Unlimited Cycles of Death

Chapter 44: Paradise of Despair 11┃Butterfly Throne

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Duan Qun was very obedient, and did not cause any trouble to Mu Qin along the way. Mu Qin thought that since he had already guessed the relationship between himself and Zhou Yue, there was no need to act in the next scene, so he led Duan Qun quickly. to find the exit key.

Without the killer blocking them, the matter of finding the key became extremely simple. They came to the security room next to the gate unimpeded, successfully swiped the door of the security room with the key card, and found the door key inside—it was placed in the security room in the drawer.

Afterwards, the door was opened, which was also very smooth. Mu Qin always gave the key to Duan Qun to open the door. According to the reward point system, Mu Qin knew that the person who opened the door would get more reward points.

After opening the exit gate, Mu Qin and Duan Qun could see a long and winding road outside the gate of the amusement park. Since it was still in the dark, the road was pitch black at first glance, surrounded by lush The trees and bushes grew wildly, and in the cold moonlight, the road seemed like a road to some dark hell.

Duan Qun stared at the road outside the gate for a second, and then said to Mu Qin: "I didn't expect it to be so simple... Can I get out this way?"

"The moment you walk out of the gate, you will be sent back to the safe house by the game system." Mu Qin explained to Duan Qun in this way: "You will rest there for three days. After three days, you must start a new game. Your system will tell you For some basic rules and information you need to know about your peripheral world, you can ask the system in the safe house."

"Will I meet you again?" Duan Qun asked Mu Qin like this.

Mu Qin shook his head slightly: "I don't know if we can meet again, the players in each game are automatically matched and screened by the system."

"It's possible in theory, right?" Duan Qun pointed out, "Since you and Zhou Yue can appear on the same map at the same time."

Mu Qin just laughed, he praised Duan Qun's cleverness, he said: "As long as they enter the new game together at the same time, the chances of being matched to the same map between players will increase, but it seems that it is not 100% Baineng is allocated together, so be prepared to fail."

"I see." Duan Qun thought for a while.

And Mu Qin continued to tell him some messages from the marginal world: "When you enter the safe house, you will find some strange lettering or graffiti on the walls of the house, which are the marks left by other players. How to communicate with other players, you can ask your system for details.”

Duan Qun nodded and said, "Thank you for telling me this."

As he said that, Duan Qun paused, and he saw a figure not far behind Mu Qin, it was Zhou Yue.

Mu Qin also noticed that Duan Qun was looking at his back, so he followed Duan Qun's gaze and looked back at Zhou Yue. Zhou Yue was standing under a tree not far away, and the shadow cast by the tree covered his eyes. Half of his body, the knife in his hand reflected the cold light under the moonlight.

Mu Qin quickly withdrew his gaze from Zhou Yue, put his hand on Duan Qun's shoulder, and said to Duan Qun in a deep tone: "The killer is here, you should go."

Duan Qun was very obedient, he raised his foot and was about to step out of the gate, but before stepping out, he suddenly asked Mu Qin a question, he said: "Mu Qin, I can probably guess that you and that guy named Zhou Yue I don't want to destroy your relationship, but I want to know... Is that Zhou Yue really worthy of your trust?"

This question made Mu Qin slightly startled, but Mu Qin did not hesitate: "Of course I believe him... He is the only person I can trust without reservation in my life."

Duan Qun laughed, and he said something that stunned Mu Qin, he said: "It would be great if you can continue to believe like this forever, but I still hope you can pay attention to Zhou Yue, I think there is something wrong with him, He doesn't deserve your total trust."

Mu Qin was puzzled: "Why do you say that?"

"Because he wanted to kill you." Duan Qun's words made Mu Qin's heart tremble, "The time he attacked you in the toilet, when I went in to check, you fell to the ground and lowered your head, and I saw The way Zhou Yue stares at you... that definitely wants to kill you."

Duan Qun only said this sentence, and after he finished speaking, he walked out of the gate of the amusement park. His figure turned into light spots and dissipated in the air in the next second, leaving only Mu Qin in the park, staring blankly at Duan Qun. The light that remains when it disappears.

When Duan Qun left, Zhou Yue who followed behind also walked to Mu Qin's side, reached out and grabbed Mu Qin who was in a daze, wrapped his arms around Mu Qin's waist, hugged him into his arms, and asked, "What's the matter? Why are you in a daze? Did you say anything?"

Mu Qin didn't answer, but lowered his head and thought for a moment. In the end, Mu Qin went straight in, raised his head and asked Zhou Yue bluntly: "Zhou Yue, do you want to kill me?"

Zhou Yue seemed to be confused by this question. Zhou Yue was stunned for a while, and finally couldn't help laughing: "Why do you ask such a question?"

