Lu Li's dark eyes turned to the dining table. Two pieces of paper that didn't belong here were covered in the dust.
He placed the oil lamp beside the table and picked up the slips of paper. The content on one of them did not belong to any known text, and was unrecognizable and unintelligible. The other one said:
[I am Lu Li, this is the third time. The first two times there were inversions, and the answer can be obtained from the footprints on the ceiling. The memory of the previous times has been forgotten, this is a filthy sewer, and there are no clues in the house. The window of the guest room upstairs is broken, and there are five stones on the floor.
,I will next]
[There are other figures on the street. They enter the house with the wooden sign. I will approach there next.]
This is his tone, his handwriting.
After pausing for a moment, Lu Li raised his eyes to the ceiling. In the dim and polarized light of the oil lamp, he found two pairs of footprints recorded in his notes, extending towards the doors, windows and stairs.
The dust on the floor allowed Lu Li to clearly see the messy and wandering footprints, which also extended to the doors, windows and stairs.
When he was about to move the dining table to observe the footprints on the ceiling, Lu Li saw a pair of footprints exposed where the paper covered it.
Lu Li stretched out his palm to compare the outline, tilted his head slightly, and his eyes fell on the position where the oil lamp was placed. There was a circle of nearly overlapping oil lamp indentations.
Then when he grabbed the edge of the dining table and pulled it, he saw new scratches on the floor.
After moving the dining table to the end of the scratches, Lu Li raised his head and stared at the ceiling where it corresponded to the footprints on the ceiling.
Moving the wooden chair, Lu Li stepped on the rickety wooden chair with footprints on it, stood on the dining table, and observed the traces on the ceiling.
I have already done these things "for the third time".
After getting off the dining table and pushing the chairs and tables back to their original positions, Lu Li walked to the window and found a house with a wooden sign a hundred meters away. He stared at it quietly for a moment and followed his footsteps onto the stairs.
At the end of the corridor, the guest room window was broken, and the five culprit stones lay on the floor.
Then came the utility room, the bedroom, and the book "Martin and the Dog" with no hidden clues.
After investigating, Lu Li returned to the living room, summoned the businessman Anthony, and got the answer from the merchant who emerged: Before this, Lu Li had summoned the businessman three times.
Correspond to the content of the note.
Before leaving, Lu Li was preparing to leave a message just like he was last time.
[This is the fourth time. The authenticity of the previous note cannot be confirmed, but the information is correct, and the businessman Anthony also said so.]
Lu Li didn't record any more details to convince himself next time, because there was no point in confirming it again like he did now.
[I don’t know the reason for the number of times or what it means, but the same location in the living room of this house appears every time. Considering that the time is consistent, I will go to the third wooden house to look for clues. If I can leave clues in time, I
Will keep it in my pocket]
After writing the message, Lu Li copied the obscure note, put it in his pocket, and then touched another note.
A piece of paper copied in the same way.
This thing was still done by my previous self.
Memory is like a shoal under the tide, any trace left behind will be erased by the waves.
Lu Li thought about whether he could ask the businessman Anthony to leave records, but the inertia of the first three times prevented Lu Li from doing so. After asking for information about the dirty sewers, Lu Li asked the businessman Anthony to leave.
After adding "Look in your pocket" to the still-stained message, Lu Li picked up the oil lamp and walked to the door.
squeak
Stepping into the empty and quiet outside world and crossing the street, Lu Li arrived at the house with a wooden sign without encountering anything strange.
The door was open, but contrary to the message, the house was silent.
Lu Li entered the house that seemed to be filled with coldness and darkness. The old floor was mixed with footprints. It was true that many people had stayed here, but for some reason they seemed to have left.
Are you included?
Boom
Dust fell, and a sound came from upstairs on the other side of the ceiling.
Carrying the oil lamp, Lu Li stepped up the stairs to the second floor.
The people upstairs had already known the arrival of the uninvited guest from the sound of footsteps. When Lu Li emerged from the stairs, two figures existing on the ceiling and floor like reflections cast indifferent gazes.
Lu Li didn't feel any malice from the two figures as delicate as dolls, and his eyes fell behind them.
An outline is wrapped layer by layer on the wooden pillar with hemp rope, from head to toe, like a rope man.
"He forgot for some reason that this was a competition and attacked us, so we controlled him." said the puppet boy on the floor.
Lu Li was noncommittal. His attention was not here: "You don't know me?"
The twins shook their heads at the same time. They didn't know Lu Li and had never met him.
"Leave this person to you, we are about to leave." The boy on the floor said, and he and the brother on the ceiling walked to the window and stretched out their hands to open the window.
Lu Li watched as the boy stretched out his hands to hold each other, stepped through the window, and rose into the sky like a balloon.
The sound of struggling "Uh-huh" brought Lu Li back to his senses and he approached the bound figure.
The knot was tied in an unknown way, but when Lu Li reached out and touched it, it was instantly untied.
The unkempt figure who was released knocked Lu Li away and rolled down the stairs on his hands and knees. The movement quickly disappeared.
Lu Li did not follow the fleeing figure and walked to the window to look up.
The outlines of the twin boys are no longer visible in the dark void, but in the dark depths of the street, something is emerging
Bang!
The figure that appeared without warning knocked Lu Li down and he covered his mouth to suppress his voice: "Shh... don't... be... discovered by them... they are... hunting us."
"Who are they?"
Lu Li stopped his counterattack and recognized the figure that was leaving and returning.
"The residents here...the players who have died too many times..." He dragged Lu Li away from the window.
"Times" reminded Lu Li of something, and he seemed to be close to the truth: "What does dying too many times mean?"
"With every death... we lose memories and deepen our connections... Don't die! Death will keep us here forever! Don't die... Don't die!"
The figure's mental state was extremely poor, and he was whispering madly.
But Lu Li is enough to tie the clues together.
Why do my footprints appear on the ceiling, and why is this the fourth time.
Lu Li took out the paper from his pocket and briefly recorded the truth told by the figure.
"Don't die...don't die..."
The murmuring continued behind me, then suddenly stopped.
thump
Lu Li stopped writing and clutched the note tightly.
But before he turned around, the biting chill that froze his soul quietly emerged.
…
Deep in the mist shrouded in darkness.
The dim oil lamp gradually lights up, dispelling the darkness, and a figure holding an oil lamp emerges.
The dim yellow spreads outward, revealing more things hidden in the darkness.
Lu Li raised the oil lamp and saw in front of him an old living room that had been neglected for a long time. A ceiling fan hung from the ceiling, untied dishes and spoons were thrown on the dining table, and the windows were covered with gauze-like dust.
Lowering his head, Lu Li looked at the wad of paper clutched in his left hand.