Chapter 59

"What do you mean...have you encountered this?"

In the B&B room, Lu Yueling frowned slightly, and felt that the question mark in her head reached a peak again: "What do you mean by this? Can you explain it more clearly? Or do you professionals like to be so vague when speaking?"

Xu Ming: "..."

She seemed to be at a loss for words. After a pause, she sighed in resignation and picked up the rule book in front of her with her left hand with difficulty.

"Lu Yueling." She looked at the other party seriously, "Let me ask you a question first. Do you know what this is?"

"..."

Lu Yueling was silent for a while, and said firmly: "The magical little notebook you often use."

...Okay, although it is not very standard, it seems that you are right to understand it this way.

"That's about it." Xu Ming exhaled and clumsily began to turn the pages. "Let me tell you this. The reason why this book is magical is that it contains some, um... things similar to skills. And these skills can be upgraded. Just like the skills in the game."

"The difference is that the skills in the game are upgraded by 'experience points'. And the upgrade of skills in this book depends on other things, such as the number of work badges issued, the quality of new employees who get work badges..."

"I see." Lu Yueling nodded, "It depends on the KPI of human resources to upgrade."

Xu Ming: ...

Okay. Although it's not very accurate, it seems that you are right to understand it this way.

"That's about it." Xu Ming said, and finally turned the book to the page where the work badge printer was. Because she now considered Lu Yueling as her own, she did not hide anything and directly pushed the content on that page to her, emphasizing the "New Clause 1" and "New Clause 2" below the skill description.

"Then you should still remember the two rules, right? These two supplementary clauses were upgraded after you got your work badge." Xu Ming said without hiding anything, "And before you, there were other people, such as the employees of the Magic Cube Building and the old tenants of Butterfly, who also got work badges."

"Hmm..." Lu Yueling nodded hesitantly, not knowing whether she understood it or not, "Then what?"

Xu Ming did not rush to push it down, but just moved his finger, indicating her to continue reading.

Lu Yueling's eyes therefore slid down, and she noticed that below the two "new clauses" on the printer, there was actually another new supplementary clause -

[New Clause 3: When you have remotely identified any badge wearer, you can use the badge to communicate with the other party remotely in text.

[If, on this basis, both parties hold tokens given by the other party, they can initiate further connection requests through the badge and token. If the other party agrees to the request, you can establish a short-term consciousness connection with the wearer. During the connection, you can share the other party's five senses and communicate with the other party to a certain extent.

[If the badge or token is lost, the connection is forcibly severed.

[To initiate a connection, a certain amount of physical strength is required as a price.

[If you want to activate this skill, the recommended activation time is between 9:00 and 17:00 on weekdays. If you use this skill outside the recommended range, you will have to pay double the physical strength as a price. 】

Lu Yueling: "..."

Slowly raising her eyes to look at Xu Ming across from her, she seriously thought about how to express it so that the sentence "I don't understand" would appear more decent; after thinking about it, she could only utter one sentence: "Then what?"

"No then." Xu Ming said, "I just want to tell you that this new clause appeared after I asked Da Guo and Xiao Guo to wear the work badges of the demolition and relocation office."

"..." After hearing this, Lu Yueling finally understood what she meant, "You mean, this clause three was pushed up by Da Guo and Xiao Guo's work badges? But, that's not right, didn't we use a lot of work badges for the previous upgrade..."

According to Xu Ming, the new clauses one and two were piled up by her and those people in the Rubik's Cube Building. In other words, they were obtained by at least a dozen work badges. But there are only two people, Big Guo and Little Guo, and they only have two work badges in total.

If the number of work badges is regarded as the experience points for skill upgrades, then it means that the experience points provided by the two work badges of Big Guo and Little Guo are directly equivalent to the work badges of a bunch of people before. How is this possible?

"It's possible." Xu Ming said, "If their souls are very important, it is absolutely possible."

This is what that person... yes, the whale man taught her.

From previous experience, the "kpi" that a living person can provide is very limited and is not included in the discussion of this topic; and even if they are dead, their souls have different weights.

For example, Gu Yunshu, although he lost his roots, his soul still has a certain amount of power, and his weight may be heavier than that of thirty Ajiao combined; and for someone like Lu Yueling, whose soul is equally strong and still has roots, his weight is heavier than Gu Yunshu.

