The sun was shining brightly outside the tent. Everyone was silent. The corpse in the tent was looking at them.
With eyes without eyeballs.
"ah-"
He Xiangrui screamed and squatted down with his head in his hands, his strong body shaking violently.
The others were in a panic, some were afraid, some were solemn, and their expressions were different.
Chen Yang looked at the corpse and his hair stood on end. He took a few steps back and pulled Chao Jian aside.
Zhao Yuan followed like a little baby.
"He died so fast..." He panted heavily, "Did that person break some taboo?"
"Taboo?" A photographer who was about the same age as Chen Yang spoke.
When the other newcomers heard this word, they all had reactions of varying degrees.
Zhao Yuan explained: "Each mission has a set of rules. Ghosts don't kill people for no reason."
"Then what happened to him?" Zhong Ming stood next to Zhao Yuan, "We are all fine, why is he like this..."
Wen Qing squatted aside, playing with the hot sand with his hands: "Yeah, it's really strange, why did he die among so many of us?"
Just as Chen Yang was about to explain the reason, Wen Qing threw away the sand and came closer.
"Handsome guy, we are all tasked with a mission. It's a matter of life and death. We are not related. At most, we can cooperate. We can't expect anyone to take the lead. This is just the beginning, and you're sending clues to them. They will form a concept that those who are capable should work harder. How scary is this idea."
Wen Qing tilted his lips and said, "I find you are a bit bad. You trained them to be greedy. Those who survived this time will not have you by their side in the next mission. They can't use their brains, so they can only cry and shout for dad to save me, tsk tsk."
Chen Yang: “…”
Wen Qing raised his chin towards Chao Jian: "Li Mao'er, I know you must agree with me. We are the same kind."
Calling him Limao is risky enough, but they even added the disgusting "er".
Unexpectedly, Wen Qing was picked.
Chen Yang stopped Chao Jian who was about to use the crutch, and warned Wen Qing with his eyes that he didn't bring enough medicine, so he should be careful.
The hipster almost got his throat blocked by chewing gum.
Oh no, I’m screwed now. I have to stay away from dangerous people.
"Find the difference." Chen Yang met the gazes waiting for the answer to be dropped, "It's easy to find."
He patted the older boy who had collaborated with him for the second time: "Zhao Yuan, think about it."
Zhao Yuan didn't dare to look at the corpse in the tent. Although it was not bloody or foul-smelling, the pair of eyes that were staring outside were very creepy.
“If you’re looking for differences… it’s because he did it and we didn’t…” Zhao Yuan looked at Chen Yang’s fingers wrapped in gauze, his mind in a knot.
"I see!"
He Xiangrui, who was trembling with fear, jumped up and shouted excitedly, "He's in the tent!"
The newlyweds froze.
Yes, they were all outside, only the dead one was in the tent.
Is this why he was killed
Chen Yang nodded to the several taskers who asked him questions, and he couldn't help but think of the naughty kid on Xiaoyin Island.
The child said something that, looking back now, is simply the truth.
He said, you adults just like to complicate things.
That’s true. Now that I know it, I will do it the same way next time.
Many times, the truth is right in front of us, but people look elsewhere due to their fixed mindset.
"If we can't enter the tent, then what's the point of putting this here?" questioning voices arose among the newcomers.
It was the cosplayed little Taoist priest Qingfeng. He had no ill intentions, but he was just slow to react and his IQ wasn’t very high.
Chen Yang said: "You can enter the tent."
Qingfeng muttered in confusion: "Isn't this inconsistent?"
Before Chen Yang could explain, a sigh floated over: "Hey."
Wen Qing chewed his gum and pointed at Qing Feng, then at Feng Chu and other newcomers: "You, you, and you, the rest of you, can't draw inferences from one example? Can't you adapt? How come all of you are worse than me who got a single-digit score in math? Really."
The six people who were disliked: "..."
Wen Qing asked Qing Feng: "Master, what is the mission prompt?"
Qingfeng said: "Early to bed and early to rise."
Feng Chu on the side added: "It corresponds to sunrise and sunset, Mr. Chen said."
