The five people stood aside, looking at the middle-aged woman solemnly.
Heart-wrenching cries echoed throughout the residential complex. The mother and son, hugging each other tightly, were covered in blood. The scene was tragic enough, but what was even more horrifying was that the people standing on the balcony were still watching all this silently.
Their faces were so stiff, cold and numb, like masks that had been worn for too long, fused with their flesh and could never be removed.
They have lost the emotions that normal people should have. Compared to the little boy lying in pieces on the ground, they are closer to corpses.
"Fuck! Why do I feel like these people are scarier than ghosts!" The yellow-haired man cursed in an inaudible voice.
"Be careful!" Xiaodao pulled him hard and kicked Zi Wei out at the same time.
Xuan Ming picked up Zhuang Li and quickly retreated.
There was a series of muffled bangs, and five figures fell from the sky and were smashed to pieces. Pools of blood quickly merged into one, turning the open space into a pool of blood.
The middle-aged woman did not dodge, but the five corpses just avoided her position and exploded around her.
The middle-aged woman was stunned, and her grief-stricken crying stopped for a moment.
Zhuang Li quickly walked over to check on the situation and said thoughtfully, "Judging from the signs on the bodies, they were still alive when they jumped. This must be suicide. Huh?"
He rarely showed a look of surprise and uncertainty.
"What's wrong?" Xuan Ming asked worriedly.
"Look." Zhuang Li pointed at the wrist of each corpse.
"This is--"
Xuan Ming carefully identified the ring-shaped marks on the wrists of these people, and his tone became extremely surprised: "Are they taskers or players?"
These ring-like marks were clearly the result of years of wearing task managers, leading to uneven skin tone. But the strange thing was, where were those managers? How had they disappeared? In the gaming world, task managers couldn't be removed, no matter what.
"This copy is so weird!" Xiaodao felt a chill slowly climbing up his spine.
"Are these people really taskers or players? Why do they want to commit suicide? Did they fail to pass the level and are left here unable to get out? If they can't get out, just wait. There will always be new players or taskers who can pass the level. As long as they are alive, there is hope. Why do they want to die?" The yellow-haired man said in confusion.
"That's the problem." Zhuang Li straightened up and looked at the "ghosts" on the balcony. He said solemnly, "Perhaps for them, there is no hope of living anymore."
Why is there no hope? What happened to them?
More mysteries emerged, giving Zi Wei, Xiao Dao and Huang Mao a splitting headache.
Xuan Ming said in a deep voice: "They went back."
Everyone quickly looked towards the building, only to see the "ghosts" vanish from the balcony. It seemed these exploding blood flowers were what they had been waiting for, watching, and fearing.
Such a scene seems to have become a ritual for them.
Weird! Everything here is so weird!
Xuan Ming held Zhuang Li's hand tightly, his brow furrowed, his eyes filled with worry. Zhuang Li scratched the back of his hand with his fingertips, signaling him to relax.
At that moment, the police finally arrived. After an inspection, they loaded the bodies into a truck and drove them away. The middle-aged woman grabbed a police officer by the sleeve and angrily accused him, "Wang Xiaodan killed my son! She's my neighbor, she hates me and my son, she must be the one who killed Yuanyuan!"
The police didn't seem to find anything unusual about the body. They just said they would check the surveillance footage first to see how this happened.
The woman screamed almost frantically, "It's Wang Xiaodan, it must be her! She's having an affair with my husband! She's wanted to kill me and my son for a long time! It must be her!"
The police calmed the middle-aged woman down and took her to the community's surveillance room.
Zhuang Li and others naturally followed.
The property staff checked the surveillance footage of the incident and saw a little boy of six or seven years old playing alone in the corridor on the 28th floor. While playing, he ran into the elevator, went up to the top floor, and accidentally fell from the roof.
There was no one around him, it was just an accident.
The middle-aged woman was completely unwilling to accept this reality and lay on the table crying bitterly.
The police began to review the video footage of the other five people jumping from the building.
Zhuang Li and Xuan Ming exchanged a glance, each with a hint of surprise. The child was clearly a hollow shell. As he moved back and forth in the hallway, his limbs appeared incredibly stiff, a sign of rigor mortis. He was already dead, so how could a dead person have gotten to the top floor by himself in the elevator?
Zi Wei, Huang Mao and Xiao Dao were also confused by the video. They could only scratch their heads and look at each other.
This matter is developing in an increasingly weird direction.
The woman's cries were like the screams of a night owl, piercing and terrifying. Several police officers gathered around her, trying to comfort her.
At that moment, a short, fat old woman rushed into the monitoring room, grabbed the woman's hair and started tearing it apart: "I told you to go to work! I told you not to take care of the child! Yuanyuan's death is your fault! How much money can you make a month? Is that little money more important than Yuanyuan? Are you happy that the child is dead? Are you saving your money to buy a coffin for Yuanyuan? Why wasn't it you who died? You slut! I'll beat you to death!"
The woman dodged and cried, "Mom, where did you go today? Why weren't you at home looking after Yuanyuan? I have to go to work, do you have to go to work too?"
The old woman was stunned for a few seconds, then fought even harder: "Are you blaming me? I'm sick and can't go to the hospital to see a doctor? Do I need to ask you for leave?"
She spoke so confidently, and the fierceness in her eyes grew stronger and stronger, as if the more arrogant she was, the more she could atone for her sins.
