Ji Heng pointed to the reef on the slanted side. Suer understood the hint and moved towards that place.
With the shelter of the huge reef, people can barely relax a little.
The surface of the rock was uneven, and although it was uncomfortable, Suer still leaned against the reef and said with his head turned sideways: "Laugh if you want to."
What sin had he committed that he could not avoid being caught up in the storm even though he was staying in the woods doing handicrafts and writing scripts.
Ji Heng didn't laugh. Instead, he said, "Charm is a feature the game provides to players. In a dungeon like the Ghost Disguise, the game naturally has ways to make it ineffective."
Soul could anticipate the conversation that was to follow.
Ji Heng: "When Tianyi Gua gave you the eye, it indicated that he was entrusted with it. Now it is sufficient to prove that the eye is not controlled by the game."
Su Er was silent for a moment: "I don't know the truth."
In fact, even he himself couldn't figure it out... It was unbelievable that the game didn't eliminate such a humanoid bug.
Young people have no shortage of imagination. Su Er began to speculate: "Maybe I am a child of the game, or maybe I am a product of the game's will, and I escaped from the dungeon world by accident."
Ji Heng directly denied it: "Unless the game wants to destroy itself."
It's not like you're tired of living after giving birth to such an unfilial son who hurts you.
"…"
After a long while, Ji Heng stared at Su Er and suddenly smiled: "You are more like a virus."
Refusing to face the harsh reality, Su Er waved his hand to signal that the topic could be dropped: "Looking up at the stars is not as good as keeping your feet on the ground."
Finding the altar is the main problem that needs to be faced now.
Ji Heng accepted his suggestion: "Let's leave here first."
As soon as they took a step forward, Mr. Yueji's voice came from behind them: "The weather is bad, so the afternoon recording is postponed. To celebrate the new members, we will be hosting a dinner tonight. Please be in the restaurant on time at 7 o'clock."
Suer hesitated for a moment: "Should we go for a walk in the woods, or..."
"Go back to the villa." Ji Heng said directly: "The host specifically emphasized the time, and there is a high possibility that he will do something small and we will not be able to get back in time."
Suer thought it made sense.
They were the only two walking side by side on the road, so they didn't need to hide their words.
Soul: "It's a bit strange to have two days of free time looking for an altar."
According to previous speculation, one person would die randomly in the group that ranked last in the mini-game. Now players are allowed to explore, which is equivalent to eliminating the death condition.
Ji Heng: "No rush, half of the seven days haven't even passed yet."
Often the best part of copy making comes later.
Sur suppressed the sigh in his heart, feeling that from the moment the water ghost appeared, his plan of living a Buddhist life in the game had been aborted.
villa.
Qu Qingming leaned on the sofa, and her profile was also very beautiful when she was in a daze.
Soul's eyes lingered on her cheek for a second longer as he entered.
Qu Qingming seemed to notice this detail and blinked: "Are you bewitched by my beauty?"
Her cute appearance easily wins people's favor.
Su Er smiled and did not answer the question directly.
Ji Heng suddenly said, "Zatlisky once said that it is not the appearance that blinds people, but desire."
Qu Qingming was stunned for a moment, then suddenly smiled and said, "That's quite interesting."
Ji Heng winked at Su Er.
Suer understood and walked up the stairs naturally. Ji Heng sat aside and began to talk about Zatliski's life: absurd, debauched, and the pursuit of freedom.
His deep voice and outstanding temperament served as a good cover. Even to outsiders, he would not seem pretentious when talking about philosophical issues. Instead, there was an illusion of elegance.
Qu Qingming was very interested and listened carefully.
Listening to the intermittent conversation, Sur shook his head... What Zatliski? He was sure that this was just a name made up by Ji Heng.
With someone delaying him, Suer now has enough time to find clues.
With a gentle push of the door handle, the door opened.
Because of the loss in the competition, everyone's door locks were broken on the first day, except for Lu Quanqiu and Man Jiangshan. Qu Qingming didn't have Ji Heng's lock-repairing skills, so to this day, he still lived in a single room with a broken lock.
The house is spotless and there is no trace of life at all.
The stools were pulled out, proving that someone often sat here.
Su Er sat down, looked around, and finally pulled the drawer on the left and found that it was locked.
Direct destruction would easily alert the enemy, so Su Er hesitated for a moment and took out the figurine: "Can you open the lock?"
The little man shook his head, but stretched out a thin arm and stuffed it directly into the keyhole. The surrounding soil quickly shattered, and when he retracted it, half of his arm had turned into the shape of a key.
It can't open the lock, but it can make a key.
"…"
The mud was not strong to begin with, and Sur was worried that it would crumble into pieces when he used it. However, it turned out that after absorbing the vitality of the Rose Gentleman, the mud infused with Yin energy was much tougher than he had imagined.
With a click, the lock opened easily.
Su Er's expression was complicated: "Thank you for your hard work."
Putting the little man aside for the moment, the drawer was basically filled with miscellaneous items. He took them out one by one to examine them, and accidentally found some neatly cut thin slices.
As someone who had his hands peeled before, Soul instantly felt out the material: human skin.
This skin was by no means thin as a cicada's wing. On the contrary, it was covered with a small patch of black hair, similar to Qu Qingming's real facial skin. On the skin was a fragment written in blood, similar to a diary:
On May 20th, the weather was sunny.
He must like me very much, because his heart beats so fast when he faces me. We are true love.
Soul raised an eyebrow. All the rooms were similarly equipped, with only an alarm clock and no calendar. He had no idea what day it was. But the bloodstains were clear, not blurring along the skin's texture. It must have been written recently.
I remember that on the day we entered the dungeon, Gentleman Yue measured everyone's heartbeat. So, the program was filmed on May 20th.
