Forces of Temptation

When the tin soldier with the spear reached the center of the labyrinth of circular bookshelves, he concluded his round of patrol and stomped out.

After learning a lesson, Li Yinhang didn't dare to stay too far away from Nanzhou.

She controlled Nan Zhou's figure to where she could see it, and tried to calm down, imitating Nan Zhou's appearance, rummaging through the bookshelves.

It has to be said that when the rhythm was deliberately slowed down, some of the confusion that plagued her dissipated.

She picked up the bookshelf and spoke softly to Nan Zhou over there: "Did I complicate things?"

Nan Zhou: "You found out?"

Li Yinhang: "..."

She let out a long breath.

She finally realized that the game time was not enough for her to honestly flip through the books to find her soul.

Even if she added limited search conditions, it was impossible.

However, even after thinking of this level, Li Yinhang couldn't figure out what kind of tricks the two masters conceived to pass the level.

If you can’t figure it out, then don’t make it difficult for yourself.

Like Nan Zhou, she took down a storybook with a binding similar to her book, and after flipping through it a few times, she frowned deeply.

Nan Zhou asked, "What did you find?"

Li Yinhang looked at the lines of unknown words in his hand, and after a long moment of tongue-tied, he frankly admitted his ignorance: "I don't understand."

She turned a few pages away, and like Nan Zhou, she couldn't help thinking of the frog hand he got in the last dungeon.

She naturally also thought of the question that Nanzhou had considered: "Who is playing dungeon with us...Aliens? Creatures from different spaces?"

As soon as the words fell, she was actually chilled by her own speculation.

In fact, since the disappearance, Li Yinhang has always suspected that some kind of power beyond their imagination is controlling their world.

This world, in terms of the margin of human cognition, is still too big after all.

The power hidden behind it can not only design such a huge game sandbox, but also drive them to make wishes, and even screen out the age group...

What does the power that forces them to play the game really want from them?

If what happened to them was just a temporary deception by high-dimensional creatures, then what is the so-called life-saving, pain, and sacrifice?

Before Li Yinhang's train of thought extended toward infinite pessimism, Nanzhou stopped in time.

Nan Zhou stretched out his hand to her through the bookshelf: "Apart from this, what else do you find?"

Li Yinhang hurriedly patted his face, handed the book in his hand to Nan Zhou, and showed his concentration to report to the leader: "And—"

Before she could finish speaking, Nan Zhou opened the story of the unknown person she handed over, opened a chapter at random, and tore off a page.

Li Yinhang: "..."

Immediately afterwards, Nan Zhou's brows twitched violently, as if someone had stabbed his nerves, and his legs went limp obviously.

Li Yinhang's heart tightened: "Are you okay?"

Nan Zhou let out a breath slowly: "...it's okay."

He pulled himself together and lifted his book to examine it.

Sure enough, his book also has a name, author and Chapter 1.

When Li Yinhang walked around the bookshelves worriedly and tried to support Nan Zhou's arm, she finally realized why Nan Zhou's san value was judged to be garbled by the system.

If he simply has a high san value and is not easily disturbed by fear, the system can just give him a full san value.

However, under the clear mental attack, his spirit seemed to be several times more sensitive than hers.

When he was stared at by tin soldiers, violated the restriction, and was taken out of memory, Li Yinhang just felt an indescribable strange feeling in his head.

It will not affect the movement, and there is no pain.

In comparison, the stimulation Nan Zhou felt was obviously comparable to someone directly poking his nerves with a capillary needle.

Because of this, it is difficult for the system to determine whether his san value is high or low.

So he simply gave a garbled code and let him experience it by himself.

At the same time that Nanzhou violated the rules and tore off the pages of the book, a tin soldier who had finished patrolling and returned to his position suddenly moved.

He staggered forward a few steps, as if he had come alive from the armor and was free for a moment.

The soles of the shoes and the ground tapped each other, making a crisp sound.

This is especially harsh in the silent library, where there is only the sound of rattles falling.

It was as clear as the sound of books being torn from the depths of the bookshelf just now.

