Matryoshka Off-Limits

Chapter 83: Sunset Red Tour Group

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Hot, irritable, and dull.

The train was shaking like an electric car. Wen Shi kept his eyes closed and said nothing for a long time. Even he couldn't tell whether he fell asleep or passed out from the heat.

The most sober one was Li Nan. Every once in a while, he would go to the pool to fill the water tank. The temperature was too high and the water in the tank evaporated faster.

While adding water, Li Nan carefully observed the player's amputated surface, where a thick layer of black scars had formed. The scars were shaped like tree rings, one circle after another, and there were things like black tadpoles swimming on each mark.

A walking curse.

This thought suddenly popped up in Li Nan's mind.

Da da da.

Li Nan turned around and saw that the old lady in the box had half of her body exposed. She was fanning Wen Shi kindly while leaning slightly towards Li Nan.

She didn't like to look people in the eye, and her eyes were always on the ground. Her timid behavior made people feel nervous.

The sound just now was the old lady knocking on the suitcase handle. She was reminding Li Nan not to meddle in other people's business.

Li Nan received the warning and sat back in his seat.

He calmly thought about the other party's abilities. Except for a few rare skills, the First Guild had mastered almost all the skills that players might have, and Li Nan did not find any similar ones among them.

"Black blood, curses..." He suddenly remembered a dungeon he had played before, in which there was an NPC with similar characteristics.

The general background of the story defines it as: witch.

"We are about to arrive at Pufengtuo, and will stop at this station for 30 minutes—"

The train broadcast sounded, injecting a bit of vitality into the lifeless carriage.

Pufengtuo does not provide any shade at all in its high temperature state, but players can at least temporarily get rid of the dizziness of being in a full car.

The tour guide was already standing at the door, clapped her hands and said, "Please be ready. Start capturing the flag half a minute after I leave!"

Wen Shi got up from the bed sweating. He felt dizzy from lying down for too long. When his vision recovered, he asked, "There is no tour guide in the opposite carriage. How do they know about this game?"

The tour guide was full of energy and patiently answered him: "There will be a broadcast announcement over there."

Wen Shi seemed to be thinking about something. The cooperation from the crew to the broadcasting showed that the train also had cooperation with Sunset Red Travel Agency. He had to pay attention to anything related to the travel agency to avoid being cheated accidentally.

There was no delay like when entering Fengzhang Station. This time the platform could be seen in less than five minutes after the train slowed down.

The game prompt sounded without any surprise:

[Collective side mission: Capture the flag

It's time to test your speed and endurance! Be sure to find a way to catch the tour guide first and take the flag from her.

Note that the temperature inside the car will rise another five degrees before the group that fails to capture the flag reaches the terminal.]

Although he knew it was not a good idea to always ask questions, Song Yan still couldn't help asking: "When will the main quest usually come out? Or will we automatically declare victory after clearing all the shadows?"

Seeing that no one answered, Song Yan felt a little embarrassed and subconsciously looked at Wen Shi.

After he came here, Wen Shi taught him a lot of things. It can be said that Song Yan has an inappropriate fledgling complex towards Wen Shi.

"I have only experienced one team battle, and that was a main quest that was launched the next day." Wen Shi put his hand on the edge of the bed, his fingertips moving slightly, proving that he was in a state of thinking.

After a while, Wen Shi spoke again: "If it weren't for

If necessary, it is best not to kill the shadows, just let them be half dead and lose their fighting power."

In a normal life-and-death team battle, the penalty for mission failure should be the reduction of the number of members of the opposing team, but this time it was too abnormal.

Like Song Yan, the atmosphere was very quiet after Wen Shi finished speaking. He thought that everyone just disagreed with him and misunderstood that he was too soft-hearted, so he raised his head and prepared to explain.

"Is it this half-dead?"

Before Wen Shi spoke, Xiaohua pointed at the two water tanks and asked in an uncertain tone.

Wen Shi was stunned for a moment and did not answer immediately, which was taken as his consent.

Everyone's thoughts were unanimous: He has such a cruel heart!

