As a player, can you be normal?

Chapter 581: People Who Can't Become Marionettes

Cha Bai took the wooden sign from Xiao Wu.

The moment the hand touched it, a green line appeared and extended along the dirty road surface.

Cha Bai took back the wooden sign.

"Walk."

The two of them officially walked towards the depths of the ghost market.

In fact, the ghost market is the true portrayal of Baicheng.

The location of the Ghost Market is a hundred meters below the White City. The people who come here are not only the players but also the "evil people" of this world.

In the center of Ghost City stands a thousand-year-old banyan tree that has been transformed into a giant mechanical tree, with 365 human skin lanterns hanging from its branches.

Six misshapen alleys radiate outward from the tree roots. The east alley is lined with gear-driven cast iron butcher shops, while the west alley is roamed with refugee warriors injected with poisonous insects.

The direction indicated by the wooden sign was towards the south. Pedestrians on the road were silent. Stalls were crowded on both sides of the block like playing cards. Stall owners all wore opera ghost masks. Buyers had to cover part of their faces with the masks. Violators would be taken away by the blood shadow seeping from the ground.

Xiao Wu was very curious, so she asked around and said, "They said that people who are taken away by Blood Shadow will go to the 'Box Garden World' below the southern slums and become monsters. Once they go, they will never come back."

There was crying and making a fuss on the roadside. An old lady's child had done something illegal and was taken away.

Cha Bai glanced over, his mind unmoved, without any emotion.

The residents here are all miserable people. They were brought in a few years ago as experimental materials or human trafficking, and became slaves. Some of them brought their families with them, and those who survived cannot leave.

[Don't worry about the rules here. That's not something you guys in the corridor should worry about.]

Since being activated by Li Nuo, the "End" system would appear from time to time to remind them.

Cha Bai felt that there was a deeper meaning behind it, and it was definitely not for anyone’s safety.

She was more worried about Li Nuo. Li Nuo's signal was disconnected again. Judging from the position on the player map, he was not far from her, but definitely not in the Ghost Market. Instead, he was in the area below the Ghost Market, which was called the "Monster Cemetery". Many hopeless monsters were thrown there, which was very similar to the lower mining area of ​​"Basel".

At this time, Xiao Wu stopped in front of a shop. She was wearing a bandit mask and bargaining with the shop owner who was wearing a ghost mask.

In this shop, the lid of the rosewood coffin is opened to reveal the shelves, displaying jade rings soaked in corpse oil and leather lanterns with eyes embedded in them.

Xiao Wu took a fancy to a gun.

Modern gun.

Don't forget that this is a player gathering area after all, and there are many things that only players have, even if they shouldn't appear in this environment.

"one hundred."

The shop owner asked for a high price.

Xiao Wu was in a dilemma.

One hundred does not refer to money, but to life.

Although many players have extremely long lifespans due to changes in race and genes, there are still some who choose to remain human. Xiao Wu's lifespan is only a hundred years, so she is still a human.

"Plus the book, and I'll pay for it."

Cha Bai took down a book called "Mechanical Engineering" and moved in front of Xiao Wu.

"That's two hundred."

"Get a discount."

Cha Bai took out a discount coupon that could be used in Baicheng. This thing could originally be used in a scrap collection shop, but the boss became a demon and it has not been used since then.

"One hundred and nine."

"Give me something for ten years?"

The boss glanced at the coffin and said, "This is the only guide to ghost market safety that I can give you."

"Deal." Cha Bai: "How do you pay?"

Xiao Wu immediately held Cha Bai's arm and whispered, "I know you have a long life... but this is too expensive."

Cha Bai pulled Xiao Wu's hands away. Her lifespan was not long, but almost infinite. The basic lifespan of the elves was one thousand years. The memories of androids could be transferred and their bodies rebuilt, so their lifespan was almost infinite. But she was not immortal. Once she was blown to powder and her memory bank, that is, the "Neil" world in her timeline, was destroyed, she would not be able to be resurrected.

The boss repeatedly asked if he wanted to buy it with his life, and Cha Bai was sure that he didn't want to live anymore.

