Chapter 177 Like a Monster
"I have two things I can give you that will ensure you get where you want to go."
The old man said, reaching into his pocket and fumbling for a while, and after a while he pulled out a small document: "Residents selected by the Black Tower will be placed on the lower floors after entering the Black Tower. To go to the upper floors, they need to take the elevator and carry an identity card with high enough authority. I was expelled not long ago, and they probably haven't had time to cancel my identity yet."
The old man didn't give it to Lu Jiamu immediately. Instead, he shook it and said worriedly, "I only have one such important card. You won't lose it, will you?"
Lu Jiamu shook his head to indicate no.
The old man was still pacing anxiously in the same place: "Are you sure you can find your people? What can you guarantee that if you succeed, you will leave a place for me later?"
This time, Lu Jiamu didn't say anything fake right away. Instead, he said, "In this world, nothing is certain. Whether you will get a spot or not actually depends not on what I promised you, but on how valuable you are. Of course, if you are determined to rot here and wait for the next destined person, just pretend I didn't say anything."
His seemingly sincere way of speaking made the old man, who was used to hearing sweet words, feel a little more comfortable.
And after all the talk, it came back to the fact that the old man was very clear about from the beginning, that he actually had no choice here.
The old man reluctantly handed the ID card to Lu Jiamu and said, "I wish you all the best in return. Another thing I can provide you is intelligence. So far, not all residents who have obtained passes have been transferred to the Black Tower. Some are still waiting outside. I also know the next pick-up location and the residents to be picked up. You can just try to grab the passes, which is allowed outside the Black Tower. The only question is whether you can reach the gathering point alive."
He gave a brief introduction to what the pass grab was all about.
The Black Tower adheres to the ultimate principle of survival of the fittest. After privately dividing the residents into different levels, it issues passes to the strong people within the base and confirms on the spot that they have been issued to the persons concerned.
If someone cannot keep his pass and it is snatched away by someone else, it is assumed that there is a certain error in the previous judgment criteria. The person who was issued the pass is not the strongest person who is most suitable for survival, but the one who snatched it is. This is a kind of cruel natural selection in the dark, the last one is eliminated.
This caused some turmoil at first, but the strong chose to comply with the institute, and the weak could not protect themselves. After all, those who wanted to resist and had enough ability were rare.
In the eyes of the institute, there is no place suitable for human survival in the outside world, so they never worry about whether there will be outsiders with ulterior motives sneaking in. As a result, even now, as long as a strong person who can snatch the pass of others appears, at most they will think that he has been hiding for too long before taking action, but their qualifications are still recognized.
However, this rule of robbing things only applies outside the Black Tower. Killing each other after entering the Black Tower is a serious crime of disturbing public order.
At present, those who still have passes outside the Black Tower have probably gathered at the designated point, and their current hiding place is on the edge of the research institute. There is a long, almost uninhabited vacuum zone between the designated location and official personnel who are constantly patrolling along the way. Once caught by them, they will be executed directly if they do not have a pass. This is also the main reason why the old man is worried that they may not survive.
Lu Jiamu comforted the old man and said that they might meet other schoolmates along the way. Only then did the old man calm down a little and talk about the gathering place, the general situation of this group of residents, some rules in the black tower, and many trivial matters.
Lu Jiamu took notes carefully, and the old man tested him several times. Only when he found that he really remembered everything he said did he reluctantly let Lu Jiamu go.
The two men said goodbye to the old man and, under the guidance of other children, prepared to return to the ground to check the situation and then decide when to leave the underground shelter.
Yu Leng followed behind Lu Jiamu quietly until he was sure that the people over there could not hear what they were saying. Then he quietly gave him a thumbs up and said, "Good fellow, you are really good at making up stories."
When the old man first spoke confidently about the other world, Yu Leng thought that the old man had a wide range of knowledge and was extremely difficult to deal with. The more he talked in front of such a person, the more mistakes he would make. Unexpectedly, Lu Jiamu could directly jump out of the old man's questioning logic without hesitation and start making up stories directly.
The key is that the story really hit the mark of the moronic old man, greatly enhancing their image and value in the old man's eyes, and actually exchanging lies for the truth.
To say that he was lying was to look down on him. Yu Leng believed that as long as he was given more time and the old man asked him more questions, he could even make up a complete worldview.
"Are you really not afraid that he will expose you on the spot?"
Lu Jiamu carefully put the ID card into his pocket. "When this kind of person cannot disprove what you said, he can even tell lies as if they were true. Besides, even if he knows that what I said was a lie, what can he do?"
