For a team of twenty-two people, it wouldn't take much time to check on the people around them one by one.
The extra person was soon found.
He was just to the left of Ayuan. She didn't need to verify it. She only looked at him carefully and knew that he was the outlier in the team. Her intuition was very strong.
"Who are you?" A Yuan quickly distanced himself from the man, pointed the light of his cell phone at him, and asked loudly.
Those taskers who were still verifying their identities looked over immediately. When they focused their attention on the man, they all thought he was the target.
Although there were many team members on this mission and it is impossible to remember all of them clearly, I still have some impression of them all. This person is very unfamiliar.
The man had a flat head and wore a jacket and gray pants. He didn't say anything and didn't do anything aggressive. He just stood there, exuding an air of vicissitudes and despair.
This makes him appear weak and has little damage value.
The atmosphere in the rest area became less tense. Gradually, one by one, they were infected by the man's emotions, and Lao Jiang began to waver in his thoughts: "Could it be an accidental injury? Is it possible that the person..." He pointed at Miss Qiao, not daring to look directly at her, because the other person had a strong aura, "Madam, you remembered the number of people wrong. There were 24 people who came in, two died, and there were 22 left. Is it correct now?"
Ah Yuan raised his heroic eyebrows and said, "Then how do you explain his unfamiliar face?"
Before Jiang could answer, a woman said, "What do you mean by unfamiliar? You're wearing a mask, so I can't even see your face clearly."
"His face was blocked, and his figure and clothes were not visible. I just didn't see him during the gatherings these days." A Yuan was both calm and sharp.
“There were so many people at the gathering…” the woman muttered.
Jiang Jiang's eyebrows twitched, and he was furious: "Big sister, why are you so good at arguing? If you continue like this, we have reason to suspect that you are possessed by some ghost and are in cahoots with him."
The woman's face turned blue and red. Seeing that everyone was looking at her, she stomped her feet and rushed to the man in the jacket without thinking: "Sir, please say something!"
"What's your ID number?" The woman thought of a key question.
"Yes, those with ID numbers are our people, and those without are not. This is easy to rule out." A tasker agreed, "Hey, take out your ID card!"
The man in the jacket lowered his head and remained silent.
Jiang Jiang had another idea: "Why don't we just show the white card? This will make it easier to eliminate!"
Most people agreed.
The corner of Chen Yang's eye twitched. This situation was like catching a traitor. He felt that he had no choice but to speak up.
"No need to check the ID number." Chen Yang said.
"Why not?" Jiang Jiang didn't expect Chen Yang to object. He didn't understand why and felt a little aggrieved. He felt that they got along pretty well and unilaterally regarded each other as friends.
Jiang Jiang was upset that the other party didn't stand with him. He asked again, as persistent as a child who got a low grade from the teacher and wanted to know the reason: "Why?"
Chen Yang really couldn't answer this question. He couldn't just say "Because my partner doesn't have an ID number".
If this were said, the team would explode.
Chen Yang walked towards the man in the jacket, stopped at a safe distance, raised the flashlight and shone it around. He had previously revealed that he had learned from the old man that something big had happened here, and the military had been alarmed. The incident happened suddenly, and some people escaped, but this man was one of the people who had been trapped here.
At that time, Chen Yang took a quick look, and because the face was covered by a mask, he could only see that it was a man.
Face mask…
Chen Yang rubbed the case of his phone a few times. He got the mask from the doctor and asked A Yuan to distribute it when he arrived at the entrance of the experience center.
It seems that this person was already mixed in the team at that time.
Chen Yang discovered something and his half-closed eyes suddenly opened. Something is wrong!
This person’s mask is not the same type as everyone else’s. It’s an old-fashioned one with a circle of yellow marks on the edge of the fabric!
Chen Yang’s heart was beating rapidly: “You…” He stepped closer involuntarily. If Chao Jian hadn’t pulled him back, he would have been face to face with the man.
Chen Yang was pulled by Chao Jian and stopped a few steps away. He looked at the man in the jacket and asked in a low voice, "Is he the tourist from that year?"
The door of the experience hall was sealed with so many seals that they took a lot of effort to remove them, so this person could not have come in to take shelter, but was already inside. He was trapped here... a soul.
The man in the jacket responded to Chen Yang, but that response was not a nod, but a shake of the head, which was beyond Chen Yang's expectation.
Just when Chen Yang was about to continue asking, the man in the jacket suddenly started crying, one cry after another, his tears were heartbreaking and he looked extremely miserable.
"I'm sorry..." The man in the jacket cried and said something incomprehensible, "I want to be with you, I just want to have a companion, I'm sorry..."
He cried and turned into a pile of ashes.
"Plop," the small bag that the woman who had just choked had on her wrist fell to the ground.
Jiang Zemin, who was the first to waver, was too ashamed to face anyone.
No one blamed them, they just stared at the ashes. Chen Yang found a work ID in the ashes, which belonged to a former staff member of the experience center.