It sounds quite romantic.
The date written on the next piece of human skin was the same day.
On May 20th, the weather was sunny.
It's not tiring to work together. When we cook together, we work very well together. I asked him if he wanted to marry me, and he said, "Stop joking."
Suer's eyes darkened, it was confirmed...the hero in the story was Zhang Baitian.
The third human skin is still at the same time.
On May 20th, the weather was sunny.
He went fishing and knelt on one knee before me. Why, why didn't he bring any pearls? There were so many clams on the seabed, he could have easily found a pearl! But he gave me rotten fish! Sure enough, he didn't want to marry me!
Damn it, damn him!
On May 20th, the weather was sunny.
As soon as midnight passed, that man appeared at the window like a Kamen Rider. I knew I was still attractive. We danced for a while, and he asked me to close my eyes. I could feel the burning gaze.
But he left and said we can't make moral mistakes!
After reading the whole article, Sul's first reaction was that Qu Qingming was delusional. She and Zhang Baitian were just randomly formed partners, not lovers.
After putting the human skin back in the order they were before and locking the drawer, Su Er fell into deep thought. Qu Qingming was obsessed with getting married, which should be a key piece of information.
Putting aside his doubts for the moment, he searched the room again, making sure there was nothing more to find, and then Sur prepared to leave.
When he reached the door, he suddenly turned back, opened the drawer and read the words on the last piece of human skin again.
One past midnight?
That night, I was reciting love poems at the host's door. Zhang Baitian lived on the first floor. If he came out, they should have met.
Sur walked to the window and leaned on it, half of his body leaning out to look down. Sure enough, he saw some traces of climbing, and the shoe prints in some places could not be concealed.
But the direction of these traces seemed to extend from Ji Heng's room.
He closed the door with doubt. Downstairs, Ji Heng was still chatting with Qu Qingming about the life of the fake character Zatliski.
Suer thought about it, made some flowers out of paper, and walked away with his hands behind his back.
The moment he went downstairs, Qu Qingming seemed to notice something and frowned slightly. However, the next moment, before she could start a deeper analysis, Su Er took out a paper flower and said, "Dedicated to the most beautiful lady."
The suspicion in Qu Qingming's eyes disappeared, revealing a genuine smile.
Su Er sighed inwardly, knowing that the other party was the type who hid his love, it would be much easier to deal with him.
Not long after, Qu Qingming's smile suddenly faded a lot. Suer followed her gaze and saw outside the floor-to-ceiling window that the staff were carrying a lot of seafood in preparation for the evening dinner.
The blonde was there too.
There was a trace of sadness in Qu Qingming's eyes, as if he was really worried about partnering with a ghost.
Sur wanted to give a thumbs up to her acting skills.
Ji Heng: "Go back to the room first."
It seems that she is not prepared to have sexual contact with so many staff members at once.
Sur glanced at the few water ghosts following Gentleman Rose, and chose to join him without hesitation, under the pretext of chatting together.
As soon as the door closed, Su Er mentioned what he had found in Qu Qingming's guest room, and then asked, "Did you go to see her that night?"
Ji Heng nodded.
Su Er pointed out the odd point: "The diary says that you asked Qu Qingming to close her eyes, and then stared at her with a burning gaze."
Ji Heng: "I was interested in whether the badge was real or not, and it turned out to be real."
Hearing this, Su Er was thoughtful: "That means Qu Qingming was very likely a player before he became a ghost."
The chest badge is a magical thing. Even if you change clothes frequently, it will automatically appear on new clothes. There is only one way to remove it, and that is when the player dies, at which point the values on it will turn gray.
Ji Heng: "It's just a guess. There's another possibility. The real Qu Qingming is dead, and a ghost stole her badge."
Sur carefully recalled the scene he had seen through his third eye before, and he had the impression that the value on the badge was normal.
Ji Heng saw his confusion and said after a moment's hesitation, "That eye may have limitations. Currently, it only targets ghosts."
Su Er: "There's another strange thing. The diary's description of the pearl was particularly excited. Qu Qingming seemed to be very eager to get one."
There was some noise outside the door, interrupting their conversation.
A group of ghosts were busy making dinner. The blonde girl's exaggerated laughter could be heard from time to time. Soul had a vague feeling that tonight's dinner would not be simple. He spread his hands and said, "Hongmen Feast."
Ji Heng was very calm: "Adapt to the circumstances."
At 7pm, everyone gathered in the restaurant on time.
Before Soul showed up, he had tried to glue a small flower onto the badge to cover his name, but the badge had its own ideas. Like a stubborn donkey, it flashed a light and the glued thing fell off automatically.
Ji Heng explains: "Ordinary objects cannot cover the badge."
Even if he used advanced props, it would only turn the strength value column into a question mark, and there was no way to hide it.
The sea-view villa was filled with high-end luxury goods. The luxurious crystal chandeliers cast a warm orange glow, and the food on the long table looked particularly appetizing. The judges, staff, and players took their seats one by one, with only Mr. Rose standing.
He thoughtfully poured each person half a glass of red wine, and finally poured himself a glass, raised his glass and said, "Let's welcome the new staff."
For the first time, Sur didn't sit so straight, with one arm resting on the table, as if unintentionally covering his badge, wanting the water ghost to ignore his existence.
The water ghosts were sitting in a row across from them. They didn't resemble the water monkeys described in folk tales. Instead, they looked like humans, with long, smooth white hair, red eyes, and facial features that looked as if they were cast from the same mold. At first glance, it was impossible to tell who was who.
"Meeting is fate, and no one can predict fate." Mr. Rose took a sip of his wine and looked in one direction: "Isn't that right, Su Er?"
As soon as the words fell, the water ghost's eyes shot over like a knife.
"…"