The gray-purple sky opened overhead, and clouds that did not leak sunlight were thickly accumulated. The humid air is sticky around the body, giving people the intuition that it will condense into water droplets at any time.
Zeiss shuddered, opened his eyes, and found himself standing in a Gothic manor. The tall castle in front of him cast a monster-like shadow, covering him.
The castle looked old. The walls were covered with decaying vines like meridian fishing nets and divided into fragmented pieces. The whole thing conveyed a message that it was in disrepair and could collapse at any time.
In front of the castle is a sea of roses. Every rose is blooming with vitality, its branches and leaves are growing wildly, and they are showing their teeth and claws.
The strong floral fragrance lingered in the nose, it was too tight and thick, making Qiss feel like vomiting.
A light gray translucent panel appears in the upper left corner of the line of sight, which is no different from the system interface in common third-rate games on the market.
Silver-white writing appeared on it, which seemed to be related information about this copy.
[Copy Name: "Rose Manor"]
[Copy type: Team survival (6 people)]
[Main mission: Survive for three days and crack the rules]
[Pre-tip: Sweet words are disgusting. All NPCs in this copy will not deceive players verbally]
"Is this going into the dungeon?"
Qisi subconsciously touched the silver bracelet on his right wrist, and felt a slight coolness on his fingertips, which was reassuring.
He looked at the sentence "will not verbally deceive players" on the system interface and raised his eyebrows slightly.
——He knows that the truth can sometimes lie.
He is very good at using a series of incomplete truths to lead people down the wrong path.
I just don’t know if this copy will involve this level of speaking skills.
A soft narration sounded in my ears without warning, like a complaint.
【What is the most beautiful thing in the world? She spent her whole life pursuing it until her beautiful face turned into skeletons and white bones]
[A girl who loves beauty plants a garden full of roses, hoping that the sea of flowers will pay the price of her beauty]
[She looked at the aging roses in the garden and began to think, can the roses stop withering? Can the beauty she loves never grow old again? 】
[Dear guests, welcome to Miss Anna’s Rose Manor]
The last welcoming words were pinched very finely, like the murmur of a weak little girl, but the tone gave people a lifeless and twilight feeling, like an ancient cemetery after the rain, damp and everything rotten.
Ziss doesn't have the habit of overthinking and scaring himself.
He saw a narrow path appearing in front of him, extending in deep twists and turns among the sea of flowers, leading straight to the dark gate of the castle.
Without hesitation, he stepped forward on the wet dirt and stood in front of the stone door covered with dead vines.
Push the door open and enter.
…
The interior furnishings of the castle are simple. There is a long marble table in the middle of the hall. There is a fruit plate on the table. The candlelight next to the fruit plate is swaying, forming the only light source in the castle.
A huge mechanical clock with a simple style is placed in the corner, conveying a sense of age that confuses time and space. The surface seemed to be mottled with old bloodstains, and combined with the stains left by rust, there was a faint smell of blood.
The empty interior and dim light created an eerie and cramped feeling, and a chilly feeling curled up in the humidity, like a tomb that had not seen the light of day for a long time.
There is a main seat on the long table facing the door, and three seats on each side. Five people are already seated at this moment.
These five people are naturally players.
"Is everyone here?" The speaker was a woman wearing a long white trench coat, sitting at the farthest seat from the main seat.
She looked in the direction of the castle gate with slightly lowered eyebrows, her expression a bit worried and thoughtful, as if she was waiting for a friend who was late.
"There is still an empty seat. There should be someone who hasn't arrived yet, right?" the woman asked in a tentative tone.
The young girl sitting directly opposite her smiled and said: "If you don't come at this time, it is probably the worst."
The girl looked to be only sixteen or seventeen years old, but what she said was particularly cruel: "The show was very effective. One person was eliminated first and ended up in a box. It's really unlucky."
The young man in black sitting next to her twitched his eyelashes and seemed to have some objections to her attitude, but in the end he remained silent. He only reached out and grabbed an apple from the fruit plate on the table, held it with both hands, and ate it quietly. .
A middle-aged man wearing glasses took charge of the situation at the right time: "This is a team survival dungeon. We need to work together and work together to crack the world view - why not get to know each other first."