"Don't worry about how I ask, you just need to answer my question." Mu Qin grabbed Zhou Yue's skirt and looked into Zhou Yue's eyes intently, "Do you want to kill me?"

Zhou Yue didn't answer this question right away, he fell silent. He hugged Mu Qin and didn't let go. He stuffed his head into Mu Qin's neck and rubbed his face against Mu Qin's neck. On Qin's neck, Mu Qin felt itchy, so he reached out to touch Zhou Yue's hair.

"I want to kill you." Zhou Yue said suddenly, with a dull tone, "I really want to kill you."

This sentence made Mu Qin puzzled. He was not angry, surprised or disappointed or frightened, but just puzzled. He reached out and stroked the messy hair on Zhou Yue's head, and said, "Why?"

"Because you're dead, you can go back." Zhou Yue said.

Mu Qin was even more puzzled, and stretched out his hands to hold Zhou Yue's head, preventing Zhou Yue from continuing to bury his face in his neck like an ostrich. Mu Qin looked at Zhou Yue squarely: "What do you mean by that?"

Zhou Yue said seriously: "Mu Qin, you are not dead in the real world, your body is still alive, you still have a chance, you are not a real player in the fringe world, as long as you 'end' in the fringe world, you can 'Reborn' in the real world."

"I don't understand what you mean." Mu Qin shook his head: "I'm already dead. I first entered the orphanage map, but when I came out, I was not sent to the safe house but returned to the real world. In the real world, I forgot After seeing everything I experienced in the marginal world, I thought it was just a dream. Then I saw you, and I found that you had turned into a vegetative state, lying in the hospital, and I received your mother's orders, and I was taking care of it in the hospital You. But out of nowhere, a group of people rushed out to harm us. I had to take you out of the hospital, and then I handed you over to my trusted comrades. I was shot and killed by a policeman at the police station. "

Zhou Yue followed and shook his head: "You are not dead, Mu Qin... The border world will automatically repair the unreasonable things and characters caused by the intervention of some players in the real world. The police shot you because he was affected by the border world. Controlled by a certain player in the game, that player controls the police to kill you, but it is unreasonable for the police to shoot and kill you suddenly, so the border world will repair this incident. Under the influence of the powerful forces of the border world, You will never die."

Mu Qin really couldn't understand Zhou Yue's words, Mu Qin said: "Since you said that my body in the real world is not dead, and I can return to reality by 'ending' in the game, then you are the same That's right!" Mu Qin said, "Your body in the real world is just a vegetable, you are not dead!"

"I'm different." Zhou Yue shook her head slightly, "I'm bound in this world, and I can't go back to my original body."

In fact, Mu Qin had long realized that Zhou Yue knew a lot, but he really didn't expect to know so much.

He stared at Zhou Yue in disbelief: "What else do you know? Zhou Yue, what is going on?"

Mu Qin never directly asked Zhou Yue these questions. In fact, Mu Qin only needs to think carefully about the things that happened in the real world before, and he can easily find that many things are connected with Zhou Yue. For example, the blank tarot card, the small model of the snake-wrapped cross on Zhou Yue's desk, and even the music box made of human bones that Mu Qin's psychiatrist He Qiu gave him. The edge of the world is connected together.

Although Mu Qin could guess the details and clues of these clues, he never dared to ask Zhou Yue for details. He had a faint sense of fear about it, but it made him cringe.

But now, Mu Qin must know this.

"I've always wanted to find a chance to tell you...but it's very complicated to say." Zhou Yue organized his words, took Mu Qin's hand, and led Mu Qin to a public rest hall on the side of Paradise Road. Next to the chair, he pulled Mu Qin to sit down, and Zhou Yue said, "Let's sit here, and I'll talk to you slowly."

The two of them sat on the chairs, Zhou Yue contemplated for a while, and then began to talk slowly to Mu Qin, he said: "First of all, I want to tell you, Mu Qin... In the marginal world, in this game we are in, there are players Given the chance to escape, every player has the possibility to escape back to reality...and come back from the dead."

Zhou Yue said that he didn't know the origin of the fringe world, but this huge, terrifying, and mysterious game seemed to have officially appeared in people's field of vision three years ago. The oldest player Zhou Yue has ever met, Just got into the game a year before him. In other words, Zhou Yue has been in this game for two years, and the oldest qualified player he has ever met has only been in this game for three years, and Zhou Yue has never seen any longer.

In fact, some clues can also be seen from the numbers given to players by the system. For example, Zhou Yue's system number is 1309, which means that Zhou Yue is the 1309th player in this game. And Mu Qin's system number is 3780, which means Mu Qin is the 3780th player in the game.

If this game has really existed for seven or eight years or even longer, and there are only about 3,000 to 4,000 players in total, it is obviously unreasonable.

