Chapter 335: Inhuman (143) (1st + 2nd) [VIP]
Not long after, the rest of the people also returned to the building one after another.
Now the two teams were forced to become grasshoppers in the same boat, and since no one was familiar with the current situation of this strange story, everyone had to introduce themselves to each other.
There were five people in the opposing team. In addition to the leader Brother Yin and Xu Zichen, who used the pseudonym Shi Yuan, there were two girls and one boy. The boy who used the whip was called Bi Zhou. He seemed to have a good relationship with Xu Zichen. Just now, the two of them went out together to find the way. The remaining two girls were called Feng Shuang and You Yi. Bai Jinshu could not remember what they looked like before, but now they looked about six or seven years old. They all had pear-shaped hair styles. Maybe because they were young, they looked quite similar at first glance.
These two people seemed to be somewhat at odds with Bi Zhou, the man using the whip. Although they seemed to be maintaining peace on the surface, there was a vague aura of repulsion between them.
A standard rookie team consists of a leader and ten members. They only have four members left now, and the remaining six must have been involved in the previous ghost story.
Thinking of what Xu Zichen blurted out when he saw Xiao Tang's face was not right, "There was an internal conflict in your team", Bai Jinshu and Guan Hongyan looked at each other, tacitly did not ask any more questions, and took the lead in introducing themselves to the other side, and the two sides got to know each other.
Everyone then looked at the building in front of them.
Probably because everyone has turned into children and their height has shrunk, this building, which was already incredibly oppressive in the No Man's Land before, is even more oppressive at this time.
The building that looks like a church is surrounded by a circle of iron railings. The only entrance and exit is the iron gate facing the building. The iron gate is bolted and has no padlock. It is about two or three meters high and looks like it can be pushed open.
Everyone was eager to try it out.
There was fog all around and the sky was overcast. Everyone would hit an iron gate if they took a few steps forward.
"It seems that we have to go in now," Yuan Shanming looked at the building in front of him and subconsciously arranged his team members, "Ersi, why don't you and Xiao Tang try to push..."
His words came to an abrupt end when he saw Bai Jinshu.
hiss……
How come these two people only look like three or four years old?
Yuan Shanming's heart was suddenly filled with guilt for employing child labor.
Although all the newcomers and team leaders present have become children, their ages vary. The youngest is about three or four years old, and the oldest looks about ten years old.
A group of people here introduced themselves in a formal manner. It didn't look like two exploration teams introducing themselves to each other, but more like a group of children in the community playing role-playing games.
The youngest children among the role-playing children are Ersi, Xiao Tang, Huangmao, and Shi Yuan from the opposite team.
The ghost who had been following Ersi looked about four or five years old, but unlike the other three who had adult souls and acted funny and mature when they were introduced seriously, it was obvious that this ghost was not a normal child.
As a ghost story, he already has an invisible sense of oppression, but he has integrated this sense of oppression very well before. His height of more than 1.9 meters and his expressionless face will make people mistakenly think that it is an illusion caused by his appearance the moment they notice him.
But now that he has grown into a child of about four years old, the feeling of oppression that was previously integrated into his appearance suddenly overflowed and turned into a sense of incompatibility and creepy dislocation.
The opposing team members seemed to realize this as well. Bi Zhou, who was using the whip, had already cast several glances at them and lowered his voice to say something to Shi Yuan beside him.
If the opponent knew that this wasn't actually his team member, but a weird story...
Yuan Shanming's eyes flashed, and without saying anything, he quickly looked away.
Apart from these three youngest people, most of the rest were around seven years old, including Nian Yu and Hong Conghua from their own team, and the opposing team leader Brother Yin and his remaining three team members, all of whom looked to be around seven years old.
And he, Yuan Shanming, although he didn't know why he was also dragged into this weird story as the team leader and even had his body shrunk, he looked like the oldest of them all, estimated to be around ten years old and about 1.4 meters tall, taller than anyone else, and his voice was much more mature when he spoke.
He subconsciously followed the way they had gotten along before and ordered two team members who looked only four or five years old to clear the way. Looking at the two "kids" in front of him who were only about four years old, Yuan Shanming fell into a strange sense of guilt and silence.
"Brother Yuan? What are you pushing?" Xiao Tang obviously didn't get Yuan Shanming's weird sense of guilt. He rolled up his sleeves as usual and took two steps forward. "Push this door?"
