In just a few seconds, the scene returned to calm.
And everyone in the field acted as if nothing had happened.
The whole place was filled with noise and cheers. Everyone was having a great time. The whole place seemed to have returned from hell to earth in an instant.
Gao Ling stood there, stunned by this operation.
She climbed up in a daze, looking at the laughing people around her. For a moment she felt that she was not from the same world as them.
They are all people of this world.
And she is just a dead person.
That feeling only lasted for a moment... Soon, Gao Ling's brain began to work.
She quickly wiped the tears from her face and turned around, only to see the boy helping the boss stand up, trying hard to keep him upright so that others wouldn't notice that he had fainted.
"How is the boss?" Gao Ling asked.
"Boss..." Liu An turned around and looked at him, his tone a little embarrassed, "Let me take him to the side to rest for a while before we talk."
"Okay..." Gao Ling said. She watched Liu An supporting the boss and walking step by step towards a quieter place in the venue. The two of them disappeared in the crowd.
"The boss should be fine." Gao Ling thought.
She didn't have much time to care about what happened between Liu An and the boss. She ran to the pillar in a hurry. Fortunately, there was no show on the stage and no one was around.
When Gao Ling ran over, he saw that those people had all stood up. On the surface, they looked exactly the same as before, just like the other people in the field.
But Gao Ling glanced sharply and saw that there were very deep red marks on their wrists, which were caused by the ropes.
“Boss…” The little girl who had been crying on the stage just now saw Gao Ling running over and her tears immediately flowed down as if she couldn’t stop.
Gao Ling hugged her, covered her mouth, and asked her to keep her voice down. Someone nearby turned his head and looked over curiously, probably because he hadn't seen anyone crying so miserably at the comic convention, and his expression was very strange.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Gao Ling whispered to the people around him, "The power outage just now scared her, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
They walked out from behind the pillars, and almost everyone's legs were shaking. After the lights in the field came on, some people didn't want to stay any longer, fearing that the power would go out again. So they all walked out.
Gao Lingyixin walked through the crowd, and everyone had a look of fear on their face. Compared with the smiling faces of the people around them, it was obvious at a glance that something was wrong.
Adults can actually control their facial expressions, but Gao Ling now feels that he can't control it anymore, and the same goes for the people he's traveling with.
For the first time, she experienced the feeling of being frightened as described in the books. They were the frightened people, looking panicked and cautious.
The gate of the venue was opened, and people were slowly passing through the narrow passage. There were bright lights everywhere. People in the passage were holding mobile phones in their hands, and the screens reflected bright light on their faces.
"Only now do I realize that mobile phones can really bring people a sense of security in the information age." Gao Ling said as he thought about the scene where the phone couldn't be opened just now.
Wow... I feel like the world is going to collapse every minute.
"Then shall we go out now?" the girl asked while crying. She could no longer control her tears.
"Go out... wait a moment." Gao Ling looked at the door a few times in panic, but after hesitating for a few times, he still said, "Let's go wash our faces first."
The girl was stunned, then she sniffed embarrassedly. Her eyes were red from crying and full of bloodshot, and the makeup she put on when she went out also fell off.
The people behind him didn't say anything against it, so Gao Ling led them towards the bathroom.
In fact, everyone present knew why Gao Ling said this first.
Gao Ling smelled a not-so-pleasant fishy odor and complained silently in his heart.
Ah… So the boy who was walking with the boss just now said “scared to death”… It’s not an adjective…
…
There was a light on at the door of the toilet. There was no toilet in the venue, so everyone used the toilet in a hotel next door.
The hotel's toilet was well decorated and large, but the lighting was a little dim. This was probably because there were few guests on the first floor, so only one light was on and the other two were off.
Gao Ling stood at the door. For some reason, she suddenly didn't want to go in. She turned around and saw... everyone was hesitating at the door.
This was definitely the most unprecedented scene Gao Ling had ever seen... A group of adults stood in front of the toilet, each one looked more timid than the other, and everyone hesitated and dared not go in.
