Chapter 198: Inhuman (6) (1st update + 2nd update + 0.52000 Thunder 3rd update) [VIP]
Xiao Tang ran very fast and disappeared after a few breaths.
Xiaofei and Huangmao at the back looked frightened by tonight's experience, with some lingering fear on their faces. Xiaofei was nervous along the way, touching his eyelids from time to time, or taking out his mobile phone and opening the front camera to make sure there were still eyeballs in his eyes, not a pair of buttons.
The yellow-haired guy looked absent-minded, with a dull expression on his face, as if he was daydreaming. Xiao Fei had to call him several times before he came to his senses and responded. After that, he looked like he didn't know what he was thinking.
The two men couldn't catch up with Xiao Tang who was running very fast in front of them, so they had to follow Bai Jinshu, following closely, as if they were afraid that this big guy would also abandon them and run away.
The three of them walked out of the town in this strange triangle formation, one in front and one behind. The moment they stepped out of Qiaotou East Town, Bai Jinshu only heard a small cheer suddenly erupting from this eerily quiet town.
"Huh?" He turned his head.
The small cheers suddenly stopped as if they were strangled.
He turned back and took a few steps forward, and the choked whispers and cheers began again.
He looked back again.
The sound was gone again.
"Brother Er, what are you doing?" The two people walking behind did not hear the sounds in the town because their ears were not as good as the biological weapons that had been strengthened by targeting. They could not help but tremble behind them, "Is someone following us?"
Bai Jinshu was silent for a few seconds: "...That's not the case."
Not only did no one follow them, but the people in this small town even cheered in celebration when they saw these living devils leave.
I'm afraid no one dares to follow them now.
No way... is it that serious?
He didn't attack the townspeople at all, right?
It's fine that they cheered when Xiao Tang, the living devil, left, but didn't he look like he wanted to do something to the residents of this town?
Bai Jinshu thought he was relatively kind, right? Both he and Cen Bingqi were gentle most of the time.
If the townspeople could hear his voice, they would probably choke and cry.
What's not similar?
Not at all!
Brother, you are covered in blood! You tore the [Porcelain] with your bare hands! Which hair on your body can be associated with the word gentle now?
Don’t insult “kindness”!
In short, in the atmosphere of celebration as if the townspeople were sending off the King of Hell, the three of them walked out of the alley and headed towards the teahouse.
When the dimmed green teacup icon in their live broadcast room lit up again, Xiao Fei opened his eyes wide and looked around as if to confirm, then rubbed his eyes, turned on the front camera and looked at it for a long time before he slowly let out a breath.
The teahouse was brightly lit, with lights on in every room on the floor. Even though it was already late, there seemed to be quite a lot of people inside. It was so lively that it didn't seem like a teahouse, but more like a pub.
Bai Jinshu and his friends walked in and soon attracted a lot of people's attention.
Everyone in the hall was dressed in clothes from the old times. Although the styles of the clothes were old-fashioned, everyone looked quite decent. However, when Bai Jinshu stepped into the door of the teahouse, the looks they all gave him were so scary that Xiaofei, who was following behind him, was so frightened that he took a small step back.
A few minutes ago, the room full of eyes still left him with a lot of psychological trauma. Now everyone's eyes were looking at him, it was like a replica of the situation just now, and he suddenly had PTSD.
These people acted as if they didn't notice that Bai Jinshu's body was covered in all kinds of blood. They followed him up the stairs with burning eyes and disappeared into the corridor behind the stairs.
"Ersi?" The girl in the Bohemian dress came out after hearing the voice. She took several steps back in shock at his dignified appearance. "Where... where have you been?"
"I accidentally triggered a strange story," Xiao Fei said with a pale face, "Er Ge and Xiao Tang Jie came to save me. Er Ge's body was filled with the blood of those... monsters."
"Ah? Oh...oh," the girl's face looked bad. Even after hearing that this was other people's blood, she still couldn't help but feel scared about what Bai Jin was saying. She leaned against the door frame to calm herself down before saying, "Brother Yuan...Brother Yuan has already told you more than twenty stories. I want you to come in and listen to the rest... I'll let others tell you the ones I missed tomorrow morning."
Bai Jinshu frowned slightly: "I've said more than twenty of them, have you remembered them all? If you repeat them, can you repeat all the details completely?"
