflowing with childlike innocence."
"From now on, the experience of dancing gracefully at the fairytale ball will become a topic of conversation that all the guests will be proud to mention..."
"What nonsense are you spouting?!"
Ge Lin subconsciously scratched his hair in frustration, but could only touch the short, stiff stubble, which made him even angrier. "Why can't we go down now!"
Above my head, a familiar piano melody was still playing.
Seeing Liang Xun's precarious state not far away, Luo Chuange was genuinely anxious.
"Could it be because the music hasn't stopped yet?"
"When will we be able to wait..."
Before Ge Lin could finish venting his complaints, he caught a glimpse of a figure out of the corner of his eye, which flickered and disappeared from his sight.
Liang Jun lost her balance, and her legs buckled. The spiked club she gripped tightly failed to provide immediate support.
When no one was prepared, she collapsed on the giant pumpkin carriage.
"Sister Jun!" Ge Lin, who was the first to notice something was wrong, immediately shouted, "Sister Jun, what's wrong?!"
The princess float completely blocked everything out, so Gu Keke couldn't get out and could only stick her head out through the window as much as possible.
"What happened? What's wrong with Sister Jun?"
She suddenly fainted!
Ge Lin tried repeatedly to dismount from his warhorse, but it only made him more flustered and confused. "After fighting those shadowy figures, her condition didn't seem right!"
Upon hearing this, Gu Keke turned around and walked towards the door of the princess-themed car.
The car lock was made of twining green vines, with clusters of pink flowers adorning the handle. Gu Keke studied it for a long time before finally placing her hand on the handle, but it seemed it wasn't time to open the door yet; no matter how she turned it, she couldn't push the door open.
Outside the float, the sound system continued to play.
As a few light violin notes swirled and fell, that somewhat aged voice was released once again.
However, compared to the composure he displayed the first time, the NPC's voice this time was noticeably more panicked.
"How could something so terrifying have just happened?"
The NPC's voice trembled, as if still shaken, "Where did these ghosts and phantoms come from? How could such filthy things be at our fairytale ball..."
The previously noisy crowd fell silent. They all temporarily put aside what they were doing and listened intently to every word the NPC spoke, not missing a single one.
"But what I didn't expect was that the evil dwarf stepped in and saved everything..."
His voice rose slightly, as if he were cheering for the "dwarf" he spoke of, "My poor dwarf, I shouldn't have held such prejudice against you. You saved us from the clutches of those ghostly figures, you ended this nightmare—"
His spirits rose, "My kind dwarf, we will sing your praises! It is because of your presence that our fairytale ball was able to conclude successfully—"
As if pre-programmed, the NPC didn't give the player on the mount any opportunity to speak, and proceeded to deliver its closing remarks.
"Everyone, I look forward to seeing you again at the next fairytale ball!"
As the NPC's impassioned personal speech came to an end, the background music playing from the speakers also finally stopped.
At the same time, their mounts came to an abrupt stop. Although the rotation had been slow, the inertia still made them sway.
Standing beside the door of the float, Gu Keke had nothing to hold onto. The moment the equipment stopped running, she instinctively gripped the flower-covered doorknob tightly.
What surprised her even more was that the handle, which had been unmoved before, was now easily turned open by her.
The pink car door suddenly swung open, slamming heavily against the wall of the princess-themed carriage with a dull thud.
Gu Keke was startled at first, but quickly calmed herself down. She first turned around and gave Jiang Zhiling, who was still sitting in the same seat, a look, and then tentatively stepped out of the car door.
Literally, it means being down-to-earth.
Nothing unexpected happened.
This farce is finally coming to an end.
Gu Keke put away her apprehension and caution, and without looking back, ran towards the giant pumpkin carriage behind them.
Luo Chuange and Ge Lin were quite surprised to see a figure running around in the park.
They were about to ask how the other person moved so freely when, before they could even utter a word, they found themselves released from their saddles.
Luo Chuange and Ge Lin didn't dare to delay; they nimbly flipped over and dismounted.
Apart from Qi Zhixia and Wang Jianping, everyone else followed closely behind and arrived at the pumpkin carriage.
