Forces of Temptation

At 03:30 in the middle of the night, the police car stopped between the alleys of two cheap hotels.

The red and blue interlaced light is printed on the glass covered with a layer of old gray, illuminating the corner full of garbage smell.

The spiders in the dark had no choice but to crawl to darker places under the light.

It was a silver-haired foreigner who came to the hotel next door to call the police. He said that he had slept soundly in the middle of the night. He was suddenly awakened by the sound of heavy objects falling. He went to the window and saw that someone had jumped off the building.

The person who made the report was the police who called the police from the hotel landline, speaking standard Ukrainian mixed with English, speaking very fast.

The policeman on duty talked with him for a long time before he understood what happened and rushed to the police.

While waiting for the ambulance, the unlucky guy who fell from the building woke up.

The police were a little suspicious of Jiang Fang who called the police, but when the person who fell woke up, moaning in pain, he insisted that he was just sleeping in the room and jumped off the building for some reason.

He had no idea that he was naked like a cat crawling on the balcony railing of the hotel next door, his neck was almost broken, his mouth was smeared with corpse oil, and he was placed under the window of his room after being unconscious.

Surrounded by a mixed area of ​​fish and dragons, it is even more impossible to monitor the road network in the small alleys that are usually used to throw garbage.

Now, the police are not sure whether it was a deliberate injury or a sleepwalking accident.

Jiang Fang is also a foreigner who does not understand the language, so it is not easy to take him to the police station for questioning, so the police told him to stay in the hotel temporarily and not to go anywhere. If there is any problem, the police will come to him for questioning.

After negotiating with the police and watching the ambulance leave with the wounded, Jiang Fang raised his head and saw Nan Zhou looking at him quietly through the window behind the reflection of the flashing glass of the police lights.

Jiang Fang stood downstairs and waved to him.

The glass window reflected his reflection, which happened to be on Nan Zhou's left chest.

Nan Zhou covered the dirty glass with his hands, and suddenly felt that this scene seemed familiar.

...It's just that the light and shadow at that time were completely different from this time.

In front of Nan Zhou, a broken image flashed past.

It should be a religious building, a magnificent and solemn church.

Nan Zhou was the first to go in and investigate the situation.

He climbed the stairs, alone, all the way to the highest point.

At the end of the stairs is a large stained glass window facing the front square.

It was very hot that day.

When Nan Zhou pressed his hand on the glass, he could clearly feel the heat of the sun scorching his palm.

A man stood in the square, examining the water-spouting statues in the white sunlight.

Probably aware of the gaze behind him, he raised his head and looked back at him.

Nan Zhou guessed that he was laughing because he couldn't see his face clearly.

Hanging on the outside of the glass, directly above Nanzhou's head, is a huge, stopped clock.

Its minute hand is as high as Nanzhou's entire body, pointing straight to the position of "12".

Nan Zhou stood under the vertical and horizontal shadow of the hour, minute and second hands, stroking the figure reflected on the glass parallel to his heart.

It's just that the light was so strong that Nan Zhou couldn't see him clearly.

Standing in the light, he seemed to disappear at any moment.

Nan Zhou knew it was an illusion, but his fingertips compulsively drew circles one after another on the glass.

It seems that in this way, the ground can be used as a prison, and people can be locked in place and in his heart.

In the past, when he saw memories, most of them were in dreams or in hallucinations.

This is a rare long and clear recall of Nan Zhou's memory in a waking state.

He didn't know why he remembered the church, the glass, and the people looking back at him in the square so clearly.

Anyway, after really waking up, there was only barrenness left in Nan Zhou's mind.

When Nanzhou took a look again, Jiang Fang was no longer downstairs.

Then, a hand gently patted his back.

As early as downstairs, Jiang Fang noticed Nan Zhou's trance: "What are you thinking?"

Nan Zhou fixedly looked at him, and raised his hand to wipe off the non-existent rays of light on his shoulders, once and for all.

