Chapter 249: Inhuman (57) (1st + 2nd + 3rd) [VIP]
In the dark mezzanine, after a brief silence, Dita lay back irritably: "Then we can't do anything during the day?"
"Most likely," Guan Hongyan said in a low voice, "Let's talk about it in the evening."
"Tsk," Xiao Tang said unhappily, "What is the principle behind this thing? It can replace a person's own shadow and can be generated under light, but it is afraid of fire. Could it be because fire can burn this thing?"
Her guess is not without reason.
Back then in Qiaotoudong Town, this thing was only afraid of fire.
"It's possible," Bai Jinshu nodded, and raised his body a little. "Although this thing exists in the form of a shadow, it is not a real shadow. What we saw at the beginning was a ball of black transparent hair."
This thing has a physical body, but it seems that it is extremely weak after being separated from its host, and any random fire starter can scare it away.
"What if each of us goes out with a candle in our hands?" Little Tang thought thoughtfully, "In this way, it is afraid of the light, so wouldn't it be able to stop it from getting close to us?"
"It's useless." A voice that sounded like mockery and helplessness came from not far away. "Do you think we haven't tried these methods?"
The one who spoke was the old leader.
The "we" he mentioned should be referring to the teammates who triggered this strange story with him.
"As long as there are other light sources, it doesn't matter if you are standing on a Hot Wheels," the old leader stretched his limbs a little, his tone revealing a sense of numbness or despair, "Do you know what this environment outside means?"
"What?" Xiao Tang turned his head.
"It means that all objects that appear under the light will have shadows. What's the point of carrying a candle with you? Have you heard of a drop in the bucket?" said the old leader. "As long as the shadows around you rush towards you, the little light will soon be dispelled."
"What if the fire is bigger?" Xiao Tang insisted, "Torch? Torch? I set the hotel on fire, it can't do anything to me, right?"
"Why not?" The old leader laughed strangely. "Do you think that if there is a light source brighter than the fire, will the fire cast a shadow?"
"You mean..." Xiao Tang's voice suddenly became thoughtful, "There are only two situations where this thing will not cause harm to people. One is absolute darkness like now, and the other is absolute darkness with only a point light source like fire?"
Apart from this absolutely dark environment, only the night in the city of violence can meet these two conditions.
After going around in circles, it was night again.
Bai Jinshu heard the frustrated voices of several newcomers nearby.
"So no matter what we do now, whether to run, investigate or fight, the only way is to wait until night," Guan Hongyan leaned back, and the sofa springs made a slight trembling sound, "So what can we do now?"
"I don't know," Xiao Tang shook his hair a few times, "Anyway, I can't sleep."
"Me too." Several voices responded nearby.
It was only a few hours since we woke up, and we couldn't sleep even if we wanted to. In addition, the crisis of being trapped in this dark layer forever if we couldn't resolve the S after triggering it hung over everyone's head, and anyone who didn't want to die couldn't be so careless as to fall asleep directly.
Such a long time cannot be spent in a daze.
But if we really want everyone here to discuss what this shadow and this weird thing are, in the absence of any clues, we can only make blind guesses, and continuing the discussion would be tantamount to talking nonsense.
Bai Jinshu was actually a bit tempted to take the initiative to start the topic of where Yuan Shanming and Huai Jiamu had gone. There must be something fishy about their disappearance. Not to mention Huai Jiamu, Yuan Shanming, as the captain, was reliable most of the time. Plus, these three team members were definitely his hope to escape from the Novice Village and get high points as the team leader. No matter what, Yuan Shanming would not push them into danger and then run away himself.
At the very least, before running away, Yuan Shanming should have revealed some information to them to prevent them from dying in there, right?
Saying nothing is not Yuan Shanming's style. There must be something behind his disappearance, and even he himself may not know what happened.
But Dita is in a bad mood now. With the experience of the old leader as a lesson, she is the only one present who needs to complete the ghost story or escape from here. If she mentions Yuan Shanming again, it will undoubtedly make the situation worse.
After all, no matter what, everyone is from two different teams. Dita is not their leader, and her interests are not tied to theirs. It would be wiser to keep quiet at this time.
"So boring..." Xiao Tang leaned back and uttered intermittent meaningless sounds, "In this situation, I can't even play with my phone."
The mobile phone screen has light, so in order to maintain an absolutely dark atmosphere, playing games on the phone becomes impossible.