The ruthless Wen Shi, bearing a false charge, waited for the train to stop at the platform.

As soon as the Sierra door opened, the tour guide rushed out like a flash of lightning.

Xiao Hua watched the clock, waiting for half a minute to pass, and asked, "Who will be the one guarding Shadow this time?"

Although it is not fair, players signed up enthusiastically. The sun is so hot outside and no one wants to run under the scorching sun.

Li Nan brought up the previous discussion with Wen Shi about orcs. When talking about the tour guide who looked like a silver ant, a player said something bad: "Silver ants run very fast, and the tour guide is very good at fatigue fighting. With our current state, we will be exhausted after one or two kilometers at most."

Not to mention anything else, when the tour guide went out earlier, his speed was at least three meters per second, far exceeding that of ordinary silver ants. Moreover, the tour guide was smiling throughout the train ride, but they were almost suffering from heatstroke, not to mention the physical strength.

The time is almost up, and some players take the initiative to stand at the door, ready to participate in the flag capture.

"If you don't want to run, don't run. There's no need to overdraw your body." Wen Shi half leaned on the bed, gently pinching his brows, "Just pretend to run, but you have to go with someone who is sure of what's going on, who can always observe Shadow's movements."

He paused and told his plan: "I have a prop that refreshes the side quest. When the Shadow Group is infinitely close to the tour guide, I will refresh the quest."

"… "

Wen Shi glanced at the player at the door and said, "Don't be stunned. Run a few steps first, otherwise it will easily arouse suspicion."

Shadow Yu Xingzhou sneered: "Your shadow also has the props you can use."

"It will take some time for him to come up with this method."

Wen Shi's face was abnormally flushed due to the heat, and his words were full of heat: "During my rebellious period, I hated doing good deeds every day the most, and it was hard for me to use it in group tasks."

He looked out the window: "Actually, it doesn't matter even if I thought about it."

Shadow will not give up capturing the flag, as giving up means handing over the victory to others in vain, but chasing desperately will definitely be in vain. The solution is very simple, as long as Shadow Wenshi voluntarily takes out the refresh props and reaches a balance with Wenshi.

But the other party will never do it.

"Because he is a shadow," Wen Shi said with a smile, "How could he be willing to waste such a good life-saving prop in a collective side quest to serve the public."

For the first time, Shadow Yu Xingzhou felt that sometimes good is more difficult to deal with than evil, and selflessness is more troublesome than selfishness.

Wen Shi said softly: "I have been kind enough to the child. As long as he behaves well and doesn't say anything, I am willing to be dumb again."

Otherwise, he could have used this incident to get the other party ostracized by the Shadow Group.

At this stop, a total of four players got off. For flag-grabbing missions, you usually only need to send those who can run fast and have good endurance, and fewer people will not arouse suspicion.

The task of observation fell to Li Nan. He kept in touch with Wen Shi on his mobile phone to ensure that he could notify Wen Shi immediately if he saw any signs that the guide was being caught up.

know.

Shadow Yu Xingzhou frowned, really unable to understand why the other party was willing to use precious props in such an insignificant link.

"Severe heatstroke can kill people." Even with medicine, the negative state of the body cannot be eliminated in a short time. Wen Shi knew what he was thinking even with his eyes closed. "The game keeps draining our energy. We can't rule out a battle royale at Sunset Station."

Shadow Yu Xingzhou suddenly thought of a way to break the impasse: "Benefit exchange. Your shadow can completely ask others to give corresponding benefits in exchange for props for refreshing tasks to make up for the losses."

After he finished speaking, without waiting for any rebuttal, he looked up and found Wen Shi looking at him with a smile.

After a brief moment of shock, Shadow Yu Xingzhou immediately realized that he had been fooled!

Shadows are all selfish, whether they are willing to make an exchange or not is another matter, but his words are completely to remind everyone how selfless the man in front of them is. In order to protect the team, he will take the important props without hesitation.

Now even the people in the water tank felt a sense of peace of mind.

Wen Shi's efforts gave them hope of leaving the copy alive.

