It was late at night, and there was darkness in the corridor of this small hotel. Blazing white light streamed from the room behind the hooded man, illuminating a small area at the door.
A puppet covered in dust, rough in workmanship, and smiling with stick figures on its face just tilted its head and stood at the door, stepping on the junction of light and darkness.
The smiley face it had painted on was facing the man in the door.
The man was stunned? Standing on the spot? His face was pale? His whole body was stiff. He just stared at the dirty? Ragdoll motionlessly, with one hand still on the door? He kept the posture of opening the door just now. Almost set.
Compared with the lively and flexible puppet, now he looks more like a soulless dummy.
The puppet started walking into the room.
One step, two steps, three steps.
Its? movements are very slow, its steps are not too steady, and it is a little clumsy, like a child who has just started learning to walk.
The man in the hood seemed to be awakened suddenly by? He stepped back towards the door at the same time, one step, two steps, three steps.
While he was backing away, a pair of eyes were fixed on the puppet, with deep vigilance hidden in his eyes.
It was almost like the puppet took a step forward, and he took a step back. It seems that this is not a harmless puppet, but a vicious ghost.
His body? Stiff, trembling step by step back.
Until the moment when the puppet completely stepped into the room, the opened door seemed to be blown suddenly by an invisible strong wind, and it closed heavily behind him with a "bang", blocking the pale man. in it.
His terrified eyes reflected the clumsy puppet and large pieces of black smoke wafting from the puppet, like countless black vines coming from the puppet. Distributed outwards, outlining a huge? shadow.
A certain kind of extremely terrifying aura quietly permeates the room, maybe ordinary people can't see or feel it, but for a person like the hooded man, the sharper the perception, the more aware of this aura The? Terrible.
It was as if the gate of the abyss was opened before his eyes, and endless malice surrounded him, and approached her step by step, until his whole body was standing on the edge of the abyss.
So all kinds of "illusions" were born in front of his eyes, his "soul seemed to be" torn into pieces by "endless" malice in the next second, that kind of"feeling" was enough to drive people crazy!
The puppet was still approaching step by step, with silent footsteps.
The light in the room was flickering and flickering, and thick ink seemed to be overflowing from the graffiti on the stick figure, like pitch-black silt, about to flood the entire room.
There was a violent gasp from the man's throat.
In the end, he couldn't bear it any longer, and retreated to the edge of the bed, and his whole body slumped back on the edge of the bed, mentally tense to the extreme.
The puppet jumped up lightly and stood on the bedside table? Looking at him, it looked very harmless.
"Don't come here! Don't come near me again—" The man's voice was full of helplessness and panic, he waved his arms, and crazily backed away to the side of the bed, "I promise you! What do you want? I will promise you anything !do not come!"
I don't know when it has come to the pillow? The puppet obediently stopped, and it tilted its head to look at the hysterical
For a long time, in a silence that made the man almost suffocate, the puppet's head slowly turned back, and it finally opened its mouth, saying a series of place names:
"Villa No. 17, Jinhu District..."
"Tomorrow at twelve noon, I want to meet you there. Please, please, don't be late."
The man nodded frantically: "Yes, yes, I remember! I will definitely not be late!"
"Then let's talk about it. See you tomorrow."
The puppet immediately raised its hand and greeted cutely, very politely.
Endless black air gushed out suddenly, flooding the entire room like a sea of mud.
The man in the hood seemed to be pushed under the deep sea in an instant, or his whole body was buried deep in the soil. His consciousness was blurred and he was almost suffocated. In the pain, he heard the last sound faintly. sound:
"Good dreams~"
·
"ah-"
Panting heavily, the man suddenly opened his eyes, and in front of him was a dim hotel room. He was still wearing the hoodie that he was going to go out before, and he just lay so straight on the bed, and fell asleep unconsciously.
"Everything that happened just now was a dream? I was obviously about to leave, why did I suddenly fall asleep?"
After wiping off the cold sweat all over his face, his face was frighteningly pale, and after a few seconds of vacant eyes, he suddenly changed drastically.
"No, that's not right, it was "Nightmare"? The ghost, it must be him! This method of weaving nightmares, who else could it be? "The man slowly sat up from the bed, with lingering fears still in his heart. The scenes in his previous dream were still very clear now, without any blur. People deliberately woven? Dreams, "It's just... I've never met him with my real body, and that rare puppet puppet was also resolutely discarded. How did he find me? "
The hooded man subconsciously began to think hard, and then suddenly realized: "It's those puppets from before!"
