Chapter 173 – 1992-2020
There are so many people in the study room and even though everyone is studying hard, as long as they make a little noise, everyone will be alarmed.
RenDong bit his lip, thinking how could Lian Qiao make such an exaggerated request?
But looking at Lian Qiao’s pale face and thinking about the horrific wound on his back, RenDong’s heart softened again.
RenDong wanted to make a quick decision, so he gave up and did as he said. Lian Qiao chuckled and whispered in his ear, “You don’t even know how to do something bad properly?” Then he took off his coat and put it on his legs.
With the cover of the coat, RenDong feels a little more at ease. He never thought that Lian Qiao would push his luck and extend his hand in the same way.
RenDong almost screamed out and subconsciously wanted to withdraw his hand. Lian Qiao grabbed him, frowned and said: “Don’t move around. The coat is about to fall off.”
RenDong looked around in panic, almost pleading in his eyes. Lian Qiao seemed to think that he was very funny, lying on the table, looking at him with a smile, but gradually tightened his hand.
“Don’t…” RenDong couldn’t take it anymore, begging for mercy in a trembling voice and bent down.
“Then you move too.” Lian Qiao said.
RenDong’s eyes were reddened by him, humiliated and unwilling. He didn’t want his appearance to be seen by the person provoking him, so he also lay down on the table and buried his face in his arms.
Lian Qiao tilted his head, admiring his bright and small earlobes.
The two of them were doing shameless things under the cover of their coats. After a while, both of them lost control. RenDong was coaxed into the bathroom by Lian Qiao and, when the door was closed, they started to mess around.
Lian Qiao had an injury on his body and RenDong refused at first but couldn’t help Lian Qiao’s tricks and so, in a rare occasion, moved by himself.
RenDong is persevering by nature and usually refuses to grunt even if it hurts. This time he took the initiative and couldn’t bear it psychologically. Instead, his eyes were red and he whimpered. Lian Qiao hugged him from behind, covered his mouth and said with a low laugh,
“Don’t shout. You’ll be heard.”
RenDong was about to be driven crazy and wanting to let it out quickly, he fell into his trap again. Lian Qiao was finally emotional and regained the initiative, causing the partition to rattle.
This is great. Not only was RenDong unable to study, even the wound on Lian Qiao’s back was opened.
At last, the two came out of the library in embarrassment and went back to the hotel against the cold wind.
RenDong felt ashamed and angry, while preparing the gauze iodophor, while complaining about Lian Qiao’s mischief. Lian Qiao was finally honest and sat on the bed with his back facing him, exposing the wound on his back.
When RenDong turned his head and saw the blood-stained gauze on his back, his heart softened again.
“You…you are really…” RenDong sighed softly, and said helplessly and pitifully, “Can’t you bear it? It’s just a few days away. Wait until we get out, wouldn’t I do what you want…” When he thought what would happen after they got out, his face turned red.
Lian Qiao lowered his head slightly and murmured in a low voice: “When we get out…”
Hearing these words, RenDong’s heart inexplicably twitched. He felt that there was an indescribable… sadness in Lian Qiao’s tone?
Was it sadness? Or was he overthinking it?
He thought that Lian Qiao was probably afraid that they would not be able to get out, so he kissed the back of his neck and said softly: “I will take you out. Believe me, I will definitely be able to.” Lian Qiao smiled softly.
RenDong didn’t waste any more time and gently tore off the blood-stained gauze. The gauze was soaked in blood but it was easy to tear and it was heavy to hold. The shocking knife wound on Lian Qiao’s back came into view again, which made RenDong’s heart ache, but he had to face it head-on.
He carefully wiped the blood around the knife wound with a clean cotton ball, trying not to touch the wound. But Lian Qiao said: “It’s okay, just take a cotton ball and dip it in iodophor and wipe it inside. Otherwise, it will easily get inflamed.”
RenDong was stunned: “Wipe it inside? Wouldn’t it hurt?”
Lian Qiao said: “I can bear it. It’s better than getting a fever.”
RenDong frowned: “Isn’t there anti-inflammatory medicine? Why don’t you take more medicine…”
“It’s useless. If it’s really infected, this oral medicine won’t work at all.” Lian Qiao turned his head and smiled at him. “Come on, I can bear it.”
