Missed.
Chen Yang was amazed. Chao Jian used the crutch very skillfully. The crutch was almost a part of his body. The blows he made were like a swinging fist or a kicking leg.
Even Xiangdong couldn't avoid Chao Jian's attack, but Zheng Zhiqin actually avoided it, and the crutch didn't even touch his clothes.
Zheng Zhiqin tugged at the tie under his shirt collar: "Why is it so popular..."
Before he could finish pretending, another horrifying and fishy wind came with an afterimage. Zheng Zhiqin only had time to turn back half a step before the cane passed through his pupils and flew heavily to the ground in the distance, making a terrifying loud noise.
Zheng Zhiqin's cheekbone, which was rubbed by the crutch, started bleeding instantly and half of his face became swollen.
"Husband—" Pan Lin, who was sitting on the sofa, rushed over with a heart-wrenching scream, his crooked facial expression showing excessive expression, like a clown.
Everyone: “…”
Pan Lin's left eye trembled as he tilted his head towards the boy next to the vending machine: "You..." He looked at the boy's extremely good-looking face, swallowed his saliva, and his arrogance weakened. He pouted and muttered like a spoiled child, "Why are you hitting me?"
Chao Jian half-closed his eyes and bit the milk slice with a crunch. His gaze fell on Chen Yang's fingers. The few nails that had been plucked out had grown back, but they were thicker and smoother than the others.
Pan Lin was ignored. Seeing that everyone was looking at him, he immediately lowered his eyes and clenched his fingers in embarrassment and inferiority: "No matter what, you can't hit others..."
"Honey, how are you? Does it hurt? Let me blow for you." Pan Lin stood on tiptoe and held Zheng Zhiqin's face.
Zheng Zhiqin looked at Chao Jian with a bloody mouth. He grabbed Pan Lin's hand, took it down, and left without saying anything.
The crowd watching was surprised by this development.
"Is this the end? How can the proud son of heaven swallow this?!"
"I thought Zheng Zhiqin was going to beat that handsome guy with a crippled leg to death. I was ready to intervene."
"Do you think the title of gentlemanly villain is false? Just because Zheng Zhitan hasn't settled the score yet doesn't mean it's over. He must be remembering it. Just wait and see. That handsome guy with the crippled leg is going to be miserable."
"He's not disabled. His left leg is fine and he can walk. I saw it when I came to the company this morning." As the man was speaking, others saw the protagonist in the topic get up and pick up the crutches. It turned out that he could indeed walk with his left leg.
"Fuck, if he can really walk, then why is he on crutches???"
"I guess he's still recovering. If you look closely, you can see that his left leg doesn't move as naturally as his right one."
"… "
"Mr. Chen's brother used 100% of his strength when he hit me with the crutch the first time, and an additional 30% the second time. The two times happened within less than five seconds." Brother Yu made a half-baked analysis, "Amazing."
People around him didn’t understand: “What?”
Brother Yu scratched the mole in his eyebrow. When others stared at him, he scratched faster, as if he wanted to pick it out. "I observed for a while and found that Mr. Chen's brother's emotional state is not right. It seems that he has a mental or psychological illness. I am just guessing. To be safe, everyone should try not to provoke him."
"Tell me something we don't know."
"Zheng Zhitan has taken a fancy to Mr. Chen." said Brother Yu.
"That's impossible. His taste is so strong that Mr. Chen's food is not on his menu at all." This statement caused a strong reaction from everyone.
Someone asked hesitantly, "Do you want to change your taste?"
"Nonsense. I've been in A3 for almost seven years and have heard a lot of gossip about Zheng Zhiqin. He used to be a non-suspicious person in the circle of the second-generation rich in Qingcheng. His tastes were more general, and he only liked natural beauties with big breasts and thin waists," a middle-aged man with a beer belly said mysteriously, enjoying the attention. "Four years ago, I don't know why he started to love ugliness. Maybe he was possessed. Anyway, since then, Zheng Zhiqin has been around boys with strange looks, and they are all ugly in all kinds of ways."
"Possessed is too fake. Since there are necrophilia and gerontophilia, it's not surprising to be attracted to ugliness. The world is so big that there are all kinds of things," a female white-collar worker questioned. "But if you say Zheng Zhitan has a crush on Mr. Chen, I won't believe a word of it."
