It's late at night and everyone is asleep.
There are also advantages to having three people in a room. Ji Heng sleeps on the floor next to the door, and having someone guarding him adds a sense of security.
Both Xiazhi and Sur were fast asleep.
The long-lost sense of relaxation made Suer forget about the game and everything he had experienced in recent months.
"Su Er." Zhu Yun said with a smile, her white dress rippled in the wind, "Congratulations."
Soul's focus was different: "Why aren't you wearing your school uniform?"
Zhu Yun laughed: "The college entrance examination is over, why are you still wearing a school uniform? Congratulations, you have become the top scorer in the provincial college entrance examination."
College entrance examination...top scorer?
Su Er pointed at himself in a daze: "Me?"
"Who else but you are?" Zhu Yun teased, "You're a big celebrity now."
Su Er felt like he had forgotten something important. His mind was stuck for a few seconds. After a long while, he asked, "How did I get on the math test?"
"Full marks."
"What about Chinese?"
"138, the composition is just one point away from full marks."
Su Er looked at her and shook his head: "No."
Zhu Yun wanted to reach out and touch his forehead: "Are you having a fever? You're talking nonsense."
Su Er said confidently: "I should get full marks for my composition."
After saying this, everything in his vision, starting with Zhu Yun's smile, gradually blurred. His memory finally broke free, and Su Er's eyes brightened a little... He'd barely even passed his math test, so how could he possibly get a perfect score on "sexuality"? Wasn't that just rubbing his IQ against the floor?
"Wake up!"
His body shook violently, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Xia Zhi shaking him hard.
Su Er hissed and sat up, suppressing the headache.
Xia Zhi explained: "Ji Heng said that something might be wrong with you."
Sur turned his head and found that there was no one on the mat.
Xia Zhi: "He went out to get some cold water. If that doesn't work, he can pour it over you to wake you up."
Not long after he finished speaking, Ji Heng came into the room carrying some water.
Su Er looked over with a questioning look, and the latter shook his head: "I was just going by my feeling. I asked Xia Zhi to wake you up just in case."
Soul: "Feeling?"
"He said you smiled too sweetly in your sleep." Xia Zhi couldn't bear it anymore and interrupted, "Under normal circumstances, you wouldn't smile like that."
Although it sounds nonsensical, I have to admit that the other person's smile is more often mixed with calculation.
Without rushing to deny it, Sur recounted the entire dream he had just had.
"It's said that arriving in a free town can make all one's dreams come true. I don't have the habit of having sweet dreams, so this can't be a coincidence."
Talking about this kind of topic late at night was creepy enough. Xia Zhi swallowed his saliva and thought to himself, could there really be a ghost that could sneak into this room without anyone noticing?
"Smell." Ji Heng pondered for a while and suddenly spoke.
Sur looked down following his gaze and caught a glimpse of a little incense ash on his sleeve that was accidentally stained on his sleeve. The area, about the size of a fingernail, emitted a strange, faint fragrance.
Seeing this, Xia Zhi was thoughtful: "Since your fighting power is not high, it's normal for you to be chosen as a target."
No matter how outstanding his performance is in the dungeon, Sur has only been in the game for too short a time, so there is limited room for improvement in his strength.
Ji Heng walked to the bedside, wiped some incense ash from his sleeve, and suddenly asked an irrelevant question: "How many years has Xu He been away from home?"
Su Er shook his head, but Xia Zhi gave a direct answer: "It will be two years in one month."
It can be seen that the investigation work was very comprehensive when we separated in the afternoon.
Ji Heng smiled. "In less than two years, he's made a fortune and returned home in glory..." He surveyed the simple furnishings of the house. "And that's without any initial capital."
Xia Zhi: "According to the information I've inquired, Xu He made his fortune through business, but I don't know what kind of business he's in."
Anyone can start from scratch, but in horror dungeons, you often need to think a little more.
Ji Heng looked at Su Er: "I have an idea."
"…"
Su Er curled his lips. Why should he copy his catchphrase?
Ji Heng's smile suddenly faded as they looked at each other: "The one who killed the stamp ghost was Wang Sansi."
Soul raised his eyebrows slightly.
