Chapter 188 Dream Castle
Qiao Yan's heart skipped a beat: "Why?"
Although he was surprised, his brain was still working: "Just because we went up and down the stairs in opposite directions, and we turned once on the stairs in the opposite direction? I think this alone is not enough to determine that it is a Penrose staircase."
"It should be said that because this staircase is a Penrose staircase, you two walked in different directions and turned in different directions. Including the fact that I met Ji Congyang on the stairs first, and then met that 'Don Quixote' on the stairs, and the animals summoned on specific steps are arranged in the same order, which actually hinted at this point."
Shi Yu said: "The stairs can go up or down, so what's the point of letting the players choose the direction? In fact, the purpose of the game is achieved by making the players raise this question. The game does not give players rules because there is no requirement to participate in the game on the stairs. The map is not given because once people see the Penrose stairs, everyone knows that it cannot exist in three-dimensional space, so there is no need to question that it is fake. Everyone will give up rolling the dice and look for other ways to leave completely."
Qiao Yan was silent for a while: "I remember you said that dreams cannot be without rules, because they are a reflection of the dreamer's psychology. But if that's the case, why did the creature who had this dream dream of such a staircase?"
"Didn't you find a body in the forest?"
"how?"
"Insect swarm, wasp, hawk, venomous snake, bison, lion." Shi Yu turned his head and asked, "Which animal bite marks do you think are more similar to the scars on the body of the deceased?"
Qiao Yan took a deep breath.
"I guess we won't know that until we leave here."
Qiao Yan asked: "Leave the castle?"
Shi Yu said, "This forest."
Qiao Yan didn't react to what he meant for a moment.
"I said before that the forest and the stairs, either one is a dream and the other is reality, or both are dreams."
"But we have now confirmed that the staircase is a dream, so the forest is reality." Qiao Yan looked at him, "You don't want to overturn your guess that the forest is also a dream, do you? The lion that suddenly appeared after the third round of dice rolls outside the forest was obviously telling the players that this forest is reality. When players lose consciousness and stay in place in the forest, they will fall into the dream of the stairs."
Shi Yu: "What if there is more than one dream?"
"But the forest is obviously not a dream..." Qiao Yan wanted to refute reflexively, but suddenly realized something in the end, "A dream other than the forest and the stairs?"
Shi Yu looked at him.
"Why?" Qiao Yan asked, "So far, there should be no clues suggesting that this game has a second dream besides the stairs."
"You said that the body found by the river was very large, so you didn't have time to check and couldn't tell how he died. You also said that the clothes on the ground around the body were similar to those in the mural." Shi Yu said softly, "If the body found dead by the river was really the child in the mural, then his size should be about the same as the others in the mural. Even excluding the age factor, his size should be smaller than everyone else present. If that's the case, then why are the players so small in this forest?"
There were no lights on in the castle and the gate was closed, but the end of the corridor was left empty and used as a window. It was covered with colorful oil paper with curled corners, and the shadows cast on people were mottled.
Broken and depressed.
"Either this forest is also a dream, the environment is fake, and once the player leaves here, their size will return to normal. Or the forest is real, and there must be a third location, a second dream, and in that world, the player's size is normal."
Shi Yu said: "The forest has no borders, so the path from the forest to the third location is eliminated, and the only thing left is the stairs."
Qiao Yan heard himself ask, "What do you want to do?"
Shi Yu: “Do you have any tape?”
"?" The topic changed so suddenly that Qiao Yan was unable to continue. "What?"
Ji Congyang, who had been listening for a long time, finally found a chance to interrupt: "Here," he silently took out a roll of double-sided tape from his hand, "Can it be used?"
Shi Yu answered: "Thank you."
"What do you want tape for?"
Shi Yu said calmly: "I can only guess the method of leaving the stairs, but I have not verified it."
The moment the words fell, Shuying, who had remained silent from beginning to end, suddenly looked up. Before he could reach out his hand, the scene around him had changed.
【？ ？ ？】
[Why did we separate at this time? We haven't even shared the crucial information yet? How are we going to get out of the stairs? ! ! ]
Shi Yu stood on the steps, tore off a piece of double-sided tape and stuck it on the steps, peeled off the double-sided release paper, then took out a pen and sketchbook from the bracelet, opened a blank page, wrote a line, tore off the paper and stuck it on.
[Jump down?]
[Is this the way to leave the stairs? ]
[Why do I have to write it down on paper? Is it so hard to say something in one sentence? I don’t understand.]
The dice floated in front of him again.
Shi Yu didn't look at it. He pressed the double-sided tape on the white paper, put away the pen and notebook, and supported himself on the edge of the steps.
Suddenly he turned over and jumped down without hesitation.
The strong wind blew up his long hair and poured it into his collar and hem. The strong feeling of weightlessness and the cold feeling of suffocation penetrated into his bones.
Suddenly light tore through the darkness.
At this moment, Shi Yu threw out his sword.
The sword tip slammed into the solid tree trunk, and the golden silk thread wrapped around the hilt immediately straightened, like a kite pulling the person at the other end to fall in the opposite direction.
The feeling of weightlessness suddenly reversed and the world began to turn upside down.
【Grass】
【Fuck!!!】
【This, this, this, you, me, this fuck???】
There were splashes of water on the surface of the river.
Shi Yu finally stepped onto solid ground and started coughing violently because of the water.
