Infinite Weird Game

After Qi Si pried open the door on the second floor of the mansion, it was left ajar and could be opened with a push.

Tang Yu and Lin Chen walked into the room of Luo Haihua and his wife one by one. After reading the pages full of words on the bedside table, their faces looked unhappy.

Qi Si stood aside calmly, and asked knowingly: "Tang Yu, Lin Ya, did you see anything?"

Tang Yu said: "According to the content above, the clues of the two earliest military letters and one travel diary in our room have been connected."

He paused, recalling, "When foreign tribes invaded, the army retreated to Yanghua Town, and after losing the town, they drove away the people and burned the town's resources.

"The obsession of the wronged souls turned into an illusion in the town, a place similar to the Peach Blossom Spring that could capture people's souls. This is probably the world view background of this dungeon."

He stopped talking, and Lin Chen continued, "The current Mr. Meng in Yanghua Town should be the General Meng who defended the city back then...

"He burned down the town and accidentally injured the townspeople when he was alive, and he still ruled them after his death, trying to get the tiger's skin. I always feel that he is not a good person."

He expressed an opinion, pointed to a line on the page, and asked if he didn't understand, "By the way, Brother Tang, the person communicating with Teacher Luo and the others claimed to be you. What's going on?"

"This is indeed my handwriting, and the wording is consistent with mine." Tang Yu looked at the place where Lin Chen pointed, frowning, "If I had not had any relevant memories, I would have thought that I wrote these down myself..."

"Maybe it was written by you." Qi Si stroked his fingers and said calmly, "Suppose this copy exists in two world lines. In our world line, it is Luo Haihua and his wife who turned into Xiyi; while in the other world line, the facts are completely opposite.

"You and Lin Chen turned into Xiyi, while Luo Haihua and his wife survived. This situation is not completely impossible. After all, before all the relevant clues are found, no one knows the exact answer to the binary question of whether to hold the lantern or not."

Tang Yu shook his head and said, "Impossible. Although there are indeed two parallel copies, the game system is unique. The same player will only have one system panel and cannot control two identities at the same time.

"I can see my system panel, and I believe you can see it too. In other words, the perspective and identity we control now are absolutely the primary one."

Although this information about multiple identity issues is obscure, it is not difficult to understand if you think about it carefully.

In Qis's experience, there are a total of ten of him in the "Dialectical Game" copy, including the main body, but there is only one system interface from beginning to end, which is located in the perspective of his main body; the same is true for the "Double Happiness Town" copy.

Tang Yu picked up the paper and stared at the words on it in a trance: "Since we are the main force, then what exactly is the thing that connects Teacher Luo and the others? From yesterday to now, I haven't picked up a pen, let alone written so many words..."

"Is it possible that it is a different timeline?" Lin Chen raised his hand and made a guess, "Just like what is written on the paper, Mr. Luo and his friends experienced the burning of the fire and went to the future of the real Yanghua Town.

"Because we held onto the lantern, we stayed in Yanghua Town's past. One day in the future, we discovered this and intersected with Mr. Luo's timeline..."

Tang Yu pondered for a moment, still shaking his head: "It's still not right. If that's what you said, there is a paradox: we are now seeing this information on paper, which is equivalent to knowing the future in advance, which will inevitably lead to changes in the timeline.

“But right now, what’s on paper hasn’t changed.”

He held the paper between two fingers, flipped it over and over in the air, and then put it back in place.

The black words on the white page are neither more nor less, neither increased nor decreased, and the information conveyed is the same as before.

Lin Chen also picked up a piece of paper and read it carefully: "Could it be that because we were all staring at this piece of paper, it got stuck and didn't change? Maybe when we turned around and looked back, it would change?"

"I'm curious about how you've survived until now. Do you think this is Schrödinger's cat?" Tang Yu complained, but he and Lin Chen put the paper back on the bedside table. They turned their backs to the bedside table at the same time, and looked back at the paper at the same time.

The black and white words were just there, nothing had changed.

Qi Si stood quietly by, looking down at his fingers.

In the helpless silence, he suddenly smiled strangely: "It's still the original question. How can you be sure that those invisible entities in this instance have some kind of connection with the players, and are not NPCs that have already existed in the instance?

"And how can we determine that Mr. Luo and the others are not images fabricated by the copies, but are actually the real people? Before the new questions we raise are answered, everything is unknown, right?"

Tang Yu raised his eyes to look at Qi Si, frowned and said: "Are you trying to say that those words were written by NPCs pretending to be us? But I have never written a word in this copy, how can they know my word usage habits?"

