Chapter 1, Level 8 (1) Of course it is - an oversized stuffed toy...
One breezy morning, Gao Mengtang's ancestral grave was dug up.
The one digging his ancestral grave was a rabbit. Just as Gao Mengtang grabbed the rabbit's ears, a voice sounded in his mind.
"Welcome to log in. The game [Black Tower] will start on time at 4:44!"
What?
Login? Game?
Black tower?
Gao Mengtang and Rabbit stared at each other for a few seconds before coming to a conclusion: it was an auditory hallucination!
It must be the auditory hallucination caused by the excessive pressure from staying up late for a month to finish the design! He shook his head and stuffed the rabbit into his arms.
Before leaving, he took a glance at the ancestral grave which had been dug into a mess.
The respected mother, father, and brother are buried here.
Those who are gone are all turned to dust and mud.
The person had been dead for several years, so it didn't seem like a big deal if his ancestral grave was dug up. Gao Mengtang was very open-minded.
He walked through the winding vegetable garden path and entered the low eaves of the country house. It was 4:40 in the morning, the summer sky was bright early, and the birds were already chirping.
The little rabbit in his arms twisted and turned, its furry paws still stained with dirt from Gao Mengtang's ancestral grave. There were many wild animals in the remote and poor countryside, and Gao Mengtang was afraid that if he left the rabbit in the yard, it would be taken away by a wolf, so he carried it into the house.
"There is one minute left before the game starts, please be ready."
…
Are the auditory hallucinations never going to end?
Gao Mengtang yawned, opened the refrigerator, and prepared to put on a facial mask and go to bed.
I put my hand into the refrigerator, and the cool air penetrated my fingers, palms, and every pore. The cold air rushed towards me, which made my muddled mind clear for a moment.
Today's facial mask was exceptionally chilled, and the cold air poured down from the top of his head, making his tired soul half awake.
When I opened my eyes again, the other half of my soul was completely awake.
There was a line of scarlet words in front of me.
"Welcome aboard, the adventure is about to begin."
"Drawing identity numbers."
"Player Gao Mengtang, your identity number is 000 [Blind]"
“The only way to escape suffering is to not see suffering.”
As soon as he finished speaking, his eyes seemed to be covered by a layer of shining gauze, and he couldn't see anything clearly.
The visual effect is like extremely high myopia plus extremely high astigmatism, plus an extra-thick flash filter.
Gao Mengtang felt like he was teleported to an unfamiliar place. He was stunned for a few seconds and fumbled to stand up.
"Be careful, be careful!" A boy supported him.
There is a line of red letters on the boy's head, indicating the player's identity and serial number: 099 Knight
Gao Mengtang subconsciously clenched the "knight's" arm: "Where are we?"
When He Lun looked up and saw the man, he was stunned for a few seconds.
What a beautiful face... This kind of beauty can make people feel clear-minded. In some brief moments, you just want to admire it. Like seeing the warm sun in the snow when you get up in the morning and open the curtains, or feeling a cool breeze when you walk into the jungle in the evening. When those gem-like, clear but lifeless eyes looked at He Lun, He Lun couldn't help but giggle.
A very charming smile, like a cat lover seeing a dignified and pretty little stray cat.
Gao Mengtang's eyelashes trembled slightly, a tiny tremor that brought He Lun back to his senses.
"Eh? Did you hear me?" Gao Mengtang didn't know that the person in front of him was staring at him and grinning, so he repeated, "Where are we?"
"I, we have logged into the game and are matching teammates. You can summon the system panel by silently reciting in your mind." He Lun said in a panic.
The system panel was one of the few things Gao Mengtang could see clearly. The panel showed that they had entered the "Rookie Copy" and six players had been successfully matched, with only one person missing.
Gao Mengtang looked around but couldn't find an option to exit the game.
The other players were obviously also forced in. They looked around anxiously with fear on their faces. One of the girls pointed at Gao Mengtang.
"You're still wearing a facial mask."
There was also a line of red words above her head: 857 Drunkard.
