Forces of Temptation

Jiang Fang's thoughts returned to that distant afternoon.

In fact, it's not too far away, because he can still smell the apple fragrance from Nan Zhou's neckline in his memory.

Under a thin cloud of oppression, they came to a new instance.

Originally a team of more than a dozen people gathered and scattered, separated and reunited, but now there are only 12 people left, and the two sides are being divided by a suspension bridge.

The drawbridge was big enough for about three people walking side by side, or for a cart drawn by bum horses.

The church hidden deep in the dense forest on the east bank is Gothic, with spires pointing straight to the sky, perfectly matching the cloudy sky and forest leaves, forming a self-contained art of light and shadow.

On the other side, there is a castle hidden by greenery, but because of the dense greenery, only a snow-white, majestic and exquisite castle tip is shyly exposed.

Nanzhou, Jiang Fang, Song Haining, the man with earrings, and two other team members were on the side of the church.

The other six were not assigned to the bridge by the system, and they disappeared, probably thrown directly into the castle.

The broadcast system of the game is progressing visibly with the naked eye.

The mode of issuing tasks by the system voice is almost the same as the later official version.

[Dear "." Team players, hello~]

[Welcome to the instance: Bridge]

【Number of people participating in the game: 12 people】

[Dungeon Nature: Adventure and Puzzle Solving]

The tone of the system telling the story is very brisk, making the story sound completely devoid of horror.

"The Reverend Keith and the Duke of Shelley are good friends who have known each other for many years."

"The churches and castles are understaffed these days. They hire vagrants who have nothing to do, and pay them handsomely to do things."

"Their task is very simple. Every day, they only need to help this pair of close friends build a bridge of friendship on the drawbridge connecting the church and the castle."

"Ah, today is another beautiful day."

Suddenly, the system's tone slowed down.

"Also, don't cross the bridge."

"Don't cross the bridge don't cross the bridge don't cross the bridge don't cross the bridge don't cross the bridge don't cross the bridge"

[The game starts immediately after the delivery ends. 】

[The game time is when the seventh day arrives. 】

[Before the time limit ends, survive. 】

……

After Jiang Fang finished explaining the rules, he glanced at Nanzhou and couldn't help laughing: "...you ask."

In order not to interrupt Jiang Fang's speech, Nan Zhou kept his mouth cold.

...like a cat trying to restrain itself from making trouble.

After getting Jiang Fang's consent, Nan Zhou let out a soft breath: "If you don't allow me to cross the bridge, how can I send something?"

Jiang Fang: "The bridge itself can be walked. It can be handed over in the bridge."

Nanzhou understood: "Then, is there any force that hinders you from crossing the other side of the bridge?"

Jiang Fang's answer was beyond his expectation: "Yes."

There is no fence to keep people from the east bank from stepping on the west bank, there is no dedicated watchman for the bridge, and there is nothing horrible to linger beside the bridge.

In short, there is no blocking external force.

But the rules tell you plainly, don't cross the bridge, don't go over there.

Nan Zhou, who was lying on the bed with Jiang Fang, closed his eyes slightly, imagining that he was standing on a suspension bridge made of iron cables and planks.

Step by step, step by step.

The iron chain was tight, and the planks were humming, especially when walking to the center, the mountain wind intensified out of thin air, and the suspension bridge began to shake from side to side.

He looked down, and saw that the river tens of meters away from his feet was decorated with jagged gravel, like a long and thin belt, passing by in the distance.

A glance at this height would make ordinary people's knees soften, and Nan Zhou's face changed even for a moment.

He noticed that there was almost no greenery between the hanging walls on both sides, and not even a star or two of greenery that could show the tenacity of life in the cracks of the rocks.

Nan Zhou looked behind him, then back in front of him, raised his eyebrows.

... strange things.

The trees on both sides are so lush, but the closer to the bridge, the sparser the vegetation.

When we got to the bridge, there was simply no life left.

A bridge divides the east and west banks into the Chu River and the Han boundary.

After thinking about it, Nanzhou quickly reached the other end of the bridge.

