Forces of Temptation

The dungeon has advanced to the present, and Nanzhou has a simple summary of the nature of the four games.

Tin Soldier Level is a puzzle board game.

Wild Swan Level is a room escape game.

Big Bad Wolf Level is a real-life role-playing game.

Right now, the game they are working on is more like a highly interactive adventure RPG game.

If it is accompanied by text options, the characteristics will be more distinct.

"Click the option, do you want to eat the candies of the siblings? Yes? No?"

"Click the option, do you want to save the father who is about to be eaten? Yes? No?"

"Click the option, do you want to see the feathers that the bird has dropped? Yes? No?"

"Click the option, do you want to follow the brother and sister who are about to be abandoned by their father, or seek the help of Xiaoniao?"

In this level, they are faced with many choices.

The choice of each step is related to the time they spend in each door.

Once you take a fork in the road, the time to pass the customs will only get longer and longer.

At that time, it will be more terrible to be starved to death, or to fall into the madness of gluttony, attack and devour each other, and completely become a slave to the candy house. It is hard to say.

Just like they are now, it is a risky behavior to go against the core NPC and find a new way to pass the level.

But they finally chose to go back to the cabin.

That was the only place where normal food could be obtained among the three game-mandated locations.

It is also the hometown where the two brothers and sisters want to go back.

The cabin felt more dilapidated than it had been the last time they had been here.

The fallen leaves in front of the door have not been swept for a long time, and the ground is crispy and yellow, forming a natural barrier. As long as you get close, you will inevitably crush the fallen leaves and make a noise.

The coops outside were speckled with chicken droppings.

The cage was empty, and there was no living thing.

There was a dog food bowl outside, grime already floating around the rim.

There were a few locks of dark yellow dog hair in the dirt.

This was once the Eden in the dreams of the brother and sister.

But not anymore.

A thin woman was squatting on a spinning wheel in the living room, her face full of impatience.

Even in a relaxed state, her willow-leaf eyebrows are still hanging, and her eyes are tricky to fly to the sides.

Because of hunger, her skin was thin and sallow, and her pointed skull, sharp chin and high cheekbones gave her a mean and sick look.

She doesn't look like a real person, just like a puppet with a wicked face on it.

Nanzhou and the others had previously explored the cabin and its surroundings.

The size of the cabin was small, and there was no portal through which they could easily sneak in.

In any case, to get in, they had to pass through the living room.

Li Yinhang was in trouble: "What should I do?"

Jiang Fang shrugged his shoulders relaxedly: "If you can't go sideways, just go in openly."

As he said that, he straightened his clothes, stepped on the fallen leaves all over the ground, and walked to the small wooden house with the sound of weaving, and politely knocked on the door of the dilapidated wooden house.

"Hello." Jiang Fang said with a gentle attitude, "We are passing guests, we are very hungry, and we want some food, is that okay?"

Jiang Fang's appearance is quite dignified and precious.

If simply decorated with medieval aristocratic clothing, he could play the role of a prince.

Combined with the wild swan level, Nan Zhou silently corrected his assessment.

...The princess is actually fine.

But as a textbook low-level villain, the stepmother has the low-quality tradition that this type of role has always been excellent.

She jumped up, waving the spindle in her hand like chasing chickens: "Roll! Beg for food and go to other places! You won't even give you a bite of the chaff you feed the pigs!"

Jiang Fang quietly added the next sentence: "...we will pay you."

Hearing this sentence, the stepmother's long-hanging Wanniang face froze, and then seamlessly switched to a warm smile.

She said with a sharp voice: "Oh, that's okay, but ah, we don't have anything to eat, there is only half a piece of black bread left at most, which my husband and I saved through our teeth, it is our life-saving Food, how much money can you give?"

Jiang Fang gracefully raised his right hand: "This."

A greedy light flashed in the stepmother's eyes: "Five—"

Before she finished speaking, Jiang Fang slapped her with a hand knife in front of her, and knocked her unconscious to the ground majestically.