"Either they are tourists or they are employees. It is just as I guessed." Someone in the team spoke up.
"Xiao Han broke the wires, but Xiao Zhang didn't, so their deaths were not related to the wires. Now the ghost apologized before he left, which means that they were harmed by him."
"He wanted company, so he joined us, went deeper with us, and then, what did he do?"
No one could give a clear answer. There were other ghosts here, and they had to figure out what was going on, otherwise they would not be able to stay here any longer.
The ones in the worst mental state felt that the ashes under their feet were all corpses and they were about to suffocate.
Chen Yang squatted down anxiously, then stood up again. He repeated this several times and suddenly asked Xiao Han who was nearby when he bumped into someone.
"I was behind him, he stopped, and I bumped into him." Lao Xiao's partner stepped forward and consciously put his mobile phone to his face so that everyone could see his expression clearly. He was not lying.
However, the combination of the flashlight and his big round eyes made the picture very...
But the person involved was unaware of it and held the flashlight closer.
Chen Yang's face twitched: "Then do you know who Xiao Han bumped into?"
The young partner shook his head in annoyance and whispered, "I was so busy standing up that I didn't pay attention to anything else."
"He is the owner of that pile of ashes." Old Xiao next to him said quietly.
Chen Yang looked over immediately.
The eyes of others were also focused on Lao Xiao.
Lao Xiao shrugged under everyone's attention: "I just took a casual glance." If he hadn't said it because he thought it was unnecessary, who would have known that there was such a thing.
"Xiao Zhang also bumped into him!" Ai Xiaoyu suddenly raised her head, her red eyes wide open, "When we first went in, he was next to us, and later he went to the front..." She was a little confused, scratching her face constantly, and digging her fingertips into the mask.
Lao Jiang quickly reminded her to pay attention to the mask.
Ai Xiaoyu woke up in shock. She quickly pressed the mask and felt a little scared.
"Fuck, now we understand. The reason why Xiao Han and Xiao Zhang died was because they touched that male ghost." Someone in the team couldn't help but sigh.
The male ghost was still walking in the team, and anyone could be touched by the other party. It was like they had walked through the gates of hell.
Everyone first immersed themselves in the feeling of escaping death, and then pulled themselves out of it.
From the moment they bound their identity numbers to do the task, they have already been circling the gates of hell, and they don’t even know how many times they have been circling the gates of hell.
Like those teammates, they die suddenly and usually we don’t even have time to react.
Chen Yang allowed Chao Jian to check his mask. "It doesn't feel eerie here. Those ghosts are different from the ones we saw in other missions. It may be related to the cause of their death."
The fruits ripen, the seeds are sown, and after the seeds are sown, they turn into empty shells and ashes. These are all Chen Yang can think of.
"I don't know how many people will be left in Sanlian Bridge after this disaster." Chen Yang's eyes were filled with sadness. This was the fragmented appearance of the real world that the tasker came into contact with, and it was the mission site. If you come to Sanlian Bridge again after clearing the level, it should be a different look, Chao Jian told him so.
Chen Yang saw Chao Jian playing with the nipple and asked, "Do you want to eat it?"
"Yeah." Chao Jian's eyes were red. The first milk tablets he ate were given to him by Chen Yang. From then on, they became his spiritual sustenance and he couldn't quit.
"Be patient." Chen Yang glanced at the time on his phone. It was time for Chao Jian to take medicine, but he couldn't take it. He felt a little uneasy.
"Don't worry about me." Chao Jian crushed the milk slice into pieces, "If you are fine, I am fine too."
Chen Yang pursed his lips tightly.
Soon, everyone was on the road again. They were all secretly alert and kept an eye on the people around them. The light here was very dim, and they had to be careful of those ghosts who took advantage of the situation.
Chen Yang was not worried because Chao Jian was always by his side. This was a small space and no one else would come in.
"Hello, Brother Zhang." Miss Qiao and Zhang Qi walked side by side, and they walked together behind Chen Yang.
Zhang Qi was a little at a loss: "Hello, hello."
The scent of perfume made him feel a little uncomfortable. The more he smelled it, the more fragrant it became. It was so fragrant that his nose couldn't stand it. He was still wondering anxiously why she came here. He didn't expect that she was just greeting him politely. She came for his brother.
Zhang Qi quietly stepped back, without looking around. Out of politeness, he did not glance at the woman's mature and graceful figure.
"Little Yangyang." Miss Qiao shone the flashlight at the back of Chen Yang's head.
Chen Yang helplessly whispered, "Sister Qiao, please walk carefully, there are so many black lines around you."
"It's okay if it breaks." Miss Qiao came here for a purpose. She wanted to chat with Chen Yang.
"Given the current situation, let's not talk about it anymore. It's easy to be distracted and it's unsafe." Chen Yang said.
Miss Qiao: “…” She gathered her curly hair with her gloved hands, “If it were someone else, I would have been fired long ago.”
"Then thank you Sister Qiao for not drawing." Chen Yang walked around a large bundle of dense black lines, and the people behind him followed suit. The team was crooked, and the halo projected from the mobile phone screen also shook.
