More than ten minutes later, Lu Chenfei, Li Mian and Fei Shengxiao arrived first.
When they saw the pure black helicopter that had been half dug out by Song Yang and Xia Jing, the three of them were shocked.
The helicopter lay askew in the sand, exposed to the soft night light.
It was exactly the same as the helicopter they had just pieced together and glued together in the cave, it was basically copied and pasted.
If Song Yang hadn't said it himself that this was the second plane they found, Lu Chenfei would even suspect that Song Yang had deliberately moved the plane from the cave here just to trick them.
The problem is——
Why is there a second identical plane in the instance?
The three of them circled around the helicopter in disbelief. Lu Chenfei murmured, "I'm completely confused. Is this second helicopter trying to tell us whether World No. 3 is real or fake?"
There is no solution. They haven't figured out the meaning of this clue yet.
Xia Jing took a breath, thought for a moment, and said, "I'll go to World No. 5 first to see the situation."
He closed his eyes.
It was the first time he used his observation ability, and the feeling was amazing.
After concentrating his mind, three bright white spots emerged from the pure black ocean of consciousness.
World No. 1 was obviously destroyed in the volcanic eruption, so the number of light spots decreased from four to three.
The volcano in World 2 was still silent when they left, so this parallel world was probably still alive.
Xia Jing directly chose the last light spot in the arrangement.
As soon as he entered, he saw two men half-kneeling behind the rocks on the beach from a bird's-eye view.
They in World No. 5 have obviously realized that the original location of the helicopter debris may be the most critical location.
There was also a huge sand pit on the beach in front of the two men, which was dug by them.
But unlike them in World No. 3, what these two men found in the sand pit this time was not another helicopter, but just an ordinary tablet computer.
——This is exactly one of the items that Song Yang originally predicted might carry clues to time.
Xia Jing's eyes moved slightly.
This tablet computer suffered some damage in the helicopter accident, and its silver-white shell was completely charred and deformed.
It was as if it had been waiting for their arrival on the brink of life and death. After the two men tapped the screen, the light lit up for a moment and then went out forever.
At this moment, Xia Jing clearly saw that the time displayed on the lock screen was June xx, 20xx.
——The time is inconsistent with the time shown in the image of the helicopter's interior cabin in the cave.
The year and date are the same, but the month has an extra digit, changing from May to June.
As if feeling Xia Jing's gaze, the two men raised their heads.
Strange faces, strange voices.
One is tall, the other is thin.
The tall man had a big "5" on his forehead, looking as funny as ever. When he saw Xia Jing, he smiled.
This is Song Yang from World No. 5.
The slender man shook the tablet in his hand at Xia Jing and said, "You've seen it, the months don't match."
Xia Jing from World 5 said calmly, "Our world should be the last fake world. Take us and the clones from World 4 over there. We can prepare to leave this instance."
Xia Jing used his gaze to move his hand in World No. 5.
Xia Jing from World No. 5 paused, understood what he meant, picked up a stone from the side and held it in his hand.
Xia Jing took the stone and wrote on the beach: "There is something going on with number 3. Leave after you figure it out."
Xia Jing from World No. 5 narrowed his eyes slightly, nodded, and said, "I understand."
Xia Jing stopped observing and regained consciousness suddenly.
He opened his eyes in World No. 3, and the one in World No. 5 followed closely and opened his eyes beside him, probably wanting to see what unusual situation was happening on their side.
These eyes looked thoughtfully at the strange helicopter standing in the sand, and seemed a little surprised that they had made such a discovery in World No. 3.
At this moment, Song Yang had already dug out another key from the sand next to the helicopter.
He said, "I'll go in and take a look."
After he finished speaking, he opened the cabin door, climbed in, inserted the key, and started the plane.
The lights in the cabin came on instantly.
Song Yang subconsciously turned his head and glanced at the metal wall to the left of the driver's seat, and was stunned.
Xia Jing, Lu Chenfei, Li Mianjie and Fei Shengxiao jumped up one after another, and the cabin of the helicopter suddenly became crowded.
After the four people entered the inner cabin, they were quickly stunned.
Just like the helicopter in the cave.
After starting up, portraits of "pilots" and "passengers" appeared on the walls of the helicopter's interior cabin.
Ten people, ten portraits.
However, the ten avatars that emerged from this plane...
Lu Chenfei was stunned and said, "Who are these?!"
——These are all people they don't know!
There was a strange man in the driver's seat. He was as strong as Sun Qian, but his face looked much more awful and gave people a very dangerous feeling.
There was a woman in the passenger seat with a cold face and prominent cheekbones, looking a little mean.
