don't open your eyes [unlimited]

Ling Su put away the photos with satisfaction.

Not only that, he also quickly hid the small curly-haired Polaroid, and immediately became serious without any psychological burden, and held Zhuang Die's wrist again: "There is no time, come with me."

This set of actions was so smooth and natural that Zhuang Die had been dragged by him for a few steps before he fully reacted: "Ah!"

Ling Su calmly reminded: "There are steps, I will help you."

Zhuang Die was pulled up from the ground by him, carried on his shoulders and hurried down the steps, still immersed in the careless defeat just now, and regretfully punched his palm.

Ling Su stood firm in front of the basement door, slowed down, and put Zhuang Die back on the ground.

……

The scream just now came from the basement.

Ling Su didn't let Zhuang Die come forward, he held the doorknob by himself, leaned close to the door panel, and listened carefully to the voices inside.

Hearing the screams and rushing to check, it can almost be regarded as some kind of instinct that most people will have-but the time they came to the basement door was enough for the two of them to also realize a violation detail.

Judging by the sound, the scream is clearly more female.There should be only two women in this villa. Miss Rabbit, who is the architect, has been killed, and that voice does not seem to be like Miss Tiger...

Soon, this speculation was thoroughly confirmed.

Miss Hu was hiding in the kitchen, not too far from the basement, and she also heard the screams.

Because of the cooperation with the architect, Ms. Hu has a rough idea of ​​the structure of the villa.Although he was trapped in the unending darkness, and the obstacles caused a lot of difficulty in moving, he still stumbled to the door of the basement.

There were sounds of walking and bumping in the living room. It seemed that someone else had noticed the anomaly and was trying to get closer here.

Ling Su opened the door to the basement.

At the same moment as the door was opened, he also immediately dodged to the other side of the door.A syringe was pulled by the device inside the door, and the sharp needle reflected a strange blue light, piercing the neck of the person who opened the door.

Ling Su had prepared in advance, and quickly ducked to avoid it, causing the needle tube containing the unknown liquid to pierce empty.

The scene in the room also unfolded before everyone's eyes.

...The inside was not shrouded in the same darkness as the villa.

In the center of the room was a table and ten chairs, all of the most common style.A few old and yellowed newspapers were randomly pasted on the wall, which looked out of place with the villa, it looked like a very shabby rental house.

On the empty wooden table, an old-fashioned projector was running automatically.

As the film rolls, the light beams are constantly changing and projected on the only wall with a curtain.

The screen being shown is weird and scary.In the background sound of the storm mixed with the waves, the ceiling was wet and dripping with water, and huge thick dark green water plants hung from above.Accompanied by all this, the cold and humid sea breeze seems to have enveloped everyone...

The woman in the picture seems to have gone crazy due to overstimulation, crying and confessing bitterly, and laughing hysterically.

It is not difficult to speculate that the scream and the sound of wind and rain raging outside the villa they heard before were all the background sound during the screening of this film.

"how come?!"

Miss Hu looked at all this in disbelief: "Who arranged these? When... who are you?"

As she asked this sentence, she turned her head to look at Ling Su in surprise and suspicion.

When they were in groups before, she and the monkey youth were in charge of searching the basement, and they clearly remembered that there was nothing important here, it was just an ordinary room for storing sundries.

The reason Miss Hu didn't choose to hide here was because there was no exit from the basement, only the door down the steps.Once this road is blocked for some reason, it is almost equivalent to being blocked in the basement.

But now, not only has the place completely changed, but a stranger has also appeared suddenly.

And including this stranger, almost all the living people in the villa were lured to the basement...

Miss Hu subconsciously looked back, and suddenly her eyes widened in extreme horror.

Behind them, there was an extra door at some point!

The style of the door is also far from that of the villa, but not because of its simplicity, but because it has almost been carefully crafted beyond reality - the thick brass material is glowing with luster, and the intricate and exquisite patterns are engraved around it. The simple and mysterious pattern, but for some reason, seems to linger with a very threatening and terrifying atmosphere.

If it didn't appear here, it should be in a cave or an ancient castle with countless secret passages, as the last unshakable hurdle, guarding the treasure coveted by countless people...

But at this moment, this door appeared silently from behind everyone, and stood silently at the end of the stairs, completely locking the way back to the villa from the basement.

The lights in the basement slightly illuminated the area near the door, and it was not difficult to recognize the people who rushed over.

