Chapter 104
At one o'clock in the morning, they walked down the stairs, but Shen Yunzhe was obviously absent-minded and walked very slowly.
Cheng Yiyi didn't even dare to speak loudly, for fear of something going wrong.
Although Shen Wei seemed a little weird at first, like a psychopath, he didn't have the habit of talking to himself.
At first, he thought Shen Wei was normal, but he didn't expect this might be a sign of a relapse! If he could return alive, he would definitely learn a thing or two about mental patients!
Shen Yunzhe didn't continue talking to himself. He just looked to the side. It was the fifth floor. The stairwell on the fifth floor was closed with a rusty lock on it. Shen Yunzhe thought for a while and turned to look at Cheng Yiyi.
"We can go back the way we came. You go first."
Cheng Yiyi was startled. "What about you, Chen Wei?"
"I'll take a look here." Shen Yunzhe shone his flashlight at the corridor door. "The stairs from the second floor to the third floor are sealed. The third floor is full of stone statues. There should be other things on the fourth and fifth floors. I'm going to take a look. Maybe I can find some clues."
"Then I'll go with you." Cheng Yiyi said quickly: "To be honest, I don't want to go to that pile of rocks alone!"
The pile of stone statues was very strange. Their eyes were staring at them when they arrived. It was okay when he was with Shen Wei, but he really wanted to cry when he thought about facing those overwhelming eyes. He would rather stay here and investigate with Shen Wei.
Shen Yunzhe looked him up and down, then said, "Why don't you just call me Shen Yunzhe."
"ah?"
"I'm used to this name from the code name in the bureau. I'm not used to being called Chen Wei all of a sudden." Shen Yunzhe said.
Cheng Yiyi: ...
He began to wonder if Shen Wei had been lying from the beginning. In fact, his name was not Shen Wei, but Shen Yunzhe as he had just mentioned.
No way? He lied right after he found out this place is called Real Town?! He must be overthinking it.
"Okay." Cheng Yiyi nodded, and then he asked cautiously: "Can I call you by this name in front of other people?"
Shen Yunzhe gave him a meaningful look, then said, "No."
Using a piece of wire to open the door of the corridor on the fifth floor, Shen Yunzhe walked in first. It was very messy inside, as if no one had been there for a long time. There were even cobwebs. There were not many rooms inside, it was like a whole large space filled with boxes of miscellaneous items.
Walking around these boxes of junk, Shen Yunzhe came to the innermost part of the fifth floor. He shone the flashlight on the wall, where a black and white portrait of a deceased person was hanging. The photo of the middle-aged man in the portrait seemed to be looking down at them.
Shen Yunzhe looked around and saw portraits next to portraits. Countless portraits were piled on the wall, giving people an even more oppressive feeling than the small house behind.
Cheng Yiyi closed his mouth and dared not breathe. He stood behind Shen Yunzhe and looked at the portraits nervously.
"An ordinary portrait." Shen Yunzhe said, then he walked to the wall and picked up a piece of paper from the ground.
Because of the long time, the handwriting is a little blurry, but for Shen Yunzhe, recognizing words has never been a difficult task.
"Who wrote it?" Cheng Yiyi asked in a low voice.
"Village chief." Shen Yunzhe replied.
Suicide Note
[At this point, I know I'm not even qualified to write a suicide note, but there's no other way. I must leave something behind to prove what happened here. Recording what I saw and heard is the best way I can think of.]
I'm the mayor of this town. It's not called Real Town, it's called Happy Town. Everyone lives and works in peace and contentment. Although there are some conflicts, everyone is united. Until one day, a group of thieves came to the village to steal and we caught them. We found a stone statue in their bag of stolen goods.
[The thief said it was Guanyin Bodhisattva, how could it be possible! ]
I never thought that the widow Zhang from the village would actually take the statue away. Before I could recover the stolen property, strange things happened in the village.
First, Kong Fang's husband died a violent death. Later, Kong Fang committed suicide after being insulted by a village bachelor. I accompanied the police in a lengthy investigation before we discovered that it was Widow Zhang who was gossiping behind her back. She claimed Kong Fang's husband was dead and that Kong Fang was having affairs with a village bachelor. The stone statue overheard these stories and made them come true.
The statue heard everything, and whatever it heard became real. Everyone started scrambling to get the statue, and then, the statue actually opened its mouth and spoke.
It said it would only belong to those who told the truth, that those who lied would be punished, that it wanted a temple of truth, and that the village would mass-produce true incense. I wasn't thinking straight at the time, and I thought this was an opportunity for the town to prosper. So the temple of truth was built, and suggestion and confession boxes were set up. Widow Zhang became the richest woman in the village because she owned the statue.
But gradually... the suggestion box filled up with notes of accusation. Widow Zhang, fearing someone else would take the statue, kept making false accusations, and others who wanted to get their hands on it also kept making false accusations.
Widow Zhang died, and so did many others, adults, children, and the elderly. Only the stone statue remained.
