The sun hadn't fully risen the next day when the entire Xiuse Village woke up. The villagers opened their doors and windows and started busy making breakfast. The kitchen of the village chief's house was very close to the small warehouse. Xin Meng was surrounded by pots and pans. The sound of the pot knocking woke him up. He sat up and rubbed his eyes in confusion. He looked at his watch and saw that it was not yet six o'clock. He slept late last night and was still a little unable to open his eyes. However, people had already started cooking. He It was no longer easy to stay in bed, so I could only yawn, get out of bed, put on my shoes, open the door and walk out of the room.
The village chief was sitting on a small bench in the living room. There was already a bowl of millet porridge on the low table in front of him, as well as a few steamed buns and a plate of pickles. Wu Xuehua was walking out of the kitchen with two more bowls of porridge in his hand. Seeing that Xin Meng had woken up, he quickly greeted her, "I was going to call you. I woke up just in time. Come sit down and eat."
Xin Meng thanked them, and the three of them sat down and finished breakfast around the table.
The village chief took the search for Qi Xiaokui seriously. After breakfast, he turned on the loudspeaker and shouted. He saw every household outside opening their doors, and all the villagers with quick legs came out and dispersed to the mountains to look for people.
There are a lot of people in the village, but they are not very obvious in the vast surrounding mountains. Xin Meng is embarrassed to wait here, so he plans to find all the people in the team first, and after discussing it, he will disperse and follow the villagers to go out to search. Ask about the "forbidden land".
This time Xin Meng took the initiative to team up with You Yi, and the remaining Li Yougen and Dong Xiu decided to act alone. Xiong Jiabao looked left and right, and finally followed Xin Meng shamelessly.
Xin Meng chose a somewhat familiar villager and sat next to him during dinner at the village chief's house. He was also the first thin boy to mention the "forbidden land", Wu Qiang.
Wu Qiang was very talkative and not too mean-spirited, making him a very suitable target for conversation. In order to inquire about the news, Xin Meng walked a few steps forward and walked side by side with him. She tried her best to chat along the way. You Yi and Xiong Jiabao followed them. Yi kept looking at Xin Meng and was always able to help him in time when the mountain road was difficult to walk. However, Xiong Jiabao was not so lucky. He stumbled on the mountain road and kept cursing at his mother.
"By the way, is the 'forbidden area' I heard you mention the other day the place where you store food?" Are you afraid that you will harm the food supply?"
Wu Qiang showed disapproval again. He obviously wanted to say something, but he didn't say it because of the village chief's instructions. Seeing this, Xin Meng deliberately teased, "It seems that you are still children in the eyes of adults! In fact, we There are people like this over there too. Even if you are over 20 years old, your parents still think that you have not grown up and are unreliable in doing things, and are afraid that you will harm the good things at home. I didn't expect that it is the same here."
"No way!" A young boy like Wu Qiang, who aspired to be an adult just when he wanted to be an adult, hated being treated like a little brat the most, so he immediately threw the village chief's words to the back of his mind and said everything at once. He said: "The 'forbidden area' is not a place to store food at all, nor is it restricted because of young age. No one is allowed to enter, regardless of adults or children!"
"Ah?" Xin Meng pretended to be surprised, "Then why aren't you allowed in?"
"I don't know either," Wu Qiang muttered, beating the leaves around him with a randomly picked up branch. "When I was a kid, Wu Deli and the others secretly went in and took a look. In the end, there was nothing. It was just an ordinary small forest. There were a few big rocks and nothing else. But the adults found out about it, and they got beaten when they came back! What an injustice!"
"There's nothing, so why is it called 'forbidden land'?" Xin Meng couldn't figure it out. It's just an ordinary small forest
"Maybe it's just that name." Wu Qiang said nonchalantly, and then suddenly said, "Oh, by the way, I remembered it, and there seems to be another explanation about that place."
"What's the explanation?" Xin Meng asked quickly.
"It's just like a legend, I don't know if it's true or not," Wu Qiang scratched the back of his head, "They say it's an 'unknown' place. If someone goes in, it will trigger the 'unknown' place, and everyone in the village will be killed." It's unlucky. But nothing happened after we entered. The people in the village are doing just as they should, and we don't see anyone getting sick or anything. They are all fine."
Xin Meng silently remembered this matter in his heart. He always felt that this was important information.
"Actually, there's nothing mysterious about it," Wu Qiang curled his lips and said, "After that, Wu Deli and I asked the village chief. It turned out to be an ancestral grave there, and our ancestors were buried there. Later, it was said that the grave was moved because of bad Feng Shui. , the place became vacant, without tombstones, as if they were afraid of being unlucky so that future generations would not be allowed to go there again.”
Xin Meng was about to tactfully inquire about the location of the forbidden area, and then find a time to secretly take a look. However, Xiong Jiabao stupidly came up and asked directly: "Then please take us there now."
