Forces of Temptation

The plot of the fairy tale is very simple.

A story of bad luck.

A pair of brothers and sisters, because of their difficult family circumstances and their stepmother, were taken to the depths of the forest by their father and abandoned.

They hid the bread secretly, trying to crumble it into crumbs as a guide home, but the birds pecked at it.

The two brothers and sisters lost their way in the forest, suffering from hunger and cold, they clung to each other and moved forward.

Fortunately, they came across a hut made of candy.

Surprised and delighted, the two brothers and sisters demolished the house and feasted on it.

The owner of the hut is a witch. She treated the two children who came suddenly with a pleasant face, but she actually regarded them as her own food reserves.

After the witch showed her vicious face, the two witty children worked together to fight back.

The elder brother lied to the witch to delay time; the younger sister used lies to trick the witch into looking into the boiling pot and pushed the witch into the pot.

They took part of the witch's property, and when they reached a river, they asked Mr. Wild Duck to carry them across the river and went home.

After returning home, the vicious stepmother was already killed by the disease of the mechanical descendant.

Of course, the soft-eared father can only be innocent.

So the family lived a happy life.

End.

Nan Zhou did not comment on this story.

After reading this fairy tale when he was young, he carefully designed several candy houses in his mind by referring to the cookbook.

...and now I can finally see the deity.

Although there was no clear expression as usual, Nan Zhou's mood was obviously good.

Evidence is that he puts his hands in his pockets, taps his toes, and looks around much more often than normal.

This kind of pure childishness buried under the sober and cold appearance, which occasionally revealed, made Jiang Fang very fond of it.

He said, "Let's go."

Of course, the reason they walked so quickly was because they had no way out.

There was no open land behind them.

The road is surrounded by a large arc of trees.

Intertwined vines wrapped around it, densely packed, seamlessly filling every possibility they could explore backwards.

This is of course the setting of the copy, requiring them to move forward.

Since there was no way out, they complied.

The mottled small gravel road stretched all the way to the edge of the forest, and the line of sight became brighter, and then there was a divergence.

On one side is a colorful hut a hundred meters away, with smoke rising from it.

And there are obviously NPCs waiting at the door.

It was a pair of small figures standing holding hands.

They are like a pair of little princes and princesses.

Seeing visitors, the little girl in the pink dress hurriedly stood on tiptoe, waving a handkerchief at them cheerfully and excitedly.

The other road runs in the opposite direction, close to the edge of the woods, winding and winding.

This snake-like trail has sparse vegetation and the road ahead is unknown.

The three looked at each other.

Although he really wanted to pay his respects to the candy house, Nanzhou knew that it was equally important to ensure a way out.

He pointed his thumb upside down to the wilder one.

Jiang Fang nodded slightly, acquiesced to Nan Zhou's judgment, and pointed to the unknown road.

The two turned their heads and asked for Li Yinhang's opinion together.

Li Yinhang naturally followed suit.

Unknowingly, the tacit understanding between the three no longer needs words to express.

They collectively left the NPC with three backs, walking towards the opposite side of the road, gradually drifting away.

Two small NPCs warmly welcome guests: "...?"

……

The further the road goes, the higher the moisture content of the soil.

A pungent watery smell gradually became stronger.

After a quick 10-minute walk, they finally reached the end of the road.

Turning the corner again, what appeared in front of them was a huge swamp.

The swamp was so big that it was difficult for Nanzhou to find the border for a while.

Fine, milky white bubbles emerge from the green swamp, like the skin of a toad, constantly squeezing and fermenting poisonous juice.

On a dry branch beside it, an unremarkable bird was slowly picking its feathers.

This was the only living thing they could see besides them.

Jiang Fang broke a branch and threw it vertically into the swamp.

The swamp was like the mouth of a greedy animal, wriggling hungrily, devouring the branches bit by bit.

Li Yinhang broke out in a cold sweat.

This big swamp is the edge of the entire map.

In other words, even if they encountered any danger at the candy house and their back road was blocked, this forked road that seemed to be a way of life was also a dead end from which they could not escape.