The previously locked carriage doors were now completely unlocked. Gu Keke, who arrived first, gritted her teeth and shook the heavy pumpkin carriage a few times before pushing it open.
Liang Jun lay down on the floor of the pumpkin carriage.
The pumpkin carriage wasn't very spacious, and with Liang Jun on the ground, it was difficult for people who came later to find a place to stand.
Gu Keke was so anxious that her voice trembled with tears, "Sister, what's wrong with you...?"
She was about to reach out and touch Liang Jun's body when Luo Chuange grabbed her arm from behind.
"Don't touch her yet," Luo Chuange's breathing was also uneven. "We don't know her current condition, so don't move her without permission. It might cause secondary harm to Sister Jun."
“You’re right…” Gu Keke sobbed, took a few steps back, and stood at the doorway again.
Liang Jun frowned, her eyes were tightly closed, and she looked as if she were trapped in a nightmare from which she could not escape, suffering great torment in both body and mind.
Although Gu Keke did not reach out to touch her again, she was still worried and could only keep calling out Liang Xuan's name softly.
In fact, Liang Jun could hear it.
Her current feelings are almost exactly the same as the symptoms of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) that she had previously learned about.
Even though I had closed my eyes, the dizziness that started spreading from every corner of my body just wouldn't stop.
A trace of dried black blood remained at the corner of Liang Xun's mouth. When she opened her mouth to speak, the thin scab cracked open due to her movement, breaking into countless small black fragments.
"I can hear you talking..." Liang Jun tried her best to suppress the dizziness and nausea. "I'm fine..."
"Sister Yao!"
Upon hearing Liang Xun's weak, almost ethereal voice, Gu Keke and Ge Lin rushed forward one after the other.
The two of them squeezed at the entrance of the pumpkin carriage, causing those behind them to have to stand on tiptoe to see what was happening inside.
"How are you feeling right now?" Gu Keke tiptoed to Liang Jun's side and tucked the hair from her face. "Can you still sit up?"
Liang Yan struggled for a moment, and finally tentatively and slowly opened her eyes.
The moment the light rushed into her vision, the dizziness that had just lessened returned with a vengeance. Liang Xun caught a glimpse of that familiar face appearing in her eyes—she couldn't even pinpoint which one was the real Gu Keke.
She lay on the ground and shook her head, then reached out her free left hand to the person next to her.
"Just help me sit up. I'm fine, just very dizzy and nauseous..."
With the other person's help, Liang Xuan was finally able to sit up with difficulty.
Her legs were still weak and showing no signs of improvement. Her stomach was still cramping and spasming, and Liang Xun could only hunch over to barely alleviate this sudden torment.
She still gripped the spiked club tightly in her right hand, the end of which was stuck into the ground of the pumpkin carriage, serving as a kind of support.
Liang Jun, with her lower abdomen tucked in, was just about to use her strength to get up again when the system suddenly sent out a notification, catching everyone off guard.
[Hidden rule triggered.]
[4. The carousel features a story-driven segment, and we have provided related props for your use. Please use them wisely. However, you are not the protagonist of the story. To prevent you from becoming addicted, each use of a prop will deduct a corresponding amount of mental energy. Please be aware of this.]
"Deduct the corresponding mental value..."
Liang Xun's reaction time also became much longer. After listening to the system's notification, she carefully considered those words and pondered them repeatedly for a long time.
Without saying a word, Jiang Zhiling looked Liang Xun up and down, finally fixing her gaze on the spiked club that the other woman was gripping tightly in her right hand.
"Sister Jun," she asked rather urgently, "where did this stick come from?"
Suddenly realizing something, Ge Lin, who had been pointed out, didn't care about anything else and slid forward on his knees. Before Liang Xun could react, he decisively snatched the spiked club of unknown origin from her hand, gritted his teeth, mustered his strength, and threw it out of the pumpkin carriage.
The sharp spikes of the spiked club struck the main body of the carousel, the metal colliding with a loud bang, like the sound of a cannonball hitting the ground, causing everyone else to involuntarily shrink back.