Is it really reliable to let these newcomers repeat it?
"Uh... Nianyu, Nianyu can't hear, so Brother Yuan used his mobile phone to record what he was saying and then transcribed it into text. All the stories were recorded." The girl replied.
Oh, yes, there is also a hearing-impaired patient reading the text.
That's not surprising.
Bai Jinshu nodded, turned around and said to Xiaofei and Huangmao behind him: "Then you go first, I will come later."
"Brother Er? Where are you going?" Xiao Fei asked curiously.
"Change clothes," Bai Jinshu said helplessly, "I can't just appear in front of others like this, right?"
Although he didn't care about scaring others, he could hardly bear it anymore.
Being covered in blood did not feel good at all. Blood is a sticky liquid that will coagulate. Not to mention the unpleasant smell, when the evening breeze blew, all the blood coagulated on his skin and clothes, making his clothes sticky and hard.
Not to mention the blood on his skin. After it solidified, blood would fall out of his body whenever he moved.
Making him stay in this state while listening to the remaining thirty or so stories not only challenges the psychology of other newcomers, but also challenges his tolerance limit.
Bai Jinshu went back to the room to wash and change clothes, and the remaining Huangmao and Xiaofei hurried into the room.
By the time Bai Jinshu changed into clean clothes and walked into the previous room, it was almost midnight.
People in the lobby downstairs were walking in and out. Now many waiters were cleaning the lobby. When he walked past the stairs, many people looked up and cast their eyes at him, making Bai Jinshu vaguely feel that in their eyes he might be like Tang Monk's flesh in the eyes of monsters.
[Welcome!] In one night, the number of times it took effect reached more than 300 times. However, I don’t know whether it is because the level of the ghost stories in the teahouse is not high enough, or because he did not trigger some key information, the affinity is still at 6. It only increased by a small 0.1 when he was in Qiaotoudong Town, and now it is 6.6.
The newly added 0.1 indicates [Shadow's Voyeurism].
What does "shadow" refer to?
Bai Jinshu pushed open the door and saw all the newcomers sitting in the room except him.
"Brother Er, you're here!" Xiao Fei was particularly attentive. "I've saved a seat for you. I've also taken notes. I'll show them to you later!"
"Thank you," Bai Jinshu nodded, walked over and sat down without any hesitation, "Brother Yuan, where are we now?"
"There are only eleven left to go," Yuan Shanming looked up at him, "Nianyu has the text version and the recording. You can go and listen to it tomorrow morning."
"Generally speaking, from the first day in the teahouse to the dozen hours of listening to stories, I don't recommend you to trigger other strange stories," he coughed. "Fifty-eight stories is quite long. I usually try to finish them before the end of the first day, and then leave the next morning for everyone to review and consolidate their memory. In the afternoon, when everyone escapes from the storyteller's fantasy for the first time and understands the process, they can leave the teahouse to trigger other strange stories."
Yuan Shanming looked at Bai Jinshu and Xiao Tang, but there was no blame in his expression: "But it's fine if it can be solved."
"Tomorrow morning, the four of you should get up early and recite these fifty-eight stories, and then don't go out yet."
He didn’t know if it was Bai Jinshu’s illusion, but he felt that Yuan Shanming’s attitude towards him and Xiao Tang was indeed different from his attitude towards other people.
As an actor who often mingles with the crowd, he concluded at a glance that although Yuan Shanming behaved obscurely, he had definitely divided this group of newcomers into different levels in his mind.
People like him and Xiao Tang, who can solve the strange stories triggered by others without external help, should be given high priority in his heart. As for those who want to overtake others by relying on the popularity of live streaming, they have probably been labeled as people who don't need to be bothered. The tower crane worker Lao Ma and the hearing-impaired patient Nian Yu are probably people he has given up on.
From the conversation between the grumpy voice and him before everyone woke up, it was not difficult to tell that if the newcomers led by the captain completed an S-level ghost story in the Novice Village, the benefits brought to the captain would definitely be explosive.
Is Yuan Shanming trying to take the route of protecting one with more and putting all his hopes on himself and Xiao Tang?
After all… the teahouse owner had recognized him before, as he had the [Welcome!] buff on him. As for Xiao Tang, it must be she or Xiao Fei Huangmao who said something to let Yuan Shanming know her plan in Qiaotou East Town.
