Chapter 108
[Ghost Story Demolition Office·Employee Ghost Story Action Guide (Trial Version)]
[Foreword: Hello, I’m glad you found this guide. This is an internal employee guide for the Ghost Story Demolition Office, which aims to guide employees of the Demolition Office on how to protect themselves, escape, and cover the escape of others when they are in a ghost story situation. If you are not a member of the Demolition Office, please refer to the following content as appropriate, and return the guide when you encounter someone wearing a Demolition Office badge.
[All content is for reference only, please give priority to your own safety and the safety of others. Please make sure you are in a relatively safe state when reading this guide. The final right of interpretation belongs to the Ghost Story Demolition Office. The following is the main text of the guide:
[1. Please conduct a self-status monitoring as quickly as possible. Who are you, where are you from, what is your purpose here, do you still remember the Demolition and Relocation Office, and who Xu Ming is? If you can get all the answers quickly and clearly, please jump directly to the seventh item to read. If not, please be sure to read the second to sixth items first and remember them firmly.
[2. Please remember that your identity is an employee of the Ghost Story Demolition and Relocation Office. Your specific name and position can be found on your work badge. [The Ghost Story Demolition and Relocation Office] is a unit that exists between reality and illusion, dedicated to destroying ghost stories that are harmful to humans and rescuing humans trapped in ghost stories.
【And the place you are now in is one of the [Strange Stories]. Your goal is to rescue the people trapped in it. In order to achieve this goal, you need to find the trapped people and the escape exit as soon as possible. This is very important, please remember it in your heart.
【3. Perhaps you have discovered that you may not be a living person. This means that you may have some abilities beyond common sense. Please make good use of these abilities to achieve the purpose of rescue.
【4. Please do not eat any food that is not brought by yourself, and please do not drink any liquids other than clean water. If there are other people next to you, please remember to remind them.
【5. Remember not to take off your work badge and wear it at all times.
【6. The work badge has the function of contacting the back office. If there is suddenly handwriting on your work badge, please don't panic, that is normal. You can wait for the extra handwriting to disappear and then write a reply in the same place.
[7. After reading this guide, please find and merge with the humans in the ghost story as soon as possible, and protect them as much as possible under the premise of protecting yourself. If someone questions your authority, please tell them that you are an employee of the Ghost Story Demolition Office. Even if they have never heard of the Demolition Office.
[For specific communication techniques and examples, please see Appendix 1 on the back.
[8. Please remember that the living people you see may not be living people. [Dandelion does not know that he is a dead person, and Cang Er knows that he is not a living person]. In order to ensure the safety of most people, you must identify the dead people mixed in and pay attention to them. For specific ways to distinguish and respond, please refer to the usual training. If you have unfortunately forgotten this part of the content, you can quickly review it through Appendix 2 on the back.
【9. If your image is very different from that of humans, please cover up or avoid it. Humans are visual animals. If you scare them, it will be difficult to gain their trust again.
【10. Collect all the text information you can see as much as possible. Clues about the escape exit must be in it. Pay attention to the logical loopholes and contradictions between the texts. For common cases and identification techniques, please see Appendix 3 on the back.
【11. If the text information you collected contains rules and regulations, please treat them dialectically and cautiously.
【If the rules contain strong words such as [strictly prohibited], [not allowed], [must], etc., remember not to do anything that obviously violates such rules. If the rules contain requirements or exhortations regarding thoughts, spirits, or emotions, be alert to whether they are brainwashing rules, and be careful to avoid and introspect. Do not read for a long time.
[If you encounter rules that are difficult to judge, or difficult text messages, please write them down on the blank space on your ID card and wait for a reply from the back office.
[12 If there is text on your ID card, please respond and reply in time.
[13 If you see someone wearing the same ID card, please try the code in Article 14. After confirming that the code is correct, confirm your identity with the other party...
[16 If you need to leave clues in the ghost story, remember to add the words "怪談恷徦" to the information you leave. In this way, the text you leave will not be modified.
[Seventeen: If the abnormal being you encounter is conscious and has the ability to communicate, you can try to communicate with it. When introducing yourself, please be sure to emphasize your identity as an employee of the Ghost Story Demolition Office and the existence of the Ghost Story Demolition Office itself.
[Eighteen: The Ghost Story Demolition Office is a special organization that exists, is powerful, and has strong authority. Please stick to this point, no matter how other beings question it...
[Twenty: If you see a living person you come into contact with carrying a leaf mark...]
"..."
When Xu Ming wrote this, the tip of his pen suddenly paused.
After a little thought, he crossed this out first.
"Eh? Why was it deleted?" The fat man came up to take a look out of curiosity, "The one who brought the leaf tag... is it the one who is doing Anxin Gardening?"