He has a face that is unrecognizable in the crowd and wears a suit and trousers. At first glance, he looks like a reliable social elite, which is convincing.
"My name is Shen Ming. This is my third dungeon. If I clear this dungeon, I will be an official player. I am the general manager of a listed company. You should be able to check my information online after you go out."
When the middle-aged man said this, he paused for a second and said in a relaxed tone: "Since I was selected by Weird Game, I have invested part of my funds in the research of weird stories, and I have achieved some success."
"It's the boss. It seems that this copy is stable! How about I call you Brother Shen from now on?" The attitude of the girl who was previously gloating about her misfortune made a 180-degree turn. Only then did the others realize that she is so sweet. She has a cute appearance and has two dimples on her face when she smiles.
The girl tugged on her ponytail and tied it up higher, looking neat and tidy: "My name is Liu Qingye. This is the second time I enter the dungeon. You can just call me Ye Zi. I have been a ghost-detecting anchor. You are quite courageous and naturally not afraid of ghosts, so you don’t have to worry about me holding you back.”
Two people took the lead, and other players introduced themselves one after another.
"This is my first time. My name is Lin Chen..." The last person to speak was a young man in a hospital gown, sitting on the right side of the woman who spoke first.
His face was as white as paper, and he looked like he was exhausted and seriously injured.
Halfway through his words, he suddenly stared in the direction of the castle gate and his eyes widened.
Everyone followed his gaze and saw someone standing in the shadow of the door.
The man was in his twenties, wearing a white shirt and black trousers, with a slender figure and a handsome face under short black hair. His face was rather pale and charming, making him look more like a ghost than a human.
If you look closely, you can still see that his shirt is stained with blood stains, as if he has just experienced a murder.
This latecomer had no awareness of being regarded as a dangerous creature. Seeing that he had become the focus of attention, he introduced himself as if nothing had happened: "Qiss, the second copy."
When Qisi entered the door, the introductions of the players had come to an end, and he only heard the self-introduction of the young man in a hospital gown.
After hearing the word "first time", he immediately realized that some of these players might not be entering the dungeon for the first time, otherwise there would be no need to mention the number of times.
A game involving life and death, even if it requires teamwork, does not mean that strangers can trust each other.
Ziss didn't believe that these people would take care of the newcomers, and he didn't want to be treated as a fool and kept in the dark, and became cannon fodder for trial and error for no reason.
So he lied calmly.
"Hello, handsome guy, you can call me Ye Zi." Ye Zi greeted him quite familiarly, then looked at the blood stains on Qisi's body and asked curiously, "Is the blood on your clothes real? Could it be that he just came from Are you coming to the murder scene?"
Qisi stroked his fingers and smiled gently: "I am a taxidermist. I was processing specimens before I came here. I haven't had time to change clothes yet."
Ye Zi's eyes widened: "Don't you even watch the countdown? Don't you know you have to enter the dungeon at this point? I was lying on the bed an hour before the countdown ended."
Qisi's expression did not change, and he asked indifferently: "So what if you know? Every minute and every second of my time is precious. Instead of waiting to waste it, it is better to do something meaningful."
Ye Zi pursed her lips, as if she was not very convinced by this statement, but she said no more.
The middle-aged man named "Shen Ming" consciously took on the responsibility of the team leader and simply repeated everyone's self-introduction to Qisi.
Chiss sat on the empty seat and listened carefully with his head tilted.
Except for the mature and capable Shen Ming and the surprised Lin Chen, everyone else entered the dungeon for the second time.
The young man in a black sweatshirt is called "Chang Xu" and claims to be a policeman. He sits upright on a chair with an expressionless face and deep black eyes, which gives off an indifferent feeling.
The woman in the white trench coat is called "Zou Yan". In reality, she is a psychiatrist. She looks graceful, plump, and dignified. Even in the dungeon, there is always a comforting smile on the corner of his lips, making it impossible to feel bad.
Lin Chen sat between Qi Si and Zou Yan. At this moment, he naturally leaned towards Zou Yan, who looked peaceful and calm, and asked timidly: "Sister Zou, I... I heard from the game that death in the copy is not the same in reality. He will die too, right?"
