Smiley City Forum.
The post title is: "The newbie finally bought a small holographic screen, and couldn't help but come here to complain..."
Main post: "Has anyone seen a ghost in Smiley City? I still can't figure out what happened a few days ago. I got separated from the other players at the last moment of the dungeon, and ended up in a very strange place, where I met two flirting... men. At first I thought they were monsters, but later I found out they weren't, one human and one monster... The key is that the human player was not any of the players in the original group in my dungeon... It was so bizarre..."
1L: "Fuck, is this true?"
2L: "There are ghosts in this damn place?!"
3L: "What are you all so surprised about upstairs? Isn't it logical that there are ghosts in a ghost place? It's so funny."
4L: "Never encountered that before... So the OP saw a human and a monster flirting? Hiss... This scene is a bit heavy..."
The original poster: "Actually, that monster was pretty good-looking. Both of them were handsome guys, and the scene was quite pleasing to the eyes QAQ. But I suddenly ran into a ghost and got scared. The weirdest thing is that the two ghosts had names (I can't explain why, but I just think it's so weird that ghosts have names!). The place where I ran into the ghosts also looks like a family restaurant. It's really outrageous..."
6L: "Hahahaha, ghosts have names. Is the setting so complete? Are you sure I'm not dreaming?"
7L: "The guy above, let me be honest, the handsome guy in my dream doesn't necessarily have a name, hahaha!"
8L: "Family restaurant? Is this a haunted house? I'm dying of laughter!"
9L: "Wait a minute, OP...let me ask first, what are the names of those two handsome guys?"
The original poster: "I don't remember the particularly beautiful one, but I only remember the other handsome guy named Song Yang (I don't know which yang, but it seems to be pronounced this way, with the third tone), because that beautiful woman called his name several times QAQ"
11L: "Hahahaha it actually has a name [laughing and crying]"
12L: "? Song Yang? Song Yang??"
13L: "???? Song Yang? He's flirting with a monster? Wait, OP, that family restaurant isn't called the Safe House...?"
OP: "Back to the above, yes...what happened...I'm so confused..."
15L: "Fuck!"
16L: "Fuck!"
17L: "...The other beauty is not the beautiful store manager..."
18L: "??? What the OP saw was the big boss and the beautiful store manager flirting??? Fuck!!!"
OP: "Oh yes... the other one is indeed the store manager, and they seem to have a close relationship. So, are these two ghosts? What on earth did I miss? QAQ"
20L: "OP, these two people are not ghosts. You can search for 'Song Yang' and 'Safe House' on the forum to find out for yourself... And then, oh my god, what the hell is Song Yang flirting with the beautiful store manager? My beautiful store manager!!"
21L: "When did the boss get together with the beautiful store manager?"
22L: "I don't believe it!!! [crying and making a fuss]"
23L: "Ah ...
24L: "Tearful Dark Shark Boss +1"
25L: "Tearful Dark Shark Boss +2, take back our store manager!"
…
That day, Song Yang did not stay in the safe house for the full twenty-four hours. Seeing that the time was almost up, he returned to the dungeon. After all, it was still unknown whether the group of players had successfully eliminated the remaining monster.
During the last period of time, no new guests entered the safe house, and Xia Jing was very free. Song Yang asked Xia Jing many questions, and Xia Jing no longer hid anything.
The two leaned against the window, looking at the ever-changing strange scenery outside, and talked about the chaotic zone of Smiley City, about Xia Jing's power of creation, and about the part of Xia Jing's memory that he seemed to have lost.
Before leaving, Song Yang handed a key to Xia Jing.
It's his space key.
Xia Jing had coveted this key at the end of the "Don't Think About It!" copy, and Song Yang had teased him at that time, but this time Song Yang solemnly gave it to him.
"Come over anytime you want, and you can hang out while I'm gone."
Xia Jing looked at the silver key in his hand with interest, as if he had got a new and interesting toy.
Looking at him like this, Song Yang's eyes showed a hint of tenderness. He couldn't help but raise his hand and rub his head.
Xia Jing raised his head and heard the man whisper, "If you feel bored, just leave me a message. I will come to you as soon as I am online."
Xia Jing paused.
He looked at Song Yang, smiled, and said, "I understand."
After Song Yang finished the dungeon, he deliberately looked at the time.
It took him a total of ten hours from entering the dungeon to leaving it, most of which he spent in the safe house. However, these ten hours only amounted to ten minutes in the game hall.