As we approached the iron gate, the contrast became even stronger.
Xiao Tang's appearance is very deceptive. Although she used to have a mouth that could make people angry and a skill that could make everyone gasp, she surprisingly looks harmless. There is no muscle on her body, and there is no sign of training at all. It is incredible to wonder where she gets so much energy every day.
Now that she has become smaller, the three or four-year-old Xiao Tang seems to be even shorter than the bolt of the iron gate. When she raises her hand and stands on tiptoe to pull the bolt and push the door, one would even doubt whether she is tall enough to reach the door lock.
Can't reach.
Xiao Tang tiptoed and groped for a long time, but still couldn't find it after jumping a few times in front of everyone. He kicked the door in frustration: "Damn it!"
"Ahem..." Yuan Shanming was strangely silent for a few seconds, "Let me do it."
Xiao Tang gnashed his teeth and stepped aside, cursing: "What does this nonsense mean? You're jealous of my height and you want to chop off my legs? It's nothing! Bah, bah, bah!"
"What are you looking at! You were 1.80 meters tall when you were born?" She glared at everyone, gritted her teeth at the weak comforting voice of the yellow-haired man, and her face looked gloomy, as if she wanted to silence everyone who saw her jump up and couldn't find the bolt just now.
Everyone's eyes were focused on Yuan Shanming. Yuan Shanming carefully raised his arm to unbolt the door, then gently pushed back the iron door.
The iron door shook and was pushed open silently, and nothing happened.
"Let's go?" Xiao Tang looked at everyone.
"Let's go." Bai Jinshu nodded and was the first to step in.
When everyone saw this building in the No Man's Land before, what impressed them most was the black triangular roof. Only when everyone got closer did they realize that the actual proportion of the building was very abnormal. The roof accounted for about one-third of the building's height, and it looked like it was built randomly by someone who had no idea about the building.
The building looks larger when closer and smaller when farther away. It seems to have normal proportions when you are far away, but when you get closer, it immediately starts to look a little weird.
Because of the strange architectural style, it is difficult to tell the purpose of the building.
"What kind of place is this?" You Yi from the opposite team lowered her voice, a little nervous, "It doesn't look like it's unmaintained. Is anyone living here?"
Although the style makes it impossible to identify the purpose of the building, there are no broken glass windows on the exterior of the building. Although there are trees, the yard is clean without fallen leaves and dust. There is also a small garden that looks like someone is taking care of it. This place must be taken care of by someone.
"It doesn't necessarily mean that anyone lives there," the yellow-haired man said weakly, "This place is eerie... It feels like something out of a horror movie."
"Thank you so much for your comfort..." Xiao Tang said with a forced smile, "I would rather someone else live here now."
The weather was gloomy, and there was thick fog outside that could not be dispersed. In the center of the fog was a building that looked like a church.
This is a pretty standard horror movie opening.
Those who push the door directly and enter the building are just cannon fodder seeking death in horror movies.
"We're not going to fight, are we..." Xu Zichen muttered, looking around the yard, "Does this count as breaking into a private residence?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the door of the building in front of him was pushed open from the inside, and a middle-aged woman in black clothes walked out of the door.
"Fuck..." Xiao Tang lowered his voice and gritted his teeth, "Are you such a bad-mouthed person?"
Xu Zichen didn't expect that someone would come out of the house as soon as he finished speaking. He said in a low voice with an embarrassed look on his face: "At least now we can prove that there is someone living inside."
The person who walked out of the room was a middle-aged woman who looked to be around 40 years old. She had a very gentle look and was wearing a black skirt that was very long to her ankles. The expression on her face did not seem like anger at seeing someone breaking in, but rather some pity and pity.
"Hey..." Everyone saw her staring at them for a long time, and suddenly sighed, "Come in."
"Where are you from?" She walked outside as if it was her usual routine, picked up the child who looked the youngest, and asked softly as she walked.
Before Xiao Tang could react, he was picked up by the woman. His face was full of shock and confusion, and he mouthed to his companions behind him frantically: [What should I do? What should I do?]
"We came from..." Bai Jinshu paused and said vaguely, "a very far place."
"Forget about it, we'll talk about it later." The woman looked back at the person who answered, and walked into the building with Xiao Tang in one hand, "Come in first, I'll ask others to get you some food first."
