Chapter 20

The time to go to the hotel was set for Tuesday of next week.

Before Xu Ming said anything, the whale fat man who knew about this was already very excited. He posed in front of the mirror every day, pinching himself this way and that, saying that he wanted to pinch a face that was most suitable for him to play with, and asked Xu Ming to take a photo of him when the time came.

...To be honest, Xu Ming didn't really want to bring him with him.

But there was no other way, as he was deeply bound to the rule book. In this situation, Xu Ming must bring the rule book with him, and naturally he must bring him with him.

Gu Yunshu wanted to bring him with her. She had been thinking about ways to continue to help her find her family these two days, and the two of them might discuss it again. Gu Yunshu shook her head when she learned that she was going to a strange place.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, subconsciously pulling the mask off her face again, "I don't really want to see anyone."

Seeing this, Xu Ming had to give up. He wanted to say that he would clean up a place for the other party to feel safe before leaving, but Gu Yunshu had his own ideas.

"I remember the way back to Hongqiang." She said slowly, "If possible, I want to go back and see it."

"Hongqiang?" Xu Ming was stunned, "It's still there?"

Even the printer for expanding the staff was moved away by herself, and she thought it had closed down.

"It's not closed yet, but it will probably be closed soon." The whale man standing in front of the mirror supplemented casually, while speaking, he moved closer to the mirror and tried to open the corners of his eyes with his bare hands, "Without the roots, the ghost story area will gradually weaken and atrophy... The built-in rules will gradually become invalid. When they are completely ineffective, the whole area will be completely finished."

Xu Ming frowned and turned to look at it: "What about the souls trapped in it?"

"It depends on whether they still have self-awareness. If there is no self-awareness, they can only disappear along with the ghost stories; if they still have self-awareness, they can be liberated and become free souls - that is, what you commonly call, wandering ghosts."

It raised its chin towards Gu Yunshu: "Well, just like her."

"..." Gu Yunshu, who was called a wandering ghost, lowered his head sadly. Xu Ming couldn't help it, and slapped the whale man in the face, causing him to wail: "Fuck, are you sick... The perfect skull I just pinched!"

It was flattened!

Xu Ming pretended not to hear it, and turned to look at Gu Yunshu, "Don't listen to it, you call this freedom."

Gu Yunshu responded softly, and then carefully picked up the work badge on his chest: "It doesn't matter, I know, someone wants me."

It was because of the work badge Xu Ming gave her that she had the ability and courage to go to Hongqiang again.

Xu Ming didn't understand why she wanted to go, but seeing that she insisted, he didn't persuade her anymore - the whale man said that it was tied to the rule book, and Gu Yunshu and the others would basically not be trapped in other strange areas again. As long as they were conscious, they could exit at any time. It would be very convenient if they wanted to find Xu Ming, and they would not get lost again.

Of course, for the sake of safety, Xu Ming still wrote several reminders for Gu Yunshu in the name of "Weird Tale Demolition Office" to carry with her - these reminders have no special effect, and the only advantage is that they will not be modified or erased.

Check them from time to time to prevent her cognition from being affected again.

After all, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse, and there is a "Best Wishes for Business" living on the fifth floor of Hongqiang, so it's always better to be careful.

As for Lando, he didn't plan to go out with Xu Ming, and the reason he gave was even more inexplicable than Gu Yunshu.

"There can't be no one at home." Facing Xu Ming's doubt, he answered seriously, "Someone has to watch the door."

"..." Xu Ming turned around and looked around his shabby apartment full of broken things, not really understanding what he wanted to see.

But like Gu Yunshu, seeing that Landor insisted, she did not say anything - after all, besides the rule book, the only things worth money she had were the laptop and the digital tablet, and it made no difference whether anyone read them or not. Leaving Landor at home, at least the puppy can have a sofa to sleep on.

So far, all the arrangements have been made.

So early on Tuesday morning, Xu Ming took the whale man and went out with a backpack.

Gu Yunshu left at noon, and it was not easy for her to be seen by others at noon. Before leaving, she said goodbye to Landor politely.

Landor was cleaning the refrigerator, and he just nodded lightly when he heard it. Only after watching Gu Yunshu leave did he slowly take out a handful of things from his pocket.

...They were a few teeth.

