A gust of night wind whistled past.
Wanyi had noticed that ever since teaming up with Sur, the air would occasionally fall silent. Only the person involved would be very serious and ask everyone what they thought.
His expression changed from solemn to complicated, and he said, "I have no objection."
Yizhu's moral values were different from those of ordinary people, and she didn't think this proposal was problematic at all. Everyone nodded in agreement, and the proposal was passed unanimously.
Seeing that the atmosphere was turning awkward, Su Tangyi brought up the plan that she hadn't had time to execute before: "I want to go to the village entrance to take a look."
Late at night, when everyone was asleep, the big black dog that barked at people incessantly during the day lay under a pillar, sleeping soundly.
Su Tangyi took a tentative step closer, but the dog just moved its head and continued to sleep. Just as she was about to take a step forward, Su Er suddenly pulled her back: "Wait."
Su Tangyi had already experimented with stones before taking a step. She was about to stop when there was no reaction on the ground. Now she was stopped and blinked in confusion.
Sur half-crouched on the ground, occasionally digging up a stone. After three or four attempts, he finally found a centipede. Unafraid of waking the black dog, he took three steps back, wrapped the centipede in his coat, and flung it out.
Su Tangyi was shocked by his caution... He was unwilling to even touch the air outside the village.
The clothes fell to the ground with a clatter, and when the black dog opened its eyes, everyone's heart tightened slightly. Fortunately, its eyelids were drooping, and no one paid any attention.
Soon the player no longer cared about the black dog and his attention was attracted by the scene outside.
I saw the centipede moving restlessly on the clothes. After a while, its crawling speed became slower and slower until it stopped there completely, and its entire body shrank a lot.
When the wind blew, the corpse rolled to the side lightly.
"The shell is dry," Su Tangyi said, a little scared. "The surface temperature seems to be very high."
If I really go out, I probably won't die for a while, but my feet might get burned.
Suer: "There's a distance from the foot of the mountain to the village, and there's not even a single weed. This isn't normal."
Upon hearing this, Su Tangyi subconsciously glanced at the distant, lush green mountains and the nearby village's numerous trees, and couldn't help but frown. With the village as the axis, the temperature for several miles around was abnormal, eliminating the possibility of anyone escaping at night.
Turning his head to look at Su Er again, he sighed sincerely: "I finally understand the secret of your survival."
The fact that such a wave can survive for a long time is inseparable from its extreme caution.
Unable to leave the village, everyone could only temporarily return to their houses to rest. When the daylight was just beginning, the players woke up, washed up as quickly as possible, and gathered together.
When the rooster crows three times, the village comes back to life.
The black dog, tired at night, barked occasionally during the day. Following the sounds of children playing, they found a child gnawing on a chicken paw by the well.
Thinking of the hand bones he had dug up nearby last night, Su Er's face turned pale. He waved at the child and said, "Want to play games?"
Children aren't as good at superficial things as adults. With no one watching, they get a little impatient: "No, I don't want to play." They spit out the remnants of chicken feet and say: "But if you're willing to eat the pig's head offered as an offering, I'll consider it."
Without further insistence, the group turned back to the yard.
·
Stool, white silk, kitchen knife...the first thing to do when entering the house is to find tools.
After the preparations were complete, Sur deliberately created a particularly loud commotion. Passing villagers glanced at him casually, their expressions suddenly changing: "What are you doing?"
The scene in the yard was extremely terrifying——
In the house opposite, someone was hanging himself, someone was sharpening a knife to cut his neck, and someone was even holding a torch to burn the yard.
"Don't come over!" Sur growled, holding a torch.
"Don't be impulsive." The villagers were afraid that the torches would ignite, so they ran to find the village chief.
The village chief has done many things that cannot be seen in public, and it is no exaggeration to say that he is cruel and ruthless. He was shocked when he saw this scene for the first time.
"We want to see God and can't wait a moment." Suer took the initiative.
The village chief almost cursed. He thought about how desperate the outsiders must have been when they were burned to death, and yet there were still people who came to help!
"Not now..." The village chief almost said the key point, biting his tongue and changing the subject: "Why would you want to commit suicide when you're fine?"
The noise was so loud that it attracted many onlookers. When Su Er saw the child gnawing on chicken feet in the crowd, his face suddenly turned sad: "That's him. He won't play with us."
"…"
Sur: "Children are the purest. The messengers of God who are despised by them do not deserve to live."