The most selfish person present was the short-haired man who had stepped on someone else's life to successfully board the car. Even he was somewhat touched. Regardless of whether it was intentional or not, the other party had indeed made great efforts. He finally understood why Pei Wenwei had so many secrets, but the players who went to the dungeon with him almost never leaked any secrets.

When Wen Shi received a lot of praise, Shadow Yu Xingzhou noticed that the other party deliberately moved the phone that was currently on the line closer to him to ensure that the person on the other end of the phone could also feel his kindness.

"… "

The greatest falsehood appears true, and the greatest treachery appears loyal.

Shadow Yu Xingzhou thought with great headache, no matter how he looked at it, this person looked more like a shadow.

I thought Wen Shi would say something proud next, but when Shadow looked over again, he found that the other party seemed to be holding something in his hand, and was actually praying and muttering something.

He began to doubt the man's mental state.

The real shadow Wen Shi was running in the sun. The girl saw that he was sweating profusely and wanted to find water for him everywhere.

Unfortunately, although Putuo Station stops for 30 minutes, the platform is very deserted. It is completely different from Fengzhang and there is not a single vendor to be seen.

"You rest here first, I'll go capture the flag."

The young man shook his head and found a rare shady place to lean against. The mission mentioned that the main players in this round would be tourists, and he had a hunch that once they got involved, it would be more harmful than beneficial.

The girl finally found a large piece of cardboard and used it to fan him.

It was a little cooler now, and the boy looked around and saw nothing.

See Wen Shi.

Didn’t you come down

"Something's wrong." The young man held the hot steel pipe and watched the skin on his palms turn red. The stinging sensation further stimulated his brain.

He lowered his head and remained motionless for a few seconds until a thought flashed through his mind and his face became completely gloomy: "Props."

The girl hummed in confusion, but continued to fan him vigorously.

"When I'm halfway to death, that hypocrite will use the item to refresh the mission."

The girl thought the question was simple: "Then you can use it too."

The boy shook his head: "The real journey has not yet begun. It is a complete waste of resources to use them here."

From the perspective of his own interests, his idea was not wrong. The greatest use value of this prop was in refreshing difficult personal tasks. As for him to serve the team, the boy thought he did not have such qualities.

Regardless of whether the girl could understand or not, the boy explained a few words with a bit of anger. Girl: "Then give up the flag capture."

“Once that happens…” the young man sighed, “the opponent won’t even have to waste any props and will be able to win directly.”

Girl: “Then you use it.”

The boy was tired and didn't want to repeat the same conversation again. It seemed that this girl was not very smart.

When he pinched his brow helplessly, the girl asked softly: "My dear grandson, are you being dominated by him?"

It was visibly that at this moment, the boy's hair was slightly puffed up with anger. He took a deep breath and adjusted his mood as quickly as possible.

When the boy was lost in thought, he had the same little habit as Wen Shi, moving his fingers gently in the air as if he was playing the piano.

The girl didn't dare to disturb him and fanned him hard.

The thin and frail body leaned against the pillar, and the dark aura around it overlapped with the small reflection of the pillar.

The boy suddenly looked at the long staircase. He had chased the tour guide here before. The tour guide ran all the way up. The waiting hall was above. He looked at it for a long time. He didn't know what he thought of. He stood up and said, "It's the stupidest to act recklessly. There is another way to try."

The train stops for thirty minutes, which is enough time for a long tug-of-war. The waiting room at Pufengtuo is the same as the departure station. The people inside don't look like passengers but rather people who are staying here for a long time.

The waiting hall is divided into two floors. Players are on the second floor when they come out, and the tour guide is on the first floor.

Most of the monsters are on the first floor, and there are some on the second floor at regular intervals. They are under control.

The common characteristic of these monsters is that they are very hostile to people coming out of the platform. After Shadow Li Nan killed a few of them that were close to him, the monster passengers around him dispersed.

However, they just retreated back to their original positions without much fear on their faces. The monster stared at those who were allowed to get on the train, still ready to make another attack, as if it would launch the next attack at any time.

Shadow Flower calculated the time: "One and a half minutes."