The second half of the sentence is full of trust and following.
Wen Qing rolled the wilted bubbles around his lips into his mouth and glanced at Chen Yang with interest. The other man's face was facing the one on crutches, and the two of them were whispering to each other.
Tsk, young couple.
Wen Qing was no longer afraid of the man on crutches getting sick. With Chen Yang's medicine, he would not go on a killing spree.
Thinking of this, Wen Qing asked Qing Feng in a more friendly manner: "So what? Think about it further."
He glanced at the other five newcomers and said, "The others should also use their brains. Don't rely on the little Taoist priest to figure out the answer alone."
The photographer hesitated and asked, "Can't we enter the tent during the day?"
"That's right." Wen Qing chewed his gum. "You're so young, but your thinking is so dull. It seems you haven't thought enough. Take it slow and use your brain more."
The newcomers secretly communicated with each other through eye contact. This literary young man was guiding us step by step to find clues. He seemed to be a good person.
"Yes, I am a good person." Wen Qing smiled slightly.
Everyone: “…”
Wen Qing walked to the drunkard's tent and half-knelt to look inside.
The sun was very strong at the bathing beach. Chen Yang could smell the restlessness and saltiness in the sea breeze. Among the ten people still alive, there were four old people and six newcomers. It was unknown how many of them left last.
Zhao Yuan whispered to Chen Yang: "So are we going to sleep in a tent tonight?"
"Um."
Chen Yang said seriously: "You must leave the tent after sunrise. You cannot go in during the day. You must go back to the tent to sleep after sunset. You cannot come out at night."
He Xiangrui sobbed and said, "Can we be partners?"
Others have the same idea.
Although the tents are for single people, they can sit inside. After all, no one would be careless and sleep soundly here.
Chen Yang didn't want to talk about this topic, but he had to, so he pointed to all the tents.
"As you can see, each of our tents has a different pattern, which means that we can only sleep alone. One person per tent. If there is one more person in the tent, then that person is not a human being."
These words made everyone speechless.
Chen Yang felt that he would have a hard time tonight, and he looked at Chao Jian depressedly.
Chao Jian frowned: "Hand hurts?"
"That's nothing." Chen Yang said, "I'm just worried about sleeping alone in the tent at night without you by my side."
He spoke frankly and directly, completely unaware of the ambiguity in his words.
Chao Jian's breath was a little heavy. He frowned and poked the sand with the cane in his hand. It was unclear what was in his eyes: "Since the mission, you have been sleeping with me at night."
What this means is that it's time for you to face it alone, otherwise you will never take this step.
Chen Yang understood what Chao Jian meant, and he thought to himself, yes, it must be overcome.
In order not to hinder the partner when encountering evil spirits, and also for myself to grow faster in the mission world.
Everyone saw Chen Yang's struggle and determination, and they learned from it that what the other party said was true.
You can't stay outside after sunset.
This is called going to bed early.
"It's basically impossible to see the sunrise or sunset on cloudy or rainy days," He Xiangrui thought of a question, and said nervously and helplessly, "Then we can't be sure of the time to leave the tent, right?"
"Or, maybe around that time?"
The young man in front of the tent turned around and said, "You are so stupid! Who told you to think this is a real beach? This is just a larger secret room. We are playing an escape game."
"Since the mission gives this hint, it means there will definitely be sunrise and sunset."
Everyone looked at the empty bathing beach, the open sky, and then at the endless sea.
Secret room
They don't even recognize these two words.
The hipster spit out the tasteless chewing gum and wrapped it in paper: "It just looks big, most of it is misleading, it's an illusion, we need to draw a boundary in our minds."
Everyone seemed to understand but not quite.
“Wow.”
Wen Qing discovered something and shouted excitedly: "Handsome guy, come here, there is something good!"
Chen Yang lowered his head and stood behind him, avoiding the corpse's eyes: "What?"
Wen Qing suddenly moved to the side in a strange way.
There was no obstruction in front of Chen Yang's eyes, and he subconsciously wanted to turn his head away, but before he made that move, he caught a glimpse of the situation in the tent.
