A decisive word "yes" completely broke the oppressive atmosphere.
Su Er felt that he was implied, but after he was reminded, he thought of other aspects.
The woman's heartbreaking expression contrasted sharply with the man's cold and ruthless behavior. Ji Heng said rationally, "The clue is right in front of us. Take her for a checkup."
Li Shuo's heart softened for only a moment, but he quickly returned to work. Parasitism was no small matter, so he couldn't let a suspected target go easily.
"Please cooperate," he said, "otherwise we will have to use coercive measures."
Lu Lanxin took a step back and emphasized again that she didn't understand what they were trying to say at all.
Li Shuo assured: "The examination will not cause any harm to the body."
Directly escorting someone away would inevitably lead to physical contact during the struggle. He only said this and walked aside to make a phone call to ask the female inspector to take over.
Lu Lanxin lowered her head, her whole body trembling violently. Anyone who saw her could feel her helplessness.
Seeing this, Sur sighed secretly. It would be normal for ordinary people to make a scene and run away in such a situation.
"I..."
Just when he was about to check in with Ji Heng, he saw Lu Lanxin's eyelashes stopped trembling, a haze appeared under her eyes, and the moment she raised her eyes, her pupils seemed to have turned completely black.
When his eyes met hers, Sur's heart shuddered... Could it be that he was chosen as the target of attack again?
Gradually, more white cotton wool filled the air. They were so tiny, only one-tenth the size of ordinary willow catkins, that they were difficult to notice in the dim rented room.
Sur sensed something was wrong until he caught a glimpse of a wriggling white creature among the powder left by the inspector near the refrigerator.
Limited vision.
He simply closed his eyes and slowly extended his hand, concentrating on feeling it. It felt as if an extremely light weight was applied to his palm, as light as the softest feather.
"Be careful, there's..."
Bang!
The sound of the door closing drowned out the unfinished words.
Lu Lanxin leaned against the door and locked it, blocking the way to the outside world.
Sur subconsciously opened his eyes and looked at the window, where there was a layer of something like a spider web.
The white particles floating in the air separated the three people in the room, except for him and Lu Lanxin, who were in the same space.
"…Why did you choose me?"
There were still traces of tears on her face, but the smile on Lu Lanxin's lips had a hint of charm: "Young, fresh flesh."
Is there anything wrong with being young?
Su Er had a complicated expression. Yizhu was like that, Ji Heng was like that, and Lu Lanxin was like that... Why did everyone like young and handsome guys?
Soon he lost the mood to feel sentimental. The flames of desire almost burned his entire body. Before impulse overcame reason, Sur reflexively shocked himself with the electric shock device.
Half of my arm was numb, but I felt briefly lucid.
Lu Lanxin came close to him at some point, and Su Er gave her a blow without hesitation.
"Reserve..." Not caring about the unbuttoned button, Sur was not going to give the enemy any chance to breathe.
However, God was not on his side this time. The white fluff entered his respiratory tract and had a paralyzing effect, causing his hand movements to slow down by half a beat.
A strong urge swept over him again. Su Er's vision was a little blurred. He saw the white silk beside him being torn apart by the sharp blade. He said incoherently: "Ji Heng... Save..."
He would rather be tortured to death than be raped and die, which is definitely the most frustrating way to die.
Lu Lanxin set her sights on Su Er and took a step forward with a determined smile, but her white hand instantly spurted out a pool of blood.
As soon as she was injured, the temptation on Sur's side decreased, and he kicked her the moment he regained consciousness.
Ji Heng turned the dagger and turned his head sideways: "Are you okay?"
Soul straightened his clothes and shook his head: "Teenage Shadow."
Ji Heng was obviously also affected by Bai Xu and advocated a quick victory. After Lu Lanxin was kicked down, he scratched the tendons of one of her hands without mercy.
Su Er ran to open the door, stood in a ventilated place, and looked at Li Shuo, whose face was particularly cold and stern: "What are you going to do?"
Li Shuo sneered: "I take back what I said five minutes ago. No need for a physical examination, just a biopsy."
The white fluff in the air has not decreased.
Ji Heng frowned: "Be careful of someone escaping."
Li Shuo dragged Lu Lanxin, who had temporarily lost her strength, to a corner and said, "If you don't behave yourself, I'll burn down the whole house and everyone in it."
This sentence seemed to work, and the annoying white fluff gradually dissipated.
The pitiful look on Lu Lanxin's face was gone, and her eyes seemed to want to skin them alive.
Despite the harvest, no one showed any joy. The fact that an invading organism could inhabit a human body and then take over the entire body was undoubtedly a terrifying thing.
Even more worrying is the intelligence inherent in the organisms themselves.
