Chapter 73

In the small house in the south of the city.

Xu Ming quickly sent the last clue, and her fingers were shaking slightly until she put down the phone.

She could no longer remember how she sent Aunt Wang away. Even when she sent the message, her brain was always in an unprecedented state of confusion.

After all, the current situation was far beyond her expectations.

A non-existent sister, or more precisely, a sister who did not exist in the eyes of others - this meant that her memory was affected far more deeply than she thought. She could not even be sure how many false parts were in her memory...

Unprecedented self-doubt surged in her mind, and at the same time gave rise to more doubts:

Why did Aunt Wang still remember that she had a brother? Could it be that the "memory erase" effect is not for everyone in the story? Or maybe her brother is not actually in the story? But why did he try so hard to stop her from going back in the first place? Knowing that it is not her real sister who wants her to go home, is the one who is stopping her really her real brother?

Or maybe her speculation is actually correct, and the "sister" herself exists, but because of the influence of the story, she has been forgotten by outsiders, except for her, the person who was deliberately seduced... Then what role does the "brother" play in it?

The more Xu Ming thought about it, the more confused he became. At this moment, he saw the pages of the rule book turn by themselves, and finally stopped at the page belonging to Gu Yunshu. Words slowly appeared on the work card record. Almost at the same time, Lando, who was sitting next to him, spoke softly:

"They are here."

Gu Yunshu and the puppy who were sent out to observe the situation earlier finally arrived at their destination. Xu Ming took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down: "What did they see?"

"Wait a minute, I'm watching." Lando said, slightly raising his head to reveal his eyes that had turned completely black.

After a while, he was heard to whisper:

"They are now outside the unit building. The door is closed and they can't get in for the time being.

"The buildings in the community look very old. Each building has five floors at most. From the window, there are two residents on the first floor...wait, it seems a bit strange."

Lando paused here. After pausing for about half a minute, he spoke again, frowning at the same time:

"There are two things that are very strange."

"?" Xu Ming straightened up involuntarily, "What do you mean?"

Lando considered his words, while turning his head left and right. He paused again and said:

"One is the setting of the unit building. The building next to it has three units, but this building has four units..."

Their destination is Building 6, which is also the third unit of this building. However, if you look closely, you will find that the door of Unit 6 is extremely narrow, almost narrower than the "Building 5" and "Building 7" next to it.

In addition, the other Outside each unit building, there are mailboxes for the residents, arranged neatly, and some even have milk crates installed; but only in this unit building, the door is empty, with nothing installed.

The flower beds next to the door are also different from those in other units, bare and not lush and green like those outside other buildings. There are no cars parked at the door... It's totally unreasonable.

"One more thing." Landor narrowed his dark eyes, observing through the eyes of a puppy in the distance, and said softly, "There is no trace of any small animals outside this unit building. "

No trace was left behind, whether it was birds or stray cats and dogs. It was as if all the small animals had some kind of subtle sense and tacitly avoided this place.

"...Okay." Xu Ming listened carefully to his observations, his pen moving as he quickly wrote down all the suspicious content, "What about that floor? Can you go in?"

The door of the unit building was locked, but Xu Ming had the access code her brother gave her when he first came to find her in her phone, and this code had long been given to Gu Yunshu.

Landor paused for a moment and shook his head gently.

"Ms. Gu entered the code. But the door didn't open." He said, "The pattern didn't move."

"How could this happen? "Xu Ming paused with the tip of the pen in his hand, and raised his head abruptly, "Are you sure you entered it correctly?"

"Should... not?" Landor asked uncertainly, "Is it the L-shaped password?"

"..." Xu Ming's face changed slightly, and he nodded lightly.

The access control password is "2580#", and the shape of the connecting line on the password pad is indeed an L shape.

In other words, the password is correct-this realization made Xu Ming's heart sink a little more.

She really hadn't thought of not being able to rely on the access control password to enter the house. So what is the situation now, only those who are "invited" can enter the building? She always thought that the only room related to the ghost story was Room 301 in the building. Could it be that this is not the case?

Xu Ming pursed her lips, and quickly made up her mind, and picked up the rules again Xu Ming sent a letter to Gu Yunshu, suggesting the next course of action -

she suggested that Gu Yunshu try to contact Room 301 directly through the calling system on the access control.

The operation of the calling system is not difficult, and Gu Yunshu's attempt was quickly responded to - according to Landor's retelling, the call was connected not long after Gu Yunshu finished dialing.

A slightly childish female voice came from the speaker of the access control system. I don't know if it was related to the system, but the tone sounded very fuzzy and distorted.

She asked Gu Yunshu, "Who are you?", and Gu Yunshu gave the answer according to Xu Ming's instructions.

