Chapter 246: Inhuman (54) (1st update + 2nd update + 4900 thunder 0.5 update) [VIP]
It is obvious that the title of "King of B City" is just a carnival for the citizens of the city of violence.
The team member who pushed open the door blurted out and immediately realized his own stupidity.
"Uh... that's not what I meant," he smiled awkwardly and quickly explained, "Are you the new team that Sister Tazi mentioned?"
Yuan Shanming took the initiative to stand up and repeat what they had said to Dita, and received a non-emotional response from the other party: "Oh, so that's it."
The teams in the City of Violence seemed to be more open-minded about the death of their team members than other teams.
Compared to their reaction when Shi Pang said that two people died in his team, when Yuan Shanming said that they died six people, the newcomer on the opposite side just said "oh" and nodded habitually: "So the martial arts competition to recruit a bride this afternoon was organized by Dita and you guys just to get S?"
He seemed to care much more about this matter than the six team members who died.
"Yes, yes," the yellow-haired man took the initiative to stand up and try to get close to her. "Brother, this is an S-level ghost story, why don't you participate in triggering it?"
The man standing at the door gave him a strange look: "Why should we participate?"
The expression on his face was so matter-of-fact that Huangmao was stunned for a second.
"Once S is triggered, we naturally have to participate in S after it is successfully triggered! We know our own abilities. If we go, we will just die, right?" The newcomer observed the yellow-haired man's expression for a few seconds, took a breath, and widened his eyes. "Hiss, you guys don't know this, so you help Dita and the others, right?"
"That's not the case," Xiao Tang pouted, glanced at the yellow-haired guy with disdain, and said with a smile, "We just find it strange that in the entire Violent City, only Sister Tazi's team is touching S. In our place, if anyone finds S, they will be robbed by a bunch of people, and we dare not let other teams know."
"Oh, yes, you just came to the City of Violence," the newcomer explained without any doubt, "The City of Violence is different from other places. I don't know what version you heard, but in the City of Violence, the strong are respected and strength is everything. Everyone will gain a very clear understanding of their own abilities within a few days after entering here."
He said casually, "This news was not discovered by Sister Tazi and the others at first. It's just that the team that discovered this clue announced all the clues after they determined that they were not capable of successfully triggering an A-level ghost story."
"Announced?" Yuan Shanming widened his eyes slightly.
The City of Violence actually released clues to an S-level ghost story?
"Yes," the newcomer standing at the door said as a matter of course, "causing 300 fights in a day and a half, and they are divided into large, medium and small scales. This is basically impossible to happen in the city of violence. Even if this news is true, it is basically impossible to achieve a successful result unless there are more than ten teams participating. So of course it must be announced so that everyone can measure their own strength to see if they can do it."
"Your place is really... simple and honest," Xiao Tang was silent for a few seconds, then he said, "So in the end, only Sister Tazi's team thought they could do this?"
The city of violence was surprisingly harmonious and friendly. She felt that her impression of this place could be changed.
"That's about right," the newcomer thought for a moment, "How do I know other teams think this way? Anyway, after everyone heard this clue, they knew that only Sister Tazi was doing it in our settlement."
"Oh, right," he suddenly remembered, "Did you succeed in triggering it this afternoon?"
His words immediately caught everyone in the right place.
Yes, was the martial arts competition for a bride successfully triggered this afternoon?
The sudden change at the end of the martial arts competition for a bride made everyone discover the biggest secret in the city of violence, and they suddenly forgot about it.
Everyone looked at each other for a few seconds, Bai Jinshu raised his chin towards Xiao Tang, and Xiao Tang jumped up from the door with a start: "Damn! I forgot everything! Sister Ta! Sister Ta, look at how many have been triggered now..."
"Don't shout, don't shout," Before Xiao Tang could leave the room, Dita and several team members came to their door and raised her hand to stop her. "I was just about to say that it's already 124 games, and this count has been exceeded."
"What should we do now?" Xiao Tang blinked, "Has S been triggered now? I haven't touched this before..."
"...Me neither," Dita said with a groan, "Um...Brother Yuan? Have you ever triggered it in the City of the Dead before?"
Yuan Shanming frowned in embarrassment: "I have led a team to do this before, but I don't know what it's like in the City of Violence?"
That's true.
There is a big difference between S and S. He has triggered S, but he has never been to the City of Violence. Dita, who has been to the City of Violence, has never triggered S.
The two looked at each other awkwardly for a few seconds, and Dita held her forehead with her hand and turned around: "Why don't I go down to the fifth floor to inform the others. I don't know what will happen after the trigger. To be on the safe side, let them go to other settlements to make do for the night."
