CH 179

Because of the unbelievable culinary genius that often appears in the playground, finding food has become a must for every player.

Several people skilfully found their way to the kitchen of the hotel.

Although a large, heavy metal lock hangs on the kitchen door, it is useless against the human lock picker Xiao Lan, which lasts only a second before retreating into obscurity.

The kitchen is just as shabby and dirty as the outside and is home to many overactive critters.

Both the cooker and the kitchen utensils look so unkempt that one suspects that anyone who eats without diarrhoea is gifted.

Luckily, Wang Taidi had brought along some cooking props, which he had learned from his brother.

Some of the ingredients are packed in sacks and piled haphazardly in the corner, basically dried meat, beans and potatoes, with no green in sight.

Wang Taidi went up and looked at it: "It's okay, it's still fresh."

A few people grabbed some ingredients and ran to the unoccupied corner behind the hotel.

Wang Taidi isn't really bragging when he says his cooking has improved - it's amazing how his cooking has evolved from how steel is made to the realm of edible.

A simple dinner was soon completed with Luo's help, although in terms of time this might be considered a snack.

Not to say that it is full of colour and flavour, but it is up to the standard required for human survival.

Xiao Lan, Luo and Wang Taidi ate straight away, except for Qi Ning who didn't move at all with his mask on.

In front of everyone's puzzled eyes, Qi Ning picked up her plate, "I'll go back and eat."

Having said that, they left.

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Still following his policy of never taking off his mask, even in front of his teammates.

Wang Taidi saw Qi Ning's back disappear and asked Xiao Lan quietly, "What do you think Qi Ning looks like?"

Xiao Lan said, "I don't know, never saw him take off his mask."

Wang Taidi exclaimed, "I'd love to see it, I wonder when he'll pick it?"

Xiao Lan thought for a moment, "You could choose to go and peek at him in the shower."

A more closely guarded person wouldn't even have to wear a mask in the shower.

Wang Taidi didn't know what image she had in mind, but she gave in: "Forget it, I don't want to become a human specimen yet."

After the meal, a few people went back to rest and prepare to look for clues the next day.

--

Day 2.

Several people split up to search the town for news relating to the altar.

Xiao Lan continued to walk with Luo, while Wang Taidi and Qi Ning, who were used to walking alone, agreed to return to the hotel at sunset to exchange clues.

Walking through the town, the inhabitants remain very unfriendly.

At the same time, Xiao Lan felt that the fires around her seemed to be burning even more, but the town's inhabitants showed no signs of nervousness about it.

Xiao Lan tried to ask them, "Aren't you worried about the fire outside?"

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A man without his legs replied, "Hey ...... Mo Na the town is blessed by Sara and if we are pious enough nothing in the world can harm us. But you guys are different ...... you strangers will surely die."

Hearing his words, several people next to him also laughed sorrowfully.

They looked at Xiao Lan and the two of them with gloating eyes, as if some curse would fall on them the next moment.

These people seem to feel that they are in the shelter of Sara and don't have to worry about anything.

But in reality they are nothing but mutilated and alienated limbs and insane spirits.

Xiao Lan and Luo ignored them and continued walking through the town.

Suddenly, Luo reached out and pointed to an abandoned house, "That looks like the style of clothing found in the player's resident shop."

Xiao Lan followed his fingertips.

A fragment of clothing hanging from a torn window was seen, stained with stains.

Luo reached out and took the fragment down as the two men moved in.

This is indeed the most common style of clothing for player residencies.

I can't say that the clothes are unique, but it's still very suspicious to be in this closed town.

Luo examined it and said, "It doesn't look like this shard has been hanging around for long."

Xiao Lan mused, "According to Taidi, Sara's song doesn't reset, so this could be from a player who entered earlier, and there's a good chance ...... he's still alive now."

Luo nods his head.

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Xiao Lan said, "Come on, let's go look for him, we might know some new clues."

The two men searched for signs in the vicinity of the shard, looking in the direction where the player might be.

The further you go, the more desolate it becomes ahead, without even the sound of human voices.

The surrounding houses have been vacant for an unknown number of years and many of them have collapsed.

The original town of Mo Na was much larger than Xiao Lan had thought, but the only area that is still inhabited is the entrance.

Finally the trail stops in front of a ruined house.

The house still looks relatively intact on the outside, except that the glass in the windows is broken to bits.

The two men carefully pushed open the dilapidated door, which made a harsh scraping sound.

In the hall after entering, a man is sitting on a rickety sofa.