In a sense, Lu Yueling can be said to be the top soul that Xu Ming has come into contact with now. Even she was only able to help Xu Ming complete a skill upgrade with the help of a group of people from the Rubik's Cube Building.

And this time, Xu Ming was very sure that after entering this strange story area, she only gave work badges to Da Guo and Xiao Guo. And it was after the gift that the skill upgrade was completed - not only that, but the basis level of the Strange Story Demolition and Relocation Office itself was also upgraded by one level.

This certainly cannot be explained by quantity alone. So the only possibility is that the soul weight of Da Guo and Xiao Guo is far heavier than that of Lu Yueling, the top soul.

"Just because of this, you think they are not living people?" Lu Yueling finally followed her train of thought, and then she felt strange again, "But what does this have to do with those monsters? What we discussed before was not...!"

Only then did she understand completely.

"You mean, Big Guo and Little Guo are actually monsters?" She looked at Xu Ming in disbelief, "Are you serious? How are they alike? They were so scared when they saw my hair..."

"I'm not saying they are monsters." Xu Ming said quickly, "I just think... there may be some connection between them and the so-called 'monsters'."

In fact, if you think about it carefully, there were clues to some weirdness early on - Big Guo remembered her favorite jewelry brand, but didn't know the major events that happened to this brand in the past two years, nor did she remember her own name; Little Guo spoke like a person who paid close attention to fashion, but the hairstyle she had was a princess cut that was long out of date.

And they were both confused about Guo Shuyi's case... Xu Ming initially thought that this was some kind of built-in shielding mechanism of the ghost story, but if combined with other speculations, it was hard not to have a bold idea.

Could it be that they didn't know about Guo Shuyi's case, not because they "forgot", but because they really "didn't know".

The reason they “didn’t know” was that they had completely lost the means to learn about the matter long before Guo Shuyi’s case was reported.

"...Assuming those speculations are true, that is to say, they may have died before Guo Shuyi's accident." Facing Lu Yueling's stunned eyes, Xu Ming forced himself to calm down and went on, "Then they have been dead for at least two years. For such a long time, they still retain clear thinking and consciousness, and even remember their preferences when they were alive. This is a very rare thing in itself."

"Then, that can only mean that they are very special." Lu Yueling still found it hard to accept, "Maybe they also have the so-called 'roots' you mentioned, but they don't know it themselves; maybe their 'roots' are stronger than mine, and they are healthier than me..."

"There are two kinds of strong souls, twisted or healthy. And a healthy soul will not forget the fact that it is dead." Xu Ming said softly, "Like you remember it. Gu Yunshu also remembers it."

"But Da Guo and Xiao Guo don't remember, and they are not aware of their own powers. So where are these memories and their powers stored?"

Meeting Lu Yueling's gaze again, Xu Ming took a deep breath and tried to make his tone as calm as possible: "Besides, Xiao Lu, do you remember what you told me about Bonnie's lucky beads.

"Bonnie's lucky beads are also found in the monsters in the school. And they are the same rare ones."

"..."

Lu Yueling blinked slowly, as if she realized something, and widened her eyes again.

After a while, she spoke incredulously: "So, you think that Da Guo, Xiao Guo, and Bonnie are actually dead. It's just that they themselves don't know...

"For some reason, they still maintain their appearance when they were alive, and have been wandering around in this ghost story area, but at the same time, another part of them stays in the scene of their death, waiting for the opportunity to hunt down other people?"

"Just a guess." Xu Ming did not deny it, but emphasized again, "We have too few clues now, this is just a bold hypothesis..." "

It's indeed bold." Lu Yueling spoke without thinking, her tone became a little anxious, "and it's outrageous."

"And, and don't you realize that there is a big flaw in your words?"

Lu Yueling thought about it, and added hurriedly. Seeing Xu Ming looking up, he immediately said, "The lucky bead was Bonnie's coincidence, and the upgrade of the work badge was caused by Big Guo and Little Guo. You can't just confuse them all..." "

And the lucky bead was only available last year. Even if Bonnie is dead, it must have been between last year and this year. And you said that Big Guo and Little Guo died before Guo Shuyi's case. This doesn't match at all!" "

Indeed."

