Infinite spooky game

Chapter 365: Punishment
At midnight on April 4, under the dark purple sky without stars or moon, thick water vapor enveloped the entire territory of Qijia Village, bringing with it the stench of decay and biting damp cold.

Fei Zhenqi kicked open the wooden door of a room, walked in with a flashlight, lit the candle on the bedside, dragged the stinking corpse on the bed to the side, and helped Ning Xu sit down beside the bed.

The two had been trapped in Qijia Village for two days and two nights. Endless ghosts appeared and disappeared, and the bodies of men, women, and children were piled up on the ridges of the fields. The fog blocked the way in and out, and once you stepped in, you could not leave - this place has become a death place.

Most of the living people are dead, and there are so many paper people that it seems impossible to kill them all. A spooky well appears every few steps, and the zombies of the dead jump up from time to time, making it impossible to guard against them.

Ning Xu's already injured body had several new wounds added to it, and her left leg hung limply below her waist. Yesterday afternoon, when she was resting in an open space, a dry well suddenly appeared under her. A ghost hand stretched out from the well, and its nails pinched her tendons and veins.

The right shoulder was also a bloody mess, with deep blood holes dug by the zombie's fingernails under the torn fabric. The edges were blue and black, and blood was still oozing out.

The water and electricity in most houses in Qijia Village were cut off. The few bungalows with water and electricity were full of ghosts as soon as they entered, which was obviously bait to lure people in. There was no place to clean the wounds on his body, and they were stained with mud during the fight, and there were signs of infection and pus.

Fei Zhenqi looked even more miserable than her. His coat was soaked in blood and was completely rotten. There was a hideous bloody wound running from his chest to his abdomen. If it was a little deeper, he would have been disemboweled.

Three of the five fingers on his left hand were broken and had been hastily wrapped with cloth strips, like a bundle of crudely made torches, dripping with blood and pus.

He sat down next to Ning Xu, cursing, "Is this a fucking B-grade weirdness? All the B-grade weirdnesses I've dealt with are lined up in a kindergarten, this thing is enough to crush half of the department, are those nerds in the rating department still asleep?"

Ning Xu shook his head, lowered his eyes and smiled bitterly: "The final instance is about to begin, and many places in the weird game have undergone earth-shaking changes. Even if these weird events are in reality, they are inextricably linked to the weird game. There is no reason to keep the same specifications as before."

"Yes, this time we've really suffered a big loss. I've never been injured so badly in my life. I guess one of us will have to apply for retirement due to injury when we go back, and we'll have to ask those people to give us more pensions and retirement benefits..."

Fei Zhenqi muttered to himself as his bloodstained right hand trembled as he reached into his arms and pulled out a cigarette that was damp with blood. He lit it over the outer flame of the candle beside him, held it in his mouth, and half-closed his eyes in satisfaction.

"I have to take a puff or two at this critical moment. My master is trying to make things difficult for me this year and said he wants to quit smoking. He used to smoke when he was in the mood, but now he smokes without restraint." Fei Zhenqi flicked the ash from his cigarette, and a few sparks splashed on the face of the rotten corpse on the ground. "Sister Ning, I told you this about him, don't imitate him when you go back."

Ning Xu smiled: "Director Liao is about to retire, and quitting smoking is also for the sake of health."

Fei Zhenqi grinned, baring his bloodshot teeth: "Well, that's just what I said. I got into smoking because of him. Back then, there was a ghost in my village, and the old man came over with a big bag on his back, and he took care of everything with two yellow talismans. After he was done, he lit a cigarette. I thought he was so damn handsome.

"Later, I was tricked by the old man into joining the Weird Investigation Bureau and following him. Every time he smoked, he would give each of us a cigarette, saying that if we didn't smoke, we wouldn't be like his subordinates..."

Trapped in the ghost realm, they would be doomed if they were not careful. They did not dare to close their eyes in the past two nights, and it was the same tonight. They were extremely tired, and the pain from their wounds was even more unbearable. They could only distract themselves by chatting and survive the most dangerous night.