"I don't believe it either. Mr. Chen is exactly my ideal type. If I met him in a different setting, I would definitely go and chat him up." Another female office worker said angrily, "He is so handsome, how can he be ugly?"
"Then I don't know." Brother Yu tugged at his wrinkled dark blue short-sleeved shirt.
Chen Yang asked Chao Jian why he took action.
"You haven't said a word to him, why are you suddenly so angry?" Chen Yang asked puzzled.
"He covets my things." Chao Jian's face was gloomy, and his words had a kind of persistent childishness, mixed with pure hostility and irritability.
"What?" Chen Yang waited for a while but didn't get Chao Jian's answer. He changed the way he asked and asked tentatively, "Is that your private property?"
Chao Jian's hand holding the milk tablet trembled slightly, his throat rolled, and after a while he said: "Yes."
"My private property." Chao Jian pinched the milk tablet tightly and reached his fingertips into the powder through the packaging bag.
"Oh, I see." Chen Yang still didn't understand what Chao Jian was referring to, but since it was his private property, he would inevitably lose control when he realized Zheng Zhitan's intention.
Chao Jian's multiple personality disorder includes paranoia. Zheng Zhitan covets his things. Isn't that courting death
"Zheng Zhiqian is an old tasker." Chen Yang recalled Zheng Zhiqian's agility, as well as his courage, calmness and fearlessness when he wanted to snatch things from Chao Jian.
Chao Jian did not deny it.
Chen Yang pursed his lips, which meant that he guessed right.
In fact, after completing so many tasks, Chen Yang still didn't understand why the veteran taskers wanted to mingle with the newcomers and didn't reveal their identities directly at the beginning.
Chen Yang would not think “I was cheated, so next time I will just pretend to be a newbie”, he does not think there is any meaning in doing so.
Maybe they are afraid of being the first to be criticized? They don't want to act in a high-profile manner
Chen Yang was thinking about something and didn't notice Chao Jian staring at the scar on his left ear in a daze, nor did he notice Zheng Zhiqin's determined look from a distance.
Zheng Zhiqin went to the bathroom to wash his face. He lowered his head into the sink and turned the faucet to the middle. The cool water continued to wash his injured cheekbone.
"Honey, I bought some cold drinks. You can put them on the wound to cool it down." Pan Lin said flatteringly.
The man continued to wash his wound and ignored him.
Pan Lin realized that he was being ignored and he panicked. When he was a child, he was called a "deformed child". The adults in the village did not allow their children to play with him, for fear that his deformity would be transmitted to their own children.
Adults' thoughts will affect children. At that time, he had a few friends, but later they spit on him.
Pan Lin grew up under the contempt and discrimination of others. He thought that this was how his life would be until he met Zheng Zhitan, and his life changed completely.
Now he has a job, and he has joined such a good company. He can earn several thousand yuan just for the internship period, and Zheng Zhiqin also gave him a house. Zheng Zhiqin would buy him whatever he wanted.
Pan Lin knew that Zheng Zhiqin was attracted by his deformed face, but he didn't care, just like he didn't care about the jealousy and disgust of his colleagues, nor did he take the expressions of passers-by who said "one of these two is a human, and the other is a monster" seriously.
Some people even said to his face that he was a disgusting and ugly thing like a toad, but so what? He, the toad, had eaten the meat of a swan.
But now Pan Lin's body was shaking constantly, his pride and vanity were gone, this man could take him away from the stinking ditch, or throw him back.
He doesn't want to go back, because he will die if he goes back.
I don't know when the sound of flowing water stopped, and the only sound in front of the pool was the boy's pitiful whimpering.
Zheng Zhiqin didn't wear glasses, and a few strands of wet hair fell on his half-closed eyes. He smiled gently: "Why are you crying?"
Pan Lin was sobbing and unable to speak, with snot and tears hanging on his asymmetrical face. He subconsciously sniffed his nose, looking both miserable and disgusting.
Zheng Zhitan pressed the corner of his red eyes and said, "It's so ugly."
