17. Chapter 17
Zong Jiu's attitude was very sincere. Not only that, he also took the initiative to tell the old people about the clue about the S-level props.
Although he said that the S-level props had been taken away by Zhuge An, it was still a clue, wasn't it? Now the others had a different attitude towards Zong Jiu, and they also tacitly accepted his joining.
After Zong Jiu's matter was resolved, the command level headed by Messiah quickly decided not to return to the ward tonight, but to skip the ward rounds and go to the underground second floor for exploration.
Before the plan was finalized, the voices of others were suppressed.
But in the end, this plan was not safe enough. Many clues were introduced by He Jianlan and Messiah following the clues of the attitudes of the medical staff in the mental hospital.
After the plan was set, although He Jianlan and others had suppressed it for a while, there were still a few newcomers in the restaurant whispering.
Under the pressure of the old trainees, the newcomers who were more active in their minds formed several small groups. Some of these small groups follow the old people's lead and lick their hands; some make their own decisions and want to take advantage of everything.
The new group that is talking now is the one who wants to take advantage. They are unwilling to follow the Messiah and take risks, so now they are making small calculations.
"It's already half past ten. If we go down to the second floor now, isn't it too late..."
As we all know, in the horror dungeon, night is definitely an eternal theme that cannot be avoided.
Generally speaking, the probability of horror happening at night is much greater than that during the day, and it is also much more terrifying, which makes people daunted.
"With so many of us, can Lord Saint really take care of us? And didn't you say that the second floor below ground is not a good place? Why do you still want to go there?"
"Yes... and in this situation, the ward is the safest, right? There are newcomers here who have taken medicine and can't leave for a while."
Messiah frowned: "If you really don't want to go, I won't force you."
"But according to our experience as senior survivors, the probability of something going wrong tonight is indeed very high. The third day must be the watershed of this dungeon. I don't recommend everyone to act alone."
The newcomers in the small group dragged their feet and hesitated to express their opinions.
"Let's do this."
The blond Saint relaxed his brows and didn't force it. "Those who are willing to go down to the second floor below ground with me, we will meet at the stairwell leading to the second floor below ground in ten minutes. If you don't want to go with me, I will also give a blessing to each of the people who stay behind."
The newcomers nodded hurriedly, their brows were full of joy.
Even the old people know that the blessing of the Son of God is equivalent to an extra one-time special prop, and its preciousness is self-evident.
The other people who originally agreed to go down to the second floor are also a little shaken, including some low-level old people.
"Why don't we stay in the ward."
The old man frowned quietly, "Anyway, it's only the second day, and the Messiah will come up again. Why do we have to take risks? We can still enjoy the fruits of our labor in the ward."
"That's right. The difficulty of this dungeon is infinitely close to S-level... It's good enough for us to survive, who would care about that little dangerous challenge."
Originally, these survivors in the middle level signed up for the generous rewards of the horror trainee competition, and they were full of confidence at the beginning of the first dungeon. As a result, they are all scared now.
The newcomers don't know what the S-level dungeon means, but the old man knows it very well, and now the idea of retreating is getting stronger and stronger.
Zong Jiu stood aside and watched coldly.
A sudden time acceleration exposed the shortcomings of this temporary team centered on the Son of God.
"Brother Jiu, you are so amazing. You easily cleared us of suspicion."
Sheng Yu chirped on the side, "What should we do now? Should we follow the Son of God to the underground second floor?"
"What else?"
Zong Jiu asked him, "Are you afraid?"
"A little bit." The high school student scratched his head, "But if Brother Jiu is not afraid, then I am not afraid either."
Of course you are not afraid, otherwise you would be so skilled in the whole process of killing and disposing of bodies.
Zong Jiu said perfunctorily: "Then let's go down together. It's death anyway. There are so many people. If we really die, we can be buried together. We won't be alone."
Others: "..."
[2333333 I am dying of laughter. I find this white-haired guy so interesting. When he doesn't talk, he looks like a beautiful woman in a painting. When he talks, his expression is very serious, but why is he so funny?]
[I want to say this too. He really likes to choke people to death. He asked Zhuge Liang who Zhuge Liang was before. I was thinking that he made up a name to fool people. No. 3]
[Alas, I will go to the second floor below ground soon. I don't know if this E-level can be saved until the end]
What no one knew was that after Zhuge An left, the number of people online in Zong Jiu's personal live broadcast room soared to the second place like a rocket, just below the S-level Messiah. For a newcomer with no foundation, this was really incredible.
After the finalization, everyone did not delay, and those who went to the stairwell went to the stairwell, and those who returned to the ward prepared to rest.