"I'm a friend of Gu Ming." She said to the access control, "Can you help me open the door? "

As soon as these words came out, the other party fell silent. Just when Gu Yunshu thought that this answer was effective, he heard the other party speak again, the voice was still childish, but full of unquestionable -

"We already have a 'friend' in this family." The female voice said, "One 'friend' is enough. We don't need more 'friends'. "

After saying that, he hung up the call without hesitation.

When Gu Yunshu tried to call back again, he found that no matter how he called, the other party refused to answer the call.

So far, this attempt has ended in failure.

Outside the unit building, Gu Yunshu looked up at the solid access control in front of him and fell into thought for a while; inside the small villa, Xu Ming, who learned about the situation through Landor, also pursed his lips and looked anxious.

After a while, Xu Ming tentatively proposed a new idea again - she wanted Gu Yunshu to try whether he could ignore the access control of the unit building and directly enter the strange talk.

This attempt was somewhat risky, and Xu Ming was very hesitant when he proposed it. Gu Yunshu agreed very quickly, saying "OK" and walked forward.

... Unfortunately, the result was still not satisfactory.

The access control was very effective even for dead people. No matter how Gu Yunshu tried, he couldn't get through directly.

This made Xu Ming want to curse again, and the low pressure emanating from his body scared Lu Yueling out of the door. Landor was still sitting quietly in the corner, silent for a while, but suddenly proposed a new attempt.

"...Use a dog to enter the strange story?" Xu Ming frowned slightly, a little hesitant, "But your dog is also an abnormal being, right?"

"Yes." Lando nodded, "But it is easier to train."

Xu Ming: "...???"

"But I'm not sure if it will work." Because he was blind at the moment, Lando didn't see Xu Ming's subtle expression at all, and continued to talk to himself, "Wait for me to try it first."

Xu Ming: "..."

At this point, it's always good to have another idea. Xu Ming didn't say anything else, just nodded lightly.

——So, Gu Yunshu, who was far away in the east of the city, suddenly witnessed one of the most incredible scenes in his life -

with a "woof", the yellow dog that was squatting quietly at his feet suddenly retreated - and then sprinted straight towards the metal door. Immediately

afterwards, accompanied by a "bang", it bounced back the same way.

The sound was so loud that Gu Yunshu couldn't help but shrink his neck. The next second, the yellow dog climbed up again, shook its head as if nothing had happened, and then lowered its body and made a strange howl.

Along with the howl, its body gradually melted and turned into a pool of dark shadows. Then, the shadow split into two groups, each standing upright and solidifying, and turned into two identical yellow dogs.

- Exactly the same as each other. Compared to the first one, they were both smaller. If the first yellow dog looked like an adult dog, these two looked to be only about five or six months old.

The two puppies shook their heads in place, as if they were adapting to their new bodies. Soon, one of them was seen sprinting again, rushing towards the iron door without looking back -

With a "bang", it was hit back again. The chubby puppy rolled down the stairs.

This time, the puppy took some time to get up. After getting up, it started to howl, melt, and split in place again...

This time, the six-month-old puppy was divided into two puppies about three months old. After adapting to the situation for a while, one of them was seen rushing towards the iron gate with great momentum -

oh, it couldn't make it this time. Its legs were a bit short, so it could only slowly climb up the steps at the door.

After climbing up, it bumped forward again. Its head hit the iron gate hard, and because of the reaction force, the dog rolled back twice.

It even rolled down a step.

Gu Yunshu, who was watching silently on the side: "..."

Just as she was thinking about whether to go up and help it again, the puppy that rolled all over stood up again.

Then it was the same magical process again - this time the differentiation was even more difficult to describe.

This time, two puppies that had been struggling to survive for a month were split.

This time, they didn't spend too much time adjusting their bodies. One of them quickly crawled towards the iron gate with a hum. When it reached the steps, it struggled to get up a few times, but failed.

Gu Yunshu was silent for a moment, then hesitantly reached out and lifted the dog up one step. After thinking for a while, he pushed it forward again, right to the iron gate.

The puppy tried hard to swing its short limbs, and staggered forward -

this time, its figure was completely immersed in the iron gate.

"...confirmed."

In a small villa far away in the south of the city, Landor covered his nose in silence and spoke with difficulty: "That strange talk can go in directly.

"But only beings with a mass that is 'light' enough can go in."

Xu Ming: "..."

"Okay, I see." She whispered, her eyes constantly scanning the nose that was tightly covered by Landor, "But your nose, what is it..."

"It doesn't matter." Landor spoke in a low voice, and his already small voice sounded even more muffled, "It's just empathy."

In this state, he is equivalent to giving up his own senses and sharing the five senses of the shadow dog. The result is that every time the shadow dog slammed into the iron gate just now, it seemed to hit Landor's nose bridge-

it was nothing. But it really hurts.

"...Okay. Thank you. "Xu Ming nodded subtly, and asked, "Anyway, we can finally spy on the situation inside... By the way, can you see anything now?"

