Chapter 99 Nightmare Community
What is it like to ride a tricycle on a cold winter night?
Xu Zhiyan felt that this was much faster than running on his own two legs.
Of course, he might have felt better if there weren't a large number of residents chasing him.
After Xu Zhiyan caught his breath, he sat in the car, looked at the residents behind him getting farther and farther away, and turned to ask his boss.
"Boss, is it exciting?"
“Exciting! Exciting!”
The toothless boss had never seen such a scene before, so he just lowered his head and rode wildly, and the pedals of the tricycle were almost making sparks!
Just as Xu Zhiyan was observing the residents' condition, the toothless boss was afraid that the crowd following behind him would affect others, so he hurriedly turned into the path he had ridden last night and headed towards the small door hidden in the green belt.
As the residents left his sight, Xu Zhiyan breathed a sigh of relief.
From his perspective, these residents seemed to be controlled by something.
Everyone was wearing pajamas and slippers, moving in a stiff but extremely fast posture, like mindless monsters.
Finally, the two arrived in front of the green belt.
The toothless boss stopped the bike, leaned on the handlebars to catch his breath for a while, and stretched his head to look behind him.
After making sure that no one was catching up, he breathed a sigh of relief and said tremblingly, "Boy...you, this is too exciting! I haven't seen so many people in years! So many people!"
After repeated confirmation, the toothless boss waved at Xu Zhiyan.
"Okay, I guess you've lost me. You should go quickly. It's very cold at night." He smiled cheerfully and didn't ask why he was being chased by the residents.
Xu Zhiyan pursed his lips and suddenly asked for help.
"I've run into some problems. Can I stay at your place for the night? Is there a place to stay out there?"
He actually thought about whether he should go out of the community and look for her directly, but in the end he put it aside because of other things. Now is the right time.
Upon hearing this request, the toothless boss first shook his head frantically to refuse.
"No, no, no, no."
"You are a resident here, how can you spend the night outside the community? This is definitely not allowed."
Seeing that his boss was very determined, Xu Zhiyan lowered his head and lamented.
"If even you don't take me in, I might be beaten to death when I go home..."
"Huh? Beaten to death?" The toothless boss didn't expect that Xu Zhiyan seemed to be experiencing some violent and unfair incident.
"Yes." Xu Zhiyan nodded.
"My husband has a violent tendency. If I come home late, he will beat me. But the more he does this, the more I don't want to go back. Yesterday was my birthday, and he threatened to beat me, so I ran away..."
He started to talk a lot and act pitiful, trying to impress the kind-hearted boss in front of him.
The effect was significant, and the toothless boss' expression became noticeably more relaxed.
He couldn't help but think of the longevity noodles he had last night, and looked up at the young man who was lowering his head and looking lonely.
Finally, the toothless boss gritted his teeth and nodded, saying, "Let's go, but it's just for one night... Speaking of someone with such violent tendencies, I suggest you divorce him as soon as possible."
"Who said it wasn't?" Xu Zhiyan agreed.
In the live broadcast room, the comments were filled with laughter at Xu Zhiyan's nonsense.
[Hahahaha violent tendencies, whoever is violent will be violent.]
[It's so funny, the boss is still too naive. 】
[The main reason is that he acted so realistically that I almost believed what he said. I think he just wanted to get out.]
[Speaking of which, can players really leave the activity range? 】
[I don't think so, but according to the area when I came here before, it should be impossible to cross the road. ]
[Curious! This is the first time I've seen someone die like this! ]
Xu Zhiyan stood aside and watched the toothless boss open the door stealthily, his heart pounding.
“Squeak—”
The hidden little door was pushed open, the boss pushed the car out first, and then called Xu Zhiyan to follow.
Xu Zhiyan followed obediently and stepped out of the community.
The strange city in pitch black appeared before my eyes again.
The toothless boss did not get in the car, but pushed the car, walking close to the wall of the community.
He warned in a serious voice: "Don't run around, you must follow the car honestly. Over there, ahem, the city over there is so dark because there is a power outage, you know."