Zou Yan sighed and looked at Lin Chen with pity: "Yes, after the player dies in the dungeon, he will die in a reasonable way within half an hour of returning to reality. Heart paralysis, car accident, or jumping off the building, any way. It’s irreversible.”
"However, no matter how injured you are in the dungeon, as long as you can pass the level alive, you will return to reality intact."
After dying in the dungeon, he was still able to live for half an hour in reality... Qisi touched his chin, thoughtfully.
It seems that the deception needs to be done more covertly, and the victim cannot be allowed to pass on the information after returning to reality; when killing someone, remember to apply a few more cuts to prevent the other party from being completely dead and leaving the dungeon alive; when being killed, also You must know how to pretend to be dead to avoid the opponent's last hit...
Lin Chen didn't know if he had thought of this. He nodded and said hesitantly: "I was pulled into the game after death. The invitation said that I would be given a chance to live a new life. Is that the same for you? I...I It seems that none of you are very scared..."
Zou Yan smiled and said: "There are many ways to enter the game. Some people are tempted by strong desires, and some people enter inexplicably after having a dream. I entered the game voluntarily to treat my daughter's illness. But Xiaolin, you Don’t ask other people this kind of question again in the future, I don’t care, but some people may be angry…”
Ye Zi interrupted: "Okay, okay, let's not talk about this anymore. The game has already told us all the information we need to know. It's useless no matter how much we know, it will only affect our mood."
As she spoke, she looked around at everyone narrowly and said in a gossipy tone: "Hey, have you heard that rumor? Several major guilds may have to cooperate to deal with the final copy..."
Led by Ye Zi, the players chatted about anecdotes related to the weird game.
The tension was diluted a lot for a while. If it weren't for the gloomy and depressing stone walls of the castle without windows, and the faint scent of blood mixed with the fragrance of flowers, few people would have thought that this was a terrifying game that could kill people.
Can you already have such a good mentality after just entering the game for the second time?
Qisi listened to the chats of the old players with great interest, recording those remarks in his mind that he didn't know were useful, but he didn't believe them all.
If he can lie, so can everyone else.
——Even a name as seemingly insignificant as a title is false to a few people upon hearing it.
Other words are highly unlikely to be true.
During the heated conversation, a sound of rolling wheels suddenly came from the corner of the castle.
Everyone closed their mouths in unison.
In the shadow of the corner, a man wearing a black butler uniform pushing a dining cart appeared in front of the players like a ghost.
To be fair, his facial features were handsome, but the texture of his skin was extremely distorted, like an inflatable doll.
Seeing the players staring at him intently, the butler put on an exaggerated smile on his smooth face: "Dear guests, Miss Anna will be here soon, and she will have dinner with you."
"Of course, there are many taboos in our manor. For your safety, I hope you will read them carefully and remember them."
As soon as he finished speaking, a piece of paper full of words appeared out of thin air in the center of the long table.
The blood-colored writing on the white paper was twisted and twisted, as if it would break through the paper and overflow at any time. No one dared to reach out and touch it for a while.
Qisi lowered his eyes and looked down. The moment his eyes touched, lines of writing were refreshed on the system interface in the upper left corner of his sight.
[1. The manor provides breakfast and dinner. Please come to the hall to dine on time at 6:00 in the morning and 6:00 in the evening; rest time is after 9:00 in the evening]
[2. Time is the most important. If you wake up at night, please make sure you know the exact time at all times]
[3. Miss Anna likes guests and has no ill intentions towards them, but please remember that the correct title is "Miss Anna" and not anything else]
[4. Don’t refuse Miss Anna’s request and try to satisfy everything she asks. Miss Anna hates disobedient guests]
[5. Miss Anna likes to wear red skirts. Miss Anna wearing a red skirt can be trusted; if you see Miss Anna wearing black clothes, please try to keep a distance from her]
[6. Do not leave the castle at night, do not pick roses in the manor, be careful with roses]
[7. Only ghosts can kill humans, please believe that you are human]
[8. If you have to break some rules in an emergency, make sure you break as few rules as possible, maybe she will...let you go]
