36. Chapter 36

While following the guide in the village, Zong Jiu recalled the Tarot Guide in his mind.

Among the twenty-two major arcana, the most ominous one is the sixteenth "Tower".

Compared with the "Tower" that destroys everything and has terrible destructive power whether it is positive or negative, the Death card carries a hint of life. This hint of life can be maximized when the Death card is reversed.

The serial number of the Death card is 13. As we all know, 13 is a very ominous number in the West.

In the Last Supper, Jesus' thirteenth disciple Judas betrayed him for thirty silver coins, which eventually led to Jesus being crucified, so the number 13 has always been equivalent to bad luck in the West, and it also fits the meaning of the Death card.

The Tarot Guide explains in detail the difference between the upright and reversed Death card.

Upright Death card: failure, end.

Reversed Death card: abandon the past, reborn from the ashes, live towards death, miracle.

Zong Jiu's mind revolved around rebirth for a few seconds, and he took the card back as if nothing had happened.

Just at this moment, the team also happened to stop.

"We're here."

The leader, Lao Qiang, stopped in front of a mud house on the side of the road, "Those who just paid for food live here."

Then he pointed from a distance, "Those who haven't paid for food, you live behind that tree."

At the end of the path he pointed to, there was an old locust tree, with yellow leaves hanging on the branches, swaying with the cold wind blowing from the side.

Just behind the lush branches and leaves of the locust tree, an old and gloomy mud house stood tall, with a dark doorway, which made people creepy from a distance.

The trainees were divided into two teams and brought here. Those who paid for dry food looked at those who didn't pay for dry food with pity, and they were very grateful.

Combined with the previous conversation between Wang Shou and Lao Qiang, anyone with a discerning eye could see that there was definitely something wrong with the dilapidated house behind the old locust tree.

The comments were also full of discussion.

[They were all trainees who came in together, but because some people had packages in their ID cards and some did not, there was a huge difference in the beginning. This really depends on the face]

[It really depends on the face +1. To be honest, I think there must be something strange about that broken house. The horror movie law must be used here]

[Come on, buy and leave, and see which trainee who has not paid the grain will be the first to sacrifice to the heaven]

[First exclude Zhuge An, then exclude the magician, and the others can be selected in any combination]

The trainees on the other side were obviously very unbalanced, but they did not dare to say much in front of the villagers holding hoes.

Maybe it was really bad luck. The strength of the group that did not pay the grain was uneven, sparsely populated, and a large area was occupied by newcomers. There was almost a gap in the old people. The highest was only No. 3 Zhuge An, and the next was C level, which was a chicken pecking at each other.

In this situation, people would subconsciously want to find a backbone, so everyone couldn't help but glance at Zhuge in the same queue.

Unfortunately, the latter was as still as a mountain, and did not comment on the current situation. Instead, he lowered his eyebrows and looked down, as if thinking about something.

With the boss like this, a bunch of newcomers of level D and level E did not dare to disturb him.

At this time, a trainee finally said timidly, "Should we go to the house first to take a look?"

Although I don't know what era this copy is from, it is impossible for a large-scale famine to occur in a modern civilized society.

It's getting late now. If we delay it any longer, it may be dark. Since there is no electric light, it will be even more terrible when it's dark.

Immediately, a trainee seconded the proposal, "Yes, let's go and take a look quickly, otherwise it will be bad when it's dark."

Although saying this, everyone looked at each other, but no one could move.

At this moment, the white-haired young man put down his arm and took the lead to walk towards the intersection.

The eyes of the others lit up and they immediately followed.

Although the old people don't like this C-level who has been in the limelight, the newcomers are convinced by Zong Jiu.

The old people have tools and strength, and are used to stable group action. The horror trainee is also a competitive arena. If a newcomer goes up, another old person will fall down, and the exclusion is very serious.

The newcomers are all at the same starting line, struggling in the cruel horror copy. They know how difficult it is for Zong Jiu to get to the top three levels in one shot, so they admire him even more. In addition, Zong Jiu has been in the limelight in Las Vegas. Everyone knows that he won a million chips. Now even the old people have to think about it.

That's a full million survival points! Even if it's given to a pig, the pig can be strengthened into an iron porcupine!

Zong Jiu ignored the string of little tails behind him. He walked to the old locust tree and frowned.