... As a member of the Monster Guild, although the two have never met each other in person, he has used puppets to meet each other quite a few times. This time, he threw away the puppet, but in the past, it was impossible for him to throw away a puppet once they met. After all, making a puppet is not easy. Who knows? When was it? The other party tracked his real body through the puppet and marked it
After confirming that he was hit by the trick just now, the expression on the man's face became more and more ugly, and he kept thinking about what happened in his dream.
"... Villa No. 17 in Jinhu Community, isn't that the place where Nightmare went tonight? Why did he suddenly violate the guild rules and attack me, and even lead me there? No, it doesn't have to be his own." ?mean."
In a flash, he thought of a lot.
"... What happened there? Has 'Nightmare' been controlled by someone? I'm next? ? ? "
Thinking of this, he almost instinctively wanted to run away, but in the end he suppressed all kinds of distracting thoughts in his heart with rationality, and the expression on his face became extremely bitter.
If "Nightmare" really? left a mark on him without his knowledge, then the people behind the scenes could come to him when he let down his vigilance and catch him by surprise. Using a dream to warn him in advance like this, and asking him to go to the other party tomorrow? It's an act of scaring the snake. Could it be? Isn't the other party worried that he violated the agreement and escaped secretly
This has shown that the people behind the scenes have nothing to fear.
The inner world is mysterious and unpredictable, and no one knows. Those who have entered the inner world? The awakened? What brought out from it? What abilities do they have. Maybe a curse has been planted on him, and if he violates the agreement, he will die suddenly on the spot.
... After thinking about it again and again, he decided to follow his heart's will.
·
"Don't worry, that guy "Puppet Master" is very cowardly? He will never dare to run away secretly. "
Late at night in the villa, the man who was tightly bound by his arms and hung as a chandelier in the living room managed to squeeze out a fawning smile and chattered.
"Although I haven't met him, I guess only the president of the guild knows his true identity. He uses a puppet to appear in front of everyone, but I know this guy's character very well. I don’t want to take any risks, and I don’t care about face, I like to act mysterious in front of ordinary people, and I am quicker than anyone else to give in when I meet a big boss.”
"—he dared not go against your wishes."
Why not? "Oh" said: "Looking at you like this, it seems that you are looking forward to reuniting with him soon."
The "Nightmare" who was hung from the ceiling of the living room smiled awkwardly, but the smile was uglier than crying.
...Of course I look forward to it, he can't wait to get the "puppet master" over in the next second, and hang him on the ceiling with him?, as a brother with a bed next to him
He literally scolded the "puppet master" a thousand times in his heart.
Yesterday, this guy posted a mission in the guild, saying that he recruited a newcomer with potential, and now he wants to distribute benefits to the newcomer and ask everyone to do a little favor. And the location is the capital of the third district.
It just so happened that "Nightmare" had something to do here recently, thinking that it would be a matter of convenience anyway, and he could make friends with a potential newcomer, so he took this task.
But now, he just wants to travel back to the day before, kill the ignorant? thick? himself, and also kill the "puppet master" who issued the task in the guild.
... What "is just to deal with a powerless? Ordinary person", what "don't want to? Kill someone's life, just let the other party have nightmares, and the other party can't call the police because of such a trivial matter afterwards", what " This is a great opportunity for newcomers to owe favors, there is no easier task in the guild", all lies! lie! !
If everything is really as simple as the "puppet master" said, then why is he hanged here now, and has to face such a ferocious devil? !
— Not long ago, he watched his "door" being eaten by?! This is the "exclusive passage" for every awakened person to the inner world!
This means that from now on, if he wants to enter the other world, he can only use other people's "passages", and this is risky. Who knows? Will he be blacked out
"Nightmare" was bleeding from the heart, and hated him so much, but he didn't dare to cast this hatred on that terrible
Therefore, when that scary man asked him to take the initiative to cooperate in capturing the "puppet master", he gave quite a few useful suggestions, and this was the first time he worked so hard to weave a nightmare. Even among them? He doesn't contribute much.
With "Nightmare"'s own abilities, he still can't weave nightmares for the target from a long distance, otherwise he wouldn't be caught near the villa tonight. However, the owner of this villa, that "ordinary? Ordinary person" temporarily blended a strange? black smoke into his? dreams, which greatly improved his? ability in nightmares Improvement, this can exert influence on the "puppet master"!
Yuan didn't clap his hands for him, interrupting his train of thought.
"...Okay, let's continue. About the other world, about the awakened, I still have a lot of interest?"
This guy was not honest before, and he didn't tell the truth in many things. Now that he has been beaten severely, he should be more sensible.
