Chapter 62

Ghost stories attract the dead, which has always been regarded as one of the evolutionary signs of ghost stories.

Human researchers generally believe that this attraction is based on the needs of the ghost stories themselves. Just like flowers attract bees and butterflies to spread pollen, ghost stories attract the dead to devour and grow. Whether dead or alive, once devoured, they will become food for ghost stories, prompting the further expansion of ghost stories.

Of course, this is only the current human speculation on the logic of ghost story operation. But even if this speculation is incorrect, the current situation of ghost stories is already very disturbing. The melting of the seal is irreversible, and once it completely fails, there will inevitably be living people following the dead here - what's worse, this ghost story has become the same as other ghost stories, with no clear escape route and full of rules that can lead to death if you don't pay attention.

It's almost impossible for ordinary people to survive here.

"Could it be... is there a misunderstanding?" Xu Ming tried to guess, "Guo Shuyi may have her own ideas. If you talk to her nicely, maybe she can close the ghost story again..."

"I tried." Tian Yiliang said, "My first task after entering here was to try to find Guo Shuyi and communicate with her, but it didn't work. I also tried other ways... but you know the current situation of the ghost story."

The souls of all the girls were divided into two parts. The part of him that possesses humanity is fleeing in various worlds, with amnesia and inability to communicate; the part that is still a monster is completely irrational. He even tried to tell the truth directly to the girl he met in order to get a chance to communicate. However, the fact is that the moment he told the truth, the monster that only stayed in the toilet would suddenly appear, erase the girl who communicated with him, and hunt him down directly...

"......?"

Xu Ming was startled, and quickly asked through Landor's mouth: "Erase? What does it mean?"

"Literally." Tian Yiliang said, "I don't know the specific operation. But it seems that most girls who violate the rules of the bathroom will end up like this.

"Hunted down and erased by Guo Shuyi. After a period of time, with new memories, she was thrown into the ghost story again, treating herself as a newcomer who had strayed in, and began to escape all over again..."

"...Wait." Xu Ming paused again, even a little confused by his words, "What does this have to do with Guo Shuyi? What you just said was not..."

Before she finished speaking, she suddenly reacted. A terrible chill suddenly went up her spine: "...You mean, the one in the toilet is Guo Shuyi?"

"What else?" Tian Yilian said in a matter-of-fact tone, and even felt that her question was a little strange, "Haven't you seen the monster in the bathroom? As long as you observe carefully, it's not difficult to see it. "

Xu Ming: ...

I just haven't seen it!

Although I've seen it face to face and confronted it, I've never seen it!

But this can explain it. Why does that bathroom monster always bring a sense of oppression similar to that of a domain master when it appears...

Because she is Guo Shuyi. And Guo Shuyi is the current domain master.

"I...have never had direct contact with her." After a brief silence, Xu Ming struggled to find a sentence to supplement himself, "I just avoided her every time and never met her face to face."

"No wonder." Tian Yiliang shrugged, "No wonder you were so optimistic before."

Xu Ming: ...?

" "If you have really seen her, you will understand why I said that I can't communicate with her. "Tian Yiliang paused after each word," I don't know how much you know about the serial case back then... but Guo Shuyi looks almost exactly like the murderer who committed crimes frequently back then."

This is not just a metaphor. It's an intuitive visual experience.

Almost identical clothes, identical aura... The only difference is that the murderer was still a human being when he committed crimes frequently, using axes and sharp knives, while Guo Shuyi evolved long sharp claws that would leave deep, terrifying marks when scratching the wall.

It was this phenomenon that confirmed Tian Yiliang's previous guess.

The dissolution of the seal was due to Guo Shuyi's change in cognition. And this change came from her own loss.

"It is difficult to stay sane for a long time after the impact of death. Not to mention that she has to slowly digest the roots left by the murderer..." Tian Yiliang said slowly, "I guess she originally wanted to arrange this weird story better."

That's why so many things were simulated on the basis of the original scene. Happy pedestrians, carefree students, responsible and reliable teachers and security guards... It took so much effort to build such a lifelike world, and separated the souls of other girls in the weird story, giving them an extra chance to forget everything and start over.

But it is obvious that she couldn't hold on for too long. Perhaps because of the influence of death itself, or perhaps because of the residual influence on the roots, she was lost.

