well……
Lu Mingran felt both sympathy for him and a little amused.
No matter what, one should never belittle oneself.
Lu Mingran squatted by the bed, looked up at Wei Jiangyan's downcast eyes, and smiled. Then, Lu Mingran reached out and tentatively placed his hand on Wei Jiangyan's head.
Seeing that Wei Jiangyan did not resist, he pressed her down and ruffled her hair.
"It's really nothing..."
"Some people are just not meant to be friends with someone else. But I happen to be a perfect match for you."
The system was so moved by the scene that it became completely absorbed in it.
However, Lu Mingran quickly said something to the system in her mind, completely ruining this warm feeling:
"System, I've found what it feels like to be a father."
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Given the high risks of fatherhood, Lu Mingran said that he must make sure that every time he goes, he gains something from it, and that he must make sure that the risks are high and the rewards are high.
Therefore, he inquired about the next ghost story, hoping to find a breakthrough.
"Next time it won't be so scary..." the system reviewed the novel's plot with him, "It'll just be a bit tragic."
The unfortunate one is Shao Xiaoshu.
Shao Xiaoshu is a sophomore at a university in the city. To be honest, he dislikes the collective life of the dormitory and even more so the various silly team-building activities.
He refused the group karaoke party to find a "princess" in the name of obeying the law. He also pretended to be asleep to avoid the topic of sharing about girlfriends during the dormitory late-night chat. The next day, he compiled the comments his buddies made about their girlfriends and sent them to the girls who were still immersed in the pure campus romance.
Shao Xiaoshu felt that the boys were definitely getting revenge on him by dragging him into the spirit summoning ritual.
But this time it's a bit strange. The person leading the group is a man from the community, and I don't know how everyone was swayed by him, but they all clamored to go.
Shao Xiaoshu was helpless. This activity of peeling an apple in front of a mirror in the middle of the night sounded silly, but this time it was really hard to avoid.
But if he absolutely has to go, then it's not impossible.
On the day the boys set off with their big apples, Shao Xiaoshu's bag was also bulging. He patted his bag to indicate that he was ready too.
He brought a fresh, crisp, and sweet one—
Big yellow pear.
Who says you have to peel an apple in the middle of the night to attract ghosts?
This is discrimination against pineapples.
Chapter 23 Want to know the formation? No way (9)
The location was chosen to be a newly opened live-action escape room. Apparently, the owner had come up with a new script and paid them to try it out.
As Shao Xiaoshu sat in the car, he watched the night scene outside change from a bustling metropolis to low-rise houses and large areas of houses slated for demolition. He wondered how the owner could have decided to do business in such a remote place. Would anyone even come to his shop?
Just like Shao Xiaoshu had thought, perhaps because it was so late, there weren't many people in the office building, and the shop was almost empty except for the staff and the owner. The other students didn't seem to mind; they handed in their phones, and some even went to choose costumes to wear for the immersive experience.
The new script is titled "Midnight in the Mirror".
A huge poster hung in the entrance passageway, depicting a mirror with a woman in red hanging in the reflection. As each student passed beneath it, the woman's toes hovered directly above their heads, swaying gently in the breeze.
Shao Xiaoshu deliberately avoided the psychologically unsettling poster and followed at the very back. The lead staff member first handed out a walkie-talkie to everyone, then opened the black iron gate at the far end.
Behind the iron gate was another long corridor. On each side of the corridor were four rooms.
"Everyone goes into a room, and at midnight, just do what you know from the script."
The staff member stood there, holding the door shut, smiling broadly: "Have a pleasant gaming experience, everyone."
Shao Xiaoshu chose the room on the left, near the door. The staff blindfolded him, let him enter the room, and made him count to three before taking his eyes off the blindfold.
Bang—The door was closed by the staff who had left.
"one two three."
Shao Xiaoshu pulled off his blindfold.
It was a small, dimly lit room. The first thing you saw was a table against the wall at the front, with a square mirror on it and a red candle in front of it.
By the candlelight, Shao Xiaoshu saw a clock hanging on the right wall: 11:55.
The game will officially begin in 5 minutes.
Shao Xiaoshu pulled out a chair in front of the table, sat down, and waited somewhat boredly.
