The footsteps behind him were so heavy, like dense and dull drum beats. Every step seemed to step on Zhao Hai's heart, making him breathless.
He ran away in a hurry, his fat face full of uneasiness, and he regretted for the first time how many times he had come to such a ghostly place.
What a bullshit equality paradise, whether it is the so-called challenge project or the explorer, there has never been any equality here!
The challenges are so rare that they can cost you your arm, or even your life in serious cases. The group of explorers are even more ruthless, casually forcing people to be used as trailblazers, with no regard for the lives of others.
He still remembered the desperate expression of that woman before she died not long ago. The rules of Equality Paradise did not kill her, but she died under the gun of the person who forced her.
The rabbit died and the fox was sad. However, what emerged in Zhao Hai's heart at that time was not too much sadness and anger. On the contrary, he was very happy, extremely happy——
Fortunately, the person who was arrested and sent to death was not me. Fortunately, because of that woman's existence, I didn't look like the most useless one.
I have to say that although the guy named Ge Yang was ruthless, his words were indeed realistic and cruel——
"The restricted area never needs useless people. Whether it is the restricted area itself or the team of explorers, the only role of useless people is to verify the horror of the restricted area, just like a passerby is always needed to set off the power of the protagonist."
Zhao Hai regretted it extremely, he was still too naive, otherwise he would not have come to Equality Paradise with a few words of encouragement from others. This was not the place he should come to at all.
For now, let alone getting rare treasures and other good things from the Equality Paradise in exchange for money, I'm afraid my life will be at stake here if I'm not careful.
At this moment, all the lights in Pingping Paradise have been extinguished, but the surroundings are not completely dark, but glowing with a faint green light.
Zhao Hai couldn't find the source of the light. Everything he saw seemed to be covered with a green screen, which was eerie and weird, and more penetrating than seeing nothing at all.
There was no wind, and the buildings on both sides of the road remained unchanged. However, the shadows on the ground continued to tremble.
The footsteps behind him were slow but became clearer and seemed to be approaching step by step.
Zhao Hai didn't know what was chasing him, but there was no doubt that it was not a human being.
He didn't have the courage to stop and fight with the opponent, just to survive the thirty minutes of cleaning. The screams at the beginning of the cleaning still seemed to be echoing in his ears, stirring up fear in him.
From the moment the lights went out, the entire Equality Paradise seemed to be completely alive, with countless monsters wandering in the darkness, ruthlessly hunting outsiders.
Zhao Hai firmly remembered the prisoner's words, so he never approached the amusement facilities in the park after the cleaning began. He just kept running along the road, trying to find a suitable hiding place.
But Pingping Paradise is an amusement park after all, and there are mostly amusement facilities inside. Being unable to get close to the amusement facilities means there is nowhere to hide.
It’s not like Zhao Hai has never tried to hide in non-amusement buildings such as toilets, but he doesn’t know if the founder of Equality Paradise is obsessed with money. He even needs park coins to go to the toilet, otherwise he won’t be able to get in at all.
.
Although he could borrow money, how could he dare to continue to reduce his paradise coins? He already owed Ping Ping Paradise six paradise coins, and continuing to borrow money would only lead to death.
While thinking, Zhao Hai suddenly noticed something was wrong——
It's too quiet.
The surroundings became increasingly quiet, and there was no sound other than the footsteps following closely behind him, which made him feel uneasy for no reason.
It was clear that when he was escaping before, he could vaguely hear other people's voices, but now he couldn't hear anything, as if he was the only one left in the Equality Paradise.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
The dull footsteps accelerated rhythmically, just like Zhao Hai's increasingly rapid heartbeat.
Without any hesitation, he suddenly raised his breath, and his fat body burst out with infinite strength, speeding up his pace and sprinting towards a thick pillar.
As he quickened his pace, the footsteps behind him suddenly became more rapid, which made Zhao Hai's heart suddenly sink.
The monster could obviously see his movements, otherwise it wouldn't have accelerated its pace to follow him.
Maybe the other party had the ability to catch up with him quickly, but he just followed him unhurriedly, always maintaining a fixed distance, and slowly harvesting his fear.
——Hunters usually like to torture their prey in this way.
