Chapter 336: Inhuman (144) (1st + 2nd) [VIP]
Everyone looked at each other, Brother Yin slowly exhaled and said sincerely: "I don't know."
"Huh?" One of the older kids took a step forward in disbelief. "Isn't this also a strange story on your route? You guys weren't also..."
"By what?" This was too obvious, and there was a hint of something hidden. Bai Jinshu narrowed his eyes, pushed away the food on the table, and jumped off the stool. "This strange story is not on your route. Are you also dragged into it inexplicably like us?"
His age has now been compressed to three or four years old, and his height is much shorter than those older children who look seven or eight years old. But for some reason, when Bai Jinshu jumped down from the stool and raised his head to speak, the players in front of him unconsciously showed him inexplicable respect.
This is specifically reflected in the body language of this group of people.
After he jumped off the stool, he was a head shorter than the group of people and could only look at them with his head raised.
Bai Jinshu himself had no idea about this posture, but the older girl in the front had a completely different attitude towards her and towards Brother Yin. She glanced at Bai Jinshu, subconsciously showing a little surprise on her face, then half-knelt on the ground and looked at him straight in the eyes and said, "Yes, we were also pulled down inexplicably. We were on our route and were about to stop for a while when this building appeared in front of us."
Since the other party was not originally scheduled to join this strange story team, they are brothers in distress.
The faces of the people opposite suddenly fell, and the girl also sighed.
The opposing team was also drawn in using the same operation.
The seven or eight-year-old girl who spoke first was the leader of the opposing team, named Zhou Ju. She introduced herself as a team leader who had been leading a team in the No Man's Land for one or two years. Although she was not very experienced, she had accumulated several stable routes, which ensured that the points she earned each time she led a team were enough to pay for the remuneration.
This time, she brought her ten team members into the Novice Village as usual, and then chose a route with the most ghost stories during this time period according to the schedule, and then led her team members into the no-man's land.
"We never strayed from the route from the beginning to the end," Zhou Ju scratched his head and simply sat on the ground. "I have walked that road many times, so it is impossible for us to go wrong. We walked down according to the original plan and set up tents to repair. At this time, a building that I had never seen before appeared in an open space in the distance."
A church-style building with a black spire.
Zhou Ju had never seen this thing before, and her teammates became curious all of a sudden. After everyone set up the tent, several people in the team suggested going over to take a look.
Ghost stories in the no-man's land are a resource. The more ghost story routes and information you know, the more room for error a team leader has. Zhou Ju has only led the team here for more than a year. In terms of experience and qualifications, she is not as experienced as the old team members here. This newly appeared building is not far from the route she has. Not to mention the team members, Zhou Ju herself also wants to explore it.
The eleven people hit it off immediately, packed up their things, and headed towards the building.
"At first, we planned not to go in," Zhou Ju said frankly, "The ten new players I had this time were not very strong, so I didn't plan to let them in."
"The ghost story materials in the hands of the No Man's Land team leader are all compiled by the team members," Brother Yin saw the confusion on the faces of several members of Yuan Shanming's team, and took the initiative to explain, "The team leader has protection immunity and cannot enter the ghost story. All the content related to the ghost story must be brought out by the team members who have completed the ghost story. How many routes a team leader can have depends mainly on his leadership time and the level of his former team members."
Therefore, the older the team leader, the more popular they are, and the longer a team leader has worked in an area, the more connections he or she will have.
Just like Yuan Shanming can get the soul-returning incense that other team leaders cannot get in the City of the Dead, in the no-man's land, the old team leader may have ten or even a hundred times more routes than the newcomer.
"You're a newcomer?" Zhou Ju glanced at Yuan Shanming in surprise. This was probably an experiment in a no-man's land, and other people had to take the initiative to introduce this kind of information. This could only mean that the team leader was even newer than her. "So do you two know each other?"
It is very difficult for new team leaders to gain a foothold in the No Man's Land. The entry threshold is much higher than other areas. Unless someone is leading them or there is trouble in other areas, most new team leaders will not choose this place.
"No," Brother Yin didn't seem to want to talk about this topic, and casually said, "Our two teams just ran into each other by chance. Go on, did you go to see the building, and then you were swept in?"
