Forces of Temptation

Nanzhou and the others happened to make an appointment to go to 7 at 403:[-] p.m. on this day last week.

In the remaining few hours, they began to collect the things they brought with them when they stepped into the dead end a week ago based on the messages on their mobile phones.

They were going to repeat what they had done last Friday.

For this night visit, they called Sun Guojing's trio.

Sun Guojing didn't hit a beat, so he decided to go with them.

There is no other reason.

He has no way out.

When Hu Li heard the sixth "rustling" sound, it was difficult for them to perceive his existence.

Sun Guojing was only one step away from fading out of their world.

After the six people met again, they sat together and took the time to confirm the mobile phone records, so that they could collect all the things that everyone brought that day, and strive to reproduce the situation of that day.

Board games such as bridge, poker, ludo, and curling are readily available.

These were all prepared by Sun Guojing and the others. After returning home, they didn't have time to disassemble them. They packed them in a cloth bag and threw them randomly on a corner of the balcony of the dormitory.

There are also two small tickets in the cloth bag, which are for supermarkets and milk tea takeaways.

The receipt time is the evening of that day.

In order to restore as much as possible what happened on the 21st, they ordered the same thing.

However, Jiang Fang deliberately added sugar in Nanzhou's milk tea.

After taking down the skewers and beer on South Street, Nan Zhou looked around: "Is there anything else missing?"

No echo.

He said "hmm": "Then..."

Unexpectedly, in the next second, his wrist was suddenly grabbed.

Sun Guojing grabbed his wrist with all his strength, and the veins on his neck burst out.

Under the grip of a drowning man grabbing a life-saving straw, Nan Zhou's face was painless, and he just quietly stared at his deformed and whitish fingers.

Sun Guojing stretched out the mobile phone in his hand, almost poking Nan Zhou's face. Under the pale lips, his teeth were chattering, but he couldn't say a word.

Faced with such a hasty Sun Guojing, Nan Zhou said calmly: "Well, tell me, I'll write it down."

...as if he hadn't forgotten the existence of Sun Guojing just now.

He tried to treat Sun Guojing with an ordinary attitude, so that he would not panic so much.

But that didn't help.

The five-year-old man squeezed out a smile that was uglier than crying: "I...have been holding my mobile phone...to read what you want to bring..."

He looked around: "Actually... none of you noticed me just now, did you?"

Luo Ge and Qi Tianyun's eye circles also turned red, but they still couldn't stop echoing Nan Zhou: "I haven't forgotten, I haven't forgotten. How can I forget."

Sun Guojing's face was pale, and the masseter muscles on his face swelled up and then collapsed in despair.

After easing the panic, he picked up his phone and added in a hoarse voice: "... I have to buy another cake. I placed the order through a delivery app, and I specifically noted that I need to add more cream, so that everyone can wipe it for fun." There are seven or eight cans of hand spray paint strips."

After finishing speaking, he just stood aside and refused to move, his eyes were straightened, but his eyes were still staring at the crowd.

Nan Zhou looked back at him for a while, but said nothing.

The Rozzies and brothers were on one side, and Nuan Nuan squeezed beside him, talking nonsense, so as to offset the panic of the brothers.

Sun Guojing couldn't say anything, he hung his head and was speechless for a while.

The brothers had to rack their brains to say something that would make him happy.

Luo Ge even recalled the barbecue stand opened by the three of them, and said that he didn't know if the facade was still there when he went back, and the tables, chairs and benches were not complete, and it could not be fully opened.

At this moment, Sun Guojing said without thinking, "You two...don't go."

He said: "Without one person, the barbecue stall can still open. It can't be all three."

The "non-existent place" mentioned by Zuo Jiaming in the message before his death was the source of all the fear they encountered.

Going in at the same time now, no one can tell whether it will be a life-saving or a sheep-run.

Both Luo Ge and Qi Tianyun were silent.

Didn't say yes, didn't say no.

The atmosphere in the dormitory was oppressive for a moment.

