Turn right and there is a long corridor. Xu Rendong raised his flashlight and walked forward cautiously. He has been in the underground labyrinth for more than half an hour, and his eyes have almost adapted to the dark environment, so he can see clearly what the flashlight shines on.

The flashlight swept into the distance, and suddenly something moved in the field of vision. Xu Rendong shone the light straight ahead again, and saw a large number of knuckle dolls in the distance, and was immediately startled.

After being lit by the flashlight, they also seemed to be frightened, and the dolls twisted here in unison, and then all the joints twisted wildly!

No matter how you look at it, it doesn't look like you're welcoming him, but rushing over to kill him.

Xu Rendong gasped: So many! how to spell!

He glanced over and saw that there were at least thirty knuckle dolls crowded there. The ones in the front row had the fastest reaction and flew towards him at a sprint speed of fifty meters. Xu Rendong didn't hesitate, turned his head and ran. The torch in his hand also turned, illuminating the direction he came from.

Lian Qiao has given instructions, this time he did not speak in Chinese, but used arrow symbols. Xu Rendong ran out for a while as instructed, and suddenly felt that the pressure behind him disappeared, and the frantic footsteps disappeared at some point.

Xu Rendong looked back in surprise, Lian Qiao asked, "What's wrong?"

Xu Rendong: "They don't chase anymore."

Lian Qiao: "Is there a defensive range?"

Xu Rendong did not answer. The joint puppet was blocked on the only way to the end. He had no choice but to pass this level. So he turned back to the corridor near the articulated puppets, and felt that the surrounding air was stagnant and there was no sound. It seemed that the puppets had really stopped moving.

Xu Rendong stood at the corner, with her back against the wall, carefully shining her flashlight on the puppet. I felt a flash in front of my eyes, and the puppet where the flashlight was shining turned its head again in an instant, staring straight at the flashlight, and the uncoordinated limbs also began to twist again, rushing towards here with the steps that they did not recognize.

Xu Rendong was startled and instinctively turned her head and ran. After running two steps, he found that the puppets in the back stopped and stopped chasing.

What happened? Just turn your back to them and stop chasing them?

Lian Qiao was suddenly excited: "SCP173!" (Note)

Xu Rendong: "?"

He didn't have time to think about what Lian Qiao was excited about, but looked down at the torch in his hand. Suddenly an idea came to mind.

He turned around and pointed the flashlight at a puppet dozens of meters away again. The moment the light fell on the doll, the doll immediately gained life and flew furiously.

This time, Xu Rendong did not turn her head to escape, but pressed the flashlight switch again. With just a click, the entire corridor fell into darkness. The sound of the knuckle puppet's running also stopped, without any slack.

Understood, it turned out to be light.

Xu Rendong immediately recalled the description on the employee profile: seventeen hours of working hours and seven hours of rest. Because the work is too hard, they must not be disturbed during the breaks.

It seems that this is the place where the joint dolls rest. Once stimulated by light, they will violently beat people.

…Are you up?

Yes, that makes sense.

Looks like you can avoid retaliation as long as you don't turn on the flashlight. In this case, this level is not too difficult, as long as you walk through the puppet formation in the dark.

After turning off the flashlight, the entire corridor fell into complete darkness, not to mention that he could not see his fingers, Xu Rendong could hardly feel the existence of his body. He walked towards the pile of dolls along the wall, Lian Qiao: "The spicy chicken camera doesn't have infrared night vision."

Xu Rendong did not reply.

Lian Qiao: "What are you doing, boss?"

Xu Rendong: “…”

Silent for a moment, Lian Qiao suddenly realized: "Oh, oh, it's the light, right!"

Xu Rendong nodded in the dark. I don't know if his meaning was passed on, in short, Lian Qiao didn't type again for a while.

The toes hit something hard. Xu Rendong froze in his heart, and reflexively took a few steps back. Probably because he was in a completely dark environment, his nerves were highly tense, and just such a small stimulus actually made him stiff, chest tightness and palpitations, and it took a while to gather the courage to move on.

He adjusted his direction and avoided the puppet he just bumped into. Suddenly, there was another punch in the stomach.

Xu Rendong curled up like a frightened cat and took a big step back. His heart was beating wildly, almost smashing his chest. Even the roots of his teeth began to tingle, and his head was covered in cold sweat.

He wanted to turn on the flashlight and see what was going on, but he couldn't. So he could only touch forward cautiously to confirm the situation in the darkness. It turned out to be a doll stuck in a running position, waving arms clenched into fists. He happened to hit his fist just now. In fact, the speed was not fast, but because of his high concentration and tight abdominal muscles, he had the illusion of being punched in the stomach.

It's alright, it's alright, as long as they don't turn on the lights, they won't move.

Xu Rendong tried to calm down, but the frantic heartbeat could not be calmed down. His chest was so tight that he really didn't want to stay in the dark anymore. So I forced myself to cheer up and step into the darkness again.

The articulated puppet's response to light appears to be related to the intensity of the light. The puppet standing in the front row was directly irradiated, so it reacted the most and ran the fastest. After Xu Rendong passed through several scattered dolls, he soon came to the most concentrated part of the joint dolls.

He stretched out his left foot and kicked something with it. Extend your right foot and kick something with your right foot. After adjusting the direction, he stretched out his hand toward the darkness, but found that there were dolls everywhere, blocking the road.

Although the puppets are crowded together, because each puppet is slender and has distorted movements, and after receiving the light stimulation just now, the original dense formation was disrupted, so it was necessary to Even drilling in the middle is still feasible. But this means that he has to make a lot of physical contact with the puppet, groping all the way to squeeze through the gap.

…don’t be afraid, they won’t move.