Catching the limp stepmother with a gentleman's hand, Jiang Fang put her down on a stool with half a leg missing on one side, and did not forget to apologize: "Ma'am, I'm sorry,"

This smooth operation made Li Yinhang's mouth and nostrils enlarged together.

...It is indeed very generous to go in.

However, after searching the cabin, they found no food.

Their family has indeed reached the point of running out of ammunition and food.

There are still some low-quality silver jewelry in the stepmother's box, just lying in the jewelry box coldly, and she will never sell it easily to feed two oil bottles.

There is only a basket of oak leaves in the kitchen, which can be easily eaten.

Even the "half piece of black bread" in the mouth of the stepmother did not know where it went.

"...was taken away."

Nan Zhou easily thought of the whereabouts of the bread: "When the woodcutter threw away the two children, he let them take the last bit of rations from the family."

The stepmother obviously didn't know about it yet.

But now, the piece of black bread that could have been used has been turned into crumbs, eaten by a group of birds, and there is nothing left.

...the bread is gone.

The more he searched for nothing, the more anxious Li Yinhang became.

Hunger is indeed a physiological experience that can directly affect human emotions.

Hungry Li Yinhang's stomach was cold, his heart was on fire, and his throat was burning.

She didn't have the time to think about something in depth, but thoughts came to her mind like a revolving lantern.

Could it be that they went the wrong way?

Should they follow the siblings?

Once she had doubts about the current choice, she felt that their move back to the cabin was completely wrong.

She bit her lip forcibly, suppressing her anxiety and uneasiness, and suggested, "Let's...should we go back?"

"The woodcutter, with his two children, must not have gone far. We may still have time..."

But when she thought of the price they would face if they went the wrong way, her eyes turned red and she wanted to cry.

Li Yinhang in his normal state would never be so concerned about gains and losses.

But now she was so hungry that she panicked.

The high-speed secretion of digestive juice caused her stomach to burn.

She even suspected that she was becoming the Inger in the fairy tale whose viscera were so hungry that they could devour each other.

She repeated anxiously in a low voice, "Let's go... let's go."

However, Nan Zhou stood still in front of a door, not moving for a long time.

The doorknob of this door was broken, so a wooden doorknob was attached with sponge binding, nestling where it had been broken.

Immediately, he squatted down and uncovered a corner of the place covered by the yellow sponge.

The goal of their game has never been just to make a deal with the bird played by Ingle.

Facing the exposed doorknob, Nan Zhou aimed at the old dust on it, and blew lightly——

In the thin air of dust flying, the pattern on the doorknob that they are familiar with and unique to the [Brain Invasion] dungeon is fully revealed.

Nan Zhou pressed the doorknob.

When the door was pushed and entered, a thread of dust slowly fell from the crack above the door.

What caught his eyes was an empty, semi-sunken small cellar full of mottled cobwebs in the corners.

...isn't it a forest?

For a moment, Nanzhou himself began to wonder if he had made a wrong choice.

But when he took a step forward and fell back into the familiar feeling of being engulfed by the vortex of time and space, he was sure that he had found the right option.

When he opened his eyes again, he was alone, standing in a clean cellar.

The nostrils are filled with the mellow and sweet aroma of yeast-fermented noodles.

Surrounded by seven or eight baked baguettes, store them in a dry place for winter.

—he didn't return to the forest full of life choices and forks in the road.

He returned to the warmest time in the memory of the brothers and sisters.

The end of their many doors of memory.

It was a dinner that their whole family had together in a certain month of a certain year.

There are fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters.

A true family treat.

The hungry Nan Zhou leaned against the door, smelling the fragrance of food and carefree laughter from outside the cellar.

It's laced with the cooing of chickens and the grunt of dogs as they crawl around their pant legs looking for fallen bones.

The happy and hearty laughter of the two children and the simple and honest smirk of the woodcutter are occasionally mixed with the slight cough of the young woman.

At that time, no one of them could realize that this was the source of tragedy.

They are still talking and laughing loudly.

