Chapter 163

Climbing the lighthouse.

Xu Ming remembered very clearly that the first time he heard this word was from the mouth of "Landuo" behind the door.

At that time, he was describing to himself the kind-hearted man who delivered work badges everywhere, and specifically mentioned that there was a moth following the man - and the moth kept saying, "Don't climb the lighthouse."

What is interesting is that this is also the only time Xu Ming heard the key word "climbing the lighthouse."

Whether it was Kuaile, who came into contact with him at the beginning, or "Landuo" who met later, they all advised him, "Don't look at the lighthouse."

Of course, their advice was not wrong. Facts have proved that the cost of looking at the lighthouse is indeed quite explosive... But Xu Ming always feels that this cost should not be the reason for others to advise not to "climb the lighthouse."

Another strong evidence is that when "Landuo" mentioned the word "climbing the lighthouse", she happened to be carrying Happy on her back - so she could clearly feel that Happy was more nervous than ever before.

... And now, the reaction of Happy across from him made Xu Ming more certain of his guess.

"'Landuo' described the aunt he had met. The words of the moth should also be said to the aunt."

After waiting for a while, seeing that Happy was still talking about other things, Xu Ming simply stopped beating around the bush and directly stated his guess:

"It is persuading the aunt not to 'climb the lighthouse'. On the other hand, it means that the aunt has the possibility of climbing the lighthouse. So the question is, why does she want to do this?

"My aunt will not do meaningless things. Under the circumstances at that time, a bunch of spirits' self-consciousness were tied to the work badge in her hand, and she had no reason to take risks rashly. Therefore, the act of climbing up the lighthouse is likely to bring her some expected benefits.

"For Auntie, what benefits are worth the risk?"

Xu Ming paused, and his inquiring eyes slowly passed across her happy face, and his tone became more and more firm:

"The most likely ones are only four,

"the opportunity to leave, the improvement of ability, some kind of spiritual satisfaction and pleasure, and some truth she has been pursuing for a long time.

" "Among them, the opportunity to leave can be ruled out first. When I left behind the door, I could obviously take her away, but she refused.

"It can only be the latter three.

"Combined with your nervous reaction when you heard 'Landor' say this, explaining this kind of expected benefits is also very tempting to me. If it is just a simple spiritual pleasure, such as an illusion or something... you just need to explain it to me, there is no need to be so nervous, and even try to hide it now.

"So, the greater possibility is the remaining two - improvement in ability, and the truth."

Xu Ming paused here.

The questioning eyes once again looked at the person opposite.

"So, Aunt Huang, which one is it? "

Or maybe she guessed wrong?

Xu Ming was not sure. She could only purse her lips tightly and stare at the person in front of her, afraid to miss any expression on her face.

On the other side of the table, Kuai Le was still peeling her crab seriously.

She nimbly picked out a whole piece of snow-white leg meat. She was silent for a moment, and reluctantly put the piece of meat into Xu Ming's plate.

"Here's something for you to eat. Shut up." She curled her lips, "Also, what's Aunt Huang... I really want to ask, should I say 'Princess, please give me some advice', understand? "

Xu Ming: "..."

The corner of his mouth twitched slightly. Xu Ming hesitated for a moment. Just as he was about to speak, he heard Kuai Le speak again: "As for what you guessed...

"Well, 80-20. Not bad."

"......?" Xu Ming raised his eyebrows slightly, "What do you mean?"

"There is truth about the lighthouse, and it is indeed only known by climbing up the lighthouse; there is also improvement in ability. But it's different from what you think..."

Kuai Le opened the wet towel on the table, wiped his hands slowly, his eyebrows drooped slightly, as if he was considering his words.

After a brief pause, she continued, "Let me put it this way. It doesn't enhance personal abilities. Because after you climb up, there will no longer be the concept of 'individual' in your consciousness."

"Does it mean... being assimilated?" Xu Ming was stunned, "But if that's the case, then why do we still want to climb...?"

Something seemed to flash through her mind, and she paused again.

Then her eyes gradually widened.

As if seeing through her thoughts, he said happily, "Weren't you curious before, where did the rule book come from?

"This is the answer.

