Chapter 24 48h (7)
It is difficult to describe the feeling those eyes gave Gu Qiufeng.
In the dark archive room, Gu Qiufeng could hear his own heart beating violently after looking into such a pair of eyes.
These eyes are like the eyes of a dead person.
Several countermeasures flashed quickly through Gu Qiufeng's mind. Finally, he silently withdrew his gaze and stood up as if he had not noticed anything.
Trying to keep his attitude as normal as possible, Gu Qiufeng turned around calmly, as if he had finished looking up the information and was about to walk to the door.
Now that there are some strange uninvited guests here, he can come again next time.
Gu Qiufeng walked forward slowly, even his breathing was carefully controlled at a precise and stable frequency.
To walk from the shelf where he was to the door of the archive room, he had to pass four more shelves. The distance was neither long nor short, but it was enough for all kinds of bad things to happen.
As Gu Qiufeng walked outside, he focused most of his attention on what was behind him.
No movement, good.
He quickened his pace a little, wanting to shorten the time it took to get out of the archives room before all the strange phenomena happened quickly.
But at this moment, the shelf next to Gu Qiufeng suddenly made a sharp "creaking" sound.
When he turned his head to look, he vaguely saw a black hand flash by——
The shelf suddenly fell down.
The dormitory manager's warning rang in Gu Qiufeng's ears——
"Don't mess up the archives."
Gu Qiufeng quickly turned sideways and used both hands to support the falling shelf.
The archive box shook violently on the shelf, squeezing out the dust accumulated over the years. //
Dust mites were floating all over the sky, and Gu Qiufeng felt a chill hitting the back of his hand.
A pair of charred, mummified hands pressed against the back of his hands.
Gu Qiufeng held his breath and felt the smell of a rotting corpse coming faintly from his ear.
He half lowered his eyes, trying hard to stay rational, and saw a familiar corner of a uniform skirt behind him in his peripheral vision.
It’s the NPC who died in the previous timeline.
*
Feng He and Shao Qiu Shui came to the library together.
The library was filled with NPCs with expressionless faces and stiff movements. Feng He looked around and became even more alert.
Shao Qiu Shui breathed a sigh of relief: "With so many people here, there shouldn't be any more supernatural incidents."
She swiped her campus card and filled two disposable paper cups of hot drinks from the coffee machine nearby before pulling Feng He to sit in an empty seat in the corner of the library.
Shao Qiushui took a sip of hot coffee, and her face regained some color. Because they were in the library, she couldn't make a loud noise, so she asked in a low voice: "Student Feng, since you are engaged in such a... well, very powerful industry, you are so young, don't you have to go to school?"
Feng He, who had not even received nine years of compulsory education, was silent for a moment, then said: "I never went to school. My parents died early, and I was always a street kid in the village. It was Mr. Gu who brought me out."
Shao Qiushui said enviously: "Mr. Gu is really amazing! He looks very reliable."
"Of course." Feng He smiled more because she praised Gu Qiufeng.
Shao Qiushui sighed: "It's great that you can do such an interesting job."
She supported her cheek, took a sip of coffee, and said with emotion: "I don't even know what I can do in the future."
Feng He was surprised and asked, "But you said you wanted to dance."
"That's a dream. Why do you have such an expression? Don't you have a dream?" Shao Qiu Shui's tone suddenly dropped. "It's hard to make a name for yourself in the arts, and it also requires talent. Some people can't make any money in their entire lives, just because they lack that tiny bit of talent. Actors, writers, painters, dancers, these industries are glamorous, but behind them are many mediocre people who sacrifice their lives in obscurity. How can I dance all my life? People with talent would have already become famous, unlike me, who is still studying hard."
"That's a bit pretentious." Shao Qiushui shook his head embarrassedly, then said faintly, "It's mainly because art jobs don't make money. My mother spends a lot of money every time she sees a doctor and takes medicine, so I think taking the civil service exam is the most reliable choice."
When the girl talked about the future, although she was precocious and sighed about the heaviness of life, her eyes still lit up quietly, as if some yearning and longing for the future were still growing in her imagination.
In this strange and unchanging campus, everyone is living a boring life at a fixed time and place like clocking in for work. Only Shao Qiu Shui seems to be looking forward to a future that will never come.
Feng He pursed her lips and suggested, "Aren't you quite interested in us? Mr. Gu is also recruiting new people. If you are willing..."
"Ah." Shao Qiu Shui exclaimed, as if she didn't expect Feng He to say such a thing. However, Feng He didn't see any surprise or amusement on her face.
Shao Qiu Shui just remained silent for a while, and then he said softly in the silence: "Feng He, you are really a child."
"I can't leave. If I leave, what will happen to my mother?"
While they were talking, two people sat down at the table beside them.
Feng He turned around and saw that it was Shen Yubo and Shen Yuxiu.