Jiang Fang, who was watching the chess game, raised his head.

It raised the spear, twisted its neck in bewilderment, and made a slightly humane movement.

And those dull black eyes, which seemed to be painted on the skull, had a faint light.

After blinking and turning around, it met Jiang Fang's eyes.

Jiang Fang read a trace of confusion and panic from his eyes.

Coupled with the dull puppet face, the effect of the uncanny valley is directly full.

But this look of begging for help only stayed on its face for a moment.

Inside the bookshelf, the pages torn off by Nan Zhou melted away from his fingertips like sand.

At the same time, new pages and words automatically grow in the gaps between the torn pages.

Exactly the same as the original.

Outside the bookshelf, the tin soldier who had gained a breath of memory also lost the brilliance in his eyes again.

It took a step back and obediently returned to its original position.

Jiang Fang lowered his eyes and continued to watch the chess game, thoughtfully.

His eyes were calm and focused, as if the look just now for help was only worth attracting his attention for a moment.

He doesn't care if there are other players' souls hidden in the tin soldier.

He only cared about the little information that Nan Zhou sent.

……

Nan Zhou finally recovered from the discomfort of stripping his memory, his feet were still a little weak, and he had to rely on the bookshelf to barely stand.

After he regained consciousness, what he saw was Li Yinhang's trembling hand holding the corner of his clothes.

Li Yinhang realized that he could respond to him, and looked back nervously, and said in a low voice, "Come in quickly."

Nan Zhou: "...?"

Li Yinhang said eagerly: "I heard the tin soldier moving again. You are not feeling well, come into my warehouse quickly, I will take you to hide—"

Nan Zhou leaned against the bookshelf, put the back of one hand on his forehead, and rubbed lightly: "...are you still moving now?"

After going through that chase, Li Yinhang was really overly allergic to the sound of the tin soldier's leather shoes.

After being reminded by Nan Zhou, she realized that the sound of leather shoes seemed to have only sounded once, and never again.

After realizing that she was overreacting, she was a little embarrassed, rubbed the tip of her nose, let go of the hand that was holding Nan Zhou's clothes, and obediently ran to flip through the book.

Nan Zhou slowed down and opened his own book.

Sure enough, one year older.

However, Nanzhou's experiments did not stop.

He let go, and threw the newly restored book to the ground again.

with a snap.

...nothing happened.

The sound of a single book falling to the ground did not meet the conditions for violating the second prohibition of "interrupting the game".

When Li Yinhang breathed a sigh of relief, he saw Nan Zhou grabbing the edge of a book and said to her lightly, "Cover your ears."

Although he didn't know why, Li Yinhang immediately closed his ears obediently.

The next moment, she knew the necessity of this matter.

——Nan Zhou lifted a corner of the oak bookshelf that weighed an unknown weight with one hand, and shook it casually——

The rows of books on it fell to the ground, making a loud bang like a landslide.

This time the tin soldier did not move.

But the hand of the mummy holding Heizi visibly trembled.

Jiang Fang first heard the sound of falling books coming from the depths of the maze, and then noticed the changes in its movements, and he immediately understood it.

Nanzhou is trying to find out where the trigger point of Ban Er's so-called "interrupting the game" is.

——The hearing of the mummy is obviously dull.

Just now, the sound of a group of people standing beside it talking, the sound of tin soldiers patrolling leather shoes knocking on the ground, and the sound of you chasing and fleeing in the bookshelf, all failed to disturb it.

It was always staring at the chessboard like a clay puppet, thinking, and it took only a minute to make a move.

Only the sound of the level of bookcases falling and books overturning can touch its nerves.

A slight smile appeared on Jiang Fang's mouth when he thought of a certain cat jumping up and down in it for the sake of experimentation.

……

Inside the bookshelf.

Li Yinhang covered his ears and stood with books on the ground, a little silly.

She asked: "... Teacher Nan, what are you doing?"

Nan Zhou recovered from his dizziness for a while, knelt down on one knee beside the empty bookshelf, and opened his book again.