The younger sister sneezed because she laughed too loudly, and a small cranberry that she had just eaten ran out of her nose. The older brother slapped the table and laughed loudly, and the younger sister got annoyed by laughing, and blushed and slapped his face. Shoulder.

Nan Zhou thought, can the whole family be so lively when eating together?

In memory, there seemed to be some hustle and bustle that had nothing to do with him.

He also seemed to have crossed his legs, carefully and curiously observing a few fussy and fuzzy faces amidst the warm aroma of food.

Beside him, someone handed him an apple.

When he took it, he touched the man's finger, and he took the initiative to hook it, which caused a static electricity and made his fingertips go numb.

The man's fingertips quickly retracted, leaving Nan Zhou's hand hanging in the air.

Nan Zhou, who woke up from the short and unprovoked memories, looked down at his hands, feeling that his palms were empty.

As an outsider, he knew that he probably shouldn't interfere with anything.

But he still held the doorknob of the cellar from the inside, and pressed down——

When he pushed it away, what appeared in front of his eyes was not a picture of joy and harmony.

It was the ruined house, the half-woven linen, the unconscious stepmother, Jiang Fang and Li Yinhang.

Because the whole cellar can be seen from the outside, which is completely different from the previous doors, Li Yinhang did not go in.

She asked Nan Zhou: "Is there anything inside?"

Nan Zhou frowned: "I..."

He took a step forward, looking eager to grab something.

Jiang Fang immediately understood, stretched out his hand, and caught his hand that was stretched forward.

Nan Zhou's knuckles were slightly bent, he caught his little finger, subconsciously hooked it lightly, and sparked a little static electricity.

Jiang Fang was startled.

His body is extremely private.He doesn't like any touch that doesn't take the initiative.

According to his habits and instincts, he would immediately avoid such intimacy.

However, with strong willpower, he forced himself not to back down, and took the initiative to take advantage of the remaining static electricity and gentle touch to gently rub his fingertips.

The inexplicable emptiness in Nan Zhou's heart was filled by a small action like this.

He gathered himself together and said to Jiang Fang, "...I found the bread we need."

Li Yinhang cheered up: "Then can we go to Inger immediately—"

"Yes." Nan Zhou said, "But there is one more thing I want to do."

Jiang Fang observed his expression: "Do you need our help?"

Nan Zhou: "Yes."

When it was getting dark, they bypassed many obstacles in the forest, and found the waiting bird Inger by the edge of the swamp as promised.

Nan Zhou handed it half of the fresh bread he found in the cellar.

Inger was very satisfied with the quality of the half-cut bread, and just as he was about to accept the payment, Nanzhou opened his mouth to it.

"Can you really show us the way out?"

"Yes." Inger said, "You are not the first players I have encountered. Since you have found the secret past of the two brothers and sisters, and found bread for me in that past, as a In return, I will take you back to the normal timeline and find the door you should go out from."

...That's right.

Inger's words verified Nanzhou's judgment on it.

While hiding in the woods and overhearing the conversation between Inger and his brother and sister, Inger's few words caught Nanzhou's attention.

"Your wishes always have to pay a price."

"That's not bread at all."

It knows the truth of the world.

It knows the past and future of the two brothers and sisters, and knows what fate will happen to the brothers and sisters who cross the river.

It may even carry the brothers and sisters of the third timeline countless times, rushing towards the patricide of the second timeline.

Then, it is possible that it is the omniscient being that exists in these multiple timelines.

According to what it just said, it can even take them through time and space.

But it's just a bird after all.

It is like a rational bystander, knowing that the fate of the siblings cannot be saved, so it has no choice but to watch the two of them, just like the original self, gradually sink into the boundless quagmire, and pay the due price for their choices.

After confirming this point, Nanzhou's thoughts became more determined.

"So, I have a personal request." Nan Zhou said, "Can you do me a favor?"

The little bird tilted his head in doubt, and blinked his beautiful little black bean eyes.

Like the two brothers and sisters who made the deal back then, Nanzhou, Jiang Fang and Li Yinhang carried the wings of a bird like a magic flying carpet.

