Paper ball in the door
The sunset dyed the sky red, cast a gorgeous glow on the treetops, seeped into the woods through the gaps between branches and leaves, and coated the unbroken road with a layer of dull blood color.
The glass house reflecting the afterglow welcomed two staggering young men. They came with their little remaining sanity and read two brief notes with difficulty.
Things to note when visiting the Aquatic Plant Museum
1. If you find that you have organs that do not belong to human beings, please enter the museum immediately, turn left, and put on white work clothes.
2. Stay away from water.
The two men ran in hastily, but the sound of gurgling water frightened them and stopped.
There was a gurgling stream beneath the small arch bridge in front of me, and round lotus leaves were floating on the water.
Colorful hyacinths with clusters of flowers grow by the pond.
There is a sign at the edge of the pool that reads:
Employee Code of Conduct
1. Feed the carp in the water regularly, once an hour.
2. If you find weeds growing next to aquatic plants, clean them up immediately.
Fortunately, the employee locker room was on the left and there was no need to cross the bridge, so the two rushed over.
White vests are hung on the clothesline, and a copy of the employee code of conduct is placed in the pocket of each vest.
Two young men, one with long tentacles on his head, and the other with eyes that had turned into compound eyes as big as fists.
With their minds in a daze, they clumsily put on their white vests.
After putting them on, their minds became a little clearer and they remembered that they were sick humans.
Crash, crash.
The sound of water outside grew louder.
"My eyes are blurry. Please look at the employee rules." The young man with compound eyes couldn't see the small, densely packed words.
"Rules for white-clad staff. 1. We don't keep carp in this museum. 2. Aquatic plants in this museum can't talk. 3. When out on patrol, clean up the black flowers. 4. Stay away from water. 5. Do not talk to ordinary tourists."
"Just five?"
"Well, it's not hard to follow."
Crash——
The two dared not breathe.
It seemed as if a huge fish swam out of the water and onto the shore.
"Let's go out on patrol."
The moment they walked out of the locker room, they were so scared that they wet their pants and their hearts were beating so wildly that they seemed like they were going to break their blood vessels.
An unknown creature lay on the edge of the pool, twisting its body anxiously.
The anemone-like mouth was full of sharp teeth, a vaguely human face grew on the pink head, and limbs as thin as baby legs grew on both sides of the upper body.
It quickly climbed out of the pond to hunt.
Only then did the two of them see clearly that there were different human faces on its back, which were a hundred times clearer than the face on its head.
"We are the police and can help you escape." One of the male faces on the back spoke.
"Come here, we are from the military and can take you out." said another face.
The two mutated young men ran out of the aquatic plant pavilion for their lives.
While escaping, someone looked back at the museum.
grass!
That damn thing actually chased out of the aquatic plant pavilion!
He could vaguely see that its body was extremely long, and part of it was submerged in the water.
"Emergency notice! Due to a serious accident in our garden, all forks near the Peony Garden and Camellia Garden are closed! All tourists are requested to take a detour immediately and are prohibited from entering the blocked area! All staff in red and blue are requested to stay indoors and do not leave their work stations!"
The broadcast spread throughout the botanical garden like thunder, urging Lu Miao and others by the lake to find an exit quickly.
"It seems urgent to send a notification through the radio." Wang Keke was apprehensive. "Captain, are there any bugs floating up?"
"No." The deer seedlings were covered with insecticide. "I'm leaving first, don't rush to follow me."
Wang Keke looked very worried. "Captain, be careful."
He Ping'an grabbed the hem of his clothes tightly.
Lu Miao put the insecticide in her pocket and stepped into the shallow water. The chilly lake water soaked her boots, and her socks and feet felt the cold water.
She took a deep breath, silently said to herself, "There is no lake here," and continued taking another step.
The resistance of the water is extremely realistic, the ripples reflect the dazzling sunset glow, and every step brings up the sound of splashing water, all of which prove that the "lake" is real.
Lu Miao closed his eyes and walked deeper and deeper.
The water level has reached thigh level.
At this moment, she was like a woman who walked into the lake to commit suicide. The waves composed a sad poem, and the reflection of the sunset on the water was a pool of lonely blood.
The people on the shore gazed at her receding figure with mixed feelings.
The water level came up to her chest.
Wang Keke's eyes were wet and she walked into the water, biting her purple lips.
"Sister Coco!" He Ping'an blurted out.
