The explanation in just a few words was confusing. Ji Heng looked at him, but his expression was gentle and he said, "Thank you."
Their eyes met, and his gaze gradually shifted from Sur to the Book of Samsara.
His hands holding the book felt a little hot, and Suer realized that there were more important things to do now.
Ji Heng: "Don't worry, help is coming."
He turned around, and almost at the same moment, the door was flung open. A crying child's usefulness was limited, and the sound of the rag doll's sobs was drowned out by the cracking of wood. Without the distraction, the pity in the blond demon's eyes gradually faded, and a violent aura emanated from his body.
"You... deserve to die."
At the critical moment, Ji Heng said something indifferently, as if it was extremely urgent: "You've come just in time! Come and help me."
Ye Xiaocen's face suddenly darkened.
Over there, Su'er deliberately shook the Book of Samsara in his hand. Ye Xiaocen clenched his fists slightly, certain that someone had gotten there first. Then, looking at the demon, most of its body now free from the formation, his expression finally lost control and he glared fiercely at Chen Buqi. If he hadn't been tricked into going to the bamboo hut by this person, he would have had a chance to obtain the Book of Samsara.
Chen Buqi didn't know whether he was numb or calm, he said without any expression: "Stop the devil first."
Anyway, since he is not strong enough, anyone can step on him, so he might as well speak directly.
After being treated like a fool and enduring for a long time, Zhou Que said in a bad tone: "They are taking the benefits, why should we work hard?"
Chen Buqi didn't bother to respond to such foolish talk. In comparison, Ye Xiaocen, though furious, remained rational. The demon hadn't burned the Book of Samsara as required before being released, and everyone was likely to be held responsible.
As for Su Er, who had already started setting fire to the books, a match was too weak. Ji Heng chopped off a table leg, wrapped it in a tablecloth, and made a makeshift torch, which he handed to him.
It is unknown how powerful the demon is, but no one chooses to attack at close range. Even Ji Heng does not dare to be careless and rush forward to fight with a dagger.
The mission only mentions burning the Book of Reincarnation and does not mention dealing with the demons. This is enough to show that the power of the demons is not something that players can contend with.
Ji Heng threw a dozen or so talismans, with only moderate success. Taking advantage of the demon's distraction, Ye Xiaocen whistled, and a delicate mechanical bird flew over, spewing a string of explosive steel balls from its mouth. A few of them struck the shoulder blade, burning a small hole.
"It works!" Zhou Que's eyes lit up with joy, thinking to himself that his captain was indeed powerful.
Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. The demon gave the mechanical bird a gentle squeeze, and no matter how fast it was, it couldn't escape his grasp. With a snap, its parts fell apart, and the mechanical bird cried out in frustration before disintegrating into a pool of molten steel.
The blond devil stared at his fingertips in a trance for two seconds, then sneered, "Useless toy."
"It's almost out!" Seeing that only the demon's ankles were left in the formation, Chen Buqi hurried to look at Suer, and found that the book was only half burned. Despair suddenly appeared in his eyes.
Su Er remained calm. The situation did not allow him to rush. He could only patiently burn the books and explain, "These are not ordinary papers."
It would only take half a minute to destroy an ordinary book, but the Book of Samsara burned very slowly with a torch, and once the fire was removed, the flames on the pages would immediately go out and stop burning.
Ji Heng glanced at Zhou Que, who was basically useless and said, "Go help him."
Zhou Que was confused and a little reluctant.
"Get out of here!" Seeing his behavior, Ye Xiaocen rarely gave a stern order.
Zhou Que shuddered and quickly ran over to help burn the books.
Suer raised his eyebrows. No wonder Ji Heng, who was vindictive by nature, only asked Chen Buqi to send Ye Xiaocen away instead of killing him directly. This man was still useful at the critical moment.
I took the time to look at the statue. I had used it as a hidden weapon to hit the demon before. After delaying the demon, the statue bounced back to a dead corner at the back. If I wanted to use it again, I would have to take the risk of bypassing the demon. After thinking about it, I had to give up.