"Yes, I said." "Nightmare" lowered his head silently, not daring to speak out, "Actually, I don't know much about these things. I used to be an ordinary salesman, and my life was ordinary, nothing special. About a year Before, I was very unlucky for a while. My father was terminally ill and had no money for medical treatment. I borrowed money everywhere, from friends, relatives, and neighbors. Borrowing usury... ”
"... In the end, Dad died. He still owed a lot of debts, and his relatives and friends were ashamed to see him. Later, the loan sharks forced us to come to the door, put up banners at the door of the company, poured paint on the door of my house, and sprinkled chicken blood. , called in the middle of the night... I lost my job, was anxious, and couldn't think about it for a while? I jumped off the balcony... "
At that time, he really wanted to die, to let out the anger in his heart, but unexpectedly he survived a catastrophe, blocked by a clothes hanger, and fell paralyzed.
"...Before I thought? I was miserable enough, lying on the bed? I didn't know until later? That's nothing."
"Nightmare" briefly mentions what happened after the paralysis, but it must have been not a pleasant experience.
"... I'm just so half dead? Lying on the bed? Thinking of my father, thinking of those debts, thinking of my own life like a waste... somehow? Well, for a moment, I suddenly hated the world, Resenting the injustice of God... I obviously worked so hard, I worked so hard to live, why did you do this to me?!" At this point, his tone seemed to have changed, full of Extreme? Twisted and paranoid.
"Huh?" Wasn't that why? He glanced at him.
The man who was still "crazy" shuddered, and was so frightened that he behaved obediently: "Well, anyway, at that time, I was like a ghost fascinated by my mind! Thinking about it now, if I was able to act at that time , they probably all went out with kitchen knives to hack people and take revenge on society!"
The man who was "hanging from the ceiling" lowered his head, as if recalling an unpleasant experience, his tone became very complicated: "Then, I felt as if a seed in my heart was awakened, and the world seemed to be It’s different. From my? bed to the small half of the room, it has become very decayed and old, like an old house full of dust... After that, every once in a while, every time I have that feeling in my heart When you are in such an extreme mood, you can see that kind of strange vision."
"... Until one day, the dust covered the whole room, and I could faintly see a door."
His narrative is similar to the vision that Xie Huaying saw when he woke up, but he only saw the door leading to the other world after a period of time, and it was opened by accident.
However, he is luckier than Xie Huaying. When Xie Huaying opened the passage, there seemed to be a monster nearby. And when he opened the passage?, there was a wilderness behind.
"... I don't know what happened. Anyway, as soon as I entered the door, I appeared in a barren mountain. It really scared me! But I couldn't run, so I could only lie on the ground. Wait to die."
"It's like another world inside the door. When I went in, it was daytime outside, but it was night inside. There was nothing around, and the ground was like a black swamp. The soil was soft and sticky. I I don’t know how long I’ve been lying there. I feel thirsty and hungry. When I’m about to have hallucinations, I fumble around on the ground. I feel like I’ve touched something like a frog. It’s warm and alive. ?... I was so hungry and dizzy anyway, I stuffed it into my mouth regardless."
When "Nightmare" spoke? The tone became strange again, a little excited.
"... Then, when I woke up again, I realized that I wasn't paralyzed anymore! I could run and jump, and I was even healthier than most normal people!"
"Not only did I recover my body? Later, I also discovered that I had some special abilities. For example, I can fall asleep after others fall asleep."
"...It was designed by a third-rate novelist? The script, your adventure, can be the protagonist of the novel." Yuan Buwei commented lightly, and continued to ask, "Then what happened afterwards? What happened to the monster guild?" thing?"
"Also, after entering the inner world, will the door still be in place? Will the things inside come out? If the door is destroyed, how will you get out?"
— Why not? Notice a detail. "Nightmare" is not completely paralyzed, at least he can climb into the door from the outside? Then when he entered the inner world for the first time, he could climb back through the door. Why? Why did he lie on that wilderness for so long? Does that mean there is no door after entering
Why? A series of questions made "Nightmare" flustered. In fact, just now he deliberately avoided the method of leaving from the other world, and he was still thinking about making a fool of himself. If the original reason? Entered the other world one day, it is likely to stay there forever because of poor information.
Now being questioned, he could only reluctantly say, "It's the dust."
"...the world in the world is huge, we open the passage? Is it random? After entering, the door will disappear, and it will not stay in place forever? If you want to return to the real world, you must sprinkle dust, point out through the dust... A road, at the end of the road, the door will slowly appear. If there is no dust to guide the way, and the door cannot be found, you will only be lost in the inner world forever."
Now that he has said it, he no longer hides it, and confesses everything frankly.