After a while, his vision focused and his breathing calmed down. The first thing he noticed was not the environment, but the clothes he was wearing.
A bright red, knee-length robe with a hood.
Shi Yu was stunned for a full ten seconds.
Turning around to look around, he realized that he was still in a forest with a gurgling river next to him, and the sword was stuck in a big banyan tree by the river.
Fortunately, compared to the height of the banyan tree, his body size has now returned to normal, and he is no longer in his previous miniature state where a leaf could serve as a blanket for him.
But……
He came to the river and looked down.
The river water is so clear that you can see the bottom. Even if it can't serve as a mirror, it is enough to reflect people's clothes.
The red robe, platform shoes, and lace white skirt were all gone, and even the small bamboo basket full of flowers fell at her feet.
When he rolled up his sleeves again, even his own clothes had disappeared.
Unless he wants to do some body art and cosplay as Venus in the forest, he will most likely not be able to take it off before the end of the game.
Shi Yu was silent for a while, raised his hand and pressed his temples, then shifted his gaze from his reflection to the bottom of the water.
There was no shortage of mud, sand and algae on the riverbed, and nothing unusual could be seen.
But he was sure that he had come out of the river, and his skirt was still wet and dripping with water.
Shi Yu walked a few steps along the river bank but didn't find any place that looked like it could be used as a passage. Thinking about the sudden reversal of gravity before, he guessed that this should be the back of the Penrose Staircase.
Just like humans cannot see the other side of the moon, players can only see the side they are on when standing on the stairs. The part with the strongest gravity is in the middle of the stairs, and now he has jumped down, which is equivalent to jumping into a tunnel on the moon that has been dug through the entire planet, and the exit is in the middle of the river.
Shi Yu pulled the sword from the tree trunk and walked downstream along the river.
Unlike the previous primeval forest, his body returned to its normal size, and he no longer needed to walk more than ten minutes to cover a distance of more than ten meters. In addition, he was measuring the time in his mind, and this time after the countdown was over, he was still not pulled back to the stairs to throw the dice, so he did not need to waste this time.
Not long after walking, the view in front of me suddenly opened up.
A tall castle stands among the layers of branches and leaves, like a Pandora's box waiting to be opened. Disaster and hope are locked behind the closed door.
Shi Yu put his hand on the door knocker.
Before I could push it, the door opened automatically.
The boy wearing clothes made of green leaves and a hat showed his face, and his pair of gray eyes suddenly lit up when he saw him.
"little Red Riding Hood?"
Shi Yu looked at him.
The boy didn't care at all, and ran out skipping and jumping. In the end, he even hung in the air in front of him and pulled his sleeve: "Where have you been? I've been looking for you for a long time, but I can't find you anywhere."
Shi Yu didn't say a word, and was dragged into the castle. Halfway through, he was touched by the other party's right hand, and he shrank slightly, and then he was grabbed by the other party.
The boy's hat fell off because of flying, and his brown curly hair looked like a living teddy bear. The joy on his face and eyes had not yet faded away, but was replaced by worry: "What happened to your hand? Was it bitten by a snake?"
Shi Yu still didn't speak.
The other party seemed to have received an answer from his silence, and let go of him and flew into the castle, only to run back after a moment holding a branch.
It was like holding a fairy's magic wand. After shaking it solemnly, the branch in the other person's hand suddenly pointed towards him.
Shi Yu only saw a few spots of light leaking from one end of the branch, and after the light faded, the marks left by the fangs of the poisonous snake did not change at all.
The boy was unwilling to give up, so he shook it again and nodded again.
He muttered, "Why no response?"
Of course no response.
It was just a guess originally, but now it can be confirmed that this forest is the second dream after the stairs, and the original forest is the reality.
Shi Yu looked at his body floating in the air and tried to call him: "Peter Pan?"
Peter Pan was suddenly stunned and stared at him for a long time: "You haven't called my name for a long time."
...Little Red Riding Hood has such a personality?
Peter Pan suddenly threw the fairy wand: "Little Red Riding Hood."
He said, "Would you please not leave again?"
The sky outside suddenly darkened.
Peter Pan avoided him and flew over to close the door. There was a loud bang, and it was unclear whether it was the door closing or thunder falling to the ground.
"It's going to rain." Peter Pan said, "I haven't moved your room. Go back quickly and remember to close the window so you don't get wet in the rain."
The same castle, the wall that was originally painted with murals now has a row of room doors, and the doorplates have names engraved on them.
In the room with the words "Little Red Riding Hood" engraved on it, someone was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, the shadows of his long eyelashes drooping, and his breathing was steady and shallow.
There was a cupboard against the wall, and in the corner near the balcony there was a very tall clothes hanger, which was obviously beyond the reach of ordinary people. It was covered with a heavy curtain, which was covered with dust and was also covered by curtains. Even if you noticed it, you could only vaguely see the outline of something inside.
The door was suddenly pushed open.
The man was wearing a suit made of green leaves, a hat, and had brown curly hair.
He lay on the bed and called in a low voice: "Little Red Riding Hood."
On the bedside table was a water cup made from a hollowed-out tree core, with sleeping pills in it. The water level was already half full.
"Don't leave." He squatted down very slowly, "Now it's just you."
The sudden flash of lightning illuminated the boy's eyes, and what he saw at that moment was enough to shock everyone who saw it into silence.
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