Chapter 140 The Sound of Suonas Brings Joy and Sorrow to the Mountain This was a pagan ritual. ...
The feeling of near death is first peaceful, then a sense of detachment, like the soul leaving the body.
Her consciousness detached from her body, looked down upon it, and observed its situation.
The golden totem belongs to the Stubborn Guild and can only be activated by players of the Stubborn Guild.
But after the intractable disease totem was activated, Pu Fengchun sensed that the Five Poisons Youth behind her was changing accordingly.
He should use his powers, but they don't need to be done in such a grand manner.
His special ability is called "X-ray vision," which literally means he can see clearly the corpse in the coffin and the village behind the fog.
Logically, such a supernatural ability should be the biggest advantage of a village shrouded in mist, so they shouldn't get lost.
But they were unlucky enough at the time, and the situation was indeed bad. Most importantly, she brought a prop into the arena, which allowed her to see the players' prop information and ability information. It was the guild's last S-rank prop, the "peaceful breakup fee" that the teacher brought out from the band.
His superpower is indeed X-ray vision, but it is indeed unstable.
Besides, her biggest threat was her chronic illness, and the threat was obvious. She didn't have the suspicion to shift her defenses to another boy who had saved her.
However, in this world of demons and monsters, no amount of cunning is ever enough. Her chronic illness draws all her attention, allowing a true hunter to leisurely approach her unsuspecting back and strike her deadly.
Given the skill demonstrated by the player "Stubborn Illness," he could have pierced her heart with a single arrow, but instead, the arrow grazed her heart. It was pointless for the young man from Five Poisons to come and finish her off; it would have been a waste of his time.
What exactly was he going to do? Pu Fengchun's "out-of-body soul" stared intently at him.
The totem and the boy are two fixed points, and the advancing wind establishes a track between them. Something follows the track, crashes into the boy's chest, near his heart, and he shudders.
She heard the boy whisper, "Guardian of the Secrets, pass on the Inspiration."
What a clever move of turning the tables! Xue Chao had a bad feeling, but he couldn't stop it; it was the rule of the dice system.
The "Inspiration" test result is 15/90, making success extremely difficult.
Xue Chao's consciousness within the boy's mahjong dice revealed that the boy's "inspiration" points suddenly increased from "75" to "90".
Pu Fengchun's intuition screamed wildly that the boy before him had become a different person.
His appearance remained unchanged, he didn't move, and there was no visible difference in his inner self. Even his temperament was the same, but it was very subtle, as if he were a different person, a very similar person, a reflection in the water, a mirror image... another version of himself.
This feels so strange, there's no evidence or logic to it, it's like a near-death hallucination.
But then her gadgets showed that his powers had changed.
Her drifting soul was forcibly pulled down and fell into her body.
"【Raven】Wait, that's the name of her ability, isn't that Raven's ability??"
Will the legendary skills of "【Pu Fengchun】be repeated?"
"【Riven】...Don't you guys think that this Riven looks a lot like Risen?"
"Now that Pu Fengchun mentions it, their height, weight, and age are all similar. Raven seems a bit thinner, probably because he's wearing a tight-fitting black blouse, while Risen just happens to be wearing a long robe today... Raven's face is covered up so we can't see clearly, but the part of his chin that's showing is indeed a bit... um..."
"The name 【Riven】is similar."
"Isn't [Raven] Risen in the next room?"
"【Pu Fengchun】Holy crap, Ruisen next door has stopped too, also in front of the Incurable Disease Totem!"
"【Raven】Haven't you guys heard that rumor? When Raven's psychic energy surged, it was actually due to the superposition of another soul, a 'spiritual twin'! It's just that everyone thought the other one was either a ghost or a fantasy, or, to put it more scientifically, a schizophrenia. But is there really such a brother?!"
Rewind half a minute, and you'll see the second-ranked room on the real-time recommendation list, the dungeon "Nightingale." The dungeon is located in a European-style town on the edge of a black cliff, and the dense forest outside the town is a secret realm outside the dungeon.
The dungeon is in progress, and we cannot leave the town. But a boy in a wide magic robe, with the moonlight behind him, quietly walks into the dense forest and stops under a thousand-year-old tree. The wind sweeps across the soil, and golden totems keep spinning.
Fifth on the player leaderboard is Risen.
