The dark clouds gradually dissipated, and the gray sky looked much more comfortable.
Ji Heng glanced at Su Er and asked, "Are you going back?"
Suer nodded. This dungeon had gone relatively smoothly, but he'd barely slept a night, and his spirits were currently sluggish. Feeling sleepy, he decisively pressed the indentation on his chest badge and left the game.
Finally returning to the real world, Sur couldn't hide the tiredness in his eyes and yawned.
Ji Heng didn't want to delay his rest any longer and helped him call a taxi: "Have a good rest."
Su Er nodded and waved his hands casually: "Goodbye."
He has always been very vigilant. Even though he is very sleepy now, he still forces himself to stay awake, not daring to fall asleep in the taxi.
The melody played on the radio is very attractive, and the singer's voice is accurate, which makes you feel itchy in your heart.
Su Er's sleepiness had mostly dissipated. He subconsciously sat up straight and listened carefully. The voice sounded more and more familiar, and he subconsciously murmured, "Qu Qingming?"
The young driver, who caught him mumbling to himself, became excited: "You know her too?"
Soul responded vaguely.
"You've got good taste!" The taxi driver, who happened to be at a red light, opened the window, put his arm over it, and tilted his head to say, "I've met her once before. She's really beautiful in person. I heard she's recently started dabbling in the entertainment industry. She's bound to be a big star in the future."
Soul: "It's quite dangerous."
"ah?"
Soul: "Your hand."
The taxi driver said it was okay, but still took his hand away: "Have you seen 'Stranger'? The very beautiful truck driver was played by Qu Qingming. She likes to do this action in the movie."
Suer was originally planning to bring up the topic and ask in detail, but unfortunately the taxi driver was a typical fanboy, immersed in asking and answering his own questions, not giving others a chance to speak.
Zhao Sanliang said that many people have investigated missing players in real life, and the consequences of blindly investigating will not be good.
He thought the statement was exaggerated. At least Su Er was certain that Zhao Sanliang and Ji Heng had been pursuing the case, but they had grasped a certain limit. As for the bottom line of the game, no one knew until it was touched.
Thinking of this, Suer leaned back again, regained his relaxed posture, took out his cell phone and searched for Qu Qingming.
From what the taxi driver said, the other person was a celebrity.
The online profile is quite comprehensive. Qu Qingming is a minor model, having only recently ventured into the entertainment industry. Currently, her name isn't very well-known. There aren't many negative rumors about her, with the most common headline being "Beautiful from Childhood to Adulthood."
Su Er clicked on a few photos and admitted that she was indeed very beautiful. She had been a beauty since she was a child.
With his phone upside down on his lap, Su Er half-closed his eyes in deep thought. The last question Ji Heng asked Qu Qingming before leaving the dungeon kept lingering in his mind:
——Were you pretty before?
——Maybe.
Both of them, whether the questioner or the answerer, were very strange.
Why on earth would Ji Heng, with such a personality, focus on Qu Qingming's appearance?
Su Er couldn't help but look at the photos a few more times. Qu Qingming entered the industry early, and there were many videos of her previous catwalks on the Internet. He clicked on them one by one and watched them, but found nothing unusual.
Su Er sighed regretfully. Fortunately, he had imagined a story in his mind before that Qu Qingming had made some kind of transaction with Youxi in exchange for beauty.
"We're here." The driver interrupted his wandering thoughts.
"Thank you." After paying, Suer hurriedly got out of the car and walked quickly towards the empty house.
The weather this year is very strange. It rains a lot, and it's the kind of sudden and continuous drizzle that comes unexpectedly.
As soon as he entered the house, Sur ignored his wet hair, pulled a coat over himself, and fell directly on the sofa to catch up on his sleep.
I was in a daze, and when I regained consciousness I found myself in a cemetery, surrounded by desolate graves, and the sound of crying at the graves could be heard intermittently.
The sky and earth were covered in a vast expanse of white, practically telling you directly that this was a dream, and not a good one at that. Su Er walked over to the sound and saw a sorrowful face, exactly like the one on the stamp given by Mr. Rose.
He stood behind the man, motionless.
There was no sound for a long time, as the sobbing and trembling shoulders gradually calmed down. The grave-crier slowly turned around and looked directly at Suer with his dark eyes.
Suer has never lost in a competition of patience. He insists on keeping silent and waiting for the other party to speak first.
The grave-weeper wiped away his tears and said: "Your eyes are very valuable."
Su Er's expression remained unchanged, and he intuitively knew that he was referring to the eye in his body.
The grave-crying man curled his lips, his smile also looking like crying: "Whoever gets my stamp, I can help him once for free."