After all, most people here think that their strength is actually not enough to complete an S-level ghost story, so they prefer not to get involved.
This settlement was converted from a bankrupt hotel. When the hotel closed down, all the furniture and beds that were not moved away became temporary accommodation for the newlyweds. I don't know when and which team connected the power lines of the street lights downstairs, but after everyone noticed it, this bankrupt building that had stopped paying its electricity bills now had enough power to use at night.
Teams staying here are responsible for cleaning their own rooms. The only floors with complete hotel facilities are the ones located in the middle, and a large banquet hall and buffet restaurant that were combined on the fourth and fifth floors to avoid the homophony of the number "four".
The table and chairs in the middle of the restaurant were not convenient to take away, so they provided a convenient place for everyone to eat. After the elevator was connected to the power supply of the street lamp downstairs, it resumed normal use. Generally speaking, the teams would stay on the guest room floors in the middle and use the kitchen on the fifth floor to cook.
It’s not that everyone wants to get together for dinner, but mainly because the sun sets around six in the evening in the city of violence. Since the city is quite chaotic, most restaurants close in the afternoon. When the team members come back from outside one after another, most of the surrounding shops are closed.
Not to mention that in order to trigger S these days, most stores are not open at all.
Under this restriction, the accumulation of teams living together over the years has led to certain established rules in each settlement in the City of Violence. The facilities in the hotel are complete, and the rule that everyone tacitly follows is that each team takes turns to be responsible for everyone's dinner.
Around five o'clock in the evening, the teams came back from outside one after another, had dinner in the buffet restaurant on the fifth floor, and then went back to their rooms. When it was completely dark outside, it was time for some special citizen activities in the City of Violence.
As newcomers who would only be here for 15 days, there was no need for them to go out and get into conflict with these special citizens.
Therefore, most of the team members have returned to the settlement at this point in time, leaving only a few rooms still empty. It is likely that those team members did not have time to come back.
Most of the team members were in the buffet restaurant at this time. Everyone followed Dita downstairs and saw that there were already about twenty tables occupied in the buffet restaurant.
Seeing Dita and the others, several familiar teams raised their hands and greeted them: "How are you today, Sister Tazi? How many games have you played?"
"Teammate Lao Tan is making roast chicken with potatoes tonight, come quickly."
“No, no,” Dita waved her hands and shook her head at her teammates. “I have something to tell you.”
Bai Jin said that after she announced to everyone that all known S-triggering conditions had been met, the originally quiet restaurant suddenly became lively.
After a chaotic exchange, sporadic voices rang out: "Come on, Sister Tazi!"
"Sister Tazi, come on, we'll leave first!"
"I'll contact the people in the other three settlements to see if I can vacate a few spots as soon as possible."
"It seems that several teams have entered B City today. It's hard to say. If it doesn't work out, we can just sleep on the floor for a few days."
"The sun has set and it's getting dark. We need to hurry if we want to leave!"
Outside the window, the sky was gradually approaching night. Everyone in the restaurant suddenly lost their appetite and walked towards the elevator. The huge buffet restaurant was empty in an instant.
Originally, there were at least a dozen teams staying in the settlement, and the restaurant was packed with more than a hundred people. Now that they had left, the hotel banquet hall was suddenly empty.
It was getting dark and everyone was in a hurry so they didn't bring anything with them. They just kept things simple and each of them carried a backpack and walked out.
Within ten minutes or so, only a dozen people were left in the hotel, which was once bustling with people.
The other team members who were in a hurry to leave had no ill intentions. They just had a clear understanding of their own strength. After all, it was rare for everyone to be able to fight like Dita's team. In order to ensure that they would get the points in the end, most captains would adopt some safe strategies most of the time.
Following the captain's decision, everyone quickly evacuated the hotel and walked quickly towards the gathering place they had inquired about before it got dark.
In the kitchen of the buffet restaurant, the roast chicken with potatoes was abandoned halfway through cooking. There was only half-marinated chicken and freshly cut potatoes on the chopping board. Huangmao was unexpectedly good at cooking. After some fussing, he actually brought out two presentable plates.
"He prepared too many dishes, but he just washed the rice and didn't have time to cook," Huangmao scratched his head, "I thought we wouldn't be able to finish the rice, so I made some chicken sauce with the leftover chicken and curry, and mashed the extra potatoes. I wonder if you have any dietary restrictions or anything."
