Chapter 53

I...did I choose this question poorly?

Inside the playground. Facing Tian Yiliang who remained silent, Landor fell into deep reflection.

Miraculously, not long after, Tian Yiliang actually answered: "Anxin Gardening."

Landor: "......?"

"Although our unit and Anxin Gardening have different ideas, I have a good relationship with some of their field staff in private." Tian Yiliang stroked his beard and said frankly, "Do you know Fang Xueqing? She and I are in the same group."

Landor: "..." I don't know, but it doesn't matter.

Fortunately, Xu Ming had told him about the Butterfly Building before, and Lando always remembered every word she said out of habit, so when he heard this, he quickly reacted and pretended to be calm: "So that's it, it was the Butterfly Building time."

"Yeah. But don't get me wrong, we are not just idle and gossiping for fun." Tian Yiliang said, "We field officers often share known strange stories in small groups. She said that the Butterfly Building is currently in a relatively safe stage. Out of curiosity, I asked a few more questions, and thus learned about the existence of your unit..."

"I have to say, your unit is really interesting. It is not well-known, but even an intern can turn a strange story upside down and change the world. It's hard not to care." Tian Yiliang said, I couldn't help but glance at Lando, "And I heard that the training for newcomers in your unit is amazing. I heard that you have special training for dealing with domain lords?"

Lando: "..."

Um... what training?

And if I remember correctly, the reason I brought up this topic was to ask him for information, right? Why is it like he is asking for information now?

"The training for sales staff is more rigorous. I'm just a thug and don't understand it that deeply." After a slight hesitation, Lando chose a calmer way of responding. After thinking for a while, he added, "The training of sales staff is the responsibility of our director. With her here, the quality of the sales staff will not be bad."

"Oh...that Director Xu." Tian Yiliang nodded slightly, "Xue Qing also mentioned her. It is said that she is a very powerful person. But because Xue Qing also heard it from others, I have always been a little skeptical about the authenticity of it..."

"It's not said, she is just very powerful." Before he finished speaking, Lando spoke subconsciously. Facing Tian Yiliang's meaningful gaze, he realized that he had said this a little too hastily, and was stunned again. After a while, he added softly, "You'll know when you see her. There's no need to doubt it."

"...Oh. So." Tian Yiliang's gaze stayed on him for a moment, and finally retracted, and walked forward again, "Then I'll look forward to it."

Landor saw him start to move, and immediately tried to follow him. Seeing that he had no intention of objecting, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He was thinking about how to continue digging out information about this strange story from him, but heard him say lightly.

"As far as I know, abnormal beings like you have their own set of criteria for judging humans, and they are often more stringent. She can get such a high evaluation from you, it seems that she is indeed an outstanding person." "

..." Lando's steps paused again.

Noticing his change, Tian Yiliang also stopped and responded immediately: "Ah, sorry, do you not like this title? Sorry, I don't have much experience in communication in this regard... and I haven't figured out what kind of person you are, so I'm not sure how to call you..."

A dead person with roots, or a mutant root? Both seem possible.

"It's okay." Lando was silent for a while and shook his head, "I'm just not used to it. I rarely hear people call me like this."

As for Tian Yiliang's subtle question, he decisively put it aside and did not answer it. After a moment's silence, he spoke again:

"Come to think of it, I was a little concerned about it before.

"You asked similar questions when you first met me, right? Cang Er, or Mutated Root."

Lando said, frowning slightly: "I understand that humans are wary of Mutated Roots. Because some do eat people. But Cang Er, why also..."

"Why would it also be an object of vigilance?" Tian Yiliang shrugged and continued casually. Seeing that Lando had no intention of refutation, he smiled again, and continued to walk forward while talking:

"From the look of you, you should know the meaning of 'Cang Er', right? ”

“…” In response to him, it was Landor who nodded hesitantly.

He had indeed heard of it from Xu Ming.

To put it simply, "Cang'er" refers to a dead person who knows that he is dead but is still moving around, and even actively enters into strange stories. The opposite is "Dandelion" - a dead person who does not know the fact of his own death and enters into strange stories in a daze.

"Isn't that the problem? Under what circumstances would a conscious dead person take the initiative to enter into strange stories?" Tian Yiliang said.

After speaking, he did not wait for Landor to answer, and gave his own answer: "In most cases, there are only two possibilities. Either it has its own roots, and it needs to upgrade its roots. Either it has established a binding relationship with other beings, such as a certain mutant root, or the ghost story itself...

"Do you know why this kind of existence is called Cang'er? Because this kind of thing has really happened - people who died in the ghost story reached an agreement with the domain owner of the ghost story, assisted in the spread after leaving, and tried to bring back other dead or living people... Familiar, right? In fact, in folklore, dead people like this have another name, called ghosts.