The old man was no match for them, but their enemy wasn't the old man either. If they could just let him finish his words, there would be no need to start a fight. Otherwise, it would not be a good thing no matter who was attracted.
Now that there were finally no outsiders around, Yu Leng asked Lu Jiamu about his thoughts on the world and the current situation.
The two of them had reached the exit of the underground passage while talking. Lu Jiamu suddenly stopped talking and walking, staring forward.
With the help of the faint light from the outside world and the occasional beam of light from the black tower's searchlight, Lu Jiamu noticed a small figure lying motionless on the ground in front of him.
He fell face down at the exit. It was not known whether he had fallen into the water before or was sweating, but his whole body was wet and his limbs were extremely twisted. It seemed that he was trying to climb out frantically but failed. Now his life or death was unknown.
He looked strangely familiar, and Yu Leng was already feeling uneasy.
The little figure seemed to sense their arrival, and his limbs suddenly twitched: "Huh..."
He paused, then twitched a few more times with a larger amplitude, and then spoke hoarsely: "Well... I've been waiting for you for a long time..."
He slowly turned his head, revealing the cover of a large notebook instead of any human face they were familiar with.
Under the cover, the child's face had melted and was tightly attached to the pages of the diary, blending in as if the diary had grown on his face naturally.
It lay there, making Lu Jiamu feel like a monster for the first time ever.
"Why are you looking at me like that..." Its face under the paper seemed to be laughing, "Do you still want to chop me up? Haha..."
After seeing it clearly, Yu Leng felt his throat tighten and he felt physically nauseous. His whole face turned green and he couldn't help but take two steps back.
The diary moved with difficulty, slowly and unsteadily moving its limbs, as if trying to turn 180 degrees to face them.
Lu Jiamu stood there and observed it quietly for a moment before asking, "What are you doing here?"
"Wood... Of course I'm waiting for you..." Diary sighed softly, "... Can't you just come over and help me up?"
Lu Jiamu ignored it, and Yu Leng asked nervously: "What are you waiting for us to do?"
"Of course we're going to form a team and set off together to the Black Tower." The diary said, "I know who you just went to meet. Did you have a good chat?"
Lu Jiamu asked, "I thought our relationship was broken."
The diary had struggled to sit up, and the feeling of incoordination in its limbs was gradually disappearing, as if it had adapted to the feeling of having a body again.
"Just now was just now, and now is now." After finally sitting up, Diary's tone seemed extremely relaxed. "My goal from the beginning was to stay by your side and walk with you. How can there be any break or no break?"
Hearing this, Lu Jiamu thought for a moment, walked forward, grabbed the cover of the diary and tried to pull it down hard, but it didn't move.
Diary acted like she was being pulled in pain, waving her hands to stop him: "Ah, stop pulling, stop pulling! You can't pull it off. If you pull again, you'll tear me apart!"
Lu Jiamu let go of it and stepped back. He carefully touched the cover of the diary, as if he were a real person whose face was hurt by the pulling. It was hard to tell whether he really felt it or was just pretending.
Lu Jiamu would never buy the excuse of “I just want to go with you”.
If she just wanted to follow him, she could just make a diary. Why would she suddenly do something at this critical moment? It must have its own purpose. Lu Jiamu still guessed that it deliberately didn't want him to read the contents of the diary.
It's now stuck on the person's face. It's too late to say anything. Even if it comes off again, I don't know if I can still see it.
But no matter what, the fact that it is now appearing openly instead of launching a sneak attack from behind says something.
"Is your possession a one-time skill?"
The diary smiled but didn't give a direct answer: "If one day you get tired of him and think of our friendship, I will always give you a second chance."
That is, it doesn't work.
"What do you want to do with us?"
"Of course it's because I want to go home too... Woodhead. I'm just like you, I've been wandering in this strange world for a long time, even longer than you. Even though I've become like this, I still have a family. I can't even rest in peace after death, and this kind of ending is not what I expected. I'm also scared to come back here again."
Diary curled her lips, looking a little aggrieved: "I really want to go home... The Black Tower is the shortcut home. I know who was chatting with you just now. He will definitely give you something, but if I go, he will definitely ignore me. So now I can only follow you."
"Besides, you two have limited abilities after all. In a place like this, where danger is lurking everywhere, I'm worried that something might happen to you." The cover of the diary was facing the two people, as if sizing them up. "Hey, don't act like you don't know me so well. I have a name, you know."
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