"Have you ever written in other copies?" Qi Si lowered his eyes and didn't look at him, "Even if not, you have written in reality, right?
"Everything that exists must leave traces. I remember that AI technology in reality can simulate an individual through the traces he or she left on the Internet. Why do you think that a weird game that can absorb our souls into a copy can't do this?"

Tang Yu was silent for a while, then changed the subject: "Have you looked at the other two rooms? Let's go check them out, maybe there are other clues."

Qi Si nodded, walked out of the room, and opened the doors of the remaining two rooms in the same way.

The scenes behind the two doors were almost the same, both were empty.

Two wooden beds were placed safely, one by the door and the other by the window. The beds and bedding were clean and tidy, without any trace of human presence.

The bedside table was placed in the middle of the wooden bed. It was empty from top to bottom, no papers, nothing at all.

"There is no lantern." Lin Chen blurted out.

He thought of something and continued in a low voice: "There are no lanterns in the three rooms of the mansion in the east of the town. The lanterns we brought in from outside the town are either in our hands or in the west of the town.

"It is said in the Netherworld Record that lanterns are used to guide the way. Without lanterns, it is very likely that you will never find your way back, which means you will never be able to leave Yanghua Town.

"Teacher Luo and his team's mission is to leave Yanghua Town, but their lanterns have all fallen over, and there doesn't seem to be a place in the town that sells lanterns..."

"Not necessarily." Qi Si stood with his arms folded, his eyes dim, "We currently have four lanterns, which can take four people out of town. We still have some time to clear the dungeon, so it's impossible for all of us to survive. As long as two more people die, the lanterns will be enough."

Lin Chen and Tang Yu looked at each other.

Although what you said is not wrong, you can't say it directly in public... Isn't this too much like a massacre of players?
The atmosphere suddenly became weird, and no one responded for a long time.

Lin Chen thought Qi Si was just telling a hell of a joke, but Tang Yu quickly thought of something deeper.

If it is true as it is said in "Records of the Underworld" that one must carry a lantern to leave the town, then those who lose their lanterns must steal other people's lanterns in order to survive.

Although Luo Haihua and his wife appear to be kind, simple and pure, at the critical moment of life and death, who can remain calm and face death?
It is human nature to struggle for survival, and anyone may do anything to survive.

With limited chances of survival, the “team” is already defunct in name only.

Qi Si took in the expressions of Lin Chen and Tang Yu, his face remaining calm and composed, as if someone else had just made the outrageous and alarmist remarks.

He brushed his sleeves, turned around and walked out the door, stood on the corridor on the second floor, held the railing and looked down.

"You two, we have been delayed here for some time. It is time to go back. Otherwise, people will get impatient waiting for us."

As if to confirm his words, a familiar voice sounded downstairs: "Are you brothers upstairs? It's almost time. I'll take you to see Master Meng. Don't keep him waiting for too long."

The person who came was the scholar, and his tone was full of reproach, as if he was blaming the players for procrastinating.

"Okay, we're coming down!" Tang Yu stretched his neck to respond, and led the way down the stairs.

Up to now, the players have accumulated many questions. Perhaps they really need to meet the legendary "Master Meng" to get the answers.

The three players came down to the first floor one after another, following the scholar. The scene was strangely similar to that in the morning, giving people the illusion of reappearing in the past. The scholar was dressed in a blue shirt, with a mechanical smile on his pale face and dark eyes.

He faced the players and said in a serious tone: "Before meeting Master Meng, please remember a few points: First, Master Meng will never harm the townspeople..."

……

"Master Meng will never hurt us..."

In the alley at the end of the lane, a little boy in white clothes sat on a stool made of bluestone. Two black eyes on his pale face stared at Qiu Xin without blinking.

After leaving the residence, Qiu Xin never thought of going back.

She searched for a place to stay and finally found an empty house at the end of the alley. It was said that the old widower living in the house was killed by a ghost, so the house was vacated.

Qiu Xin knew that he was a ghost and there was nothing to be afraid of, so he tidied up a little and moved into the house.

The kid from the neighboring house spotted her and looked very curious. She noticed this and thought she could just find an NPC to get some clues out of him, so she used a piece of candy to lead the kid to the end of the alley.

Well, this young NPC doesn’t seem to have strong combat power, but even if something unexpected happens, she can solve it with her stock of items.

"Mr. Meng serves the country and the people and will never harm the people. This is the rule my grandma taught me." The little boy spoke in a serious and serious tone, just like a little adult.

Qiu Xin never believed that officials would have any good things, but a smile appeared on the corner of his lips, as if he was convinced by the boy's words, and he asked patiently: "Little brother, can you tell me what the rules are?

