Chapter 261: White Orchid Rain Festival (Part 44)
The inside of the lantern shop was beyond everyone's expectations. It was not as cramped as it appeared on the surface, nor was it like an ordinary shop. As soon as you walked in, you would see several walls filled with exhibits.
Its front hall is empty, without even a platform. It is like a platform in the middle of the road, connected to the back, which is the highlight. At a glance, the back door is directly in an alley, and on both sides of the alley, there are densely packed lanterns hanging.
Everyone was shocked by the scene before them. All the players crowded in the front hall and did not rashly walk into the alley.
Just when everyone was unsure of what to do, a person suddenly walked out from the dark corner of the front hall. To be exact, the other person appeared in mid-air. It did not look like a human, but like a flower, maintaining a half-human state. On the Guild Alliance side, everyone's eyes began to count the number of the other party's claws from the moment the other party appeared.
One, two, three, four, not a dragon, but I don’t know whether the system noticed that the young lady had discovered this last night, or this store is unique and the boss doesn’t care about other people’s eyes.
Nan Huan, however, had already seen the black energy that could not be absorbed from the other party and the entire store at the first moment, "Everyone, be careful and don't touch anything carelessly."
Nan Huan had just finished saying this in the guild alliance's communication channel when she noticed that the so-called Manager Liu was looking at her.
"Welcome everyone to my lantern shop." His voice was not loud, but he was obviously happy. However, this happiness seemed a little strange. It was not as if he was not happy that so many people came to the store, but that he was happy to sell things. Compared with selling things, Nan Huan felt that when he stared at the faces of these players, he felt like new goods had finally arrived.
"Boss, I'm sorry, we're not here to buy lanterns," the president of the Judge spoke first, "I want to choose you as a trader. I want dragon scale paper."
I don't know how the President of the Judges was sure that the shopkeeper Liu in front of her was the real trader of dragon scale paper. Maybe she used her own skills to make it sure, or maybe there were no more choices in the current situation, so she took the lead and became the first person to try it. Choosing one of the two doesn't seem to be very difficult.
President Alice didn't seem to have expected that the President of the Judge would be so unconcerned and make a choice in front of all the players. She looked at the eldest lady with an expression that showed she was wondering what kind of trick the other party was using.
The eldest lady signaled her to be patient and continue reading.
Shopkeeper Liu did not show much surprise, as if he had expected the Judge's choice. He just smiled and said, "Whether you come here to buy lanterns or not, as long as you enter my shop, you have to choose a lantern you like. After you have made your choice, I will consider whether to accept your choice or tell you about the dragon scale paper. So please, everyone."
The president of the corpse-drivers, who had been staying outside, somehow heard what happened in the shop and followed in in a panic, as if he was afraid that the president of the judge would get there first. Unexpectedly, after entering the door, he heard what Shopkeeper Liu said, and then the shop door that was wide open just now suddenly closed.
At this time, there was only a door leading to the alley in the house, and the shopkeeper Liu, who was standing by the door with an expression that was not really friendly, silently urging the players.
I don't know if the situation has changed, so the system deliberately added settings, or if Shopkeeper Liu is an NPC choice, so Shopkeeper Liu has made it a little more difficult for players to choose the actual trader. But because the system has not given any prompts, this default attitude has made the players realize that now they are like prey in a trap, and they have to follow the hunter's footsteps and start acting.
Fortunately, the eldest lady had given President Alice a heads-up beforehand, so there was no reaction from the First Guild Alliance. Everyone was very cautious, remembering the eldest lady's instructions just now. Although they walked into the alley reluctantly, they tried not to touch the lanterns hanging on both sides.
It was not until they were in the alley that everyone realized that they were far away just now, so the shock was not so strong. Now that they were in the alley, they realized the real weirdness.
First of all, except for some specific shops, there are no shops that specialize in selling lanterns. There are only one kind of white lanterns. Especially the alleys are deep and long, and you can't see the end at a glance, so the whole white is spread out, creating an inexplicable and terrifying atmosphere. If you look at it for a long time, you will feel slightly uncomfortable.
Secondly, if you look closely, you will find that the shapes and colors of the lanterns hanging on both sides of the alley seem to be very different from ordinary lanterns.
Most lanterns have openings that tighten at the top and bottom, but the lanterns in front of me are more like a white rugby ball, with both ends sealed. Not to mention the position of the candle, even the internal structure cannot be seen at all, and there are no traces of bamboo strips from the outside.
Secondly, most white lanterns are made as transparent as possible to ensure good light transmittance, but the lanterns here seem to be purely white and not transparent, and you cannot see what’s inside through the white lantern paper on the outside.
What was different from what other people saw was that the lanterns that Nan Huan saw were all surrounded by black air that she could not absorb, and some of the black air seemed to be spreading from the lanterns.