"[Rison] Just came from Wenwen's place and missed it. How can Ruisen leave the dungeon??"
"【Rison】This special rule is a bit like their players and hosts. If the weekly point requirement is not met, they will be thrown into the penalty dungeon the following week, but they will not be executed immediately. The little mage made a mistake and was the first to be eliminated, exiled to the secret realm outside the dungeon. He needs to break a curse to return to the dungeon. If he fails to return before the dungeon is cleared, he will become part of the secret realm."
"Why does [Rison] have a totem for chronic illness? There aren't any teams with chronic illnesses in our room."
"【Rison】That's Pineapple, right? As a guild advisor, the host can also use the guild totem. Old Huo can use the band and the chronic disease. Pineapple inherited the teacher's business ahead of time, haha."
Rison's eyes, hidden beneath his cloak, were fixed on the totem, like a tarot reader constructing a spiritual connection. Just then, the sound of dice being rolled rang out, and Marco Polo whispered in his ear, "Pass on inspiration."
The "Inspiration" test result is 15/90, making success extremely difficult.
A new instance is about to open. The dungeon has ended, and both players and the host are off duty, so they're not as tense and won't be actively paying attention to other players.
The coordinates of another secret realm are very close, and an instance is currently in progress. Other players cannot notice the player who has been exiled from the instance due to its special nature, and may even be gloating, hoping that he will not return.
The boss, who is the master of the secret realm, is trapped inside the instance before the instance completely disappears, so that it can appear at any time when players trigger the hidden boss battle.
The twins are located outside the instance, within the secret realm, in this perfect gray area.
Thus, after the successful verification, Risen resonated with his twin brother Raven, and the two totems that activated simultaneously captured the twins' resonance, building a bridge between them in different realms.
Their souls were swapped in an instant.
When Risen opened his eyes again, he saw "his" hand on a woman's back, his fingers stained with the blood from her wound.
He used his supernatural abilities as Marco Polo had instructed.
[The "Tracing" ability is in use]
After experiencing a bizarre, black-hole-like sensation, Pu Fengchun's consciousness slowly returned to normal.
She found herself awake, without any negative feelings, but she was no longer in the white, desolate mountains.
She was in the music square on a pleasant, ordinary morning. The sky was a pale blue, pure and without impurities, and white pigeons flew leisurely around the surrounding Baroque buildings.
The fountain resembles a quietly flowing champagne tower, with replicas of ancient bronze coins at the bottom. The square is filled with sculptures of Western musical instruments, exuding a classical atmosphere. Flowers from florists are displayed outside, their fragrance delightful.
Residents were taking walks and sunbathing, while spontaneous bands and solo performers were practicing their instruments.
Beside the flower bed in the east corner, there is a broken piano that no one wants. Pigeons often perch on it, sometimes stepping on the keys and leaving a note out of tune, and sometimes playing a short piece of music that belongs to them.
This is the place she knows best, the place that holds her most carefree days. Memories unfold before her eyes, and she thinks it's a revolving lantern.
When she was young, she went to school near the music square, across from the flower shop. After class, before her mother got off work, she would play the out-of-tune piano in the square.
Perhaps it was really unpleasant to listen to, because as soon as she played, the pigeons flew away. So she was very dissatisfied and, having heard that there was a retired piano master nearby, decided to bring some gifts and try her luck.
At that time, I was young and did not understand that each flower had its own meaning. After picking and choosing for a long time, I bought the flower that I thought was the most beautiful. So, I took a white rose and knocked on my husband's door.
He was already ill at that time, and his retirement was also due to health reasons. Coincidentally, his friend was also there, and upon seeing this ominous flower, his expression instantly changed, and he angrily tried to drive her away.
The man paused for a moment, then smiled, waved his hand, took the flowers, and asked her, "Were you playing the piano just now?"
She nodded.
He gently gave a thumbs up: "You played very well."
This time she shook her head and said, "But those pigeons don't like the sound."
He glanced at the old, worn-out violin from afar and comforted it, saying, "Perhaps it's just a bad violin."
She shook her head again: "It has nothing to do with the zither. If you were to play it, the pigeons would love to hear it."
He froze again, his eyes, already showing a few wrinkles, curved into a smile, and he asked her softly, "Is that so?"