Xu Rendong tried his best to comfort himself in his heart, but when he squeezed into the icy dolls and was forced to make the same twisted posture, he felt his scalp numb again, his tongue numb, even Breathing became stiff.

…How can I not be afraid, how can I do it?

He was squeezed between dozens of puppets, in case the lights were accidentally turned on, even if the puppets did not attack him, just twisting casually could squeeze his chest. , the limbs were crushed.

At this moment, he hoped that Lian Qiao was by his side. Even just groping with him in the dark, even just standing quietly beside him, he would feel a lot better.

To be alone in the dark is very uncomfortable.

Suddenly, in the field of vision of the left eye, Lian Qiao's fingers moved, and quickly typed out a line: "Let me sing a song to you."

Xu Rendong was taken aback. Sing? What song do you sing at this time? And the voice can't be shared, how can he hear even Joe singing?

I saw Lian Qiao input: "Next, please enjoy the theme song of Journey to the West: "Xunyin in the Cloud Palace". Start!"

"Too!"

"Dengdeng wait for the light to wait for the light, Dengdeng to wait for the light to wait for the light, Dengdeng to wait for the light to wait lamp…"

Xu Rendong: “…”

Why can you speak!

Looking at the line of magical lights, the melody of the theme song of Journey to the West really echoed in Xu Rendong's mind. This song is so familiar that even Qiao just started, and Xu Rendong automatically finished the whole song, and even matched the picture of Sun Wukong flying through the clouds.

He couldn't help humming along: "Block! Dang! Dangdang Dangdang - Dangdang Dang!"

With Journey to the West as the background music, the previous sense of terror was instantly swept away. Unconsciously, Xu Rendong had already walked out of the puppet formation.

He walked along the wall for a while, and after walking around the corner, he was finally able to take out the flashlight. The vision returned to light, and Xu Rendong breathed a long sigh of relief.

Lian Qiao: "You come out!"

Xu Rendong: "Yes, thank you. But why did you suddenly think of singing?"

Lian Qiao: "It's so dark in the labyrinth, the lights can't be turned on, and there are a lot of dolls around, I feel horrible just looking at it here. So I think you may be afraid too. But you don't have anyone around you and you can't talk to me. You can only walk in the dark alone. It feels very helpless."

In the field of vision of the left eye, Lian Qiao's finger moved again.

"Can we live together?"

Xu Rendong was taken aback.

Lian Qiao quickly deleted the jargon, and hurriedly corrected: "I don't mean that kind of cohabitation, I mean simply living together. This way we don't have to make copies separately..."

Xu Rendong: “…”

Lian Qiao: "I'll move in, or you can move in and live with me, okay?"

Xu Rendong: “…”

Looking at the sentence "Is it okay?", he seemed to hear Lian Qiao's soft voice ringing in his ears. He could even imagine Lian Qiao pulling his sleeve, looking at him expectantly and apprehensively, and asking him, "Are you okay?"

A tingling feeling suddenly rose in the stomach, warm, like a cat's paw scratching.

Immediately afterwards, my throat tickled. With a "wow", he vomited.

Lian Qiao: "???"

However, there was no vomit in front of her. When Xu Rendong opened his eyes, he saw a royal blue butterfly flying in front of him. The butterfly is very small, and the scales on its wings flicker with fine light, dancing leisurely in the dark.

Lian Qiao: "???!!!"

Xu Rendong stretched out his hand in a daze, the butterfly swayed and slowly landed in his palm.

Then disappear. There was only a piece of silver-white round metal left in the palm.

Elevator button.

Butterfly... ah, so it is. Butterfly in the stomach refers to the feeling that your heart beats faster when you fall in love.

Lian Qiao: "Brother Honeysuckle..."

Xu Rendong's whole body's blood rushed to his cheeks, and he was almost breathless. The metal button was firmly in the palm of his hand, and he clenched it hard, and it was difficult for him to relax.

Even Qiao did not speak, Xu Rendong gradually calmed down.

He suddenly remembered that Lian Qiao had a girl he liked, called Huahua.

The butterfly just now seemed to be Xu Rendong's confession, as if she was bluntly declaring: I like you. But... even Joe likes girls.

Lian Qiao must be surprised that she was suddenly confessed by the same sex. But he was so gentle and unwilling to say hurtful words, so he kept silent.

By the way, the cohabitation he proposed just now should only be for safety reasons. It doesn't really mean anything else, I just think too much.

…don't make it harder for him. Even friends can't make it like this.

A strong sense of shame blocked her chest, and bitterness was mixed in it. Xu Rendong took a deep breath, trying to make Lian Qiao forget about it, but saw Lian Qiao enter:

"If I were by your side now, I would definitely press you against the wall and press you hard..."

Before he finished speaking, Xu Rendong suddenly raised his head-an unknown monster appeared in front of him. He instinctively picked up his weapon and stepped forward. Lian Qiao deleted the jargon and changed it to "Forget it, you can fight the monsters with peace of mind. Let's talk about it when you come out."

While fighting monsters, Xu Rendong thought sadly: This time he really couldn't even make friends, he actually wanted to put me in the wall and beat me hard!

The author has something to say:

Who is going to tell Ren Dong what is Lian Qiao trying to do by pressing him against the wall?

Note: SCP173: The SCP Foundation is a series of works about various paranormal phenomena, individuals and other events. Due to the large number of authors and the global orientation, eligible articles can be accepted. The core setting is to lock abnormal phenomena, individuals, events, etc. into the Foundation for "containment" to prevent harm to humans. One of the more famous ones, SCP173, is a humanoid object constructed of concrete and steel, which you must keep looking at, without blinking, when it is in front of you. Once it's out of anyone's field of vision, it can snap your neck in an instant.