Chapter 186
...
Even after their consciousness was pulled away from the reenactment, the players were unable to regain their senses for a long time.
Captain Xu remained silent with a sullen face, while Brian, his face ashen, cursed something and couldn't help but break a corner of the table.
Everyone exchanged glances, their expressions not very pleasant.
Everyone had a premonition when the murderer broke down the door and instinctively wanted to stop him. It was at that moment that they suddenly came to their senses, their lingering consciousness freezing on the woman's momentary expression of terror, as if watching a movie with a predetermined ending. Even though they anticipated the tragedy that was about to happen, there was nothing they could do.
What forced everyone to quickly regain their senses were the endless stream of ghost infants.
They stared at the players, lying in wait, their mouths full of sharp teeth emitting a gurgling sound of saliva, and their eye sockets glowing with an eerie green light.
They are no different from cunning and greedy jackals. Even if they were just dispelled by the golden light of the collar and learned a painful lesson, they will still pounce on the players who are standing there in a daze.
A hint of pity flickered in the players' complex expressions.
Perhaps because they hadn't shared that heartwarming time as ordinary people for so long, their feelings about the ghost baby were different.
This also made them clearly aware of it at this moment.
That adorable, innocent baby, who would wave his little arms and giggle foolishly when teased by his parents, has met with misfortune.
Just then, Captain Xu stepped forward and sternly rebuked everyone: "What we saw was just a clip from the past, and it might not even be real. It could very well be a fictional story created to supplement the game's background. Don't let yourselves be influenced or deceived! Take action immediately and continue searching for that couple. Our companions outside are waiting for us to complete the game!"
As if waking from a dream, the group faced a dilemma when faced with countless replicas of the living room: "How are we supposed to find it?"
Xie Xubai suddenly said, "Observe the furniture arrangement."
His voice was indescribably weak.
Everyone instinctively looked at the young man and was shocked to find his face deathly pale: "Are you alright?"
The top team members suspected he had been tricked in the illusion and rushed forward to exorcise the evil spirit, but Xie Xubai waved his hand and refused: "It was my carelessness. I used [Clues Investigation] in the illusion just now and accidentally suffered a backlash. It's alright, my ability can accelerate self-healing, I'll be fine after a while."
Accelerated self-healing is an "intermediate level of healing," and "clue investigation" are abilities that Xie Xubai has previously revealed.
No one suspected anything, and they admired him immensely.
A B-rank NPC dares to scout an S-rank dungeon? Is this what they mean by being highly skilled and daring?
In reality, it's because they have an excessively strong capacity for empathy.
In the illusion, a torrential downpour occurred. The moment the murderer appeared at the doorway against the sudden flash of lightning in the corridor, an indescribable fear surged through Xie Xubai's mouth and nose, almost drowning him.
For a moment, Xie Xubai thought he would be lost forever in that tragedy.
This is very abnormal. You know, his willpower was able to withstand the changes during awakening, and even the temptation of the evil god could not shake him in the slightest. Could it be that this game has power that can be called god-level?
impossible.
Based on the cloaked man's attitude when mentioning each level and Slender Man's explanation, the Black Tower should become stronger the higher one goes (as the merchant (monster) becomes).
If a god-level monster appears in the first level, then the game loses its most basic fairness and balance.
Xie Xubai recalled once again what the cloaked man had said: "This is a project I prepared especially for you."
The problem most likely lies with him.
But what could be the problem, and what connection did he have with this family of three? Xie Xubai had no clue.
He casually dismissed his unusual state, showing no sign of his physical or mental distress on his face, and calmly explained his discovery to everyone.
"It's true, look how different the scene layout has become in each living room!"
The previous living room was a proportional replica with no difference, but now there are some changes in some of the furniture and items.
For example, some lobbies have second-hand refrigerators, while others have new refrigerators.
If experiencing illusions is the switch that reveals these differences, then the factors that cause these differences to appear are...
Xie Xubai succinctly stated: "It's about time."
The changes in a home always follow a timeline, such as walls turning from snow-white to yellowed, and tables and chairs going from brand new to old.
But the same scene could also be a yellowed wall being painted white again, or an old set of tables and chairs being replaced with a brand new one.
As for the exact order here, whether it's new to old or old to new... finally, this time all the players could chime in and offer their opinions, and everyone understood it clearly and remembered it vividly.
Because they had just experienced it a moment ago.
The players didn't say much, silently spreading out to observe, making full use of their large numbers and wide field of vision. However, with hundreds or thousands of rooms, it was really difficult to figure out where the "head" was all at once.
Fortunately, the deterrent effect of the "human cannonball" remains.
Although the ghost babies still had the urge to bite people, they cautiously withdrew their bodies when they realized that the players had quickly come to their senses.
More than a dozen pairs of black, hollow eyes, filled with blood and tears, stared at you with unanimous, chilling gazes. As the player walked, he coaxed you with a shiver running down his spine, "Be good, don't make a fuss, don't shout, and don't bite. I'll take you to find your mom and dad."
Someone nearby muttered a soft "Holy crap."
"Look at Yan Chuyi! Is he trying to communicate with the ghost baby?"
Those nearby looked over and, sure enough, saw a slender young man crouching down, holding a pacifier he'd somehow found, offering it to several ghost infants. His eyes were gentle, and he was muttering something, as if asking for directions in a low voice.
The players didn't understand, but were deeply shocked.
"Can these monsters really understand human speech?"