"If you become accomplices, won't Master Meng harm you?"

The little boy tilted his head to look at Qiu Xin, and said with a smile: "Master Meng said that any evildoers who sneak into the town will be punished. If we find any evildoers, we won't trouble Master Meng."

"Oh? Then what will you do?" Qiu Xin asked curiously.

"We will take the ghosts to look at the mirror!" The little boy clapped his hands excitedly. "There is a very big mirror in our town. The ghosts will be scared to death when they see the mirror!"

Mirror? Scared to death? What the hell is going on?
Qiu Xin was confused and asked with a fake smile: "If the mirror is so powerful, why are there still accomplices among you?

"If each of you looks in the mirror once, won't you be able to kill all the minions?"

The little boy kept shaking his head: "No, only people who can read can look into the mirror. Every time we find a ghost, we have to hand it over to those gentlemen who can read and let them take the ghost to look into the mirror."

Qiu Xin guessed that Mr. Meng didn't let every townsperson look in the mirror because he knew that most of the townspeople were not human and he didn't want to alert the enemy.

As for "literate people"... the first thing that popped into Qiu Xin's mind was the image of a scholar.

The scholar is probably a special existence in this copy. He is not only responsible for receiving players and informing them of the rules, but he probably also knows a lot of secrets.

When I have the chance in the future, maybe I can ask him again.

Qiu Xin suppressed his messy thoughts, looked at the boy, and continued to ask: "The ghosts are dealt with by you townspeople, so what does Mr. Meng do? I see you all seem to respect him very much."

"Of course we have to respect Master Meng." The little boy gestured and said, "Master Meng is the pillar of our country. If it weren't for him, we would have died in the war.

"It was Master Meng who led us to this great place. There is no war and no bandits. Except for being careful of the ghosts, we can live in peace and stability at other times.

"As long as we are not killed by the minions, we can live forever, without getting hurt or dying."

"Live forever?" Qiu Xin looked at the little boy's bright smiling face and frowned slightly.

In real life, she was interning in a hospital and had seen too many births, aging, illnesses and deaths. Some people gave up treatment due to poverty, and no amount of money could reverse the decline of their bodies. Death is fair to everyone, so most people who come and go have a layer of lifeless sadness on their faces.

Yanghua Town seemed to be completely abandoned by death. Everyone's face was filled with happy smiles, carefree and without any worries. Even when they saw the bodies of their companions, they did not feel extra sorrow and fear, but indifferently and peacefully handed them over to the funeral procession.

But is there really a way to completely get rid of death and pain in the world? Even in the dungeon, in the weird Yanghua Town, this setting is too exaggerated, right?

The little boy said proudly: "We have the protection of the mountain god. It was he who protected us from the disaster, and it was Master Meng who led us to this place protected by him."

Isn’t the mountain god a tiger? Aren’t the minions let in by the tiger?
Qiu Xin listened quietly, and a word suddenly popped up in his mind - "deception".

Someone has deceived most of the townspeople. Who could it be? Is it Mr. Meng?
The boy's expression suddenly changed: "You know nothing! You are from outside!"

He turned and walked away, as if he was looking for someone to inform.

Qiu Xin hurriedly grabbed the boy's collar, held him in his arms, covered his mouth, and argued: "I am a guest invited by your Master Meng. I am not a bad person. Many people know that!"

The little boy seemed not to understand what was being said and bit the back of Qiu Xin's hand.

Although Qiu Xin felt pain, he did not let go.

The child struggled violently and she could hardly hold him down.

There was only one shadow on the smooth ground, looking like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey; it belonged to a child.

Qiu Xin stared at the shadow, his eyes darkened, and he said in a mysterious way: "Little brother, why are you so active? Look at your shadow, you are obviously a ghost, not a human..."

The child stopped struggling. He lowered his head and stared at the shadow on the ground in a daze.

After a long silence, he murmured: "I am a ghost, not a human... I am a ghost..."

This damn kid finally realized his true identity. Fortunately...

We are all accomplices, so we can theoretically cooperate...

Qiu Xin breathed a sigh of relief and loosened his grip on the child.

The child stood still on the ground and slowly turned around.

After seeing Qiu Xin, he let out a shrill scream: "Ghost!"

Qiu Xin was startled and took out a dagger from the prop bar and held it in his hand.

The child stared with his eyes wide open, then fell backwards, hitting the ground with a "bang".

Qiu Xin moved closer and saw that the fear on the child's face had not yet faded, his mouth was slightly open, and he was already silent.

It was like... being frightened to death. (End of this chapter)