This time Tang Ning stayed at home. When he saw the card draw, he did not rush. Instead, he hugged Kai Xin and buried his face in Kai Xin's belly and took a deep breath. Then he rubbed Kai Xin hard. After absorbing enough of Kai Xin's cat air, he picked up his phone and clicked on the card draw.
The card slowly turned over.
A dark gold frame, an azure sea, a mermaid princess sitting on a rock singing passionately, the moonlight pouring on her half-human, half-fish body, her slender tail immersed in the water, fish surrounding her, I don't know whether they are obsessed with her beautiful face or her beautiful singing voice.
Congratulations on winning the "Mermaid Princess Card"
Mermaid Princess Card Setting 1: Your singing voice is so beautiful that even ghosts cannot bear to hurt you after hearing it.
Mermaid Princess Card Setting 2: You only have one chance to sing a day, and for this one chance, you need to keep silent the rest of the time.
It's an S card again?!
Tang Ning looked at Kai Xin in shock, and Kai Xin meowed at him.
The kitten likes fish, and was happy to draw the mermaid princess card. Thinking about it, it makes sense.
"Card extraction, copy loading." As the system prompt sounded, the cute little cat in front of him was gradually replaced by a strange little fish. The little fish swam flexibly in the water, and Tang Ning's face was reflected on the rippling water surface. The soft sound of oars came to his ears. Tang Ning grabbed the side of the boat and saw a boatman wearing a straw raincoat standing on the sampan and steering the boat.
Lin Yun sat opposite him, observing the surroundings like him.
The river is very long and wide. The narrow boat floats on the river like a dead leaf. Looking ahead, there are many quaint houses built on the opposite bank. Some people are washing clothes and bathing their children on the shore.
In the distance, there were more people gathered by the bridge. It looked like an old bridge, covered with moss and weeds. There were small holes dug out on the piers, and someone was stuffing something into the holes.
Tang Ning turned to look at the villa, and soon saw three other small boats behind him. There were two people sitting on each boat. Judging from their clothes, they were obviously not from this water village.
"Bang!!!"
A huge explosion suddenly resounded throughout the entire river! Instantly, water splashed everywhere! The originally calm river surface was stirred up by a huge wave! The boat that Tang Ning was riding on shook several times, and it seemed that it was about to capsize into the water. Tang Ning turned around in panic and saw gray-white smoke surging on the bridge like layers of waves, and large pieces of rubble fell into the water. The scarred ancient bridge still stood in the water after the explosion!
They were blowing up the bridge just now!
Tang Ning's ears hurt a little. In his weak body, he heard the high-decibel noise. Sitting on the swaying boat, he felt dizzy and uncomfortable, and wanted to vomit.
"Boatman, why do we need to blow up the bridge here?" Lin Yun asked proactively.
"This bridge is old and not solid. The mayor asked someone to take a look at it. The master said that the feng shui of this bridge is bad and it will affect the feng shui of our town." The boatman rowed slowly, not at all affected by the bridge bombing.
Not firm
Tang Ning watched the group of people wait for the smoke to clear before continuing to bury explosives in the bridge. Although the bridge had experienced a bombing, it still looked very solid.
The cold mechanical voice of the system came to my mind:
Ding—copy loading completed
You are an ordinary male college student. During a short vacation, you and your friends came to a mysterious ancient town for vacation.
This is an ancient town with its own unique culture. The ancient town was built along the river and residents have lived in the town from generation to generation. As tourists, you should be prepared to experience the various folk customs in the town and leave after the seven-day holiday.
Multiplayer: Vacation
Number of players: 8
Difficulty: B
Main quest: Survive! Survive for seven days!
"Bang! Boom!!!" Another deafening explosion.
Tang Ning looked over and saw that the ancient bridge was still standing firmly on the water even after the aftermath of the explosion had dissipated. It was so solid that Tang Ning even felt sorry for it.
"How are you? Are you still dizzy?" Lin Yun asked with concern.
