Forces of Temptation - v2 Chapter 253

    Jiang Fang’s thoughts returned to that distant afternoon.

    It’s not too far, because he can still smell the fragrance of apples from Nanzhou’s neckline in his memory.

    Under a thin cloud of pressure, they came to the new dungeon.

    The original team of more than a dozen people gathered and scattered, divided and merged. Now there are 12 people left, which are being divided by a suspension bridge on both sides.

    The suspension bridge can accommodate about three people walking side by side, or a cart drawn by a bantam horse.

    The church on the east bank hidden deep in the jungle is Gothic, with its spire pointing straight to the sky, which perfectly matches the cloudy sky and forest leaves, forming its own light and shadow art.

    Nan Zhou, Jiang Fang, Song Haining, Earring Man, and two other team members were on the side of the church.

    The other six were not assigned by the system to the bridge and disappeared, fearing that they were thrown directly into the castle.

    The game’s broadcast system is improving visibly with the experimentation.

    The mode of the system sound release task is almost the same as the later official version.

    【Dear “.” team players, hello~]

    [Welcome to Instance: Bridge]

    [Number of players: 12]

    [Dungeon Nature: Adventure and Puzzle]

    The tone of the story told by the system is very brisk, making the story sound completely less scary.

    “The Reverend Keith and Duke Shelley have been friends for many years.”

    “Churches and castles are understaffed lately. They employ idle vagabonds and pay them handsomely to do things.”

    “Their mission is simple, every day they only need to help this pair of close friends build a bridge of friendship in the drawbridge connecting the church and the castle.”

    “Ah, it’s another beautiful day.”

    Suddenly, the system’s tone slowed down.

    “Also, don’t cross the bridge.”

    “Don’t cross the bridge, don’t cross the bridge, don’t cross the bridge, don’t cross the bridge, don’t cross the bridge, don’t cross the bridge.”

    [The game starts immediately after the launch. 】

    [The game time is when the seventh day arrives. 】

    [Before the time limit expires, survive. 】

    …

    After Jiang Fang explained the rules, he glanced at Nanzhou and couldn’t help laughing: “…you ask.”

    In order not to interrupt Jiang Fang’s speech, Nan Zhou kept his face pouted.

    …like a cat trying to restrain herself from being a mess.

    After getting Jiang Fang’s consent, Nan Zhou exhaled softly: “If you don’t let you cross the bridge, how can you send something?”

    Jiang Fang: “The bridge itself can be walked. It can be handed over in the bridge.”

    Nanzhou understood: “So, what force is preventing you from crossing the other end of the bridge?”

    Jiang Fang’s answer exceeded his expectations: “Yes.”

    There are no fences to prevent people from the east bank from stepping on the west bank, no special guards for the bridge, and nothing terrifying hovering by the bridge.

    In short, there is no blocking external force.

    However, the rules clearly tell you, don’t cross the bridge, don’t go there.

    Nan Zhou, who was lying on the bed with Jiang Fang, closed his eyes slightly and imagined that he was standing on a suspension bridge made of iron cables and wooden boards.

    One step at a time, one step at a time.

    The iron chains were tight, the wooden planks murmured, especially when they reached the center, the mountain wind intensified out of thin air, and the suspension bridge began to sway from side to side.

    He looked down, and the river dozens of meters away from his feet was decorated with jagged rubble, like a slender belt, passing by in the distance.

    A glance at this would make ordinary people’s knees go soft, and Nan Zhou’s expression did not change.

    He noticed that there was almost no greenery between the overhanging walls on both sides, and there was not even a star or two of greenery between the rock crevices to show the tenacity of life.

    Nan Zhou looked behind him, looked back in front of him, and raised his eyebrows.

    …weird.

    The trees on both sides are so lush, but the closer to the bridge, the sparser the vegetation.

    When I got to the bridge, there was no life at all.

    A bridge divides the east and west banks into the Chu River and Han boundaries.

    After thinking, Nanzhou quickly reached the other side of the bridge.

    It is true that there is no guard, nothing to stop it.