The body is gone.
There was a puzzle piece where it had been lying.
Everyone saw the fragment, but no one went in to get it.
"Wait until tonight." Zhao Yuan's thick Adam's apple rolled up and down, "You can go in tonight."
Zhong Ming said: "But you can't leave the tent at night. You have to stay inside with the puzzle until sunrise the next day."
Now everyone who wanted to speak shut up.
Someone had just died in the tent, and the body disappeared inexplicably. It took courage to go in and take out the fragments. Who would dare to stay in there for a night
Wen Qing called Zhao Yuan: "School Prince, go to the shed and find me a long net for catching small fish. I will fish out the puzzle."
Zhao Yuan went as requested, and Zhong Ming kindly accompanied him.
Wen Qing noticed Chen Yang's strange look and blinked innocently: "What?"
Chen Yang said: "So cautious?"
Wen Qing stood up. He was a little shorter than Chen Yang. He stood on tiptoe and looked at him at eye level. "Do you have any misunderstandings about me? I cherish my life very much."
Chen Yang did not act with Wen Qing, he had already figured out the reason why the other party was so obedient.
Wen Qing said that he risked his life to find the clues, so why should he tell others? Whether to tell it or not and when to tell it depends on his mood.
So even if Wen Qing had a discovery and wanted to use himself as an experiment when he was unsure, he wouldn't do it in front of everyone.
That was his own carnival, and it would lose its fun if there were other people around.
He didn't die after the experiment and still shared the results.
Just like that time at the train station, at a time that one thought was perfect.
Chen Yang calmed himself down and called Zhao Yuan and Zhong Ming, who had not yet walked far away, "Come back, there's no need to look for the net."
He took Chao Jian's crutch and squatted down to reach the puzzle pieces in the tent.
"Just take it." Wen Qing said in a voice that only Chao Jian could hear, "I don't even dare to borrow from you."
Chao Jian's gaze fell on Chen Yang.
Wen Qing pulled out his bow tie from under his shirt collar and twisted it between his fingers: "Neither of you is fun. It's good that Xiangdong is here. He can stimulate my adrenaline."
"My ID number is four digits, and I don't know if I have the privilege to choose fixed teammates."
Wen Qing finished abruptly, lacking interest: "It's better to be alone. With a partner, the chance of survival won't increase, but the chance of death will double."
He kindly reminded: "You better be careful."
Chao Jian turned a deaf ear to it.
"It must be hard to walk with a single crutch." Wen Qing stuffed his bow tie into his trouser pocket and pointed at Jian's bent left leg. "Your leg is interesting."
“It’s out!”
Zhao Yuan jumped up and down excitedly like a big monkey, shouting, "It's coming out!"
Chen Yang fished out the puzzle piece, but a small part of it was stuck in the sand, so he had to poke it out with his crutch.
One centimeter in size.
There is only a dark brown area in the picture.
Chen Yang said to the others, "You all go check your own tents. If nothing goes wrong, there should be puzzle pieces there as well."
Qingfeng's tent was next to the drunkard. He leaned in to look around and shouted in panic.
"Yes! Me too!"
He Xiangrui and Qingfeng shouted at the same time. Although photographer Zhang Jinyang and others didn't shout, it was clearly written on their faces.
Yes, they all have puzzles in their tents.
I don't know when it appeared, it seemed like someone had thrown it in there at random.
Chen Yang knew that Chao Jian didn't like others touching his crutches. Before, someone touched it in Laoji Village, and he wiped it with toilet paper for a long time. There was no other way, so Chen Yang had to use his crutches to dig out the tents one by one until he got to his own place.
Chen Yang's tent was the first one in line, and his puzzle piece was red.
Very bright red.
The eleven puzzle pieces were all put together. They were very small and scattered, not connected, and could not form anything.
Everyone gathered in a circle, afraid that the sea breeze would blow the debris into the sea, which would be the end of it.
“It looks like a very large picture.”
Zhao Yuan scratched the slightly long hair on the back of his head, looked up and asked, "Does anyone like to play with this thing?"