"Understand."
Xu Zhiyan nodded obediently and followed closely behind the car.
There isn't anything wrong with it so far, but the dark place itself carries an ominous feeling.
It was not until they went around to the east gate of the community that Xu Zhiyan finally saw their destination - commercial housing on the outskirts of the community.
As a complex of buildings with complete facilities, the Meimeng Community certainly has buildings built on the periphery of the community, but this place faces the dark city and does not look like it has been sold at all.
The toothless boss pushed the cart to the door of the nearest shop and carefully pushed open the door.
There was a sign next to the gate with "Shadouchao Snacks" written on it in black pen.
"arrive."
He breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the cart inside.
A dim light came on in the shop, illuminating the dark room.
Xu Zhiyan also followed him in and got a full view of the shop.
This place looks like an unfinished house that has been forcibly put into use, with concrete walls all around and a flat gray floor.
It can be seen that most of the furniture inside is second-hand furniture picked up from residents in the community. A folding bed is placed in the corner of the room. A coffee table with European style but peeling paint is next to the bed. The rest of the furniture is also in a mixed style, obviously not picked up from a trash can.
"Oh, sorry to have made you laugh, hahaha."
The toothless boss touched the back of his head and chuckled twice, but from the sound of his voice he did not seem ashamed.
After he asked Xu Zhiyan to sit down, he first found a broken cup to pour a glass of water, and then went out to borrow a bed.
A few minutes later, the boss came back with a brand new folding bed.
"Just make do with it. You'll forget about it tomorrow anyway."
"Forgot?"
Xu Zhiyan discovered the problem.
The toothless boss nodded.
"Everything about 'outside' will be forgotten when you return to the community at dawn."
Seeing Xu Zhiyan's curiosity, he made the bed, hesitated for a moment, and told Xu Zhiyan about his own story.
“Actually, I used to live there, too. We all did,” he said, referring to other mobile stall owners.
"But then I always felt like something was wrong, like I had lost something very important. I didn't even have the energy to cook rice during those days."
“Then I started keeping a diary, recording what happened every day.”
The toothless boss fished out a tattered notebook from the cupboard, on which the word "diary" was written in his signature handwriting.
Xu Zhiyan took the diary and flipped through a few pages.
[Sunny on the 12th of x month]
[After getting up in the morning, I ate the noodles I prepared yesterday. There were no tomatoes in the store, so I planned to go buy some. ]
[It was very busy at noon, and I wanted to order some tomatoes for delivery, but the delivery guy said that they were out of tomatoes. This was really frustrating... My menu clearly said tomato fried noodles, how could there be no tomatoes? ]
[In the evening, Lily from next door brought me some tomatoes. She kept smiling at me, but it felt weird. I didn’t want to eat noodles tomorrow morning.]
An ordinary day.
One day a few years ago, the toothless boss seemed to be obsessed with tomatoes all day.
Seeing Xu Zhiyan's puzzled expression, he scratched his hair and urged: "It's okay to look at the front, you continue to look at the back."
【Sunny on the 13th of X month】
[I ate the noodles I prepared last night this morning, but the store was out of tomatoes...]
【Sunny on the 14th of X month】
[I’ve had enough noodles, and the store seems to be out of tomatoes…]
【……】
In the diary, the toothless boss' life seemed to be stuck together by tape, repeating the same thing every day.
Xu Zhiyan flipped through many pages.
Even if no food is prepared in the evening, the boss will definitely eat a bowl of noodles for breakfast.
Repeating the same thing day after day, even if the person doing it is extremely tired, he will still repeat it unconsciously the next day.
The toothless boss took back the diary, hid it back in the cabinet, and couldn't help explaining.
"I have always kept a diary, but I never read it. I feel like something is wrong, but I don't know what it is."
Until one day.
A customer came to his shop.
"It's Lily, the woman who used to smile at me and give me some tomatoes every day. She also used to work on this street, but strangely, I don't remember what she did specifically."
