Don't move the old man's bounty

"Just now I clarified the issue of identity, she knows who I am."

When the dishes were served on the table, Jiang Juan expressed his gratitude to the proprietress with a slight smile. He picked up the top layer of marinated quail eggs and put them in Xiao Shi's bowl, but he put down his chopsticks and only took a sip of Coke.

"In front of outsiders without authorization, I raised the relationship between friends with benefits to a higher level. I didn't wrong you."

"How come, I'm just... quite surprised." Xiao Shi lowered his head, a little at a loss, and didn't pick up the round egg for a long time.

Jiang Juan had more than enough heart, but his physical condition really didn't allow it. After smelling the aroma for a long time, he couldn't eat spicy food, so he could only order a bowl of clear water noodles, and ate it tastelessly.

The two ate for a while, Jiang Juan coughed twice, kicked Xiao Shi under the table, "I have something to tell you."

"You said."

"Eat yours, don't stop." Jiang Juan put another shiitake mushroom in his bowl, propped his chin and looked at the man's eating, and suddenly smiled.

Xiao Shi didn't know why, but just looked at him with a smile, and the boulder hanging on his heart showed signs of loosening.

Jiang Juan smiled at him: "Stupid, why do you think you are my boyfriend? The two of us probably never came alone before."

When the two of them got together, they wanted to knock down the roof, how could they be honestly alone at the same dining table.

"The proprietress probably remembered wrongly, you used to come with your brother, right?"

"No." Xiao Shi lowered his eyes and denied.

"Ok?"

"We have never been here together. Your brother can't eat spicy food. He usually doesn't eat these things. He came with you."

Xiao Shi took a sip of water, and took the initiative to talk to the proprietress: "Auntie, how do you know that I am his boyfriend? We used to come together as three people. Can you tell them apart?"

"I can tell the difference. The two brothers have different temperaments, and you can tell it at a glance."

The proprietress wiped her hands with her apron, and said with a smile: "The way you two are fighting together, you look like a young couple, it's so sweet. I also told the old man that there might be something wrong with you two, and he told me not to guess. , said that the younger brother and the handsome boy are just a couple, and they live together every day. Look now, my guess is accurate!"

At this time, the students after class came into the small shop in twos and threes, and the proprietress became busy, so she couldn't care about reminiscing with them.

Jiang Juan still didn't understand, "It's weird, I thought I was a couple with you, and I couldn't figure it out. But it's not important, I brought you here today to let you calm down first, you're too irritable now, so let's go It may not be possible to find anything. Also, I have to tell you about the 'Ghost Realm' in detail, you probably don't know much about hunting games back then, right?"

Xiao Shi had a hard time swallowing, but he couldn't bear Jiang Juan's insistence on picking up food for him, so he could only eat one bite after another, and even choked on two rolls, and said vaguely: "I only know it's a hunting game, Many people were involved, and the victims were of different genders, ages, and identities, ranging from men in their seventies to children as young as three years old, all locked in a place isolated from the outside world and killed each other."

"You can say this, but it's not complete enough. Last year, Xiao Xun and Song Yuzhi were also involved in a hunting game called 'Paradise'. Compared with 'Ghost Field', the links and rules were much simplified, almost only Only 'hunting' remains, and the 'ghost domain' back then was the real 'game'."

Without the protection of the two brothers of the Jiang family, it would be Xiao Shi himself who was pulled into the game. It is unknown whether he can sit here now, but now he himself knows nothing about it, which makes him feel even worse. feel bad.

Jiang Juan acted as if he hadn't noticed his reaction, and put another vegetable roll into his bowl, "Eat, don't stop."

Xiao Shi felt that he was probably taking revenge on himself for always force-feeding him during the days when he was lying in bed.

Jiang Juan rubbed his hands that were blue from the cold until they turned red, Xiao Shi moved to his side when he saw this, and held his hands between his legs to warm them.

Jiang Juan lowered his voice a bit, avoided the students around him, and continued: "According to incomplete statistics, the number of people who were dragged into the 'ghost domain' was more than 130, including the remains of the victims found later, and the testimonies of other participants There are only 78 people who have not been identified, but the number of real players is only 78. The number 12 corresponds to the Tarot cards. The faces are different, and the roles they play are also different. What my brother got was the No.[-] card in the Major Arcana, the Hanged Man."

He took out a Tarot card that was kept in a sealed bag from his wallet, and he could see that the card had been soaked in blood, dried up and blackened, and the original color could hardly be discerned. The paint on it had been stained with blood, and it was blurry and lumpy. This was actually a hand-painted card.

On the card is a young male with a halo on his head, naked, with only white gauze wrapped around his waist and hips, and he is nailed upside down on the cross in an inverse cross manner.

Although he was undergoing a rather painful punishment, the face of the victim did not show a distorted expression because of the pain, but instead showed a kind of compassion like a voluntary sacrifice.

The man is bound by chains and exposed to the sun, but in the background of the scorching sun, there is darkness and emptiness. The ground grows thorny vines and gorgeous red roses nourished by blood, and each stamen holds a A rotten skull, and a black snake poked its head out from the sea of ​​flowers, its eyes glistened with blood, and leaned in front of the man, spitting out a letter to confirm his breath, as if wanting to die with that man He swallowed it in one gulp, as if he wanted to give him a gentle kiss at the last moment of his life.

