Qi Qiu paused slightly while picking up the mask. He maintained his bowed posture and saw the extremely intense emotional changes on Miss Ikuko's face.

In an instant, Qi Jiu understood what was going on.

Miss Ikuko is the only NPC in this dungeon so far who showed an expression of disbelief after seeing his face.

In other words, that guy's character is only connected to the "next world" of the dungeon. Only by following Miss Ikuko's line can we dig out the plot line that was abandoned by the system.

"Miss Yuzi, do you know me?" Qi Qiu came slightly closer and asked knowingly.

He imitated the guy with the pipe, deliberately using a lazy and cold tone, and unconsciously raised the corners of his lips as he spoke.

Miss Ikuko was seen lying on the ground, trembling all over, her facial features stained red with blood were extremely distorted, and the disbelief on her face had turned into fear: "Yes...I'm sorry...I...was wrong..."

Miss Ikuko's throat had been pierced by the curse from the gun. Her pale fingers pressed tightly on the bloody hole in her neck, and the thick blood seeped into her fingers.

"Do you remember? Who am I?" Qi Jiu took a step closer and murmured in a half-smiling tone, coaxing her to say the other person's name.

Miss Ikuko almost stared out of her eyes. She subconsciously shrank back half a step, holding her neck and trembling all over: "You...!"

It's a pity that before she could say the other person's name, the illusion of Flower Street collapsed.

The crimson corridor instantly turned into thick ink, flowing away like a tide.

The grotesque Ukiyoe scenes painted on the shoji gate also disintegrated in an instant.

Really, why did he run away before asking her to compensate for the damaged noodles?

*

"Qi Jiu? Qi Jiu! You finally woke up, you scared me to death just now..."

When the illusion began, Qi Qiu briefly lost consciousness. Qin Rang, who was at the side and didn't know what happened, was so frightened that his voice changed.

"Holy shit! This, this is... Miss Rossetti?!" Qin Rang looked at the red-haired girl who appeared out of nowhere, wearing a rose dress and playing with a pistol. He didn't take a breath.

Shun tensed up again, "Miss Rossetti...what's going on? Why are you here?!"

Qin Rang thought he was dazzled for a moment. Why did the **ss from the previous dungeon suddenly appear in this dungeon?!

"Ah, that cracked courtesan is really unbeatable. There are still three minutes left before my part-time job ends." Miss Rossetti frowned and looked at the remaining time, playing with the gun in her hand in boredom.

Suddenly, she aimed the loaded gun at the frightened Qin Rang.

Qin Rang was so frightened that he raised his hands in surrender: "I, I, I don't know anything...!"

"Qi, Qi Chu..." Qin Rang's voice trembled, and he tugged on Qi Chu's sleeves to ask for help, "The copy is broken...Help...Help me!"

Qi Jiu sat up, holding the "Sixteen" noodles that had been split in half in the illusion in his hand. He rubbed his sore neck, and finally walked over and pressed Rossetti's gun: "Don't make trouble, you scared him.

Already."

The moment the words came out of his mouth, Qi Jiu was stunned.

Because the tone of voice I subconsciously spoke to Miss Rossetti just now was almost exactly the same as the guy in the dream.

"Just kidding."

Miss Rossetti stuck out her tongue at Qin Rang, then pointed the gun in the direction of the shrine door, and fired indiscriminately.

In less than three minutes, the door of the shrine had been completely penetrated by her and collapsed.

Qi Jiu used Ema to complete the rules of the shrine, and with Miss Rossetti's violent demolition of the door, Qi Jiu and Qin Rang were finally able to leave this strange shrine smoothly.

[Running Miss Rossetti’s limited time appointment letter remaining time: 10s]

Miss Rossetti finally put away her pistol: "Brother, my working time is up, good night."

Qi Jiu waved to her: "Thank you for tonight, good night."

Rossetti smiled: "You paid, you're welcome."

As she spoke, she turned around and waved her arms, and her red hair, as fiery as flames, disappeared into the white mist of the night.

Qin Rang had not recovered from Miss Rossetti's crazy shooting operation. He blinked in disbelief and looked at the direction where Miss Rossetti disappeared for a long time.

Qi Jiu patted him on the shoulder: "Miss Rossetti has left."

"Oh," Qin Rang turned his head blankly, "What... is going on?"

"Is it your skill? Bring over Miss Rossetti from the last copy?" Qin Rang finally realized something.

Qi Jiu nodded: "I was dragged into the illusion just now by the evil spirit controlling Ema, and Miss Rossetti was of great help."

"So it's really like this..." Qin Rang wondered, "This skill is so powerful."

Qi Jiu smiled and acquiesced: "Thanks to you for giving me Hot Spring Granny's spell pendant just now. It also helped a lot."