Zhuang Li shook his head and whispered in Xuan Ming's ear, "She went to play mahjong." Then he pointed at the chips hidden in the old woman's pocket, a corner of which was accidentally exposed, and then pointed at her hair that smelled of cigarettes.
She is absolutely responsible for the child's death. This family is broken up because of her.
Xuanming's eyes darkened for a moment.
The tragedy before and the farce before him made him understand what kind of life this middle-aged woman was leading. Her mother-in-law was sarcastic and domineering; her husband was cold and heartless and had an affair with a neighbor. Perhaps her only hope in life was her son.
But now, her son is dead, and the rest of her life is filled with endless despair.
How can we break this despair?
Xuanming thought of Zhuang Li's previous words - the best way to break despair is to give hope.
What does this woman want most now?
Of course, the son can survive.
Resurrect the dead? Thinking of this, Xuan Ming could only secretly shake his head. The Lord God had created all sorts of prop cards, but not a resurrection card. Death in a mission was real death; no player or tasker could get a second chance.
"There is no resurrection card." Xiaodao also thought of this.
"What should we do?" Zi Wei and Huang Mao also tasted the taste of despair.
"Resurrection technique." Zhuang Li suddenly spoke.
"What?" Xiaodao was stunned.
"Resurrection." Zhuang Li raised his hand, showing everyone the six-pointed star tattoo on the back of his hand, and slowly said, "This is a kind of black magic, and I have some research on black magic. I am sure that the person who killed this boy must be a dark wizard. Before casting black magic, internal organs are often the best offerings to the devil. The boy's internal organs were hollowed out, but the body was still able to walk on its own. This is obviously not a coincidence. Someone killed him, cast black magic to cover up the crime, and threw his body from the top floor, pretending it was an accident."
He lowered his hand and stared at the corpse on the ground: "If the conditions are right, I can cast black magic and revive him."
The eyes of Zi Wei and others shone with hope.
Xuan Ming pondered for a moment before asking, "So, do you also need a set of internal organs to perform this resurrection technique?"
"No," Zhuang Li held up two fingers. "Two sets. One set of internal organs belongs to the boy himself. Only by filling his abdominal cavity can he be resurrected. In other words, we have to find his internal organs. The other set of internal organs is for sacrifice, and it must come from his blood relative. In other words, we have to kill one of his relatives, his father, his mother, his grandfather, his grandmother, any one of them will do."
Such evil magic clearly deviated severely from Xuanming's principles. He lowered his eyes in thought, unable to come to a decision for a long time. Xiaodao and Huangmao also frowned uncomfortably.
Zi Wei is a legitimate special police officer, so of course he would not do such a thing.
Only Zhuang Li thought it was no big deal. Of course, he would never say such a thing in front of Xuan Ming.
"Forget it, let's think of another way." He waved his hand and gave up.
"Okay." Xuan Ming immediately nodded in agreement, but his tense heartstrings could not relax.
If he were the only one trapped here, unable to escape, he would find another way. He would never kill an innocent person. However, now that the little devil was also here, and faced the prospect of being trapped forever, he absolutely could not give up any hope.
In the end, is principle more important, or is the safety of your loved one more important?
Xuan Ming clenched his fist and suddenly said, "Let's go find the boy's internal organs first."
"Captain?" Xiaodao and Huangmao looked at him in astonishment.
"Be prepared, go find it!" Xuan Ming gave the order decisively.
Xiaodao and Huangmao quickly accepted the task. It was better to do something than to do nothing.
Zi Wei opened his mouth but ultimately did not raise any objections.
Zhuang Li suddenly hugged Xuan Ming's waist and whispered in his ear, "Don't compromise your principles for me. I'm a person without principles, and I will change mine to suit yours. As long as I can be with you, nothing matters to me."
Xuan Ming hugged him tightly, kissed the top of his head gently, and laughed in a deep voice.
"Don't worry, there will be a way." He patted his lover's back gently, his tone extremely gentle.
The two hugged each other tightly, drawing strength from each other, then kissed each other on the cheek before striding out of the monitoring room.
The middle-aged woman was still arguing and fighting with her mother-in-law, and several policemen and property staff surrounded them and tried to persuade them.
No one noticed Zhuang Li and the others' strange behavior or whispered conversation. They arrived at the building where the tragedy occurred and, as they entered the first-floor lobby, a man with a gray face emerged from the elevator. His cloudy eyes fixed on them, and he said firmly, "You're trying to find the child's internal organs, right? It's useless, even if you resurrect him."
Zhuang Li lowered his gaze to the man's wrist. Sure enough, there was a circle of white marks there. He had been a gamer, too!
The man left the building in a daze and disappeared into the thick fog.
The group stared at his back for a long time, and gradually felt an inexplicable sense of depression in their hearts.
"Don't worry about him, go up and take a look." Xuan Ming ordered in a deep voice.
So everyone boarded the elevator and went to the 28th floor, where the child had been playing. His home should also be on this floor.
"Do you want to resurrect him? It's useless." A woman squatted in the dim stairwell and smoked, with a dead look in her eyes.
She suddenly made a sound, which scared Zi Wei.
"Why didn't it work?" Zhuang Li walked into the stairwell and asked gently. He glanced at the woman's wrist, where there was also a circle of white marks.
Then he gradually realized that the "ghosts" standing on the balcony before were actually taskers and players who were unable to break the despair and were therefore stranded in the copy.
Even the entire community may be filled with such people.
If the previous hell of self-nature was a grave for burying the dead, then this world of despair is a grave for burying the living.
Which tomb is scarier? The answer is obvious.
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