N-M Chapter 154 The Terrifying Ant-like Beauty
Chapter 154 The Terrifying Ant-like Beauty
Chapter 154 The Terrifying Ant-like Beauty
After these words were sent out in the form of thoughts, Death Pass did not respond for a moment.
A moment later, the familiar words reappeared before my eyes.
[It's impossible to reason with a damned devil. Since you've made your decision, I can only watch you die, and then find the next collaborator.]
"What if I win?" Li Jiuhe said, "Are you just going to stand by and do nothing, even if you see me about to win the Joker card game and the haunted house?"
Hmph, I can't be bothered with you.
After that sentence disappeared, the Death Pass stopped speaking.
However, Li Jiuhe had a feeling that this guy was definitely paying close attention to his movements at the moment, to see if he could really win the Joker card or the Rubik's Cube haunted house as he said.
That being said, if I could really get this guy's help, the ability of the pass to connect Yin and Yang would be a great asset.
As for the even more mysterious ability to resurrect the holder of the pass after death, Li Jiuhe dared not hope for it.
Because he saw that after You Hong was reborn, he suspected that it required a deep connection with the Death Pass and many collaborations before the "rebirth" could be triggered.
So far, he has not considered cooperating with the pass by killing someone.
Besides, being able to reset the mission is another kind of "rebirth".
Right now, the pass is probably in a state of doubt about itself, and it also needs to observe whether Li Jiuhe really has enough strength to deal with the Joker card and the haunted house.
If Li Jiuhe can really defeat the Joker or has a chance to solve the haunted house, Death Pass might change its strategy and trust that Li Jiuhe is not lying.
As for the grudges between the pass and the Moth Girl, Li Jiuhe guessed it from the clues beforehand, but he didn't have any solid evidence.
Perhaps the Moth Women desperately need a death pass, just as they need this Rubik's Cube haunted house.
"Director Song, the two missing investigators are in the entrance passage of the haunted house. They're fine for now. Just have someone remove their earplugs and take them to the hospital. As for the inside of the haunted house, no one except me is allowed to go near it."
Song Zhixing was somewhat surprised when he heard Li Jiuhe say this. He felt that the other party had not even gotten close to the haunted house, yet he knew so much about it. His ability was truly rare.
He nodded and urged his men to take immediate action.
The two missing investigators were quickly rescued and taken to the hospital.
Li Jiuhe stood outside the passage, looking at the darkness at the entrance of the haunted house.
At this moment, two meters deeper into the darkness, a black and white clown playing card lay quietly on the table, with a long strand of hair beneath it—belonging to the Moth Woman.
The Moth Woman hid behind the hemp strip with the word "Imperial Edict" written on it, gently pulling on the other end of her long hair with one hand, remaining motionless.
She was waiting for an opportunity, waiting for a large number of investigators to approach the entrance of the haunted house, so that she could pull the playing cards down and trigger the Joker card.
In fact, Moth Girl did not expect the Yuanmeng City Investigation Bureau to arrive so quickly, and it seemed that all the people who came were elites.
She couldn't handle it alone, so she had to use the "little joker" card her "husband" had given her.
To make the Joker work subtly without revealing its existence, she came up with this method.
There were only two people who came in to rescue the two missing investigators. One of them carried the other out.
Most of the other investigators haven't approached the entrance yet, so now isn't the best time to activate the Joker card.
When the Joker card is activated, its radiating effect is stronger the more people around it.
In the Moth Woman's view, all she needed to do was wait quietly; she didn't believe these guys wouldn't try to get closer to the haunted house.
Even if they don't come in for the time being, they will definitely set up some necessary measures at the entrance.
Once the Joker card is activated, delaying these people for a while and giving "husband" more time to conquer the haunted house is worth more than anything else.
Those people have been taking the two missing investigators out for a while now, so why isn't anyone coming in?
Don't they want to investigate the haunted house more thoroughly?
Moth Girl was surprised and stared intently at the entrance of the haunted house, lest she miss the best opportunity to activate the Joker card.
Li Jiuhe also observed the movements inside through the gaps in the tattered door from a distance.
Since the other person controlled the Joker card to drop using their hair, it's highly likely that this person isn't too far from the Joker card, but rather near that wooden table.
