Chapter 118

Because of the delay, when Xu Ming went out, everyone else had gathered together.

The crowd was some distance away from her. Xu Ming moved her feet to make way for Xueshui Jiancha behind her, and looked over there. Before she recognized who was who, she heard a few slightly sharp voices coming from there, and the tone seemed quite intense...

Xu Ming was stunned for a moment before she realized that someone was arguing.

There was a female voice in the quarrel, and after a closer look, Du Rong was indeed standing in the middle. Xu Ming frowned and was about to step forward, but Da Jinlianzi, who had come out earlier than them, had already walked over quickly, inserted himself between the two quarreling people, separated them, and whispered something, as if he was trying to persuade them to stop fighting.

After a while, he pushed Du Rong and walked back slowly.

Du Rong was not wearing a pig mask this time, her chest was heaving violently, and her cheeks were slightly red, which showed that she was still angry. Xu Ming hurried forward, patted her shoulders soothingly, and looked at Da Jinlianzi strangely: "What happened?"

"A little conflict." Da Jinlianzi's attitude towards her was polite now, "Someone was injured in the hiding section just now."

"Ah?" Xu Ming's face changed slightly, "Was he injured by the butcher?"

"No, no, no." Da Jinlianzi said immediately, "He fell down by himself."

Xu Ming: "..." Huh?

"His feet were numb from squatting, so he was not steady when he stood up, and he was stepping on a fallen pig face..." Jin Lianzi tried to explain the situation, and he felt it was ridiculous, "Anyway, his arm was scratched."

Of course, this itself is not a big problem. The key is that being inexplicably dragged to such a scary place, everyone is actually under great mental pressure, and now someone has seen blood, the tension has reached the peak. The

result of excessive tension is that some people start to become aggressive and speak without thinking.

"He took his anger out on me." Du Rong muttered in a low voice. Even though she tried to restrain herself, her tone still carried some grievance. "He thinks that if we hadn't held the anniversary event, this wouldn't have happened, and they wouldn't have been dragged into this place. Some people also followed the conspiracy theory, thinking that we were the ones who did it. I'm one of the moderators of the forum, so I must know something..."

No one was happy to be blamed for no reason. Du Rong couldn't help but fight back, and as a result, a group of people started arguing about this matter.

It was only after Jin Lianzi passed by that he was able to persuade both sides in time by relying on his identity as "Blood Tea".

Even so, the atmosphere was still stiff. The people standing far away were whispering to each other, with no intention of easing up. Du Rong pursed her lips tightly, and her chin was trembling.

Xu Ming patted her shoulder again, but the real blood tea sighed at this time.

"Do you remember who started the fight? I'll go talk to him later." He said, "I've told you several times not to escalate the conflict, but you still keep your mouth shut. It's been going on again and again. When will it ever end?"

"Repeatedly?" Xu Ming's heart moved, and he turned his head to look over. "I thought you were quite harmonious among yourselves."

"No way. We had quarreled two or three times before you came." Xueshui Jiancha said, "There are many minor conflicts among individuals."

For example, when they shared the intelligence they knew before, they were collectively questioned by a group of people; when they chose rooms to hide in the first two times, some people also made a fuss because of the allocation of rooms. Including the matter of him and Jin Lianzi sharing the key, some people did not have the key, so they were dissatisfied; some people even directly questioned the identity of "Xueshui Jiancha", which almost made them fall.

Fortunately, Xueshui Jiancha and the big gold chain had already been secretly tied together, and with Du Rong who trusted Xueshui very much, the three of them basically stood on one side every time they argued, which gave them the advantage of numbers. Moreover, Xueshui Jiancha did hold useful intelligence and keys, and had his own authority, so every time they argued, they were able to get through it safely in the end...

At this point, he seemed to think of something again, and couldn't help but look at Xu Ming more.

Xu Ming: "? What?"

"Nothing." Xueshui Jiancha hesitated for a moment, and said, "Just, I don't know how you plan to tell them, but you'd better be mentally prepared."

Not everyone has witnessed Xu Ming's calmness in front of the butcher, and not everyone has been beaten by her.

