Chapter 87
"The candidates have been chosen? Then when you have chosen, who will die?"
The middle-aged man looked at Leyuan and Jongin and asked.
Lok Won looked at Jongin, who blinked and said, "I think we need some time to discuss this. Is that okay with you?"
The middle-aged man said, “Sure.”
Rakuen nodded.
The crowd hastily gathered around Lok Yuen and Jongin, their faces showing the same anxiety and uneasiness. They frowned and looked at the two of them, as if they were crying but not crying, and seemed to have a bit of complaint in their voices. They asked in a low voice, "Have you changed your mind?"
Paradise said, “No.”
One person asked, "Why can't we leave? What else do you want to discuss with us? Can't we wait until after the meeting to discuss anything? We will definitely tell you everything we know. Why can't we leave now?"
Jongin laughed and said, "When? You don't want to listen to us before we even leave. After you leave, will we ever see each other again? Don't even think you will wait for us outside to protect our safety until the end of the live broadcast. You don't even want to face the danger in front of you. What else can we expect from you? If you were useful, you wouldn't be in such a hurry to leave."
The man's face flushed, and he was angry and ashamed. He shouted, "Why do you talk like that? It's so annoying! It's as if I forced you to do these things. Nonsense! It was obviously you who brought it up first, how can you blame me? This is unfair. Are you mentally ill? I advise you to go get treatment if you are mentally ill, and don't go crazy here!"
Jongin said, "Look, for someone like you, why do you need to leave? You might as well die here. Maybe it would be a good thing for everyone. Although not every place needs people to die, for someone like you, if you don't die, it would be a waste of resources and my time."
I tell you the truth, I have no interest in saving you and no obligation to help you. I am here because my friends are here. I am not staying here for you, nor am I wasting my breath on you for your lives. I know very well in my heart that everything I do, all my thoughts and words are for myself and have nothing to do with you.
If you have any opinions, you can raise them now. I don't mind and I won't send you away. If you don't have any opinions, it depends on my mood. If I'm in a good mood, I'll say whatever I want to say. If I'm in a bad mood, I'll just hate the sight of you and won't say a word. Let's just live like this!
Just get along, whoever loves to die will die, whoever can live will get out alive, you don't think I'm a policeman pretending to be an ordinary citizen to save you from this place, right? I'm not. I'm not even a doctor, so don't tell me that not saving people is against medical ethics and style, and don't tell me that saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda, I'm not a monk. "
He paused and smiled, "If you make me unhappy, I will make you unhappy. If you want me to die, I will ask you to die. This is fair, isn't it?"
"no!"
A man in the crowd shouted.
Paradise asked: "Do you all think so? If so, then let's separate now! It's better for us to go our separate ways than to torture each other. Anyway, we each go our own way and suffer our own hardships. You don't want to be with us, and we don't want to see you hanging around us. You don't think you can be of much help, do you? Or do you think we are a hindrance?
If that's the case, that's great, we can just separate like this, it couldn't be better, there's nothing to say. Any other comments?
If not, that’s it.”
As he spoke, he stood up and was about to leave the crowd.
The crowd quickly parted and pushed the person who spoke first out. The people behind him kicked him and bent his knees. With a thud, he knelt down facing the park and Jongin. It was very quick and decisive. The muscles on his face twitched twice, veins on his forehead bulged, and he bit his lips and teeth tightly. It was hard to tell whether he was angry or ashamed, his face was red.
It was obvious that his emotions were fluctuating greatly, but Paradise was unsure of his condition, unable to tell whether he was safe or in danger, and was hesitant about how to deal with him.
The people at the back whispered to the people in front: "Hurry up and apologize, hurry up! If they hadn't led the way for us, who would we find as a scapegoat? Where can we find someone like this to walk in front? How can we get out alive? We can't offend them! You said something wrong, apologize quickly! This is over. It's okay, it's better than dying, right?"
A young girl in the crowd smiled and said, "If you don't want to, that's fine. We'll kill you now. Anyway, you won't have a good ending if you fall into the hands of the weird. We are just helping you get rid of it in advance. You won't blame us, right? It's up to you. You can't do anything. If you make us unhappy, it's possible that one of us doesn't know your home address."
