Chapter 029: Eating Watermelons in the Archives of Lies (End of Instance)
Jiang Minxu hesitantly asked the Boss Curator, "So, in '18th Layer of Hell,' many of the dungeons actually come from players' memories?"
The curator nodded and said, "Yes, at least many of the 'Tongue-Pulling Hell' series of dungeons are like this."
"What are the principles for selecting memories?" Jiang Minxu asked.
"Any 'rumors' that harm others and oneself could potentially lead to 'tongue-pulling hell,'" the curator said, looking at the man. "After all, the moment someone tells a lie that frames someone else, they're already in hell."
Fang Yiran felt a chill down his spine when he heard these mysterious words.
Jiang Minxu pondered the other party's words for a moment and asked, "Now that the rumor has been exposed, does that mean this hell and this dungeon will no longer exist?"
The curator looked into his eyes meaningfully and asked, "Once the truth is revealed, will the rumors be completely dispelled?"
Jiang Minxu stood there in a daze, feeling powerless.
Lao Cheng was bored listening to the Boss's useless chatter. He waved his hand and said to the others, "If you guys want to chat, go ahead. I'm leaving now."
As he spoke he walked towards the glowing door of the archives.
Before stepping out of the door, he turned and stopped, looking at Liu Tang with disdain, saying, "Didn't you say I was in 'Avici Hell'? I still made it through. It doesn't seem any different. Or are we all in 'Avici Hell'?"
After hearing this, Song Xiaoyan and Qin Zhengyi felt a little creepy.
The thin man then glanced at the other players. "This time you've teamed up to target me, but you won't always have teammates by your side. I've memorized your appearance. You'd better pray that you don't encounter me when you're alone and helpless."
After saying this, he saw some of them showing expressions of fear, and he took a step back with satisfaction and disappeared behind the door.
[Start extracting the copy...]
In the darkness, words appeared in front of Lao Cheng's eyes, and he heard the broadcast in his mind at the same time.
In the past, after passing through the darkness, he would return to the entrance building of the underworld rest area, but this time it seemed a little different.
He opened the system panel and found that the "Return to the Underworld Rest Area" button had turned gray and could not be clicked.
The report continued to ring in my mind:
[The copy has been extracted.]
[The dungeon "Iceberg Hell Gengshi Safe Cold Storage" is about to load. Players, please be prepared.]
"W-what?!" Lao Cheng opened his eyes wide in disbelief. His overly thin face made his eyeballs look as if they were about to fall out of their sockets.
Why can't I get back to the rest area?
He turned around in astonishment and looked at the other side of the darkness. There was the door of the archives he had just left, and he could still see the light coming from inside the archives.
He wanted to go back and find out what was going on, but his body fell uncontrollably.
Behind the door, the young man named Liu Tang seemed to be able to see him. He gave him a gentle smile and mouthed, "Welcome to 'Infernal Hell', evil player."
Lao Cheng realized that this young man, this smile, and these words would be his deepest nightmare from now on.
The players in the archives don't know what happened to Lao Cheng.
It was a rare opportunity for them to chat with the boss under Liu Tang's guidance, so they simply asked more questions from the bottom of their hearts.
But most of the boss's answers were ambiguous and confusing, making it difficult to fully understand them.
Qin Zhengyi instructed her childhood friend, "Wait for me in the square in front of the main building when you get out. You're bound to that old dog when you get out, so you'll be logged out of the same room with him. Don't be afraid, he can't do anything to you in the rest area."
Song Xiaoyan patted the other person's shoulder and said comfortingly: "I know, don't worry."
After saying that, the two of them walked through the archives door together.
Seeing that Fang Yiran seemed to be overwhelmed by too much information and felt hollowed out, Jiang Minxu pulled him through the gate.
Before leaving, Liu Tang asked the curator, "Since I was once a human and a player, what about you, Curator? Were you also once a human?"
The curator smiled. "Perhaps... But I am different from you now. You exist completely in the '18th level of Hell,' while I am a fragment of projection from a higher world."
Liu Tang was a little surprised. "The upper world? Are you saying there's another world above the '18th level of Hell'? Are you referring to the human world?"
The curator smiled but said nothing.
Seeing that the other party was unwilling to answer or unable to answer, Liu Tang did not ask any further questions.
