Chapter 354: Inhuman (1621) (1st + 2nd) [VIP]
Ghost stories are all formed by some kind of pain that cannot be let go. The more people repeat its pain, the more its pain will be relieved. Some explorers whose performance is very much to their liking will get high scores.
Among the many ghost stories, there are occasionally some special beings. Perhaps just like the protection mechanism of the human body, overly painful experiences will be automatically forgotten by them. Hang Yiqing is such a special undead.
He forgot why he showed up.
The Novice Village has existed for too long, and the No Man's Land is too vast. No one knows when it appeared, and why it was born. Every day, countless undead spirits are born, countless ghost stories appear, countless ghosts die, and countless humans pass away. The birth of a ghost story that has forgotten why it became a ghost story is really not a big news.
The ghost stories in No Man's Land spend their entire lives running around in their own pain. After staying with other ghost stories for a long time, even Hang Yiqing sometimes wonders, could it be that his pain is actually forgetting itself?
The one who believes that forgetting is painful will naturally forget why he is in pain.
He just felt that he was different from others. His memory was too empty. Unlike his friends, his calm skin was always bubbling with fire that would burst out and devour them in the next second.
The human team entered the ghost stories of their friends, climbing on cliffs, escaping from a sea of fire, being chased by wild beasts, and struggling for a life that was out of reach. At these times, those ghost story friends would stop, sigh lightly, and say to him, "I feel much better."
The concept of pain was vague and distant in his consciousness. Occasionally, he would become interested in those humans who were struggling in the strange stories of his friends.
These special people can feel the pain of others and share this pain.
The uninhabited area is vast and sparsely populated. Every ghost story is as hurried as going to the market. Day after day and year after year, they repeat the same path that they can't get out of. They rarely communicate with others. He is curious about the humans outside. Why would they leave the place where they were born and go to the human settlement for the first time?
Human cities are much more interesting than no-man's land, and human beings are much more meaningful than ghost stories. Whether innocent, despicable, kind, or ugly, everyone is alive. They are not trapped in a cycle of day after day; every day when they open their eyes is a new day.
For the undead who had never seen a human settlement, this was simply a new life they had never encountered before.
There are actually living beings whose lives are different every day.
As an undead whose appearance is no different from that of humans, he can blend in with the crowd naturally. The only problem is that in other areas, he will always be recognized by his kind. Compared with other ghosts in the no-man's land who are used to his "special ghost", the ghosts in human settlements seem to be even more unreasonable.
Being immersed in this repetitive pain for a long time has caused them to harbor a lot of hatred towards humans who do not have to repeat the pain and have not experienced pain.
Naturally, I also have feelings for Hang Yiqing.
So at this time, an area that was said to belong only to humans and had no undead existence - the City of Violence, naturally appeared in his target area.
Lao Guan and the gang were a little unexpected.
I don't know how it happened, it just seemed to be natural. This person who came to Zijie on the same day as him had fought with him a few times, and he unilaterally and naturally thought that they were family. Hang Yiqing, who originally planned to stay for a few years and then leave, inexplicably stayed, and then inexplicably became a closer relationship than family, inexplicably forced to raise a child, and inexplicably formed a gang.
All the things we learned in powerful human families, in orderly human cities, and in a treacherous human society are of no use in this place.
A dozen years or so is just a moment for the undead, so accidents happen especially quickly.
Perhaps Hang Yiqing himself could not have imagined that a strange story born out of forgetfulness would actually have something that could not be forgotten.
The moment the white smoke mixed with the scorching breath of the fire hit his face, suddenly something that had never been loose shook violently.
At that moment he knew that something was destined to be revived from his life.
He was completely awakened, he understood what the ghost story could never let go of, and the genes in his bones began to revive hopelessly. The next second, he would see everyone repeat his pain, and only when he saw more people suffering would he feel more relaxed, and the fire burning in his heart, the regret that was repeatedly pulled, and the hopeless hatred would be relieved.
This scene seemed to have happened a long time ago, but it also seemed to have happened yesterday. Something was stirring under his skin, ready to burst out. So he looked up at the fake who had replaced the child: "If you don't leave now, I can't guarantee that you can leave."
"You can walk freely here without dragging others to share your pain," Hang Yiqing fixed his eyes on Huai Jiamu, "I'll give you some advice from someone who has experienced it."
It was hard to tell whether his tone was a suggestion or a mockery: "If you don't want to become like most ghost stories, it's better to stay away from the things you care about."
"Thank you," Bai Jinshu stepped forward and said politely, "but our situations are a little different."
Huai Jiamu was not a ghost story born here, he just occupied the body of one of the ghost stories. Hang Yiqing suddenly said so much probably out of good intentions, but this kind of good intentions did not apply to them.
