A rollback after death? Then let them offer their loyalty!

Chapter 78 Silent Town

Stepping into the thick fog, the scene shifts once again.

Lin Yu stood in the middle of a cracked asphalt road, with crooked and rotten lampposts beside him, their bulbs long since broken.

On both sides are low, old-fashioned brick or wooden houses, most of which have broken doors and windows and are covered with thick dust and cobwebs.

The streets were deserted, with only the occasional groan of a dilapidated signboard swaying in the wind.

The sky is an unchanging leaden gray; there is no sun, and the light is dim, making it impossible to tell the time of day.

The air was filled with the smell of dust and mold, and an absolute stillness.

The whistling sound of the wind blowing through the hole, the faint sound of flowing water in the distance, and even the sounds of breathing and heartbeats became extremely faint, as if they were coming through a thick layer of cotton.

Lin Yu's gaze lingered on the three large characters "Silent Town" on the road sign.

Lin Yu immediately tried to speak.

"test."

The sound was emitted, but the volume was less than one-third of normal, and it decayed rapidly, becoming almost inaudible within five meters.

In this desolate and lifeless town, such sounds are meaningless.

It seems that the sounds here have been greatly suppressed.

So, the rule may not be to prohibit speaking, but rather to indicate that in this environment, conventional methods of audio communication and information acquisition are almost ineffective.

Lin Yu held his breath and focused his attention on hearing.

Then came a series of broken, incoherent whispers, mixed with sighs, sobs, brief bursts of laughter, and incomprehensible words.

These forgotten voices are faint and chaotic, but they are indeed information.

Lin Yu tried to listen for something clearer, focusing his attention on a half-collapsed two-story building by the roadside.

Gradually, some slightly coherent fragments emerged:

"...After school...don't run too fast..."

"Mom, is dinner ready?"

"Radio...news..."

"It's been so long since I've had a road, I miss the road..."

"The deep river is a pearl... The reader is so handsome..."

"War is coming... Quick, hide, in the cellar..."

These are all everyday, trivial moments, fragments of life belonging to the residents of this small town in the past.

But something seems to be hidden in these voices.

Lin Yu was listening intently when suddenly, a strong sense of crisis washed over him!

He suddenly fell to the side and forward!

"laugh!"

A blurry, transparent shadow, like distorted air, brushed past Lin Yu's back, causing a slight gust of air to stir the hem of his clothes.

The shadow missed its target and instantly disappeared into the shadows of the nearby houses.

Lin Yu quickly turned over and stood up.

What was that just now? I couldn't see any physical form at all, and there was almost no sound when it attacked, only a very faint "rustling" sound.

Is it something strange about this place?

It seems to respond to the act of "listening"? Or rather, to the goal of "capturing clear sounds"?

Lin Yu temporarily stopped concentrating on listening to the whispers, and his sense of crisis indeed lessened.

He got it.

In this silent town, there are two voices.

One type is environmental, harmless, forgotten echoes from the past; listening to them might provide clues.

Another type is... a dangerous, attack-triggered sound signal belonging to "them".

Listening too much to the former might inadvertently "hear" the latter, or make oneself the target of the latter's perception.

A balance needs to be struck between listening for clues and avoiding triggering monsters.

Of course, during the earlier probing, Lin Yu discovered that these strange phenomena did not seem to be very strong.

I just don't know how many there are? Or if there are even more powerful ones.

Although Lin Yu could rewind the timeline, he didn't want to waste the opportunity.

He began to move cautiously through the town, no longer actively listening to the whispers, but letting them exist as background noise, only capturing those particularly clear or recurring fragments.

The streets are long and winding, lined with almost identical dilapidated houses.

Without a map or any instructions, what are the conditions for passing the level?

Survive until the time limit? Or find a specific "sound" or item?

After walking for about half an hour, Lin Yu stopped in front of a relatively intact building with a faded hotel sign hanging at the entrance.

The sign reads "Red Romance Hotel".

Hmm, that doesn't sound serious at all.

There were even several pairs of torn and faded stockings hanging at the door.

However, from behind a window on the second floor of the hotel, a very faint sound, different from the background whispers, could be heard.

The sound was soft and intermittent, but it had a clear directionality.

"...No! The order is wrong...Wrong, wrong, wrong, it's over! We can't get out!"

"...The clock tower...the key, is singing..."

"It's so quiet, so very quiet. I miss my mom..."

"A table full of love can combat loneliness, everyone should try it... Mmm~ So sweet..."

Lin Yu's lips twitched. As expected of Hong Langman.

After hesitating for a moment, he began to concentrate some of his attention on "listening" to the voice.

The voice became clearer, like a young woman murmuring to herself.

"Don't make a sound... they can hear you..."

"We need to find the mayor's pocket watch..."

"...The pocket watch stopped, and time went wrong."

"At the very top of the clock tower... but the stairs are broken... they need to be repaired... perhaps the warehouse has the tools..."

A lot of information!

The mayor's pocket watch? The clock tower? The keys are singing? Warehouse tools?

This could be an important clue!

But just as Lin Yu was trying to hear more details, that familiar sense of crisis returned, and it was even stronger than before!

More than one!

From the shadows of the houses on both sides, three or four transparent, distorted shadows of air simultaneously appeared, drifting silently toward him at an extremely fast speed!

Lin Yu made a decisive move, stopped listening, and turned to rush towards the narrow alley next to the hotel!

The shadows quickly caught up.

Lin Yu dodged left and right through the narrow alley, using the terrain to his advantage.

These shadows seem to be wary of direct physical obstacles and cannot pass through walls, but their movement is unpredictable.

Sometimes it glides close to the ground, sometimes it leaps out from the shadows of the wall, making it impossible to defend against.

Lin Yu tried to fire the gun.

"Bang!"

The bullet pierced through a shadow, struck the brick wall behind it, and exploded in a burst of sparks.

The shadow swayed slightly, its speed barely affected.

Physical attacks have little effect.

Lin Yu showed no mercy. Black and red flames shot out from under his feet, condensing into chains that firmly bound the shadow. Then, the chains tightened rapidly, completely annihilating the shadow.

But after these issues were resolved, the unrest did not subside; instead, more irritable voices emerged.

Lin Yu quickly changed his strategy, rushing out of a narrow alley and arriving at a slightly more open intersection.

But just then, Lin Yu caught a glimpse of a familiar figure flashing across the rooftop of a building diagonally opposite.

Chestnut-colored ponytail, leather armor and short sword.

It's a kestrel!