For someone like her who is severely addicted to electronic products, this is simply torture.
"Forget about playing games," Guan Hongyan sighed, "I can't even watch the comments in the live broadcast room now."
There is also light on the screen of the live broadcast room, and what’s even worse is that the light is cold, like an electronic product like a flashlight.
Opening the live broadcast room and getting information from the barrage has become a luxury.
"How about..." Huangmao made a rather stupid suggestion, "How about we play truth or dare?"
Bai Jinshu:?
"Cough...cough." Guan Hongyan was choked.
Dita took a deep breath: "Huh?"
"Are you serious?" Xiao Tang reacted the most. "It's so dark here. No matter if we're playing rock-paper-scissors, throwing dice, or spinning the bottle, we can't see the points, right? How can we confirm this? Who can tell?"
When Xiao Tang said the first half of the sentence, Bai Jinshu silently agreed in his heart. When it came to the second half, Bai Jinshu said: ...
It turns out that the problem Xiao Tang was considering with this proposal was how to implement the process of Truth or Dare, rather than how strange it was to play Truth or Dare in such a weird environment.
"If we really want to play, we can find a way..." Guan Hongyan lifted her chin thoughtfully, "There are always small games that can be completed without sight, such as counting. The number reported by each person cannot be seven or a multiple of seven..."
"This is too simple," Xiao Tang interrupted, "It's almost the same as if the numbers reported by the two people in front and behind cannot be multiples of seven and cannot be added, subtracted, multiplied or divided..."
"Then we need to add a time limit..." Huangmao interrupted, "We can't think about it for too long."
What the hell is going on.
Bai Jinshu twitched his lips and said, "Okay, I'll try to get sleepy, you guys can have fun."
His interruption caused the lively atmosphere to suddenly freeze.
"Uh..." Huang Mao scratched his head beside him, "Er Ge, can you sleep?"
"I can sleep well," Bai Jinshu closed his eyes and waved his hand slightly, "Recuperate your energy or something. It's hard to say what the city guard will look like at night."
This sentence suddenly brought everyone back to reality.
Dita exhaled slightly: "City Guard... I have never faced them head-on, and most leaders and newcomers would not choose to clash with them. Be prepared tonight."
The narrow mezzanine suddenly fell into silence.
Xiao Tang was quite optimistic: "Don't worry, we can definitely escape, but I'm not sure how many of us can get out alive."
You really know how to talk.
As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere was no longer silent, it was dead silent.
"This sofa is so low, my waist hurts when I lean on it," the culprit was completely unaware, "Sister Hua, your legs are so weak, let me lie on them for a while, in exchange for you lying on mine later!"
Guan Hongyan: "...Thank you, but no thanks."
There was a sound of leather sofa and clothes rubbing against each other coming from Xiao Tang's direction. A few seconds later, she lay on Guan Hongyan's legs as she wished.
As the surroundings gradually became quiet, Bai Jinshu also closed his eyes and rested, trying hard to fall asleep and get through this long day.
In a dark environment, the concept of time always becomes unclear.
He felt that it had not been long before the old leader sat up and said, "We're here."
"What has arrived?" Bai Jinshu hadn't reacted yet.
"Time, time is up," the old leader said, "it will be dark soon."
It was so dark in the mezzanine that the only device that could tell time, a cell phone, couldn't even be turned on. I didn't know how this old team leader could distinguish between day and night so accurately.
It can only be attributed to the fact that he has lived in such an environment for many years and has developed such a special ability.
"Hmm?" A confused voice came from not far away, "Is it time?"
It’s Xiao Tang.
She seemed to be really asleep.
The team could hear the sudden heavier breathing sounds of some people waking up from their sleep.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Sister Hua!" Xiao Tang sat up straight, "I seem to have forgotten to switch with you..."
Guan Hongyan: "It's okay."
Her voice didn't sound tired at all, so she probably wasn't asleep yet.
Dita also couldn't sleep.
"What time is it now?" She said anxiously, "Senior, are you sure the time is right?"
The shadow wanted to force them into the sunlight. If they went out now and it was not dark outside, wouldn't they be walking into a trap?
After all, the fire escape is definitely not accessible, and no one knows whether the shadows controlling the bodies of the dead will be waiting for them at the entrance of the cave to fall into their trap.
The only way out was the elevator shaft where all the light bulbs were destroyed.
The elevator shaft is a place where it is easy to go up but difficult to go down. It is easy to go down from the fourth floor, but to go up, you need some skills or the help of the car itself to rise.