When mentioning this person, the toothless boss's expression became a little depressed.
"I couldn't stand people asking about tomato fried noodles all the time, so that afternoon I crossed everything related to tomatoes off the menu."
Then the woman who used to smile at her toothless boss every day could no longer smile.
"Lily was very nervous when she saw that tomatoes were missing from the menu, and then she suddenly became very confused and kept questioning why I didn't need tomatoes..."
Xu Zhiyan listened quietly.
He knew in his heart that the reason Lily became the Beast of Error was that her own work was crossed out.
This was a major blow to the toothless boss.
"I haven't seen Lily since that day, but the menu I crossed out has returned! It feels wrong to me!"
The monotonous life was interrupted, and finally, the toothless boss plucked up the courage to look through his old diaries.
He discovered the truth about the community.
"I tried to tell other people, but only the owner of the baked sweet potato shop next door believed me. He told me not to think about it, otherwise I would disappear like Lily."
This sentence was somewhat beyond Xu Zhiyan's expectations.
He didn't expect that the seemingly wealthy and friendly owner of the roasted sweet potato shop actually knew the whole story.
The toothless boss continued speaking, pointing above his head and then pointing across the street where the building was unclear.
"I don't know what we are, but we seem to be providing something to the darkness. Some people will have strange signs appearing above their heads, and then they will walk into the darkness and never come out again."
"Sign? What does it say?"
Xu Zhiyan suddenly remembered the hint that had appeared briefly above Bai Jin’s head before.
The toothless boss thought for a moment and replied, "Stable."
As soon as these two words came out, before Xu Zhiyan could react, there was movement in the live broadcast room.
[What the hell? Stable?]
[Is there any problem with this? Upstairs? ]
[Haven't you paid attention to Borrower for a long time? Does anyone still remember her? 】
【Xie Lingyi, remember. 】
[But to be honest, her skills are nothing special. She works there all day long... If I were watching her work, why would I watch the live broadcast? Wouldn't it be more immersive if I could find a class to attend? ]
[No, no! I didn’t mean she was at work! Damn, you interrupted me and I forgot what I was talking about.]
[She has already achieved this stable state! ]
【？ 】
【? ? ?Stablize? 】
[It seems that she needs to work at her post for a certain number of days, and then a stable state will appear! I suspect that this state will affect her self-judgment. Since that state appeared, she seems to have completely integrated into this copy. ]
[…Fuck, what kind of subtle punishment dungeon is this? If I complete the tasks step by step, will I be assimilated into an NPC by the dungeon? ]
[It’s terrifying to think about it! So this dungeon really doesn’t intend to let players get out alive? ]
Unlike the panicked discussions in the barrage, the chat between Xu Zhiyan and the toothless boss has come to an end.
Neither of them knew what the meaning of "stability" was, so they just gave up and moved on to the next topic.
"By the way, boss, you just said that I would eventually forget all this?"
"Well, everyone will forget about leaving the community. Everyone only remembers what they encounter in the community every day."
This is also the reason why he was willing to bring Xu Zhiyan out.
Because as soon as the sun rises, the people around you will return to the community and forget everything outside.
Xu Zhiyan nodded and borrowed paper and pen from the boss.
Although he felt that he was different from the NPC and would not forget anything, he still decided to write it down just in case.
Then they talked about several other bosses. They were mostly similar. They all encountered something, awakened from being a confused NPC, and finally secretly hid outside.
"Then why do you still have to set up a stall at night?" Xu Zhiyan was a little curious.
After experiencing these things, it must be very scary for these mobile vendors in the community, right?
Unexpectedly, when the toothless boss heard this, he looked at him as if he was a fool.
“Because we need money too.”
"Here, without money, you can't move around. Although we don't live here, we still need to buy daily necessities."
What he said was so natural that Xu Zhiyan was completely unable to refute it.
"I never saw any trucks delivering vegetables, and I thought the food here would grow on its own."
Xu Zhiyan sighed.
I didn’t expect that these bosses don’t have an easy life either.