They were the broken teeth he picked up outside the door after being taken home by Xu Ming.

These broken teeth should have come from another mutant root. He later found out that a strange creature came to cause trouble for Xu Ming, but was chased away by Gu Yunshu who was guarding nearby.

These teeth fell at that time. He secretly collected them while cleaning.

Such small things cannot be fed to the rule book as nutrients. For other abnormal beings, they have no edible value. Only a few beings with bad tastes will collect them as snacks for teeth grinding or decorations.

Of course, he didn't think he belonged to this category. He picked them up for his own plan.

Slowly closing the defrosted refrigerator, he lifted his apron and wiped his hands, stood up, and called the puppy nesting on the sofa to his side.

"Smell this."

He gave the broken teeth to it to sniff, and the puppy wrinkled its nose with an obvious disgusted expression.

"After sniffing, let's go out for a walk." Lando continued, "If it's here for the rule book, it's very likely that it's still nearby..."

"Let's go take a look and come back."

*

The other end.

A few hours later.

City A, more than a thousand kilometers away.

Xu Ming and Qiu Yufei walked out of the high-speed rail station with their luggage and were studying the next itinerary on the map.

The hotel is in the suburbs of City A, far from the high-speed rail station, and they have to get on the highway in the middle. In addition, it was almost dinner time now, so the two of them thought about it and decided to take a taxi. The person who

took the order was a cool young man with dyed blond hair. He didn't talk much and spoke with a distinct accent, like a local. After driving for a while, the driver seemed to find the navigation too long-winded, so he turned it off and took a shortcut onto the highway.

The highway twisted and turned, and the two girls chatted with great interest, or looked at the scenery outside the window, occasionally asking the driver some travel questions. The atmosphere was quite relaxed.

But gradually, as if he realized something, the young driver's brows suddenly wrinkled.

After a while, cold sweat gradually seeped out of his forehead.

... Strange.

Can't get out.

They have been on the main highway for thirty minutes. They should have reached the exit, but no matter how they drove, they couldn't find the sign to get off. Both sides of the road were blocked and there was no exit ramp.

At some point, the surroundings became quiet. There was no car around, as if they were the only ones, speeding alone on this road with no exit.

Qiu Yufei's voice came from behind, and she began to wonder why they had been on the highway for so long. The driver responded in a panic, and after a little hesitation, he turned on the navigation that had been closed before.

The software started quickly and entered the navigation interface smoothly. The driver breathed a sigh of relief, but the next second, he heard a sharp female voice on his phone:

[You have deviated from the route,

and we have re-planned your route ]

[You have deviated from the route, and we have re-planned your route] [You have deviated from the route - we have re-planned your route -]

The repeated reminders kept ringing, and the further back you went, the sharper they sounded. The driver was sweating profusely, and Qiu Yufei in the back seat seemed to have finally realized something, and climbed into the front seat suspiciously.

"Driver," she said sinisterly, "You are not taking us on a detour, are you?"

The driver: "..."

Is this the point!

I am so scared that I am almost paralyzed, but you only care about whether I took a detour!

"No, no..." Facing the two girls, he didn't know whether he should tell the truth or not. He hoped that he was just wrong. At this moment, he heard another voice from behind the car.

"Master." Xu Ming leaned forward slightly, "Why don't you just turn on the turn signal."

...? ? ?

?

The driver was stunned for a moment, not understanding what she was saying at all. The next second, he saw Xu Ming holding his chin with one hand and talking to himself:

"Turn on the left turn signal when entering the highway. Turn on the right turn signal when leaving the highway. So when a car turns on the right turn signal, it means it is about to enter the ramp. In order to ensure that the road is smooth, other beings should pay attention and cooperate."

Driver: "..."

Oops.

The driver froze.

It was already unlucky to encounter such a strange thing, but I didn't expect that I would pull a psychopath.

However, maybe because Xu Ming was too sure of what she said, after a brief hesitation, he really did as she said and tried to turn on the right turn signal.

And almost at the moment when the turn signal came on, he widened his eyes in shock.

It actually appeared -

the off-ramp was just standing quietly by the road, as if it had always been there.