“No, no, no,” Dita waved her hands quickly, “It’s good to have something to eat. I’m prepared to have nothing to eat tonight.”
After all the team members left, the hotel was empty. Everyone found a larger table and gathered around it. While eating, they discussed: "Brother Yuan, you have touched s before. What is the process of s?"
"Process..." Yuan Shanming thought for a few seconds, "The process of each S is actually different..."
"For example, there is a more famous one in the City of the Dead that we left before, called Blood Shadow." As soon as he said this, he attracted the attention of Bai Jinshu and the others.
[Blood Shadow], they encountered this thing on the first day they entered here.
In my memory, it was a tall black shadow, moving slowly along with the triggerer's dance steps. A brief glance at it raised the affinity of [Welcome!] to 6.
"The triggering process of Blood Shadow is that it will randomly appear in any corner of the City of the Dead. Once you find it, you only have ten seconds to use some special dance steps to make it stay in place, otherwise it will move away immediately," Yuan Shanming said while holding the bowl and recalling, "Then after it stays in place, the triggerer needs to use this kind of dance steps to surround the Blood Shadow from the discovery location to the designated location. During this process, the Blood Shadow may be snatched away by any team. After arriving at the designated location, the first stage of the Blood Shadow triggering ends."
"There is a six-hour protection period after the first stage. If the triggering team can find other bodies of Blood Shadow scattered around the city in time within these six hours, they can directly lock Blood Shadow into their team. If they can't find all of them, then every subsequent process, including after S is officially triggered successfully, will be accompanied by the risk of being snatched away at any time."
No wonder the team was so alert at that time.
Everyone in Yuan Shanming's team looked at each other, and Bai Jinshu said, "And then?"
"Then there is the core triggering process, which requires completing three pre-trail stories. After completing these three stories, the triggerer will obtain three keyword roots in the story. Through the word roots, a period of past time contained in the Blood Shadow can be opened. Then, one needs to enter the Blood Shadow and complete the story," Yuan Shanming shrugged. "For an S, the process after the Blood Shadow is triggered is not a difficult point. It becomes an S mainly because of the high risk of the triggering process."
Every step may cause countless people to scramble for it.
"So this is why the process for each S is different," Dita thought thoughtfully, "Have we ever met a brother like Yuan who has reached certain conditions before?"
"I haven't done it, but I've heard of a few," Yuan Shanming thought for a moment, "most of them are automatically triggered after the last step reaches the specified time."
"Then it will probably be the same for us." Guan Hongyan made the decision, and everyone present nodded in agreement.
"But this thing..." Bai Jinshu frowned and said, "Did you get the clue from other teams?"
"Yeah, what's wrong?" Dita looked up.
Bai Jinshu: "Then do you know what will be triggered? What will happen after it is triggered?"
"I don't know," Dita spread her hands frankly. "The team that found this clue was involved in a murder case in the violent city. Finally, they found relevant clues in the room of the murderer who committed suicide. After observation, they thought that this was an area beyond their team's ability, so they simply made the clue public."
This is exactly what the newcomer said.
"That is to say, this is a newly discovered S..." Yuan Shanming narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, "No one has ever triggered it, and no one knows what the process is?"
“Yes, that’s it.” Dita nodded.
This time we are really crossing the river by feeling the stones.
As a team leader, Dita's experience is too shallow. It's okay for regular exploration, but it's a bit stretched when facing problems like S Ghost Talk.
"You are a new team leader. As an old veteran, I have heard of the limited S version of the City of Violence a few times," Yuan Shanming naturally took the lead of the entire team. "The limited S version of the City of Violence has similar characteristics to the City of Violence. After triggering this strange story, there is very little exploration required. The whole process is more like a level-breaking game."
"After the triggerer enters, he needs to go through a series of force tests, and the method of testing is to fight..." The corners of his mouth twitched, "In the end, only those who pass the force test can face the final test, and the difficulty of the final test is actually several times that of the previous ones."
This sounds like a very violent city...
Everyone at the table saw a few words on each other's faces: [No surprise].
It is quite normal that a place like the capital of violence would trigger such an S.
"S ghost stories usually have distinct regional characteristics," Yuan Shanming thought for a few seconds, "I don't know what your S is, but it will probably require a fight once it's triggered."
"There's nothing wrong with fighting. We are good at it!" Dita showed an unusually straightforward expression.
"Could it be related to that shadow?" Huangmao was a little worried.
"Maybe," Bai Jinshu nodded, "No... definitely."
He raised his head: "I don't think Shadow will let me go."