From the moment they come in, monsters will attack them every one and a half minutes.

"The flag is here!" It was so hot that even talking was tiring, but there were people shouting tirelessly.

Shadow Li Nan glanced downstairs, paying more attention to several players who were also on the second floor but hiding in the distance.

Since they started chasing the tour guide, the player didn't seem to be paying much attention and kept falling behind them. Now he seemed to have given up.

"Why are you standing there like an earthbound ghost?" Shadow Xiaohua also looked in one direction in surprise, and the doubts in his heart deepened.

Li Nan and the players stood at the entrance and exit far away from the monsters in the waiting hall. The environment was safer, but it also meant that they were a long distance away from the tour guide and had no advantage at all when capturing the flag.

The high temperature made Shadow with a crew cut a little impatient. "Who cares what they do? We should think about capturing the flag first."

Shadow Flower: "Capturing the flag is not difficult, but we have to get close to the guide and break through the monsters, which will consume a lot of physical strength. The monsters on the second floor don't attack frequently, but I'm worried that it's a smokescreen for the game."

The first and second floors are connected by a straight ladder, and that distance is the most troublesome and dangerous. Once they go down, they may face non-stop killing from the monsters on the first floor.

Another shadow said, "I'm more worried about what might go wrong when we capture the flag."

Shadow Li Nan was also worried about this, so his original body kept watch from a safe distance, obviously having a backup plan.

The shadow with the short hair thought for a moment and asked, "Could it be that he

Are they deliberately setting up a trap to confuse us? Do they want us to give up the peach that we have got?"

"Where is Pei Wenwei's shadow?" Shadow Li Nan suddenly asked.

Just as he finished speaking, the young man came late. He came up by the freight elevator and avoided the players at the stairs.

The girl was like a little tail, following him wherever he went, scanning the monsters in the waiting hall with murderous eyes, and for no reason, she directly broke the neck of a passenger who was blocking her way nearby.

Her movements were as light and swift as a cat when she killed people, but her strength was beyond imagination, and she crushed the monster's larynx.

The boy glanced at her, and before he could scold her, the girl quietly admitted her mistake: "I know, I will change next time."

"I'll say it one last time. This mission emphasizes the subject of 'tourists'. Don't act rashly."

This girl has the ability to deal with monsters, but the game doesn't restrict her. She must be setting a trap for herself here.

Shadow Li Nan walked straight up to the boy, as if he was sure that he had reservations. "I don't want to waste my energy. You'd better tell the truth."

The girl who said she had changed her temper just a second ago slapped Shadow with a piece of cardboard. If Shadow hadn't dodged quickly, his face would have been swollen.

"No one can speak rudely to my dear grandson!"

Li Nan, who was watching from a distance, shook his head and said, "It must be very painful."

The edge of the paper shell scratched Shadow's neck, creating a tear. In comparison, the old lady in their car was so gentle.

Shadow Li Nan wiped the blood from his neck expressionlessly.

He was not afraid of the girl. The game would balance all unbalanced factors. The more powerful and arrogant the girl was, the more likely it would be to accelerate the demise of the boy around her. The latter should also be taking this into consideration and not relying too much on the power of others.

Shadow Li Nan was mainly focused on thinking about another thing.

Could it be that the player’s focus is not on the tour guide, but on these shadows

The tour guide ran into the waiting room, and if the players wanted to observe their actions, they had to follow them in, which would definitely lead to them being discovered. Even so, these people were still observing them openly, as if they were waiting for them to capture the flag and then do something.

There must be some impossible reason why this must be done.

He looked at the boy, his eyes flashing with a cold and sharp light. During the few seconds of staring at each other, he suddenly thought of a possibility: "You have..."

"Food chain." The young man interrupted him calmly, "This instance is similar to the animal kingdom. The tour guide is petite. When she was running, her skin reflected silvery white in the sun. She must be the incarnation of some animal. We can find the orc species above her and use the power of the higher food chain to help us hunt down the tour guide."

Find an orc who can suppress the tour guide. You can threaten or bribe him to negotiate terms, but the most likely thing is that the orc himself has a task that can be triggered.