Although we were not very clear about the current situation, it seemed that this middle-aged woman had no bad intentions. We followed her into the building and found that there were actually a lot of people in the building.
There were children about their age inside.
There was no electric light in the room, so it was dark and a little scary. Once inside, there was a very tall lobby. Many children about their age were looking at them. Their eyes were brightened by the light coming in from the open door, glowing like an owl's eyes in the dark.
The middle-aged woman walked in holding Xiao Tang, and another woman dressed exactly like her came out. Seeing so many people following her, she asked in surprise: "Where did all these children come from?"
"They found it in the yard themselves," the middle-aged woman holding Xiao Tang whispered, "They are all poor children. The youngest is three or four years old, and the oldest is only ten years old. Is there any extra food in the kitchen? Let's heat up something for them first."
"There's no extra food in the kitchen..." The other woman paused, "Don't bring it back. We can't even afford to live on our own, and you're still going back to take care of the children!"
"If you don't bring them, they will die outside," the woman holding Xiao Tang replied, "If it doesn't work, just give them my share."
"Is that enough for you alone?" the other woman said unhappily, "Okay, put it down first. I won't eat tonight, and don't bring the kids back in the future."
"What's going on?" Xu Zichen came over at some point and lowered his voice, "Why does this place look like an orphanage? Did she think we were orphans?"
"I don't know," Huang Mao also answered in a low voice, "but there are people watching us all the time."
"Next to them?" Xu Zichen turned his head and found a few children sitting in the corner among a group of children.
Unlike the numbness or rejection in the eyes of other children, the eyes of these people were almost a little excited.
"Are these people also newcomers from the investment bank who were pulled in?" Guan Hongyan took a few glances and said in a low voice, "We have to find an opportunity to contact them later."
This kind of situation without any previous information at the beginning may be unfamiliar to others, but it is very familiar to Bai Jinshu, Guan Hongyan and Xu Zichen who are often on the first exploration team. When they entered the unknown space at the foundation, everything about the space, the identity of the entrant, including what rules and what monsters there are, are all unknown.
Quickly acquiring information from an unfamiliar environment and then integrating into one's identity is a basic skill for every Foundation exploration team member.
Apart from the fact that everyone has inexplicably turned into children, which is a bit troublesome, the rest of the situation is basically the same as their previous procedures in the Foundation.
In just a few minutes, the three of them roughly analyzed what was going on in this strange story.
This place is most likely a welfare home or an orphanage, just like the religious welfare homes that often appear in movies. The two middle-aged people in charge of the children here are also dressed as nuns. They seem to have tacitly accepted that the dozen or so strange children who appeared in the yard were from outside who came to seek refuge with them.
In their understanding, there must be some unknown unrest happening outside, including but not limited to war, famine, or natural disasters. Such large-scale disasters have caused the emergence of a large number of orphans, and some orphans have found this welfare home to seek a chance of survival.
"I guess if we want to get out of here," Xu Zichen looked around, "we must find a reasonable reason and channel."
There was fog all over the outside of the orphanage, and they were forcibly brought in by a building that was inexplicably approaching. If they wanted to leave this weird story, the most likely solution at the moment was to leave from here.
It is obviously impossible to walk out of the fog directly. They have tried it, so there should be other solutions.
The woman holding Xiao Tang said a few words to the other person, then put Xiao Tang on the ground and led them to a place deep in the building that was probably a cafeteria.
"Don't be afraid," she said as she walked, praising the oldest Yuan Shanming in a gentle voice, as if coaxing a child, "Did you lead your brothers and sisters to find this place? You are such a responsible brother. You should take good care of your brothers and sisters here, okay?"
"Uh..." Yuan Shanming was treated like this for the first time, and he didn't know how to respond. He could only stammer awkwardly, "Okay, okay."
The middle-aged woman settled them in this place and went to the kitchen to get them food. Everyone finally got a chance to communicate.
"Have you heard of this strange story?" Yuan Shanming quickly asked Brother Yin across from him, "What's the situation with this building?"
"No," Brother Yin frowned, "This is not a weird story on my route."
The ecology of the No Man's Land is different from that of other areas. The situation of each ghost story is that the information and resources are not interconnected.
"Tsk..." Xiao Tang observed the surroundings and tugged at his collar awkwardly. "This place should be an orphanage. I just heard those two people say that there are already enough orphans here."
She had just been picked up as the youngest among a group of children, and now she felt uncomfortable all over.
