Ash Civilization

Step, step, step...

The footsteps stirred up a cloud of dust. Inside the abandoned building, which was dark and green, the shadows folded vertically and horizontally in the spacious space, creating an atmosphere like the end of civilization.

Zhou Zhen walked leisurely between the concrete pillars, turned a corner, and an electronic door appeared in front of him. There were grooves on the door for swiping cards.

This scene was exactly the same as when he first came here. At that time, Xie Qiongning took out the invitation letter for the trade fair and opened the door.

But now...

Zhou Zhen thought slightly and used [Airdrop Trojan] to open the door in an instant.

Behind the door is an undecorated rough hall, with two modified doll costumes placed in it, one is a duck and the other is a cheetah.

The appearance, position, size, condition, and condition of the doll clothes... were all exactly the same as when he entered this place before.

That time, Xie Qiongning chose the cheetah doll suit, and he put on the remaining duck doll suit.

Thinking of this, Zhou Zhen still picked up the duck doll costume and simply put it on.

He continued to follow the fluorescent arrows and walked in. There was no lighting from the ground, and it was only illuminated by light bulbs lit by temporary wiring on the wall.

Many small flying insects came chasing the light and kept hitting the glass cover, making a tiny crisp sound.

The semi-sealed abandoned space exudes a smell of dust mixed with musty smell.

A familiar staircase appeared in front of him. It was in the shape of a "mouth" and spiraled to connect the upper and lower floors.

Looking at the stairs, Zhou Zhen walked downstairs with rapid strides without stopping.

This is the [Penrose Staircase]. When he and Xie Qionning entered here together, they were trapped here by this stairway and could not leave this "digital forest".

However, according to the rules of this "digital forest", nothing will happen while attending the trade fair. The key point is after the trade fair ends.

Soon, Zhou Zhen arrived at the underground level. After walking for a while in the direction indicated by the fluorescent arrow, he entered a spacious underground hall.

There are no partitions in this underground hall. Due to the light, you can't see the sides at a glance. You can only see a few thick concrete pillars, standing far and near.

Behind the pillars, there is darkness and depth.

At this moment, under the load-bearing pillar in the middle of the hall, there is an old-fashioned round clock. The time is 22:55.

The dim yellow light shines quietly, and the thin flapping sound is endless, which is the unremitting flapping of a large number of moths.

At this moment, there are more than a dozen figures also wearing doll costumes gathered next to the round clock. Judging from the appearance of the doll costumes, there are big bad wolves, golden monkeys, peacocks, big white geese...

Everything is the same as at the first trade fair.

Zhou Zhen glanced at the people here, walked to the same position as when he came last time, and stopped.

These doll figures are all life forms that died in this "digital forest" during that trade fair.

Now, these living beings have become part of this "digital forest". Without external intervention, they will repeat their life experiences over and over again.

Just as he was thinking about it, several more doll figures came out of the corridor in other directions.

The time on the round clock moved slowly and slowly, and people arrived quickly.

At 23:00 sharp, a figure wearing a frog costume also walked out of a corridor.

Huang Xurong is here!

Carrying a wooden box, he walked not far from the crowd, opened the box, and started selling mathematics textbooks, exercise books, test papers, books...

All goods were divided into three parts according to the first year, second year and third year of high school.

Just as Huang Xurong was explaining the transaction method, the figure wearing a big white goose doll suit picked up a mathematics textbook and flipped through it fascinatedly.

Huang Xurong immediately walked over quickly, blocked the half-opened mathematics textbook, and shouted in a deep voice: "Don't you understand the rules?"

"You can only buy the math textbooks here, but you can't read them!"

“If you don’t want to buy it, you don’t have to buy it!”

"Big White Goose" knew he was in the wrong and apologized hastily.

Zhou Zhen, just like when he first came here, picked up a mathematics textbook and flipped through it openly.

Huang Xurong immediately abandoned the "big white goose" and walked towards Zhou Zhen.

However, just when he was about to reach Zhou Zhen, he suddenly stopped and said loudly: "Everyone! There is a rule to be added to this transaction!"