And just as Nan Huan was observing carefully, she suddenly realized that the control panel seemed to have been hit twice. She looked up to check, but did not find anything wrong for a moment. Instead, she saw a pattern of a flower on the control panel twisting left and right because of her annotations, as if attracting her attention.
"What's wrong?" Nan Huan touched a flower with his finger and did not call her out. He thought she was feeling unwell and asked softly.
Yizhihua looked a little anxious, but seemed to be unsure of what was going on. She rubbed the two horns on her head on Nanhuan's fingers and said, "I seem to smell a familiar scent, but I'm not sure."
"A familiar smell?" Nan Huan was a little confused. These lanterns were all infected by the black air, so there shouldn't be a familiar smell to a flower. "Do you remember what kind of familiar smell it is? Where have you smelled it?"
Yizhihua frowned and thought for a long time, but had no answer. "Walk around for a while. I'll see if the stronger aura can help me remember something."
Because of the evil god, many of Yizhihua's memories are incomplete, so this is a bit difficult for her.
Nan Huan did not force her, but still followed her request and moved back and forth in the alley, trying to judge where the aura was the strongest by feeling a flower.
"Everyone, I have quite a few lanterns here," said Shopkeeper Liu, who had been leaning against the door. He saw that the players were very cautious. After entering for a long time, no one reached out for their hands, so he had to speak up. "If you look at them one by one, you probably won't be able to see them all by tomorrow. I'm impatient. You must choose the lantern you want to buy within one minute, otherwise you won't be able to wait."
As soon as Manager Liu finished speaking, a countdown appeared on the control panels of all players.
"Miss, what should I do?"
President Alice was the first to ask questions in the channel. We still haven't figured out what the situation is with these lanterns, but everyone dares to choose randomly and doesn't know the basis for their choice.
"Please choose from a position farther away from me. This seems to be a task that is forced to start by the system. Everyone, be careful. Don't be anxious after you have made your choice. Wait until the last ten seconds before making your choice."
Nan Huan was still adjusting her position according to Yizhihua's choice. She was not sure whether the so-called familiar smell of Yizhihua was beneficial or harmful, so she asked others to stay away from her, but Beixi always followed her.
When other players saw the countdown, they knew that there was no way to avoid this task. Although these lanterns looked similar, everyone was choosing very carefully.
At this time, Nan Huan had walked to the center of one wall, and based on Yizhihua's choice, he locked onto a lantern in the center that looked slightly larger than the other lanterns.
The countdown continued. Nan Huan and Bei Xi looked at each other and said, "Be careful."
Bei Xi was worried and gave some instructions. She was concerned that the two of them would not be together for this side quest, so when Nan Huan was about to touch the lantern, she gave another instruction.
Nan Huan nodded, held Bei Xi's hand again, and then touched the lantern that Yizhihua had designated.
And just as she touched the lantern, there were several more knocking sounds coming from her control panel, which became more and more intense. Before Nan Huan could figure out what was wrong, she felt as if something flew out of her control panel, blocking Bei Xi's movement at the moment her hand was about to touch the lantern next to it.
Bei Xi was also stunned for a moment. When she reacted, she realized that what she was holding in her hand was the "wooden amulet" that Old Man Zhang had given to Nan Huan. She initially thought that Nan Huan was worried about her, so he gave this thing to her, but she soon realized that the thing in her hand was moving.
Almost at the moment the countdown reached zero, Bei Xi saw the wooden sculpture in his hand rapidly expand and turn into a white lantern, no different from the lanterns hanging on the wall.
Of course, Nan Huan also saw all of this change, but before the two of them could react, at the moment the countdown reached zero, the system's prompt sounded as expected with a familiar dizziness.
【bite--
Congratulations to the player for triggering the side quest - Breaking the Cocoon. 】
The system's prompt sound came as expected, but as soon as the announcement was finished, it was followed by some white noise of electricity, accompanied by a violent low hum.
【drop--】
Compared to the white noise ringing in other people's minds, different sounds rang in Bei Xi's ears.
【bite--
An unknown entity has been detected entering Lantern Street... An increase in the number of cocoons has been detected...
It was detected that the cocoon selected by the player was not originally present in Lantern Street...
It was detected that the unknown error has disappeared and everything has returned to normal. 】
These hints made Bei Xi realize that the appearance of the wooden amulet was not what the system expected.
But what she didn't understand was that she clearly touched the lantern that was transformed from the wooden amulet... No, it should be a cocoon, so why did the system say that the unknown error had disappeared?
Is everything really back to normal, or is there some other reason?
But before Bei Xi could wonder any more, the white noise in other players' ears disappeared, and the normal task reminder sounded again.
[I don’t know if you have ever had this thought before. If you were faced with the same situation again and made the opposite choice, what would it be like?
Whether there is or not, you are the lucky one chosen today.
