What’s Wrong With Seeking Death?

…don't know.

Xu Tuoran tilted his head to look at the screen, and his mind was filled with only four words.

I don't understand.

If Yang Buqi hadn't left right now, she would have dragged him over for identification. Is it reasonable to come here to find the older Lianmai to play games?

Obviously, this is unreasonable.

—So Xu Tuoran became interested on the spot, and directly sent the other party a sentence of "talk in detail".

The person opposite is also on the road, and directly sent a link.

The link is from within the forum and is a task post. The release time was two weeks ago, showing that it has been picked up. The recipient was not anonymous, it was the guy who was communicating with Xu Tuoran at the moment.

Xu Tuoran roughly glanced at the task description, and slowly sat up straight.

The information and requirements of this task were collected and sorted out by dedicated staff, and the focus of the task was a game.

Puzzle-solving and level-breaking, multiplayer online cooperation. There are several names, some are called "Ninth Photo", some are called "Cry of the Ancient House", some are called "Lost Town"...

Yes, this game doesn't even have a unified name. There are no screenshots or download paths. The only thing I know is only one thing: during the evening hours of a specific platform, someone may broadcast the game live in the live broadcast room. And anyone who watches the live broadcast has a chance to receive an invitation to experience the game.

The reason for confirming this point is that more than one person has publicly released their experience on the Internet after being invited by the game, and also mentioned the time and platform of the live broadcast. However, someone checked afterwards, and at the time they mentioned, they did not actually find any corresponding live broadcast records.

And those players who released their personal experiences never updated their dynamics. The so-called "live broadcast" does not have any video streaming.

The ability user responsible for collecting information also mentioned a crucial point - after she noticed those strange speeches, she tried to contact those speakers. As an all-knowing candle-level, she can confirm that at least five of them have lost contact. Strangely, the people around them didn't seem to feel it.

On the contrary, on the Internet, someone noticed something was wrong—it was said that one of the missing people was actually a game up master with a lot of fans. After the live broadcast preview was released, he completely lost audio, and all videos and cooperation were suspended. Therefore, it has attracted the attention of many people, and they have been asking and questioning in the comments.

Coupled with the fact that other speakers stopped replying to private messages, a very absurd guess was gradually born-is there a possibility that those who broadcast the game are actually all missing?

...in a sense, surprisingly close to the truth.

Xu Tuoran was reading the post in front of him, and couldn't help but think of the video link that Gu Chenfeng sent not long ago, and couldn't help raising his eyebrows. Scrolling down, it is a detailed task guess and description:

【Before the missing person disappeared, there was a live broadcast notice. It is likely that the abomination in the form of [game live broadcast] induced him to perform certain rituals and enter the domain; however, the people around the missing person did not seem to notice the abnormality. No effects of chaos or long night/day abilities. 】

[Task requirements: Investigate this matter and collect as much information as possible. It is best if it can accurately correspond to the ability tendency and level of the abomination. The specific remuneration depends on the quality of the information. 】

[Advanced Requirements: Seal and bring back the corresponding abomination. 】

Scrolling down further, there are inquiries from other users about the details of the task. From the conversation, it can be seen that at least two capable users have tried to accept this task before, but they are currently offline, their avatars are gray, and it is not known whether they happen to be offline or have tried the task Later, unfortunately, he became a member of the "lost contact".

Xu Tuoran patiently read the post carefully, and then switched back to the private message interface.

Xu Tuoran: [All right. I probably understand the incident. 】

Xu Tuoran: [But I still don't quite understand why you invited me. 】

The person on the other side was clearly prepared. Xu Tuoran had just sent this sentence, and the person on the other side sent a long message.

A large piece of text is densely packed. Xu Turan glanced at it, and his expression gradually became subtle.

According to the other party's introduction, they originally formed a group of three people. One of them had watched other people's live broadcast and just got a slot in the game, and the other two were chasing him.

[The game is directly given to the download package. The person who gets it can share the installation package with up to two people, but the people who get it must play the game together. 】

[The game is multiplayer cooperation from different perspectives, and can only be opened in the live broadcast state. But only the person who actually received the invitation needs to broadcast live. We've had two attempts so far. After the first attempt, the person in charge of the live broadcast had completely lost contact. And I received a new invite and installer package, and was asked to stream the next game. 】

…To sum it up, this game is poisonous, and if no one broadcasts it, you can’t play it, but you only need one person to broadcast it each time. And now that he is required to broadcast live, it means that the person who broadcast live before is probably already cold.

