For the next half hour, Xia Jing and Song Yang walked through the entire second floor, then went up to the third and fourth floors...
All the classrooms they passed were filled with the Barbie doll "Jia Jia" wearing a pink lace dress, with curly blonde hair and big, sparkling eyes.
But in some classrooms, all the Jia Jias were smiling.
In some classrooms, all the Jiajias were crying.
In some classrooms, all the students were in a daze.
In some classrooms, all the Jia Jias were sleeping.
The two finally met up with the main force on the eighth floor. By then, Zhang Li's group and Li Shanyin's group had already run through all ten floors above, panting.
Zhang Li said, "They're all the same, all Jia Jia! Is this a game of 'Spot the Difference'? There should only be one main monster, right? If it's mixed in with a crowd of nearly 10,000 people, how are we ever going to find it?"
Li Shanyin gritted his teeth and said, "Could it be that these tens of thousands of Jiajia are actually monsters, and they just split into so many sub-bodies? If so, then we can pass the level by killing them all!"
With props in hand, no matter how many target monsters there are, it is not a problem. They just need to gather them together and kill them all in one fell swoop. This tower fully provides them with the conditions for such an attack.
However, the question is, is the truth really as Li Shanyin said?
Zhang Li immediately urged, "Go kill a Jiajia and you'll know. If you don't receive a system penalty, then these Jiajia are monsters."
Li Shanyin froze and sneered, "Do you think I'm stupid? Why should I take the lead?"
If these Jia Jias are really NPCs, then wouldn't he be in trouble?
As soon as Li Shanyin said this, the group of people fell into silence.
——Therefore, it is even difficult for them to verify the identities of these Jia Jias.
Song Yang said in a deep voice: "We still have to find clues."
You can't get the right answer by being arbitrary.
After saying this, Song Yang raised his eyes and looked towards one of the entrance rooms.
Xia Jing had already stepped into a classroom.
The others hurried to follow.
Xia Jing and Song Yang took the lead, ignoring Jia Jia who was playing with toys in the classroom, and walked straight to the window and looked out.
The scenery outside, as they saw through the windows of the first-floor lobby, was a lush green lawn and a peaceful blue sky with white clouds.
Xia Jing tried to push open the window, but the result was the same as in the "Everything Grows" copy, all the windows were sealed and could not be opened at all.
In the "Everything Grows" copy, the windows were sealed because "there are beasts in the forest."
So why is the tower designed like this in this copy?
Xia Jing lowered his head and asked Jia Jia, who was standing beside him, "Why can't these windows be opened?"
His voice was very gentle. The little girl looked up and said innocently, "Because the teachers said that Jiajia is sometimes very naughty and wants to climb out the window to go outside. This is very dangerous, so they have to protect Jiajia."
Song Yang, who was standing next to him, heard the answer and fell into deep thought along with Xia Jing.
"What? Do you think the clue is outside?" Li Shanyin looked outside for a few times and frowned. "Did you see anything?"
Suddenly, a soft voice sounded behind them: "There are some interesting things to see to the west."
Xia Jing and Song Yang looked back.
Bian Ya walked in from outside the classroom and spoke to them while looking at the situation in the entrance room.
Upon hearing this, Li Shanyin and the others hurried out of the entrance room and ran towards the west side of the tower.
Xia Jing looked at Bian Ya with interest. Bian Ya noticed his gaze, paused, and smiled at him softly.
As they walked out of the classroom, Xia Jing said lightly, "Feng Shi's partner is very interesting."
When Song Yang heard this, he asked with alarm, "What's so interesting about that?"
Xia Jing looked at his reaction and raised his lip and said, "Not as interesting as you."
Song Yang: "..."
He coughed lightly and followed Xia Jing.
After entering a vestibule on the west side of the tower and walking to the window, they immediately knew what Bian Ya meant by "interesting things".
They are now on the eighth floor.
Looking down, you can see a slender glass walkway extending from the bottom of the tower on the lawn.
The other end of the walkway is connected to a huge, spindle-shaped glass house.
Large areas of glass reflect dazzling light under the sun.
It can be vaguely seen that this huge spindle-shaped glass house is divided into five room doors, three of which are arranged on one side of the spindle, and two of which are arranged on the other side.
There is a large bed at the door of each room, and the five large beds are placed with their ends facing each other.
Zhang Li immediately shouted, "Isn't this the door to our assigned room?!"
Wang Lian became uneasy: "What does this mean? Why is the only clue outside the tower the door to our room?"
Xia Jing observed calmly for a moment, then said thoughtfully, "The part where this glass walkway connects to the tower should be the main entrance to the lobby on the first floor of the tower."
No wonder he didn't notice the glass walkway and room doors outside the windows when he was observing the windows in the hall at the beginning of the copy.
——Because the main door blocked his view.
