Forces of Temptation

The Nanzhou in the box, let’s call it [Nanzhou], opened the door from the inside.

After the meeting, he didn't say a word, and leaned his cheek on the shoulder of [Jiang Fang] in the box.

With just one glance, Nan Zhou understood what [Nan Zhou] was doing.

He knows his own behavior patterns all too well.

——This kind of intimacy for no reason shows that his body has awakened, but his spirit is still asleep.

For Nanzhou himself, this situation is rare.

Only on the few, very few safe days, when the sun is high, the streets are quiet, and his parents and sister are away from home, does he let go of his mind and wander around the house aimlessly, touching this and looking at that. , Until the spirit recovered, he would stand still and go back to a room alone.

...but it doesn't make sense.

A minute ago, he saw Nan Zhou feeding the birds by the window.

He is obviously able to make coherent and conscious movements.

And [Jiang Fang] in the box obviously lives next door to this [Nan Zhou]'s house.

He also accepted the coquettishness of this handsome young man with a cold face, took the initiative to wrap his arms around his waist, and led [Nanzhou] back down the steps step by step, teasing him softly: "Are you still awake?"

"What's breakfast today, guess what? There will be punishment for guessing wrong."

"Fried eggs? Wrong guess."

"The punishment is to give you tomorrow morning."

Nan Zhou looked at [Nan Zhou] who was leaning lightly on [Jiang Fang]'s arms, sleeping so that the corner of his hair was curled up messily, and thought, that was not him.

That's not Brother Fang either.

He looked at the [Southern Zhou] of this world very carefully.

The middle finger and index finger of his right hand around [Jiang Fang]'s neck were wrapped in bandages.

Although the nails on his left hand have been carefully cleaned, there is still a fresh crack in the nail of his little finger, revealing a little pink flesh, and there are several streaks of blood hidden in the crevice of the nail.

[Jiang Fang] failed to notice this, because as soon as the door was opened, [Nan Zhou] hugged him closely.

With one arm around Nanzhou, he opened the white fence gate of his small courtyard.

Judging from the fence gate and garden, Jiang's house should have undergone a renovation recently.

But the only thing that has not been painted and repaired is the colonnade of the outer foyer.

Because the names of two people are engraved on the pillars.

Starting from a height of 1 meter, the two children held hands, leaving marks of their own growth on it, and grew up comparing their heads and looking at the wind.

Nan Zhou tried to digest the information in front of him.

I opened a box I found in Yongwu Town, and entered a "Yongwu Town No. [-]" where [Jiang Fang] and [Nanzhou] grew up together.

So, the goal at this stage is to find the box and the "ticket" as the main goal, and at the same time explore this No. [-] town?

Nan Zhou couldn't help thinking, if there is an openable box in the second world, after that box, will there be a third or fourth world?

In every world, there will be the same [South Boat]?

An inexplicably huge and surging sense of nothingness, like a giant hand protruding from the sky, firmly grasped Nanzhou.

He couldn't explain how this feeling came from, he just raised his hand and hammered his chest, so as to relieve the discomfort caused by this feeling through external force.

Nan Zhou took out his sunglasses, and when he was about to put them on, he suddenly felt something strange behind him.

He turned around abruptly.

Immediately, he faced a pair of dark and deep eyes.

...a girl.

The trees blocked her vision, so she couldn't see that another [Nan Zhou] who looked exactly like the person in front of her had just entered [Jiang Fang]'s home.

The girl wore two braids and a sports headband on her forehead, like a beautiful plump apple.

With one hand behind her back, she pointed at her face playfully with the other, and asked with a smile: "Mr. Nan, when did you become so short-sighted that you need to wear glasses?"

Nan Zhou looked at the girl.

He remembered her.

She is one of the thousands of faces in [Eternal Day], and she is also the student with the highest painting talent that Nan Zhou has ever taught.

Similarly, she is also the most numb student.