Although he placed his hopes on these two people, Yuan Shanming still did not show too obviously that he had given up on the others. He finished telling the remaining dozen or so stories, and only after confirming that all the stories had been stored in Nian Yu's mobile phone did he open the door and leave.
The teahouse owner was outside urging him to go drink, and the two of them walked away arm in arm, and then the newlyweds in the room slowly spoke.
"Brother Er!" Xiao Fei was the first to speak. "Here are my notes. You came late and didn't hear all the first twenty or so stories. I wrote down all the details of the stories. You can take notes tonight!"
"Xiao Tang?" The two girls who died of illness and chose to live broadcast grabbed Xiao Tang's arms, one on each side, and said, "Did you really solve the ghost story? What kind of ghost story is that?"
"If any of you want my written records," Nian Yu opened the auxiliary software on her phone, and the AI voice in the phone said, "You can come to my place to take pictures."
"No need to be so troublesome," Bai Jinshu said, "You can take a screenshot first, and then we can turn on Bluetooth to receive it."
"Tsk..." He gestured with sign language, but found that he didn't know how to say Bluetooth, so he had to open his phone and type the sentence again on the memo.
Nian Yu nodded and turned on the Bluetooth of her mobile phone.
The strange area of "Teahouse" was built a hundred years ago, so naturally there was no such thing as a signal. If anyone wanted to obtain the content recorded in Nianyu's mobile phone, they could only take a photo of it or ask her to transmit it via Bluetooth.
It was already late, so after exchanging notes on the fifty-eight stories and transcribed Yuan Shanming's original words, the newlyweds went back to their rooms.
Xiao Tang was surrounded by two girls. Apparently, they had realized that if they wanted to raise their ratings through live streaming, they had to broadcast some interesting content.
When everyone was in the same team, they were afraid that they would never be able to compete with Xiao Fei, who had already accumulated the initial audience. Not to mention that Xiao Fei now seemed to have clinged to Er Si's thigh, and he would probably be able to broadcast more content in the future.
If they want to continue the live broadcast, they can only cling to the thighs of another person in the team and please Xiao Tang.
Xiao Fei and Bai Jinshu were in the same room. After returning to the room, Xiao Fei was extremely attentive and started lighting the lamp and making the bed. He expressed to Bai Jinshu that he didn't mind him reading with the lamp on at night, and that he slept very well, didn't snore or toss and turn, and would definitely not disturb Erge's review.
Bai Jinshu didn't care about these.
He is very good at shorthand. He has experienced all kinds of situations in the crew. Most of the time, he would get a new script and new lines while the script supervisor was shouting on a loud speaker. He had to memorize all of them in a short period of time and put his emotions into it. Through such training, he has become accustomed to quickly reciting a new script in any environment and any place.
There's even a set of memory techniques of its own.
Fifty-eight stories may seem like a lot, but most of the storytellers' stories are not very long. In an afternoon, with a cup of tea and a plate of melon seeds, one can listen to seven or eight stories. Also, due to the limitations of the times, the words used in these stories are mostly concise and short, making them easy to memorize.
If there is any difficulty, it may be that there are too many stories, and the life stories and beginnings of some protagonists are too similar, so it is easy to get them mixed up.
But for him, it is much easier to remember these things than for other newcomers.
You don’t even have to stay up late to study.
Bai Jinshu roughly classified the stories into categories, put together a simple framework, and went to bed under Xiaofei's shocked gaze.
The next day, when he got up at dawn, he heard all kinds of whispers outside the door. Listening carefully, he found that it was the newlyweds asking each other questions.
"Scholar He abandoned his first wife and went to Beijing to take the imperial examination. Then what happened?"
"Emmm... Then he married the princess, and the news got back to his first wife. Did his first wife go to the capital to seek justice?"
"That's Li Shusheng. You got it mixed up, right? He Shusheng was the one who passed by a barren mountain on the way and was led away by a fox in the mountain. Not only did he miss the deadline, but after he got out of the mountain, he found out that his elder brother-in-law had passed the imperial examination and that his divorced wife had turned out to be the top scholar's younger sister..."
"Where do all these scholars come from? I'm devastated!"
"There's also a scholar named Wang... He wrote a lot of picture books and one day the person in the picture book appeared in real life."
