Forces of Temptation

The people who were awakened by the scolding of the fitness trainer noticed the change one after another.

The thin monkey gritted his teeth anxiously: "What's going on?!"

The entire apartment has been reduced in proportion to a circle, which is not exaggerated. Only tall people like Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang need to bow their heads when walking.

However, if this trend continues, they will be squeezed to death in less than seven days!

Shen Jie said irritably, "Quiet!"

She tried to force herself to calm down, and while biting the barb on her thumbnail, she muttered to herself: "Why did it become like this? What did we do wrong?"

Yu Tuisi calmly said, "It's also possible that we are close to the truth."

Shen Jie and Yu Tuisi looked at each other for a moment.

Soon, Shen Jie gave the command: "Tear up."

Fearing that she would completely lose her courage if she continued to hesitate, Shen Jie raised her voice and clearly repeated the task to her team members: "Tear off all the wallpapers in the house first!"

The fitness trainer showed embarrassment.

In the supernatural dungeon, people are often tied up, fearing that they won't be able to find clues, and also afraid that they will be the first to encounter bad luck if they are too aggressive.

You know, those feet in the bathroom yesterday appeared after Nan Zhou ripped off the wallpaper in the children's room.

He looked forward to Ai Ai and said: "Sister Shen, let's..."

Shen Jie suddenly got up, and tore off a large piece of wallpaper on the side of the TV wall in the living room: "Everything has become like this, if you don't look for clues, why don't you just sit and wait to die?"

The fitness instructor gritted his teeth: "Alright."

The fitness trainer is in good physical condition, and the work is quick and practical. In addition, the roof has dropped to a height of 1.8 meters, which greatly reduces the difficulty of this work.

Shouhou and Shen Jie were in charge of tearing down the lower part of the wallpaper.

Yu Tuisi also said, "Sufeng, help me."

Chen Sufeng, who returned to Yu Tuisi's side, swept away his initiative when he acted alone yesterday, and nodded obediently until he got his instructions: "Yes."

Shen Jie rolled up the torn wallpaper, walked to the door of the children's room, and knocked on the door. Just as she was about to tell Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang not to come out in a hurry and to complete the task, she heard a soft sound from inside the room .

...they've already started cleaning up the wallpaper.

After Shen Jie breathed a sigh of relief, she felt a little funny.

Why should I worry about them?

Shen Jie was about to continue tearing up the wallpaper, but when she turned her head, she noticed that Yu Tuisi's behavior was a little weird.

She raised her eyebrows: "What are you doing?"

Yu Tuisi did not respond to her question in time.

With his eyes closed, he tapped his fingers regularly on the armrest of the wheelchair.

Tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk.

After every five strokes, he switches hands and continues.

The movement is as steady as the frequency.

The next knock is called a precise clock.

Shen Jie analyzed the meaning behind his actions.

After a while, her heart suddenly became clear, and she looked at the clock hanging on the wall that Yu Tuisi was facing.

Following Yu Tuisi's knocking, Shen Jie's heart beat faster and faster.

After 30 taps, Yu Tuisi opened his eyes and checked the seconds on the clock.

The two came to the conclusion in unison: "The flow of time has become faster."

After saying that, Shen Jie quickly turned around and instructed the busy thin monkey: "Hou, go to the computer!"

The thin monkey was suddenly named, and he couldn't react for a while: "Sister, don't you want to tear it up first..."

Shen Jie said succinctly: "Division of labor and cooperation! You look at the computer!"

The thin monkey shivered, "Hey!"

Looking at the back of the thin monkey trotting all the way into the second bedroom, Yu Tuisi was thoughtful, and asked Shen Jie, "It's a bit presumptuous to ask, who is Miss Shen from them?"

Shouhou and the fitness trainer are not very good-natured people. If they are not acquaintances or relatives, why would they listen to Shen Jie so much?

"I didn't know each other before, but now I'm a friend who almost died together." Shen Jie's stern expression hadn't had time to withdraw, and a sharp eye flew over, "Is there a problem?"

Yu Tuisi slightly raised his hand and said with a smile, "No."

He now somewhat understands the reason why Shen Jie's "Tail Wind" can climb to level 10 despite many imperfections.

……

A person's home often hides many traces that even he cannot imagine.

After tearing off the warm wallpaper, the mottled wall behind reveals the true face of the years that this home has experienced.

The goose-yellow wall paint has small flakes of peeling off. There are scratches on the corners of the walls caused by bumps and bumps when moving furniture. A corner of the living room was even blackened by the water from the air conditioner.

Jiang Fang had finished his mission and came out of the children's room.

Nan Zhou chose to stay in the children's room and accompany Chen Sufeng to do homework.

Yu Tuisi told Jiang Fang about their discovery: "The flow of time has accelerated. Now every minute is 5 seconds faster than normal."

After the house is distorted, any unreasonable changes will occur.

So Jiang Fang just shrugged: "It's expected."