"The result of being lost is distortion. "Tian Yilian said in a deep voice, "So everything in this ghost story is so chaotic. She gave those girls carefree identities, but she couldn't help but use her monster side to hunt them down. It clearly simulated a nearly real world, but it merged it with the rules constructed by the murderer, released the already hidden death rules, and set up more harsh survival conditions..."

As long as the number of dead passers-by reaches three, the monsters in the current scene can get rid of the rules and kill indiscriminately. Tian Yilian is sure that there is no similar rule in the original ghost story. After all, there were no "passers-by" here at that time.

But with this harsh death The rule of death appeared together with brand new point transfer rules and mutual aid boxes. It created despair, but also gave people a glimmer of hope. For

a normally functioning horror story, one can guess the purpose of the rule builder from the logic and rules of its operation. But it doesn't work here. Everything is contradictory, and everything is already in chaos.

Order is turning into disorder, and restraint is turning into out-of-control. If this trend continues, this will eventually become a real horror story.

A horror story that feeds on humans.

"...No wonder."

Xu Ming was silent again. And this time, she was silent for a long time. After a long while, Landor heard her voice ringing in his mind again: "No wonder he said those words to you before."

"?" Landor hasn't reacted yet, "Which ones?"

"Dead people, Hu Yang, and stars that exploded after disorder. "Xu Ming said softly. Landor's eyes were sometimes too clear, but his memory was still very good. When he recounted the situation to Xu Ming, he mentioned every detail.

...When considering some of Tian Yiliang's views and behaviors, Xu Ming's heart sank.

She seemed to have guessed how Tian Yiliang, or Dali Qiwei, was going to deal with this strange story.

As if echoing her thoughts, Tian Yilian spoke again at this time: "By the way, how did you originally plan to deal with this matter? I hope my information can be of help to you."

"..." Another brief silence. Xu Ming pondered for a long time, and finally controlled his voice again amid the sound of his thumping heartbeat, "Originally, I was considering helping this weird story regain balance and order by modifying some of the rules. Now it seems that this plan does need to be further improved..." "

But no matter what, we all think that directly wiping out the domain master is definitely not a good idea."

"?" Unexpectedly, Tian Yiliang raised his eyebrows slightly after hearing this. After a moment, he slowly raised his hand and put his sunglasses back on his nose. He looked up again, his mouth twitching slightly, and his tone was complicated, "... Are you serious?"

"???" Xu Ming was stunned again. What do you mean by serious?

I'm warning you. What's the matter with your strange tone of "Do you want to hear what you are saying?"

"No, wait for me to go slowly..." Tian Yiliang raised his hand to support his forehead, and after a while, he spoke again, with a sigh in his tone, "People from Anxin Gardening once told me that the style of the Demolition and Resettlement Office is quite wild. I didn't feel it before, but now it seems that it is really..."

"Modify the rules. Eliminate the domain master. The goals of your Demolition and Resettlement Office's actions are so awesome... So are they so high-sounding?" Tian Yiliang paused when he said the last word. It was obvious that he had temporarily chosen a more elegant expression.

Xu Ming listened and became more and more dumbfounded.

No, I thought you... So am I overthinking?

Xu Ming, who was far away in the B&B, frowned blankly, and after a pause said, "I thought you had the same idea."

"We dare not." Tian Yilian raised his hand innocently, "At best, we are thinking about how to reduce the number of monsters in the monster stories as much as possible. We dare not challenge the domain master."

However, at present, this idea is obviously not feasible - those monsters scattered in various small worlds seem to be protected by some kind of force, and it is impossible to cause effective damage to them.

"As for modifying the rules... I haven't studied this aspect, and I'm not sure if it's feasible. But based on my experience, if you want to modify the core rules, the difficulty is only higher than assassinating the domain master."

Tian Yiliang said, looking at Lando through his sunglasses: "I have told you everything I can about the situation inside the strange talk. I'm really curious, what are you going to do next?"

Xu Ming: "..."

"The specific plan still needs to be improved." After a pause, Xu Ming pretended to be calm through Lando's mouth, "If there is any progress, I will share it with you in time."

"Mr. Tian, ​​what about you?" Xu Ming asked.