It chirped sharply, and flew into the forest like a small plane, flexibly avoiding branches, leaves, bushes and undergrowth, all the way to the forest where Nanzhou and the others met the woodcutter who abandoned his children.

It plunges headlong into a little void.

It carried three people and broke into the third from the fourth timeline.

Its illusory figure emerged from the mud of the swamp, gradually turned from imaginary to real, carried three people on its back, and burrowed into the forest again.

Not long after Inger's figure entered the jungle, it passed by the place where Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang kissed.

After going forward for a while, it plunged headlong into the void in the forest again.

They returned to the second timeline.

That hut filled with fresh flesh and blood.

The two little blood gourds who had just eaten up their father's flesh and blood were sleeping next to each other on the sofa.

They have not yet awakened from the dream of feasting.

When it came here, Inger stopped moving forward.

It silently folded its wings and regained its normal body shape. Standing on a floor that had not been soaked in blood, it reservedly trimmed its feathers with its gray beak, and at the same time signaled Nanzhou to move as soon as possible with a pair of bean eyes. .

Staring at the two sleepy children who didn't know if they were really full, white sweat protruded from the back of Li Yinhang's spine.

Her sweat glands seemed to be poked up and down with capillary needles. Cold sweat accompanied by a tingling sensation slowly seeped out from the depths of her body.

This tense feeling is terrible.

She still can't fully understand why Nanzhou asked Inger to stop in the second timeline?

Nanzhou didn't delay either.

He moved immediately, turned into Orion's room, opened the unlocked drawer, silently took out a dozen pieces of gold bars that belonged to the witch, and stuffed them into the backpack.

When he returned to the living room, he probably felt that someone was staring at him closely. His sister turned over and opened her eyes in a daze.

Li Yinhang was startled, and just as he was about to find Inger, Nan Zhou grabbed Jiang Fang and Li Yinhang's hands one by one.

Li Yinhang came back to his senses and hurriedly grabbed Inger's wings.

And Jiang Fang stepped forward, grabbed the doorknob growing in Orion's stomach, and quickly pressed down——

The younger sister opened her blood-smeared eyes, but only had time to see a small piece of snow-white bird feathers falling on the ground.

They jump back to the third timeline.

——that is, the timeline when the brother and sister had just escaped from the candy house and wanted to go home.

This way, Inger carried them, and they passed through the third timeline in a very short time.

On the swamp, Inger reluctantly shook off a feather from his bald wings and turned it into a door.

They broke back into the fourth timeline.

The time of several timelines is advanced synchronously.

So when they returned to the second timeline, the fed siblings were still napping.

And when they returned to the fourth timeline, the sky was completely dark.

Nanzhou climbed off Yinger's back, motioned Jiang Fang, Li Yinhang and Yinger to wait in place, and walked into the depths of the forest alone.

Hunger was also ruthlessly eating away at his stomach, but Nan Zhou walked steadily.

His face was still indifferent, and it was hard to see what he was rushing all the way for.

In the distance, he heard the terrified cries of the brother and sister.

He stopped.

The elder brother hugged his younger sister and curled up under a dead tree, his fingers patting her back trembling slightly.

The huge shadow cast by a mere tree seems to be enough to swallow up two children.

The younger sister whimpered: "Brother, I'm afraid, I'm hungry."

The elder brother kissed her cold sweaty forehead: "Grete, don't be afraid, we will find our way home."

The younger sister choked up: "But the crumbs you sprinkled were eaten by the birds. We can't go back..."

The elder brother supported the tree, helped the younger sister, and stood up with her staggeringly: "It doesn't matter. There must be some left. Let's go find it again—"

Holding a glimmer of hope, they stumbled and continued to rush into the depths of the dense forest.

In the dark night with thin moonlight, no one expected that it was a scent that first pointed out the direction for them.

It is the sweet aroma of fresh bread.

The two brothers and sisters walked a few steps closely, and through the faint moonlight, they could clearly see a piece of snow-white bread crumbs that appeared on the ground like fine sand.

The elder brother suddenly ignited hope: "Grete! Did you see it! It's our bread crumbs!"

