CH 51.3

Just as Lin Jue had said at the beginning, these ghosts were all missing a little something.

Some were missing arms, some were missing legs.

Some had their eyes or necks gouged out.

Could this be a huge laboratory? Were all these people victims of experiments?

Dijia had been here all along, would he know?

But these ghosts only appear at night, and they don’t seem to know what happens during the day.

The daytime is the world of the living , and the night is the world of the undead.

When the living spirits are active, the undead silently disappear.

When the undead appear, the living all fall into slumber, giving space to the undead.

The living and the undead maintain a balance with each other in this extremely fragile way.

This delicate balance was as if two things that did not interfere with each other had been forcibly fused together.

In the midst of Bai Lixin’s thoughts, a cold hand grabbed his palm.

He looked sideways and saw that Dijia had taken his hand at some point, putting him behind him like a guardian, “Follow me.”

Bai Lixin silently followed Dijia, allowing the other party to pull him through the dense crowd of ghosts.

The corridor seemed to be extraordinarily long at night.

The two of them walked for a long time before they reached the end of the corridor.

As they passed Xia Chi’s room, Bai Lixin made a point of looking in. Xia Chi was sound asleep, and both he and Emil in the next bed had sweet smiles on their faces.

He opened the rooms one by one; no players were missing that evening, each player was lying peacefully in his or her own bed.

They went downstairs and made their way through the ghost-occupied halls to the outside.

Their destination was the apple orchard.

His cold hand kept a tight grip on Bai Lixin, afraid he would get lost.

Perhaps it was his illusion, but Bai Lixin felt like the distance to the apple orchard seemed to be further at night than during the day.

During the day, it took the priest just ten minutes to lead them to the apple orchard.

But now, he and Dijia had been walking for over ten minutes.

The whole island seemed to be plunged into endless darkness, and there wasn’t a single trace of light.

Bai Lixin looked up at the sky. Every now and then, a ghost or two crossed the dark night sky. Two moons hung in the air, one scarlet like blood, the other white as snow.

The two full moons hung in the sky in an incongruous manner, adding a little more spookiness to the already dark night.

After another two minutes of walking, Bai Lixin finally saw the corner of the apple orchard with the faint light of the moons overhead.

From here, he could only vaguely see the lush apple trees and the heavy fruit hanging from them.

As he got closer, Bai Lixin slowed his pace.

Sensing Bai Lixin’s actions, Dijia slowed down with him.

Dijia turned back, “I can take you back if you are afraid.”

Bai Lixin shook his head and continued to move forward. “I’m not scared, I’m just a bit shocked.”

They were apple trees, and they were not apple trees.

These trees were taller than the apple trees in the apple orchard during the day, and hanging from them were not apples, but one head after another.

The necks hung upside down from them, attached to the branches of the trees.

They were all human heads, of both sexes, and they covered a wide range of ages.

Some had short hair, some long hair, and some were bald.

Each face was different, and each pair of eyes was tightly closed with a serene expression, as if they were sleeping.

Dijia, “Are you curious to know what those companions of yours do at night?”

Bai Lixin nodded and walked over to a heavy “apple” and examined it carefully.

At first, he thought that the neck had been cut off and stuck onto the apple tree, but on closer inspection, it grew in perfect harmony with the branch.

It was just like a real apple, except that while the apple trees grew red and sweet apples, these trees grew heads of various shapes and sizes.

Bai Lixin picked up a leaf from the ground and placed it where the nose of the head was. The leaf soon began to sway back and forth in a regular pattern.

Unexpectedly, these heads were breathing.

Not far away was a small tree that had just grown and was fruiting. Bai Lixin approached and noticed that the branch only had a small fleshy mass from which some facial features could vaguely be seen, but it was not so obvious.

Was this the world of the undead?

At first, he thought that the living and the undead just alternated between day and night, but it seems like it’s not that simple.

It was as contradictory as the two abrupt moons in the sky, one red and one white, but the night world now was not the same time and space as the world during the day.

It was not just a literal paradise of the undead, this was truly the space of the undead.

And they, the living, were the lambs who had strayed into the world of the undead.

Bai Lixin took a deep breath, breathing slightly heavily.

