Infinite spooky game

In the room on the second floor of Zhendong's residence, two kinds of handwriting on the paper, one asking and one answering, outline a story that is completely different from the development of Zhenxi.

Luo Haihua and his wife witnessed the lantern tipping over naturally at night and intended to stop it, but they learned from a prop on their body that could analyze clues that being buried in the fire was not an accidental death point, but the key to passing the level and cracking the world view.

The props told them that Yanghua Town had been burned down by fire many years ago and no longer existed.

The Yanghua Town where they are now is a phantom of the past, a false existence in itself, so naturally there is no way to find a real exit.

Only after going through the burning of fire can they enter the real Yanghua Town.

This statement is not groundless, the evidence is the letter hidden in their room:
[If this city falls, your country will be lost, and your children and property will all become slaves and treasury...]

[Many people in the southeast are loyal to the king. Once the king's army leaves, there may be a breath left. We should gather firewood and burn down the palace. We would rather turn pearls, jade and gold tripods into ashes than help the enemy.]

It is said that when Yanghua Town was about to fall, General Meng, who was defending the town, ordered his soldiers to start from the east of the town, drive out the townspeople and set fire to the houses and materials in order to prevent the enemy from replenishing supplies after occupying the town.

The entire town was burned down, with many people being trampled and accidentally injured. The townspeople who died in the war were unwilling to accept the loss, and their obsessions condensed into the image of Yanghua Town before its destruction, and their wronged souls wandered around the town as they did when they were alive.

It was a classic horror story and the evidence was solid, so after some hesitation, Luo Haihua and his wife chose to believe it.

Subsequent developments also proved that their choice was correct: they woke up, but the other players were gone, or in other words, their traces could not be seen.

All players who did not encounter the fire were trapped in another space, and the only way to communicate with them was through paper and pen.

——It cannot be said that the situation from the perspective of the players in Zhenxi is completely unrelated, but it can be said that it is completely opposite.

"General Meng... could it be Master Meng himself? After burning down the town, he inexplicably became a ghost, and continued to rule the townspeople after his death?"

Qi Si put the paper back on the bedside table and raised his hand to touch his face: "And...why don't I remember being trapped?"

The handwriting of Luo Haihua on the paper is absolutely authentic, and is exactly the same as the handwriting of Luo Haihua in the "Xi Yi" state in Zhenxi Mansion. It can be confirmed that they are from the same person.

What concerned Qi Si was that there was no handwriting of his on the paper. The man who was responsible for communicating with Luo Haihua and his wife through paper and pen called himself "Tang Yu" and was with Lin Chen, but he did not mention the existence of him and Qiu Xin in his words.

"I've been separated from them? Is this information fake? Is there an NPC pretending to be a player? Or is this another timeline independent of what I'm experiencing now?"

Qi Si shook his head and his eyes fell on the wooden bed.

Luo Jianhua and Luo Haihua were still lying there motionless. There was no difference or flaw in their appearance. They should not be dummies created by the weird game.

The strange thing was that their breathing was as even as if it was a set program. Even though Qis made a loud noise when turning the pages, it did not cause the slightest fluctuation.

Qi Si sat down on the wooden bed and said in a normal voice: "Teacher Luo, wake up."

When he sat down, the wooden bed shook, the sound clear and harsh in the silence.

Most veteran players are wary and when they encounter such noises, it is impossible for them not to react unless the copy does it intentionally.

However, the two people on the bed still had their eyes closed, not even a hair of theirs trembled, and they showed no sign of waking up.

Qi Si raised his voice a little and repeated the same words word by word.

The two people on the bed did not move at all, and their breathing did not change at all, as if they were fast asleep and unable to sense any movement from the outside world.

For no reason, Qis thought about how after midnight last night, he fell into a deep sleep uncontrollably, had no dreams all night, and when he opened his eyes again, it was dawn.

It is impossible that there was no movement outside the window at that time, but he was still sleeping soundly and had no memory of what happened during that time.

Is the situation now similar to last night? Is it that the player falls asleep as part of the dungeon's irresistible mechanism and cannot be violated?
By the way, is the timeline for Luo Haihua and his wife really daytime?

