Chapter 104

Xu Ming had no idea why Landor wanted to die, nor did she know how she had found Landor with such a keen eye; but as she continued to follow up on the two people in her memory, one thing was finally confirmed by her.

That is, the two people in her memory were really unfamiliar at this moment. They

just knew each other like iron plates. They were so unfamiliar that they didn't even know how to pronounce each other's names. At this moment, Landor seemed to have just figured out the real spelling of Xu Ming's name -

"Ming? The Ming of the underworld?" He led the way in front with an expressionless face, without turning his head, "Why did you think of taking this word?"

"When I was a child, I consulted a fortune teller, who said that I had a connection with the underworld." The "Xu Ming" in the memory answered without hesitation, saying it as if it was a matter of course. Xu Ming, who was floating in the air, couldn't help but raise her eyebrows.

...Fake.

She quickly realized it.

Most likely, when she exchanged names with Landor before, she habitually used the name "Xu Ming", but after thinking about it, she felt that it was safer to use a pseudonym, so when she was asked about the specific word, she just made up "Ming"... But then again, did she use the name "Xu Ming" in the strange story at the beginning?

Xu Ming was a little surprised when she realized this.

After all, in her memory, she used "Xu Ming" as a pen name only after she practiced painting for a while and officially created an account online to publish her works. Qiu Yufei often called Xu Ming "Mr. Mingming" because of this. As a good friend, Qiu Yufei naturally became one of the first fans of Xu Ming's account. When Xu Ming first started trying to accept articles, she also served as her tap water and helped her to attract several customers in her online circle.

In order to raise Xu Ming's status, she always called him "Mr. Mingming" when selling Amway. After a while, this became another nickname of Xu Ming.

But I started learning painting not long after entering college, and officially created the account in the second semester of my sophomore year. In other words, I actually used the name "Xu Ming" in real life after I had been involved in strange stories for a while... Although

it was not a big deal, Xu Ming was still surprised by this small discovery. On the other hand, I don't know if I was in a hurry to change the topic in the strange talk, and I also asked about Landuo's name——

"By the way, is Landuo your real name?" Xu Ming heard her ask seriously, "Is this the transliteration of some Mongolian? Or do you just like flowers more?"

"..." The moment the voice fell, Landuo, who was walking in front, obviously paused.

After a while, he restrained himself and said: "Duo."

"Xu Ming" who was following behind: "......?"

"Gold radical, second tone, Duo." Landuo half turned his head to look at her, "Don't you know how to listen to the tone?"

"Xu Ming": ...

"You read it very clearly." She muttered softly, "OK, Landuo, remember it."

Duo, she knew, it was a kind of ancient big bell. But few people use this word nowadays, so she didn't react for a while.

Out of sight of Landor, "Xu Ming" pouted unhappily, and when she noticed that Landor's luggage bag was moving slightly, she frowned defensively.

"By the way, I wanted to ask you just now." She adjusted her expression slightly, and spoke as nonchalantly as possible, "Your bag seems to have been moving since just now... Is there something in it?" "

..." Landor's footsteps stopped again, and he finally turned around and took a deep look at "Xu Ming".

"Xu Ming" was already nervous, and when he noticed his movements, he tensed up instinctively. From Xu Ming's perspective, he could clearly see that she also reached her hand to her lower back - the clothes there were slightly bulging, and from the bulging outline, it seemed that something like a knife was hidden.

"What's the matter?" "Xu Ming" asked in a low voice.

Landor did not explain. He just put down the luggage bag in front of her and unzipped it.

Thick black air came out of the bag almost instantly. Xu Ming, who was in the air or on the ground, held his breath subconsciously. Immediately afterwards, a childish hum was heard—

a small head poked out of the luggage bag with a sob.

The body was made up of pure black shadows, but the size of two palms. On the face that was not big to begin with, there was a pair of huge yellow eyes that took up almost two-thirds of the face, which reminded people of a Chihuahua. Looking at the overall shape, it was more similar to a small dog commonly seen on the roadside.

"..." At this moment, Xu Ming, who was in the air or on the ground, was silent.

The reason why Xu Ming was surprised in the air was simple. It was mainly because the puppies in her memory were all prettier. Although she knew they were all pretending, it was the first time she had seen them in such a primitive and dirty state.