"Well," Zhou Ju also knew that sharing his own experience would help other team leaders to judge the situation to the greatest extent, and he quickly continued, "I originally wanted to go over and take note of the location, but as soon as we got close, the building..."
"It's moving, right?" Before she could finish, Xiao Tang interrupted her and complained, "As soon as you got close, the building started moving quickly, and then it enveloped everyone. Then you opened your eyes and turned into children? Damn, this thing really attacks indiscriminately. As long as you get close, you will be sucked in."
"Yes," Zhou Ju nodded. After he finished telling his story and found that the dozen people on the other side were just as unlucky as them, his depression was relieved. "It seems that you are the same?"
"Well, our two teams ran into each other head-on," Brother Yin said, "and we had a fight. Before anyone could react, we were all dragged in together."
"Which direction did you take to enter this strange story? G01 or G02?" He suddenly looked at Zhou Ju and asked two terms that Bai Jinshu was not familiar with.
"Near D05," Zhou Ju also answered with a number that they also couldn't understand, "Go from the direction of F11."
"So..." Brother Yin pondered for a few seconds, "Then this strange story has hardly moved in at least ten days."
The serial numbers they mentioned were probably some area divisions within the no-man's land. Brother Yin asked this question to confirm the direction of this strange story.
As soon as the two sides heard the news, the strangeness of this strange story immediately became apparent.
"Let's summarize what's wrong with this place first? I feel like there's something wrong with this weird talk," Brother Yin pushed up his glasses that were shrinking in proportion to his face and looked at the other two team leaders present, "I'll go first?"
Everyone nodded, and Brother Yin spoke first: "First, it hasn't moved for ten days. Generally speaking, this kind of situation only occurs at fixed stop points along the ghost story's wandering route. If this is its stop point, then this location is very close to the route we both have. It's impossible that the two of us have never seen this building before."
"There are only two possibilities. One, it is very likely that it appeared suddenly. Two, it is a ghost that was wandering in other areas before. Due to some accident, it changed its route and wandered to our area. This is the first time it stopped."
Everyone nodded.
"Secondly, it doesn't seem to need to be triggered," Yuan Shanming also thought, "or rather, its triggering method is extremely simple. For example, maybe approaching the building itself is a trigger, so when we approach, it automatically triggers the strange story, causing it to move over and suck them into the strange story."
"In this case, there should be more than just our three teams entering here..." Bai Jinshu continued, "If getting close to it will allow entry, then all teams that approach it should be sucked in. That means quite a few people must have entered here along the way."
"Could it be that this ghost story has other ways to trigger?" the yellow-haired man answered.
"That's also possible. Let's continue to summarize. Thirdly, our three team leaders have all come in," Zhou Ju held up his chin, "which means the team leader's protection immunity has no effect on this strange story?"
"Hiss..." The three team leaders looked at each other, and their expressions clearly looked a little troubled.
The three teams were all dragged in in this inexplicable way. No one knew what was going on in this place, and no one knew whether this strange story could be solved. More importantly...
This orphanage is clearly not safe.
"Sister Zhou Ju," Zhou Ju's team member called her. He looked older than Zhou Ju, so calling her sister looked a little weird. "Aren't we going to be trapped here together?"
"Stuck here?" Bai Jinshu looked up at the people behind Zhou Ju and said in a strange tone, "Aren't newcomers in the Novice Village automatically kicked out after fifteen days? Even if you can't find any way out, you can get out after fifteen days, right?"
"Obviously, that's the problem," Zhou Ju slowly raised his head and said the second most impactful sentence since everyone met today, "Today is the twenty-fifth day since this team entered the Novice Village."
"They haven't been kicked out of the Novice Village yet."
"The time ratio in this strange story is abnormal. We have been here for ten days, but it is very likely that only a few minutes have passed in the outside world. Many of us have disappeared in these ten days, and the rest are trapped here."
*
Zhou Ju and his team members did not dare to stay here for too long. They roughly exchanged information about the situation before entering here, determined that this strange talk was not normal, and then quickly left the restaurant.
Before leaving, Zhou Ju gave them a few instructions: "Most of the children here have numb faces and do not react to other people's behavior. We suspect it may be related to the medicine they take every night. Remember not to take it."