Their investigation this time is very valuable.

Thinking about it this way, Li Yinhang didn't even want to go to the candy house.

...But she just thought about it.

Just as she was about to ask them if they wanted to stay here to investigate, her stomach suddenly twitched slightly.

A clear sense of hunger rose from the bottom of my stomach.

Under this convulsion, the stomach bag squeezed out a dull "grunt" sound.

Li Yinhang licked his lips in embarrassment.

Facing such a large puddle of swill-like mud and sewage, my stomach growled, which was essentially as embarrassing as coming out of the toilet and burping.

Nan Zhou was thinking, when he heard the sound, he looked at Li Yinhang: "Are you hungry too?"

……also.

Li Yinhang's heart suddenly tightened.

She should have noticed the information buried behind this abnormal change of desire in the [Brain Invasion] instance.

She said, "Well, here's what's in the brain—"

"Brainstem. Nuclei suspicious. Vagus nerve." Nan Zhou said, "The cranial nerves in charge of the digestive and respiratory systems, the main function is to tell you, 'You're hungry'."

This also echoes the story of "Candy House".

The brother and sister would not have been abandoned had it not been for the famine of distress at home.

Not because of hunger, nor did they stumble into the witch's house by mistake.

Jiang Fang put one hand on his waist and gently stroked it: "So, it's a time-limited checkpoint."

Of course.

They can clearly experience the feeling of hunger slowly amplifying in their bodies just by their body sensation.

Like a monster slowly opening its bottomless mouth.

Nan Zhou said concisely: "Go back."

Now this hunger is still within the tolerable range.

On the way back, they tried to eat some of the food they had exchanged for their points.

The purpose is not so much to fill the stomach as it is an experiment.

Everyone ate a biscuit for a simple estimate of the rate of hunger.

The vagus nerve is also involved in swallowing.

Therefore, the hunger is temporarily suppressed.

But less than halfway down the road, they were almost as hungry as they were before eating the biscuits.

So, they shared the remaining half of the pack of biscuits, so as to ensure sufficient energy before approaching the candy house, and their thinking would not be overly affected by hunger.

As they approached the fence made of chocolate bars, the long-awaited brunette brother and sister once again posed for a photo-op and smiled at them the most.

Their eyes are beautiful malachite green, like velvety gemstones.

They held hands side by side and bowed politely to the guests.

The etiquette is thoughtful and quite elegant.

"Guests from afar—"

If it was in the past, Li Yinhang would definitely show kindness to this kind of minor NPC as much as possible.

However, due to the gradual lack of blood sugar along the way, Li Yinhang was in no mood to waste time with them.

Under the influence of Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang, she directly asked, "What is the mission?"

Siblings: "..."

It is probably the first time for them to experience the feeling of being so thoroughly treated as tool people.

Even if the previous players felt hungry, at least they knew how to be polite to NPCs.

The younger sister opened her mouth and was stunned for a while before recovering the function of language organization: "You... you guys come in first."

Nan Zhou on the side looked up at the candy house that he had longed for since childhood.

On the "lawn" leading to the house, there are grids of stone slabs for people to stand on.

Visitors can step on the grille to enter without worrying about causing damage to the ground.

The lawn is a large piece of green velvet cake, with traces of green coconut flakes, which have an attractive matte color under the sun.

The beautiful skirt of macarons adorns the eaves.

The roof is made of Napoleon pastry, and the cake embryo, raspberry sauce, butter sauce, and layered, golden-yellow crispy mille-feuille can be clearly identified from the edges.

Crispy muffins make up the walls.

Multi-colored mousse lacquer, with beautiful gradient colors shining in the sun.

This situation made Nan Zhou miss the props that he had used up [Ma Liang's Sketchbook]

Jiang Fang saw his thoughts, grabbed his hand apologetically, shook it, and looked softly.

Nan Zhou immediately recalled the reason why Jiang Fang used up all the props, and the strange pain subsided in his heart again, and even his strong appetite subsided a lot.

He firmly held Jiang Fang's palm back, showing his desire to protect in front of outsiders without any shyness.