She nodded vigorously, and he smiled again, then suddenly asked her, "How about I teach you to play a piano that even pigeons would like?"
Until the young girl disappeared, Pu Fengchun's gaze followed the flying pigeons, landed on the old piano, lingered for a moment, and then, across the fountain, landed on the flower shop.
She froze, comfort replaced by horror.
The shelves outside the flower shop were filled with white roses. Through the clean glass windows, the shop was filled with white roses, reminding her of the road where coffins were carried, all of which was white.
She forced herself to remain calm and walked toward the flower shop.
The closer you get, the less realistic the flower shop seems; the shadows and layers diminish, like a 3D space reduced to 2D.
Before even reaching the shop, she noticed a thin crack in the glass, revealing a faint neon light that was hard to tell was pink or red, which didn't match the flower shop's current "mourning" theme.
Pu Fengchun stopped by the fountain. She understood that near-death was not the goal, but the condition.
The boy suddenly changed into a different person in order to use the "Tracing Back" ability, so she is here looking at memories.
But there's not much to see in her memories; the most valuable thing about her is the key to "final victory."
If you want to experience her memories firsthand, observe her experiences after receiving her teacher's body from an outsider's perspective, and look for clues she missed, then you can simply use the "Tracing" function.
It couldn't possibly be about the whereabouts of the key. Holder said he didn't believe the key existed; if he were lying, he would only know more than she did. If he wanted to reduce the number of people in the know, he could just kill her.
All this trouble, keeping her in a near-death state, wasn't for her memories.
They wanted to see other memories, which were hidden in her memory—the memory of the key.
Pu Fengchun's brainstorming suddenly stopped; perhaps the "key" was a memory!
The key is inside her!
She heard a soft "click" from the glass crack, like the sound of a mechanical arm smoothly pushing back into its groove, followed by the crackling of an old record, the lyrics of which she couldn't discern, evoking a sense of old Shanghai, yet with a cold, mechanical quality.
She felt a chill run through her body. The volume was drowned out by the Western classical music in the square if you didn't listen carefully, but her feeling was completely the opposite. The discordant noises grew louder and louder. Not only the classical music, but also the sound of pigeons flapping their wings, the sound of fountains, the sound of coins being tossed, and the sound of the wind were all stripped away, like a whirlpool.
Pu Fengchun took a deep breath and tentatively stepped forward.
She keenly sensed the subtle changes in her body.
So she took a few more steps, then she stopped immediately. The feeling was terrible, like a grip on her heart, causing her blood to stagnate, leaving her feeling dazed, suffocated, exhausted, and drained of her spirit.
She didn't know what it was before, but after experiencing the previous instance where she was forced to enhance her abilities, she knew what it felt like to forcibly use her powers.
The previous instance was alright. Her powers were suddenly boosted, and her mind and body couldn't keep up immediately. She had to stand on tiptoe to reach them, which made her uncomfortable, but she was still within the range of using her powers normally.
Now it seems like something is slipping away, perhaps it's her life.
Her superpower is "growth." Upon further advancement, she can vaguely sense the shape of life, and growth is the slow elongation of that shape.
She could feel the opposite of growth—aging, like a sudden expansion followed by an explosion and collapse, where solid things decayed rapidly, the soul became thin and then lifeless.
This is what it feels like to forcibly use supernatural abilities as a divine weapon.
Her organs were throbbing, as if they were dissolving. Perhaps if this continued, they would turn into blood, sloshing in the empty flesh, evaporating in the air through the wound... Wasn't that the teacher?
Pu Fengchun, following her train of thought, was struck dumb. This was how her teacher died!
The calmer part of her consciousness immediately told her to retreat, but the rest drove her to take a step forward; what she wanted was just ahead.
She pushed open the door, and behind the flower shop's deceptive facade lay a void of blackness, like... like an unloaded area between secret realms, a broken link between worlds.
The closer she got, the more it hurt; her bones were buzzing, her flesh was trembling, and she struggled to open her eyes.
Buzz—
Her eyes widened instantly, almost dripping blood!
Her sanity level must be continuously decreasing, but there is no system notification. It's like being in the silent space where nothing can get in, and the surroundings are pure blackness where there is no concept of concentration in the universe.
She glimpsed a secret about the "final victory".
