The large screen hanging in the center of the hall lit up with a snap, and the Joker reappeared on the monitor screen, his face covered with thick paint, but still unable to hide his overly gloomy expression.
On his right shoulder bounced a furious pill that looked somewhat familiar.
Xiao Cheng lay on her back on the floor, the horrific wound on her neck, deep enough to expose the bone, began to heal slowly, and a slightly itchy sensation came from it.
She suppressed the urge to scratch it, examined the pill with interest, and after a long while, uttered a meaningful sigh: "Ah, so it's you."
The broadcast suddenly went off, seemingly due to a connection problem. It first emitted a piercing crackling sound, and only after a long while did the sound of pills be transmitted normally.
Extremely irritable.
"It's you again! Why are you always the one causing trouble?! The script is written out clearly for you. Wouldn't it be better to just follow the predetermined path and pass the level smoothly?!"
The pill was absolutely furious, every word a tearful lament from a working stiff: "Now this system is a mess again! And I have to expend energy to maintain it!"
Xiao Cheng was getting a headache from all the noise. She sat up, stretched her neck which had just recovered, and then slowly said, "Shut up and listen to me first."
Feeling provoked, the pill suddenly jumped onto the clown's head and shouted, "What else do you have to say?!"
"Excuse me, I'll just ask you to answer a few simple questions and I'll agree to help you get the dungeon back on track, how about that?" Xiao Cheng said in a coaxing tone. "They're very simple questions, you can just answer yes or no, it won't take up much time at all."
The pill's bouncing motion suddenly stopped, and it dangled on the clown's hair for a moment before asking doubtfully, "Really?"
"Really, I can even pinky swear with you." Xiao Cheng extended her little finger and lightly hooked it twice towards the big screen. "Besides, how could a small player like me dare to deceive someone as great as you?"
The pill was persuaded by her. After hesitating for a moment, it swayed up and down with a reserved air: "Okay, go ahead and ask."
As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Cheng's face lit up with a light smile: "First question, this so-called trial doesn't belong to any part of the original instance, right?"
The pill mumbled in response, "Yes! What a waste of all my meticulous design!"
"Forcibly dragging the player's consciousness into this place, and even arranging a scenario where only I can survive in the end, is it to... test whether I have regained my memories? So what exactly are you, or rather the main system, afraid of?"
The pill seemed surprised by her directness. After a long silence, it reluctantly hummed, acknowledging her guess, but revealed no further information.
But that's enough.
Xiao Cheng became increasingly certain of his guess and continued to press, "Something's been off since the last instance. You all seem to be really looking forward to, even actively pushing for my departure from the fragmented world. Why? Is it related to the so-called main quest? Or is it related to the timeline I belong to? If I..."
"Stop! Shut up! Stop it!" Yaowanzi suddenly interrupted her in a panic.
But it was too late.
Its sound was completely drowned out by the deafening roar of electricity, and countless bright red warning signs popped up in the air, almost filling the entire hall.
Immediately following was a monotone electronic voice: "Warning, warning, unauthorized intrusion detected in the instance, codename—Error—requesting re-inspection—Error—Instance reloading, game progress recorded."
Through the warning signs that blurred his vision, Xiao Cheng watched helplessly as the pill on the screen swelled up, and a phantom with scarlet pupils slowly emerged behind it.
But the phantom only appeared for a brief moment, and then—
Bang.
The pill burst open completely with a loud bang, like a balloon exploding, leaving only a few curled-up fragments.
Everything around them returned to normal, and the warning signs and synthesized electronic voices disappeared all at once.
Crumbs of the pills drifted slowly down and landed on the dwarf clown.
His limbs began to lengthen at a visible rate, eventually returning to the size of a normal adult.
He seemed not to have fully adapted to this body, mechanically moving his limbs in a way that looked almost comical. But his movements quickly became more fluid, and he leaned forward slightly, slowly crawling towards the edge of the screen.
A thick black fog instantly spread out, completely obscuring Xiao Cheng's vision. The surroundings became extremely quiet, so quiet that she could hear her own heartbeat with perfect clarity.
Bang, bang.
Bang, bang, bang.
And there were also footsteps that felt like they were stepping on my heartbeat, extremely oppressive, getting closer and closer, finally stopping just a step away.
This scene feels all too familiar.
Sure enough, a hand wearing a snow-white glove reached out immediately, and almost at the same time, all the black mist vanished completely, revealing the gardener standing in front of her.
The tall, thin man was dressed in a black tailcoat and wore a very elegant top hat with the brim pulled low, almost completely obscuring his face, revealing only his pale, thin chin.
“I’m so glad we meet again. I said you were qualified to be my student, and that still stands. Don’t you want to reconsider?” the gardener said in a gentle tone.
"What bad luck, we've met again." Xiao Cheng replied with a blank face. "So you've made up your mind to carry on with your perversion to the very end?"
“It’s alright, this is my locked space, this is compensation from the mainframe.” The gardener seemed particularly patient, then added in an unquestionable tone, “You will agree someday.”
"The space is sealed off, which means that I have absolutely no chance of getting out before I get your permission?" Xiao Cheng sighed helplessly.
"right."
"It also means that, before you give me your permission, no one else can possibly break in?" Xiao Cheng slumped his shoulders in despair.
"right."
"That's a real pity..." Xiao Cheng lowered her head and drew circles randomly on the ground with her fingertips.
"What's a pity?" the gardener pressed.
"It's a pity that such a well-sealed space still has some loopholes." Xiao Cheng felt the subtle tremor from her fingertips, and a barely perceptible smile appeared on her lips.
The words had barely left his mouth.
An inconspicuous light bulb fell from the sky, rolled down to the gardener's feet, and then suddenly burst out with a dazzling and scorching light.
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