Chapter 6 (Revised)
"…It is said that some humans are born with the ability to cross the 'border', and even in the past when reality and fantasy were clearly separated, they were able to come into contact with things from another world."
In the dark room, the woman's voice was neither fast nor slow, and seemed somewhat pleased:
"As they come into contact with more and more strange beings, their abilities will at some point undergo a second distortion - as for the direction of the distortion, it depends on the countermeasures and attitudes they have taken towards things from other worlds in the past...
"And one of the directions is precisely 'idiot' - also called a constant observer. "
Speaking of this, the mocking smile on the woman's face became more and more obvious. Facing the dissatisfied look of the man next to her, she coughed lightly and raised her hand to cover the corners of her mouth that were almost grinning to her ears:
"Of course, I also heard these from humans. I can't guarantee whether they are true or not."
"Tsk." The man did not hide his dissatisfaction. He stared at Xu Ming in the computer for a while, and said, "So what does that 'observer' mean?"
"Constant observer." The woman's bright red mouth curled up, "I don't know the details. This characteristic is said to be the least among the deformers... But according to my shallow understanding, it should mean being able to ignore changes. "
Seeing that the man still had a "what the hell" expression on his face, she finally couldn't help rolling her eyes, but still explained in a good temper: "Let me put it this way - do you know, there is a kind of stupid cat in this world? In their concept, the world will not change. If they see that the bathtub is dry in the morning, then at night, they will still think the bathtub is dry, even if it is full of water, they will jump in without hesitation*."
Man: "...So?"
Woman: "The ability of idiots is similar. The difference is that when they can't see the water in the bathtub, then to them, the bathtub is really dry."
"They can't see the water, and it is difficult for them to see the things floating in the water. Correspondingly, the 'non-existent' water will never wet their fur. "
Man: "..."
"Ahhh, I'm exhausted, I suddenly seem to be exhausted!" He howled in disappointment, and large pieces of flesh and blood that had not been chewed yet were faintly visible between his teeth.
"What observer, I don't understand - I'm too lazy to care, let's go and see if anyone is dead on the other side."
The man said, and began to operate the computer to change the perspective. The woman next to him raised her eyebrows:
"Are you sure? One of the conditions for holding the rule book is the distortion characteristics. "
"Didn't you say before that Rule Book No. 9 might appear in this strange area? If it really exists, this girl who clearly possesses the distortion characteristics may be the one who possesses it. "
Man: "..."
As if touched by the woman's words, the man paused. At this moment, a figure flashed by in the corner of the computer screen that had been switched to another place. The woman looked at him from afar and frowned. The next second, she heard a "sizzling" sound -
the computer in front of her suddenly turned into a gray and white snow screen.
The gray and white interface kept flashing, with occasional harsh sounds. After a while, the screen began to flash at a high frequency again, and the snow screen and the normal screen were in a state of confusion. The faces kept switching, and in the normally displayed screen, a charred corpse suddenly appeared out of nowhere, standing upright in the center of the screen. Its empty eyes looked over coldly through the screen. With every flash, its body got closer to the screen -
until finally, its entire face was pressed against the screen. The lipless mouth suddenly opened, as if letting out a silent scream.
The next second, the picture suddenly darkened again, and on the dark screen, there was only a large blood-red word:
[Get lost]
Man:...
"Ah, it's angry." The woman covered her mouth with one hand and blinked, "See, I told you not to pry into other people's family affairs casually. See, it has offended the powerful domain lord..."
"Damn, what offense. It just felt embarrassed and took it out on me! "The man angrily turned off the screen, "Why are you so arrogant? It's just a newly developed ghost story area. We have to rely on us to spread it..."
"Just wait and see. A ghost story area like this that is ungrateful and stingy will sooner or later be torn down with its roots and leaves, and finally rot and die miserably!"
"Okay, it just refuses to be your meal, so why curse it?" The woman shook her head in disagreement, and asked curiously, "I just noticed that there is another person in the picture, and he seems to be rushing to the work area..."
"Oh, it should be another group of people who are trapped in the same place." The man said unhappily, "Four living people, that's a lot of people. What a pity, I didn't pay much attention to them just now..." "
?" "The woman looked at him thoughtfully, thought about it, but did not speak again.