In most people's minds, Xu Ming is just a new girl who is not familiar with others and is only closely related to the suspected Du Rong. Now everyone is quite emotional...

She had not been wearing a pig face when she was looking for clues before. This means that she was drawing water from beginning to end.

A useless vase is most likely to be disliked and blamed in this situation. This is how it is written in novels of this type.

She has read a lot of novels like "Blood Water for Tea", so she took Xu Ming's reminder quite seriously.

Although Xu Ming didn't quite understand the logic, he still nodded slightly, indicating that he really listened to it; Du Rong on the side sniffed, but was a little indignant.

"If someone is really full and supporting you, just scold him back! If you don't scold me, I will scold you! You are used to him!"

"No, no, no, it's not necessary, just say that." The big golden chain hurriedly said, turned around and persuaded the people on the other side. Xueshui Jiancha touched the pimple on his forehead, and after confirming that it stopped bleeding, he put on the pig face again and left alone.

Xu Ming was left alone, and after comforting Du Rong for a while, Du Rong's expression gradually eased.

*

The embarrassing thing is that what happened next seemed to be predicted by Xueshui Jiancha.

After the butcher's activity time passed, everyone consciously separated and looked for clues on their own. Xu Ming followed Du Rong as usual. The two were carefully checking the pig face hanging on a corner wall, trying to see if they could find a door underneath.

At this moment, Du Rong suddenly heard some noises.

The sound coming from the other side of the wall was a very trivial whisper. The voice was very low, but people could hear it clearly. In addition, the speaker spoke very quickly, mixed with a lot of breath, which inexplicably gave people a rustling feeling like cockroaches crawling...

It made people very uncomfortable.

What made Du Rong even more uncomfortable was the content of their discussion.

"...Did you see the newcomer..."

"Pfft, you also found out? It's ridiculous.

"She seems very useless, just a vase..."

"By the way, did you notice that she just came out of the same room with the Blood Boss?" "It can be seen

that she is eager to curry favor with others. She wants to be beautiful and refuses to wear protection. She is really lucky that she didn't die this time."

"Such a useless person, it's better to die. If she is alive, she will only hinder others..."

"..." Du Rong listened silently, her breathing gradually becoming rapid. Her face, which had just calmed down, turned red again. Looking at Xu Ming again, he was just standing silently with his head down, and his hands were obviously absent-minded...

It was obvious that he had also heard the words on the other side of the wall.

Du Rong was already furious, and seeing this, she couldn't help but curse, then turned around and walked towards the wall - Xu Ming, who was distractedly listening to the whale fat man's words, waited until he heard the movement, and then he raised his head belatedly, and looked to the side, and the person had disappeared.

Du Rong went around the wall here, but didn't see anyone, only a door with a door handle exposed. Du Rong snorted coldly, opened the door directly, and sure enough, saw three people with pig faces huddled inside.

"What's wrong with you?" Du Rong was not polite and spoke without hesitation, "You don't have time to look for clues, but you are talking so hard here - are you sick? You really think you have lived to this day by your own ability, right..."

She wanted to say more, but Xu Ming had already caught up with her. Seeing the situation in front of him, he was obviously startled, and then reached out to pull Du Rong.

"Sister Rong, are you okay?" she said softly, her tone somewhat cautious, "Let's leave here first? Let's ask Boss Xueshui to come over later..."

"Why ask him to come over? To judge? He's just trying to smooth things over!" Du Rong was so angry at the moment that she simply scolded Boss Xueshui as well, "You too, are you just going to let them grumble like this? This is not the way to keep things quiet... People like this are cancer! Cancer of the team!"

"Ah?... Oh! Yes, yes, cancer, cancer!" Xu Ming nodded hurriedly, "Forget it, forget it, there's no need to bother with them, let's go back first, I just saw that the pig-faced boy seemed to have found another note..." As Xu Ming

spoke, he secretly looked into the room. Du Rong snorted heavily and rolled his eyes unhappily towards the room.

"Forget it, I'm too lazy to argue with a bunch of gossipy men."

After saying that, she pulled Xu Ming and turned around to leave. While walking, she didn't forget to pat Xu Ming's hand again, telling her not to take the words of those idiots to heart. She

didn't notice that Xu Ming was still looking back frequently.