Completing the quest and getting help from the orcs is more in line with the way out the game leaves.

His proposal was silently agreed by the other shadows.

There were many monsters downstairs, and the guide would not stand still and let them take the flag. Chasing them would cost him half his life. Using natural enemies to chase and intercept them was indeed the most labor-saving method.

After the cooling time, another monster rushed up without knowing the danger.

The nearby shadow was sweating profusely as it wiped out the monster passenger. The boy walked forward a few steps indifferently, leaned over and looked downstairs, and finally narrowed his eyes and said, "It looks a bit like... a silver ant."

"Divide into three groups." He retracted his gaze, "One group will keep an eye on the players; one group will look for the lizard passengers. Silver ants don't have many natural enemies, and lizards can barely be considered one; the last group will be responsible for finding flammable and explosive materials." Upon hearing the last sentence, Shadow Li Nan's pupils shrank: "Fire attack?"

"We always have to be fully prepared," the young man said with a cruel smile, "No matter how heat-resistant she is, she has her limit. If we don't go down, let her come up on her own initiative."

There was a hint of dreaminess in his naturally light pupils, as if he had seen the building downstairs turned into a sea of fire.

Murder and arson.

That was the way Wen Shi suppressed his emotions when he was a teenager and wanted to take revenge.

Although he took all aspects into consideration, the young man conveyed extreme repression to the people around him. Many shadows put away their contempt, as they could feel that under this very young body, there was a terrifying desire to kill.

The idea was thought up by the young boy. He divided the team quite naturally. He assigned the thin man who followed Xiaohua to the toilet, and another shadow who had spoken rudely to him, together with Yu Xingzhou, to the group that followed the players. The others were all assigned in a reasonable manner. When the shadows dispersed and hurried to complete the task, the young boy tilted his head to look in the direction of Li Nan.

Li Nan knew what he was suggesting. The young man was undoubtedly hinting that they could take this opportunity to let Yu Xingzhou go back.

After Yu Xingzhou completed the task of hunting down the shadow, he certainly could not escape unscathed by himself, so he needed someone to help him.

It might not be too late to call other players now. If Li Nan and others choose to respond, they will not be able to stay and continue observing. Accordingly, Wen Shi will not be able to obtain the time node for using the refresh items.

The sportswear was sticking to his body because of sweat, and large beads of sweat flowed down his hair. The boy's lips opened and closed, and he mouthed: "Tell him that no one can control me."

At a safe distance, Li Nan responded with a smile, his true emotions undetectable. Then he spoke into his phone, which was always on the line: "Your shadow has your way of dealing with the world, and has found a way to break the impasse."

When it comes to the game, Shadow only has the memory of the players' experience. Theory and practice are different after all, so at the beginning their thinking lags behind the players by half a beat, but as they participate in more links, Shadow will become more and more adept.

Li Nan asked, "Do you want to fight?"

If you want to fight, you can only use the refresh props now, which is equivalent to the player suffering a loss in silence.

Not only did you not get the effect of depleting the shadow's strength, you also had to sacrifice a precious item.

"Let them do whatever they want." Wen Shi sneered, "The penalty for failing a branch quest is to raise the temperature, but I'm afraid Yugi will be busy controlling the temperature soon."

Li Nan frowned. For the first time, he was completely unable to detect any clues from a sentence: "What do you mean?"

He was answered with a sigh.

In the k6666 carriage, about twenty minutes ago, when the train entered the station, Wen Shi felt that the pendant against his skin was getting hot.

Jian Qingrong once said that this pendant made with his heart's blood concentrated the most serious source of pollution, which could be sensed by the eyes, and he would try to find himself through the pendant.

Wen Shi didn't think Jian Qingrong could find him before. Last time, he took a ride on afternoon tea and entered Fengguan Village through A Sang. Under normal circumstances, no matter how powerful an NPC is, he can't run across servers without being summoned.

But the abnormal temperature of the pendant kept reminding him that Jian Qingrong might have really come to him.