Meanwhile, Leung Chung was still slowly processing everything that had happened.
Ever since Ge Lin threw away the spiked club, Liang Jun felt as if he had simultaneously stripped away some kind of emotion from his body.
She felt as if she were a test tube generating gas, but the mouth of the test tube was stuffed with a large wad of cotton to block it. The gas inside the tube was constantly pressurized but could not be released, and her whole body seemed to be out of control.
Just a second before the explosion, the experimenter used a crucial wire to pull out the tightly packed wad of cotton.
The free release of gas through the test tube opening brings a sense of physical and mental comfort, like a long-awaited reunion.
Liang Jun sat there for a few seconds to recover, and the light in front of her seemed less glaring.
Gu Keke, who had been staying by Liang Xun's side the whole time, also noticed the change in her. She leaned closer and asked softly, "Are you feeling better now?"
Liang Xun nodded. "Much better."
At least, there won't be three identical Gu Kekes appearing in front of me anymore.
Seeing that Liang Jun's condition was beginning to improve, Luo Chuange and Jiang Zhiling, who were guarding the perimeter, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Old Ren stood on tiptoe, craning his neck, and after a long pause, finally managed to interject, "It seems the problem lies with these props. The captain's level of contamination is probably quite high, considering he's only now able to react so clearly..."
Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Old Ren clicked his tongue and wisely stopped talking.
Liang Jun reached for the ground with her right hand, seemingly preparing to get up.
Seeing this, Gu Keke quickly called out to Jiang Zhiling, who squeezed past Ge Lin and was barely made into the space inside the pumpkin carriage. Together with her, they pulled Liang Yun up from the ground.
Compared to before, Liang Jun's condition has indeed improved a lot, but she is still a little unsteady when walking and cannot walk in a perfect straight line.
No matter what Liang Jun said, Gu Keke was still worried and insisted on supporting her to prevent any accidents from happening.
As she stepped out of the pumpkin carriage, the invisible pressure on Liang Jun's chest finally vanished. She took deep breaths to calm herself, trying to purify the polluted part of her spirit.
The scene before her eyes was no longer dizzying. Liang Xun counted the number of people twice, but she still couldn't match them with the ones in her memory.
She seemed a little slow to think. "Where's Summer? And what about Director Wang?"
"Oh yeah..."
Gu Keke belatedly realized, "The carousel has been over for so long, why haven't I seen them at all..."
A growing sense of unease crept into Liang Jun's heart, and she instinctively quickened her pace, only to stumble. Fortunately, Gu Keke caught her in time, or she would have fallen to the ground again.
The tension came suddenly, and Liang Jun choked on her own saliva, coughing for a while until tears welled up in her eyes.
"Go and take a look!"
But when everyone went around to the back of the carousel, they witnessed the most unforgettable moment of their lives—
Wang Jianping, whose normal skin color was no longer visible, collapsed on the tractor-drawn carriage. The blue-green ink stains had transformed into eerie totems, starting from his arm and severed hand and spreading these terrifying marks all over his body.
He was completely bathed in blue-green, lying motionless on his back in his seat, like a model that had been accidentally thrown into a game world, devoid of any will to live.
Qi Zhixia, on the other hand, curled up and sat cross-legged on the ground.
During the intense friction, her old wound on her knee was completely exposed, revealing the pink flesh that had not fully healed, with blood seeping out next to the white granulation tissue.
Jiang Zhiling and Ge Lin both tried to get closer, but the blue-green body was really making them feel physically uncomfortable.
Apart from the original group of players, everyone else kept a certain distance from the towed carriage.
Liang Jun then noticed that Qi Zhixia was shivering the whole time.
It was unclear whether it was because she was mentally corrupted or because Qi Zhixia's behavior was not obvious, but Liang Jun did not notice the drops of blood that had been shaken off by Qi Zhixia when she got closer.
Sensing someone approaching, Qi Zhixia looked up warily.
Those grey-blue eyes were devoid of any luster. Beneath the calm surface of the sea, a deadly undercurrent seemed to lurk.
"It's you..."
After confirming who it was, Qi Zhixia visibly lowered her guard.