His eyes became more and more strange.

——And not long after the two left, Xueshui Jiancha came again.

He came to find Xu Ming, saying that he found something and hoped that Xu Ming, who "also" had a psychic physique, could help take a look. Du Rong didn't think much about it and let them go.

Xu Ming followed Xueshui Jiancha, walking back and forth between the walls covered with pig faces. I don't know how long he walked, and finally stopped in front of an unclosed door.

Xu Ming pushed the door open and saw a regular pig face secret room inside. The only special thing was that there was a large table scale on one of the chopping boards.

"This is the scale I told you about." Xueshui Jiancha walked in first and pointed to a shallow rectangular groove on the scale. "I put the card here and the scale started to report the rules."

Xu Ming nodded and stepped in carefully. After looking around and confirming that there was no danger, he took out the membership card that he had just confiscated from Xueshui Boss not long ago.

The shape and size of the card were the same as those of common magnetic cards. The only special thing was that the words "Pig Face Meat Market Membership Card" were printed on the front, and a Q version girl in a golden princess dress was drawn on the back, with a line of small words printed next to it.

[Attached skill: Exchange

[Number of times available: once

[Effect of use: You can choose to discard some of the things on your body in exchange for other things in the strange story. The things that can be exchanged are not limited to physical objects. When using, please [Discard] first, then [Exchange].

[Once the skill is activated, it cannot be revoked. If there is a price difference between the things you exchanged out and the things you exchanged for, the difference will be directly removed from you to pay.]

... Anyway, it seems to be a very useful ability. But it seems that it is also easy to use violent death.

Xu Ming did not hesitate. After reading it, he directly put the card into the groove of the scale.

As soon as he put it down, the display screen and indicator light of the electronic scale lit up. Then a mechanical and slow female voice was heard coming from the machine - the voice was very clear, but unfortunately because of the timbre problem, no matter what was said, it sounded like "return to zero" to Xu Ming. What

was broadcasted was indeed the survival rules of this space. Xu Ming listened patiently for a while and found that it basically matched what Blood Water Tea had said before.

After the last sentence was finished, the voice ended and the room fell into silence. The screen of the electronic scale was still lit with a flickering light. Xu Ming nodded his chin thoughtfully and looked sideways at the Blood Water Tea next to him.

The latter had taken off the pig face and was holding it with one hand. When their eyes met, he couldn't help but curl his lips and said softly: "See. This is all the information, I've told you everything I know."

"Well..." Xu Ming sighed helplessly, "It seems that for more information, we still have to rely on other membership cards."

"Aren't you looking for it all the time?" Xueshui Jiancha said, and suddenly seemed to realize something, his eyes turned slightly, "Oh, by the way, didn't you ask me before, what is the ability on this card?"

Xu Ming: "Hmm?"

"Does that mean that there will be other abilities on this kind of card?" Xueshui Jiancha said, his eyes brightened a little, "Will there be something more useful in it? For example, it can suppress ghosts, or use spells or something like that?"

Xu Ming: "..."

You dare to think about it. Why don't you just ask for a card that can open the door and go out?

Xu Ming didn't answer this question, but when he looked at the card again, there was a bit of thought in his eyes.

To be honest, the reason why I thought of asking about Blood Water Tea was because I had already found a card there, and just like what this kid said - this skill description makes people feel as if there are other types.

But Xu Ming himself was confused about the nature of this card.

Judging from the text description, the method of use and the effect are quite similar to a rule book, and it is a very simplified version; but it is a disposable item.

Moreover, the source of power of the rule book is the root. The source of power of this card...what is it?

Xu Ming pursed his lips, unable to find a definite answer for the time being. At this moment, the electronic scale, which had been silent for a long time, actually started to buzz again.

Amid the buzzing sound, a strange female voice rang out, sounding completely different from the previous mechanical sound, but as if the signal was bad, the voice was very low, and from time to time the words were mixed with the unique "return to zero" sound of the calculator, which sounded very noisy.