The driver instinctively gasped and accelerated without hesitation. The moment the car drove off the ramp, it was as if a thin membrane was broken through. Everything around seemed to return to normal immediately -

vehicles, traffic lights, sidewalks and houses that kept receding on the roadside, and street lights that lit up one after another as night fell...

Even the meter and navigation returned to normal. The gentle female voice made people almost cry:

[You have deviated from the route. The route has been replanned for you.]

The driver was very moved and turned it off again. He drove forward for a while, and finally he couldn't help looking back through the rearview mirror.

"Well, little sister." He couldn't help but say, "What happened just now, exactly..."

"A ghost wall." Xu Ming didn't intend to hide it from him, but just chose a way that he could understand as much as possible. The driver was in awe, but Qiu Yufei beside him had a question mark in her head.

"What? What ghost wall?" She turned around and looked back after realizing it, "Did we encounter something just now?"

"I told you, a ghost wall." Xu Ming quickly pulled her back to her seat, thought about it and added in a low voice, "It's something similar to what Hongqiang did before."

"But it's okay, it's out."

"......!" Qiu Yufei took a breath, and reacted a little slower and also followed in awe.

"But, how could it be..." She still felt surprised after thinking about it, "Is this kind of thing so easy to get?" Why does it feel like I can encounter it wherever I go.

Xu Ming pursed his lips, thought for a while, and then said: "I'm not sure, maybe it's because we encountered something strange on the way here."

It was when they just got on the highway, and a car suddenly passed by them -

a broken car with the hood drooping. Both rearview mirrors fell off, the front door was tilted, and the windows were broken into pieces. Therefore, Xu Ming could vaguely see into the car.

He couldn't see the driver, but he could see a large pool of blood on the windshield.

...It was obviously not a car driven by a living person.

The car was very fast. Before Xu Ming could react, it had already disappeared in the dust. It passed several cars in one breath and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

It disappeared so quickly that Xu Ming didn't have time to be scared.

On second thought, it was easy for strange things to happen on highways. It was not the first time to see a ghost car like this, so he didn't pay much attention to it. He didn't tell Qiu Yufei for fear of scaring her. Unexpectedly, after

driving forward for a while, he encountered a "ghost wall". Seeing that he couldn't get around it by force, he said he would try to make a rule with the "paper robe authority". Unexpectedly, it really worked.

... Traffic regulations, the eternal god! !

Thinking of this, Xu Ming couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and then he felt a strong sense of sleepiness. She couldn't help but droop her head, and heard Qiu Yufei next to her start talking to the driver again:

"Hey, Master, how is the cost of the section of road inside the ghost wall calculated? That part of the fee can't be charged to us..."

Xu Ming & Driver: "..."

"Forget it, forget it, you're free of charge." The driver glanced at the meter that had returned to normal, and looked at Xu Ming through the rearview mirror, and sighed softly, "I've heard that this place is weird before, but I didn't expect to really run into it... Hey, little girl, you seem to know a lot about these, professionally?"

"Someone in my family knows." Xu Ming was so sleepy that he didn't want to talk in detail, but after thinking about it, he forced himself to say, "By the way, what do you mean when you said this place is weird just now?"

"Tsk, just like what happened just now, a ghost wall." The driver tore off a piece of paper and wiped the sweat from his head. "About four or five years ago, there was a small amusement park nearby. At that time, some people said that something was wrong there. People often went in to play in the evening and couldn't get out for hours... Some people even said that the haunted house inside was real. If you went in at night, you couldn't get out at all. You had to wait until daytime to find the exit."

"After the amusement park stopped operating, similar rumors continued. It was said that the roads near the amusement park were also abnormal. Cars often drove on a one-way street for a long time, but couldn't find the exit..."

The latter part was what his coach said when he was learning to drive, which happened only three years ago. After that, he rarely heard similar statements, and he gradually forgot about it - until this time, when this happened, he remembered it again.

The driver recalled this, and seemed to remember the fear of being trapped on the highway just now, and began to wipe his sweat with a tissue. Xu Ming seemed to understand something, and his face showed some understanding.

Yes, this is exactly the same as the entry mechanism of the strange story that the whale fat man said-

the circular and endless road is the corresponding strange story area. The ghost car they saw before belonged to the person who was planted with this strange story seed during his lifetime. After he died, he was led to the strange story area by the seed, and when he passed by, it happened to affect them...