The next moment she grabbed his neck and pressed him against the sink, unbuckling his belt with one hand.
In the hall, Chen Yang was flipping through Dumb's sticky note book, which contained the findings from her visit to other places on the first floor.
In addition to the delicate handwriting, there are also some cartoons, which are rich in pictures and texts and very lifelike. People who read them will not feel bored, nor will they have any problems to understand.
Chen Yang saw the mute write down on a piece of paper that an elevator was parked on the second floor. He also noticed it: "The power is out, so the elevator can't be used. It must be stuck."
The mute nodded, gestured with her hands, and said something "ah ah" with her mouth.
Chen Yang guessed what the mute meant, and said, "I don't know if there is anyone in the elevator. So far, other taskers have not mentioned this matter, and they probably don't know if there are any colleagues trapped in the elevator."
The elevator is stuck on the second floor. If there were people inside, they would be banging on the elevator door. They would not be deaf to anything.
Chen Yang speculated that there were two situations in the elevator, one was that there was no one inside, and the other was that there were people inside but they were all dead.
A handful of broken milk flakes was thrown to him by someone nearby. Chen Yang opened one and poured the broken pieces into his mouth. When he saw the mute looking at him, he asked, "Do you want to eat it?"
The mute's reaction was a little too big, and she shook her head like a wave drum.
Chen Yang thought she didn't want to eat the broken ones, so he smiled and said, "We have whole ones."
The mute still shook his head and said, "Brother, the one in your family eats alone. I dare not eat it."
Chen Yang no longer forced himself. He opened five or six milk slices in one breath. There was only one difference between eating the broken ones and the whole ones: you didn't need to chew them.
"I visited the first floor before the mission began, but I didn't pay much attention to the details." Chen Yang whispered to Chao Jian, "Let's go for a walk."
Chao Jian closed his eyes and did not respond.
"Then I'll go by myself and you sit here and wait for me?" Chen Yang said.
This time Chao Jian responded. He said coldly without opening his eyes: "No, you are not allowed to leave my sight."
Chen Yang was stunned: "You won't let me act alone? You won't train me?"
"Come visit the first floor in half an hour." Chao Jian seemed to think that he was disobedient and pinched his wrist.
I don't know when a vapor appeared in the building. Everyone avoided the mess on the ground and stayed in different corners alone or in groups. They did nothing but check their phones, constantly checking and typing.
They desperately wanted to get out of this predicament, but they couldn't. This restless feeling lingered in their bodies, as if an invisible thin rope was rubbing against their necks, ready to tighten at any time.
After Brother Yu finished the last sip of mineral water, he threw the bottle into the nearest trash can. The bottle did not fall in, but landed at the feet of a young man.
When Brother Yu went to pick up the bottle, he found that the young man's face had turned a blue-gray. He paused in picking up the bottle, cleared his throat and asked with concern: "Young man, are you okay?"
The young man lowered his eyes and did not move.
Brother Yu leaned his head forward and pushed the young man with his hand. The other man fell on him. He was about to ask nervously what happened, but his open mouth suddenly froze.
No breathing
This person is not breathing!
Yu Ge trembled and pushed the young man in his arms away: "Dead, dead..." He screamed at the top of his lungs, "Dead!"
The hall seemed to be filled with a cold current, freezing the workers who were browsing their phones. After a brief silence, the female white-collar worker who wanted to commit suicide by cutting her wrists let out a deafening scream.
“Ahhh!!!”
The crying and screaming in the hall reached the bathroom.
Zheng Zhiqin put the half-removed belt back on, buckled it, patted the boy who was still in a posture of being f**ked, and said, "Let's go."
Pan Lin pitifully grabbed Zheng Zhiqin's big hand and sucked it, his red eyes full of obsession.
The man had no emotion or desire at all.
Pan Lin stood up in disappointment, not daring to mess around anymore: "What happened?"
"Someone died." Zheng Zhitan smiled a little strangely.
When Pan Lin heard this while he was sorting his clothes, he just shuddered and didn't react any further. To him personally, poverty and contempt were the most terrifying things. Compared with those two, everything else was nothing.
So even though this was a mission world, even though there were ghosts here, Pan Lin didn't collapse too much, as long as Zheng Zhiqin, the only person in the world who treated him well, didn't abandon him.