"What's worse is that, because they know they are dead, they know how to hide the fact that they are not alive. When their chances of survival are limited, they will most likely choose to sacrifice living people to ensure their own chances of survival..."

Tian Yiliang shrugged slightly when he said this: "This is why neither Dali Chuwei nor Anxin Gardening will tolerate Cang'er."

Of course, in terms of specific action guidelines, the two units still have obvious differences -

Anxin Gardening does not mind helping Dandelions who have also mistakenly entered the strange talk area, and even for Cang'er, before obtaining evidence of their actual evil deeds, they often will not take the initiative to attack, but just be as cautious as possible.

"But in the eyes of 'Dali Chuwei', Dandelions and Cang'er are actually not much different. "Tian Yiliang said quietly, "There is no need to make too much difference in the way of treatment. After all, there is only one most suitable way to deal with it."

Lan Duo's lips moved slightly, and his brows twisted deeper unconsciously: "What do you mean by this?" "When

a person dies, it is like a lamp going out." Tian Yiliang did not hesitate, "'Dead people' are the products of disorder. Many times, there is only one way to free them, and that is to eliminate them."

At this point, he seemed to realize something. He lowered his eyes slightly, and his sight swept over Lando who looked surprised: "It seems that you, Mr. Lan, don't seem to agree with what I said."

"..." Lando's lips twitched again, and after a moment of silence, he spoke in a low voice, "I have colleagues who are dead. According to your standards, they are all deaf."

"Oh, sorry." Tian Yiliang was obviously stunned, and then immediately said, "It was indeed my fault..."

"And, our Director Xu also said." Lando continued, and his volume unconsciously increased a little, so that the damage and hoarseness in his voice became more obvious, "Some souls, even if they are dead, are shining. They will be like little stars, guiding those who are lost. I don't think it is necessary to destroy such souls."

"..." This time, it was Tian Yiliang who was silent.

After a while, he finally said softly like a sigh: "Little stars..."

"It's a lovely metaphor. I don't deny that some souls, like Hu Yang, are indeed admirable.

"But you must know that all the shining things in the world, even the stars, will eventually be destroyed."

Tian Yiliang said, his pace slightly quickened, but his voice was still steady, and it continued to reach Landor's ears with the wind:

"Then do you know how they were destroyed?

"The better ones will disappear silently, forget everything with the passage of time, and only leave behind a little ignorant remnant; some will fall into further disorder before extinguishing, and then into chaos and madness -

"Eventually, like a dying star, it will expand and spread at an alarming speed, sweeping up everything around it, causing more 'order' to fall into chaos, and it may even end with an earth-shattering explosion..."

Tian Yiliang stopped here again, tilted his head slightly, and looked at Landor calmly.

"The former is a tragedy of the soul. The latter is a more tragic tragedy that may even involve innocent people. Instead of waiting for these tragedies to happen, wouldn't it be better to stop them early in another way? "

Landuo: "..."

"What you said seems to make sense." After a moment of silence, he spoke softly, and pressed the little panda in his arms, which began to show a fierce look, back, "But I still don't think you are right."

"It doesn't matter. Seek common ground while reserving differences."

Tian Yiliang didn't care about this at all. He just raised his chin forward and motioned Landuo to look forward: "Let's put that topic aside for now. In comparison, why don't you take a look at this first? It seems to have some value. "

Landuo: ...?"

He looked forward following Tian Yiliang's instructions, and then he found that at the intersection a few steps away from the two of them, there was a metal sign with words written on it.

Landuo frowned slightly, stepped forward quickly, and the neatly arranged handwriting immediately caught his eye:

[Unicorn Amusement Park·Tourist Play Guide:

[Dear tourists, welcome to Unicorn Amusement Park. In order to ensure your safe experience, the following regulations are made. I hope you can read and abide by them carefully:

[1. The park attaches great importance to the safety of tourists and has hired a professional security team for this purpose. No matter what situation you encounter, you can go to the security for help.

[2. No matter where you are in the park, please make sure that there is at least one security guard within your field of vision. If not, please leave the current location immediately.

[3. Normal humans have two eyes. Humans in puppet costumes have four eyes. Humans in puppet costumes and balloons have five or more eyes. If you feel you are being watched, turn around immediately and find all the eyes that are watching you. If you can't find them within half a minute, go to the security guard for help.

【4. Be careful of bees. They can sting and inject venom into your body. If this happens, go to the security guard for help.

【5. When you are playing in the park, you may experience sudden darkness or glare in front of your eyes. If this happens, go to the security guard for help.

【6. In most cases, the security guards are reliable unless they intentionally cover their faces. If you find this, please quickly find another security guard and tell him.

【7. If the security guards respond to the above situation with less than two people, please quickly stop them and describe what you saw again. Until they realize the seriousness of the situation.