Indeed, no one guards, nothing hinders.

He raised his hand to stroke.

There is also no sense of isolation in the air.

He only needs to raise his feet and then lower them, and he can easily step into the territory of Duke Shelley on the west bank.

Nan Zhou thought, if he was standing on this bridge, how would he choose?

If it was him at the time, he would choose to turn around and not set foot on the land of the West Bank.

They don't have enough information yet, and it's not good for them to rashly violate the express rules.

What's more, there are still 6 teammates who are missing.

Even in "Sand, Sand, Sand", Nanzhou took the risky act of taking in the boss, it was a helpless move to save Sun Guojing's life in desperation.

Even if it fails, according to the order in which the boss kills, it will not be Nan Zhou's turn to die for the time being.

Although Nanzhou's thinking has always been unconstrained, he never gambled on his fate.

……

Nan Zhou pondered his own thoughts in the past.

It felt kind of weird.

He confirmed to Jiang Fang: "I wanted to go to the west bank, but I didn't go. Is it?"

Jiang Fang nodded.

Nanzhou asked: "Is my choice wrong?"

Jiang Fang patted his head to comfort him: "No."

Nanzhou asked again: "So, which step went wrong?"

……

Nanzhou did not continue to explore further.

The six people on the east bank reached an agreement after a short discussion and were going to go to the church first.

The other four led the way, and Nan Zhou deliberately delayed his pace, walking side by side with Jiang Fang.

He followed beside him and asked, "Are you afraid of heights?"

Jiang Fang smiled at him decently: "A little bit."

Nan Zhou could tell that Jiang Fang's smiling face was a guarded smile unique to strangers.

Jiang Fang didn't know that Nan Zhou would subdivide the types of his smiles.

Nan Zhou carefully watched the thin layer of sweat that was about to fall on the corners of his forehead, and recalled that when he returned to the east bank just now, Jiang Fang's back was facing the suspension bridge, and his hands were unconsciously clenched behind his back.

He said softly: "...Oh."

Nan Zhou: "I don't even know."

Nanzhou: "In the past few days, if you want to hand over the delivered goods, just leave it to me."

Jiang Fang looked ahead and answered absent-mindedly, "Yes."

In fact, his ears could not hear very clearly, and his palms were covered with cold sweat.

Before his eyes, the loose soil under his feet when his father fell off the cliff was played repeatedly.

His father's expression, his father's face, the unity is vague, and he has long forgotten.

Only the whole process of the collapse of the soil structure on that side was played back repeatedly in slow motion in front of his eyes, which was extremely clear.

Then, what caught his eyes was the bottomless abyss that almost pulled people's hearts into it.

At that time, he didn't realize that Nanzhou stopped where he was after he couldn't get a response, silently watching his back as he walked forward step by step.

In fact, as early as this time, Nan Zhou made the decision to separate from the team.

After arriving at the church, they each changed into the clothes of the priests, and then began the investigation intensively.

At that time, everyone was used to tossing between life and death. Faced with this cosplay-like script, they didn't feel a lot of pressure. Instead, they all made fun of each other for looking weird in their clothes.

They also met Pastor Keith.

It was an astonishingly pale middle-aged man who at first glance looked more like a vampire than a priest.

He is completely dark, with a cross hanging around his neck. His face is thin and narrow, with slight blue shadows floating under his eyes. Coupled with the overly long eyelashes and deep-set eye sockets, the upper half of his face looks particularly gloomy, quite a bit Not seeing the sun.

Those narrow and long eyes are in the cold shadow, which makes people feel quite frightened when looking at people.

He also said very little, explained their daily work, and left.

Those jobs are nothing more than cleaning, morning and evening prayers, preparing communion and so on.

The most important one is to run errands and deliver letters for him.

Nanzhou quickly got the first item to be sent to the other side.

Two bottles of wine, one bottle of holy water, one bottle of holy oil, one bottle of medicine, and a letter sealed with wax.

As soon as the pastor left, Nan Zhou directly opened the letter.