Dijia pulled Bai Lixin behind the apple tree in the corner. He looked up at the moon in the sky and whispered with his lips pressed against Bai Lixin’s ear, “It’s about to start, so don’t make a sound.”

The cold breath curled around Bai Lixin’s earlobe, making them ticklish.

A pair of cold hands gently covered his ears, and at his slightly puzzled gaze, Dijia spoke again, “The sound is a bit loud and compelling, so don’t listen. Shh, here it comes.”

As Dijia’s words fell, he forcefully covered Bai Lixin’s ears.

In the next moment, the “apple tree” that had been calm suddenly began to sway on its own as if it had come to life.

One by one, the “apples,” which had been sleeping earlier, opened their eyes with a violent shaking. Their eyes were bloodshot and their expressions were ugly.

One head opened its mouth and let out a roar.

Then, one after another, the “apples” began to scream.

Even though Dijia had covered his ears, Bai Lixin could still hear the chaotic roar.

It was quite a heavy wake-up call.

The shrieking of the “apples” lasted for five minutes.

After five minutes, the trees stopped swaying and one by one, the “apples” closed their eyes and began a new round of rest.

Bai Lixin stood behind the tree, waiting for what would happen next.

The “apples” would not scream for no reason, and when he thought about the nightmares the players were having, he could already tell what was going to happen next.

Sure enough, ten minutes later, several hurried footsteps came towards their way.

Bai Lixin looked over intently. At first, he could only see a blurred outline, and only when they got closer did he get a better look at them.

Except for Lin Jue, whom Dijia had hypnotized, all the other players had come to the apple orchard.

Their eyes were open, their eyes dull, but there were sweet smiles on the corners of their mouths.

Each pair of players was carrying a large bucket which they got from who knows where.

They went to the apple orchard and started working in pairs. They put the bucket under the tree and started picking “apples”.

Did they come to pick apples after falling asleep last night?

But only two of them remembered picking apples, yet several of them had nightmares.

Bai Lixin looked at Dijia, pointed to the people picking apples, and then pointed to himself.

Dijia was silent for two seconds, “I covered your ears yesterday when the cries rang out.”

“As for their dreams, well… ”

Bai Lixin said, “Did they have different nightmares because of their memories? Everyone does those things, but some remember the first thing and some remember the second? Some people don’t even remember anything.”

Only Emil and the ones who had the beautiful dream didn’t remember.

Dijia smiled, “You guessed right.”

Bai Lixin was silent for two seconds, “If that’s the case, then the players who said they had beautiful dreams but didn’t take the medication were obviously lying. They must have taken the sleeping pills.”

Dijia, “Why did they lie?”

Bai Lixin, “Because they were afraid, and wanted to show their worth. There are such players in the process of clearing the copy, they usually adopt the most conservative way of playing. They choose the safest and most secure option on the first day or two of the game.”

“The pills were there for everyone, and the NPCs don’t usually harm people on the first day. So, it’s often a good choice to act on the advice of the NPC on the first day. It’s just that when most people go against the crowd, they pretend to have made the same choice.”

Dijia’s eyes flickered, but he didn’t say anything.

Bai Lixin paused, “Games, copies, NPCs, you know what that means, don’t you?”

Dijia’s deep eyes gazed at the young man in front of him, “I can share a part of the memories of the possessed. From Lin Jue’s memories, I know what you guys are and why you appeared here.”

Being able to share memories?

Bai Lixin looked at Dijia, and then at Xia Chi who was working hard to pick the “apples” in the distance.

Bai Lixin, “Then did you find the name Xia Chi in Lin Jue’s memories?”

Dijia didn’t think twice before shaking his head, “I didn’t pay attention, what I got were the deep memories that appeared very frequently.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Bai Lixin was not regretful and withdrew his gaze from Xia Chi.

Dijia, “You want to know? I’ll try looking at his memory the next time I possess him. It might cause some kind of aftereffect on Lin Jue’s memories though.”

“No need,” Bai Lixin smiled and shook his head, “It’s just about a friend of mine, it’s okay, take your time.”

When they had entered the copy, Lin Jue had deliberately asked for Xia Chi’s name, and had taken care of them in many ways afterwards.

It was likely that he knew about Xia Chi, and the source was most likely Xia Chi’s mysterious best friend.

Now that some clues had been found, the truth would slowly be unearthed.