Chapter 61

...

As expected.

Unlike Lando who was stunned, Xu Ming, who was far away in the B&B, couldn't help but raise her hands to cover her eyes when she heard what Tian Yiliang said, and sighed in her heart.

She knew... When she saw the look in Tian Yiliang's eyes before, she felt that this matter might not be hidden. In order to cover up this matter, she deliberately used the "paper robe authority" once, using "a man should be treated with new eyes after three days of separation" as the secondary basis, trying to establish a rule to make Lando's behavior reasonable...

Now it seems that unfortunately, this method did not succeed.

"...Director?" Landor asked cautiously in his mind, "You see..."

Xu Ming rubbed his forehead and quickly made up his mind: "First apologize to him and say that I didn't mean to hide it from him before. Then tell him that there is no other way, I can only communicate with him through you." Landor

repeated it. Tian Yiliang looked a little disappointed, but he didn't object. He just asked one more question: "Then I don't know how to address this person?"

Xu Ming: "..."

Good question, I want to know too.

This question is not difficult, but Xu Ming didn't rush to answer, but quickly pulled a list in his mind:

- It is known that the other party has already contacted people from Anxin Gardening. And Anxin Gardening knows the intern Gu Ming; in addition, the other party also knows the existence of Director Xu, and it is very likely that he knows that the director's name is Xu Ming.

Neither of these two identities is suitable for this purpose - Gu Ming's status is too low. It is obviously unreasonable for an intern to lead a project and let a regular employee act as a mouthpiece. But directly using the identity of "Director Xu" is also very risky. This status is too high. If he shows any weakness in the subsequent intelligence exchanges, it will be easily discovered...

"Lu Ming." In a flash, Xu Ming had made up his mind, and spoke calmly through Lando's mouth, "Intermediate salesperson in the Demolition Office, Lu Ming."

"Intermediate..." Tian Yiliang smacked the word, nodded slightly, patted her skirt, and sat directly on the ground, "Is it the 'Xi' that means sitting on the ground? This surname is very rare."

"Lu means Lu. Ming means Ming. It's just a nickname used at work." Xu Ming said quickly, "Mr. Tian, ​​can we get straight to the point?"

"Sure, no problem." Tian Yiliang said immediately, exhaling lightly, "But this story is too long, I really don't know where to start... Why not start with you first."

"Let's get to the bottom of it. How much do you know about this strange story?"

Xu Ming: "..."

Very good, another soul question.

Xu Ming closed his eyes and went through all the clues and guesses in his mind. After a moment's hesitation, he felt that this matter should not be disclosed in too much detail.

"To be honest, not many. There are even some things that we didn't know until we came in this time." After another brief thought, she spoke carefully, "After all, there is a considerable part of the content that we couldn't access before... We could only make guesses based on limited information."

Tian Yiliang raised his eyebrows slightly: "Unable to access it?"

"The Demolition Office only dealt with ghost stories in the past. Reality is not our main business." Xu Ming gritted his teeth and spoke a little haltingly. Fortunately, Landor's expression did not change, and his tone was in accordance with her instructions. He always remained calm:

"Whether it is An Xin Gardening or Da Li Weeding, we have never communicated before. Naturally, we can't access your internal information."

Xu Ming's heartbeat quickened as he spoke.

After all, this statement is somewhat of a gamble -

from what we have learned before, the elusive serial killer is likely to be one of the "players" who had the rule book but chose to escape. If so, two human organizations must be involved in the pursuit. On the other hand, the existence of these two organizations is confidential, and the information about the related cases is also confidential, which seems to be quite reasonable.

... Of course, even if the guess is wrong. This statement is still round. Even if the serial killer is just an ordinary human, this case itself has become part of the strange story, which is an indisputable fact. Since Dali Zhicao has taken action to solve this matter, it must have done relevant investigations before, and this part of the investigation content can certainly be regarded as a kind of "internal information".

It depends on how Tian Yiliang understands it. However, if he continued to ask, Xu Ming felt that he would sooner or later be unable to hold back, and he had to find an opportunity to quickly throw the question back.

The good news was that after hearing this, Tian Yiliang did not continue to ask, but instead showed a bit of hesitation on his face. Xu Ming observed carefully through Landor's eyes, paused, and said: "Actually, we have been paying attention to the murderer since he committed the crime. It's just that there were too many strange rumors at that time, and it was difficult to take care of everything... After all, I believe you know that period of time."

"Indeed." Tian Yilian sighed in agreement, "That was the most chaotic time."

"Otherwise, maybe... Alas."

