A journey of seven souls escaping from the basement

"By the way, why doesn't the boss let you eat somewhere?"

"Huh? Isn't this normal? Because I am an infected person...oh..."

In the reserved room, Lapland, who was sitting cross-legged on the sofa and was eating, stopped putting food in his mouth and said to Yabu:

"You don't even know what infected people and ore disease are?"

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*? CE: 7%

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Chapter 42 Kowtow on the head

Anyway, it was idle time. As he was eating, Lapland took the opportunity to give Yabu a brief introduction to the ore disease.

"Is it such a serious disease..."

It is contagious and 100% fatal. Stones will grow on the body and eventually explode. Of course, many people will not be able to survive the explosion and die.

Most importantly, there is currently no cure.

"Hahahaha, are you scared?"

But with this disease that has begun to count down his life, Lapland didn't seem to care. Instead, he pointed at the black crystals on his thighs that were pierced into the flesh. He didn't know what kind of mentality he had to use this. The incident made a joke with Yabu, scaring him and saying:

"Do you know now? It's very dangerous to get close to me. Maybe when you wake up that day, you will find these stones coming out of your body, and then you will be bitten and howled by these black blood-sucking bugs every day, and you still All we can do is watch them grow bigger slowly, and all treatments have no real meaning, just to make them fuller."

"It's really scary. Can I see the rocks on your body up close?"

"Did you not listen at all to what I said? You obviously think it's scary, but you still want to see it up close?"

"After all, I am a ghost now, and this thing is of no use to me."

"Ah, that's right..." Lapland saw that her words did not frighten Yabu, but instead made him come closer. She felt a little uninterested and raised her head and looked aside, but in addition One hand was still stretched out in front of Yabu, revealing the Originium crystal on it in front of him, so that Yabu could see it up close.

"In that case, you might be suitable for contacting infected people for hospice care."

"Don't say such unlucky words." Yabu stretched out his fingers and tried to touch the crystal called the Origin Stone. As expected, it could not be touched.

But looking at those crystals and the fingers he pulled back, Yabu remained thoughtful and quiet for a moment before asking again with a hint of uncertainty:

"Can't you be...cured? Can't you go to see a doctor anywhere?"

"Didn't I just say that it's hopeless?"

Perhaps sensing Yabu's emotions, Lapland withdrew his hand and said with an indifferent smile: "Is it possible that you are feeling sorry for me? You don't need to know. Let's not mention that we have only known each other for a day. It turns out that these things are not all bad for me. In addition to bringing diseases, they also bring strength, which is still very valuable to me."

"Do you care more about power..."

Although it feels like the other person's values ​​​​are a bit distorted. After all, in common sense, staying alive is more important than strength. However, without knowing the other person's past experience, Yabu will not use his own values ​​​​to evaluate others. , saying that life is obviously more important.

He just asked tentatively: "If it can be cured, would you be willing to treat it?"

"So is this a child's fantasy time? Okay, okay, if it can be cured, of course I will cure it. Who can't be cured if they are sick? I want power, it doesn't mean I have to use this thing, no more I will still be me after that, and I can become stronger as I live longer.”

The Origin Stone can bring power, but it does not mean that Lapland has to rely on this thing. She cares more about her own power rather than external means and tools.

"Okay, I'm done fantasizing, okay? Why do you think so much? Let's talk about something else." Lapland stuffed the last bite of food into his mouth, stood up and stretched, and then went to He collapsed on the sofa and said, "When you were at the front desk, you asked me to book only one room, so what are you going to do? Let me tell you first, I can't sleep if there are people around me, and I can't let you be in the same room with me. .”

"Don't worry, I have considered these issues."

Not to mention the cost of booking a room for a ghost alone, it is a bit strange to have an empty room open but no one living there.

Although the existence of ghosts is already quite weird.

"You see, I can walk through walls."

As he spoke, Yabu slowly moved himself downwards, as if he was gradually sinking into the floor. Only when half of his body was left outside did he stop, stretched his head and said to Lapland. : "I can go to another room and stay. When you wake up tomorrow morning, just pull the pendant. I can feel it."