Then two bamboo hats floated out of the room, one soaked in frost condensed from the moonlight, the other soaked in blood that would never dry.

They are not entities, but the projection of the concept of "impermanence" in space. This thing is actually a prop of "the end".

【Offset 190 years of lifespan】

[There is still life left...]

【…】

【…】

[You are the one who caused the trouble, right? ]

Cha Bai ignored the system's complaints and when he took the things away, the boss had a few more shining gold coins in his hand, the embodiment of gold coins.

"The source of goods for this shop seems to be some new equipment brought in by players from the 'Eternal Life Train'."

Xiao Wu stepped out of the door and played with the new gun in her hand.

[Revolver: Wex-015]

The quality is only "excellent", but it can fire a bullet that returns to any ammunition, which is equivalent to an archer using a bow and arrow and then shooting a pistol, and getting an arrow back in the end.

"Thanks, Chabai."

"Um……"

Cha Bai was reading the book absentmindedly.

Xiao Wu came over and found that she was reading the "Ghost Market Safety Guide" that she had just exchanged for ten years of her life.

"I thought you were reading that book called "Mechanics"."

"That was bought for Malger. I can't use it. But this..."

Cha Bai turned the pages, reading intently, and even forgot he was on the road.

"The most dangerous place in the ghost market is the connecting pipe below. There is a big world there. It is a game area created by some players. Li Nuo might go there."

When he said this, Cha Bai felt a little hot in his chest.

She took out the [Hidden BOSS Location Code] from her clothes behind the crowd. This thing would only be displayed in high-level areas after unlocking environmental knowledge.

There is a hidden BOSS under their feet.

[Side quest has been triggered: Ghosts and Gods]

[Task Difficulty: lv100]

[Quest Reward: BOSS Materials]

[Mission details: There is a hidden BOSS buried under the White City Ghost Market. You can only enter that area from the White City sewers. But the difficulty is not the BOSS, but the way to see the BOSS]

[Tip: If the difficulty of the entire map is taken into account, the mission difficulty level is above lv120]

"Soul-like game."

Xiao Wu’s evaluation is very good and correct, it is the soul wandering area.

"Are you worried that Li Nuo might be killed?"

"I'm worried that Li Nuo won't be able to hold on and will damage this place."

Cha Bai felt that this was Corridor's home ground after all, and what Maljie said was right, so don't make too much trouble.

Xiao Wu suddenly became curious about the way they got along.

At this time, several children were wandering around an old lady covered in pustules on the street, shouting: "Graveside banquet, bone bowls, the bride has a bird's beak under her veil, and the red sedan chair is filled with a Rakshasa girl who specializes in eating the penis of unfaithful men!"

This place is called "Suiyuanzhai". It appears randomly and gives gifts to those who are destined to be there. Those who are not destined to be there have to leave a piece of meat.

Xiao Wu felt a chill: "What is this!"

Cha Bai went over and squatted down beside the old lady: "I have eaten it, but I am not a heartless man. Can you give me a discount?"

The children's shouting stopped.

The old lady covered in pustules looked up at her and said, "Smell?"

"Fishy, ​​tasteless, and if you take too much medicine, it's like a strawberry."

"A destined person, an interesting person, hahaha!" The old lady turned into smoke and left. The children turned into paper people and fell to the ground. A dressing box appeared in Cha Bai's hand.

There is a "comb" in the box, which can replace shampoo and shower gel to clean the dirty body.

There is also a bottle of potion, which is brewed with virgin menstrual blood mixed with red crocus and a little bit of oyster sauce. The drinker will have gold coins flowing out of his seven orifices. It is quite suitable for Li Nuo.

"Very good~"

Cha Bai's favorite daily necessities are second only to hammers that can smash people into meat patties.

Xiao Wu was standing in a daze not far away. Nanami's warning came to her mind: No matter how outrageous, absurd, or nonsense the three of them were, you should not take them seriously. Especially when Li Nuo and Maerjie were around, if you showed any sign of confusion, they would taunt you with all their might and make you feel like being alive might just be a dream.

Nanami later said: If only Cha Bai is here, then abandon your inherent values. This woman appears serious on the surface, but in fact, she has been made black and sticky.

