The place where the elevator door opened was in an old abandoned building.
Half of the roof had collapsed, and the pillars that fell from the second floor had shattered into a pile of stones. Wires and vines hung in the air. Sunlight shone through the hole, illuminating the dust on the ground. It was as if a slanted beam of light was trying to prop up the crumbling building.
The former guard was the first to jump out of the elevator. He leaped over the broken bricks and rubble in front of the elevator door and stopped at a small open space. He looked around. When he heard that the three people behind him had also stepped out of the elevator, he quickly stepped aside and turned around to smile at them. His face was wrinkled because he couldn't contain his excitement. "I see it. The door is on the right."
Just as the NPC had said, this abandoned building was located on a small hill outside of Ursa City. From here, they could see more than half of the city that had been devoured by lava. All the players who had quit the lava game had to follow the door at the back of the old building to the highway at the foot of the hill. Logically speaking, there was no longer Lava in the Green Mountains behind the highway!! As for whether that stretch of green mountains was an apocalyptic world or how many apocalyptic worlds existed on this planet, no one could say for sure.
The four of them walked along the hill to the highway in silence. Bohemia pulled her clothes down from her head and said in a muffled voice, "I suddenly have an idea."
"What is it?"
"Posthumans from other worlds have visas, so they can land in an apocalyptic world accurately, right?" Bohemia pulled off her clothes and said in a clear voice. Her arms slithered out of her sleeves like a snake slithering out of a hole. She pulled her dress up and said, "Since we don't have visas, we will enter the apocalyptic world wherever we go. Then we won't go, okay? Let's set up camp on this highway. "
While Lin Sanjiu was mulling over the idea, Puppeteer suddenly said, "Sure."
"Can I?" She turned to look at him. "Don't you need to rest and recover from your injuries?"
Puppeteer met her gaze calmly. A gentle smile blossomed on one side of his face. It was as if a night flower had bloomed under the dim moonlight. `No, 'he said slowly, `you want it.'
"But I don't have any wounds —" Before Lin Sanjiu could finish her sentence, Bohemia stomped on her heel so hard that the skin on her foot was almost torn off. Before Lin Sanjiu could figure out what was going on, Puppeteer laughed and said, "You will soon. Don't worry."
… Alright, we've decided to set up camp anyway.
If they set up camp on the highway, she could think of a way to get information about the cat doctor from the outskirts of Big Bear City. Then, she could finish her last task.
In Lava!! It was not a good idea to set up camp on the road near the exit. After a brief discussion, they decided to walk along the road for a distance and wait until the big bear market was out of sight. This was not a plan. Lin Sanjiu was just taking things one step at a time. After she finished speaking, Lin Sanjiu looked at the ex-guard.
"You should have a place to go, right?" She did not want him to know where they were going. "We saved your life and brought you out. We have done our best. It's time for us to part ways," Lin Sanjiu said.
For a man who was not in the right state of mind, she knew very well that saving someone's life was not worth much.
The ex-guard retracted his gaze from the towering mountains on the other side of the highway.
"Of course, of course, of course," he paused for a few seconds as if he had digested what Lin Sanjiu had said. He nodded repeatedly, "I'm so grateful. I'm leaving now. Have a safe trip! "
Lin Sanjiu was astonished.
Seeing that the ex-guard had indeed turned around and left, Lin Sanjiu thought for a moment and gestured for Bohemia and Puppeteer to stay. She chased after the ex-guard and smiled, "Since we are friends, let me see you off. After all, we haven't had a chance to have a good chat."
The ex-guard looked at her and blinked his eyes. "Sure. You're welcome."
Even though Lin Sanjiu couldn't read the man's mind, she knew that the ex-guard was not a fool. He was too clever. It was as if he could always sense when and what he should do in order to maximize his chances of survival. Lin Sanjiu chatted with him about her experience in the hospital for a while. When she saw that he was starting to talk, she asked tentatively, "By the way, what do you think of Wei Xing?"
"He's too stupid," the ex-guard said without hesitation.
"Too stupid? Isn't he being too smart for his own good? "
"Of course not. I'm very sensitive to people." He chuckled a few times. "Not only people, I'm very sensitive to anything related to people. Some people survive by force, some rely on their brains, and I … I rely on people to survive. "
'Then, how could he be deceived by that man and woman? '
Lin Sanjiu was about to ask, but she suddenly swallowed it back. To be precise, he was deceived by an NPC to become a guard, and an NPC probably couldn't be considered a human anymore. When the man and woman said that they were his teammates, he acted as if he believed them. But in reality, only he knew whether he believed them or not.
"Even if she never talked to me …" The ex-guard didn't care about her momentary distraction and continued, "I say, did she end up like this because of a man? That's the most vulgar story. "
This time, Lin Sanjiu was truly shocked.