I finally woke up, but it was meaningless. Everywhere I looked, I could smell the fragrance of truth and the image of truth. Everywhere I looked, I saw people being punished and having their tongues cut out. I was also put into the suggestion box. I was going to die, but even now, I still regret it, regret it...
"Why doesn't the statue belong to me? If it were me, I would never let things develop to this point."
If it were me...
"He wasn't awake at all." Cheng Yiyi frowned after hearing the suicide note. "He was still wondering what he would do if he had the statue until his death. This kind of thing should be burned on the spot."
Shen Yunzhe did not deny it. He folded the suicide note and put it in his pocket.
"It seems that the original stone statue was the medium." Shen Yunzhe said, "I just don't know where this medium is."
Cheng Yiyi sighed, "Are they really that stupid? This thing looks problematic, yet they're all fighting over it."
"It has nothing to do with them." Shen Yunzhe turned around and walked back. "After being invaded by strange things, the people inside will be affected by extreme emotions. In other words, they are not themselves at that time, but amplified forms of emotions. It is normal for them to do such things."
Cheng Yiyi was stunned for a moment, "Really?"
"Have you never seen strange erosion events in reality?"
"You mean the subway?"
Shen Yunzhe thought for a moment and said, "Come to think of it, the death of a big star like you should be very troublesome. Do you know the official situation?"
"Official..." Cheng Yiyi thought for a moment and frowned. "Although I know there are official organizations, I have never had any contact with them. How can you be an official?"
"No." Shen Yunzhe shook his head, "Not every police officer is an official member."
Cheng Yiyi curled his lips and thought: Even the authorities would not dare to accept a psychopath like Shen Yunzhe who suddenly became abnormal.
"The authorities can't control it, and I don't like being bombarded with questions." Cheng Yiyi finally spoke up. "There are players in every industry. The one who tricked me into getting in is one of my peers. He's my competitor. He suddenly came up to me while I was practicing and said he wanted to show me a tutorial."
"I thought, what could possibly go wrong with watching a video? So I watched it." Cheng Yiyi spread her hands and said, "So that's how it happened."
"He didn't make it past the second game, but he was grinning happily when he died. I guess he was happy that I, his competitor, would have the same fate as him."
Shen Yunzhe nodded, then stopped suddenly, and Cheng Yiyi almost bumped into his back.
Before Cheng Yiyi could ask, he saw Shen Yunzhe using his mobile phone to illuminate the front. The next moment, Cheng Yiyi saw the portrait on the wall staring at them.
They just turned around and walked towards the corridor entrance, but after walking for such a distance, they saw these portraits that should have been behind them.
Cheng Yiyi turned around and saw the dark corridor door, which was behind them.
"Back here again?" Cheng Yiyi asked softly, "Is this a ghost wall?"
Shen Yunzhe tilted his head, thought for a moment, and then turned around, "Try again."
"...Oh." Cheng Yiyi nodded.
They continued walking towards the corridor, this time without chatting, but kept looking in front of them. Then they saw a head suddenly pop out from the dark corridor entrance in front of them. The pale stone statue still had the same pale face, leaning against the doorway and smiling at them.
The next moment, the corridor entrance disappeared, and a wall of portraits staring at them appeared in front of them.
"Fuck!" Cheng Yiyi cursed, "He's back again! And what was that just now?!"
Shen Yunzhe looked at the portrait, then turned his head to glance at the corridor entrance behind him. A stone statue was sticking out of the corridor door, its white eyes staring at them intently.
Cheng Yiyi suddenly exclaimed and pointed at the portraits on the wall. Shen Yunzhe looked up and immediately saw that all the portraits on the wall had their mouths open. The mouths of the black and white portraits were all empty black, without tongues, and red tears were flowing from the corners of their black eyes.
They stared at Shen Yunzhe and Cheng Yiyi, looking extremely strange in the darkness.
There was a gurgling sound and a friction sound.
The stone statue clung to the corridor door and walked forward step by step. Because it was made of stone, gray-white stone chips fell off with every step. Its dull face was frozen in a smile, but its stone eyeballs were moving around, and the sound of stones hitting the floor could be heard with every step.
The corridor door was blocked and I couldn't get through, but even if I went through, I would end up back in front of the portrait.
"Chen Wei!" Even when she was nervous, Cheng Yiyi still called out the familiar name.
"It smells good! It really smells good!"
Shen Yunzhe turned around and saw three incense sticks in front of the portrait. The incense had been lit and wisps of smoke were wafting out.
Blood words appeared on the wall, and Shen Yunzhe took a step back to identify the words.
You lied!
【A real town can’t lie! 】
【You must accept punishment! 】
[Cut off the tongue and dig out the internal organs! ]
Shen Yunzhe grabbed Cheng Yiyi and ran to the side. He opened the window and looked down. The fifth floor was very high and there was no support. It was difficult for a normal person to get down from the window. Shen Yunzhe could do it, but Cheng Yiyi couldn't. Cheng Yiyi also thought of this. He glanced at Shen Yunzhe but didn't say anything.
If Shen Yunzhe left him now, he could be saved.
"I'll take you down." Shen Yunzhe said.
