Everything is evolving, insects are evolving, and now even clay figures are evolving.
Su Er still remembered that the first little man he made was obsessed with plastic surgery, and the latest one had actually learned to pluck the sheep's wool from its own body.
"Props?"
After asking the question, Zhu Yu immediately shook his head to deny the answer. A prop could not possibly have consciousness.
But at least one question can be answered... How did Sur speed up the tower clock?
He himself can't do it, but the clay figure is just right for him.
While he was thinking, the futon bounced back the unknown object that was trying to climb up.
The little clay figure fell to the ground, with some dirt residue around it.
This scene gave Sur a glimmer of hope. The fact that Fu Tuan did not choose to kill it directly but to drive it away proved that it was not easy to judge either.
"Peach Blossom Spring..." Su Er looked outside and suddenly understood Ji Heng's feelings as he carved those words into the tree. The world today was no different from the Peach Blossom Spring to humans: seemingly beautiful, yet from the perspectives of future generations... a place rife with dangers, even terrifying.
The little clay man didn't have so many thoughts. He became more and more courageous as he encountered more setbacks and tried to continue climbing.
Su Er didn't care whether the cushion could understand or not, and said, "It's a real little ghost, and the Yin energy in its body doesn't come from this world."
The rules require that the person sitting on the futon must be a real visitor from afar. The player meets the definition of a "visitor", but is not real. Su Er doesn't even know what his original name is, but the little clay man perfectly avoids this point.
In order to obtain all the Yin energy, the clay man also tried his best. He landed, did a forward flip, kicked his legs, and then did a side flip. He turned outward 720 degrees and landed accurately on the cushion.
"…"
For a moment, Zhu Yu even forgot to think about its origins and asked seriously, "How can I skip marriage and pregnancy and directly have a little ghost like this?"
Soul didn't answer, his attention focused on the futon: "How long?"
Zhu Yu was stunned for a moment and was about to open the tablet to count the time, but Ji Heng had already answered: "One minute and forty seconds."
The cushion stopped attacking temporarily, and the little clay figurine sat cross-legged on it, its body twitching, far from being as calm as it looked on the surface.
"Please take care of it." After saying that, Su Er walked into the yard and felt around on the big tree: "It's not this one."
Ji Heng also came out at this time: "Looking for a tree?"
Su Er nodded. "The Ghost King said you carved words on a tree, and Nong Xu also mentioned trees in his self-analysis."
"Now the peach tree in the yard is about to wither," he still remembered this sentence in his mental monologue at the time.
Ji Heng: "Since it's the withering of the peach tree rather than the falling of the peach blossoms, the tree is probably dead."
Hearing this, Sur stood there for a few seconds, thinking about the possible places where he had planted the seeds before.
Ji Heng pondered and analyzed, "The yard faces south, so peach trees are not suitable to be planted in front of the house. You can go to the back and have a look."
Su Er raised his eyebrows: "Is there such a thing?"
Ji Heng nodded and said as he walked around to the back of the house, "The words 'tao' and 'escape' have the same pronunciation, so it would be taboo."
Thinking of the other person's experience, Su Er sighed: "It's a pity that even if you hadn't been planted in the south, you would still have been unable to escape the disaster in the past."
Ji Heng smiled and agreed: "That's true."
They had been here for some time, but this was their first time setting foot behind the house. Weeds were overgrown, and the brick walls, with many cracks between them, looked shaky from the wind and rain. There was a wooden post not far away, and Soul walked quickly over to it.
Before he could even reach out to dig the hole, Ji Heng pulled him from behind and jokingly called him a literary genius: "A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. You should know this."
Su Er looked up at the flimsy wall and continued, "Call me if you need anything."
Apart from anything else, he is very good at the 100-meter sprint.
"Why care about a tree?"
"Gou Baopu gave me a peach blossom branch. Everything in this dungeon revolves around peach blossoms. It's best not to miss anything related to it."
Seeing him digging around the tree stump, Ji Heng laughed: "I don't have a habit of burying things."
Su Er's hand froze for a moment, then he waved his index finger: "Actually, you are quite melancholic."
Ji Heng was stunned.
"When you reach the pinnacle of a field, you tend to feel a sense of emptiness. If you don't have a lover to share your joy with, then what can you do but bury flowers in the yard and write in your diary?"
"…"
Helplessly squatting down, Ji Heng said seriously: "Emptiness is not the same as boredom."