"..." Xu Ming stared at the electronic scale that was ringing again, hissed in surprise, turned his head, and found that Xueshui next to him looked more surprised than himself, "Haven't you heard this part before?"

"No." Xueshui Jiancha shook his head repeatedly, and then seemed to remember something, and his face changed immediately.

He remembered - when he listened to it for the first time, he had only listened to half of it when the being disguised as a big gold chain appeared. During the first pause, it took the initiative to talk to him about keeping the membership card. After he took the membership card, it began to suggest exchanging identities and other suggestions while walking out... After discussing these, the two had walked a long way.

So he naturally thought that the voice broadcast had ended, and he didn't think about going back to listen to it again.

...What kind of thing is this.

Xu Ming listened to his brief account of the whole thing and couldn't help but complain in his heart. On the other side, the sound from the electronic scale finally became stable and clear.

Although a lot of "return to zero" can still be heard in the voice.

[Can... hear it? Can you hear it? 】

...Is this still in the form of a dialogue?

Xu Ming exchanged a surprised look with the person next to him, and just as he was about to respond, he heard the voice continue on its own:

【Sorry, I forgot, this is not a two-way call, nor is it real-time.

【Then I'll get straight to the point. To put it simply, I am someone like you, trapped in this weird story. For some reason, I happen to have the ability to read and convey some of the rules...

【And I can tell you with certainty that the rules you just heard are not comprehensive.

【Next, I will do my best to complete the rules and listen to the end to protect myself, this is very important...

【First of all, you must remember one thing-the [companion] you see is not necessarily your companion. If you are wearing the [Reset to Zero], the probability of seeing the [Reset to Zero] will increase significantly. When you can see the [Reset to Zero] every time you [Reset to Zero], it means you have to leave here quickly.

[Leave quickly, otherwise you will never be able to leave!

[Make sure your companion can fully expose his or her facial features when talking to you. If the other party is unwilling to show his or her face, or you can no longer judge by his or her facial features, you can further check the other party's arms and knees. Remember, the human knee grows in front, and the elbow can only bend inward; the joints are connected by bones and nerves and are completely wrapped under the skin. Human joints are not exposed, nor do they have spherical joints.

【To be on the safe side, it is best to check the arms, shoulders and knees. Don't just look at the fingers or wrists, because they can cut off the [zero] part from the [zero] and sew it to themselves.

【Try not to separate. If you must separate, be sure to confirm the number of companions in time after reuniting. If you find that the number is wrong, quickly make further confirmation, or separate immediately and then [zero] confirm under safe circumstances.

【They will definitely appear in the appearance of [zeroing], so if you suspect that the companion in front of you is fake, you can let them [zeroing] to confirm.

【But remember! ! Never make this request when they are [zeroing]! If you suspect that its number has reached the plural number, then pretend that you didn't notice anything!

[Don't let them know that you have seen it! !

[Return to Zero] Always wear the pig face mask.

[If you need to wear it for a long time, you must always remind yourself that you are [Return to Zero], you are not [Return to Zero].

[Oh, and one more thing. The butcher gets hungry very easily. So it needs to eat frequently. If you can't find food at [Return to Zero Return to Zero], then it can only [Return to Zero Return to Zero]. This may be an opportunity for you to [Return to Zero]...

[Finally, if you are the one who [Return to Zero Return to Zero], or if you meet someone who claims to be [Return to Zero Return to Zero] in the future, please remember and convey the following words to them -

[I am the special consultant of [Return to Zero Return to Zero]. I am now on the 100th floor. Please come to me within 24... no, 23 hours and 8 minutes. If you don't make it in time, please destroy the entrance to the 100th floor by any means you can think of .

[Also, please bring some food when you come to see me. I'm very hungry now. Some kind people gave me snacks [Return to Zero Return to Zero] but I'm still very hungry, really.

[Oh yes, there's more. If possible, please [reset to zero], our current status is [reset to zero, reset to zero], especially the dog [reset to zero], he really wants to [reset to zero, reset to zero]...

[Reset to zero!

[Reset to zero, reset to zero, reset to zero, reset to zero——]

"Beep!"

With a sharp buzzing sound, all the lights on the electronic scale dimmed in an instant.