She didn't believe that Tian Yiliang only had one plan, "assassinating monsters." If that was the case, then at the beginning of the communication, he didn't need to emphasize that "if no results can be reached, he still has to do it according to his own ideas."

After all, as early as in the amusement park, this road was proven to be unworkable.

Tian Yiliang smiled softly when he heard it. He reached out to adjust his sunglasses, paused for a while and then said: "Like you, we also have a backup plan.

"My rule book can give me the ability to be invisible, and according to our predictions, the 'root' of this strange story is most likely stored in the place where Guo Shuyi was killed, that is, the abandoned factory. I have collected the transmission point information of various worlds as much as possible. Next, I will try my best to transmit to the world where the abandoned factory is located, and then try to sneak in and destroy the root inside. "

He shrugged lightly: "After all, Guo Shuyi's original body is usually hanging around in the bathrooms of other worlds, and he is not watching so closely. Besides, it's better to destroy an unconscious root than to face an irrational domain master, right? "

...That's true.

Xu Ming recalled his previous two experiences with strange stories and nodded in agreement.

"And as I said before, since this communication can't provide a better solution, I will still act according to the original plan." Tian Yiliang said, patted his skirt, and stood up, "I also hope that the Demolition Office can cooperate as much as possible because we are in the same industry. I don't have any transmission information from this world at the moment. If you find relevant clues, I hope you can share them in time. "

"...No problem. "Xu Ming agreed without hesitation, but for some reason, he still felt a subtle uneasiness in his heart.

However, it seemed that there was no need to continue this conversation - there was really no way to discuss any further ideas at the moment. On the other hand, the intelligence he had obtained was enough.

Xu Ming turned his mind around for a few times, and finally said something to Landor, temporarily cutting off the long-distance contact. Almost as if he was watching The moment he opened his eyes, intense fatigue surged up like a tide, and all his limbs felt as if screws had been unscrewed. Even moving a finger was very strenuous.

The physical effort required for long-distance contact is actually so real?

Fortunately, it is a postpaid model. At least she won't be disconnected halfway through her conversation...

Xu Ming thought silently, and suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head slightly, and met Lu Yueling's big blinking eyes.

"Are you okay?" Lu Yueling, who had returned to the room at some point, said softly, with a slightly worried look in her eyes, "I saw you lying here when I just came in, and you didn't respond when I called you, and you were sweating profusely..."

"It's okay. I'm just making a long-distance call." Xu Ming responded with difficulty, and after thinking about it, he asked another question, "By the way, have you seen the monster in the toilet? "

?" Lu Yueling looked at her puzzledly, as if she thought her question was strange, "Of course I have seen it. When we were in school, didn't I follow you every time you went to tease it?"

Tease... Xu Ming was choked by this magical wording, and then asked: "Then what does she look like in your eyes?"

"What kind of... just, quite scary." Lu Yueling recalled seriously, "She was wearing a big coat, and the clothes were very bloated. The sleeves and trouser legs were a bit long, with empty cuffs, and the trouser legs dragged on the ground. The nails sticking out from the sleeves were sharp, like knives..."

"Where's the face?" Xu Ming asked.

"I can't see it." Lu Yueling said, "It's all covered by the bandage. But she looks quite small."

Xu Ming: "Can you tell the gender? "

Lu Yueling: "...Is it possible? It has long hair."

No wonder.

Xu Ming closed her eyes again.

As for the image of the murderer, she actually hadn't studied it. She had only seen it on the Internet. It was said that he was tall. But with a small face and oversized clothes. These two features clearly belonged to a person with a smaller stature.

Not to mention the long hair... No wonder Tian Yilian thought that it was Guo Shuyi dressed as the murderer.

The question is, is it true?

Even if it is really her, are the reasons behind all the changes really as Tian Yiliang guessed?

Xu Ming did not dare to assert. But she really did not have the energy to continue thinking.

A surge of sleepiness came over her along with fatigue, and soon enveloped her entire consciousness. She opened her mouth and wanted to say something to Lu Yueling, but when the words came to her lips, they turned into a few small whispers.

"What?" Lu Yueling did not hear clearly, and her ear leaned over, "What do you mean by open the door?" "

...Don't open the door." Xu Ming used up his last bit of clarity to throw out this sentence, and his consciousness finally sank into the endless sleep.

——At the same time, on the other side.