Chen Yang couldn't do it. He had never been exposed to intellectual toys when he was a child. When he grew up, he bought some Legos on a whim, but he couldn't even put together a set.
My younger sister couldn't do it either. After trying for a while, she threw it aside impatiently and said in a coquettish way that her eyes and hands hurt and she felt uncomfortable.
Both the brother and sister have little interest in this area.
Chen Yang looked at Chao Jian expectantly.
Wen Qing touched his thick bangs that were blown up by the wind and said, "Don't look at him. He's not good at this kind of childish games."
"The hourglass in the two shadows at the train station last time was still what Xiangdong was thinking about."
Chen Yang paused, concealed the expectation in his eyes and looked at Chao Jian.
Chao Jian responded with silence.
"I..." Feng Chu raised his hand hesitantly.
Wen Qing's face was almost close to him: "Little brother, don't raise your hands randomly, these eleven fragments are scattered. Can you imagine the incomplete ones and complete this picture?"
Feng Chu immediately put his hand down and shook his head like a rattle.
Chen Yang glanced at the little boy who was being bullied by the young man and couldn't even breathe: "Do you usually play puzzles?"
Feng Chu straightened his slumped back and said, "It's for fun."
"I have a lot of puzzles. I stayed up all night last night to finish a puzzle I just got. I really like it."
Chen Yang nodded and said, "There are too few fragments now, and you can't figure out anything yet. If we find more, you can study them?"
Feng Chu blushed: "Yes."
Chen Yang scratched the top of his head which was about to burn from the sun. The debris was scattered all over the bathing area and it was difficult to find, but he had to look for it.
"Who wants to keep these fragments?" Chen Yang asked.
No one responded.
Chen Yang was not surprised by the newcomers' avoidance. As an old man, Zhao Yuan had limited courage and ability, so he could understand their fear.
The only thing that made him feel strange was why Wen Qing was so quiet
The hipster was playing with coins, not knowing what he was thinking about.
Chen Yang scratched his sweaty forehead. This puzzle piece was related to the background of the mission, so he couldn't just throw it away anywhere. It would be better to carry it with him.
Since no one said anything, he could only keep it to himself.
At night, it is very likely that he will have fragments in his pocket and a female ghost leaning against his back.
As Chen Yang bent over to pick up the fragments with his left hand, he reached out towards Jane's crutch.
"Don't you know what your hands look like? Why are you touching them?" Chao Jian said, "Wenqing, give it to me."
Wen Qing looked flattered: "Calling my name so formally was so unexpected. I was not prepared at all."
Everyone:"… … "
No one had any objection to Chao Jian's proposal to keep the eleven fragments himself.
Only his partner was worried and confirmed it again and again.
Chao Jian seemed impatient. He raised his cane, waved away Chen Yang's arm that was still above the debris, and said in a low voice: "It will be okay."
Chen Yang relaxed a little after hearing this.
"Excuse me, both of you," Wen Qing straightened the collar of his suit, looking like a master of ceremonies, "Are you..."
The word "communication" jumped to his lips, but was intercepted by Chen Yang.
"Everyone take a picture."
Chen Yang pointed to the puzzle pieces on the sand and said, "Don't just take a photo together, take photos separately, one photo for each piece."
He moved aside as he didn't have his cell phone with him and let them come.
Those who had mobile phones came forward one by one to take pictures of the fragments. Even though it was a little scary to take pictures on the phone, they all knew that they could not rely on one person to complete the task.
They are a team.
It would be unreasonable to back down at this point.
Zhang Jinyang was the first to go up. He was a straight and rough guy. He took a lot of photos. Ten out of the eleven photos were blurry, so he took them again.
Still blurry.
Qingfeng kindly reminded: "Don't shake your hands."
"There's something wrong with my phone." Zhang Jinyang said in a cold tone, "It will be like this when you take a close-up shot."
Qingfeng took his phone and quickly took two pictures for him.
The photos are clear, not a single one is blurry.
Zhang Jinyang's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
Qing Feng flicked the wide sleeves of his Taoist robe and said, "If anyone else has problems with their cell phone, I can help."
