CH 177

Xiao Lan struggles through a forest on fire.

He discerned the wind and escaped against it, in the direction of a smaller fire.

The flames were so hot that Xiao Lan could feel the burning sensation on his skin with his current physical strength.

The situation is somewhat unconventional.

Because after reaching the advanced level, it is difficult for normal fire to harm the players.

The only explanation is that these flames may not be ordinary fires, which are specially formulated by Advent Worlds for advanced players, flames that are strong enough to scorch them.

"Ahem ......" Xiao Lan was choking on the smoke that accompanied the fire, making her throat less comfortable.

Suddenly he noticed a change not far away.

A short distance behind them the fire was still burning, but the fire became noticeably smaller the further we went and the temperature in the air cooled down.

Xiao Lan is moving quickly in that direction.

There was no barrier ahead and little water, but the more the fire spread in this direction the harder it became.

It was as if some unknown force was suppressing the burning of the flame, slowing its engulfment until it was extinguished.

Because the fire had diminished, he could notice that the forest here was all a dark colour.

Not only does the trunk of the tree look dark and dry, but even the leaves are of an almost black colour.

Xiao Lan has never seen any of these tree species and cannot tell if they are inherently difficult to burn or if they really have some metaphysical power.

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A little further on, the fire had spread completely out of reach.

But the fires lit up the sky as red as the afterglow at sunset.

The air still smells of burning, and some of the ashes carried by the wind are still scattered in the air, adding a touch of death to the darkness of the forest.

Xiao Lan found a place to sit down and looked through the only copy of his notes he had with him.

As a rule, since it is something related to the identity in the game, there must be an important clue in it.

Just flipping through the notes, many pieces of paper appear at the top.

Xiao Lan picks it up and reads.

Supermarket discount coupons, free coffee coupons, fast food restaurant specials, and bank demand notes ......

Even the car that just exploded was a rental, no wonder it was empty inside, it wasn't even this identity's own car.

He smelt a familiar, poverty-stricken smell on them.

Xiao Lan looks at the contents of his notes.

Now he is a private investigator.

This time it was a commission to investigate a disappearance that occurred thirty years ago.

His employer, Mr B, had commissioned a number of people to go to the town of Mo Na to investigate the rumours.

But in the end most of them did not return, and the few who were lucky enough to do so became insane and committed suicide in the years that followed in a succession of bloody and brutal ways.

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In the end, surprisingly, none of the people who went to investigate survived.

Other private investigators have since heard of the dangers of the town of Mo Na, and naturally not many are willing to take on further assignments from him.

But the employer, Mr B, did not give up and he was still curious about everything in the town of Mo Na.

He has been issuing commissions of inquiry about the small town of Mo Na for the past thirty years, and the rewards are set very generously for any partial retrieval of information.

Naturally there were occasionally those who were not afraid to die who were willing to give it a try, but no one was ever able to complete the commission and the death rate remained high.

This has become one of the most dangerous assignments in the private investigator world.

Just a short time ago.

The poor private detective, who can't even pay his rent and is constantly being called on his debts, is desperate to keep from being killed by his creditors, so he takes on a commission from Mr. B.

For short, poor enough to sell their lives.

Xiao Lan: "......"

Why does this characterization fit him so well?

Could this be a heart-to-heart between poverty?

Suddenly, the pile of flowery discount coupons fell out of the notebook.

Xiao Lan had no intention of taking care of these things, but thought better of it and picked them up.

It's unlikely, but what if it's of some use, it doesn't take up much space anyway.

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Just then, a hand reached out to help him pick up the scattered pieces of paper on the floor.

The hand looked long and strong, habitually wearing black gloves, and even when picking things up, the movement was elegant and sharp.

Xiao Lan looked up and was surprised to see Luo's handsome, familiar face.

He was used to the other man's deus ex machina and took it well.

Luo skillfully collected the items on the floor, smiled and handed them to Xiao Lan: "Here."

Xiao Lan took it and asked, "Did you also take a commission to investigate your identity?"

Luo shakes his head, "I'm an entrepreneur who likes to explore, and I drove myself to Mo Na to explore the town after hearing rumours about it."

