Shekh didn't hear any strange noises from inside the church and went straight in.
What came into view were rows of simple benches, and looking around, she couldn't find any extra decorations.
Shi Jinzhe followed the guide pointer to the blocks and used the tools to start taking the blocks.
After all the blocks were removed, a hidden door opened in the floor behind the sculpture.
He squatted down at the basement door for two minutes but didn't smell any damp or musty odor.
"The city has been undergoing strange changes for quite some time, and this basement has been sealed off without any odor, so someone must have been here recently."
Shekh asked, "Is there no one inside? Shall we go down?"
"Go down." Shi Jinzhe stepped down the steep stairs, and the other three followed.
Jiang was the second to last one. Before going down, he released four ghosts to keep an eye on the outside.
Once she was fully inside the basement, her eyelids twitched.
"After seeing so many building blocks, I'm still a little unaccustomed to seeing these seamless, normal walls."
Without building blocks, the entire basement is perfectly normal.
But if something becomes normal in an abnormal world, then there's something wrong with it.
Shekh tapped on the wall but couldn't find any trace of partition: "The fact that the basement wasn't altered must be related to that crystal."
“Not only.” Shi Jinzhe pushed open a door, and the group saw that it was a dark corridor, the length of which was unclear.
"Even without mutation, this is not a normal place."
Building a place like this under a church looks like a cult no matter how you look at it.
He groped around at the entrance to the corridor but couldn't find a light, so he bought two lighting fixtures on the spot and leaned inside.
After walking seven or eight meters, Shekh heard a strange flute sound, drifting aimlessly with a peculiar melody.
After walking a little further, the flute music grew louder, and all four of them heard it.
“This melody…” Jiang Ling hesitated, “It seems to be a prop. I’ve heard a sound that sounds very similar to this before.”
Jiang Yinxue helped her recall: "It was a sonic attack. Someone used it in a dungeon you cleared last year."
Jiang Yi: "Ah, right, that's it. It has deceptive and hypnotic effects, and it's quite effective. You can buy it in the item shop; it's not expensive."
“The presence of items means that players have been here.” Shi Jin continued walking without stopping, “Those who obtained the hidden clues like us and arrived here faster are either stronger players from the four of us or leftover players from the previous batch. I personally lean towards the latter.”
The sound wave item is available in the shop, but it doesn't cost many points. If a stronger player arrives first, there's no need to take the crystal and leave an item behind.
Leaving items with hypnotic effects is definitely to protect the crystal. The natives don't have this awareness; only the players need the crystal the most, so they will take the initiative to protect it.
“They’re from the previous batch of players.” Shekh turned a corner and saw tally marks on the wall.
The characters are written in neat, upright strokes, dozens in each line. Roughly estimated, there are seven or eight hundred characters here, which must have taken at least ten years.
Jiang Zi asked in bewilderment, "Ten years? Can someone who can survive here for ten years still be considered human?"
"Well, these tally marks aren't distorted, they're not pixels, so this player is still a human." Shi Jinzhe thought, this must be why the player wanted to place the item here.
The thirteenth crystal has the ability to recover from mutations.
The player can only avoid being assimilated by the block city and becoming one of those pixelated people by staying here.
This person isn't in the church now; they must have realized the instance has restarted and gone out to hunt down this group of players and steal their loot.
Shi Jinzhe frowned, but this didn't make sense. Why didn't he use the crystal he already had?
Could there be something wrong with the crystal that he can't handle?
After a few seconds of thought, Shi Jinzhe raised everyone's defenses to the highest level they could withstand before exploring further.
He walked past the wall covered in writing and saw sleeping bags laid out beside it.
The sleeping bag had been used for so long that it had completely collapsed from being used so much.
After walking for another five minutes down the winding corridor, a wooden double door appeared at the end.
Jiang Ling and Jiang Yinxue stopped at the door: "We won't go in. Just in case, we'll wait for you in the corridor outside."
The clue was obtained by Shi Jinzhe. Going further in would be too close to the crystal, so we should avoid it.
She's already scored enough points this round, so she doesn't need to worry about a little more.
Having a sensible teammate is a very convenient thing. Shi Jinzhe nodded and indicated, "Then we'll go in first."
"I'll go first."
Shekh blocked his movement, walked in front of Shi Jinzhe, and was the first to enter the room.
In the room, a pure black crystal was placed on a high platform in the center.
