Chapter 277 The Municipal Third Porcelain Factory (Conclusion)

Chapter 277 The Municipal Third Porcelain Factory (Conclusion)

"???"

"?????"

A series of question marks flooded the live stream's chat, and in the center of the screen, the NPC's blood-red eyes were clearly filled with confusion.

Qin Fei seemed to see nothing as he continued speaking: "Are you uncomfortable? Do your eyes hurt or itch?"

Lao Zhang's face was somewhat twisted.

As an NPC monster from the inner world, the mutated Lao Zhang did not possess the intelligence of the normal worker NPCs in the factory.

Lao Zhang's ability to communicate with players was very weak.

Of course, under normal circumstances, Lao Zhang did not need to engage in precise communication with players.

In the pre-set scenario of the urban legend, players should first experience the first wave of contamination in the outer world's reception room.

After the inversion of the outer and inner worlds, players would be completely exposed to high concentrations of contamination.

When the monster Lao Zhang asked, "Who are you?" the player would respond, stating their purpose. As soon as the player mentioned the "painting" or related keywords, it would trigger the monster Lao Zhang's berserk attack state.

This was a well-established and flawless process that had been practiced by a series of players including The Third, Baiqiu, Miyang, Lu Cheng, and Xie Jingtian.

But Qin Fei disrupted this process.

Lao Zhang stared blankly at Qin Fei, unsure how to respond, his lips moving as he repeated, "Who... are you?"

Qin Fei smiled kindly, making up a response on the spot: "I am someone who cares about you."

While appearing to focus on Lao Zhang, the player's eyes were actually scanning the room.

The small, dark room had gradually become visible to Qin Fei after spending some time in the darkness.

He could finally see some details.

The reception room in the inner world was both the same and different from the one in the outer world.

The layout inside was the same.

There was still a table beside the door and three large metal racks against the wall.

What was different was the items placed on the racks.

Those scattered packages were now neatly arranged on the racks, each section labeled: "One Workshop Packages," "Two Workshop Packages,"...

The inner world's Lao Zhang seemed quite dedicated to his work.

Unlike the Lao Zhang in the outer world, who had made the reception room a mess.

Qin Fei's eyes flickered, as if he had thought of something.

The young man, like a precision instrument running at high speed, took in scene after scene, breaking them down into interconnected logical chains.

Finally, his gaze settled on the wall calendar.

It was a palm-sized tear-off calendar, which Qin Fei had not seen in the reception room of the outer world.

Most of the pages had been torn off, revealing a page with a glaring red "5."

Below it was a small "10."

The corner of Qin Fei's mouth curved slightly upward.

Everything was clear now.

The reception room in the inner world was still in the state of October 5th.

During the afternoon when Black Feather's players dispersed to find clues, they encountered illusions depicting the moments before the workers were killed by the ghosts.

Thus, the space Qin Fei entered now was the last place where Lao Zhang stayed before his death.

Lao Zhang had already been replaced by a ghost from the painting on October 5th.

For the following half-year, the entity that clocked in daily at the reception room was just a ghost wearing Lao Zhang's skin.

The living Lao Zhang would never tamper with the factory's packages; he must have fallen victim shortly after the painting package was delivered to the reception room.

In this reception room of October 5th, the Hundred Ghosts Night Parade painting must still be sitting on the package rack.

Although Qin Fei stood still, his wandering eyes and active movements caught Lao Zhang's attention.

Especially when he noticed that the person in front of him was looking at the package rack on the left.

The NPC's facial muscles contorted, and the ghostly aura in the room thickened almost to the point of condensing into droplets.

Lao Zhang desperately wanted to act, but the infuriating player in front of him kept avoiding the key phrase.

Seeing Lao Zhang's frustrated expression without any action, Qin Fei guessed: There must be a threshold for the ghost to attack players. Clearly, Lao Zhang needed the player to trigger something first.

Without thinking about what exactly needed to be triggered, Qin Fei decided not to trigger anything.

Qin Fei narrowed his eyes and suddenly grabbed Lao Zhang's hand: "I know you're in a hurry, but don't worry."

He skillfully guided the NPC toward the door without leaving a trace.

All the while, he continued to talk about other things:

"Look at you, your eyes are in such a state, yet you keep them wide open every day."

As he spoke, Qin Fei reached into his pocket and pulled out something. "Wipe yourself! I'm giving you this advice as a friend; having a healthy body is more important than anything else. If you keep staring so intently every day, what will happen if you go blind?"

Although Qin Fei had many miscellaneous items on him, there was only one handkerchief in his pocket, which was stained with Li Zhen's blood and tears.

Seeing the bright red marks on the handkerchief, Qin Fei paused for a moment, awkwardly touching his nose:

"Heh... well, the symptoms are the same anyway, no need to worry about cross-infection. It'll do for now."

