Paranoid Beauty reigns supreme at Infinite Game

(Combined) The world inside and outside

"I used to have a home too—"

"And dear parents—"

"Daddy got drunk one day—"

Zhu Chang'an and Zong Xiao woke up and listened attentively, but the song stopped abruptly when it reached a critical point, which made people scratch their heads and feel puzzled.

"What does this song mean?"

Zong Xiao captured the key words in the ballad, which fit the three characters in the dungeon title, but the role of father was also mentioned in the ballad.

"Could it be..."

Halfway through his words, the system's notification tone resounded harshly throughout the player's location.

[The player triggers the main task - to find the real exit. 】

Ambiguous missions are like mysterious ballads, confusing people.

"Export?"

Zong Xiao subconsciously looked in Zhu Chang'an's direction, seeing that Zhu Chang'an lowered his eyes in thought, he stopped making any noise to disturb him.

But within half a minute, Zhu Changan got up suddenly, opened the door hurriedly and went downstairs.

Just as Zong Xiao was about to say something, the tip of his nose twitched, and he smelled the smoky smell of alcohol. It must be that Goodyear is back.

Immediately came to the last sentence in the ballad.

Right now, Goodyear is drunk today, which completely fits the meaning of the lyrics in the song. If he goes downstairs to check on Goodyear's next situation, he should be able to know what the next lyrics will be.

Players who had the same thoughts as them also left the room door, gathered at the stairs and looked down.

"You also heard the unfinished song?"

Wen Mengyang talked to Zhu Changan and others for the first time, but quietly stood beside Lu Bai and Ji Yunhu, communicating with them softly, and did not approach Zhu Changan and Zong Xiao.

"Ah."

Seeing Wen Mengyang's nervous expression and trembling voice, Lu Bai saw that she was afraid, so he cared sympathetically.

Several people stood at the stairs for a while, but they didn't notice anything unusual, and the first floor was still very quiet.

Their ears could hear no other movement except the thunder and rain.

"Hasn't Goodyear returned?"

But they all smelled of alcohol again, and no one drank here except Goodyear.

"Go to the third floor."

Zhu Changan stood at the outermost side of the stairs, and when he looked down, he happened to see a few scratches on the steps of the stairs, which were almost on the same level.

The scratches are slightly deeper, not like normal stairs wear, more like a cut with a sharp object.

He moved his eyes along the scratches, and found that the scratches extended intermittently all the way into the corridor.

"Goodyear must have returned when the singing sounded just now."

Ji Yunhu also saw these scratches, and pulled Lu Bai excitedly to the third floor, "At that time, our attention was all on the lyrics, and no one paid attention to whether anyone was passing by in the corridor."

Several people stepped up the stairs on the third floor one after another, but when everyone entered the corridor area on the third floor, the scene in front of them was distorted and twisted like tidal waves.

The stairway behind them also turned into a solid stone wall with no path in a blink of an eye.

The strong and smoky smell of blood rushed over, and it was already a thick and indescribable smell.

Viscous blood was dripping all over the narrow corridor, the wall lamps were dim, and the light and shadow flickered, and all the doors were tightly closed.

But there was a light in one of the rooms, and it leaked from the gap under the door, which also showed that the blood spreading from it was still flowing out at a slow speed.

Before everyone could do anything, the door of the room that was oozing blood suddenly opened.

Zong Xiao immediately stood in front of Zhu Changan, his eyes were cold, and he was completely on guard.

But unexpectedly, no one came out after the door was opened, and there was no abnormal sound coming from the room, as if the door opened automatically.

"Go and have a look."

Zhu Chang'an frowned slightly, feeling a little incomprehensible about this dungeon.

They went to the door and looked in.

The room was also full of blood, and the beds and cabinets placed on the wall and beside the wall were all splashed with blood.

The smell of blood rust here is really smoky and makes people want to vomit.

But apart from the bloodstains all over the floor, there was no one in the room.

"Why, why is there no one?"

Wen Mengyang said softly, with a pale face, "Did we run into a ghost?"

Lu Bai looked at Zhu Chang'an after hearing the words, "Is this the same situation as what I encountered in the punishment room of Nanchi High School last time?"

"No. It's different from that time."

Zhu Changan lowered his head to observe the blood on the ground.

The bloodstains were the most near the bed, but there were a few rubbed marks under the bed, which made the blood smeared a little, and the marks extended from under the bed.

It appeared that someone had dragged something from under the bed.

Then there were several footprints that were partly blurred by blood. Judging from the size, one was Heidi's footprint, and the other was probably Goodyear's.

Although Goodyear was drunk, he was an adult man after all. If there was a physical conflict between the Goodyears and his wife, it would probably be Mrs. Goodyear and Heidi who would suffer.

The blood all over the place probably belonged to the two of them.