Qi Si glanced out the window. The sky was completely white and it was obvious to the naked eye that it was not night.

He withdrew his gaze, controlled the curse pendulum to fly towards Luo Haihua, and gently poked her arm.

The scarlet pendulum sank into the skin easily, falling in without any hindrance. The light disappeared like the setting sun, as if penetrating a void.

Qi Si retracted his pendulum, and the skin was intact. He reached out to touch it, but his fingertips passed through the phantom and still could not touch the real thing.

Luo Haihua and the other person seemed to be on a different level from him. They could only be seen through visual effects. They seemed to be closely connected, but there was no way they could intersect.

"Is it a protection mechanism for sleeping people like the one in Double Happiness Town? Or... am I in a state of 'Xiyi' to the people in the east of the town at this moment?"

"Are the Luo Haihua couple who appeared here really the two people I met at the beginning?"

Qi Si stood up, lowered his eyes to look at the paper on the bedside table, and fell into deep thought.

Two seconds later, he picked up the pen and wrote a series of words on the paper in extremely ugly handwriting:

[I am Lin Wen. It is now the daytime of the second day after the dungeon started. In our world line, you have disappeared and turned into Xiyi - just like we are to you in your world line.]

[Tang Yu, Lin Ya, I followed the funeral procession to the east of the town, hoping to see if we could take the opportunity to leave the town. From our perspective, you were lying in your residence, sound asleep. I want to know:]

[1. What day did the dungeon start when you were there?]

[2. How is your progress on the main quest? What about the side quests?]

[3. When was the exact time when you entered the dungeon? ]

Qis actually had a lot of information he wanted to tell Luo Haihua and his wife, some of which was related to the camp's mission and future arrangements, but there was no rush for more in-depth communication.

He needs to confirm three points: First, whether the Luo Haihua couple in Zhendong are the real Luo Haihua couple; second, whether the Luo Haihua couple can receive his message; third, whether the information he transmits will be known to other NPCs and cause impact.

"Brother Qi, we are out of town, but it seems we are not completely out..."

In the Mind Palace, the blood-colored soul leaves trembled slightly, and Lin Chen's voice sounded mournfully: "There is indeed a large bamboo forest behind the residence, which is a bit similar to the bamboo forest we were in before entering the town, but not quite the same.

"There are a lot of scarecrows inside. After the old man's body was sent in, it also turned into a scarecrow..."

Qi Si touched the bloody leaf lightly in his consciousness, and saw a blurry and strange scene through Lin Chen's perspective.

A pile of corpses rose from the ground behind the residence where the bamboo forest met the residence. The bamboo leaves shaded each other, forming a shadow like a large dark cloud. A damp and cold mist lingered in the forest, involving dozens of human-shaped shadows.

Those people were not real people, but scarecrows with their faces painted white, lip rouge and blush on, and they wore human clothes, mostly black, but also white and red.

Their hands were held rigidly horizontally, and their bodies stood straight. From a distance, they looked like a cross, as if they had been nailed there.

A gust of wind blew, and they trembled and slowly turned over.

There is also a face painted on the back, with three horizontal and one vertical lines drawn with an ink pen, which represent the facial features.

Unlike the smiling face at the front, this face is quite serious and looks unapproachable.

The faces of two scholars and the old man and old woman who managed the residence flashed before Qi Si's eyes for a moment.

The scarecrow's serious and playful expressions seemed familiar, as if they could summarize the images of all the NPCs he had seen since entering Yanghua Town. The one with a stern face was the first scholar, and the other NPCs were smiling...

Qi Si had some guesses, which needed to be tested, but were not troublesome.

"Lin Chen, you and Tang Yu just stand there and don't move. I'll come find you." After he said this, he left the room and closed the door.

……

In the bamboo forest, Lin Chen and Tang Yu saw the paper figures disperse. After waiting for a while and finding nothing unusual, they walked forward cautiously.

The old man's body in black stood upright, as stiff as if it was tied with a wooden board. Even though only his ankles were buried in the soil, it did not fall to one side.