She even wanted to search her body to see if there was a bug on it. Otherwise, how could he guess that Wei Xing's experience did involve a man? After all, Wei Xing didn't even mention a word about it until the last moment.
"She … did ask me for a favor before she died. It was related to a man. I was going to do it after I settled down," she said reluctantly. "But … I don't know the relationship between them."
"That's what I said!" The ex-guard clapped his hands and laughed, "I don't have any evidence. You can just listen to what I said. You don't have to pursue the matter … I just feel that she didn't do it for herself. Most people want to leave the hospital to live a better life, but when she saw that she couldn't leave the hospital, she immediately wanted to die. This means that her goal wasn't to save her life. She wanted to leave the hospital because there was something — or someone — she wanted outside the hospital, right? "
Lin Sanjiu could only stare at him. She didn't know what to say.
"What she wants isn't freedom or anything." The ex-guard had always been cautious around them. He rarely spoke as openly as he did now. Perhaps, it was because Lin Sanjiu was the only one beside him now.
"You're not a man, so you can't feel it. A woman who has been surrounded by the opposite sex all her life will naturally have a different attitude when facing other men. She is different from other women … Even though I've never seen her beautiful side, I can tell from her attitude that she used to be very beautiful."
"So what?"
"It's a little hard to explain. What I mean is, for someone like her who has long since internalized her appearance, beauty is definitely more important than freedom or something like that. This is because beauty has already become a part of her … Do you understand what I mean? This is related to her 'existence'. "
The ex-guard seemed to be having a hard time translating his vague feelings into logical words. He frowned and said, "What a person pursues is inextricably linked to what kind of person they are. Do you agree with that? So, I feel that what she pursues is related to her beauty to a certain extent … But this thing is more important than her life and her beauty, let alone a passerby like you. "
"So, you thought of …" Lin Sanjiu hadn't thought of this word for eight hundred years, "love?"
"She looks like a very silly woman," the ex-guard couldn't help laughing, as if the whole thing was funny and interesting. "Without the cover of her beauty, there's no way she can hide her silly behavior like a moth flying into a flame. Do you think she wants to die because she doesn't want that man to see her as an ordinary NPC? Or does she think that even if they meet, she won't know who he is? It's the same as saying goodbye forever, so she …? "
Lin Sanjiu didn't want to continue.
She pretended to be attracted by something and looked at Ursa City, which was not far away from the highway. She didn't respond to the ex-guard. The latter was silent for a while. Then, he suddenly let out a laugh and mumbled to himself, "I'm sure you don't want to think too deeply. I've made you uncomfortable."
From the short time he spent with Wei Xing and the few words they exchanged, the ex-guard had already grasped Wei Xing's core … What about her? What about Bohemia? What about Puppeteer?
Lin Sanjiu gulped and changed the topic. "Why didn't you find the part about the elevator in the walkthrough you read? Did you feel it?"
"Ahem, it's not really a feeling, but I guessed it." The ex-guard touched his collar. The pendant propped up the shape of a square under his shirt. "The walkthrough they showed me was definitely not complete … Seriously, there are bullies everywhere. They purposely cut off a part of the elevator. I guess it's because of my nickname. "
"Your nickname?"
"Do you still remember that red-faced guy said that every player in the club would create a name for themselves?" The former guard played with the pendant under his clothes and said with some nostalgia, "I didn't choose my nickname myself. It was something they called me, and it was passed on."
Lin Sanjiu didn't know why, but all her hair stood on end. It was as if a cold wind was about to blow on her skin. This person's combat ability was not as strong as hers. Moreover, Puppeteer and Bohemia were not far behind her. The highway was quiet, and only the wind that carried the scent of the forest blew between them. Lin Sanjiu felt like she had just peeked into a bottomless well, and her limbs felt a little weak.
"My name is' Elevator Man '," the ex-guard said slowly as he took out the pendant. The former guard said slowly and took out the pendant. "It's because I always like to look at it. This is a souvenir I got from the game …"
The last time she saw this transparent square, Lin Sanjiu remembered that the pendant showed a scene inside an elevator. There were a few men and women fumbling around the elevator door. They were probably trying to find a way out.
This time, the people in the pendant were gone. There was only a woman and a few half-eaten corpses on the ground. There was a pile of human feces in the corner. Even the mutilated corpses were soaked in urine.
"It will always show the situation in the game?" This was the first time Lin Sanjiu paid attention to this seemingly unimportant detail. When they first heard the word "souvenir", none of them gave it a second thought. "Why would I want to take a souvenir like this?
Who would want to see something like this? "
"Yeah, that's right." The ex-guard held the pendant in his palm. He did not even raise his head. He was engrossed in the pendant as if it was showing the most interesting drama. The flesh on his cheeks bulged as he smiled.
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