The boa constrictor man was standing in front of that door, touching his chin, as if he was carefully admiring some work.The pig-faced man was helped down by the monkey youth, and even the horse-faced man who was tied up so tightly that he couldn't move was dragged all the way by the hunting dog to prevent him from continuing to play dirty tricks, and was simply and roughly thrown on the stairs.

……

So far, it is not surprising that none of the people who are still alive are here.

The main reason is that under Zhuang Die's prompt, most people have given up the idea of ​​attacking each other.

In addition, the darkness did not end for a long time, and the first group of people who went to check the basement did not return, which also caused strong psychological pressure on the remaining people.

Surrounded by darkness, hiding in the hiding place, listening to the sound of the storm that seems to destroy the villa, always fearing the unknown danger hidden in the basement... This kind of torture of blunt knife cutting flesh, it is better to simply stay with other people, at least you can Dead to understand.

"Don't worry about me, I'm an enthusiastic passerby here to help."

Ling Su answered Miss Hu's previous question. He didn't seem to be surprised by the appearance of the door. Instead, he took the initiative to approach and observe carefully: "This door seems familiar..."

Zhuang Die suddenly said, "The Tomb of the Empire."

"By the way!" The pig-faced man suddenly remembered, "This is the first part, the door of the final round of the Lost Gold City!"

Miss Hu frowned, she rarely played games: "What is that?"

"A very old adventure decryption game, and there are five follow-ups. I was still in elementary school at the time, and I bought it after saving three months of lunch money. I played it for several years."

The pig-faced man explained in a low voice that he didn't like Miss Hu, but it probably touched on his childhood memories, and his tone softened a little: "This game was really popular at the beginning..."

The monkey youth kept memorizing quickly and silently. He was having a headache about selecting the game materials for the next live broadcast, and now he suddenly had an inspiration.

Even though the current situation is extremely tense, he himself is extremely timid, and his professional instinct as a game anchor still makes the monkey youth reluctant to give up new materials...

"You mean—this is a door in the game?" Miss Hu finally understood what he meant, but was even more puzzled, "But why did it suddenly appear here?"

"Because this is the 'Dream Core'." Ling Su knocked on the door.

Miss Tiger was taken aback.

"Dreams are the spokesperson of the subconscious. The current mainstream view of contemporary psychology, to some extent, we can regard most dreams as an expression of the subconscious."

Ling Su turned around while talking, he was explaining to Zhuang Die: "And the core idea that the subconscious mind wants to express will be wrapped in the flesh of the dream like a seed, we call it the 'dream core'."

"That is to say, are we really in the dream of that outdated game developer?" The hunting dog man took over the conversation, "Dream Core is the hottest game I made back then. It misses the past and the fall of the empire. Afterglow and Burying the Past Achievements or something..."

The horse-faced man was dragged all the way by him unceremoniously, fell dizzy, and said angrily: "Can you not look at me when you say that?"

"There's nothing shameful about a past movie star." The hunting dog man looked at him, "I'm just curious, you said you killed that popular traffic singer on a whim, so who was your original goal?"

The man with the horse face froze, opened his mouth, and turned his head away without saying a word.

"I see." Zhuang Die said suddenly.

According to all the information provided by Ling Su, combined with the known situation, he has roughly restored the original appearance of the whole thing.

In fact, this is not a complicated situation. What is complicated is the jealousy, envy, desire to manipulate and deprive others, and the impulse to destroy.

Zhuang Die looked at Ling Su who was standing aside: "As long as someone dies in my dream, I can get his ability or talent". Is this setting true?"

Ling Su slightly raised the corner of his mouth.

"It's a rumor." Ling Su shook his head, "The chances of this are extremely slim."

"It's like smashing a whole statue to pieces and picking up a random piece — and that piece just happens to be the diamond on the statue's forehead."

"In fact, the technology for targeted stripping of fragments simply doesn't exist."

Ling Su didn't seem to pay attention to the astonished and horrified gazes of other people. He crossed his arms, his eyes only fell on Zhuang Die, and patiently explained in detail: "And...according to our long-term follow-up and attention, people who have lost consciousness fragments , still have the ability to fill in the gaps on their own, it just takes time."

"This period of time may be a little longer." Ling Su said, "but sooner or later it will be completed, or it will be filled by new fragments."

Zhuang Die nodded.

He walked into the basement where the movie was being shown, walked around the table, and found an old-fashioned card game console on the ground under the table.

Zhuang Die squatted down and carried the game console onto the table.

He moved very carefully. After placing the game console firmly, he stroked it carefully with the palm of his hand again.