Her legs seemed to be numb with pain, and Qi Zhixia's face was already pale, but she still clenched her fists tightly and forced herself to stand up.
"Director Wang... he hasn't woken up since he fainted..."
On her own, Qi Zhixia couldn't move very far. Jiang Zhiling, who hadn't been able to come forward earlier, didn't sit idly by either. She ran to the entrance of the carousel and pushed Qi Zhixia's wheelchair over.
Taking advantage of his youth and strength, Ge Lin volunteered to carry Qi Zhixia on his back and place her safely in the wheelchair. Jiang Zhiling and Gu Keke, who had returned, helped Liang Xuan. The three of them moved a little further away from Wang Jianping, while Luo Chuange and Lao Ren took their place and carefully checked on Wang Jianping's condition.
Wang Jianping's face was swollen and stretched so thin that beneath the skin, which was as thin as a cicada's wing, were blue-green blood vessels throbbing like earthworms.
His chest had long since stopped rising and falling, and his carotid artery had ceased pulsating, but these emerging blue-green marks seemed to have developed their own life force, churning endlessly within Wang Jianping's body, as if trying to package his flesh and blood into a breeding ground for them, so that they could spread and multiply.
Luo Chuange felt a little reluctant, but to ensure that everything went perfectly, he put two fingers together and accurately located the position of Wang Jianping's carotid artery.
Feeling no tactile sensation, Luo Chuange moved slightly down, and through the fabric of the clothes, he tilted his head and pressed it against the other person's chest.
Silence.
The beating of life has long since ceased.
Luo Chuange felt a lump in his throat. He carefully considered each word in his mind, feeling that matters concerning life and death were not so easily spoken.
But just as he was considering it, Old Ren beside him said frankly, "Director Wang is gone."
Although everyone had expected it, hearing the news in person was still like a thunderclap from a clear sky.
Of these, Qi Zhixia's reaction was the strongest.
Ge Lin was kneeling in front of her, wiping her wounds with a relatively clean cloth. Even when she accidentally touched the cut and felt a dull pain, Qi Zhixia gritted her teeth and endured it.
She gripped the handles on both sides of the wheelchair tightly with both hands, almost digging her fingers into the hard carbon fiber.
"How could that be?" She laughed, staring at Lao Ren in disbelief. "Just a short while ago, Director Wang spoke to me. How can you say he's dead right now..."
Liang Jun knew that it was no easy task for everyone to accept this terrible news and quickly adjust their mindset in such a short time.
Moreover, the one who died was their teammate with whom they spent every day—this was an even greater disaster for Qi Zhixia, whose relationship with them was so close.
After leaving the instance, the injuries sustained in the game will not be erased; instead, they will worsen.
They were not unaware that, given Wang Jianping's current state, his entire body would likely vanish the moment he was taken out of the instance.
Qi Zhixia was just deceiving herself.
Gu Keke sighed, "Summer, Director Wang is indeed..."
“I don’t care what you say, but at least as far as I’m concerned, Director Wang is not dead.”
Qi Zhixia took a deep breath, her voice trembling slightly at the end, "Perhaps you've forgotten, the wheelchair I'm in is a system item, specifically bound to both me and Director Wang. If one of us dies, the other will inevitably receive a notification that the item has expired, but now I..."
Qi Zhixia's explanation came to an abrupt halt.
[Currently, the player pushing the "self-protecting cart" has been detected dead...]
[Automatically unbinding...]
[WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!]
The "self-protecting cart" prop is no longer functional.
This system notification sound, which is no different from an alarm, can only be heard by Qi Zhixia.
But the others around her, seeing her tightly clenched fingers, twitching lips, and vacant eyes, all understood what was going on.
Liang Jun's lips twitched down. She shook her head at Jiang Zhiling, who understood immediately. Before Qi Zhixia could react, Jiang Zhiling dragged her wheelchair away.
At this moment, Luo Chuange and Lao Ren were closest to Wang Jianping, and they were trying to lift him off the carriage.