The following passengers were occupied by a boy who looked like a high school student, a woman with a cowering look, a middle-aged man with a calculating face, and a tired-looking office worker in a white shirt...
Xia Jing and the others looked around the cabin, which was neither too big nor too small.
Surrounded by ten unfamiliar portraits, the entire helicopter seemed to be filled with an indescribable eerie atmosphere.
Xia Jing walked to the last row calmly. His eyes swept across a picture, passed by it, then suddenly turned back and stopped.
The footsteps also paused at this moment.
Song Yang frowned as he approached. When he saw Xia Jing stopped in front of the narrow aisle, he whispered, "What's wrong?"
He followed Xia Jing's gaze, and an unexpected image made his pupils shrink suddenly, and he froze in place.
...Among the cabin full of unfamiliar avatars, there was one person that they all knew.
Last row, right seat.
The young man in the image is smiling.
The corners of her lips were slightly raised, and her beautiful phoenix eyes looked straight ahead, with a hint of teasing in her eyes.
The black hair on his forehead was a little messy, but when it fell on his fair face, the contrast between black and white created an almost breathtaking beauty.
The picturesque face and the extremely gentle smile give people a feeling of being so dangerous.
…
Lu Chenfei's brows were furrowed. He said to Xia Jing and Song Yang, who were standing at the back, "There's something wrong with the time displayed on these images. The date and month are the same as ours, but the year is four years ago. This doesn't make sense, does it?"
Li Mian was also thinking: "What is the copy trying to tell us? Did a plane crash here four years ago?"
Fei Shengxiao swallowed hard. "I find this a bit strange... We're looking for clues about time, and this plane does provide us with that information. But why would the replica give us an entire plane just to provide that information? Wouldn't a newspaper or an electronic device that can display the time be enough?"
"And these avatars, no matter how you look at them, they all belong to players..." Fei Shengxiao got goosebumps. "I think rather than saying that a plane crashed here four years ago, it's more like a group of players opened this dungeon four years ago..."
Li Mian was stunned and immediately retorted, "But that's impossible. Smiley City has only been operating for a little over two hundred days."
Lu Chenfei pondered, "No matter what, it's a fact that the time displayed on this plane doesn't match ours. If the time doesn't match, it means that World 3 is a fake world, and World 5 is the real world."
He suddenly thought of something and turned to ask Xia Jing: "Xia Jing, you just went to World No. 5 to check, right? So, did they find any corresponding clues there?"
Xia Jing kept staring at the image.
He said calmly, "Yes."
Lu Chenfei and the others were stunned and quickly came over and asked, "What did they find over there? Is it also a plane?"
Xia Jing replied: "No, what they found was a tablet computer, and the time displayed on the tablet was one month in the future."
Lu Chenfei and the others were stunned again.
...So, problematic time information appeared in both World 3 and World 5?!
"What is going on?" Lu Chenfei murmured.
It was also at this time that he finally noticed the strangeness of Song Yang and Xia Jing.
During their conversation, the two men were staring at the same image.
What did they find?
Lu Chenfei finally realized that something was wrong, took a big step forward and hurried over.
When the image came into his field of vision, Lu Chenfei stood there as if struck by lightning.
He was completely dumbfounded by the person who was never expected to appear here.
He was stunned and said, "This... is this the beautiful manager of the safe house?!"
Hearing his words, Li Mian and Fei Shengxiao were startled and hurried over to take a look.
Anyone who has met the safe house manager will never forget his appearance.
Because that face was too beautiful for a man, it was really hard to forget.
As soon as Li Mian saw the image, he recognized the person and said in astonishment, "It's really him!"
Fei Shengxiao said in disbelief, "How could the beautiful store manager's portrait appear here? I really don't understand. What's going on with this plane?! It's really weird!"
In World No. 5, the clue their clones found was a tablet computer, and the time displayed on the tablet was June.
In World No. 3, the clue they found was a helicopter. The cabin of the helicopter displayed the avatars of ten unfamiliar players, and the time displayed under the avatars was four years ago.
For No. 3 and No. 5, there are problems with the time information given by both worlds.
Of these two worlds, which one is the real world and which one is the fake world?
Mystery shrouds this small corner of the beach.
The five people were immediately thrown into chaos.
Just as Lu Chenfei and Fei Shengxiao were grabbing their hair, constantly raising possibilities and refuting them, and arguing, Xia Jing suddenly moved.
He turned sideways and glanced at another seat in the last row - the one on the left.
In the dark corner that they ignored, the image that emerged was that of an ordinary-looking young man.
The image only captured each person's neck, but even so, it was not difficult to see that the young man had a slight hunchback.