It's like a black comedy.
What should we do then… A living person cannot be suffocated to death by urine. Gao Ling thought with a headache, and she slapped her head and said, "Let's go in together."
"Yes, let's go in together." The people behind him agreed.
“If this happens again… ahem, well, we can take care of each other.” Someone wanted to say something, but suddenly stopped halfway through.
The people nearby acted as if they didn't hear what he said and walked straight into the restroom. Two girls even went in holding hands.
The toilet is a mixed-use toilet with a washbasin for both men and women. The marble counter is decorated to be very large and spacious. In front of the counter hangs a huge mirror with a gold frame that is tacky but very suitable for the hotel. Under the dim light, it even looks a bit luxurious.
There are various plastic bags scattered on the ground, all filled with clothes. They might have been left here by some cosplayers when they changed clothes. They might come back to get them later.
Gao Ling walked through the various props, clothes and wigs scattered on the ground and came to the stage where there was a box of hotel toilet paper. She took it and threw it to a boy behind her.
The boy's face suddenly turned red, and he ran towards the toilet without saying a word the whole time, just with a red face.
Gao Ling looked at his figure running in hurriedly, and tried to force a smile out of the corner of his mouth, but he couldn't smile for a long time.
She thought... this boy must have forgotten to bring the talisman.
Gao Ling rubbed her face and went to the sink to wash. She was the only one left outside. Everyone else went into the toilet. The other two girls went in hand in hand. The three boys went to clean their pants. The other two were probably scared to pee, so they also went to flush.
The girl over there was still crying. Gao Ling felt upset when she heard her crying, but she couldn't scold her. The boys over there were probably the same. Gao Ling heard one of them sighed heavily.
"Don't cry." A voice suddenly came from the boys' bathroom over there. "Aren't you safe now? There's an old saying that goes, 'Those who survive a disaster will have good fortune in the future.'"
"Yeah." Another more outgoing boy next to him also started to ease the atmosphere, "Besides, before you came here, were you always envious of the big guys? Now you are also a big guy, and when you go out, you can brag to others that you are also a person with a story."
Gao Ling turned on the faucet and washed her face vigorously. She heard the sound of water flushing, and a person came to the table next to her and turned on the faucet.
She didn't care who came out, and she was even too lazy to care. No matter who came out, it had nothing to do with her. She just rubbed her face frantically.
Gao Ling's eye sockets were rubbed red and her nose was broken, but she kept rubbing it, and no one knew what she was trying to wash away.
The person next to him seemed to pause for a moment, then turned on the faucet. The sound of water flowing out echoed with the sound of water on Gao Ling's side.
The talking inside was still going on. When talking about this topic, everyone finally became a little interested. No one was in the mood to talk about anything else. Instead, even the girl who had been sobbing tried to listen a little.
"When the knife flew over, did you notice where it came from?" another brave girl said quickly.
“No…” said a boy who was closest to the knife. “It just flew over here out of nowhere and scared me.”
"I didn't see the man clearly either." The boy who had just gone in to change his pants suddenly spoke up, his voice sounding strangely excited, "But I saw the dagger clearly... I don't know what material it's made of, it looks so good, every part of it... I don't know how to put it, it really is the knife used by Yuan in the comics."
Gao Ling wiped his face, leaned against the pool and looked at himself in the mirror.
Her eyes and nose in the mirror were red, and there were bloodshot in her glasses, but her expression was inexplicably serious, even gloomy.
"Oh my god... When I thought that Yuan might be near me, I almost couldn't breathe and almost wanted to scream."
"You can still shout? I can't shout anymore." The outgoing boy said with a smile, "But before you came here, didn't you say you would read pornographic literature in front of him? You... don't keep your word."
"Fuck you." As soon as the boy said this, everyone in the bathroom started laughing, and even a little laughter could be heard from the girls' room over there.
The atmosphere suddenly became slightly relaxed.
… At least it’s not as bad as before, right
Gao Ling stared at himself in the mirror, not knowing how long he had been looking at himself.