Jiang Fang let him move on his body.

He could tell that Nanzhou's condition was not quite right.

His voice was very soft, as if he was afraid of startling Nan Zhou's dream that seemed real but illusory: "Teacher Nan, are you still awake?"

Nan Zhou also answered him softly: "Don't stand in the light. I want to see you clearly."

Jiang Fang's expression moved, and he raised his hand to hold Nan Zhou's wrist: "You..." Did you remember something?

The strong grip at the fingertips finally helped Nan Zhou completely turn back from the maze of past and present.

He looked up at Jiang Fang with clear doubts in his eyes: "What?"

Jiang Fang frowned.

In Nan Zhou's eyes, he finally realized a bit of doubt that he had felt strange for a long time but could not grasp.

——Nan Zhou's attitude towards his lost memory was abnormal.

Nan Zhou obviously knew that the Mr. Apple Tree he cared about was himself, and he also knew from Yi Shuige that he was a player of "Gravity" and the only survivor so far in the coma incident of game players more than half a year ago.

He has received enough information of all kinds.

It stands to reason that it is not difficult for Nan Zhou to deduce from these that he was the one who brought him out of Neverland.

And during those six months, they walked side by side together.

Jiang Fang thought that with Nan Zhou's thorough thinking, he should have already figured it out.

He didn't expose it, but he also wanted to wait for himself to take the initiative to tell him the truth.

But at this moment, an even worse guess emerged in Jiang Fang's mind:

... He didn't forget, he couldn't remember at all.

It's not that I can't remember that memory, but that I sometimes forget things like "I lost a memory".

Anyone who loses a memory will be very concerned about it because of lack of security. As long as they can catch a little clue, they will desperately pursue the bottom line.

Nan Zhou also cared about secrets, and his curiosity was far better than ordinary people, otherwise he wouldn't be so persistent in grabbing "Ms. Apple Tree" and not letting go.

However, in comparison, he seemed particularly indifferent and indifferent to the memory of wandering with Jiang Fang.

Jiang Fang caressed Nan Zhou's forehead with his thumb, thinking about it.

The [Truth Tequila] in my warehouse probably has enough leftovers for two times.

Should it be used on Nan Zhou?

Will it work?

Nan Zhou didn't know what he was thinking, so he pulled his hand from his forehead and talked about his discovery: "This world is orderly."

... He naturally bypassed the abrupt episode just now.

But Jiang Fang took the opportunity to take up the topic: "Yes."

Just like in the [Sand, Sand, Sand] world, Xie Xiangyu killed an NPC in order to test the power of self-made weapons, causing a major accident and attracting police investigation.

Normally, the copy of the game should be closed to minimize the influence of external forces.

Otherwise, if there are often police running around in horror movies, investigating murders in a serious manner, although it is more reasonable, it will inevitably destroy the atmosphere.

But in the dungeons of [Sand, Sand, Sand] and [Xie Jiang], which are relatively open worlds, the social systems are very normal and complete.

For the game, this is completely unnecessary idle pen.

Anyone who makes games knows that in the virtual world, one more setting means thousands and hundreds of times more calculations.

Even if the real-time calculation level of the high-dimensional world far exceeds their world, "police" is a relatively useless profession in horror plots, so why bother to set it up?

Is it just to appear real?

However, the most important thing right now is not to think about the nature of the dungeon world, but to figure out the forces behind the head-down master.

Nan Zhou was learning and selling, and painted a position-seeking surrender with cinnabar on the scalp of the master who had been looted by him.

He tried to read the location just now, but unfortunately, the body of the lowering master was in a state of motion. He was probably sent into the car after being unconscious. It was difficult to locate him in real time.

They gathered all six of them in their room.

Being forcibly picked up from the bed, the young couple was so sleepy that their eyelids were fighting, and they were head-to-head supporting each other, dozing off drowsily.

