Chapter 78

On the stairs, that big potato-like thing was still chattering

non-stop. You could say it was arrogant, but it didn't dare to speak loudly, and it could even be said to be whispering. You could say it was frightened, but it was full of momentum. At the end, it even pulled out a right arm from its wax body and put its hands on its waist in a serious manner.

It was just, so frightening.

If Xu Ming hadn't been holding a bunch of work cards from the demolition office in his hand, he would have believed it.

"How is it?" Over there, the whale fat man finally finished chattering, put one hand on his waist, and said seriously, "Kid, do you understand what I mean?"

"..."

Xu Ming was silent for a moment, and really didn't want to respond to it. After a pause, he said, "I know the Ghost Story Demolition Office."

"Know?" The whale man continued to put his hands on his hips, "If you know, then return the book as soon as possible..." "

I was entrusted by Xu Ming to rescue people." Xu Ming continued.

"..." The whale man was stunned, "Huh?"

"I said, I was asked by Director Xu Ming to come." Xu Ming casually combed his hair, and relying on the fact that the other party did not recognize him, he also started talking - after all, this guy in front of him, how to say...

looks like he would take advantage of someone's amnesia to lie to him that he owed five million.

So it's better to keep some distance first.

Xu Ming thought to himself, and spoke very smoothly: "Guo Shuyi, do you know her? I used to have a strange story with her, and that story was just collected by Director Xu not long ago.

"Director Xu said that someone from the demolition office was trapped here, but this place is difficult to enter. So they found me.

"As for this rule book, she also gave it to me. She said that people with work badges will have a special sensitivity to books, so it will be easier to find."

Whale fat man: "..."

After a brief silence, the left side of its body began to bulge. The next second, another left hand grew out.

The next second, the left and right hands came together and clasped their hands devoutly towards Xu Ming.

"I'm sorry, my voice was too loud just now." It whispered softly, "May I know what your name is, teacher? What are your plans next? Is there anything I can help with?"

Xu Ming: "..."

Screw the master's mistake.

She said silently in her heart, this thing must have been thrown here because it did something extremely rebellious, absolutely.

"Shan Ming." After a little thought, she quickly gave the answer to the first question.

"Oh, Teacher Shan Ming." The mud block named Whale Blubber made an admiring sound, "'A saint is always good at saving people, so he never abandons people; he is always good at saving things, so he never abandons things, this is called Shan Ming*'. The name of teacher really shows that you are cultured at first glance."

"..." It turns out that it is still a piece of cultured mud.

Xu Ming didn't know whether he should tell it that he just got this name from a novel he had read. He used it now simply because he thought it probably didn't know it and he was too lazy to think of a new one.

"Okay, stop talking nonsense." She wiped the wax in her hand expressionlessly, "By the way, where is your work badge..."

The blubber man cooperated and split his body open, revealing the plastic-sealed work badge wrapped inside.

"...You are quite careful." Xu Ming's mouth twitched slightly, "You should have been in Room 101 before? But I heard from Director Xu that non-humans wearing work badges can see the connection between the work badges and the rule book. If that's the case, why didn't you come out before?"

"I'm not hiding on purpose, I really didn't see it, teacher." The whale man quickly pulled his body together and looked at him with a sincere face - in order to express sincerity as much as possible, it even temporarily pinched its rough facial features.

"I don't know what's going on. After entering this building, the connection between my work badge and the rule book seems to have weakened a lot. I can't even see the red thread that symbolizes the connection." The whale man whispered, "I thought it was because this strange story was too powerful and forcibly cut off the connection..."

But now it seems that this is not the case.

It had to wait until the man in front of it walked a few steps away before it could vaguely see the connection with the rule book. However, this sense was still too weak, and the man in front of it was a complete stranger, and he exuded a very obvious, light and dead aura, so it guessed that Xu Ming had also come to this strange story, but was not careful for a moment, and the man in front of him stole the rule book, and people also knew about the existence of its shrewd and knowledgeable assistant...

...It was precisely because it noticed that the other party's soul weight was too light that it dared to threaten directly. Of course, the main reason was that it didn't want the other party to tear up the work card directly-although the rule book can generally only be used by the holder, but what if? During the time it followed Xu Ming, it had seen too many strange things, who knew if there would be an exception to this matter.

