After recovering from his final kneeling, Ren Yifei watched the third video twice more.
He then discovered that the ritual seemed to have a peculiar order of death, starting from the far right, with one sacrifice corresponding to one stone pillar. The last stone pillar was reserved for the priest, and upon the priest's death, all the stone pillars emitted a blood-red light.
In a true ritual, this stone pillar would have been doused with the blood of the offerings, which is why it turned that red color. Its final burst of light is also quite interesting, as if announcing the completion of the ritual.
After the elderly and weak of the tribe were sacrificed, the young and strong could set off with a fierce killing intent that had been aroused—this was probably the meaning of ancient sacrifices.
The 'ghost' is a priest, and in the ghost's plan, he himself is also part of the sacrifice. However, he is unwilling to accept this and even creates a copy.
What was he unwilling to accept? Was he unwilling that the sacrifice was not completed, or was he unwilling that he didn't even qualify as a sacrifice?
Suppose that the ghost needs many offerings to clear the way to complete this ritual. Could it then force the ghost out by doing the opposite?
Ren Yifei suddenly wanted to give it a try, since he had nothing better to do anyway.
Now, he needs to find a quiet, secluded place that can inspire his creative desires.
Ren Yifei checked the time; it was already past five o'clock. There were more students on the street, all heading downstairs to find food. But instead of following the crowd towards the residential area, he went towards the art building where someone had died before.
The doors to the art building were open. He walked in, and the elevator was on his left. Their class's classroom for their major courses was 706, on the seventh floor.
This afternoon, everyone stayed in their dormitories to wait for disinfection, so classes were suspended across the school. There were hardly any people in the art building at the moment. He took the elevator up and walked all the way to classroom 706, but didn't encounter a single person.
The classroom door was locked, but it was a very basic lock. Ren Yifei took out a paperclip from his pocket, twisted it into the right shape, and opened the door after a few tries.
The artistic atmosphere is palpable—they are all half-finished clay sculptures.
The classroom had desks and chairs, but they were all placed against the wall, leaving a space in the middle for wooden shelves. The shelves were covered with clumps of bluish-gray mud, and some shelves had cloth bags hanging from them, filled with mud and tools like scrapers.
Ren Yifei looked at them one by one, and then he stopped in front of a grotesque clay sculpture. The shelf was labeled 'Zhang Zhengyuan'.
He only noticed the label later. The grotesque monster clay sculptures were what recently attracted him.
Of all the clay sculptures, it is not the most exquisite, but the overall shape of the clay sculpture and the shape of the monster in the illusion are highly similar, and it is obvious at a glance that its creator was a participant in the ritual.
The original owner had good craftsmanship, though lacking in technique, but the work had a lot of spirit. Ren Yifei couldn't bear to destroy the sculpture, so he found some more pieces of wood in the corner, nailed them together to make a small frame, and then covered it with mud.
He thought he would have to wait a long time, but before the mud on the shelf had even taken shape, he was already in the gray tunnel.
Ren Yifei opened his eyes, which were as red as a burning sun. The wind blew by, and a black robe appeared on his body. Beneath the robe, despair, pain, curses, and extreme desires swirled.
"The passage established by the sacrifice seems rather unstable." His lips uttered a cold voice, and his right hand had already transformed into a small, dark fan. With a gentle wave, the fragile passage trembled.
Last time he came to test the waters, so he didn't cause any trouble. But this time he came to cause destruction, full of murderous intent, creating a rift in the void with each step.
Different landscapes can be seen through the cracks, such as surging red lava, resembling a fiery hell, or a desolate, icy region, devoid of birds and beasts for thousands of miles.
He even saw lightning forming from friction within the clouds, thousands of feet high in the sky.
This fragile passage was on the verge of collapse, and the lost 'shadows' within it could not withstand the wind blowing from the cracks and scattered with a single gust.
Ren Yifei, who had now transformed into an evil being, remained unmoved, watching the shadows that had been captured vanish into thin air.
After the shadows dissipated, these people were destined to fall seriously ill. However, they also benefited from this misfortune, escaping death.
Ren Yifei's fury seemed poised to burn the passage to ashes, enraging the one who governs the rules and drawing in the wind from the spatial gap. This wind, caused by the shattering of a small space, is capable of harming anything in the world.
Even for those alien gods born with the universe, this wind was like a rain of blades.
However, they were helpless against Ren Yifei. As soon as they got close, they were swallowed up by the mini black holes on his black robe.
He ventured deeper into the passage, the edges of his black robe billowing, drawing away much of the energy dissipating from the space.
The being that governs the rules both mends the cracks and summons out many strange and bizarre things from them. Just looking at these things or hearing a single sound from them can make one's soul tremble.
However, none of this worked on Ren Yifei. He didn't need anything else; he simply glanced at them with his blood-red eyes, and these strange-looking things instantly turned to ash and vanished.
"Since you possess such power, why do you disguise yourself as a human and hide within it?" The being who governs the rules of the passage simply cannot understand.
It's like someone who doesn't want to be a proper human being, but insists on being an ant. It's baffling and unpredictable.
"You certainly don't understand the joys of being human, just as you don't understand human nature. Right, you desolate corner?"
The desolate corner remained silent for a long time: "From the moment you revealed an aura that did not belong to humans, I knew you were a problem."
Ren Yifei thought for a moment, probably referring to the time he broke a seal at the Spring Banquet. It seemed that it was around that instance that his character was targeted and his rewards were rigged.
Thinking about how long he had been "unlucky," Ren Yifei raised his hand and swung his fan. With a whoosh, the sky collapsed and the earth cracked, the cracks like a spider web, and continued to extend.
