Wen Shi listened carefully to the system prompts. According to this statement, all players are eligible to inherit, including the butler, and it is not ruled out that there are some other NPCs whose identities have not yet been revealed.
Judging from the current information, these children do not often accompany Mr. Lin, and perhaps their importance in the old man's heart is not as great as that of the housekeeper or the caregiver.
"It's a bit tricky..."
Looking at several other happy family combinations, Wen Shi knew that he lacked innate advantages. First of all, his infertility was a shortcoming, which would definitely be used to make trouble if discovered by others.
After announcing the full competition goal, the game issued the first side quest:
[In order to conceal your hidden illness, you lied that you had a child. Please successfully bring the grandfather and grandson together before the evening of that day. ]
[Task Reward: Elder Lin's Favorability +5.]
The others remained motionless at their positions, and it was unclear whether they had accepted the mission or not. Wen Shi had no intention of hiding his identity as a player, so he glanced at Pei Hongxin and motioned for him to follow.
"Where is father now?" Wen Shi asked the housekeeper.
"The study on the second floor."
It would definitely not be easy to meet Grandpa Lin directly for this mission, but Wen Shi had to go and confirm the situation first.
The floor of the stairs seemed to be made of wood, and it had a soft and strange touch when stepped on. When he reached one of the steps, Wen Shi saw black liquid seeping out of a crack. However, when he looked again, the surface of the stairs was smooth, and everything seemed to be an illusion.
Wen Shi’s rationality value dropped by one point.
He vaguely grasped some rules, and once he noticed something in this world, his rationality would decrease. In order to solve the game puzzle, these details cannot be ignored, and the number of readers is very important at this time, as a large number of readers can help consolidate the rationality.
After stepping over the last step, Wen Shi finally knew what that feeling was.
Paper.
The entire villa is like a building on paper, with ink seeping everywhere.
There are quite a few rooms on the second floor, and there is more than one study room. Some are hung with calligraphy and paintings, and some are piled with hardcover books. Wen Shi walked into one room at random and found that all the books were carefully stored in glass display cases, and the book boxes outside had not been opened. It was obvious that they were not used for reading.
For collection and decoration
While Wen Shi was exploring, Pei Hongxin just stood at the door, carefully avoiding touching anything that might be dangerous. From this perspective, he could easily notice what Wen Shi was paying attention to.
After staying in the room for less than two minutes, Wen Shi returned to the corridor and continued walking forward. There was a closed door in front of him, so he knocked on it directly: "Father."
Anyway, my character is that I just returned to China, so I can get away with knocking on the wrong room.
After a while, a hoarse voice came from inside: "I thought you were having fun abroad and had no intention of coming back."
Wen Shi cleverly changed the subject: "I was going to come back anyway, I wanted you to see my grandson."
Mr. Lin did not ask about the child or the child's mother like other parents. He only asked: "How old are you?"
Lin Hejing, played by Wen Shi, was 27 years old according to his ID information. He thought for a moment and said, "Seven years old."
Pei Hongxin is about seven or eight years old now. It is difficult to conceal the look of an adult. He looks older than his peers. If he were to say he was younger, it might arouse suspicion.
The old man seemed to want to ask in detail, but after a cough, his voice became a little sleepy: "Since he is a member of our Lin family, you should take him to the small ancestral hall in the back to burn some incense."
Wen Shi responded straightforwardly: "Okay."
Before going downstairs, he said in an emotional tone: "I'll let this kid kowtow to you through the door first."
Wen Shi looked at Pei Hongxin with a smile.
Inside the door, the old man neither agreed nor refused.
Pei Hongxin clenched his fist. If he didn't kowtow, it would be fine. But if he just left, it would inevitably leave an impression of impoliteness on the NPC. Pei Hongxin also had a task to gain the favor of the old man. He never kowtowed to the heavens or the earth in his life. Now he had no choice but to kneel at the door and kowtow gently to show off his childishness: "Hello, Grandpa."
I have to bow down, but it would be a waste of time. Anyway, nothing will happen after I finish bowing down.
Wen Shi then went downstairs.
He happened to see a man downstairs winking at the housekeeper. He thought of something and started fiddling with his phone. Sure enough, there were a few more phone numbers in his address book. In the contact card, he could see not only the profile picture, but also the age and identity note.
Pei Hongxin also wanted to see, but unfortunately he was too short and couldn't see even if he stood on tiptoe.
After comparing them one by one, Wen Shi had a preliminary understanding of the family members.
The man with the more arrogant attitude is his eldest brother, Lin Heguang. He also has a sister named Lin Helan, and his youngest brother, Lin Tianci, is only sixteen years old. I don’t know where this romantic debt of Mr. Lin was left behind.
Wen Shi is the third child, and his position in the family is relatively easily overlooked.
It was his eldest brother who winked at the butler, and if he wanted to discuss the old man's favor, it would be very useful to have a good relationship with the butler.
