Chapter 19: The First Item: Deserted City Notes
Inside the post station, the turmoil caused by the launch of the [Heavenly] ranking list gradually subsided, and everyone's attention returned to the delivery of parcels.
Shen Li recounted all the clips he had seen in the Blood Eye before.
After summarizing all the information, Li Dangxin began to summarize.
In order to cater to readers, Lan Cheng, the author of "Notes from a Deserted City", deliberately created a character who was miserable from childhood to adulthood: Ren Gui.
While writing this book, Lan Cheng developed feelings for Ren Gui, but in order to become a "best-selling author", Lan Cheng still let Ren Gui have a tragic ending.
"Because of his love for the character Ren Gui, he traveled into his own book, wanting to save Ren Gui and atone for his sins. But Lan Cheng thought he was just dreaming, but in fact, this dream was real!"
Sister Sa analyzed it clearly: "Because the author Lan Cheng traveled through the book, Ren Gui in the book's world realized the truth and invaded the real world through some method, which led to the destruction of this world."
After Fengyao studied the notebook, he closed the last page.
"So who do you think the recipient of this manuscript is?"
"It's Blue City." said the blind man.
"I think it's Blue City too." Red-haired man turned to a page in the notebook and pointed to the half-finished line of words on it.
If I could do it again
"This book was written by Lan Cheng. Is it possible that what Lan Cheng meant by rewriting "Notes from a Deserted City"?"
Redhead thought he had grasped the point: "Obviously, only the author can rewrite his own manuscript."
Wang Bin glanced outside the door and saw darkness everywhere.
"How do you know Lan Cheng is still alive? What if Lan Cheng is dead?"
After all, the city is in this state, and no one has ever seen any living thing in the city so far.
At this time, Shen Li, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke:
"Ren Gui destroyed the world and only left this city. I think Ren Gui also has feelings for Blue City."
"Yes, yes, yes!" Li Dangxin echoed.
"If Ren Gui hated him, he would have killed him first, but the back of the note says that he was imprisoned by Ren Gui!"
"So all we have to do next is find the Blue City!"
After sorting out the clues, everyone has a new direction: find the recipient Lan Cheng!
"If you were Ren Gui, where would you imprison him?"
"It must be a place related to the book, and it's a place that Rengui is more familiar with!" replied the red-haired man.
"Where does Rengui live?"
"In the novel, Ren Gui has three homes. The first one is the home where his parents lived, the second one is his aunt's home where he lived after his parents passed away, and the third one is the place where Ren Gui rents to work."
When Lan Cheng was writing this book, he referred the town to the town in his hometown, so the locations in the book are the same as the places in reality. These three places are clearly marked in the book.
Without further ado, they planned to split their forces into three groups.
The Fengzao team went to the ancestral home, Sister Sa, the socially phobic person, and the blind man went to the rental house, and Chen Li and Hongmao went to their aunt's house.
As for the notebook, it would definitely not work to leave it in the post station, so Fengrao suggested that he keep it for it.
Because there are four people in their team, they are more numerous and more stable.
Because of this incident, Red Hair almost couldn't help but fight with him again, but was stopped by Li Dangxin.
There are four people in the opposing team, all of them are ferocious and vicious. If a conflict occurs, they will be the ones who suffer.
The rental house team took flashlights and got ready.
After leaving the post station, fog came from all directions, making it difficult to tell the direction.
In the end, it is the blind who have to lead the way!
The socially anxious person walked at the back timidly with crutches, with no sense of existence at all.
The blind man complained speechlessly:
"There seem to be three of us in this team, but in fact there are only two of us, and I am the only one who can be used."
The red-haired guy who was walking in the same direction as them said proudly:
"We are a team of two people, but actually we are just one, and I am just a leg pendant of the boss."
Sister Sa sneered and cursed: "Look at your face!"
In fact, when the groups were being formed, she also wanted to be in the same group with Chen Li, but because there were so many people who wanted to be in the same group with him, they could only decide by drawing lots.
As a result, God was blind and he picked the red-haired guy.
The two teams parted ways at a fork in the road.
Considering that Chen Li was a person with poor sense of direction, the red-haired man with the leg pendant took on the responsibility of leading the way.
The fog in this city was so thick that even my hair became wet after walking for a while.
If it weren't for the map branded on his skin with his left hand, Red Hair would have no idea where he was, because he could not see anything in the thick fog.
From the beginning, Red Hair was a little jumpy.
He felt a chill on his back, so he shone the flashlight around and saw a blurry figure flash by in the fog.
"who!"
Red Hair was furious and kept grabbing at Chen Li, refusing to let go.
"There's someone over there!" Red-haired man pointed in a direction.
Chen Li calmly shone the light at that place.