Is there anyone else in your family? A wife, a daughter, a son, parents or money? You don't care about them?
If you really have a backbone, you should not have agreed to our proposal that they should take the lead. Since you were silent just now, why are you so tough now? Do you think we are blind and deaf and serve as stepping stones and stepping stones for your bravery? We are not made of stone!
Even if you didn't see or hear what happened just now, well, I don't want to bother you, I want to ask you, what exactly do you mean by saying those things? Do you want us to die here? Do you want to kill us? Or do you want to die yourself? If you want to die, none of us will stop you. Either you apologize yourself, or you die without saying a word, and we respect you for that.
You are neither this nor that, what should we do? I think you are taking advantage and still want to be nice! You rubbish. Why don't you speak up? You want us to do it for you? That's not a matter of two sentences!"
The man at the front of the crowd, facing the park and Jongin, finally lowered his head and muttered, "I'm sorry."
His voice was unclear. "It's all my fault. I was just teasing you. I was talking nonsense. Don't take it to heart. That's it. This matter will be over soon, right? Everyone wants to go home, so do I. Everyone wants to rest, so do I. Everyone wants to get out alive, so do I. Isn't it normal to have some emotions at this time? I just said a few words."
Seeing that he was about to say some useless nonsense, the crowd quickly dragged him back and hid him in a dark corner at the back, so that he would not be seen by others and arouse suspicion, and also to avoid being an eyesore and annoyance in front of the paradise.
The girl who had just spoken walked in front and smiled at Le Yuan, "Excuse me, let's continue talking about what you were about to say. That person can't represent us."
Leyuan asked: "Then you can represent you, right?"
Jongin said with a half-smile and a hint of malice, "That may not be the case. Maybe if the negotiations fail, they will overturn it and say that they never said what we thought they said. It was all fake and we were just self-righteous. Then it would be better not to mention it in the first place and let us all die together. Anyway, capable people will not die here easily. Who can we blame? It's all because we are useless."
This statement somehow feels like a mockery to everyone.
Someone murmured, "Why are you guys firing map cannons? We didn't say that."
Jongin clapped his hands and said, "Look, you're like this right after I finished talking. How can I trust you? I'm afraid you'll push us out as shields after I finish talking. After all, this is our role to begin with, but we still can't get your trust and sympathy. Why are we here risking our lives for you? How boring! If that's the case, let's not talk about it."
He snorted, turned around, and pulled Leyuan, wanting her to sit down with him and ignore everyone else.
Le Yuan followed Jongin's force and sat down next to him. In front of the two of them was a small table. The table was so small that only the two of them could sit there. No one else could squeeze in. It would be better to say that the relationship between the two of them was such that no one else could squeeze in.
Some people have noticed this a long time ago, but they didn't dare to bring it up individually. They always felt that if they said it out loud, it would be no different from provocation. They didn't come here to die, so it didn't matter if they didn't say it.
Because there is no need to be distracted by it.
So no one asked before.
Now they felt that the connection between the two of them was closer, and at the same time, the rejection of them by the two was more difficult to break, like a thick wall, a barrier that was difficult to break.
The crowd looked at each other, pushed the girl who was speaking out, and said to her, "Please tell them on our behalf that this matter cannot be rejected! If we stay, we really have no confidence and chance to survive. Instead of letting us die here, it is better to ask them to die for us. You don't have to say this, as long as they understand the meaning and don't let us die. Do you understand?"
The girl nodded: "I know."
Everyone has the same idea.
The crowd breathed a sigh of relief, smiled, and looked at the girl with the same eyes as if they were watching a child go to school. They encouraged her, saying, "Come on, you must succeed. We are all waiting for you here."
The girl looked at Lok Won and Jongin, her eyes hesitated for a moment, then fell on Lok Won and sat down next to Lok Won. She moved a small stool from somewhere and leaned against the cabinet at the back. It was a little far from the table, but it was enough for talking. She looked at Lok Won and asked, "I wonder what you wanted to say to us just now? Can you say it now? I can represent them now."
Paradise asked: "Don't you regret it?"
The girl blinked her eyes and said, "I won't regret it."