Seeing that the task was almost completed, Jiang Fang got up first and made an appointment to meet them downstairs in the physical education department at seven o'clock.

It always gets dark early in autumn.

In the daytime, the Maple Leaf Avenue is full of light and gold, and the red shadows are dazzling. It is so beautiful that it takes people's breath away.

But once night fell, the maple leaves would be blown everywhere by the cold wind, and they would be swept away suddenly, like small palms scattered all over the ground.

The "rustle" sound made by the brittle and dehydrated leaves shattered under the feet of the people walking at night, can make people shudder several times. It is suspected that the force is approaching them on tiptoe.

In the end, Sun Guojing was the only one who followed Nanzhou and the others to the fifth floor.

The group of four walked across Maple Leaf Avenue, carrying the noisy campus on their backs, and walked farther and farther.

If the feeling during the day is not strong enough, visit here at night to know how deserted the east fifth floor is.

When there were still more than 200 meters away from the fifth floor of the east, the street lights were already broken.

Boom——

Boom——

There was a strange and clear sound from the flickering street light bulbs.

Nan Zhou turned on the flashlight ahead of time.

The flashlight swept across a fan-shaped arc, and the warm yellow light illuminated part of the way forward.

But this does not effectively alleviate the fear in people's hearts.

The place where the light shines is getting darker and darker, as if there are unknown giants that are about to move, waiting for an opportunity to swallow them up.

It was easy to get to the fifth floor of the east.

The moment they stepped into the corridor and the voice-activated sensor lights turned on, Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang felt that they both let out a big sigh of relief behind them.

Around 7:20.

They arrived at the door of classroom 403.

Sun Guojing rubbed his numb palms with the cold, brought them to his lips, let out a little steam as if to vent, and walked to the front.

He pressed his hand on the doorknob and stood still for a long time.

It seems that there is his judgment seat.

It is his way of reincarnation.

He stood still, and Nanzhou and the others also stood there with him.

Around 7:[-].

Sun Guojing raised his wrist and looked at his watch. After confirming the time, he gritted his teeth and was about to take out the key——

But the door was one step ahead of him, and slowly opened inward, bringing half of Sun Guojing's body into the darkness.

Before Sun Guojing had time to panic, the lights in the classroom were turned on with a snap.

... He fell into a bright light.

Luo Ge and Qi Tianyun who left the dormitory early came to 403 at some point.

And obviously waited a long time inside.

"Didn't you say you're going to have a party?"

Luo Ge laughed a little exaggeratedly, it was a forced way of laughing, obviously because he was afraid that if he relaxed his muscles, his whole expression would collapse.

He turned around and showed Sun Guojing a room full of balloons and ribbons: "...Look, my brothers will make a big deal for you."

Qi Tianyun picked up the key to classroom 403 that he had removed from Sun Guojing's key ring at some point, and shook it:

"Anyway, it's dangerous to stay anywhere now, so it's better for the brothers to carry it together."

Classroom 403, which was originally quite plain, was decorated with gaudy decorations by Luo Qi and the two, with a bright and lively rustic atmosphere.

If 403 is the habitat of a certain mysterious force, and seeing his home being tossed like this, he must immediately give up the goal of Sun Guojing, and take the two Luo Qi first to correct his dignity.

Sun Guojing didn't say anything, he hugged the two brothers one by one, and buried his face down on their shoulders, his body trembling.

After all the troubles of Luo Qi and the two of them, it was like a real gathering of friends.

Six people sat on the ground in the gap between the podium and the stepped seats.

Sun Guojing handed Nan Zhou a can of beer.

Nan Zhou waved his hand, hugged his cup of milk tea with sugar and half full of ingredients, and drank slowly.

No one could tell that, more than twenty hours ago, three of these six people had intended to rob the other three, but they were robbed completely by the backhand.

The three of "Longtan" began to push and change glasses, and soon a slightly drunken look appeared on their faces.