Zhao Hai's thoughts turned quickly and he ran with all his strength. When he passed a shadow at the corner, he suddenly rolled on the spot and hid behind a pillar. He stopped his breathing, controlled his heartbeat, and tried his best to blend with the shadow, so as to fuse himself with the shadow.
The sense of presence is reduced to a minimum.
As an unemployed vagrant, Zhao Hai has experienced countless chases in the past days of sneaking around and has his own unique escape method, but he just doesn't know if this method will work on monsters.
But I can only take a gamble.
His physical strength was no longer enough to support him to continue escaping, not to mention that the chase would last for thirty minutes.
He regained his strength and quietly pricked up his ears, trying to determine the pursuer's location through the sound of footsteps so that he could respond in time.
However, Zhao Hai soon froze, a strong uneasiness emerged in his heart, and a thin layer of cold sweat appeared on his forehead——
Not because the footsteps were approaching, but because the dull footsteps disappeared.
That's right, it completely disappeared.
Zhao Hai's fear was instantly ignited.
Of course, he would not be so naive as to think that he had successfully escaped the monster's pursuit, because even if the monster really lost his trace, it would definitely search everywhere instead of staying still and making no sound - unless the other party
He also hid.
Of course, the most likely explanation is that the monster has actually discovered him, and is now standing in a dark corner, looking at the desperate works he has created with an appreciative gaze.
Zhao Hai felt chills running down his spine when he thought of this scene.
He was leaning against the thick pillar, and he didn't know if it was an illusion, but he suddenly felt a look full of malice.
This look was so vicious that it instantly made him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, his whole body was shaking uncontrollably, and his teeth were chattering.
Intuition told Zhao Hai that the pursuer was very close to him, so close that he could almost feel his cold breath.
He had a look of horror on his face, and after looking around to no avail, a terrible thought suddenly came to his mind——
Is that monster hiding on the other side of the pillar?
As soon as this idea came up, he couldn't stop it. The more he thought about it, the more likely it was, but he couldn't believe that the distance between himself and the pursuer was really less than half a meter.
The faint green light flickered on and off, the air was eerily quiet, and the surrounding buildings were silent, like a tall tomb that could bury him at any time.
Zhao Hai knew that he had to verify his conjecture as soon as possible, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and stick his body out from behind the pillar inch by inch, intending to see what was on the back of the pillar.
However, as soon as he showed his head, he almost scared himself to death.
There was no monster behind the pillar, only a fat man with a green face!
The fat man in the mirror looked frightened, and his expression was exactly the same as that of Zhao Hai himself. Naturally, he was very familiar with this face, wasn't it exactly what he looked like?
This is...a mirror?
Zhao Hai naturally couldn't think that way. He was the first challenger of the "Please do this like me" project. He looked at the mirror and took off his own head, which naturally created a lot of psychological shadow in his heart.
His intuition told him that the safest way right now was to leave here as soon as possible and find another place to hide. However, just as he was about to move, an encouraging voice suddenly appeared in his heart——
"The monster doesn't know where it is hiding, so why is it going out to die? Maybe this is really just a mirror. If you don't believe me, touch it and see..."
Zhao Hai's eyes were confused for a moment, and his heart was suddenly shaken. After hesitating for a long time, he reached out and touched forward carefully.
At the same time, Zhao Hai in the mirror also stretched out his fat arm, and their palms overlapped without any warmth.
Zhao Hai felt a cold and smooth touch on his palm. Zhao Hai was still uneasy and touched it several times before confirming that what he saw in front of him was indeed a mirror.
But instead of relaxing, he became more and more nervous.
Because he knows very well that there is a monster that can hide in the mirror in Equality Paradise.
What if there's a monster in the mirror...
And just for such a moment, Zhao Hai's pupils suddenly shrank when he came back to his senses.
Because he saw a huge figure appearing out of thin air in the mirror, wearing a black robe and holding a sharp iron hook covered with barbs in his hand. The body of the hook was dark red, and it looked like solidified blood.
Zhao Hai was so frightened that he turned around suddenly. Who knew that there was nothing behind him, and there was a huge figure holding an iron hook somewhere?
It was unusually quiet behind me, and I could only see the empty green streets and tall buildings, as well as the weird shadows shaking on the ground, but nothing else.
Looking at the mirror again, the figure was still standing next to him, and he slowly stretched out the iron hook and stabbed Zhao Hai on the shoulder.