"What is Xu Shusheng?"
It seems that the situation is similar to what he expected. It is difficult for most people to remember these fifty-eight stories, and it is even more difficult not to confuse them after remembering them.
The morning time that Yuan Shanming left for them may not be enough for these newcomers.
Bai Jinshu got dressed and went downstairs. As expected, the teahouse was not open yet in the morning. Everyone was sitting in the lobby, huddled together, asking each other questions and reciting.
This strong learning atmosphere would not seem out of place even in the morning reading sessions of junior and senior high school classes.
The owner of the teahouse was still sitting nearby, drinking tea and watching the newcomers asking each other questions. It was obvious that this was not the first time he had seen Yuan Shanming lead newcomers in this way.
"Boss Sun, where is Brother Yuan?" Xiao Fei, who went downstairs with him, looked around but did not see Yuan Shanming.
"Xiao Yuan, Xiao Yuan has something to do this morning, so I'll be out for a while. You guys hurry up and recite it. I'll start my storytelling at 2:30 pm."
"Oh, thank you, Boss Sun," Xiao Fei replied attentively, "I will definitely memorize these fifty-eight stories and not embarrass Brother Yuan!"
"Hey, wait a minute," the boss hurriedly called them when he saw Bai Jinshu coming downstairs, "Were you the one who triggered the [Bumping into Porcelain] yesterday?"
"I triggered it. Er Ge went to help me, and Sister Xiao Tang came with him," Xiao Fei was at a loss. "Boss Sun, is there a problem?"
"Ah, this... is indeed a bit problematic," Boss Sun's face showed a bit of complexity, "What did you do last night?"
Last night... they did too much.
Xiao Fei didn't know where to start for a moment. After being stuck for a few seconds, he could only say sincerely: "I don't know where to start either. After all, I... couldn't see at that time."
"Oh, your eyes were taken away," Boss Sun frowned in confusion, "Then did you see anything strange before your eyes were taken back?"
"A strange sight?" Xiao Fei was stunned, and subconsciously looked at Bai Jinshu, "Er Ge?"
He didn't seem to see anything?
Boss Sun quickly said, "Don't look at him. I'm asking you, your eyes were fixed on the wall of the room at that time, didn't you see anything?"
Boss Sun suddenly knew the details of this strange story?
Bai Jinshu suddenly became interested: "What did you see?"
"What did I see..." Xiao Fei recalled with difficulty for a while, "I seemed to see the woman walking in front of me, and the two buttons on her chest were gone. Then there was the very dark house, and then there was the light of Sister Tang's flashlight."
"That's weird," Boss Sun scratched his head after hearing this, looking puzzled, "You didn't see anything, so why did the town move away overnight?"
Bai Jinshu:?
He felt a little guilty.
This town...could it have been driven away by Xiao Tang?
In a sense, it's quite pitiful.
"The town...moved away overnight?" Xiao Fei was puzzled.
"Yes, it's Qiaotoudong Town," Boss Sun crossed his legs and took a sip of tea, "This is a very famous ghost story. This town changes its location. It will become what it is in the timeline it changes to. It just moved to my place a while ago."
"Is [Porcelain Bumping] a strange story that will change its location along with Qiaotou Dongzhen?" Bai Jinshu asked with interest.
"That's not it. [Pigsy scam] is a strange story here," Boss Sun tapped the edge of his tea bowl, "It's just that the location of their strange story just happens to coincide with that of Qiaotou East Town."
"Isn't it said that there is a distance protection between ghost stories?" Bai Jinshu raised his eyebrows and sat down opposite Boss Sun. "Boss, is [Pigsy Bumping] special?"
Boss Sun looked at him strangely: "Why don't you recite those fifty-eight stories, but come to me to ask these?"
"I have a good memory, so I don't need to look at it for too long," Bai Jinshu said, "After Xiaofei completed [Bumping Porcelain] yesterday, the exploration level was only 30%. I am curious, so I want to know what the remaining 70% is. Is the [Bumping Porcelain] area special?"
"30%?" Boss Sun showed a shocked expression, "How did you do it?"
Bai Jin said: "...we will find Qiaotoudong Town and retrieve Xiaofei's eyes."
He now understood that the way they broke the deadlock yesterday was definitely not a normal way. It was probably a violent way.
