3 Strange Scars
◎That was a very deep bite mark◎
Send fruit?
Qi Qiuxue frowned. A man wearing a strange mask suddenly appeared at the door silently in the dead of night. Anyone would think there was something fishy going on.
Qi Qiuxue still didn't press the handle, but instead pressed her body against the door to prevent the masked man outside from trying to force his way in. "...Thank you for your kindness, but I already had fruit for dinner, so I don't need it now."
"That's different." The masked man's voice was somewhat suggestive as he patiently explained to Qi Qiuxue, a fellow disciple, "The fruit I sent is a local specialty, a variety we cultivated ourselves. No one outside has ever tasted it."
"It's a rare opportunity for you to visit the island. I hope you can try it."
His voice was hoarse and unpleasant, but his tone was filled with a smile. Qi Qiuxue was always observing him through the cat's eye. Because she was close, she could even hear the masked man's increasingly heavy breathing.
The only pair of eyes that were exposed, with almost no whites, also revealed a different emotion. It was a desire mixed with excitement, morbid and paranoid, and it was not the look a normal person should have.
Qi Qiuxue felt frightened by his gaze, but she also became more and more certain that if she didn't take the plate of fruit, the masked man would definitely not leave.
After a moment, she thought of a compromise: "It's not convenient for me to go out right now. Please leave it at the door and I'll come get it later."
"Okay." Fortunately, the masked man did not refuse. He slowly bent down and placed the plate in the middle of the door.
"Good night." He said softly after doing this.
Qi Qiuxue did not act rashly. She kept watching his departing back and listened attentively to the sound of his footsteps as he walked away.
"Pah, pah, pah..."
The old stairs creaked as the masked man finally came down.
After that, the footsteps became lighter and lighter, farther and farther away, until they were inaudible and gradually replaced by the sound of heavy rain that was still pouring outside.
“…”
Qi Qiuxue quickly opened the door, brought in the plate of fruit, and quickly locked the door.
She lowered her eyes to observe the plate of fruit. Just as the masked man said, the kind of fruit in front of her was one Qi Qiuxue had never seen before. They were all small round balls similar to longan, but slightly larger than ordinary longan. The shells were light pink, like human skin color.
When peeled open, the flesh inside is bright red like blood, and the juice mixed with a strange smell emanates, which smells like blood and is a bit pungent. There is a core inside the flesh, which is a very regular circle and pitch black all over.
Somehow, Qi Qiuxue thought of the eyeball, the injured eyeball.
There was no way she could put this kind of thing into her mouth. Qi Qiuxue stood up, took the plate into the bathroom, and flushed it all down the toilet.
-
I don’t know how much time passed.
Qi Qiuxue fell asleep in a daze, and seemed to have a dream in which she saw someone wandering in the corridor with light footsteps.
She couldn't see the man's face in her dream, but she could see his wet hair from the rain.
His clothes were also soaked by the rain, and his whole body was filled with a faint fishy smell. He wandered in the corridor for a long time, stopping in front of every door, putting his face so close to the peephole that he couldn't see his features, and carefully observing every sleeping person.
Stay still for a long, long time.
Then, he raised his hand, opened the door of a room, and walked in slowly.
"Bang!" The door closed with a loud noise.
Qi Qiuxue was awakened by the noise. She suddenly stood up and looked at the clock on the wall. It was half past five, and there was still half an hour before the gathering time.
Remembering the precautions mentioned by the hotel owner last night, she quickly got out of bed, washed up, and tied a low ponytail for herself as usual. After doing all this, she pushed open the door of the room and planned to gather in the lobby on the first floor.
But the moment the door opened, she was stunned. The floor of the corridor was covered with endless water stains, as if something was really dragging a wet body and wandering in the corridor for a long time.
Qi Qiuxue couldn't tell what it was for the time being because she didn't see any footprints.
“…”
Did anyone go out last night, or did something come in?
Qi Qiuxue subconsciously looked at the next room, Room 204, Liu Dawei's room.
If she heard correctly, the clear and violent sound of the door closing seemed to come from this direction.
When Qi Qiuxue went downstairs, quite a few people had already gathered in the lobby. They all obviously cared deeply about the hotel owner's advice of "don't be late". They were all dressed neatly and sitting at the table quietly eating breakfast.
"Axue, come here." Liu Ge saw her coming down and waved at her in a familiar manner.
"Yeah." Qi Qiuxue walked over to her and sat down. As soon as she sat down, a masked man came forward, lowered his eyes and placed a plate with breakfast in front of her.
Qi Qiuxue looked at him. Even though these people wore the same masks, dressed similarly, and were all strong and sturdy, if you compared them carefully, you could find some subtle differences.
——The masked man has a scar on the base of his right hand.
Qi Qiuxue recalled that the masked man who brought her dinner last night, the masked man who brought her fruit in the middle of the night, and the one in front of her today should be the same person. Qi Qiuxue has a good memory and she noticed this detail during her interactions with the masked man.