"People who climb up the lighthouse on their own will be absorbed and assimilated by the lighthouse - but not as food.

"They will integrate into the 'brain' of the lighthouse and become part of the lighthouse's consciousness. However, this absorption is not achieved overnight. During the long assimilation process, they can still maintain a certain degree of self-awareness. At the same time, they can also use the power of the lighthouse to a certain extent - of course, they cannot attack themselves. But they can be used in other places, such as..." "

Affect reality." Xu Ming took over her words in a daze, "or, modify the rules of reality."

"To be precise, it is to modify the power rules of the lighthouse. "Happy corrected calmly, "It's just that... the time I can be awake is limited, the remaining self is limited, and the power I can mobilize is also limited, so it's hard to make any changes that can turn the tide...

"But I know they have tried their best."

Modify the existence rules of the distortion characteristics, expand the coverage of the rules to all psychics, and establish the most basic generation norms, so that humans have stronger self-protection capabilities in the face of evolutionary legends;

cancel humans' direct right to use the roots, and instead create a safer rule book to create conditions for humans to use the power of the roots efficiently.

In terms of quantity, what they did may not be much. It's not perfect either. But as Happy said, they tried their best.

"I don't know the specific developments. After all, I heard it from Dazhuang. At that time, due to time constraints, she didn't say too much...

"But I think that the rule book was probably made by a pickpocket. He has always been obsessed with magic books. I am sure that the distortion characteristics should be Xiaobai."

Xu Ming: "...the aunt named Bai Li?"

"Yes, it's her." Kuai Le looked a little happier, as if he was very happy that Xu Ming could remember this name, but this little bit of light happiness soon disappeared because of the unpleasant memories.

"She...she had disappeared before I died, and the time was just not long after the unit building was closed." Kuai Le said, unconsciously picking up the chopsticks again and picking up a large piece of dessert from the plate, "I have been looking for her during my lifetime, but unfortunately there has been no progress. I went back to Dali Chuwei a while ago and asked them to help find her, but there is still no more news."

Judging from the timeline, it is likely that she entered the door alone after the unit building was closed, and then went up to the lighthouse. She

disappeared silently like that. Even her once best companion could no longer catch a trace.

Kuai Le spoke calmly, even taking a bite of the spring roll in the middle, filling her cheeks. Xu Ming, on the other hand, fell silent, and it was unknown how long it had been before she spoke again hesitantly.

"What is the truth about the lighthouse?"

"You ask me, who should I ask?" Happy shook his head as a matter of course, "Some things, you won't know until you get to the end, and once you know, you can never go back."

"So Auntie doesn't know either." Xu Ming pursed his lips, "Then according to her personality, I'm afraid she was thinking about how to climb up the first time she knew about it."

"You two are the same." Happy said unceremoniously, "Do you know why I hid the matter of climbing the lighthouse from you?"

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

"This is what your aunt specifically told me after meeting her." Happy paused, "She said that if you knew about it, you would definitely not care about anything else and would only think about how to climb up."

Xu Ming: "..."

"That's different." She couldn't help but mutter.

If she was alone, she would definitely think so. But she is still tying up a group of people, she can't just ignore their lives.

"It's not your aunt's fault. She doesn't know that her little villa has become a haunted house." Happy shrugged, "Oh, by the way, she also said, if you must dig deep, let me remind you one more thing-" "

Sometimes, what should be done is more important than what you want to do."

This is why there are always souls hovering beside Xu Zhuangyan, warning him.

Climbing up the lighthouse, changing the rules, and establishing advantages are certainly important-but in that crazy world, running at full speed and using a work badge to maintain the will of as many people as possible, is it a trivial matter?

At least not in Happy's opinion. She believes that in Xu Zhuangyan's opinion, the answer is the same.

"..." Xu Ming fell silent again, with a thoughtful look on his face.

Happy looked at her silently, and after a moment, she laughed softly again.

"You know what?" She said while picking up the spring rolls, "Actually, I have been thinking about a question since I recovered my memory."

"When did the ghost story appear? When did the lighthouse begin to infiltrate this world? What is the significance of the existence of roots? Why have there never been relevant records before, and it just happened that in our generation, there is suddenly such a thing as distortion characteristics, and we just happened to come into contact with those roots that can be used?"

