Chapter 23 Monsters and Humans
There was darkness all around. Luo Jun remembered the feeling he had in the corridor last night. The visibility was less than two meters, but he could vaguely hear rustling movements in the darkness. Always surround yourself.
However, in such a strange and terrifying darkness, Luo Jun felt a little calmer.
It was pretty much what he had guessed.
As Luo Jun continued to advance, the surrounding movements became more and more dense. Finally, when he walked somewhere, a tall figure appeared in the darkness ahead!
Over two meters tall, with a crocodile-like head, four thick arms, beast-like toe-like hind legs and a thick and long tail covered with scales.
The crocodile monster lowered its head, stared at Luo Jun with its two pale yellow eyes, opened its bloody mouth, and a fishy smell hit Luo Jun's face.
However, Luo Jun did not flinch or dodge.
“Are you the owner of the underground level?” Luo Jun looked directly at the crocodile monster: “I want to see the owner of the underground level! I have something important to give to him!”
The crocodile monster was stunned for a moment and closed its big mouth: "Aren't you afraid of me?"
Luo Jun smiled slightly: "Of course, because you are a human."
"Humans are safe!"
Luo Jun looked at the crocodile monster, with one head, two eyes, and one mouth , walks upright on two hind legs... These characteristics perfectly meet the definition of human beings in the rules!
Not only this crocodile monster, but also the octopus head that helped him hug the tentacle monster last night, as well as the alien monster he met in the corridor and politely saluted him, all fit these characteristics. !
That's right, it doesn't matter what human beings looked like in his common sense before. In the Midnight Hotel, rules are everything. No matter how weird the shape is, as long as it meets these characteristics, it is a human being and it is safe!
On the other hand, no matter how much it looks like a human being, as long as it doesn't fit in one of them, it's a monster and it's dangerous!
Of course, this premise is that Luo Jun is still a human being!
"Hehehe, interesting..."
Suddenly, a female chuckle came from the darkness.
At the same time, a light lit up above Luo Jun's head, illuminating a five-meter range around him. Only then did Luo Jun see that he was surrounded by a large group of monsters of various shapes.
Some have long noses and green faces with fangs; some have wings on their backs and are covered with barbs; some have six ears and eight arms; some have turtle shells on their backs and two horns... But these monsters are all without exception. They all have one head, two eyes, one mouth, and two legs to walk upright, perfectly in line with the definition of human beings according to the rules!
“Most people who come here for the first time will scream in fear and collapse, flee back to 'their' territory, and eventually be eaten, with the remaining limbs and bones dumped here... "The woman's voice was a little sad.
“I like humans, and I don’t want them to die like this. I tried to put them back together, but there was no drawing for reference... Until a long time ago, a person who was not afraid of this place like you told me I, a human being, am an animal with one head, two eyes, one mouth, and two hind legs that walk upright."
"I am very happy and want to keep him to help me resurrect these remains. But unfortunately, he said that he still has his companions up there and is unwilling to stay with me."
As the woman confided, several scaly tentacles slowly stretched out from the darkness. Wrapped around Luo Jun's body.
"You are the second human being who is not afraid of me in so long... Stay with me, be my friend, and help me resurrect those poor humans..."
Cold sweat ran down Luo Jun's forehead, He could feel the faint coercion coming from the tentacles. It was some kind of higher-level life, and it possessed a power that was difficult to resist.
But Luo Jun obviously does not intend to stay here.
"Sorry, I have to leave." Luo Jun's words made those tentacles pause for a moment.
"Aren't you willing to stay too..." The woman's voice contained disappointment and anger. More tentacles stretched out from the darkness, and an invisible murderous aura shrouded them, scaring the surrounding monsters away. .
"But I brought you the blueprints!" Luo Jun suddenly shouted before his murderous intent reached its peak, "As long as you let me leave, I will give you this!"
As he said that, he took it from his trouser pocket, I took out that little human-shaped biscuit!
There are contradictions in the rules, indicating that there is more than one element of weirdness in the hotel. Luo Jun initially thought there were two strands, one representing hunger and the other representing fatigue... But later he found that he had thought wrong. Hunger and fatigue should both be weird ways to weaken and pollute him!