Qin Rang waved his hand: "What do you mean, you bear the curse of the black painted horse yourself, and I don't have to do anything... Well, are there any useful clues in the illusion?"

Qi Jiu nodded: "I met Miss Ikuko and found the true source of the fire in the hot spring street."

Qin Rang was slightly stunned: "Isn't the fire because Xiaomi made a deal with the evil spirit?"

Qi Jiu: "Xiao Mi is just the "key" that triggered this disaster. There was a fire at the shrine site a hundred years ago. I think that was the real source of the accident."

Qin Rang was completely confused now, but when he thought about it carefully, he seemed to have never really understood it.

"You still have Xiaomi's Ema?" Qi Jiu asked.

Qin Rang nodded firmly: "Don't worry, I'm here."

Qi Jiu: "Let's go, let's take this piece of Ema that Xiaomi forgot about, maybe she can remember some important clues."

"By the way, what happened to your Ema?" Qin Rang looked at the neng noodles that Qi Jiu held in his hand and cracked in half.

Qi Jiu shrugged and said in a frustrated tone: "It was damaged by Miss Yuzi, and she ran away before I had time to ask her for compensation."

Qin Rang: "..."

"I happen to have a tool for repairing items here. You can take it and use it." Qin Rang quickly exchanged the repair tool and handed it to Qi Zu, "Let's agree first, don't give me coins in exchange. After all, it's just now

A gift of thanks for making a deal with evil spirits for me."

After getting along with each other until now, Qin Rang is already very clear about Qi Qiu's style. This guy adheres to the principle of equal exchange and never accepts benefits from others for nothing, even for partners who have cooperated for a long time.

Qi Jiu was taken aback for a moment and said with a smile: "Thank you, it was a big help."

Since he had said this to the other party, Qi Jiu did not insist on paying the other party.

He also knew that he was in urgent need of repairing the props, so he didn't pretend to be polite to Qin Rang.

The two of them crossed the shrine gate that was riddled with holes by Miss Rossetti and walked back to the foggy hot spring street.

Different from the scene when they arrived, now the two of them would no longer hear the faint sound of laughter, and the white mist just floated quietly in the night, flowing silently.

Will-o'-the-wisps flickered, and the sound of clogs struck the ancient stone stacks.

"Da da da--"

The two walked towards the hotel.

[Congratulations on finding important clues and successfully advancing the branch "The Truth about the Hotel Accident". The unlock rate of this branch is currently 80%]

[Reward for promoting the branch line: Obtain the prop "Log-colored Ema"*1]

[Prop description: Can be used for shrine prayer activities]

Before he even warmed up the prop he had just received, Qi Jiu had already figured out how to use it.

[Because you opened the shrine map, triggered important hidden plot points, and successfully opened the hidden main mission of "The Truth about the Yuzhiwu Fire", please actively obtain relevant clues to complete the branch story]

[Currently hidden main line progress: 0%]

On the way back, Qi Qiu found that the black Ema that belonged to him had been taken out of the shrine illusion and was tied to his yukata at some point.

The wish to "meet Miss Ikuko" is still written on the front of the black Ema, but the price on the back has changed again——

"Please let Ikuko-san free."

At the same time, the system pops up a message box [Congratulations on successfully unlocking the free branch: "Help Miss Ikuko escape"]

[Note: This branch is an optional branch, you can choose whether to complete it according to your preferences and abilities]

Qi Jiu looked at the black Ema thoughtfully, mentally going through the clues he had obtained tonight and the things he had not figured out yet.

What is certain now is:

First, Ms. Ikuko knew the guy’s character and showed fear of his face;

Second, the fire accident in the hot spring street was caused by a deal between Xiaoya, who was born with psychic abilities, and Miss Ikuko. Miss Ikuko used her energy field as a connection to lead the centuries-old yin fire to the real hot spring street, thus causing

The tragic fire on New Year’s Eve that killed twenty-one people;

Thirdly, due to the fire incident in Ikuzhiwu a hundred years ago, the dark fire in this street has continued to this day. The dark fire uses Miss Ikuko's resentment as a burning object and will not be extinguished for hundreds of years. Therefore, truly eliminating Miss Ikuko's resentment can fundamentally prevent it.

Disaster occurs.

Of course, Qi Gu was skeptical about Miss Ikuko's description of her life experience.

Although the story of a wandering girl who became pregnant with a noble family's child and was unfortunately silenced sounds reasonable at first, it is a bit unbelievable that the noble family even burned down the entire flower street for this. After all, to the old aristocrats, the silenced oiran was

It's such an easy thing, there's no need to make such a big move.

