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Chapter 47: Paper Figurines
After seeing Su Cheng’s figure, the young man stopped talking and looked sideways:
“This is?”
The corner of Su Cheng’s mouth twitched. He took a step forward expressionlessly, and introduced himself according to the information on his identity card: “9th Floor, Wang Runcheng.”
Under the dim light in the corridor, a smile flashed in the depths of the young man’s bright amber eyes:
“Hello, my name is Zhou Xiuze, and I am a resident here.”
Su Cheng: “……”
Hehe.
I fucking believe you.
“In that case, have we decided?” Wen Jianyan turned to look at the other two anchors in front of him.
The two anchors looked at each other and nodded:
“Yes.”
“Okay, wait a minute, I’ll come as soon as I tell my mother.”
After a simple farewell, Wen Jianyan turned around and returned to the room.
The door closed with a “click”, and the corridor once again fell into deadly silence.
Chen Mo and the others cautiously walked a distance away from 1326, and after making sure that their conversation would not be heard by the “NPC”, they spoke:
“That NPC just now is the second son of the crazy old woman in 1326. According to him, his brother’s family who lived in room 1304 all died a month ago; his mother’s mental health is also not good because of it, so he moved in to take care of her.
After he moved in, he found that there was something wrong with this building, and all the other residents were hiding something from him. His mother’s condition is getting worse and worse, so he is very eager to find out what happened in this building. Just wait, he will be here to act together with us in a while.”
Su Cheng: “…”
Ugh.
However, he also noticed that the two anchors invariably concealed the existence of the yellow coin in Wen Jianyan’s hand, and they didn’t intend to mention it at all.
Is this why they sent another anchor to call them at the elevator?
Could it be some key item?
However, when he thought about who was holding the item, Su Cheng immediately calmed down again.
In this world, anyone could be cheated, only this guy wouldn’t.
Only he cheats people’s share.
This dog liar must be playing some kind of trick again!
***
Wen Jianyan closed the door and stuffed the yellow oil paper coin back into his pocket.
In Nightmare, the hidden items were identified only once.
That is, the moment the anchor touched the “hidden item”, the system’s identification sound would sound in the ear, and it would not sound again after that. Moreover, the hidden item was not named before leaving the instance, nor could it be taken into the backpack.
There was a very simple way to make other anchors think that it was the hidden item. Just change the angle subtly when passing the coin, and rub the beads worn on the wrist against the opponent’s skin.
At that moment, the other party’s ears would definitely hear the system’s hidden item identification prompt, so they would be convinced of the identity of this coin.
In this way, he could not only use this to lure other anchors to do things for him, but even if the situation was overturned, he could also cleverly hide the truly valuable item.
After being cheated by the system so many times, it was not a bad thing to occasionally take advantage of system loopholes to trick other anchors.
The reason why he called himself Zhou Xiuqing’s younger brother was also very simple. After all, the 1304 case was not a secret in this building. Zhou Xiuqing’s death was well known. If he used this person’s identity, he would not only be easily exposed, but he would also be in big trouble if he was mistaken for a monster and set on fire.
And the identity of a “younger brother” was much easier to operate, and it was easier to deceive.
Wen Jianyan took out his phone from his pocket, opened the Nightmare app, and took a glance at it.
The first two hours of entering the instance had ended, and the new main line tasks had been released.
【Main line task 1: Find the next shooting location within two hours】
【Completion: 0%】
【Main line task 2: Go to the shooting location for shooting; the duration should not be less than ten minutes】
【Completion: 0%】
The plot related to the identity card had not been updated.
Wen Jianyan put the phone back in his pocket and walked to the rocking chair where the old woman was lying.
The other party had already woken up from a light sleep. With a pair of opened, cloudy eyes, she raised her wrinkled and rough old hands and groped in the air: “Xiuqing, Xiuqing, where are you?”
Wen Jianyan grabbed the other person’s palm: “I’m here.”
The old woman looked over: “Who came just now?”
“It was just a neighbor coming to me to do a favor.”