The difference in time flow between other copies and the game lobby may be even greater.
So in the past, when he was talking to Xia Jing across the difference in the flow of time, how long did Xia Jing have to wait on the other side for one second on his side?
Admittedly, the young man probably wouldn't care much about such things.
But Song Yang cared.
Song Yang used to study the rules of the dungeon and explore the mechanisms of Smiley City in order to get himself out of this hellhole as soon as possible. If it were convenient enough, he would be willing to destroy this hellhole in one fell swoop.
But "willing" does not mean "necessary". Song Yang never thinks of himself as a savior with an obligation to save everyone.
But now, this "willingness" has turned into an urgent desire.
Just because of this person, he and Smiley City coexist together.
As long as the secret of Smiley City is not revealed, that person will never be able to escape from confinement and break free from the shackles.
But if one day Song Yang could leave Smiley City, he hoped he could leave with his friends and that person.
…
After leaving Smiley City, Song Yang returned to his private apartment in reality.
The time is one o'clock in the morning.
He checked his phone and found a message from three minutes ago. The other party was a player he had contacted in the real forum before.
Song Yang quickly read the message and called.
After the other party answered the phone, he turned and leaned against the window, lowering his eyes and said, "So among the players we can find so far, the first person to enter 'that place' is Chai Feng?"
*
Smiley City, Monday.
While Xia Jing was sitting at the table drawing a mask attentively, he received a private message from Song Yang.
Song Yang: "Are you ready to enter the login room?"
Xia Jing glanced at the content of the private message and curled his lips.
Before he could reply, Song Yang sent another pretentiously: "I just went into the login room and took a look. There's an interesting dungeon in the new dungeon that came out today."
Xia Jing jokingly replied to him: "I heard that elementary school students like to go to the toilet hand in hand with their friends the most."
Song Yang: "... =_= convex"
Song Yang: "I'm going into the dungeon with my friends this time, the three-star "Creation". I'm going in first, see you later."
Xia Jing glanced at the last message, then calmly turned his head and continued to work seriously.
Tuanzi sat upright on the side. Unlike before, this time the golden retriever was wagging its tail, looking energetic, and its round little eyes looked expectantly at Xia Jing's constantly moving pen.
Xia Jing chuckled without turning his head and said, "I know you are looking forward to my new work, right, Tuanzi?"
Tuanzi wagged his tail happily.
Yes!
What could be more gratifying and touching than the master's painting skills finally improving!
Although the owner just drew a triangle a few days ago, you can tell at a glance that it was just a casual drawing!
The owner painted so seriously this time, it must be another beautiful painting, right!
The golden retriever was panting, with the word "expectation" on its head.
Xia Jing said with certainty: "I won't let you down."
Tuanzi responded cheerfully: "Awooo!"
Ten minutes later, Xia Jing successfully finished his latest masterpiece, fed the human skin mask with paper, and then put the mask back on.
Tuanzi finally waited excitedly for his master to turn around...
Then the whole dog was instantly petrified on the spot.
Xia Jing observed Tuanzi's reaction.
The golden retriever's eyes were wide open, motionless, its mouth wide open, and its tongue was frozen as if it had been put under a spell. The tail that was swinging happily the previous second now slammed to the ground.
It's so shocking, it seems that the shocking effect of this work has reached the maximum score.
Xia Jing nodded with satisfaction, patted Tuanzi's head, and said with a smile, "As long as you like it."
Tuanzi: "…"
Xia Jing said gently: "Then I'm going out. Just like before, I will be back soon. Remember to take good care of the house."
The young man put on the space bag, pushed open the door of the safe house with a smile, and walked out.
The dazed Dumpling who was left alone in the safe house: "..."
If the puppy had hands, it would want to overturn the table at this moment.
How on earth did this painting technique manage to twist and turn so many times, to a level even more hellish than before?!
…
As soon as Xia Jing appeared in the game hall, he attracted the attention of passers-by within a radius of 100 meters.
Passersby who glanced at him all stopped in their tracks and widened their eyes, with expressions of "amazing", "shocked", "astonished", "unbelievable" and so on flashing in their eyes. Their reactions were varied and the feedback was very rich.
Xia Jing became more and more satisfied.
Referencing external reviews as much as possible is indeed the fastest way to improve your skills.
His progress this time was thanks to the advice from Fei Shengxiao and Song Yang.
