Doomsday Wonderland

Facts have proved that although the puppet master and Lin Sanjiu are not on good terms with each other, without either of them, this copy will be much more troublesome.

Seeing the beautiful white-feathered goose running closer, Lin Sanjiu hurriedly shouted, "Don't let it enter the aisle!" As expected, the goose immediately stopped outside and stood still. Far away, avoiding the thousands of pale arms that were constantly stretching and scratching. There was a mountain-like pile of snacks between it and the two of them. A pair of black eyes like beans were staring brightly in the direction of the puppet master.

"Where did it go in the store? What did it see?" Lin Sanjiu still turned on [Conscious Mimicry] and asked while pondering: "Is there any way you can know?"

The puppeteer snorted, not even bothering to answer her last question. He didn't know what method he used, but he quickly got the information it had detected during this period from the big goose.

This store looks small from the outside, but inside there are eight shelf areas and two fresh food areas. In each shelf area, there are four large shelves standing back to back, and each shelf contains a type of product; in the cold and fresh area is a row of freezers connected end to end, mainly storing dairy products, vegetables and fruits, and freshly squeezed juices. A type of food that needs to be kept fresh.

Unlike Lin Sanjiu, this big goose ran all the way down, and there was no product that caught it and refused to let it go. Therefore, although it ran to every place in the store, it still had the same The ground didn't find anything unusual - from the detection information of the big goose, it looked like an ordinary store.

Lin Sanjiu thought for a while and asked, "Didn't you even see a broken jar or an overturned sample plate?"

Across the hill-like pile of food, the goose's head poked its head from side to side, and I didn't know whether it meant it wasn't there or if it wasn't paying attention.

"We have to let him look for it again," Lin Sanjiu smiled bitterly. Faced with the current almost dead situation, Ji Shanqing's mind also felt strenuous: "We can't let go of any clues! Even if it's wall paint, There’s a crack, and I have to know.”

The big goose rolled his eyes at her, turned around and walked away. It's ironic to say that the puppet master specializes in removing people's souls and turning them into dolls; but the special items under his hands are more humane than the last.

Lin Sanjiu watched the big goose waddle and disappear, and heard its owner ask: "...why?"

She paused and replied: "Those data bodies have changed this copy beyond recognition. Now we are like answering questions on a test paper, but all the questions have been blacked out. If we don't understand the rules of the game, we will naturally We were helpless, and we stepped into the trap without knowing which step to take. But even if they are data bodies, they cannot change the fundamental nature of this copy - for example, there are no more questions, but we will always be given a test paper. Without this With just a piece of paper, there would be no more exams, and basic operating rules like these cannot be touched."

"Do you think this 'test paper' is the hidden information that must be contained in this copy?"

"Yes - such as that broadcast." Lin Sanjiu felt that his ability to speak seemed to be slowly fading, and he tried his best to speak clearly, "I am very curious, why the data body does not delete it too; if all prompts and If we delete all the ways out, no matter how hard we struggle, we will definitely be trapped and die here. But after thinking about it again, I understand. Although they involve the basic core of the copy, they can be deleted, but they cannot be deleted. Deleted and changed , this copy may also have collapsed."

"I can't tell, but the smart people you hired are really useful. But after all that, what should we do now?" the puppet master asked coolly.

"Wait." Lin Sanjiu sighed.

"Wait? If you wait any longer, you and I won't even be able to speak."

"That will have to wait. The only way to solve this dilemma now is to see how much information we can get from the blockade of those data bodies."

The puppet master was silent for a while and said calmly: "I don't think you will get much. Since they came prepared, they will not leave us a good ending." His words clearly did not contain any hope. He is calm but not depressed - as if things should be like this.

"You have to try even if it doesn't take much," Lin Sanjiu said seriously. "Until the last second, I will definitely - no, even if I die, I will drag my body out as a ghost!"

The puppet master chuckled softly and said no more, and the two of them fell into a waiting silence.

Another hour passed quickly. During this time, countless arms stretched out from the shelves without even the slightest sign of being retracted; and the worst part was that the impact of turning into potato chips really began to eat away. Two people. Lin Sanjiu had turned off [Conscious Mimicry] long ago and quietly felt herself getting numb little by little - with things developing to this point, the information about her consciousness would have been completely exposed. ; The reason why she turned off mimicry was just to save some energy.