And the crack on Miss Ikuko's face looked like it had been cut open with a knife before she died... What secret did Miss Ikuko have that made people at that time treat her in such a cruel way?

Sometimes cruelty itself symbolizes fear. Did Miss Ikuko scare people at that time?

Judging from the appearance of the filth in the soup pool, Miss Ikuko seems to have a hobby of "biting" people. Just now, Miss Ikuko also proposed that she wanted to drink his blood. So, is Miss Ikuko pica? Or is it something like sucking people in ghost stories?

Bloody spirit?

In that guy's reminder dream, there was also a blood-stained screen, a long knife enshrined in blood, and the blood wine the other party poured in front of him.

The truth about Miss Ikuko's life experience has also become confusing.

"By the way, if Xiaomi is really the spirit of the victim who died in the New Year's Eve accident, she disguised herself as a player in the dungeon..." Qin Rang interrupted Qi Qiu's contemplation, "Then other players may not be able to discover the shrine paintings.

In this plot line, if they don’t know that Xiaomi is also the resentful spirit of the victims, wouldn’t it mean that they will never be able to complete the mission of “transcending all the resentful spirits of the victims”?”

The witch believes that only by exalting or cleaning up all the distressed spirits can she leave the instance before the final disaster strikes.

If the players had not discovered the identity of Xiaomi's mother and daughter, they would never have been able to achieve the salvation plan, and they would never have been able to successfully leave the dungeon before disaster struck.

"This copy is too cunning, it actually sets interference items in the player's mind!" Qin Rang said angrily.

Qi Jiu: "The most terrifying thing is that Xiaomi also firmly believes that she is the player. Although she may be able to remember something at certain moments, but..."

He swallowed it back mid-sentence. What exactly happened to Xiaomi? Everything would become clear later when he handed her the black New Year's wish ema.

*

When the two returned to the hotel, it was exactly ten o'clock at night, and the players were already waiting for their meals in the cafeteria.

Qi Jiu and Qin Rang went directly to the restaurant. Xiaomi sat next to his wife and ate ice cream boredly.

"Madam, excuse me, can I have a few words with Xiaomi alone?" Qi Jiu asked his wife proactively.

The lady who was eating sashimi was stunned for a moment: "Of course, but it depends on Xiaomi..."

"Mom, I have no problem," Xiao Mi licked the ice cream and said to her mother with a smile, "I just want to have a chat with this brother."

Madam curled her hands on her chest uneasily, but smiled softly on her face: "Okay, you guys talk first, and then I'll pick out something to eat."

As soon as the lady left her seat with the dinner plate, Qi Jiu sat down opposite Xiao Mi: "Xiao Mi, I went to the shrine and found something that belongs to you."

At this moment, he was holding the black Ema with Xiaomi's New Year's wishes written on it in his hand.

Xiao Mi half-closed his eyelids and concentrated on eating the ice cream without speaking.

Qi Jiu asked: "Before I give it back to you, I think you may have to be mentally prepared."

Xiao Mi remained silent. After a long while, she finally raised her eyelids and looked at Qi Qiu: "Since you chatted with me last night, I seem to have remembered something, but it seems like..."

She shook her head and looked over Qi Qiu's shoulder at the night and fog outside the window, "Those seem to be my memories, but they don't seem to be, I can't tell... And mom... I..."

Xiao Mi hesitated to speak, her lips trembled slightly, and her eyes were filled with sadness: "I seem to have lost her before."

"Madam is a very gentle and kind person." Qi Jiu said softly. At the same time, he placed the Ema with Xiaomi's wishes written on it on the dining table and gently covered it with his palm, "Do you want to know the truth?

?”

Xiao Mi was stunned for a moment. She seemed to have forgotten the ice cream she was holding in her hand. The melted vanilla cream penetrated between her fingers, making it cold and sticky.

She looked blankly at Qi Jiu's hand pressing Ema, and suddenly asked: "Do you think I should know the truth?"

Qi Jiu looked at her quietly: "I think you have noticed it."

The melted ice cream flowed between her fingers and soon stained her sleeves.

Qi Jiu did not urge him. He waited patiently for Xiaomi to make a decision. He did not remove his hand from Ema until the little girl in front of him nodded very softly.

Xiaomi looked straight at the black Ema and the handwriting he left on the Ema.

After a long while, she finally blinked and smiled briefly: "I understand."

After saying that, she closed her eyes deeply, her eyelashes trembling.

She completely remembered——

She was different from ordinary children since she was a child. She would see noisy and dirty things and have precognitive dreams. It seemed that there was some powerful and unknown energy flowing in her body.

Not long after her mother fell ill and passed away, she began to have recurring dreams about this shrine and this hot spring street. Out of curiosity, she checked the information about hot spring streets and shrines online and learned that this was a very efficacious shrine, so she

Without telling my guardian, I went to the hot spring resort alone with a tour group during the New Year holiday.