Leyuan smiled and said, "It's hard to say. When the time comes, we don't know what you will do."
As he spoke, he lowered his head and studied what the beautiful salmon sashimi looked like.
Since he didn't want to eat it, Jongin threw the fish sashimi aside. If someone wanted to eat it, he would give it to them. If no one wanted to eat it, he would throw it to the stray cats and dogs. It was better than wasting food.
Paradise blinked, looked for something to eat on the table, and found a package.
When I opened it, I saw a round and hot burger, two slices of bread sprinkled with sesame seeds, milky white salad dressing in the middle, green lettuce, and golden fried chicken. When I took a bite, the chicken exuded fragrant gravy, and the aroma of food immediately flew out, sweeping the entire restaurant and living room.
The people around couldn't help but prick up their noses to smell the aroma of food, which showed that they were also exhausted and had been hungry for a long time.
Their faces were flushed with happiness, as if they had tasted delicious food that suited their tastes when they smelled the aroma. Their stomachs and tummies made rumbling sounds, but they seemed to be immersed in their own world, deceiving themselves and not hearing anything.
Maybe they don't want to hear it.
Leyuan placed the burger on the table. The girl's eyes followed the burger. She blinked and was very greedy, but she couldn't reach out to eat it. She could only hold back the rumbling hunger in her stomach and try to move her eyes away. She looked at Leyuan with eyes that almost glowed green, and said in a somewhat confused tone, "I'm sorry, I have something to say."
Rakuen nodded.
The girl asked with red eyes: "Excuse me, can I have that burger?"
She didn't want to ask this originally, but she said this as soon as she opened her mouth. After she said it, she realized that she shouldn't have said it that way, and shouldn't have brought up this matter at the first time. But since she had already said it, she didn't want to change her mind. She really had an appetite for that burger.
She waited quietly for the result.
Leyuan said, "Then I'll give it to you."
He passed the burger to the girl.
The girl finished her meal in big mouthfuls, wiped her mouth, drank a sip of tap water from the transparent cup beside her, and said to Leyuan with great gratitude, "Thank you."
Paradise asked, "What were you going to say?"
The girl was stunned for a moment: "I..."
She hesitated and tried to recall: "I want to say that we really want to go home. It's not intentional to make things difficult for you."
Leyuan asked: "Can you still make things difficult for us?"
The girl smiled awkwardly.
Leyuan asked: "Are you going to embarrass us?"
The girl shook her head quickly.
Leyuan asked again: "So if you want to go home, do we have to pave the way for you?"
The girl was stunned, as if she had never thought about this question, or as if she was confused by the question and had no reaction. She opened her mouth but no words came out, so she didn't answer.
Leyuan pushed her used water cup to the edge of the table, looked at her and asked, "Do you have anything else to say?"
The girl came back to her senses and asked: "So how do you feel now?"
Paradise said: "It's OK."
The girl couldn't wait to ask: "Now you can tell us what you think? Didn't you say you haven't changed your mind? Then can we still leave here?"
Leyuan said: "Originally everyone could have left, but some people can't help but feel at peace, can't escape, can't hide, and can't blame others if something goes wrong."
The girl asked cautiously: "What do you mean?"
Paradise said: "The dead will not be resurrected, but the living have hope. You want to go home, we know, this is normal, but you should learn to think. Anyway, we don't want to help you now. Besides, you can't go home just by walking out of this door. Do you know or not?"
The girl lowered her head: "I know."
Leyuan nodded and said, "You seem to be very aggressive. I am not very happy. I don't want to say more to you, but since you must ask, I will say a few more words.
We didn’t change our minds because our mindset from the beginning was that none of us would die alone.”
The girl raised her eyebrows, a little confused, thinking, you didn't want one of you to die, and you agreed to the middle-aged man's request. We also wanted to leave here and go home. We were ready, but now you suddenly say that it's not what we thought. What's going on? How should we think correctly? You said it was normal, why do you want to change it?
Is there something wrong with being a normal person?
I really don't understand at all.
Can't you say a few more words?
Leyuan glanced at her and looked away. Jongin handed her a slightly poured cup with a mixture of Sprite and Coke in it. Leyuan took the cup, sniffed it, shook her head, and put it on the table.
