"Is everyone around?"
"We are all together, Sister Xue. Tianlai NovelＷＷ『W．⒉"
"……very good."
After the light belonging to the teleportation gradually disappeared, the woman named Xue Ling Huan Bing slowly opened her eyes. Her slightly cold eyes looked back and forth in the dim light, and then she put down the long sword in her hand. , pointed the tip of the sword diagonally at the debris-strewn and dilapidated ground - this place seemed to be an abandoned village and town, with wooden houses and houses covered with an unknown amount of dust scattered irregularly on the slopes. On the left and right sides of the road, some of them have even turned into a pile of ruins. The slanting ruins on the left and right show the antiquity and desolation of this place. Some of the roofs and walls that have collapsed are still preserved, as well as the wood chips on the ground that are so black that they seem to shatter at the touch of a touch. They can still outline some of the scenes that have appeared here, but at the same time, The large traces of explosions, scattered weapons, and human skeletons lying everywhere seemed to indicate the tragic past of this place and the final outcome of this place.
In the darkness created by the night and the mist, the woman who had already had a rough impression of the place withdrew her gaze and looked at the system notification she had received before issuing her orders and arrangements.
"...The goal is to escape from this abandoned village, not to fight, so...we should try our best to find the exit of this village as quickly as possible." Using his usual cold voice, Xue Ling Huan Bing lowered his voice. Sheng said: "According to previous competition experience, this kind of very obvious competition rules will not cause any ambiguity. The only possible variables are the opponents who participate in the competition with us and..."
"The village itself."
"I have a question." A man wearing ferocious black armor standing next to her asked in a deep voice: "The so-called escaping from the village... does it require all five of us to escape, or does it only require one person to escape? Is it okay to just go?”
"...This is not yet clear." A player wearing a pale white robe stood at the back of the team and said quietly: "But...whether this rule is clear or not will determine our final strategy."
"You want to ask whether we should act as a group or separately?" A man wearing half-armor and carrying a heavy axe-gun laughed for a while, then weighed his heavy shoulders: "Or... simply... Kill them all and then slowly find the exit?"
"The fighting method is really in line with your philosophy, Huanhai Kuangxing." The black-armored man from before twisted his fists and smiled: "If it is really a real brawl, then I will support it with both hands, but unfortunately... Judging from the current situation, it’s better for us to be careful.”
"I didn't expect...it has only been so long, but you are already afraid of becoming such a coward..."
"Is this called fear? This is called maturity." The big man in black armor patted his chest: "After all, the Sa family is a person who has seen the big world in the free world. Don't you have this awareness yet?"
"You? Have you experienced the world?" Brother Ax and Gun raised his eyebrows: "You're not talking about the Emerald Forest, are you? Didn't you come back right away?"
"...It seems that I have mistakenly looked at the person. Give me back the ax and gun!"
"Hey, hey, you want to take back the water you spilled? I don't even know who you sent it to... Why, you still want to rob me? Do you want to fight?"
"Okay, okay, stop arguing." As the two glaring teammates looked at each other, the magician player behind sighed and shook his head: "What kind of black wind and twin evil spirits are there in my team? General Hebei is the same. With my teammates who cooperated so well, how come we ended up like this when we arrived at the Snowy Twin Stars..."
"Don't worry about them, I'm used to it anyway." The short player who reported it before commented in a low voice, and then asked the eldest woman who had been silent again: "Sister Xue, next step... what should we do? "
"... Let's split up." As if talking to himself, a sigh-like voice slowly came out of Xue Ling Huan Bing's mouth: "It's safer this way."
"Xiao Wu, you and Tian Nanxing go to the left, Huanhai Kuangxing and Fengqiao Tingyu go to the right, and I walk through the middle myself." Her voice became louder and louder, and her tone gradually became more real as if she had descended into the mortal world. Get up: "Search more along the way, pay attention to enemies, don't touch everything here unless necessary, be careful of traps..."
"If you find a suspected exit, remember to inform others, otherwise..." She thought for a moment, and then made a final conclusion: "In ten minutes, we will gather at the intersection ahead."
"start to act."
call--
In the scene where several people quickly dispersed, the little girl sitting next to Duan Qing asked in a low voice: "What's going on here, uncle?"
"How do I know? I've never been there... Uh, okay, okay, I'll tell you."