Once the ID card record is destroyed, it will resume its original binding relationship with the rule book. It will have to return to the rule book as a cover, which will make it even more passive, and there will be no escape.

Thinking of this, the whale man perked up again, and spoke actively to the "Teacher Su Ming" in front of him: "By the way, teacher, do you need me to restore the previous binding relationship first?"

"The previous binding?" Xu Ming was slightly stunned, "What do you mean?"

"It's a binding relationship different from the work badge." The whale man explained to her as concisely as possible, "There is actually a closer connection between me and the rule book. It was Director Xu who temporarily covered this connection with the work badge... Once restored, I can directly attach myself to the rule book, and any subsequent actions will be relatively convenient."

"Oh..." Xu Ming digested all this quickly, and for the sake of safety, he asked one more question, "Then if you come up, will you still have an independent consciousness?"

"Yes, yes." The blubber man said immediately, "I can chat with you anytime to relieve your boredom. It's no problem to conduct short-distance exploration..."

"Short distance?" Xu Ming frowned, "How short?"

"...About, five or six meters?" The blubber man was actually not too sure. After all, it had basically only moved around freely in Xu Ming's apartment before, but Xu Ming's apartment was too small, so it had no idea.

"Then what will happen if it exceeds the range?" Xu Ming continued.

"...Will it be uncomfortable?" The blubber man was not sure whether he should tell her the truth, "There may also be some negative effects?" "

Will it die?" Xu Ming looked at it thoughtfully and decided to ask boldly.

The blubber man: "..."

Okay, it seems that it will probably happen.

"Forget it then." Xu Ming thought for a while, "It's not very safe."

This is not because she dislikes it. The main thing is that the skill she uses the most in this strange story must be "dream simulation", and it seems that she can't bring other beings with independent consciousness into the simulation scene.

Here comes the problem. If Po Haitang returns to the rule book now, and she takes the rule book into the simulation scene for refuge, what will be the result?

The slightly better case is that both it and the book will fall out of the simulation scene; the worse case is that the rule book is still with her, but the whale fat man falls out by himself...

but it is still forcibly bound to the rule book. Xu Ming is afraid that if he accidentally takes a few more steps, it will explode.

So forget it, keep a proper distance. It is good for both yourself and it.

As the saying goes, distance creates beauty. Xu Ming understands now. This is the truth.

"Oh, that's fine. It's up to you." The whale man didn't care. It was just a way of thinking. Anyway, it doesn't matter where it is.

This problem was over. Xu Ming looked at it again for a while, and finally asked the question that he cared about most:

"By the way, I have heard Director Xu mention you. At that time, you should have entered this building in her name, right?"

"Yes, yes." The whale man said immediately, "It is our duty to share the director's worries."

"..." Xu Ming closed his eyes, forced himself to suppress the urge to complain, and continued to confirm, "In other words, you are an invited guest..."

"You should be able to open the door on the stairs, right?"

She said, and her eyes fell on the wax object again for confirmation.

"..." Upon hearing this, the whale man suddenly fell silent.

"Hmm..." After a while, it said in a slightly subtle tone, "It was possible before."

Xu Ming: "..." What do you mean before?

"Well, I don't know about that little Xu Ming... I mean, Director, I don't know what the Director told you, but at the beginning, it is true that I entered here as her."

The whale man said slowly, and at the right time pinched out his thin fingers and scratched his forehead with embarrassment: "I did pass through the stair door as a guest and went to the third floor. I even went to the fourth floor. But..."

Xu Ming: "...but?"

"But I am not a human after all." The whale man showed an awkward but polite smile, "After entering 301, I was kicked out of the house by the owner of 301 because of some things, so now I don’t even have the identity of a guest..."

"So, it may be because of this. Anyway, I tried... and I can't go upstairs again."

Unable to go upstairs again, the door of the unit building could not be opened. It really had nowhere to go, so it sneaked into the home of a resident on the first floor. It happened that the family was not very smart, so it coaxed and deceived them to stay there, and has lived there until now.

Xu Ming: "..."

"No, wait a minute." She was silent for a moment, and suddenly she didn't believe her ears.

She didn't know what to say... Po Haitang had only said two sentences just now, but to her, it seemed more difficult to digest than the previous bunch of chatter.

"Drive you out of the house... just, huh? Huh? Who drove you out of the house?"

"The owner of 301." The whale man said innocently, "a very weird little girl."