"... I didn't deliberately collect dust at the beginning, so after entering the inner world for the first time, I couldn't find the door, and couldn't return to reality. I trekked in that wilderness and suffered a lot, until I accidentally met a monster A member of the guild. He told me how to use dust, helped me return to reality, and introduced me to join the monster guild. I know a lot of common sense in the other world from the monster guild."
The Monster Guild refers to the inner world as the dark side of the outer world. The mysterious elements that do not exist in the real world are accumulated in the inner world; similarly, the chaos and darkness that does not exist in the real world will also appear in the inner world.
There are no moral and legal constraints, only the jungle of the jungle.
What's more, the awakened person originally stimulated his own aptitude when the negative emotions were the most intense. They themselves are one after another uncertain? Dynamite kegs, which may ignite at any time.
Some of them are just ordinary people, like "Nightmare". Maybe it's just because of the "temporary" predicament that aroused negative emotions, awakened their own qualifications, and changed their lives through the "adventures" in the other world, and then returned to normal;
There is another group of people who are outright anti-social, whose minds have long been distorted, filled with hatred, unwillingness, pain, and desire for destruction... These people are the real ones? Crazy and paranoid.
Perhaps in reality, they are still subject to moral and legal constraints, with a certain bottom line, but in the chaotic world, they are like being released from a cage. Beasts can be unscrupulous and do whatever they want?!
"... There are many like this in the "Monster Guild"? Crazy, once they find that you are against them, they will never let you go?" "Nightmare" explained very seriously, and the madness implied that he had a backer? "According to the president, the stronger the guy, the more crazy he is, or the more crazy he is. The stronger the strength... I think the president is stronger."
It's a pity that what he said not only failed to scare Yuan Buwei, but successfully aroused Yuan Buwei's interest: "Have you met the president of the monster guild?"
"Of course not." Nightmare shook his head crazily, "Many awakened people are aggregates of negative emotions? There are very few normal people. Who knows? How about they go crazy? Even if they are not crazy, they may be black and white. So the real world is big. Some awakened people are on guard against each other, and unless they trust each other, they won't meet easily, let alone reveal their real identities."
"Most of the members of our monster guild don't know each other's true identities. They were just pulled into a group by the president. They can usually post tasks in the group and receive tasks for mutual benefit." Nightmare seems Specifically, it was very detailed, "Every once in a while, the president will notify everyone to gather in the other world, maybe go to a certain ruin to explore the secrets together, or exchange some inconvenient resources with each other."
"As far as I know, there are only "Carnival Party" and "Qingshan Hospital Mutual Aid Association" in the whole world that are comparable to our monster guild. I have seen the promoters of the "Carnival Party" slaughter an entire island with monsters before. The president who can be compared with them should be very powerful, right? "
When it comes to the end, what he expected? His eyes turned to the original.
... So, you don't want to offend the chairman? If so, big brother, you just treat me like a fart, right
Why not? Sure enough, he fell into deep thought.
After a while, he suddenly looked at "Nightmare": "I'm getting more and more interested in your monster guild, don't you know? Those of you who have already joined? How do members verify their identities every time they meet?"
"Nightmare" opened his mouth wide, with a dull expression.
... He had some kind of bad premonition.
Sure enough, the next moment, I heard the man in front of me ask with great interest: "Do you think it's your identity or the puppet master's identity that is more difficult for you to see through? Or is it neither?" "
"Nightmare" was even more sluggish: "..."
Judging by the meaning of this big guy, one of them must be about to lose his identity. So, is the one replaced by? Will the one be? murdered and silenced, or the one? abandoned? The other one will be? murdered and silenced, or both will be? ?
For a moment, his mind was filled with the words "Killing and Silencing" and all kinds of consequences of being murdered and silenced, and his heart instantly became chilled.
"Well, actually, I think there is a better way." He looked at Yuan Buwei hesitantly, "The two of us can recommend you to join the Monster Guild."
"No, I think it's more interesting to mix in." Why not? Responding to him with a smile, in his uneasy?sight?, raised his hand and yawned again, "Forget it, who to choose, wait until tomorrow? When is the Puppeteer here? Make up your mind, you can also think about it tonight. "
What are you thinking about? Consider tomorrow? Will he die tomorrow, someone else, or both? "Nightmare" couldn't help complaining.
Why? Stand up from the sofa, walk slowly towards the bedroom, and still politely say hello:
"Well, good night, have a good dream."
"???" Behind him, the "Nightmare" who was hung from the ceiling almost cried. It is very likely that the next day will be? murdered and silenced, and the last surviving?night? can only be spent in this? way
… have a good dream? Are you serious