Wen Jianyan bent down, picked up the blanket from the side, and spread it on the old woman’s lap skillfully and naturally, with a soft voice: “I’ll be going out for a while; I’ll be back soon.”
“Eh, okay, okay.”
The old woman patted his hand: “Go and come back quickly.”
Wen Jianyan turned around to leave, but he heard the old woman’s old voice behind him: “By the way, Xiuqing, it will be July 15th soon; don’t forget to kowtow to the Bodhisattva.”
“……”
Wen Jianyan was startled, and he turned to look at the old woman behind.
She opened her turbid eyes, covered with white shadows, and said tremblingly:
“Otherwise, you will be blamed by the Bodhisattva.”
After finishing speaking, the old woman slowly closed her eyes and stopped talking.
Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, turned around, and left Household 1326.
Those anchors were waiting for him at the door.
Seeing Wen Jianyan come out, Chen Mo took a step forward and said with concern, “Little brother, have you greeted your mother? Is the old lady doing well?”
“Yes.”
Wen Jianyan nodded and sighed slightly: “Mom…has not been in a good condition recently. Not only is her health getting worse every day, but she also calls brother’s name every day, as if…he hasn’t passed away yet.”
He lowered his eyes:
“I have been persuading my mother to move out of this sad place with me, but every time I mention this, she will be furious. For her, I have to…”
The young man’s voice trembled at the end, and he swallowed the rest of the words.
He pursed his lips, and his long eyelashes cast a little shadow on his fair face, making him look a bit vulnerable.
Chen Mo sighed, raised his hand, and patted his shoulder:
“Don’t worry, little brother; we will definitely find out the reason why all this happened. By then, maybe your mother will be back to normal.”
Wen Jianyan raised his eyes, with gratitude in his eyes: “Thank you.”
Su Cheng, who had been silent from the beginning: “……”
He couldn’t bear to look directly at them and slowly looked away.
Following that, Wen Jianyan briefly responded to a few questions about Household 1304. The answers he gave were basically the same as what the neighbor revealed at the beginning:
In 1304, a family of four was poisoned to death, and the body was found by the mother who lived across the door.
If the anchor asked for the details of the case, he would prevaricate on the grounds that the case was still under investigation and the police did not disclose the criminal investigation process to the victim’s family.
If they asked about the internal relationship of Zhou Xiuqing’s family and the unusual events before the case, Wen Jianyan would answer that he was working out of town and hadn’t contacted his brother’s family for a long time and was unclear about it.
In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:
[Oh God, I’ve never seen anyone respond so well about his disguised identity.]
[Absolutely, as expected from a dog liar. The internal logic is all correct; what kind of scamming talent is this?!]
[Really, if I were them, I would also think that he is the resident of this building…]
[Fuck, this guy is full of nonsense. What kind of face does this guy have to name his live broadcast room integrity first!]
“Do you mind… if we go to 1304?”
Chen Mo asked.
Wen Jianyan: “Of course not.”
After briefly exchanging information with each other, Chen Mo turned to look at the other anchors:
“Then let’s go to 1304 first, and then go to 1306, what do you think?”
“No problem.”
Several other anchors nodded in agreement.
A group of people pushed open the door of 1304 and walked in.
After all, these anchors were at least C-level, and their actions were cautious and careful. Obviously, this was not the first time they had done this kind of thing.
The lights in 1304 were broken, and the windows were sealed with bricks, leaving nothing but darkness inside.
There was a suffocating, foul stench in the air.
Several anchors walking in front turned on the flashlights one after another and groped forward in the room with the help of the light emitted from the flashlights. Wen Jianyan didn’t take out his mobile phone, but he stayed in the middle of the group, not ahead or behind, and walked forward with them in a low-key manner.
Soon, there was an exclamation from the kitchen.
Wen Jianyan was not surprised by this.
He turned his head and looked in the direction where the sound came from.
Several anchors covered their noses with their sleeves and gathered around the dining table, looking down at the rotten food on the table.