Sun Guojing scolded: "Xie Xiangyu is a son of a bitch, and he just wants us to find the way for him!"

Nan Zhou calmly tried to communicate with the drunk: "Is he still contacting you?"

I don't think there will be any.

The surveillance incident was exposed, Xie Xiangyu would have a ghost if he came back to see them again.

Although Sun Guojing and the others didn't know about surveillance, they had figured it out about being used by him as a pathfinder.

Sun Guojing said: "He didn't. But I contacted him."

He waved his big hand in the air, and said coolly: "I'll call and scold him!"

Nanzhou held the milk tea and waited for the next sentence.

As a result, Sun Guojing rolled his hands, spat, and said resentfully: "...Damn it, I spent a long time drooling, only to find that this kid turned on the hands-free phone and put it aside, and burned it." I paid my 15-minute call fee. I will call again, but if he still picks up, I will stop calling. Grandma is a leg, he had better tighten the ditch in some ditch, or I will beat him every time I see him Back to—"

Nan Zhou bit the matcha-flavored taro ball, but didn't speak.

What exactly does Xie Xiangyu want to do?

He chose to act alone.

He obviously discovered the name tag before everyone else, neither detained nor monopolized the clues, but did not communicate with them in any way.

He hid in a corner of the huge campus, spying on their every move.

In such an overwhelming supernatural copy, he refused to cooperate, refused to contact, as if he had no fear at all.

What was he thinking when he made these unreasonable actions?

In other words, what does he want to gain by dormant and waiting?

Jiang Fang held a can of hawthorn juice and asked him softly, "What are you thinking?"

Nan Zhou said truthfully, "Thank you Xiangyu."

Jiang Fang: "Ah, he. He is a very interesting person."

Nan Zhou was immediately attracted: "Why do you say that?"

Jiang Fang took a sip of hawthorn juice: "I can probably understand what he wants to do."

Nan Zhou pricked up his ears.

Jiang Fang pressed the jar of hawthorn juice to his lips, and said softly, "If I were a solo player, I might play like this."

It's a pity that I can't do some things now that I'm dragging my family.

Nan Zhou stared at his profile, thoughtful.

...Jiang Fang's expression at that moment just now was the same as when he was plotting against Qu Jinsha in the casino.

The corners of his mouth were always upturned, and his eyes were as cold and sharp as a wolf.

Nan Zhou blinked, thinking, a little cute.

Nan Zhou still wanted to ask more questions, but since Jiang Fang knew what he was doing, he was on guard against it.

The matter of Xie Xiangyu is not very important.

It is imperative to figure out how they got into "the place where they don't exist" and how to get out of this force.

The 403 during the day is no different from the current 403.

The graffiti on the tables and chairs, the heads of great people watching them on the wall, the windows that are a bit dark because of the anti-reflective film...

It can be said that there is nothing unusual.

Of course, if there had been an obvious change in the characters they played during their carnival in classroom 403 a week ago, they would have noticed.

It is not advisable to speculate out of thin air, so this way does not work.

So, what about another way of thinking?

The suffocation, horror and high pressure for nearly a day and a night made the three brothers simply regard this exploration as a hearty venting trip.

As the beer was poured down one can after another, Sun Guojing's courage grew.

After a while, he was already full of pride, and he had the courage to fight freely with the instigator behind that mysterious force.

They make quite a lot of noise.

Nan Zhou had no choice but to sit closer to Jiang Fang, holding his milk tea, and talking to him, "How do you feel?"

He was referring to the feeling of being affected by that power.

Jiang Fang shook his head: "Not yet."

In 403, there are no signs of ghosts descending or approaching, such as cooling down, light bulbs flickering, etc. in the movie.

To confirm, Jiang Fang took out the "Sixth Sense Cross" hanging around his neck.

The cross is also intact.

In addition to the time when he went to buy apples at the fruit stall in the supermarket this afternoon, Jiang Fang only heard rustling twice.

The supernatural power wasn't targeting him, so the cross was naturally useless.