As for the former, they are not familiar with the environment. As for the latter, they always have to press the floor button in the elevator car. There is a light inside the car, so who will press it?
This only means that once they go down, it will be difficult for them to come back here.
"Of course it's right." The old leader was questioned, but he was not angry. He lit a match calmly.
In the suddenly bright environment, everyone squinted uncomfortably, but as the match burned, everyone saw a mechanical watch on his wrist.
It was indeed past seven o'clock.
According to the sunset time in the City of Violence, the city guards will appear in about half an hour.
Dita straightened her clothes and said, "Let's get ready to go."
Whatever the outcome, they had to get out now.
The shadowless night is the only time they can move after triggering this strange story. If they cannot leave here tonight, they must find a way to get back here before dawn and continue to wait for the next night.
However, time waits for no one, and no one knows what the criteria for judging failure are for this weird shadow ghost story. The longer they stay here, the more dangerous everyone will be, and the greater the possibility that Dita will be left here like the old leader.
Triggering S without any clues was definitely a wrong decision.
"Senior, please lead the way." Dita said.
Bai Jinshu exhaled slowly, and when he heard the sound of sofa springs coming from the old leader, he stood up from the sofa and said, "Follow me."
The darkness of the mezzanine made it difficult to tell whether the direction was correct or not. Everyone followed the old leader's footsteps and moved forward for a distance. Then, the footsteps stopped: "It's here. There is a wall on your right."
Everyone raised their right hands in response.
There was indeed a wall on the right.
"Hold on to the wall and walk slowly," the old leader's voice came, "When you reach the gap where your hands can't touch the wall, that's the elevator entrance. There's an iron bar for the elevator guide rail about 1.2 meters away on the back of the wall. Grab that bar, then you can climb into the elevator shaft and slide down along the guide rail."
"Senior," Huangmao's voice was a little trembling, "Is there no ladder in the elevator shaft?"
"Of course not," the old leader said matter-of-factly. "If you want to get down from here, you can only go down from the cable or rail of the car."
"But he won't die," the old leader thought for a moment and spoke as everyone took a deep breath.
"Now..." He probably reached out and touched the cable in the elevator shaft, judging the direction of the car, "The elevator is up there. If you don't grab the bottom, you will probably fall into the water on the second floor below ground. Ignoring any sharp objects or other debris in the water, it's about the same as falling freely into the water from a height of four or five floors."
"I don't know if this will make you feel better," he shrugged nonchalantly, "Okay, I'm going to go down now, just follow my instructions, and when we get near the opening I'll call you out."
He seemed unaffected by the darkness. Within a few breaths, his voice had a hint of the unique echo of the elevator shaft, and it was getting farther and farther away. "You'd better hurry up. I won't wait for you too long. I have my own things to do tonight."
Dita, who was at the front of the line, took a few deep breaths as if to prepare herself mentally: "I'm going."
"Be careful." Guan Hongyan followed behind her.
"Don't worry," Dita's voice had a little echo in the elevator shaft, "I touched the iron rod, I... Shit, I got it!"
There were several sounds of people pushing against the wall in front of us. It should be Dita looking for a foothold. After a few seconds, she spoke reluctantly: "This place, this place only has this iron bar to hold on to. There is no place to stand below. It may also be that I am not tall enough."
This is a bit outrageous.
Dita is at least 1.75 meters tall. If she holds the iron bar with both arms raised up, the distance from her fingertips to her toes is at least two meters.
There is no structure to stand on for such a long distance, which shows that it is impossible to go down step by step like climbing a ladder.
The only way was actually what the old leader said, which was to slide down holding onto the guide rail.
"Hiss," Dita went down a little and took a quick breath. "This rail is too narrow, I can't hold on to it at all. The cable behind is also covered with oil. I have to slide down quickly!"
It's almost impossible to rub it slowly.
Elevator rails were not designed for people to slide up and down. Trying to use all your strength on them with your two arms would simply not work.
"You'd better hurry up." Downstairs, the old leader's voice came slowly, and it sounded like he had arrived at his destination.
He has been going up and down the elevator shaft for many years and has long been accustomed to the facilities here.
Fortunately, Dita still had some strength in her hands. Although she couldn't find a foothold, at least she could hang on the iron bar with one hand and find other ways to go up and down.