After Zhou Ju left, several people in Brother Yin's team gathered together and talked about something. Yuan Shanming winked at the others, and everyone gathered together and lowered their voices and asked, "Do you think what Zhou Ju said is feasible?"
"It's okay..." Xiao Tang seemed to be thinking about something. "She didn't have to lie to us. If the way she came in was different from ours, she might have been lying. But if it's exactly the same now, it can't be a lie."
"What about the information she mentioned about the time ratio here being abnormal and everyone being trapped here?" Guan Hongyan frowned. "I remember someone also said the same thing about the nightmare realm we entered before, but at that time it was said that all team members would be teleported back when the time came, and only the team leader would be forced to stay there..."
At that time, everyone planned to leave the City of Violence from the hotel because of this statement, and almost failed to trigger the second stage of [Nightmare].
Although the details of everyone's illusions are different, the general direction is similar. It is nothing more than using this method to arouse everyone's tension and then trick them into leaving there.
Could this strange story also follow the same routine?
"It's possible, but now I'm more inclined to believe that they really can't get out," Bai Jinshu touched his chin thoughtfully, "After all... live streaming is restricted now, and no one knows what this weird talk is. We wanted to trigger the nightmare before because the nightmare was S, but what about this weird talk now? If it's just a low-level B-level or C-level, then there's no need to complete it. For most team leaders, the failure to trigger this unknown little weird talk is just right, and it won't delay the next trip after they get out."
That's true.
Time is tight in the Novice Village, with only fifteen days left. Most team leaders still think that they should take their team members to do high-rated ghost stories within their capabilities as much as possible, so as to obtain high points.
While they were discussing, the middle-aged woman who looked very kind came in again and told them that this place would be their home from now on, and then took them to see their room.
It is called a "room", but in fact it is probably a dormitory converted from a storage room.
There are densely packed beds from one end to the other in the dormitory. The ones closer to the front are still beds, while the ones closer to the back are "beds" made of long benches and cabinets.
The dormitories were allocated according to age, and Yuan Shanming, who looked the oldest among everyone, was forced to live in another room.
The youngest few people were also taken to another smaller room.
In this "orphanage" converted from a church, there are about two to three hundred children living, most of whom are seven or eight years old, living in three large rooms at the end of the second floor.
Due to limited conditions, the rooms here can only meet basic living needs. The wall paint is peeling off and there are faint gray mold spots in the corners. Bai Jinshu took a look at the "bed" he was assigned to. This bed seemed to be put together temporarily, and even the sheets on it looked like some fabrics found temporarily.
The beds around were a bit crooked, and there were obvious marks of the bed legs on the ground, obviously they had been moved just now, and moved more compactly.
While they were eating just now, the two middle-aged women were probably preparing beds for them.
The middle-aged woman probably thought that they must have been frightened along the way, so she spoke to them in a tone like coaxing a child all the way. Before leaving, she gently kissed Xiao Tang and Guan Hongyan on the forehead several times.
When the woman came closer, Xiao Tang almost hit her subconsciously. Fortunately, Guan Hongyan saw it quickly and grabbed her hand, thus avoiding the accident.
In addition, this middle-aged woman is just as Zhou Ju said, "a gentle and kind person on the surface" who loves children very much and is especially caring for younger children. It seems that most of the children in this orphanage live here because of her.
It seemed that the children in the orphanage were sitting in a daze in the former church hall on the first floor except for meal time. Bai Jinshu looked down through the window. There was no one in the large yard. The fog in the distance blocked his sight. He could not see anything vaguely. His field of vision was limited to this small square yard.
According to Zhou Ju and others, this is not an "orphanage". To be more precise, this place should be called a shelter.
"It's a mess outside, it seems like a war is going on, people are getting hurt every day. This is not a professional orphanage, and supplies are very tight. After the war started, it was ignored by both sides because it was a religious place, and it became a rare truce zone." Seeing the middle-aged woman leave, Zhou Ju and the others quietly slipped upstairs again and quickly exchanged the current information with everyone.
Zhou Ju and his team have been here for more than ten days and know the situation in this shelter better than they do.
"We don't know the names of the two middle-aged women, but we can only call one the good girl and the other the woman with the bun-haired hair. The good girl is the one who brought you in before. She often risked her life to go out and rescue children herself, and she was seriously injured several times. After that, the more serious woman with the bun-haired hair didn't let her take the initiative to rescue people."