Overwhelmed by immense fear, her bodily functions rapidly declined, and her cells died and ruptured, prompting her to flee immediately. To her delight, she discovered that she could return the way she came.
But she soon discovered that the further she retreated, the more blurred the secrets she had glimpsed became, and she was gradually forgetting them.
She stopped by the flower shop door, having forgotten what she saw, but the fear that dried her blood remained. It wasn't just fear, but a turbulent mix of emotions, an overwhelming and unquenchable feeling—the most primal and superficial part of "fear."
This is very important, extremely important, and we must tell more people.
As she was backing away, she seemed to see a group of people, one after another, the closest of whom was a teacher.
He...they must have seen it too; their fate was to die.
Her composure emerged with difficulty, prompting an analysis.
They guarded a secret, like a reclusive family of wizards who possessed doomsday prophecies.
Some people acted in secret because she had forgotten the details, so she didn't know whether it was to achieve, prevent, or something else.
Those who fail, or those who were never able to bear the secret in the first place, pass it on to the next person so that it does not disappear.
Teachers are one of them.
The teacher is quite capable; to be able to obtain such an important title as "Piano" in the orchestra, he must have been a highly skilled player who was close to the top.
But he had an illness that he couldn't cure in the world of rare and wonderful treasures; in fact, it made him even more ill.
He's getting thinner and thinner. The costumes he used to cherish are no longer suitable for him. Last autumn's clothes are a size too big for this spring. His hair is completely gray.
His strength and energy are not what they used to be, and he often coughs so hard it's heartbreaking.
Pu Fengchun had a vague sense of life slipping away at that time. No matter how much she resisted it, her reason had already rehearsed the death of her teacher for her.
But how could she accept that he was murdered and died such a tragic death?
But now it seems that his death was partly his own choice.
Distance makes you forget, but you can live on; ignorance is bliss.
But all the previous efforts were in vain, and the secret vanished.
Getting close will bring back memories, but it will also lead to death. The mortal body is too weak to withstand what it sees.
But you can entrust it to the next person, the person you trust most.
She sensed that the fog had dissipated somewhat, revealing a path.
This time the question becomes: to move forward or backward, to live or to die.
Pu Fengchun started moving again, walking back. She wanted to take one last look at the truth, resist the urge to run away, and make one more decision amidst her fear.
That would be the answer given by her soul.
【00:00:15】
Suddenly, two paper figures emerged from the snow, wrapped around the boy's arms, and pulled him down into the snow, binding him tightly like two white ribbons.
At the same time, another paper figure emerged from the other side and stuck to the back of the player with the chronic illness. The fire talisman inside the paper figure exploded, and the swirling snow mist buried him.
There was also a paper figure that barely supported the fallen Pu Fengchun, and the healing medicine was poured into her wound.
Xue Chao, possessing the consciousness of the paper doll, stared at Pu Fengchun's panel attributes. Two seconds after the boy used his superpower, all of Pu Fengchun's attributes were locked and immobilized.
The points rarely change, only fluctuating when sanity is lost, health is lost, or skills are upgraded.
Although Pu Fengchun's score remained unchanged, his body became increasingly stiff, and his breathing and heartbeat almost stopped. There were obvious fluctuations, and they were quite large!
After the blood-restoring medicine was administered, her body slowly warmed up, and her heartbeat regained strength.
Raven is clearly not right, but precisely because he may not be himself right now, he is not as agile, but he is still struggling to move in this direction.
As Xue Chao was thinking about how to evacuate, Pu Fengchun suddenly opened his eyes.
Sober, calm, rational, and analytical.
She didn't say anything, but Xue Chao heard her calling him in her mind, a calm voice: "Guardian of Secrets, pass on the inspiration."
The "Inspiration" check result was 99/60, a major failure.
Pu Fengchun breathed a sigh of relief; his inspiration had been tested, and a major failure was actually a success.
During the Inspiration check, the Keeper of the Secret must synchronize with the player.
Xue Chao's consciousness was forcibly pulled away, and he felt that his eyes were filled with dazzling neon colors, which was simply pollution. The sound of the machines operating was so light that it was barely audible, with a numb rhythm and no emotion, like chanting a spell.
When he came to his senses from the horror, the boy suddenly broke free from the paper figure, rushed in front of him, and grabbed Pu Fengchun's wrist.