When they heard his words, everyone was stunned.
Is this... an important clue?
Song Yang said slowly: "In other words, this tower itself does not actually have a channel to the outside world."
All the windows in the tower could not be opened.
The only main entrance on the first floor of the tower leads to a glass walkway.
The glass walkway is completely enclosed and ultimately connects to a fully enclosed glass house.
——They simply couldn't leave the combination of the tower and the glass house.
In other words—
"The important clues must be in the outside world that is difficult for us to reach." Feng Shi concluded.
The others were completely stunned.
"Why, why do you say that?" Zhang Li's mind was still swirling. "Is it possible that the map of this dungeon is limited to this tower and the glass house? We can just look for clues within this area?"
"If that's the case, then why do the gatehouse and the corridor have to be made of glass?" Song Yang pondered as he gave his answer. "Similarly, the windows are there so that we can see outside. If there really is no information outside, there would be no need for the copy to be so unnecessary."
Xu Ning opened his mouth: "Then...then how can we get out?"
In Smiley City, players cannot violently destroy the dungeon environment.
This also means that if there really are important clues outside the tower, then there must be a relevant mechanism in the copy that allows players to leave the combination of the tower and the glass house, right?
At this point, Xia Jing had already turned around.
He said slowly, "We'll know after we're taken to the glass house."
*
At exactly three o'clock, they returned to the bright yellow studio door on the first floor.
Zhang Li originally wanted to try to see what would happen if he stayed in the tower overtime, but when the time gate was approaching, the NPC started broadcasting to the entire tower, reminding them to return to the first floor to gather, otherwise they would go to "capture someone".
The smartly dressed female NPC appeared again and distributed five square plates to them.
She said, "We don't have a place to store items in the kindergarten. Please put all the toys you have finished on a plate and take them back to your room for safekeeping. You can bring them here tomorrow."
After everyone finished loading their plates, the NPC turned around and led them to the hall and opened the main door.
——Just as Xia Jing said, this main door is not connected to the real outside world, but to the glass walkway.
At this moment, it was already dusk outside.
In just one hour, the brilliant sunlight was tinged with orange and the clouds on the horizon were licked with flames.
A group of people followed the NPC in the corridor, carefully observing their surroundings, and no one spoke.
Only the sound of sporadic footsteps could be heard.
On both sides of the walkway, the lawns outside are within easy reach.
The grass was quite tall, almost reaching their knees. An adult could easily hide themselves by squatting down.
At the end of the glass corridor is the door to the first gate room.
Players can then go to the remaining four doors by opening the doors between each door.
"Please choose the door of your respective rooms according to your groups. Go to bed early. I will pick you up at midnight tomorrow morning. Jia Jia will come to check your achievements in the evening." After leaving these words, the NPC turned and left.
The group's expressions changed slightly.
"Does this mean that monsters will come to us at night?" Wang Lian asked nervously.
"That should be it." Li Shanyin said with a sullen face.
At this time, all of them had walked into the first gate room.
Xia Jing tried to reopen the door connecting to the glass walkway, but found that it could no longer be opened.
They were locked inside this huge glass room.
There is glass everywhere, no matter the height, front, back, left or right, leaving nothing unobstructed.
They were clearly inside the house, but they were exposed at the door between heaven and earth.
The light around me was getting dimmer and dimmer.
Wang Lian began to swallow, and her heartbeat began to speed up: "How should we allocate the doors to our rooms?"
Song Yang quickly scanned the doors of the five rooms: "There is nothing else in each room except the bed. The most they have are slightly different positions and sizes. You can choose according to your preferences."
He didn't think that the orientation and size of the room door would be an important factor in this place.
The group quickly chose the door of the room with an uneasy mood.
The first gatehouse was occupied by Li Shanyin and Wang Lian.
Li Shanyin felt that the door of their room was closest to the tower, so they felt somewhat safer.
The door to the room to their right belongs to Sun Fujing and Sun Qianqian.
They were all on the side closest to the tower.
At the other end of the spindle are three relatively smaller room doors.
From left to right are Fengshi Bianya Group, Songyang Xiajing Group, Zhangli Xuning Group.
The ten people settled themselves in their rooms and closed their doors, which sealed the doors of their rooms and made all the doors unable to be opened.
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment across the glass.
"Can you hear us?" Xu Ning tried to shout.
To the others, her voice became very faint, but at least they could still be heard.
Everyone nodded and felt relieved.
It would be good if we could hear each other, so that if something happens, it would be convenient to communicate.
Xia Jing stood by the bed, looking up, carefully observing the tower whose color was getting darker and darker in the twilight.
The tower is conical in shape and the colors used on the tower body are very colorful.
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, it looks like a rainbow painted on it, and above the main entrance hangs the words "Smile City No. 1 Kindergarten".