His hands are folded in his sleeves, his half-draped face is full of furrows, his hair is white, but his arms are thick and muscular, making it difficult to tell what age he is.

A voice was heard from the front door and the seated man lifted his face.

He doesn't look very "human" anymore.

There are no eyes on the face that is lifted.

Not the same trauma as the townspeople, but the whole area of the eye was a complete layer of skin and flesh, looking as if it had never grown at all, with some root-like things growing out of his face.

Although he looked odd, there was still an aura coming from him that would only come from a senior player, and the signs of tears on his clothes suggested that Xiao Lan and the others hadn't got the wrong man.

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Without waiting for Xiao Lan to open his mouth, he started talking to himself first: "Contract ...... power, I want more power ......"

Xiao Lan and Luo look at each other.

That's not a good mental state.

Xiao Lan took a cautious step forward and tried to communicate, "Hello, you're a player too, right?"

Hearing the word "player", the other party responded, "Player, player, yes, I am a player ...... advanced player ...... I am very good ......"

Xiao Lan asks, "Do you remember how long you've been in here?"

This player said, "Come in ...... Sara's Song ...... Deeds ......"

Suddenly, he sprang to his feet, "I can't go! I can't leave!!! Hey hey hey ...... you guys don't either ...... ever-"

Before the words were out of his mouth, his hands, folded in his sleeves, jerked out and came at Xiao Lan with a vengeance.

Xiao Lan could see that his hands were not normal human, they were furrowed like tree bark, and the tips of his fingers were long and sharp, a strange dark green colour.

Xiao Lan was prepared and dodged the blow with a dodge to the side.

At the same time, Luo, who was waiting in the wings, rushed forward and kicked the player in the face, sending him jerking backwards.

"Ho ......" a meaningless sound escaped the player's throat.

His head turned slightly, and with his hearing he determined the position of his comers and continued his attack on the two men.

Like a beast that has lost its mind, he is filled with nothing but thoughts of killing and has no intention of communicating with anyone.

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The three men battled it out in this shabby living room.

As expected of someone who is qualified to advance to senior player, even in this state now, his combat power is still not weak.

However, he soon showed his weaknesses when he faced Xiao Lan in a two-on-one match, long out of form.

The sharp claws grazed Xiao Lan's side with a dangerous green light.

Xiao Lan also unceremoniously smacked his arm with a club, which instantly made the clicking sound of bones breaking.

On the other side Luo's attack came again, with a vicious kick that broke one of his legs without mercy.

The player who had lost his support plummeted to the ground.

But, bizarrely, only a few drops of green liquid were left at the wounds he had made during the battle.

"Ah ...... ho ...... ah ......" he let out a wail of eerie pitch.

Xiao Lan took a few steps closer with the stick in hand, "Can we talk now? I have healing props here, I can heal you later."

The player lying on the ground seemed to regain some sense: "What do you want to know?"

Xiao Lan asked, "How long have you been in here? Why are you like this?"

The man on the ground thought for a moment, "Maybe a few months, maybe six months, maybe a year, I can't remember. As to why ...... huh ...... I was sent to Sara, but He said I was an unworthy sacrifice, and then I was thrown out and left here to fend for myself, slowly becoming this way."

Xiao Lan followed up with, "Have you met Sara?"

He nodded, "Yes, I've seen it ...... very near and dear ...... Him ......"

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As he said this his voice grew smaller and smaller, as if his pronunciation became difficult due to lack of breath.

Xiao Lan was about to move a little closer to listen more closely when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a smile that was not obvious at the corner of his mouth.

A sense of crisis struck him and he instantly stepped back and switched his [Bone of Paradox] into a shield in front of him.

A black shadow also quickly rose up in front of Luo.

The next moment, the man's head on the ground exploded with a bang.

The green sap splattered all over the living room, making a corrosive "zipping" sound and an unpleasant smell that spread instantly.

After a few moments, Xiao Lan puts away the shield.

Luo sensed the smell in the air and nodded to Xiao Lan, "No poison."

Xiao Lan now approached the body on the ground.

The body, which had lost its head, was motionless and looked dead through and through.

The break in the neck had only green liquid and no trace of blood, as if the man's body had no more blood in it.

Xiao Lan found a tablecloth to cover the body.

Although his attitude was not exactly friendly, he was clearly in a bad state of mind, and for the sake of being a fellow player, Xiao Lan took it easy for him.

This man was once one of the top group of senior players, but unfortunately he only died in silence.