The girl moved forward a little.
Leyuan said: "I feel that the reason why he asked us that is because he couldn't kill me or my friends, so he asked us like that, hoping that we would give him an answer that he likes, so that he can achieve his goal in a simpler and easier way, but I just don't want to see him get that result."
The girl asked: "What should we do?"
Paradise said: "We can agree to it, but we will not die. I will not die, and my friends will not die because of it. You should know this. I thought you should know it from the beginning, but you don't seem to know it, so I tell you. If you understand it, then give us an answer. Do you want to or not?"
The girl hesitated: "I'm not sure about this. I can't use their brains. In order to avoid unexpected conflicts in the future, I think this matter should be discussed with them in detail. Can I have some time?"
Rakuen nodded.
The girl turned around and discussed this matter with the crowd.
The crowd quickly gave their answer. The girl came to the side of the amusement park, the same position as before, and whispered, "We have already discussed it. We agree."
Le Yuan asked: "Do you all know what we mean?"
The girl nodded.
Leyuan asked: "Will you not add insult to injury?"
The girl nodded.
Leyuan asked: "Your answer to this question will not change halfway, right?"
The girl nodded.
Le Yuan was skeptical: "Well, we can go find the owner of this house and continue discussing what happened just now."
The girl asked: "Won't he think we are weird?"
Leyuan asked, "Don't you think he's weird?"
The girl was stunned for a moment: "Huh?"
Jongin said, "Isn't this obvious? The middle-aged man's attitude when he saw the body was strange. Maybe we can consider escaping or surviving and getting out from this aspect. When we first met, the man was still normal and looked like a normal person. There was nothing wrong with him. But then, someone died and he sat there, looking like he didn't know.
If he really didn't know, then the matter would be fine and there would be nothing to discuss. However, he saw it, heard it, and knew it, and he knew it very clearly, but he seemed not to know. This is the problem.
If there was a normal person at that time and place, and saw a living person turn into a dead person, he would probably scream, run away, be terrified, and think we were strange and scary, but he would not be so calm, as if he saw dead people bleeding motionlessly in front of him every day.
Even if he is not a normal person, he may or may not be able to see it.
If he can't see, it means this place is not normal, he has been blinded by some force, that force has caused him to be shielded, maybe we can use this to discuss some things that he'd better not know. If he can see, we may be in more danger, we have to consider why he sees the dead so calmly, why he seems to be living in another world. "
The girl asked: "Can't we just ask directly?"
Zhong Ren nodded: "Okay, but will he tell us whether what he says is true, whether there is falsehood in the truth, whether there is truth in the falsehood, and whether we will be deceived or worse, fall into a trap if we listen to him? These are all things that need to be considered in advance.
Secondly, what if we all die if we ask? What if we are in greater danger if we ask? Who will take the lead in facing danger? Who will be responsible if others are injured or die? If you think these things are unimportant, then it’s up to you.”
Jongin really seemed to be nonchalant, and what he said was not only non-contradictory, but even exactly the same.
The girl looked at him, stunned for a moment, thinking, is this the demeanor of a great boss? Is this what they are thinking about? I feel uncomfortable when I see a corpse, and I feel uncomfortable when I think about the corpse next to me. How can they have the time to think about so many problems, all of which are irrelevant, and they explain them to me so logically and clearly, I don’t know how to describe it, how to say it?
We don't live in the same world, do we?
She blinked, came back to her senses, and smiled: "I don't think it's a big deal. I think it's necessary to discuss this matter with them."
Jongin said, "It's up to you. You have a much better relationship with them than we do. We won't join in the fun. Come back after you have made things clear."
The girl nodded, stood up and walked over, then quickly and naturally blended into the crowd.
They quickly discussed it again and came to a conclusion.
The girl said to Leyuan, "We don't plan to ask. Right now, everyone is thinking that health is the most important thing. If we can live safely and peacefully, that would be great. Nothing would be the best. If we ask, there might be danger. We all think it's better not to ask. If there is no danger after asking, we don't know. We can't risk our lives for something we don't know. We will supervise each other."