Jiang Fang paid attention to them for a while, then said pleasantly, "Aren't you nervous?"

His tone was very peaceful, as if he was simply concerned about them.

Cao Shuguang's heart trembled suddenly, and he felt that something was wrong, but Jiang Fang's tone was not only not threatening, but also had a hypnotic meaning, which made him unable to raise his vigilance even if he wanted to.

He hadn't fully recovered yet, so he muttered inarticulately: "It's okay... My wife and I didn't wake up when the incident happened just now. Did he crawl past our window... I don't even know..."

Jiang Fang took down Cao Shuguang's answer, and turned to Shao Mingzhe.

Shao Mingzhe was still dressed heavily in the corner of the room, looking at his nose and heart, exuding the aura of "don't get close to strangers" all over his body, and he didn't intend to participate in their conversation at all.

It seems that he gave Nanzhou a helping hand just now, but he just did it casually.

Li Yinhang thought about it, and decided to play a little role and go to spy on the enemy.

She sat down on the right side of Shao Mingzhe, took the initiative to strike up a conversation and said, "Hey."

Shao Mingzhe glanced at her.

Li Yinhang chatted with him cheekily: "Aren't you hot?"

Shao Mingzhe spat out a short syllable: "No."

Li Yinhang: "Just now, thank you for helping us."

Shao Mingzhe put his hands in the windbreaker pockets: "Yes."

Li Yinhang: "Hi, my name is Li Yinhang."

Shao Mingzhe glanced at her again: "Shao Mingzhe."

Li Yinhang joked: "Our names are related, Minsheng Bank."

Shao Mingzhe: "..."

Shao Mingzhe: "Oh."

Li Yinhang: "..." It's so difficult.

In the past, when she and Nan Zhou were not very close, she had also been rejected by Nan Zhou, and she also felt the embarrassment of gritting her teeth and talking hard.

But that feeling is slightly different from now.

Li Yinhang racked his brains to figure out how to make a cliché, but he didn't realize that he accidentally threw his alias out of the blue, directly revealing his secrets.

She didn't realize it, and neither Nan Zhou nor Jiang Fang made a special reaction.

...However, the young couple, who tried their best to cheer up, didn't respond.

It seems that Li Yinhang's name is Li Yinhang, which is a matter of course and need not be questioned.

While paying attention to them, Nanzhou was also paying attention to Shao Mingzhe.

Like Li Yinhang, he recalled all the words Shao Mingzhe had said since meeting him.

Because the number is really small, it is not difficult to count.

In terms of word count, the longest sentence Shao Mingzhe ever said was "I'm here" when they first met on the bus.

After that, his words were like squeezing toothpaste, almost never more than two words.

Is it because of his personality that he doesn't like to express himself, or is it simply a language barrier?

When Nanzhou was thinking about this question, Jiang Fang touched his elbow lightly.

Looking in the direction indicated by Jiang Fang's gaze, Nan Zhou noticed that when Li Yinhang was talking to him, Shao Mingzhe's left hand in his pocket was clenched into an unnatural fist, and his body was also folded to the left, as if He was deliberately hiding something, not wanting Li Yinhang to notice.

It was a standard, completely subconscious defensive posture.

Nan Zhou understood Jiang Fang's hint.

—— Shao Mingzhe has something important in his pocket.

He's protecting something like this.

The atmosphere in the room was particularly eerie.

Shao Mingzhe remained silent, while Li Yinhang's mouth was parched.

Cao Shuguang wanted to doze off presumptuously, but he still couldn't feel at ease. He opened one eye and looked at Shao Mingzhe, Jiang Fang and Nan Zhou. ,Unable to speak.

Nanzhou was observing Shao Mingzhe, but Jiang Fang was looking at Nanzhou, remembering that lost memory for him.

It was obviously a simple dungeon, and there was no black sheep like Xie Xiangyu in the team who focused on causing trouble, but an unprecedented sense of distrust was slowly spreading among the six people.