After all the fuss they had just made, all they got was an "unqualified sacrifice".

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If unqualified offerings will be left to fend for themselves in the town, what about ...... qualified ones?

Where will Wang Ke be again?

Xiao Lan and Luo searched the room but unfortunately found no clues.

The death of this player broke the trail for the two men again, and they had to continue their search up.

Unfortunately, they didn't get any more clues in this area after that.

The two men changed direction again and continued on their way.

--

"Hey, stranger." A hand reached out from an out-of-the-way corner and waved at them.

Xiao Lan looked over and saw that it was a young man.

He was dressed as shabbily as anyone in the town, but he was not missing an arm or a leg, his features were intact, and apart from a distorted patch of skin on the back of his hand, there was little sign of alienation visible throughout.

When the two didn't come over, he added, "I have something here that would certainly interest you."

said, and waved the leather case held in his other hand.

Xiao Lan took out the [Bone of Disobedience] and walked over to it prepared, with the intention of collecting protection money.

Luo followed closely behind, looking as if he would charge more for protection if the gentleman was happy.

Facing the two men who were coming towards him in a murderous manner.

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Xiao Qingnian in the corner feels the hairs on his back and even a bit tempted to challenge his extreme running speed.

But he tried to hold steady.

Xiao Lan walked up to him and scanned the area to make sure there were no ambushes before putting the stick down, "Something wrong?"

Xiao Qing Nian gulped, "I ...... I have something here that I can sell you."

Xiao Lan raised his eyebrows, "What?"

Xiao Qing Nian couldn't resist clutching the suitcase in her arms: "To, to pay ......"

Xiao Lan laughed: "How can we pay you if you don't even say what it is?"

The youth of this town seem to be unexpectedly simple.

"Oh ...... is that right?" Xiao Qing Nian scratched his head, a little unsure.

Still, the movement in his hands was tight and he did not seem to trust these foreigners.

Luo fished a wad of cash straight out of his pocket and waved it in front of his face.

Xiao Qing Nian's eyes look at the money like a cat with a teasing stick, his head moving a little with Luo's movements, looking surprisingly naive.

With the ability to pay money to get started, the rest of the conversation went a lot smoother.

Luo took the money back: "Tell us what it is, and if we're interested, the money is yours."

An excited smile surfaced on Xiao Qingnian's face as he patted the suitcase, "I retrieved this from the body of a stranger, you are strangers too, do you want this too?"

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Xiao Lan: "......"

This simple and crude logic is also very impressive.

However, he had really skewed it. The props associated with a player's death would disappear, and if the stranger was a player, the suitcase that could be carried by the player, presumably something that belonged in the playground, could very well be the relevant clue.

Xiao Lan said, "We need to take a look before we can be sure you're lying."

"Sure." Xiao Qing Nian nodded decisively and handed over the suitcase with a very deceptive look.

There was no thought given to what would happen if the two men in front of them grabbed and ran.

Luo took the suitcase and opened it to find a lot of paperwork, all about the small town of Mo Na.

A number of these sources are not on the same paper or of the same date, and the accounts are more detailed than those uniformly obtained by the players.

This is probably a clue collected by someone, it's not clear if it's a player or a private detective who was previously assigned.

Luo nodded and paid readily, "Now they are yours."

Xiao Qing Nian took it and counted beautifully, "1, 2, 3, ......9, 10, 1, 2, 3 ......"

He looked as if he would only be able to go up to ten, which made one worry about the level of education in this town.

But is there really a school here?

Thinking about how Xiao Qing Nian reacted differently from the other residents, Xiao Lan said, "You seem to look different from the others."

Xiao Qing Nian looked up: "Different?"

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He looked around to make sure no one was there before he said quietly, "Because I don't believe Sara ."

Xiao Lan: "Why?"

Xiao Qing Nian shrugs: " Is Sara really making us happy? All I can see is that there are fewer and fewer people in the town. Besides, they all say Sara's singing is good, but I just find it so hard to listen to, and I get dizzy afterwards."

"Although it says Sara will protect our town, why don't all the people who leave come back? I think there must be a better world out there." He added.

Luo asks, "Has anyone ever left?"

Xiao Qing Nian nodded, "Well, my neighbour just left and didn't come back."

"What about you?" Xiao Lan asked.

"Maybe I'll leave too, I hear it's expensive to live out here, I need to save more money now." Xiao Qingnian said, "Eh yes, if you die can you give me back the suitcase again, I can sell it one more time."

Xiao Lan: "......"

You're a real business geek.