Shen Jie agrees with his judgment: "Yes, and we can't be blindly positive. The room will only shrink and get smaller, and time will only go faster and faster."

"If you want to end everything, you have to find the door...find the door." Yu Tuisi repeated the ultimate goal of the mission, "What exactly is a 'door'?"

Jiang Fang didn't answer his words, but stared at the little match house that Li Yinhang built yesterday on the coffee table in the living room.

... half-finished "my family".

This is what Jiang Fang brought out from the children's room.

Yu Tuisi asked, "What are you thinking?"

Jiang Fang: "I was thinking, this small house used 211 matches."

Yu Tuisi: "?"

Jiang Fang asked back, "Do you smoke?"

Yu Tuisi shook his head: "I dislike the smell of nicotine. My wife has a little habit of smoking, and then quit."

Jiang Fang hummed: "When he was still smoking, did he prefer to use a lighter or matches?"

Yu Tuisi: "Lighters. Matches have a sense of ritual, but they are a bit inconvenient after all."

Jiang Fang turned to Li Yinhang: "Where did Nan Zhou get the matches yesterday?"

Li Yinhang still has a little impression: "The drawer of the TV cabinet."

Jiang Fang sat on the sofa without moving: "Excuse me, help me get it."

Li Yinhang was taken aback for a moment, only to realize that his height was no longer convenient for him to walk normally in such an environment, so he hurriedly ran to the TV cabinet and took out all the matches stored inside.

The thirteen matchboxes were packed neatly in a corner of the drawer.

Although Yu Tuisi was cautious, he couldn't figure out why Jiang Fang was suddenly so interested in matches.

He is not surprised that there are so many matchboxes in Xiaoming's house.

There is an ashtray in Xiao Ming's house, so it is very likely that someone smokes.

When it comes to smoking, everyone has their own preferences.

Some people like to smoke cheap cigarettes that cost five yuan a pack.

Some people have been obsessed with the same brand for decades.

Some people like to suck cigarettes up to the butt, and some people just like to smoke in reverse.

It is not a strange hobby to like to light cigarettes with matches.

Moreover, matches and lighters are different, they are consumables. For people who have a smoking habit and prefer to use matches, it is very normal and completely reasonable to store a few more boxes at home.

Jiang Fang opened a box of matches that hadn't been opened yet, and dumped them all out.

Shen Jie roughly checked and found that there were forty matches in total.

However, she soon realized that Jiang Fang was not interested in the number of matches.

He completely flattened the whole matchbox, cut off a corner of the matchbox, and completely transformed the matchbox from a three-dimensional surface into a thin piece of unfolded paper.

Shen Jie: "What are you looking for?"

"No." Jiang Fang said.

Shen Jie: "Huh?"

"...Nothing." Jiang Fang said, "No manufacturer. No brand. No production date."

The fitness coach suddenly realized: "Yes, yes, yes!"

He took another empty matchbox, opened it like Jiang Fang, and explained to Shen Jie and Yu Tuisi, who didn't smoke at all: "Matches are also commodities, and there should be things on them. There should be nothing on them. It will be less."

But the matchbox in front of him was only printed with complicated and beautiful patterns on the eye-catching part of the front.

Other than that, nothing.

As Jiang Fang said, it does not have all the elements that the products for sale should have.

But what can this represent?

Shen Jie was trying to integrate the clues and come to a decent conclusion, when Jiang Fang uttered a short modal particle: "...ah."

After the matchbox was completely disassembled, Jiang Fang found a dark pattern engraved on it with cursive characters on the side of the short side inside the matchbox.

This dark pattern is embossed and colorless, it is too hidden, if you don't open the matchbox and look at it, it is impossible to find it.

That is a uniquely designed logo.

"Family".

Jiang Fang raised his voice and said, "Mr. Hou!"

The thin monkey in the second bedroom was lying on the computer, aimlessly searching for clues that he didn't know where they were, and found out that he was very angry. His originally chaotic thoughts were interrupted by Jiang Fang, and his tone suddenly turned bad. :"do what?!"

Shen Jie took Jiang Fang's words: "Hou, check for us, is there a match named 'Family' on the market!"

The thin monkey's arrogance immediately weakened by eight degrees: "...Oh."

Because I want to play games, this computer can be connected to the Internet.

When he typed "Family" in the search bar, considering the universality of this term, he typed two more words "match" after it.

After repeated confirmation, the thin monkey gave the answer.

"no!"

Shen Jie: "Is there a match factory?"

Five or six minutes later, the thin monkey gave the answer again.

"no!"

Shen Jie believes in Shouhou's ability, if he says no, it means no.

She inevitably looked at Jiang Fang in disappointment.

However, she saw a gleam of light in Jiang Fang's eyes.

……Eh?

"……now it's right."

Jiang Fang said softly: "It's like the mints provided by some restaurants, the disposable slippers provided by some hotels, and some..."