The two people standing in front of the electronic scale were startled, and then looked at each other. After a pause, Xueshui Jiancha shuddered as if waking up from a dream, and threw the pig face in his hand out as if his hands were burned. After finishing, he rubbed his hands hard on his pants, and his back was still cold.

Xu Ming looked at him speechlessly, raised his hand and rubbed his eye sockets: "What's the point of throwing this away now? You've been wearing it for so long."

"I know it intellectually, but I don't know it emotionally." Xueshui Jiancha whispered, his tone rarely revealed a bit of confusion, "Boss, what should we do now?"

Xu Ming: "..."

It can be seen that the child is really a little panicked. Even the boss shouted it out.

"What else can we do? According to the original idea, continue to look for the exit and the membership card." Xu Ming was silent for a moment, exhaled deeply, "And we must hurry up."

Not long ago, she saw Du Rong talking to the air with her own eyes, and she was still without wearing a pig mask. According to the rules just now, this sign is already quite bad.

"Then who knows when it will be found!" Xueshui Jiancha frowned and scratched his short flat head involuntarily, "What have you been looking for for so long, and there is still no progress..."

"No." Xu Ming said, "At least the export is now clear."

"......?" Xueshui Jiancha was stunned, and quickly reacted, "You mean, in the supplementary rules just now...?"

"Yes." Xu Ming nodded without hesitation, then closed his eyes and recalled seriously, "Do you still remember that there is a rule that specifically mentions that butchers get hungry easily and need to eat?"

Xueshui Jiancha thought for a while, and nodded hesitantly: "But there are also many blurred sounds in that rule..."

"Yes. But it can be inferred." Xu Ming turned twice on the spot, "By the way, from the time we came in until now, has no one among you died?"

"...Yes." Xueshui Jiancha was stunned for a moment, then nodded again, "Because everyone is quite cooperative, basically every time the butcher comes out, we can get through it safely."

Maybe because they are all in the supernatural community, they are quite accepting of such things, and they deeply understand the horror movie survival law of "If you don't commit suicide, you won't die." In addition, there are original authors of the scenes in the team, and they can directly let people understand the consequences of offending the butcher with their own original settings...

Naturally, no one would be stupid enough to risk their lives by stepping on a landmine.

"What about the people before you?" Xu Ming asked immediately, "Have you found any eaten corpses, or clothes... or something like that?" "

..." As soon as this question came out, Xueshui Jiancha's face changed slightly again.

After a moment, he nodded again with difficulty: "Yes."

"In some rooms, there are unrecognizable pieces of meat on the chopping board, or broken fingers... In some rooms, there are bloody clothes and hair.

"It's just that we all think we shouldn't spread panic. So those who find these basically only tell the pig-faced boy, and he or I will take a closer look, in case there are clues or something. "

It's a pity that basically nothing has been found. "

"..." Xu Ming listened and nodded lightly.

Although this kid and his companions pretended to be authoritative and hid clues, it has to be said that in some aspects, they were quite thoughtful.

"Then... if I'm not mistaken, what you saw should be the leftovers of the butcher." Xu Ming pondered for a moment and said thoughtfully, "You have not been found by it, so it is in a hungry state now. "

And the supplementary rules in that version say that if it can't find food in 口口, it can only 口口, which may be a chance for them to 口口.

The first blank must be the location, and the last blank has two most likely answers, saving life or escaping.

If you choose to fill in "saving life", then the whole paragraph can be understood as, "If it can't find food in its own room, it can only go to other rooms, which may be a chance for you to save your life."

It makes sense, but it's unnecessary. Because the same information has been explained in the rules of the first paragraph. The person who spoke has already stated that his purpose is to "supplement "Fill", so there is no need to repeat the previous information again.

If you choose to fill in "escape", then the first half of the sentence is likely to be related to the exit.

Also, before the butcher disappeared, there was a shrill buzzing sound -

Xu Ming has the characteristics of an idiot and cannot see the butcher. But she clearly heard the buzzing sound*.

In other words, the buzzing sound did not come from the butcher, but from something that has existed from the beginning. The fact presented is that the butcher did not find food. The butcher triggered that existence. The butcher disappeared.