She looked at herself in the mirror... and felt strange for some reason.
Normally, she should have a smile on her face, but at this moment, she couldn't even muster up the slightest smile.
She tried to force herself to smile, but the person in the mirror showed a somewhat odd smile, as if the corners of his mouth were forced upwards.
"I... I've never had this feeling before." The brave girl said, "Today I really thought I wouldn't make it out alive... I used to think that if I met a handsome monster, I might even have a relationship with him... Oh, really, don't laugh."
The laughter of the boys came from the men's restroom. The girl shouted in a bit of embarrassment and continued, "But today... I suddenly felt that monsters were too scary... I really didn't know when I would die. It was too scary."
She kept saying "this is horrible" several times, and a boy said, "You feel horrible now, right? It's like a terrorist, killing a few people for fun, or killing each other... My god, who in their right mind can stand this?"
"Come to think of it, the guy who saved us today is actually the leader of the terrorists." said the boy next to him.
"Pfft... Why do you think so?"
"Yuan, isn't he the leader of the terrorists..." someone said, "The leader of the spy camp... Emma, now that I think about it, Yuan is really a pretty awesome person... That monster is so scary, how much scarier must Yuan Zhenren be."
"Of course..." said the brave girl, "He's still got his girlfriend. They're all so happy to still have their girlfriends... You'll be scared to death if you see him in person. Even though he looks gentle in the comics, you may not know what he's like in person. He might not even dare to talk to you when you meet him. How dare he still have his girlfriend..."
"Hahahahahahahaha..." Everyone in the two toilets was laughing. Such topics always arouse everyone's fun.
One boy said while everyone was laughing: "Yeah, and look at what happened to Yuan, who was so powerful... It's really not easy to get along with monsters. There are so many complicated relationships inside, which makes it even more scary."
"Yeah, you said that even someone as powerful as Yuan was treated like that, so how chaotic must the demon world be... Are the gods fighting?"
"I don't dare to think about it... Let's just be good people. When I get back, I'll ask my mom to get me a talisman."
"If you ask me, Yuanxin is too soft-hearted." A boy said loudly, "Why didn't he just say all those words? Why didn't he just kill all those people? Look at how he is drawn in the comics now. There will definitely be people scolding him as soon as the comics are updated."
"He's the type of person that looks like that... He has too many concerns, is he used to being a spy?" someone else said.
"Being nice to humans will definitely lead to being ostracized and abandoned by the monster society. Look at how chaotic things are among the monsters, and you even dare to challenge the monsters' unspoken rules and be friends with the little monsters." Now everyone joined in on this topic, and they were all very excited.
"So, monsters... are really not a good group." The braver girl said as she walked out, her tone sounding very calm. "Yuan is indeed a good person. Just for saving us today, I can brag about him for the rest of my life... But I have to say, the ones who die first these days are all good people."
Gao Ling pulled out a piece of paper from the box, thanked the person next to him, and then turned around to wake up his nose.
The person next to him didn't say anything, but also took out a piece of paper and started wiping something.
"It's hard for good people to live... Don't be so pessimistic, after all, this is a comic... Can we think of it in a fairy tale way?" said a boy.
"It's a bit difficult." The girl said, "Didn't you notice that Lian Jiqiu's paintings of him all looked like they were going to die? He set up the plot, laid the groundwork, first suppressed the plot and then praised it... Who can survive this kind of painting these days?"
"The softer he is, the more he will drag himself to death." The girl said, "This is obvious now, and everyone knows it. I think he knows it too, but I think he will still drag himself to death... It's just because of how miserable his death will be."
"You mean... the softer you are, the more miserable your death will be?"
"Yeah." The girl said, "If it were me... I would definitely be smarter. Yuan is a bit stupid to be honest... But if he wasn't stupid, we wouldn't be able to survive today, right?... Oh... What the hell is this world?"
The girl opened the curtain as she spoke, and Gao Ling heard the rustling sound of the curtain.