The toothless boss nodded and said that if he lived in a residential complex, there would indeed be food in the refrigerator and in the vegetable basket, and he had never worried about food before.
After saying that, he pointed to the time.
"It's past two o'clock. Go to bed. I can take you to see the gas filling place tomorrow. Weren't you curious about why the fire in our gas tanks is white?"
The lights in the slightly chilly and shabby shop were turned off.
After a while, the sound of the toothless old man's snoring could be heard in the room.
Xu Zhiyan couldn't sleep.
Gazing through the glass door into the darkness beyond.
Combined with the previous inferences and the story of the toothless boss, he can basically confirm that this community is like an NPC incubator.
After he came out, the game system pop-up windows kept popping up.
[It is detected that the player is wandering on the edge of the line. Please return to the correct game area as soon as possible. 】
[The player is detected to be on the edge of crossing the line...]
【Detection...】
There were three identical warnings at the beginning, telling him that he had crossed the line and something bad would happen if he went any further.
Fortunately, after he parked at the shop, the range should still be within the residential area, so no more serious warnings appeared.
All that's left is to urge him to complete the task.
[Mission: Eliminate violators]
[Reward: Correct time (48h)]
[Tip: The cleanup must be done after midnight, and you only need to clear out the stall owner. ]
[Progress: 0/18]
There are eighteen mobile vendors in total, and the progress is still zero.
I guess the main system is getting angry now, wondering why this task is not set as a mandatory task.
Xu Zhiyan wanted to make fun of the system, but was afraid of causing trouble, so he gave up.
He didn't sleep all night.
The toothless boss woke up after sleeping for about five hours.
It was seven o'clock in the morning, when it should have been daybreak, but the city outside the community was still pitch black.
While eating breakfast, Xu Zhiyan and his boss hid at the door, watching the people coming out of the community and walking into the darkness step by step.
When some people enter darkness, the word "stability" will flash above their heads.
The toothless boss told him that if these two words appeared above the person's head when he entered the dark city, then he would not come back after get off work at night.
Xu Zhiyan nodded thoughtfully.
It seems that [stable] NPCs will be put into dungeons and will not return to the community.
After breakfast, the toothless boss took Xu Zhiyan to see the device that could refill white gas by inserting change, and also took Xu Zhiyan to meet the owners of several other mobile stalls.
Thinking that today was Sunday and he had to report to the kindergarten in the afternoon to complete a new task, Xu Zhiyan threw fifty yuan on the boss's bed as accommodation fee, folded the paper full of what he saw and heard outside the community, stuffed it into his pocket, and left the shop alone.
Pretending nothing had happened, Xu Zhiyan returned to the community. After making sure that his memory was not lost, he walked towards the commercial street as if nothing had happened.
By the time I arrived downstairs of Building 167 with the roasted sweet potatoes, it was already past nine in the morning.
Xu Zhiyan had a good plan.
I will go home and play with Xu Xiaohua for a while, and then use Bai Jin's mobile phone to place an order for the things to be prepared in the afternoon. This will not only save money, but also allow Chu Fei to run more orders and earn some money.
After lunch, I helped my child pack his schoolbag, and by the time we were done it was just in time for him to report.
Great, the plan is perfect.
As for Bai Jin?
He weighed the hammer hidden in his sleeve, his expression not very happy.
Last night, I waded into cold water and smashed a sculpture. Not only did I freeze myself to death, but I almost popped my lungs. In the end, I smashed it for nothing, so Xu Zhiyan was a little angry.
When I returned to the 14th floor with a stern face, the door of 1402 opened synchronously as usual.
Xu Zhiyan looked at Bai Jin, who was standing at the door with a smile on his face, and a strange feeling inexplicably arose in his heart.
"Why are you standing there like an idiot? Come in first. It's cold outside."
Bai Jin turned sideways, holding a pair of cotton slippers in his hand.
Xu Zhiyan stared at the man for a while, made sure that there was indeed nothing wrong with him, and walked in slowly.