The reason why "Xu Ming" on the ground was surprised was even simpler. After all, she never thought that there was a dog in Lando's bag.

Well... although it looked very dirty, it was obvious that it was a dog!

Just looking at the proportion of the eyes, it was actually quite deformed, but the dog was small in size and could hum, which made it look a bit cute.

Although "Xu Ming" was still a little defensive, she couldn't help but take a few more glances. Lando's eyes flickered as if he noticed her gaze, and then he raised his hand without changing his expression and lightly snapped his fingers.

Along with that sound, the already dense black air soared up like a dragon, and rolled into a terrifying storm on the spot; the shadow dog was swallowed up by the storm in an instant, followed by a creepy long howl -

and then the sound of bones creaking. Through the swirling black air, it can be vaguely seen that the outline of the shadow dog inside is expanding at an alarming speed.

"To avoid misunderstanding, let me make it clear first. This is not my pet."

Landor said softly, and snapped his fingers again. The storm-like black air suddenly dissipated, revealing the shadow dog that had swelled to nearly two meters. Under the turbid yellow eyes were sharp teeth protruding outward and black saliva dripping continuously.

"This is my derivative." Only at this moment did Landor slowly add the second half of the sentence, slightly raised his head, and revealed the same yellow eyes.

"Xu Ming" standing next to the big dog: "..."

He paused for a few seconds, and nodded in sudden realization: "Oh, I understand now."

"Your derivative... In other words, you are actually an alien root, right?"

She said, and involuntarily looked in the direction of the big dog again: "That's good, the derivative is a puppy... Does it have a name?"

Landor: "..."

"...No." He was silent for a moment, and looked at "Xu Ming" with a bit of strangeness, "Is this what you care about?"

"Not really. I'm just used to it. When I see a puppy, I always want to ask its name." "Xu Ming" said, and raised his hand slightly towards the big dog's paw, as if he wanted to touch it, but after a little hesitation, he put his hand back, "Don't mention it, it's quite cute."

"......???" This time, Lando looked at her even more strangely.

He even glanced at the big dog, frowning, and then looked at "Xu Ming" again, as if he didn't understand how she could say such a compliment.

The big dog seemed to be very happy, and it obviously understood that "Xu Ming" was complimenting itself. Its tail couldn't help but flicked twice, knocking on the wall, making a thumping sound.

Lando frowned even more tightly and quickly scolded. After pausing for a while, he snapped his fingers again and changed the dog back.

"It's not an alien root." After putting the puppy back into the bag, he suddenly spoke.

"Huh?" "Xu Ming" was obviously stunned, "But didn't you just say..."

"It's my derivative, yes. But I'm not an alien root." Landor interrupted her and continued to walk forward, "I don't know what I am. I thought I was just a dead person, but one day, my root disappeared, and I directly possessed the ability of that root. That's it."

... To put it bluntly, it's still an alien root.

Xu Ming, floating in the air, thought silently.

It's just that the cause is different from that of the blubber man. The blubber man is the "root" itself that has developed a personality and invaded the dead who became a hollow shell; and Landor, before he became a hollow shell, he naturally merged with the root he possessed.

This is what she learned in the unit building. And "Xu Ming", who was only a freshman at the moment, spoke naturally and continued Landor's words: "Then you are actually still considered an alien root."

"?" Landor paused again and looked at her in surprise, "Really?"

"Yeah." "Xu Ming" nodded seriously and gave Landor some scientific knowledge.

Landor listened in silence, but when he spoke again, his tone was inexplicably softer: "Oh, so."

"Yeah. For someone like you, it's actually an ideal situation." "Xu Ming" said, then changed the subject and spoke again tentatively, "By the way, what is your original root?"

"A lighter-like thing." Landor said lightly, "Tinderbox, do you know?"

"Xu Ming": "......?"

"A prop in a fairy tale that can be used to summon a dog." Landor retracted his gaze, lifted the bag on his shoulder, and continued to walk forward, "But after it 'fused' with me, it no longer has a physical body."

Correspondingly, he himself possessed the ability of the tinderbox. As long as he gave instructions in his own way, he could control the shadow dog as a derivative.

"Just like before." Landor said casually, suddenly turned his head to look at "Xu Ming", and quickly retracted his gaze, "But you don't seem to be affected at all. I didn't expect that."