"Holy shit!" Zhou Que had just lit a few matches when he unexpectedly caught sight of the scene ahead. He suddenly jumped up and yelled, "It's out!"
The demon, now completely free, smiled slightly and looked at the players present as if they were ants.
The long golden hair was flying in the air, trying to strangle the nearest object. Ji Heng dodged quickly, and the bookshelf behind him was directly shattered into pieces.
The situation shifted, and everyone shifted their focus from attack to self-defense. Su'er used his last coal face to confront the others, while Zhou Que also pinched the defective item he had obtained from the old woman. As for Ji Heng and the others, Su'er squinted his eyes, unable to see clearly because of the swirling golden hair that obscured their view.
A scream was heard, and it sounded like Chen Buqi.
A burst of blood rained in the air, and an arm flew in front of Su Er. After landing, it bounced violently. He whispered quietly, "Goodbye."
Chen Buqi covered his wound and desperately crawled to the corner, saying weakly: "Thank goodness, I'm still alive."
Only the last third of the Book of Reincarnation remains.
The demon's attacks became increasingly fierce, becoming almost indiscriminate in the end. Ji Heng and Ye Xiaocen worked together to force him closer to the formation, restricting his movement area.
Seeing this, Suer felt relieved, and suddenly realized that too much of the past was not a good thing. His book of reincarnation was obviously a little too thick.
A strand of hair flew towards him without warning. Sur came to his senses and was scratched as he dodged, instantly losing a piece of flesh from his arm. Blood splattered on the torch, dimming the flame for a moment, and when it burned again, the torch's light was much weaker.
Taking a deep breath, Sur tried to ease the pain by adjusting his breathing. After feeling a little better, he stretched out his arm in pain, reached to the nearest side, and pulled off the sofa cushion as fuel for a new round of combustion.
"How long?"
Ji Heng appeared at a nearby location at some point in time.
Su Er looked at the burnt book cover and the slowly disappearing paper, and said helplessly: "About three minutes."
Before he could finish his words, a few strands of hair shot towards him like arrows.
Ji Heng stood in front of him and chopped it off like lightning.
The demons had learned their lesson, no longer attacking the players, but instead focusing all their damage on the area around the Book of Samsara. Su'er and Zhou Que's combat power was average, and even with Ji Heng blocking their way, they still suffered several setbacks.
Faster! Faster!
Sur's arms were drenched in blood, his mind completely focused on the Book of Samsara. It took longer than he'd anticipated, and by the time it reached the last page, the burning was incredibly slow. To use an analogy, it was like watching a video and the buffer was loading at 99%, the little circle kept spinning, but it was just missing that last bit.
The time limit for Coal Face to see people has completely passed. Sul tightly grasped the pendant that can resist the attacks of ghosts, unsure whether he can withstand this wave of attacks.
"I found you." The devil's whispering voice floated into his ears, and at the same time, a chilling murderous intent exploded.
I saw his slender fingers slightly bent, and a ball of light wrapped around his palm, which was still expanding.
At the critical moment, Ji Heng walked away and gestured to Ye Xiaocen, asking him to attract the devil's attention.
The latter naturally did not want to do such a dangerous thing.
Ji Heng whispered, "Five seconds."
Ye Xiaocen finally agreed. There was no third way. Even if Suer died, replacing someone else to burn the books would only bring a greater risk of death.
The moment he struck, Ji Heng circled behind the demon, his movements unfazed even by the scrape of his golden hair against his back. Ye Xiaocen assumed he was planning a sneaky backstab, and even the demon thought so, sneering as he waited for the useless attack to strike him. In the nick of time, Ji Heng unexpectedly retracted his attack, used a speed boost, and appeared beside the statue, quickly raising it and smashing it towards the demon.
statue:"???"
The devil waved his hand casually as if he was looking at a clown.
The two sides were too close to each other, and it was too late to change the direction of the parabola, unless they moved to another place in space, but this meant that their identities would be exposed.
While the statue was still thinking, the casual blow landed on the side of his cheek and he was slapped away.
"…"
He wants to kill this devil who dares to slap himself in the face!
"It's finished burning!" The surprised voice was an octave high, almost screaming, and it attracted everyone's attention for a moment.
