Chapter 009 Chapter 9
After getting up the next day, Qingtong picked up his mobile phone to check the time, and was shocked by the 99+ message reminders in the class group. He opened it and saw that they were all discussions about the live broadcast yesterday afternoon.
The number of people pulled into the live broadcast this time was twice that of the last time. As a result of the increase in the number of people, two more lucky people in the class were pulled into the live broadcast interface. With the experience from last time, the people who were pulled in immediately recorded the video with their mobile phones and forwarded it to the group.
Qingtong also clicked in to take a look. It felt a little strange to see the paper figure he was playing from the perspective of the live broadcast.
After closing the video, I looked through the messages sent by my classmates. They were nothing more than discussions about the strange apparitions mentioned by the paper figurines and the identities of the antique dealers. If the previous night market incident and the current disappearance of three tomb robbers were irrelevant to Qingtong's classmates and were only used as topics for idle chats, then the large number of strange apparitions that might appear in the future would be closely related to everyone's life, and no one could stay out of it.
Many students in the group were panicking, talking about how they would escape or even kill a monster if one really happened.
But there are also some people who think that things will work out in the end and there is no need to worry about uncertain things in the future. There are also a few people with eccentric personalities who are joking, saying that a shovel tripped the strange one.
Qingtong ignored such words. His fingers slid quickly across the screen of his mobile phone, and finally his eyes fell on a message posted by a classmate this morning.
Guan Haoguang: My third uncle runs an antique shop. He said that there are a lot more people coming to inquire about antiques, and the prices of some old items have gone up.
Like Qingtong, Guan Haoguang was admitted to Heng City from Sui City to attend university.
Qingtong suddenly thought of something: "System, is it possible that the antiques in this world can become props to deal with weird things?"
System: "After the advent of the weird, some items will mutate. Antiques are more likely to mutate, but it is uncertain whether they will become props to deal with the weird or become a monster that harms people. It is not recommended that the host blindly collect these things. The props in this system mall are the safest."
Qingtong said "oh" and continued to scroll down the chat history. After Guan Haoguang mentioned that his third uncle opened an antique shop, many classmates asked him about antiques. Unfortunately, Guan Haoguang did not send any more messages until the last sentence from the class monitor Qin Yi, "No matter whether strange things will come in the future, we have to go to class now." After that, the other classmates sent a series of ellipsis marks and no one spoke.
Well, the monitor is absolutely right.
Even if you want to save the world, you still have to go to class.
Qingtong got up, changed clothes, went out to buy two buns, ate a quick breakfast, then got on the bus and went to school.
To take a shortcut to the classroom, one needs to cross a path through the green belt. Here Qingtong saw Guan Haoguang. He was putting his schoolbag on a chair beside the path and talking on the phone with someone in his hand.
"I'm at school, Third Uncle. Even if I go to Sui City right now, it's too late..." Not knowing what was said on the other end of the phone, Guan Haoguang's face turned slightly pale. "It hasn't come to that. An antique shop owner can't be arrested for confiscating some items of unknown origin."
"Ah? Did Qian Er, who was turned into a paper man in the live broadcast, sell antiques from you?" Guan Haoguang sighed helplessly, "Then there is no need to be so anxious to entrust the store to me. Ignorance is not a crime. As long as you say you didn't know, the most you will be fined is to surrender the items."
"You knew about it? You guessed it was stolen? You put it away because you liked it so much and pretended you didn't know?!!"
"I understand." Guan Haoguang sighed and hung up the phone. He put on his schoolbag, turned around, and saw Qingtong.
Guan Haoguang's face suddenly showed a hint of embarrassment. Seeing that there was no one around, he immediately stepped forward and whispered, "Brother, just pretend you didn't hear it, okay?"
Qingtong nodded: "Do you want to ask for leave?"
"Well, please give me a few days." Guan Haoguang said helplessly, "My third uncle has no children, and he treats those antiques as his own children. If he is really arrested, I have to help keep the things in the store safe."
Seeing Qingtong staring at him, Guan Haoguang thought he was worried about him and laughed, "It's okay, my uncle doesn't have much money and can't afford expensive things." According to the value of cultural relics, it should be a very minor crime. If he didn't deal with it and chose to pay it honestly, the punishment would be reduced.