* At
the same time.
In the office area of Hongqiang Company.
"...Ah, there is a ghost?"
Standing next to the workstation just now, Xu Ming was incredulous: "Are you sure? It's not an illusion?"
Qiu Yufei: "...your illusion rolled its eyes at you before leaving."
Xu Ming:...
That doesn't seem to be the case.
"Strange." She crossed her arms in confusion, "but I really didn't see anything just now."
"I wanted to ask you too..." Qiu Yufei said, suddenly seemed to think of something, and suddenly poked Xu Ming, "Hey, Teacher Mingming, is it possible that your psychic physique, the experience card has expired?" "
If the experience expires, it is just the level of ordinary people. There is no reason why you can see it and I can't. "The more Xu Ming thought about it, the weirder it seemed. Thinking back to the blurry information on his computer, he felt even more depressed.
Qiu Yufei didn't quite understand her depression. She would rather see less.
"What should we do now? Change the place to search? Do you want to go to the tea room..."
Before Qiu Yufei finished her words, Xu Ming had turned around and walked towards the nearby workstation again.
"Since we're here, of course we should take another look at the workstation area. We still have no idea what our 'work' is, and there might be some clues here. "
After saying that, he started searching at his workstation. Qiu Yufei wanted to help, but she remembered the scene of a ghost sitting here just now, and she felt some psychological pressure, so she froze for a moment. Just when she was about to say something, she caught a glimpse of light in her peripheral vision.
"Hey, Mingming!" She quickly reported, "There seems to be something under that table!"
"Where?" Xu Ming turned his head immediately, and Qiu Yufei pointed to her again, "Right there, under the table, it seems like something is reflecting light... Yes, that one!"
She was originally worried whether it was something that Xu Ming couldn't see again, but fortunately this worry was unnecessary - Xu Ming quickly locked onto his workstation, leaned over to look for a while, then skillfully took out a selfie stick from his bag, straightened it, and reached it under the table.
A bunch of messy things were swept out from under the table. Mint candies, lip balms, and the like... There was even a ring inlaid with fine diamonds.
The flash that Qiu Yufei saw just now should be this.
Qiu Yufei looked at this pile of fragments, and her head was full of question marks. Just as she was about to ask a question, she saw Xu Ming move again and picked out something again.
——This time, what was drawn was a ball of paper.
"...No way, there can be clues dropped from this." Qiu Yufei looked at Xu Ming in shock as he unfolded the ball of paper, "What is this, is it part of our job?"
"You wish. You want to specify the drop." Xu Ming glanced at her, "It has little to do with the job, but it seems to be something useful."
She turned the paper in her hand and shook it at Qiu Yufei.
Right at the top of the paper, there was a line of big red characters:
[Notice about the company's fire drill]
*
[All departments of the company, please note:
[In order to further enhance the safety awareness of employees, eliminate fire hazards, and effectively carry out safety and fire protection work, the company has decided to conduct a fire drill at 12:00 this Wednesday afternoon. The specific requirements are as follows:
[Event time: 12:00-14:28 this Wednesday
[Event location: In the company's office building
[Participants: All employees of the company
[Special attention:
[1. The usual mid-week assessment on Wednesday will proceed as usual after the drill. All employees are requested to arrange their time and submit the results of the work for the week before the assessment. If there is any omission or undersubmission, it will be regarded as unfinished work and the consequences will be borne by the employee.
【2. In order to increase the authenticity of the fire drill and strengthen the employees' sense of participation and urgency, in addition to the fire alarm, we will also use some special props during the drill, which may cause high temperatures, smoke and pungent odors. If you encounter them, please do not panic, these are just prop effects, as long as you follow the drill requirements and enter the escape passage in time, they will not cause harm to you.
【3. If you find a human-shaped object falling outside the window during the escape process, don't worry. It's just a dummy used in the drill. 【
4. The drill will last for two hours and fifty-two minutes. All employees are requested to seize the time and be sure to enter the escape passage as required during this period, otherwise the consequences will be at your own risk.
【5. During the drill, please be sure to act according to the commander's requirements and do not run around.