The noise continued, but Soul ignored it and focused on digging. His efforts paid off. After digging about forty centimeters deep, his fingers finally touched the smooth edge. He quickly sped up, and soon unearthed a long-sealed wine jar. It was light, clearly not containing liquid. After opening it, Soul pulled up his sleeve and pulled out some withered, rotten flower petals and a small notebook.
He tilted his head: "What did you just say?"
Ji Heng's expression at this moment was so wonderful that Suer regretted not being able to record it in time.
He glanced at the notebook with disgust. Coincidentally, the wind blew and the petals were blown into fine powder, covering his face.
Su Er kindly handed Ji Heng a tissue. He wiped his face with it and then flipped through the document. It described how brain transplants weren't always successful on the first try. The first two attempts resulted in significant rejection, and only the third attempt managed to achieve success. However, the aftereffects were severe. While his brain functioned normally, his hands often trembled slightly, and he felt nauseous and unable to eat.
The physical examination showed that everything was normal, and the doctor recommended that I be transferred to the psychology department.
"The doctor is right," Soul said.
Ji Heng has a mild obsession with mysophobia. The idea of his own brain being in someone else's body is an insult to him.
The diary also mentioned that he planned to make the history of three hundred years ago public so that mankind could see the reality and be forced to accept the Central Plan at the critical moment of life and death.
While Suer was concentrating on the text, Ji Heng suddenly started tearing up the diary.
Although confused, Su Er did not stop him. Gradually, he found that Ji Heng only picked out a few pages and tore them open.
"These sheets are a little thicker." Ji Heng explained, rubbing the cracked edge with his fingertips. Sure enough, there was a layer of paper. He carefully peeled it open and poured out a dried petal with '2' written on it.
Next, four such petals were found in sequence, which were 3240 in order of page order.
Soul: "It seems to be a date."
Ji Heng smiled and said, "It could also be a password."
"Hey, you guys..." Xu Yangyang ran out and called for help. Seeing that they were holding something, she swallowed the rest of her words and said, "Did you find anything?"
"A string of numbers."
Su Er stood up a little suddenly, his eyes sparkling. "Did you pass the futon game?"
When talking about this, Xu Yangyang's expression became a little complicated. He took out a ball of something wrapped in cloth. The clay figure was broken into four or five parts, and only the head was intact.
"Electric shock... all... mine..."
Even at this time, I am still thinking about the Yin energy.
Sur reached out to close its eyes, but the clay man refused to do so.
"I see."
Unfortunately, in the eyes of the other party, the scumbag has zero credit, and they demand that the benefits be paid immediately.
Su Er glanced at Ji Heng, who nodded and walked into the house. Before leaving, he raised an eyebrow at Xu Yangyang. He had originally wanted to stay and see, but after receiving the hint, Xu Yangyang followed him back to the house with regret.
After everyone had left, Suer began to massage his body again and infuse it with Yin Qi.
The front and back houses were only a few feet apart, and the voices of Xu Yangyang and Ji Heng explaining the situation on the road came into his ears intermittently.
"It's done. Fu Tuan used a small killing move in the last ten seconds, and its body collapsed on the spot..." Xu Yangyang sighed: "Ghosts are more resilient than humans after all. Even after this, it didn't die."
After the two men entered the house, the rest of the conversation could no longer be heard clearly. Sur worked quickly with the mud, and when he reached the last step, the little clay figure suddenly opened his eyes.
Su Er was angry and amused: "All for you."
While using the electric shock device to get rid of the negative energy, he was wondering what kind of image he had in the eyes of others. He didn't dare to say anything else, but he would definitely do what he promised.
"I am the one who truly stays out of the mud and remains untainted..."
While admiring myself, I assembled the little clay figure and returned to the house.
There was one more person inside, it was Li Shuo.
Su Er's eyes flickered, and he found a place to stand calmly. After a moment, he said, "It's very chaotic outside now. You must be very busy."
Li Shuo: "We've found the old Taoist priest who helped Lu Lanxin give birth. As agreed before, you all have to contribute."
"Okay." After agreeing readily, Su Er glanced at the demon monk hesitantly, "The master and I have some private matters to discuss."
Li Shuo tactfully went out and returned to the car to wait.
"The city museum." After Li Shuo left, the demon monk calmly stood up and put away the cushion. "What you are looking for is there."
The hint he gave gave players hope again. If nothing unexpected happened, they could just go to the museum and destroy the alien probe to leave this damn copy.
"The sooner the better," Xu Yangyang said excitedly, "we need to hurry over before the number of sojourners gets out of control."