Tangning shook his head and took out his phone to type on the memo, "The card I drew this time cannot talk. If I don't talk, I will have one chance per day to use a skill."
Lin Yun nodded after seeing it.
The boat had docked at the shore. Lin Yun helped Tang Ning get off the boat. They stood on the shore waiting for the players from the other three boats. There were four men and four women in total, all in their twenties. Tang Ning saw a familiar-looking girl among the female players. She was wearing a T-shirt with the word "les" printed on it. She had dark circles under her eyes and seemed to have some muscular strength. She always looked at people in a lazy manner.
Her eyes fell on Tang Ning's feet, where Tang Ning's shadow was.
Players came ashore one after another. Someone suggested to create a group. Everyone joined the group. While operating the phone, Tang Ning felt that many people were looking at him.
People are afraid of becoming famous just like pigs are afraid of becoming fat. Tang Ning felt insecure when being watched. Shadow could not enter the dungeon with him. He was the weakest noob in the dungeon world.
"Boom!!!" The loud sound of the bridge exploding rang out again, attracting the players' attention. Tang Ning covered his ears and looked at the ancient bridge. When the smoke cleared, the bridge was still standing.
After being bombed three times, the ancient bridge still stands firmly on the water.
The players all stopped and stood on the shore to watch. The boatman said cheerfully, "You young people, have you never seen a bridge blow up? Actually, I haven't seen it either. This bridge is hundreds of years old. I didn't expect it to be so strong!"
While the boatman was talking, someone else went up to bury the explosives. The players did not just stand there. Several players walked around the river. Tang Ning also followed Lin Yun to wander around. They walked to the women who were washing clothes and saw that the women had collected the clothes before the river water on the shore became turbid. They were talking while collecting clothes. One said that every household had contributed money to build the new bridge, and their tone seemed to be a little distressed about the money. Others said that building a new bridge was good, a new look, and it should be built like those magnificent bridges. The town cannot always be complacent.
One of the players suddenly squatted down, picked up a dead branch and dug something in the area covered with water plants. Tang Ning saw that the player pressed down the water plants with the dead branch, revealing a red envelope surrounded by the water plants.
She shouted, "There's something here!"
A naked child saw it and tried to take it, so the woman spanked the child.
The players walked up one after another, but no one reached out to touch it. The female player who first discovered the red envelope frowned and nimbly opened the envelope.
I saw a stack of hundred-dollar bills in the envelope!
At this moment, a huge roar was heard not far away. This time, the amount of explosives seemed to be greater than the previous two times. Tang Ning saw that the ancient bridge finally could not withstand the destruction. It collapsed and disintegrated in the thick smoke, fell into the river and exploded in waves. The scene in front of him was as spectacular as a movie. The cries of the children by the river were drowned out by the explosion. The originally clear river quickly became turbid, and dead fish floated to the surface with their white bellies turned up.
There is always an indescribable tragic beauty in destroying something. When the ancient bridge actually collapsed, it seemed as if something tangible was also shattered.
The players and other townspeople rushed to the bridge together. Tang Ning walked slowly. He first heard bursts of exclamations from the crowd. The people standing in the front had bad expressions, as if they had seen something terrible.
Tang Ning stood in the crowd, stood on tiptoe and looked into the ruins. He saw two short corpses. The white bones were lying in the mud. Unlike the shattered rocks around them, the two corpses were miraculously not damaged at all. Judging from their shapes, they looked like children of six or seven years old.
"What's going on? Whose child is this?!" "Why is there a body under the bridge!" "Is the master here? Find the master here!" ""
The villagers seemed to be unaware of what was going on. They were running around in a panic and no one touched the two bodies. Some people, thinking that this was a family disgrace, shouted at the players to leave quickly. The players looked at each other and someone spoke in the group.
Jiang Mianmian: "This looks like virgin piles. In ancient times, if a project didn't go smoothly, young boys and girls would be poured into the bridge piles. Bridges built with virgin piles are particularly strong."