Avoiding Mengzhu's slightly murderous gaze, Duan Qing hurriedly pressed the screen and said: "Let me see... Judging from what we saw, this village will not be too big at all, otherwise as a team competition The battlefield is too inhumane. It takes a long time for everyone to find an opponent..."
"But the system goal they received is to escape from the village." Qian Zhihe on the other side also asked in a low voice: "If this place is not big... wouldn't it be easy for them to escape?"
"A high-rise building is at most the size of a football field, but can you escape casually?" Duan Qing said with a smile, "What's more, this is a free world, and weird situations can happen."
"Huh? You mean..."
"This is not normal."
Duan Qing tilted his head back: "The air is too quiet, the fog is too uniform, even the houses under the ruins... they all look the same."
"The visibility is too low." Xuyu Liushang, who was standing outside, also shook his head and said: "In a normal village, you should be able to see the exit at a glance, but now they actually have to search separately, and they still have opponents... …”
"Yes, this fog is also very abnormal." Pointing to the slowly moving field of view on the screen, Duan Qing continued to explain: "It's just like... deliberately blocking their sight."
"I'm very curious." He said with a low smile: "What does the exit of this village... exactly look like?"
"Uncle, what are you talking about?" Mengzhu asked, grabbing her ponytail, "Is there anything wrong with this scene?"
"I said it from the beginning..." Duan Qing clapped his hands and replied, "I've never been here, how could I possibly know what's going on... If you want to know, you still have to look at their own on-the-spot investigation."
"After all...the picture we see may not be what they see."
Duan Qing's words are half correct, because they are indeed walking among the infinite ruins at this time. While alerting the surroundings, they are exploring every clue in the ruins back and forth, trying to dig out the ruins that belong to this ruin. All the secrets in it, and then use it to escape from this eerie place. Naturally, a few clues were dug up, but compared with the malice they felt, this gain seemed insignificant - as time went by, several people walking in the village realized that the surrounding scene was abnormal, and the The abandoned houses left behind him seemed to be as endless as the surrounding fog, and they walked for a long time without finding the end. It didn't take long for the people who belonged to the Xue Ling Huan Bing team to easily find their teammates, and then with solemn expressions, they met at the intersection in the middle of the village.
"There is a well in the center of the village..."
"There was a house over there that didn't collapse. We went in and took a look. It should be a blacksmith shop."
"We found a mill, and the nameplate inside is still there, with Baylor's name written on it..."
"There is a relatively large ruin ahead, which should be the ruling center of this village, but the things inside..."
"Is there any exit news?"
"……No."
"Neither do I have one here."
"We walked in one direction for a long time, and finally we came to the blacksmith shop. Later we made a mark..."
All the feedback portends despair. The voices of the several players sitting on the ground are getting lower and lower. At the same time, they are staring at every corner of the ruined village shrouded in mist with deep eyes, as if there will be something terrifying in the next moment. Scenes will emerge from it, dragging them into a deeper alien space. However, the few people present were all senior players from Wings of Freedom, and they were all people who had seen strong winds and waves, so they did not give up their fighting passion easily, nor did they let confusion occupy their hearts: "I am... A map was found in the ruins, let’s take a look at it together.”
"Oh? As expected of a captain, one person can find such useful things."
"Well...the layout of this village is pretty standard, it's a square structure..."
"Although it's not the same as what we saw, isn't this how houses should be built in a normal village... We should have come from here."
"Here? Isn't this not far from the edge?"
"...We didn't see any exit. What we saw was ruins all over the ground. Fengqiao, did you find anything?"
"No, but... my magic feedback seems to be inconsistent, and the affinity of the elements also appears wrong... maybe it's my misunderstanding."
"Hey, say something that people can understand, we don't have anyone else playing mage..."
"Wait a minute! When you passed by here, did you see a mill?"
The heated discussion then gradually unfolded in the air among everyone, and then gradually stopped when everyone was unanimously unified. As the captain, Xue Ling Huan Bing picked up the long sword he had put aside, then stood up with a slap on his body: "It seems... we can rest assured."
"This place is not a place where you can leave in a short while." She put her long sword on the ground and assumed her usual posture: "We can take our time, and we don't have to worry about our opponents sneaking away... Well."
She suddenly stopped what she was saying, and her eyes touched the other teammates who looked suspicious for a moment: "Where is our opponent?"