As Scheres approached and stood directly in front of the black crystal, the double S earring on his left ear began to heat up.
The energy emanating from the air was absorbed by the earrings, and her earlobes turned red from the heat.
The surging energy told her that the black crystal contained extremely powerful energy, and she needed this power.
She reached out, unable to resist the urge to touch the black crystal.
Her tentative fingertips stretched out, and just as they were about to touch the crystal, her wrist was grabbed from the side.
"Shekh".
A woman's voice was calling her.
She looks familiar. I've heard her name in my dreams and seen her in the dungeon two years ago. She's Shi Jinzhe's mother, Bai Weishuang.
Shech snapped out of her daze and looked in the direction of the sound, where she saw her past self.
This time it's not in the forest, but in that huge animal world.
A beautiful dress was put on her. Bai Weishuang brushed aside her hair on both sides, placed her fingers on her black ribbon, and asked gently, "Do you like it here?"
In my memory, she didn't speak, she just nodded.
"Since you like it, how about living here with me? There are very tall and big trees here, and snakes as big as you. You don't have to worry about crushing those little ones when you roll over. You can be friends with them, and I can keep you company and tell you many, many stories. Would you like to stay?"
This time, the answer wasn't as decisive as before. Shekh saw that he had hesitated for a long time before shaking his head.
Bai Weishuang's expression remained unchanged, and she did not force her: "It's okay if you don't want to. You've already made great progress by coming to this world with me this time."
She smiled and opened her palm, revealing a pair of double S earrings. "This is for you, as a souvenir of your visit."
"What's this."
“These earrings are made from my husband’s life force.” Bai Weishuang lowered her voice and whispered, “We’ll keep it a secret and not tell him. I’ll give you half of this. No matter where you are in the future, you can follow the pull to find me. You can come anytime you want.”
"Why... did you give it to me?"
"I like you very much." Bai Weishuang bent down slightly to straighten her new clothes, then rested her arms on her knees to meet her gaze, and praised her with a smile: "You are very cute."
Sheh watched the scene quietly; no one had ever used that word to describe her before.
Of all the memories she recalled, only the word "horrible" came to mind.
When Bai Weishuang said something was cute, she meant it sincerely, but her eyes revealed a different emotion.
Shekh found it difficult to describe things he had never seen before, as if expressing regret for those who had suffered injustice, with a sense of sorrow.
Bai Weishuang put the earrings on her own ears. The symmetrical double S-shaped design was quite unique. She fiddled with them and said, "Infinite possibilities. The meaning of this design is really suitable for you."
Through his memory, Shekh saw his own pink tail tip swaying behind a tree, with a section of white vine hanging from it.
The lake rippled, and the autumn wind rustled the trees. In this peaceful atmosphere, she felt sleepy and leaned against a tree, slowly closing her eyes.
Darkness replaced warmth, and Shekh opened his eyes again to find himself sitting in a collapsed palace.
“This ribbon is very important; you can’t take it off now.”
The familiar voice was right in front of him. Sher looked up and saw Bai Weishuang tying a ribbon for him.
She opened her mouth, wanting to ask many questions, but the past could not be changed, and this body was not under her control; she could only remain an observer.
With a black ribbon tied tightly behind her head, Bai Weishuang patted her head comfortingly, then pulled down her hand that was trying to untie the ribbon and held it in her own.
"Good boy, be good."
You will die.
"No, don't worry."
Bai Weishuang forced a smile: "Take your skills back and stop absorbing those filthy things from outside. They will pollute your mind. I prefer your current personality."
She spoke calmly, but her face was as white as paper.
"This labyrinthine palace is your prison. Once your injuries heal when you open the world passage, you should leave this place as soon as possible."
"I've taken you to many worlds, and those places are all suitable for you. But you must remember, if anyone still hurts you like those people here, you can kill them, but you can't take killing for granted and kill indiscriminately..."
"Also, you must always protect yourself and not remove the ribbon easily..."
Shekh shook her head and tried to forcefully pull her hand away, but Bai Weishuang's bloodstained hand held her tightly, preventing her from using her skills again.
The black mist outside the palace continued to spread inwards, and the moment it touched Bai Weishuang, her body could no longer withstand it, and she collapsed to the ground.
The wet clothes reeked of blood, and the ground beneath them was stained red.
With the release of force, Shekh was finally able to free his hand and continue absorbing the black mist.
"Stop..."
