Chapter 80 (Catching Bugs)

At the same time.

Xu Ming, who had returned to the simulation scene, opened her eyes again.

Her chest was still pounding.

... Damn.

She closed her eyes tightly, and couldn't help but look at her ankle again. Recalling the previous scene, she couldn't help but curse in her heart.

After all, even for her, the picture was a little too stimulating. Not to mention that the touch was so real... Xu Ming originally wanted to try to pull out the thing that had penetrated the wound, but she failed to pull it out, and instead she screamed in pain. She gritted her teeth and simply chose the simplest solution - directly close the current simulation scene, wait a little longer, and then reopen it. Commonly known as shutting

down and restarting . Fortunately, the wounds caused in the simulation scene were not brought into reality, nor into the scene after the restart. Xu Ming touched the intact skin with lingering fear, and felt that the body that was scared out of its wits before was really starting to warm up. But in this way, there is one thing that can be confirmed. - The injuries caused by external objects in the simulation scene will disappear as the scene is closed. But the ones caused by oneself will not. For example, at this moment, the wounds on her feet caused by the weird teeth are no longer there, but the physiological reactions caused by the shock are still residual and need to be adjusted by herself. The throat is still a little painful... It should be because the larynx was pulled when it was howling before. As a result, it is still a little hoarse when speaking now. Of course, this is not the point. Exhaling deeply, Xu Ming once again scanned the simulated living room, trying to calm herself down and quickly walked forward - the free simulation time for the same scene was only fifteen minutes, not to mention that the monster downstairs might come back at any time... She had to hurry up. At this moment, because of the restart, the simulated room had returned to its original state. This time Xu Ming decisively avoided the trash can and went straight to the cabinet. The cabinet was divided into two parts, the upper part was a transparent cabinet, and the outermost layer was a row of plastic figurines, with bright colors and cartoon images. There were several of them, and Xu Ming had even seen them in anime - but all the figurines had the same expression. Although they had different looks, they all had the same smile on their faces. It looked strange for some reason. Because of this strangeness, Xu Ming paid special attention when checking the cabinet this time. He kept watching these little men with vigilance, and was careful to avoid them when searching for other items. Fortunately, nothing went wrong during the search - of course, there was no result. The mobile phone with the password to open the door was not in the upper part of the cabinet. Xu Ming could only close the cabinet door helplessly, and then leaned down, turned on the flashlight, and gently opened the lower part of the cabinet - the lower half of the cabinet door was opaque solid wood. The moment the door opened, the flashlight flickered, and instantly illuminated a tragic white figure inside. ...It was a young woman. The dress was stained with blood and her face was pale. There was an obvious dent on the shoulder, like a mark of being gnawed. Noticing the cabinet door opening, she slowly raised her head, revealing her dark eye sockets. Under her eye sockets, there were two clear bloodstains. Xu Ming: “…” Sorry to bother you. She said softly, and closed the cabinet door as if nothing had happened. The next second, there was a bang - the closed cabinet door popped open by itself, and a pale figure suddenly emerged from the cabinet, with his hands opened to both sides, like open bird claws, grabbing straight towards her neck - "!" Another subtle sound. The whale fat man who was slowly rummaging through the wall shelf raised his eyes in surprise, and met the cold eyes of Xu Ming not far away. ...So where did he come from this time? The blubber man didn't understand. The blubber man was at a loss. The blubber man was about to speak hesitantly when he heard the other party speak again, his voice a little deeper and hoarser than before: "Don't look for the cabinet next to the dining table. Especially the cabinet below, don't touch it." "Oh...oh." The blubber man still didn't understand. The blubber man was still at a loss. But the blubber man wisely didn't ask more questions, but nodded slightly. Just kidding, just because of the other party's gloomy aura that seemed to want to kick a ghost, it didn't want to touch him. After nodding, it raised its eyes again, and sure enough, it saw that teacher Ju Ming disappeared silently. The blubber man was already very familiar with this and would not be surprised anymore. So it just shrugged its shoulders when it saw this, and quickly turned its gaze back, searching the wall shelf slowly and mindfully, while gossiping in its heart, wondering how Xu Ming had dug up this wonder. So strange, and so ferocious... Just as it was muttering, it suddenly saw another figure beside it. It turned its head in horror, and met Xu Ming's indifferent gaze again. "Don't look for it." The woman who came out from nowhere stood next to the wall shelf, looking at it with a flashlight, "There's nothing on these two shelves. Don't waste time." After saying that, without waiting for the whale fat man to respond, the figure disappeared silently in the room. "..." Only a piece of wax was left, standing on the wall shelf, blinking stiffly. ...I have to say, it's really weird. It's so weird. * On the other side—— Xu Ming, who returned to the simulated scene once again, closed his eyes again with restraint. Okay, calm down, adjust your mood, organize your thoughts... It has been confirmed that the trash can and the lower half of the cabinet cannot be moved, so the next thing to search is the sofa, coffee table and TV cabinet in the living room... Because time is limited, he doesn't have the energy to search slowly. Xu Ming simply started a violent search directly, shaking the flashlight like a high beam, opening and closing it, turning over whatever he saw, and soon completed a new round of search- sofa, no. Coffee table, no. TV cabinet, no... After the search, raise your eyes. Your sight swept across the door of the TV cabinet that had just been closed. The glass door had a clear reflection. With the help of the flashlight, Xu Ming clearly saw that behind his own shadow was another bitten face.