She never communicated with anyone, whether it was visually, physically, or verbally.

With this death, she is also a light charm.

But even so, she is also a lone ranger in the charm of light.

She was more creatively gifted and insensitive than any small-town dweller.

These two contradictions are reasonable only if they appear on a paper man.

Nan Zhou had hoped countless times that students who could draw such outstanding paintings would have a complete and beautiful soul in their bodies.

However, his student never responded, and never even called him "Teacher Nan".

And in the No. [-] world in this box, she is as beautiful as Nan Zhou imagined.

Seeing that Nan Zhou didn't answer, she poked her head out with a smile, imitating Nan Zhou's spying posture, and looked in the direction of [Jiang Fang's] house.

Immediately afterwards, she sighed very maturely, and her eyes seemed to say "That's true".

Nan Zhou read some information from her actions.

So he lowered his head, deliberately avoiding her sight, and he hesitated to speak.

Sure enough, the girl couldn't control her mouth anymore.

"Teacher Nan, tell him." She stood on tiptoe and patted his shoulder considerately, "Brother Jiang likes you so much, he won't mind if you are bright and charming."

Nan Zhou pursed his lips.

From the girl's words, he understood why [Nan Zhou] would act in such a disobedient manner.

In this number two world, it's not just the relationship between characters that changes.

The world view has changed accordingly.

In the original worldview setting of "Eternal Day", ordinary people don't know that there is a monster like "Light Charm" in the small town.

Even Guangmei herself would completely forget her identity during the day.

Even when faced with a corpse that was bitten to death by themselves and lying on the street, they would be so afraid that they would call a friend before they dared to walk at night.

In the real "Never Town", the only one who knows all the truth is Nanzhou who is set to "have self-awareness".

In the daytime world, Nan Zhou is the only person with complete consciousness.

In the moonlight world, they fear Nanzhou and obey Nanzhou, but they can only communicate in the form of beasts.

From the rising of the sun to the setting of the moon, from birth to growing up, Nan Zhou has always been alone.

And in this No. [-] world, NPCs also have considerable self-awareness and personality.

Everyone is aware of the existence of monsters like "Light Charm".

Also being a monster, [Nan Zhou] had a chance to form a group.

When walking on the street, at least a certain Guangmei can give a knowing smile to [Nanzhou] who is of the same kind when passing by.

The distress of [Nanzhou] in the second world is probably because [Jiang Fang] who lives with him in this weird town is a normal person, but he is a monster.

He had to do his best to hide the injuries on his hands, hide all suspicious traces, and try his best to disguise himself as chaotic, kind, confused, and harmless.

He did all this in the hope that his elder brother [Jiang Fang] who grew up next door would still be willing to ask him to have breakfast every morning.

Although there are still troubles, [Nanzhou] in the second world is at least not alone.

...At least his students, his kind, could understand his angst.

This small town in a box has more human touch than the real "Eternal Day".

Nan Zhou lowered his head, thinking a little enviously, if possible, he would also like to have such a life.

Nan Zhou answered the girl ambiguously: "...Let me think again."

Because it was reproduced in equal proportions, the girl didn't realize that Nan Zhou was not the [Teacher Nan] in her world.

She waved her hand indifferently: "Teacher, come on, I'm going to buy paint."

Seeing the passing girl carrying the drawing board, walking cheerfully, about to leave her side, Nan Zhou raised her hand unexpectedly——

——Gently tugged at the girl's shofar braid.

Girl: "?"

Nan Zhou said, "It's okay."

He paused again, and then said after the incoherence: "...you are doing well, it's fine."

Girl: "???"

The girl tilted her head slightly, scratched her cheek, showing a little surprised expression.

But she quickly smiled in relief, waved her hand at Nan Zhou, and left with a jump.

After turning his back, Nan Zhou's expression turned cold.

With the brown sunglasses in his hand, he cast sparse light spots on the tree trunk not far away, and turned his attention back to the copy itself.