After hearing her rebuttal, Xu Ming nodded very seriously, "This is also what I find strange."

Another strange thing is the previous scene -

the first world she came into contact with was Beiwan No. 2 Middle School; and the first world Lu Yueling came into contact with was a movie theater. However, in Xu Ming's impression, these two places seemed to have never been mentioned in that serial case.

Moreover, from current experience, the rules within the scene basically correspond to the experiences of the deceased in the scene before his death. The school rules point to drowning, the cinema rules point to acute illness, and only the rules in the B&B point to the case of Guo Shuyi.

...Does that mean that the serial case itself only constitutes part of this strange story, not all of it? But if that's the case, then what is the core that makes these scenes fit together?

And there's the monster wandering in the bathroom... It looks like it should exist independently of all worlds. So what role does it play in the entire strange story area? Is it really just a dodder as she guessed before?

Xu Ming pondered secretly, and felt that his head was starting to get bigger again.

Just like Lu Yueling said, there are still too many things that cannot be confirmed now. There weren't enough clues to support her hypothesis.

——But at least one thing was certain. This ghost story area, including the homestay where they were now, was definitely related to Guo Shuyi's case.

Xu Ming had a hunch that whether they could sort out that relationship might be the key to their complete departure from here.

In addition, there was another thing...

Xu Ming lowered his eyes and looked at the rule book in his hand again. After a moment, he sighed softly and reached out to flip through it.

"?" Lu Yueling was still immersed in great astonishment. Noticing her movements, he was stunned again, "What? Did you find something again?"

"No." Xu Ming said, "I just remembered that there should be another person with an ID card in this strange story area..."

She had three reading records in her hand, indicating that there must be another person who followed in. Xu Ming had tried to find that person before, but after realizing that it was meaningless, he gave up.

The reason why it is meaningless is that it is not easy to find. There are too many scenes in this strange story area, and the passers-by in the scenes are particularly normal. When she relies on the ID card records to find people, her field of vision is relatively limited, and it is difficult to judge whether the other party is also in the strange story area through the pictures she sees; secondly, it is because even if she finds him, she can't communicate.

...Strictly speaking, yes there is. After all, she still has three chances to modify her ID card, and it is not impossible to communicate with the other party by modifying the content. The problem is that this communication is also one-way, and it is difficult for the other party to respond to her. Moreover, it can only be changed three times. After three changes, the ID card will be invalidated, which is not worth the loss.

But now it is different.

The ID card mechanism has ushered in a new major upgrade, and remote communication is no longer a dream. This means that she can not only find out the person who has also entered the strange story area, but also communicate with the other party and get more clues...

Xu Ming made up his mind and immediately decided to give it a try. Just as she was about to press the record of her work badge on the notebook, her whole body suddenly shook -

"Hey, hey!" Lu Yueling was startled by her and hurriedly reached out to hold her, "Are you okay? What happened?" "

..." Xu Ming looked at her blankly, but shook his head and whispered "I don't know", looking a little confused.

After a while, she was seen shaking again, and her forehead hit the bed directly. When Lu Yueling helped her up, her face became a little ugly.

"...I'm going to die." Xu Ming felt a buzzing in his ears, his eyes went black, and his head felt heavy, "I seem to have hypoglycemia." "

?!" Lu Yueling looked at her in shock, "Are you sure?"

Xu Ming:...Actually, I'm not sure.

It's just that the feeling is really like hypoglycemia. And it comes in waves. It's okay when you don't touch the rule book, but once you want to do something with it, that feeling of blackness in front of your eyes immediately comes up.

With blurry vision sweeping over his right hand that was wrapped like a mangosteen, Xu Ming had reason to suspect that this was also one of the side effects caused by his random changes to the rules.

"Okay, okay, then why don't you just stay still... it's already past five o'clock anyway. Let's just wait until tomorrow."

Lu Yueling was frightened by the way she lay down as soon as she was told to, and quickly made a suggestion. Xu Ming thought about it but didn't have any better way to do it, so he nodded.