He stared with eyes wide open, motionless, standing at the outermost edge of the bamboo forest like a signpost, indicating that the place ahead no longer belonged to humans, but to a strange territory. When the players approached, a strong smell of blood and rottenness hit them in the face, and the old man's wrinkled skin quickly dissolved like fresh paint splashed with water, revealing the withered straw under the skin, as if his entire body was made of a scarecrow's skeleton and flesh, with a layer of human skin on the outside.

The epidermis melted away in a few seconds, without a drop of blood or any trace left behind, as if it had been evaporated by the sun, turning into nothing. All that was left in front of the player was a scarecrow in black, standing upright.

Not only that, after getting closer, the players discovered that the bamboo forest, which they thought was densely packed with bamboo poles, was not actually entirely made of bamboo. Every few steps there was a scarecrow similar to the remnants of the old man, which was thin and straight, like a stick, and difficult to distinguish from bamboo from a distance.

The breeze whistled through the bamboo poles, and the scarecrows began to turn with the wind. Soon, they all faced Lin Chen and Tang Yu who were standing in the woods, as if they were looking at outsiders who had mistakenly entered their home.

"There's something weird about this place. Let's go back first." Tang Yu said, taking a few steps back with his whole body tense.

His back hit something soft and he turned around suddenly. He saw that behind him, where there should have been a flat road, a scarecrow had appeared without him noticing. A bloody smile was on his face and his arms were stuck between two bamboo poles, just blocking his way out.

Not only that, all directions were blocked by scarecrows.

Each scarecrow opens its arms and connects with the bamboo poles to form an artificial fence that encloses the players.

If you want to leave the town, you have to get out of the bamboo forest; if you want to get out of the bamboo forest, you have to get over the scarecrow's obstruction.

You either have to chop these scarecrows in half or bend over and pass under their armpits, but even a fool can see that they are up to no good, and who knows if acting rashly will trigger the death point?
At this point, Tang Yu finally understood why the scholar dared to let them follow the funeral procession out of town to take a look. It was obvious that he was sure that they could not leave!
"Lin Ya, do you have any props that are more powerful? Prepare them first." Tang Yu remained calm, drew out his sword and pointed it at the nearest scarecrow, reminding him, "Don't act rashly, be prepared for battle."

"Yeah! I have three force-type items, two of which have summoning effects, and one has an unknown effect."

As early as when Lin Chen entered the bamboo forest, he took out the black umbrella from the prop bar in case of emergency.

At this moment, he and Tang Yu stood back to back. While communicating with Qi Si, he opened a black umbrella to protect himself.

The black umbrella was originally a shield made of good material. If he really encountered a life-and-death crisis, he could also activate the prop effect and let the black shadow ghost lead him and Tang Yu out of the bamboo forest...

"Lin Chen, don't use the props yet, especially the [Umbrella Full of Pain]." Qi Si's voice sounded in Lin Chen's mind at the right time, as if he saw his thoughts, and explained indifferently, "I have some guesses about some of the mechanisms of this copy. I may need to use its effects to verify them tonight. If it goes into cooling during the day, it will be very troublesome."

Lin Chen could understand what Qi Si meant.

The effect of summoning a shadow ghost has a 24-hour cooldown period. If you use it now, you will have to wait until tomorrow to use it again.

If Qi Si wanted to verify certain clues at night, he might have to wait another whole day, and there was no telling how many variables might arise during this period.

Instead of using the [Umbrella of Pain], maybe the [Psychiatrist's Medical Record] can be used. They are both summoning items, so they shouldn't be too different... I guess...

But can the ghost of a mentally ill person really deal with this strange situation?
Lin Chen looked at the scarecrows that were gathering in groups and giving off an oppressive feeling, feeling a little skeptical.

"Lin Ya, let's choose a direction and rush out." Tang Yu's voice was cold and stern beside him.

In my mind, Qi Si's voice was calm as usual: "Lin Chen, just wait for me there, I will be there soon."

The road we came from is no longer visible, and all we see are bamboo forests and scarecrows.

"Hehehe..." The sharp laughter seeped out from the scarecrow's abdomen, and combined with the bright red smiling face, it was particularly creepy.

Lin Chen shuddered, tucked a lantern under his armpit, held an umbrella in one hand and a medical record in the other, and turned his head to look at Tang Yu.

Tang Yu had already taken a step in one direction, his forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat, drying in the wind.