It is highly likely that the person was hiding behind that strip of burlap, because that was the only place where they could be hidden from the outside at a glance.
All we need to know is this person's location.
He spent 1 point and used a low-quality label to target the area behind the burlap strip.
Feedback came quickly.
[The target has been identified. Please select the impending negative effects.]
Sure enough, the label pinpointed the target almost instantly, showcasing the negative effects that Li Jiuhe could choose from.
1. Slowed movement, lasting for ten minutes; 2. Deafness (aphasia, blindness) for half an hour (either can be specified);
3. Cognitive distortion, resulting in hallucinations, lasting three minutes; 4. Memory misalignment, mistaking black for white, lasting three minutes; 5. Indecisiveness, lasting fifteen minutes.
It's clear that the first two options are basic options, appearing almost every time a tag is selected.
The subsequent options are more dynamically adjusted, likely based on Li Jiuhe's current situation, and are chosen in real time to provide more suitable choices.
Li Jiuhe focused on the three options that followed.
He guessed that the Joker card would most likely claim ownership, and if he tried to take it, he might immediately suffer a backlash, so he decided to temporarily abandon the "hesitating" option.
Otherwise, he could use that option to make the person behind the wooden table hesitate, unsure whether to activate the Joker card immediately, and then simply steal the card.
The safest way now is to leave it alone and let it stay on the wooden table so it doesn't fall off.
Therefore, Li Jiuhe quickly made a decision.
He turned to Song Zhixing and said, "I'll go in and take a look now. You all stay here and absolutely must not go near the haunted house."
Just then, Ma Li woke up, got out of the car, stretched, and asked, "Should I go scout ahead first?"
Li Jiuhe understood what she meant; she was planning to send her ant chicks into the haunted house to investigate, which would be safer for everyone.
However, these black ants alone are clearly insufficient to deal with this haunted house with its "domain".
He shook his head: "You can come in with me."
It's always good to have an assistant, especially since he and Ma Li know each other well.
A short while later, the Moth Woman, who had been squatting behind the wooden table, rubbed her eyes. She looked surprised and let go of the long hair she had been holding onto.
Then he slowly stood up from behind the burlap strip, trying to think.
"What happened?"
She suddenly realized she seemed to have forgotten something. After thinking carefully, she looked up and muttered to herself, "Where's Guo Fan? Where did he go?"
The next second, Moth Girl remembered that Guo Fan had told her she absolutely had to help him, and now he had already entered the haunted house and was definitely in danger.
Why don't you go help him? What are you doing squatting here?
Completely baffled, the Moth Girl turned around and headed deeper into the haunted house, determined to find her husband, Guo Fan.
Just then, her feet suddenly tightened, her body leaned forward due to the inertia of walking, but her feet were fixed in place, and she lost her balance and fell forward.
After falling to the ground, she hurriedly looked down and found that a large number of dark objects had wrapped around her feet, as if they were growing out of the ground, making it impossible for her to move.
These objects then transformed into tiny particles, which frantically crawled up the thigh.
The moth woman was startled. She immediately opened her mouth, and a large number of moths emerged from it, spreading their wings and charging towards the black creature surging from below.
She saw clearly that these things were ants, countless in number, but obviously under control.
In the blink of an eye, the swarm of moths controlled by the Moth Woman clashed with the ant swarm, and the two sides engaged in a fierce battle.
A dark figure rapidly approached from the entrance. It was so fast that the Moth Woman only had time to look up before the figure was already completely close to her.
This person was none other than Li Jiuhe.
Ma Li's voice rang in Li Jiuhe's ears at the same time: "Found it, her central nervous system is in her head, cut off her head!"
The voice was also heard by the Moth Woman, who then suddenly shrank her head downwards, as if trying to retract it from her neck into her chest to hide.
Li Jiuhe reacted quickly, grabbing the moth girl's long hair and pulling it upwards forcefully.
These long hairs are like the dense downy hairs on a moth, all belonging to the Moth Woman herself.
Some of the long hair in her hand broke off, but more of it forcefully pulled the Moth Girl's head out of her chest.
Immediately, Li Jiuhe slashed his blade into the neck of the Moth Woman. Because he needed to use a chopping motion, he did not use the Silver Erosion Dagger, but instead used the Rune Curved Blade issued by the General Administration. This blade was more suitable for slashing than stabbing.