Strictly speaking, there are actually three forces in the hotel. One is the hotel or the Chaos Mission itself. This force, as the issuer of the mission, has formulated rules that can protect the participants. It has The most powerful control.
The remaining two forces are humans and monsters!
That's right, the rules on the door had told him from the beginning!
These two forces, the power of monsters, occupy the main body of the hotel. The lobby, restaurant, and corridors are all the monster's sphere of influence. The "human" forces occupy the corners of the hotel, mainly the corridors and the forgotten underground floor.
Therefore, the stairs do not lead to the hotel lobby; therefore, creatures that look like monsters but are actually human beings are all encountered in the corridors. Even if they are seen in the corridors, they are coming out of the corridors.
As for the guest rooms, they are a neutral zone, a safe house for visitors, at least on the most dangerous nights.
Although these two forces cannot violate the hotel itself, they can exert certain influence within their own sphere of influence, such as tampering with some of the rules within their own sphere of influence.
Do you still remember the fourth rule in the corridor that Luo Jun judged to be problematic? It should have been modified by the underground "human" forces. Luo Jun guessed that if you follow it, you will definitely come to Ground floor.
Correspondingly, in order to stop the opponent, the "monster" also added two corridor rules to prevent guests from entering the underground floor. But since it’s not the home court, I can only add it by clumsy handwriting!
Similarly, Luo Jun guessed that the restaurant was the same. The handwritten note not to eat meat was a warning from underground forces, so the rule that you can eat up to 500 grams of meat should have been modified by the "monster" forces. Yes, if you eat meat in a restaurant, you will encounter contamination and terrible things will happen!
The meat in the restaurant is not necessarily what kind of meat.
Then the question comes, why do the monster forces all have a human-like appearance, but the human side is full of strange things?
The woman's voice just now revealed the reason. It represents the biggest weirdness of the two forces. They both have some cognitive problems. In other words, they are different from ordinary creatures. They cannot use sight or touch. Means to recognize human characteristics.
Then how do they understand human beings?
Animal Crackers gave him a hint.
Why can I escape by buying cookies after encountering endless corridors? Because the cookies are an offering to the "human" forces and are what the "human" forces need.
So what does it want cookies for? When reminiscing carefully in the restaurant, Luo Jun connected the shape of the biscuits with the shape of "human beings".
That’s right, the elements of those weird-looking “human beings” can all be found on animal cookies. Rather, the animal images on the cookies are pieced together based on the human characteristics according to the rules!
So Luo Jun guessed that the way weird beings recognize humans is by eating!
This also explains why monster forces can disguise themselves as humans very well, because they have eaten living people!
As the task prompt says: Like humans, eat humans, and become humans!
This sentence makes sense to both parties. The monster forces like the taste of humans. If they eat humans, they can turn into human shapes.
The weird thing in the underground really likes humans. It can't bear to eat living people, so it can only become human by eating food in human form.
The only food in the hotel that may be human-shaped is animal crackers.
Human-shaped animal biscuits are only available in restaurants, so the restaurant strictly prohibits bringing out any food and has repeatedly emphasized that there are no human-shaped biscuits. The purpose is to prevent the weird underground from gaining the ability to become human.
After all, only by having a human appearance can you gain the trust of humans and walk on the ground!
All of this was Luo Jun's guess, and he didn't have much certainty. However, when the normal check-out channel was blocked, this was the only way he could go.
The moment he took out the biscuits, Luo Jun made a decision in his mind.
“The event difficulty is 10, the final point is 44+5, the event is successful!”
It seems that I guessed it right! Handing over the biscuits will gain you some weird favor from the underground, allowing you to leave smoothly! And those 10 points of difficulty should be small accidents that may occur.
The tentacles hesitated for a few moments, and then took the biscuit from Luo Jun's hand, and joyful laughter suddenly sounded in the darkness.
"Interesting human being, I will thank you."
The woman's voice was full of pleasure.
Then, a row of small lights lit up above Luo Jun's head, illuminating a light path. The end of the light path was the only exit in the darkness.
Luo Jun walked along the light path, and the monsters hidden in the darkness got out of the way and watched him step out of the exit.
At the same time, he received a reminder in his mind that the Chaos mission was completed...
(End of this chapter)