Forces of Temptation

Chapter 45: Sand, sand, sand (10)

Views:

In the school, almost all teaching buildings are about five floors, and most of the student apartments are no more than four floors, and the rows are connected in sequence.

Neither is the height that requires an elevator.

In such a large campus, there are not many places to install elevators.

There are student dormitories.

There are slightly higher-level medical and chemical laboratory buildings that require a large number of equipment handling.

There is an administrative office building with a height of about 24 floors.

There are also two newly constructed high-rise dormitory buildings that were completed less than three years ago.

One is the teacher's dormitory building.

… The other building is the dormitory building for the Department of Mathematics.

The reason why the mathematics department can enjoy the benefits of the elevator dormitory building is that the mathematics department originally lived in one of the oldest and most dilapidated dormitories in the whole school.

The second is because the president of Jinjing University was originally a professor of mathematics.

And among their existing seven people, there happened to be one from the mathematics department.

… Xie Xiangyu.

The originally broken relationship chain has vaguely drawn a weak link.

But this connection is not enough to prove anything.

Li Yinhang asked: "There is an elevator in the dormitory building of the mathematics department, can it prove that the person who left the recording is from the mathematics department? The medical department, the chemical department, and even the administrative teachers in the office building cannot be completely excluded. "

When she asked this question, Nan Zhou and the others were in the stairwell on the highest floor of the mathematics dormitory.

The stairwell is sunny.

Still, it's always cold when the autumn sun shines on me.

Nan Zhou jumped down from the stairs.

He went back to the dormitory this morning, and even thought about matching himself with a new dress.

The soles of his lace-up martins hit the ground with a crisp echo up and down the stairwell.

Nan Zhou looked up at the still dim light tubes in the corridor, and said, "There are still some clues in the recording."

"what?"

"While he was running away," Nan Zhou said, "there was a voice in the background."

Li Yinhang tried hard to recall, but to no avail.

She had just dipped into the darkness at that time, and her whole person's spirit was highly tense.

The echoing and hurried footsteps could be said to have robbed her of all her attention, leaving her with no time to care.

Nan Zhou looked at Jiang Fang.

Jiang Fang nodded and affirmed Nan Zhou's judgment: "Yes. The sound of 'humming'."

Li Yinhang: "..." So the big guy has a tape recorder in his head, right

She thought deeply based on this clue.

buzzing sound...

"Buzzing"...

Nan Zhou just looked up at the movement of the lights...

Li Yinhang was suddenly enlightened: "Light-sensing and voice-activated lights!"

Whenever in the middle of the night, walking in the silent corridor, when the light bulb catches the sound of footsteps, it will emit such a low humming sound.

Immediately, the surroundings suddenly brightened.

… it's the subtle burning sound of tungsten filaments.

The light bulbs in the school corridors and corridors are all provided by the same company, and the surfaces are coated with light-sensitive materials.

In other words, the time when the messager fled was most likely late at night.

late at night.

There is an elevator.

And the person who left the message is obviously very familiar with the room distribution here.

Familiar enough to use elevators and unlocked rooms to avoid rustling sounds.

It's like living here.

Putting these elements together, it is not difficult to draw the conclusion—

The place where the messager disappeared was most likely in the dormitory building of the Department of Mathematics.

in the space where they are.

This stairway.

Li Yinhang's hair directly stood up and paid tribute.

She bit her head and asked: "It's also possible... The person who left the message stayed in the laboratory building, the office building, etc. in the middle of the night... Also, in the middle of the night, he ran like this in the dormitory building, why did no one come out to help him? Why didn't he ask someone for help? Since he is from the Department of Mathematics, there must be people he knows and knows in the whole building, right?"

Nan Zhou: "Then prove it."

Li Yinhang: "Why..."

Nan Zhou: "Find that room."

If the person who left the message last appeared in the dormitory of the mathematics department, there must be an empty, unlocked room in a corner of the dormitory, near the elevator.

In the room there is a tin cabinet that can hide a person.

Soon.

The three stood in front of a room on the fifth floor.

During the day on Friday, the math students went to class or to the library.

The seniors who didn't plan to study hard were also lying on the bed at this time, happily lingering with the quilt.

Therefore, there are few people walking around in the hallway of the dormitory during the day.

There was a suffocating stillness.

Nan Zhou grasped the door handle, imitating the people of that night, and slowly pressed the handle down.

As if afraid of disturbing the ghost in the dark.

The lock spring made a hoarse and jerky snapping sound, so small that it could be ignored.

But on behalf of the messager who tried to escape from the death situation that night, this movement may be thunderous.

As they had imagined, the door was not locked.

After a gust of cold wind passed, the door opened inwards.

In front of the three, it slowly unfolded the whole picture inside.

No one has been here for a long time.