Gao Mengtang adjusted the edges to make the mask fit better: "I stayed up all night. I need to do some emergency maintenance."
Drunk girl: "We traveled through time."
"I know," Gao Mengtang gently pressed the sides of his nose, "but this mask is 15 yuan a piece."
Everyone: ...
"What about the rabbit?" someone else asked.
Only then did Gao Mengtang realize that the rabbit that dug up his ancestral grave was clinging to his trouser legs tightly, with its furry little body curled up in a ball, squatting on the surface of his shoes.
He picked up the rabbit and gently stroked its fur: "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid..."
The next second, the rabbit's head tilted and its legs kicked up, and it fell asleep. Its caramel-colored body rolled over like a stretched-out donkey.
The drunkard woman laughed dryly: "The pet follows the owner, one applies a facial mask, and the other sleeps."
Six people stood on a staircase platform of less than four square meters, with debris piled around their feet.
Gao Mengtang squatted down and felt around, and there seemed to be a quilt, a pillow, and a cell phone.
"The debris came through with us," Heron said. "We heard strange words like 'Game starts at 4:44' in our sleep. When we opened our eyes, we were standing here."
Gao Mengtang: "It's 4:44 in the morning, and you're all asleep?"
Everyone nodded.
It seems that the game teleports not only people, but also some objects around the players randomly, such as the mask on Gao Mengtang's face and the rabbit at his feet.
He Lun and others were sleeping, and the quilts they were covering themselves with, the mobile phones next to their pillows, etc. were teleported over.
Oh, there were also a few facial masks that came with Gao Mengtang. He fumbled on the ground, picked up the masks, and put them away.
It’s quite expensive and cannot be thrown into the dungeon.
"I have pre-ordered this game, and it was bound to the holographic game cabin of Black Tower a week ago. This may be the reason why I traveled through time." He Lunlian muttered to himself.
As soon as he opened his mouth, other players echoed him and said that they had also pre-ordered "Black Tower".
It was Gao Mengtang's turn to be confused: "But I didn't make an appointment."
The seventh player was still not matched, so the six of them started chatting with each other.
Black Tower is very popular in the gaming community. It started internal testing three years ago and is now officially open to the public. There are roughly three types of gamers.
The first category is the beta test players. They are very mysterious and should have completed many dungeons, but they do not post on the forum and do not reveal any information.
The second category is the public beta players, who are also the largest group of players. They bought and bound the Black Tower holographic game cabin a month ago, and today they collectively traveled through and entered the first instance.
The third category is the most special one. Like Gao Mengtang, they had never been exposed to any information about the Black Tower and had traveled through time inexplicably. Let's call them the unlucky players.
Both the public beta players and the unlucky players logged in for the first time at 4:44 today, preparing to enter the first dungeon for new players.
During the chat, He Lun had been trying to make a phone call. After failing for the umpteenth time, he spread his hands helplessly and said, "The phone call is not connected. I can't contact the outside world. This is a rookie copy. I don't even have the chance to get in touch with the beta testers. I have to leave it to fate."
The drunk girl sneered: "Even if there are internal test players, they are relying on their experience to hurt you. You want to suck up to someone? Be careful that he will kick you and cause gastric bleeding."
"Don't think so badly of people." He Lun said pleadingly.
The drunk woman silently cursed "idiot" with her mouth.
While these people were arguing, Gao Mengtang looked at the seventh black frame in the system panel that had not yet matched the player, wondering what he was thinking.
Suddenly, the system sounded a "ding" prompt, and the seventh player was successfully matched. A person appeared out of thin air, and his identity was displayed as [174 Pharmacist]
System: "Matching completed, copy [8th floor] officially opened."
"Instance description: A dilapidated residential building. Only the poor and destitute live here."
“Poverty is not a sin.”
"But living in a garbage dump, seeing garbage every day, it's hard not to be malicious towards the world, right?"
"Your room number is 808. Go home as soon as possible. It's getting dark."
Silence returned to the stairwell.