Wait a minute. That's a bit weird. Were the other cars that passed by it not affected?

Also, although it is a bit strange for a human to say this... but isn't this strange story area too simple? Is it so easy to get out?

Xu Ming couldn't help but look back, but she saw nothing except the busy and noisy road. She thought for a while, and tried to call the whale man in her mind, but there was no response.

In other words, they are now...should have returned to reality, right?

Xu Ming thought uncertainly, and a strong wave of sleepiness came over her. Finally, she couldn't help it and slowly closed her eyes.

——I don't know how much time has passed.

Xu Ming was gently awakened.

"Mingming? Teacher Mingming? Wake up, we're here..."

Qiu Yufei's voice came from the side. Xu Ming opened his eyes with difficulty, and then he found that the car had stopped.

Outside the car window was the hotel they were staying at. The building was designed in an old style with large patches of withered ivy on the walls. From Xu Ming's perspective, he could even see the broken glass windows on the upper floor.

From the outside, it wasn't very big, with only three floors in total. On the right side of the building was the hotel's name written vertically. Because it was already night, it was lit with red lights:

Rubik's Cube Building.

It reminded Xu Ming of the cartoons she had watched when she was a child.

"Teacher Mingming?"

Qiu Yufei reached out to take their packages. Seeing that Xu Ming hadn't moved yet, she couldn't help but bumped her with her elbow: "Hurry up, everyone's going down!"

Xu Ming responded and took his bag from her hand. Suddenly, he seemed to realize something and raised his head to look at the luggage rack above. He

immediately frowned.

"?" Qiu Yufei looked over curiously, "What's wrong, why are you not moving again?"

"I... can't explain it." Xu Ming hissed, "I always feel that something seems to be wrong with the current situation, but I can't tell what it is."

"Really?" Qiu Yufei subconsciously looked around and pursed her lips in confusion, "Maybe he's just sleepy? Let's go check in first, eat something, and have a good rest."

Xu Ming: "..."

Xu Ming didn't say anything, but in her mind, she tried to call the whale man again.

Still no response.

She quietly opened the bag and took a look, the rule book was still lying inside, she tried to poke the wax cover with her hand, the other party stretched out a small tentacle and opened it unhappily.

The blubber man is still awake, but he can't communicate in his mind... In other words, he is really in reality now?

Xu Ming pursed his lips, and suddenly heard the driver's urging from the bottom of the car. After a slight hesitation, he finally went down with Qiu Yufei.

*

After entering the hotel lobby, Xu Ming discovered that this place seemed to be much larger than it looked from the outside.

Not to mention the empty and antique European-style lobby, there is actually another larger exhibition hall behind the front hall, and then there are the elevators leading to the guest rooms and the corridor leading to the restaurant.

This hall is decorated with many strange sculptures and murals, matched with bright red carpets and tapestries. Whether it looks good or not is another matter, but it is really magical.

What concerned Xu Ming was that there was an abrupt "1" painted on the wall opposite the door - it looked like it was painted with spray paint, very conspicuous, and particularly out of place with the surrounding furnishings.

She wanted to take a closer look, but Qiu Yufei, who was registering at the front desk, came over and dragged her to the front desk to verify her identity. After the check-in process was completed, the two quickly received their room keys.

And five candies.

The candies were in a unique shape, looking like miniature white chess pieces, and were placed in a transparent drawstring bag. Xu Ming took it in his hand curiously and looked at it. He heard Qiu Yufei beside him asking in confusion: "Excuse me, what is this for? A snack?"

"It's for saving lives." The front desk clerk who was operating the computer looked at her coldly, "If you encounter something that you think is strange, give it a candy. Please refer to the instructions in the room for details."

"Everyone can only have five candies, and they will be gone after they are used up. Remember."

Qiu Yufei: "..."

...

"I think her service attitude is so bad."

Two minutes later, Qiu Yufei walked into the magical showroom again with her luggage. Finally, she couldn't help but whispered to Xu Ming:

"This is a 1,600 hotel. Isn't such a service attitude a bit outrageous?"

"But we didn't pay." Xu Ming reminded her coldly, "We are free."