Wen Shi held on to a glimmer of hope and asked the knowledgeable Xiaohua in the car: "I have attracted a lot of hatred from NPCs in the dungeon. What if I encounter a BSS from another dungeon in a dungeon one day..."

Xiao Hua burst into laughter, forgetting for a moment the discomfort caused by the heat: "What are you thinking? Then the old players will have more enemies, how can they survive? This situation is impossible, unless..."

WTF

!

Here comes the disturbing turning point.

Xiaohua shrugged: "Unless you reach the legendary true spirit level, it is possible."

Wen Shi was very sure that Jian Qingrong was not at that level, and he couldn't even beat the Earl.

"True Spirit..."

He repeated it in a murmur, his nails almost piercing his palm unconsciously, and Wen Shi realized that he had made a fatal mistake.

He took it for granted when faced with some weirdness. There were all kinds of monsters and strange situations in the dungeon, so he didn't take the abnormality of Jian Qingrong's eyes too seriously.

Now that I think about it, that eye contained a power far beyond the person himself.

At the beginning of the game, he wanted to delete the files and kill Jian Qingrong by himself. Could there be other reasons

The temperature from the pendant was getting hotter and hotter, but Wen Shi held it tightly and prayed devoutly, hoping that his voice could be transmitted through the pendant.

Jian Qingrong, don't come over here!

Even if you ignore the abnormality of the eyes themselves, there is no bright side to be seen in the other person's character.

If his shadow appears again, there's no telling how much the temperature will rise.

"The temperature rose by more than ten degrees when Grandma came, but this was the result of a bug fix in the game. The initial temperature must have been much higher than this."

Wen Shi intuitively felt that things would get out of control if Jian Qingrong came over.

Maybe God heard my call, the temperature emitted by the pendant gradually decreased, Wen Shi gradually breathed a sigh of relief: "Not bad."

Before he could completely exhale, the temperature around him suddenly rose sharply.

Passengers in other carriages exclaimed, "The sun!"

The players in the car subconsciously looked out the window. In addition to the scorching sun in the sky, there were also a few blurry shadows next to it.

"One, two, three..." When counting to nine, someone lost his balance and almost fainted.

Three suns are enough to destroy the world, and the other eight suns have not yet appeared. To use an inappropriate metaphor, it is like the sky having a difficult birth. The suns are trying hard to be born but cannot.

"Reminder: Seriously disordered data has been detected in this copy and adjustments are being made."

The blurry outline of the sun disappeared a few times, but soon it reappeared like bamboo shoots after rain.

"Reminder: Repairing..."

"Reminder: Repairing..."

Human eyes could no longer look directly at the sky, as they would be burned. There was no thunder, but a roar erupted in the cloudless sky, as if something was awakening in the void, and no living being dared to approach him.

This terrifying being clearly sensed that something was copying his power through his eyes, and it was the power of the dark side.

His eyes were closed the whole time, and he sensed that the omnipresent will of the game seemed very violent. On the one hand, it was foolishly trying to copy his power, and on the other hand, it was desperately patching it.

The actual game is more than just violent. What comes in is the eyes. Under the setting of light and shadow, it can only copy the power of the eyes themselves.

Ignoring the game, the terrifying existence further uses consciousness to perceive the existence of eyes.

At this moment, outside a station entrance.

An invisible barrier is blocking the Scarecrow's entry.

After the tea party, Jian Qingrong stayed in the laboratory and upgraded the straw body to make it more suitable for the pollution source to survive. He originally planned to change to a more powerful body, but it has not been successful yet. The newly developed body can only accommodate the eyes for half a day at most.

However, Jian Qingrong still brought the failed products of the experiment with him in case of emergency.

The failed product is a mechanical cat with a very long tail and a delicate body, and it is now being held in the hand of the scarecrow.

"Why can't I get in?"

The little scarecrow tried to use the pollution source to melt the barrier and launch a second sprint.

With a snap, just as he squeezed half of his head in, he was bounced out again. The little scarecrow and the mechanical cat sat down on the ground.

try again.

The little scarecrow launched a third sprint stubbornly.

Wen Shi, here I come!

(End of this chapter)