"Suppose... I am a game developer who has completely passed away. The game empire I built has been overwhelmed by the dust of time, and the game door has been covered with copper rust."

"No one is interested in the games I made. Young people don't like that anymore. Most old players have jobs, get married and have children. No one is in the mood to play games."

Zhuang Die turned half a circle around the table, walked to the back of the projector, held the table with both hands, and watched the constantly changing pictures on the wall.

"What... is he doing?" the monkey youth asked nervously in a low voice.

The Houndman kicked him.

The monkey youth quickly covered his mouth, he was about to shrink back, but Zhuang Die looked at him.

Zhuang Die asked: "What did you complain about in the live broadcast?"

"I—" the monkey youth coughed dryly, thought carefully before replying, "It's just that the idea is old-fashioned and outdated. Although the scene is exquisite but useless, the level design is too complicated, not exciting enough and a waste of time, and the setting is not novel enough. Not attractive enough or something..."

To make a game, it must meet the pain points of contemporary gamers.His sarcasm in the live broadcast was indeed a bit too mean, but it was not groundless, but a combination of comments from many game forums and online platforms.

Facing Zhuang Die, who was playing the role of the game developer, the monkey youth felt a little guilty for no reason.

He plucked up his courage and wanted to make an excuse, but Zhuang Die had already nodded and looked away.

"In that case, I'll give it a try as said in the live broadcast."

"Design some exciting plots, change to a fashionable setting, and poke people's pain points—I can artificially set a sufficiently attractive premise, such as the relationship between dream realm and talent."

"Leave the scene construction to the architect, and I will focus on selecting players."

"I took some effort and found a black-hearted dealer who resells the design drawings of Dream Realm. Through him, I will invite enough people to participate in this game..."

Zhuang Die suddenly raised his voice: "Everyone, you are charged with the following crimes."

The horse's face seemed to have been stabbed severely by a needle. It twisted its face and wanted to stand up to interrupt, but a hand pressed its shoulder.

The hand was calm and not heavy.

The horse's face met Ling Su's gaze, and after a long while, the strength of the struggle was exhausted a little bit, and he went back dejectedly.

"Game anchor, you are still not satisfied with the popularity and benefits brought by live broadcasting. You hope to become a star, and the money will come faster and easier-you think you also have the ability to participate in variety shows, what you lack is the personal connections and insider information in the entertainment industry .”

"What's interesting is that the star wants to get rid of this label. Because he is not from a major and his acting is a mess, so he focuses on the old-timer who has been out of breath for many years and has superb acting skills."

"Actor, your acting skills are very good, but it's ironic, you can only accept third-rate commercials and go out of your way to get by. You saw the post and heard that a company executive customized the same dream domain as you, no need to remind , I figured out a way.”

"Corporate executives, you want to destroy the business lawyer who could bankrupt your company and yourself. Lawyer, you don't know that someone is after you, and you are trying to get the mentality of a gambler and take your career to the next level." Floors."

"And this gambler..." Zhuang Die paused, and looked down at himself, "Every bet is bound to lose, and his life has been ruined by himself, and he still dreams of having a strong card counting ability so that he can win the round .”

"A chess player with excellent computing talent, you envy the architect's ability to imagine space. Is the architect innocent? I knew her a long time ago. She wants to enter the field of holographic games. With her talent for building dream fields, she will be able to soon. She's in her early years, but she just doesn't know anything about games."

"As for me, a despicable villain who must take revenge, I happen to be very happy to take this opportunity to give that game anchor some flair. If this is the case, it's only the last link..."

Zhuang Die spoke slowly, he didn't look at the crowd, his voice was sometimes raised and sometimes lowered, and finally turned into a neurotic murmur.

He is thinking from the perspective and identity of a game designer, trying to solve the final mystery.

"The holographic game engineer actually agreed."

"Is he trying to get rid of the architect? Or does he have other plans? It doesn't matter, ten people have arrived, and the preparations are complete."

"That black-hearted trader I hired would invite them to my rental house in the basement."

"I live in a bit of a shabby place, but it doesn't matter, they all have their own more pressing goals, so they don't care... As for why there are so many people, just explain it as pairings in different dream realms."

"This is not a rental house, but a stylish and luxurious island villa."

"Ladies and gentlemen. The ten internal beta players including me have all entered the game."

"The door to the game is closed."

The game designer sat in the chair placed directly behind the projector, and the beam of light shone on his face, giving him a certain paranoid fanaticism.

He faced the crowd and opened his arms: "Now, welcome to your seat."