"You shouldn't be able to touch anything, right? Won't you get bored just floating around the room with nothing to do?"

"Is there a possibility that I can go to sleep."

"...Can ghosts sleep too?"

"Of course." Yabu said confidently.

Not at all.

Except for a moment of exhaustion when he woke up, he never felt sleepy, so he probably didn't need to sleep.

He said that he could sleep, but he just didn't want Lapland to bother thinking about how to spend the night, and he didn't want to cause trouble to others.

"Suddenly I want to see how you sleep." The fact that ghosts can sleep made Lapland feel that his common sense was slightly impacted.

But thinking about it carefully, it seems that I really have no common sense related to ghosts. My so-called common sense about ghosts is a kind of fantasy common sense conveyed by movies in the cinema.

"How about I free up the bathroom for you and you sleep in the bathtub? You can't touch anything anyway. It's the same wherever you sleep."

"No need to, I always feel a little weird sleeping in the bathroom."

In order to watch people sleep, you even set aside a private room for pets with water and electricity, right? Then you are really nice.

"Good night, bye."

"Oh." Lapland pulled his knees, his tail hanging on the edge of the sofa, looking a little regretful that he didn't see the ghost sleeping.

But before she could stand up and prepare to clean herself up and go to bed, she found that Yabu suddenly came back.

"Why did you come back?"

"There's someone downstairs." Yabu seemed to have seen something he shouldn't have seen, and he moved straight and hit the right side.

Then for some unknown reason, he suddenly paused in mid-air for a moment, turned around and floated to the left again.

"Oh?" Lapland saw Yabu's strange course of action. Although she felt a little strange, she had already figured out the rules of Yabu's activities before. Naturally, she immediately understood what Yabu was doing. He asked with a mocking voice, "What, did you hit the distance limit?"

"......Yes."

"Hahahaha! You, do you know that you just stopped there as if you hit a wall. There was no sound at all, but it made people feel like there was a sound of hitting the wall."

Recalling the way Yabu silently bumped into the boundary of the range as if performing a natural mime just now, Lapland had no idea of ​​restraining his smile in front of Yabu, and patted the sofa and fell over in joy. got up.

"It's a pity. If you can be seen by others, you can probably make a lot of money performing mime, hahaha..."

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*? CE: 8%

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Chapter 43 Huai Min is still awake

In the empty room, with cloth floating everywhere, in this long night without TV or books or even any means of entertainment, he could only try to pass the time by communicating with this friend and sorting out the current situation.

But soon, he ran out of thoughts about the current situation that had few and unanswerable answers, and he had no choice but to let his thoughts wander and think about some things that were not there.

The dial hanging on the wall has now turned to 11:23. If converted to the 24-hour time format on the electronic watch, it is 23:12.

He remembered one thing. When he was a child, maybe because of his age, he never stayed up late. He would be asked to go to bed around eight o'clock in the evening, and this time may have just begun for many people now. In his understanding at the time, it was actually very late.

So he has never seen the number displayed on the electronic watch at home exceed 21.

Until one day, he was sitting on the sofa watching TV alone. After eight o'clock, he didn't feel sleepy. He forgot why at that time, and his parents didn't tell him to go to bed.

Two very coincidental circumstances made him sit there, watching, and watching until the picture on the TV turned into a circular pattern of various colors mixed together.

He later learned that the colorful circle had its own name, called PM5544 test card.Because when he was a child, many TV stations could not broadcast programs 24 hours a day like they do now, so they would use it to fill the gaps without programs in the early morning and so on.

But to him at the time, that thing was actually quite scary, because when it appeared, it would be accompanied by a sharp and piercing sound, which made him feel very uncomfortable and indescribably depressed. feel.

So, he turned off the TV.

After turning off the TV, he naturally looked at the electronic watch on the TV.

Then he saw something that was completely incomprehensible to him at the time.

The time displayed on the electronic watch is the number 0, 0 o'clock.

Why does the number after 20 become 0?Shouldn't it be said that it is a larger number? 0 Isn’t it nothing?Why is there such a thing as zero points?