Gao Ling stared at the mirror for a long time, and heard the sound of flushing inside. She thought they should be coming out. She quickly shook her head to make her expression a little more normal, then got up and got the toilet paper next to her.
A box next to it was pushed over, and the plastic box rubbed against the marble countertop, making a faint sound.
"Thank you." Gao Ling said in a low voice.
"So..." the two girls said as they walked out, "Don't be like Yuan... I admire him, but if it were me and my friends, I would never let them be so stupid..."
When Gao Ling was about to draw the second piece of paper, he suddenly felt something strange.
She felt that the person next to her seemed a little tall.
This person just stood next to her for such a long time, but she didn't react at all. She was immersed in an inexplicable depression. Just now, when she happened to glance at him, she was a little surprised by the height of the person next to her.
Gao Ling turned around and looked at the man next to him. He was wearing pure black clothes, tall and thin, with his head lowered and his hair hanging down.
He washed his hands in silence, with a table full of toilet paper scattered beside him.
"Boss?" Gao Ling looked at him seriously for a few seconds and was suddenly startled. "When did you get better?"
At first glance, this man's figure and hair looked a bit like the boss who had taken off his down jacket, but it looked a little blurry under the dim light.
However, Gao Ling was still shocked. She didn't expect that the person next to her was the boss.
The light was too dim, and the man was standing in the dark without making any sound, so Gao Ling didn't notice him just now.
It's over... I guess everything they said about monsters just now was heard.
"Boss, we were just talking nonsense... Don't take it to heart..." Gao Ling waved his hands and said, "We were just talking nonsense because we were bored... Just treat it as a joke..."
The man over there was still washing his hands, not saying a word.
Gao Ling looked at his exposed chin, patted his chest and thought, this is terrible, I have to persuade the boss not to tell anyone.
"Boss... We were wrong..." She said in a low voice with her head down, not daring to let the people in the bathroom hear her, for fear that they would be scared to death again, "Please forgive us this time..."
She was about to continue speaking when she suddenly saw a figure in the mirror.
The man who had been washing his hands quietly had a strange figure reflected in his mirror.
The clothes are still the same clothes, and the person is still the same person.
But some places are very weird.
In the mirror, the only part of his smooth chin that was exposed was stained with blood for some reason.
In the mirror, the pair of white hands also had bruises of varying sizes, which were completely different from the hands Gao Ling actually saw, as if they had been severely pinched.
The mirror and the mirror reflected two completely different people.
The mirror is like a partition that divides yin and yang. The person in the mirror seems to be in hell, while the person outside the mirror is in the human world.
Gao Ling suddenly remembered that the person next to him had been washing his hands and was constantly taking out paper.
There were papers of all sizes scattered on the table, each piece of paper was stained red. These papers were clumped together, but they still stained the table red.
This person…
Gao Ling took a step back.
This person…
He’s not the boss!
…
It’s definitely not the boss. This person is 90% similar to the boss, but he’s not the boss!
The person next to him who had been wiping his face with paper suddenly coughed, and a trace of bright red color overflowed from his mouth. He took the paper to wipe it again.
"Gao Ling, you've been waiting for us outside. You didn't say anything, and I thought..." The girl opened the curtain and walked out. She was halfway through her words when she suddenly got stuck, like a chicken with its neck strangled.
She and Gao Ling both stood outside as if frozen. No one spoke, they just stood there.
The man was still washing his hands. The water in the pool gradually began to turn red, and the red was gradually washed away.
"Hey, let's go now that we're done." The voices of the other boys came out, and it seemed that they wanted to come out too. Gao Ling had never had such a moment before, and hoped that they would have a terrible diarrhea, and even die in the toilet rather than come out.
At this moment, the man suddenly picked up the papers on the table one by one, threw them into the trash can next to him, then walked out with his hands in his pockets.
"What's wrong? Are you standing here... as punishment?" The boy came out and said to them while looking at them in surprise.
The two girls still stood on the ground, looking at each other in silence, and both felt cold sweat soaking through their clothes.