Perhaps due to the strenuous exercise he had engaged in before his death, Wang Jianping's head and neck began to show obvious signs of stiffness less than ten minutes after his death.
Ge Lin quickly stuffed a piece of cloth into Lao Ren's back; Luo Chuange helped support him from behind, tending to Wang Jianping's still limp limbs.
During the movement, Luo Chuange noticed that the tissue at the severed hand had begun to rot.
A dense, blue-green network of structures dominated the cross-section, like tentacles poised to burst forth, aiming to pierce the observer's eyes and then burrow deep into the brain to parasitize once more.
Thinking of this, Luo Chuange shuddered and quickly looked away.
"How did Director Wang develop this broken palm?"
He positioned the other person's limbs to make sure they wouldn't move anymore. "Was this caused by an attack from a ghostly figure?"
Although it is cruel to reopen the wounds of the person involved, Luo Chuange had no choice but to do so.
In the distance, Qi Zhixia noticed his gaze directed at her. She remained silent for a few moments before lowering her head.
"yes."
There is only this one word.
After receiving a confirmed answer, Luo Chuange's expression became somewhat serious.
"Have you noticed that the known rules given by this carousel are basically fake? The real rules are the hidden rules that we trigger layer by layer later."
He then shifted his gaze to Liang Jun, "Take rule number four, for example. At first glance, it seems to be trying to persuade us to use items within the instance to defeat NPCs; but in reality, each time an item is used, it pollutes the player's mental value, causing the player to hallucinate—"
Luo Chuange said in a low voice, "But all these truths are hidden in unknown, concealed rules."
Looking into the other person's eyes, Liang Jun did not answer directly.
Her mind had cleared considerably, and she could now recall even the smallest details that she had never paid attention to before.
Clearly, this isn't the first time they've been tricked by the "rules."
To be more precise, it's the staff who distribute these "rules"—
The mysterious old woman in yellow encountered on the drop tower, the blue-green stamp that pollutes mental energy pulled from her left pocket, and the fake leg bone prop.
And there was also the extremely mischievous little boy in the yellow shirt we met here. He was the one who pressed the button on his employee ID card with his left hand, which summoned the staff member who caused all of this.
The similarities were faintly visible deep in my mind, but that familiar headache resurfaced once again.
Liang Jun resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands and roll on the ground. With the last vestiges of composure on the verge of collapse, she tried to grasp the fleeting, true chain of logic—
Oh, right.
She found out.
Everything the yellow-clad staff member did after deliberately using their left hand was fake.
The previous provisional conclusion that "the green-clad woman is real and the red-clad woman is fake" has been completely overturned.
It turns out that the only variable in this game was the staff member in yellow.
Unless the yellow-clad staff specifically used their left hand, all their pointing was considered correct, regardless of whether the other person was in red or green.
But once the yellow-clad staff member focused on and emphasized the left-handed action, everything that followed was a lie, even the green symbolizing safety was a disguise painted over by a conspiracy.
Liang Jun steadied her breathing and, as calmly as possible, stated her reasoning in its entirety.
"It was the child in the yellow shirt who pressed down on the name tag with his left hand and called over the girl in the green shirt that we were familiar with—although she was the right symbol in the first project, now she is no longer someone we can trust."
"Once we get the souvenir, we'll leave here as quickly as possible, without lingering for even a moment," Liang Jun said, enunciating each word clearly.
“But if that’s the case, then the souvenir she gave us was fake too,” Tang Cailei emerged from behind Ge Lin, arms crossed, staring intently at Liang Xun. “What do we do then?”
“Then keep asking until she hands over the real souvenir.”
Liang Jun showed no sign of backing down. "The old lady in yellow also used fake props the first time, but due to the system settings, as long as the player realizes the existence of fake props, the staff must provide real props to help the player pass the level."
At this point, Liang Jun's eyes shifted, moving towards the gate.
Under everyone's watchful eyes, a green figure quickly flashed past the pile of candy canes.
Shh, she's here.
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Author's Note: Level of Mental Damage: Shadow Devouring >> Weapon Backlash > Seal Contamination.
Try harder tomorrow and finish this three-in-one super long chapter!
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