What if you try to fill in the blanks in the rules again?

"'If food can't be found in [this area], it can only go to [other areas]. For you, it may be an opportunity to [escape]'. "

Xu Ming slowly and word by word said the conjectured sentence. Xue Shui Jian Cha in front of him immediately widened his eyes.

"If that's the case, doesn't it mean that as long as we follow the butcher, we can find the exit? !"

"That's true, but it's just a guess. The details still need to be verified." Xu Ming lowered his eyelids slightly, "Besides, there's the matter of the membership card."

You need to swipe the card to leave. And the one currently on the electronic scale, Xu Ming doesn't want to move unless it's necessary. Besides,

it's just one card, and there are so many of them, it may not be enough.

"Then... I guess we still have to look for it slowly." Xue Shui Jian Cha's shoulders slumped again.

After all, there was no mention of this card in the supplementary rules.

Xu Ming glanced at him and coughed meaningfully:

"No, strictly speaking... I also have some ideas about this matter."

"? ! "Xueshui Jiancha looked over in surprise again - although it was a bit exaggerated to say so, he really felt that he had almost used up all the surprises for the week since Xu Ming appeared, "You know again?"

"A guess, but it's worth a try." Xu Ming said, and hooked his finger at him. Xueshui Jiancha's expression froze, and he touched his earlobe unconsciously, and moved closer with his eyes down.

Xu Ming thought he was too slow, so he pulled him directly. After getting closer, he whispered a few words, and Xueshui Jiancha's eyes widened again like flowers blooming in spring on a dead tree.

"Are you... sure?" He was half-believing and half-doubting, "This is a bit scary."

"I'll say it again, it's just a guess." Xu Ming's tone was firm, "But even if you don't guess right, this must be done. "

"You...our team is obviously not clean anymore, we have to clean it up, do you understand?" "

..." Xueshui Jiancha's throat moved slightly, and he seemed a little hesitant, "I understand it intellectually, but..."

"Don't forget, you are Xueshui Jiancha." Xu Ming patted his shoulder seriously, "You made up a very wonderful and admirable dream for yourself, but lies are always lies, and dreams are always dreams."

"But now, this is the time when you are closest to that dream. This is the time when you are closest to the identity of 'Xueshui Jiancha'. As long as you take this step, 'Xueshui Jiancha' will no longer be just a simple lie, it will truly become a shining name worth remembering.

"Are you really not going to try it?"

"..." Xueshui Jiancha didn't say anything else.

Xu Ming did not urge him. He took out a piece of paper from his bag and began to write and draw, leaving him to ponder by himself.

An unknown amount of time had passed before Xueshui Jiancha spoke again, his voice a little louder than before, as if he had finally made up his mind:

"Okay, then I'll discuss it with the pig-faced boy then. We'll both...

"But boss, can you tell me... at least give me some idea."

Xueshui Jiancha scratched his cheek unconsciously, his tone earnest:

"How did you guess about this membership card?"

"It's not exactly a guess. "Xu Ming opened her mouth and said, "I have a unique information channel..."

She was about to use that universal answer to fool him again, but when she met Xueshui Jiancha's nervous eyes, she paused again.

Then she closed her eyes: "In short, it's in this weird talk, and there are my other colleagues.

"They have successful cases that can be referenced."

"Oh--" Xueshui Jiancha nodded as if he suddenly understood.

He looked a lot more relieved.

And almost at the same time-

in the empty parking lot, Qiu Yufei, who was wandering alone, shuddered and couldn't help sneezing.

"Kid? Are you okay?" The whale man sitting on the edge of the bag looked up when he heard the voice, and Qiu Yufei waved his hand quickly.

"It's okay, it's okay, I just feel a little cold. Why is it so chilly here... A-choo!"

Before she finished her words, she sneezed again. She rubbed her nose with her hand in a wolfish manner, looked for a place to put down the things in her hand, and then took out a tissue and blew her nose hard on the spot.

Then she picked up a whole plastic prosthetic leg on the ground, checked the membership card hidden in the bag, and after confirming that everything was correct, she rubbed her arms and continued to walk forward.