Xiao Wu murmured: "It's black and sticky..."

"What's wrong?" Cha Bai looked back at her with a smile.

"nothing……"

Xiao Wu followed and asked cautiously: "Have you eaten it?"

"Ah, what's wrong?" Cha Bai said shamelessly and without any sense of shame: "Isn't your mother a porn actress? You must have been very..."

"My mother is a special actress who is responsible for the funny parts in comedy films. Because she is too beautiful, she was bullied at work. And because she is too stupid, she always follows the wrong men. As a result, my childhood was always spent in domestic violence by my stepfather. But I fought back later. After I became a player, the first thing I did was to find a reliable partner for my mother..."

"Okay, stop talking..."

Cha Bai put one hand on his waist and covered his face with the other.

"do not talk……"

"I thought you knew, Li Nuo knew it." Xiao Wu looked innocent. Li Nuo had used the [Seal of Yaxi] to bully her, so he knew all this a long time ago.

"If I knew that I wouldn't have...ah!" Cha Bai is also a woman, and she has to have some dignity no matter how shameless she is.

At this time, a little girl passed by her and asked, "Sister, is it really strawberry flavored?"

Cha Bai's eyes became empty and he was quickly pulled away by Xiao Wu.

"Two women moving together will be delayed by shopping..."

Cha Bai simply put on tactical goggles and a gas mask covering his mouth, so that he could not face anyone.

The two walked quickly towards the end indicated by the wooden sign.

The southern part of Ghost Market.

Brothel in South Lane.

There is also a brothel in Baicheng, right above this brothel. To put it bluntly, the two buildings are connected. The upper one entertains normal people, while the lower class and villains are recruited below.

The people who entered the building were all indigenous people, and the ones who solicited customers were also indigenous people, but they all had the smell of corruption, just like dead people.

The world of "Big Sword" is a dark and depressing world.

Players treat this place as a gathering area and will use the indigenous people as experimental materials. They are all people who have inhaled poison gas and cannot see the light of day in White City. They are forced to settle in the Ghost Market. There are also some guests with strange hobbies.

In the middle of the red lanterns at the door hung an incongruous neon sign with the three characters "Jilefen" engraved in small seal script.

Several corrupt men were hanging two women at the door. Their tongues were hanging three feet long and their bodies were swollen.

"Don't look at me, you money-stealing girl! If you like me, I'll send it to your home!"

As they shouted, they took some of the dead girl's blood and placed it in a box.

In a blink of an eye, the men disappeared.

"They are the herbalists for the alchemists here."

Cha Bai stood at the door and looked at the description in the Ghost Market Guide and explained to Xiao Wu.

"Uh, okay."

Xiao Wu's eyes lit up. Alchemist, human body factory, this was her goal. She wanted to be a proper woman.

[Main branch mission has been updated: The Ruler of Ghost City]

[Task Tips: Enter the brothel and start the "Arena". It is best to prepare before this.]

The "End of the Corridor" system gave a prompt.

The two looked towards the brothel.

The red paint on the carved porch is mottled, but it seeps out amber juice like corpse oil. Pale women's faces stick out of the windows. You say they are soliciting customers, but they don't look like humans. You say they are scaring people, but they are extremely charming.

Xiao Wu has sharp eyes and she noticed at first glance that the pupils of these women were silver.

"A failed experiment with the great sword."

The greatsword warrior is a hybrid product of demons and humans. His pupils will turn into silver demon pupils, but these women have no power to resist, which means they are victims of the players' experiments and were sent here to be used as objects.

"From this perspective, the End is a pretty realistic place."

Cha Bai complained.

When they were about to step in, a "beggar" sitting next to the pillar poked his head out.

"You two are outsiders."

The two girls looked back.

"Not long ago, there were a few outsiders like you. Do you want to... help them?"

The person the beggar was talking about was the person from the "Sky Corridor".

"Is it Brump?"

"Go to White City, north, resistance army..." At this point, a head grew out of the beggar's shoulder and bit his neck off.

Then a "demon" came out of his body, and was shot in the head by a cold gun in the brothel, and a group of eunuchs ran out to take away the body. White City, the North, the Resistance, and Brupu from the "Empty Corridor" were being beaten there.