It was just that the light was too dim last night, so she couldn't see the shape of the scar clearly. Now, after taking a closer look, she found that it was actually a bite mark, a very deep bite mark. The person who left this scar must have used a lot of strength, and even tore off the flesh.
What had happened to this masked man? What was his purpose in repeatedly approaching him?
Qi Qiuxue had doubts in her heart, but she didn't show it on her face. She picked up her chopsticks, lowered her eyes and began to enjoy her breakfast.
Fortunately, there was no weird "beef" today.
After breakfast, it was almost six o'clock. The hotel owner did not show up this morning, and the one who took over to entertain the players was a villager who came spontaneously to act as a tour guide, a little girl who looked about fifteen or sixteen years old.
The little girl was not wearing a mask. She was wearing a playful dress, holding a yellow tourist flag in her hand, and a pure white whistle around her neck. After seeing so many players, she did not feel shy at all, but greeted everyone warmly.
"Good morning, everyone!" Her voice was incredibly vibrant, like the morning sun, truly inspiring. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Xiaoxiao, and I've been asked by the village chief to be your tour guide for a few days. I'll show you the beautiful scenery of our island."
"I heard from the village head that there are a total of sixteen tourists this time." She smiled and raised her index finger to count the number of people one by one. "One, two, three... fourteen, fifteen, why is there one missing? Did I count wrong?"
One missing?
Qi Qiuxue looked around and did not see Liu Dawei in the crowd.
Liu Ge came over and whispered to Qi Qiuxue, "Liu Dawei didn't come down."
Qi Qiuxue responded softly, "Yeah."
As a player with dungeon experience, it was common for people to die at the very beginning. Liu Ge paused and said, "Maybe he is..."
Before he could finish his words, there was a sound of a door opening upstairs. Liu Dawei, with a messy head of hair, ran downstairs quickly, putting on his shirt as he ran: "I'm coming, I'm coming. Sorry, I don't know how I overslept."
He was overweight, and his footsteps landed heavily on the stairs, causing the old stairs to creak, causing everyone to look up in his direction.
Xiaoxiao also looked at him, and the smile that had been hanging on the corner of her lips disappeared at some point.
She seemed a little annoyed: "You're late."
Liu Dawei didn't understand who the girl in front of him was, but he still apologized reflexively: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
After that, Xiaoxiao didn't say anything, but her expression was a little strange.
Liu Dawei felt uncomfortable being stared at by her. He suddenly remembered what the hotel owner had said yesterday and whispered to the man next to him who was about his age, "Who is she?"
The man he was asking about had also introduced himself last night. His name was Geng Hao and he was a teacher in the real world.
He raised his hand to push down his glasses on the bridge of his nose and whispered, "Guide."
really!
Liu Dawei scratched his head vigorously, deeply regretting being late, and said again: "Little girl, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean it, I won't do it again next time."
next time.
Hearing these two words, Xiaoxiao seemed to sneer.
"It's okay." She then spoke slowly, her expression completely different from her sunny appearance just now. "I hope you will keep your promise."
Liu Dawei nodded quickly: "Okay, okay!"
Xiaoxiao didn't respond. She smiled again and looked at everyone, returning to her original appearance: "Let's go."
"Why did you get up late? Didn't the hotel owner tell us yesterday that we can't be late?" Whispers gradually came from the crowd. Geng Hao frowned and asked Liu Dawei the reason.
"I don't know either." Liu Dawei shook his head and yawned uncontrollably. "I used to drive a truck, so I have a good sense of time. I haven't been late in all these years! I don't know what happened last night. I fell into such a deep sleep, as if I had taken a drug. If my biological clock hadn't kicked in and I had to go to the bathroom urgently, I might not have been able to get up."
"Is everything alright?" He was obviously a little scared, and he muttered to Geng Hao to confirm, "I, I'm already down here, so I'm not too late, am I?"
"Ten minutes." Geng Hao retracted his gaze and looked at the marble clock hanging on the wall. "It's already ten past six."
Liu Dawei swallowed awkwardly: "This..."
Before he could finish the rest of the sentence, Xiaoxiao at the front of the team suddenly turned around and looked at him.
Liu Dawei was startled by this look and didn't dare to talk to Geng Hao anymore. He scratched his head in great distress and muttered softly, "What's going on..."
He had a heavy bruise under his eye.
Qi Qiuxue quietly tilted her head and secretly observed Liu Dawei's current condition: dark circles under his eyes, messy hair, messy stubble, and greasy skin.
She felt that this was not what should happen after a good night's sleep.
It feels like I haven't slept all night.
【Author’s words】
Here we come!
Thanks to the little angel who threw the rocket launcher: Shi Yi 1;
Thanks to the little angels who threw mines: Internet Addict, Huaiyi, Spicy Rabbit 2; Don't Want to Go to Work, Qiu Lang is a Fairy, Langli's Dog, A Longan, Throwing a Skull at You, Vines 1;
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated the nutrient solution: Don’t Want to Go to Work 11 bottles; Puppy Doesn’t Cover the Blanket 10 bottles; Melancholy White Coke, Jingran Qin Jiaren Yi 1 bottle;
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