After sending Xu Ming away, Lando seemed to be slightly affected, and his movements became a little slow. Tian Yiliang didn't care about it, and walked to the suitcase next to him. After a few efforts, he finally succeeded in pulling out the gem-studded dagger.

Lando was holding the folding umbrella given by Xu Ming, sitting quietly on the edge of the flower bed in a daze. Hearing the movement, he raised his eyes and looked over, and his eyes quickly fell on the dagger.

"It's a very strange breath." He said softly, "A derivative of the root?"

"Yes." Tian Yiliang did not deny, "I asked the consultant of our unit."

Lando: "......?"

A rule book that can produce weapons?

Lando thought in surprise, and took another look at the dagger. As if realizing what he was thinking, Tian Yiliang straightened up and added, "It's not a living person, it's an alien root."

Lando: "..."

Lando didn't say anything. But the surprise in his eyes became more serious.

Tian Yiliang was confused.

"Why do you have that expression? Doesn't your unit also hire dead people and alien roots?" He asked curiously, "And don't you... Forget it, I can't figure out what you are."

He really couldn't figure out Lando's identity. It looks like a dead person, and it looks like an alien root. For the sake of safety, he didn't continue.

Compared with simple dead people, the three views of alien roots are often more bizarre, and they don't have any moral concepts of good and evil. On the whole, they are more like aliens different from humans. The good news is that although their thinking is strange, they are very stable, and the effects of their abilities are often more direct. As long as they can reach a consensus on interests, cooperation is not impossible.

Not only is it a vigorous weeding, as far as he knows, Anxin Gardening also has a long-term cooperation with the mutant roots, who are mainly responsible for providing clues to ghost stories, which belongs to intelligence assistance.

The mutant roots that their unit cooperates with are more inclined to military support - like this short sword, he took a lot of effort to "borrow" from the other party.

"..." Landor blinked, his eyes swept over the short sword again, "What can it do?"

"It can directly attack spirits, and it can also be used to deal with mutant roots and monsters." Tian Yiliang said, "But the number of uses is limited. And once it is used successfully, you need to pay a price. The heavier the existence that falls under the sword, the greater the price I need to pay."

"It sounds dangerous." Landor expressed his opinion truthfully, and took the puppy that came up into his arms, "What if you follow the plan and destroy the roots of this ghost story area?"

"...Unclear." Tian Yiliang said, raising his sunglasses again, his eyes raised, and finally fell on the school not far away. Facing the sunset glow, the school name burned on the building can be seen faintly, shining.

"Maybe they will be directly robbed." He said softly.

"?" Lando didn't hear his words clearly, "What?"

"Forget it, it's nothing." Tian Yiliang shook his head, retracted his gaze, and looked at the sky in some surprise, "It's really strange, it's already this time, why hasn't the school closed yet?"

"Maybe it's a closed school." Lando said. He remembered that Xu Ming had told him before that there was a very powerful middle school where she lived when she was a child, which was a closed school. The school gate would only open on Friday every week to let students go home.

"Closed..." Tian Yiliang repeated the word subconsciously, and nodded thoughtfully, "Yes, it's possible. It's not Friday yet."

After that, he lowered his head and continued to study the short sword in his hand.

Half of his face was hidden in the shadow cast by the twilight, and no one knew what he was thinking.

*

The other side. In a distant B&B.

After sleeping for an unknown amount of time, Xu Ming finally slowly opened her eyes.

After a rest, her body was like a restarted machine, and began to function slowly, but her brain was still a little groggy.

The lights in the room had been changed to a gentle night light mode, which seemed a little dim. She roughly estimated the time through the sky outside the curtains, and it felt like it was just dawn.

How long have I slept...

Xu Ming was secretly surprised, and tried to get up, reaching out to turn up the light. Just as she moved, she heard a creaking sound -

she paused.

She turned her head slowly, but saw that the cabinet that was originally closed had been opened a crack at some point.

Behind the gap, there was a sparkling eye peeking out.

Xu Ming: “…”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She slowly reached for the rule book hidden under the pillow with one hand, and spoke as calmly as possible: "Lu Yueling?"

The eyes in the cabinet: “…”

The cabinet door was pushed a little further out. Lu Yueling grabbed the hem of her skirt and crawled out with her head hanging down. She was still holding the big pillow provided by the B&B in her arms.