The reason why there are so few players of the "End Corridor" in the ghost market is because they are all going to beat up Brupp and his gang.

The two walked into the brothel.

A group of strange faces looked at them.

A conjoined monster approaches.

"Hey~ rare guests, are you two looking for a male companion or want to watch a show?"

[Give him the wooden sign]

The "End" prompt appears.

Li Nuo analyzed that every scene here is a game. Maljie also told them to follow the rules first. Firstly, "End" seldom plays boring tricks, and secondly, don't let the people who beat Brupp and others transfer here.

When Cha Bai handed over the wooden sign, the other party's eyes changed, and he clapped his hands with a sinister smile.

"It turns out to be a suicide mission."

Suddenly, the huge house fell silent and all the candles went out.

A voice came from the darkness: "The actors are here! The audience, start placing bets!"

Xiao Wu accidentally stepped on the rotting corpse of a cat. With a "sizzling" sound, smelly juice splashed out, and a screen appeared behind the black curtain in front of her.

Paper shadow cavalry poured out from the shadow windows, and the bizarre light showed what had happened in this city. Decades ago, war raged, the "descendants of dragons" and the "awakened" destroyed the earth, outsiders descended from the sky, protected the White City, built an underground maze, and created a "beautiful and corrupt" city.

These paper figures passed by Cha Bai and Xiao Wu.

Then compile it into a systematic text.

【shadow play】

【People in the play】

[In the arena, everyone is a shadow puppet]

[If you make it to the last level, you will face the warrior "Kunqiong" from the "Twelve Evils of Tianlou"]

A gong sounded!
Then you hear [Game Start]!
The light reappeared, and in the dilapidated brothel, they were separated from the guests and women by a large screen.

There were tables of wine in front, and a group of players were sitting at the tables. A woman in a cheongsam jumped down from the upper stands.

"Another guest from the outer corridor!"

"Well, get ready for the show!"

The woman's movements were exaggerated, as if she had taken too many drugs, and her limbs seemed to be dancing. If you looked closely, you could see the strings trembling on her body. There was a player hiding in the pipe above and controlling the woman with silk strings.

The players who were gathered around stood up one by one and left the venue.

"OK!"

"Let's have some music, the game begins!"

Suddenly, a shadow puppet woman descends onto the stage, and the living people will be forced to participate in the "shadow show" - the ghost prostitute dances on the stage with her arms around the guests' human skins, laughing like crazy.

Several black shadows stood up behind the ghost prostitute, jumped off the stage, and all turned into demons.

A female player on the second floor put on a spiked helmet, held a meter-long sword, and jumped behind the monsters. Every time she moved, the armor on her body made a harsh metal collision sound.

"Ga Luo, your first opponent."

The woman named Jialuo raised the tip of her sword and pointed it at Cha Bai and Xiao Wu in front of her.

[There is no such thing as fairness in competition. The number of players depends entirely on everyone’s mood.]

The moment the system prompt ended, thick smoke spewed out of the pipes on the ceiling. The moment the fog spread around, the surrounding area suddenly became larger.

[The smoke connecting to the underground cursed world has appeared, so we are not afraid of your destruction here. There are no rules in the game, and there are no rules in the battle.]

[The only taboo is not to think about escaping, otherwise you will be hunted down by the whole map]

[After each victory, the winner must swallow the ability memory recorded in the loser's eyeball. The one who wins nine games in a row will face the mutated "Wu Hai" - a killing weapon with meridians turned outward like a circuit board, and the warrior of the "Tianlou Organization", Kunqiong! ]

[The End - Team Paradise vs Endless - Well, let's try to see how many words we have to say. Wait a minute, it seems to have started recording. Damn! How did Adam's crappy card open without him noticing? Hum... Oops, that means all the nonsense you just said was recorded? Well, strictly speaking... strictly speaking... Damn! Why are your names so long! I won't read them anymore! You're crazy!]

【start! 】

Cha Bai and Xiao Wu stood shoulder to shoulder.

"You come and I come?"

Xiao Wu's breathing quickened.

"What nonsense."