Seeing him sigh twice in a row, Xu Ming guessed that he should be stable now, and hurriedly said: "By the time we freed our minds and paid attention to this case again, the situation had developed to a puzzling point, and we lost a lot of information in the middle, which resulted in us not being able to grasp the situation.

"Although I later became aware of the existence of this strange story, I was not sure how to deal with it due to its peculiarity. Until now."

"I see." Tian Yiliang nodded slightly, then pursed his lips, as if thinking about something. After a moment, he finally exhaled again as if he had made up his mind.

"No wonder you can't grasp the situation." He said softly, "During the period of high-frequency crimes, that bastard has been hiding in his own world, and we once lost track of him."

Confusion... Xu Ming repeated the word in his heart.

So the culprit who caused all this is indeed the murderer of the serial murder case.

Then he felt a little strange: "World? What does that mean?"

"Space, barrier, small world, that's about it. "Tian Yiliang said, his eyes swept around, his tone was a little subtle, "but he himself didn't call it that."

"He insisted it was a ghost story.

"A ghost story that belonged to him."

*

According to Tian Yiliang, the serial case was actually judged from the beginning to be a crime committed by a human with a rule book. In the beginning, both Anxin Gardening and Dali Weed Control participated in the investigation, but because there were too many things happening during that period, the manpower of Anxin Gardening was gradually withdrawn, and the matter was finally handed over to Dali Weed Control to assist the police in the operation.

Of course, the large number of people involved was only one of the reasons. Another reason was that the murderer of the serial case was himself from Dali Weed Control.

"He was a top student, originally a scene modeler. By chance, he had his own rule book, so he was recruited into our unit. He rarely goes out on field missions, and is only responsible for conducting research based on data collected by others." Tian Yiliang said lightly, "After the 'player' incident broke out, he stayed in the unit for a while. Suddenly one day he disappeared, and some people were worried that he was being killed by other 'players' as an experience package."

Facts have proved that they thought too much.

That guy was not used as an experience package by others. He just went out to find his own "experience package."

"You mean... he killed people for the 'root'?" Xu Ming couldn't help but curl up his lips.

"Not entirely." Tian Yilian said, but suddenly changed the subject, "Do you know why we let him be in charge of the research work behind the scenes?" "

?" Xu Ming was confused by his sudden question. Before he could answer, he heard Tian Yilian say to himself: "Because of the ability in his rule book."

"He only melted one root in his rule book. That root allows him to create his own small space and simulate scenes in it based on the intelligence obtained. For field personnel who often need to go out for adventures, this ability is very practical and very suitable for training and review."

"Um..." Xu Ming responded subconsciously, allowing Landor to translate this exclamation diligently. Recalling what Tian Yiliang said before, she suddenly reacted: "Wait, you said before that he thought he had a ghost story, could it be-"

"Yes, that's what you think." Tian Yiliang nodded with a complicated expression, "He killed people not only for the root."

"But also to create a ghost story for himself."

——Till now, Tian Yiliang still can't understand how that bastard came up with such a ridiculous idea.

However, there are specialized analysts in the unit who have done profiling. It is speculated that after the murderer simulated the ghost story scene many times, his cognition of the ghost story and himself has been distorted to a certain extent, and he was influenced by the idea of ​​"player", which gave rise to this terrible idea.

... What's more terrible is that he really did it. And it was almost successful.

——What is considered a qualified ghost story?

Or, what kind of ghost story can derive a qualified ghost story area?

The most important thing is to have roots, and on the basis of the roots, to expand a certain range of weird fields, which are both connected to reality and independent of reality, with invisible boundaries that can exclude all unwelcome people.

And he has met both of these points. He has a rule book and a small space built by the rule book. The next thing to think about is how to fill this space.

So, a further plan appeared.

Outside, you have to have a reputation. There must be a sensational and widely circulated urban legend as the basis. A dull story that no one cares about is not worthy of the title of "strange story"; inside, it must have a facade. There must be real monsters filling the interior of the strange story area, restricted by the rules, submitting to the rules, and under the constraints of the rules, becoming the maintainers and executors of the rules.

So he created a serial murder case. Although he had the ability to hide the body, he still chose to divide the body and throw it away, creating a terrifying urban legend; as for the dead girls, all those who had souls left were bound to his rule book and remained in his space.

"Bind..." Xu Ming's brows were already deeply knitted, and his eyebrows were aching slightly. She took a deep breath, trying to make her words clear, "What kind of binding method is it?"

"I don't know the details, it should be a derivative of his rule book ability. According to his statement, he made them 'stay in a nightmare'." Tian Yiliang said softly, "You should have seen it too, right? The most core part of the survival rules in each small world should be his work." The

most core part...