"Yes." Xu Ming nodded frankly, "I was originally planning to include the part about how to identify professionals and negotiate with them, but when I think about it carefully, it seems unnecessary."
The fat man: "......?"
"Because... now we have to rely on the demolition and relocation office to rescue people, mainly because living people can't easily enter ghost stories." Xu Ming pondered, "But the closed period of ghost stories will always end completely. When that time comes..."
She stopped talking here. The fat man patted the pencil dust on his feet and looked over: "What will happen then?"
Xu Ming: "..."
To be honest, I haven't thought about it yet.
He pursed his lips slightly. After a moment's silence, Xu Ming finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Forget it, we'll talk about it later." She said, picked up the pen again, thought for a moment, and added a new line based on the previous mark:
[Twenty If you encounter a dead person with roots in a strange story, please do not touch its roots. Depending on the situation, you can take it out of the strange story and give it a blank work badge from the demolition office.
[If you encounter the roots of the strange story itself during the exploration process, you can try to transfer, destroy it, or... while ensuring your own safety.]
The tip of the pen paused again, and Xu Ming narrowed his eyes and fell into deep thought again. The whale man next to him looked over and asked curiously again: "What's wrong?"
"...Nothing. I was just thinking about how to express it in a more civilized way..." Xu Ming muttered, and after thinking for a while, he finally made up his mind and added the last two words
[collect]
- [If you encounter the root of the monster itself during the exploration, you can try to transfer, destroy, or collect it while ensuring your own safety. ]
The whale man who was watching silently next to him: "..."
So you just thought for so long, just thinking about how to express "steal" and "rob" in a euphemistic way?
"What's with that expression?" Noticing its subtle look, Xu Ming couldn't help but poke it with a pen again.
The whale fat man was shaken by her poke, and hugged himself helplessly: "... No, I'm just wondering, what gave you the confidence that we can 'collect' the roots."
After all, from the "bull's eye tears" incident to now, they have never successfully brought the roots out. Rather, it is not easy to escape without relying on Fang Xueqing's key.
"As a human, you must always have some dreams." Xu Ming said, and then he took another pen, reorganized the rules, and went to the computer to transcribe and print them - this version of the guide is considered complete.
Because she was worried that the paper would be lost, she prepared two copies for each person. One copy was for them to carry with them, and the other was made of thinner paper, folded and stuffed into the plastic cover of each work badge. As long as the work badge was not lost, it could always be seen.
Considering that Landor had difficulty recognizing Arabic numerals, she used Chinese characters for the entire page of rules. Fortunately, the overall cultural literacy of the current team is still quite good. At least no one complained about not being able to understand; and after the guide was put into use, everyone's speed of advancing the strange talk was indeed much faster than before.
What was more embarrassing was that about two weeks after the first edition of the employee guide was issued, Xu Ming had to rush out the second edition -
because the version environment had changed again.
However, this time it was not the ghost story, but Dali Chuwei - after spending more than ten days, they finally found a way to allow their human employees to smoothly enter the ghost story.
Xu Ming was not clear about the specific means, but according to Tian Yiliang's assistant, it seemed that they spent a huge material cost and finally bought it out... No, they reached a consensus with their alien root consultant and exchanged the root derivatives that could be used from him.
Anxin Gardening has actually been working in this direction, but unfortunately there has been no progress. Fortunately, Dali Chuwei was willing to share the newly acquired derivatives with them, but under the same circumstances, Dali Chuwei's own employees would definitely have priority in using them. In comparison, Anxin Gardening's function is more logistical, mainly responsible for investigating and comforting those who accidentally enter, as well as capturing information about strange stories.
In addition, there is Fang Xueqing, who has been tirelessly providing keys for all those who enter the strange stories.
... Of course, considering her tragic dislocated jaw last time, Xu Ming's requirement for the members of the demolition office has always been to avoid using them if possible.
With the help of Dali weeding, Xu Ming's pressure was reduced a lot. In order to cooperate with friendly companies, she also quickly collected all the first edition guidelines, revised them into a new version and distributed them again.
The new version has not changed much, and only four rules have been added. Two of them are about how to identify friendly competitors and confirm your identity with them; one is about how to communicate and cooperate with friendly competitors; the last one is the most important - it is about maintaining your style and regulating your words and deeds in front of friendly competitors.
One point is particularly emphasized -
[Under any circumstances, please do not expose your personal strange habits in front of your friends, or use any words that are not in line with socialist values. ]
"..." The blubber man was silent on the spot when he saw this rule. After a long time, he said: "Although there is no evidence, I feel that you are targeting me."
"Be more confident, otherwise?" Xu Ming did not have the slightest intention of covering up, and directly admitted it frankly. He pulled out the work card hidden in the body of the blubber man and stuffed the folded guide into the plastic cover of the work card.