"Roots are derived from the power of lighthouses, there is no doubt about that, but why do some dead people naturally have roots? And have you discovered that there is a natural difference between the roots of the dead and the roots of ghost stories?

"..." Xu Ming looked at her thoughtfully and spoke slowly, "Fairy tale? "Yes, that's it. "

Happy snapped his fingers. "You may not believe it, but I only realized this when I saw the display cabinet of the haunted house... But if you think about it carefully, those roots that descended on the dead, whether they are abilities or forms, seem to have something to do with fairy tales, huh? "

The heart of the tin soldier, the tinderbox and the dog, the red shoes that make people dance crazily... Even she herself, with her glittering appearance, can hardly help but remind people of Prince Charming.

...Even when she goes out for a meal, she has to wrap herself in a big windbreaker.

However, the lighthouse does not understand fairy tales. Only humans can listen to, remember, and believe these dreamlike stories.

And when did this characteristic begin?

Could it be that long before they discovered it, long before they inevitably stepped into that darkness, someone had already taken a step ahead and walked forward; someone had already been polluted, tortured, dragged into that crazy world and wandered, but in the end, they still struggled to choose a path that was the most difficult to turn back, just to leave a little breathing space and dreams for the world behind them?

"Come to think of it, the term dodder was actually figured out by today's young people." Kuai Le seemed to have thought of something. She chuckled again, "But I quite like this term."

"Hu Yang... that's what they call those friendly dead people, right?" She raised her eyes and looked at Xu Ming, "Think about it carefully, people plant Hu Yang to prevent wind and sand, but preventing wind and sand is far from the ultimate goal, isn't it?"

Vitality, hope, future. Some words are very rustic and sound pretentious when spoken, but the truth is indeed that simple.

Xu Ming: "..."

"I understand what you mean." After a while, she exhaled deeply, "Don't worry, I know what I should do next. "

Happy smiled but didn't say anything else.

She just picked up another spring roll for herself, and took a bite. The hot and fragrant fillings still burst in her mouth. She

looked very happy.

*

Just two days after meeting Happy, Xu Ming entrusted Gu Yunshu with another errand.

Now that her power in the rule book has increased a lot, she naturally thought of the Butterfly Building. She specifically asked Gu Yunshu to take a copy and take a look, maybe he could help.

Gu Yunshu agreed quickly, and specifically asked if it was urgent. If it was convenient, she wanted to pick someone up on the way -

when she was in the haunted building, she once met a strange man wearing a demolition work badge. Huagen, but somehow, she never saw him again after leaving the haunted house.

Fortunately, she roughly remembered his name, and he had not taken off his work badge. After some effort, she finally got in touch with him again in the past two days.

But his memory seemed to be still incomplete, and he spoke a little confusedly, and he didn't know where he was. Gu Yunshu wanted to let him find him by himself along the red line of his work badge, but considering that his appearance might scare people, she would rather make an extra trip herself.

It’s embarrassing to say, but Xu Ming actually didn’t know who she was talking about - Gu Yunshu had described it to her, but she had no impression of it at all. After thinking about it, it could only be that she happened to come into contact with him when they were handing out work badges in the Butterfly Building. It’s just that the other party somehow kept the work badge, and somehow entered the haunted building and lost his memory, mistaking himself for an employee of the demolition office...

Since Gu Yunshu was so concerned, and the other party really had nowhere to go because of amnesia, she simply let Gu Yunshu make the arrangements.

So Gu Yunshu arranged his schedule and went out that morning. Another day later, Lu Yueling saw that she had nothing to do for the time being, so she said hello to Xu Ming and planned to go on a long trip.

She seemed to have finally come to her senses, and decided to go back to her hometown to take a good look while her memory was still intact. Bonnie was also traveling with her - this girl herself loves traveling, and she has long wanted to travel to Lu Yueling's hometown, so the two of them were just right for a companion.

Xu Ming took the time to take Landor with him and went to Tianyu Eye Hospital again. He

originally wanted to call the cat. However, after the cat knew that they were going to the eye hospital, it ran away a day in advance, vowing to come back first to make preparations, leaving Xu Ming with an unprecedented good impression.