It doesn't have to be dead. At present, it seems that it is more likely to be introduced into the "domain". As for the specifics, it is not yet certain.

However, Xu Tueran studied it over and over for a while, but he still didn't understand the logic of the other party's invitation to the aunt. Fortunately, the follow-up supplementary explanation soon followed.

[As for the reason for inviting you...the thing is actually like this. After the previous two attempts, we have been summing up experience and trying to avoid danger. Then we found that these two games actually had a great impact on our spirit. It is specifically reflected in the high immersion during the game, as if losing oneself, and eventually falling into hallucinations; after the game, it is often affected by the content. 】

[As for the reason behind it, we suspect that it is probably because many common popular elements are put into the game, which can strongly attract our attention. And the longer we are attracted to it, the more immersed we are, and the more negatively affected we are. 】

[And during the game, we cannot communicate with the outside world, and it is even difficult to hear external sounds. We can only remind each other through Lianmai. Therefore, we want to find a companion who will not be easily attracted, so that we can warn us in time to avoid addiction. 】

As for how to be considered "not easy to be attracted", they have also carefully considered this matter. High-level ability users with the ability to protect themselves certainly meet the requirements, but such encounters are not available. And they asked before, because this form of playing games is difficult to use their own abilities, so most people avoid it.

That can only be a different way of thinking-in theory, if the player is not interested in the game or the elements in the game, maybe it is not easy to be attracted?

And under what circumstances, people will feel a lack of interest in a game?

After much deliberation, two possibilities are most likely. One doesn't like it, the other doesn't understand it.

[To be honest, we didn't actually want to find someone who was very old at the beginning. I just want to ask in the forum if there is anyone who doesn't understand Chinese or hates playing games. 】The opposite side said honestly,【But your appearance, auntie, let us open up new ideas. 】

This game is obviously aimed at young people. As I said before, it contains a lot of popular elements-but it also means that older people may not like it.

Although seventy-two is indeed too big...but being hired by Taobao shop shows that this aunt's reaction and combat effectiveness should be both acceptable. If you are straight, you might be able to fight better than the two of them. And people may not really be seventy-two.

To be on the safe side, the guy who came to invite Xu Tuoran asked her a few more questions after she had a general understanding of the situation—out of politeness, he specifically greeted Xu Tuoran in advance.

Because of the limitations of the game itself, he couldn't directly describe the content of the game to Xu Tuoran. He could only pick out a few classic elements from it, and asked around the bush. After confirming that Xu Tuoran had never heard of any of them, he was even more sure. My own opinion.

[Sure enough, there is a generation gap between you and us! 】The other party excitedly said,【Auntie, so are you willing to form a team with us? Pay at least equally. 】

It is said that Xu Turan joined later, unless he was the MVP in the later stage, he would definitely be paid less than them. It shows sincerity to offer at least an equal share of the price.

Xu Tuoran didn't care about the reward. But after thinking about it, he told himself the fact that he was not actually seventy-two.

The other party repeatedly agreed: [Yeah, I know. You must be forty or fifty! 】

Xu Tuoran: "..."

What's the matter with this child?

However, she didn't intend to reveal more personal information at first, so she followed the misunderstanding on the other side. As for the invitation to form a team, it happened that she also became interested in this weird game, so she agreed after thinking about it.

The other party was overjoyed, and immediately invited him to an internal group of the forum, shared the game installation package and made an appointment for the next game—perhaps because he was afraid of scaring Xu Tuoran away, he repeatedly emphasized to Xu Tuoran that the game operation It's not difficult, if there are those who don't understand, he will guide 100% remotely. Xu Tuoran only needs to try his best to do three things:

First, keep as calm as possible and try not to be frightened by the game screen.

Second, be able to describe everything you see on your side to others.

Third, stay sober as much as possible and help others stay sober. When the time is up, immediately remind others to stop playing and close the game.

[Of course, we are actually not sure whether this method will work. just try. 】The other side finally explained, 【If things are different from what we guessed, then we can only ask for luck. You take care of yourself. 】

Xu Tuoran had no opinion on this. However, before going offline, she sincerely asked the other two people in the group a question: [So, what you are actually looking for is an anti-addiction system, right? 】

Opposite: [Oh, yes, yes, that's what it means, Auntie, you are right. 】

Xu Tuoran: [Why don't you two consider looking in reverse? 】

The other two: ...?