Taking advantage of these ten minutes, Zong Jiu watched Messiah take out the high priest's staff and bless them one by one, while thinking about the clues he got from Zhuge An.
He didn't care about his actions of telling others about the clue.
Because without enough information, other trainees would only be confused. Even Zong Jiu, combined the plot and guesses, and finally figured it out with Zhuge An's improvement.
The clues that Zong Jiu got for free were quite complete.
Zhuge An said that the integer between three and four is just a metaphor and alias, and its real solution represents the key to freely travel between different space and normal space.
As the name implies, this key is not something that can be explained purely from a mathematical perspective.
The x-axis and y-axis form a two-dimensional plane world.
The x-axis, y-axis and z-axis form a three-dimensional world.
The four-dimensional world is a spatial concept that exists in human physics.
Zhuge An learned from the library of the mental hospital that the four-dimensional space-time here is not the four-dimensional space-time in a broad sense, but the space-time conjecture proposed by Minkowski in 1907 using non-Euclidean space, that is, adding a space-time line on the basis of the xyz axis to form a narrow four-dimensional concept.
Humans on Earth live in a three-dimensional world.
People in the three-dimensional world look down on the two-dimensional world, and people in the four-dimensional world look down on the three-dimensional world.
For example, the gods imagined by humans are likely to be high-dimensional beings.
But in reality, dimensions cannot be surpassed, and there is no way to surpass them.
But in the horror copy, everything is possible.
This copy gave them a way to migrate from the three-dimensional to the four-dimensional space-time dimension, so that as long as they get the key between the three and four, they can travel through different times in this space.
Zhuge An told him that the different space is actually the space of this mental hospital thirty years ago.
The military/military/base of this copy was once dedicated to the research of time travel during the war, but an accident occurred in the middle of the research. The confusion of dimensions caused the base thirty years ago to be cut off, and all the researchers in the base became prisoners of time, wandering in the different space with no way out.
Many years later, the mental hospital built on the original site still has a dead-end road to the different space.
The main system actually gave them enough hints a long time ago.
The main task is to "survive in this copy for three days."
In fact, according to Zhuge An's inference, as soon as the midnight bell rings on the third day, all the patients in the mental hospital will be instantly dragged into the different space, which is equivalent to throwing fat meat into the cage of the beast.
The key originally has the power of time travel. As long as you get the key, you can achieve a perfect clearance by adjusting the time node a few days later. If you foolishly delay until the third day according to the main task, the trainee will only face death.
On the first night, when everyone was sleeping, Zhuge An was strolling at night with the Bagua plate.
On the second day, when Messiah and the others were still struggling to find the next clue, Zhuge An had already figured out the core of this copy.
Zong Jiu knew the ciphertext "pnpso" and knew that the password was the Virginia cipher encryption method. With Zhuge An's hint, what the key was was almost revealed.
Just like an exam, while others were scratching their heads to find the answer, Zong Jiu had already copied the correct answer from the god of learning.
Zong Jiu felt from the bottom of his heart that he should applaud Zhuge An, so he took the blame for him and regarded it as a gift.
If he wanted, he could now read the key and become the second person to pass the level without any effort. There was no need to follow Messiah and the others to explore the negative second floor.
But he guessed that Zhuge An should not have gone to get the S-level props in this copy. At that time, the other party was obviously in a hurry, and the reason for the urgency was very likely related to the "prophecy" he mentioned.
Zong Jiu didn't care what the prophecy was, anyway, he didn't believe it.
What he cared about was how to complete more dangerous challenges, get more survival points, and then see if he could steal and take away the S-level props.
Before he got the key, Zong Jiu was so extravagant, now that he got the key, what else can he do? !
That's naturally pretentious!
Go! What destined mortal enemy, did Zong Jiu care about it? !
If you don't commit suicide, you will die! If you don't like excitement, you are not a man! If you don't even dare to challenge dangerous places, you are not a magician!
Find the traitor, earn survival points, and go to work!
The group stood at the entrance of the stairwell on the negative first floor.
It was as dark as ever down there, and I couldn't see the road at all. Even the stairs only had a barely discernible outline under the light.
"Sir, I got the lamp!"
Just as everyone was waiting, He Jianlan hurried over from the other end of the corridor, holding a lamp in his hand.
Zong Jiu took a closer look and found that it was the lamp that the head nurse was holding when she was making rounds with the nurses. On the first day, Zong Jiu saw her carrying the lamp to the second floor below ground. He Jianlan was able to get it now, most likely he stole it by unknown means.