"ah!"
Zhao Hai almost screamed and subconsciously turned around to avoid it, causing the huge figure's attack to miss.
The other party's reaction made him sigh in relief.
The movements of the huge figure are not very fast. As long as you are careful, you can completely avoid it. It is not a complete dead end.
Zhao Hai thought for a moment, but finally did not dare to leave the mirror, because he was worried that the monster in the mirror could only appear in the mirror. Once he left the mirror, he might not be able to see the other person, which would cause trouble.
So, under the constant attack of the huge figure, Zhao Hai dodged again and again, as if he was playing a different kind of game with the opponent.
It's just that this is a game that you can't afford to lose. If you win, there is no reward. If you lose, you will probably die.
It was not that Zhao Hai had never tried to fight back. After confirming the location of the monster through the mirror, he tried to swing his fist towards that place. The mirror showed that he had hit it firmly, but there was no corresponding touch on his hand. Nothing happened.
Not encountered.
This may explain the problem to a certain extent.
Zhao Hai was thinking that maybe everything in the mirror was just an illusion and there was no so-called monster attack at all. This was just an illusion created to consume his physical strength.
So he thought for a long time and gritted his teeth suddenly. Seeing that the monster in the mirror was about to attack him, he quickly turned his body sideways and deliberately withstood the attack with his left hand.
This is to verify whether the monster really exists.
If the monster really exists, then he will definitely be injured by the monster's attack; if the monster does not exist, it means that all this is an illusion, and then he does not need to continue to avoid attacks and consume physical strength.
Zhao Hai gritted his teeth, but the pain he had imagined never came to his hands.
He looked at the mirror and saw that the monster had inserted the iron hook into his left palm. Blood was flowing all over the floor. He looked very miserable, but Zhao Hai did not feel any discomfort.
Seeing this, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Because this means that the monster in the mirror is false. Even if it is real, it cannot harm itself for the time being.
And since the monster can't hurt him, he doesn't need to spend any effort to avoid it anymore. It's better to get out of here quickly.
However, during this flash of thought, Zhao Hai's scalp suddenly became numb.
I don't know when, but a strange smile appeared on the face of "Zhao Hai" in the mirror. His palms were obviously pierced and bleeding, but he seemed to feel no pain at all.
That smile seemed familiar, and Zhao Hai felt like he had seen it somewhere.
He reacted quickly, with a horrified expression.
Isn’t this the favorite expression of the monster in the mirror from the “Please do this with me” project!
At that time, the other party slowly took off his head with such a smile on his face. This scene frightened Zhao Hai for a long time, so that he still remembered it freshly.
A strong sense of uneasiness emerged from the bottom of his heart again. Although he didn't know where the danger would come from, he still became vigilant.
He tried to turn around and leave, but found that his left hand seemed to be fixed by something and he could not break free.
And the palm of his left hand... is exactly the part that was hooked by the monster in the mirror.
Zhao Hai's hair stood on end.
In the mirror, the tall monster didn't say a word, but slowly used the hook in his hand to drag Zhao Hai into the mirror. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break free.
At the same time, Zhao Hai in the mirror slowly moved outside the mirror, the smile on his face became more and more weird. When their eyes met, he even waved to Zhao Hai, as if saying goodbye.
Zhao Hai yelled crazily, but at this time, he had been completely dragged into the mirror and became the mirror image in the mirror. No matter how loud his voice was, he could not reach the outside world.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
The tall figure slowly stepped forward, and the blood-stained iron hook pierced Zhao Hai's palm, dragging him deep into the mirror like an animal, and soon disappeared.
Zhao Hai screamed in pain and despair, but no matter how much he cried for mercy, the tall figure ignored him, and no one else could hear him.
From then on, the fat man completely disappeared from this world.
Zhao Hai emerged from the mirror and stood outside the mirror, watching the scene quietly.
His figure was not visible in the mirror, only the streets and buildings glowed with green light.
But he knew very well that there was no other street in the mirror, there was only a dark and deep hell.
From now on, he will completely replace the fat man's identity, and he is extremely excited about the possibility of escaping from the blockade.
But soon, the strange smile on his face disappeared, and he looked humbly in one direction.