The next moment, all the lights were extinguished, and the basement suddenly fell into darkness.

Thump thump thump…

There was a rush of footsteps in the direction of Huang Xurong, and he ran away!

This scene is still exactly the same as the first trade fair.

But Zhou Zhen had no intention of chasing him this time. He took out the flashlight he had prepared in advance and turned it on, which immediately illuminated a small area around him.

With the help of the light of the flashlight, everyone saw the "frog" disappear. The buyers were in an uproar. They were all very confused about the behavior of the "frog" and complained a few times. Suddenly someone thought of a very important thing. Question: "Could it be that the teaching materials are fake?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the "golden monkey" suddenly said: "If anyone knows mathematics, check the textbook!"

Hearing this, the figure wearing the "Big White Goose" doll costume was about to speak, but Zhou Zhen had already taken the lead and said, "I am a math teacher! Let me check the authenticity of the teaching materials!"

As he spoke, he immediately took off his bloated duck doll suit, revealing the typical middle-aged and elderly male teacher attire of a yellowish white shirt and gray suit trousers. At the same time, he opened the math textbook he just picked up and started reading.

At this moment, there was only lighting from the flashlight in his hand, which was insignificant in the vast basement.

Seeing this, the people around him took out their mobile phones, turned on the "flashlight" function, and came together to help Zhou Zhen illuminate. For a moment, everyone subconsciously accepted Zhou Zhen's identity.

At that moment, Zhou Zhen suddenly felt that he seemed to have a certain connection with the "Digital Forest" of this "Huangjia Club".

His expression was calm and unchanged. The source of this "digital forest" was originally his classroom.

He plays a math teacher here, which is essentially the same as playing a math teacher in that classroom, but the risk is almost zero. There is no need to worry about being discovered by the "digital rain".

Wow... Wow...

With the sound of turning pages, Zhou Zhen quickly read the first few pages of this textbook. The content above seemed very normal, which was what he remembered as high school mathematics knowledge.

But as he devoted himself physically and mentally, he found that sparse numbers began to appear on his body.

These numbers are as small as ants. They gather into dots and blocks and are scattered on Zhou Zhen's skin. They are small and scattered, just like the tattoo patterns of ordinary people, unlike the previous body that was completely composed of numbers. , not quite the same.

The buyers around him didn't seem to notice the abnormality at all. Seeing that Zhou Zhen had already flipped through several pages, they couldn't help but start urging: "Hey! Are you ready?"

Zhou Zhen ignored these people and continued to look at the mathematics textbook in his hand seriously.

The tattoo-like numbers on his body gradually began to increase, as if there was an invisible hand holding the same invisible carving knife, and it was constantly tattooing new patterns, quickly covering the normal skin.

"Is this a textbook from twenty years ago?"

"Don't just look at yourself, why don't you say something?"

"Everyone is waiting!"

Other buyers were urging each other one after another, and the flashlight lighting Zhou Zhen began to shake.

Zhou Zhen was concentrating on flipping through the mathematics textbooks and seemed not to hear what they said at all.

Dotted numbers had almost completely covered Zhou Zhen's body, looking almost exactly like the "digital rain".

At this time, he finally raised his head, and as soon as he closed the mathematics textbook in his hand, all the light sources around him were extinguished in an instant.

The entire underground hall was once again plunged into thick darkness.

※※※

In the underground corridor, the smell of mold was strong, even through the doll clothes, it still hit your face.

Dong dong dong...

While Huang Xurong ran away with all his strength, he tore the bloated frog costume on his body vigorously.

He had already heard the sound of an equally rapid running coming from behind him.

When his scalp was numb, Huang Xurong quickened his pace again, for fear of being caught by official personnel.

Like Luo Yuchen in the "Jiwei" cinema, he now regards himself as a "digital compatibility" and has no idea that he is dead.

While running, Huang Xurong suddenly felt a burst of cramping pain that seemed to explode in his head.

"ah!!!"

He let out a shrill scream and held his head in extreme pain. At the same time, the entire "Huangjia Club" building seemed to begin to spin.