Amidst everyone's dazed gazes, Xia Jing gracefully walked into an empty login room and closed the door.
The latest copy page updated today lit up in front of him. Xia Jing put his finger to his lips and scanned the copy covers one by one.
Which copy is better to play today?
His eyes quickly fixed on one of the copies.
Thinking of Song Yang's messages, he narrowed his eyes and smiled. Without much thought, Xia Jing tapped the screen with his finger, and his vision suddenly fell into darkness.
*
When his vision brightened again, Xia Jing found himself in a... pink unknown hall.
The hall is more than 200 square meters and is generally circular in shape. Looking around, there are more than a dozen small windows embedded in the surrounding walls. Outside each window is the endless blue sky and white clouds and green lawns, and the scenery is beautiful.
Various children's paintings are hung on the pink walls, and between the paintings are decorations such as balloons, small puppets, and little stars. The bright sunlight shining in from the window makes this place look like a fairy tale kingdom.
On the left side of Xia Jing's vision was a tightly closed door, probably leading to the outside world.
There is a huge bright yellow mysterious room in front of the field of vision, and the door of the room is also closed at this time.
I could faintly hear the noises of children, some laughing and some crying, through a wall.
It seemed to come from above his head - but when Xia Jing raised his head, what he saw was the ceiling.
I wonder what's on the other side of this ceiling.
Xia Jing looked around again, but couldn't find the stairs leading upstairs.
Many clues may not be revealed to players until the dungeon officially begins.
Xia Jing stopped talking and looked at the players gathered in the center of the hall.
This is a ten-player dungeon, and eight players have already logged in.
They gathered together, five men and three women, and the obviously absent-minded figure of one of them made a smile appear in Xia Jing's eyes.
…
It has been more than ten minutes since Song Yang logged into this copy, and he still can't calm down.
He was tall and handsome, and when he appeared in the hall with the equally handsome Feng Shi, he immediately attracted the attention of everyone else.
A player approached and wanted to talk to him, but Song Yang's mind was not here at all. He glanced left and right, not knowing what he was observing, and what was said to him went in one ear and out the other.
After several unsuccessful attempts at striking up a conversation, the man had no choice but to give up.
Feng Shi watched from the side for a long time and also felt that Song Yang's state was very strange. He couldn't help but ask suspiciously: "Are you waiting for someone?"
Song Yang froze, and said nonchalantly, "No."
Feng Shi's expression became even more suspicious. "You were chatting with someone on the holographic screen before logging into the dungeon. Was it a new friend?"
Song Yang is naturally attractive and has leadership qualities. There are many people around him since he was a child, so Feng Shi doesn't find it strange no matter how many new friends he makes.
But this mysterious style is very strange.
If you want to enter a dungeon with your friends, why not just say so?
If the other party agrees, then it agrees; if they don't agree, then it doesn't agree. Now I'm waiting so awkwardly. Could it be that the other party is still half-hearted in agreeing?
What game is this?
Sealed means incomprehensible.
Seeing his friend's strange and suspicious look, Song Yang also fell into a strange silence.
...The relationship between him and Xia Jing is a bit delicate at the moment, and he doesn't know how to explain it to his best friend.
Anyway, Song Yang was a little annoyed at the moment. He wondered if he shouldn't have lost control and directly revealed the name of this copy.
In the past, he and Xia Jingming would meet every Monday without informing each other. This metaphysical power was indeed magical, but also very powerful.
If he hadn't said it this time, maybe they would still be able to meet successfully in the same copy.
But he couldn't hold it in anymore and said it.
The young man has such a bad taste in his personality, maybe he will really avoid this copy this time.
When Song Yang thought of this possibility, he gritted his teeth.
He put his hands in his pockets and kept looking around, unable to calm down at all.
Will you come?
Still not coming?
Come?
Not coming?
At this moment, a player's eyes swept across behind Song Yang, and suddenly stopped, his pupils trembling, as if he had seen some shocking spectacle.
The radar in Song Yang's head beeped, and he turned around suddenly -
A figure came into his sight.
The young man was standing a few steps away, looking at him with a smile.
Song Yang suddenly stopped.
The sunlight poured down on the young man, outlining his slender figure gracefully and softly, and making his ever-changing facial features look strange and mysterious.
It was a complex face that was difficult to describe in words, and it shocked all the other players and left them speechless for a long time.