"It's good to get it."
The blond son of God took a long breath and lifted the wooden stick from the newcomer's shoulder. The latter felt a warm current coming from his body, and a golden mark appeared on the back of his hand.
"This blessing is a one-time shield that can resist one damage."
Messiah rubbed his temple tiredly, "We don't have much time, let's go."
After walking forward for ten hours inexplicably, the flow of time became obviously abnormal.
They have decided not to return to the ward now, and it will be considered a night tour after the rounds. On weekdays, they could not see anyone no matter how they wandered around the mental hospital. At night, the patrols of medical staff became more frequent. If they were caught, they would be dead.
Everyone looked at the dark stairs on the second floor below ground and took a deep breath.
"I'll take the lead." Qin Ye said.
He clenched his palm upward. Everyone was shocked to find that the tip of his nails began to be dyed with sharp and deep black, and the hair turned cement gray. This arm completed the transformation from human to beast.
The blessing of the werewolf can make the body of the blessed human partly transformed into a werewolf, which is also Qin Ye's trump card.
The others quickly found their positions.
As a treatment, Messiah was firmly protected in the center. On his left hand was the psychic Meng Tianlu, and on his right hand was He Jianlan holding a knotted lasso.
Zong Jiu and Sheng Yu were at the edge of the team, and their positions were not too far behind.
The other trainees who planned to stay in the ward on the first floor below ground also looked at them, intending to watch them go to the corner of the stairs and then go back.
At this moment, a series of footsteps suddenly came from the stairs.
A sharp and cold female voice came from above, "Okay, you not only stole the lights of the hospital, but also gathered together for a night out?"
The trainees looked up in shock.
At that moment just now, the hour hand, which had not yet reached eleven o'clock, moved forward one more time and stopped steadily at twelve.
Cold and fear climbed up their backs like a tide.
It was no longer the second day, it was the third day!
The third day that was like hell and opened the ultimate horror!
[Fuck! ! I was scared to death! ! ]
[My God, this head nurse's face was really pale like a ghost. I almost flew out of my soul when I saw it at first glance]
[Fuck, time has accelerated again. It's already the third day. It's over. Why haven't they found any clues yet? I'm so anxious. At this pace, I really feel that the whole team will be wiped out]
In this situation, no one cared about the formation at all. They were so scared that they ran away.
Several people were so scared that they turned back and ran to the ward on the underground first floor. As soon as they rushed in, they heard the sound of the door being locked.
The mental hospital would lock the door at night. Once the rounds were over, the nurse would lock the door and they would not be able to leave the ward for the whole night.
Jiang Yuan angrily hammered the door, "Let me out!"
However, the face of the nurse outside the door was just a sinister smile, and she threw the key into her mouth and swallowed it in one gulp.
Her open mouth was only an inch away from the glass door, as if teasing her prey, and she would break through the window in the next second.
That was not a human mouth at all, but a bloody mouth full of fangs, covered with scarlet and sticky blood plasma.
Jiang Yuan was so scared that he took two steps back, and almost at the fastest speed, he took out his special props from the system backpack and pasted a cinnabar talisman on the glass door.
"Swish, swish--"
The moment the cinnabar talisman was pasted, a fire broke out from the corner and began to spontaneously combust.
The spontaneous combustion of the cinnabar talisman meant that the thing outside was definitely not a kind person, but a kind of extremely yin existence.
This talisman was a disposable prop, and Jiang Yuan didn't have many of them, so he always used them sparingly.
But he didn't feel bad, nothing was more important than life.
Jiang Yuan looked at the face outside the glass door that was burned and peeled, screaming and smoking away, and a burst of pleasure surged in his heart.
"Damn, this ghost woman!"
His back was almost soaked with cold sweat, and when he came to his senses, he found that his legs were weak and he couldn't stand up at all.
After half a minute of rest, Jiang Yuan climbed up from the ground again.
The lights on the underground first floor were dim, and the visibility in the corridor outside was limited. Nothing could be seen at all. It was as quiet as entering a grave.
The nurse just locked the door, which meant that Jiang Yuan could only stay alone in the ward for one night.
He retracted his gaze vigilantly and looked back again.
The ward was also dark.
Jiang Yuan leaned against the wall, always paying attention to any movement nearby.
Logically speaking, after burning a talisman, no existence with heavy yin energy will actively approach this ward for a certain period of time.
But Jiang Yuan still remembered that this was a copy with difficulty close to S level.
The higher the difficulty level, the shorter the safe time. Although he was only C level, he was also an old survivor and would not fail in such details.