In the darkness, Huang Xurong couldn't tell the direction. He didn't even know whether he was standing on the same spot or staggering and falling. The near-extreme pain rushed over like a tide, cutting his consciousness into pieces. He held his head tightly, My mind was filled with confusion.

After a while, the headache finally began to subside.

Huang Xurong was panting heavily and was about to continue running away when a low and familiar voice suddenly came into his mind: "Classmate Huang Xurong, you are not allowed to sleep during class time!"

Going to...class?

Huang Xurong was stunned for a moment, then suddenly raised his head and found that the dark underground corridor with a musty smell had turned into a classroom with bright windows and fresh air at some point.

The blinding darkness was replaced by bright lights.

The frog costume that he had not completely taken off disappeared at some point and turned into a gray crew neck long sleeves and brown overalls.

There is a classmate sitting behind the desks around him.

At least half of these students are strong and strong, with fierce expressions, and every move is full of evil spirits. They seem to be difficult to mess with. The other half are men, women, old and young. They are very well-dressed and have a temperament that seems to be either rich or noble.

At this moment, there were stacks of mathematics textbooks on the desk in front of everyone, and everyone looked at the podium in confusion.

On the podium, stood a figure. The figure was wearing a yellowed white shirt, gray suit trousers, a black belt, and black leather shoes. Both the belt and leather shoes could be judged to be cheap by visual inspection.

Except for his clothes, the other person's entire body was made of dense numbers. He also held an open mathematics book in his hand, which looked extremely weird.

The moment he saw this figure clearly, Huang Xurong's eyes widened.

This is the math teacher from the school in the suburbs of Binhai City!

He couldn't mistake that outfit!

He clearly remembered that he had escaped from that school and became a compatible person!

He remembers that he made money after money by relying on the math textbooks he brought from school, and soon got rid of the poverty he had been in since childhood, and began to live a good life of eating well, spending money like water;

He remembered that he was affected by the [Moment of Death] and encountered accidents everywhere. Even a stray dog ​​that he fed once would be killed on the street in a short period of time. As a result, his life became more and more cautious and he was walking on thin ice;

He still remembers...

As a result, all of this turned out to be just a dream that I had when I fell asleep in class? !

He has always been in this school and never left?

At this time, seeing Huang Xurong's expression of disbelief and shock, Zhou Zhen felt calm.

Although it was a bit reluctant, fortunately, I succeeded in the end!

Thinking of this, he did not hesitate, picked up the math book in his hand, and started class immediately.

Zhou Zhen's lips moved, emitting a series of high and low sound waves with strange tones.

These sound waves were all the sounds that "Digital Rain" made during the previous class, and now he imitated them exactly the same.

Although he doesn't know what he is talking about now, the people below can't understand it anyway. No one knows whether what he is talking about is right or not, as long as they know that he is in class!

Time passed slowly, and the alarm clock set by Zhou Zhen in advance sounded soon.

Jingle Bell……

Hearing the familiar bell ringing, Zhou Zhen immediately put down his math textbook, imitating the "number rain" look, and briefly announced: "get out of class is over."

As he spoke, he folded up the mathematics textbook, held it under his arm like a lesson plan, turned around and walked out of the classroom.

As soon as I walked out of the classroom, the surrounding scene changed instantly.

Zhou Zhen returned to the underground hall again. The dim lights were still shining quietly. In the spacious abandoned concrete building, all the mathematics textbooks and the figures in doll costumes had disappeared.

In the empty basement, only Zhou Zhen dragged out the heavy shadows alone.

He took out his mobile phone, turned off the alarm clock, and then opened the "photo album". The first photo and the second photo in it were of Huang Xurong and the buyers of the mathematics textbooks respectively.

Looking at his arms made of numbers, Zhou Zhen closed his eyes forcefully, seeming to be thinking about something with all his strength.

After a while, he opened his eyes again. His body had returned to normal. He was covered with the flesh and blood of a normal person, and no trace of numbers could be seen.

Looking at this scene, Zhou Zhen nodded with great satisfaction. The power of "Digital Rain" is really useful!