Evidence is a thin layer of ash on the light-colored floor tiles.

Just as Li Yinhang was about to go in, Yu Guang saw that the two Nanjiang guys had no intention of going in, and immediately shrank to the back.

Nan Zhou said softly, "No."

Then he looked at Li Yinhang again.

Li Yinhang felt that he was simply a mediocre student who was picked in a high school class and just wanted to go fishing.

As a last resort, she bit her head and looked at the ground in front of her like the two of them.

Probably because she was flustered, she looked at it several times, but she couldn't see anything special.

It's totally a utility room.

There were three or four cabinets standing in the room.

One of them is a transparent office bookcase with sliding glass doors. Through the dusty light gray glass, you can vaguely see a few empty dark blue file boxes stacked horizontally.

The other cabinets are exactly the same as the standard lead-grey iron wardrobe in the school dormitory.

Broken and redundant wardrobes will probably be moved to this abandoned place.

There were several brooms that were either split or missing pieces in the corners.

Stacks of express cartons.

Six or seven chairs with the "Jingjing University" logo.

There was a pot of dead succulents on the windowsill.

The curtains were drawn so tightly that no light could pass through.

The plant was forgotten within the curtain, thirsty and silent.

…it's a dingy dump here.

After looking at it for a long time, the faint coolness climbed up Li Yinhang's ankle like a snake, making her very uncomfortable.

Li Yinhang tentatively said: "...Well, this should be the last hiding place of that person?"

Nan Zhou nodded, his eyes were waiting for her next words.

Li Yinhang: "..."

Just staring at each other for a long time, Li Yinhang felt a little embarrassed.

She touched her head: "I've been delaying things, and I really didn't find anything. Otherwise, Teacher Nan, you can just say it directly..."

Nan Zhou said coldly, "You look good."

Li Yinhang's back muscles subconsciously tightened.

There is no other reason. This kind of overwhelming aura that belongs to a teacher, even for Li Yinhang, who has long left the campus and entered the society, has an indelible, muscle memory-like fear.

Until now, Li Yinhang had no doubts about Nan Zhou's identity as a teacher.

Nan Zhou said, "This copy is very difficult."

Nan Zhou said: "You must have the awareness and ability to protect yourself."

Nan Zhou said, "Take a good look."

Li Yinhang couldn't help stunned, he didn't dare to pin his hopes on Nanzhou, concentrated all his energy, and looked at the room.

After she settled down, a sense of disobedience quickly rushed into her heart.

… where exactly…

Her face turned pale, and she lost her voice: "Footprints!"

After hearing the answer, Nan Zhou's eyes turned back to the room.

Yes.

No footprints.

No one has come to this room for a long time.

The party was held a week ago.

Well, if someone did escape here, the footprints on the dust would extend all the way to the tin cabinet.

… So, why are there no footprints

gt;

/gt;

Li Yinhang muttered, "Isn't that person hiding here? Did we find the wrong room?"

At this time, Nan Zhou stepped into the room.

After walking a few steps, he stepped on the light-colored floor tiles and looked back.

The footprints are exceptionally clear.

Nan Zhou turned his head and walked to the metal cabinet closest to the door step by step.

Standing in front of the cabinet, Nan Zhou lowered his head, thoughtful.

Since entering the copy to the present, they have tried various methods.

They look for Hu Li, they look for clues from themselves, they try to live step by step, they go to classroom 403.

They have been unable to find any valid clues.

But games shouldn't be like that.

This is a copy of the game, there will always be solutions and clues.

Even if it was originally an unsolved problem, the programmers and GM hiding behind it will try to come up with a reasonable solution.

It's just like…

Nan Zhou closed his eyes, and the broken picture passed quickly in front of him.

A full moon in the sky.

A smiling, or kind, or malicious face.

A sharp, burning pain as the electricity flows through the body...

If there is no answer, all the puzzles are meaningless.

The so-called game is exactly that.

Nan Zhou exerted his strength and opened the tattered iron wardrobe in front of him.

It was empty inside, save for a rotten rag curled up in the bottom corner of the cabinet, emitting an unpleasant, rotten milk smell.

He heard Li Yinhang's regretful sigh behind him.

But he didn't stop, and opened several cabinets one after another.

It's the same inside.

Nothing to gain.

Because there are no footprints, Li Yinhang is not so sure that this is the room where the man hid before disappearing.

She consciously looked at Jiang Fang.

If Jiang Fang said to go, Nan Zhou would listen.

Jiang Fang was leaning against the door, with no intention of leaving.

He fixedly stared at Nan Zhou's back, with star-like trust and appreciation in his eyes.

Nan Zhou noticed the sight behind him and turned around.

Jiang Fang gave him an encouraging nod.

Look slowly, think slowly.