Strange, yes, why didn't I notice it before?When he wakes up every morning, the number will change from the ever-increasing 20 to 6. Normally, he should have thought that this is strange. Why has he never thought about why?

This confused him, after asking his parents, he got an explanation that when 24 points, it will become 0 points, and when he continued to ask why, his parents didn't care too much, they just said that this is the rule .

He didn't know, but he was still very happy to share his discovery with his classmates and even teachers when he was in school.

For those students who are the same age as the younger Yabu, they don't seem to know that there is such a strange time as 0 o'clock.

The teacher didn't get impatient because Yao Bu told him about such a discovery that might be childish for an adult. Instead, he showed a surprised look on his face, as if Yao Bu had really discovered something extraordinary. And at the end, he told Yabu not to stay up late.

And then...then it passed and something more attracted him.

Although the sense of surprise when he discovered this matter was still fresh in his memory even now, he no longer paid attention to it.

The child's plasticity allowed him to accept it quickly.

He accepted that time is 24 hours, and after 23, it will become 0.

He accepted this rule that everyone said, because it was a painless thing, so he did not go any further.

The pointer was now pointing between 11 and 12. It looked like it should be 11:55, which was 23:55. The idle Yabu focused his attention on the dial, waiting for the pointer to point neatly at 12 o'clock.

During this boring time, he recalled that question again - so why is 24 o'clock equal to 0 o'clock?

Did anyone say that?

Di-

The sudden opening of the door made Yabu come back to his senses from the thoughts of killing time. After the electric card was plugged in, Yabu saw a man and a woman walking in from the door through the bright light.

They must be a couple. They probably booked this unoccupied room near the early hours of the morning and competed with Yabu for a seat.

Well, it's not actually a robbery. After all, he is just a ghost who has been wandering around. It would be rude if he didn't leave. Peeping into other people's nightlife is a bit...

But where else could he go?

The position he can move is restricted by the pendant. He has tried all the rooms he can move in before, amidst Lapland's ridicule, and this is the only one left in the world.

After thinking about it, it seems that I can only pray that Lapland is not asleep yet and see if I can ask my aibo to help move the pendant.

It really doesn't work... Maybe I really have to spend tonight in the bathroom.

"I'm covering my eyes. Don't worry, I won't see anything. Aibo, are you asleep?"

In order to avoid being misunderstood by the other party, he whispered that he could not see anything when he came in.

And he didn't just say it verbally, Yabu tried to prevent such pervert incidents as much as possible, so when he returned to Lapland's room, he moved himself to a position slightly further away from the bed, and He always covered his eyes vigorously to prevent himself from seeing things he shouldn't.

Although it is not in line with the so-called common sense, fortunately, even if you become a ghost, you still seem to obtain images of the outside world through your eyes, so you can see nothing as long as you close your eyes.

Seeing that the other party did not respond, because he had his eyes closed and was not sure of the other party's situation, Yabu finally tried to ask in a very small voice: "Lapland, are you asleep?"

Well, no response, it seems that he did sleep.

Then I have to go to the bathroom and spend the night with the toilet elf.

But just when Yabu was about to move according to the location of the bathroom in his memory, he suddenly heard some subtle sounds coming from behind him.

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*Although there are no such things as nerves after becoming a soul, Yabu's vision is still obtained through the eyes.

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Chapter 44 The Pain of Exhaustion

At night, the body is more sensitive to pain due to the vagus nerve and attention. This is why many patients can suppress physical pain during the day, but patients will moan in pain uncontrollably at night.

"Ha...um..."

The sound sounded like Lapland's dull groan on the bed.

Yabu could feel that she was in pain.

The poison called Origin Stone flows in her flesh and blood. If the pain of kidney stones is like bugs constantly biting her, as if tearing off her flesh and blood one by one, then the feeling caused by ore disease Tong felt this kind of pain filling every part of her body equally. Every inch of flesh and every cell was being bitten by what she called black blood-sucking insects.

"Lapland...?" Yabu still had his eyes closed, but he had stopped moving. Instead, he stood there and tried to wake up Lapland from the pain.

But no one answered.