"..." Xu Ming took a breath, trying to find a reasonable explanation for this matter, "Did she find out that you were a fake?"

The whale man rolled his eyes and thought seriously for a while, then shook his head honestly: "That shouldn't be the case. I was sitting in that room for less than ten minutes, and she didn't even see my face clearly."

... Xu Ming was silent again.

The silence was deafening.

In other words, this guy, with his own identity, went to meet an abnormal being who had been planning to deceive him for almost a year, and had never given up -

and within less than ten minutes after arriving, he made the other party decisively give up the persistence of the past year and drove him out of the house.

...Xu Ming's reason told him not to ask too much. But she really couldn't help it: "So how did you do it?"

"I didn't do anything, I just talked to her a few words..." The big eyes of the whale man slowly turned, "Maybe for her age, some topics are a bit too advanced."

Xu Ming: "..."

For a being that is so powerful that it can influence the outside world through strange stories, what kind of topic is considered "advanced"?

Xu Ming really didn't want to ask this time.

If she hadn't been confident in her bottom line, she would really have doubted whether this guy had accidentally offended her in the past - offended her to the point where she was willing to throw it out and beg it not to come back, even at the cost of her reputation.

"Uh, so you really want to go upstairs now, right?" As if sensing Xu Ming's mood change, the whale man silently shrank again, his eyes became bigger, and even his eyebrows changed into shaggy eyebrows. "There's actually nothing much upstairs, just two weird girls on the third floor, and something weird on the fourth floor..."

"Qiu Yufei, did you know?" Xu Ming did not hide it. "She is also upstairs."

"Oh, that kid." The whale man suddenly realized. "Was she also deceived? Maybe she just missed it and I didn't meet her... Wait, I thought you came here specifically to find me?"

"..."

"That's true." Xu Ming coughed and said nonchalantly, "You are also one of the reasons why she invited me."

More importantly, whether it is Qiu Yufei or the whale man, it seems that neither of them can leave the building directly now. If we want to lead them out, we probably have to go up and find more clues.

Either the third floor or the fifth floor. At present, it seems that there is a higher probability of a way out in these two places.

But the biggest problem now is... we still have to open the door and go up first...

"Invited people can go up directly... Non-pig natives need to use a password, the password is in the phone..." She recalled the notes she had seen before, and murmured subconsciously, "In other words, we have to find a phone..."

"Mobile phone?" The whale man's eyes lit up when he heard it, "Are you talking about the one that every resident has?" "

?!" Xu Ming looked over immediately, "You know?"

"I've heard of it!" Realizing that he could finally play a role, the whale man spoke faster, "After being kicked out of the house by 301, I stayed in 302 opposite her for a while. There was also a little girl in that room, and she seemed to be hiding from the one in 301. She was the one who told me that if I had nowhere to go, I should hide in 101..."

Of course, this is not the point. The point is that it did see a somewhat strange mobile phone in the child's hand.

It paid attention to it at that time because the model of the mobile phone was quite old, and it was actually a flip phone.

It was not stupid. Seeing that the child had been carefully protecting the mobile phone, it guessed that this thing was probably useful, so it tentatively asked the child if it could show it the phone. Unexpectedly, the little girl was young but had a bad temper. She rolled her eyes and said,

"Come on, I can tell from the look in your eyes that you are not thinking of anything good. I won't give it to you.

"If you really want it, can't you find it yourself? It's not like I'm the only one who has it, do you have to trick the child?"

"..." Xu Ming listened quietly and nodded, "Then what?"

"Then...then I'll tell her, sorry to scare you, where else can I find it?" The little girl was stunned. "The fat man spread his hands," and then she told me that, as far as she knew, every house would be equipped with a mobile phone like this. This one belongs to her family, and she only has one, so she can't give it to me."

In fact, she hesitated a little when she said this, feeling a little embarrassed. Obviously, she didn't expect the fat man to have such a good temper, and he could continue to ask in a nice way even after being scolded by her - Xu Ming was actually quite surprised by this.

The fat man said as a matter of course: "What else? Do you want to go back and scold her? Hey, what's the point of comparing with a child? "

Anyway, that's what the little girl told it. She also said that the phone was actually just used to go upstairs, so if it wasn't there, forget it, there was no need to look for it. The houses on this floor are all dangerous now.