Nanzhou: "This force is too irreversible. We can do too little in front of it."

Jiang Fang laughed: "This is not what Teacher Nan should say."

Nan Zhou looked at Jiang Fang and nodded, "...Yes. I haven't finished my sentence yet."

As Nan Zhou said, this force is too overbearing.

It is powerful—it can erase the existence of human beings without anyone noticing.

It was positioned precisely - Zuo Jiaming used the elevator and the file room when he escaped, but he still couldn't avoid its approach.

It has no substance—when danger comes, the only thing that fills the ear is the rustling sound like tinnitus, and the supernatural phenomena that appear have no substance, so they can't hurt it at all.

It's almost incomprehensibly terrifying.

but--

"It's so powerful that it seems to have almost no loopholes." Nanzhou said, "If other parts of it are equally complicated, then the game cannot be played. Players can only rely on luck to decide who dies first."

Nan Zhou said: "So, it must have a weakness."

"For this force alone, there are two things we need to understand: first, how it quietly appeared beside us; second, how it chose to kill the order."

"First, since it is 'quiet', it is still one of the characteristics of unsolvable terror. It is not suitable for the current inference."

"So, the weakness it can crack is most likely the order of obliteration."

Jiang Fang: "..." It's really a simple reverse thinking.

Nanzhou hasn't completely cleared his mind yet.

So, he relied on his thoughts to clarify the current clues: "Our investigation this day has sorted out the relationship between the characters."

"The first person to die was Hu Li, a sports student. The second person to die was Zuo Jiaming. The next one was probably Sun Guojing, and then Yinhang and I..."

"In the setting, Hu Li and Zuo Jiaming will play together and have a good relationship."

"My relationship with Yinhang is also very good."

"She worried that it would be inconvenient to play with a group of boys. I'm here to protect her safety..."

As he muttered, Nan Zhou's eyes suddenly lit up.

He said to Jiang Fang, "...the phone."

In a blink of an eye, apart from Li Yinhang's mobile phone, which had no bones left, all five mobile phones were placed in front of Nan Zhou.

According to the information left by Zuo Jiaming, after hearing the sixth rustling sound, their ability to convey information to the outside world with the help of material carriers will disappear.

It's like being on an isolated island.

This is also the reason why Zuo Jiaming's message cannot be seen by the naked eye.

Therefore, Nan Zhou needed to race against time to verify his own ideas before Sun Guojing heard the sixth rustle.

Fortunately, that force did not come out to interfere with them at this critical moment.

Soon, after intensive integration, Nan Zhou got the clues he wanted.

Under Sun Guojing's hopeful gaze, Nan Zhou spoke first.

"What affects the order of being wiped out may be the order in which we enter."

"The party officially started at 7:[-] that day. But the order in which we entered the classrooms varied."

He pointed at Sun Guojing's cell phone.

At 7:10, a message to Luo Ge was displayed: "I'm here, but Lao Hu's little lover hasn't arrived yet, haha, he's as anxious as a monkey."

Luo Ge replied: "Watch monkeys in a civilized way. Leave me and Lao Qi a place to watch."

It can be seen from this that at 7:10, Sun Guojing arrived at the meeting place; Luo Ge and Qi Tianyun hadn't arrived yet, and "Lao Hu's little lover" Li Yinhang was also not there.

It is known that Hu Li and Zuo Jiaming were the victims of the first and second picks.

It makes sense to infer according to the logic of "the order of entering the classroom is the order of victimization".

Although Sun Guojing has been in charge of the key to 403, of course he can pass the key to his roommate Hu Li and let him unlock the lock first.

Hu Li was the first to open the door and enter the classroom.

His golfer Zuo Jiaming followed closely behind.

Sun Guojing arrived at 7:10.

As for Nan Zhou and Li Yinhang, they were right behind Sun Guojing.