"You actually didn't meet..."
Outside the auditorium, Duan Qing's doubts also rang out: "Just now, did they and the members of the Muyu team... not cross paths even once?"
"...Who can remember this, uncle!"
"Ninglan?"
"Yes, sir." The maid smiled and nodded: "Their exploration route was repeated once in the northwest and east of the village, but Ninglan is not sure...whether both parties passed through these two places at the same time. .”
"...It's impossible that you really can't encounter it, right? In such a small place..."
"They have indeed met, sir." Dark Language Ninglan said with a smile: "In the middle of the village... they should have met once."
"Really?" Mengzhu shouted in disbelief: "How is it possible? Then why is no one sleeping?"
"...The one in the middle should be the direction Xueling Huanbing walked, right?" Duan Qing also pinched his chin and asked: "Looking at her like that, she probably didn't see it..."
"Although it's only for a moment, they should be able to see each other." Speaking of this, Ninglan lowered his head slightly: "If... Ninglan's experience is not wrong."
"Perhaps your experience is not wrong." Duan Qing shook his head and said, "It is probably this village that is wrong."
“This village should be in a cycle.”
Beside the well in the middle of the village, several figures walking slowly came to a stop: "This is a cycle of space. As long as we walk in one direction, we will definitely reach the beginning, even if It's walking diagonally...it should be the same."
"You can't get out of this village with just your feet..." The tall woman sighed, then stopped next to the well: "Or this space."
"Then... this should be the center of this space. Two hundred and eighty-two seconds is also marked on the map." Picking up his heavy weapon from the well, Huanhai Kuangxing turned around helplessly Leaving the body: "I thought I was really going to fight empty-handed..."
"I asked you to have a spare weapon, but you just didn't listen." The man in black armor shook his head and walked to the side of the well, then sat down: "We have been to all the places we can go, and we have searched everything we can. After searching everything, what is the secret of this scene?”
"Don't rush me, I've tried my best." Fengqiao Tingyu, who was at the back of the team, whispered: "The magic energy here is extremely chaotic..."
"Okay, maybe we are really going to overturn." Huanhai Kuangxing laughed and sat next to the black-armored man: "I didn't even see the shadow of the enemy. Maybe they would have run away by now, right?"
"How is it possible? We haven't even found it, so how can they find it?" The big man sneered and waved his hand: "Do they have more clues than us? Is there some secret passage here?"
"Secret passage!" He pushed hard on the well with both hands, and then straightened up disdainfully: "It's all water..."
"Wait a minute." Fengqiao Tingyu from behind suddenly said: "Is there water? This shabby village must have been abandoned for at least hundreds of years, right? How can there be water?"
"Could it be..."
After looking at each other for a few seconds, several people suddenly stood up and gathered around the well: "Fengqiao! Check it quickly!"
"...It's real water, not an illusion." The player in the pale white robe opened his eyes after a few seconds: "And there is a lot of it, probably going straight to the ground."
"Yes!" The short player immediately jumped up: "Let's swim out from here! Take the underground sewer!"
"Come on, do you know what the principle of a water well is?" Huanhai Kuangxing glared: "And I don't know how long it will take to dive... Aren't you afraid of drowning?"
"Perhaps there is some mechanism near the wellhead..."
"Perhaps there is some kind of magic circle here..."
"Perhaps we should take a sip? Then the illusion of space will be lifted?"
"……you first."
"You don't believe it? I'll come first, I'll come first. You can't poison people to death, right... Gudong."
"...Holy shit, are you really drinking?"
"You won't die if you give it a try...and it's better than waiting here, you coward."
"...Then what do you have in mind?"
"No, it's just a little sweet...eh?"
As if time and space suddenly jumped, the whole world trembled for a moment in everyone's eyes, and then returned to its usual stability the next moment, as if nothing happened. However, the images in front of me poured like running water, and then turned into a rainbow washed by the rain, and the figures of several players gradually appeared. They were standing or sitting at various distances at this intersection, and one of them even He kept his probing posture lying on the edge of the well and looked at Xue Ling Huan Bing and others who were surrounding the well and checking up and down with the same surprised eyes.
"I didn't expect..." Huanhai Kuangxing muttered these words in the air that was about to be ignited.
"It actually works?"