So - another half minute later.

Facing Ji Ming who suddenly appeared in the living room again, the whale man was no longer surprised and even had the mind to say hello; Ji Ming answered casually, and at the same time, he walked towards the wall rack and stopped in front of the rack in a blink of an eye.

Then he took a small hammer from the rack. He

walked to the TV cabinet with the hammer.

He raised the hammer expressionlessly.

The whale man: "......?"

It made a "uh" sound and opened its mouth suspiciously. Just as it was about to ask, it heard a "bang" - the glass door of the TV cabinet was smashed to pieces by Ji Ming.

I don't know if it was the whale man's illusion, but when the glass shattered, it seemed to hear a scream.

On the other side, after smashing everything, Su Ming didn't stop there. She stomped on it twice in anger. After she stomped on it, she shook her hair and raised her head. She glanced at the whale man and said in the same low and hoarse voice:

"The third advice. Don't look at the TV cabinet. It's best not to look at anything that can reflect images.

"Something will crawl out of it and strangle your neck. Don't ask me how I know."

The whale man: "Oh...oh."

The problem is that I don't have a neck.

And the door of the TV cabinet has been smashed into pieces by you...

It thought to itself, and couldn't help but look at the mess again. When it raised its head again, as expected, Su Ming's figure was no longer in the room.

"..." There was another moment of silence. It climbed down from the dining table carefully and tiptoed towards the debris on the ground. It reached out and picked up a larger piece of it, and after feeling it for a moment, it couldn't help but let out a click of the tongue.

This is terrible... it thought silently.

If it was just a guess before, now it is almost certain. This room, in a sense, is almost equivalent to a small ghost story area - with the monster as the main character, the souls killed by it as the accomplices, and this room itself as the territory, with an additional It constitutes an independent area.

I just don't know if it is because it has been suppressed by other forces, the development of this strange area is obviously very incomplete and quite rough.

The domain master lacks absolute control over the dead in the domain, and has no intention of establishing rules to hunt and pickle prey. To be honest, it is more similar to the appearance of strange stories that have not evolved a few years ago.

But in a sense, this form is even more difficult to deal with - because it is self-contained, but lacks logic internally, and the setting is not logical. There are death rules, but they are not written down, so you need to figure them out.

If a mature ghost story area is like a large horror facility with a clear theme and route, then the "ghost story area" in front of you is the cheapest kind of amusement park haunted house, which is just the interweaving and stacking of different death rules.

It is not difficult to escape from such a place, but it is very troublesome to find things. Because you will somehow provoke a malicious dead person, unless you have the corresponding distortion characteristics or predictive ability, it is difficult to plan. Avoid...

That Ji Ming is an abnormal being, so naturally he won't have the characteristics of distortion. That should be the ability of foresight - but such a quick and accurate prediction, let alone death, even if it is placed in the root of mutation, it is quite explosive.

Thinking of this, the whale man couldn't help but slowly raised his head and looked in the direction where Ji Ming disappeared last, and couldn't help but "sigh".

For a moment, I didn't know whether to sigh at Xu Ming Niubi, who could even trick such a person into the demolition office; or should I sigh at Ji Ming for not knowing people well, so he was fooled into a shell company.

*

The other end——

After returning to the simulation scene for who knows how many times, Xu Ming closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then took another breath.

Finally, he couldn't help it and stomped his feet on the spot.

Okay, okay, calm down. Anyway, the simulation is over, focus on the present...

Well, the living room has basically been checked. The rules have been summarized. First, don't touch the trash can, second, don't open the cabinet below, and third, don't look at the TV cabinet...

Although I have no idea why I am summarizing this.

So where should I go next? The kitchen, the bathroom, or the bedroom?