Leyuan nodded: "That would be best."
The girl smiled.
That's settled.
The middle-aged man was sitting opposite the table, eating from a palm-sized white porcelain bowl. The bowl was full of rice. The rice was crystal clear and looked very full. The tip was a little tilted, and it seemed to be delicious. When you get closer, you can smell the aroma of rice grains. However, when the girl looked forward cautiously, she found a thin layer of dust on the surface of the rice.
The dust looked inedible, but inexplicably it resembled the ashes of burning incense, and it smelled pungent. The girl rubbed her nose, and tried to hold it in, but couldn't help it. She turned her head to the side, opened her mouth, and began to sneeze, and it looked like she was going to have a runny nose.
"This feeling is really terrible, just like the cold I had before, my head is dizzy, my body is soft, my pores are open and sweating, I can't breathe, I feel like I'm dying, but it's not that serious. What's going on? It shouldn't be like this. I just accidentally smelled a bad odor. It's not like I cut my neck, nor did I come into close contact with a cold patient."
The girl lowered her head, muttering to herself, her eyes went dark, she lay on the floor and fell asleep.
The crowd was startled; they had just sat down to eat.
"What's wrong?"
“Is this an illness?”
"No one is sick and we don't have any medicine. What should we do? Wuwuwu——"
The crowd began to get a little impatient.
The middle-aged man slowly opened a drawer, rummaged through it, and took out a white box of medicine. There seemed to be traces on it, but it was invisible. It looked like something with heavy mosaics. The crowd looked over one by one, but couldn't see clearly even with squinting eyes, and shook their heads at each other.
The middle-aged man opened the box and took out a plate of flesh-pink pills. He touched the water cup on the table and moved to the girl's side. He felt that it was a bit far and inconvenient. They were not familiar with each other, so he handed the medicine and the water cup to Leyuan: "This is my medicine. It is very effective for this sudden illness. Give it to her! Don't worry, nothing will happen."
He spoke slowly, as if he had expected it, and as if it didn't matter to him. After he finished speaking, he yawned, turned his head, moved his body like a turtle back to his dining seat, and reached out for the bowl.
The crowd looked at each other, feeling helpless, and rushed to the side of the park: "Can you tell what it is?"
Leyuan shook his head: "I don't know."
"Can we give her this?"
Leyuan looked at the box of medicine and said, "We don't have any other medicine. Do you have any other ideas?"
The crowd shook their heads: "We don't know either. There doesn't seem to be a doctor among us. Even if there is, after seeing the hospital like that before, they probably wouldn't dare to come out. If you don't tell us, we won't know."
Leyuan nodded: "Then there is no other way."
He looked at the medicine and took a bite himself. "It feels like a stomach-strengthening and digestion-promoting tablet, and it's a branded one."
People came over with blinking eyes and asked, "Do you feel uncomfortable?"
Leyuan shook his head hesitantly: "No."
The crowd laughed and said, "Then it can be used! There shouldn't be any problem, right? Give it to her quickly! Not being sick is a good thing. As long as she can be cured, it's better than being drowsy and unable to open her eyes. Her face has changed color. If we delay it any longer, we don't know what will happen. If she has a high fever and we can't send her to the hospital for a while, she might get burned here!"
Leyuan nodded, stuffed the medicine into the girl's mouth, and poured the water from the cup into her mouth. The girl coughed twice, almost vomited, tilted her head, and breathed weakly.
But she didn't get choked, nor did she die. Her breathing soon became steady, and the red hot color on her face gradually disappeared, like a huge red balloon gradually shrinking in front of many pairs of eyes.
The crowd was relieved.
They happily packed up their things, gathered around other tables and went to eat. Everyone was extremely hungry, and seeing the girls, they thought they would be fine, so they ran very fast, like a group of students rushing to the cafeteria.
They finished the food quickly. Some people felt that they were not full. They touched their stomachs and looked at the middle-aged man, wanting to ask if there was any more food. The middle-aged man didn't eat much and ate very slowly. When he saw them looking at him, he was stunned for a moment, then looked at their bowls. He realized what they wanted to ask and gave them a friendly smile: "Oh, you want to eat more? Sure. We have some."