Miss Qiao touched her red lips covered by the mask up and down, and said softly: "Besides you, there are two other couples in the team. The situation is not good. They can't kiss each other with masks on, and they will die if they take off the masks."
"If you can't kiss, then don't kiss. It won't matter if you wait a little longer." Chen Yang kept walking. He didn't even notice who was a couple with whom.
Miss Qiao glanced at him sideways: "Sex can relieve stress, kissing can also relieve stress, don't you want to when you are anxious?"
Chen Yang was silent for a while: "Sister Qiao, let's not talk about this, okay?"
"Once a person's emotions land, they will become fragile and desire to be hugged and comforted. If the landing point is right next to them, the desire will be stronger and more difficult to overcome. This is what my attending physician told me. His side job is an emotional master. If they haven't completed the task and left in half an hour, the two couples will pull off their masks and give each other a kiss of death." said Miss Qiao.
Chen Yang wanted to turn back, but then he thought better of it. He was not a saint and he did not need to worry about everything. He could not even protect himself now.
"How about you? How long can you hold on?" Miss Qiao's high heels stepped on the ground in a lazy rhythm, and her tone was also, "Do you want to take some medicine?"
Chen Yang paused: "Medicine?"
Miss Qiao's upturned lips removed a little smile: "Controlling emotional desires is useful both physically and mentally. Do you want it?"
Chen Yang didn't know what Sister Qiao was up to. It seemed like she was just looking for something fun to do because she was bored. She wanted to use him as a guinea pig, so he refused decisively: "No."
"Boring." Miss Qiao said this, but there was no surprise in her eyes. She took out the medicine bottle from her small purse and poured a few pills directly into her mouth.
Chen Yang listened to the rustling sound of the pills shaking in the bottle and had a lot of thoughts. As a patient's family member, he was very familiar with this sound.
"Sister Qiao said I was boring, and Wen Qing has said that several times as well," Chen Yang pulled Chao Jian down and asked, "Am I really a boring person?"
Chao Jian asked absentmindedly: "What?"
"Nothing." Chen Yang let Chao Jian hold his hand.
Chen Yang led the team in the front and Zheng Zhitan followed at the rear, which formed a tacit understanding.
Zheng Zhiqin walked slowly, as if he was strolling in a garden. He hooked the necklace around his neck with one hand and pinched the small cross with his fingertips.
The slender young man in front turned around and stopped Zheng Zhitan.
Zheng Zhitan looked down at him.
"Mr. Zheng, I know you are gay." The young man raised his head and said abruptly.
Zheng Zhitan's eyes behind the glasses showed a hint of teasing: "Oh?"
"Me too." The young man looked up at him with burning eyes, and there were obvious hints in these three words.
Zheng Zhitan bent down slightly.
The young man was intoxicated by the strong mature male scent. This was his third mission. He was very independent in the first two, but not this one. This time it was too difficult. He wanted to find someone to rely on. He watched for a long time before choosing a target.
There was nothing to fault with Mr. Zheng in front of him, whether it was his temperament, clothing, appearance or height. He only had one flaw: he was ruthless. He did not hide that attribute, but showed it openly.
This is rejection and attraction.
The young man could also see that Mr. Zheng was like the kind of people he had come into contact with before. They would give themselves a brief relaxation by relieving their desires in the mission world.
This is the important reliance for him to take the initiative. He only cares about Mr. Zheng's strength and experience, not the other party's emotional outlook.
“Mr. Zheng, I’m still clean, do you want to…” The young man promoted himself in a clumsy way. He had a pair of beautiful eyes with the light of spring that made people want to jump into them.
"Let me correct you," Zheng Zhitan said, "I'm bisexual."
The young man breathed a sigh of relief. He was still within the range of options. Although it was his first time doing this, he had seen many similar scenes. He followed suit and lowered his head, revealing a piece of his white and tender neck, like a sacrifice.
He knew that Mr. Zheng’s night market skills were amazing and he could get through without a flashlight, so he could naturally see through his sincerity.
"Mr. Zheng, I can..." the young man mustered up his courage.
Zheng Zhitan stroked the young man's hair: "I love ugliness."
"..." the young man continued without blinking, "I am very ugly."
Zheng Zhitan laughed: "You're lying."
The young man's heart was pounding. He thought the man was flirting, but he didn't expect the other party's next sentence to be, "You are just ugly."
Zheng Zhitan patted the young man who was so shocked that he wanted to hang himself by the earphone cord, bent down and whispered in his ear: "Baby."
The young man's drooping tail curled up, and just when he was about to regain his confidence, he heard Zheng Zhiqin say two words in a gentle and charming voice.
"Make way."
The young man gritted his teeth. Wasn’t the old guy emotionally hurt and in a weak period, wanting to be hugged? Could it be that he had made a mistake
The more he thought about it, the more humiliated he felt. His face turned blue and red under the mask. His fingers holding the phone suddenly became stiff. Someone was watching him! And there was more than one person!