Following the guidance of her dream, she successfully found this shrine. After learning that it was a shrine for marriage, she was a little disappointed, but after all, she still wrote her New Year's greetings with black Ema on New Year's Eve.

desire.

"I want to forget that my mother has left and let her live again, or let me return to my mother's side."

"Prayer: Xiaomi"

For this she is willing to give everything she has, including her own life.

Unexpectedly, on the night she made her wish, a strange explosion occurred in the hot spring street. The fire quickly spread to this tourist street mainly made of wooden buildings. Twenty-one lives disappeared in the fire, including

Xiao Mi himself.

But unlike all the victims, she had her own mother after her death.

The shrine fulfilled her wish, and the wish itself was the "key" to the accident.

The evil spirits in the shrine used the powerful energy in her body as a igniter, and the fire of the ghosts that lasted for hundreds of years burned into the real streets, causing a tragic New Year's Eve accident.

"I fulfilled your wish, and you also provided me with energy. Only you are special, Xiaomi."

"You are different from those mediocre ghosts. They can only serve as my ghosts."

"And you are free. You finally have your mother again. This is your wish.

"Xiao Mi, forget all the losses and sadness, and start a new life with your mother. You said you wanted to spend a hot spring vacation with your mother."

A beautiful young lady wearing a scarlet dress, covering half of her face, said to her.

The little sister repeatedly told her that she was special, that she had a mother, and that she needed to start a new life. The life with a mother must be very happy.

Under the other party's bewitchment and her self-hypnosis, she gradually learned to use forgetfulness to escape the guilt of causing the accident. Only by forgetting can she start over with her mother.

She needs to integrate into this new world, and she needs to start a new life with her lost mother according to the order of the new world.

But in this transformed new world, only the "players" who participate in the challenge are normal people, and only the "players" are the most reasonable existence.

So she subconsciously forcibly distorted her and her mother's memories. If only "players" were the living symbols, she and her mother would appear as "players".

She needs to mentally agree with the fact that she and her mother are still alive.

So once there is a vacancy in the number of people in the tour group, she and her mother can join the hot spring tour group as "living players" and start a "normal" life in this world.

But every new life ends in vain.

She finally discovered that the so-called new life was just a lie by the evil spirit. She and her mother had been repeating the same thing over and over again: becoming a substitute "player" and joining the tour group to come to this hot spring hotel and meet other players here.

Weird rules, weird accidents, and an unavoidable fire that burned her and her mother to death...

The end of all new life is this fire, a fire that can never be stopped.

The fire engulfed their new life. After the burning pain, she and her mother's life was restarted with one click, and they were thrown back into a similar cycle as substitute players, over and over again, like the curse of Groundhog Day.

In the cycle, she will forget everything that has ever happened, and only the occasional flash of déjà vu reminds her: she has been here, experienced this, more than once...

Only this time is different.

This time, she met this little brother wearing the "Sixteen" nengmian, and he handed the Ema, which she had forgotten in her guilt, back into her hands.

She remembered!

Before the cycle restarts, before the fire engulfs everything, she remembers!

She remembered...

…

The ice cream in Xiao Mi's hand had completely melted, and the wet and sticky liquid covered his hand.

Qi Jiu sat across from him and looked at Xiaomi, and asked warmly: "So, you and your mother have experienced 'tonight' many times, right?"

Xiaomi nodded blankly: "Many, many times... probably too many to count."

"But only tonight is special." Xiao Mi retracted his gaze and looked at Qi Qiu opposite him again.

Qi Jiu: "Do you know why the last fire could never be stopped?"

Xiaomi shook his head at a loss. Qi Jiu looked at her deeply and said, "Because the player needs to successfully save the souls of all the victims in order to successfully stop the fire and end the world, but they will never be able to save you."

Xiao Mi's expression flickered, and she suddenly looked at Qi Qiu in panic.

Qi Jiu: "Do you want to end this cycle?"

Xiaomi was stunned. She neither nodded nor shook her head.

In fact, even she herself couldn't confirm it.

She looked out the window again at the slowly flowing night fog, with white particles floating in the fog.

It's like fine snow falling.

Although there was no moonlight, the night was extremely bright.

She even felt that the night was a bit dazzling.

Xiaomi lowered her gaze again. She suddenly looked at the black Ema piece in her hand without making any sound.

"Xiao Mi, only you can save you." Qi Jiu waited patiently for a moment and finally said softly and firmly.

"Is that so?" Xiao Mi bit her lip in confusion. After a long time, she looked at the mask on Qi Gu's face again -
Chapter completed!