Xiao Tang, a human killing weapon, killed his way through the entire town, forcing the old voice to come out and directly tell them how to break the impasse, allowing them to skip a lot of steps.
Otherwise, according to the normal procedure, it would not be so easy to enter that room.
Putting aside other things, if the only person who entered here was the person who triggered the strange story, then as a blind man, there would be no need for him to use a flashlight.
After entering the courtyard, he happened to be facing a certain fatal mechanism, which triggered Cen Bingqi. Before the ghost could exert his strength, he forcibly broke through the room.
According to the ability of an ordinary person, even if he is not blind, he cannot solve the ghost story to this extent.
"Is that so?" Boss Sun had never thought that they had hit the entire town. Although he still had a look of confusion on his face, he still explained, "Then you are really lucky. Maybe you were not discovered by that old woman. But you are wrong. The special thing is not [touching porcelain]."
"The special thing is Qiaotoudong Town," Boss Sun changed his sitting position, "For the sake of being human, you have already come out of the subway station, right? You know that there are some places that are safe zones where no ghost stories can be triggered, right?"
Bai Jinshu nodded: "I know."
"Qiaotou East Town is also very special. It is a strange story that has no trigger range and will not be triggered by a settlement," Boss Sun gave an example. "It will keep moving, and the scene in the town depends on the time and location of the current area. For example, here they are a water town, but outside S City may be a community, and in N Port it may be a water settlement. In short, it will look like where it is."
"So Qiaotoudong Town is actually not its name." Bai Jinshu asked tentatively.
"Yes, you are quite smart," Boss Sun nodded readily, "That place has no name. Its name changes with the place where it is located. So when a town suddenly moved here a while ago, I knew that it was that place that moved here."
This is a key piece of information. Qiaotoudong Town is not the same thing as [smashing the car]?
"But speaking of it, why did it move away so quickly?" Boss Sun was still puzzled. "After it moved in, I had more customers during the day. How could it suddenly move away overnight?"
Bai Jinshu: ...
He can't tell you this, otherwise you might be so angry that you want to kick Yuan Shanming, who brought Xiao Tang into the village.
"Then... Boss Sun," Bai Jinshu thought for a moment and changed the subject, "What exactly is in Qiaotou East Town?"
Since it has nothing to do with [scam], didn't they mess with the wrong person last night?
What is that thing that looks like a hair under Xiao Tang’s flashlight?
"What is it?" Boss Sun stared at him for a long while, pointed slightly at the ground, and then shook his head, "I can't tell you that."
"As human beings, it's not that I don't want to say it, but here, each ghost story cannot reveal important information about other ghost stories," he pointed at himself, "The ghost stories will devour each other. If I tell you this information, I will be in danger here."
"Hurry up and recite your fifty-eight stories," Boss Sun stood up and patted Bai Jinshu on the shoulder, "You'd better not worry about Qiaotou East Town. Hey, today is probably the most relaxing day for you. After today, you will go outside to trigger ghost stories."
He slowly left with the tea bowl in his hand, leaving Bai Jinshu alone, deep in thought.
Since ghost stories cannot tell each other important information about other ghost stories, how dare the voice yesterday instruct them on how to enter the courtyard of the [Bumping Porcelain]?
And since Qiaotoudong Town has nothing to do with [Bumping into Porcelain], why are the final solutions so similar?
Also, what on earth are those residents that Xiao Tang is tormenting?
Bai Jinshu stood at the door and thought for a while. He always felt that something was wrong with this place. He looked at the newlyweds who were still reciting stories in the lobby behind him, and walked out of the teahouse.
Yesterday it only took them a dozen minutes to travel to and from Qiaotoudong Town, but today he walked for almost half an hour and didn't see any sign of the town.
Boss Sun was right, they really moved away.
But the strange thing is, since he said that [bumping into porcelain] is a weird thing here, then what about [bumping into porcelain]?
How come he didn't see any trace of this strange story along the way?
Bai Jinshu wandered around Qiaotou Town for a long time last night, but still didn't meet the old lady and the woman from yesterday. He returned to the teahouse with a lot of thoughts in his mind.
There are already many guests in the lobby.
The newlyweds were sitting together at a table at the edge of the room. When they saw him coming, Xiao Tang waved his hand lively: "Er Si? Why did you come back from outside?"