"Go down and look for it," Bai Jinshu said after thinking for a while, "There should be a safety light for the maintenance personnel in the elevator shaft. After the light was turned off, the rack for installing the light should still be there."
“Let me look for it!” Dita said with some effort. “Let me feel it… Damn, what is this thing? It’s over here!”
You can't see anything in the dark, and you can only feel your way around.
"There's a light above your head on the right!" She must have grabbed something with one hand. She took a few breaths with difficulty and then spoke, "There's another one underneath. You can step on the light underneath and slowly squat down. Then, grab the cable behind you with your backhand and jump down a bit, then grab the light stand below..."
Her voice gradually faded away, and then there was another "ding".
"There's a lighting fixture about every 120 or 130 meters," Dita's voice came from below, "Hold on to this and the rope at the back, and you'll be able to get down!"
Then there were several more voices that were getting farther and farther away, and finally, the voice of the old leader came: "Here, catch it."
Dita should have reached the entrance and exit they opened.
"Huh..." She let out a long breath, and the sound of her sitting down exhaustedly on the ground came from the bottom of the elevator shaft.
Although it was extremely difficult, Dita at least found a way for everyone to get to the bottom safely.
The next one is Guan Hongyan.
She took a few deep breaths, followed Dita's instructions, grabbed the iron rod, and began to grope in the dark for the light she had mentioned.
After a while, she must have touched it, and with a few faster "dengdengdeng" sounds, Guan Hongyan moved down quickly.
"Here!" Dita said, "Grab my hand, okay!"
With some effort, she should be able to lift Guan Hongyan up.
"Shit..." She cursed inwardly instead, "It seems my arm is a little dislocated."
Guan Hongyan's voice: "Wait a moment, I'll show you... No, I can't see clearly, I don't dare to do it, Ersi! Ersi, can you reattach an arm?"
Bai Jinshu was standing at the back of the team. When he heard Guan Hongyan's voice, he frowned and said, "Don't move for now. I'll come down and take a look."
He can't reattach a dislocated arm, but Cen Bingqi probably can.
"You go first?" Xiao Tang turned around and asked.
"I'll go first." Bai Jinshu nodded, exchanged positions with Xiao Tang in the dark, and then switched with the few newcomers in front, successfully walking to the front of the team.
The elevator shaft carried a chilly air that was completely different from that in the mezzanine, mixed with the stench and dust from the years-long accumulation of water on the first and second floors below. The moment one smelled it, one's brain went blank.
This smell... this old team leader can tolerate it if he can stay here all day.
Bai Jinshu touched his lower back and made sure that the kitchen knife was securely tucked behind him so that it would not fall out even with any violent movement. Then he confidently reached out and grabbed the iron rod that the team leader had mentioned.
It's a very short iron club, with a slightly rough edge, which makes it very scratchy, and only wide enough for one and a half palms to hold.
Putting your entire body weight on this iron bar is an extreme test of the grip strength of the person holding it.
"one two three."
Bai Jinshu counted to three silently in his heart, and the next second, he grasped the iron rod with one hand and jumped straight down from the platform.
His body felt as if it was floating in the air for a moment, and all the weight was concentrated on that hand. The instantly increased pulling force made him clearly hear a crisp "crack" in his bones.
Fortunately, in the next second, infinite strength seemed to come from this hand.
It was as if something suddenly took over his body, but it couldn't be called a takeover because at this moment, it was still his brain that was thinking.
But his mind became clearer, or rather, at this moment, his feelings about the elevator shaft became more detailed.
It was clearly still the same body, but at this moment, the echo of his breathing, the sound of the wind passing by his ears, the touch of the well wall by his limbs, all of these were instantly converted into some extremely three-dimensional values in his mind at an extremely fast speed.
Then, this extremely dark elevator shaft structure appeared in his mind in a way that was not "seeing".
The elevator was probably at the top, and there was water about ten meters below. The air in the entire well was damp and smelly because of the water.
The hand holding the iron rod was incredibly steady, while the other hand landed precisely on the position of the lamp as if it had known where it would land.
In the pitch-black field of vision, the outline of a somewhat damaged oval lampshade seemed to appear.
The black in front of him seemed to turn into black and grayish white. Bai Jinshu looked around and could vaguely see the shape of the guide rail.
It was a half-palm-wide track nailed close to the wall. There were four half-palm-wide tracks running in parallel, and there was no horizontal structure in sight that could serve as a foothold or a foothold.