"Then their cold faces are even more unreasonable. We came here through legitimate channels, and the lottery is also a promotional method they chose. They still treat us differently, and don't care about word of mouth?"

Qiu Yufei muttered unhappily, glanced to the side inadvertently, and suddenly became excited.

"Hey, hey!" She patted Xu Ming's arm repeatedly, "Look over there! A beautiful lolita girl! So gothic... Do you think she could be an NPC?"

"...Is she?" Xu Ming looked in the direction of her finger, but frowned, "Where? Why can't I see it?"

"..." Qiu Yufei, who was very happy just now, suddenly turned cold. She looked at Xu Ming with fear, and continued to pat Xu Ming's arm in disbelief, "No way, don't scare me? It's over there, the one taking a selfie... Xu Ming!"

Noticing Xu Ming's smiling eyes and the corners of his mouth that couldn't be tightened, Qiu Yufei finally reacted and hit her backhand: "You are poisonous, you really scared me!"

"Sorry, but I really didn't see her at first, she was standing behind the statue..." Xu Ming tried hard to restrain the urge to laugh, and noticed that the girl in the distance was looking at them, and quickly waved her hand as a greeting.

The girl in the lolita skirt who was taking pictures alone was slightly startled, and soon smiled and waved to them. After watching the two people walk into the elevator, she retracted her gaze, raised her phone again, and continued to take pictures with the statue behind her happily.

Before she took two pictures, she heard a chaotic sound of footsteps. She turned her head and saw a figure stumbling out of the corridor. Just after running into the showroom, he seemed to be exhausted and fell heavily to the ground.

The girl in the lolita was startled, and after seeing the blood-soaked clothes on the other person, she was so scared that she took two steps back - but soon, she reacted.

- She checked into the hotel this morning, a few hours earlier than Xu Ming and the others. She had already read the rules and regulations in the room and even analyzed them with her friends. Therefore, it didn't take her much effort to sort out the current situation.

NPC.

The rules clearly state that NPCs dressed as ghosts often appear in the hotel. If you encounter one, don't panic, just ignore it as much as possible.

If the other party insists on chasing or interacting, take out a white chess candy and put it on the ground in front of them. They will take the candy and leave.

The man in front of her, covered in blood, is obviously also an NPC. Normally, she just needs to pretend that she didn't see it, but this girl is also a playful person. After observing from a distance for a while, she walked over.

Hearing her footsteps, the man who was gasping in pain seemed to be startled, and suddenly raised his head. After seeing the girl's existence, his eyes widened.

It was as if he had seen something incredible.

After secretly praising the man's excellent acting skills, the lolita girl cautiously stopped a few steps away, cleared her throat, bent down and spoke softly:

"Excuse me, are you okay..."

"Are you okay?" the man murmured. "

?" The lolita girl was stunned, "What?"

The other party did not say anything, but looked at her more and more stunned. The lolita girl was frightened by his gaze, and after thinking about it, she continued: "I want to ask, is there anything..."

Man: "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Lolita girl: "?"

Frowning slightly, she reached out and held the candy bag in her pocket, and decided to end this link as soon as possible. She was just going to leave after putting down the candy, but when she held the bag, she spoke for some reason:

"...Well, you look so tired

, how about I treat you to some candy?" "You look so tired, how about I treat you to some candy?"

- Almost at the same time, her voice and the man's voice rang out.

The loli girl was stunned again, and the man seemed to realize something and crawled up from the ground.

"Same, all the same..."

"Back again, back again!"

He kept muttering as if he had lost control, and suddenly looked around anxiously, as if he wanted to confirm something. After seeing the "1" spray-painted on the wall, the whole person finally stopped.

Then he burst into a heart-wrenching scream.

Taking several steps back, the lolita girl watched him crawling towards the door, panicking as if something scary was chasing her.

She was the only one left, standing stiffly there, waiting for a while, and after confirming that there was no more strange movement in the hall, she patted her chest as if she had recovered.

"Oh my god, what an amazing acting skill, it really scared me..." She thought silently, and unconsciously touched the candy bag in her pocket, but her movements paused again.

Then she took out the bag again, opened it and counted again, her expression becoming more and more confused.

——From the time she entered the hotel until now, she basically didn't touch this candy bag. There should be five candies in it.

But now, no matter how she counted, there were only four.