In order to proceed with the future cooperation, it is better to make it clear.
"Uh... that," Guan Hongyan interrupted, "this guy is not from here. He is from outside like us."
"It's a bit complicated to explain... Tsk," she thought about how to explain the fixed attributes and the foundation without making the two weirdos think that they are all space organizations and foundation investments are the same, "So we are the executors of justice?"
"Pfft..." Xu Zichen couldn't hold it in any longer, "Can you at least use some normal words?"
"Then tell me," Guan Hongyan rolled her eyes, "explain."
The fixed attributes and the foundation matter are all a big pit. Although their main purpose of coming here is revenge, the essence is still commercial competition, and they want to bring down the other party's organization for the sake of their own organization.
After all, without the full cooperation of the foundation, they would not be able to enter this place. Xu Zichen, who was able to blow up the Gu field by himself and was absorbed into the investment bank, is a person of extraordinary talent.
Making it too clear that everyone comes from the foundation may make people think that their motives are not pure.
"I..." Xu Zichen had been forced to do something wrong twice in a row, and he had never missed Yun Guang so much. "Just think that the investment bank has a grudge against us, and we are here to take revenge by borrowing the identity of newcomers. He may have had an accident."
As the King of Gu, what he said was quite convincing.
The existence of the Gu farm is no big secret here. Hang Yiqing probably knows how they were created. It is normal for the Gu King to have a grudge against the Foundation.
"Well," Hang Yiqing's expression remained unchanged, but his eyes were still fixed on Huai Jiamu. He repeated calmly, "I still insist on my suggestion. It's up to you whether you listen to it or not."
"Thank you, big brother." Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit strange, Huangmao came out urgently to smooth things over. "Brother Hang, you are such a good person. Thank you for giving our big brother some advice. But I have some questions to ask. Isn't it that ghost stories appear because of pain?..."
"I miss Yun Guang so much..." Seeing that the atmosphere was becoming more and more awkward, Guan Hongyan said weakly, not knowing what to do.
"Me too..." Xu Zichen said sadly.
Neither of them is at all suited to foreign affairs.
And here, Cen Bingqi, who is good at negotiation...
It was Cen Bingqi who made the atmosphere awkward.
After being exposed, Huang Mao felt as calm as if he was running naked. He approached Hang Yiqing and said, "Brother Hang, why do many strange stories help investment banks copy newcomers?"
The emergence of ghost stories is due to the pain that cannot be digested by one person, so they have nothing to do with the emergence of the copy factory. If this is the case, why would they cooperate with the investment bank to copy new people?
If ghost stories and investment guilds have a cooperative relationship, then as a ghost storyteller with considerable strength at the time, it is impossible that Hang Yiqing had not been notified. He only noticed something when the child he had raised was replaced.
And if the ghost stories and investment firms have no cooperative relationship, that would be even more strange. Why would they cooperate with something that does not benefit them at all?
Huangmao's question quickly diverted everyone's attention. After Hang Yiqing finished speaking to Huai Jiamu, he lay back down with his head propped up, as if the person who had spoken so much before was not him.
The question asked by Huangmao did require explanation, so he nudged Lao Guan with his elbow, as if to say, "I'm too lazy to say it, so let you say it."
"It's not that the ghost stories are helping the investment banks to copy," Lao Guan took over the responsibility of explaining as usual, "but these ghost stories can't wait to break the news in places where the investment banks won't notice."
"Then..." Doesn't that mean that most of the ghost stories want to bring down the investment bank? Are all the people in the world teammates?
Before Guan Hongyan could finish her question, Lao Guan's next sentence dispelled her excited thoughts: "Because those copied things cannot have emotions on their own, nor can they feel the emotions of others, they can only imitate."
"Only real humans can share the pain of ghost stories, so all ghost stories don't like those clones," Lao Guan explained, "so they want the clone factory to disappear."
The implication, of course, is that these weirdos don’t want the investment bank to fail.
This is also expected and reasonable.
After all, if the investment bank goes bankrupt, who will continuously send new people in to share their pain? The fire surging in their hearts will not be quelled until it burns the skin that wraps them.
"But isn't the reason why investment banks keep sending people in because there is a copy factory here?" Xu Zichen twitched his lips, "If the copy factory is gone, where will they get new people?"
"So," the yellow-haired man finally understood, "so they didn't dare to go too far and just played it safe. In comparison, the mist is a bit weird, it's too obvious..."
"Why don't we let Xiao Tang speak?" Yuan Shanming endured for a long time, but couldn't help but speak, "I really can't stand Huang Mao suddenly becoming so smart."
"That... that's fine too?" Huang Mao blinked. Xiao Tang beside him chuckled, "It seems that Brother Yuan, you still like the lively and witty me!"