"Oh...oh." "Xu Ming" who followed him frowned, showing a bit of confusion in a place he couldn't see. But his tone was still as calm as always, "It's okay, not very scary."

"I said I'm a professional. If I'm affected just because of this kind of thing, it's too unreasonable - besides, your dog is really cute."

Landor's luggage bag must have heard her words, and it was obvious that something was bulging out, and it seemed that something was shaking desperately inside.

Xu Ming, who was floating in the air, couldn't help but raise his hands to cover his face.

...You see a ghost.

Landor didn't notice, but she saw it clearly - after the shadow dog grew bigger, the other self was always looking at its paws.

Facing the storm, she remained calm; facing the giant vicious dog, she talked and laughed, it seemed to be true. But if you observe carefully, you will find that the other self's eyes never stayed on these things for a second from beginning to end.

It's not because she was not afraid, but because she didn't see them at all.

Because what she saw at the beginning was a palm-sized puppy, so no matter how the other party changed afterwards, what she saw was always just a palm-sized puppy.

In other words, it is - idiot.

The distorted characteristics that Xu Ming currently possesses. Now it seems that he has awakened just after entering college.

No wonder he has to find someone to be an accomplice. Xu Ming thought silently.

The characteristic of "idiot" is very useful as a defensive skill, but at the same time, the flaws are also obvious. First, there is no room for active use, and second, it is easy to miss clues.

I am only a freshman now, and I have just found Landor as a partner... It seems that I probably don't have any roots at this time.

The first root involved in the unlocking password may come from this strange story.

As if echoing her thoughts, I, who was rushing on the road below, also asked about the situation of the roots in this strange story. Landor seemed to have been here for a while, and gave a few answers naturally. Then there was another chuckle.

"I know what you are worried about. Don't worry, since I promised you, I will naturally do my best."

Landor said, turning his head halfway again. Although the light was dim at the moment, from Xu Ming's perspective, he could clearly see the light in his eyes.

"I'll get what you want. Just remember your promise."

*

*

"...and then?"

Another day later. In Xu Ming's bedroom.

Qiu Yufei's nasal voice and excited questioning came from the phone. Xu Ming sat cross-legged on the bed. After a long silence, he uttered three words woodenly:

"He saw a ghost."

Qiu Yufei: "......?"

"Go to hell with it, it's good enough that I can escape safely in the end." Xu Ming complained rudely, not caring about the fact that the object of his complaints also included another tragic fact of himself, "You don't know how badly they - I mean the two of us played at that time. If you use the game as an analogy, it was a complete dinner party, which made me dumbfounded..."

It was so bad that she still felt like a thorn in her throat even after a day. Finally, she couldn't bear it anymore and called Qiu Yufei and started to complain crazily. Let's not

talk about myself first. I don't have any props in my hand. The only advantage is the idiot characteristic. But as mentioned before, this characteristic can save your life, but the defects are obvious, and it really needs the cooperation of others.

As luck would have it, the person she is working with this time is Landor.

It's not that Landor is incompetent. In fact, his individual combat ability can be said to be quite good. The changeable characteristics of the shadow dog make him a hexagonal warrior in a sense. He can assist, attack, and AOE, and he can also fight from a distance. If he can't win, he still has plenty of opportunities to escape. He has a strong self-protection ability. He belongs to the type that can survive very well no matter which monster story he is thrown into. The problem is...

Xu Ming paused suspiciously at this point.

"Hmm?" Qiu Yufei couldn't help but urge curiously, "What's the problem?"

Xu Ming was quiet for a moment and exhaled deeply.

"Let me put it this way," she said, "Do you remember what I just told you about my guess about the price he paid?"

It was a rare opportunity for them to have a long phone call, and the person on the other side was Qiu Yufei, so Xu Ming didn't hide anything during the previous chat, and directly told her all his recent troubles - of course, they were all very simplified versions.

Although Qiu Yufei only understood half of what he said, she had followed two strange stories after all, and had rich experience in reading novels, so she followed Xu Ming's rhythm without much effort. When she heard Xu Ming mention this matter again, she immediately said "um": "Remember it, so that you can... poke fun at me."