Ning Xu smiled casually, "It's something Director Liao would do. It happened to me when I was in college. Our dormitory building was haunted and sealed off. They told us that it was going to be renovated. I left something inside, so I didn't think too much and climbed over the back wall to get in. As a result, I met Fu Jue and Director Liao.

"It just so happened that I was matched with Fu Jue in the same dungeon the day before, and we worked well together. After we dealt with a strange incident together that day, I ended up in the Weird Investigation Bureau without knowing what was going on."

Fei Zhenqi said: "Hey, I was still confused at that time. I heard that it was a stable job as a civil servant, with good benefits and a high salary, so I joined..."

Ning Xu laughed: "Who isn't?"

She thought of her first meeting with Fu Jue for no reason. That was long before she could talk about it openly. At that time, Fu Jue was not called "Fu Jue"...

In the horror copy, the young man with fatigue in his eyes and brows wanders among the ghosts, like a ray of light in the doomsday. Even if he is covered with wounds, he will find the best plan to pass the level and save everyone.

He said: "We are all human beings, not numbers that can be wiped out at will in the data torrent, nor are we consumables on the chessboard that can be manipulated at will.

"To live, to breathe, to fight, these are the rights that people are born with. Since I have the ability to help them defend these rights, I should do my best."

How bright, how great, he is truly a savior, just like... a real god.

From the first moment she saw the young man, Ning Xu made up her mind to follow him, even if it meant becoming a handful of dust on his road to becoming a god. After all... that was the most likely hope to save everyone.

So, after realizing that her existence would bring trouble to Fu Jue, she felt that she could die...

There was a sudden sound of wind outside the door, blowing the tattered door leaves crackling. The candle in the room flickered twice and went out, then emitted a faint green light when it lit up again.

Fei Zhenqi's face changed. He drew the dagger from his waist, held it in front of his chest, and stood up to protect Ning Xu.

Ning Xu grabbed a handful of yellow talismans and threw them out of the window. The fire lit up for a moment, and the "ripping" sound of burning was accompanied by sharp screams, which was particularly harsh.

"Woo woo woo... Someone is going to die..."

“Hehehe…dead, dead…”

The sounds of ghosts crying and malicious laughter drifted in one after another, and human figures of varying heights appeared in the thick fog outside the door. Looking closely, they were actually paper figures painted with rouge and powder!
……

Qi Si got out of the taxi without dealing with Liu Pu's body.

The puppeteer deliberately controlled Liu Pu to come over, and said some words to lure him to silence him. This was simply to tell him indirectly that he had many puppets around him and their movements were all under his control.

Qis hopes to obtain the [Blind Dictator] card, and is destined to kill the Puppet Master. The Puppet Master undoubtedly knows this, so he uses real-life threats to restrain him.

Things have come to this point where it is hard to tell what is true and what is false. Perhaps both sides are bluffing, or perhaps one side is only showing a small part of its huge power.

But no matter what, in the ghost realm he created himself, Qis will be a true god, the absolute master.

He could sense that there was an uninvited guest in Qijia Village, and that guest was an old acquaintance from the Weird Investigation Bureau, but he had no plans to get rid of him immediately.

He had other things to do here than to deal with two humans at the end of their strength.

Qi Si entered his two-story house, sat down in front of the statue of the God of Joy on the altar, and called softly, "Xu Yao, are you there?"

"Yes, I have nowhere else to go except here." The woman's light laughter came from behind the statue of the god of joy. "Why are you here? What's the matter?"

Qi Si said, "I went back to Shuangxi Town not long ago and met the county magistrate at the bottom of the well. Do you want to go back and see him, or ask him to come out?"

"Forget it. After living here for so long, I found that I didn't want to see him that much." The woman paused and changed the subject. "By the way, two flies came the night before yesterday and wanted to attack me as soon as we had a disagreement. Unfortunately, they couldn't beat me."