When Shen Yuxiu saw two cups of coffee on their table, she immediately volunteered to get a cup for Shen Yubo as well.
Shen Yubo smiled as he watched Shen Yuxiu walk away, and said, "We are tired from walking, and Ah Xiu happened to say that the library is one of the characteristics of Yucheng University, so we came here. I hope we won't disturb you?"
Feng He shook his head.
"Gu Qiufeng is still checking the files?" Shen Yubo murmured, "Does it take so much time to check a file?"
After Shen Yubo's reminder, Feng He realized that a long time had passed on the clock hanging in the library beside him. He became a little anxious. Mr. Gu had already spent so much time, what if he was in danger?
But the job that Gu Qiufeng gave him was to ensure Shao Qiu Shui's life safety. Even if Feng He was anxious now, his reason clearly told him that he had to stay here and complete Mr. Gu's task well.
"Feng He." Shen Yubo said, "I haven't talked to you much before. To be honest, before Gu Qiufeng brought you to Yucheng University, I was actually worried about the threat you brought to Mr. Gu."
Feng He raised his eyes, said nothing, but his fingers lightly rested on the edge of the table.
Shen Yubo seemed to just need an audience. She rambled on and on, "We often encounter taverns. Even if we can collect as much information as possible to prove that players will be recycled into NPCs, players who have experienced too many dungeons don't believe that NPCs are the same person as the former players."
"Because they can't accept that their former best friends would kill their former human companions without any expression or even cruelty."
The topic of whether NPCs have the same empathy and thinking as players is a hotly debated war in games.
"So, the popular saying now is that NPCs are just monsters in human skin. Even if some players die and become NPCs in the dungeon, they are just monsters that have stolen the players' information." Shen Yubo said, looking at Feng He with an apologetic expression, "This may be a little offensive to you and all of you. But I know that these people's original intentions are not entirely malicious."
Humans are very compassionate creatures.
When they know that they will go to war with their friends and relatives, they will become weak and powerless.
Therefore, players who are struggling in the game must give themselves an excuse, an excuse to survive in the dungeon.
"So I don't understand why Mr. Gu focused on NPCs like you in the beginning." Shen Yubo said, "It's not that there are no key NPCs who help players pass the level, but such NPCs with good intentions are very rare. They are just a product of the game settings. Just like monsters hate all human players, they are just helping all human players according to the dungeon settings."
"The second and third guilds chose to offer a bounty on Mr. Gu, in fact, they also took into consideration his ability. Mr. Gu's ability allows him to turn the NPC's skills into his own use. It goes without saying that he can use them well, but... if he has compassion in his heart, is a natural saint or even an antisocial personality, he can also use this ability to continuously help copy bosses like you escape." Shen Yubo said slowly with a serious expression.
"Feng He, you have no ill will towards humans because you are a benevolent creation of God, and you do not have negative emotions. But what about other dungeon bosses? Who dares to bet that Gu Qiufeng will not stand on the side of the monsters and help the dungeon monsters to deal with human players?" Shen Yubo said, "After all, humans and monsters don't seem to be much different. In a game full of death, the meaning of species' standpoints is minimal."
"Or maybe Gu Qiufeng has his bottom line and principles, and he only uses his abilities to help NPCs like you who have good intentions towards humans. But humans won't believe it, and the Second and Third Guilds are unwilling to take such risks." Shen Yubo said, "Chang Yu Tavern has been called a 'heretic' for many years just because it collected intelligence and tried to prove that players could be recycled as NPCs. People like Gu Qiufeng are even more of a heretic that everyone wants to get rid of."
"He exposed well-intentioned NPCs one by one. How will the players deal with it in the future?" Shen Yubo said, "I know Miss Xie from the Second Guild. She is not a bad person. She is just afraid that after what Gu Qiufeng did, some players will really empathize with the monsters in the dungeon."
"That would only result in the player putting down their swords out of pity and being ruthlessly killed by the monster. Miss Xie doesn't want to see that, and neither do I. No one wants that."
Feng He's throat felt a little tight. If he were a cat now, all his hair would have stood up.
"Why are you telling me this?"
Shen Yubo lost his composure so much that he didn't even consider that Shao Qiushui beside him understood a little bit.
She looked pale as she took the coffee handed to her by the worried Shen Yuxiu, held it in her hand, and murmured, "I'm afraid I will forget it later."
"Feng He, don't let Mr. Gu down."
Feng He raised his eyebrows.
"forget"?
Could humans forget something so important?
However, before he could ask his question, Shen Yubo suddenly took out a hand and placed it on his wrist.
Shen Yubo's fingertips were terribly cold, with only a hint of warmth remaining on their fingertips from the coffee that had penetrated the wall of the cup, creating a cruel contrast.
She said in a sped-up tone: "Feng He, next time, remember to tell Mr. Gu."