... Xu Ming didn't know what it meant at first.

Until she followed the procedure and stepped into this spooky hospital at four o'clock in the afternoon.

- As soon as she entered the ghost story, she saw a group of doctors and nurses in blood-stained uniforms lined up behind the transparent glass door, and they all showed her a bloody smile full of fangs -

and even bowed neatly.

Heads also hit the glass door in unison, making a crisp and startling sound.

... Xu Ming was not sure if she saw it wrong, but she seemed to vaguely see blood splashing out, and white brain matter...

If it were just that, it would be fine.

The key point was that after they bowed, they changed their formation.

From one row to two rows, doctors in one row and nurses in another, they very considerately left space for Xu Ming to enter the door, and the moment she entered the door, they once again bowed their heads in an orderly manner -

"Welcome, sir!"

... Yes, they were even still talking.

Emotionless voices echoed in the empty and cold hall, coupled with their skin full of sutures and slightly trembling tail tones.

Thank you, it's even weirder.

Xu Ming was dumbfounded. Fortunately, she had seen the ups and downs of life. Although she was dumbfounded, she still looked calm. She

nodded reflexively and continued to walk forward as if nothing had happened. Seeing that they seemed to want to form a line and follow behind, she quickly waved her hand to get them away. When most of them had left and only one nurse was left leading the way, she couldn't help but cover her mouth with her hand and whispered to Landor, "What did they just say?"

"..." Landor was silent for a moment, and answered truthfully, "Welcome, sir."

Xu Ming was even more confused: "What sir?"

"Not sure." Landor shook his head honestly, and nonchalantly pushed back the head of the puppy that was sticking out of his pocket. After thinking for a while, he said, "The poop shoveler."

Xu Ming: "..."

Forget it. She doesn't deserve it, really.

The nurse leading the way seemed to be much more sober than the previous ones. Xu Ming looked around and didn't see the cat, so he asked again out of curiosity; the nurse soon gave a clear answer.

- To put it bluntly, a while ago, the sealed door of the Eye Hospital became loose, which led to some not-so-good changes in the strange talk. And not long ago, Anxin Gardening also came here to investigate. Although there was no major conflict, some stalls were indeed left behind.

And both of these things require the domain master to deal with them.

- To put it more bluntly, Mao Mao, the domain master who had been wandering outside for more than ten days, was finally caught back... to work overtime.

Xu Ming imagined a cat working on a desk with its ears drooping, and couldn't help feeling a little funny. However, her attention soon returned to the object in front of her.

It was an eye.

A huge, upright eye.

The eyelids were tightly sewn with layers of stitches, like a sleeping giant cocoon.

Due to past memories, Xu Ming felt familiar with this object as soon as he saw it; and Landor was obviously also impressed by it. As soon as he approached, his expression became serious, and even the puppy hidden on his body poked its head out to show its teeth. Seeing that Xu Ming was still

planning to step forward, he became even more nervous. Just as he was about to open his mouth to stop him, he saw Xu Ming shook his head and waved his hand to indicate that it was okay.

"I have an impression of this thing." After staring at the eyes for a while, Xu Ming pondered, "I heard that there is a sealed door in the Eye Hospital... Is this it?"

"Yeah." Lando was silent for a while and nodded, "But it looks like it's different from the one in the haunted building."

"The way to open the door is different." Xu Ming said softly, "The way to close the door is also different."

The door in the haunted building was closed by her own hands as a key. The door of the unit building was closed from the inside by the building manager after controlling Xu Ling, who was the key.

But this door is different.

Its closure seemed to have nothing to do with the key... Yes, she remembered that at that time, they didn't even know there was such a thing as a key...

Xu Ming closed his eyes, feeling a few long-lost memories slowly awakening in his mind. It wasn't particularly clear, but the outline was faintly visible.

"You forced it closed." As if seeing Xu Ming's thoughts, Landor took the initiative to speak. The voice was very soft, mixed with a bit of caution, "The threads used for sewing come from the dodder in this hospital, a derivative of the mutant root. You wanted to take it away... but before you left, this door opened."