Chaos and deathly silence returned to her body, and Shekh sensed something slipping away from her.
The sounds around her blurred, and an ink-like color climbed onto Bai Weishuang's body, rapidly absorbing her life force.
However, the deep black color quickly faded away.
Sheh absorbed the black mist that had turned the polluted white into frost, and faint black lines appeared on his face.
The anger on that face, which wasn't initially cold, vanished, and the expression gradually turned indifferent.
Seeing this, Bai Weishuang twitched her fingers that were on the ground, but she couldn't lift them up no matter what she did.
If stopping them is impossible, then all that's left is verbal deception.
"...I still have the other half of Mu Bai's life force in my body, I'll be fine...stop it."
"Stop absorbing...stop."
The figure in Shekh's eyes was blurry, and he couldn't hear what she was saying at all.
Many images flashed through her mind, from Bai Weishuang approaching her time and time again, to taking her away from here and to other places.
From being less than Bai Weishuang's chest height, to being the same height as her.
It grew from a pink tail to a deep purple snake tail.
There are still so many fragments of memories…
[That's great, you're finally willing to come with me.]
[You are not a monster, not flawed; you are the Creator's greatest creation, possessing the most beautiful tail I have ever seen.]
[Finding things only in spring is too limiting. Let me take you to see the world; let's broaden our horizons.]
[Don't come back here. Come live with me somewhere else. I'll love it there, and I can be your family.]
People are inherently greedy; you must first be true to yourself before loving others.
[You're so wonderful, someone will surely overcome all obstacles to come to your side. But treasures are always hard to discover; the later they arrive and the more wretchedly they leave, the more precious you are.]
In the video, the woman's face gradually becomes blurry, and her voice becomes increasingly unfamiliar.
In Sher's mind, all memories of Bai Weishuang were fading away.
Bai Weishuang saw the confusion on her face: "Stop if you don't want to forget me..."
Shekh hesitated for a moment, and in that instant, a third force appeared.
Bai Weishuang, barely breathing, was lifted up by an invisible force and carried away: "...I did what I promised you, you will keep your promise, right?"
"Yes, I will hide her well, and your child will not be selected to enter the game in the future. Mission accomplished, now you should leave."
The overwhelming force shattered Shekh's protection. She stared at Bai Weishuang, who was being taken away, and tried to stand up from the ground.
Her sixth sense told her that she couldn't let Bai Weishuang be taken away, because if she was, she would never see her again.
She stood up and dragged her injured body forward.
The black mist rushed into Shekh's body, and the face that had accompanied her as she grew up became even more blurred in her memory.
With each step forward, a piece of memory is lost, just like this collapsed palace, completely destroyed.
Finally, she stopped in the center of the crumbling palace, staring expressionlessly at Bai Weishuang's figure as she was taken away.
Before the black mist obscured her vision, Bai Weishuang gave her one last smile.
It's better to forget it.
It is painful for the living to live with the memories of the dead, so this is for the best.
If you don't remember, you won't be sad.
"Don't go."
!
Bai Weishuang was suddenly stunned, her last shred of consciousness brought back to clarity by those words.
She looked at Shekh and fell silent in astonishment.
Shekh repeated, "Don't go."
This was the only person who had ever given her warmth; she couldn't let him become just a forgotten phrase in her memories.
With this departure, she could no longer comfort herself with the excuse that Bai Weishuang's journey was hampered by the wind and snow.
Shehe kept absorbing the mist. As long as she absorbed all the black mist that was draining Bai Weishuang's life force, she would no longer be contaminated.
But the thick fog was like a bottomless pit, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't absorb it.
Blood dripped all the way, and the familiar woman was getting further and further away from her; she couldn't snatch her away.
The black mist obscured his figure. Shekh stood there helplessly as tears streamed down his face, falling onto his clothes and then onto the ground.
Something completely unfamiliar. She reached out to catch it, but only touched a wet droplet of water.
The flat surface of the water reflected the palace and the black mist, as well as her own reflection, with purple eyes adorned with ribbons and a tear-stained face below.
I don't want to forget you.
She stood there, motionless, and said those words to the tears on her hands.
Immediately, her body, like the marble of the palace, became stiff and white, as if it had grown together with the stone.
Clang—
In the last second before losing consciousness, Shekh saw a woman covered in blood throw a knife at him with all her might.
Something fell from her, but she could no longer see.
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