Zhu Chang'an stared at these footprints all the way, and then there were dragging marks that grew bigger and intermittently walked towards the door.

"Look, Chang'an."

Zong Xiao stood by the bed, slightly lifted the messy quilt, revealing the bloody handprints on the edge of the bed.

"The house is like this, why is there no one here?"

Ji Yunhu looked around, his heart fluttered, the excited look just now had long been forgotten, but fortunately there were so many of them.

"Hey... is there someone missing?"

Hearing that everyone counted the number of people, they found that one person was indeed missing.

"That weird old man is not here, it seems that he never came out when he went out just now."

Lu Bai frowned, "Could it be his fault?"

Zhu Chang'an remained silent all this time, and followed the drag marks on the ground to the door, and saw the drag marks going along the corridor and through the wall through the dim wall lamp.

He walked to the wall and reached out to touch the wall. It was indeed a solid wall.

"After we entered the third floor, the scene in front of us has changed once. This is not the same plane as our real world."

A piece of talisman was pasted on the wall. Although black and purple flames ignited, the wall did not disappear.

"My teleportation wizard is useless, and the system prompts me that the teleportation anchor point I set before cannot be found."

When Mrs. Goodyear went to serve coffee when she first arrived at the hotel, Ji Yunhu quietly placed an anchor in the living room on the first floor for emergencies.

But when I want to use it now, I can't operate it no matter what.

"The world inside and outside."

Ji Yunhu's eyes lit up, he patted Lu Bai's shoulder, and his tone rose, "It's a common setting in horror games, the inside and outside world."

"There are monsters in the outer and inner worlds, but the degree of danger is different. We are trapped here now. Although we don't see any monsters, we may be in the outer world or the inner world that is different from the real world."

"That's why the main task is to find the real exit without thinking?"

Wen Mengyang approached cautiously, "It's just that this place is so small, there are no other exits, front, rear, left, and right. I'm afraid this exit is not an ordinary exit."

Ji Yunhu nodded, "The way to leave the other world varies from game to game. Generally speaking, you can leave by defeating the big boss."

But having said that, there is no one in this place except players, so let's talk about bosses.

"That's not right, there is no ghost here except us."

Zhu Chang'an frowned when he heard what each of them said disturbed his thoughts.

The night already made him angry and impetuous, but this small space made him even more depressed and burning.

"Chang'an, I checked the other rooms and there is no one there. Heidi's room is very clean, but the quilt on the bed is neatly folded, and she doesn't seem to be sleeping in the room at night."

The puppet he left next to Heidi in the afternoon can't sense its existence at all, and he can't take it back even if he wants to. This so-called inner and outer world has almost cut off all contact with the outside world.

"The bloodstains on the ground include the footprints of adults and children and the drag marks of one big and one small. The small traces are probably caused by her hiding under the bed and being dragged out. The big traces must be Goodyear Madam rubbed her body and left behind."

Heidi's footprints disappeared into the wall with dragging marks all the way, indicating that she did not encounter any accidents, and even witnessed the tragedy that happened in the room with her own eyes.

"Why did Goodyear kill Madam? And Heidi is fine, so she left."

"The most important thing is that the player named Xiao Shi didn't leave the room to check like we did, which means that he should have stayed in the real world, and he will know what happened."

Zong Xiao looked back at the open door of the Goodyear couple's room, "Just now when we went upstairs, the door of the room opened by itself. I have noticed that the blood on the ground gradually increased after the door was opened. Marks and footsteps."

"If the time in the world we live in and the real world are synchronized, then the door just now was opened by Goodyear himself in the real world, and he dragged someone's body away in the real world."

"The exit of the main mission should be in the real world."

Zhu Chang'an nodded, "It seems that this world has no effect for the time being. It is only a place to confine us and restrict our actions. Maybe it is a place to delay time."

But Zhu Chang'an felt that the system didn't need to spend a lot of time to set up a space to imprison players, cut off the connection with the real world and reflect the actions of npcs.

It shows that there is still some kind of hidden connection between the two worlds.

"Whether it's drag marks or footprints, they all went downstairs..."

Zhu Changan stared at the wall and fell into deep thought, and the others gradually fell silent, deliberating according to their own clues.

The whole world suddenly fell silent, and even the sound of each other's breathing could be heard.

This made Zhu Changan notice something.

"Has the thunderstorm stopped?"

After going upstairs, everyone's minds were focused on other things. No one paid attention to whether the torrential rain was still falling outside the house. Now when they calmed down, they realized that something was wrong.

Zhu Changan returned to the room, opened the window in the room, and the clear air rushed in, suppressing the smell of blood in the room.

The big tree that was covered by the bead curtain of the rainstorm also showed a bit in front of everyone's eyes.

Scattered cherry blossoms fell on the branches and withered without waiting for the strong wind to blow.