"This is cheating!" the Wasteland Corner roared in fury. "You used power beyond the player's capabilities. This isn't completing the game; this is destroying it!"
"You started it first," Ren Yifei said expressionlessly. "Knowing what kind of relationship Saman has with me, you still dared to let the marks of other evil beings appear on him?"
His anger flared even more at the mention of this. His black robe swayed slightly, and the little black holes drew power from each other. Wherever Ren Yifei passed, the passage shattered completely.
The force of that fan and suction was immense, and the desolate corner almost couldn't withstand it. It couldn't help but say, "You are surrounded by negative energy, and you drive people crazy with just a glance. Why are you so fixated on an ordinary human?"
"An ordinary human being?"
Ren Yifei recalled the person who had invaded his life like water, who had already shamelessly occupied a place in his emotional world before he realized he should reject her.
"He saw 'Ren Yifei,' and where his gaze was, 'Ren Yifei' was." He would never abandon his human identity, nor would he give up the human emotions that were so difficult to experience.
"From the moment he met me, he was no ordinary human being!"
Saman is a part of his human emotions; he wants all the feedback he receives from Saman—friends, lovers, family…
Realizing that her words had not calmed Ren Yifei's anger but instead accelerated the destruction of the passage, the Desolate Corner finally couldn't hold on any longer: "Even if you find him, it's useless. Anyone who appears in the Desolate Corner has already signed a contract with the Desolate Corner. If he wants to leave, or if you want to take him away, there is only one way."
"The Top Ten Challenges?"
"That's right, and you can only participate in the challenge as a human, as a player."
"Are you a sore loser?" Ren Yifei couldn't help but question.
The desolate corner remained silent for a while: "This is the place of reincarnation for wicked people. 'Wicked people' are not welcome, and non-humans are not welcome." Understand your place; those with cheat codes are not welcome, and those who are cheat codes themselves are even less welcome!
"Am I not human?" Ren Yifei was about to have a chat with the desolate corner about life. "You can't remove my human identity just because I'm amphibious."
The desolate corner remained silent. It simply conjured a mirror and placed it in front of Ren Yifei: "Look at this mini black hole, look at the black mist below that condenses the evil of humanity. Do you even know if you're human?"
After an unfriendly conversation, the two completely broke down and started fighting again.
To be precise, Ren Yifei was demolishing, while the desolate corner was patching up. The speed was about the same, but because the one causing the destruction had the advantage of striking first, it didn't take long for the shadows in the passage to be cleared out. Dozens of students will probably fall seriously ill when they get back.
"This also completes the school's lie about the 'epidemic'," Ren Yifei thought to himself, looking at the 'good' side.
"Black rabbit." The desolate corner couldn't help but exclaim.
"Even if you destroy this place, you won't find Saman. That's the rule. You either follow the player's path, or you destroy this place, but things might get even worse. There are certain forces in this world that I can't control."
Ren Yifei looked at the constantly being repaired passage and the endless road. He sighed and put away his ink-bone fan: "I will not come here again, but you should not do anything unnecessary, including updating information."
"Okay," said the desolate corner.
Ren Yifei left the passageway, but he was still standing in the classroom. The clay sculpture in his hand was beginning to show signs of mysterious life, but after looking at the clay for a while, he flattened it and put it back in the original bag.
"It's only the second day, there are still five days left."
This is the Desolate Corner instance. Saman is a player of Desolate Corner, so let's follow the rules of Desolate Corner.
After leaving the art building, Ren Yifei once again donned the "Zhang Zhengyuan" persona. Hungry, he went to the cafeteria for dinner. Then he went to the library again.
Discovering that his roommate's existence was merely a figment of his imagination, Zhang Zhengyuan felt conflicted and somewhat unwilling to confront the situation. At this point, escape was the best option.
He sat in the library for a long time, his phone constantly charging. His fingers opened one group after another; the online world was so lively, yet his heart felt empty.
In the group chat of four, Zhao Rui went to the hospital because she suddenly felt unwell, and Yu Yan took her there. Meanwhile, many more people in the community group chat suddenly fell ill.
"So, our school really does have acute infectious diseases?"
After Ren Yifei's smashing, at least fifty or sixty chosen sacrifices broke free from their fate of being offered up. I wonder how the 'ghost' feels right now.
He had originally planned to release all the offerings to provoke the 'ghost' out. But since he had agreed to follow the 'players' rules, he couldn't wander into the passage anymore.
Therefore, we can only pin our hopes on the information updates in the evening.
"Speaking of which, does the name 'Wasteland' literally mean 'the place of reincarnation for evildoers'?" Bringing evildoers who have committed crimes but have not been punished here serves two purposes: firstly, to temper the evildoers, and secondly, to make use of their waste to eliminate the obsessions of 'evil spirits'.
If viewed through the lens of the explanation that it's a 'special hell set up for a select few,' he seems to understand why the Wasteland corner periodically eliminates high-level players.
Those people aren't high-end players to the Wasteland; they're old fogies of the Wasteland.
For players, the Desolate Corner is a devil with a tender heart.
It's like slowly boiling a frog in water, using three lives, rewards, and a tiered system of status in the Wasteland to appease players and prevent them from becoming desperate and rebellious.
But behind this warmth lies a sufficiently dangerous dungeon game that must be played on average once a month, so even high-level players are mentally prepared to die at any time.
We have to leave here.
The desolate corner exists for death; staying here too long will fill one with negative energy. He and Saman must leave; no matter how much he enjoys pretending, it won't work.
"It's not entirely impossible to replicate an entertainment version of the Wasteland." He touched the space between his eyebrows, where a system core still lay dormant.