But the number 3780 players are actually too few, especially in the middle there will be a large number of players who will die in the game due to various reasons, so in this fringe world, they can survive four or five games and successfully survive until the end of the game. Zhou Yue estimates that there are only a few hundred or even fewer players now, and the rest are almost eliminated.

Hundreds of people are really not that many, it can even be said to be pitifully small.

Moreover, the time in the marginal world is actually different from the time in the real world. In addition to the fact that the flow rate of time in the safe house is the same as that of the real world, once players enter a certain map of a game, they will find that no matter how long they stay in the game map, the game map will always be night, and escape After this map is released, if you ask the system time again, the player will find that four or five days or even ten days and a half months have passed.

"That is to say, if we stay in the game map, time will pass faster? We stay in this paradise map for half an hour, and a day outside may have passed, right?" Mu Qin asked Zhou Yue.

Zhou Yue nodded: "Probably that's right. Although I did stay in this game for two years, I actually didn't really feel it myself, because most of the time I was quickly passed by on the game map, so I I feel like I have only been in this game for a few months, and this is the unequal flow of time, which has caused me the illusion of time."

Mu Qin probably understood what Zhou Yue meant, and he said thoughtfully: "That is to say... the fact that you accidentally turned into a vegetative state and lay in the hospital, to you, it also feels like a few months ago It happened, and in my opinion, it was already two years ago."

"The issue of time is just one of the things I want to tell you." Zhou Yue continued, "The next step is the key."

Zhou Yue said: "In this game, there is something called the Butterfly Throne."

Zhou Yue's words aroused Mu Qin's interest. Mu Qin had never heard of it before, so he couldn't help asking curiously: "The Butterfly Throne? What is that?"

Zhou Yue said, "Has your system ever told you what kind of world the fringe world is like?"

Mu Qin carefully recalled what he had said to the system, and he replied: "My system told me that the border world is the gap between hell and dreams, and it is connected to hell and everyone's dreams... In fact, I don't quite understand it."

"Then have you ever heard a fable? It's called Zhuang Zhou's dream of a butterfly." Zhou Yue asked again.

Mu Qin nodded of course and said: "Of course I know this, I remember... The Chinese teacher in elementary school once told this story. But when he woke up, Zhuang Zhou began to wonder, did Zhuang Zhou turn into a butterfly in his dream, or did the butterfly turn into Zhuang Zhou in his dream? It’s a thought-provoking story.”

"The 'Butterfly Throne' is named after this story." Zhou Yue said, "This is the name given to the 'Throne' by the players in the marginal world, and they all call that 'Throne' the 'Butterfly Throne'. "

Mu Qin frowned and said, "What the hell is the Butterfly Throne?"

"Literally, it means a large seat. I haven't seen the specific appearance, but it is said to be a very luxurious chair. There is a certain probability that this chair will be refreshed in a certain map. It is similar to the one in the game. The props or exits can be pointed by the Fool's card." Zhou Yue looked around the huge amusement park: "The Butterfly Throne has a probability to be spawned on any map, which means that the Butterfly Throne may appear on this map at any time. In the amusement park, it may also appear on other people's maps, although the probability is very low, but someone has indeed seen it."

Mu Qin was very surprised, surprised and puzzled. He asked Zhou Yue: "Why does the system have a so-called 'throne' randomly refreshed in a certain map? Is there any use and significance for this?"

"This is what I said before, the key to escaping from the border world." Zhou Yue said in a low tone, "The border world game system has opened a 'benefit' for players, which tells players that you have a certain chance to escape from the border world, and this The throne is the 'benefit' given to players by the marginal world system."

Zhou Yue kept talking: "You can think of the Butterfly Throne as an exit, a way of escape, an exit that requires props or keys to open or activate."

Mu Qin nodded, looked at the gate of the amusement park not far away, pointed to the gate and said: "It means that the so-called 'throne' has the same effect as the exit gate over there, but it Not only can we escape this map, but even the entire edge world, right?"

"Yes." Zhou Yue said, "If the Butterfly Throne appears on a certain map, there must be a 'key' that can open the throne near the throne. The throne and the key are matched. The key to open the throne is A tarot card... a blank tarot card, what we generally call a 'white card'."