Previously, because the chat messages between Nan Zhou, Jiang Fang and Li Yinhang only mentioned the special relationship between Jiang Fang and Nan Zhou, and the agreement to arrive in Room 7 before 403:[-], they took it for granted that Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang were came together.

However, it can be inferred from human nature that Jiang Fang is Nan Zhou's object, and the two have not fully disclosed their relationship, so it would be a bit embarrassing to come together.

The reason why Li Yinhang asked Nanzhou to accompany him was because of his own safety.

So it was more reasonable for her and Nanzhou to come at the same time.

Xie Xiangyu came around 7:20.

Because at 7:21, Sun Guojing sent another WeChat message to Luo Ge:

"If there is no more butter, it will be cold."

Nan Zhou was not sure whether Xie Xiangyu came before or after himself and Li Yinhang.

But the time when he came must be before Luo Ge and Qi Tianyun.

And Jiang Fang was the last one to come.

Because according to reality, Jiang Fang was the last among them to hear the rustling sound.

In this case, everything will be right.

If classroom 403 itself is a gigantic, silent, natural mouth that only opens to those who visit it in the middle of the night...

Then the order in which it erases people is the order in which they enter the door.

If the clue they've come up with is true...

This time Qi Tianyun reacted very quickly and almost jumped up excitedly: "We just need to mess up the order. If we enter the door again at the same time point, it can be solved!!"

Qi Tianyun felt that he had guessed right, and he was so excited that he kept talking in circles, and his speech became faster and faster: "That's right, that's right! It's right, it must be right!"

"If we enter the door again, the order in which that force will kill us will be disrupted!"

"Those of us who hear the rustle less often, if we push forward one and take turns every night, even if the number of times is not cleared after each disturbance, we can always survive until five days later by working together!"

"Just right! It's just such a coincidence! Tonight, Lao Luo and I came in early because we were afraid that you wouldn't let us come!"

Qi Tianyun rushed forward and grabbed the shoulder of Sun Guojing who was still in a daze: "Old Sun! We have been drinking for more than an hour, do you still hear the rustling sound? Ah? How long has it been since the last time you heard it? "

Sun Guojing was dumbfounded: "Uh... plus the afternoon, seven or eight hours..."

Qi Tianyun hugged Sun Guojing's neck tightly, and roared incoherently: "You're saved! Old Sun! You're saved! You're fine! The next one who hears the rustling will be me and Lao Luo! It will be me and Lao Luo! We are both far away from hearing the sixth rustle! We are all saved!"

Nan Zhou: "...Is that so?"

But his voice was drowned out in roars and cheers.

He looked at Jiang Fang.

Jiang Fang leaned close to his ear, and the warm air blew on his earlobe, itching slightly: "Their reasoning makes sense, why not...try it first."

……

Slowly recalling the memory, Sun Guojing, who realized that he really might have escaped the catastrophe, was invigorated and drank to his heart's content, drinking more and more unrestrainedly.

With every sip, the feeling of crawling out from the edge of death becomes clearer.

He even came to toast Nan Zhou.

After standing still in front of Nan Zhou, Sun Guojing bowed deeply without saying a word.

"I, Sun Guojing, thank you, really thank you." Sun Guojing said, "It's all in the wine."

He swung the beer can at Nanzhou and drank most of it in one gulp.

Nan Zhou held the straw in his mouth and gently blew bubbles into the milk tea.

Sun Guojing put down the beer can, wiped his mouth, and said, "Thank you, you saved me twice. The first time was just now, and the second time was in the dormitory. If you hadn't explained it to me, I would have lost my sin value." .”

Nanzhou: "..." is the san value.

But Nan Zhou didn't interrupt his high spirits: "Yes."

"Your sin value is quite high." Sun Guojing's tongue has been drunk a lot, and his articulation is not very clear, "I don't think you are afraid. You are a man. What happened before is my Sun Guojing. It's not authentic, I want to make you a friend..."

Nanzhou: "..."

He took a quick step back.

He frowned and thought, people are so frivolous nowadays.

Is it possible to be a "friend" casually?