After he finished speaking, he waved his hand. In the room, Ji Heng's neck was stuck on the white silk and he was about to kick the stool. Li Zicang pretended to commit seppuku, and the others were even more varied.
"Wait!" The village chief winked at the two strong men and slowly moved forward.
Sur could see what he was planning, so he retreated to the door and raised a torch at the strong man who was trying to sneak in over the wall.
The village chief obviously didn't dare to gamble. If they all died, they would all be buried with them. He managed to curl his lips and said, "Let's talk it over nicely."
Soul hesitated.
Finding that there was room for maneuver, the village chief breathed a sigh of relief and repeatedly assured that no one would dare to dislike the messenger of God.
Sur glanced at the child gnawing on the chicken feet.
"…"
Pop.
The chicken claw fell from the child's hand.
The village chief gave him a gentle push and gritted his teeth: "Go talk to these brothers and sisters."
He finally understood that none of the gods' messengers who came this time were normal.
Ignoring the strange looks from the villagers, Su Er was very happy: "Come on, let's play Eagle Catches Chicken together."
When he looked up at the village chief, his tone became much colder: "Play together?"
The village chief was about to speak, but Sur didn't give him a chance: "It's a pity that we don't have enough people."
"…"
The people gathered together. The village chief was filled with hatred but could do nothing. He could only let the villagers disperse. Before leaving, he grabbed the child's hand and said, "Be good and don't upset the angel of God."
The child nodded and slowly walked to Suer, as if choking on a chicken claw: "I want to drink water."
As he said this he burped.
Sur let him in and poured him a glass of water.
When the cup was about to reach his mouth, the child handed it to him again, saying flatteringly, "The angel of God drinks first."
Glancing at the powder between his fingernails, Su Er smiled and said, "If you don't drink it, we'll die in front of you."
The child's hands were shaking, but Soul didn't make things difficult for him. He took the cup and put it on the table: "I've seen a lot of naughty kids. The last one was even worse than you. Not only could he poison someone, he could also set fire to them."
Li Zicang was close to Ji Heng and asked curiously, "Is this really true?"
Ji Heng nodded: "Su Er repays evil with kindness and teaches him to read and write."
But I'm afraid that child has only said one thing so far: "Everyone here is garbage."
The child's heart was beating non-stop. When the village chief secretly stuffed the medicine into the child's mouth, he had arranged to kill one of them to create chaos, and he would take the opportunity to bring people in to subdue a few more. Unfortunately, the plan failed.
Sur glanced at the door and said loudly, "I told you we have enough people. Anyone who wants to play games should sign up early next time."
The village chief, who was hiding behind the door, cursed.
A strong man on guard asked, "Are you still waiting?"
The village chief rolled his eyes and said, "Go back."
Once the person leaves, the player temporarily returns to normal.
Suer pulled up a stool and sat down: "Let's continue with our morning conversation."
The child is now really afraid of him: "Eagle catches chicken?"
Soul shook his head: "This game requires me to ask questions and you to answer them."
Being under the eaves, the child nodded stiffly.
Su Er: "Where did the previous God's messenger go?"
The child's eyes wandered: "I haven't seen it."
Sur smiled and began an imaginative description: "They were burned by the flames, and the fire dried up the fat in their skin bit by bit. They howled in pain because of the burns..."
The child clenched his hands unconsciously, not out of fear, but out of excitement.
"This is the punishment for deceiving the gods." The child firmly believed in a principle he had been indoctrinated with since childhood: "To die in the flames of atonement is the greatest honor for a messenger of God."
"Well said!" Su Er's tone was even more excited than him: "I want to go see God now, you come with me."
Looking at the blazing torches, the child was frightened and ran to the corner.
Su Er's expression turned cold and he walked over: "It's an honor."
Seeing the torch approaching him, the child screamed.
Su Er took back his hand: "Don't want to?"
In the past, when the village burned the gods' messengers, the person in charge of lighting the fire would feel very honored. The child had also lit the fire twice and he enjoyed the feeling, provided that the fire burned someone else.
Su Er didn't expect to correct this distorted value system. He was sure that the child was frightened, so he asked coldly, "On the 15th of July, if the messenger of God didn't die, what would happen?"
The child dared not hide it any longer: "The village will suffer a punishment from heaven."
As for the specific situation, he was not clear.
"Are you the only kids around here?"
The child nodded: "One month after the sacrifice of the divine messenger, the gods will temporarily forgive the village and allow newborns to appear."
Soul looked back at the other players, indicating that they could ask questions at any time.