It felt like a few colleagues were chatting and gossiping in the company's tea room, and he was the protagonist of the gossip.
The blood color on the young man's face disappeared in an instant. He didn't dare to stay any longer and chased after Zheng Zhiqin in horror.
"Mr. Zheng, there is someone... there is a ghost..."
"Go ahead." Zheng Zhitan said.
The panic in the young man's eyes paused for a moment, then turned into unnaturalness: "Do you think I..."
Zheng Zhiqin smiled so hard that wrinkles appeared on the corners of his eyes, but his words were extremely cold and cruel: "Say one more word, and I'll throw you into the pile of them."
The young man hurried ahead of him.
Zheng Zhiqin stopped where he was. He looked back and saw nothing unusual in the darkness. After a while, he continued to walk.
Not long after, Chen Yang, who was walking in the front, stopped. There was a buzzing sound in the team, and they didn't know if something had happened again.
Chen Yang originally stopped because the road was blocked. He was about to change to another route, but then he put his raised foot back down.
Directly in front of him was a pile of debris, with tables and chairs piled up in a mess. There was a gap in the middle, and a black line that came from nowhere was crisscrossed in it.
There is no gray on the black line.
Chen Yang's first reaction was that someone had entered that gap, and it was a thin person who squeezed in without breaking the black line.
Were they the previous batch of taskers? Have they been here
Chen Yang looked at himself, looked at the distance in the gap, and gave up. He glanced at Chao Jian, and it was even worse.
So Chen Yang turned around to look at his teammates behind him and told them the current situation.
"Anyway, no one will die if the wires break, so just pull them all out." Lao Xiao said impatiently.
"Let's not do it just in case. Besides, even if we cut all the wires, the space inside is still small. Only thin people can go in." Chen Yang asked, "Who will go in?"
Miss Qiao wanted to try it, but she was wearing a cheongsam and it would be easy for her to expose herself. She didn't mind, but Chen Yang disagreed with her doing so.
Chen Yang ignored her insistence and glanced at the others. He explained the worst-case scenario: "We don't know what's inside, whether it's dangerous or not. Girls don't have the physical advantage, so it's best if a thinner man goes in so that we can escape faster."
These words dampened the enthusiasm of several taskers. After hesitating for a while, they finally gave up.
"Let me try." Zhang Jinyang came forward from behind.
Chen Yang took a look at his thick muscles and said, "You should go back."
Zhang Jinyang's face darkened.
"Let me do it." Jiang Jiang brushed past Zhang Jinyang, his face just facing the other's chest muscles, feeling like he was going to suffocate inside.
When he came out, Jiang Jiang exhaled: "Dude, you have such a deep chest."
Zhang Jinyang laughed: "My fist is still hard, do you want to eat it?"
Jiang Jiang silently turned to look at Chen Yang: "Mr. Chen, I'm going in, you cover me."
Chen Yang: “…Go ahead.”
Jiang Jiang gave the backpack to his companion who came over. He carefully approached the black lines and moved sideways to get in.
"How about it? Is it okay?" The companion leaned forward.
"Of course... No, no, no, it hurts, my flesh hurts, pull me out quickly!" Jiang Jiang screamed like a pig being slaughtered.
When his companions pulled him out, there was a large red abrasion on his shoulder.
"I didn't know I gained weight." Jiang Jiang's face was full of sadness.
His companion touched his head and said, "You are stupid."
Jiang Jiang saw his companion walking towards the junk pile, and his mouth opened in surprise: "Beibei, you're going?"
Qi Bei was too lazy to talk nonsense. He operated like a tiger and got stuck at the entrance. He calmly stepped out and pointed to a figure in the team: "He can do it."
Chen Yang's gaze and flashlight moved over together. Qi Bei recommended the very thin Lin Shuwei, and he called out.
Lin Shuwei walked up from the team with his eyelids drooping. He touched his mask twice, looked up at Chen Yang for a few seconds, then bent down to squeeze through the gap.
Chen Yang was not completely reassured. Although Lin Shuwei was thin, his body shape was similar to his and his skeleton was there.
However, Lin Shuwei was very successful and he moved in inch by inch.
The people at the back of the line asked anxiously.
"Did it work?"
“It seems to have succeeded… It really succeeded!”
Lin Shuwei went in.
Chen Yang was so excited that he wanted to kiss Chao Jian, but when he got to him, he remembered that they were both wearing masks.
Chao Jian touched his forehead.
Chen Yang felt a little restless where he was touched. He coughed twice and asked Lin Shuwei how he was.
"There are words on the wall!" Lin Shuwei raised his phone in the small gap, "It looks like it was carved with a knife."
Chen Yang immediately asked: "What word?"
"A sentence engraved." Lin Shuwei read it word by word and held his breath.
—I have come this far, I am unwilling to give up.
These are the words carved on the wall. The last stroke is long and deep, like the last journey of life.