And the four seats beside the dining table were…
Empty.
No one knew when, but the three smiling paper figures with pale faces had disappeared, as if they had never appeared before, leaving only four empty chairs.
Wen Jianyan was taken aback.
This… was something he hadn’t thought of.
Chen Mo turned his head to look at Wen Jianyan:
“Little brother, do you know what’s going on?”
Wen Jianyan came back to his senses and replied in a natural voice:
“My mother always thought that my brother was still alive, so she often came to deliver meals. I found out before and came back to clean up, but during this time I have been rushing outside to deal with the funeral, so I didn’t have time to deal with it.”
The anchors who got the answer did not continue to ask but dispersed and began to look for clues in the room.
Wen Jianyan raised his vigilance.
He slowed his pace and paced cautiously around the room, his gaze searching the dark corners for the three missing paper figurines.
“…Fuck.” A low-pitched curse came from the direction of the toilet: “Come and see!”
The anchors looked at each other and gathered together.
The door of the toilet was wide open, and the narrow space was illuminated by several flickering flashlights, revealing every detail of the arrangement inside.
Two paper figurines were lying in the bathtub: a man and a woman.
There was a bright smile on the pale face of the female paper figurine, while the facial features on the male paper figurine’s face were scribbled with a scarlet pen; their empty and dull eyes were fixed on the door of the toilet.
“There… seems to be something here.”
The male and female paper figurines seem to be holding something in their hands.
Su Cheng bent down and carefully opened the palms of the male paper figurines, while Wang Hanyu opened the female one’s palm, taking out a small yellow paper ball from their hands.
The rustling sound of the paper ball unfolding sounded in the narrow space.
“What’s written on it?” an anchor asked.
Holding the ball of paper he got from the hand of the female paper figurine, Wang Hanyu repeated the words on the paper: “A family should always be together.”
Su Cheng paused and then repeated the sentence written on the paper in his hand with some difficulty:
“…Let that crazy woman go to hell.”
“Hey! Who’s there!”
Suddenly, accompanied by the shaking of the flashlight, a shout came from the door of 1304: “Come out!”
Chen Mo, who was near the door, went out first: “I’m sorry, we have obtained the consent of the owner…”
The visitor held a flashlight and replied with a frown, “This is the scene of a murder! No one else is allowed to enter!”
Chen Mo skillfully said:
“You should accommodate…”
Wen Jianyan withdrew his gaze from the Bodhisattva statue, turned his head, and looked out the door.
The moment his eyes fell on the opponent, his pupil couldn’t help but shrink.
The one standing at the door was the guard, who was persuaded by him to leave.
He didn’t know if it was because of the lighting, but the guard’s face was strangely pale, and his gaze passed over Wen Jianyan as if he didn’t recognize him.
His lips moved stiffly, and he said in a scolding voice: “What accommodations? Come out quickly! There is no need to discuss this matter!”
In Wen Jianyan’s peripheral vision, something seemed to move suddenly.
He held his breath slightly, turned his head without any trace, and glanced to the side.
In the floor-to-ceiling mirror near the door, “Wen Jianyan” was standing facing the mirror. His pale face was facing straight out of the mirror, and the corners of his lips were raised, slowly revealing a smile.
Mirror.
Wish.
These two keywords were so familiar, awakening a not-so-distant memory.
Wen Jianyan’s heart was beating wildly, vague conjectures emerged from his mind, and some kind of overly ominous thought hit him right on the head.
There was a buzzing sound in his ears, his breathing was slightly suffocated, and a strong sense of uneasiness hit him instantly.
He got the legendary prop “Mr. Mirror” in Decai Middle School; it was just a small fragment of the main body.
It called that man God the Father.
Then, obviously, as “God the Father”, there must be more than one believer or follower of that evil spirit.
Could it be that……
Wen Jianyan’s right hand was hanging by his side. The small piece of skin covered by the bandage was boiling hot like a fire, and the spell-like pattern seemed to be struggling to grow out from under the skin.