【6. When multiple people are moving together, remember the clothes and work badges of the people around you. If you find that the other person is not wearing a work badge, or has a security or cleaning uniform hidden under his clothes, immediately stay away and report to the commander.
【7. After entering the escape passage, please stay between the ninth and fifth floors and wait for the next instruction. Do not enter floors below the fifth floor! Once again, do not enter floors below the fifth floor!
【8. Our company solemnly promises that we did not hire any external security personnel and cleaning personnel for this exercise. Therefore, if you see unfamiliar related staff, immediately stay away and report to the commander!
【9. Please remember that the purpose of the fire drill is to enhance everyone's safety awareness and help everyone master escape skills. The opportunities for drills are very limited, please take advantage of them and cherish every opportunity.
[This notice is hereby issued. I hope all employees will keep it in mind and pass it on to each other, and cooperate strictly! ]
...
"Fuck, it's weird."
After reading the notice carefully, Qiu Yufei gave a fair evaluation.
Then she held it and read it again.
"I don't understand why a notice for employees would appear under the table?" She pondered, "And why do we have to conduct a fire drill in a haunted house formed by a fire? It's even weirder." "
I don't know." Xu Ming held his chin up, "Performance art, right?"
Qiu Yufei: ...?
"Be more serious." She patted Xu Ming and fell into thought again. After staring at the last two lines of the notice for a while, her eyes suddenly lit up.
"Hey, Mr. Mingming, do you think this is actually a level description or something?" Qiu Yufei clapped her hands, "Wednesday's fire drill is actually a level, and entering the escape passage according to the command is the correct way to pass the level. As long as we pass the level, we can get out!"
In this way, some of the seemingly meaningful sentences in this notice, especially the last two lines, all make sense - these are hints, hints about passing the level!
Xu Ming: "...What about the security and cleaning mentioned in it?"
Qiu Yufei: "Well, maybe it refers to the wild monsters we will encounter during our escape?"
"You think you are playing a horizontal scrolling game."
Xu Ming pursed his lips, paused for a moment, and exhaled softly.
"...To be honest, your guess is not impossible. But all this must be based on a premise."
Qiu Yufei:?
"That is, Hongqiang Company itself, or the company that wrote this statement, wants us to get out." Xu Ming said, "This involves the issue of stance. So, before we figure out the other party's stance, I suggest we act conservatively."
"After all, some suggestions look sincere, but in fact they just want to deceive people to death. Besides, we can't be sure now. This notice is for us to see."
Qiu Yufei: ...
? !
No, wait, what do you mean? If it's not for us, then who is it for? Is there anyone else in this damn place? ?
Qiu Yufei widened her eyes and pondered Xu Ming's words carefully. Suddenly, she felt her scalp tingling -
and as if responding to her thoughts, a burst of footsteps suddenly sounded.
The voice was hurried, careful, and low, as if it was deliberately suppressed. It also sounded like it was heading in their direction...
Qiu Yufei was startled and looked at Xu Ming in horror. The latter quickly made a gesture to her to keep quiet, and then pulled her back to the conference room together. Fortunately, after the "manager's inspection" just now, the conference room was restored to a usable state, which made both of them breathe a sigh of relief.
After a while, the door of the tea room was pushed open again, and a thin figure appeared in the office area, panting.
She was a woman with medium-length hair, about 30 years old, wearing a gentle-colored knitted sweater, but her eyebrows were full of fierceness. When her eyes swept around, it would remind people of a hawk looking for food.
Soon, her eyes passed through the glass wall of the conference room and locked on the two people inside.
Then she sighed heavily and put down the anti-wolf spray in her hand.
"Why are you two here too?" She lifted her hair and looked over with a complicated expression, "Didn't you leave work at nine o'clock?"
Qiu Yufei: "..."
"Mingming." She quickly approached Xu Ming and whispered, "I seem to have hallucinations again."
"I saw my super fierce supervisor standing outside staring at me and waving anti-wolf spray to threaten me."
Xu Ming: ...
smiled apologetically at the woman outside the conference room, she raised her hand and patted Qiu Yufei on the shoulder.
And once again bluntly exposed the other party's self-deception:
"Silly child, what nonsense are you talking about."
"The one outside is your supervisor."