    He raised his hand to caress.

    There is no sense of blocking in the air.

    He only needs to lift his foot, and then fall down, he can easily step into the domain of Duke Shelley on the west coast.

    Nan Zhou thought, if he was standing on this bridge, what would he choose?

    If it were him at that time, he would choose to turn around and not set foot on the land of the West Bank.

    They don’t have enough information yet, rashly violating the clear rules is not good for them.

    What’s more, there are 6 teammates who are missing.

    Even in “Sand, Sand, Sand”, Nan Zhou made the risky act of containing the boss, which was a helpless act to save Sun Guojing’s life in a desperate situation.

    Even if it fails, according to the order in which the boss kills, it will not be Nan Zhou’s turn to die for the time being.

    Nanzhou’s ideas have always been imaginative, but they will never gamble.

    …

    Nan Zhou pondered over his past thoughts.

    It feels amazing.

    He confirmed to Jiang Fang: “I wanted to go to the West Bank at the time, but I didn’t. Is that right?”

    Jiang Fang nodded.

    Nan Zhou asked: “Is my choice wrong?”

    Jiang Fang patted his head as a sign of comfort: “No.”

    Nan Zhou asked again: “So, which step went wrong?”

    …

    Nanzhou did not continue to explore further.

    The six people from the east bank reached an agreement after a brief discussion and were going to go to the church first.

    The other four opened the way, Nan Zhou deliberately delayed his pace and walked side by side with Jiang Fang.

    He followed him and asked, “Are you afraid of heights?”

    Jiang Fang smiled at him gracefully: “A little.”

    Nan Zhou could see that Jiang Fang’s smiling face was a special guarded smile when facing strangers.

    Jiang Fang did not know, Nan Zhou would subdivide the type of his smile.

    Nan Zhou watched attentively the layer of sweat that was about to fall on his forehead, and recalled that when he returned to the east bank just now, Jiang Fang had his back to the suspension bridge, his back behind him, his hands clenched unconsciously.

    He said softly, “…Oh.”

    Nan Zhou: “I don’t know.”

    Nan Zhou: “If you want to hand over the goods for delivery these days, just leave it to me.”

    Jiang Fang looked forward and replied absently, “Yes.”

    His ears couldn’t hear very clearly, and his palms were densely packed with cold sweat.

    He played the loose dirt under his feet when his father fell off the cliff repeatedly.

    Father’s expression, father’s face, the unity is vague, he has long forgotten.

    Only the whole process of the collapse of the soil structure on that side was repeated in slow motion in front of his eyes, very clear.

    Then, what caught his eye was the bottomless abyss that almost pulled people’s hearts together.

    At that time, he didn’t realize that Nan Zhou stopped in the same place after receiving no response from him, silently watching his back as he walked forward.

    In fact, as early as this time, Nan Zhou made the decision to separate from the team.

    After arriving at the church, they each changed into the clergy’s clothes, and immediately began an intensive investigation.

    At that time, everyone was used to tossing between life and death. Faced with this cosplay-like script, they didn’t feel much pressure. Instead, they were making fun of each other for wearing clothes and looking weird.

    They also met Pastor Keith.

    It was an astonishingly pale middle-aged man who, at first glance, did not look like a priest, like a vampire.

    He was all black, with a cross hanging from his neck, his face was thin and narrow, with slight blue shadows floating under his eyes, plus long eyelashes and deep-set eye sockets, his upper half Zhang’s face looked particularly gloomy, and it seemed a bit like the sun was out of sight.

    He spoke very little, explained their daily work, and left.

    Those jobs are nothing more than cleaning, praying in the morning and evening, preparing the sacrament and so on.

    The most important thing is to run errands and deliver letters for him.

    Nanzhou quickly got the first item to be sent to the other side.

    Two bottles of wine, a bottle of holy water, a bottle of holy oil, a bottle of medicine, and a letter sealed with fire paint.

    As soon as the pastor left, Nan Zhou opened the letter.

    No guilt.

    The greetings in the letter were dry, as dull as the pastor himself.

    However, the letter contains a lot of information.