"Blank... Tarot cards." Hearing these words, Mu Qin couldn't help but stare at Zhou Yue with wide eyes: "You have this card! In the real world, that card has always been in the drawer of your ward... But later It was taken away by me, and I put it on my body... "

"Listen to me, Mu Qin." Zhou Yue took a deep breath and continued, "If a player is lucky enough to meet the Butterfly Throne, which is rare in a thousand years, on a certain map, and gets the white card to open the throne, he will Take the white card and sit on the throne... "

When Zhou Yue said this, he stopped talking. And Mu Qin's heart was completely suspended by Zhou Yue's words, and there was a pounding in his chest, and Mu Qin couldn't help asking: "And then? Sitting on the throne... can you return to reality directly? "

"You can't go back to reality directly." Zhou Yue continued, "The players who enter the marginal world are basically people who have died in the real world. Their bodies have been destroyed long ago, or they have already been burned in the crematorium. Burned to ashes, the Butterfly Throne can indeed bring their souls back to reality, but if players want to truly return to the real world, they must first have a living 'body' as a carrier."

"But they don't have bodies..." Mu Qin suddenly realized what Zhou Yue wanted to say, and his face was a little gloomy. "They don't have bodies, so they can only take others'."

Speaking of this, Mu Qin seemed to have an epiphany, he raised his head and stared at Zhou Yue.

Zhou Yue knew what he was thinking, and said to Mu Qin with a wry smile, "That's right, I'm the one who was unlucky enough to have his body taken away."

"But your body is a vegetable!" Mu Qin couldn't help being a little excited, "This may prove that the guy who wanted to take your body didn't succeed!"

"He did not succeed because it was not an easy task," Zhou Yue said.

"The fringe world is not a place where you can escape casually. The will of the world has set strict conditions, so that even if the player successfully sits on the Butterfly Throne, he needs to meet two conditions if he wants to go out." Zhou Yue said, "One is Find a body that can be used to carry the soul, and the second is to find a substitute to replace the player and be bound to the throne."

Mu Qin listened to Zhou Yue's narration, and he was a little confused. He said in disbelief: "Isn't that throne able to send people back to the real world? Why do you need to find a substitute to replace the player and be bound?"

"The Butterfly Throne is a double-edged sword. It can send you away from the fringe world, or it can bind you to the fringe world forever." Zhou Yue said, "So the player sitting on that throne has only two choices, or Sitting there forever, turning into a pile of weathered bones on that chair. Or try to find a substitute to sit on the chair instead of yourself, and then the soul flies out of the marginal world and is reborn in the real world with someone else's body. "

Mu Qin asked Zhou Yue: "Then... what will happen to the substitute who sits on the chair instead of the player?"

Zhou Yue said: "The substitute can find another substitute. All in all... as long as the chair is shown on the map, and the first person sits on it, then that seat will never be vacant again. There must be... someone will always sit on it, even if The person sitting on it has turned into bones, but this is the so-called 'Butterfly Throne'."

After hearing this, Mu Qin felt terrified: "This is terrible, it's just a gamble. If you don't find a substitute and escape successfully, you will have to sit on a chair until you die..."

Zhou Yue shook her head lightly, and said, "It's not a very scary thing to sit on a chair until you die. What's scary is that if the person sitting on the Butterfly Throne gets the Grim Reaper on the map where the throne is spawned, card, if he has the identity of a killer and sits on a chair...then he will really sit on a chair forever."

Mu Qin looked at Zhou Yue worriedly: "It means that you are being targeted by such a guy sitting on the Butterfly Throne, and he wants your body."

"He not only wants my body, but also wants me to be his substitute." Zhou Yue said briefly: "I'm afraid that guy did sit on the Butterfly Throne as a killer. I guess he has already been sitting on that chair." It has been a long, long time. The Butterfly Throne has extremely powerful power. Although it restrains the people on the throne, it also allows the people on the throne to have dreams that can invade ordinary humans in this world, control humans in the real world, Sometimes it can also manipulate the power of some weak-willed players in the edge world."

Mu Qin suddenly thought that in this world, those guys who illegally broke into Zhou Yue's ward and Mu Qin's house to search, as well as the policeman who shot Mu Qin in the police station, were probably killed by the person on the throne. controlled in this way.

"Then what about the white card?" Mu Qin asked again, "Since the white card is the key to unlock the throne, why does it appear in the real world?"

Zhou Yue said: "Before I entered the fringe world, that is, during the period when I was still serving in the team, that person had already frequently harassed me by invading my dreams. At first I was ignorant and ignorant. In the dream, I accepted that person's invitation, because in my dream he turned into...you."

"Incarnate into... my appearance?" Mu Qin seemed to realize something, and suddenly reached out and grabbed the skirt of Zhou Yue's chest excitedly, and said angrily: "You don't want to be with that guy in a dream...in a dream...to fuck What happened!?"

Zhou Yue also stretched out her hand in embarrassment and coughed: "That's not true. I was very happy to see 'you' in my dream at first, so I was a little defenseless, but this guy frequently invaded my dreams, and he always turned into an avatar. I think it's a little strange that you do those... cough, seduction, because it doesn't match your personality, and this person is too pretentious when he pretends to be your posture, which doesn't please me, so I began to feel something is wrong. "