Su Er's eyelids jumped: "What are you yelling about?"
As he said this, he decisively moved a few meters away from Zhou Que.
This was a wise decision. The demon's attention was refocused here because of the sound. He did not hold back and threw a destructive ball of light at him.
If a player dies after completing the mission due to not being teleported in time, the rules will strictly hold the host accountable. The statue regained its sanity, no longer caring about the indignation of being slapped in the face, blocking the attack of the light ball while quickly teleporting.
Zhou Que thought he was dead, so he raised his arms to block his face and closed his eyes tightly. However, he didn't expect that what he felt was not pain, but his body was dissolved bit by bit.
Teleport?
In a burst of ecstasy, Zhou Que screamed, "Mission accomplished! Heaven will not let me die!"
Enraged by the harsh sound, the demon pulled out a strand of hair and inserted it into the gap in the teleportation space, directly breaking Zhou Que's hands and feet. This was even when Ye Xiaocen gave him a protective item, otherwise he would have lost his head.
Sur shook his head, deeply suspecting that the other party was the reincarnation of a stupid screaming chicken.
The figure of the demon in front of him gradually became blurred. Perhaps it was his illusion. He felt that the strong murderous intent coming from the statue far exceeded that of the demon.
The transmission ended, and there were countless fragments of light and shadow all around. The people in the fragments were wearing clothes of various colors and doing different things. Su Er felt like he was standing in front of dense surveillance, peeking into other people's world.
It is not a transit station, which makes people feel uneasy. Fortunately, Ji Heng is right next to them. Suer spoke, but he was worried about something else.
"I didn't interact with the host this time. Will I get no achievement points?"
Ji Heng glanced at him and said nothing.
Soon, Sur discovered that his worries were unnecessary. A familiar thunder rumbled in the sky, but there were no ordinary players around to watch. Instead, the game seemed to be speaking to him in a narrative tone:
[Congratulations to player Su'er for obtaining the achievement point 'The Hateful Merchant'.]
[Congratulations to player Sur for achieving the achievement point 'Skinning Master'.]
[Congratulations to player Su'er for achieving the achievement point 'Hated by Gods and Devil'.]
What does it mean to rise from notoriety to the point of being hated by everyone? It means that one is constantly improving.
Thinking of this, Suer raised his eyebrows and counted on his fingers. He only needed to collect the last two achievement points.
I don't know if the game thought the same thing, but for the players who came in for the second round, the dark clouds that had not yet dispersed gathered again, and after the thunder sounded, it actually awarded the last two achievement points:
[Congratulations to player Su'er for achieving the achievement point 'There's a Road to Heaven, But You Don't Take It'.]
[Congratulations to player Su'er for achieving the achievement 'There is no door to hell, you come here by yourself'.]
Suer keenly noticed that Ji Heng's badge flashed at this moment.
Ji Heng: "The game made up for the points I was missing."
The points settled were several times more than those in a normal copy. Under normal circumstances, he would have to play two or three more copies to get the 10,000 points required to leave.
When the announcement was complete, the game's voice returned to its cold tone: "Don't come again."
"…"
There was no subject, but Suer inexplicably felt that this sentence was directed only at one person.
Before being thrown out, he quickly asked, "What's the meaning of games?"
The air was silent for a moment, and after a while the voice responded, "Create a relatively perfect world, and then make it real."
The world is virtual, but the players who inhabit it are real people. Of course, there is no free lunch in the world. These players will have to pay a price for leaving the living environment they have always wanted to escape.
"I need to constantly examine human nature, collect data, and perfect the virtual world. This is the highest directive left by the creator of my existence."
Who created the game?
Suer wanted to ask this, but subconsciously knew that even if he asked, there would be no answer.
"Let's go."
Yugi really wasn't in the mood to pay too much attention to him.
The surrounding light and shadow fragments became illusory, and everything presented within was real... that was what was happening at the moment. Those people were unaware that every minute of their lives was being recorded. Before they completely disappeared, they heard the game's final words:
"Other players won't remember your interactions with them in the game, and you can't actively try to connect with them."