The Moth Woman screamed in agony, trying to bring back the moths she had just released, and they all rushed towards Li Jiuhe.
But these moths were covered in ants and fluttered around haphazardly. Only a few managed to break through the encirclement and return.
Li Jiuhe immediately felt a sharp, dense pain, as if he were being pricked by needles.
He ignored her and continued to chop down with his sword, separating the Moth Woman's head from her body, which he then held in his hand.
But the moths attacked him even more fiercely, and did not stop just because their master's head was severed.
Ant Li arrived and took the head of the moth woman from Li Jiuhe's hands. The human face disappeared, revealing the mouthparts of the queen ant. She quickly opened her upper and lower jaws and stuffed the head into her mouth.
She stuffed the food inside while quickly munching on it.
A mournful scream rang out from the Moth Woman, and the moths that had been attacking Li Jiuhe turned their attention to Ma Li, but Ma Li ignored them completely.
Her body was also covered with countless ants of her own, these black ants stubbornly resisting the moth's attack.
After the moth woman's head was half-eaten by the ants, the attack strength and range of all the moths began to decrease, and then the black ants launched a frenzied counterattack.
A large number of black ants quickly covered the body of the moth woman lying on the ground. The moths' counterattack gradually became powerless, and they kept fluttering. On average, each moth was attacked and eaten by more than ten ants.
After the moth woman's head was completely devoured by the ants, all the moths fell to the ground, motionless.
The moth woman's body was rapidly covered by the swarm of black ants, gradually shrinking until they devoured her completely.
Because the Moth Woman's human skeleton was also formed through transformation, her true form is actually the body of a giant moth, so Ma Li can eat her without any problem.
Taking this opportunity, Li Jiuhe turned his head and glanced at the wooden table, only to see that the Joker playing cards on the table were still in place, unmoved.
Because he used the "memory misalignment" label on the Moth Girl, she experienced a short-term memory misalignment, not understanding what her purpose was or why she was there. Instead, she felt guilty for not going into the haunted house to help Guo Fan.
So she loosened her grip on her long hair, which was still pinned down by the clown playing card.
Li Jiuhe walked over and examined the playing cards closely. He didn't touch them, fearing that the mysterious sequence item might trigger an emergency.
Before long, the long hair under the card visibly turned to dust and disappeared completely.
Li Jiuhe knew this was because its master, the Moth Woman, had died, so the things the Moth Woman transformed into also perished with her.
"Is this the card you were talking about?" Malice asked, licking her lips as she leaned closer.
Li Jiuhe nodded: "Don't touch it for now."
"Okay." Ma Li nodded. "I'll eat it after you agree."
Li Jiuhe glanced at her: "Are you sure it was you who ate it, and not the other way around?"
Ma Li was taken aback, her gaze turned serious, and she quickly looked away after glancing at the playing card.
She was very excited at that moment, which is why she said what she just said. After devouring the Moth Woman, she noticed that the mask on her face was clearly loosening.
This kind of looseness has never happened before, not even when we devoured Guan Xin, a descendant of the Guan family.
Quantitative change leads to qualitative change. As her abilities grow day by day, Mali is certain that this mask is about to be unable to withstand her evolution.
Once the mask falls off or becomes invalid, she will be free and will no longer be bound by Tongcheng.
Even if Tong Cheng manages to escape from the abandoned wooden house, he will never be able to find himself again.
She dared not reveal these thoughts to Li Jiuhe at the moment, but secretly rejoiced.
"What do we do now?" She looked at Li Jiuhe, waiting for his instructions.
It's good to be able to work with Li Jiuhe. If there are more Sequencers or items with Sequence Energy for her to consume after going deep into the haunted house, then the moment she comes out of the haunted house will be the moment she completely gets rid of Tong Cheng, Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo, and gets rid of the Tian Shu Kingdom Investigation Bureau.
Li Jiuhe has already defined the exploration of the haunted house as the second quest line.
Having dealt with the Moth Woman without triggering the Joker's Poker card, he set a reset time anchor point for his current position.
Looking to the left and right, it doesn't really matter which passage you choose to enter; at worst, you can just choose another one and start over.
