Ten Days End

I don't know if I'm not good at talking to people, or if Zhang Qiang is just like me. We've met many times, but it was very difficult for us to communicate properly for the first time.

"Aren't you going to play games?" Zhang Qiang asked again.

"Yes." I nodded. "The difficulty of "human-level" games is low and the rewards are low, while "earth-level" games are very strange. Even if the rules sound easy, they always cause casualties. I suspect there are some hidden rules that need to be known after entering the game, which is also the root cause of the death of "participants". "

"Yes." Zhang Qiang agreed, "I'm not a smart person, and I can't participate in those "earth-level" games alone, but I can't find a suitable teammate. After all, there are too many stupid people in our room."

After we finished talking, we couldn't help but look at each other, and I seemed to know what he was thinking.

"Brother Qiang, do you want to team up with me?" I asked, "Although I don't know if I can earn 3,600 "Dao", it's better than nothing, right? "

"No..." Zhang Qiang thought for a while and said, "If you really want to collect the "Tao", I suggest trying another method."

"What method?" I asked.

Zhang Qiang paused and said, "It's been three reincarnations, right...? Every time we die, we will come back here again."

"Yes."

"Come with me."

Zhang Qiang took me around and came to an alley. He squatted in a very hidden corner, and then reached out to wipe a brick near the ground.

I followed him with some confusion, standing behind him and looking in front of him.

I saw a fresh mark on the brick - "ZQ".

"Look." Zhang Qiang said, "This is the word I carved in my last reincarnation."

"Oh...?"

Seeing this scene, I instantly figured out something.

It turns out that people can reincarnate here, but the time of this city is not paused... It is always rushing forward.

I find it hard to understand this concept. Maybe it's like the production principle of old cartoons... can characters move on a static background?

No... we are obviously static people, but we are moving in a flowing field.

We are misled by "people". It's not that time will start again when "people" start over.

"Zhichun." Zhang Qiang looked at the marks on the wall and said to me in a deep voice, "You are a smart person, you should have thought of it... We just got the "echo" and saved our memories, but it doesn't mean we just came here. Maybe we have been reincarnated here for several months. "

I nodded: "Yes, and... if time can flow, it means that this city may not be what it is now."

"The appearance of the city is not important, and we can't interfere with these supernatural things." Zhang Qiang said, "Let me ask you... if there are other powerful "participants" who have already started collecting "Tao", but there is a strange phenomenon in this place, that is, people who live to the tenth day will be annihilated no matter what, then... what should those powerful people who have collected "Tao" do? How can they ensure that the fruits of their labor do not disappear? "

I thought about Zhang Qiang's question carefully and soon came up with the answer.

"Will they hide the "Tao" before annihilation?"

"Yes." Zhang Qiang nodded, "You are really smart, that Aries is right, neither you nor I can disappear from the room."

"I understand what you mean..." Yan Zhichun said, "So you have never participated in the game..."

"That's right, Zhichun." Zhang Qiang turned his head and looked at me, saying, "Since we are all collecting "Tao", since there are 3,600 of them... we can completely not participate in the game, but try to become "thieves", what do you think?"

"Thieves..." I slowly lowered my head after hearing this, "That's right... We just need to steal the "Tao" hidden by those people... Then we can leave."

"It's hard to say whether we can leave." Zhang Qiang shook his head, "But this way will be safer. Not only can we avoid contact with other people, but we can also avoid fatal games, so I want to find someone to try it together. "

After saying that, he stood up, blocked the letters on the corner with a stone, and then turned back to me and said, "Everyone who comes here is guilty, right? I was originally a thief, what about you?"

"I..." I stared at Zhang Qiang's eyes and thought carefully for a long time, and said, "It's not convenient for me to talk about it."

"It doesn't matter if it's inconvenient." Zhang Qiang said, "I see that you are not very sociable like me, and I can probably guess it. Do you want to cooperate with me?"To be honest, I was a little inconsiderate.

Because I know I am not a bad person, so I subconsciously think that the people here are not bad.

But I was wrong, Zhang Qiang is a habitual burglar.

I once heard a saying... All burglars carry weapons.

Although they are "stealing", if the owner suddenly returns home during the theft, they will turn into murderers.

Each of them is stealing with the intention of killing, and they are not "the same kind" as me.

But I can't tell them here that I am not "the same kind", otherwise the situation will be more dangerous.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Qiang interrupted my thoughts, "It doesn't matter if you don't want to cooperate, I can do it myself, but I feel that you are a smart person and can take care of each other."

After thinking for a few seconds, I smiled and said, "I am willing to cooperate, let's do it together."

"Have you figured it out?" Zhang Qiang asked.

"Yeah." I nodded, "This is the "hedgehog theory". Hedgehogs will hug each other for warmth when it is cold, but they must also keep a distance to avoid hurting each other. We are like these two hedgehogs. "

"I didn't realize you were a cultured person." Zhang Qiang nodded, "Then let's do it."

Think about it carefully, when did I start to doubt the entire "Land of the End"?

It should be on this day.

Twelve years ago, on the day when I decided to become a "thief" with Zhang Qiang.

Do you know that we spent a full ten days... How many "Tao"s were hidden by people?

One.

Since this place is no different from the real world, people go out during the day and rest in buildings at night, so we can only choose to act during the day to avoid sight.

The two of us walked through all the hidden corners in the city. We even climbed up the building that was about to collapse and went into the sewer that had been abandoned for many years.

Zhang Qiang, with his professional experience, led me to find one place after another suitable for hiding items.

But all the corners were empty. We could even find anything, but we couldn't find the "Tao".

The only "Tao" fell into a deep crack in the broken ground. Zhang Qiang used two wooden sticks as chopsticks to pick it out.

It was very strange... This "Tao" didn't seem to be hidden here, but rather it seemed to have fallen here.