The first thing that appeared from the thick fog was a pair of green eyes, and a figure pounced towards Chen Li.
"Meow!"
Red Hair was almost frightened to death, and couldn't help but speed up his chewing gum:
"Catman A? Why hasn't he recovered yet?"
Shen Li squatted on the spot and touched Catman A's head.
Catman A purred with great enjoyment.
The red-haired guy on the side became restless.
"Boss, stop touching me..."
The red-haired man's next words were filled with tears, "We... are surrounded..."
Shen Li didn't sense any bad aura.
He looked around and saw many white figures standing in the fog.
Figures surrounded them, talking and whispering.
When there is wind, the figures will disperse, and when there is no wind, they will gather together again.
"What are these?"
"A tormented soul."
"What would happen if it happened?" asked the red-haired man.
Shen Li did not answer him directly, but just said: "It is best not to touch it."
Catman A licked Shen Li's hand, then nimbly crossed the railing with his human body, took two steps, then stopped and waited for him, signaling him with his eyes to follow.
He moved around the city with familiarity. A cat occupied a human's body, and no one knew what Cat-Man A was thinking.
The red-haired man, chewing gum, tripped as he followed and pounced blindly towards a white soul.
The red-haired man cursed from a distance and felt his head sinking into the belly of that soul.
This feeling is strange.
Feeling cold all over, the red-haired man felt as if he was possessed. Although he was still conscious, his body was no longer under his control.
He felt his whole body trembling and fear filled his mind.
He raised his hand to slap himself to wake himself up, but when he raised his hand he realized that he had a manicure!
These hands are delicate and tender, they are not his hands at all!
This is a woman's body!
Her long curly hair hung down on her shoulders, and at this moment she was being forced to retreat again and again by something.
“Don’t come over here!”
The woman pleaded in a crying voice, her eyes sometimes falling on her feet, sometimes turning to behind her, and finally fixing on the front.
A tall man with a sack on his head and a fire axe in his hand was approaching her.
"Don't kill me!"
Unfortunately, her pleas were of no use.
She kept backing away until her left high-heeled foot twisted and she fell backwards into the lake behind her.
Hongmao experienced everything from a woman's perspective.
When he fell into the water, Red Hair was a little thankful that he fell into the water, otherwise he would have been murdered by the perverted murderer in front of him.
But the feeling of suffocation that followed was something he could no longer bear.
Water rushed into his nostrils and filled his lungs.
The water was deep, and the owner of this body could not swim, so he was doomed to drown.
When Red-Haired Man regained consciousness, he felt that his soul had also died once with that woman.
This feeling is so real.
Now, Red Hair finally understood what Shen Li meant by "try not to touch it".
Once you touch those souls, you will be forced to experience how the other person died.
Although there was no substantial harm to his body, it was definitely mental torture!
After this disaster, Red Hair was extra careful when walking. He found that the road that Cat Man A led them to was exactly where they wanted to go - the rental house where the character Ren Gui in the book lived.
Passing through all kinds of narrow and dirty alleys, turning around like a maze.
This place is gradually far away from the prosperity of the big city. It is located on the edge of the city and is full of dilapidated shacks.
The simple hut built with blue brittle steel plates is drafty on all sides in winter.
After moving out of his aunt's house, Ren Gui has been living in a place like this.
The shantytown was surrounded by stinking ditches, and Red Hair stood outside the house, covering his nose.
"If I were Ren Gui, I would also rebel. Is this a place for people to live?"
With a stroke of the author's pen, the protagonist has to struggle to survive in this environment.
The cottage belonging to Ren Gui was restored in the real world.
There was no need to lock the door because the door itself was broken. With a slight push, it fell inward, raising dust all over the floor, choking Red Hair and causing him to cough twice.
The smell of the sewer mixed with the smell of mildew in the house makes people not want to stay here for even a second longer.
There is an old-fashioned light switch on the left hand side of the door. The room is not big and you can see the end at a glance. A dim old light bulb can illuminate the room.
When the lights were turned on, the most eye-catching thing was the rope hanging on the roof.
The brown hemp rope swayed in the wind.
Ren Gui, the protagonist of "Notes from a Deserted City", hanged himself here at the age of 22 to express his disappointment with the world.
He had lived a very hard life, and this rope loop was the final destination designed for him by the author Lan Cheng.
Shen Li looked around the room and finally walked to the bedside table, on which were several pieces of paper scattered.
【2023.11.1】
[Something happened and I began to realize that the world I live in is fake]
[No matter how hard I struggle, it's useless. Someone has already written the ending for me.]
There was a sudden sound of a bench falling behind Shen Li.
He turned around and saw that Red-Haired had put his head in a rope loop at some point, kicked over the chair under his feet, and hung himself on the beam, struggling with his eyes rolled back.
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