There are still more than twenty reset points left, which should be enough as long as the Joker card is not activated.
"Go to the left."
He pointed to the dark entrance on the left and then plunged inside.
"Let's go, my children!" Ma Li followed excitedly.
The person and the insect quickly disappeared.
A large, pitch-black door appeared before them, with a plaque above it bearing the four characters: Blood Curse House.
Li Jiuhe and Ma Li stood outside the door, looking around. There was no other way to go but through this door.
"So this is one of the scary scenes on the first floor of the haunted house?" Li Jiuhe murmured.
Ma Li nodded: "Probably. Handsome, are you confident you can get through? If not, let's go back to the right side of the entrance. Maybe the scary scene on the right is easier."
Li Jiuhe waved his hand: "No need for that. I suspect that Moth Girl's accomplices have already entered the haunted house. If we delay any longer, they may have already achieved their goal."
As he finished speaking, he reached out and gently pushed the door, which opened easily.
Li Jiuhe then stepped inside.
A gust of cold wind swept past, and Ma Li couldn't help but shiver. She looked inside, but it was pitch black and she couldn't see anything.
-
She hesitated for a moment, but still followed.
As soon as she stepped across the threshold, the scene before her changed rapidly, and Ma Li found herself standing in the living room on the first floor of a small villa.
The villa's interior is very old-fashioned, in a very vintage style, and looks quite old.
Several people, young and old, men and women, were sitting around the leather sofa in the living room, all looking up. Li Jiuhe, who had entered earlier than Ma Li, was standing next to her, also looking around at the surroundings.
Two middle-aged men in front of the sofa stood up first, and an elderly man sitting between them spoke up: "Gentlemen—are you agents sent by the Criminal Investigation Bureau?"
Li Jiuhe was taken aback. He and Ma Li exchanged a glance, both of them guessing that the interior of the simulated haunted house must have now become individual scene replicas.
This is the "domain" of the haunted house.
The moment they entered this instance, they were enveloped by the "domain" and transformed into characters within the "domain".
The instance is called "The House of Blood Curse," and it seems that the family in front of us is one of the characters in it.
The elderly man, who was clearly a parent figure, immediately revealed their identities, indicating that they had also entered the story and been assigned roles.
"Yes." Li Jiuhe nodded to the family.
The old man then asked, "May I ask your name?"
"My surname is Li, and her surname is Ma," Li Jiuhe introduced.
"Detective Li, Detective Ma, please have a seat." A middle-aged man who appeared to be the eldest son of an elderly man immediately invited them to sit down.
The other person, who was obviously younger, was probably the old man's second son, and immediately went to pour tea for them.
Ma Li whispered to Li Jiuhe, "Handsome, are the people in this haunted house—illusions or real?"
Li Jiuhe shook his head: "It should be generated from its domain. Um, from now on, you'll call me Brother Li."
"Okay, handsome—Brother Li." Ma Li nodded hurriedly.
Shortly after the two sat down, the old man slowly said, "My name is Lin Shouye, and I am seventy years old this year. My family has lived here for three generations. The reason we sought help from the detective bureau is because we found something strange about this house."
"Is it haunted?" Ma Li asked casually.
In her opinion, now that they've entered a haunted house, how can the theme be reflected if it's not haunted?
The old man opposite him was taken aback for a moment, then nodded: "Uh, yes."
"Dad, let me say it."
Lin Shouye's eldest son continued, "Every night in the first half of the night, a woman would be combing her hair in front of the mirror. Even if we moved all the mirrors away, they would reappear in the house at night. Wherever there was a mirror, that woman might appear. And in the second half of the night, a child would be running barefoot up the stairs—"
At this point, he turned his head and glanced at the staircase leading to the second and third floors not far away.
"If any of us follow him, he will hide and make us go after him. Also, my wife hanged herself in a room on the third floor last month. Her body has long been removed, the house has been cleaned up, and the room is now sealed off. But now we can hear the sound of a rope tightening and thumping. I remember it very clearly; it was the sound of my wife's body hitting the wall as it swayed in mid-air after she hanged herself."
As soon as Lin Shouye's eldest son finished speaking, Ma Li immediately shivered and cautiously leaned close to Li Jiuhe's ear.
"Brother Li, how about we go out and choose the entrance on the right?"
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