With that, he pulled out a tablet with a lot of information about the town of Mo Na.

Xiao Lan: "......"

Why Luo is a death-defying entrepreneur and he is a death-defying poor detective.

Although both are death-defying, there is a subtle class distinction.

It's like the difference between the latest top-of-the-range tablet, and a worn-out laptop with a discount coupon clipped to it.

Luo sat beside him and the two men looked at the information in their separate hands.

Xiao Lan's notes contain many things related to the town of Mo Na.

There is a photograph inside that looks to have been taken in a hurry and the image is somewhat blurred.

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But it was also possible to tell that these were two bloody bodies.

The notes say that the two men died in internecine warfare, but the strange thing is that they were both detectives commissioned by Mr B. There was no personal vendetta, and they were even considered friends.

How could such two people attack each other to death with such cruelty?

Xiao Lan continues to scroll back and, as Wang Taidi had previously revealed, the notes also mention songs in the town.

But the comments on this 'song' are polarised, with some finding it the most beautiful song in the world, and others finding it simply noisy and disgusting.

In addition, the inhabitants of the town basically show signs of physical alienation.

The notes contain an extract from former detectives - "They looked like monsters, but they felt it was a sign of devotion to their faith."

The notes also mention that the inhabitants of the town believe in Sara.

No one knows what this Sara is, no one knows what she looks like, and no one has done anything to teach her, but for no reason she is worshipped by the inhabitants with fervour.

The notes also specifically mention that Sara is suspected to be the source of the song.

But for Xiao Lan there is no doubt about it. Since the name of the playground is "Sara's Song" and not "Two Dogs' Song" or "Iron Egg's Song", the source of the song is, of course, Sara.

Just then, the system prompt rang out.

"Ding dong--"

What emerged afterwards was an indescribable sound.

The voice had an odd tone, impossible to hear age or gender, or to say how good or bad the sound quality was, but it carried a strange sense of rhythm.

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But to be honest, it's really hard to listen to.

A neighbour's kid practising at home with a dog playing along and his parents arguing sounded better than this thing.

Just a moment after hearing the voice, Xiao Lan felt her head spin.

The world before us is in a trance, and the images we see separate into overlapping fragments and slowly reunite.

The sound died down before returning to normal.

"Sir." Luo reached out to hold Xiao Lan's shoulders and looked at him with concern.

Xiao Lan shook his head a little to shake off the strange feeling he had just had, "I'm okay, are you?"

Luo looked at Xiao Lan's face and was relieved to see that it was still normal, "I'm fine, the sound didn't affect me much."

Xiao Lan: "Could this be Sara's song?"

Luo: "I think so, it can be considered quite dangerous for the player if they are mentally affected."

Xiao Lan pondered and said seriously, "His artistry is worrying ...... Are you sure there's no blood between you?"

Luo says with a straight face, "No sir, about my painting, it's a kind of art out of technique and I don't think I'm in the same league as this guy called Sara."

Xiao Lan thought about it, "Also ...... at least your painting doesn't carry a mental attack effect."

Ugly it is, but at least don't kill yourself.

Luo: "......"

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It's better to keep smiling at times like this.

After all, the lonely artist is always unappreciated by the world.

--

Having read the information, the two men collected their belongings and moved on.

After walking along the forest for a while, a town finally appeared ahead.

The entrance to the town reads - " Mo Na ".

This is the source of everything written in the documentation and a key scene in Sara's song.

Mo Na is a town that looks a bit run down.

The houses in the town all look to be quite old and there are few new buildings in the town.

There is barely a hint of greenery around, even the weeds are dry and yellow, and the ground is full of unkept rubbish, in a self-perpetuating state.

The town is hot and dry because of the mountain fires and the sky looks red here.

The air has a choking smell and there are ashes from the burning.

You don't need monitoring to know that this air quality is definitely not up to standard.

As Xiao Lan and Luo entered the town, the eyes of the residents swept over them.

It was a gaze as if they were wild animals, all of them staring deadly at the two outsiders, as if they would pounce and munch on them the next moment.

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As the information says, these people really do look odd.