So Jiang Yuan continued to pay attention to the movements around him, taking out his last talisman from his backpack with his left hand, and groping for the light switch on the wall with his right hand.
In the darkness, he felt another extremely cold hand on the switch.
####
There were still few people like Jiang Yuan who turned around and ran back to the underground first floor.
More people followed the large group and rushed into the stairwell on the underground second floor without looking back.
"Dong, dong, dong——"
The iron plates on the stairs were stepped on by them and made a sound, echoing in the entire dark stairwell, and it was impossible to tell where was where.
Under the dim illumination of the oil lamp, the darkness of the underground second floor was pushed away.
Rusty iron plates, peeling walls, damp and moldy dripping corners, and moss filling the gaps.
On both sides of the corridor are a row of rooms that seem to have no end. Except for the doors that are much more dilapidated, at first glance, there is no difference from the underground first floor. If there is a difference, it may be the body on the ground that is torn into pieces in the dried blood.
In a panic, the shaky oil lamp was hit by someone, and it fell down and shattered on the ground without paying attention.
Suddenly, the whole scene fell into a dark darkness again, which was a terrifying coincidence.
Messiah made a quick decision: "Run separately, don't get caught!"
In the dark, no one knew who was who. You bumped into me, I pushed you, and stumbled to find a hiding place.
In order not to be caught, everyone started to run wildly.
Compared to the others, Zong Jiu, who had the key to pass the level, was very leisurely. Not only did he have the energy to turn left and right to get rid of Sheng Yu, he also calmly picked a ward and went in, squatting behind the door to look at the situation outside.
After about a few dozen seconds, the footsteps gradually subsided.
Instead, there was the strange dragging sound that Zong Jiu and Zhuge An heard in the toilet that day.
They were transferred to a different space, to this time and space exile that was forever fixed thirty years ago.
The darkness surged like a tide, and the dragging sound rubbed against the uneven concrete floor and sounded in the broken corridor outside.
Most of the trainees hid, and the corridor returned to peace again.
Occasionally, the footsteps would stop, and usually a different sound would be heard the next moment.
Every unique sound was evidence that a person was found.
The sound of a head being cut off and rolling to the ground, a short and painful scream, and the loud sound of fresh blood spraying instantly.
Listening to the sounds outside, it seems that there are still old people who want to break through the siege and rush upstairs.
Only Zong Jiu squatted by the door calmly, watching the show happily.
He thought, he should know who the remaining traitor is.
In the first two days in the mental hospital, only those who were alone would be dragged into the different space and realize the root of this copy. In this case, if everyone came to the second floor to explore in advance, it would not be a bad way to solve the problem.
Unfortunately, everyone, under the leadership of that person, chose to stick together until the last day, thus missing this biggest information. So they had to wait until the last day, when it was the most dangerous time to go downstairs.
Not to mention, they missed countless key clues under intentional or unintentional hints.
From the beginning, they pointed everyone to a clear path to the "wrong" path, misleading and vague information, and playing with everyone with their own prestige and persuasiveness.
How clever that person is, so clever that he doesn't even fight directly, and just uses a few words to be a good person to the extreme, and easily makes everyone beg for mercy and be grateful.
How interesting, in fact, he is the manipulator in secret, fooling everyone.
The person who seems the most unlikely and no one has ever doubted is the most suspicious person.
If Zong Jiu is the Messiah, he must be laughing in his heart now.
Look, what stupid people these are, so pitiful that it makes people laugh.
"Dong, Dong, Dong."
The footsteps in the corridor are getting closer, and it seems that it is only a few steps away from the dormitory where Zong Jiu is now. Every step is like the frequency of the heart.
The white-haired young man squatted on the ground and stretched leisurely.
The random task was completed, and several dangerous challenges were completed after coming to the negative second floor. It's time for him to go.
Just as he yawned and wanted to read the key-
The raised wrist suddenly touched a cold and hard watch.
Zong Jiu raised his head suddenly, and just happened to look into the interested eyes behind the gold-rimmed glasses above his head.
"Wow, look what I caught?"
The man's voice was deep, like boiling milk melting into a brewed Darjeeling tea, rich and full of mystery.
"Hmm? A disobedient kitten that violated the rules and went out at night?"
A tingling pain came from his neck, and the choking smell of disinfectant enveloped Zong Jiu's body.
Unexpectedly, before he entered this narrow room, the doctor in a white coat had already stood here, waiting leisurely.
The white-haired young man tried to open his eyes, but he could only see an increasingly blurred vision.
Before he passed out, his last thought was -
Damn it. The boat capsized.