At this point, he paused subtly, skipped the description below, and continued.

"These places will provide guests with small items similar to homemade packaging. This kind of item emphasizes the sense of design rather than the element of commodity."

"Because these are small gifts that are given away and can be accessed for free."

The fingers of his hands overlapped, pressing and moving each other, so as to keep his thoughts running smoothly.

"In this family, besides Xiao Ming, there is a person who likes to smoke."

"He got a dozen boxes of matches marked 'Family' from somewhere."

"Of course, it cannot be ruled out that he brought it in one go. Just like in a restaurant, someone will always grab a handful of mints or toothpicks and put them in their pockets."

"But it is more likely that he will go to a fixed place for a long time and stably, and this fixed place will provide items such as matches. Therefore, he will occasionally bring a pack of matches home. "

And this point coincides with Xiao Ming's diary.

——"There is no one at home, so boring."

——“I want to tell people, but there is no one at home.”

...Xiao Ming's family is always away.

He lives alone and cooks alone, and he is used to it.

If Xiao Ming's father was an ordinary office worker, would he be so busy?

Therefore, where Xiao Ming's father went and why Xiao Ming's sister died may be of great help to them in finding the door to go out.

In the children's room.

While doing homework, Chen Sufeng listened carefully to the movement outside: "They seem to have achieved something in their discussion."

Nanzhou is more concerned about the present.

He sat cross-legged next to the removed bedside table, looking at the large swathes of graffiti on the wall beside the bed.

The location of these graffiti marks are very low.

The childish brushstrokes should be Xiao Ming's paintings when he was younger.

He pondered and said, "Xiao Ming loves painting very much."

Chen Sufeng gave a short "huh": "Brother Yu discovered this yesterday. Xiao Ming likes picture books, and often paints and draws on them."

There was a bit of boasting towards Brother Yu in his tone.

Nan Zhou didn't notice his little thought.

If Nanzhou had ripped off all the wallpapers in the children's room yesterday, the clues would have been more comprehensive.

After the wallpaper, it shows the basic composition of the family.

There are no family portraits in this home.

But now, they have a childlike crayon family portrait.

The man in the picture is tall and tall, with an unshaven beard, standing in the center, holding a child in one hand.

The young woman is about as tall as the man's chest, wearing a red skirt, with a soaring ponytail, standing on the left side of the picture.

The one on the right should be Xiao Ming.

He is wearing overalls, has a small crew cut, and holds a huge lollipop in his hand, which only reaches the waist of a man.

The red crayons pulled up the corners of everyone's mouths.

Everyone has a big smile.

Everyone has two rows of white teeth in their mouths.

Very happy appearance.

Nan Zhou tilted his head slightly, and looked at Xiao Ming in the picture.

... what are you thinking

He stretched out his hand, trying to touch Xiao Ming's face in the painting.

At this moment, Chen Sufeng moved his wrist, and the cartoon eraser on the side of the table was accidentally knocked out of place, rolled down in a circle, and rolled straight into the gap under the bed.

Nan Zhou happened to be sitting by the bed again.

Chen Sufeng snorted: "Mr. Nan, help me pick it up."

Nan Zhou pulled away from his thoughts: "Yes."

He bent down, found the position of the eraser, and put his hand into the place under the bed where the sun couldn't shine.

Suddenly, a strange feeling climbed up his forearm.

Nan Zhou lowered his head and looked along the gap.

He sees a hand.

... A black hand stretched out from under the bed and grabbed him.

A terrifying pulling force caused Nan Zhou's body to slide under the bed!

Everything happens in an instant.

If a weak person was sitting here, he might be dragged directly to the bottom of the bed, and his bones would be crushed in that narrow gap.

But Nanzhou's expression didn't change at all.

He held down the edge of the bed with one hand, and at the same time lowered his body, the hand that was caught twisted backhand, and firmly grasped the opponent's arm!

Something under the bed: "..." Fuck?

Before it could react, Nanzhou exerted force on his waist and abdomen, and dragged out the things under the bed!

However, in the next moment, the thing that grabbed him disappeared.

With a reaction force, his whole body fell backwards, and his head hit the floor with a thud.

Nan Zhou lying on the ground: "..." It hurts.

Everything happened so quickly, Chen Sufeng only had time to turn his attention away from his summer homework: "...Mr. Nan?"

Nan Zhou lay on his back.

The back of his head still hurts and he doesn't want to move much.

So he stared at the ceiling and said, "Just now, there was something under the bed."

Nan Zhou's tone was so calm that it took Chen Sufeng a few seconds to understand what he said after he heard the content of his words clearly.

The hairs on Chen Sufeng's arms stood on end.

Compared to Chen Sufeng, who was suddenly discolored, Nan Zhou raised his arms and rolled up the sleeves of his windbreaker.

... On the flesh of his forearm, there were five superficial blood holes pierced by fingernails.

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