Weekend hurriedly grabbed her wrist. "Don't be impulsive, wait a little longer."
Wang Keke turned around and glared at him with red eyes. "What are you waiting for? Waiting for others to use their lives to prove whether this path is correct? I, Wang Keke, am not such a coward!"
She turned her wrist, easily broke free from Weekend's hand, and walked into the water with determination.
He Pingan clenched his fists.
Zhang Lian was the third to step into the water. "We were originally soldiers defending our country, but we became weaker and weaker as time went by. Wang Keke is right, we should have used our lives to find a way out."
Feng Yan and Song Zhen followed.
The police officer gritted his teeth and walked into the lake.
The fear of death blocked He Pingan's courage. Intellectually, he knew that the lake was fake. Emotionally, he couldn't take the first step to challenge death.
Weekend, who was about to enter the lake, saw He Pingan hesitating and pulled him into the lake.
Weekend said nonchalantly: "Didn't the pink-haired girl say that if you're a real man, don't waste time. Look at those people in front, who doesn't have worries? Who isn't afraid of death? It's not shameful to admit it boldly."
He Ping'an looked down at the splashing water waves.
"You know what's the most embarrassing thing?"
He looked up at the weekend.
“I’m afraid to even be alive.”
He Ping'an seemed to understand but not quite.
Weekend patted him on the shoulder. "You'll understand when you grow up."
Lu Miao, who was walking in the front, found that the cold water level was no longer rising and only reached his chest, while the coolness of the water was gradually weakening.
Gradually, she felt lighter all over and the stuffiness in her chest was no longer there.
Lu Miao opened his eyes and saw the wide driveway right in front of him.
There is no lake, only green lawns and ornamental shrubs around it.
The people following behind were walking on thin ice, one foot deep and one foot shallow, with a stiff gait. Obviously, they were still in the hallucination.
The deer glanced up and before any birds appeared, he ran towards the wall at the end.
After a while, the others noticed that the water level was no longer rising, and they began to see the straight driveway and the greenery around it.
"Success!" Wang Keke jumped up excitedly.
Zhang Lian, who was sweating profusely, breathed a sigh of relief.
The good times didn't last long. They heard a chirp sound from a distance and their expressions suddenly changed.
“Run!”
As they ran wildly, a group of chirping birds flew out from behind them.
"The Territory Lord must be anxious!" Wang Keke shouted, "Run to the captain!"
The sharp-eyed Weekend spotted a group of bugs flying over. "Bugs are coming too, get some insecticide ready!"
Hearing this, Song Zhen, who had also bought the insecticide, opened the lid.
"Captain! There are birds and bugs!!!"
The deer seedling, who was groping for the fence, heard Wang Keke's warning and opened the insecticide without hesitation.
As the map showed, the driveway led directly to the west gate, so she stayed in the position where the wall faced the driveway directly.
The door must be here.
The door will not change its position, this piece of wall is just extra.
Lu Miao believed it without a doubt.
At the same time, flocks of ferocious birds flew low and dived one after another.
Two bottles of pungent insecticide were sprayed to kill a group of insects, and many of them fell to the ground and died.
At this time, Lu Miao still hadn't found the exit.
Buzz.
Annoying flies flew over and she thought about spraying them to death.
Fanged birds attacked from above their heads.
He Ping'an and Wang Keke hurriedly took off their coats and beat them.
Seeing this, the police officer and two soldiers also took off their uniform jackets and shook them to prevent them from approaching.
"You're thinking wrongly. What we see with our eyes distorts our cognition. We can't see with our eyes." Lu Miao turned around decisively, with his back against the wall.
For a moment, she felt an emptiness behind her, without the hardness of the wall.
"Back out!" she yelled.
The next second, the others saw her retreating and sinking into the wall.
"T is the exit! Ignore them and run!"
Lu Miao didn't go out completely. She deliberately stayed inside the door waiting for them and fell into a strange dark space.
"Oh……"
A soft chuckle was heard in my ear.
"Who?" She raised the invisible thorns on her body alertly.
Then she caught a glimpse of a white ball of paper on the side.
The noisy sound was getting closer and closer to the exit, so she quickly picked up the paper ball and put it in her pocket.
Almost at the same time, eight people rushed out of the real exit of Nanjiang Botanical Garden, and the last ray of afterglow illuminated their confused faces.
"We're out." Lu Miao was the calmest, looking around the familiar surroundings. "So the entrance is the exit, let's go back to the ticket office."