"Yeah." Landor actively mobilized the senses of the distant shadow dog, and replied buzzingly, "The layout of the first floor is similar to that of an ordinary unit building. There is a straight corridor after the doorway, and there are two residents on the first floor, and now the doors are closed. Next to 102 is the space under the stairs, which is piled with a lot of miscellaneous items. The second floor..." When

he said this, he suddenly paused.

Xu Ming looked over inquiringly, Landor was silent for a moment, and suddenly lowered his head.

"The second floor...can't go up." He said in a trance, "My legs are too short. I can't climb the stairs. "

Xu Ming: ...

I have to say, your spying is really one-sided.

If you continue like this, it will definitely not work. Xu Ming closed his eyes, exhaled deeply, and finally made up his mind.

"Let me confirm two more things with you."

She picked up the phone again, quickly shared the information she had just obtained with Dali Weeding and Anxin Gardening, and asked, "How long can you maintain this state?"

"This... I don't know." Landor was stunned when he heard it, "I haven't tried the limit. But based on previous experience, at least 72 hours will be no problem. The time is based on the ghost story area."

"That's fine." Xu Ming nodded, put the good phone aside, "Then the second question."

"Can you keep the puppy that has been sent to the ghost story for me? "

Of course..." Landor nodded subconsciously, but halfway through, he suddenly realized something was wrong, "Wait, leave it for you?"

"Yeah." Xu Ming nodded as a matter of course, turned around and quickly put away the pile of miscellaneous items on the table. Turning around again, he saw Lu Yueling and the two Ox-Headed and Horse-Faced Demons, all leaning on the door frame and looking inside secretly.

"Don't look, come in. We need to prepare for the next move." Xu Ming said quickly, while carrying things upstairs, "In the next period of time, the three of you will take good care of me... and Lando."

"Oh..." Lu Yueling turned her head and glanced at Lando who was still sitting in the corner. Facing his dark eyes, she felt a little scary for no reason and quickly looked away, "What about you?"

"Me?" Xu Ming turned his head to look at her and let out a heavy breath, "I'm responsible for entering the ghost story."

Lu Yueling: "Oh...?"

Eh?

*

——The Dream Walker.

One of the gifted skills obtained from Guo Shuyi is to separate the soul and make it enter the state of sleepwalker. This state is equivalent to a ghost in reality, and equivalent to a dead person in the ghost story area. This state has

many limitations, but also has advantages. The biggest advantage is that you can be free from the restrictions of your original body in the sleepwalking state, and you can adjust your physical fitness in the sleepwalking state by yourself.

If Xu Ming only regarded this as an alternative plan at the beginning, then now it seems that this is the only way at present.

Of course, in the current situation, she can't be sure that she can enter the ghost story smoothly after activating the skill of the sleepwalker - everything is just speculation.

Mainly because of the current state of the East City Ghost Story, it is difficult for her not to associate it with the current Guo Shuyi Ghost Story.

Without an invitation, only souls that are light enough can pass through the strange story. This performance is very similar to the current state of Guo Shuyi's strange story. According to Xu Ming's understanding, Guo Shuyi's form of coming out of the strange story every time is actually equivalent to a sleepwalker.

So she deduced that if she also entered the sleepwalking state, she would most likely be able to directly enter the strange story.

For the sake of insurance, before actually launching the skill, Xu Ming also made another series of preparations: including but not limited to arranging her own body in advance, arranging Landor who had lost his five senses, teaching Lu Yueling how to deal with the information from Anxin Gardening and Dali Weeding, and most importantly -

calling out A Jiao from Guo Shuyi's strange story and transferring it back to the rule book.

In this way, if assistance is needed, Xu Ming can directly shake them out to help.

The same purpose was used to let Landor keep the puppy in the strange story. On the other hand, the puppy and Landor now have sensory communication, which in a sense can also achieve a two-way connection inside and outside the strange story.

She did all this as quickly as possible, and then carefully lay back on her bed - and turned the rule book to the page where the gifting skill was located.

On that page, there was a picture of the bracelet that Guo Shuyi gave her. Half of the rope was white toffee, and half was black matches.

Xu Ming followed the instructions of the skill and gently touched the toffee in the picture, and then she felt her body suddenly become heavy, and the air around her suddenly tightened -

it was difficult for her to describe the feeling, as if someone had suddenly wrapped her body in a layer of plaster. The plaster was thick and getting tighter and tighter, so tight that it seemed to squeeze her soul out of her body. Xu Ming frowned and pursed her lips, trying her best to resist and endure this crowding. In the end, she couldn't control herself and cried out -

and with a cry into the air, her perspective suddenly turned.

When she reacted, she found that she was already standing at the head of the bed.

And on the bed, there was another self lying. The self with eyes closed.

