At that time, the moderator thought with great awe... It turns out that some people really do have real abilities.
Therefore, whenever the administrators angrily protested to him and asked him to help manage the novels in the forum, he would only manage other people's novels and ignore this "Wonderful Man from the Mountains," naively trusting him.
Until one day, the moderator clicked on this post on a whim and saw the latest post, and his pupils dilated in shock.
"Let me tell you about Xiao Tao. He's a brother I grew up with, so naturally I had to save him. But I never expected that saving him would lead me to inexplicably clash with that person in the darkness."
"My life, my ghost-hunting career, has changed dramatically from this moment on."
It's here, the familiar taste is here...
The moderator messaged him privately, subtly reminding him that the forum management had been very strict lately, and that he should be careful and not make up stories.
The person ignored him. The "Mountain Hermit" was online all day, but wouldn't reply to his messages; one could say he was quite arrogant.
Just when the moderator was furious and about to turn into a pufferfish, finally, the Mountain Hermit replied in the middle of the night:
"In this world, truth and falsehood are indistinguishable, so why bother caring so much?"
No, I do care!
The pufferfish, puffed up with anger, thought sadly:
All the feelings I've had these past few days have ultimately been misplaced.
The next day, a new pinned post was published.
"Look, this is the one you see right now."
The system said their mission was to preserve the world of "Writing Some Thoughts Before Retirement." Because this world wasn't a regular novel, but rather a post serialized on a forum, the rules were somewhat unique.
For example... a red coat.
In this forum, "Red Coat" refers to the four administrators. Only their IDs are red, and they are jokingly called "Red Coat" in everyday life.
And there are also red coats in this world. They don't usually appear, but a red coat will appear whenever something goes wrong.
At midnight, they stood silently outside the house of the ghost story's protagonist, dressed in red, their heads bowed. But when the four men in red coats appeared together, their bodies began to move with a creaking sound.
They would go into the house, drag the protagonist of the ghost story out... and chop off his head with a sharp blade.
"Um, system..." Lu Mingran sensed a hint of danger, "Could the red coat really kill someone?"
“Sigh, I don’t think there’s any need to hide it from you anymore. Lu Mingran, before you, there were two people who did missions in this world.”
Every single time, it ends with the protagonist of the ghost story being killed.
"If we fail again this time, the world will be completely wiped out, and this post will be deleted in reality."
This mission sounds a bit difficult and even a little scary.
Lu Mingran squinted at the new mission identity he had been given:
The male lead's best friend, Xiao Tao.
Seeing that he remained silent, the system comforted him, saying:
"But this time the male lead is much more powerful than the previous two. Su Yun and Wei Jiangyan are still ordinary people, one hasn't even recognized a master yet and the other hasn't been chased and tempered by the villains."
“But he is different. He started in this industry at the age of fourteen, has been in it for many years, has done a lot of things, and has a high reputation.”
Lu Mingran understood:
"You mean he has some kind of cheat code and also has very thick thighs?"
"Um."
Lu Mingran's eyes lit up:
"Then I can cling to his leg!"
The system paused for a moment, then simply said, "No."
——————————————
Because his task was to play the role of Xiao Tao, who was cursed and on the verge of death...
We must absolutely prevent the protagonist from getting into trouble in order to help him.
Self-reliance and continuous self-improvement.
Powerful male protagonists are only allowed to be looked at, not hugged.
Lu Mingran: "..."
What use is he to me?
Chapter 31 Want to take care of your brother? No way (2)
"No, the male lead is still somewhat useful."
Upon hearing Lu Mingran speak of the male lead in this way, the system quickly replied:
“You need him to tell you stories.”
Lu Mingran: "?"
He's twenty-five years old; he really doesn't need bedtime stories anymore.
However, the system told him that this was related to another setting of this world.
——————————————
The car gradually drove away from the residential area. Lu Mingran glanced out the window and saw that the lights were on in the kitchens of each house, and smoke was rising from the pots.
However, he could not stop and could only follow the car forward, entering the thick fog once again.
After the car left the thick fog, Lu Mingran found herself in a typical commercial street. It seemed to be early morning; the shops were closed, and there were hardly any people on the street.
"Here you go." At that moment, the system called out to him and tossed him a black backpack.
Lu Mingran's heart skipped a beat. She thought to herself, "This world is really different. They're even giving out supplies."
However, after he opened the backpack, the fluttering excitement in his heart subsided:
The bag was full of toilet paper...