And outside the window, except for this cherry blossom tree, I can't see anything, it is the only existence under the vast darkness.

"It smells bloody."

Lu Bai shrugged his nose, he was standing by the window frame, facing the direction of the wind blowing obliquely, the tip of his nose was full of the rusty smell of blood brought by the wind.

"It doesn't seem to be the smell coming from the room."

As he was talking, he stared at Zhu Changan who suddenly supported the window frame, leaned on one hand and jumped out of the window.

"I wish Chang'an!"

Before they had time to say anything, a group of people followed suit and jumped out of the window.

Wen Mengyang stood by the window, his expression of caution and fear changed, and he was a little more deliberate and considerate.

After hesitating for four or five seconds, she also jumped down. Just as she was about to use props to relieve the impact of the fall, she was supported by a gentle breeze and slowly fell to the ground.

Zhu Chang'an stood in front of her, looking at her calmly, with a trace of nostalgia in his eyes.

Wen Mengyang was surprised, but it was too late for her to think about it, so she quickly thanked Zhu Chang'an.

"Zhu Chang'an seems to treat Wen Mengyang a little differently, do you know what's going on?"

Lu Bai noticed that the atmosphere between Zhu Changan and Wen Mengyang was somewhat subtle.

Zhu Changan seldom saves people by himself. With Zong Xiao and his servants around, he basically just gives orders like a king.

Looking at Zong Xiao next to him, his face was almost the same color as coal.

"It just looks like an old friend from Chang'an."

Lu Bai was slightly stunned, and then took a step closer to him, "Isn't that just right, why don't you use this old man as your starting point, and test Zhu Chang'an's past a little bit."

Zong Xiao twitched the corner of his mouth.

"The tree is shaking."

Ji Yunhu, the only one who was looking for clues, walked for a distance in four directions, southeast, northwest, and found that the sky was getting darker and darker, and he couldn't see anything, even the house behind him and the cherry blossom tree were getting farther and farther away.

He didn't dare to go down alone again, and hurried back.

As soon as I came back, I saw the trunk of the cherry tree shaking.

The cherry blossoms fluttered down and scattered all over the ground.

"There is no trace of chopping on the tree, someone is hitting the tree..."

They circled the tree, and just as Ji Yunhu was halfway through his conclusion, the cherry tree suddenly trembled violently.

In the next second, there was an extremely deep knife mark on the thick trunk of the cherry blossom tree, but the knife mark was vertical.

It didn't seem like he was about to cut down a tree, but more like he was about to cut something else and fell on a tree by mistake.

Everyone hadn't expressed any opinion on this, and then there was an extra claw mark on the trunk not far from the knife mark.

It has the same length and depth as a knife mark.

"The depth and length of the knife marks are beyond what ordinary knives can make. There is an ax in the kitchen on the first floor, which should have caused it."

"The ax is placed in the kitchen where anyone can go, so it's not sure whether Goodyear or Xiao Shi made the cut... But the paw print can only be left by Xiao Shi."

"Xiao Shi and Goodyear are fighting here."

Zong Xiao turned on the flashlight, and Zhu Changan used the light to check whether there were other traces on the ground.

"Chang'an, here."

Zong Xiao took Zhu Chang'an's hand and walked aside, the light of the flashlight shone on the blood-stained grass under his feet.

The bloodstains dripping onto the blades of grass were distributed in a disorderly manner, and you could see them almost everywhere you looked around from here, and the bloodstains became heavier and heavier, which also showed that the battle between Xiao Shi and Goodyear was very fierce.

"If Goodyear is the boss, wouldn't Xiao Shi be the only one to handle it? Can he beat it?"

Ji Yunhu was worried and puzzled, "If he fails, we will be trapped here forever... Logically speaking, the dungeon has only started for a while, so the boss shouldn't appear right now..."

Zhu Chang'an's eyes flashed coldly when he heard the words, and he guessed the system's plan from it.

This is to lure them out on purpose, to keep them stuck in the dungeon waiting to die.

If this is the wishful thinking of the system, then the player named Xiao Shi may be in bad luck.

"But we successfully left from the third floor. Does this mean that we still have the opportunity to break through the limitations of this world and return to the real world?"

Lu Bai put his hands on the tree trunk, staring down at the knife marks and claw marks on it.

He suddenly thought of something, and said hastily; "If the ballad we heard reflects the actual situation, then the only thing that matches the lyrics now is the last line, Dad is drunk."

Lu Bai patted the big tree in front of him.

"The second sentence mentioned the cherry tree in the garden. So we were able to leave from the third floor and get here. Because the cherry tree is real!"

"What if we destroy the cherry tree?"

"In this way, the cherry blossom tree will not exist. Will this conflict with the lyrics in the song, and make us divorced from the so-called inner and outer world?"

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