"The kids in the room just now looked really creepy," Xiao Tang had a higher field of vision after being picked up, so he could see more than them. "They were really dull and scary, staring at us straight, and it seemed like they really hated us."
"This is normal..." Bai Jinshu tapped his finger on the table, "The food we eat now is all saved by those two adults. I guess the orphanage is running out of food. We will take away their food when we enter here. If you were in my place, you would hate the newcomer too."
"Having said that... I always feel something is wrong," Xiao Tang shook his shoulders, "What is going on here? Is this really a normal weird story? Why is the live broadcast gone?"
After being in the Novice Village for so long, the live broadcast has almost never been interrupted except when it is in other people’s nightmares.
Could this place also be someone's dream? As long as we break the dream, we can leave?
"It's normal for live broadcasts to be disconnected in the No Man's Land," Brother Yin suddenly interrupted, "This area is too large, and the signal is not good in remote places. Sometimes live broadcasts will suddenly be disconnected. Generally, it will be fine after a while, or when you leave this area."
The other party is the old leader of the No Man's Land, and of course he is more experienced than them, the newcomers.
"But this place is definitely not normal," he paused, his anxiety obvious on his face, "Strange stories in a no-man's land shouldn't be like this."
It is unknown what the ghost stories in the no-man's land look like, but the appearance of a building in an uninhabited area is a very abnormal behavior.
"Could it be that it was attracted by the two ghosts from the no-man's land that you brought before?" Feng Shuang from the opposing team asked bluntly.
"I'm not sure..." Xiao Tang scratched his face, "But this strange story doesn't look like it will kill anyone."
That's true.
Although this welfare home looked eerie and the orphans inside were unfriendly to them, there were at least two nuns in charge who looked very kind.
If this is indeed a strange story caused by the two ghosts in the no-man's land, then how could they die here?
"We must be on guard against others," Bai Jinshu shook his head. "Maybe this place is like the City of the Dead or the City of Violence, one way during the day and another way at night? Have you forgotten the villagers in [Revenge]? When we entered on the first day, we were even their biological children. Could you have imagined that they would kill us on the last day?"
Xiao Tang shook his head sincerely.
"You said before that those children looked particularly dull and scary," Bai Jinshu said thoughtfully, "I suspect they may have eaten the food here."
Children of seven or eight years old are full of energy and are annoying to everyone. If they get together, they will just cause chaos. Even if they don't have enough food to eat, they shouldn't be unusually dull.
Their dullness is more like a pathological slow reaction, and it is hard not to think that it is caused by some medicine.
"That makes sense," Guan Hongyan was familiar with this situation. There happened to be no live broadcast signal at the moment, so she didn't worry about being noticed by the audience or other people in the investment industry, so she took the initiative to speak up. "We'd better not eat the food they send over later. Find an excuse to hide away first. It's too normal here during the day. We shouldn't sleep at night, or something might happen."
Everyone nodded and agreed with her.
"And those few people who were very excited when they saw us just now," Bai Jinshu added, "We don't know what this strange story is, maybe it's on their route."
"Oh, yes, Brother Yin, do you know the leaders of other teams?" Xu Zichen also quickly asked, "There are a few kids in that group just now who don't look like kids from here. I suspect they might be from other teams."
They were all wearing scaled-down windbreakers or off-road suits, and one could tell at a glance that they were also shrunken newcomers in the investment bank.
“The other leaders…” Brother Yin frowned, “I don’t know many of them, but if they see us with excitement on our faces, it must not be a weird talk on their route.”
"Why?" Huangmao was at a loss.
"All teams in the No Man's Land are in competition," Brother Yin let out a long sigh, "No one will welcome people from other teams to interfere with their own exploration of strange stories. If they see us with excitement instead of disgust after entering an unknown strange story, then it means there is a big problem."
This only shows that they didn't know what this strange story was about, and they didn't even know how to leave, so when they saw a new team coming in, they were so excited that they thought they had found a savior.
Brother Yin’s words came true.
Within a few minutes after the middle-aged woman came with their food, several children who looked unusually lively quietly ran into the room.
Running in the front was a girl with a ponytail who looked about seven or eight years old.
"You are the new team in the No Man's Land! Is this a strange story on your route?" She spoke and shocked everyone, "We are a team that entered here by mistake. We have been here for nearly ten days. Do you know how to get out?"
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