Nan Zhou stood up, thought for a moment, and walked slowly back to the old wardrobe he opened first.

This is the cabinet closest to the door.

If he was the one who left the message, under the circumstance that he wanted to hide, he would definitely choose the cabinet closest to the door and least likely to make a noise.

When I opened the cabinet again, the rotten stench came out.

Nan Zhou's eyes told him that there was nothing here except that dirty rag.

But he squatted down, leaned halfway into the cabinet, used his hands as the only carrier of perception, and groped every corner.

… the key to solving the problem will always remain.

After a moment.

Nan Zhou's fingertips touched something.

Hard to the touch, not a rag.

Nan Zhou transferred the object from his fingertips to his palm.

After repeatedly drawing and confirming its shape, he stood up, faced the two of them, and raised his palms forward: "I found it."

Li Yinhang was confused for a while.

... There was clearly nothing in Nan Zhou's hand.

But Jiang Fang walked into the room and placed his fingers on Nan Zhou's palm.

The two looked at each other.

On the night when the sound of "rustling" was approaching infinitely, the man who was hiding in the east was shaking like a sieve in this tin cabinet, making too much noise.

So, he lost something.

The keys in his pocket.

This key, I can touch it, but I can't see it.

like its owner.

Just like what was said in the recording.

- "That place doesn't exist, so neither can we."

The existence of this key is obliterated on a visual level.

When something is invisible to everyone, it doesn't exist in a social sense.

Something like this.

So do people.

Jiang Fang took the invisible key and hurried out.

His request was simple and clear: "Find Xie Xiangyu's dormitory."

The man disappeared in the dormitory building of the mathematics department.

Xie Xiangyu was the only mathematics student among them.

The connection between them will not be weak.

Xie Xiangyu's dormitory is not difficult to find.

On the eighth floor, 0814.

It's just that everyone is out now and the door is locked.

Jiang Fang took the key that did not exist in the sociological sense and tried to unlock it.

And Nan Zhou looked up at the famous brand at the door.

Four people lived in 0814.

They are Xie Xiangyu, Yu Min, and Liu Shuoqi.

No matter how concentrated he was, it was such a concept that was etched in his mind.

There are four people here.

There are three names on the board.

Whenever he noticed that there seemed to be a problem, the problem would automatically filter out of his mind, leaving a faint shadow.

A snake shadow like a bow dropped from a cup.

Nan Zhou closed his eyes again.

He remembered what happened in the morning.

In the morning, he returned to his dormitory.

After a cursory inspection, Nan Zhou returned to his seat.

The other three in the dormitory were busy reviewing, so it was understandable that they didn't greet him.

But when Nan Zhou accidentally bumped into his roommate next to the seat, that person was actually startled.

Then, what did the roommate say

— "Nanzhou, you cat, you? Why is there no sound when walking!"

At that moment, Nan Zhou felt a little strange.

It was as if... his presence had become indifferent, and it was beginning to be difficult for others to perceive.

What if this happened to Hu Li and the missing commenter

Everyone else has forgotten Hu Li, only the person who left the message still remembers a little bit.

The forgetting of Hu Li is very similar to their current situation.

These players, they didn't even know the name of the last person who died and left a message.

…what a horrible echo and coincidence.

What's even more frightening is that the person who left the message gradually discovered that all the connections between him and the world in front of him were being cut off a little bit.

No one could see him, hear him, feel him.

All this happened after he began to hear the rustling noise.

Even though he was running and crying in the hallway of the dormitory he was familiar with.

Even if he used to rock his sleeping roommate.

Even if he knocked on the other dormitory doors one by one for help.

Even if he runs in the stairwell, the corridor in the middle of the night, and makes fierce footsteps...

No one answered him, no one rescued him.

Nan Zhou thought of the storage room they had just found.

Behind the door, the ground was covered with dust, most likely printed with the messy footprints of the person who left the message.

… they just can’t see it.

Nan Zhou closed his eyes and reached out to the name tag hanging at the door.

He needs to prove his conjecture.

The nameplate is movable and can be removed.

Once the previous dormitory has moved out, or has been transferred to another dormitory, it can be dismantled and replaced with a new nameplate.

Nan Zhou slid the name cards out of their original positions one by one and held them in the palm of his hand.

The name tag is embossed.

Nan Zhou touched them one by one.

Xie Xiangyu, Yu Min, Liu Shuoqi...

Until he touched a completely stranger's name.

He recited the name silently in his heart.

"Left… "

“Jia…”

"bright."

Zuo Jiaming.

The person who left the recording finally has a name.

When Nan Zhou was about to speak...

"rustle."

"rustle."

"rustle."

The "rustling" sound that suddenly sounded on the side of the ear was too faint.

… It sounded like a sneer mocking Nan Zhou's self-control. :,