Seeing this, Lu Yueling couldn't help but pursed her lips. She was worried that Xu Ming really had low blood sugar, so she specifically asked if he wanted to go to the restaurant to get some food. Xu Ming quickly waved his hands, thought for a while, and whispered, "If possible, don't move anything, move steadily. Let's try to stay here for two more days."

They had already obtained the information about the homestay when they were in school, so it was not difficult to leave. Even if they left through the transmission point, they still had to go through the process of "finding the toilet rules and finding the transmission point clues" after arriving in the next world.

In this case, why not stay here a little longer to see if they can find anything else. Moreover,

there were no passers-by in this place for the time being, so they didn't have to go to great lengths to save the lives of passers-by like they did in school... It would also save them some effort.

"Okay." Lu Yueling had no objection to this and nodded.

Because she herself was not in a good condition either, she stayed in Xu Ming's room for a while and took care of Xu Ming for a while. When she felt that she had rested enough, she quietly went out, checked around, and tiptoed back to her room.

This was also Xu Ming's suggestion. Anyway, the core rules are now clear, and they both know how to avoid risks. It would be better for each of them to sleep in a designated room, maybe something can be triggered at night.

Facts have proved that Xu Ming's guess was right - at least that night, in her room, she did hear something.

It was around two or three in the morning. The sound of knocking suddenly came through the wall, one by one, and very vague.

Xu Ming didn't know whether it was so vague in itself or her idiocy filter was working again; because it was too vague, she couldn't determine the specific source of the sound. She could only roughly judge that it came from the wall behind the bed, which was the direction of Lu Yueling's room.

She was entangled for a moment, but finally chose to abide by the rules. She didn't react to the sound. She just counted the rhythm and frequency of the sound silently in her heart, trying to find some pattern from it. After counting for a while, she didn't count anything, but counted herself to sleep, and her eyes closed unconsciously. In her dream, she heard a faint sound, like someone crying.

When he woke up the next day and met Lu Yueling, he found that he didn't hear any knocking sound on the wall from her side - but there was a sound of hammering on the door in the middle of the night, and for some reason, the sound sounded a bit strange, not like it came from outside the door, but rather from inside the door.

...Combined with the direction of the knocking sound he judged yesterday, Xu Ming had some bad guesses. But for Lu Yueling's mental health, she decided to talk about it slowly.

It happened to be a night's rest, and the mental state of both of them was much better. Xu Ming didn't delay any longer. After checking the mutual aid box in the bathroom, he quickly returned to his room, opened the rule book, and began to look for the person who had also entered the ghost story area page by page.

Lu Yueling didn't have a deep understanding of the rule book, and even after listening to Xu Ming's explanation, she still had no idea. Seeing Xu Ming was about to start practicing again, she became even more curious, holding her chin and watching from the side, and asked curiously:

"Can you see the wearer's condition from a distance in this way? What if they are in the bathroom? Or doing something embarrassing... wouldn't you be more embarrassed?"

Xu Ming: "..."

"Generally speaking, it won't happen, right?" Xu Ming was very open-minded, "Anyway, I haven't encountered such a situation, and everyone is an abnormal being, how embarrassing can it be?"

"That's hard to say. Why do you assume that abnormal beings won't have strange hobbies?" Lu Yueling argued.

While talking, Xu Ming had already tried several work card records. He looked at her helplessly, but didn't say anything more. He just turned the page of the notebook forward.

"If you really have some strange hobbies, it's just to irritate my eyes." Xu Ming said, putting his hand on the work card record again, and gently closed his eyes, "As long as I don't say it, no one will know... Damn!"

Before she finished speaking, she suddenly opened her eyes with a frightened expression.

"?" Lu Yueling immediately looked over curiously, "What did you see?" "

..." Xu Ming didn't say anything, just lowered his head and looked at the work card record in front of him carefully.

He looked at it again.

He looked at the name deliberately.

"...It's hard to say." After a while, Xu Ming hesitated and said, "I think my brain may still be suffering from some negative effects..."

Lu Yueling: "???"

So what did you see?

Xu Ming looked at her deeply, hesitated for a moment, and spoke selectively:

"I saw a huge beast, a princess with special costumes, and the sword in the stone stuck on the suitcase."

Lu Yueling: "???"

Huh?