This is not the point. Xu Ming exhaled again:

"To be honest, before I read this memory, I actually once guessed whether Landor had paid a part of his ability to observe, think and solve problems as a price."

Qiu Yufei: "..."

Qiu Yufei: "Excuse me, is it the brain you want to talk about?"

"It's up to you to understand it." Xu Ming said, "The point is, after reading this memory, I found that I may have thought too much."

Qiu Yufei: "…………"

"Oh my god." She couldn't help but say, "Teacher Mingming, you..."

Is this the person who became the director? Even saying that someone has no brains can be turned so many times.

"This is the most euphemistic way I can think of." Xu Ming said bluntly, "But he is indeed..."

Of course, it doesn't mean that Landor is not smart. It's just that his skill points obviously didn't focus on using his brain, and his proficiency in the two skills of "understanding coordination" and "initiating coordination" was zero. In addition, Xu Ming himself was green at the time and lacked experience in cooperating with others...

Let's put it this way, poor coordination is a polite way of saying it.

Xu Ming would rather call it a mess. Disaster scene.

As a person who watched the entire adventure from a third perspective, her expression also changed from curiosity and expectation at the beginning, to astonishment, and finally numb applause... But what happened in less than an hour seemed like a century to her.

Thanks to the obvious loopholes in the rules of this strange story, Landor's toughness is indeed strong, and as an old black household who has been there for a long time, he also has the advantage of knowing the way... otherwise Xu Ming feels that it is a problem whether the two of them can get out smoothly.

In this regard, she can only say, thank nature for its excellent ranking mechanism.

She, Landor, and the slaughterhouse strange story itself, there is a reason why the three of them can be matched together.

"Think about it on the bright side, at least you are all out. And you haven't disbanded yet." Qiu Yufei said comfortingly, and then thought about it and asked curiously, "But you didn't get the root in this memory. Then don't you have to look for it in other memories later?"

"This is the only way." Xu Ming was helpless.

The main reason is that the keyword locking mechanism of the brain mushroom is obviously problematic. After trying twice, it failed to lock the most useful memory fragment. Since the keyword search does not work, I can only rely on the tactics of the sea of ​​questions to slowly brush it.

I took the initiative to reveal the problems I encountered recently to Qiu Yufei, on the one hand for the purpose of complaining, and on the other hand, I also wanted to ask her if there were any other clues left in the past. Unfortunately, I didn't get any results.

"It sounds so troublesome. I'll encourage you mentally." Qiu Yufei muttered, and then said, "What about Landor? Have you confirmed your guess with him?"

Xu Ming: "..."

Xu Ming: "Not yet."

"It's really unlike you to drag it until now." Qiu Yufei said directly, "Are you frightened?"

Xu Ming was silent for a while, but he said "hmm" frankly.

"Don't mention it, it's true."

She didn't like procrastination, nor did she like things that were uncertain. But on second thought, how should she confirm it? What kind of attitude should she take after confirmation, and whether their relationship mode needs to change?

She hasn't thought about these things yet. She hasn't made the corresponding preparations.

"And didn't I find the opportunity?" Xu Ming sighed and said again.

Qiu Yufei on the other end of the phone was stunned: "But don't you live together now?"

"Yes. But we basically didn't meet yesterday afternoon. After dinner, Guo Shuyi came over again, so I went to accompany her first." Xu Ming said honestly, "Then today there was a little problem..."

Qiu Yufei: "? What situation?"

"Oh, an employee of Anxin Gardening accidentally entered the ghost story." Xu Ming added an explanation, "I was asked to pick him up."

"...Ah?!" Qiu Yufei's voice suddenly became louder, "No, wait... Didn't they say that the ghost story was closed?"

"I don't know the details. But it seems that it's not serious." Xu Ming said, "People with psychic physique seem to be able to enter."

It's not strict to say that. Because Anxin Gardening immediately organized a rescue after discovering the situation. With the help of the internal cooperation of the mutant roots, they quickly locked the entrance to the ghost story, but the psychics sent out tried several times and could not get in.

Therefore, they can only speculate that the mistaken intruder may have happened to meet some harsh entry conditions in addition to his physical condition, so he was pulled in.

There was no other way, Anxin Gardening could only ask for help from the Ghost Story Removal Office, the only one with dead employees.