No one.
Only Zhang Jinyang.
His face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
"Don't fight," He Xiangrui held down Zhang Jinyang, "We are all miserable people. We don't know what terrible things will happen next. We need to help each other..."
Zhang Jinyang picked up the hand on his shoulder and threw it away as if it were some garbage.
He Xiangrui touched his nose awkwardly. He decided not to have a good relationship with this guy.
The other teammates were much more amiable.
"Do you have photo editing software on your phone? You can piece the photos together and take a look at them when you have nothing to do. Use your imagination and think creatively. Maybe you will find a surprise." Zhao Yuan saved the photo and thought that it might be a surprise.
“I have a photo editing app on my phone,” Zhong Ming shook his phone, “but the problem is there’s no internet.”
Zhao Yuanling's face turned pale, he had forgotten about this.
After everyone took their pictures, Wen Qing gave the puzzle pieces to Chao Jian.
Around eight in the morning, the sun was so hot in the bathing area that it was unbearable to stay in, so they retreated to a shed and ate something roughly.
The bread no longer smelled good, and the drinks no longer tasted sweet. He Xiangrui's face turned pale as he ate: "I don't want to die here. I'm not married yet."
“… … ”
Whoever got married, we didn’t.
"Brothers, cheer up and let's analyze it." Zhao Yuan held the mineral water bottle in his hand until it was slightly deformed. "Although there are adults who like puzzles, the proportion is not large. The main audience is still children."
"Mr. Wen suspects it's a female ghost. If you combine these two points, could it be a little girl?"
Feng Chu retorted: "The fragments are too small, they are adult versions."
Zhao Yuan's idea was overturned. He couldn't think of anything else for a while, so he just touched this and that without any purpose.
"Whoosh!"
The floor fan in the shed suddenly started turning!
Everyone's face changed drastically.
Especially He Xiangrui, who was facing the fan, felt that the wind blowing on his face had a foul smell, and he screamed in fear.
"It was me. I turned it on." Zhao Yuan said quickly, "I turned on the fan."
"Damn it, what are you pressing?" He Xiangrui angrily threw half an apple at Zhao Yuan.
At this time, Feng Chu squeezed the bread and said, "All the items here are expired, why is the electric fan still usable?"
"There is still water in the locker room." Chen Yang said.
The atmosphere instantly fell into silent panic, and even the daytime bathing place became creepy.
"Let's continue with our previous discussion." Chen Yang gave the water to Chao Jian and spoke to break the spreading despair.
The photographer concluded: "A woman who loved puzzles died here."
Chen Yang wiped his face with his fingers and said, "Do you remember when that drunk man died..."
"There are no eyeballs." Feng Chu continued.
Chen Yang glanced over and found that this boy was the one with the fastest reaction among the newcomers.
"Are you blind?" Zhao Yuan asked Chen Yang foolishly.
Chen Yang was immersed in his own thoughts: "Tent, beach, watching sunrise, waiting for sunset, male friend?"
Zhao Yuan didn't know what he was thinking. He stood up as if struck by lightning and asked: "Among the ten of us, has anyone ever done anything to let his girlfriend down?"
The responses he got were either incomprehensible or no response.
Zhao Yuan stared at everyone and asked repeatedly, "Really? Cheating, domestic violence, deception, etc.!"
The result this time is the same as last time.
There was only a little more literary laughter, and he held his chin up and said, "School hunk, your imagination is a bit clichéd."
When Zhao Yuan heard Wen Qing say this, he was neither angry nor embarrassed. His youthful face was tense and his pupils were trembling slightly.
"I had a girlfriend."
This was the first sentence Zhao Yuan said when he called Chen Yang out. His suppressed insecurity was released, and he said helplessly: "She misunderstood that I cheated on her and dropped out of school."
"It was really a misunderstanding. I didn't cheat. I called to explain, but she didn't believe me and insisted that I had changed my mind. At that time, I was in my third year of high school and had to study for an exam. My parents were divorced. I was very upset and didn't have much patience. I was also wrong. I should have persuaded her more when she didn't come back to study. I..."