According to the system's prompts, enter Room 808 to pass the level.
Could it be that simple?
The answer is obvious: of course not!
But the drunk girl had already started climbing the stairs. With her leading the way, the other players followed slowly behind.
The stairwell is closed, with a wall and an iron door separating the stairwell from the corridor. There is no floor sign in the stairwell. If you want to know which floor you are on, you have to push open the iron door and look in the corridor.
The iron doors on each floor were rusty and covered with layer upon layer of small advertisements. With a slight bang, the bearings made a teeth-grinding squeaking sound.
The atmosphere was weird and no one dared to push open the iron door.
The players, with slumped shoulders and heads lowered, lined up in a row, climbed the stairs in unison, and counted the floors in their heads.
Second floor, third floor, fourth floor...
"Can I hold your rabbit for a while? I'm very nervous. It's very cute and should be able to comfort me." A girl came up to Gao Mengtang. Her identity number automatically appeared above her head: 343 Archivist
Gao Mengtang happily handed it over, and the little rabbit changed its position and fell asleep in the archivist's arms.
"How cute!" The archivist smiled happily, "I have a puppy. If I had known that I would bring the small things around me with me when I traveled through time, I would have slept with the puppy in my arms. With the dog by my side, I won't be so scared."
174 The pharmacist slowed down his pace at some point and came to Gao Mengtang, smiling and speaking softly: "Did you bring the pet into the dungeon specifically to calm your emotions?"
Gao Mengtang raised her beautiful, blank eyes and stared at the pharmacist for a while.
The distance was less than half a meter and Gao Mengtang couldn't see anything clearly.
The pharmacist smiled and tilted his head: "Why don't you answer my question?"
Gao Mengtang slowly came back to his senses: "Actually it's not a pet."
The person who dug up his ancestral grave is at least an enemy.
"Hey, you guys are making so much noise! We're counting the floors in an environment where we could be about to meet the devil at any time, and you're making disturbing noise?!" The drunk girl leaned over the handrail of the stairs and shouted at them, "Damn it, I got the count wrong. Which floor are we on now? Tell me!"
"The sixth floor." The archivist raised his head. "My ID number is Archivist 343. I have an excellent memory for details."
The drunk girl snorted, quickly climbed the stairs, and pointed at the iron door: "Then push it open and see if it is the sixth floor."
The player was busy trying to hold down the drunk girl, fearing that something unclean would jump out after opening the door.
But the drunken girl was very strong, and the group of people failed to hold her down, and she pulled the iron gate open.
Plop. A corpse with a blasted head crashed head-on onto the drunkard's shoes. The dead man must have been shot, his face collapsed, and there was a big hole in the back of his head.
A scream exploded in the stairwell, and the players jumped around like frightened grasshoppers. It seemed that the body was a landmine that could explode at any time.
Except Gao Mengtang.
Because he couldn't see anything clearly.
When climbing stairs, he would hold the handrail tightly, test the height of the steps with his feet, and move up step by step.
In Gao Mengtang's vision, a dark object fell down. It had arms and legs, vaguely a human figure.
An abandoned humanoid object thrown in the corridor was, of course, an oversized stuffed teddy bear!
Gao Mengtang picked up the "teddy bear", fearing that the players jumping around on the ground would step on the abandoned "plush toy".
Every plush toy has unique value. Perhaps, it is a close friend of a restless child; perhaps, it is a sweet memory of a lonely adult!
Even if it is discarded, it should not be stepped on!
But... this plush toy has no fur, and if you touch it carefully, it seems to have no head.
Modern people have a rich and colorful mental state, so it is normal for some strange-shaped toys to appear.
So, the other players saw this scene: Gao Mengtang gently picked up the bloody corpse, let him sit against the wall, and muttered "Don't be afraid, the master will take you home." After that, he touched the corpse's shattered crown.
He touched his head a little too hard, and the top of his head broke with a "crack".
Gao Mengtang: "Oops, did I hurt you? I'm sorry, little cutie."
The player was silent for a moment, then shouted even louder: "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
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