"When I was investigating the last case in reality, I used some means to get the surveillance video of that girl entering and leaving the restroom. I saw..."
Shen Yubo seemed a little cold and took a breath very quickly.
"A horrible monster baby crawled out after the girl left. I don't know where the baby went in the end, and why the school kept it secret..."
"I mean, if possible, please help me remember this matter, Mr. Gu, and help me investigate it."
After finally saying all this, Shen Yubo let out a long breath, and the tense expression on his face relaxed slightly, and he actually showed a little relief.
"Relax. This is my last timeline. After many cycles, I finally finished talking about this."
Shen Yubo said.
"Good luck to you."
Feng He had almost no time to think.
He only heard the sound of a light bulb breaking above his head.
Shao Qiu Shui shouted "Be careful" and used a lot of strength to pull Feng He and his chair to the ground, thus avoiding the light tube hanging straight down from above.
But Shen Yuxiu was completely unaware.
She stared blankly at Shen Yubo who was protecting her, and the confusion on her face faded away little by little.
This woman, whom she had only known for less than a day, was very kind to her, so kind to her that Shen Yuxiu always felt like she had seen her somewhere before.
However, she still hasn't figured anything out.
Shen Yuxiu stared blankly at the woman who was holding up the table with her arms. A broken light tube frame pierced through her waist and abdomen, almost hurting Shen Yuxiu.
Some thoughts that had been shrouded in fog and had no known reason seemed to become clear at this moment.
A stranger... would he risk his life to save me?
Shen Yubo lowered her eyes, her long hair hanging on both sides, blocking her face. Only Shen Yuxiu beneath her could see the woman's current expression.
Painful. Horrible. But happy.
What a contradictory expression.
Shen Yuxiu opened her mouth and looked at the large amount of blood oozing from the corner of the woman's mouth. She seemed to have lost her mind all of a sudden and could only ask stupidly: "Sister... have I seen you somewhere before?"
Shen Yubo took a long breath.
Actually, to be honest, she has only been in the dungeon for a few months.
I have never experienced such heart-wrenching pain.
She tried to smile, but lost the strength halfway through.
So Shen Yubo said, "Silly Ah Xiu, it's okay, you will soon forget me."
Gu Qiufeng's voice seemed to float in her ears again: "Only by letting the NPC reach the true ending can you complete the game. If you reach the wrong ending, you will be like that bald player, and your existence will be wiped out in the loop along with the NPC."
But Shen Yubo couldn't do it, so she had to send her sister to death with her own hands.
The last time Ah Xiu died, she and her were separated by time and space, and Shen Yubo regretted it deeply.
She couldn't do it anymore and watched Ah Xiu die.
She could just walk away, but how many more deaths and cycles would her Ah Xiu have to endure here?
"Sister... I'm sorry." Shen Yubo finally started to cry, feeling pained and sad. "Sister is not as good as you. Before going to the library, I tried countless times, but still couldn't find a way to have the best of both worlds."
"so……"
"Let's die together to leave the cycle... okay?"
Shen Yubo's voice became increasingly faint towards the end. After she finished the last word with a weak breath, she seemed to be choked by something and her whole body visibly collapsed.
Shen Yuxiu stared at all this.
She seemed to be frightened.
Why save her?
The woman on her body seemed to never tell her the answer until her death.
But Shen Yuxiu just stared without moving, until Shen Yubo had completely exhausted all his strength and fell on her.
"ah……"
She made a sound as if she had just woken up from a dream.
"I think I remember it."
Shen Yuxiu blinked, and the tears in her left eye suddenly flowed out.
"elder sister……?"
The girl asked a question tentatively.
It seems like he is verifying his answer.
In the quiet library, the student NPCs mechanically flipped through books and mechanically swiped their cards to enter and exit.
The life and death in the corner seem not to belong to this world.
So the girl's last attempt ultimately received no response.
Feng He suddenly thought of something and pulled the stunned Shao Qiu Shui outside.
Just as the two people ran out the door, Shen Yuxiu's shrill cries were heard from the library behind them.
The voice was high-pitched, like a raging fire, instantly setting the entire library ablaze.
Feng He and Shao Qiu Shui stopped in a safe area.
Shao Qiu Shui stared blankly at the library which was suddenly ablaze with flames. The black smoke rose straight into the sky, as if polluting the entire world.
However, even so, no screams or cries were heard in the library.
"Feng He," Shao Qiu Shui said with a pale face, "Is this place fake?"
Feng He turned around and saw the girl forcing a smile.
She said in a trembling voice: "Am I fake too?"
*
Gu Qiufeng was pressed by a pair of charred hands, and his scalp felt like it was about to explode.
The bandage on his hand had become messy and even hung partly below his wrist.
Gu Qiufeng reflexively produced a physiological reaction of vomiting.