Those who were not full stood up with their bowls and walked over to ask, "Where is it?"
The middle-aged man pointed behind him and said, "It's in the kitchen, you can go find it yourself. If you don't want to wait, you can eat inside and come out later. If you are not in a hurry, you can wait for my wife, she will come back and make more food for us, so we won't be hungry. You can eat as much as you want, I don't have anything else here, but I still have rice."
The crowd nodded. Some people didn't plan to eat much, but after seeing many people carrying bowls into the kitchen, they hesitated for a moment and followed them in, saying as they walked: "If I don't eat now, I won't have the strength to run later. If I don't have the strength, I won't be able to run, and if I can't run, I might die. I eat to avoid dying. There's nothing wrong with that. It's not a good time to lose weight."
After they entered the kitchen, they quickly heard the sound of people eating and snoring from inside. However, the people outside gradually felt that something was wrong as they heard the sounds, as if there was some abnormal movement coming from inside.
"Did you hear that? It looks like the faucet is not turned off properly."
"I'll go in and take a look."
"I'll go with you."
The two nodded to each other, stood up and walked towards the kitchen. The middle-aged man sat in his original position, watching their figures pass by, squinting his eyes, looking at their backs, with a strange and satisfied smile. If he showed this expression before eating, he would look like a pervert, but if he showed this expression after eating, perhaps it would be normal.
But now that he showed this expression, it seemed even more obvious that something was wrong in the kitchen.
When the two men reached the kitchen door, they were stunned, not knowing what they saw.
Leyuan hesitated for a moment, stood up, walked to their side, and patted them. They immediately jumped up, like two frightened rabbits, turned around, their faces pale, beads of sweat as big as soybeans on their heads, opened their mouths, wanted to say something to Leyuan, but their eyes rolled back and they lay on the ground.
Leyuan looked past them and towards the kitchen. Inside the kitchen were a group of people who were eating hurriedly with their heads down. It seemed that there was no problem. Leyuan bent down puzzledly and picked up the two people lying on the ground, preparing to drag them back, at least to a place where they could rest. This was the doorway and it was blocking the way, which was not very good.
When he lowered his head, the opposite side suddenly became dark. Leyuan felt strange and looked again. This time, he saw the person inside turned around. His face was pale and his lips were bright red (the bright red was blood). His mouth was filled with half-cooked meat and his arms were full of pits and bumps, as if part of them had just been dug out, or cut off by a kitchen knife.
They are eating themselves.
Maybe they ate part of the one next to them.
Because at first glance, they were all standing there perfectly fine, with no missing arms or legs, no exposed bones, and no broken necks.
All of them are very deceptive.
"It looks like he's going to die."
Leyuan walked back, dragging the two people lying at the kitchen door.
He didn't plan to go into the kitchen to rescue the people because he felt they were doomed.
Jongin didn't have any opinion, and the others didn't know or say anything, they just looked dazed, as if the food had eaten their brains.
Leyuan didn't say much to the crowd. He dragged the person from the kitchen door and put him away and ignored them. After thinking for a while, he felt that he couldn't go into the kitchen, so he went to the toilet to wash his hands, got up and walked over, and two people behind him stood up.
They stared at Leyuan's back, stood up shakily, and tried to knock Leyuan down.
The park noticed it and looked at them. They came over without hesitation, with strange teeth growing in their mouths, weird smiles on their cheeks, and unclear sounds coming out of their throats. They seemed to be saying something, and it seemed like the interjections they would make when they couldn't wait to eat.
Paradise knocked them out, threw them aside, and tied them up with shoelaces and chairs.
He went to find the middle-aged man.
“Why did those people become like this?”
Paradise asked.
"They want to eat, and when they get to the kitchen, they want to eat more, and after eating, they feel hungrier, so they won't leave the kitchen. That's how it is. My wife likes guests more and wants them to stay."
The middle-aged man answered.
"What about these two?"
Paradise pointed to two on the ground.
The middle-aged man took a look and said with a smile, "They didn't go in but saw something they shouldn't have seen, and then they lay down again. In fact, part of it has already gone in, but not completely, so they will still be affected a little."
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