They all have varying degrees of disability, some are missing eyes or ears, some are missing a hand. Others don't even have both legs.

In addition to this, their limbs are different from those of ordinary people.

Some people have parts of their body tissues sticking together, as if they have been burned and not treated properly.

Others showed arms too dry to be alive, in which it was not at all as if there was still muscular blood.

After meeting the inhabitants, Xiao Lan instantly understood the phrase "they look like monsters" from the notebook.

With an appearance like that, it really doesn't look very human anymore.

It is not only their appearance but also their behaviour that is very odd.

On the way, Xiao Lan has seen more than one person committing self-harm.

Minor ones just banged themselves against the wall or smacked themselves with a stick, while serious ones even cut off one of their fingers outright.

And all the time the man was slicing off his own fingers, he was glaring at Xiao Lan with a mad but pained grin on his face, as if it was the flesh and blood of these outsiders he was cutting.

The two men move slowly through the town.

Everywhere they went along the way, the inhabitants looked at them with that wary, beastly stare, and it was always creepy to be stared at with such eyes.

Occasional whispers of residents can be heard.

Xiao Lan heard many words such as "stranger", "get out", "kill them", "you're not going to compete for Sara's attention" and so on.

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Outside the town of Mo Na is a blazing fire and inside is a desolate scene.

There are also many eccentric inhabitants among them, and a malice that is almost overflowing.

It is like a cage constructed in flames, created for the players who step inside.

" Xiao Lan, Fei Luo -"

Suddenly, Xiao Lan heard someone ahead of her calling for the two of them.

He looked towards the sound and spotted the figures of Wang Taidi and Qi Ning, who were standing in front of an abandoned building waving at him.

Several people finally converged.

It was then that Xiao Lan realised that Qi Ning and Wang Taidi had appeared in the game in the only hotel in town, so they booked a room for both of them.

Xiao Lan could not help but feel sad.

It turns out that the identity one draws is again one of the most rubbish.

Not only was he poor, he had to go through car accidents and fire escapes, very unfriendly, and he might even have had to go and sleep on the street if no one else had helped him pay for his room.

Of course, Luo would not allow this to happen.

Qi Ning looked around at the inhabitants with interest in her tone, "They look fantastic, I'd love to dissect them if I had the time."

Xiao Lan: "Dr. Qi, this is a dangerous statement ......"

Wang Taidi: "Sounds like the kind of sick scientist ...... would have the whole town dragged out and made into a barbecue."

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"Heh heh, I was just thinking about it, don't worry." Qi Ning said in a calm tone.

But the mask hid his expression, and the plague doctor's dress made him look inherently eerie in a trifling way.

The result is that now he still looks very much like a pervert with a passion for human dissection.

Wang Taidi changed the subject: "Did you guys hear Sara's song during the system prompt? How did you guys feel, I felt like throwing up after hearing it?"

Xiao Lan said, "I was feeling dizzy and the images in front of me were in a trance."

Luo copied the answer straight away: "Mine and Xiao Lan's are similar."

Qi Ning says: "I seem to hear Cen Wei's voice in it."

Xiao Lan frowned and asked, "Hallucinations?"

If it's really hallucinogenic, Sara's song has to go up the threat scale.

Qi Ning thought for a moment, "It only appeared for a moment, but it should have been."

He looked at Xiao Lan with a somewhat worried look and added, "Don't worry, I'm well aware that he's gone and won't create any unrealistic expectations."

At this point, Wang Taidi joined the conversation: "So ...... took the liberty of asking, who is Cen Wei?"

Xiao Lan was a little surprised he didn't know about Cen Wei: "That's Qi Ning's boyfriend."

Wang Taidi: "Why do you all look like you know?"

Qi Ning said, "I took the initiative to tell Xiao Lan, I wanted Cen Wei to live on in the memories of more people and Wang Ke knew about him."

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Wang Taidi's little curls were each one puzzled: "When did this happen? Why don't I know?"

Qi Ning spoke in a calm tone, "I'm sorry, because you were so weak and didn't look like you were going to live very long, so at that point I didn't think it would be useful to talk to you."

Wang Taidi: "......"

Former-Senior-Rookie-King feels offended.