    There are four kinds of information that can be extracted.

    First, Duke Shelley is very ancient and loves to collect “Iguana Teeth”. Recently, Pastor Keith got wind that a newly unearthed “Iguana Teeth” will be delivered to the town. Come to the museum.

    Second, Duke Shelley was seriously ill.

    Thirdly, Duke Shelley’s “that thing”, he thinks is very dangerous, advises the Duke not to take risks, he has found a better way and is preparing.

    Fourth, the time when the duke and priest hand over items is fixed. The next time to exchange items is at four o’clock every afternoon.

    After reading the letter, Song Haining tacitly stole the lacquer seal from the drawer and handed it to Nanzhou.

    Nanzhou covered the old fire marks with new ones, the technique was very precise and the connection was very smooth.

    There is also a medical student among them.

    He struggled to identify the efficacy from the ingredient list marked on the small brown vial.

    He told Nanzhou: “It’s an anti-tumor drug.”

    Nan Zhou packed up everything.

    Jiang Fang’s mood has also calmed down, and the next step is arranged in an orderly manner.

    Song Haining and the other two took the opportunity of cleaning to take charge of the first floor and work hard to collect valuable information.

    Jiang Fang will take the earring man to the outside of the church.

    Nanzhou went to the bridge to hand over items.

    At four o’clock in the afternoon, Nanzhou appeared in the east of Qiaodong on time.

    Another teammate was already squatting on the opposite side. As soon as he saw Nanzhou, he raised his arms at him from a distance and waved them excitedly.

    The two met in the middle of the bridge and handed over the items smoothly.

    Compared with the bag full of items sent by Pastor Keith, the items Nan Zhou got and sent by Duke Shelley were just a delicate slap-sized box.

    Nan Zhou asked him, “Have you seen anything?”

    “See all.”

    Under the eyes and ears of Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang, the teammates were very good, and they counted them one by one, “It’s just a letter, a picture book, and a paper crane. We all take apart the paper cranes. Look, nothing. The letter didn’t say anything meaningful, just complained that he was very uncomfortable, that he missed the time when he was healthy, and wanted to go horseback riding with the priest, but there was no one there. The place.”

    Nan Zhou opened the box and lowered his head to confirm the content of the letter.

    Unlike strict priests, the carefree Mr. Duke didn’t even bother to seal the letter, and sent it with his mouth open, saving them the trouble of disguising the traces of opening the letter.

    Nan Zhou asked: “Are you coming alone?”

    The teammate said: “The castle is very busy. The duke is sick and cannot live without people.”

    Nanzhou asked again: “Apart from you, is there anyone else in the castle?”

    The teammate replied: “There are three professional doctors, Lu Er secretly turned over their things and found that all three of them are brain doctors.”

    Nan Zhou: “What kind of person is Shelley?”

    “He…” The teammate recalled carefully, “He’s quite thin, and he’s quite neurotic.”

    Nan Zhou: “Will he get angry with you?”

    The teammate touched the back of his head: “It’s not… The main reason is that he is so ill and takes the medicine one by one, but he is always smiling, and often faces no one’s place. Weird laugh, laughing so horribly.”

    …

    Nanzhou brought back this information truthfully and relayed it to Jiang Fang and the others.

    Now, Jiang Fang told Nan Zhou in detail.

    Nan Zhou touched his chin, sorted out the doubts, and asked the doubts in his heart one by one.

    “Why are there not enough people on both sides of the castle and the church?”

    “They have such a good relationship, has the pastor visited him in person? Why only let us deliver letters?”

    “They live on such a high cliff, how do the supplies come in? Is there a way down the mountain? Why can’t we go down the mountain?”

    Jiang Fang looked at him and sighed softly: “It’s exactly the same.”

    Nanzhou at that time was concerned with almost the same issues as it is now.

    Each of these questions points to the key to the final puzzle with unparalleled precision.

    Nan Zhou was full of curiosity: “Did we miss anything? Why did we lose?”

    Jiang Fang replied: “Because of this copy, there is no solution at all.”