Even if he died, there would be nothing wrong with him dying with Zheng Zhitan.
As soon as Zheng Zhiqin returned to the hall, he saw Chen Yang examining the corpse. His young guard was like his shadow, always watching over him.
"What's going on?" Zheng Zhitan walked over and Pan Lin trotted after him.
Zheng Zhiqin's footsteps were heading towards Chen Yang. Pan Lin grabbed him, holding him tightly, and glared at the ugly people present with hostility.
Those relatively average-looking male and female white-collar workers: "..."
Zheng Zhitan looked at the little fairy in the company: "Qiao Qiao, you say."
Qiao Qiao said in a work-reporting tone: "Mr. Zheng, judging from the information on the deceased's work ID, he is..."
"The point." Zheng Zhitan interrupted her.
Qiao Qiao pursed his lips and said seriously: "This person was right under our noses, but no one knew when he died."
The expressions of the others who didn't dare to get close were very ugly. This realization caused their mental state to suffer varying degrees of damage.
Teammates were killed right in front of them.
Was this a provocation from the ghost? It was telling them that even if they all gathered on the first floor where there was a backup light, they would still be killed.
"The task prompt is 23 divided by 23, 23 refers to the number of people, but now there is one person missing..."
"The hint isn't fixed, it just represents a pattern, the number of people divided by the number of people."
"Now it's 22 divided by 22."
"What does that mean?"
"Attack each other, 1v1, I said that at the beginning."
"You mean, that man's death was man-made?"
"I didn't say that. I don't know."
"… "
Chen Yang was checking the body while listening to everyone's thoughts floating around the hall. He suddenly turned his head and said, "Everyone, I can confirm one thing. From the time I came down from upstairs until now, except for Mr. Zheng and his partner, no one else has left the hall."
"I want to know before that, that is, when I was upstairs and didn't come down," Chen Yang pointed at the body, "did this person leave the hall?"
Everyone looked at each other and confirmed that no, they hadn’t left.
"No, he left!"
A white-collar worker's eyes widened: "I saw him go to the bathroom!"
The atmosphere at the scene suddenly changed.
Chen Yang glanced at the deceased's work ID, then at the others', and found that no one worked in the same company as him: "What time was it?" The male white-collar worker recalled: "A little after 9:20."
"Did anyone else leave during that period of time?" Chen Yang asked again.
"Him!" The male colleague next to Qiao Qiao pointed at Xiao Huanyu, "He's not here either."
The male colleague was sweating on his forehead: "At that time, I was playing a small game on my phone with the fairy. I was distracted and occasionally looked around the hall. I didn't notice the dead buddy. I noticed him and I can be sure that he was not there."
Xiao Huanyu said angrily: "I went to the coffee shop!"
Zhang Lan at the side spoke in a much more mature and steady tone: "I asked him to make me some coffee. We want to drink some coffee to calm down."
Yu Ge said doubtfully, “But there’s no smell of coffee in your tone of voice.”
Xiao Huanyu clenched his fists in anger. Zhang Lan comforted him and explained to his teammates who were full of vigilance, "My boyfriend came back empty-handed. He was being mad and didn't give me coffee, so I didn't get to drink it."
Zhang Lan said this while gently coaxing her young man, saying that she was like both a girlfriend and a mother.
At this time, everyone's positions had changed. They began to be cautious and vigilant. They found both former colleagues and strangers suspicious.
"The mission has rules and taboos. Anyone who violates them will die." Chen Yang's eyes froze when he saw something. The deceased was wearing dark gray cross-slippers with non-slip soles that were wet.
Chen Yang did not touch it directly with his hands. He took Chao Jian's crutch and poked the sole of the shoe. It seemed like it had been soaked in water and there was a crackling sound when he poked it.
"Can't wear slippers?" Pan Lin held Zheng Zhiqin's arm and leaned forward.
"Are these considered slippers? No." Qiao Qiao took her fair feet out of the small white shoes. There were two shallow marks on the instep. "Mine can be worn in two ways." She pushed back the two thin bags gathered in front and stuffed her feet into the shoes. "This is a sandal."