"The power of your rule book was different from now. You couldn't find the right skills, so you could only take out the derivative you just got, use its power and your... your energy, and forcibly seal this door." "

...Oh." After he said this, the originally vague memory gradually became clear. Xu Ming suddenly realized and said, "Oh," subconsciously, "I'm so awesome."

After speaking, he turned his head and met Landor's flashing eyes.

For some reason, he seemed a little uneasy. After a while, he spoke in a hoarse voice, tentatively:

"You... remembered?"

His tone was even softer than before. It was as if he was afraid of disturbing a long-lost dream.

If he didn't have the relevant memory, he would never have been able to say what he just described.

"..." Xu Ming was startled when she heard this, and then she remembered that she seemed to have never had a good talk with Lando about her memories.

Then she let out a breath.

"I guess so..." She murmured, and noticed that Lando's eyes widened slightly, and added seriously, "But for many things, I just have a general impression."

She didn't lie. Because of too many memories, she really couldn't recall many things in detail.

It's like a can, which was stuffed full in an instant. Let alone distinguishing the ingredients in the can, the can itself was squeezed tightly and bloated.

"It's still like this?" It was the first time that Lando heard her talk about this experience, and his expression immediately became worried, "Are you uncomfortable?"

"It's okay, actually." Xu Ming said frankly, "It's just that sometimes when I think too hard, I feel a little pain in my head... Sometimes weird words pop up in my mind and make me feel a little annoyed."

Lando: "...Words?"

"Yeah, like earworms, they come out of nowhere, noisy and without beginning or end, and I don't know what they mean." Xu Ming sighed, "Like these two days, words like colander and soup spoon have been repeating in my mind. It's inexplicable."

Xu Ming said, sighed again, and looked at Lando: "Do you have any idea about this?"

"..." Lando didn't say anything this time.

After a pause, he looked serious and spoke as if nothing had happened:

"This may mean that you haven't eaten well recently and need to replenish your body.

"What kind of soup do you want to drink? I'll stew it for you when I get back."

Xu Ming: "..."

"Nonsense." She couldn't help laughing, and after a moment of silence, she suddenly stepped forward, raised her fingers slightly, and gently plucked the bell on Lando's neck.

"But I remember this bell." She whispered, "I also remember when I gave this bell to you."

"..." Lando didn't say anything, but just pursed the corners of his lips. After a long time, he heard his throat vibrating and making a breath-like sound.

"At that time, I didn't have anything else you left with me. This is the only thing I could hold on to."

Xu Ming: "..."

"Not really?" She was a little unbelievable, "Didn't I give you anything else? "

You were still studying at that time, and were reluctant to spend money." Landor said it tactfully, feeling even more aggrieved the moment he thought about it, "I only gave you a notebook to record clues."

He himself didn't use it much. Later, it was directly used as a new carrier for the reset rule book and confiscated.

Xu Ming: "…………"

"There will be some in the future." Exhaling again, Xu Ming unconsciously patted his chest and distanced himself, "As for those things I don't remember clearly, I hope you can tell me slowly when you are free. "

When she was a little further away, she realized that Landuo's ears had turned red. Xu Ming tilted her head in amusement, and just as she was about to say something, she saw Landuo lower his eyelids and hum slowly and forcefully.

As if he was very determined and made some kind of solemn promise.

...He looked so serious that she was embarrassed to laugh.

Xu Ming was secretly shocked, and her eyes quickly turned back to the "door" in front of her.

On the other side, Landuo seemed to realize that his attitude was a bit too formal, and his face gradually turned red. He subconsciously glanced at Xu Ming's profile, followed her line of sight, and coughed softly.

"Well, if it depends on the breath, I should be able to try to find the key..." He suggested calmly, "Are you going to close it completely? "

…" Xu Ming was silent for a while, but did not speak for a while. She just lowered her head and flipped through the rule book in her hand, then took out a pen and wrote on it quickly.

After a while, she seemed to have finally confirmed something, and she smiled softly, then shook her head.

"Keep it." She said, and for some reason, her tone was a little unstable, "This door is good for us. At least now, it's not time to close it. "

"? "Landuo obviously didn't quite understand. Noticing the change in her voice, he frowned slightly.