Nine white foam boxes were placed in a row on the ground. Two of them had pink heart-shaped sticky notes on them. Because they were too conspicuous, some of the surrounding military and police officers took a few extra glances.
The armed police aimed at them with murderous intent.
The onlookers stared at the eight people in amazement.
"They are the only ones coming out? What about the others who went in?"
"Woo woo woo...my boyfriend is in too..."
The crowd was talking.
At the same time, the mysterious halo surrounding Nanjing Botanical Garden disappeared without a trace.
The realm of ghost stories has disappeared.
“Miao Miao——”
Lu Miao, expressionless, pressed the shoulder of Lu Xingyang who was running towards him. "I told you, don't call me that."
Lu Xingyang almost burst into tears. "Congratulations on your first time cracking the open-ended ghost story field. Whatever you want to eat tonight, it's on me!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the joy on Zhang Lian and the others' faces froze.
"First...time?" Feng Yan was so shocked that his tongue got tied.
Zhang Lian couldn't believe it. "Is this your first time in an open-ended ghost story field?"
Lu Xingyang didn't understand their reaction. "Yes, is there a problem?"
Lu Miao glanced coldly at his former companion.
"No! No problem!" The police officer rolled his eyes. "I'll take my reward first."
"Us too." Zhang Lian and Feng Yan touched their noses and left.
Weekend kept his head down, picked up his foam box and left.
Song Zhen laughed and patted Lu Miao on the shoulder. "Captain Lu, nice to meet you."
"Me too."
Song Zhen carried her own foam box to the nearby parking lot in a casual manner.
At this time, a handsome man with a smile on his face came over. Lu Xingyang tactfully took Wang Keke and He Pingan aside to chat.
Lu Miao was a little embarrassed and pretended to be calm.
Because she is not familiar with Si Lan.
But she was surprised that Si Lan waited until now. At first she thought he was just being polite.
"Congratulations on coming out." Si Lan's eyebrows were curved, and his eyelashes were stained with the dim afterglow, like gold powder on the regular red characters.
In front of a bench not far away, there was a row of neatly placed pebbles on the ground.
Lu Miao laughed in silence. "I underestimated your patience."
Si Lan smiled and took out his phone. "Can I add you on WeChat again and make friends with you?"
Lu Miao: “…”
I almost forgot to block him on WeChat after our last date.
She stared at Si Lan's phone for a few seconds, then took out her phone and added him back on WeChat.
She was about to forget what it felt like to have someone waiting for her to come back.
Not bad.
This time, the deer seedlings got an extra reward. On her second foam box, a heart-shaped sticky note had the same message: Extra reward for the deer seedlings. No resale or gifting allowed.
Lu Xingyang joked: "This time, those guys above won't ask you to hand in the extra reward. But I'm curious, what did you do to get the extra reward?"
Lu Miao said bluntly: "You will know when you drive us back to the department to write the report."
He looked embarrassed. “I want to, but I have to stay and assess whether the pollution has spread. So…”
"I can take you back to work." Si Lan smiled and showed his car keys.
In desperation, the three of them took a ride back to the department.
As soon as the foam boxes were moved into the trunk of the car, Wang Keke and He Pingan got in the back seat first, the former raising a smile that looked brilliant but actually meant "accomplishment."
Lu Miao hesitated for a moment, then calmly got into the passenger seat. "Thank you, Mr. Si."
"You're welcome." Si Lan smiled pleasantly.
Lu Miao, who was fastening his seat belt, looked out of the car window inadvertently and found a surprise.
The tall man who had shown symptoms before and a tall, thin middle-aged man walked out of the botanical garden safely, and two white foam boxes appeared out of thin air on the ground.
Although the open ghost story field is difficult to crack, people who are slightly contaminated can leave the ghost story field and clear its contamination state.
As for those who have just entered and have not stayed for two hours, they will not receive any rewards and will not be able to take advantage of the discounts.
Lu Miao's smile was fleeting.
Nanjiang Botanical Garden has been restored to its original state, with the chirping of birds once again reappearing in the bird exhibition hall.
In the Accipitridae exhibition area, a sturdy eagle stood on a branch, listening comfortably to the "Moonlight Sonata".
The music was played from the mobile phone below.
Soon, based on Lu Miao's mission report, Lu Xingyang suggested to Nanjiang Botanical Garden that classical music should be played in the bird exhibition hall. This is a story for another time.
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