RenDong had no choice but to do as he said.
The cotton balls stained with povidone iodine had turned tan. He held the cotton ball with tweezers and held it close to the wound. When he really wanted to stuff it in, his hands trembled a little.
He took a deep breath, gently opened the skin around the wound and stuffed the cotton ball in. He felt the tension of Lian Qiao’s muscles and he, at the same time, grasped the bed sheet under him tightly.
Still say it doesn’t hurt? Obviously it hurts like hell.
RenDong gritted his teeth, thinking that the beginning has already begun, so it’s better to end it sooner. Within a heartbeat, he wiped the sterile cotton ball back and forth in the wound, taking away the exudate and blood in the wound.
Lian Qiao never said a word but RenDong felt the same pain, feeling like his back was being cut by a knife.
He stared at the wound, guilt crept up his chest again and again. He thought it would be fine if he kept an eye on Lian Qiao and didn’t let him go to the appointment alone. Although this was Lian Qiao’s own intention, he still didn’t want Lian Qiao to suffer even the slightest injury.
Although he didn’t know who was the one who cut Lian Qiao, he had obviously avenged himself on the spot. RenDong sighed softly and was about to cover it with gauze, when a thought flashed in his mind. He felt that the knife wound was a bit strange.
This knife was from the right shoulder to the left shoulder blade and the knife wound was nearly 20 centimeters. The depth is not too deep and the cutting edge is also very neat. There is no doubt that it was cut open by a sharp knife.
But… he always felt that there was something weird…
RenDong thought about it carefully. The few corpses he saw on the back mountain today were also cut by sharp knives. Daggers, kitchen knives, watermelon knives and other weapons were also scattered at the scene. So he didn’t think much at that time, nor did he carefully examine the wounds of the corpse.
Thinking about it now, the knife wounds on those corpses were all crooked. After all, they didn’t stand still while waiting to be cut and would of course resist when being cut, so all the wounds left were crooked and twisted. None of them were as straight as Lian Qiao’s.
RenDong thought of this and immediately understood where the sense of dissonance came from.
The injury on Lian Qiao’s back was long and straight, with a neat and shallow incision. To be honest, the injury was not serious. And the cut was so beautiful, it was as beautiful as a knife slowly cutting open the skin.
The angle from the right shoulder to the left shoulder blade is also… no, what if it is the other way around, from the left shoulder blade to the right shoulder?
Wouldn’t that be… very easy to oneself?
RenDong was taken aback by his own thought, and then shook his head mockingly: Why, would Lian Qiao cut himself with a knife?
What was he plotting? Wanting to get his sympathy?
“…RenDong?” As if sensing something, Lian Qiao tilted his head and called him softly.
RenDong put that strange thought behind him, sprinkled some Yunnan Baiyao on his wound, then covered the gauze again and said, “Okay.”
Lian Qiao let out a long breath. It seems that he has been holding his breath just now.
RenDong put on his clothes and got up to pour him a cup of hot water. With this movement, he suddenly realized that his back was still sticky. He couldn’t help but blush, turned around and walked towards the bathroom and said, “I’m going to take a shower.”
Lian Qiao sat on the bed and said good-bye obediently.
The hot water washed away the things that should not have appeared in his body and also took away the fatigue from RenDong’s body. He couldn’t help staying in the bathroom for a while longer and his mind gradually emptied and drifted away, making him curious about what would happen on that day in 2020.
From the moment “1992-2020” appeared in the elevator, he knew that he was a key player in this instance. This string of numbers seems to be so unknown that the numbers of the year of birth and death are so unknown, anyone who reads it will think in that direction. Fortunately, 2020 is still far away and no one dares to act rashly before then.
But what will happen in 2020?
There is no doubt that the remaining players will attack in groups. He is the key player and so even if you can’t get the button if you kill him, you can at least get a puppet doll. For other players, this operation is not a loss. But they never thought that Xu RenDong had the ability to reset after death. In other words, his death is definitely not the final condition for opening the door of life – after all, once he dies, the entire instance will be reset.
It is a pity that this cannot be told to anyone.
But where is the way out?
Something is bound to happen that day in 2020. He now has a clue about the elevator, but what about the button?