After observing the tower, he looked at the nearby lawn.
These tall green grasses sway in the wind and look very peaceful.
Song Yang placed the square tray and toys on the bed, then walked over to him and said, "Do you think the shape of this glass house has any meaning?"
Spindle-shaped.
This can't be a shape that the NPCs just came up with on a whim.
"Of course there is, but I don't know much about children, so I don't have any ideas for now." Xia Jing looked at him, "What about you?"
"Me? The child I take care of the most is my nephew, a boy. I can't say I know much about girls." Song Yang shook his head.
Xia Jing discovered that he actually liked listening to Song Yang talk about his real-life affairs, and he would ask Song Yang to talk more when he had time.
"A conical tower, a spindle-shaped glass house, a six-hour daily schedule..." Xia Jing sorted out the elements presented to them in the current copy while thinking.
Finally, he turned around and examined the square tray on the bed and the toys they had made on it. He tilted his head and said, "Jia Jia will come to check on the results tonight. Will the monster show up so easily?"
"We still have to wait until night comes before we can know." Song Yang looked at the distant sky and said in a deep voice.
…
With nothing to do, the ten people could only lie down on the bed.
The male and female pairings were rather awkward. Except for the grandfather and grandson pair, Sun Fujing and Sun Qianqian, Li Shanyin and Wang Lian, Zhang Li and Xu Ning all occupied one side of the bed respectively, keeping a certain distance.
The time gate of this copy has a very fast pace.
Less than half an hour after they entered their respective rooms, it was completely dark.
The moon rises in the night sky.
The faint silver-white moonlight poured down, barely maintaining the players' vision.
Everyone was silent, waiting for the monster to arrive with vigilance.
Song Yang and Xia Jing lay face up on the bed.
Song Yang looked at the night sky for a while, then suddenly asked, "Why didn't you come to my place in the past few days?"
The question was asked a little suddenly. Xia Jing moved and turned to look at him.
What Song Yang could be sure of was that Xia Jing was very interested in the player's personal space door.
As a result, he handed over the keys, but the young man never visited him in the following days.
Song Yang waited anxiously for several days, but his expectations were dashed. He wanted to ask the reason, but he felt that he was being too nagging, so he couldn't hold it in any longer.
Xia Jing smiled and said, "Something happened, so I didn't go."
"What's the matter?" Song Yang frowned immediately, "Do you need my help?"
"Not for now," Xia Jing said softly, "I'm still observing. If I really need your help, I will tell you." In the days after separating from Song Yang, Xia Jing had been waiting in the safe house.
——He was waiting to see if a second crack would appear.
But it didn't.
In the few days that followed, the safe house operated normally, and no inexplicable cracks appeared again.
Maybe the previous time was just an accident.
Xia Jing needs more observation before he can draw a conclusion.
but--
"If nothing unexpected happens, I will go over and take a look after this copy is over." Xia Jing promised in a light tone.
Song Yang's brows relaxed.
"Okay, I'll wait for you," he said seriously, "but if you really encounter any problems, you must tell me as soon as possible."
"I know, Dad Yang." Xia Jing said jokingly.
Song Yang laughed angrily and rubbed his head.
After the joke, Xia Jing started to talk about business.
He whispered, "The grass is swaying, which means it's windy outside, but we can't hear the wind."
Song Yang restrained his expression and said, "Perhaps the wind is too weak. When the monster appears, we will see how to find a chance to get to the outside world."
However, it remains a question whether they will have enough time to pay attention to these things after the monster appears.
The two of them, Feng Shi, and Bian Ya were fine, but the other three groups were so nervous that they were stiff.
I want to chat but I don't know what to talk about. I want to discuss the monsters but I know they have no clues at the moment.
Everyone was staring around.
The wild grass swaying in the wind has long since turned into ghostly shadows swaying in the dark night.
Staring for too long might even create an illusion that something is hidden in the bushes, or that something is spying on them in the darkness.
There are many people in this world who are afraid of the dark.
They are afraid of dark room doors.
However, under the ambiguous light, those seemingly invisible lines and blocks of color are actually more terrifying than pure black.
They will make people associate and see what they fear in their hearts.
Wang Lian hugged her knees and hid her head between her arms. She didn't want to look at the door anymore.
Li Shanyin, who shared the same room with her, was not in much better condition. He was like a frightened bird, and would be frightened by the slightest movement of the weeds behind him.
Before I knew it, cold sweat had soaked my back.
In this weird and tense atmosphere.
At a certain moment, Song Yang and Xia Jing suddenly jumped out of bed.
The movement of the two frightened the people in the other four rooms, and everyone looked over nervously.
Xia Jing and Song Yang stood on the left and right of the bed respectively. At this moment, they were both on high alert, staring at the square plate in the middle of the bed.