Someone wondered, "Strange. When we just came here, the barks of those trees were all peeled off, why is no one eating the bark of this tree?"

"Because the locust tree belongs to Yin, it is also called the ghost tree, and no one dares to eat it." Zong Jiu said.

In folklore, the locust tree is a very unlucky and evil tree. It has a strong yin energy and is easy to attract unclean things. Few people would plant it in front of the house, let alone such a big one.

"Who of you has exchanged props? Get ready. Let's go in and take a look."

The others trembled and looked at the dark entrance behind the tree, their legs weak.

"Hurry up, just go in and take a look. What's there to be afraid of with so many people? It will be dark soon. It's better to have a house to sleep in than to have no house to sleep in."

Zong Jiu urged while pretending to take out an ordinary dagger from the black secret box.

The black secret box is equivalent to a portable space. It is very useful and ordinary items can be taken out from it anytime and anywhere.

Seeing his actions, everyone thought that this dagger was a high-level prop exchanged in Las Vegas, and they also took out their own props one by one, as if facing a great enemy.

"Dong——"

The door was broken and there was no lock. It opened with a push.

The trainee who pushed the door was so flustered that he accidentally pushed the other half of the door panel to the ground, and the cold wind began to pour in.

Zong Jiu held the dagger in his hand, frowned, and headed towards the house.

This was not because he was skilled and brave, but because he was holding the soul-catching bell in his other hand, and he was not afraid.

Through the window lattice and the holes rotted by termites, the light from outside barely shone in, illuminating the small earthen house.

There were not many things on display in the house. If you have to say it, it was an empty house that had been abandoned for a long time, and the ground was full of dirt. The beams were covered with moss, and the water tank placed in the corner of the wall was also broken, and only the sewage inside could be vaguely seen.

Even if you rest in this kind of house, you can only squint against the wall, and the only advantage is to avoid the autumn wind outside.

"Ah——"

The trainee following behind suddenly let out a short scream.

The barrage was full of red exclamation marks.

[Fuck, this scream really scared me]

[Me too, it made me alert all of a sudden...]

The person who was investigating immediately showed vigilance, turned around with props, and prepared to welcome the supernatural scene.

A fat gray shadow jumped in the corner and suddenly drilled out from the hole in the wall.

The trainee stammered, "Yes, it's a mouse."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

With such an interruption, everyone's tension was relieved a lot.

For the old people, how to get a high rating in the dungeon is the goal; for the newcomers, it's good to be able to survive.

They know that they are divided into two camps, but anyway, the trainees have an iron rule that they can't kill each other, and random tasks are not as mandatory as the main tasks, so it doesn't matter if you don't do them, so few people take it to heart.

The screaming trainee scratched his head in embarrassment, "My name is Xu Su, sorry everyone, I've been afraid of mice since I was a child, I didn't mean to scare you just now."

Others waved their hands, and someone took the opportunity to suggest, "Since we are going to get along together in this dungeon, why don't we get to know each other briefly first?"

As they said that, everyone subconsciously turned their eyes to Zong Jiu.

Although Zong Jiu himself did nothing, this group of newcomers already had the intention of vaguely treating him as a leader.

The white-haired young man raised his eyebrows.

To be honest, if you put yourself in the position of a leader and show that you are doing good for everyone, it is indeed difficult to arouse suspicion. No wonder Messiah was so active in the first dungeon, relying on the trust of the old people and the ignorance of the newcomers, taking advantage of the weakness of blind obedience in the public psychology, and finally being able to retreat unscathed.

After a brief introduction to each other, the atmosphere in the room became much better.

Everyone randomly chose a place to sit in the room, looked at each other, and sighed.

"We are all trainees, but we are so unlucky. How come we don't have a package?"

Xu Su looked outside and was still frightened. "We have to stay here for seven days."

"Yes, this room is dark and cold. It's scary to look at it."

"Don't mention it. Maybe we have to spend the night like this. Alas, it's okay. Look at how hungry the villagers outside are. At least we don't have to eat."

Zong Jiu didn't participate in the discussion. He squatted in the middle against the wall, listening to their discussion while looking at the wall behind him.

He found something wrong with the wall when he glanced over.