Xu Ming looked around and quickly determined the next target. She moved to the edge of the living room through the simulation scene, and constructed a corresponding simulation scene the moment she stepped into the bedroom.

Because the "bedroom" scene appeared for the first time, she had a new round of fifteen-minute free period. This made Xu Ming's subsequent search somewhat more relaxed - but it didn't take long for her to find that she was too relaxed a little too early.

Because then, in just less than five minutes, she added four new rules of death to herself.

- Four, don't touch the curtains in the bedroom. Don't touch the shoes placed under the curtains. Because it's not just shoes.

——Five, avoid the dressing mirror in the bedroom as much as possible. If you fail to avoid it due to negligence, you should immediately look at the mirror and back away until you are completely out of the mirror's reflection range. Never close your eyes when looking at the mirror, no matter what you see in the mirror.

——Six, do not touch the comb on the bedside. What is tangled in it is not hair.

"And, the seventh one."

In the living room, Su Ming appeared again and spoke seriously. While speaking, he stuffed the stuffed bear he just took out of the bedroom into the trash can in front of the whale man: "Don't make eye contact with the stuffed bear in the bedroom. It will rush up and chop your calves. Don't ask me how I know."

The whale man: "..."

"To be honest, I didn't want to ask that..." It whispered, "What I care about more is, is the teddy bear you are talking about this?"

It secretly glanced into the trash can. It saw that the stuffed bear was tangled with hair and covered with teeth.

"Yeah." Xu Ming replied unhappily, "It's blocking a cabinet. I can't open the cabinet without moving it."

But she didn't understand. It's fine if there are spirits in this room, but why can a teddy bear become a spirit?

"Not all spirits appear in human form... Some will directly attach to other objects, or transform into other forms." The whale man said softly, "Maybe because there is no system in this place, those dead people grow randomly."

Xu Ming: "..."

Oh, so there is such a saying.

The whale man carefully observed her expression and suddenly had a bold guess: "You... I mean, you, have never been exposed to these?"

"..."That's not the case. I've seen it in ghost stories before, but this is the first time I've heard this kind of explanation.

But since the other party asked this question, pretending to know will only expose one's true intentions. Xu Ming simply nodded: "I've only been in a ghost story before. There's no such thing there."

The blubber man: "..."

I understand. He's gifted, but inexperienced. No wonder he was deceived.

Director Xu, you're deeply sinful.

The blubber man thought silently, and even the big eyes of Caroline that he had molded out couldn't help but reveal some emotion. Xu Ming looked at it strangely, said a simple hello, and walked towards the bedroom again.

Just like she said before, there was still a cabinet in the bedroom that hadn't been turned over.

In addition to the cabinet, there are also beds, desks; in addition, there are toilets, kitchens...

To be honest, she is a little confused now. She is so confused that she is too lazy to fight when she sees a ghost approaching. She doesn't take action immediately after seeing that kind of ghost appearing, but has to set an example on the spot, and even wants to persuade the other party to be quick. She can make a judgment and shut down and restart directly, which is more efficient. She

is tired, really tired.

She is curious about one thing now-how many death rules can there be in such a small house?

It is not that she has to step on all the rules first to find a mobile phone, right?

*

As it turns out, in a sense, Xu Ming is still lucky.

Because not long after she took the stuffed bear to the trash can, she finally found the legendary mobile phone smoothly.

From the water tank behind the toilet.

Flip open the phone. It can still be turned on. It's amazing.

What's even more amazing is that this phone is full of unread text messages. Xu Ming wanted to find the password, so she tentatively opened the message box and found that all the unread emails were from a sender named [502]. The content of the message was basically a template:

two not-too-difficult applied math problems. And she was told that the answer to the problem was the password for the iron gate this week.

The problem was indeed not difficult. Xu Ming casually opened the box and took a look. It was probably at the level of a fifth or sixth-year elementary school student. What concerned her even more was that the latest text message was sent two days ago.

...Does this mean that there is still someone in Room 502, trying to maintain the few remaining rules and order on this staircase; and is it possible that this person is the legendary building manager, or the building manager's assistant?

Although it is just a guess, it must be said that this thought makes Xu Ming feel relieved. The only pity is that the number that sent the text message is hidden, so she can't contact or test it further.

As for her deafening question, before she found the phone, she finally got a vague answer - at least twelve or more.

Three in the living room. Four in the bedroom. Three in the bathroom. I haven't checked the kitchen yet, but Xu Ming noticed that there was blood seeping in the gap of the refrigerator door, and there was an outline similar to a ball inside the microwave...so conservatively estimated, there are at least two in the kitchen.