Lao Zhang: "..."

Lao Zhang fell silent.

Since Lao Zhang arrived at the guardhouse, this was the first time someone had spoken at such length.

The NPC's mind went blank. What was he supposed to be doing again? He couldn't quite remember.

He stopped glaring at Qin Fei, and his facial muscles stopped twitching. Surprisingly, he took the handkerchief from Qin Fei.

By then, Qin Fei had already moved to the door.

The young man gently opened the door, using the dark night outside as cover, and continued to speak insincerely:

"Lao Zhang, it's so dark inside. Let's stand by the door to get some light."

First the left foot.

Then the right foot.

Unbeknownst to him, Lao Zhang was led outside the guardhouse by Qin Fei.

Then Qin Fei closed the door.

With a swift "swish," he locked it from the inside.

In the live streaming hall, the chattering audience fell silent.

Eyes full of disbelief stared at the screen.

After a long pause.

Someone in the silent crowd burst out with a heartfelt "F*ck."

"...Damn, how did he manage that?"

"Is the NPC broken???"

"What is the NPC doing?"

Lao Zhang was locked outside. Now, not only the audience but even Qin Fei inside the guardhouse didn't know what he was doing.

Qin Fei moved quickly, leaping to the shelf beside him the moment he locked the door.

The ghost infant also popped its head out, and the two figures, big and small, began searching through the packages on the shelves.

Outside the door, it remained quiet, with no sound coming through.

The curious audience scratched their heads:

"Help, I really admire him!! I really want to see Lao Zhang's expression right now."

"Uncle Zhang! Uncle Zhang!! Aren't you angry after being toyed with like this!"

"The system has no sense at all, please switch to an exterior view so we can see~"

Qin Fei was racing against time, glancing at the comments while searching through the packages, causing the corners of his mouth to twitch from the amusement-seekers.

However, Qin Fei himself was surprised by Lao Zhang's reaction.

Earlier, he had pushed the NPC out because he had already identified his target. With Lao Zhang inside, he couldn't act openly, so he resorted to this tactic.

When pushing the NPC out, Qin Fei had prepared for an immediate counterattack.

But unexpectedly, Lao Zhang showed no reaction and obediently stood outside.

Qin Fei felt a bit frustrated. If he had known the NPC would be so compliant, he could have directly instructed him to go out, saving all that talking.

The comments were flooded with mentions of "Lao Zhang." Qin Fei couldn't open the door to check, so he feigned a sniff:

"It's quite windy outside. Lao Zhang might feel dizzy and wanted to go out for a smoke and clear his head."

"Yeah, that's it. I can smell it."

The streamer explained diligently.

The spirit audience in the live stream was collectively speechless.

"...Regarding the above, I have six points to make."

"Lao Zhang isn't human, but the streamer is really a dog."

"Let's get back on track! When will the streamer find that Hundred Ghosts Night Parade map?"

Qin Fei had already found it.

To be precise, it was the ghost infant who found it. The tiny creature, no taller than Qin Fei's knee, carried a long cylindrical package and approached Qin Fei with excitement.

Qin Fei stared at the package for a few seconds.

The package had not yet been opened, but Qin Fei already felt a strange and ominous premonition welling up inside him.

Outside the door, Lao Zhang remained quiet, making not a sound.

Everything seemed surprisingly smooth, yet inexplicably eerie.

Qin Fei pursed his lips and used a blade to cut open the outermost layer of the plastic wrapping bag.

A brown paper tube appeared in Qin Fei's field of vision. Opening the lid of the tube, he pulled out a rolled-up painting.

Qin Fei's unease gradually intensified.

When he finally unrolled the painting, this subtle unease reached its peak.

This was indeed a "Hundred Ghosts Night Parade" painting.

On the yellowed and worn paper, countless ghosts were depicted vividly.

But then what?

Why didn't anything happen?

Now that the painting of the hundred ghosts had been found, why hadn't the inner world dissipated?

This painting was indeed filled with a heavy yin energy, but it did not carry much of the tainted aura. Qin Fei could faintly sense a trace of the pollution source on it, so faint that it could easily be overlooked if one did not concentrate.

This was nothing like what a core item in a scenario should be.

Where had the pollution source gone?

Qin Fei furrowed his brows deeply, repeatedly examining the ancient painting. When he looked at it for the third time, his movements suddenly paused.

He seemed to have realized something.

What exactly had he overlooked?

Qin Fei put the ancient painting into his personal space and picked up the discarded wrapping paper from the ground.

The dusty plastic paper had a shipping label stuck to it, with the writing mostly blurred.

Only the "Sender's Address" section was exceptionally clear.

"Sender's Address: Red Mountain Ancient Building"