Their bodies were engulfed by darkness. Suer and Ji Heng looked at each other and watched as the badges automatically separated from their bodies and merged into the darkness.
A few dogs barked in the distance, and the dizziness ended. Soul lowered his head and stared at the tiles for a few seconds, making sure that he had returned. The sound of children chasing and playing downstairs was so loud that even those living on the upper floors could hear it.
A familiar world, everything familiar.
"I'm back." This sigh contained too many complicated emotions.
Ji Heng smiled and said, "We are back."
Su Er was stunned for a moment, then he also smiled: "Yes, we are back."
They did not forget each other and returned alive and safe.
·
Although some things had been tacitly understood, Su Er only moved into Ji Heng's house temporarily due to the college entrance examination this year, and the relationship did not develop further. Life returned to normal, and he began to live the life of a normal high school student, doing his five-three homework every day and leaving school early and returning late every day.
Just as the game said, apart from each other, all other interactions within the game were erased. For example, in Yao Zhi's eyes, Su Er was simply a student. Even Zhao Sanliang, with whom they had been close friends in the past, had never met again.
On the eve of the college entrance examination, Su Er suddenly felt cold while sleeping. He reached out to pull the quilt, but his arms seemed frozen. He sniffed his red nose and reluctantly opened his eyes, only to see a pale, slightly swollen face in front of him.
It had been a long time since he had faced such a scene. Su Er's heart skipped a beat as he brushed aside the long, sticky black hair that hung down like algae by his ears: "...Zhu Yun?"
A pair of hands suddenly grabbed his thin neck tightly. Sur breathed hard and tried hard to pry open the other person's fingers.
"Feel sorry."
After becoming a ghost, Zhu Yun was completely unable to control her killing instinct when facing humans.
The defibrillator automatically disappeared the moment she left the game. While struggling in pain, Sul couldn't help but wonder how she came to the real world.
After an unknown amount of time, the hand that was tightly gripping his neck loosened a little. Zhu Yun stared at him with eyes that had lost their focus. After a while, she struggled to squeeze out a few words from her throat: "Su Er..."
After calling his name coldly, Zhu Yun said with a stiff expression, "I wish you... I wish you get into a good university."
The words were said without any emotion, but Soul felt inexplicably uncomfortable.
The still chest, lifeless eyes, and extremely cold hands pinching his throat all emphasized that his deskmate was really dead, turned into a water ghost, and trapped in the game world forever.
At this time, Zhu Yun finally let go of her hand and disappeared from his sight.
When he woke up, he was covered in cold sweat, and the depression in Suer's heart had not completely dissipated.
Ji Heng turned on the night light and handed over a glass of warm water: "Are you having a nightmare?"
Su Er touched his neck, his throat seemed to be injured, with a burning sensation. He said slowly, "I dreamed of Zhu Yun."
Ji Heng said "Oh", not seeming very surprised.
Su Er held the cup with both hands and lowered his head and said, "She told me to get into a good university."
Ji Heng helped wipe the cold sweat from her forehead and said in a soothing tone, "Go to sleep, you will do well in the exam."
After a strange dream, Su Er's sleep was surprisingly unaffected in the second half of the night. The next time he opened his eyes, he was woken by the alarm clock. After a nutritious breakfast, Ji Heng drove him to the exam center. Since the first exam was Chinese, a subject Su Er excelled in, he performed steadily throughout.
After successfully answering all the questions, the only thing left was the essay. This year's topic was very clear, directly giving the theme of the essay: miracles in life. Listening to the rustling sound of pens in the exam room, Su Er was silent for a moment, then picked up his pen and wrote:
There are hibiscus in autumn and winter plum blossoms in winter, but the actual blooming of flowers has nothing to do with the solar terms;
Life spans a hundred years, and the world is disheartening, but brave young men have no lack of adventures;
I've experienced the passing of seasons, watched the sun and moon shift, but I've never experienced my own miracle. Then the flowers bloomed, I grew up, and I clumsily opened my arms to protect those around me. It was then that I realized, instead of longing for miracles, it's better to become the miracle itself.