Cheng Yiyi was stunned. "Ah? Take me down?"
"You may feel that your body is out of control for a while, don't resist."
Cheng Yiyi didn't know what this meant, but looking at Shen Yunzhe's serious eyes, Cheng Yiyi nodded. Seeing that he was ready, Shen Yunzhe put his hands on his shoulders, and the next moment invisible silk threads wrapped around the joints of his hands and feet, and countless silk threads tied him tightly.
After making sure it was tied properly, Shen Yunzhe moved his fingers.
Cheng Yiyi was surprised to find that his body was out of control. He restrained the desire to struggle and watched himself jump from the fifth-floor window sill like a bystander. He subconsciously wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn't even control his eyelids. He could only watch himself grab a gap.
In this way, Cheng Yiyi landed on the third-floor window sill using an extremely difficult move that she would never be able to do in her life. Cheng Yiyi finally felt that she had regained control of her body.
His fingers were numb, his legs were weak, and he almost fell down.
"Chen Wei!" Cheng Yiyi controlled her trembling and called out to Shen Yunzhe upstairs, "You, you come down quickly too!"
"I have something else to do." Shen Yunzhe made a zipper-like expression at him, "Be quiet, wait for me to come back."
Just like that, he watched Shen Yunzhe walk back from the window. Cheng Yiyi squatted at the window for a while, then lowered her head in silence.
Although he didn't know what Shen Wei was going to do, he would definitely be a burden to Shen Wei if he stayed, so Shen Wei would expose his own abilities to send him down. He couldn't repay kindness with enmity, so in that case he had to go down honestly to ensure his own safety and not cause trouble to Shen Wei.
No, now he should be called Shen Yunzhe.
After making sure Cheng Yiyi had left, Shen Yunzhe looked at the wall behind him with more and more blood words on it, and the stone statue only two meters away from him.
"System," Shen Yunzhe asked, "What effect can the Codename Corrosion have when its power is maximized?"
[…What do you want to do?]
"Only those who were helped by Erosion would have problems in the game field. Others wouldn't have. But you said that at his peak, he had tens of thousands of followers. I don't think Erosion could have helped tens of thousands of people in such a short time."
[Shen Yunzhe, this is dangerous! You just desynchronized yourself from your sleep disorder!]
Shen Yunzhe smiled, his voice was coaxing, but more of it was a kind of weird recklessness.
He said, "Be obedient."
The system still compromised.
[World C07390, codename: Corrosion Synchronization in progress, synchronization rate 100%, synchronization successful.]
I won't let Codename Hope rescue me again, so this time it's all on you, and you alone will be the one to handle and control the Codename erosion.
It's up to you.
Shen Yunzhe closed his eyes, then slowly opened them again. There was a faint smile in his eyes, a smile that was very simple and innocent. The stone statue's footsteps paused, and the bloody words that the portrait was frantically writing also stopped abruptly, as if the whole world was paused.
The most terrifying thing about Codename Erosion: when his abilities evolve to their limit, even just a smile from him can make people follow him wholeheartedly.
He can get everyone's wholehearted and unreserved love.
"Good evening?" Shen Yunzhe looked at the stone statue in front of him and greeted it sincerely. "Are you the stone statue in the temple? Why are you here?"
The stone statue's eyes were staring at Shen Yunzhe, and the portrait on the wall was also staring at Shen Yunzhe.
They feel uneasy, but they don't know where this uneasiness comes from.
In the previous game field, after the synchronous code erosion, the live broadcast audience was also affected by his ability, because the ability of code erosion is the same as that of the game field. It can affect humans and can also affect all movable things in the game field, including the indigenous people in the game field who have died but have not disappeared.
Shen Yunzhe reached out and touched the statue's face. "Is it dirty? Do you want me to help wipe it off?"
[Shen Yunzhe!] The system was calling his name.
After shouting several times, Shen Yunzhe seemed to react. He blinked, then took a step back and stood between the stone statue and the portrait. He looked around in confusion.
"I'm sorry," Shen Yunzhe apologized. "I don't know if I should say this, but I think lies are also a form of kindness. If they are kind, why should we care about the difference between truth and lies?"
"Right?"
The moment the words fell, the blood words on the wall quickly faded, and the tears of blood on the portrait stopped falling.
But soon more words appeared behind Shen Yunzhe.
The handwriting was densely packed, but it seemed as if it was cheering for Shen Yunzhe. He stood in front of the wall with portraits behind him, but it seemed as if he was standing in front of countless people, all of whom were his supporters.
I told my child I'd take him to a restaurant after his exam to motivate him to study. I wasn't lying; he hadn't finished his exam yet!
I told her the hairpin looked nice because she liked it, and she liked it more than I did, so it wasn't a lie!
[I didn't tell him about the car accident so he could recover in peace!]
I didn't lie!
I didn't lie!
I shouldn't repent!
The stone statue in front of him was crumbling. It made a shrill scream, but still couldn't stop the speed of the collapse.
Shen Yunzhe opened his hands and looked up into the sky with vague eyes.
He said, "That's right, no one here needs to repent for lying."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