The expressions on the two people's faces were exactly the same, and Yuan Shanming felt like he was about to have a heart attack.
"You guys chat first," At this moment, Hang Yiqing suddenly stood up, "Someone is coming outside, I'll go pick him up."
"The two before?" He spoke vaguely, but Lao Guan immediately knew who he was talking about.
"Well," Hang Yiqing casually grabbed the coat on the back of the chair, "It's earlier than I thought. It seems that something really happened during the last earthquake."
After the two exchanged a few words, Hang Yiqing walked in the direction they came from, apparently to pick up the two people who were investigating the earthquake.
Guan Hongyan quickly pulled Bai Jinshu and said, "Earthquake?"
She had previously speculated that it was related to the earthquake and her re-entry into the subway?
"Let's talk about it after we get here," Bai Jinshu also grasped this key word in an instant, "These two people may also be ours."
Hang Yiqing and Lao Guan have grudges against the investment bank and the copy factory. The ones who can get in touch with them are "people" rather than undead, and most of them are foundation employees who are here to bring down the investment bank.
Guan Hongyan nodded: "I hope it's someone I know."
There are too many people from the Foundation entering here, and they don’t know many people, namely, acquaintances in the high-end space before and a few people who explored the unknown space together after entering the special space.
In this case, of course I hope the person who comes is someone I know.
Hang Yiqing went to pick someone up, leaving Lao Guan alone here. Xu Zichen curiously asked who the two men were. There was probably nothing he couldn't tell, so Lao Guan answered straightforwardly, "They should be newcomers like you. One of them is very smart and found Ah Qing nine days ago."
Lao Guan gave a brief description: "He also came from another area. He found us on his own and said he wanted to cooperate with us and help us completely destroy the investment bank."
"The condition is that Ah Qing has to help him find a few people," he added.
Judging from this description, this person is most likely from the Foundation. After all, how could an ordinary newcomer come in and directly seek cooperation with the Ghost Talk Company and say that he is looking for someone?
"This progress is much faster than ours," Guan Hongyan muttered, "Nine days ago I was still fighting in the City of Violence."
"It's much faster than us," Xiao Tang puffed out his lips, "Nine days ago we were still in the City of the Dead."
"Will this guy run into the fog right away?" Xu Zichen was also shocked. "This means that even without us, the investment bank will be ruined."
"It's better to participate in person," Guan Hongyan muttered, "Hey, after this time, you will have achieved a triple kill on the investment bank."
"They deserve it." Xu Zichen said mercilessly.
A group of people from the foundation gathered together to discuss the fact that their progress was slower than that of their colleagues. It turned out that investment banks were special spaces where talented people emerged in large numbers. Yuan Shanming, an ordinary team leader of an investment bank, didn't dare to say a word and felt like he was going to have a heart attack.
"Then I guess Hang Yiqing was so receptive to our presence because he had seen our people before," Bai Jinshu nodded thoughtfully, raised his head and looked at Lao Guan, "Brother Guan, can I ask you a question?"
"You say." Lao Guan looked at him.
"Regarding Brother Hang," he thought for a moment, "Does he have... special eyes? Is it convenient to say?"
He had long suspected that Hang Yiqing's eyes were special.
Previously in Lu Yun’s nightmare, he could tell at a glance that Lu Yun was from Purple Street. At that time, Lu Yun had just been dressed up by Xiao Huo, and it could be said that he had nothing to do with Purple Street. But Hang Yiqing could tell at a glance.
When he suspected that Dai Quan was deceiving him, Hang Yiqing was very angry and said, "I will find him." The Novice Village is so big, how could he be so confident that he could find him?
Not to mention that just now, he recognized Xu Zichen, and as soon as the yellow-haired little Tang appeared, he could tell something was wrong at a glance.
If the first two are abilities that even the most powerful ghost storyteller can possess, then distinguishing between Xiao Tang and Huang Mao is definitely not one of them. Otherwise, Huai Jiamu had been with him for so many days, it was impossible for him not to see it. If he had seen it, there was no way he would not have told himself.
In addition, what Lao Guan just said, "Someone from the foundation asked Hang Yiqing to find someone," further confirmed his guess.
Hang Yiqing's eyes seem very special.
"There's nothing bad to say," Lao Guan nodded, "His eyes are quite special. They can see the essence of a person."
Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to recognize Xu Zichen and see through Xiao Tang Huangmao at a glance.
After getting the answer, Bai Jinshu didn't ask any more questions. He nodded to indicate that he had no more questions, and returned to the crowd.
The other members of the exploration team, except him, were discussing something about Lao Guan.
Lao Guan did not explain to them the origin of the church or why he had become such a weird thing, but Yuan Shanming did find out something.