[8. If you find a stuffed animal in the park with tears and blood oozing from its neck, please don't be afraid. This is not something to be afraid of. Please hug it.

[9. If you find someone running wildly in the park and shouting for help, ignore her.

[10. If you find someone fainted on the ground, ignore her.

[11. If you find a closed suitcase or cabinet in the park and there is a constant knocking sound coming from it, ignore her.

[Please strictly abide by the above rules, otherwise the park will not be responsible for any unexpected consequences.

[Wish you a safe and wonderful day in Unicorn Amusement Park! ]

"..."

"As expected."

While Lando was still studying the rules carefully, Tian Yiliang beside him had already sighed.

Then he took out a mobile device and took a photo of the metal plate skillfully. He continued to mutter while adjusting it:

"As expected, it's just as I thought.

"As one of the 'core' amusement parks, the rules there are obviously different from those in non-core areas."

"Non-core areas?" Lando asked subconsciously.

"It's schools, cinemas and the like." Tian Yiliang lowered his head to edit the photos and said casually, "You'll find out when you encounter it."

His words were vague, and Lando became more and more confused. He turned his gaze to the metal plate again, looked at it for a moment, and couldn't help but say in surprise:

"It's a bit strange."

"Huh?" Tian Yiliang raised his eyes slightly.

"The seventh rule," Landor said, "Why do we have to remind the security guards to bring more people?"

This was the first time he had seen such a rule.

And the one about the puppet pretending to bleed... He didn't know how to describe it, it was just weird.

It somehow felt like it carried some personal emotions.

"It's probably affected by the domain master's memory." Tian Yiliang didn't seem surprised at all, "In the original case, a girl disappeared in the amusement park. And that case was the only one that involved other people - a security guard noticed something was wrong and went to rescue her. But because there was only one person, he was killed. The body was stuffed into a puppet costume and was not found until a few hours later."

... Domain master.

Landor quickly caught this keyword and the word "case" that followed it.

... Wait, case? Amusement park?

Landor was stunned for a moment, then he remembered another crucial thing - when he first came to this place, the two girls wanted to call him another name. Tian Yiliang also mentioned that if you want to move safely in this world, you must pretend to be another person...

Guo Shuyi.

"That serial murder case?" Lando finally responded, "Is this the case you are talking about?"

Unexpectedly, when he said this, Tian Yiliang looked at him in surprise: "Otherwise, which one do you think I am talking about?"

Lando: ...

I don't know what's going on. Inexplicably, I feel like I have embarrassed the demolition office.

Lando was silent again. After a few seconds, Fang whispered to himself: "I usually... am only responsible for being a thug. The information is all with my colleagues."

Tian Yiliang responded with a slightly subtle look. This made Lando even more silent.

But after Tian Yiliang said that, he remembered that he had heard Xu Ming mention this case before - a serial murder case two years ago, a total of seven girls were killed, and the places where they disappeared were different. Some were in the playground, some were in the bar, and some even just turned a corner on the road and disappeared completely.

If this is the case, is the so-called "small world" actually all the scenes where the girls disappeared at that time? Then who is the domain master here...

No. Wait.

It's still not right.

Landor pondered for a while, and suddenly realized a big problem -

"You just said that there are schools and cinemas here, right?"

He raised his head suddenly, not hiding his doubts: "But if so, it doesn't make sense."

He remembered everything Xu Ming said. So he remembered very clearly that the scene where the girls disappeared definitely did not include these two.

"..." Tian Yiliang heard this, but only gave him a complicated look.

"That's why I said that once the stars begin to lose order, more things will be involved in chaos and madness." He whispered, "And like I said, if this kind of thing is left unattended, it will only cause greater tragedy.

"The only thing we can do is to stop it at the root before the situation deteriorates further.

*

Same time.

Beiwan No. 2 Middle School.

The track and field team's exclusive bathroom.

Zhang Dewei and his roommate are both members of the track and field team, and they always know how to take advantage of various team-exclusive benefits - for example, through some small tricks, they let the teacher let them leave early so that they can rush over to take a clean shower when the bathroom is the cleanest.

"No... Are you sure it's okay?"

Following Zhang Dewei into the bathroom locker room, the roommate was still a little worried: "Teacher Wang said that the two of us must take a shower with him, and it's best not to be separated..."

"Hey, what do you believe in what he says? Only you can stand such a perverted thing."

Zhang Dewei said as he skillfully opened a storage box and began to take off his clothes - the configuration of the track and field team's special bathroom was much better than the small bathhouse in the dormitory building. There was a special locker room outside and a separate small compartment inside. The water temperature was also more stable and comfortable. Only a fool would miss such a good opportunity.