This room is close to the mountain, and the roof is leaking. No one has lived in it for many years. Even the wall is covered with blue-black moss, which is densely packed. But if you look closely, you will find that there are some subtle differences in the height of their growth, resulting in uneven cross-sections.

The white-haired young man picked up a branch from the ground and scraped off the wall moss bit by bit.

As he moved, the covered wall surface also revealed the earth surface behind it.

On those rammed earth walls, shocking white marks suddenly appeared.

"Fuck, what is this?!"

Zong Jiu's actions did not avoid others. After the people in the room found something wrong, they also joined the wall scratching project.

They peeled off almost all the moss on the entire wall, and looked at the scene in front of them, gasping for air.

[Oh my god, these marks look like...]

[It can't be what I guessed, shaking.jpg]

[The one upstairs is what you guessed (loudly)]

The trainee's face turned pale: "It looks like it was scratched by a person with fingernails?"

"Look, the height is just right..." He gestured, "half of the wall, there is no higher place, and the hand can't reach up."

The room was terribly quiet.

The walls of the mud houses in the countryside have always been rammed tightly, not to mention so densely packed, with marks one or two centimeters deep on each one.

If it was caused by humans, I'm afraid my fingers would be worn off. If it wasn't caused by humans... it would be even more terrifying.

Fear and chill rushed from the soles of everyone's feet all the way to the top of their heads.

Although they had guessed that there was something wrong with the house, they still had a fluke mentality, and now they were shocked.

Xu Su wanted to cry but had no tears, "Yes, or we should go out and sleep in the open air."

Others did not speak.

To be honest, under the premise that they were clearly told that this was a horror copy, the entire village was not safe. Even sleeping outside was still dangerous, and the danger might be even greater.

Just then, a creaking sound came from the wooden board.

Everyone turned around.

The man at the door retracted his hand and glanced at everyone in the house coldly, "Come out."

For a moment, the newcomers standing in front of the wall looked at each other.

Seeing that they did not react, Zhuge An's tone became more impatient, "If you don't come out to collect firewood, do you want to sleep here all night? Aren't you afraid of freezing to death?"

After he said this, the trainees reacted.

It was already the time when autumn and winter met. The broken earth roof could block the wind, and the temperature difference between day and night was large in the deep mountains. The clothes people wore were not thick. If they slept like this for a night, they would probably be stiff all over when they woke up.

So more than a dozen people came out in a swarm, and no one dared to stay in the house.

They divided into two teams in front of the house, one team followed Zhuge An to collect firewood, and the other team followed Zong Jiu to find the villagers.

Fortunately, although the famine in the village was serious, there was still enough firewood.

If you walk to the hillside not far away, you can pick up a lot under the trees. In the end, everyone held a pile of dead branches in their arms.

After the firewood-collecting team came back, the team that asked the villagers to borrow flints also came back.

The white-haired young man shook his head, "No, they don't want to lend."

Although I already knew what the villagers in this village were like, it was really infuriating that they were unwilling to lend even the cheapest flints.

The newcomers were immediately angry and cursed: "Damn, these bastards, who is willing to protect them!"

"That's right, those who engage in human trafficking should die, and they only sell women, a bunch of cowards."

"Fuck, I'm so angry."

Zong Jiu's eyes flashed with a stream of light.

He guessed right, the main task of the ordinary card is really to protect the villagers.

"But, what should we do now?"

Zhuge frowned, "I can light a fire, let's go."

What does it mean to light a fire?

The others looked at the big man holding a bundle of firewood and didn't dare to ask more. A dozen people holding firewood, holding firewood, and empty-handed, returned to the wooden house at the end of the path.

After all this tossing, the sky almost changed from gloomy to dark blue.

Night is approaching.

When he reached the intersection, Xu Su suddenly exclaimed "Ah" again.

The trainee walking in front of him was startled again and said angrily, "Why are you screaming again? Is there another mouse?"

"No...no."

Xu Su's voice trembled and he pointed out, "There, there, there seems to be a person."

Everyone looked in the direction he pointed.

In front of the gloomy earthen house, the lush crown of the locust tree was dyed scarlet.

With the help of gravity, the long tongue stretched to the chest, the arms hung below the knees, and the cloth on the body swayed like a torn sack in the cold wind.

A person who died with his eyes open was hanged there.