Lin Shuwei was overwhelmed by a feeling of desolation and burst into tears. He clutched the edge of his mask and sobbed as he recited those words.
Chen Yang was stunned. These eight words in one sentence revealed a strong sense of irony and hopelessness.
The person who carved the words was unwilling to accept something...
He didn't know if Chen Yang was overthinking or was wrong. He suspected that the person who left this sentence was also an insider like him and knew that this was the assessment area before entering the final level.
Chen Yang pulled Chao Jian aside and said, "I remember you said the review tasks were random. Is it possible that two groups of taskers..."
Chao Jian knew what he was thinking: "It's possible."
Chen Yang's guess gradually took shape. He and that person happened to enter the same assessment area. The other party was unwilling to give up because he was about to reach the finish line, but something unexpected happened and he could not go any further and had to stop.
What will happen
Did the task force members not get masks and had to cover their mouths and noses with their hands? Was there an internal conflict in the team? Chen Yang couldn't help but let his imagination run wild.
Chao Jian stroked his tense back.
There was nothing else found in the small space. Lin Shuwei took a picture of the line of words and it came out.
When Chen Yang was looking at the photos taken by Lin Shuwei, Zheng Zhiqin, who was at the end of the team, walked to the front and stood next to him.
The photo was taken fairly clearly, and you could make out traces of every word on the wall.
Chen Yang was keenly aware of the change in Zheng Zhiqin's breathing. He turned his head and looked at him: "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Zheng Zhitan said, "I was wondering what kind of mood this person was in when he carved the words."
"It's obvious. We don't want to give up, but there's no chance." Chen Yang asked Lin Shuwei if he could pass the phone to the rest of the team. The place was narrow and they couldn't all squeeze in, so they were already making a fuss.
Lin Shuwei agreed. He was deeply trapped in the despair left by his predecessors and couldn't get out.
The road ahead is long and there are too many checkpoints of life and death. He doesn't dare to hope to reach the end, he just wants to go to the end and take a look. He doesn't know if this wish can be realized.
Zheng Zhitan took the phone from Chen Yang, turned his back and walked towards the team. Those were his handwriting, written by him!
He once walked here and stopped here.
Then he was reset a second time.
Now it's back again.
He looked at the gap. With his body shape, he couldn't get in unless he was just a pile of bones.
In the last mission before the reset, he had become so thin.
Zheng Zhiqin's throat moved a few times. This time he was going to repeat the same mistake and move forward...
"Mr. Zheng, cell phone."
Zheng Zhiqin glanced at Ayuan who was looking at him with a strange look, and then he realized that he had been holding the phone tightly. He smiled and loosened his fingers.
There is a small room next to the front passage, which is the drinking room of the experience hall, but it has collapsed now, with many water bottles lying on one side and glass cups broken all over the floor.
Chen Yang looked at the stacked disposable cups, and with a light touch of his hand, the cups weathered into powder.
"Hey? There seems to be something underneath." A tasker found something under the overturned table. He turned it over and saw that it was just a bottle of water, but the water had turned completely black and was a bit sticky. He subconsciously shook the bucket.
"Don't..." Ai Xiaoyu on the side was about to speak out to stop him, but it was too late.
The seal of the bottled water was damaged due to being in use for too long. When the tasker shook it, it fell off and the black water inside flowed out violently, stinking to high heaven.
"Ah! It stinks!" The stench filled the air. It was hard to describe. Wearing a mask was useless. Everyone held down their masks and stepped back. Some people who were sensitive to smells even began to dry heave.
"Why does it stink so bad?"
"I can't stand it anymore. I'm going to die."
"vomit!"
Many people were retching. Chen Yang was also nauseous. If he hadn't been able to take off his mask, he would have vomited everything in his stomach.
Chao Jian pinched the acupuncture points on his hand, and when he saw that he felt better, he whispered, "Brother, remember the places I pinched."
Chen Yang said "hmm" with cold sweat on his forehead.
After a long time, the smell became much lighter, the vomiting stopped, and everyone recovered, but they were almost half dead.
"Uncle, don't you know where this place is? Can you be less rude?" Someone blamed the person who had done the task for harming others.
"That's right, you're crazy!"
"I really want to beat you up!"
"… "
Facing the accusations from everyone, the tasker was dissatisfied but could not refute it, after all, it was indeed him who caused the incident. But when he turned to look at Zhang Jinyang, he found that the other party was still retching, and his dissatisfaction intensified.
Why is this guy pretending like this? Everyone is fine, but he is still vomiting. Is it that smelly
"Hey, buddy, that's enough, stop vomiting." He walked over and patted Zhang Jinyang on the back. He had a really strong body.
However, after he slapped him like this, Zhang Jinyang vomited even more severely. His face exposed outside the mask turned red, making people wonder if he would stick out his tongue.
Gradually, everyone felt something was wrong. Although the water was a bit smelly, it shouldn't be that disgusting.
"Zhang Jinyang, is your stomach uncomfortable?" Chen Yang walked over and found that Zhang Jinyang had been holding his stomach tightly.