Jiang Mianmian: "When hitting the stake, someone pretends to be a beggar and asks for clothes. If you lend your clothes to the other person, the clothes will be nailed to the stake, which is equivalent to hitting the stake. Another common situation is to throw a red envelope next to it. The money in the red envelope is your life-saving money."
The expression of the female player who first discovered the red envelope changed. She quickly typed in the group: "Is it because I just touched it with a stick that I am also contaminated by karma?"
Jiang Mianmian: “I don’t know.”
"Let's go, let's go, follow me, why are you standing here?" The boatman walked up to the player and called out to the player who was looking down at his phone.
"Uncle, does your village have any unique customs?" a player asked.
The boatman waved his hand and said, "These are all backward feudal customs that should be broken. I won't talk about them anymore!"
"Tell us what you want, old man. We want to hear it."
The boatman frowned. "What's so good about this? Haven't you young people ever seen any movies? In horror movies, the people who die the fastest are those who have nothing better to do but ask around!"
This was the first time Tang Ning encountered such a highly-aware NPC. Looking at the speechless reactions of the other players around him, it seemed that everyone had also seen this before. Everyone didn't even know how to ask him questions.
"Okay, okay, you must be tired after coming all the way here. Let's go eat some fish here. The fish in our town is unique. You can't buy such fresh fish even if you go shopping." The boatman led everyone to eat. Tang Ning turned around to see the situation on the other side of the bridge. The townspeople were still helplessly surrounding the two corpses.
Soon they arrived at the place to eat, which was the boatman's doorstep. There was a big table in the open air, and an old woman, about the same age as the boatman, was setting the table. The boatman saw her and shouted, "Wife, your fish soup is getting more and more fragrant. I can smell it from far away!"
The old woman didn't seem to be good at talking. She didn't say hello when she saw the players, but walked into the house quietly by herself.
"Come on, young people, you are in for a treat. Who wouldn't say the fish soup made by my wife is delicious? I've been drinking it for decades and never get tired of it." The boatman enthusiastically scooped soup for everyone. Some players wanted to refuse and asked the boatman to stop working so hard, but the old boatman said unhappily, "It's unreasonable to let the guests do it. You paid so much money, so of course I have to take good care of you."
Apparently, the family responsible for hosting this group of tourists was the boatman's.
The old boatman sighed and said, "Times have changed. In the past, no one would have thought that tourism could make money. The money you pay for one trip is equivalent to the money I work hard for a year."
Lin Yun scooped up the milky white fish soup in the bowl. He blew on it gently but did not drink it. Not only Lin Yun, but no one among the players around him was willing to be the first to try it.
"Uncle, why did your town suddenly think of developing tourism?" Lin Yun asked.
The old boatman said with emotion: "Thanks to our new mayor, he led us to make this thing. Hey, why don't you drink it? It won't taste good when it's cold!"
The old boatman looked at the female player closest to him, the one who first discovered the red envelope, and said, "Are you worried that our food is not clean or hygienic? Don't worry, my wife has boiled the dishes and chopsticks three times in order to entertain you!"
This female player seemed to be really unlucky. Under the urging of the old boatman, she explained stiffly: "I am allergic to seafood."
The old boatman said, "This is a river fish."
The scene was very awkward for a moment.
The old boatman said unhappily, "The fish soup won't taste good if it gets cold. My wife has been cooking this soup for more than two hours. Can you please have a taste?"
At the urging of the old boatman, the players started to pick up their chopsticks one after another. Of course, they were just doing superficial work as they were still waiting for someone to test the poison first. Tang Ning stirred the fish soup with a spoon. A little oil floated on the water surface and the eyeballs of the dead fish were faintly visible in the soup. The fish meat was very loose as the old man said because it had been boiled for a long time. Tang Ning scraped the spoon lightly and a hole appeared in the fish's belly, and something leaked out.
Tang Ning took a closer look.
It was a finger bone.