Soul shook his head pointedly.
"Don't be so quick to refuse," the grave-crier said with a smile, "Let me get to know you. You can call me your loyal grave-keeper."
Sur: "nicetomeetyou."
"..." The loyal servant guarding the tomb said: "Let's talk about business."
Su Er's eyes moved: "Can you understand?"
Does the fact that the host knows foreign languages mean that he has had contact with the real world?
"You cunning boy," the loyal tomb-guarding servant said, silencing him. "Don't try to find the connection between the two."
Su Er's expression returned to a cold state: "Aren't you going to talk about business?"
"…"
I really want to kill him.
The loyal servant who guarded the tomb was easily moved to tears. He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes with his sleeve and said in a deep voice: "Yueji has a bead on her hand that can reveal the secrets in people's hearts."
Suer had just seen it in the previous dungeon.
"That thing is just a defective one, a replica of the one in your body."
Su Er has always been good at hiding his emotions, but when he heard it, his fingers couldn't help but bend.
It seems that there are indeed similarities. To be frank, they both reflect the essence of things.
The loyal tomb-keeper observed this scene, like a venomous snake tempting Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit: "Do you want to be able to retract it freely, even for daily use?"
Su Er narrowed his eyes: "What do I need to pay?"
Loyal tomb-guarding servant: "Tears."
Then he took out a small bottle and said, "Any ghost or monster will do. Collect their tears until this bottle is full."
Seeing that Sur was about to refuse, the loyal tomb keeper took out the contract again. It clearly stated that the bottle was not a bottomless pit and could be filled with just a hundred drops of tears. At the same time, the tears would not evaporate after entering the bottle.
Suer read through it carefully and found no obvious tricks in the contract.
"The limitation period is one year." The loyal servant guarding the tomb added.
Trading is almost a fantasy, and the usual situation is that ghosts make players cry.
"What happens if we fail?"
The loyal servant guarding the tomb shed two lines of tears in a false tone and pointed at the desolate graves around him: "That's it."
The situation in the distance could not be seen, but there were at least more than a hundred graves in the areas not covered by the fog. Sur was secretly alert... They were all smart people, so why were so many players willing to make a deal?
"The requirements vary depending on the value," the loyal tomb-keeper kindly explained. "Some crave items, some desire fame and fortune, but most only need to amass less than ten tears."
Soul: "How many succeeded?"
The loyal servant guarding the tomb actually told the truth: "3 percent."
"It's not worth it," Soul said rationally, "Whether there are ghosts in reality, this eye won't do much even if it works."
So many players died just to collect ten tears, let alone a hundred.
"You're wrong," the loyal tomb-guard's tear incontinence caused his eyes to fill with tears again. "This is related to whether you can obtain the qualification to leave the game."
Their eyes met, and Suer remained silent.
The loyal tomb-keeper laughed. "It's impossible for any player to collect all twenty-four achievement points. Some of these promises are just gimmicks."
During the silence, Soul read the treaty three times in a row. When he was about to make up his mind, he suddenly asked, "Should these tears be collected from different ghosts?"
Suddenly exposed, the loyal servant guarding the tomb pursed his lips.
"No wonder…" Su Er sneered: "It's the same ghost. I'm afraid no matter how many tears it sheds, it will only be judged as one."
Otherwise, how could so many players die?
It is not difficult for a slightly stronger player to catch a single ghost, but if he wants to threaten multiple ghosts, he will eventually fail.
Seeing that the cooked duck was about to fly away, the loyal tomb-guarding servant organized his words and tried to bewitch him again. However, the next moment, Su Er bit his finger and scribbled his signature on the contract.
After checking, the signature was not tampered with, but the loyal servant guarding the tomb felt something was wrong.
Su Er held out his hand: "Bottle."
The loyal servant guarding the tomb threw it to him.
Soul: "Isn't it time to fulfill your promise?"
The white mist had mostly dissipated, and the loyal tomb-guarding servant shook his head: "Time is running out. I'll come find you tomorrow night."
Soul didn't force it, looking up at the vast expanse of sky and earth in the distance. When the white mist completely dissipated, everything in front of him suddenly severed from his consciousness. Darkness vanished, and he was lying on the sofa. The leather furniture didn't dissipate heat in the summer, and his thin T-shirt was almost soaked with sweat.
Before I could recover from the shock and just turned over, I heard a crash and the bottle fell to the ground and rolled under the sofa.
Suer hurried down to pick it up. The bottle was covered with a lot of dust from the cracks, but it was extremely sturdy and not damaged at all.
Not a dream.