…It really is.

Xu Ming exhaled heavily and stuffed the rule book back in her hand - God knows, she almost had to move out thirty A Jiao to fight the opponent.

…Although she might not win. But at least in terms of momentum, she would not lose.

"Are you okay?" Xu Ming couldn't help but raised his hand and rubbed his forehead, "Don't you all like the diamond cupboard so much..."

"It feels safe." Lu Yueling whispered.

Xu Ming: "..." Huh?

"I don't really want to sleep in my room." Lu Yueling lowered her head and began to pull the lace on her cuffs, "There are dirty things in my room."

Just tonight, she heard the banging sound again. This time she heard it clearly - the banging sound was indeed coming from inside the door.

In other words, something was in the same space with her, and it was still knocking on the door from inside, trying to get out...

It was fine before she realized this. Once she realized this, she couldn't help but feel her scalp tingling. Even her hair was frightened and flew up.

So she quickly hugged the pillow and ran to Xu Ming's room. Because she knew Xu Ming was resting, she deliberately slowed down her movements.

Xu Ming: "...So how did you get here?"

"I knew I couldn't open the door." Lu Yueling said seriously, "So I used my hair to climb over the wall."

Xu Ming: "...I locked the window."

"I know." Lu Yueling said, "But it's easy to open." For

that kind of half-moon lock, just try to get a strand of hair into the window, and then pull the lock down. It's very convenient.

Xu Ming: ...

Helplessly rubbing her forehead again, she silently imagined a figure in a skirt crawling along the outer wall of the B&B with her hair in the middle of the night. She couldn't tell which one was scarier, this or the monster hammering the door in the room.

"Okay." She closed her eyes, reached out to brighten the light, and leaned back against the head of the bed, "Then you can continue to sleep here. Do you want to get on the bed? The closet is quite crowded."

"No, no." Lu Yueling quickly shook her head and waved her hands.

"It's okay." Xu Ming thought she was afraid of affecting him, and immediately said, "There is enough space anyway. Come over."

"It's not a matter of space." Unexpectedly, Lu Yueling said, "I tried it. I could hear someone knocking on the wall when I was sleeping on the bed. There was also a creaking sound under the bed, which was scary."

After saying that, he looked at her with a bit of respect: "With such a loud noise, you can still sleep so well, which is quite amazing."

Xu Ming: "..."

I think that as a heavyweight soul with roots, you are a bit too cautious.

"No, weren't you quite brave when you were in Butterfly Building?" Xu Ming pondered for a moment and couldn't help but tilt his head, "I remember you beat up the monsters at that time?"

"It was different then. I had been there for a while and was familiar with the situation. And if I didn't stand up, what would Bo He do?" Lu Yueling said, slowly walking to the edge of the bed and sitting down, "And to be honest, at that time, I wasn't particularly afraid."

Xu Ming: "? Why?"

"I don't know how to explain it. It feels like there are other stronger emotions than fear going on in my head. I can't really explain it, maybe I'm angry, or maybe I'm just complaining." Lu Yueling tilted her head and said softly, "It's very confusing and I'm very excited. I'm not afraid to tell you that when I was most excited, I even thought about just ignoring Bo He and letting her be. Why is she still alive but I'm dead?"

"..." Xu Ming's expression froze and he looked over with some surprise. Seeing this, Lu Yueling laughed: "What, are you scared?"

"No." Xu Ming shook his head, "I'm just a little surprised. I can't tell that you have such an idea."

"I don't know myself, anyway, at a certain time, that kind of emotion will keep surging up. The related memories play over and over again in my mind, like a whirlpool." Lu Yueling said, "Did I tell you that Bohe and I were almost locked in the secret room, and it was me who pushed Bohe so that Bohe could get out?"

"...Yeah." Xu Ming nodded, "You said that."

Lu Yueling: "Then did I tell you that the person who was closer to the door at that time was actually me?"

Xu Ming: "..."

Taking a breath, she couldn't help but sit up straight: "So, you were..."

"If I had ignored Bohe, I would have been the one who survived." Lu Yueling slowly retracted her gaze, "It was that feeling of being just a little bit away from being saved, you know? It was so painful, it's still painful to think about it now."