"I know." Qi Si condensed a dark red card between his fingers and lightly placed it on the altar.

On the card, a noble in an ochre dress stands on the terrace of a Gothic castle, a silver mask covering half of his face. In his left hand, he holds a white scepter inlaid with blood-red gems, and in his right hand rests a pure black raven.

The [Noble] card symbolizes nobility, elegance, and arrogance. As the status becomes higher, empathy is increasingly lost. One promotes and isolates oneself into another species, and in return gains authority and submission.

The woman in the red wedding dress walked out from behind the altar, picked up the cards on the table, turned them over and over, and licked her lips: "I can feel the remnants of authority in it, enough to make any ghost covet it."

Qi Si looked up at her and asked, "So, are you interested in binding this ID card and entering the Weird Game as a player?"

Xu Yao laughed: "Of course. Since you came to me with it, I'm sure you will make me agree even if I refuse. Besides, this card looks good, I like it very much; I heard that the weird game is also very fun, I have wanted to try it for a long time." The three places for the subordinates of the [Scarlet High Priest] card were finalized. Before the final copy began, the last [Scholar] card had to be handed over to Dong Xiwen.

Qi Si tilted his head slightly and looked across the large building complex in the direction of Fei Zhenqi and Ning Xu: "It's getting late, shouldn't we get rid of the flies?"

Xu Yao's gray face showed a pitiful expression: "But I haven't played enough... Or you can buy me a new computer? The computers here are too slow."

……

Fei Zhenqi carried Ning Xu on his back and ran wildly on the muddy road in the countryside, with one foot deep and one foot shallow, a cigarette with only a butt left in his mouth.

Countless paper figures were chasing him with laughter, their cheeks and lipstick dazzling, and from time to time the wind blew a few blood-stained paper money. They were neither fast nor slow, just five steps apart, neither advancing nor falling behind, just like a cat playing with a mouse.

Previously blocked in the door by paper people, Ning Xu used up nearly half of the remaining yellow talismans, and fought desperately with Fei Zhenqi to break out of the encirclement, suffering new wounds on his bodies.

She coughed up a mouthful of blood and suddenly smiled: "Brother Fei, there is something I forgot to tell you. In fact, I didn't plan to leave alive before I came here. The higher-ups suspect me, and Chang Xu, whom I have taken care of for so many years, has gotten into trouble again. I deserve to die..."

She stuffed the remaining talisman paper in her arms into Fei Zhenqi's hand, turned over and was about to fall off Fei Zhenqi, but was pulled back.

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Fei Zhenqi spat out the cigarette butt in his mouth and shouted, "We all have to get out alive! The old man stole thirteen lighters from me before, and I'm waiting to ask him for them at his retirement party... I have to stay alive, and I don't want those people to gossip about me, saying that I'm greedy for life and afraid of death, and left you to escape for my own life. So you have to stay alive for me, do you hear me!"

He spoke a long paragraph, was a little out of breath, coughed several times, and spit out blood foam.

The paper man behind him seemed to be tired of playing and moved much closer. A "hehe" laughter sounded next to his ears, sharp and piercing.

Fei Zhenqi cursed and slashed the dagger backwards, cutting into the body of the paper man closest to him. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of a flickering orange-red light hidden in the branches not far away.

Through the dim light, one could see a simple and ancient door. It had no lock and the door leaf was half-closed, revealing a small gap.

Is it a trap? Or... an exit?
Fei Zhenqi recalled the information from the Weird Investigation Bureau, which stated that the exit to the ghost zone was usually in the shape of a door, standing abruptly and alone, and often with bright light.

He rushed towards the light quickly, and a paper man's hand touched his shoulder, but he chopped it off with his backhand without even turning his head.

"Sister Ning, hold on for a little while longer. We'll be out soon. When we get back to the Bureau of Tricks, I'll slam the table and scold those bastards. They're blindly assigning grades. Aren't they cheating people?"