On the square plate, the clay figures they had made with their own hands suddenly moved.
It's like waking up in the morning.
This was handmade, and the little gentleman stretched out his arms.
He took stiff steps and walked to the main street of the "town".
"There is a gentleman in our town,
He is incredibly clever."[Note 1]
The young gentleman proudly put his hands on his hips and looked around at the scenery of the town, seeming to be very satisfied.
Xia Jing and Song Yang stared at it. After a few seconds, when the figurine didn't make any other movements, Xia Jing suddenly said, "That's all for the first two sentences we've created today."
Behind them, Li Shanyin had already gotten out of bed and was pressing against the glass wall, shouting nervously, "What's wrong? What's going on? What happened to the toy?!"
The light was too dim and they couldn't see clearly what was going on.
The next second, the door of the room next to Song Yang and Xia Jing opened, and Feng Shi and Bian Ya suddenly turned around and looked at their bed.
The toys on their beds started moving too!
Inside the square plate, the clay girl woke up, yawned, and walked to the "London Bridge" with a curious look on her face.
This was a coincidence, but at this moment everything seemed so reasonable - the clay girl molded from the cliff was almost as big as the iron bridge.
It stood beside the iron bridge like a giant.
The girl reached out her hand and poked the iron bridge as if she were playing with a toy.
The iron bridge could not bear the weight and broke from the middle door and collapsed. The girl showed a frightened expression and quickly took a step back.
At this moment, everyone realized what they were facing.
——Monsters are testing the results of players' work today in this way!
When the toys on Li Shanyin and Wang Lian's bed started moving, they began to get frightened.
In the distance, Xia Jing narrowed his eyes and said, "The order in which the monsters are checked is the reverse of the order we arrived at with rock-paper-scissors."
Inside the door of Wang Lianli Shanyin's room——
"Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch water. Jack hit his head and Jill rolled down the hill..." Wang Lian's voice was trembling. She stared at the clay dolls on their square plate, reciting the nursery rhyme they made today, her heart beating fast.
Hand in hand, the two little boys happily climbed up the mountain in front of them.
The mountain was only half their body length higher and had a pointed top.
"Jack Jill, go up the mountain to fetch water..."
The little boys climbed to the top of the mountain and hugged the top. Then, the happy expressions on their faces suddenly disappeared and they became confused.
They looked around this small corner of the mountain top in confusion, as if looking for something.
"Jack Jill, go up the mountain and fight..." Wang Lian's mumbling suddenly stopped. [Note 2]
Her blood instantly turned cold.
She raised her head and said to Li Shanyin in panic, "What will happen to us if the nursery rhyme is not completed?"
Li Shanyin looked at her with a blank face, obviously confused as well.
In the square plate, the two boys who couldn't find water gradually became furious.
They raised their feet high and kicked and punched the clay mountain angrily. They kicked it with such force that it was deformed and turned into a pile of mud in just a few kicks.
The mud shattered into pieces on the square plate, and the fragments flew out!
The next second, the two boys raised their heads and looked at Li Shanyin and Wang Lian with cold eyes.
The two retreated repeatedly, and Wang Lian screamed: "Props! Uncle Li, protective props!"
Li Shanyin subconsciously took out the protective gear from his space door pocket, but before opening it, he paused and said cautiously, "But these are just two clay dolls..."
At this moment, Sun Fujing and Sun Qianqian in the room next to them were startled and pointed behind them and said, "Look behind you!"
Li Shanyin and Wang Lian were stunned.
"Boom", "Boom", "Boom"…
At this moment, they heard very heavy footsteps and felt the vibration under their feet.
This strange noise came from the grassland behind them...
They turned around stiffly and, along with everyone else, looked at the world outside the glass wall behind them.
Two huge black shadows appeared in the night.
"Boom", "Boom", "Boom"…
These are two giants.
They took one step after another, and finally stopped in front of Li Shanyin and Wang Lian across a glass wall.
Both giants were at least twenty meters tall.
A giant was green all over, with a slender and uneven body, crooked legs like noodles, a bald head that was completely a ball, and a face with crudely carved features that were even somewhat separated.
It looked down at Li Shanyin from above with a cold expression.
Li Shanyin was stunned.
This is the "Jack" he made.
The other giant had a very big head and was lead-gray all over. He had a funny row of black hair on his round head. His upper body was red and very fat, his lower body was yellow, and his legs were as thin as bamboo sticks.
The color combination is very weird, and its face has a weird grin.
Wang Lian's legs went limp and he knelt on the ground.
She didn't think twice as she made "Jill" out of playdough.
The color was chosen by her at random, and the shape was pinched by her at random. The rough little man born from her hands now took the form of a giant, smiling strangely and staring at her.
Before the two could react, there was a loud crash and the glass wall in the corner in front of them was shattered.
Then, two people were carried out.