However, the butler is not a philanthropist, and benefits are needed to impress him. Wen Shi has always disliked dealing with middlemen, unless he himself becomes the middleman.
When they arrived at the hall, the butler deliberately glanced at Wen Shi, his eyes somewhat suggestive.
Wen Shi just smiled and showed no intention of cooperating.
"I'm going to burn incense, is there anyone joining me?"
The only sounds in the living room were those of children playing.
Judging from their unwillingness to even respond directly, a large portion of the friends and family group are definitely players.
It was unknown whether the eldest brother Lin Heguang was arrogant by nature or was deliberately acting in this direction, he sneered: "He Jingke really knows etiquette, he went to the ancestral hall as soon as he came back."
If anyone mocked him, Wen Shi would use Pei Hongxin as a hidden weapon.
Looking at the woman sitting with Lin and Guang, who were obviously married, Wen Shi said, "They say that an elder sister-in-law is like a mother. My dear, go kowtow to my mother."
Pei Hongxin: “…”
Kowtow to your whole family! Are you visiting the grave? Kowtow.
He stood there motionless, not focusing on the relatives and friends who had ulterior motives. Pei Hongxin glanced at the housekeeper. Under his calm appearance, he wanted to tear the other person apart. There was no player wearing a cloak or a mask among the people present. He now deeply suspected that the person who teamed up with him to go to the dungeon was Pei Wenwei.
From the beginning, everything was a game.
Seeing that the weather outside was gloomy and there were signs of rain at any time, Wen Shi did not delay any longer and went out directly.
After he left, someone in the living room said quietly, "The relationship between father and son doesn't seem to be very good."
This is a breaking point.
This means that these two players can be easily defeated one by one, and they are actually in a state of isolation and helplessness.
In the depressing atmosphere, everyone sat on the sofa, their eyes met with each other, and they reached a tacit understanding in silence.
·
Leaden clouds blocked the sky, making the entire sky seem suffocating, and the wonderful smell in the air fermented again.
Going around the lawn at the back, Pei Hongxin took the initiative to speak to Wen Shi for the first time: "If you don't give the housekeeper any face, you will soon become the target of public criticism."
It is true that the words were meant to provoke, but they also accurately pointed out the reality. A family fight like this always needs a beginning, and a consensus must be reached to collectively expel one person.
Wen Shi knew this better than anyone else.
I am quite famous in the virtual world, and anyone would want to concentrate their main efforts on eliminating strong opponents first.
He was quite calm: "Even if a flock of sheep gather together, they can't defeat a wolf."
Little did he know that Wen Shi was planning to summon his parallel world self to have a mixed doubles match with him after finishing the incense burning task.
The distance between the front and back houses is quite far. Mr. Lin is definitely a person who loves money to the extreme. The lawn is paved with stone bricks, and each stone brick has a copper coin pattern on it.
When I was almost at the end of the road, I looked back and saw that the densely packed copper coins had formed the shape of an animal.
"Leopard..."
Wen Shi thought of the jade leopard that he had asked someone to send to Pei Hongxin. That fortune-making thing might have been lost from here.
The two worlds seemed to him to be inextricably linked, especially the burning orphanage, which seemed too pointed.
I didn't see any servants on the road.
The ancestral hall was built very neatly, with a red roof and a white house, and a plaque in the middle with golden characters: Lin's Ancestral Hall. The only thing that made it feel out of place was the black door. The moment Wen Shi pushed open the door, he smelled the faint smell of ink again.
There was no light inside. Even if he opened the door at this moment, no light could shine in. It seemed as if something was lurking in the darkness, waiting for its target to actively feed it into the cage.
Just like in the study, Pei Hongxin never crossed the threshold. Unfortunately, Wen Shi didn't indulge him this time and directly lifted the child's collar from behind. The strength of the two sides was very different. Pei Hongxin desperately kicked his thin legs, and was thrown in the next second.
"Let's go~"
Wen Shi was just using him as a pathfinder.
Every time Pei Hongxin rushed out, he would be thrown back mercilessly. After a while, he finally gave up. Wen Shi stood at the door and turned on the flashlight on his mobile phone. The focused light shone in and was also dissolved by half.
He asked Pei Hongxin to tell him about the internal situation.
Playing tricks on this matter is not good for anyone. With the help of the weak light, Pei Hongxin observed and said in a deep voice: "The spirit tablet is standing in front..."
He suddenly took a step forward and said, "There are incense and matchboxes on the side of the table."
A slight rubbing sound was heard.
Knowing that the other party would force him to burn incense, Pei Hongxin simply took the initiative to light the match and then gave the answer: "The incense won't light."
There is no rule that young people should burn incense alone. Although Grandpa Lin did not say it explicitly, Wen Shi had to do it.
He looked at the blurry thin figure, sneered, and walked into the ancestral hall.