The conclusion was too abrupt. Xia Zhi was stunned for a moment and looked over with horror. Her first reaction was that even if it was nonsense, it couldn't be said to be this far. But before she could question it, the game responded first:
[Congratulations to player Ji Heng for solving the cause of the stamp ghost's death and receiving the stamp ghost's gift: silver bullets (a powerful weapon against werewolves).]
Many questions piled up in his heart, almost ready to explode. Xia Zhi's lips trembled several times, and finally he could only say one sentence: "How could Wang Sansi possibly kill the stamp ghost..."
"It's not about ability, but identity." Ji Heng didn't show much joy at the correct answer. Instead, his eyes were filled with solemnity. "The identity each person plays determines the trajectory of his or her destiny."
Xia Zhi wondered, "Isn't Wang Sansi just a family mediator?"
Ji Heng shook his head.
Su Er, who had been deep in thought, looked up and said, "Wait a moment."
Xia Zhi was curious: "Where are we going?"
Su Er thought that if she stayed, he would inevitably continue to ask questions, but Ji Heng hated endless answers, so he asked, "Together?"
Xia Zhi hesitated for a moment and nodded.
Ji Heng chose to stay in the house alone. He seemed to know where they were going. He didn't follow them but didn't stop them either.
Xia Zhi thought Su Er would go to the place where the incense burner was stored, but the two of them walked all the way to the outside of Xu He's parents' house.
It was a sweltering summer day, and the doors and windows of the room were tightly shut. Xia Zhi thought he'd find a rotting corpse if he entered. It wasn't until Suhl pried the window open a crack that he saw two haggard old men chained to the bed, writhing in a state of extreme excitement.
"Give it to me, give me the medicine..." The noise of prying the window was clearly quite loud, but the old man seemed not to hear it and kept repeating these two words.
Xia Zhi inexplicably felt that this scene looked familiar, until he saw the needle on the ground, and his pupils shrank... Many people who take drugs on TV are in this state.
Considering the various abnormalities of the Xu brothers, one can't help but come up with a terrible guess.
The old man belatedly realized he was being watched, and his slightly gray eyes suddenly looked over here.
Suer bent down and closed the window in advance.
On the way back to the house, Xia Zhi felt the night breeze and recovered after a long while: "Did Xu He make his fortune in drug trafficking?"
Su Er nodded: "The so-called ability to achieve all dreams, to put it bluntly, dreams can have everything."
Some people who are frustrated in reality cowardly choose to use poison to corrode their souls and achieve another extreme of enjoyment.
Xia Zhi took a deep breath: "But the mission requires us to find the correct stamp that leads to the free town."
Is the copy instigating players to take the path of crime?
Something flashed through his mind, and Xia Zhi suddenly stopped: "Where there are drug dealers, there are also drug enforcement officers."
"An airborne mediator and a bachelor without a permanent residence in town," Su Er said calmly, "The most likely identities of me, Ji Heng, and Wang Sansi are police officers lurking here."
As for the Xu family, it is obviously a drug den.
She narrowed her eyes and looked at Xia Zhi: "An undercover agent will not commit herself to a domestic violence man, so your identity should be..."
"Informant." Xia Zhi calmed down and began to analyze: "Because she couldn't stand her husband's abuse and couldn't divorce, she chose to report it secretly."
This way, she could not only escape her misery permanently, but she might even be able to trade clues for a bonus, allowing her to live the rest of her life comfortably. The long-term domestic violence she endured had become a kind of invisible deception, giving her a legitimate reason to see Wang Sansi, even if she did it more than once, without arousing suspicion.
No wonder Ji Heng had stated the key point in front of her just now. They were all in the same camp.
They had already walked outside while talking.
Ji Heng came out at some point and sat on the small stool at the door, seemingly enjoying the night view, but unfortunately there was no reflection of the stars in his eyes.
Su Er simply wiped the door sill with his hand and sat down casually beside it.
"Got an answer?"
Su Er nodded: "The identity card has been matched, only the last point is left."
Ji Heng was quite calm: "Wang Sansi."
Su Er nodded and said in a deep voice, "An informant provided information that Xu He's parents are drug addicts. At the very least, we can catch them red-handed, but he is still at large."