Xu Ming frowned even more tightly, and some bad associations almost instantly flooded into his mind.

- Every world has the repetitive "Don't pay attention to her."

And once the rules are violated, the monsters will inevitably appear.

Is this the part? The nightmare used to trap them has also become the rule that drives them. The rules cannot be violated, and the nightmare cannot be resolved. The two are intertwined to form a cage that is difficult to break.

"... Then what?" After an unknown amount of time, Xu Ming finally managed to speak again.

"Then he followed his plan, killing people while 'optimizing' his space. I don't know what the principle was, but his rule book was actually upgraded during that time, and the space was extended, becoming more and more like a real ghost story zone..."

Tian Yiliang paused when he spoke here. When he spoke again, his tone was a little subtle: "Until he chose Guo Shuyi and killed her."

"But at the same time, he also underestimated Guo Shuyi."

The murderer actually had a point in choosing the person to kill. He

specifically targeted girls, on the one hand because this group of people was indeed easier to succeed, and on the other hand because he inexplicably believed in a saying that after the death of such a young girl, it would be easier to obtain roots than others, and they would be strong roots.

No one knows where he heard this, but in a sense, he made the right bet.

Guo Shuyi did get a root, and a very strong one.

"Don't ask me what her root is, I don't know either." Tian Yiliang sighed for the umpteenth time, "I only know that the girl is very powerful and it was not easy."

Guo Shuyi's notes circulated on the Internet once recorded her escape. Many people think that it is actually fictional because it is too ideal and full of contradictions. Tian Yiliang can't say whether it is true, but he can be sure that at least the fact that Guo Shuyi left a note is completely true. It's

just different from what people outside know. Most of Guo Shuyi's notes were left after her death.

"After she died, she became a dead person, and was also tied to the rule book by that bastard, becoming a part of the ghost story." Tian Yilian said, "But she has always been sober and smart. She concealed the fact that she held the root, and tried to keep herself sane while thinking about ways to get out of the status quo..."

"Then, one day, she succeeded."

No one knows how she succeeded. Just like no one knows her specific abilities. By the time Dali Zhiwei finally noticed this strange ghost story area, more than ten months had passed since the murderer disappeared.

The opportunity to notice it was also coincidental. The factory where Guo Shuyi had been imprisoned before his death was one of the intersections between this space and reality.

This space and reality accidentally partially merged, causing the notes originally stored in the space to appear in reality and be discovered by people - the subsequent development was similar to the version circulated on the Internet.

The police locked the murderer based on these notes; Dali Chucao, who assisted in the investigation, followed these notes and touched the area of ​​​​strange stories that blended with reality. They tried to send people in to investigate. After searching for a long time, they did not encounter any ghosts of the girls. However, they were guided by some mysterious power and successfully found the murderer.

At that time, he looked very wolfish, crazy, and inhuman. The moment he saw them, he screamed and ran away, as if he had seen something terrifying. When he was finally subdued and calmed down a little, he kept saying "Take me away".

He was crazy.

"Guo Shuyi managed to counter him, took away his rule book, absorbed the roots inside, and also took away the control of the space. Then she kept him locked up here until the outsiders arrived." Tian Yiliang said lightly, "Now that I think about it, those notes appeared in reality, maybe she did it on purpose. She just wanted to bring in the outside investigators."

Unfortunately, the murderer who had gone crazy could be taken out and brought to justice. However, it was not so easy for the girls trapped in the ghost story to get rid of the shackles of nightmares.

"We also thought about helping them with the follow-up, but communication was very difficult. The other girls disappeared and all the rules were hidden. It took a lot of effort to finally establish contact with Guo Shuyi, but after she showed up, she only asked two questions.

"One was, 'Will he die? '.

"The other was, 'Can you save me?'" The

"he" in the first question naturally refers to the mess, and the answer to this question is beyond doubt.

The embarrassing thing is the second question.

In fact, many dead people will ask this question when they meet people in the industry. Some of them have not yet figured out the fact that they are dead, while others still hold out a glimmer of hope, thinking that since they are still conscious, they may have a chance to start over.

Dali Chucao also conducted special training on this, and the first content of the training was - don't give any existence, any unrealistic expectations.

So in the face of Guo Shuyi's inquiry, they gave a negative answer with great regret.

"...What happened next?" Xu Ming asked softly.

"After that, she left." Tian Yiliang said, "She didn't communicate with us anymore, and didn't pay any attention to us. Our people went out to hand over the murderer and submit reports, but when they came back, they found that they couldn't enter this strange story."