Xu Ming did not continue to explain.

She slowly closed the rule book in her hand. She closed her eyes, took deep breaths continuously, raised her hand to fan her face, and wiped it vigorously. After a while, she opened her eyes and spoke again.

"If the information we have is correct, then the main direction of the demolition office will be on these doors." Landuo heard her say, his voice calmer than before, "I don't know how many doors there are in this world, and I don't know how long it will take to deal with it, but I know that every time a door is closed, its impact will be weakened."

However, she did not intend to close all the doors. Because sooner or later, she will have to go back.

"I need to go in and take out the people who should be taken out in a dignified manner. Leave a door that doesn't have much impact but can be entered at any time, at least you know where to go when the time comes. "

Xu Ming said as a matter of course, and took two steps back to distance himself from the "door". Lando listened quietly, and suddenly felt that something seemed wrong.

"Wait a minute." He couldn't help but said, "What do you mean... open and aboveboard?"

"Oh." Xu Ming glanced at him and added, "It means going through the door."

"Yes, I know you have to go through the door to leave..." Lando was even more confused, "But don't everyone have to leave...?"

Looking at Xu Ming's half-smiley face, her slightly shining eyes, and then at the book in her hand, Lando suddenly paused.

As if in response to his guess, Xu Ming bent his fingers and knocked on the cover of the rule book in his hand.

"Open and aboveboard, of course, refers to "smuggling". "Xu Ming lowered her voice, as if she was afraid of awakening something, but the light in her eyes became brighter. She was like a child who finally got what she wanted. She was obviously very happy, but she had to pretend to be indifferent:

"How should I put it? Actually, I have been trying to use the rule book to contact the people inside the door these two days. Unfortunately, I can't get in touch with them, and I can't even share them directly..."

At first, they could use the sharing of the rule book to move things outside in, and naturally they could also move things inside out.

In addition to moving, they can do more... but the premise is that at least the signal must be connected.

Xu Ming didn't tell anyone, but this matter actually made her a little restless for several days.

This time, in addition to checking the status of the door, she originally planned to try to establish contact again -

fortunately, she made the right bet this time.

It actually connected.

"Sure enough, with less obstruction, the signal of the router will become better..." After a moment of silence, Xu Ming sighed from the bottom of his heart, looked at the door in front of him again, and couldn't help but let out a long breath. "I

just don't know if it can be moved. This location is not very good... Although it doesn't matter if I'm sneaking in..."

As he spoke, he habitually lowered his body, changed his angle, and continued to observe the "router" in front of him.

His voice has completely regained its calm, but his eyes are still shining. Even his fingers bent unconsciously, and he tapped the cover of the rule book lightly and faintly, making a crisp and rhythmic sound -

click, click, click.

*

Click, click, click.

After an unknown amount of time, the same knocking sound slowly rang out from another corner far away.

What knocked on the cover of the notebook was a thin and long finger - as thin as the forelimbs of an insect, with tiny spikes growing all over the dark surface.

Above the finger was an equally dark and alienated palm and arm. Further up was an overly thin face that still had human features.

The facial features were clearly discernible, and one could faintly see the beauty of the past. There was only a pair of eyes, and the eye sockets were empty, with only two bottomless black holes left.

She was on the roof of a building. The surface of the building was covered with snails, and the stacked snail shells looked like piles of corpses.

She sat quietly on the roof, habitually tapping the rule book beside her. She raised her head slowly, her eyes were empty, but her gaze forward was unhesitating.

At the end of her sight, the giant lighthouse still stood quietly in its original place, with moth corpses outside and confused souls inside.

Although they were far away, she seemed to hear their screams. Although they had no eyes, she could still see their wooden and hopeless expressions.

After a while, the woman suddenly smiled, raised her hand, and made a killing gesture towards the lighthouse. Then she took the No. 9 rule book she had just obtained, turned around and jumped off the building.

The wind passed by my ears, making a hunting sound, and the work badge on my chest swayed with the wind, and the unit and name on it could be vaguely seen.

[Strange Stories Demolition Office]

[Demolition Ambassador Behind the Door]

[Xu Zhuangyan]