Come to think of it, calling it a guide now may not be appropriate - when revising the second edition, Xu Ming simplified the full name of the guide to save trouble. Now the official name of this thing is "Strange Talk Demolition and Relocation Office Employee Code of Conduct".
Just after stuffing the guide, the whale fat man who had been pinched by her immediately pulled back his work badge, and then struggled to get out like a cat being forced to get an injection, jumped off the table without looking back, and ran away.
It was not too angry about what Xu Ming said. But before leaving, it did not forget to shake its head at Xu Ming again, with a ghost expression that said "you know nothing".
Xu Ming was left alone, sitting at the table, sorting out the remaining guides that had not been distributed, and then exhaled softly.
——I didn’t feel it when I was busy, but now that I carefully counted, more than half a month has passed since the “Bull’s Tears” incident.
…It’s no exaggeration to say that she has come across more ghost stories in just a dozen days than in the previous year.
Of course, there are advantages. For example, the clue fees that came in one after another from Anxin Gardening, and her own rule book—
Xu Ming thought to himself, opened the rule book on the table, turned directly to the first page, and immediately raised his eyebrows.
I don’t know if it’s because the “Ghost Story Demolition Office” has been too active recently, leading to a gradual increase in its popularity, and the unlocking of her rule book is also slowly progressing. The first skill that was originally unclear has gradually become clear with time, and the first skill that comes with it is also slowly becoming clear. Until this morning, the first few lines of words on the skill column were finally presented in full -
[Guardian of Traveling Companions]
[Kindness will be rewarded, this is the most fairy-tale idea]
Further down, there are several lines of detailed skill descriptions:
[Guardian of Traveling Companions·Package of the Kind: You can mark out specific areas in this rule book, and collect abnormal beings that are bound to this rule book.
[An area can only accommodate one abnormal being, and a single-sided paper can be divided into up to four areas. You can decorate the designated areas according to your own preferences and decide whether to lock them.
[If you choose to lock, only you can release the contained being; if you do not lock, the contained being can leave and return to the rule book on its own.
[Please pay attention! If the corresponding paper is torn off, the accommodation relationship will be invalidated; the upper limit of accommodation depends on the number of blank pages in the rule book. 】
"..."
?
Xu Ming paused slightly when he saw this. She flipped the rule book back -
swish swish - countless blank pages, flipped over one by one with her movements, like white wind.
Because a lot of work cards were issued, her rule book was actually thicker than it looked.
For every work card issued, there would be an extra page with the work card record. Coincidentally, these extra pages were only half used - one page with two sides, one side was drawn with the work card record, and the other side was completely blank. I
just don't know if this kind of automatically generated blank page can be used... If it can be used, it would be too awesome.
Perpetual motion machine.
Xu Ming thought uncertainly and turned the notebook back to the first page. Although the first column was mostly clear, there were still a few lines at the end that were blurry and still difficult to distinguish.
Xu Ming guessed that this might be another branch skill of "Travel Companion Guardian". In any case, at least the newly unlocked one was enough to surprise her.
Although it has not been used yet, it is undoubtedly very practical. At least if a new Ah Piao comes to the house in the future, she doesn't have to worry about where the other party should live.
Well, although it is estimated that there will be no Ah Piao in the future. Probably.
...But compared to the gratifying progress on the rule book side, the memory review is not so smooth.
Thinking of this, Xu Ming couldn't help but have a headache again - more than ten days have passed, and there is still no result in the search for the boot password. It's ridiculous.
Xu Ming thought about this, but she couldn't help but be anxious -
firstly, the keyword locking mechanism of the brain mushroom is really a headache, it seems that it can always just avoid the most correct option; secondly, I don't know if it's because of the frequent use of the computer to watch videos and contact with work badges, her energy has always been not very good...
Work badge contact is easy to consume physical energy. And the computer that can see strange scenes, every time after watching it, she will feel uncomfortable in her temples, throbbing, as if there is a frog jumping inside. The most serious time, she even started to shake as soon as she stood up, and almost fell to the ground.
Niu Bugeng has been staring at the computer for much longer than her, but has never had a similar situation. The whale fat man speculated that it might be because the speed of time in the strange story is different from the speed of time in reality, and this difference itself is a kind of confusion and abnormality.
For abnormal beings, this abnormality is still within the acceptable range, but for Xu Ming, who is still a human being, it is a little unbearable. And because her mind is not easily affected, the abnormality that should have manifested in the mind has turned into an imbalance in the body.
The result of being too unbalanced is that she hasn't reviewed her memory for several days in a row-she gets a headache after looking at the computer, and she wants to sleep when she has free time. She has no energy at all.
But fortunately, now Dali Chuwei has also joined the battlefield. In the future, the demolition office can only play an auxiliary role at most, which should be easier.
Xu Ming thought silently, looked at the time, packed up his things and stood up.