But they couldn’t just ignore the children who appeared in the yard, and their three teams were brought in by the good people as children who “ran to the shelter in order to survive.”
"Do you know what the situation is outside?" Guan Hongyan asked.
"In the more than ten days we have been here, we have heard that the war is very fierce and most of the adults have been involved. The older and more sensible children have also participated in it, so only these children between the ages of four and eight are left," Zhou Ju said. "I suspect this may be the reason why there are only children of this age here, and we have become children."
Three or four years old is the limit of being able to move on one's own. Any younger would not be able to cross the war and reach this truce zone.
Seven or eight years old is the limit for not participating in the battle. If they are older, they must participate.
So most of the children here are between five and seven years old, occasionally there are some older ones around nine or ten years old, but there are no older ones.
"I suspect that the age change is related to the ability of the entrants themselves. The more powerful the people are, the more pressure they will receive after entering here," Zhou Ju said his guess. "In our team, basically the newcomers with stronger combat power are younger after entering here, and the ones who are less good at fighting are older."
No wonder they had that expression after seeing Bai Jinshu before.
Zhou Ju's team was indeed of average quality as she said. The youngest member of the team was a girl with short hair, about five years old, and the other team members were all about six or seven years old.
“Originally, there were a few ten-year-olds,” the short-haired girl said softly, “but they all disappeared.”
"Missing?" Yuan Shanming was a little confused. "Did you disappear when you were trying to find a way out?"
"No," Zhou Ju shook his head with an unpleasant expression, "He disappeared right here, in this shelter."
Zhou Ju said before that there were eleven of them entering together, but now there are only six people left in their team, and the remaining five team members have all disappeared in this shelter.
"In the beginning, we also tried to get out of here. The shelter was surrounded by all kinds of fog. From time to time, we could hear the sound of gunfire from various battles in the fog at night. After entering the fog and walking forward for a distance, we would be teleported back to the entrance of the shelter."
After Zhou Ju and his team were forced to enter the shelter, they made many attempts.
"We tried many ways, including but not limited to digging tunnels, hiding in the cargo boxes of vehicles leaving here to get supplies, or trying to use some simple wing suit flying equipment to leave from above, but none of them worked," Zhou Ju said softly, "It seems that there is an invisible line near this shelter. Once you cross that line, you will be immediately teleported to the gate. We can't get out of here no matter what."
"And at this time..."
The first missing person appeared.
"We suspected at first that the conditions here might be different during the day and at night. We might not be able to find a way out during the day but could find a way out at night," said an older boy in the opposite team. "But after our age was compressed, we simply couldn't stay up late."
They are at the age when they are growing up. They feel sleepy at a certain time. Their eyelids are drooping and they stumble when they walk. It is too difficult for them to muster up their energy and find a way to leave here.
The only ones who could remain energetic at night were the newcomers who were not too old because they did not have enough fighting power. Everyone's hopes were placed on those few people at that time.
The first people to go out were two boys whose age was reduced to ten years old. They climbed over the wall in the middle of the night and tried to see if they could get out of here in the night fog, but they failed.
The next day they did not give up and tried to leave the tunnel at night.
During the time of digging the tunnel, everyone tried wingsuit flying and hiding in trucks, but all failed without exception.
During the day when the tunnel was dug, the attempt failed again, and at night, the two men tried to enter it again.
At one or two o'clock in the morning, the entire shelter fell into sleep, and the two men tried to enter the tunnel. Then there was no news from them anymore, and they disappeared completely in it.
"Could it be that the two of them have already gone out?" The yellow-haired man scratched his head. "Because they can't come back after going out, and you said there's a time difference here, maybe once they went out, the time was up and they were teleported out of the Novice Village, so they can't be found anymore?"
"We thought so at first, so someone volunteered the next night to try to get out of this weird story. In order to ensure the credibility of the result, there were two other people who went with him."
"Then what?" Xu Zichen asked with concern.
"Then he showed up at the entrance of the shelter. You can't get out of that tunnel at night," Zhou Ju let out a breath, "and the person who got out that night, we watched him go into the dormitory and lie on the bed."
"The next day, he was gone too."
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