"Uh! Uh!" Zhang Jinyang was no longer able to speak and could only utter two dry sounds with his throat.
Chen Yang's expression became more solemn. He was about to point the light of his mobile phone at Zhang Jinyang when he saw him suddenly snatch off the mask on his face.
"What are you doing..." Chen Yang felt cold all over.
Zhang Jinyang's stomach began to swell. He opened his mouth wide and his throat slid rapidly, as if something was being squeezed out bit by bit.
"Let's get out of here!" After Chen Yang finished speaking, he grabbed Chao Jian, who had been waiting for him to take him away. The two of them left the water room together. Some people who completely believed in him also ran away quickly, while some who were slow to react were still out of shape.
"Ah? What's wrong?" someone wanted to ask.
suddenly,
"Ugh!" The blue veins on Zhang Jinyang's neck bulged out, and a mass of white filaments spurted out of his mouth. He staggered and asked for help from the two people in the room.
Zhang Jinyang was an underground boxer. His struggle lasted for several seconds. In the chaos, he tore off the masks of the two men. They all grabbed their necks and soon fell to the ground.
Zhang Jinyang was still spinning silk, as if he was going to finish it.
Chen Yang and others outside were collectively silent. The situation before them was a miniature version of the square. What they didn't understand was why Zhang Jinyang, who had never even touched the headphones, behaved the same way as those who wore them.
A memory suddenly popped up in the depths of Chen Yang's mind. He looked horrified and said, "Go away."
"Brother, what's going on with Brother Zhang?" Zhang Qi followed Chen Yang.
"It's spores." Chen Yang said.
"Spores?" Zhang Qi and the tasker who heard this word were stunned.
"Well, those white filaments should contain many tiny spores, which can invisibly parasitize the human body." Chen Yang's voice was hoarse. He made this inference based on the plant mutations on Xiaoyin Island.
This is why Zhang Jinyang had been fine, but suddenly began to have an attack without any warning. The spores he inhaled grew and matured silently.
Everyone shuddered when they heard this. They quickened their pace to escape, but they were also very frustrated because they didn't know whether there were spores in their bodies.
Chen Yang stopped by the wall and let his hand holding the phone drop. He now roughly knew what had happened to that person.
They are spores, and you can't guard against them.
That person may have found the root of the mission, or the exit to the last level, which is why he left behind those three shocking words: unwilling.
Chen Yang could empathize with him. His heart ached, his vision went dark, and he could hardly breathe.
Chao Jian pulled the cold Chen Yang into his arms. He came in knowing full well that he couldn't participate, which was purely asking for trouble. But there was no way he couldn't help following.
It's impossible not to follow...
Chao Jian kissed Chen Yang's hair through the mask and said, "Brother, I'm here. I'm always here. No matter where you go, I will be with you."
The light near the wall gradually decreased, and more and more people turned off their flashlights. At the moment when they could no longer suppress their emotions, they hid themselves in the darkness.
The team of twenty-one people became eighteen people, most of whom were not familiar with Chen Yang and were not his old teammates.
Among the majority, three or five people began to hate Chen Yang. They thought it was all his fault that he had to come in. If he had stayed at the door, this would not have happened!
They had lost their minds and seemed to have forgotten that no matter where they were, as long as there were people around them infected by the spores, an outbreak would occur.
And if they went out, they would find that the seven or eight teammates who did not follow them had already turned into ashes.
Chen Yang didn't care about those out-of-control gazes. He didn't want to communicate properly, and it was even more impossible for him to patiently comfort them.
Chen Yang, who was walking on the tightrope, was about to fall down and had no time to care about others.
Ai Xiaoyu thought Chen Yang was kind and amiable, so she turned on her flashlight, walked closer with her tool bag, and asked a question that almost drove her crazy with red eyes: "Mr. Chen, do you know how to confirm whether you have been... "
The corners of Chen Yang's eyes were also red. He shook his head slowly. He didn't know and couldn't be sure. Zhang Jinyang's example revealed a message that there were no signs before the spores matured.
Of course, it is not ruled out that Zhang Jinyang was a thick-skinned person who thought the abnormality was a stomach upset and did not think much about it. But the abnormality must not be serious, otherwise Zhang Jinyang would have told him even if he was a thick-skinned person.
Maybe everyone here has been infected by spores...
With the help of the light from Ai Xiaoyu's mobile phone, Chen Yang looked at his teammates one by one, whether they were new or old.
Finally, his gaze fell on Chao Jian and did not move or leave.
"Brother, where are we going? All the places in this experience hall are connected. We are almost done with the tour." Zhang Qi, who was squatting, stood up with the help of the wall.
Before Chen Yang could answer, Lao Xiao said, "I just saw the floor plan on the wall. There is a second underground floor here, which is a computer room."
"That's the second underground floor." Chen Yang said.
At the end of the first floor is a spiral staircase leading to the dark and unknown second underground floor.