Bai Jinshu walked over calmly and pulled out a stool: "I went for a morning run and took a walk."
"You went to Qiaotoudong Town?" Tang Tang was indeed a girl whose brain worked surprisingly well when she wasn't doing anything. "I heard from Xiaofei that the town had moved away?"
"Yes, we moved away," Bai Jinshu nodded. "Maybe they felt... it's not safe here. After all, we still have thirteen days before we leave the Novice Village."
Xiao Tang curled his lips: "Are you so timid? I'm not a bandit. Can I go and raid their house every day? You really have paranoia."
That's not necessarily the case.
Bai Jinshu felt that she was indeed capable of doing such a boring thing.
And he had a hunch that after the town was moved, some other things would definitely come up.
A moving town...that means it can go anywhere. Xiao Tang and his story will spread throughout the Novice Village as the town moves.
In this case, if Xiao Tang is a member of the foundation, she can use the relocation of Qiaotoudong Town to convey her special message, so that teammates in the same organization in other areas can immediately connect with her.
Even without any special message, the name "Er Si" alone is enough to attract the attention of Xu Zichen, Guan Hongyan and other [0106] members.
But... yesterday was just their first day here, and even he only knew this morning that Qiaotoudong Town would move. How did Xiao Tang know about it?
Was her joining last night intentional or accidental?
His eyes swept across the faces of everyone at the table.
There is Xiao Tang, a new bandit who is suspected to be a member of the Foundation, Lao Ma, a crane worker who is older than the normal teammates, and Nian Yi, a hearing-impaired patient with obvious defects who may not survive the first triggering of the teahouse.
He shouldn't be so lucky, right? He could get three foundation members right away?
Bai Jinshu's gaze returned to the screenshot in front of him.
There are still more than four hours until 2:30 p.m., and the top priority now is to memorize these stories.
If these three people are really members of the foundation, then they will definitely show more new behaviors in the next thirteen days. It will not be too late to talk about it then.
*
Time passed quickly. After lunch, Yuan Shanming, who had disappeared for the whole morning, came back with some strange things in his hands.
"This is the prop we need to trigger the ghost story next," he explained, "Time is tight. After you come out of the storyteller's fantasy this afternoon, we will spend the night in the ghost story tonight."
"This strange story..." His eyes swept over Bai Jinshu obscurely, "It's not high-level, and the danger level is not very high. The highest rating can reach B at the moment. Everyone, be prepared."
The other newcomers nodded one after another, and nervously recited the content that they had not memorized clearly before the storyteller began.
According to Yuan Shanming, once they enter, all their belongings will disappear and they will be dressed like the characters in the story.
And they need to be familiar with the flow of the story and get out of the scene before the storyteller finishes telling the story.
The precautions have been discussed in detail and everyone is ready.
At exactly 2:30, the storyteller clapped the wooden stick, and all the newcomers who had triggered this strange story disappeared in the lobby in an instant.
As his sight turned, Bai Jinshu felt a scarlet color in front of his eyes.
Which story is this?
The storyteller hadn't spoken yet, and he couldn't move. He could only quickly search for relevant information in his mind.
The general who died on the battlefield? Or the living dead who crawled out of the mass grave? There was a story about the fourth prince, who once killed a large number of palace maids in a battle? If he became a palace maid, he would have to plan his route carefully to escape from the palace walls with layers of guards. It would be best if he could meet Xiao Tang. This girl is extremely good at fighting. It would not be a problem for Cen Bingqi to fight his way out with her.
Wait, no, there's no smell of blood.
Bai Jinshu frowned, and at this moment, a loud voice came to his ears.
[Okay, today, let’s talk about a strange story in the mountains. ]
[I wonder if you have ever heard of a fox getting married? ]
As soon as these words came out, Bai Jinshu immediately matched the key words.
This afternoon, the storyteller told the story of "The Fox's Wedding".
But now, the question obviously is not whether he can determine which story it is and what the story is about.
The problem is…
Bai Jinshu pulled off his veil expressionlessly.
The problem is that the storyteller didn't say that the fox was blind.
The fox can get married if he wants, why marry him?
The author has something to say:
Ha, I won’t tell you who did this (x)
Qiaotoudong Town looted by the bandits of Xiao Tang: Ha, it's moist
First 20+ random 20 red envelopes (party)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