When they sent the message for help, Gu Yunshu happened to be there. After knowing it, he said that Xu Ming had just returned from the ghost story and needed to rest, so he asked himself and Lu Yueling to go first. However, Xu Ming thought it would be a good opportunity to go in and see the situation of the strange story, so he used the ability of the dream walker, wearing the shell of Suo Ming, and took Gu Yunshu and Lu Yueling with two large flashlights.

"Ah?" Qiu Yufei never expected this to happen, "In other words, you not only watched a strange story in one day... but also went in once yourself?"

And what's with your tone of "Oh, since we just happened to talk about this, I'll mention it by the way"? Don't you think this matter is more worthy of mentioning than your "Oh, I suddenly found that the man living in my house seems to be my ex-boyfriend and he is also a mermaid"?

"Don't be so sure, it may not be the ex-boyfriend." Xu Ming corrected himself and then said, "It's okay, mainly because the ghost story this time is not very difficult, and the rescue went smoothly."

This is the truth. I don't know if it's because it's in the closed period, the difficulty of the ghost story has been significantly reduced, the monsters inside are not very active, the rules are easy to find, and very straightforward. The logical loopholes are obvious, and the escape exit is clear. If you really want to say it, it's just a little more complicated than what Xu Ming encountered in middle school. What's more,

before they went in, Fang Xueqing used her ability to specially pinch a key for them-if they really couldn't find the exit after entering. They can also use this key to force a door open and get out. Of course, the price might be Fang Xueqing's fracture or something else...

Fortunately, it was not used in the end. But no matter what, when people have a backup option, their mentality is always better.

"... No matter what, it's good that nothing happened." Qiu Yufei heard her say this, and her heart gradually calmed down, "Next time, you can take it easy. You don't have to go every time for this kind of thing."

"Don't you know the situation in the strange talk?" Xu Ming said, "If I had known it was so easy to handle, there would be no need to make a special trip."

And this time, the time was mainly spent on finding people. If you can find a way to get in touch with the other party in advance, the efficiency will be even higher.

"Next time you can ask Anxin Gardening if they can lend you their computer. They were the ones who asked you in the first place." Qiu Yufei said, unable to hold back a yawn, "I heard Sister Xueqing say when I was having dinner with her before that their computer can see strange situations, it's amazing."

Of course, it would be best if there is no next time.

"Yeah." Xu Ming responded, moving his phone away to check the time, "You're sleepy, right? I'll hang up first, and have a good rest."

"Okay. I'll go get some sleep. I just want to sleep after taking cold medicine." Qiu Yufei didn't bother to be polite with her, she said goodbye and ended the call. After finishing, she looked at the almost untouched melon seed plate on the coffee table in front of her, and couldn't help sighing again.

God knows. The first sentence Xu Ming said when he called her was, "I seem to have encountered some emotional problems."

It made her excited for a while. I opened a bag of melon seeds for this purpose, but I didn't expect that Teacher Mingming is worthy of being Teacher Mingming. He is so hardcore when discussing a relationship problem, traveling through time and space, and even taking time out to go out and pick up someone from a ghost story.

Qiu Yufei originally planned to read a novel, but now she doesn't have the energy. After a simple wash, she lay down on the bed. After lying down with her eyes closed for a while, she sat up again, looking at the wall at the head of her bed with resentment, closing her eyes and letting out a helpless breath.

I don't know if it's because of the difference in the transmission medium. I didn't feel it when I sat up, but I could hear it as soon as I lay down - I heard the mumbling voices coming from next door, with a strange accent and vague words, and occasionally the sound of a chair being dragged on the floor, hissing, very harsh.

If possible, Qiu Yufei really wanted to knock on the wall to ask the other party to be quiet. However, it was only eight o'clock in the evening, and she didn't seem to be in a position to force the other party to be quiet.

So after staring at the wall for a while, she thought about it and got up helplessly, found a pair of sponge earplugs and put them on, and lay back on the bed again with forbearance.

In fact, some sounds can still be heard through the earplugs. But it is still within the tolerable range. Qiu Yufei closed her eyes, and sleepiness surged up again, and finally fell into a deep sleep under the effect of the cold medicine.

Perhaps it was because she was too sleepy that she forgot a very important fact.

- The house she lived in was at the end of the corridor.

On the other side of the wall, there was only the road.