Chen Yang saw that several people who changed into slippers at the company were panicking and looked like they were about to die. He quickly said, "It has nothing to do with the slippers. I was just taking a look."
These words did not comfort those people. They took off their slippers, stood on the ground barefoot, and looked dejected.
"Mr. Chen, now that someone has died in the hall, it means that the idea that all of us can just stay here for four days and then go back is not feasible." Zheng Zhitan asked with an attitude of humility, "Then what should we do?"
Chen Yang did not answer but asked: "What do you think?"
Zheng Zhiqin pushed his glasses up, and the scar on his cheekbone looked a little scary: "This is my first time doing a mission, I don't know anything."
Chen Yang: “…” He was too lazy to waste time fighting this person, “Find clues, break the rules, and avoid taboos.”
Someone immediately asked: "Where is the clue?"
Yu Ge answered for Chen Yang. He replied with the same words his mother always said when he asked her where her things were: "In my hands."
Everyone:"… "
The newcomers are dependent on the old task takers. The more fearful they are, the stronger their dependence becomes. It seems that asking them to find clues is to kill them, so it would be better to chop them off with a knife.
But these people are all taskers, without their parents or relatives, no one will pamper them.
You have to look for it, even if you are afraid.
This is a team task and cannot be relied upon by one or two people.
Chen Yang used a helpless and powerless look to tell everyone that he was not a mother hen and it was useless for everyone to follow him.
Don’t think that experienced taskers are so powerful. Many times, newcomers find just as many clues as experienced taskers.
Because experienced people have done too many tasks, they will unconsciously develop fixed thinking if they are not careful, while newcomers are a blank slate and can easily come up with fresh and open ideas.
What's more, veteran taskers have more than just experience. They also have a psychological and mental state that has collapsed countless times. They are not indestructible, but will become extremely fragile when they hit that point at a certain moment.
Besides, the old tasker only has one life.
At the critical moment of life and death, the first thing Chen Yang has to do is to protect himself. It is not feasible to rely solely on himself to save his life.
Chen Yang recalled the moment when the wave wall engulfed the building and he rushed towards Chao Jian. At that moment, he did not consider protecting himself...
"I want to eat small oranges."
The voice in his ear brought Chen Yang back to his senses. He turned his back to Chao Jian and let him search his backpack.
On the sofa not far away, Zheng Zhiqin crossed his legs and lit a cigarette. Pan Lin pulled him to say something, but he didn't listen. His eyes were fixed accurately on Chen Yang through the lenses and the swirling smoke.
Pan Lin's sensitivity seemed to suddenly increase. He turned his head and caught where Zheng Zhiqin's gaze was.
Pan Lin, who wanted to assert his sovereignty, was stunned when he saw who that person was.
Chen Yang smiled politely.
Pan Lin doesn't have a fetish for ugliness, his aesthetic sense is normal, so he blushed when he saw Chen Yang smiling at him.
Zheng Zhitan would not have any thoughts about Chen Yang, he was just overthinking it, Pan Lin thought with peace of mind.
Soon, there was only one body left in the hall, and the twenty-two survivors were scattered in the half-building A3 that was shaped like a "well".
Chen Yang and Chao Jian were on the first floor asking around. He was holding a bottle of Assam in his hand, and his palms were cold. "The two of us, the little mute, and Zheng Zhiqin, are the confirmed old taskers. I think there is one more."
"Forget it, let's not focus on this. Just hide it. It won't affect our mission." Chen Yang talked to himself. He stopped in front of a big sign. "Chao Jian, have you noticed that the moisture is heavier?"
Not only that, he always felt that something was wrong with the first floor, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
Chen Yang found the restroom according to the sign. He discovered that although the floor was wet, there was only a layer of water stains, which was not enough to soak the deceased's slippers.
What did the dead tasker see when he came in here...
Chen Yang thought, of course there was another possibility, that the tasker just came to the bathroom but did not actually go in, but went somewhere else for some reason.
Chen Yang smelled a scent of perfume in the bathroom. It was Zheng Zhiqin, who had come in with Pan Lin.
Thinking of what the two might do, Chen Yang touched his nose and said to Chao Jian: "Let's go out."