Xu RenDong suddenly had a terrible idea in his heart.
What if… What if the dungeon this time is a hedging game?
From the reminder of the dungeon to the subsequent development, the whole dungeon world revolves around him, which naturally isolates him from ordinary players. If Lian Qiao hadn’t stood firm by his side, he would probably have been publicly targeted by now.
No, in fact, the current situation is that he and Lian Qiao have become publicly targeted.
Then, the intention of the copy seems to be to want him to fight against everyone. So… could it be that he gets the button by killing all the other players?
In this case, isn’t he the only one who can escape?
But isn’t it impossible to set an absolute dead end in the game? If he was the only one who could escape, then for the others…
At this point, Xu RenDong suddenly shuddered.
No, in fact he has experienced it – a copy where only one person can escape.
In “The Lock Without a Key”, among the ninety-nine and eighty-one players, the only one who can actually meet the escape conditions is Shi JianChuan.
Shi JianChuan once said that the difficulty of the dungeon will be adjusted due to the existence of special participants. Shi JianChuan was a real boss, so the dungeon was surprisingly difficult. The elevator can only be opened by piecing together the nine chains but collecting the nine chains will trigger the nine-story debuff. The rings that guard against the debuff must be concentrated on one person and the others can only be slaughtered.
Although the longevity lock given by Zhong Xiu can also resist debuffs, in addition to the mental control of forced eating and forced estrus, the debuffs also have group damage such as heavy rain, gu carvings and flying arrows. Even though RenDong was wearing the longevity lock, he couldn’t avoid these attacks. But Shi JianChuan was different. The White Snake has excellent combat power, can attack and defend, and can separate into countless small snakes, pick up all the rings in one go and seize the opportunity to open the elevator. Shi JianChuan himself, as a folklorist, also has a lot of research on the Nine Rings and can solve the puzzle within the shortest time.
Fundamentally speaking, only Shi JianChuan can pass this dungeon. He and Lian Qiao were “brought” out by Shi JianChuan by relying on the longevity lock and the doll.
So will this dungeon also follow this routine?
An instance that only he can escape…
The bathroom was steaming and the scalding hot water rushed on his back, burning RenDong’s skin red. RenDong still felt cold, so he kept turning up the temperature of the hot water.
If this is really the case, then…
Then he will just live here forever.
He would never sacrifice Lian Qiao!
But Lian Qiao was so clever that he must have thought of this. Would he…
No!
Xu RenDong turned on the faucet, wiped his body indiscriminately and stumbled out.
Seeing him in a hurry, Lian Qiao couldn’t help being surprised: “What’s the matter?”
RenDong told him what he thought and, after Lian Qiao listened, he tilted his head to look at him: “Are you afraid that I will commit suicide in exchange for your escape?”
Xu RenDong’s eyes trembled. Just hearing the word “suicide” from Lian Qiao’s mouth, he felt heartbroken to death.
“You can’t do this, you can’t have this kind of thought.” RenDong grabbed his hand, fingers trembling uncontrollably, “If you die, I will definitely follow you to die! You can’t…you can’t… …”
Lian Qiao stared at him. Xu RenDong’s expression was fragile and the circles of his eyes were red. At this moment, he was terrified and helpless, like a pigeon whose wings had been plucked and its wings cut off. The tender pink flesh was exposed without any cover, fragile and tender, glistening with wet water.
That look of despair and begging, even though it is endearing, makes people…
Want to abuse.
A gloomy light flashed in Lian Qiao’s eyes, but it was fleeting. He raised a warm smile and said, “Don’t be afraid, I won’t do something like that. Didn’t we agree to live together before we came in?”
RenDong nodded desperately as if he had grasped a life-saving straw.
Lian Qiao’s gaze slowly moved to the corner of his mouth, full of fascination, like a caress. RenDong seemed to have sensed something and moved forward to kiss him with his eyes closed.
Xu RenDong raised his face slightly, like a devout believer. Holding his own heart in both hands, tremblingly begging him to accept it, begging his god not to abandon him.
Lian Qiao raised the corner of his mouth, stretched out his hand, wrapped his waist around his waist, and lifted it up lightly.
“Come up.”
RenDong’s body trembled, but without any resistance, he sat up obediently.