His hair was very long, with his bangs almost covering his eyes, and there was some stubble on his chin that was not cleaned up.
There was a hint of fear and confusion in his eyes, but the hidden light in them was like that of a hawk.
A newly born falcon that is a little timid but wants to bite its prey.
Song Yang's heart was in turmoil at this moment. Noticing Xia Jing's gaze, he glanced to the left and said in a hoarse voice, "Xia Xia, you..."
His Adam's apple rolled, and he asked in a low voice: "Did you remember anything?"
Xia Jing stared at the image for a moment, then opened his mouth and said, "I don't remember the name of this man, but I have definitely seen him before."
"Or rather," Xia Jing pondered, "he and I were once very familiar with each other."
After saying this, Xia Jing scanned the entire interior of the plane.
He whispered, "Song Yang, this plane is from four years ago."
The time point of "four years ago" made Song Yang nervous.
He remembered some of the speculations they had had before.
"Now it seems," Xia Jing said slowly, "that the speculations we made before about Smiley Face City and my past should have been correct."
"As for which one is real, World 3 or World 5, and which one is fake—"
After hearing Xia Jing's words, Lu Chenfei and the others stopped arguing and looked over.
Under Song Yang's complicated gaze, Xia Jing said calmly: "Our world number 3 should be the real world of truth."
Lu Chenfei and the others were immediately puzzled. "Why? Although the time information on both sides is wrong, it is obvious that the plane in World 3 is more outrageous, right? Why is World 3 the world of truth?"
Xia Jing's voice remained calm: "Because the time displayed on this plane should be correct."
Lu Chenfei and the others were even more confused.
Lu Chenfei said suspiciously: "The time on it is four years ago, four years ago."
"Yes, four years ago," Xia Jing said clearly, "but if this plane is indeed from four years ago, then the time displayed on it must be correct, right?"
Lu Chenfei and the others were completely stunned.
Xia Jing changed the subject and said in a gentle tone, "However, I think this plane was not the clue that this copy intended to provide us."
He reached out and gently touched the images, saying slowly, "I think, according to the original setting of the dungeon, the clues that World 3 and World 5 intended to provide should both be tablets. The tablet in World 3 will show the correct time, while the tablet in World 5 will show the wrong time."
"From this, players can determine that World 3 is the real world."
"But," Xia Jing tilted his head, "perhaps there's a bug in Smiley City's system again, confusing the tablet computer clue with this helicopter—this thing belongs to four years ago."
This unexpected inference left Lu Chenfei and the others stumped.
Lu Chenfei questioned: "...Bug? How could there be a bug in Smiley City?"
But just after he finished saying this, Lu Chenfei paused.
He suddenly remembered that not long ago, someone had told him that there was a bug in Smiley City.
The person who said this to him was Song Yang.
Song Yang's original words at the time were that Xia Jing's death in a certain instance was a system bug...
In an instant, Lu Chenfei's heart skipped a beat.
Various clues connected in his mind.
He had never heard of any bugs in Smiley City in the past, and the only two times he had heard of them did not seem to be unrelated.
The first bug mentioned: Xia Jing, death.
The second bug mentioned: the helicopter and the safe house manager four years ago.
The relationship between Song Yang, Xia Jing, and the safe house manager is already complicated and confusing...
…
Lu Chenfei finally reacted.
His expression suddenly changed, and he stared straight at Xia Jing, saying in disbelief: "Who are you?!"
Lu Chenfei's sudden questioning startled Fei Shengxiao and Li Mian.
Song Yang frowned and wanted to step forward.
Xia Jing stopped him and said, "I said, as long as it's your friend, it doesn't matter."
"Furthermore, if we don't explain this matter clearly, I'm afraid it will be difficult for them to believe that this helicopter is a 'correct clue'."
As he spoke, the young man's facial features changed visibly.
The face shape is adjusting, the exaggerated parts are disappearing, and the skin color is gradually becoming whiter.
Elegant and perfect contours, rosy lips, a straight nose, seductive eyes, and a voice that gradually became clearer and more pleasant.
Before this, Lu Chenfei, Li Mian, Fei Shengxiao and others, who had already gone through the dungeon with Xia Jing, naturally knew that Xia Jing always wore a mask.
They are unlikely to delve into Xia Jing's true appearance. After all, Xia Jing may just be more concerned about privacy than others.
But at that time, they would never have thought that the person who would challenge the dungeon with them and share the joys and sorrows with them would actually be——
Inside the cabin, the handsome young man took off his mask and smiled casually.
He said to the three stunned people in a gentle tone, "Please introduce yourself again."
"Hello."
"I'm the manager of the safe house, Xia Jing."