[Don't children now have their own anti-addiction function? 】Xu Tuoran was not sure, 【You two go get a child's ID card and verify it. When the time is up, you will be forced to go offline. 】

Isn't this better than bringing an old lady who doesn't know if it's useful or not?

The other two: …

Gah, what a path never imagined.

It seems... not bad? !

Unfortunately, it turns out that it really doesn't work.

The other two were temporarily intimidated by Xu Tuoran. After thinking about it carefully, I found that this aunt's suggestion is actually not feasible at all-because the game actually has no anti-addiction settings at all. Moreover, the time they were required to play the game did not match the time for anti-addiction.

The time for the next game will be at one o'clock in the morning tomorrow, which can be said to be quite hellish.

Xu Tuoran agreed to join the gang, so naturally he would accompany him no matter how late it was. After receiving the game installation package from the other party, she closed the chat interface and completed the installation by herself. After thinking about it, she searched for a voice changer software on the Internet.

She had never used a voice changer before, so she searched for a tutorial on her mobile phone and played it, while continuing to browse the task board in the forum. After searching, another message popped up on the phone.

The news came from the foster brother's assistant. It probably meant that he had just found out that there was an attack in the Renhu District recently, and wanted to ask Xu Tuoran if he wanted to choose another place to live.

Attack?

Xu Tuoran frowned, glanced at a new post out of the corner of his eye, and clicked on it. I saw a photo inside, which captured the back of a person, and that person's long gray hair was quite eye-catching.

Swipe down and see the following description of the situation:

[Over the past month, the abominations that our company has hunted have been robbed frequently...]

[The most recent accident happened in the Renhu District of City C. The ability user who was attacked had his legs broken and his abdomen was severely injured, and he is still recuperating. 】

[The opponent has the ability to self-mutilate who has the ability to control, and tends to be suspected of chaos or long night/long day. Please be careful, all those who are able to perform missions. 】

[At the same time, the reward task is released. If you can provide further information about this person, you can get corresponding rewards according to the quality of the information. There is no time limit for this task, and there is no limit to the number of participants. 】

…

It is Renhu District again.

Xu Tuoran pursed his lips thoughtfully, picked up the phone again, and looked at the assistant's message. After thinking about it for a while, he sent a reply, expressing that he still wanted to choose the residence over Renhu; at the same time, he followed the thread in the forum post, which was regarded as taking over the task.

The task was accepted successfully. She ran to the customer service immediately, and applied for twenty pieces of silver-colored paper on the grounds of mission needs. At the moment when he got a positive reply from the other party, Xu Tuoran was completely relieved.

After that, I opened the downloaded voice changer software and began to study it seriously.

soon.

One o'clock.

Xu Tuoran turned on the computer five minutes earlier and started the game. On the pitch-black screen, there was only a row of red letters floating slowly.

"Ninth Photo"

That should be the name of that game.

Below the name is a line of small words: [To ensure a perfect game experience, please wear headphones to play the game. 】

Other than that, there are no buttons on the interface.

Xu Tuoran didn't panic, plugged in the headset without hesitation, opened the voice changer software that he had prepared a long time ago, and adjusted it from memory. He also activated "absolute kingship" and delineated the surrounding area of ​​his seat, including the location of the computer, as the country.

Just after enthroning, the time in the lower left corner of the computer jumped to one o'clock in the morning.

The interface of the voice changer is automatically minimized immediately, revealing a dark game standby screen, which fills the entire screen.

At this moment, another line of red words appeared in the middle of the screen:

【Please enter your name】

Below is a blank box.

Xu Turan entered the name "Zhang Baixue"—the guy who invited her had already greeted her. This name is used to confirm the player's identity, and she can only enter the name they know, which is the ID used by the forum.

After losing, the "Start Game" character finally jumped out. Xu Turan clicked, and the screen immediately began to melt—the pure black background slid down the interface like soft mud, revealing the real game scene.

It's a very underfunded image that just looks...

A 2D game, similar to pixel style, but the picture is rough visible to the naked eye. In the middle of the picture stood a girl with long hair, only the right side of her face was exposed, her facial features were as crude as a child's graffiti.

The girl seems to be standing in a room with a wooden shelf behind her, and some books are scattered on it... at least it looks like a book.

In the corner of the screen is a separate small window, and in the window is the list of people who are playing the game together at this time.

There are only three names in the window. "Zhang Baixue", "Flying Over Arkham" and "Nike Cheng Jing" - the other two are the forum IDs of those two guys. In comparison, Xu Tuoran's "Zhang Baixue" is as simple as a person from another world.