Zhao Yuan spoke incoherently, his eyes were red and full of panic.
Chen Yang said: "What kind of idea have you come up with?"
Zhao Yuan paused, and wiped his eyes randomly: "There are such things in movies. The ghost will gather together all the people who have hurt it, and take revenge on them one by one."
"Another thing is that a few strangers appeared in a villa or somewhere else. Ghosts have nothing to do with them. They are just doing justice for the heavens. I suspect that's what we are."
Zhao Yuan's eyes widened. "I asked that question to test them, and they all said no. They must have lied."
"I don't want to admit it, I don't dare to admit it, I don't know why I'm so panicked now..."
Chen Yang interrupted: "I didn't."
Zhao Yuan: “Ah?”
"I said, I don't have a girlfriend." Chen Yang said.
Zhao Yuan was stunned for a while before he reacted: "That's good... Then it's not..."
While saying this, his eyes were looking at the man with crutches.
Chen Yang said: "He hasn't talked about it either."
Zhao Yuan's tense facial muscles relaxed. Among the ten people, two had never had a girlfriend, so he was sure that they were not lying.
This result was enough to make him deny his own guess.
Zhao Yuan came back to life and said sheepishly, "Am I still stupid?"
Chen Yang said no, it is better to use your brain than not use it.
Even if the idea is wrong.
The beach was too sunny, so everyone used children's plastic shovels to dig in the sand and look for puzzle pieces.
Maybe we can dig up something else.
As for what it was specifically, they all tacitly ignored it.
The most frightening thing is that there is more than one ghost.
Chen Yang stood on the lifeguard platform. His hair was the shortest among the group of people. When the sun shone on his hair, his scalp felt burning.
"The hipster went to the ladies' locker room."
"Don't worry about him." Chao Jian sat under the awning, flopping his crutches around.
Chen Yang looked at the entire bathing area. He accidentally caught a glimpse of something and opened his eyes: "There are stairs at two o'clock. Can we go up?"
"No, don't even think about it."
Chao Jian threw the crutches aside: "This is an atypical enclosed space."
Chen Yang listened to this statement. In front of him was a broad view. The contrast was horrifying. He looked down at the boy from the high platform and said, "Why are you like a literary youth? You don't like digging sand either."
Chao Jian took out a milk tablet and without tearing open the package, he crushed it bit by bit between his thumb and index finger until it became powder.
Chen Yang: “…”
It's time to take medicine.
But no, he can't eat it now.
Chen Yang felt the pill in his trouser pocket through the cloth. He would have to wait until sunset to get today's pill.
"Mr. Chen!"
Feng Chu, who was not far away, ran over on the sand. He raised his face with two blushes on it and shouted, "I found a puzzle. It's a dark brown piece in the eleventh tent... I, I suspect it's... I suspect it's that..."
He was out of breath and his speech was intermittent.
Chen Yang quickly got down from the platform and pulled him under the awning: "You take it easy first."
Feng Chu was a little dehydrated. He swallowed hard to cushion the smoke in his throat: "Dark brown, reef, dark brown."
Reef? Chen Yang's eyes drifted to the bathing area. There were reefs on both sides. He excitedly hit Jian's arm with the back of his hand: "Quick, take out the fragments."
After the fight, Chen Yang felt a little nervous when he remembered that Chao Jian was in a bad mood.
However, Chao Jian did not get angry. He grabbed a handful of fragments and threw them on the empty chair next to him.
Chen Yang found the dark brown piece.
Previously, when Chen Yang looked at the color, he did not associate it with a reef. But now that he had Feng Chu's guess, when he went to look at it again, he felt that it was most likely a reef.
"And this, the hemp gray pattern."
Feng Chu turned over the fragments, pointed at the exposed piece and said, "Does it look like a stone?"
Chen Yang's heart skipped a beat and he immediately looked towards the beach.
"I suspect the whole puzzle is a photograph..."
Feng Chu wiped off the sweat that trickled down his neck and said with trembling lips, "The background in the photo is this bathhouse."