Li Zicang spoke first: "Has anyone left the village?"
The child looked terrified: "Anyone who tries to escape will die in the desert."
Young people are good at asking questions, and consequently, they don't know the answer to many questions.
As the question-and-answer session was about to end, Ji Heng suddenly mentioned the villagers' extreme thirst at night: "Do you feel the same way?"
The child hesitated for a moment before answering, "Before I was fourteen, I didn't have such troubles."
"reason."
The child was quite afraid of him for some reason. He swallowed and said, "It is said that the Holy Child is protecting us."
This sentence made many people's eyes light up.
There is always a way out, and the Holy Child is obviously crucial information.
Ji Heng continued to inquire about the origin of the Holy Infant.
The child said, "I only heard the village chief mention it once. The Holy Child was born to a sinful ancestor. The gods originally wanted to destroy this land. The Holy Child cried blood every night, and the gods relented and offered to sacrifice the Holy Messenger instead."
After telling almost everything he knew, the child asked cautiously, "Can I leave now?"
Ji Heng didn't say anything, and the child placed his hopes on others. Finally, Suer nodded.
Before he ran out the door, Su Er said calmly, "If the village chief knew you said so much, he would be angry."
The child turned his head sharply.
Making a gesture to silence him, Su Er gently assured: "I won't tell him this."
The child rolled his eyes and ran away.
Yizhu licked her lips and said, "The story matches. The Holy Child is the child on the mural at the well." She paused and smiled, "But the idea that God is soft-hearted is clearly nonsense."
Everyone agrees on this point.
She cried and bled every night, there was no doubt that the child was dead.
Ji Heng: "When babies die with resentment, the evil spirits they transform into are often extremely destructive."
Su Er had already experienced the terror of children in the novice field.
"Rather than saying God is soft-hearted, it's more like a compromise." He pursed his lips: "Finding the Holy Child may help us escape from God's clutches."
After saying that, he raised his head and asked, "Did you hear any crying last night?"
I wandered around the village in the first half of the night and didn't hear any crying. I did rest for a while in the second half of the night, but few of us slept well. If someone was crying, I would definitely hear it.
Everyone shook their heads.
Wan Yi thought for a moment and said, "The Holy Infant can protect the child and will not stay in the deep mountains and forests."
This judgment was somewhat reassuring, as the temperature outside was normal during the day. However, going out would inevitably lead to conflicts with the villagers.
Trillion: "We need to determine the search scope as soon as possible."
In silence, Su Er slowly analyzed: "Underground, villagers' homes, wandering around... I lean towards the first one."
As soon as he opened his mouth, Ji Heng walked outside without saying a word, and came back with a lot of black seeds in his hand.
Seeing what he was planning, everyone quietly found shovels, buckets and other items and started a new round of gathering activities.
Starting three feet from the door, dig holes one by one.
The village chief sent a woman to deliberately wander around and pay attention to the movements around. When she saw someone digging the ground, the woman hurried to report it.
Soon the village chief came over with several villagers, and his eyelids twitched when he saw this scene.
Sur wiped the sweat from his forehead with a fake smile and said, "We can't wait to be reborn into Nirvana and serve the gods, but before we leave, we want to do something for this village."
The village chief just wanted to grab the shovel and bury these troublesome messengers of God, but unfortunately, as soon as he moved forward, these people retreated.
In the end, he could only ask with a fake smile: "The purpose of digging the pit is..."
"Plant flowers." Su Er looked fascinated. "I want to spread the fragrance all over this land."
"…"
No matter how the village chief persuaded him, Su'er was determined to plant flowers. He was mainly showing off his eloquence, while the others took advantage of Su'er's time to seriously dig holes.
The village chief stopped him and said, "It's just a small matter. I dare not trouble the envoy. I will call for help right away."
He had a strong appeal, and soon a dozen strong men came with shovels. Sur threw the seeds to the village chief from a distance and indicated that they should be distributed in order.
The strong villagers started digging holes. Yizhu said in a sweet voice, "Then let's plant in the west. It will be faster this way."
Village chief: "No need. Someone will be there soon."
Before hearing anything more infuriating, the village chief angrily said to the woman who tipped off the woman, "Go get some fresh fruits to comfort the envoy."
Li Zicang was obsessed with food and asked for a basket to carry his fruit. The group was like a project inspection team, munching on watermelons while watching people dig pits.
"It's too shallow! The pit should be one meter deep."
The man digging the hole said with a forced smile: "Flower seeds should not be buried too deep."