Originally, he just wanted to comfort Jiang Fang: "..."

Jiang Fang said softly, "Someone else is here."

Nan Zhou also replied softly: "It's because there are others around."...that's why I want to protect you.

The decoration inside the house is just as inviting as the outside.

The trim at the lower edge of the chink was wavy Breton with a thick layer of applesauce inside.

Shell-shaped madeleines are made into bite-sized pieces, adorned with photos of siblings on the wall.

On the small coffee table are high-end tea sets and several plates of fluffy and delicious souffle.

The small teapot at the side was whistling and spouting the fragrance of tea.

However, wooden floors are still laid inside the house, and all kinds of furniture are not all made of candy.

The happiness of being in it is not too sweet.

Everything is so just right.

The elder brother enthusiastically poured tea for them.

When the Ceylon black tea is poured into a bone china teacup, the aroma diffuses and blends with the surrounding sweet aroma, triggering a wonderful and profound chemical reaction, which is even more tempting.

The younger sister said obediently: "Travelers from afar, come here after trekking all the way, you must be hungry."

As she spoke, she pushed the soufflé on the small table towards them.

"... Please use it."

With the stimulation of food, the hunger that had been suppressed slightly surged out immediately.

What's more, this hunger was told by her nerves.

Hard to resist.

Can not resist.

Li Yinhang almost couldn't help stretching out his hand.

But she immediately grabbed her wrist with the other hand.

Although there was no evidence, her intuition told her that the things here must not be eaten lightly.

On the other side, Nan Zhou sat there quietly with lowered eyebrows.

After thinking for a while, he asked softly, "Is there anything we need to do for you?"

"……'Do something'?"

The younger sister picked up one of the black teacups, brought it to her lips, and bent her crescent-like eyes: "It's unnecessary."

"Our life is very happy, and we don't need you to do anything."

This answer completely exceeded Li Yinhang's expectation.

……what?

Nan Zhou's expression remained unchanged.

……lie.

Nan Zhou likes the setting in "Candy House" the most.

He has read the book many times.

It can be said that since entering this candy house, they have faced countless senses of disobedience.

First, in the original story, the brother and sister finally took the witch's treasure, left the candy house, crossed the river, returned to their father, and lived a prosperous and happy life.

And now, they're back in the candy house.

...and consider himself the master.

Second, the brother and sister are obviously ordinary peasant children, but now they behave elegantly, dress beautifully, and have no simplicity.

No, this elegance seems to come from a kind of proficiency.

They are very skillful in attracting coming and going, hungry guests.

Seems like it's a business.

Third, in the original story, they are smart children.

But he is also a child who knows how to use lies to achieve his goals.

Their words cannot be completely taken as the truth.

All kinds of doubts point to many problems:

Why did the siblings return to the witch's candy house?

Where did their father go?

Should I follow their instructions and take "eating pastry" as a task?

Or resist the temptation to be too superficial and try to unearth the hidden mission?

Perhaps seeing that none of the three of them had the intention of using a knife and fork, but one was looking at the sky, the other at the ground, and the other looking around, the younger sister's tone changed subtly.

Her voice became a little dissatisfied: "You guys, why don't you eat?"

Li Yinhang forcibly held back the rising stomach acid: "I don't like sweets."

This is obviously not a good reason for rejection.

Because the faces of the brothers and sisters have sunk.

Jiang Fang knew that Li Yinhang had already refused, and the next person must not be too tough.

So, he stretched out his hand graciously: "My teammates like to eat sweets."

As he said that, he was about to grab the knife and fork from the edge of the dishes and cut the cake for Nanzhou, but he seemed to be careless and dropped the silver fork.

The fork landed precisely near Nanzhou's feet.

He apologized gently, then turned to Nanzhou: "Mr. Nan, help me pick it up, thank you."

After this interaction, seeing that they were willing to eat, the expressions of the brother and sister improved a lot.

This also bought them a little time to continue to observe safely and collect clues.

Nan Zhou bent down and was about to pick up the silver fork at his feet when his peripheral vision fell on a place not far from the bottom of the sofa.