That was a face... When God created it, he must have gone through many struggles and changed the design direction several times. He might have sneezed or had diarrhea in the middle of the process. He might even have suddenly suffered a serious illness, become schizophrenic, and have his hands shaking like Parkinson's disease. He had to overcome all kinds of suffering and hardships to complete this extraordinary face.
Where it should be convex, it is convex sharply.
The places that need to be flat are as flat as a knife.
Where it should be round, it is round as if it has been polished.
This face even made one of the players present feel dazed for a moment, muttering, "The main monster... just appeared like that?!"
The next second, Song Yang took a step forward, looked at the other person deeply, raised the corner of his lips and said, "You are here after all."
Xia Jing smiled without saying a word and walked slowly towards him.
Song Yang was in an extremely good mood at the moment. His eyes lingered on Xia Jing's face, and he praised her sincerely, "This painting is very good, very perfect."
Xia Jing raised his hand and touched his face, squinting his eyes and smiling: "Yeah, I think so too."
Everyone else stared at the two of them in a daze.
Are you two okay?!
On the side, Feng Shi was in a trance for a while. He noticed the look in Song Yang's eyes when he looked at Xia Jing, and suddenly remembered something.
His alarm bells immediately rang, and he asked tentatively, "You are..."
Xia Jing looked at him and immediately remembered the last gathering of those six guys in the safe house.
Song Yang knew that Xia Jing already knew Feng Shi, but he still didn't know what happened to this group of people in the safe house.
Xia Jing glanced at Song Yang meaningfully, then smiled at Feng Shi and said, "Hello, my name is Ri Jing."
The young man is well-mannered, polite and gentle.
Feng Shi frowned: "Rijing? Jing? Xia Jing?"
Song Yang hadn't figured it out yet. He was just about to say that he was indeed a good brother and was very perceptive, but the next second he received Feng Shi's condemning gaze.
Feng Shi asked, "Song Yang, did you also give him this name?"
Song Yang: "?"
Feng Shi: "How could you do such a thing? You shouldn't."
Song Yang: "???"
Xia Jing looked at Song Yang innocently: "Your friend doesn't like this name? Then I can call you Chun Jing."
Feng Shi: "Song Yang, don't make the same mistake again. Can't you just abandon the word 'Jing'?"
Song Yang: "???"
Xia Jing: "Then why don't I call you Song Chun?"
Feng Shi: "My friend, please don't always think about him. Please think about yourself. What is your real name?"
Xia Jing thought about it seriously and said, "Maybe his name is Dong Song?"
Song Yang: "???"
Song Yang's face darkened. "Wait a minute, you two, wait a minute, what are you talking about?"
Feng Shi glanced at Song Yang and said seriously, "Song Yang, we've known each other for so many years. As a friend, I still want to advise you that melodramatic online literature is not acceptable. If you don't really mean it, don't bother others."
Song Yang's mouth twitched, and he already had a very bad feeling in his heart: "Gibberish online literature? What kind do you mean?"
After these people entered the safe house, they sent him a lot of strange messages, but because the messages were too confusing, he ignored them at all.
Later, when he asked these people what they did in the safe house, they were also vague.
At this time, Feng Shi continued to condemn him with his eyes: "I can't even say those four words."
Song Yang was about to laugh: "If you hadn't told me, I would have gone down the wrong path."
Feng Shi was stunned, like an old mother witnessing her son entering his rebellious phase.
He was so disappointed with Xia Jing that he paid attention to Xia Jing's expression. He leaned close to Song Yang's ear and whispered those four words in a low voice.
Song Yang's eyelids twitched immediately.
Good man, he was wondering why Feng Shi and the others always looked at him weirdly after they entered the safe house once. It turns out that his imagination was running wild.
He looked at Xia Jing - Xia Jing turned his head, raised the corners of his lips, and looked innocent.
——And this guy knew it all, but deliberately didn't say anything, and even followed Feng Shi to tease him.
Song Yang suddenly let out a deep laugh and said coldly, "'Substitute lover', right?"
Xia Jing tilted his head and looked at the other players, with the back of his head facing him, the ends of his hair shaking, as if it had nothing to do with him.
Song Yang opened his lips and said lazily, "The first two of these four words are misunderstandings. As for whether the last two words are misunderstandings, it's hard to say."
"What do you think, Comrade Dong Song?"
The hair stopped shaking.
The young man tilted his head and glanced at him lightly.