Chen Yang was still leading the team. After a while, everyone found that he had been shining his mobile phone left and right. At first they thought he was just exploring the way, until his footsteps slowly stopped.
"Brother, is there any problem?" Zhang Qi at the back became nervous.
"Da da..." In the darkness below, something like a stone seemed to roll down.
Chen Yang tapped Chao Jian's back of the hand with his fingertips. Facing the darkness, he said coldly, "You have been ahead of us all the time. What does that mean?"
Everyone was shocked when they heard this. No way, is there someone in front of them? They stretched their necks, but they could not see anything except the deep darkness.
"This work ID is what you lost, right?" Chen Yang took out something he asked Chao Jian to pick up not long ago.
"Why aren't you talking? And what are you holding in your hand?" His mentality collapsed, and his tone was more irritable and vicious than ever before, "Is it a pair of scissors?"
Everyone around was a little stunned. They couldn’t imagine that there was someone in front of them with a pair of scissors in his hand. What on earth did “this person” want to do
The ghosts in the experience center don’t appear in this way.
Everyone shone their lights downwards, hoping to see "this person" through the darkness. However, it was too dark below, and the thick dust in the air limited their vision.
Everyone stared for a long time, but still found nothing. They just stood there for a long time until Chen Yang said, "You can go down now."
This staircase was not long, but the group of people felt that the steps seemed to have no end. They walked for a long time, but they did not discover anything along the way, let alone see anyone. This made them wonder if Chen Yang was hallucinating and that "this person" did not exist at all.
It was not until they went down to the second underground floor, on a stone platform, that they saw the shiny and cold pair of scissors.
No one spoke and the scene was completely silent.
Chen Yang walked over. He did not rush to touch the scissors. Instead, he carefully shone the light around him, even checking some hidden corners. He picked up the scissors only after he was sure that there was nothing unusual.
This is just an ordinary pair of scissors, as if they were just put there by someone, and there is not a trace of dust on them.
Chen Yang held the scissors in his hand and looked at them for a while. Seeing that nothing unusual happened, the people behind him gathered around and looked at the scissors curiously.
Zhang Qi took the scissors from Chen Yang and examined them carefully: "Brother, how did you find out?"
Chen Yang said: "It's just a feeling." He didn't actually see it, but he felt that there was someone walking in front of him and he confirmed it by stepping on his work permit.
"Let me see." Jiang Jiang took the scissors from Zhang Qi and looked at them curiously. "Compared with ordinary scissors, there is no difference."
"Jiang Jiang! What are you doing?" Just when everyone focused their attention on the surroundings, someone suddenly noticed that something was wrong with Jiang Jiang. He was actually cutting his throat with the scissors.
Many people didn't react to what was happening. Only a few people noticed that a human arm made of black ash was extending from Jiang Jiang's back, going around his neck, then grabbing his hand, controlling him and cutting it hard.
In a flash, Qi Bei pounced over.
"Chi"
The sound of a knife cutting flesh rang out in the darkness. Chen Yang's scalp tingled and he moved the flashlight over there.
Half of Qi Bei's palm was cut off and blood was flowing out.
Chen Yang yelled: "Ayuan!"
Ayuan quickly understood and put down his backpack, then took out several bags from it.
Some people are lucky, for example, Qi Bei, there is a surgeon and medicine in the team, and his wound is treated in time, although roughly.
Qi Bei looked like a young master from a wealthy family, but he was a patient man. He did not cry or shout the whole time, but just groaned a few times.
Jiang Jiang stood there stupidly, completely losing his previous energy.
Old Xiao didn't take the opportunity to mock him. He picked up the other half of the bloody palm on the ground, put it in a plastic bag, and threw it into Jiang Jiang's arms.
Jiang Jiang held her hands together, tears streaming down her face.
Chen Yang did not comfort Jiang Jiang. He stared at the black ash and saw that it condensed into a human figure. It was an auntie, and judging by her clothes, she did cleaning work.
There was only one name on the work ID, Zhao Huiming, without a photo or title. Chen Yang thought it was a man. He held the work ID in his hand and before he could say anything, the aunt stared at the bloodstains on the ground and screamed and dodged.
"He was a madman," said Miss Qiao. "He was mad when he was alive, and he was still mad after he died."
Chen Yang asked, "What is she cutting?"
"What do you think needs to be cut in the experience center?" Miss Qiao asked back.
Chen Yang thought of something: "Headphone cable?"
"He's crazy. He's been cutting hair too much and is addicted to it. He wants to cut everything he sees." Miss Qiao glanced at the woman holding the scissors, and then looked at the silly little handsome boy.
Jiang Jiang felt a chill on his neck, and he cried out to his companion, "Beibei."
Qi Bei's pale face was covered in cold sweat.
"I've learned my lesson. I will listen to you in the future." Jiang Jiang held up half of his palm which was still a little hot. He decided to mend his ways and work like a slave for his companions.
Qi Bei didn't believe a word of it. He said perfunctorily, "Okay, got it." At the end he warned, "Don't wipe your eyes!"