He was gambling, and he didn't know whether the direction he chose was correct. He only knew that he shouldn't stay here any longer.

Should I go or should I stay?
"Lin Ya, what are you still dawdling about? Hurry up!" Tang Yu turned around and saw Lin Chen still standing there, and couldn't help but urge him.

Lin Chen touched the [unusual blade] in his pocket and stood still, conveying his attitude of rejection.

Tang Yu tilted his head and stared at him for a while, frowning: "Did Lin Wen say anything to you? Did he ask you to stay where you are?"

What's going on? Did Tang Yu know something?
Lin Chen was startled and raised his eyes suddenly, and heard the young man in front of him continue to speak: "I studied criminal investigation, and you don't act like him at all. I know him at first glance. Did you team up with him?"

Lin Chen's palms were covered with sweat, and he pursed his lips and said nothing, which was tantamount to assent.

Tang Yu gave him a strange look and said, "I have no problem with Lin Wen himself, but he doesn't know anything about the situation and just gives blind orders from a distance. To be honest, he doesn't care about your safety at all.

"Here's a piece of advice for you. Use whatever tools you have. You only have one life. If you die, everything else will be useless."

At the same time, Qi Si's voice sounded again: "Lin Chen, you are my president and the only person I can trust.

“I won’t force you to trust me completely, but you should know that I’m afraid of trouble and very stingy. I don’t want to train another teammate and pay another 5,000 points.

"So, no matter what, I hope you can survive, and I will do my best to let you survive to the end."

The words drifted in the wind, as light as a ghost's whisper, yet particularly captivating.

Lin Chen lowered his head, and somehow put the black umbrella into the prop column. He only took a medical record book, opened one of the pages, and was ready to tear it off at any time.

"Fuck!" Tang Yu chopped the bamboo pole that was blocking his way. Turning back, he saw Lin Chen collecting the most effective tool. He couldn't help but cover his face. "Okay, I respect your fate... So what's your relationship with him? Why do you trust him so much?"

Lin Chen fell into confusion from the moment Tang Yu discovered his true identity, his mind went blank, but fortunately he still remembered the confession he made with Qi Si at the beginning of the copy.

He hesitated for a while and said in a daze: "Lin Wen is my cousin."

Tang Yu: "That's fine, I was just being nosy."

Tang Yu chopped down several bamboo poles, revealing a path just wide enough for one person to pass through, which was immediately blocked by a newly appeared scarecrow.

The scarecrows laughed and jumped close to the players with bloody smiles on their face, poking shallow pits on the ground one after another.

Lin Chen tore off a page from the medical record and threw it in front of him.

[The effect of "Psychiatrist's Medical Record" "Randomly summon a patient's ghost for 30 seconds" has been activated]

The paper pages broke into pieces and fell like snowflakes, condensing into the shadow of a middle-aged man in a hospital gown on the ground.

The phantom squatted like a frog, timidly moving its eyes left and right, looking around.

After looking at Lin Chen, he shouted in horror, "There's a ghost!" and disappeared without a trace.

Lin Chen: "..."

Tang Yu wailed: "Lin Ya, is this prop of yours meant to be funny?!"

Scarecrows: “Hehehe…Hehehe…”

A gust of cold wind whistled in, blowing the bamboo leaves to fall, and then accumulated in a layer on the player's shoulders and head.

Lin Chen raised his hand to brush away the bamboo leaves that fell on his eyes, and suddenly he caught a glimpse of a few white pebbles scattered on the ground. They seemed to be leading the way, extending forward one after another.

A vision flashed before his eyes: when he was trapped in the bamboo forest last night, it seemed that he found the way out of the bamboo forest by following the stones...

"Lin Chen, I'm here, I see you." Without any warning, a clear voice floated from afar through the mountain fog.

This time the sound was much clearer than the previous times. It was no longer a whisper in the mind, but was actually transmitted through the air by the ear.

Lin Chen looked in the direction where the sound came from.

The road that was originally obscured by the bamboo forest and the scarecrow reappeared, with a shiny white stone sprinkled every half step.

At the end of the stone-paved road, a figure in red stood there, embedded in the scene from afar, shining like a signpost. (End of this chapter)