The Blubber Man didn't know at the time that he had lost the qualification to go upstairs, so after hearing her say that, he didn't worry too much. Later, at the girl's request, he went to 101 to see her mother, and when he wanted to go back to pass on the message, he found that he could no longer pass through the iron gate.

"...Wait." Xu Ming frowned slightly, "In other words, the girl is actually Panpan who lives in 101?"

"Oh, yes, yes, you know her too? "The whale man looked at her in surprise, "She said that she originally wanted to go upstairs to find the building manager, but was targeted by the people in Room 301. Now she is blocked in Room 302. She dare not even show her head, and she can't come down..."

"What about the original residents of Room 302?" Xu Ming frowned even more tightly, "Is there no one else in the house?"

"Of course there is." The whale man shook his head without hesitation, "I can feel the remnants of the power of rules. But there is indeed no one else."

It was also very strange at the time. Because the rules that remain in Room 302 are still somewhat strong. It is precisely because of the existence of these rule powers that Panpan was able to hide there for so long - but the existence of the rule-making power, there is no trace at all.

"..." Xu Ming's heart sank when he heard this.

Room 302 was originally occupied by Ms. Tian, ​​who was in charge of Room 301. Now the influence of Room 301 is still there, but Room 302 is empty. I'm afraid the person living inside...

Silently closing his eyes, Xu Ming tried to suppress the heaviness spreading in his chest.

Then he forced himself to collect his thoughts - the focus now should be on how to open the door and go upstairs.

First of all, at present, it seems that the only way is to find another mobile phone with a password. She suspected that Room 302 There should be one on the ground, but now they can't go up to the third floor, so the alternative is to look in the four houses on the first and second floors.

Secondly, 101 is ruled out. The mobile phone of this household is now in Panpan's hand; then 102. The owner is always paying attention to the door, and it is difficult to attack without opening the door.

Relatively speaking, 201 and 202 may be better choices. First, one of these two rooms may be safe; second, the electric meter box on the second floor has been pried open, which might help them get directly into the house.

But this brings up a new problem.

Which house is safe?

Judging from the previous notes, the biggest threat on the second floor is the mutated novelist; combined with the sketch, the probability that 202 is the novelist is higher - after all, 201 in the picture is a question mark, while 202 is a mess of black lines.

But it's hard to say. After all, it's questionable whether he was conscious at the time. She There is no guarantee that there have been any changes in the residents of this building after the time period recorded in the diary...

and the two electric meters on the second floor are spinning very fast. Referring to the situation on the first floor, this is not a good sign.

Xu Ming thought silently, put the whale blubber man into his bag, and tiptoed back to the second floor platform. Looking at the electric meter box in front of him, he pursed his lips involuntarily.

It would be best if there was a way to make an accurate prediction. The problem is that it is impossible. It is not possible to simulate it through dreams.

——Dream simulation can only simulate scenes in a certain area, and it must be the area where one is located. In other words, she can only simulate the platform on the second floor, but cannot simulate the situation inside the rooms on both sides. It is not realistic to conduct trial and error exercises through dream simulation...

"... Eh." Knowing that he must seize the time, Xu Ming's eyes moved slightly, and he finally made up his mind. He took out the wax object again and put it on the electric meter box, "Let me confirm something with you."

"...?" For some reason, her expression gave the whale man a bad feeling, "Please go ahead."

"Can you hide your breath?" Xu Ming said, reaching out to the electric meter box again, "For example, in some very dangerous times?"

"Are you talking about saving your life? To be honest, I'm quite good at this." The blubber man said while nodding in self-affirmation, "After all, my characteristics are also suitable...?"

It lowered its eyes in confusion, looked at Xu Ming's hands, and paused subtly.

"Excuse me." It changed the subject and spoke carefully, "Excuse me. Why do you put both of your hands on the gate?"

Still different gates. One on the left and one on the right.

"Very simple." Xu Ming nodded honestly, "Because I'm not sure which tree I should hang myself on, so I decided to hang ropes on both trees."

Blubber man: "Oh...ah? "

Before it could react, Xu Ming had already exerted force with his hands -

with two snaps, the two shutters were pulled down at the same time!

Almost at the same time, the electric meters in 201 and 202 stopped at the same time. The next second, a strange thudding sound was heard from behind one of the doors.

Like footsteps. It became clearer and clearer. The whale man slowly raised his head following the sound, and his eyes finally locked on the door of 202. He heard the calm and cruel voice of Teacher Su Ming:

"And now, you can get ready to hide."