While Wen Shi was lighting the incense, Pei Hongxin silently moved to the side. In fact, there was a very important piece of information he didn't say. The moment he came in, he heard a leopard's roar.
Among the numerous tablets, there is an inconspicuous blank tablet in the middle, which overlaps with the tablets below and cannot be found without careful observation.
According to Pei Hongxin's estimation, before burning incense, one must first find a way to lure the leopard into the tablet. It is unknown how to do it specifically, but if a leopard attacks people, it will definitely prioritize attacking the person burning incense.
As if he was unaware of anything, the young man pinched the match with his slender fingertips and lightly struck it. This scene was inexplicably very tempting. Now he could also hear the leopard's roar, a sound that came from the soul.
Roar-
A ferocious beast pounced out from the darkness, and the fishy smell from its bloody mouth rushed straight to my head.
Pei Hongxin retreated quickly, but Wen Shi stood still and calmly lit two incense sticks with a match.
He gently blew out the fire, and saw that the leopard's sharp fangs were about to bite off his neck. At the critical moment, Wen Shi confronted the monster head-on with a fist.
"Broken shell."
It's just a matter of burning incense. The task is not too difficult. Fight first. If you can't beat them, let the zombies use their skills. The zombies' skills have a one-day cooldown period. I don't want to use this trump card unless it's absolutely necessary.
This was his first time using the skill A Sang, which, when activated, could randomly smash the head of a high-level monster.
With a crisp sound, Wen Shi clearly felt that the area where his fist touched the monster's hard skull had sunk, while his fragile fist was intact.
The turbid brain matter flowed all over the floor, eventually turning into black water and blending into the cracks between the stone tiles on the ground.
After the leopard's head was split open, the visibility inside the ancestral hall increased a lot. Wen Shi didn't even turn his head and said coldly: "Come in and burn incense."
The hot and fishy smell in the air had not yet dissipated, constantly reminding Pei Hongxin of the bloody scene just now. Pei Hongxin's frail face twitched, and he reluctantly stepped over the threshold and stood next to Wen Shi again.
Violence always has the most direct deterrent effect.
Wen Shi closed his eyes and stood straight in front of the tablet, as if he were a truly devout worshipper.
He knew what Pei Hongxin was thinking. On the one hand, he was afraid, and on the other hand, he looked down on attack skills. In a nutshell, he could make the other party relax his vigilance in shock.
Picking up the incense on the table, Pei Hongxin listened to his over-beating heartbeat and went through the process as quickly as possible.
After the incense was burnt, Wen Shi used the inside of his coat to wipe the monster's blood off his hands: "Remember your identity, you are just a fake. After being exposed, I will lose a few points of favorability from the NPC at most, but there will be no place for you in this house anymore."
It's just short of saying that he is being treated like a dog.
After wiping off the last bit of blood, Wen Shi tidied Pei Hongxin's clothes, just as he had helped him tidy up his clothes in the orphanage: "Put them in the right place."
When we returned to the villa, half of the people in the living room were gone. The maid was checking the windows. It was starting to be windy outside and the weather station warned us that there would be heavy rain tonight.
The butler was giving orders in an orderly manner. He could even call out the maids' names and had completely integrated into the role.
The two sides did not say hello to each other. Wen Shi kept walking upstairs, ready to complete the first side quest once and for all.
I knocked on the door twice and this time I heard someone say "Come in".
The moment he pushed the door open, Wen Shi's expression changed subtly. He didn't know how to describe the smell inside. It was a bit like a refrigerator filled with stale ingredients. The cold air and a mixed refrigerator smell hit him in the face.
Mr. Lin was wearing a black suit, which was not monotonous as it was decorated with plum blossoms embroidered with gold thread. His face showed that he was not in good health, and his blood and qi were weak.
Old Master Lin was flipping through a photo album. When people get old, they tend to be nostalgic. He abandoned her mercilessly at the beginning, but now he has a little more nostalgia: "Your mother passed away early. Fortunately, she didn't have to experience the pain of aging."
Mr. Lin pointed to a photo and said, "Look, she is forever stuck in such a beautiful time."
Wen Shi quietly accompanied him in reminiscing about the past. When they saw the photos, Wen Shi and Pei Hongxin, one older and one younger, both widened their eyes at the same time.
The woman in the photo has standard almond-shaped eyes, and Mr. Lin himself has single eyelids, but both Wen Shi and the child held by the woman in the photo have double eyelids.
I silently pondered the probability of two single eyelids developing double eyelids, and finally concluded that it must be a genetic mutation.
Just as Wen Shi had calmed down, Old Man Lin sighed, "Remember your mother was born prematurely when you were born. You suffered a lot."
He didn't even mention that he was hanging out with someone else at that time.
Wen Shi, who had just reminded Pei Hongxin that he should put himself in the right place in this family, fell silent.
There are no double coincidences in the world.
"… "
It turns out that I am not a biological child.
So what are they doing in other people's homes
(End of this chapter)