These are just the rules that have naturally developed as a "strange story area" in this place, and they are not yet fully developed. If the domain owner has the concept of using rules and knows how to modify and add to them... that would be another realm.

Compared to the hassle of finding the phone, the next thing can be said to be easy.

- Almost at the moment when Xu Ming got the phone, the shrill but anxious howl of a puppy was heard outside the door. Then came the heavy footsteps coming from the stairs -

the monster who lived in 202 was back.

Fortunately, Xu Ming had already reached a consensus with the whale man on this matter, so he didn't spend much time panicking -

of course, the whale man still panicked for a while out of respect. But it didn't matter, because Xu Ming quickly put it into a box and threw it out of the door of Room 202.

...The reason for putting it in a box is to prevent the Alien Root from being directly exposed to the monster's eyes. After all, compared to the floating soul, the Alien Root is more attractive. And just as Xu Ming thought-

perhaps it was because the monster's intelligence was not enough to support it to see the essence beyond the phenomenon. So after witnessing the blubber man being packed and thrown out, the first thing it noticed was not the box that was thrown out.

It was the hand that stretched out from its room.

The subsequent developments were all logical-

the monster directly locked the first target in the house, dragged the huge eyeball it had just hunted, and walked back staggeringly.

Xu Ming, on the other hand, took the opportunity to hide back in the simulated scene again, standing close to the door, until the monster entered the house, and after searching the living room in vain, it staggered into the deeper bedroom...

She took the opportunity to jump out, went out directly, closed the door, and blocked the door, all in one go.

Almost at the same time, the whale fat man, who had recovered to adult size, pulled down the shutter with all his strength -

even through the door, Xu Ming could hear the "pop" sound of the lights coming on from the house.

The electric meter resumed turning. An angry scream came from the house, followed by various harsh sounds of banging and collision.

But soon, the sound gradually weakened. After a while, even if he was close to the door, he could no longer hear any movement.

Xu Ming was slightly relieved. He stared at the door of Room 202 warily and backed away slowly. He retreated

until he was within the range of the induction light, then turned around quickly and jumped directly onto the stairs leading to the third floor.

Fortunately, the induction light was very considerate and did not make a buzzing sound this time. Xu Ming felt relieved again, and then he took out the mobile phone, found the latest text message, and began to quickly solve the math problems in the letter.

The puppy who had been guarding outside the door hummed and lay on the back of Xu Ming's feet thankfully. The whale fat man also had an expression of surviving a disaster, and sat down on the stairs, sighing: "I was wondering why you were working so hard, it turns out you haven't solved the password yet."

It thought Xu Ming had solved it by morning. It would definitely be more convenient to act this way. At least, you don't have to worry about locking the monster back in the room. You can just rush out and use the password to unlock the door and go upstairs before the other party catches up.

Anyway, the monster is afraid of the sensor light, and it can't pass through the iron gate to catch up.

Hearing this, Xu Ming couldn't help but look at it.

"You dare to think. Do you think you don't have to worry about anything if you have the password?"

"The exit of the unit building is most likely on the first floor. Have you ever thought about what to do when you come down if you don't lock the monster back?"

Whale Blubber Man: "..." That's true.

"Besides, that guy also pulled back 102's big eyeballs." Xu Ming retracted her gaze and continued to study the math problems on her mobile phone, and said casually, "This will definitely be a benefit to it. To be on the safe side, it is better to control it as soon as possible... Hey!"

Before she finished speaking, she seemed to think of something and suddenly let out a low cry of annoyance.

The blubber man immediately looked over: "What's wrong? Can't you solve the math problems?"

"..." Xu Ming looked at it with an indescribable look and shook his head, "No."

"I just suddenly feel a little regretful."

The blubber man: "...Hmm?"

"You said before that the room is equivalent to a small ghost story area, right?" Xu Ming said, "The intelligence I collected before did mention that most of the residents in this building have 'roots'..."

"The premise for the formation of a ghost story area is 'roots'. Conversely, since there is an area, there must be a corresponding 'root'."

"Hmm..." The blubber man slowly raised his hand and pinched two shaggy eyebrows for himself, trying to accurately express his emotions, "So?"

"So we should have looked for the root after we took away the phone." Xu Ming felt more and more regretful. "Since we are here, we might as well take the root with us. It will save us from a lot of trouble later..."

Whale fat man: "..."

So that's it.

Looking at the terrifying existence in front of it with a serious look of regret, it suddenly seemed to understand why the other party was mixed up with Xu Ming.

It can be said that they share the same interests.