There was a series of long, dragging footsteps outside the street, as if someone was walking with their feet rubbing against the ground.
Under the dim green light, a figure gradually became clearer.
It was a figure wearing a giant cat doll suit. One eye was made of buttons, while the other eye socket had no buttons, but a real living eyeball embedded in it, rotating strangely.
No one knows what the real person is under this doll costume, including the "Zhao Hai" in front of him.
When he saw the doll, his expression froze, but he still said in a stiff tone: "Sir, according to the agreement, now is our hunting time, you should not come out."
"It's not your turn to remind me whether I should come out or not."
The cat doll made a cold electronic sound from its mouth, "And it seems to me that you guys don't just want to hunt, right?"
"Zhao Hai" was obviously very afraid of the doll in front of him, and he answered bravely: "Killing prey is hunting, and capturing prey is also hunting. There is not much difference between the two..."
"Really, you think I can't see that you are doing this to get out of the blockade and go to the outside world?"
"Zhao Hai" didn't say anything, but the meaning he wanted to express was self-evident.
The cat doll obviously understood what he meant and asked, "Tell me, whose idea was this?"
"Zhao Hai" was silent for a moment and said in a deep voice: "Sir, since the blockade has been loosened, it means that our era should also come back. It is only a matter of time before we break away from the blockade, and as far as I know, it is not far away that we plan to break away from the blockade.
It’s not just us.”
He did not answer directly, but expressed his opinion.
"I'm asking you whose idea this was. I don't care what you think." The doll's voice became much colder.
"Zhao Hai" shivered all over, but still gritted his teeth and did not dare to answer.
"Ha, even if you don't tell me, I know that such a stupid idea can only be thought of by the idiot 'Chi'. Am I right?"
How dare "Zhao Hai" answer the question? He is just a little guy. If there is a conflict between the two bosses, no matter who he favors, it will not end well.
Fortunately, the cat doll did not embarrass him, but turned around and left after getting the answer he wanted.
"Zhao Hai" just breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the doll suddenly stopped and said in a cold voice: "After the hunting time is over, find a place for me to stay quietly. Don't go anywhere, let alone run out of the park.
Do you understand?"
Although he felt a thousand reluctances in his heart, "Zhao Hai" did not dare to show it and nodded hurriedly.
"yes."
In front of this adult, he has no right to refuse.
The doll nodded and shuffled in one direction.
Along the way, the dolls walked through almost half of Equality Paradise and saw many people being hunted:
Someone was grabbed by countless hands growing out of the ground, forming a cocoon formed by the arms, leaving no gaps. Then, the cocoon continued to compress, squeezing out a pool of blood;
Someone was constantly chased by the beating sphere, trying to dodge wildly, but if he was not careful, he was crushed into a pulp;
Someone had his limbs broken by a group of humanoid monsters, like a dead dog. He was dragged away amidst screams and was then sent onto a black roller coaster. When the roller coaster started, a human head with a frightened face soon appeared on the ground.
Run away, run away.
Death, death.
Similar scenes repeated themselves in front of the doll's eyes, over and over again.
The green-skinned goblin appeared and hurriedly collected the corpse. From time to time, he stretched out his foot and tripped a guy who was running away. A smile of successful mischief appeared on his face.
It can be seen that all the monsters are having a great time - the Equality Paradise is not an equal paradise for humans, but a paradise for them.
When they saw the doll, the monsters' movements paused for a moment. Only after confirming that the other party had no time to pay attention to themselves and the others did they continue hunting.
However, the range of movements is much restrained, for fear of making the doll dissatisfied.
There were corpses and blood everywhere in the paradise. You could hear screams and cries wherever you went. The so-called paradise seemed to have become a purgatory on earth.
The doll is not surprised by this.
Not only humans, most of the abilities of creatures in the restricted area are also banned by the rules of Equality Paradise. If such people can be hunted successfully, then such guys should be eliminated.
Natural selection is an eternal law of the world.
After a while, the doll came to an open space.
The open space was extremely empty, with no amusement buildings around, and except for a flagpole standing in the center of the open space, nothing else could be seen.
There were many headless corpses hanging on the flagpole, and blood flowed down the flagpole. Some of it had already dried up, staining the entire flagpole red.
The doll stood there, motionless, as if waiting.