Perhaps this information involves the core behind the "18th Level of Hell", and he does not have the authority to know.
So he asked the Boss again: "How long ago was it when I first entered this book?"
The curator thought for a moment and shook his head. "I wasn't always awake in this dungeon, so I can't be sure of the exact time. But if we calculate based on the players' time, it should have been several decades, right?"
"Decades?! Have I been dead for so many years?" Liu Tang was a little surprised.
Mo Qianhe explained the problem on the curator's behalf: "I saw someone discussing this on the forums before. The speed of time in the human world is different from that in the '18th level of Hell'. Sometimes the speed of time in the dungeon is also different from that in the rest area of the underworld. Therefore, it is difficult to accurately calculate how long you have been dead.
"However, some players have estimated that one year in the human world is equivalent to about ten years in the underworld."
After listening to this, Liu Tang nodded.
[It seems I've only been dead for a few years. Not bad.]
Mo Qianhe pulled him to log out of the dungeon. Liu Tang turned around and asked the curator curiously, "One last question. Was I a good person in the beginning? What's my kindness score?"
The curator smiled lovingly and looked at him: "You are a rare good person in this '18th level of Hell'. Your kindness value was close to ten thousand at that time."
Before Liu Tang could be surprised, everything went dark before his eyes, and he and Mo Qianhe logged out of the dungeon together.
[Wow! I'm actually a really good person! I'm so awesome!]
In the darkness, Mo Qianhe heard Liu Tang shouting in his heart.
He thought to himself: Isn't it true? To help those wandering ghosts, even his life is at stake.
The light in front of his eyes came back on, and Liu Tang confirmed that his points had increased to nearly five thousand, and he was ecstatic.
I quickly looked at the points above Mo Qianhe's head, and saw that they had recovered to a little over 5,000.
Not bad, not bad, a fruitful harvest.
Looking at the other party's kindness value, it actually increased by several hundred in one breath.
After checking the records, Liu Tang realized that if a player cleared a dungeon and shared his experience with other players through live broadcast, he could indirectly help other players clear the dungeon and thus accumulate good points.
This time they passed a difficult dungeon with a clearance rate of only 1%. The experience gained from passing the dungeon is extremely important for improving the player's survival rate, so naturally the good value will increase a lot.
Jiang Minxu urged Mo Qianhe and Liu Tang to leave the room and come to the square outside the building.
As soon as his vision cleared, Jiang Minxu quickly walked towards Song Xiaoyan and Qin Zhengyi, who had reunited not far away. He asked Song Xiaoyan with some concern, "Are you okay? Did that old dog give you any trouble?"
Song Xiaoyan looked a little puzzled and said, "Lao Cheng probably left immediately after logging out of the dungeon. He was gone when I returned to the room."
Jiang Minxu nodded and then asked the two girls, "Have you joined a guild? Would you consider joining the 'Poshan Guild'?"
Although Song Xiaoyan had only passed the second dungeon and had not considered many things carefully when entering the dungeon, Jiang Minxu admired her for her ability to cope with crises in the dungeon and her objective attitude in analyzing information.
So he wanted to recruit this new player into the club.
Qin Zhengyi said with some embarrassment: "President Jiang, I really admire your character and your guild, but I have a job at Wantong Pavilion, so I can't join your guild for the time being."
Seeing that her childhood friend was not joining, Song Xiaoyan did not make a hasty decision. She planned to get to know the situation with her childhood friend first.
Jiang Minxu's expression froze when he heard the name "Wantong Pavilion," but then he nodded. "Wantong Pavilion is also a good place. They collect a wealth of information about clearing levels, which is very helpful for players to clear levels safely. As an insider, it's great that you can enjoy the corresponding intelligence benefits."
It’s just that the Pavilion Master is a little hard to describe.
Jiang Minxu thought silently.
At this moment, Fang Yiran appeared out of nowhere, patted Jiang Minxu's shoulder somewhat awkwardly, and said, "Hey, I'm still a non-guild player. Can I join your guild?"
Jiang Minxu looked at this person, thinking back to the years when they had no contact. He didn't expect to meet again like this, and he felt a little sad.
Now that the misunderstanding between the two has been resolved, it wouldn't be a bad idea for them to rekindle their friendship.