Unable to enter, naturally, there was no way to try to communicate again. How to deal with this closed strange story became the problem that Dali Chucao had to face next.

There were two propositions at the time. The first is to continue trying to enter, and take measures as soon as possible after entering to untie the ghosts of those girls from the roots, and then resettle them. The most ideal situation is that Guo Shuyi voluntarily hands over the root, so that this already formed strange story will disappear on its own. The second is to let it continue to exist, while also imposing certain constraints on the outside, and at the same time continuously observing this strange story from the outside. If there is any abnormality, take new measures.

"Impose constraints?" It was the first time that Xu Ming heard this statement, and he couldn't help but be curious, "Does it mean to seal the strange story from the outside?"

"Almost." Tian Yiliang nodded, "There happens to be an employee in Dali Chuwei who can provide such capabilities. It is equivalent to putting a long-term seal on the outside of the strange story."

"So convenient." Xu Ming was really shocked this time. If we have this thing, as long as we know the location of the ghost story, we can prevent outsiders from entering. How many risks can be avoided!

Tian Yilian heard her sigh, but sneered: "Convenient? We think it's useless.

"The effectiveness of that seal is conditional. It can only seal the ghost story when the domain master of the ghost story area himself wants to close the ghost story. Once the domain master changes his mind and hopes to open the ghost story, the seal will gradually become ineffective. "

Tian Yilian said, and the corners of his mouth that were raised gradually froze again: "This is why I came here."

... ?

Xu Ming was stunned for a moment, and quickly reacted: "The seal is starting to fail? "

Tian Yiliang nodded helplessly in response to her.

"The seal is dissolving, and this strange story is gradually beginning to border on reality. Fortunately, some of its effects are still retained, and it can stop the living from getting lost - but it can't stop the dead. "

Capable of stopping the living... Xu Ming silently pondered these words, and his mood suddenly became complicated.

Then what am I? A living dead?

... But if you think about it carefully, people with psychic physiques can easily cross boundaries, so crossing a half-dead seal doesn't seem strange...

Xu Ming pondered it secretly, and then felt a little strange. When he thought about what Tian Yilian had said to her before, he suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart:

"Wait, the dead you are talking about, are you referring to..."

"Those dead people who heard about the serial cases when they were alive, and were attracted to them after they died, and rushed here instinctively." Tian Yilian said, "Just like the seeds rushing to other ghost stories. "

"…"

Xu Ming had heard similar statements from other people. A living person who has heard ghost stories before has a chance to become the "seed" of the corresponding ghost story after death, and instinctively goes into the ghost story. In the process, the living people who have had contact with him may also be pulled into the ghost story.

This may be the legendary one death and one sending...

This sneer popped up in Xu Ming's mind at an inappropriate time, and he immediately threw it aside and turned his attention to Tian Yiliang again: "I understand the meaning of seeds. I mean, who are the 'dead people' you are talking about? The passers-by in various scenes?"

"Of course not. They are not people at all, just simulated things." Tian Yiliang said, and suddenly asked back, "By the way, which worlds have you been through now? "

There is no need to lie about this question. Xu Ming said directly: "School. Cinema. And the B&B."

Although strictly speaking, the cinema should be the one that Lu Yueling has been to. But Yun Guo has also been there.

"I see." Tian Yilian nodded again, "Then you should know something about it. Whether it is the school or the cinema, these two scenes have nothing to do with the serial case."

Indeed. Xu Ming nodded in her heart. She had also wondered about this before. She

reacted immediately: "You mean, the monsters and girls corresponding to these two locations are all dead people who were attracted after the seals dissolved?"

After saying this, Tian Yilian raised his eyes in surprise.

Then he chuckled again:

"You know that the monsters in each location correspond to another girl. It seems that you know more than I thought."

Xu Ming: "..."

To be honest, this is all I know.

And before you spoke, I hadn't actually confirmed it yet...

Xu Ming was silent for a moment, and bowed to Mr. Tian Yiliang with gratitude in his heart.

After thinking about it again, he realized something was wrong.

"But according to what you said before, the seal will only gradually disappear if the domain master wants to open it. In other words, it is very likely that Guo Shuyi changed her mind and wanted to open the ghost story area."

Through Lando's mouth, Xu Ming murmured: "But why did she do this?"

"To be honest, I was not sure before." Tian Yiliang said, "Until I confirmed that this ghost story is attracting the dead outside. And this ghost story itself is becoming more complete, broader, and more aggressive. Even the rules that were hidden before have been released again..." "

This is not a good sign. Do you understand what I mean?"