Everyone had similar thoughts. Before stepping out of the door, Suer suddenly turned around and saw that the evil monk was weeding.
Sensing his gaze, the demon monk pulled them out by the roots: "Actually, these weeds have been growing here longer than me. I pulled them out because I thought they were an eyesore, but there are endless weeds in this world."
Knowing that this was an allusion to the relationship between humans and insects, Sur was in no position to say much and eventually left without a word.
·
Players came out one after another, and Li Shuo rolled down the window: "Get in the car."
Suhr: "There are too many people to sit, so we ride bicycles."
Before he could be refuted, he made the final decision: "We have to deal with some other things on the way."
Li Shuo frowned, but didn't force it. He glanced at the person who came out to close the door and asked in a low voice, "Where did this monk come from?"
Su Er responded perfunctorily: "We are from the same circle."
After a pause, he said, "Where is the old Taoist priest now?"
"City Museum."
Su Er's eyes changed, and it was the same place as the Ghost King gave.
After confirming that he wasn't going to get in the car, Li Shuo drove away first: "Call me when you get there."
After watching the car drive quite a distance, Xu Yangyang walked to the front and chuckled, "The probability of coincidence is too low."
After saying that, he looked at Su Er and said, "You have come into contact with him. Doesn't he work in a formal organizational department?"
Su Er: "As long as he's not parasitized, he's indeed a good person."
On this day, insect eggs were rampant throughout the city, and no one could guarantee that Li Shuo would not be infected.
"We have to go to the museum no matter what." Zhu Yu turned on the voice navigation and got on his bike.
Su Er shared her thoughts. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Ji Heng being stopped by Camellia Princess. He hesitated for a moment before pushing his bicycle over. Xu Yangyang was also about to join in the fun when the host's voice drifted over, "The more you know, the faster you die."
Xu Yangyang gave an awkward laugh and quickly rode away.
Princess Camellia finally spoke: "After successfully passing the inevitable death game, there are two choices."
Su Er narrowed his eyes warily. He suddenly mentioned this, and it was probably with bad intentions.
Princess Camellia smiled and held up a finger. "One, return to your original location and become a native. Two, continue to complete dungeons, accumulate enough points to have your memory sealed by the game, and live in a beautiful fictional world from then on."
Ji Heng's eyes were cold: "Seal the memory?"
Camellia Princess: "All memories related to the game, including your current experiences and the partners you have met...all will be forgotten." Finally, she looked at Soul: "Of course, this also includes him."
You have to choose between the painful truth and the false beauty.
Just like the Peach Blossom Spring, once you leave, you can never find the entrance again.
"At the same time, everything about you will be erased from other people's minds."
After the words fell, neither Suer nor Ji Heng spoke. For a moment, only the sound of wind blowing fallen leaves could be heard.
Camellia Princess was immersed in the sudden silence, as if she could sense the players' pain through it. "It's not that no one has ever faced certain death in the past. Most of them died in the later stages of the dungeon while accumulating points, and their emotions became increasingly negative."
Is false beauty really worth looking forward to?
Sur thought of himself first. In his memory, his parents treated him very well, but no matter how happy the game data constructed his life to be, it would only make his heart feel emptier.
The host chose this time to tell the truth, which is really heartbreaking.
As if seeing through his thoughts, Camellia Princess asked with a smile: "Are you still looking forward to a certain death?"
You have to remember everything and live realistically, otherwise you will be like a puppet in a game, erasing your memories and living in the so-called 'real world'.
A person's qualities and personality are slowly shaped through countless experiences. Without these memories, it is like past and present lives, and they cannot be simply classified as the same person.
Suer glanced at Ji Heng who remained silent... He was very sure that he didn't want to forget this person, nor did he want the other person to forget him.
Faced with the cruel reality, his lips turned pale, his fingers clenched tightly, and he finally made up his mind and looked at Princess Camellia: "Excuse me, what are the requirements for applying to be the host?"
By becoming a host, you can experience the real copy world relatively safely, and your memory should not be sealed. All in all, it is barely acceptable.
"…"
The arrogance between her brows disappeared, and the Camellia Princess's face turned ashen, and there was no trace of the gloating she had just felt. After a long while, she almost lost her voice and said, "What did you say?"
Sur repeated it patiently.
Camellia Princess: "What did you say?"
Soul repeated it a second time.
Camellia Princess: "What did you say?"
Su'er's eyes were gloomy.
Princess Camellia said expressionlessly: "The wind is too strong."
He can't hear clearly.