"Does your uncle's antique shop have many antiques?"
"Hmm? You want to buy antiques too." Guan Haoguang laughed, "He opened a shop that collects old items. Most of the items are old and worthless. Let me think about it, the most valuable one is a porcelain bowl from the Qing Dynasty, it's genuine. The rest are mostly from the Republic of China period, or ancient coins and the like. You can buy a few if you like, but they're not that great."
"Where is the address of the store?"
"The Treasure House at No. 23 Xining Street." Guan Haoguang patted Qingtong on the shoulder. "But looking at the current situation, if my third uncle is really investigated, I think we will have to close the store."
Qingtong hummed and said nothing else.
He didn't plan to buy any antiques, but according to the system, he was a little worried that after the strangeness came, something strange would happen to the things in the antique shop.
Knowing the address would be a good way to go and take a look.
If you draw the right card and dress up as an antique dealer, you can also go over and give a reminder by scanning your face.
Because he was worried about his third uncle, Guan Haoguang left quickly.
Qingtong went to the classroom and the students in the class were still discussing, but this time they were talking about the three people who had not been released.
After opening the system interface, Qingtong looked at the paper man card. The paper man on the card held up his smiling palm, and three small paper men the size of a palm were swaying in his palm.
This time Qingtong did not let the three people go.
Although the paper man he plays has no malicious intentions, he does not want to give people the illusion that it is 'weird and harmless'.
The real monsters were unpredictable and terrifying. To the monsters, humans were as humble and insignificant as insects. Who would care about the lives of insects? More importantly, according to the information he got from the system, a large part of the monsters could not even communicate at all.
When Qingtong met the three people on the mountain, he asked the system to check. They were not innocent good people. Especially the boss had blood on his hands. Qingtong did not need to feel any psychological pressure to detain such a person.
As for when to put it back, let's wait until he has two new vests. Anyway, the paper man will not die of thirst or hunger.
There was another public philosophy class in the afternoon, but Qingtong didn't plan to go, so she asked Li Wen to sign in for her. Li Wen readily agreed. Qingtong returned home.
“It’s really troublesome that I can’t appear in person at the same time as the character I’m playing.”
"Please rest assured, host. According to the calculations of this system, by the time the third vest is activated at the latest, we will have collected enough energy to operate both of them independently." The system replied.
When I got home and opened the system interface, I saw a blazing flame on the seal, which meant that I could start drawing cards for the second time.
Qingtong rubbed his hands, raised his fingers and tapped lightly.
The seal was burned to ashes, the iron chain locking the door opened with a crackling sound, and then everything was pitch black.
This is the second time to draw a card. Qingtong is very experienced and he knows that what will come next will be an immersive card character CG.
In the cold moonlight and dim alley, the sound of balls bouncing could be heard again and again.
Along with the sound of bouncing the ball came the nursery rhyme sung by the girl:
"Paddle, Paddle can't see
There is no sail on the boat
Floating, floating, floating towards the west"①
The bright red ball rolled to Qingtong's feet, the nursery rhyme stopped, and a girl in a red dress walked out of the darkness.
She trotted over with a smile, picked up the ball, and then looked up at Qingtong.
There are no facial features on that chubby baby face.
There was no eyes, nose or mouth; the girl's face was smooth.
Then, the laughter sounded again. On the originally smooth face, a crack suddenly appeared at the mouth, revealing the bright red flesh and tiny fangs inside. The crack spread from the corner of the mouth to both sides of the face, which was ferocious and terrifying.
The darkness faded away, and a new card appeared in front of Qingtong, with black words underneath the card: Weird - Faceless Child.
Qingtong covered her face with her trembling hands.
The probability of getting a human hero card was said to be 90%. Why is it still so weird?
Not only is she a monster, she's also a girl.
There is no way I can pretend to be an antique dealer!
"Well, host." The system tried its best to comfort Qingtong, "At least this card is very useful, and its rarity is also S!"
Being able to release S-level cards twice in a row is pretty amazing!
Qingtong: ...
Thanks, but I wasn't comforted.