"I asked my friends in my circle who knew about the Violence City incident related to the church. I actually found someone. An old leader I added told me that something happened in the Violence City decades ago," he said while looking at the terminal. "He couldn't remember what the situation was, but before the city guards showed up, there were no undead appearing in the Violence City at night. Later, we found out that someone on the edge of the city was trafficking people and sacrificing these people every night in exchange for peace in the city."
"It seems that the places where people are trafficked are disguised as churches or orphanages, and then the people living in them are sent out in the middle of the night to be fed to the dead. This is said to be supported by several wealthy families in the City of the Dead," Yuan Shanming recounted. "Later, this matter was discovered, and there were no churches or orphanages in the City of Violence. The homeless people gathered together to form slums, and the prototype of Purple Street gradually appeared."
After that, no one knew how the old leader of the City Guard appeared.
But this news probably gave them some clues about the strange story of the "church". This was probably the prototype of those churches that were built decades ago in the name of "sheltering the homeless" and sacrificing them to ensure the safety of the city.
"I guess Lao Guan is one of the orphans adopted by this church-style orphanage back then," Xiao Tang touched his chin, "That would explain why he took the child back home."
Maybe he saw his former self or his former companions?
Everyone shrugged their shoulders. No further details were known. After all, it was not good to pry into other people's privacy.
Fortunately, Hang Yiqing came back soon.
Following behind him were two little children, one three or four years old, and the other over ten years old. It seemed that their ages were compressed and brought here not because Hang Yiqing didn't want to put them back into his own bodies, but because everyone who entered here would be turned into children.
Zhou Ju previously said that the church seemed to be hostile to adults and could only accept minors appearing in front of it.
Lao Guan can't stand the stimulation of the presence of adults. Is Hang Yiqing the only adult who can appear in front of him?
Bai Jinshu looked at Lao Guan thoughtfully.
Compared to those weird stories that we have seen before that are eager to pull people in, Lao Guan and Hang Yiqing are indeed special. Since they were also born out of pain, why don’t they pull people in like those weird stories?
As a weird story that needs humans to relieve their suffering all the time, if the two of them bring down the investment bank, wouldn't they be destined to be swallowed by their own suffering?
Unless the two of them are trying to find some way to alleviate the pain without dragging humans into it, or unless they are holding on, avoiding as many stimuli that would arouse their pain as possible, in order to suppress the desire deep in their hearts to share the pain?
From a personal perspective, he really didn't want to see these two weird stories die along with the investment bank after it went bankrupt. After all, although the two parties were in a cooperative relationship, the foundation still relied more on them.
Without these two replica factory investigators who had been entrenched in the Novice Village for many years, they would have been unable to do anything in these fifteen days except getting the news out and allowing the Foundation to guide public opinion.
The Foundation emphasizes clear distinction between love and hate. If there is a chance to save these two people, he believes that the other exploration team members will also do their best, but the question is whether the two can reach the standard of "strong obsession".
Of course it would be great if they could find other ways to save themselves.
Hang Yiqing naturally didn't realize that within a few seconds, their behavior allowed Bai Jinshu to analyze more things.
The two children he brought in didn't expect that there were other people here, and they looked a little surprised for a moment.
"Who are these people..." The younger one was stunned and looked at Hang Yiqing, "You helped me find these people? So quickly?"
"No," Guan Hongyan explained, "We came here on our own. We are..."
She is a little confused about whether to reveal her identity directly.
After all, when it comes to investment banking, [0106], which blew up their Gu farm last time, has a really big reputation.
When facing other foundation employees, [0106] plus [Xu Zichen, the former Gu King of the investment bank] is a golden signboard.
But if it wasn't a foundation, that would be a big problem.
Although the possibility is low, but maybe...
Guan Hongyan was a little confused for a moment.
Perhaps her hesitation gave the visitor a wrong signal. The younger one suddenly realized something and exclaimed, "Hello, just call me Wu Zhe. Hang Yiqing told us on the way here that one of you..."
Before he could finish his words, Guan Hongyan rushed over quickly in front of everyone's sight.
Xu Zichen also rushed over.
“Yun Guang!” Two people held Yun Guang’s hands one by one, and their tone was as excited as if they saw a savior from heaven, “You are finally here!”
Yun Guang:?
This tone sounds so familiar.
The author has something to say:
Yun Guang in Guan Hongyan's eyes: My mouthpiece, with him I don't need to socialize
Yun Guang in Xu Zichen's eyes: [0106] Diplomat, now that I'm here I can just fight.
Lu Changfeng: What about me? What about me? Why doesn’t anyone welcome me?
Huangmao: Welcome, a team cannot be without younger brothers.
The one who pretended to be the Gu King in Port N was Yun Guang. Both sides made a big move without telling each other. The investment bank is really lucky to have you ()
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