Cha Bai took a step forward, summoned a hammer in his palm, a flash of lightning appeared under his crotch, and he rushed forward on the electric current!
"Go together!"

……

On the upper floor of the brothel, in a simply decorated house.

The woman was sitting in front of the window. Her skin was like ice-cracked porcelain, and she exuded a cold and terrifying aura.

She is called "Xiao Qing", one of the twelve members of the organization, and the madam in charge of the brothel and Baicheng intelligence.

Xiaoqing walked out of the house and looked down from the hollow upper floor. The guests and women were shouting and making noises around a large screen.

Behind the screen, a shadow play was being performed of Cha Bai Xiaowu fighting against the End Player.

Xiaoqing touched the earring.

"The game has started. Is there really no need to detect their intelligence?"

The sound spread to the northern district of Baicheng.

A man sat on top of a thick book, holding a cell phone and making bubbling sounds.

"No, I'm too busy. The players in Sora and the resistance army are causing quite a stir this time. Anyway, they are all players who play games. If they can survive, they are capable. If they can't survive, they are fools. If you are satisfied with my service, let them leave. I don't care about their life or death."

"Not necessarily."

Xiaoqing observed the shadow play.

"That white-haired girl is being targeted by our alchemist. Oh, by the way, her husband is the genetic heir of Denise."

"I know, Li Nuo, he's very famous. The person in charge of the ghost market is Kunqiong. Let him decide what to do."

Xiaoqing nodded slightly, glanced at him, turned around and walked back to the room.

"What if Kunqiong can't do it?"

"Then you kill Kunqiong, and I will find someone to replace him."

"Have you found one?"

"How about Amuro?"

"You drank urine? That's an idiot. We are in the Eastern Gathering Area. Even a Federation pilot like Amuro wouldn't be able to adapt to the local climate here."

The man on the other end of the phone was silent for a long time.

"Uh, okay."

The man sighed visibly.

"Anyway, here, those who follow the rules are nothing more than a bunch of puppets. Don't take them seriously. You can handle the rest."

Xiaoqing sat down in front of the dressing table, licked her red lips and looked in the mirror.

"I'll pass on the battle records. Remember to let the boss absorb them."

The phone hangs up.

The man on the other end of the phone stood up from the thick book, raised his finger, and the book fell into his hand.

He turned the pages of the book, and the blank pages had already begun to record the battle information between Cha Bai and Xiao Wu.

Snapped!
As the book was closed, the word "Scholar" on the cover was pressed under his fingertips.

……

Xiaoqing faced the mirror, and a pair of ghostly hands jumped out of the mirror to help her put on makeup again. Soon, her porcelain-like skin was painted bloody.

At this moment, several lines of blood words appeared on the mirror.

"Xiaoqing, help me find where Li Nuo ran off to. That guy is missing and I need Denise's genes from him." - The organization's alchemist "Alifa".

Xiaoqing pushed her chin lazily.

"How would I know? It's most likely that he ran to that chaotic little box world down there."

She opened the drawer, took out her pipe, and talked to herself in the mirror like a lunatic.

"Everyone who comes here follows the rules. There are only two types of people who don't follow the rules. They are either troublemakers or idiots. Now there's something new..."

"You can leave the slums, but you have to go to the most dangerous place alone."

"Don't be a puppet, you little brat."

Xiaoqing lit up her pipe, took a deep breath, her half-exposed shoulders rose and fell a few times, and suddenly she laughed.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

She leaned back in her chair and giggled, her rouge smudged into broken lines at the corners of her lips.

"Let's destroy this place quickly, Li Nuo. Without destruction, there is no construction!"

……

Li Nuo always felt like someone was begging him.

"That's not right... There's no senior citizen association at the neighborhood committee these past two days... Then who else is going to ask me for help?"

"Brother, brother, brother!"

Mulan hugged a big tree and shouted anxiously.

"Brother, you can really turn into a tree! That's amazing."

Li Nuo tricked the girl into believing that he could turn into a tree.

He took advantage of the time when no one was disturbing him to observe the surrounding environment.

There is a sewer pipe outside the slum, which is also the outskirts of the city. After he pulled Mulan in, he saw a whole new world.