He lowered his eyes; the very existence of the bottle was a true manifestation.
After recovering from his shock, the first thing Sur did was to check his fingers. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that there were no wounds. At least the injury in the dream would not burden his body in reality.
It was almost dawn, so Suer took a shower first. He felt like he was in a good mood, so he turned on the TV, put on an apron, and prepared a hearty breakfast while listening to the news.
"According to the latest reports, a manager recently reported to the police that one of their artists is missing..."
Suer paused in chopping vegetables and quickly walked to the TV.
A report is just a few words, and you can't hear the specific content. But when you open your phone and search, you will find overwhelming related revelations.
——Qu Qingming is missing.
She had won a model award before but was not publicized by the media much. However, now she has occupied the headlines for a while due to speculations from various marketing accounts.
According to a fairly reliable media report, Qu Qingming missed a magazine shoot the day before yesterday. Her agent was unable to contact her through various channels, so she chose to call the police in desperation.
Since Qu Qingming was on vacation before this, there is still no way to determine the actual date of his disappearance.
After reading the latest news, Soul stood there in silence... It was too much of a coincidence.
The news happened to break out at this time. Even if he had not entered the game a day earlier, once the news of Qu Qingming's disappearance spread, the copy would be much simpler. At least he would definitely suspect Qu Qingming was a love killer from the beginning.
The phone vibrated a few times. It was Ji Heng calling.
"Have you watched the news?"
Su Er hummed: "I'm watching."
"Don't pay too much attention to it. I'll come to see you in a couple of days."
Soul: "Okay."
The conversation ended hastily. Sur stared at the black screen of his phone for two seconds, then went back into the kitchen to make breakfast.
Ji Heng specifically called to remind him that perhaps he should be more cautious about Qu Qingming's matter, or at least not investigate the missing case openly.
After absentmindedly making a luxurious sandwich, Soul looked at his watch and found that half an hour had passed. He quickly packed up his things to take to school to eat.
The class was noisy. Most of the students were clearly still reeling from the mock exams and were worried about how to tell their parents about the parent-teacher conference. Su Er, not even qualified to attend one, gave up on joining the discussion.
I was so preoccupied that I was a little distracted during math class.
Yao Zhi is usually a serious person, but knowing that Suer had just come out of the dungeon, he was unusually tolerant and did not keep him after class.
As soon as the school bell rang, Suer missed today's evening study session on the grounds of feeling unwell, and went to bed early to force himself to sleep.
The familiar sound of crying at the grave was heard.
The loyal tomb-keeper pretended to cry over the graves of the players he had killed. When he saw Suer, he rubbed his red eyes and said, "You're here."
Su Er nodded and asked a question as soon as they met: "Mr. Rose gave me a stamp. Does that mean..."
He paused here and looked directly into the other person's eyes: "Next time I will definitely go to the dungeon you are hosting?"
Gravekeeper: "A stupid question."
Soul didn't care what he thought and waited patiently for the answer.
"That's right," the loyal tomb-keeper said slowly, "If you take the stamps, you must return them in person."
After receiving a positive answer, Su Er immediately asked, "Can I borrow a pen and paper?"
The loyal servant guarding the tomb looked at him and finally met the conditions proposed.
It seemed as if he had already prepared a draft in his mind. Su Er wrote quickly and handed over the written work after a while.
The loyal servant guarding the tomb just glanced casually at first, but his expression soon became strange.
The contents of the paper were appalling. The title was written in a flamboyant style: 'Love Companionship Program,' and below that was a detailed description:
Are you lonely in the long night? The Love Companionship Program will warm your life.
Price list:
An intelligent little clay figurine (recommended for adoption by ghosts who pay a high price for a child)... only 5 tears.
A beautiful rubber man (a must-have for otakus and singles! Note: this is the non-intelligent version)... only one tear.
Adorable animal clay figurines (good news for pet lovers)...5 tears only.
Rose Gentleman, Book Sea Mr., Smiley Merchant and other cute Q-version characters can be designed with various functions such as singing and dancing... Price is negotiable.
Grand opening promotion, come and love us! Get 20% off your first three orders, buy three rubber figures and get one free! No upper limit!
"If possible, please help distribute the flyers to the ghosts in your dungeon in advance," Soul said seriously, "and see if they need them. Group orders will get you a better deal."
One hundred tears is not a small number. It is definitely not advisable to rely solely on harming ghosts. It would be great if it can be made up through business channels.
The loyal tomb-guarding servant twitched his lips, a mixture of sadness and joy, when he saw the rubber man. He took a deep breath and looked at him and said, "You, will be banned from the game sooner or later."