Xin Meng's heart suddenly thumped. As expected, Wu Qiang's originally relaxed demeanor suddenly turned alert. He looked at the three of them and said defensively, "What are you doing there? Why are you asking me about it?"
Xiong Jiabao was about to explain the situation to him, but You Yi raised his leg and kicked him in the butt. He almost fell down. He turned around and was confused about the situation. Xin Meng glared at him, and You Yi responded coldly: "Shut up. ! ”
Xiong Jiabao had no choice but to remain silent.
Xin Meng simply couldn't do anything about this guy who was successful but failed, and he didn't even think about it. Even if Wu Qiang didn't care about the forbidden area, he couldn't lead a group of strangers to find it! After all, this is the place where my ancestors were buried. People in the village are protective and follow customs. If you ask directly, they will definitely think that you are up to no good!
After thinking about it, he said this to Wu Qiang, "What he meant was that our companion was not found all day yesterday. Could it be possible that he accidentally went to that 'forbidden area' and no one went in to look for it before he arrived?" None have been found yet.”
Wu Qiang obviously hesitated. Thinking about it, it seemed possible. He softened his expression, but still told them seriously, "I can take you to see it. The place is not big, and you can see everything clearly from the outside. But I said in front, you can’t go in, you can only stand outside and watch, otherwise I will be punished by the village rules!”
Xin Meng nodded quickly, and the three of them followed Wu Qiang. They turned a corner with him and went to another road. After turning in several directions, they saw the small forest he was talking about.
The small forest is indeed a real "small" forest, with a diameter of less than 500 meters. You can see the edge at a glance. Dozens of thin and tall poplar trees are sparsely planted in it, with a few scattered in the middle. A big stone.
The appearance of the stones is also a bit strange. They are not tombstones, but they stand like tombstones. The number is even weirder, exactly six.
Xin Meng kept looking at the six big rocks. Thinking of the content on Xiong Jiabao's card, she had an idea. It seemed that the "it" in the words "Turn a blind eye or knock it down, it's your choice" on it refers to These are some big rocks.
He wanted to continue to take a closer look, but Wu Qiang started to push them away, "Okay, okay, I've already seen it, it's not here, let's go quickly, don't let others see it."
Xin Meng had no choice but to put his thoughts aside for now. He had memorized the route anyway and would try it out by himself when he had the chance.
The four people searched around but couldn't find Qi Xiaokui. Wu Qiang wondered, "Are you sure there are six of you? Could it be that that person has left the valley?"
Even Xin Meng was shaken for a moment, but he still shook his head. Their range of activities has been limited to this valley. As long as they are players, they will never be able to get out unless they clear the level, so Qi Xiaokui must still be somewhere in the mountains. , it’s just that she is hiding and doesn’t want to be found by them. This is the only explanation.
Thinking of Qi Xiaokui being pushed into the zombie swarm by Li Yougen in the last game, Xin Meng could only sigh and almost wanted to give up looking for her.
The girl who was already extremely defensive might no longer trust them. Since she thought she would be safer hiding, they shouldn't bother her anymore.
As for the card in her hand...
We can only take one step at a time.
Xin Meng went back and told the village chief: "Village Chief, please tell everyone to come back. I just received a call from that companion. She left the valley by accident. There is no need to trouble everyone to find her again. Thank you before. "
"She has left?" For some reason, the village chief seemed a little regretful, but he soon smiled again, "It's okay, just hope she's safe. I'll call everyone back."
Soon the village chief's voice sounded from the loudspeaker. I still couldn't understand a word of it, but the villagers who had gone into the mountain came back one after another, and Dong Xiu and Li Yougen also followed them down the mountain.
Dong Xiu asked: "What's going on?"
Xin Meng replied: "Don't look for her. She is hiding from us. She can't be found."
Li Yougen was very dissatisfied, and he didn't know whether it was Qi Xiaokui or Xin Meng, "Oh, you're wasting everyone's time."
Xin Meng ignored him, "We have found the location of the forbidden area, but the villagers are more careful about that place. Let's find an opportunity to sneak over."
After lunch, the villagers were about to take a nap. Xin Meng and others left the village chief's house on the pretext of going to the mountains to see the scenery.
Several people arrived outside the grove. No one stopped them this time. You Yi took the lead and walked into the grove first. Seeing that there was no danger, he waved to Xin Meng. However, Dong Xiu and Li Yougen stepped past Xin Meng and entered. After entering the woods, Xin Meng fell behind. You Yi stood still and waited for him.
There was indeed a clear view inside, and there was nothing there, so they didn't look around and went straight to the big rocks.
It was far away before, so Xin Meng didn't see it clearly. When she got closer, she looked at the stone again and made a horrifying discovery...
The names of five of them were actually engraved on those six stones that looked like tombstones!