After entering, there was a thick fog at first, and then it was like entering "Silent Hill", and then I came to an underground area under the sewer. It was a desolate place, with scorched earth and dilapidated structures all around.

You say it is a sewer, but it is indeed a large scene, with the sky, dead trees, dry grass, and even strangely arranged buildings.

Li Nuo had heard about a similar scene-building mode from Soran, which used some kind of projection props to create a realistic environment in a hollow area. In other corridors, it was usually used to add atmosphere to the player's arena, but in "The End" it was turned into a prop for players to create their own box mazes.

Li Nuo squatted in front of a piece of scorched earth. Under the newly turned soil, half of a charred arm suddenly broke out of the ground, with a bronze waist badge of the rebels stuck between his fingers.

[Side quest has been triggered: Resistance Organization]

[Task difficulty:? ? ? 】

【mission rewards:? ? ? 】

[Mission details: Find the rebels who are cooperating with the outsiders who invaded White City in the North District]

"The Resistance... Outsiders... Collaboration."

Li Nuo murmured as he figured out the truth. The so-called resistance army was the army organized by the townspeople of White City several years ago. They were now fighting against "The End" in the northern district with Brum and other people from the "Corridor of the Sky". There were a large number of resistance army corpses here, indicating that the people from the "Sky Tower Organization" would throw some resistance army here to obtain their combat data, or use the resistance army to test the strength of the monsters here.

Brump had met Mulan before, which meant that guy had also entered the slums, but did not have a conflict with Zhou Bing and others, which meant that there were rebels around Brump and others at the time. The real situation was most likely that the people from the "Corridor of Sky" were ambushed in this area, the players of "Sky" fled from the northern area, and the rebels stayed behind to buy them time.

Li Nuo held the [Holy Cross] and chanted blessings for the afterlife to the half-scorched black hand like a priest.

"May you be a rich second-generation in your next life."

At this time, Mulan, who was hugging the tree, suddenly stopped shouting and making noise.

"Brother, something is coming."

This girl has been pretending to be stupid and hugging the tree, trying to save face for Li Nuo.

Li Nuo made a "hush" gesture. He had known for a long time that something was approaching nearby. The tree that Mulan was hugging had a name, it was called the "Safety Tree", which meant that as long as you were under the tree you would not be discovered by the creatures here. It was really a survival game.

The remaining wind chimes on the distant treetops rang without wind, startling flocks of black crows. Their scarlet eyes reflected the deformed queues slowly moving on the street. The townspeople who once raised their weapons and shouted to expel the foreign enemies (the end), now dragged their alienated limbs, transformed into demons, and walked towards Li Nuo.

At this moment, the sound of dragging iron chains was heard from the alley, and three staggering figures flashed out from behind the broken wall.

The one-armed old man in the lead was clutching a half-broken sword, his knuckles turning white from the force, and in his other hand he was holding a "monster-controlling bell", his old face wrinkled in blood and looked horrible.

"Welcome to the land of dreams."

"Now that you're here, don't leave."

The old man's hoarse voice was infinitely amplified in the silent air.

Behind him were two "blind monks chanting scriptures" standing on the left and right, both wearing huge hats and tattered black clothes.

Li Nuo stood up with difficulty, leaning on a cane like a otaku.

[Hidden BOSS area has been triggered]

[Clear the "Dreamland" and kill the hidden BOSS]

In fact, Li Nuo didn't mind being scared for a while, but at this time, some news came that was not friendly to everyone.

[Side Quest: Time Traveler]

[Mission Reward: Dante's skill entry (reward shared by the team)]

[Mission details: Dante traveled through various worlds and encountered many difficult monsters. Some creatures that were not eliminated for special reasons still exist. Kill these monsters to get extra rewards.]

[Quest Update: The hidden BOSS of "Dreamland" escaped from Dante's clutches a long time ago and came here]

Li Nuo: "Ah...ah~ah~~~"

The one-armed old man standing far away couldn't see Li Nuo's expression under the brim of his hat, but he always felt that this young man dressed as a priest seemed to be suddenly very happy.

(End of this chapter)