No, we should ask them if they are willing to listen to humans.
It proved to be possible.
Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that young people are constantly creating miracles.
One of the ghost infants stared blankly at the pacifier for a moment before slowly crawling toward Xie Xubai.
Like stray animals being fed, hungry and afraid of getting hurt, they bar their teeth and tread carefully.
Xie Xubai's hand remained motionless throughout, patiently waiting for it, his gaze always gentle, and even his breathing showed no obvious change.
Finally, the ghost baby came over and snatched the pacifier in its mouth with lightning speed.
In that instant, something changed about it. It held the pacifier in its mouth and crawled quickly in one direction using all four limbs, as if the players' flesh and blood no longer held any appeal for it, and something more important was attracting it.
Captain Xu said, "Quickly, keep up with it!"
The players chased the ghost baby with a pacifier into a living room, only to find that the baby had stopped and was huffing and puffing as it crawled into its crib.
As if it had finally found a safe haven, it buried itself in the soft blanket, smelled the familiar scent, closed its eyes, and gradually drifted off to sleep.
At six months old, he was already able to pronounce simple syllables.
As the player approaches, they can hear the ghost baby whimpering softly.
In his dream, someone picked him up and gently sang a lullaby to him. Tears welled up in his eyes as he murmured their names.
“mu…mu…a…”
“…mu ah…ma…papa…”
Viewers in the live stream.
"I burst into tears! That killer deserves to die!"
"A perfectly good family has been ruined just like that!"
The players on site were speechless, as if they had something stuck in their throats, making them feel extremely uncomfortable.
By comparing the furniture arrangement with their memories, they quickly made a significant discovery: "Look, there are unfinished account books and cold food here, which seems to be the scene at the very beginning of the illusion!"
Now that we've found the head, things will be much easier.
Each hall is square, like countless squares pieced together, without the restriction of walls and doors, and you can even cross over to halls at opposite corners.
Then there are eight directions to go: east, south, west, north, northeast...
If Yan Chuyi's analysis is correct, then according to the timeline, their next step should be...
"Here!" a player shouted. "The ledger has been put away, and there's a bowl of washed strawberries on the table!"
Xie Xubai and the others had passed by, and soon someone else found the next correct order: "Next, go this way! Mom, she..."
The player paused, then changed his form of address with a complex expression: "I remember, not long after the argument that day, the woman noticed that the child could briefly support his upper body, so she happily moved the coffee table in the living room and laid out a carpet to make it easier for the child to move around freely."
Love is invisible, but its traces are discernible.
As the players' voices of recognition rose and fell, time slowly moved forward in this home.
The crib is now filled with many amusing little toys, as well as lucky bags carefully sewn by the woman.
A bell hangs from the ceiling, swaying gently in the breeze, all the bells ringing pleasantly.
Women enjoy preparing vegetables, peeling peas and corn, and rinsing vegetables while watching TV on the sofa.
The secondhand sofa I bought online had worn-out leather and protruding wood, which kept rubbing against my lower back, leaving me with bruises and severe pain.
She put two cushions on it, but it still felt nice, so she simply sat on the small chair. Less than a week later, the male homeowner started bringing his own meals from home and used the money he had saved for the next three months of dining out with colleagues to buy a sofa that could support his back.
The month the lady of the house opened her online store and sold a string of paintings, she bought imported baby formula, high-end toys for infants and toddlers, and a home massager. She also got new towels, toothbrushes, razors, men's brand-name suits, belts, leather shoes, and a new large-capacity refrigerator.
The month after the male homeowner was promoted to team leader, his home acquired a two-meter-tall plush teddy bear, a vacuum cleaner, high-end skincare products, a women's cashmere coat, a gold bracelet, and a new television set that could order movies and TV shows.
That stormy night, the day misfortune struck, the morning was sunny and bright.
While watering the plants, the woman was pleasantly surprised to find two art exhibition tickets under the vase, for a weekend date. She covered her mouth and blushed with embarrassment.
That evening, the husband called and heard his wife shyly inviting him to a candlelight dinner on the weekend. He kept grinning foolishly, his fingers unconsciously crumpling the documents.
...
Just before the final moment arrived, gushing blood spread along the floor from the connection between the living rooms.
*Plop*, the toes of the player in front got wet.
The player instinctively took a step back and looked up ahead.
Large patches of blood appeared on the ground, along with the silhouettes of people lying in pools of blood.
Someone was struggling to crawl toward the crib, leaving behind gruesome bloody handprints and countless long, winding trails, like tear stains.
It seems she did not die immediately after being injured.
He collapsed to the floor, his pleas and cries choked in his blood-filled throat, barely managing to utter "gurgle...gurgle!" sounds.
Exhausted, her wide eyes almost bulged out, her fingernails scraping the floor as she struggled to crawl forward, unable to stand up, watching helplessly as the murderer approached her child step by step.
How desperate must she have been at that moment?
Apart from the living room furnishings, they still didn't see anyone else, but they could hear the rumbling thunder in the rainy night, and a chilling atmosphere permeated their cold hands and feet.
The ghost infants followed behind them, seemingly afraid of something, and couldn't help but tremble.
It seemed to be filled with hatred, baring its teeth and roaring at the living room in front of it, with tears of blood flowing uncontrollably.
"Let's go." Captain Xu took a deep breath. "Everyone, pay attention. We may be facing a murderer in the act. Be prepared to defend yourselves."
Xie Xubai suddenly raised his head.
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