The most likely scenario is that there is a traitor among the undercover agents who is playing both sides and buying time.
Xia Zhi, who was leaning against the door motionless, had an unpleasant expression on his face: "Wang Sansi killed the stamp ghost, and the stamp ghost actually represents justice."
There was a strong hint of sarcasm in his tone.
Su Er said quietly, "Perhaps the local administration wasn't so corrupt a few years ago. When the higher-ups received a tip-off and wanted to arrest a drug lord, they needed the cooperation of the local administration."
The administrative staff we see now are far from retirement age, but they all disappeared later, probably because they met with some unexpected disaster.
"Let's assume we're currently experiencing something that happened at a certain point in the past. In reality, Wang Sansi is still a family mediator. After so many years, he might have developed the town into a stronghold."
Wang Sansi worked with Xu He to deal with the staff, and then placed his own people in the Administration Bureau. The owner of the adult product store had previously said that the incense burner was only available through connections in the Administration Bureau, which indirectly provided evidence.
Xia Zhi's frown gradually relaxed: "If that's the case, Xu He is just an ordinary player who drew an identity card."
It's just that the other party needs to play the role of a drug lord and may not have the vicious means of a real criminal.
"Really?" Ji Heng chuckled softly. In the silent night, his voice sounded lonely and ghostly.
Xia Zhi couldn't help but tremble his fingertips: "Isn't it?"
Ji Heng said calmly, "Based on my experience, in role-playing, dungeons will be assigned to players based on the principle of best suiting their characteristics."
The possibility that Wang Sansi and Xu He are good people in reality is pitifully small.
"Characteristics?" Su Er examined the question carefully and patted Ji Heng's shoulder affectionately: "Then our characteristic is that we can't get married."
Ji Heng was helpless: "Bachelor is just a cover identity."
Su Er ignored this and looked at the night sky with longing: "If I were single at your age, I would definitely be focusing on my studies."
Maybe they have obtained a doctorate and have a bright future.
"…"
A cold wind blew, and the stamp ghost appeared in the yard at some point, with a look of confusion missing from his eyes as usual.
A silver bullet was thrown in a parabolic shape.
"This is your reward for helping me find the cause of death."
Ji Heng rubbed it in his hand. It was a good thing, but it was a pity that it could not be used in this copy.
Xia Zhi tried to speak: "Now that you have regained your memory, do you want to seek revenge?"
"How can it be so easy?" The Stamp Ghost closed his eyes. "This town has been destroyed by the poison. Everyone's mind has been affected."
A cold reminder sounded the moment the last word was spoken:
[You, the representative of justice, have learned the secret of Free Town. Please find the Poison King within three days and completely destroy it.]
There are only slight differences in the mission descriptions of the three people. Xia Zhi represents chaos.
Su Er shrugged: "There is no doubt that Wang Sansi and his men are evil."
Tonight, Ji Heng particularly enjoyed looking at the sky. When the outline of the moon gradually blurred, he spoke again: "The secret has been cracked, and the illusion is about to collapse."
Hearing this, Sur looked around and noticed that every blade of grass and tree around him was gradually turning into nothingness. He was stunned for two seconds, then quickly took off his coat and ran back into the house to pack up the dozens of little people.
As soon as I straightened up, the world in front of me turned upside down.
After opening his eyes, not knowing where he was, Soul first checked the figures. Fortunately, due to the infusion of Yin Qi, they had not dissipated along with the illusion. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: "Everyone survived."
The Yin energy of the electric shock device has been used up, and the clay army has not yet taken effect. If they were just destroyed in the illusion, I would suffer a great loss.
The curve of his mouth collapsed the moment he raised his head, and the familiar rose came into view... At this moment, the rose gentleman was standing opposite him with an expressionless face, with a small clay figurine sitting on his shoulder, and the red dot between his eyebrows was particularly eye-catching.
Su Er's heart sank. After a while, he turned his head stiffly and said to Ji Heng, "I just came out of the first level of illusion, and I didn't expect to enter the second level."
Yes, this must all be an illusion.
This copy is too much, it even has an illusion of nesting dolls!