Xu Ming: "..."

I have to say, this is really a very magical feeling. Especially after realizing the lightness of her current "body".

This made Xu Ming think of the soul leaving the body mentioned in the old folk legends.

However, she really had no intention of observing or trying it out at this moment. She simply adapted herself, quickly slung over the small bag containing the rule book, and turned to rush out the door.

When she was about to leave the room, she caught another glimpse of the dressing mirror at the door. Xu Ming hesitated for a moment, but considering that there might be a monster inside who knew her, she stopped and quickly adjusted her face, and then continued to rush out.

In the sleepwalking state, she wore the same T-shirt and sports pants as her original body. There was no difference in her outfit, except that on her left wrist, there was an extra bracelet with toffees and matches hanging on it. Fortunately, no one else had seen this string of things, and no one could guess her identity based on it.

After leaving the house, Xu Ming relied on her memory and directly found a taxi heading east of the city. She rode on the roof of the taxi all the way, changing buses constantly and taking shortcuts whenever possible. Not long after, she finally found the door of the apartment building.

Gu Yunshu was squatting in the bushes at the door, taking care of a bunch of little yellow dogs out of boredom. Noticing that something was approaching, he immediately raised his head alertly, and after seeing who was coming, he was obviously stunned.

"Tsk——" Seeing the surprise in her eyes, Xu Ming quickly made a gesture to silence her, and lowered his voice mysteriously, "Don't be nervous, it's me!"

"Well..." Gu Yunshu nodded slightly with her movements, and also lowered his voice mysteriously, "I know it's you. That's why I was surprised."

Xu Ming: "..."

Why, is my face pinching so ineffective?

"Well..." Gu Yunshu was silent for a while, as if thinking about the wording, and finally said honestly, "I recognize the clothes. And the face, you can recognize it if you look carefully."

Xu Ming: "…………"

Compared with Gu Yunshu, the puppies' performance was more straightforward. They rushed out of the bushes and ran towards her. Xu Ming quickly stretched out her hand to stop all the puppies from approaching. She turned her head and saw a car parked nearby. She walked over quickly and looked at her face carefully in the rearview mirror.

She only made simple adjustments before going out, and only changed the shape of her face and nose. Looking carefully, it seems that she can indeed see the shadow of her original appearance.

After a moment of hesitation, Xu Ming raised her hand again and readjusted her face. This time she was no longer just fine-tuning, but her movements were drastic. Soon, a beautiful face with rich complexion appeared in the mirror -

at least for someone who can draw, it is not difficult to make a face beautiful.

"Okay." Xu Ming looked left and right at the mirror and nodded with satisfaction.

Then she turned her head slightly. She

drew a few strokes on her right cheek with her fingernails.

The next second, the originally smooth and beautiful right face was covered with complicated scars.

Half of the face is beautiful, and the other half is monstrous. With such a strong visual impact, the bones hidden under the skin are not so noticeable.

This time, it should be truly unrecognizable.

Xu Ming secretly exhaled, took two steps back, and soon returned to unit No. 6. Facing Gu Yunshu's even more surprised eyes, she just waved her hand lightly, and quickly explained her plan to the other party. Then, under Gu Yunshu's worried eyes, she walked carefully towards the iron gate.

The iron gate was still closed. Xu Ming's hand passed through it, but it was as easy as passing through a piece of tofu.

First the hand, then the shoulder, and finally the body.

When Xu Ming reacted, she was already standing in the unit building.

It was still daytime, but the building was unusually dark. The dark red handrails were covered with dust, and the steps were covered with red stamp advertisements. It looked no different from an ordinary apartment building.

Xu Ming's heart instinctively began to beat wildly. She turned around carefully and looked at the iron gate behind her. She tried to probe with her hand and found that she could still reach out. She felt relieved.

However, she could go out, but she couldn't open the door from the inside. Unlike normal apartment buildings, there was no unlocking knob on the inside of the metal access control, but only a keyhole.

But there were no keys nearby.

Xu Ming couldn't help but frown. At this moment, she heard a low groaning sound. She turned her head and saw a group of small puppies, twisting their butts and walking towards her.

It was Landor's puppy.

Judging from its direction, it should have crawled out from the pile of debris under the stairs. In its mouth was a hard ball of paper. Realizing that this might be the clue it had dug out for him, Xu Ming quickly touched its head as a reward, and then carefully opened the ball of paper.

Between the intricate folds were several lines of powerful handwriting:

[To all outsiders who enter this building:

[No matter who invites you in, please do not believe them and do not go to the room they are in. Please go directly to room 502, knock three times to find the floor manager, he will give you the key to leave.

[Remember, come up directly. Do not alarm any neighbors, do not trigger the sensor light.

[No matter what sound you hear, do not stop. Always tell yourself that your [home] is not here.

[This is very important. ]