"Okay, I'll listen to you." Jiang Jiang put down his hand that was about to touch his eyes.
“Click, click”
"Click"
“Click, click… click, click, click…”
Everyone was frightened by the sound. Some wanted to leave, but seeing that everyone else was there, they endured it with difficulty, which was very torturous.
The aunt kept cutting in the air with the scissors, muttering to herself: "It will be fine if I cut it off... It will be fine if I cut it off..."
“Why can’t I finish cutting… Ahhh!!!” She let out a series of shrill cries, and the scissors in her hand fell to her feet. “They are all dead, all dead.”
No one knew how to communicate with the crazy ghost, so they could only listen to her and see if she could tell them any information that might be useful to them.
However, the aunt did not speak. She stood there in a daze, and corpse spots began to appear on her face.
After a while, some white threads floated down, which irritated the aunt. She grabbed the scissors at her feet and pointed the tip of the knife at the threads: "Don't come over... Don't come over!"
“Ugh…” Auntie’s body had already rotted away, but she still made vomiting movements, but nothing came out. “Airflow, airflow is coming, run… Sister Wang, Brother Zhang, run… You can’t run, cut those lines, cut them quickly…”
Chen Yang caught a word, airflow. Where did the airflow come from here? Is there something wrong with time and space? He had done several tasks related to time and space, and he had some understanding of it, but he couldn't think of the right direction for the time being. Chen Yang raised his flashlight and scanned the second floor underground. The door of the machine room was open.
"Run! Run, run, the monster is coming!" The aunt ran into the darkness, and the crackling sound disappeared after a few times.
"What airflow, what monster? Could it be that the space is disordered?" Some people in the team have also encountered time and space-related tasks.
"Isn't it a curse?"
"I thought it was a curse at first, but when the information about airflow came out, I felt that the curse was..."
"… "
"Let's go to the computer room first." The moment Chen Yang entered, his steps suddenly stopped. What happened? He seemed to hear some sound? It must be an illusion.
Chao Jian stood there, not moving.
Chen Yang stayed where he was. After a second or two, his pupils shrank. It was not an illusion, there was really a sound.
“Hiss…”
It came from the left pocket of his coat.
There was only one thing in that pocket... Chen Yang quickly took out the silver MP3 that the doctor gave him.
The mp3 that has been unable to open now opens automatically!
Everybody gathered around.
mp3 is lighting up the screen.
Chen Yang stared at the mp3 player, his eyes inadvertently glancing between his teammates. His expression changed, "Where are Lin Shuwei and Zheng Zhiqin?"
Only then did everyone realize that two people were missing. When they disappeared at this time, they were basically sure of the situation, and they had no time to sympathize with their teammates.
Chen Yang and Chao Jian looked at each other and clenched the MP3 in their hands.
A Yuan looked back at the dark door of the computer room, her eyes red. She lowered her eyes and sighed silently.
In the small space on the first floor, Lin Shuwei was leaning against the wall, holding a blue thermos in his arms. His hand was holding the rough bottom of the cup, stroking it again and again.
There were footsteps coming this way, and no lights, indicating the identity of the people coming.
Lin Shuwei moved towards the entrance and looked outside through the interlaced black lines: "Mr. Zheng, it's you, right?"
Zheng Zhitan squatted down: "You inhaled the spores."
Lin Shuwei tightened his grip on the thermos cup, pressing the cup close to his uncomfortable abdomen, and his forehead twitched.
Zheng Zhiqin lit a cigarette, but couldn't take off his mask to smoke, so he held it in his hands.
Wisps of smoke drifted towards Lin Shuwei through the black line. He said "sorry" hastily, then convulsively opened his mask and retched with his head tilted.
"I met an old tasker..." Lin Shuwei covered his mouth and tried to breathe hard, but he still wanted to vomit. "He said that only if I walked alone could I see the end. I wanted to see the end, I really wanted to see it, so I gave up my teammates..."
"But he lied to me!"
Lin Shuwei's thin face twisted: "He lied to me. I walked alone and couldn't see the end..."
Zheng Zhitan said: "Maybe he didn't lie to you, but things are unpredictable."
"It's hard to predict... That's right... It's hard to predict..." Lin Shuwei laughed softly, and handed over the thermos cup with shaking hands, "Mr. Zheng, this is the cup that my teammates and I have used together. Please take us to see the finish line. Please, take us..."
Lin Shuwei vomited hideously, and large clumps of filamentous substances were vomited out of him. He dug his swollen abdomen with both hands, kicked his legs on the ground, and a dying beast's roar came from his throat, which was a mixture of unwillingness, but more of relief.
Zheng Zhitan looked at the thermos cup and said, "As someone who doesn't know if he can make it to the end, I can't bear this last wish."
The person in the small gap made no sound. His head was tilted next to the line of words on the wall, his bulging eyes looking straight in one direction, and the last bunch of white hair floated out of his stiff mouth.
Zheng Zhiqin took away the cold and old thermos and left the burning cigarette.