"What do you mean?" Shi Xiao almost choked on the mouthful of water he had just drunk and hurriedly asked.
Zhou Nian tapped her cheek occasionally with her fingers, which were propping up her chin. To be honest, she was quite shocked to see this player from Blue Star here. Although the two had cooperated in the previous dungeon, this player's presence in a place where she shouldn't be was highly suspicious. Could this player be an undercover agent sent by the horror game?
Zhou Nian stared at Shi Xiao for a long time, her gaze making Shi Xiao's whole body tremble: "I said, um... Manager Zhou, we're all human, can't you just say what you want to say directly?"
"My surname is Jiang, Jiang Wan. Do you remember what I told you last time?" Zhou Nian finally spoke.
Shi Xiao looked puzzled: "Okay, Manager Jiang, what did you say last time... You said so much, which sentence was it?"
Jiang Wan continued tapping her cheek with her fingers: "You should still remember about the Ghost Realm and the Ghost Star, right?"
Shi Xiao nodded: "Of course I remember. The Ghost Star is the energy body that supports the operation of the Ghost Realm, and the Ghost Realm is the so-called copy... Nest?" Shi Xiao suddenly remembered. No wonder she felt something was strange while driving yesterday. So that's why!
Dungeons have boundaries. For example, in the previous dungeon, Li Family Village, the area within Li Family Village is part of the dungeon. Players who haven't cleared the dungeon cannot leave the dungeon area. Everything outside the boundary should appear as a blur to the player, indistinct and unreachable.
In the "Evil Bus" instance, there's also a boundary barrier that only allows players to see things relevant to the instance, such as buses, parking lots, roads, and bus stops. Things unrelated to the instance, like distant city buildings and mountains, should theoretically appear as a blur in Shi Xiao's eyes.
But Shi Xiao didn't see the boundary of this instance when he was driving yesterday! No wonder he always felt like he had overlooked something.
Therefore, taking into account what Jiangwan said...
"You mean the office we're in now isn't even part of the instance? I walked out of the instance? Where is this? A creepy world? Holy crap, how did I get out of the instance? Will this affect my chances of completing the game?" Shi Xiao was shocked. Her mind was filled with exclamation marks; this was completely beyond her understanding of horror games.
Jiang Wan shook her head: "It's not just the office."
Seeing that Shi Xiao's shocked expression seemed genuine, Jiang Wan continued thoughtfully, "The formation of a Ghost Star requires certain opportunities. For example, the previous instance you experienced was nurtured by Li Guangzong's endless hatred, and by chance, a Ghost Star was formed, which in turn gave birth to the Ghost Realm. The instance you experienced was Li Family Village within the Ghost Realm, not the real Li Family Village in this world. Do you understand now?"
Shi Xiao struggled to process Jiang Wan's words: "So you mean this isn't a dungeon at all, but the real Black Wind City? Will that affect my ability to clear the game?"
This Earth player is fairly quick-witted, but... why is all she can think about is clearing the game? Jiang Wan nodded: "That's right, dungeons exist independently of the original world. For example, the Li Family Village dungeon may have disappeared, but the real Li Family Village still exists in this world."
Although the answer was affirmative, Shi Xiao didn't seem happy. She pouted and said, "So, why am I here? Will being here affect my progress?"
Jiang Wan, who had been looking serious, couldn't help but twitch her lips upon hearing this: "Although I don't know why you're here, I feel it's necessary to tell you something. Since the instance exists based on this real world, if you do something that affects the real world, then the instance will also change accordingly."
Shi Xiao listened intently: "You mean if I kill one of the strange creatures here, then that strange creature in the instance will also disappear?"
Jiang Wan nodded: "Yes, that's what I mean."
Shi Xiao suddenly had a bold idea: "What if, I mean, what if, I blew up the entire Blackwind City? Would all the instances built on Blackwind City disappear?"
Jiang Wan: "...Well, in that case, it's not wrong."
"There's another question," Shi Xiao rubbed his hands together. "If we follow your logic, then wouldn't the ghost realm that descended upon our Blue Star be..."
"Ha." Jiang Wan sneered: "That's right, what you call a dungeon is the ghost realm that once descended upon our home planet."
"The place you are in now once had another name: Azure Star. Isn't that nice? With the arrival of one ghost realm after another, it has now become a bizarre world."
Shi Xiao remained in shock: "You mean, you're a native of this planet?"
"Yes, Azure Star used to be just like your Blue Star, without horror games, without the supernatural…" A nostalgic look appeared in Jiang Wan's eyes: "Perhaps one day, your Blue Star will eventually become like that…"
8ВοOK． Сом
Shi Xiao interrupted Jiang Muwan, saying something she didn't like: "Maybe. If that day really comes, even if I've already died in the horror game, I believe there will still be humans like you on our planet, striving to survive in this strange world."