Whether it was the spying that night, or the arms and eyeballs chasing after him after entering the city of violence, or everyone losing control and rushing towards him like zombies after the crowd rioted, it was enough to prove that this thing's desire for him seemed to be getting deeper and deeper.
Where there is light, there is a shadow. No matter what appears after they trigger the S monster, as long as it is not in a pitch-black space where you can't see your hand in front of you, it will definitely have a shadow.
Where there is a shadow, there is the possibility of being manipulated by the shadow.
What is summoned may not necessarily be a shadow, but a shadow will most likely appear.
This afternoon, Huai Jiamu scared these things away, mostly because they were attached to humans. "Shadows" are extremely bullying and afraid of the strong. When they are weak, or when they are attached to some weak hosts, they will choose to slip away or slide when they judge that they cannot defeat the opponent, just like when facing Xiao Tang and Huai Jiamu.
And what if the object they can manipulate becomes... an S-rank ghost story?
Thinking of this, everyone at the table could hardly eat.
"They won't lead this member of your team away just to get closer to you, will they?" Dita said with a worried look on her face.
The reason we were able to scare these things away today was probably thanks to this newcomer.
What if they separate from this new person?
"Don't be so pessimistic," Guan Hongyan tried to smooth things over. "You guys also said that Ying can control humans because humans are relatively weak. S-level ghost stories are so powerful, it's not certain whether they can be controlled by them."
That's also possible.
Although no one was comforted, at least it effectively alleviated some of the tension of facing the unknown S.
After everyone finished their meal and cleared away the dishes, they headed upstairs and happened to run into a few team members who were applying medicine in the corridor.
"Why didn't you leave?"
"Why is there no one here tonight?"
Two voices sounded at the same time.
When everyone looked closely, they realized that the people in the corridor were applying medicine in the empty rooms.
This is bad.
The team members, who were already a little worried, looked even more unhappy.
Dita stepped forward and quickly explained: "Everyone else has left. Didn't you check the community? Our team has completed all the steps to trigger S. They have all gone to live in other settlements."
S was triggered here. No one had ever come across this strange story before, and no one knew whether it appeared based on the territorial principle or the personal principle, so they naturally chose to avoid it.
It just so happened that these newlyweds might have encountered something on their way back and missed the announcement of the incident in the banquet hall. They were injured and had no energy to eat, so they hurried back to the room and missed everyone who were having dinner in the banquet hall.
Just like that, two consecutive misses resulted in these people having no idea what was happening here.
"We... didn't look," the girl who applied the medicine was stunned for a few seconds, "We ran into trouble on the way and didn't have time to look..."
It turned out that something happened and delayed me.
"Let me see if you guys have time to leave outside..." Dita hurried forward a few steps and lifted the blackout curtains in their room.
Oh no, it’s now completely dark outside.
In the distance, on the street where street lights were already on, one could vaguely see a team walking onto the street.
Screams and gunshots were heard from a little further away.
Dita hurriedly closed the blackout curtains: "It's too late, it's already started."
"What started? Who is that?" Xiao Tang whispered.
“There is no fixed name. You can call it the City Guard, or something else.” Dita answered casually.
"He was the one who truly controlled the City of Violence," Guan Hongyan added in a low voice, "... before he discovered Shadow."
"The daytime population of the City of Violence is made up of citizens who live normal lives. You heard me right. The people who fight during the day are citizens who live normal lives," Dita bit her lower lip and explained hastily, "but you don't think those people alone can repel the ghosts and undead who keep trying to enter here, do you? The people who truly protect and control the City of Violence are those who appear on the streets."
"They have guns... and large-scale lethal weapons, and they have some special members whose fighting power far exceeds that of normal people. They are the ones who truly make the City of Violence belong only to humans," a team member whispered. "Night is their time of activity. Their purpose is to return the day to the citizens, and the night belongs to them. Every night, they are responsible for clearing out the ghosts and undead spirits that have entered the City of Violence. So after a long period of evolution, the citizens gradually moved out of their previous residences and moved to live in the suburbs, and did not go out after the sun went down."
"They have a very special identification procedure internally. During the long confrontation, many ghosts and undead who tried to enter the City of Violence have evolved the ability to disguise themselves as humans. So at night, anyone who cannot be identified will be regarded as a ghost or undead," explained Guan Hongyan.
"No wonder..." Bai Jinshu frowned and looked at the newcomers who did not have time to leave.
Normally, they could have gone out to hide from those who were hunting ghosts, but now they were injured...
"Normally it's fine, but now you're injured..." Dita turned around anxiously, "Can you still go out now?"