Sensing danger, she immediately framed others, then used the child to draw attention. If her plan succeeded, all the major factions would scramble to obtain the newborn baby for research, allowing her to live in peace.
Li Shuo's expression was solemn: "I hope this is an exception."
Suer looked at him and said nothing, knowing in his heart that this was probably just the beginning.
"I'm going to escort them back myself," Li Shuo said, changing his original plan due to an unexpected situation. "Call me if you need anything."
Ji Heng: "After the test results come out, I hope you can give us a simplified version."
Li Shuo had no right to agree, so he just said, "I'll report this to my superiors."
Lu Lanxin was taken away. Ji Heng found a glass bottle and walked to the refrigerator, then picked up the larvae struggling in the powder and put them into the cup.
Unfortunately, the dense net on the window lost its activity after Lu Lanxin left, and was quickly blown away by the wind.
Sur stared at the bugs in the bottle. He had seen several disaster movies before, and biological invasion was one of the most troublesome situations.
Ji Heng suddenly put away the glass bottle, and Su Er realized something and turned around. Not long after, a slender figure appeared in the corridor.
He forced a smile. "Good morning."
Princess Camellia seemed to be quite disgusted with the polluted air in the room. She stood there and gave them a look, letting them experience it themselves.
Su Er was tactful and took the initiative to leave the unit, and Ji Heng did the same.
I walked silently all the way to the side of the road. I saw a familiar RV parked under a big tree, and passers-by would take a second look at it.
As they boarded the bus, all the players arrived, though one was missing from yesterday. The host came in last, and the sound of the door closing perfectly reflected his current mood.
Su Er tried his best to maintain the curve of his mouth: "Come to pick us up specially?"
Princess Camellia ignored the question.
Xu Yangyang took the initiative to sit over and whispered, "It's time to change places today."
The three locations originally planned were Tianjia Temple, the rental house, and the library. The rental house, a black spot, had already been ruthlessly eliminated by Su Er and Ji Heng, leaving the library as the only destination.bookshelf
"I'll rearrange the rest of the itinerary," Princess Camellia finally said. "From two o'clock until tomorrow morning, everyone must stay in the library."
Sur took the initiative to remind them that their current actions were under surveillance.
"I'll take care of it."
Just as he was about to say something, Princess Camellia gave him a death stare, and Suer shut up in disappointment.
The library was closed today, and the director personally handed the key to Princess Camellia, describing the situation in a manner almost identical to that of the temple abbot.bookshelf
"Recently, there have been frequent cases of customers falling asleep while reading and sleeping until closing time, requiring considerable effort to wake them," the curator said, feeling quite troubled. "Someone has even mentioned this online, labeling it an urban legend."
Princess Camellia made the same promise and said she could do it.
Su Er asked softly, "What happened to Liu Lang's body?"
Xu Yangyang shook her head: "The host cleaned up the mess, and the rest of the people were waiting in the RV."bookshelf
Suer nodded, turned to look at the library in front of him, and searched for relevant information on the Internet.
This is the city's most famous library, boasting a unique exterior design, most notably its retro tower clock. It's so striking that many film and television productions have used it as a backdrop.
It was exactly one o'clock now. The tower clock was chiming the time. The sound was distant and ancient. He couldn't help but listen with a pious attitude.
Noticing that Su Er was almost lost in thought, Ji Heng laughed: "Do you like it very much?"bookshelf
Retracting his gaze, Su Er raised the corner of his lips: "It's not that I like you, it's just that I feel like I'm counting down the days."
Ji Heng didn't respond to the conversation, but took another look at the tower clock.
There was more than enough time, and Princess Camellia said they could have lunch first, or take a walk around the neighborhood. There was only one requirement: they must enter the library before two o'clock.
Before the new crisis came, no one tried to be different and everyone chose the nearest small restaurant.bookshelf
Sur quickly finished buying food, ran to the store to buy some chocolate and small bottles of energy drinks, and after negotiating with the owner, bought his black backpack.
When crossing the road, Ji Heng weighed it from behind and found it quite heavy. He unzipped it and saw a bag of dirt inside. Almost instantly, he knew what he was planning: "Making a figurine?"
Suer nodded: "The eggs can be used for experiments."
Clay figurines were also considered ghosts in a different sense. He wanted to see just how destructive the insects could be.
Ji Heng thought thoughtfully: "Lu Lanxin just let the child be taken away to be an experimental subject, but you can do it yourself."
A lot more cautious indeed.
"…"
Of the three places, the library was actually the one Suer wanted to visit the most. If he could find relevant documents there, it would help him understand the world better.bookshelf
At around 1:50, everyone met in the museum.
Princess Camellia seemed to have recovered from yesterday's setback. She smiled and said, "I hope everyone will try not to destroy the books. Please also walk lightly when escaping so as not to disturb my sleep."