No guilt.

The greeting in the letter was dry, as dull as the vicar himself.

However, the letter contains a lot of information.

There are four types of information that can be extracted.

First, Duke Shelley is very old and loves to collect "iguana teeth". Recently, Pastor Keith got word that a newly unearthed "iguana tooth" will be sent to the museum in the town.

Second, Duke Shelley was seriously ill.

Thirdly, Duke Shelley's "that thing", he thinks it is very dangerous, and advises the Duke not to take any risks. He has found a better way and is preparing for it.

Fourth, the time for the duke and priest to hand over items is fixed.The next time to exchange items is at four o'clock every afternoon.

After reading the letter, Song Haining had cooperated tacitly to steal the wax seal in the drawer, and handed it to Nan Zhou directly from the side.

Nan Zhou covered the old one with a new one, with extremely precise technique and smooth connection.

Among them was a medical student.

He struggled to recognize the efficacy from the ingredient list marked on the small brown medicine bottle.

He told Nan Zhou: "It is an anti-tumor drug."

Nan Zhou packed up all his belongings.

Jiang Fang's mood had also calmed down, and he made the next step in an orderly manner.

Song Haining and the other two took the opportunity of cleaning, each responsible for one floor, and worked hard to collect valuable information.

Jiang Fang would take the man with the stud earrings around the church.

Nanzhou went to the bridge to hand over the items.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Nanzhou appeared on the east side of the bridge on time.

Another teammate had already squatted opposite, and as soon as he saw Nan Zhou, he raised his arms at him from a distance and waved them excitedly.

The two met in the middle of the bridge and handed over the items smoothly.

Compared with the full bag of items sent by Pastor Keith, what Nan Zhou got from Duke Shelley was just an exquisite palm-sized box.

Nan Zhou asked him, "Did you read anything?"

"I saw it all."

Under the influence of Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang, his teammates followed suit and counted them one by one, "It's just a letter, a picture book, and a paper crane. We took apart the paper crane and looked at it, but there was nothing. The letter It didn't say anything meaningful in it, just a simple complaint, saying that he was very uncomfortable, that he missed the time when he was healthy, and he wanted to go riding with the priest, and go to a place where there was no one."

Nan Zhou opened the box and lowered his head to confirm the contents of the letter.

Unlike the strict pastor, the carefree Mr. Duke didn't even bother to seal the letter, and delivered it directly with his mouth open, saving them the trouble of pretending to open the letter.

Nan Zhou asked: "Are you coming alone?"

The teammate said: "The castle is very busy. The duke is sick, and he can't live without people."

Nan Zhou asked again: "Are there any other people in the castle besides you?"

The teammate replied: "There are three professional doctors. Lu Er secretly looked through their things and found that all three of them are brain doctors."

Nan Zhou: "What kind of person is Shelley?"

"He..." The teammate recalled carefully, "He's pretty thin, and he's also pretty neurotic."

Nan Zhou: "Will he lose his temper with you?"

The teammate rubbed the back of his head: "That's not true... The main reason is that he is so sick and takes medicines one by one, but he always smiles, and often smiles strangely at places where there are no one, making people laugh horribly. panic."

……

Nan Zhou truthfully brought back this information and relayed it to Jiang Fang and the others.

Now, Jiang Fang reported back to Nanzhou in detail.

Nan Zhou stroked his chin, sorted out the doubts, and asked out the doubts in his heart one by one.

"Why are there not enough people on both sides of the castle and the church?"

"They have such a good relationship, has the pastor visited him in person? Why only let us deliver the letter?"

"They live on such a high cliff, how did the supplies come in? Is there a way down the mountain? Why can't we go down the mountain?"

Jiang Fang looked at him and sighed softly, "It's exactly the same."

The Nanzhou at that time was almost exactly the same as the Nanzhou now.

Each of these questions precisely points to the key to solving the final puzzle.

Nan Zhou was full of curiosity: "Did we miss anything? Why did we lose?"

Jiang Fang replied: "Because of this dungeon, there is no solution at all."