"Obviously not," an injured man laughed bitterly, "If we go out in this state, I'm afraid we'll be dead after just a few steps."
This is troublesome.
No one expected that a group of people would not leave here due to various coincidences.
"How about this..." The girl who was applying the medicine thought for a while, looked up and said, "Tonight, all of us in the team will sleep in one room. No matter what happens tomorrow, we won't open the door. Sister Tazi, do you think this is okay?"
"There is no other way..." Dita frowned and looked at Yuan Shanming.
Yuan Shanming nodded.
"Then you must remember, you cannot open the door or go out," Dita turned back and repeatedly reminded, "We don't know what will be triggered. The one and a half day countdown ends at six in the morning. By then, it will not be completely bright and you will not have time to leave. So don't make any noise and don't let the triggered ghost notice you."
"Don't worry, Sister Tazi, we know." The team members nodded repeatedly.
After all, there is really no other way.
The S ghost story, which was already not sure of success, had another variable. Although no one could see anything on their faces, they were all worried.
The city of violence was not quiet in the middle of the night. Various wailing sounds and indescribable chaotic beating sounds were heard outside one after another.
The yellow-haired man opened the blackout curtains a little to see what made the sound, but his eyes were dazzled by the laser light coming in from outside, which scared him so much that he closed the curtains again.
After a while, Dita knocked on the door and came in, saying, "Don't open the curtains casually. The city guards need absolute darkness to identify ghosts. The light coming through after you open the blackout curtains will interfere with their work. The laser just now was a warning to you."
Now no one dared to open the curtains.
The sounds outside continued to be heard one after another, and a few times, everyone even felt that the sounds came from right below the building.
The City of Violence was not quiet at night, but rather frighteningly noisy. Nearing twelve o'clock, Dita brought in some earplugs and told them to wear them to sleep. They didn't have to worry about anything happening. With the city guards outside, the nights in the City of Violence were absolutely safe.
With Yuan Shanming's assurance, everyone put on earplugs and went to sleep.
The noise outside was still very loud, but after putting on earplugs, the decibels were at least reduced a lot. Amidst worry and anxiety, everyone slowly fell asleep.
What woke Bai Jinshu up was a pair of hands hurriedly shaking his shoulders the next day.
"Wake up, wake up!" It was Huang Mao's voice, "Er Ge! Something happened to Er Ge!"
"What's wrong?" Bai Jinshu opened his eyes instantly and rolled off the bed.
The yellow-haired man stood in front of him with a panicked look on his face: "Brother Er, that strange story...is gone!"
Bai Jinshu turned around suddenly.
The bed belonging to Huai Jiamu was indeed empty.
The quilt on the bed had just been lifted up, and it looked like the person sleeping on it had just left. Bai Jinshu reached out and touched under the quilt; it was cold.
The person had been gone for at least half an hour.
"Have you gone out to take a look? Where are Captain Yuan? What time is it now?" Bai Jinshu asked a series of questions as soon as he opened his mouth.
"It's already half past seven," the yellow-haired man said, almost crying. "When I woke up, it was already daybreak outside, and there were only two of us in the room!"
"Did you go out and look?"
"No," Huang Mao bit his lip, "I don't dare to go out alone, Er Ge, the time to trigger S has passed."
According to common sense, this point has been triggered.
Oh no, those new guys didn’t leave last night!
"Let's go." Bai Jinshu took out the kitchen knife from under the pillow and pushed open the door without hesitation.
There was an unusual smell in the hotel corridor, as if something was moldy. A group of people were standing at the door of a room in the distance.
People who watch this feel uneasy from the bottom of their hearts.
"You guys are here?" It was Dita who turned around. "Someone's dead."
She doesn't need to say anything.
Following the gap opened by Dita, Bai Jinshu and Huangmao saw that in that room, several people who were still alive last night had turned into pale corpses. They were nailed to the wall with nails. The blood seeping from the four nail holes flowed down the wall and gradually seeped into the carpet under their feet.
And under their feet, the blood gathered into...
A group of human figures.
"Just like a shadow..." The yellow-haired man took a small step back, his voice full of panic, "It's like... there is a light shining behind them, forming a shadow."
One and a half hours after the S-level ghost story was triggered, the seven newcomers who stayed in the hotel and did not leave died, and the blood flowing from their bodies gathered into the shape of human figures.
Among the people involved in the triggering, Yuan Shanming and Huai Jiamu are missing.
The author has something to say:
It’s too late, too late, too late 40+20 (holding head)
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