Lu Yueling shook her head, resting one hand on her knees and holding her chin with one hand: "That feeling was like being trapped in a swamp. If Bohe hadn't insisted on coming to talk to me at the time, I might still be trapped in that emotion now."

Discomfort, pain, anger, resentment... Compared to that, fear is really nothing.

Xu Ming couldn't help but frowned when he heard this.

"Just a little bit away from being saved..." She murmured this sentence, vaguely feeling that something was silently passing through her mind, but it was difficult to grasp.

"?" Lu Yueling looked at her in confusion, and when she saw that Xu Ming had no intention of continuing, she ignored him. After thinking for a while, she asked curiously, "By the way, didn't you say during the day that you were going to ask that bastard for information? Did you get anything useful?"

Bastard... Xu Ming was silent again because of Lu Yueling's wonderful wording. After thinking for a while, he gave her a friendly reminder to try not to use such ambiguous words.

Then he told her roughly what happened today, and couldn't help but sighed deeply after he finished speaking.

"...In other words, it was Guo Shuyi who turned evil and caused all this?" Lu Yueling tried to digest what she heard. Hearing this, Xu Ming quickly waved his hands:

"No, no, no, the root cause is the murderer of the serial case. Guo Shuyi took over this ghost story area, but now it seems that something went wrong..."

"Then what are you going to do?" Lu Yueling said, "Just like that weed remover, go and rob Guo Shuyi's roots?"

During the time she stayed at Xu Ming's house, she also chatted with the whale fat man a lot, especially after getting the work badge, the chat was even more exciting. She also heard about the past when Xu Ming robbed Hongqiang and then robbed Butterfly.

So in Lu Yueling's view, this matter is not easy to solve - the weed remover has to find the root, so why don't we also look for it? Our expertise is more suitable.

However, Xu Ming uttered an "ah" and pursed his lips: "It's not a question of what to do...

" "What I'm not sure about is what the current situation is."

The information and conclusions given by Dali Chuwei seemed to be reasonable, but she always felt that they were a bit too subjective and arbitrary -

perhaps because they were real professionals, so they already had their own set of processes and templates for judging problems, and they had formulas for what phenomena corresponded to what essence.

But Xu Ming always felt that this strange story was so special that if you just guessed based on the phenomena and relied on experience to infer, you might miss something.

"The problem is, at this time, there is no other way except to guess based on the phenomena, right?" Lu Yueling tilted her head slightly, "If you want to get a more accurate answer, you can only ask Guo Shuyi himself. Then we can’t find it either.”

Xu Ming: “…”

Her expression froze for a moment, and she sat up.

"You have a point." She suddenly raised her head and looked at Lu Yueling. Her brain, which was a little groggy just now, suddenly became extremely clear. "We can't just guess based on the phenomenon!"

Lu Yueling: "..." No, I didn't say that.

"Please be obedient and don't just listen to half of what I say, okay?" Looking at Xu Ming, who was inexplicably excited for some reason, she couldn't help but raise her eyebrows, "Or, have you really thought of a way to go directly to Guo Shuyi?"

"Not at all." Xu Ming said without hesitation, and took out the rule book from under the pillow with his backhand, and took a pen from the bedside table, and began to draw quickly on the notebook, "But I thought of a similar method."

Lu Yueling: "?"

Xu Ming did not answer immediately, but lowered his head and continued to write and draw on the notebook. Not long after, another blank ID card appeared on the bed.

Xu Ming picked up the ID card, carefully wrote a name on it, and then hung it around his neck.

"I don't know if Bonnie told you, but Xiao Guo and the others reminded me of one thing." She said to Lu Yueling while adjusting the ID card around her neck, "They said not to immerse yourself in the identity of Guo Shuyi. Once you immerse yourself in it, you may become strange..."

More importantly, memories that do not belong to you will appear in your mind.

So who do those memories belong to?

Xu Ming couldn't be sure, but she desperately hoped that those memories belonged to Guo Shuyi.

"Uh..." Lu Yueling finally caught up with her thoughts, and her expression suddenly became a little speechless, "You don't mean to..."

"Don't call me 'you'." Xu Ming corrected him seriously, leaning towards the head of the bed again, revealing the name card with the three characters "Guo Shuyi" written on his chest.

"From now on, call me Guo Shuyi."