"..."

……?!

The blubber man was sure that he looked at her the moment he heard these words. However, when he turned his head, where was the "Teacher Rao Ming" behind him? There

was only a quiet air.

"Hey, no, this..." The blubber man was completely dumbfounded and almost couldn't help blurting out the swear words. What finally stopped him was not his morality, but the door lock of Room 202 that had already started to turn.

There was no way, he could only curse in his heart, lean over and slither, and in a blink of an eye he moved from the top of the meter box to the bottom of the meter box, sticking to the bottom of the meter box like a piece of flat chewing gum, trying to reduce his breath as much as possible, and continued to look in the direction of Room 202 in fear.

The reason why it stopped hiding in the electric meter box was because it was worried that the first thing the other party would do after going out was to push the gate back. And just as it was quickly thinking about how to avoid the other party if he approached, it heard a "click" -

the door of Room 202 was finally opened.

The slowly opened door was like a skin slowly peeling off, revealing the deep darkness behind. Immediately afterwards, under the fearful gaze of the whale man, a pale hand pressed on the door panel.

Then came the shoulders and the head.

"..." Looking at the figure in front of him gradually walking out of the door, the whale man was stunned again.

- It was a figure. The figure of a young woman.

Pale, thin, frail, and uneasy. She poked her head out of the door for a long time before walking out carefully.

It looked normal, even a little light and frivolous - very similar to the light and frivolous look of Su Ming. It was the lowest level of dead people.

This made the blubber man feel a little relieved. He even considered whether he should rush over and hold the door shut before the other party closed it.

However, before he could move, a finger suddenly appeared out of thin air and poked it heavily on the body. The blubber man was startled, and when he looked more closely, he could not see anything.

This made him feel a little scalp tingling again - although he had no scalp at all now.

After turning his eyes to the direction of 202 again, his whole piece of blubber froze again.

- At this moment, the man had completely walked out from behind the door, and was walking downstairs carefully along the wall.

It was still that thin figure, and still that somewhat timid posture. However, this time, with the dim light, the whale man could see clearly - there was a line connected to the other party's heels.

A black line, crawling on the ground like a shadow, continued to extend outward as she moved. And as the line moved forward, another figure slowly walked out of the door in front of it.

A huge figure, with a bloated body and a long neck, looked like a big-bellied vase.

Because the height of the floor was too low, it had to bend its neck, and its strangely shaped head stretched forward desperately. The facial features were difficult to distinguish, and the only thing that could be seen was a mouth - but in fact, the whale man couldn't be sure whether it was a mouth.

Because there were no teeth in that mouth. Instead, there were rows of pen tips

sticking out. "..." Along with the huge figure, there was an equally huge pressure and cold breath. The blubber man was almost completely dumbfounded. He just relied on instinct to cling to the bottom of the electric meter box, until he watched the figure walk down the stairs, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.

Look at the door of room 202 again. It is still open. Like a big mouth.

"Okay." Before the blubber man could react, a voice suddenly came from the side. It turned its head in surprise, and found that Su Ming had appeared again at some point, standing next to the electric meter box, looking at the shutter in the box thoughtfully.

"......?!" The blubber man was really confused this time. It fell to the ground with a plop, looked at the air behind it, then looked at Xu Ming beside it, its big eyes filled with question marks, "You, eh, not...so the one who just shot me..."

"Yes, it was me." Xu Ming said expressionlessly, lifting the strap of his shoulder bag, "So that you don't do anything stupid."

Whale Blubber Man: "..." Then should I still say thank you.

"You're welcome." Xu Ming seemed to see through its complaints and added another sentence, then pushed back the gate of Room 201 and walked towards Room 202, "I'll go in and take a look. You can do whatever you want, just don't die."

"Oh...oh." The whale fat man was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted, and took out a piece of hand silk and began to wave at her, "Okay, then you go, I'll wait outside..."

Before the voice fell, there was a "sizzle" sound - the sensor light on the top of the head seemed to react a little slower, and only started flashing at this moment.

The whale fat man: "..."

"I'm worried about me waiting outside!" Its words suddenly changed, and it was so smooth that there was no trace of PS. Then I saw it trotting along on its short legs, and followed me straight into the dark doorway.

"I'd better go with you. There will be more people and more care..."