After an unknown amount of time, all the surrounding sounds disappeared, the world seemed to become quiet, and a suppressed breath continued to amplify in the open space, like someone's heavy breath.
A big hand covering the sky slowly fell from the sky, uprooting the entire flagpole, as if grabbing a skewer, holding it in the air, and seemed to put it into his mouth, making a chewing sound.
The doll looked up at the sky. The sky was pitch black, and the figure of the owner of the big hand could not be seen. He could only see blood rain falling from the sky, dyeing the entire open space red.
"Tsk, it tastes good."
It seemed like I was thinking about it for a while, and then a dull voice came from the sky for a long time, "You really have to eat this kind of thing raw, just remove the head, it's delicious enough."
He didn't seem to notice the doll's arrival.
The doll knew that the other party was deliberately ignoring him. He was silent for a moment, and then the cold machine sound sounded, and his words were full of ridicule: "If you eat like this, you won't be afraid of eating shit."
These words seemed to trigger a critical attack, and the owner of the dull voice suddenly froze, as if he didn't know how to answer.
It took him a while to calm down, and his voice was like Hong Zhongdao: "It seems that it's not your time now, what are you doing here? Don't disturb my meal."
"Eat, eat, eat, and you will know how to eat."
The doll was in a bad mood and said coldly, "I think you just eat too much shit, so your head is full of shit!"
Hearing this, Chi suddenly became furious, and his huge fist fell heavily, like a meteorite falling from the sky, instantly smashing a huge pit into the ground where the doll was.
"If you have anything to say, just say it. Are you here to seek death?"
However, the figure of the doll has long since disappeared from where it was. He appeared in another direction with a cold voice: "Don't think that I don't know what you want to do. No one can even think of leaving until the blockade is completely lifted."
"So that's why?"
Chi shook his fist again, causing the ground to shake, and sneered: "Don't think of yourself as the boss, you don't need to take care of my affairs."
Naturally, such an attack could not hurt the doll. His body appeared again in another place and said in a warning tone: "I'm just reminding you, it doesn't matter if you seek death yourself. Don't drag us along."
Chi sneered: "Why, do you think those losers outside can stop me?"
The doll did not respond to the question, but suddenly said: "He appeared."
"Who is 'him'?" Chie said impatiently, "Be clear."
"You idiot, you only eat and sleep all day, can't you even feel that guy's breath?" The doll sneered.
He was stunned for two seconds, and then his voice suddenly trembled: "Breathe... you mean that guy?"
"Not just that guy, but that group of people are not dead yet - you think you are very smart and can find a way to get out of the blockade, right?"
"There are so many similar ways to get out of the blockade, but no one has been willing to take the lead in trying it for so long. Do you know why?"
Doll said nothing while eating. He sped up his tone and said angrily, "Because those guys are afraid of death, and they are smarter than you! They are all waiting for a fool to go out to explore the road first and see if the original group of guys are still there!"
"——Yes, you are that idiot."
Faced with such humiliation from the doll, Chi didn't even get angry this time. It was as if he didn't hear it. He just hesitated for a moment, and then asked again: "Is he...really back?"
The doll was also silent for a while, with an incomprehensible tone: "He has never left."
"I'm back..."
Chi didn't speak for a long time. He seemed to be reminiscing and didn't know what he thought of. He whispered to himself, "So what if I come back? I can't win anyway..."
"Taking sides is something we should consider later."
The doll interrupted him, "At least if we want to survive now, we'd better abide by his rules."
"Okay, I'll listen to you this time."
The doll teased: "As for him, you are the quickest to compromise every time."
"Aren't you the same?" Chi asked.
"That's right."
The doll was silent for a moment, and did not deny it. Instead, it said with a sigh and emotion, "After all... we were all human in the past."
"I almost forgot if you didn't tell me." Chi was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Where is he?"
"Still in the Equality Paradise, although the aura has changed, I'm sure it's definitely him."
"I want to see him."
"I can't stop you from what you want to do, but remember, don't let him find out."
"I know."
The blood-stained flagpole was inserted back into place, and all sounds disappeared, as if it was thrown into the wind.
From time to time, headless corpses would fly in from the air in the distance and be skewered towards the flagpole, continuing to fill the "skewers".
The two people who had just spoken had disappeared.