In short, the picture presents an extreme contrast between light and darkness, vitality and death, which has a strange romance.

"I heard that Western magic sticks don't just buy a set of cards online. They will hand-paint Tarot cards to inject their own mana, and some mages will use their own blood to raise the cards. It sounds very good. Every master Everyone has a different understanding of the Tarot cards, so the drawn cards may not be the same, and the results of the calculations are also different, and some of them have the difference of upright and reverse, is that so?"

Xiao Shi felt a little unwell, and he ate too much, and now he felt a little disgusted looking at the pattern on the card.

"Probably. In short, this set of tarot cards is specially made, and the police can't trace its source. This also makes the investigation very difficult. So far, it has not been found out who designed the game system, and the screening of these identities are different. Players joined it, and even the NPC who enforced the rules didn't catch a living one."

"There are NPCs?!" Xiao Shi said in surprise, "Then their identities..."

"It can't be found out, they are all dead beyond recognition, valid information such as fingerprints cannot be extracted, and there is no DNA comparison result, or there is no corpse left. According to the survivors, each of the more than 70 players has to play the role of Tarot. The characters on the cards, the 22 players who got the Major Arcana are the main characters, possessing the skills given by the cards, which may be positive or negative.”

Jiang Juan took two sips of Coke to relax, and continued: "Besides, there is a difference between the identity of the hunter and the prey. The hunter can be promoted by catching the prey, but it is also bound by the rules. The hunter can hunt Killing the prey can also be killed by the prey, and other hunters cannot be accidentally injured. Low-level prey cannot have any aggressive behavior, and high-level prey cannot take the initiative to attack, but they can counterattack, and the damage to the hunter can double the score. According to the severity of the consequences of the behavior, They have a strict system of rewards and punishments, and it's a matter of life and death."

Xiao Shi choked on a drink of water, and the loud voice attracted the attention of the surrounding students, so he could only cover his mouth and cough for a while.

Jiang Juan patted him on the back, "It's not possible."

"...What about the other players?" Xiao Shi asked with a blushing face, "Aside from these 70 people, aren't there dozens of players?"

"They are not players, they are 'livestock'. Just like those mobs in the game who can't fight back, you can get experience and low-level props by killing them. They are not even players or NPCs, and the purpose of their existence is to be killed by others , Score points for other players, so most of them are children who have no ability to resist."

"Damn it! It's so fucking inhuman!"

If Xiao Shi just felt nauseous just now, he might spit it out by opening his mouth now, "It's too bloody, I'm a little..."

"I will definitely vomit. I also vomited a few times when I saw that hunting ground, but I didn't expect you to have such a poor mental quality. You can't stand it just by listening to it."

Xiao Shi thought in his heart that he just stuffed himself with food just now, maybe he is waiting here for him, why did this person learn badly?

"So... the children your brother saved back then were those..."

Xiao Shi really couldn't say that word.

"Most of them should be, but the one who betrayed him is not sure. I think he is like a 'hunter'."

"Don't the players know each other's identities?"

"Of course, all players can choose whether to disclose their identities and roles, otherwise the game will not be playable, and entering the arena will be a chaotic battle. I think the spectators behind the scenes should not have created the system to see such a situation."

Jiang Juan finished his last sip of Coke and looked out the window.

"The players participating in the game include some marginalized people, but they haven't found anyone who has a real record of murder. They have to kill others in order to survive, and they have to go through a long psychological struggle. In this process, the evil of human nature It will be shown without reservation."

"Then can't we just do nothing and wait for the police to rescue us?"

Jiang Juan shook his head regretfully, "It can't be done, the system has an execution mechanism, if the number of players in the field exceeds the maximum number requirement at midnight of the day, the execution mode will be automatically triggered, and the system will randomly select players to execute until the number of players is less than or equal to the maximum number Requirements. How many people can withstand the psychological pressure when they don't know whether they will survive until tomorrow?"

He picked up the tarot cards with a wry smile. The old blood on the cards was so glaring that it hurt from his eyes to his heart.

"...Only that silly brother."

The small shop was full of students after class, joking with each other, discussing recent topics and gossip in full swing, only they had a dignified atmosphere and seemed out of place.

The hustle and bustle made Jiang Juan uncomfortable, so he put away his cards and planned to go back. At this moment, an enthusiastic student at the next table poked his head over, "Brother, how old are you? I don't think I've seen you before."

Jiang Juan was a little embarrassed. Although the name "Senior Brother" was correct, "Brother" was a bit exaggerated.

Xiao Shi didn't hold back, and laughed out loud, "Your brother is from the Department of Police Command and Tactics, but he may be a little behind you!"

The student scratched his head and smiled, "Brother has already graduated. I thought you were still in school and wanted to ask about the subject. Our professor is notoriously strict. I am worried about failing the course. I want to come to Find an experienced brother to learn from, if you are in the Department of Police Command and Tactics, you may have taken his class."

"Which teacher is it? I may still have an impression."

"It's Professor Wen Sinanwen!"