Seeing the determined look in Shi Xiao's eyes, Jiang Wan's heart stirred slightly: "I wish you success. Although I don't know why you're here, as a fellow human being, I hope you'll remember this."
Jiang Wan's fingertips were tinged with a faint eerie aura as she drew a pattern in mid-air—a dragon-shaped logo.
"What is this?" Shi Xiao asked curiously, wondering why the pattern looked familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere before.
Jiang Wan waved her hand, and the eerie pattern condensed in mid-air slowly dissipated: "This is the symbol of the Godslayer Society, representing the human faction on our Blue Star. You're right, we humans on Blue Star haven't given up yet. For example, the Sanmu Group in Black Wind City belongs to our Godslayer Society."
She remembered! Shi Xiao remembered the pattern she had seen yesterday at the terminal station of the Sanmu Sanatorium, in front of the convenience store, and the pattern printed on the medicine boxes. She never expected that these places would belong to the human camp!
To establish a human community on a planet that has almost completely fallen and fight against horror games is an incredibly difficult task.
"But how exactly do you humans survive in a world full of strange and bizarre things?" Shi Xiao couldn't help but ask.
Jiang Wan took a medicine bottle from her desk drawer and handed it to Shi Xiao: "Here, use this."
These...aren't these the medicine bottles I saw in the sanatorium's storeroom? Shi Xiao opened the bottle, poured the contents into her palm, and found only white pills inside: "What are these pills for?"
"These are the Ghostly Qi Pills developed by the God-Slaying Society. After taking them, one can possess Ghostly Qi for a short period of time. The one you see is white. Taking one will guarantee that your strength will remain at the maximum level of Evil Spirit for three days," Jiang Wan explained.
"No...no side effects?" Shi Xiao was so shocked she could barely speak. Had the technology on Azure Star become this advanced? They had even developed drugs disguised as strange substances?
"Of course." Jiang Wan took out two more bottles of medicine with identical packaging: "The white pills have very few side effects. We also have pink and red pills. The pink pills can raise your strength to the maximum level of the Evil Ghost level, and the red pills can raise it to the Ghost King level. The more powerful the pill, the more severe the side effects."
Jiang Wan only gave the two bottles of medicine to Shi Xiao for a glance before taking them back: "I can give you the white ones, but the pink and red ones are banned drugs even in the God-Slaying Society. Especially the red ones, I won't take them unless absolutely necessary."
"Thank you." However, she had a warehouse full of such medicine, but Shi Xiao dared not say so. She thought she had robbed a horror game, but now she realized she had actually robbed her fellow humans, burning everything to the ground so there would be no evidence. She feared that if she spoke out, Jiang Wan, in a fit of anger, might add another layer of difficulty to her progress.
Furthermore, she had her own selfish motives. The effects of this pill were almost equivalent to her talent! She had to bring this batch of drugs back. It would be best if the official medical institutions could research it successfully, but if the research failed... if Blue Star really fell, this batch of drugs might be China's last trump card.
Jiang Wan, unaware of Shi Xiao's ultimate motives, handed her the white medicine bottle: "You should have seen these medicine bottles before, right?"
"Yes, yes, I saw it when I was impersonating Liu Ming to deliver goods, but I didn't know what it was for." Shi Xiao was a little nervous, and her palms were sweating.
"What a pity, sigh—that warehouse at the sanatorium had been secretly used for three years, but I never expected it to be discovered by the horror game. Yesterday, the warehouse was suddenly burned down." Jiang Wan sighed, then glanced at Shi Xiao: "It shouldn't... have been you, right?"
"What? That warehouse was burned down?" Shi Xiao didn't rush to deny it, but looked shocked, which made Jiang Wan temporarily put aside her suspicions.
"Was it that old man surnamed Ma who did it! I could tell he wasn't a good person at first glance, it must be him! Those who are not of our kind are bound to have different hearts." Shifting the blame, shifting the blame, Shi Xiao thought of Boss Ma in the warehouse, who didn't look like a good person at all, and who was drinking "red tea" made from human blood.
Jiang Wan shook her head and said calmly, "No, Ma Zhong is human."
Shi Xiao exclaimed in disbelief, "That old man... he's human? How is that possible? A human drinking 'red tea'?"
Hearing this, Jiang Wan asked in surprise, "What black tea?"
"You don't know?" Shi Xiao imitated Ma Zhong's tone: "This is my treasured 'black tea,' with fresh 'raw' blood added. It's very expensive, and I won't give it to others who want to drink it."
Jiang Wan frowned, then gave him the order to leave: "Alright, you can go now. I have other things to take care of."
After chasing Shi Xiao away, Jiang Wan's expression turned even uglier. After pondering for a long time, she finally activated the quick message function on her bracelet, edited a message, and sent it out.
⑻ьｏOK． Сом
© All content is copyrighted by its respective owner or author.