More importantly -

"To tell you the truth, I actually took a shower by myself two days ago, and nothing happened. What curse of drowning ghosts... I tell you, it's probably just superstition of those teachers. It's stupid to really believe it."

Zhang Dewei said without hiding anything, with a little pride in his tone, but his roommate next to him was dumbfounded: "Ah? How dare you? Xiaobai..."

"I know, his death is indeed a bit strange. But there is no evidence to prove that he died because of 'that thing'."

While speaking, Zhang Dewei had already started to take off his shoes, and said as he took off his shoes: "Because of some things without evidence, we have to change dormitories and we can't take a shower freely. Think about it, what kind of thing is this... huh?"

He took off his shoes halfway, looked up blankly, looked around, and looked over: "What's wrong with you?"

"?" The roommate who was taking slippers was startled, "I'm fine, what's wrong with me?"

"Then why did you poke me just now?" Zhang Dewei asked curiously.

"......?" The roommate was even more confused, "I didn't."

Zhang Dewei: "?"

It was even more strange. Zhang Dewei couldn't help but pat his back, suspecting that a small insect had landed on it just now. He pressed his hand, but felt nothing, but when he took it back, there was some black powder on his fingertips for no reason.

Zhang Dewei wiped it casually, didn't care, and lowered his head to continue dealing with his shoes. Less than two seconds later, there was another loud "bang bang" noise -

"Hey!" He couldn't help but straightened up, "What are you doing again?"

"???" The roommate holding the slippers looked over with horror, "I didn't do anything, I just wanted to take off my clothes... I was going to ask you, why did you suddenly knock on the cabinet door."

"What do you mean by knocking on the cabinet door, I didn't..." Zhang Dewei opened his mouth to refute, and heard another "bang bang bang bang" sound -

this time, both of them saw clearly.

It wasn't any of them who did it. It was those cabinets, they were moving by themselves.

High and low, at least a dozen of them, at the same time, they opened and closed frantically, like a group of crazy boxes.

The roommate was timid to begin with, and was even more frightened when he saw this. He took his clothes and was about to leave without saying a word. However, Zhang Dewei remained calm and quickly stopped him.

"Don't run around! Look how scared you are!" He raised his voice slightly, his eyes still on the cabinets, "Don't panic, these cabinets use electronic locks. Maybe there is a simple problem with the program..."

"..." His roommate tried to hold back, but finally couldn't hold back the urge to complain, "How could the program of your electronic lock have such a serious problem?"

"That's not necessarily true. Who can tell the truth about high-tech stuff?" Zhang Dewei said, and he picked the nearest cabinet and even tried to go up to take a look. His roommate wanted to stop him, but he didn't. He simply ignored him and turned around to get his clothes.

In just a short while, Zhang Dewei had enough time to get to the cabinet. The cabinet door kept opening and closing, like a howling dog. He quickly reached out his hand, exerted a little effort, and controlled the moving cabinet door. He then looked inside, and after a moment, he let out a long sigh.

"See, I told you, there's nothing."

He said, standing up and brushing off the black ash on his hands. "It just looks a little darker, and seems a little dirty... But it's really inside..."

He turned halfway and faced his roommate's stiff back.

The latter was standing in front of the closet where he kept his clothes, with his outstretched hand frozen in mid-air. Upon closer inspection, it seemed that he was still trembling.

"?" Seeing this, Zhang Dewei felt a little tingling inexplicably even though he was not afraid. After a slight hesitation, he still approached cautiously, "Hey, are you okay? What did you see?"

"..." The roommate maintained a frozen posture, staring at the inside of the closet, but couldn't say a word.

Zhang Dewei couldn't see it from his angle, but he could see it clearly -

in the closet where he kept his clothes, there was a person curled up at this moment.

A person with a charred body, with withered limbs twisted and folded to an incredible degree. It almost completely filled the entire storage closet, revealing only a pair of lifeless eyes, looking at him quietly.

"...Help..." After an unknown amount of time, the roommate finally found a little voice.

"What?" Zhang Dewei finally came to his side and asked cautiously.

The roommate did not answer, but screamed as if waking up from a dream, slammed the closet with his backhand like lightning, then grabbed Zhang Dewei and rushed out without hesitation:

"Run - run!

"There's a ghost! There really is a ghost! There’s a ghost! Ahhhh——”

Zhang Dewei: “……? ! !”

As a sports student, his roommate was already quite strong, but when he exploded, he couldn’t hold on and was dragged out by him. Zhang Dewei struggled hard but couldn’t get away. Seeing that his roommate’s screams had attracted the teachers nearby, he could only hold on to the door frame of the locker room with one hand.

“No, wait a minute!” Zhang Dewei really wanted to curse him, “If you want to run away, run away, at least wait for me to put on some clothes!”

He even had only one shoe on his feet!

What the hell is this! He just wanted to take a shower!