Su Er suddenly thought of Dong Feng Jushi. Hosts who love to sleep usually don't have good luck.
After giving them a few instructions, the host let them move freely and disappeared.bookshelf
After spending a quarter of an hour walking around, Suer basically understood the overall layout.
The library has four floors in total. The first floor only displays some famous literary classics, and most of the area is used to sell souvenirs; the second floor has the most books; the third floor has newspapers and magazines from previous years; the fourth floor is a pottery gallery and a rest and communication area, and there are photos of reading club activities on the wall.
Before night falls, small clumps of white fluff can only be seen in the air at long distances.bookshelfShop best-selling items
Su Er stopped and looked at Ji Heng: "Where do you want to go first?"
"Third floor."
A small clump of white fluff drifted around the corner. Su Er was about to turn sideways to avoid it, but the white fluff took a detour and returned. He was stunned for a moment: "This insect egg has consciousness?"
As early as in Tianjia Temple, Ji Heng noticed this and nodded, "His IQ is not high."
A pessimistic voice rang out: "I think the world is going to end."
Su Er turned around and found that it was Xu Yangyang. The other party was very familiar with others and came over: "Brother, what clues have you found?"
They had previously owed each other a favor, and Su Er was not stingy and told the whole story of Lu Lanxin's incident.
Xu Yangyang was stunned. She didn't expect him to be so generous.
Seeing Su Er turning around to leave, he hesitated for a moment and called out to him: "Wait."
"Anything else?"
Xu Yangyang: "I'm not doing it for free either. Last night I inhaled too much white fluff, which slowed my reaction time. I thought I was going to die, but I didn't expect to be saved by the peach tree in the temple."
Su Er was surprised: "The female ghost didn't give you any trouble?"
Xu Yangyang: "In fact, she didn't show up at all."
"…"
Xu Yangyang: "And masks aren't effective. We made a few yesterday. These things penetrate everywhere."
Su Er nodded to show that he understood, but his smile disappeared the moment he turned around. When he reached the other side, he said in a very dejected tone, "So the pink-clothed female ghost kills people during the day, but can protect people at night?"
But he was the one who was killed.
Ji Heng: "You got a peach petal."
Su Er could only use this to comfort himself that it was not a big loss.
The newspapers on the third floor are arranged neatly, and as soon as you enter, you will be overwhelmed by the heavy sense of history.
In an instant, Suer understood why Ji Heng came to this floor first.
On the way here just now, he paid special attention and made sure that these white fluffs were rarely seen on the streets. So far, they had only been encountered at the three points given by the host.
They gathered in these places, there must be some purpose. And in the entire library, the third floor had the most white fluff.bookshelf
The two had a clear division of labor, Suer read magazines while Ji Heng looked for newspapers.
Because the pink-clothed female ghost who died in the temple was dressed in a style that seemed to be from the last century, the two of them started looking at information from even further back in time.
There were tens of thousands of articles, and reading them one by one was impractical. So Su Er simply skimmed through the table of contents, but he never expected to find anything. His eyes were quickly drawn to the words "Peach Blossom Banquet," and he quickly read the entire article.
Long ago, the Peach Blossom Banquet was a festival, celebrated every year. People sang and danced, and admired the art of flower embroidery. But more than 20 years ago, this event was suddenly discontinued.Shop best-selling items
The moment he closed the magazine, Su Er suddenly asked, "How old are you?"
Ji Heng: "Twenty-seven."
Su Er lowered his eyes. It is said that seven years is a cycle, and the other person is just seven years older than him.
Ji Heng came over and asked: "Did you find anything?"
Su Er came back to his senses and pointed to a text description: "Twenty-seven years ago, the Peach Blossom Banquet was suddenly cancelled."
After looking at each other, he began to search for information related to the Peach Blossom Banquet on the Internet. It seemed that the search was deliberately restricted, and the entries that could be found now were less than a page.
"The official reason given was that the Peach Blossom Festival and a subsequent festival were approaching, so the holiday was moved to the later part to make it a long holiday."
There is precedent for adjusting holidays, and it sounds reasonable.
As for the origin of the Peach Blossom Banquet, the records are not very reliable. It is said that it is a festival specially set up for viewing flowers. According to legend, worshiping peach blossoms can obtain a good marriage, etc.
Ji Heng murmured, "Search for the movies and books that were banned twenty-seven years ago."bookshelf
Su Er tried to search and found that some netizens had compiled a list of works that had been banned over the years. Most of these novels were permanently banned for depicting explicit content and promoting violence, with only one, "Peach," being linked to the promotion of superstition.
However, no matter how hard I searched, I couldn't find the original work.
After thinking about it, he entered a forum called Folk Tales, posted a message looking for a book, used pinyin instead of Chinese characters, and offered a reward of fifty yuan.