Chao Jian and Chen Yang spoke at the same time: "Go back to the hall!"
Chen Yang quickly pulled Chao Jian back to the hall. A strong smell of blood floated in the air.
A lot of the body had been eaten away, leaving the flesh and internal organs exposed in a mess.
Chen Yang stopped and took a deep breath. There was not much blood around the corpse. It seemed that the monster was chewing and drinking blood at the same time.
"Bang!" The sound of a heavy object falling to the ground was heard from behind. The two female white-collar workers were frightened and fainted. They didn't even have time to scream.
Chen Yang didn't look at the corpse again. He turned around and said to Chao Jian: "Will the corpses in this mission disappear again?"
"You'll know when you see the light." Chao Jian took the Assam and took a sip.
Chen Yang wiped his face and said, "Come to think of it, only during the mission on Xiaoyin Island did the cursed monster eat corpses. The evil spirits in other missions didn't seem to eat corpses. I haven't been shocked by this for a while."
Chao Jian walked to a red sofa and sat down, putting his crutches aside. He lowered his head and rubbed his lips against the cold Assam bottle, wondering what he was thinking.
Chen Yang sat opposite him: "At first it was 23 divided by 23, which equals 1, and now it is 22 divided by 22, which is still 1. What is the clue?"
At the same time, on the fourth floor, two men took Qiao Qiao's work ID to Jingfeng Group. They were not colleagues and had never known each other before. They were just temporarily tied together because of the same zodiac sign.
So they had little to talk about along the way.
There were two beams of light and two sets of footsteps in the corridor, and the sea water above their heads seemed like it would break through the barrier at any time and drown the two people.
"We're the only ones on the fourth floor," a shorter Aries said, "Get it and go down."
Another tall and thin Aries held up his phone and took random photos: "Nonsense, why don't you go down after taking it? Are you here to look at the sea?"
"Forget about the sea. I don't want to see the sea water again in my life." The shorter Aries wailed in pain.
Qiao Qiao was originally with them. If her male colleague hadn't pulled her to the third floor to see some kind of company, they wouldn't be the only two of them now.
Just one person died in the team, and they didn't want to come up at this time.
But Qiao Qiao's words "Today is a disaster day for Aries" made them feel uneasy and like something stuck in their throats, so they reached an agreement to make this trip.
"I've read some suspense and crime books. There's a type of murderer who regards killing as completing a work of art. I think the monster in the building has a desire to perform. It attacks when there are many people around. It's a performance. It doesn't care about the two of us." The shorter Aries made a very clear analysis.
The tall and thin Aries said a few perfunctory words and walked to the outside of Jingfeng Group. He swiped his card to go in and shone the flashlight.
The whole company was in a mess, and the aisles were blocked by all kinds of garbage. The tall and thin Aries pushed a computer desk aside to make some space, and then squeezed through.
The shorter one followed closely behind. He had forgotten that he had gained weight and had three or four layers of fat on his belly, which made it impossible for him to get in or out.
"Give me a hand!" he asked his companions for help.
"Wait a moment." The tall and thin Aries found her seat according to Qiao Qiao's instructions. He saw the pink bag on her table and took it and left.
As soon as the two of them walked out, the shorter Aries discovered that his cell phone was left inside.
Just now when he was stuck in the aisle, he put his phone aside in order to push the computer desk. Later, he was so focused on getting out that he forgot to bring his phone with him.
"Brother, lend me your phone. Um, wait here for me, I'll be right out." The shorter Aries was too embarrassed to ask his companion to accompany him, so he swiped his card to enter the office, intending to get his phone out as quickly as possible.
The tall and thin Aries stood outside the wooden door and took out the constellation book from Qiao Qiao's small bag and started flipping through it.
In the dark office, the shorter Aries used his companion's mobile phone to light up the room, and he quickly found the place where he was stuck before.
The mesh sneakers were a little wet, and he subconsciously rubbed them with his heels.
Even wetter.
My feet felt like they were stepping into a puddle of water, wet and slippery.
"Why is it so wet?" The young man picked up his mobile phone and lifted his foot. Suddenly, he saw a pair of feet. He turned back unconsciously with a look of surprise on his face.
"Why are you here?"