The fourth doubtful point that he felt faintly weird but failed to notice clearly flashed in his mind.

... wooden floors.

Why is the interior of the candy house using wooden floors?

Is it because practicality is taken into consideration, that it is inconvenient to live like this?

But the large green velvet cake lawn outside, besides restricting the range of activities of the residents, what practicality is there?What convenience can we talk about?

According to common sense, how can a house built with candy cover the light and the rain?How can it live with people?

In the fairy tale world, everything is obviously possible.

Why insist on authenticity in the floor and furniture?

——Things glimpsed in Nanzhou's peripheral vision gave these questions a clue to be answered.

There was a thin piece of nail firmly wedged between the cracks in the wooden floor.

The tip of the nail is pale, and if you don't look closely, it looks like a transparent thorn.

And the weirdest thing was that the nail was stuck vertically on the floor with the root of the nail facing down and the tip of the nail facing up.

This is not normal.

Normally, even if someone's fingernail gets stuck in the floor, and the root is accidentally lifted off when pulling it out, it should be pointed down, and it will definitely be cleaned up immediately, and it will not be left stuck in the floor all the time. in the crevice.

With the nails up in the sky, it looks like...the floor has cracked through it.

And one person fell out of it.

In a desperate struggle, he clawed at the edge of the split floor, flipping his nails.

The nails stuck to the edge of the cracked floor due to the stickiness of flesh and blood.

And as the floor was closed again, this piece of nail was also regarded as a piece of wood thorn, and was forgotten here.

…it is like a hand that has been buried alive, desperate for help.

A strong sense of crisis swept over Nanzhou's heart.

He quietly stretched out his hand facing the nail.

——The next moment.

From the gap at the bottom of the sofa, Nan Zhou accidentally met a pair of green eyes.

At some point, the upper half of my brother's face and a pair of eyes appeared on the other side of the couch, staring closely at Nan Zhou.

Those innocent eyes that belonged to children, when looking straight at people, also revealed a sense of animal-like coldness and scrutiny.

His voice was compressed by the gap of the sofa, adding a bit of dullness and gloom: "...guest, have you found the fork?"

Nan Zhou's expression remained unchanged, and he showed him the silver cross in his palm from a distance.

The boy blinked, and in an instant, he replaced that beautiful and innocent smile: "Then please hurry up and taste it, the tea is going to be cold."

Nan Zhou hummed, straightened up, and put the dropped silver fork back next to the small plate.

Nan Zhou held the nails that he pulled out quickly and hid in the palm of his palm, dipped into his thumb, and carefully outlined the shape and traces of the nails.

The blood on the nails has dried, and a thin layer of blood can be scraped off.

But the nails themselves are not yet dry and brittle, and it can be seen that the time for peeling off is not long.

He looked at the siblings.

Their hands are all intact.

Moreover, when Nan Zhou's hand touched the wooden floor, he felt a strange warmth.

When you step on it with your feet through the shoes, the warmth is not very obvious.

But when you touch it with your hands, the warmth becomes extraordinarily vivid.

This warmth is by no means normal.

Under the floor, there seemed to be a huge boiler burning.

It is conceivable that if the floor of the house is also made of pastry, even if it is not deformed, it is easy to be softened by such heat.

Nan Zhou glanced at Jiang Fang.

Jiang Fang blinked lightly at him, with a hint of inquiry.

Nan Zhou was stunned.

Jiang Fang was more sensitive to these details.

He may have noticed that the temperature under his feet was abnormal, so he knocked down the silver fork, and wanted Nanzhou to help verify his opinion.

Nan Zhou easily thought of the boiling water pot in the story where his sister pushed the witch into it and boiled it alive.

The weird temperature transmitted from the depths of the floor, combined with the situation of the brother and sister who replaced the witch as the new owner of the candy house, and the strange nails wedged in the cracks in the floor at a weird angle——

The food here is inedible.

Can't even touch it.

The author has something to say:

Knight Zhouzhou, Online Husband

Brother Fang: I'm so weak.jpg