While Fei Zhenqi was talking without thinking, he scattered the yellow talisman in his arms in a line behind him.

A string of sparks appeared out of nowhere, like natural gullies, forming a long and narrow defense line. The paper people were blocked outside and moved back and forth. Several paper people who tried to cross the line were quickly burned to ashes and turned into powder.

The flickering flames spread, and everything between heaven and earth seemed to be quiet. Only two scarred humans and the door that symbolized salvation stood in front of them.

The door disappeared in the light, like the phantom of all beautiful imaginations. Fei Zhenqi walked towards the door, as if chasing light, as if on a pilgrimage.

Ning Xu leaned on his back, frowning slightly: "No, this door gives me a very strange feeling, it may not be the real exit..."

But it was too late.

The door in front of them quickly stretched and expanded, and in an instant it leaned forward, enveloping the two of them.

The scenes on both sides were distorted like colorful plasticine that had been flattened and rounded, switching wildly between dark and light colors.

Fei Zhenqi heard a conversation between a man and a woman. The few words that came out were all computer models. It seemed that they were discussing which new computer to buy.

He thought he must be crazy. How could he hear such things in the ghost realm? Was it a deliberately arranged prank?

Or is he in a dream or hallucination at this moment, and everything he sees and hears are all imaginations deep in his subconscious?

The scene gradually settled down and the vision became clear again. Fei Zhenqi saw a young man in a white shirt and a woman in a red wedding dress gathered in front of a desktop computer. Various models of computers were pushed on the browsing interface.

He almost thought that he was still asleep, otherwise why would the channel jump so wildly, but he saw the young man turn around.

The young man didn't look at him, but at Ning Xu who was on his back, with a smile on his lips: "Xu Ning, or Ning Xu, we meet again. Does Jin Yusheng know what you are doing?"

He used a chatty tone, but his underlying tone exuded a chill that made people shudder.

Ning Xu looked directly into the young man's eyes and said coldly: "Qi Si, the weirdness in Qijia Village is indeed related to you. They are all related to you, but you brutally killed them all..."

"That's perfect, isn't it? I won't have any relatives anymore. How convenient and clean." The young man tilted his head, still smiling, "I heard that you didn't plan to leave alive?"

Ning Xu knew that this man was a scumbag who was as unlucky as a catastrophe and who enjoyed playing with people's hearts with a malicious taste. It was not surprising how he dealt with her and Fei Zhenqi.

She lowered her head and said nothing, but she caught a glimpse of the young man taking out his cell phone and making a call: "Tell me the truth, how is your relationship with Ning Xu?...Nothing, I just remembered to ask."

I don't know what answer he got, but when the young man hung up the phone, his smile became even brighter: "Yes, it seems that you are useless now, you can go die now."

Blood-colored vines stretched out from every corner of the space, entwining the two blood-sucking people in the middle like blood-sucking animals, and taking root into their flesh along the wounds.

Fei Zhenqi let out a low cry of pain, his legs were broken by the heavy blows, and he fell forward to the ground, his skin and flesh melting like heated ice cream.

Ning Xu gritted her teeth and saw that she was also melting, first her limbs, then her chest and abdomen, and then her head...

At the last glance, I saw the young man swiping the screen of his mobile phone as if bored. His expression was listless and slightly depressed, as if he was tired of everything and had no interest in even watching the death scene.

I don’t know what I saw or what I thought, but I laughed out of breath.

"Xu Yao, let your paper man clean up. The floor is dirty."

"okay!"

Just now, Qi Si called Jin Yusheng, who probably thought it was a test, and he laughed and repeated what he had said before -

Although there is some overlap between coercion and being coerced, they are not very familiar.

And since there is no further involvement, there is no need to spare his life. Killing him directly is the least troublesome.

So, Qi Si killed Ning Xu with a playful and strong malice that he himself did not know the reason for.

He was very curious about how Jin Yusheng would react if he knew what happened today.

(End of this chapter)