Sun Guojing was already drunk, so of course he couldn't notice Nan Zhou's avoidance.

He squinted his eyes and realized that Nanzhou was missing from the focus.

He staggered two steps, laughed loudly, held the beer can, and continued to look for his two good brothers.

The smell of alcohol is really intoxicating.

In addition, Nanzhou and the others wanted to verify whether Qi Tianyun's deduction was true, so they didn't leave.

After a while, Nan Zhou gradually became sleepy.

The bright lights in front of my eyes also turned into scattered, fluffy halos.

Holding on to the last bit of consciousness, he wanted to find two chairs to put together and lie down.

But as soon as he moved, his head was lightly held down by a hand, leading him to tilt to one side, and he pillowed it on a piece of warm skin.

Jiang Fang looked down at him and said with a smile, "Why are you lying on my lap?"

Nanzhou: "..."

I didn't lie down on my own initiative.

There seems to be something wrong.

Forget it.

In the middle of the night, the three brothers who had a life-threatening friendship got drunk.

Li Yinhang sat on the ground with his upper body lying on the chair next to him, sleeping peacefully.

Nan Zhou rested on Jiang Fang's lap, exhaling regularly.

And Jiang Fang sat quietly, gently stroking the tear mole under Nan Zhou's eyes with his fingertips, and looked at everything around him soberly.

Sun Guojing passed out drunk on the steps.

He lay prone on the cold hard floor, with seventeen or eight empty beer cans beside him.

The smell of drunken alcohol spewed out heavily from his breath.

He slept a little uncomfortable, twisted his waist, grabbed the lower abdomen exposed after the hem of the sweater was rolled up, and turned his body to the other side.

And right now.

--sand--

--sand--

--sand--

The soft sound of "rustle" has undergone subtle variations and turned into a drawn-out syllable.

It's like pressing a fingernail on a blackboard, slowly pulling it, making a long and thin sharp sound.

But Sun Guojing slept soundly.

He did not hear.

Naturally, Jiang Fang couldn't hear the subtle voice that rang in Sun Guojing's ear.

When the sky turned pale, he supported his head and gave himself half an hour to rest.

One night passed like this.

Luo Ge was awakened by Qi Tianyun.

He blankly looked at the messy classroom after the carnival, apparently still unable to digest the current situation.

Luo Ge wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth: "Why did you sleep here..."

At this time, Nan Zhou just woke up.

While waking up, he rubbed Jiang Fang's leg which was said to be numb from the pillow.

Qi Tianyun and Li Yinhang were busy cleaning up the remnants with empty plastic bags.

"Oh!" After a brief memory, Luo Ge, who finally recovered the memory before the fragment, pumped his fist excitedly, "Have we found a solution to the problem!"

Qi Tianyun also had a beaming face: "This is the best. Let's do it again tonight..."

As he said that, he looked at Jiang Fang: "Jiang Fang, right? You have the least number of times. You can come again tonight to share the burden for the two teammates in your team!"

Jiang Fang pressed the base of his thigh, and groaned, as if he agreed.

Qi Tianyun picked up the full garbage bag, grabbed the key on the table, and said to Luo Ge naturally: "Let's go!"

Seeing the two of them leave the gate of 403, Li Yinhang also saw hope, turned around and said with a smile: "Let's go too!"

Nan Zhou supported Jiang Fang to stand up.

Jiang Fang jumped two steps forward, and a faint light flashed on his neck.

Nan Zhou looked at the string of "Sixth Sense Crosses" hanging around Jiang Fang's neck, and his eyebrows frowned slightly.

...Who did he take this prop from?

When Nan Zhou was thinking about this question, he had already helped Jiang Fang out of 403.

Qi Tianyun locked the door, shook the key, draped Luo Ge's shoulders, and walked outside into the abundant sunshine with a smile.

Sun Guojing, who was sleeping on the stairs, fell asleep soundly in the dark classroom 403 with the curtains drawn tightly.