Dead man's hands, burnt hands, black and dry.
His breathing became disordered and he felt something sticking to the artery on one side of his neck.
Gu Qiufeng gritted his teeth and, regardless of anything else, focused on steadying the shelf in his hands.
Then, he pretended to be calm and said, "Classmate, thank you for helping me hold the shelf."
Five, four, three.
Gu Qiufeng showed a hypocritical smile on his face, but in fact he had already conjured up cards in his hand.
If the ghost still doesn't let him go after he finishes counting, Gu Qiufeng will try his hand with the two cards he just collected today.
He thought that the girl in uniform should have been erased from the loop like the bald player, but he didn't expect that she was still there!
This is really tricky.
Gu Qiufeng did not draw a card at the beginning because he wanted to test the NPC's intentions.
If you want to cause trouble for him, at least there should be an explanation, right?
There are eleven or twelve players. Why do they just wander into the archives room to cause trouble for him?
Gu Qiufeng would never admit that it was his bad luck!
Fortunately, before Gu Qiufeng finished counting in his heart, the girl let go of his hand.
A voice that was inconsistent with his appearance and could almost be called pleasant sounded behind him: "The shelf cannot fall down."
Gu Qiufeng felt a little surprised.
Could it be that this little girl was really helping him hold the rack?
Just then, something suddenly flashed from the other side of the shelf, and a black shadow passed by.
Gu Qiufeng understood that the reason why the shelf fell to this side inexplicably was because something over there pushed it maliciously.
And it seemed to be the same clothes that the dormitory manager wore.
Gu Qiufeng couldn't help but sigh.
The dormitory manager reminded him not to mess up the archives room, but then deliberately pushed the blame on him. Is this a sting operation?
Therefore, the pair of eyes he saw before should also belong to the dormitory manager.
After figuring it out, Gu Qiufeng felt deeply sorry for the female ghost behind him. Turning around, he found that the girl was not as miserable as they had seen in the laundry room before. Instead, she had seaweed curly hair and a fair face, and looked quiet and weak.
"I..." Perhaps because Gu Qiufeng's surprise was too obvious, the girl lowered her head awkwardly, "I think it's less likely to scare you this way."
Gu Qiufeng said: "Have we met before? Do you know me?"
He wanted to test whether the girl's memory was reset due to the reset of the timeline.
The girl said embarrassedly: "I'm sorry, I scared you and hurt your companions in the laundry room. I was not in my right mind at the time..."
"That player thought that as long as he let me live, he could achieve the effect of TE." The girl continued to talk to herself, "But my ending should be to die in the washing machine."
Gu Qiufeng couldn't help but ask, "Why is it in the washing machine?"
The girl shook her head. “I don’t remember. It seemed like a lot of people were playing a joke on me. They stuffed me in. I was scared, but they were all laughing.”
"It was too stuffy in there. I felt dizzy after a while and fell asleep. Maybe someone thought there were clothes in the washing machine, so..."
The girl laughed. "It seems useless to say this now. The reason why I regained my sanity is that every time I finish a copy cycle, there is always a period of free walking..."
Her dark and beautiful eyes were like those of a little deer, and at this moment her gaze was fixed on Gu Qiufeng: "I seem to know you."
"Are you Xie Xin's manager?" the girl asked tentatively. "You looked familiar to me, so I kept following you after the cycle ended."
Gu Qiufeng smiled and said, "I didn't expect Xie Xin's business to expand into games."
The girl smiled and said, "I had a roommate who liked Xie Xin very much."
When she talked about the past, she always looked sad.
Gu Qiufeng suddenly remembered what Shen Yubo had said before -
"In fact, it's normal that you don't know about Yucheng University. Because half a year ago, before I entered the dungeon, a number of deaths occurred one after another in that university, and finally a fire broke out. The university finally moved its location and changed its name."
Could these NPCs be... the students who were victims of the death cases at Yucheng University?
Gu Qiufeng didn't dare to ask more questions, for fear of upsetting the girl in front of him who was no longer human.
Let’s go back and discuss it with Shen Yubo.
But at this moment.
Suddenly, the cold broadcast voice of the system rang in Gu Qiufeng's ears.
[Player Shen Yubo, confirmed dead]
His eyes suddenly widened.
Before Gu Qiufeng could react, another broadcast sounded.
[Player Shao Qiushui died, restarting in 48 hours]
The scenery before my eyes disappeared completely.
Gu Qiufeng returned to the room he and Fenghe had chosen in the apartment.
Feng He's expression was very ugly.
Gu Qiufeng saw that his eyes were blank and he lowered his head as if he was escaping.
Feng He's voice was filled with tears and panic. At this moment, he finally acted like a half-grown child again.
"Sir, Shao Qiushui lost control. So this time, I killed her."
"I didn't complete the work assigned by the gentleman, sir, please punish me."
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