Li Zicang's expression changed instantly. He spat out a few watermelon seeds and caught them, as if he was going to plant watermelons in a while.
"It has to be one meter. This is the rule of the divine world."
"…"
"We will conduct a random inspection later. If we find one that fails the inspection, we will..." Li Zicang was stuck.
Su Er took over the conversation: "Just commit suicide."
The player was moving slowly along the way, and on the surface it looked like he had the upper hand, but in reality he was walking on thin ice.
Everyone knew in their hearts that they were just paper tigers. Even if the villagers really rushed over, they would not commit suicide. Fortunately, as long as they did not cross the line, the villagers did not dare to play with the lives of all the gods.
Ji Heng: "Pay close attention to where these villagers avoid digging pits."
After eating all three melons, the villagers dug wherever they pointed, except for the well and the house.
Wanyi frowned: "We explored all the wells last night and found nothing."
Ji Heng stopped and turned sideways, suddenly looking at the sleeping black dog at the entrance of the village.
Wanyi also found something wrong. The dog was tied at the village gate all day long and no one took it for a walk.
The villagers noticed someone observing the village entrance and their arm muscles tensed.
Ji Heng looked straight ahead into the distance, no longer trying to lower his voice, "The air in the forest should be good."
The villagers exhaled a breath of turbidity, and before they left the village, they said, "The day after tomorrow is a big day for the village. According to custom, the village will be closed two days in advance."
Ji Heng walked towards the village entrance. When the villagers were about to call for help, he turned around and said, "Forget it. It's almost noon and it's too hot."
After witnessing them return, the villagers became worried and called a few people to guard the village entrance.
Players understand that you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry.
Since it was confirmed that there was something strange about the land beneath the black dog, and since people were coming and going during the day, we had to wait until night to conduct in-depth research.
On the other hand, the village chief was really worried about this group of people, especially after hearing that they wanted to leave the village. He did not withdraw the people who were following them and asked them to report the situation every hour.
"Everyone is staying indoors to escape the heat and eat melons."
"Nap."
"Woke up and eating tomatoes."
"Pray, there's a madman shouting he wants to burn himself to death to see God."
"Continue eating melons, praying, and threatening suicide."
"After the commotion, I started to cook noodles and then went to sleep."
…
The content was repetitive and in the end the village chief could no longer bear it and interrupted, "Stop talking."
Even pigs don't eat as much as they do!
He took a deep breath and asked, "Is there anyone left alone?"
The person reporting shook his head.
The village chief frowned: "Go to the toilet..."
"They're going together." The person reporting was equally speechless. "They're still swearing brotherhood in the courtyard, saying they're the Six Brothers of the Farmhouse Inn."
"…"
In the yard.
Li Zicang was picking fruit from a tree. He jumped down and said, "It seems there's no one outside the door."
Wanyi looked at Su'er, who was reclining comfortably in a recliner, seemingly enjoying his retirement, and shook his head. If he were the village chief, he would probably be furious.
Soul was currently studying the small mirror over and over again.
There are three life and death trials, one is survival in the desert, one comes from God, what will the remaining one be?
Reaching out and gently poking the heart, he said, "We were forcibly sucked into the world inside the mirror. I wonder if we can use it to establish contact with the outside world."
Suhr's thirst for knowledge always manifested itself in some peculiar ways. He knocked on the mirror, but received nothing but a cold echo.
"Host?" I tried calling out.
"game?"
No matter what subject you change, it will be in vain.
Su Er yawned and was about to put away the mirror and take a nap to wait for the night to come, but a magnified handsome face suddenly appeared in it.
My hand shook and the mirror fell to the ground.
"Oh my god!" The person closest to him was Li Zicang. He was shocked when he saw this scene. It turned out that video calls were really possible.
After his initial surprise wore off, Soul quickly regained his composure. It wasn't surprising, considering he'd been able to see everything in the hotel through the mirror before entering the desert.
Li Zicang helped him pick up the mirror. The Green Lotus Sage's perspective shifted, and when he noticed the number of players hadn't decreased much, his expression remained calm. Finally, upon catching sight of Su Er, his expression changed slightly. "...You've gained weight."
As a high-level intelligent being, his eyes far exceeded the limits of the human eye. He was confident that he couldn't be wrong. The other party was indeed a little rounder.
If I remember correctly, this should be the second day that the player entered the mirror world.
Su Er rubbed his stomach slowly to digest the food: "The villagers take good care of us. I eat six meals a day."