So what's the point? Is the purpose of this curse to make him bleed a lot, so the system stockpiled toilet paper for him to wipe away the blood beforehand?
The system sensed Lu Mingran's little scheme and told him to close his bag:
"Don't overthink it, it's just a prop."
As it spoke, the system's voice suddenly became urgent:
"They're here!"
"Lu Mingran, hurry up and get out of the car!"
This time, Lu Mingran was practically forced off the bus. After getting off, he stumbled and almost lost his balance.
But the most exciting thing was yet to come. Just as Lu Mingran was feeling dizzy and disoriented, a few young men appeared out of nowhere, whistling as they punched him and snatched his backpack from his hands.
By the time Lu Mingran stood up straight, those people had vanished. He gave a self-deprecating laugh, thinking how lucky he was that he had checked his bag earlier, otherwise he probably would have been fighting for money by now.
But why is someone robbing people so early in the morning? The system is urging him to get off the bus. Is it because it's afraid he'll get beaten up if he gets off too late?
Lu Mingran was almost moved to tears by the thought that there were people in the world who would so eagerly get off the bus only to have their bags snatched.
Before Lu Mingran could think about it, a sharp pain suddenly struck his left arm.
Fortunately, the pain lasted only a short time, but those few seconds were enough for Lu Mingran to squat down in pain, gritting her teeth and trying her best not to scream out in embarrassment.
Lu Mingran clutched her arm, enduring the pain as she listened to the relevant parts of the novel.
Xiao Tao came to S City on a business trip. However, Xiao Tao had very bad luck; not only was her bag stolen, but she was also cursed.
To be precise, the bag snatching was just a pretext; their real purpose was to cast a curse on him.
It seems that Xiao Tao's client offended someone, which implicated him. The key point is that the sorcerer that person hired was truly insane, actually casting a triple-kill curse on Xiao Tao.
The Three Killing Curse lasts for three weeks and will automatically dissipate after three weeks.
It may not sound like much, but very few ordinary people can survive these three weeks.
The so-called Three Killing Curse means that the person afflicted by the curse will be haunted by a different kind of ghost every week. If they can get rid of the ghost themselves each week, then everything will be fine after three weeks. As for what kind of ghost it is each week, that depends on the level of cultivation of the person who cast the curse.
In the novel, Xiao Tao's bag was stolen, and his arm was in excruciating pain. His first reaction was to call his good friend Gu He.
Gu He is the male protagonist in this story. Xiao Tao came to S City not only for work but also to catch up with his good friend. Now that he's in trouble, the first person he thinks of is Gu He.
However, Lu Mingran knew that if Gu He discovered this, the triple-kill curse would cause him a lot of trouble. Therefore, Lu Mingran simply squatted down on the side of the street to rest and had no intention of calling Gu He at all.
The Triple Kill Curse really does take effect quickly. Not long after, Lu Mingran felt a chill on her neck and a sudden weight on her back.
“Lu Mingran,” the system reminded him sympathetically, “the ghost in the first week is a female ghost who died a violent death, and she’s already clinging to your back.”
"Um, would you like to see what she looks like?"
At this, Lu Mingran, who had been silent, let out a groundhog squeak:
"don't want!!"
If he were to see what a female ghost looked like, Lu Mingran could immediately give the system a performance of "I killed myself."
Fortunately, after being stimulated by the system, Lu Mingran became a little more sober. This time, besides saving the male lead's life, he also had to save his own; he couldn't just stay here for three weeks.
Thinking of this, Lu Mingran stood up and asked the system a question:
Where is the nearest funeral supply store?
————————
In this world, besides the red coat character, there's also the character of the bystanders.
Those bystanders exist in the form of funeral supply store owners; as long as you give them a true ghost story, you can exchange it for a clue.
This brings us to the point where the male protagonist, Gu He, is somewhat useless. In this world, funeral home owners generally assume that only the ghost stories told by Gu He are true. Therefore, the system says that Lu Mingran can't avoid Gu He; she has to go see him.
As for why it assumed Gu He's words were true, the system pondered for a moment, then said that it would have to ask the moderator. It both hated Gu He and subconsciously trusted him; this complex emotion was beyond comprehension.
Upon hearing that Lu Mingran was going to the funeral home, the system quickly stopped him, saying that it would be useless for him to go, as the owners there would not recognize his ghost stories.
"Don't tell me stories like 'the bus at midnight,' those onlookers are very shrewd and have ways to verify it."