When the time came, the second broadcast also rang: "Mrs. Cleveland, is the zipper of your satchel broken? I will give you a zipper. Please don't sue me for falling."

zipper?

It was not until the end of the broadcast that Lin Sanjiu seemed to be suddenly awakened from a slumber. He felt that his thoughts seemed to be scattered and trembling, and it was even difficult to concentrate. She tried four or five times in a row before she finally reopened the mimicry skill. Fortunately, the operation of her consciousness was not completely cut off. Once the ability was opened, her thinking finally became clear again.

This is the second time wrestling has been mentioned on the air... she thought silently. Two broadcasts were made in a row around wrestling. It seems that this matter is the core of the prompt... Although I still don't understand the connection between "wrestling" and solving my own dilemma, there should be no mistake in starting from here.

While she was thinking, she heard another "pat-pat-pat" sound not far away; with difficulty she raised her gaze, and she happened to meet a pair of black bean eyes above the snack hill - the big goose was back!

"Puppet Master, can you still speak?" Lin Sanjiu said these words dryly and slowly, with great effort.

She waited nervously for a while, but there was still silence in her ears. When her heart couldn't help but sink, she suddenly heard a slight murmur, which blurred into an inarticulate sentence: "It found something this time."

The so-called discovery is actually not that great news. Because Lin Sanjiu had said that he would come back and tell her no matter how trivial things happened, so the goose did its duty faithfully: all the information it brought back was, without exception, trivial.

Even the vague words could not hide the impatience of the puppeteer - "There is a price tag on the fourth shelf area", "The hot dog roasting machine on the cashier always emits a kind of... "Weird taste", "I found out that Coke Zero was out of stock when I passed by the beverage cabinet", "There was a dry stain on the floor of the cold fresh food area and no one wiped it", "Expired biscuits are still being sold"...

"Wait a minute," Lin Sanjiu suddenly stopped the puppet master: "The stains in the chilled area? Let me talk about it."

The goose glanced at her numbly.

"There is a yellow stain on the ground near the freezer, about the size of two palms. It seems that something has dried it. What is there to say?"

"Yellow...what does it smell like? Does it feel sticky?"

"Who would smell it? That's what the goose said. It also said it looked sticky because there was a hair stuck on it." The puppeteer struggled to speak, but he still had to spend all his energy describing a stain. He sounded increasingly unhappy.

There was a hint of urgency in Lin Sanjiu's tone: "Hurry up and get him back to the chilled area! It's best if you can lick the stain again - why did he open his mouth?"

"It said it was going to bite you."

"Wait, this is really important." Lin Sanjiu was anxious, but his tongue was so heavy that he almost mixed the words together: "You tell it, if it tastes sweet when licked, and the viscosity is fresh, it will Look carefully next to the freezer – there must be something that doesn’t belong in this store!”

The big goose gave her a sinister look, almost like a master. It finally left, and was ordered to lick a stain on the ground. The puppet master seemed to be curious: "What's going on? Tell me."

"The wrestling was mentioned twice on the radio. It must be the key to solving the dilemma." Lin Sanjiu himself was half guessing and half conjecturing. It can be said to be completely baseless: "The first broadcast clue may be fictitious." , or it could have actually left traces in the store. But the second broadcast clue was different. It stated that the zipper of Mrs. Cleveland’s satchel was broken—and had broken during the fall.”

The puppeteer was not stupid and immediately said, "Do you suspect that Mrs. Cleveland dropped something when she fell down in the store?"

"Yes! We have been reminded time and again that she fell, and there must be a purpose. Based on the current connection between the information, all I can think of is that she dropped something. If you want to find this thing, you must first find the place where she fell. The place; and the news brought back by the big goose provides us with the possibility that maybe the stains near the chilled area were the cause of her fall."

"Then you let it lick the stain, and you ask whether it's sweet or not..."

"This is just my guess." Lin Sanjiu smiled sheepishly - she was still in the state of mimicking the gift package. If it were herself, she would definitely not be embarrassed in front of the puppet master: "Be nice Why are traces of yellow liquid suddenly appearing on the floor in a store? I suspect that a drink from the chilled section was spilled... Not only is it sticky, but the stain area is not large, as if it was accidentally spilled."

As soon as she finished saying this, the "snap" sound of the goose's paw hitting the ground was heard again - the big goose came back with an unhappy face and something in its mouth.