Ji Heng's voice was filled with laughter: "A huge amount of money."bookshelf
Soul shrugged. "Too high would arouse suspicion."
This trick was really effective, and soon someone sent him a private message, and the other party also attached a banned collection of articles.
The story of "Peach" is somewhat magical. In the author's writing, just like fish evolve fins in order to survive in water, everyone in this world has a peach blossom seed hidden in their body, which can resist a pathogen called insect poison. The story tells the story of the protagonist's seed undergoing a mutation and becoming a generation of legend.
Su Er: "It was blocked just like that."
There is obviously no major problem with the main plot, so the only problem may be the background of the story.
Ji Heng: "Perhaps we have fallen into some kind of ideological misunderstanding."
Su Er also realized this: "There is no way that insect eggs can sprout into peach blossoms. According to the logic of the story, the two are incompatible."
When they cannot control themselves, they will resort to an extreme method and directly destroy the carrier.
As a practical man, Suer walked to a secluded corner where he would not be disturbed, took out the things in his backpack and started to make little figures.
He was now adept at these tasks, and a lifelike clay figure quickly took shape. He carefully placed a larva inside its body, and almost instantly, the clay figure began to sway from side to side. Its expression changed as it looked at Suer, becoming more brutal.
Seeing this, Su Er fell into deep thought: "Xu Fan and Liu Lang both grew peach blossoms in their bodies after their deaths. Perhaps the game has changed the players' constitutions."
Ji Heng: "If insect poison really exists, it wouldn't be surprising."
Without changing your physique, you won't be able to survive in this world, let alone complete missions.
Before Sur could take action, he cut his palm with a dagger and said, "Let me do it."
Human blood dripped onto the spot where the insects were buried. The clay figure struggled a bit, its eyes still horrifying.
Su Er frowned: "The bugs still have the upper hand."
As he spoke, he took out the peach petal. Before he could move, the petal automatically adhered to it, gradually fusing into one. The clay figurine's expression returned to normal, and with a "Puh" sound, it spat out the deadest little bug.
After confirming that he could control the insect eggs, Sur prepared to take out the petals.
The little clay figure spoke haltingly, "It's...half melted."
"…"
Ji Heng: "The flower petals were given to you by the female ghost. They carry a yin energy, so they are particularly suitable for the physique of the clay man."
The good things I almost got in exchange for my life are gone just like that... Hearing this, Su Er's eyes were empty. After a long time, he put away the little man and walked downstairs with a weak step: "I'm going to the second floor to see if I can find any classics about the Peach Blossom Banquet."bookshelf
Most of the players were gathered on the second floor. Seeing Su Er floating over like a ghost, Jia Kanhua, who was closest to the door, waved his hand in front of him and said, "What happened? He looks like he's lost his soul."
Su Er curled his lips and distracted himself by reading a book.
This method is very effective. If you look carefully, you can really find some words and fragments in some historical books. Suer was concentrating on taking notes when he suddenly felt an itch on his arm.
Jia Kanhua, who was standing next to him, had already started scratching until his skin bled, but Zhu Yu was the quickest to react: "Retreat."
The entire reading room was filled with more and more white fluff, and those hidden in the corners suddenly emerged. Su Er ran out without hesitation. Insect eggs from all directions floated in the air, far exceeding the number in the rental house during the day.
He didn't know if it was an illusion, but the floating white fluff was rushing towards him. The entire second floor seemed to have been covered with a heavy snowfall, blocking his view.
Suddenly, he felt something in his pocket. He touched it and found that the clay figure had disappeared.Shop best-selling items
"Damn it."
He cursed softly and realized that the white fluff was aimed at the clay figure.
He was surrounded and could hardly move. The light insect eggs piled up together felt like a thousand pounds of weight, weighing him down so much that he couldn't even lift his hands.
Third floor.
The air in the area where the white fluff was the most began to become fresh. Ji Heng seemed to sense something, put down the newspaper, walked to the escalator, and soon saw Su Er surrounded by white fluff.
He took a step forward, and at the same time a cold voice came from behind him.
"That little clay figurine is almost fully integrated. If all goes well, we can extract antibodies from it." Princess Camellia appeared out of nowhere, leaning on the escalator with a smile. "You need to think carefully about whether to save the clay figurine or Sur."
Ji Heng didn't even give Su Er a glance and walked straight towards him.
Princess Camellia said loudly, "Don't blame me for not reminding you. Saving the little clay figurine will increase your chances of survival."
This time Ji Heng finally stopped and looked back at him.
Princess Camellia smiled and said, "I've changed my mind..."
Before he could finish his words, he was forcibly interrupted.
Ji Heng said word by word with a blank expression: "I, Bao, Da."
"…"