Looking to the right, a string of light bulbs had all been destroyed by the previous team. Fortunately, there were still some beams left around the remains of the lighting fixtures that were used to support the lamp stands.
This is most likely the place where Dita and Guan Hongyan stayed just now.
At the same time, his ability to see does not mean that light has been restored here. This should be because Cen Bingqi is controlling this body.
This situation is not normal. Although he used this identity when he came in, but...
"Er Si?" Guan Hongyan's worried voice came from the elevator shaft, "Have you found the landing place for the two of us to get off? Can you get down?"
"Okay," Bai Jinshu frowned slightly, "Wait for me."
After seeing the situation inside the well wall, you can understand that it is not that difficult to climb here. It’s just that because the two people in front can’t see clearly what is here, they missed a lot of handholds and footholds.
Bai Jinshu loosened the iron bar with one hand, and grasped the horizontal bar behind him with his other hand, stepping just on the pulley of the chain on the guide rail.
You can see everything in the dark, and naturally you can also see the scene below the elevator shaft.
The inside of the elevator shaft isn't completely smooth, but as long as you can see, you can find a perfect route to use to reach the lower end.
There was an artificial opening on the wall of the well not far from here. Half of Guan Hongyan's body was sticking out from it, looking towards him.
——Although she probably can’t see anything like this.
"When you get down to the distance of my voice, reach out to the right and hold the rail on the right, and try to reach to the left," she said, probably referring to Dita's route, "and then I will reach out and hold you and pull you up."
"No, I can do it myself," Guan Hongyan heard a somewhat cold rejection, "Stay back a little, don't let me bump into you."
This voice had too distinct a personal characteristic, and she immediately shrank back: "Come here, come here."
It seems that someone who is good at these things has come up with a personality.
It was too dark for her to see what was happening. She could only hear a few light jumping sounds that were in stark contrast to Dita and her, and then a gust of wind blew in front of her.
Someone jumped directly into the opening.
"Okay," Cen Bingqi's voice sounded, "What happened to Dita's arm?"
"It seems to be dislocated..." Guan Hongyan said quickly, "Can you see if you can connect it..."
Before she finished speaking, she heard two "clicks": "That's it."
Cen Bingqi walked a few steps to the side and shouted to the elevator shaft, "You can come down now."
A labored “OK” came from above.
It’s the gym guy from Dita’s team.
"I can't find the location of the light," he said with an echoing voice, "It seems to be a little higher...hiss."
"The light is on the right," Dita instructed in confusion, "Look again, the three of us are down here, try to feel to the right, the light is just below!"
"No, I can't touch it..." The voice was weak.
"A little lower," Guan Hongyan heard Cen Bingqi suddenly say, "Move your hand down a little."
"Okay... okay!" The muscular man let out a relieved sound, "And then? And then on?"
"Use your feet to search to your right. There is another lamp right below this one. Push against the wall to find it..." Dita gave instructions based on her limited memory.
"Left," Guan Hongyan heard Cen Bingqi speak again, "Push to the left, there is a fixed structure of an iron pipe, you can use it for leverage. OK, then squat down, and use your right hand to look down along the guide rail, there is an iron wheel."
"Okay, I found it!" The muscular man said quickly, "Shall we continue?"
"Let go of your left hand, grab the middle cable to use as leverage and slide down a little. Keep your feet still until you hit the next section of the steel pipe fixed structure to use as leverage to stop."
"Okay, I'll give it a try... here we go!"
Following his instructions, the inexperienced bodybuilder actually stumbled down, leaned over and rolled in through the gap using his back to gain leverage.
Although Dita felt something was wrong, she couldn't tell what was wrong.
How did he know where these people were in the elevator shaft? Are there so many footholds and leverage points in the elevator shaft?
It's almost as if you can see it.
Under his arrangement, everyone seemed to have found a place to stay that was specially tailored for them. As long as they followed Ersi's arrangements, they could find the best route every step of the way and finally reach their destination safely.
This wrong feeling reached its climax when Huangmao dropped his grip and almost fell into the water, but was grabbed by Ersi's collar and pulled up.
"That... Ersi," Dita was a little confused when she heard the yellow-haired man's heavy breathing, "Can you see it?"
"Hmm?" She heard a very intriguing answer, "Do you think I can see it?"
"Ah?" Dita was confused for a moment, "No way..."
It’s so dark, how is it possible to see here?
Or rather...
"So you've been to this elevator shaft before?"
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