"I renovated the living room. I think you might like the original decoration better." Bai Jin said softly, looking down at the young man who was changing his shoes.
Xu Zhiyan looked up at the living room and said that something seemed to have changed when he just came in, and it turned out that it had changed back to the original state.
"Well, this is indeed much more pleasing to the eye."
After answering, Xu Zhiyan suddenly paused.
He realized something was wrong!
Ever since the two of them met, Bai Jin's emotions have been very stable... This doesn't make sense.
You know, he just came home late before, and Bai Jin would get upset and nag for a long time, being jealous and talking nonsense.
Now he hasn't come back the whole night, and the other party hasn't mentioned anything about this at all, and is still acting like a good wife and husband?
When something is abnormal, there must be something wrong.
There's something wrong with the Bai Jin in front of him.
Xu Zhiyan’s first reaction was that this pervert had found a way to deal with the white bone ring. After all, for Bai Jin, the suppression of ghosts and gods was the most difficult problem at the moment.
Considering Bai Jin's fighting ability, he did not act rashly.
Pretending nothing had happened, Xu Zhiyan took out a hammer from his sleeve. He sat on the shoe cabinet and didn't stand up. He just frowned and handed the hammer to Bai Jin.
"It was a waste of time. There is nothing in the sculpture."
Bai Jin took the hammer, reached out and touched the young man's hair, and comforted him: "It's okay, maybe it's not as bad as you think."
There was an indescribable tenderness in its voice.
"I also made some desserts, would you like to have some?"
Bai Jin was in a very good mood.
When a person is sitting at home, the memory and power lost due to death suddenly break in through the window.
It remembered a lot of things and broke through the suppression. The feeling of power flowing through the whole body was really wonderful.
Bai Jin did not investigate the reason why Xu Zhiyan came back late because he saw in his memory the young man standing in the water and shivering with a hammer in his hand.
The other party may not know what they have done, but they have indeed received power.
Resisting the urge to bend down and kiss the young man, Bai Jin felt that as a beneficiary, he could endure it for a while...endure it until Xu Zhiyan ordered him around again and threw him around like a tool.
If you take action when the other party is at his most arrogant, you will get much more pleasure.
Bai Jin felt that with Xu Zhiyan's personality, it wouldn't wait long.
At this moment, the young man sitting on the shoe cabinet suddenly let out a low sigh, looked up at the standing man, bit his lip and spoke.
"Bai Jin, can you... carry me to the sofa? I haven't slept all night and I'm very tired."
Xu Zhiyan thought about it and didn't immediately find an excuse to leave home.
He needed some intimate contact to confirm whether the control was still there. Directly using his ability would definitely be noticed, so it would be better to touch it with his own hands.
Bai Jin was stunned. He didn't expect to see Xu Zhiyan showing his vulnerable side at this time.
"Of course you need to rest."
It no longer hesitated, its heart pounding, and it bent down and hugged the young man sitting on the shoe stool in its arms.
This was the first time that Xu Zhiyan showed his gentle side to it after being able to suppress it. The heavy weight in his arms seemed to fill his heart.
The young man looked indeed tired.
Bai Jin looked down at the person who was resting his head on his arm, then walked towards the master bedroom step by step, comforting him in a low voice.
"Did you stay up late last night? You look very tired. Go get some sleep first."
Xu Zhiyan squinted his eyes and shook his head, moving his head back and forth, saying no: "No, I won't go to the bedroom. I'll just rest in the living room for a while."
"It's okay, I'll call you when it's time for dinner." Bai Jin's heart melted when he was rubbed.
Hearing the man's answer, Xu Zhiyan sighed deeply, his heart filled with despair.
He just kept rubbing it because he wanted to use his head to test whether the circle of white bones on Bai Jin's arm was still there.
As a result, this bastard was almost rubbed to stand up, and Xu Zhiyan didn't find the bone ring on his arm. He couldn't let him enthusiastically invite Bai Jin to take a bath together, right?
Damn, did it really fail?
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