The younger sister was overjoyed, but also had a little hesitation and doubt: "Really? Is the leftover bread in our family so good?"

The elder brother didn't have time to think deeply, he held his younger sister's warm little hand, carefully searched for the bread crumbs on the ground, and walked all the way back.

Out of caution, the hungry Nan Zhou still didn't take a bite of the bread he took from the cellar at the last door.

He brought a whole one.

Half of it was given to Inger, and the other half was crushed into fine crumbs in his palm, slipping down like sand.

He scattered bread along the way, leading the lost brother and sister to the right path.

For the convenience of action, he borrowed Li Yinhang's mobile phone and turned up the light.

An abnormal light group floated up and down beside Nanzhou.

This subtle light naturally also attracted the attention of the siblings.

The younger sister asked curiously, "What is that?"

"Is it a firefly?"

"Is it a glowing bird?"

My brother suggested: "Let's catch up and take a look."

But as long as they speed up, the light will also speed up.

So they have not been able to see clearly what is leading the way for them.

During this interesting chase, the two brothers and sisters saw the familiar lights belonging to home from a distance.

The two stopped in unison, with complex expressions of joy and sorrow on their faces.

They all thought about why they got lost in the dense forest.

This was the second time Father had tried to abandon them.

They are back again this time.

So, wouldn't there be a third time?

Can this home—the home without the mother—be able to go back.

The two brothers and sisters held hands and stood there, wandering for a long time, when suddenly, a small stone fell down.

The soft clicking sound caught the attention of the two of them.

They followed the prestige, and through the light projected from the window of the house, they could clearly see a few clusters of dark golden light gathering under the tree not far from their feet.

They took a closer look and were instantly dumbfounded.

It's gold!

So much gold!

The elder brother sat down on the ground, looked at his younger sister, and whispered, "So much... who lost it?"

The younger sister also nervously whispered: "I don't know..."

After looking at each other, the cunning little wisdom belonging to the brother and sister finally got online.

Brother said: "We picked this up in the deep forest, didn't we?"

The younger sister immediately took over the words: "Well! The witch in the forest gave it to us. She is a kind and good person, and she will only give it to people she likes."

Brother: "We brought wealth to the family, father and that person, there is no reason to drive us away, is there?"

The younger sister blinked her eyes, and snickered in surprise with her elder brother.

Wrapped in gold bars, they stepped into that light, full of longing for home.

And a little bird with a lantern was sitting on a dark treetop.

Watching the two brothers and sisters step into the house, and hearing the commotion of surprise and stepmother's greedy question "where did you find it?"

But it was probably because he was too hungry. When he landed, his feet went limp, and he was about to fall forward. A pair of hands stretched out from the side, accurately wrapped around his waist, and hugged his knees. She held him firmly in her arms.

Nan Zhou couldn't see who was on the other side of the darkness.

But he knew.

He self-criticized and said: "I didn't dance well."

Jiang Fang hugged him firmly: "Next time try harder."

Nanzhou struggled a bit.

He knew that Jiang Fang's physical strength was running low: "I can walk."

Jiang Fang's voice was soft and warm in the night: "I know."

But he still held it.

Nan Zhou was not shy either. Seeing that he refused to let go, he simply changed into a more comfortable position and nestled in his arms: "Why don't you wait for me by the river?"

Jiang Fang: "I'm afraid you might get lost, so I'll wait for you at your destination."

Nan Zhou didn't mention his plan to the two of them, but only said that he would jump back and forth in several timelines to do one thing.

Because this is his own idea, and has little to do with the dungeon game itself.

Nan Zhou disapproved and said, "How did you know I would come here? What if I get lost?"

"Will not."

Jiang Fang smiled and said, "When the two of us are close to each other, as long as I lose myself, I can find you."

"Every time, it's like this."

Nanzhou: "?"

He couldn't quite understand Jiang Fang's logic.

He just felt that lying on his back in Jiang Fang's arms and looking up at the starry sky was very beautiful.

The author has something to say:

Nanzhou Maomao: Love words are illogical, but nice