You can experience the important moments in other people's lives as a stranger. 】
[Task Description: Each cocoon contains a being who is extremely disappointed with Bai Lan City. When you enter the cocoon, you will become another her, just like a reborn second personality. However, only one of you will eventually break out of the cocoon. You can either kill her or be trapped in the cocoon forever.
Tip: Don’t think too much, just take action is the best way. 】
Not sure if it was Nan Huan’s illusion, but she always felt that the system’s task description today seemed a little weird, sounded a little unserious, and revealed a sense of anxiety, as if it was rushing to meet deadlines.
And is this reminder really necessary? This task requires almost no thought. According to the system's requirements, all you have to do is take action before the other party does. But why does Nan Huan always feel uneasy?
Take action directly?
A familiar scent smelled by a flower?
Shopkeeper Liu can’t wait?
System quirks?
Nan Huan suddenly realized something. "Ignore the prompts. No matter what appears in the cocoon, don't do anything for now..."
While the dizziness was still there, Nan Huan quickly said the last sentence in the communication channel. As the signal and Nan Huan's voice were blocked, the remaining players on the guild alliance side only caught a vague signal. The eldest lady said not to take action for the time being.
Alice scratched her ears, suspecting that she was hallucinating. Before the communication channel was banned, she clearly heard the eldest lady say not to attack, but the system prompt said that taking direct action was the best way. This made President Alice a little confused, and she didn't quite understand why such an extreme situation occurred.
But in the end, she still chose to believe the eldest lady. After all, what the eldest lady said before the communication channel ended must have been extremely urgent, so she had no time to explain the cause and effect and could only say the most important content.
In addition, after this series of events, she had some distrust in the system. On the contrary, she chose to unconditionally trust the eldest lady who had been protecting them.
So when President Alice recovered from the dizziness and opened her eyes, she was originally planning to carefully observe the situation around her. However, as soon as she opened her eyes, she showed a shocked expression because of the situation opposite her.
Before Nan Huan had time to open her eyes, she had already sensed a strong murderous aura. She instinctively took a few steps back and felt a numb pain in her arm. When she opened her eyes slightly, she was shocked to see Bei Xi standing in front of her.
To be precise, it was Beixi's upper body, with a red dragon tail. The other party's eyes were also red, and the look in his eyes when he looked at him was an unfamiliar cold expression, an indifference that he had never seen on Beixi's face before.
Nan Huan had no time to check his surroundings, because the dragon-shaped Bei Xi, which he had missed in his previous attack, had quickly pounced on him again, and its sharp claws pounced on him without hesitation. Nan Huan barely flapped his wings and flew into the air, temporarily making the opponent's action fail.
Flying towards Nanhuan in the air, I could carefully observe where I was. It was a huge pure white space. I didn't know how big the surroundings were, but in the distant border area, there were many white clouds floating, barely forming an area.
Nan Huan ignored the fact that flying was not a difficult task for the dragon-shaped Bei Xi. The other party caught up with her directly. She didn't have time to observe more. She dived and quickly landed. As a result, when she noticed the ground, she was really shocked.
Because she discovered that the ground in this space was not an ordinary ground, but more like a kind of flowing liquid, but it was indeed transparent and could clearly see through everything, yet allowed people to stand without falling down.
But what really surprised Nan Huan was not the transparent environment under his feet, but his own appearance reflected in the transparent water. It was a face that belonged to Bei Xi, which he was very familiar with. It was also half human and half dragon, and looked exactly like the dragon-shaped Bei Xi who attacked him. Except for the wings that he had conjured up, there was almost no difference.
She finally understood what the system meant when it said in the mission description, 'You will become another her, like a reborn second personality.' This was not a second personality at all. She looked exactly like the owner of this cocoon.
Now her guess has basically been verified, and she would never think that this cocoon deliberately transformed into Bei Xi's appearance to increase the difficulty of her task. Instead, just as the system task description said, each cocoon contains a being who is extremely disappointed with Bai Lan City. This is her cocoon, so she has become her appearance.
Nan Huan was very clearly aware that the person standing in front of her was not Bei Xi, but the real Dragon God. Although she was not sure how the other party was trapped here and whether the person trapped here was her entity, but from what Yizhihua said just now that she smelled a familiar scent, she was almost certain that the other party's identity was not false.
After hearing the description of this mission, she suddenly realized a problem. Whether she had entered Yizhihua's pawn shop or seen what happened in the real sacrifice through the strange clock, it has been confirmed that there are very few living humans in the entire Bailan City. Except for people like Old Man Zhang, most of them are controlled by the evil god and transformed into pythons. But where are those dragons who were originally sleeping and were awakened with Yizhihua?
The strangeness of the system prompts and Manager Liu's impatience seem as if he wants to use them to kill the dragon trapped in the cocoon?
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