Xu Tuoran has reason to believe that this name is also one of the reasons why the other party is willing to believe her age.

The voices of the other two came from the headset. Xu Tuoran responded lightly, and tried to press the left movement button. The girl in the screen immediately turned 180 degrees on the spot, from the right side to the left side, and then moved towards the girl with the same hands and feet. Take a few steps to the left.

Xu Turan: ...

This game... Really, it looks like it's short of money.

She pursed her lips, trying to adapt to this rough picture. After controlling the girl to walk left and right for a while, she found a problem that made her feel even more uncomfortable.

This girl character controlled by her has no way to turn around.

The entire screen is fixed on a horizontal plane, and the character can only walk left or right, and can jump when pressing the space bar. When encountering an interactive object, there will be an interactive prompt on the screen, other than that, there seems to be nothing to do.

This is actually a relatively traditional game mode, and there is a special name called "horizontal game". This is the more famous Mario. However, Xu Tuoran had never been in contact with it before, so he was a little dumbfounded for a while.

After futilely controlling the character to jump around in place a few times, she finally found some sense of control and began to control the girl to walk around the room. In the headset, the other two have already shared what they see from their perspective.

Flying over Arkham: [The character here is trapped in the bathroom. All compartments are locked. Water seeped out of it. A broken photo was found in a trash can outside, with only a pair of legs. The photo is black and white, but the leather shoes on the feet are red. 】

Nike Chengjing: [My side is also trapped at the beginning. It seems to be in a personal bedroom, and it feels like the opening that Lao Wang got last time. 】

Lao Wang was their partner in the previous team. The person who was originally in charge of the live broadcast. At the beginning of this game, everyone will enter a different scene and need to piece together information, but at present, it seems that he just happened to get the scene that his teammates played before.

That's good, he still has an impression of the clues provided by Old Wang last time. Should be able to increase the breakout speed...

Nike Chengjing thought so, and turned on the mic again: [I remember last time Lao Wang said that there was half a photo in the drawer, I will go find it now. Auntie, where are you? 】

Xu Turan: ...

Sorry, your aunt just learned how to walk.

She controlled the character to walk straight to the right for a while, and bumped into a door that couldn't be opened. Reflexively pressed the space bar a few times, jumped around for a while before saying: [I was also trapped in a room. It feels like a study, or a reading room. 】

She walked all the way just now, and she did see a lot of books on the shelves.

Nike Chengjing: [Oh, that's great. Auntie, let me tell you, I have played in the [secret room] you are in now. Now you go to look through the bookshelf, you have to find a photo first, and then find the key to open the door. I think it should be in the bookshelf on the right. Please look for it first, and ask me if you don't understand. 】

Xu Tuoran's voice has matured a lot because of the voice changer, and it is really hard to tell his age at first glance. The other party didn't hear anything wrong.

Xu Turan felt that something was wrong - she felt that the other party's voice was a little soft.

She didn't know if it was because she didn't adjust the volume properly, or if it was the interference from the game itself. If it's the former, then she can't help it. Now the system is locked by this game, I can only play the game, and can't do anything else.

Xu Turan thought for a while, raised his breath and said "Hey" to the other party, and then continued to walk around the room.

On the other side, "Nike Cheng Jing" who heard her voice was startled.

— Xu Tuoran's "eh" just now was so full of breath that he was startled.

This auntie sounds so energetic.

He shook his head, shaking the extra thoughts out of his head, and continued to study the game in front of him.

For this game, he was the chosen broadcaster. According to the requirements of the game, the game screen on his side has been shared in the live broadcast room, and real-time comments can be seen next to it.

Although it was broadcast live according to the requirements, he didn't want more people to be involved in such weird incidents, so he deliberately set a password in the live broadcast room-so, the number of viewers at this time was zero.

Nike Chengjing glanced at the live broadcast interface, heaved a sigh of relief, and then controlled the girls to move around in the bedroom. Just like what Xu Tuoran saw, the screen on his side is also a pure horizontal version of the game, but the picture quality is much better than that of Xu Tuoran's. Like an anime heroine.

...But although it looks good, it still walks with the same hands and feet. It just looks a little silly.

According to the information obtained from the last game, he first went to the window, opened the curtains, found the key hidden on the window sill, then went to the desk, opened the drawer with the key, and instead of seeing the expected photo, he found it. I kept a diary.

He tried to control the heroine to open the diary, but he didn't notice that the number of people in the live broadcast room had quietly changed to "3".