In the second world, is his mission still to find boxes?

Will there still be a third world and a deeper world inside the box?

As he keeps opening the box, is he approaching the exit, or is he going through infinite parallel worlds and falling endlessly towards hell?

This feeling of not knowing whether to go up or down, to advance or retreat is enough to drive a normal person crazy.

But the advantage of Nanzhou is that it will not go out of its way.

If the road didn't work out, he thought about it in another way.

The dungeon chosen by the high-dimensional people must have a plan and a meaning.

Are they just looking at themselves as indecisive and difficult to make a choice?

No, think differently.

For example, the real way to pass the level is to find new boxes hidden in each box and keep entering?

Perhaps, he can try to kill the core character [Nan Zhou] in the dungeon?

If Li Yinhang was here and heard Nanzhou's analysis, he would definitely complain and "change his mind".

But Nanzhou believes that this is indeed feasible.

He knows that he is the core character in "Eternal Day" and the fundamental basis for the existence of the story of "Eternal Day".

"Eternal Day" tells the story of a manga character who has awakened his self-awareness.

As long as he is dead, the world of "Eternal Day" will no longer have meaning, and will only collapse immediately.

However, the question is, what will the collapse bring?

Is it the bus ticket leading to the tragedy?

Or permanently lost and corrupted in the game world?

Nan Zhou leaned his back against the tree, thought for half a minute, and came up with the next course of action.

He still has 9 more hours.

That's enough for him to find his next box.

Nan Zhou put on his glasses, controlled the puppet, and launched a second round of search in the second world.

The encounter with the painting girl gave Nanzhou a lot of information, including: NPCs in this world will have normal reactions to abnormal phenomena around them.

In other words, dolls can no longer roam the streets unscrupulously in broad daylight.

Fortunately, the flexibility of the puppet depends entirely on the operator.

The puppets scattered and hid themselves in the streets and alleys.

With their eyes, Nan Zhou obtained more information.

In addition to the changes in the relationship between the characters and the world setting, this place is still a closed town, and the outer area has not been expanded in the slightest.

It's just that the layout of the streets and the decoration of the houses have undergone subtle changes with the self-awakening of the NPC's awakening.

Because it was different from the streets and shops in memory, Nanzhou's already difficult infiltration investigation became more and more stretched.

Nan Zhou was not anxious about it.

He guarded the big tree, and while his line of sight was switched by multiple lines, he remembered the place where the iron box appeared in the first world.

...on a desk in the school studio.

Nanzhou's expression changed.

He stood up slightly, and opened the diary he brought from the previous world.

... If there is no accident, according to the schedule in the diary, he should be in the school's studio now.

Nan Zhou suddenly turned around and looked at [Jiang Fang]'s room.

——The box will appear in the places that Nanzhou must pass through in its daily trajectory.

——It doesn’t matter which [Southern Boat] it is.

……

the same moment.

【Jiang Fang】Washing dishes in the kitchen.

The boring soap opera on TV is in a paused state, and it just freezes on the scene where the male and female protagonists are loving each other.

[Nan Zhou] sat cross-legged on the sofa, calmly looked at the lustful man and woman in front of him, and patiently waited for [Jiang Fang] to come back, so that he could continue watching the soap opera that he had watched 120 times since childhood .

Until he caught a glimpse of an iron box placed under the coffee table from the corner of his eye.

The iron box is engraved with exquisite patterns, which makes the tentacles feel cold.

A small lock was set on the brass cleat.

[Nan Zhou] Fiddled with the lock with his injured index finger.

For him, a small lock of this strength could be easily broken with just a pull.

He shook the box curiously, feeling that it was the weight of an ordinary iron box, and there was nothing inside.

Since it is an empty box, why should it be locked?

[Nan Zhou] He raised the box and looked at it carefully in mid-air.

...something I've never seen in a small town before.