Pu Fengchun, however, aged rapidly, withered, and his limbs shrank, as if a large section of them had been flattened. Blood, formed from his internal organs, flowed out from the arrow wound in his chest, emitting a putrid smell.
Raven's body inside Risen saw nothing; his tracing only revealed her childhood memories of learning the piano, and then nothing more... It's different from what Marco Polo said, what's going on?
Pu Fengchun's spirit died last. Her still calm eyes slowly lost their luster. In the final moments of her life, she saw many people in front of her, men and women, old and young, one after another, like dominoes being pushed into the universe in the long, dark tunnel.
She didn't know anyone except the teacher who was closest to her, but she knew who they were.
They came from all over the country, and many of them had no connection. Only two people who were connected knew each other, and even two people connected were not very familiar with each other, but they all reached the same secret agreement.
She saw fire coming from afar, burning one after another, and the fire spread to her body like wild grass.
She never imagined that someone as ordinary as her could die with such a tragic air.
A single blade of grass is insignificant, and a patch of grass is just a lawn to be trampled on. However, when they burn together, the flames spread and can illuminate a part of the night sky.
Under the majestic night, this was a pagan ritual.
She still didn't say anything; she was speechless. She didn't know if Xue Chao was a good choice.
Her eyes spoke volumes as she gazed directly at Xue Chao behind the paper figure, showing no resentment, sorrow, or relief, but rather a calm blessing.
Just like her teacher treated her, if she left, he was glad she wouldn't get involved; if she came back, she was the most trustworthy person; if she continued on, she deserved the highest admiration.
Xue Chao's consciousness was submerged in the paper figure, and he remained silent.
The "key" he was looking for was right here.
The snow fog thickened, blanketing him as if it were snowing again. He didn't know if it was snowing or not, but he felt even colder.
"So, it was Riven who used the totem of the incurable disease to create a passage between the two secret realms, swapping the souls of the twins, which resulted in the neighboring player killing Pu Fengchun?"
"[Riven] cleared two dungeons?! What kind of incredible feat is that?! Riven is amazing!!"
"【Raven】is not Rasen, but the Rasen of the band, the Stubborn Totem next door, the Stubborn Guild that temporarily infiltrated the Mountain of Joy and Sorrow, the twins hidden in the Five Poisons, this is Pineapple's plan!"
"【Riven】Holy crap! Right before the results were announced, our popularity score was surpassed by the other team! They're number one now!"
"[Raven] The rules for Mahjong were released, and the neighboring game was quickly crushed, but it turns out Pineapple had a trick up its sleeve!"
"【Raven】Only Pineapple could come up with this idea and actually pull it off, clearing the secret realm. I really, no matter how I think about it, it's just too amazing. How crazy would you have to be to try something like that..."
"【Raven】has practically bribed both the system and the boss, hahaha!"
"[Raven] I knew it! Why go through all that trouble just to kill Pu Fengchun? This isn't killing Pu Fengchun, it's slapping Xue Chao in the face! The most outrageous provocation ever!"
"[Raven] Now I understand why everyone says that hosts are willing to risk their lives for popularity..."
"[Riven] We've lost, let's call it a day. Let's go check out the other side, it's not over yet!"
In the final five seconds, the boundaries of the secret realm gradually opened up, and the mahjong dice system also loosened. As the guardian of the secret realm, Xue Chao could faintly hear the players' words and see a bit of their status.
Naga was looking south; given her high level of spirituality, she should have sensed something was amiss.
There were other players who were still struggling. Apart from Jiang Ming's follower, who hadn't returned to the team after his identity was exposed, the other two clearly knew what was going to happen, especially Huang Haitao, who glanced south before calmly turning away.
The Seven Killers are still the same as before; they don't know it, and even if they did, they wouldn't care.
The three people from the travel agency were the most emotional, because they could see the death notice of their teammate. After the initial shock, they were filled with fear of getting into trouble.
Since it was a temporary guild, and everyone was unfamiliar with each other, one member gritted his teeth and cursed, "Damn it."
But there wasn't that deep fear, because the boundary of the secret realm was about to open, which also meant "it's over."
Xue Chao raised his gloomy phoenix eyes, his malevolent aura like a demonic blade unsheathed, waiting to drink someone's blood.
He said softly, "...Don't leave."
【00:00:01】
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