It was almost ten o'clock now. It was not too late. But she helped to solve a ghost story today, sorted out two ghost story materials, and found time to revise the new version of the employee code... She was really sleepy now.
So she went straight back to the bedroom. As soon as she entered the room, she saw Qiu Yufei hurriedly pulling the quilt over her head. Xu Ming stood at the door with a pillow in his arms, stared at her quietly for a while, and sighed involuntarily.
"I saw your cell phone." She said helplessly.
Qiu Yufei smiled sheepishly, lifted the quilt and sat up again, waving the phone in her hand at her: "I'm waiting for you to fall asleep, so I'll check it for a while."
"No, I won't take the blame for this." Xu Ming said bluntly, walked to the bed and fell down, "You are reading that forum again."
"Yeah." Qiu Yufei didn't hide it, and drew a few more times on the screen, "Since the last closure of the site, there are fewer people in the forum. Many posts have been blocked."
"..." Xu Ming knew what she meant - she heard Shi Mian say that because they suspected that "psychics plus ghost-seeing rituals" had become a new way to enter ghost stories, Anxin Gardening had mobilized some energy and had recently paid special attention to related forums and social accounts, and blocked a number of contents that might be exploited...
although it was not certain how much effect it would have.
"Bai Candle Square", as a special forum for the supernatural, was also on the list of those that received special attention. However, the forum itself had a small amount of traffic, and it also restricted browsing and registration, so the risk rating was not high. After blocking a number of posts, it was removed from the blacklist.
Qiu Yufei paid attention to this forum, mainly because there were people serializing supernatural stories in it. Although not many people read it, she still liked it very much. Therefore, as soon as the forum was reopened, she immediately climbed back.
Xu Ming was feeling sleepy at the moment and had no energy to talk. He muttered, "You should go to bed early," and closed his eyes. Qiu Yufei wanted to say something else, but before she opened her mouth, Xu Ming's breathing became long and heavy. Qiu
Yufei turned her head to look at her, shrugged lightly, stretched out her arm to turn off the headlights, and then huddled into the quilt. She
huddled into the quilt, but her cell phone was still on. The novel she had been waiting for had not been updated today, so she refreshed the homepage again without giving up. She did not see any updates on the novel, but did see a familiar post floating up again.
It was the "One Hundred Floors of the Haunted Building" that she had mentioned to Xu Ming before.
This was the anniversary project of "Hundred Candles Square." In fact, it should have ended last week. However, it seems that because of the previous closure of the site, the activity has been continued to the present.
The name sounds mysterious, but it is actually a joint writing activity. All registered users can speak in the building and write supernatural content that meets the requirements according to the regulations of the first floor. Because the posts in the forum are generally called floors, so this name was chosen, which is a pun -
the first hundred floors, only joint writing is allowed, no replies are allowed, and meaningless things are not allowed.
Each person has a ghost story, one story per floor. Completing a story is considered turning on a lamp, and writing a hundred floors is considered turning on a hundred lamps.
After the lights are turned on, the poster will draw prizes based on the floor where the post was made, limited to the first hundred floors. Whoever gets the lucky draw will receive a customized gift package from the Baizhu management.
To be honest, Qiu Yufei has no interest in the gift package. But there are quite a few short ghost stories in this floor, which aroused her interest. She swiped through the floors one by one, and when she reached the last floor, it was almost eleven o'clock.
The last floor of posts stopped at the ninety-ninth floor.
She raised her hand and subconsciously wanted to go back one floor as well. After all, it was just a simple ghost story, which should not be difficult to write. Just as she finished writing and was about to send it, her phone suddenly jammed and a battery shortage reminder popped up. She hurriedly pulled the charger from the bedside and waited to charge it before sending it, but she found that she was already a step late -
while she was looking for the charger, the hundredth floor had been snatched away by someone else. She is the one hundred and first.
"Oh my god..." Qiu Yufei couldn't help but curse in her heart. When she heard Xu Ming turning over beside her, she subconsciously shrank her neck, then closed her eyes helplessly and sighed, and finally threw her phone aside in frustration. She went to sleep.
Unknowingly, just after she lay down, the originally cold post suddenly had countless replies -
[Congratulations to the author of the 100th floor [Sorry for the late update today] for winning the raffle gift package! ]
[Congratulations to the author of the 100th floor [Sorry for the late update today] for winning the raffle gift package! ]
[Congratulations to the author of the 100th floor [Sorry for the late update today] for winning the raffle gift package! 】
【The gift package will be sent out immediately, please check it, please check it, please check it——】
Then, as if a mysterious button had been touched, all the replies disappeared in an instant.
The last layer of posts still stopped at Qiu Yufei's 101. However, there was no 100 above 101, but it went directly to 99.
It was as if the 100th floor had also disappeared quietly along with those strange replies.