"Clang—Clang—"
The midnight bells rang. Shao Xiaoshu took out the large pear he had brought, picked up the fruit knife on the table, and pretended to peel it.
Perhaps because the atmosphere was so eerie, he didn't act immediately, but instead nervously looked at his reflection in the glasses.
The person in the mirror was also looking at him, with the same unease. In the candlelight, he felt a touch of melancholy and gloom on his handsome face.
It's nothing, it's just a game...
Shao Xiaoshu muttered to himself, and finally, somewhat clumsily, touched the large pear with the knife.
Shh—shh—in the quiet space, the sound of fruit peels being shaved off was exceptionally clear.
The peel grew longer and longer, until a smooth, fragrant pear appeared before Shao Xiaoshu.
As for what's in the mirror?
Shao Xiaoshu took a bite of a pear while looking in the mirror.
The person in the mirror also took a bite.
Shao Xiaoshu ate the pear bite after bite until it was almost finished, but there was still no change in the mirror.
Hmm, so what's the next step? It seems the boss only told them to peel apples? And then what?
Shao Xiaoshu waited until 12:10 but there was still no follow-up. During this time, he finished a pear and the spicy strips he had brought in his pocket, but nothing changed. He was still full and let out a burp.
Left with no other option, Shao Xiaoshu shouted into the walkie-talkie to check on his companions.
However, all he received in response was the sound of electricity.
He called out his companions' names one by one... but there was no response!
Shao Xiaoshu panicked and hurriedly stood up and ran towards the door. Fortunately, the door wasn't locked.
After forcefully pulling open the door, Shao Xiaoshu entered the corridor. His first instinct was to open the door to the room opposite and see what was going on inside.
The door on the other side was also unlocked; it opened with a simple pull.
Shao Xiaoshu walked in and immediately saw that his classmate was still peeling an apple with his head down. No matter how he called him, he didn't respond. In his anxiety, he wanted to curse, but his heart suddenly skipped a beat.
The classmate was peeling an apple while facing him.
Normally, given his layout, shouldn't you see the other person's back when you come in? How could it be their front?
The candlelight on the table flickered.
Shao Xiaoshu then realized that what he saw in the mirror was his classmate peeling an apple with his head down, while there was no one in front of the mirror.
Where did my classmate go?
A gentle breeze brushed past Shao Xiaoshu's head.
Slowly, very slowly, he raised his head.
That student's body was hanging right above the entrance, just like the woman in the poster, swaying back and forth on his toes.
Shao Xiaoshu rolled out; he really rolled out on the ground. As soon as he rolled out, he saw the door next to him open by itself.
The situation inside is exactly the same as here.
At the same time, the staff opened the door. Before everything went dark, he heard fragments of a conversation:
"Just one more person! Damn, just one more person and we're done!"
"Look what this kid is using? A big pear?"
...
Following Zhang Tianshi's instructions, Miss Xiao's original intention was to exchange the blood of eight boys for a female ghost in red. The act of peeling an apple was a specific code, signaling to the female ghost that she could come out.
But to their utter surprise, someone actually brought in a giant yellow pear, and there were even spicy snack wrappers on the ground!
It was a scene of utter devastation.
You're here for a picnic, huh?
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"All efforts were in vain, and Miss Xiao almost suffered a backlash."
Lu Mingran watched the subsequent plot unfold:
Afterwards, Shao Xiaoshu was beaten half to death. When he woke up, he heard from the nurses that his classmates had been in a car accident the night before, and he was the only one who survived. Everyone said that the reason Shao Xiaoshu had so many fractures all over his body was because of the car accident.
But Shao Xiaoshu knew very well that he had been stuffed into a bag and beaten.
But no one believed him. Until he met Wei Jiangyan.
"As long as those people don't beat Shao Xiaoshu up, and they do something even more clever, that's fine," the system instructed Lu Mingran.
"What about...the boys?"
"Unfortunately, this is an unchangeable plot and also the rules of the game."
Indeed, in ghost stories, those who court death... almost always end up like this.
Lu Mingran lowered her head: "When do we take action?"
Tonight!
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Water connects yin and yang.
The system had previously modified Lu Mingran's body to make him more like a living person. Now, it was going to force out Lu Mingran's ghostly aura.