Seeing that the other party didn't reply, Fang Yiran scratched his hair and said, "If it's just a stretch, forget it. I know your guild has high requirements. Then add me as a friend. We can have dinner together sometime."
Jiang Minxu finally came back to his senses from his sighs and quickly added the other party as a friend, saying, "Of course you're welcome to join the club, but you have to pass the basic membership assessment."
Fang Yiran immediately exploded: "Huh?! You invited Song Xiaoyan to join directly, but I have to take the test?! What do you mean?! Do you think I'm weak?!"
Jiang Minxu smiled awkwardly: "It's not that I think you're weak..."
Fang Yiran snorted: "You have quite a good eye."
Jiang Minxu: "I just feel like you're a little mentally unstable right now."
Fang Yiran: "I'm going to fight you! You four-eyed freak!"
Liu Tang and Mo Qianhe then walked up to the four of them.
Except for Jiang Minxu, the other three people all looked horrified when they saw Liu Tang.
"You, you, you, how can an NPC like you leave the dungeon?!" Fang Yiran spoke first and pointed at Liu Tang.
Qin Zhengyi was well-informed and said directly, "Mr. Mo, you are a bit perverted. You actually got a 'bionic doll' of Liu Tang."
Fang Yiran looked at Qin Zhengyi and suddenly realized: "Ah, so it's a 'bionic doll'? I was shocked! Hey, Mo the liar, you really are a pervert!"
Mo Qiangan: "..."
Song Xiaoyan asked her childhood friend uncertainly, "Are you sure that 'bionic doll' can be so... 'bionic'?"
Qin Zhengyi looked at Liu Tang seriously again. When she saw his vivid expression, the horror in her heart turned from "Mr. Mo is a pervert" to "Oh my god, this seems to be the real NPC."
This time, it was Qin Zhengyi's turn to point at Liu Tang and yell, "You, you, you, how can an NPC like you even leave a dungeon?!"
Fang Yiran, who had just put his mind at ease, also screamed: "No way, no way, how could you change your tone so quickly!"
The other players around the square were attracted by their movements and stretched their necks to look over here.
Jiang Minxu believed that Liu Tang's identity should not be exposed too much, so he quickly reminded them to speak in a low voice, leave here first, and find a private place to talk in detail.
At this time, a man in a Zhongshan suit walked towards them, raised his hand to signal a large hovercraft not far away, and said, "Everyone, do you want to go to Wantong Pavilion for a quick meal first?"
Qin Zhengyi was the first to ask in surprise, "Pavilion Master! Why are you here?"
When Song Xiaoyan heard her childhood friend call her like that, she looked up at the man in front of her.
The man stood straight with a distant and indifferent look in his eyes. He looked like a serious and unapproachable person.
When Liu Tang was watching the live broadcast, he saw "Wantong Pavilion" mentioned in the barrage. He had always thought it was a place for buying and selling intelligence.
Hearing the other party mention eating, he turned around and asked Mo Qianhe in surprise: "So 'Wantong Pavilion' is a restaurant?"
Mo Qianhe was amused and quickly explained: "It's mainly about buying and selling intelligence, but we do have some excellent restaurants that allow customers to trade intelligence while eating."
Liu Tang nodded in understanding. "Talking business over the dinner table. Okay, that's very Chinese."
Jiang Minxu felt a little uncomfortable when he saw this man.
But it's really rare for Wantong Pavilion to invite me to dinner. Maybe I can get some good information by going with them. I'm a little tempted.
Fang Yiran had heard in the past that the head of Wantong Pavilion was unkind and today he seemed to be quite cold.
He didn't like hanging out with people like that, thinking Jiang Minxu was probably there for the guild. If he could get any information, he could just ask around.
So he spoke first: "I won't go. I'm a little tired today. I'm going back to rest."
Hearing this, Qin Zhengyi and Song Xiaoyan looked at Fang Yiran with some sympathy.
This man really suffered a great shock in the dungeon today, and he even went crazy in the later stages. It was really hard work for him.
Fang Yiran saw the expressions of the two people and yelled, "What are you two looking at? I'm fine! I just want to go back to sleep!"
Qin Zhengyi: "Ah, yes, yes, yes."
Fang Yiran: “…”
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