The child's identity remains a mystery.
When the woman in red coat forcefully demanded that Wen Shi give the child to her, most of the players looked over with interest, wanting to know what choice Wen Shi would make.
The shining point of humanity in the audience's comment was really ridiculous, but several players at the bottom of the rankings hoped it was true. It would be best if the other party could fall out with the NPC for this child, so that in the new round, his ranking would drop.
Wen Shi would not be so reckless. No matter how many cards he had, if he violated some rules of the game, he would die.
His eyes were a little erratic, he was actually looking at the [Afternoon Tea for Family] function. According to the literal meaning, after it is turned on, the family should be able to have a short meeting in another space door. Using this function, he can quietly make the child disappear for a short period of time. With the proud temperament of the red coat woman, she would definitely make a big fuss if the child disappeared, and she might even use this to make a false move.
But Ah Sang took the initiative to speak at this time: "Go, go and play with big sister."
Ah Sang's eyes were not like Wen Shi's. Wen Shi's pupils were light in color, but the child's eyes were clearly black and white, with dark pupils. The lower the temperature in the mountains, the whiter his skin became, as white as snow.
This child is definitely not powerless, but Wen Shi was still worried about his father before he witnessed his strength with his own eyes.
"Then go ahead."
Holding the child in his arms, Wen Shi quietly gave him the communication item he bought from the game store. This item only costs 50 points and allows players to communicate in the dungeon. However, generally, few players use it unless the dungeon is in the middle or late stages. According to incomplete statistics, in about 10% of dungeons, using the communication item privately is one of the death rules.
"Call me if you have any questions." Wen Shi had already entered his player number.
A'sang does not belong to the player. As long as he rings the bell, Wen Shi will directly unlock [Family Afternoon Tea].
The woman in the red coat couldn't wait to take the child away, so Wen Shi walked them forward for a distance.
The red-coat woman revealed her true colors and impatiently drove the man away: "Don't follow me."
A Sang beside him said seriously: "Sister, the return gift has not been given yet."
This thing must be given now, otherwise there will be no chance to give it.
After looking at the time gate, the red-coated woman yelled at him, "You have no place to talk here!"
A Sang stared at the woman in the red coat. After three seconds, he activated the skill that all children must have - crying.
Wen Shi wanted to feel sorry for the child, but he couldn't do it when he saw that the child couldn't squeeze out tears and there was still expectation in his eyes. He rubbed his eyebrows and said, "Then we can only ask the host to judge."
The other players did not receive return gifts because they had not yet completed the requirements of the paired guests, but Wen Shi handed the child over on the spot.
There were still a lot of ceremonies to prepare for later, and there wasn't much time in the day. The woman in the red coat didn't want to be delayed by trivial matters, so she pulled out a key from her waist and said, "There's something in the cabinet behind my room that you can take."
"Okay, okay... let's go." Ah Sang was more active than the girl in the red coat, and his little hand was about to leave an afterimage. "Goodbye, Dad."
Wen Shi watched them walk away, and just in case he called out the old ghost and asked it to follow. The wandering corpse was still in a low IQ state, and without Wen Shi's command, its ability to adapt to changes was too poor.
He returned to the village with the key given by the woman in the red coat.
There were few people walking around in Fengguan Village during the day, and every household had its doors closed. The cameraman followed behind him silently, shooting both the scenery and the people, focusing on capturing Wen Shi's expression. After seeing that there was no doubt on his face, he returned to shooting the scenery in disappointment.
Wen Shi had deep doubts in his heart, but he did not show them.
When the cameraman saw the old ghost following the woman in the red coat, he did not give any warning, but simply asked a colleague to follow and film. This program crew seemed to be accustomed to ghosts, so the question is, are the audience watching their program human or ghost
The doors of the houses were some distance apart, and no one came out, so the wind blew back and forth unhindered, making a deafening whistling sound in this overly quiet village.
A small door in front of me opened a crack, and a pair of lifeless eyes were peeking from behind the door.
Wen Shi took three or two steps forward and ran over like a gust of wind. Before the other party could react, he kicked the door, and a crack appeared on the flimsy wooden door.
"Do you like peeping so much?"
Behind the door, the old lady fell to the ground, holding her waist and glaring at the violent man in front of her.
This face appeared in the audience last night. Wen Shi judged that all the people who came to watch the recording of the program were human beings. Only humans are afraid of being drenched in corpse oil and would hold an umbrella when leaving.
Since he was a human, he had fewer concerns. Wen Shi rushed to the kitchen in two or three steps and came out with a kitchen knife. Then he considerately helped the old lady up and let her sit on a chair. He stood aside with the knife and asked softly, "Old man, why are there so few people in this village during the day? And why are you all wearing clothes with the word longevity on them?"
It's okay for middle-aged and elderly people, but it applies to children as well. Young people should not wear clothes with the word "longevity" on them lightly. According to folk belief, it will shorten one's lifespan.
The old lady was stubborn: "Kill me if you can."
Wen Shi had no ability, so he began to search the house, preparing to take away all the firewood, rice, oil and salt. The old lady was so angry that she was shaking all over. Just as she was about to get up, she was blinded by the reflection of the shiny kitchen knife.
Cameraman: "Didn't you say you wanted to show the brilliance of humanity?"
Wen Shi: "Just tell me whether this kitchen knife is shiny or not?"
"… "
Without food and clothes, they can only ask neighbors for borrowing. In recent days, except for the special circumstances yesterday, the villagers have tried not to go out.
The old lady finally compromised and moved her thin, dry lips:
"We are called Fengguan Village. Our ancestors have been making coffins, shrouds and other funeral items for generations. Wearing this kind of clothing is our custom. The saying passed down by our ancestors is that black shrouds ward off evil spirits, and red shrouds..."
Wen Shi thought of the clothes he saw in the coffin in the cemetery and asked, "What does the red shroud represent?"
"Wearing red shroud will cause you to live longer."
Wen Shi frowned. This was basically the opposite of what the outside world was saying. "Shouldn't funeral clothes avoid dark colors?"
The old lady smiled strangely: "Many people think that black is the same color as the underworld, and it is not easy to be seen after death. In fact, sometimes it is a good thing not to be seen."
This seems to imply that Fengguan Village is a small gate to the underworld, and the living villagers do not want to be noticed by ghosts.
No matter how much Wen Shi threatened her, she refused to say a word. When he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed the calendar hanging on the wall. Today was the 13th day of the seventh lunar month.
His pupils tightened as he realized something: "On the third day of recording Crazy Love Season, it happened to be July 15th."
Mid-July, the gates of hell open.
From the moment Wen Shi looked at the calendar, the cameraman's mouth corners were already stretched, the old lady's mouth corners were also raised, and her loose skin was wrinkled layer by layer. They looked at Wen Shi as if they were looking at the offerings that needed to be prepared for a family worship.
The old lady walked with unsteady legs and began to tidy up the messed up house. There was a sound of bowls and chopsticks colliding together. The old woman stuck the chopsticks heavily into the incense ash and said to herself, "Here they come. It's good that the stranger has come."
Wen Shi suddenly had a very bad premonition and was worried that the ghost gate would open in Fengguan Village.
The copy itself has an unsolvable death rule: CP combinations are eliminated based on popularity.
If another ghost gate is opened, there will be no way for players to survive.
For the first time, the system got rid of the mechanical sound and played with a strange and weird tone—
"Congratulations on discovering the special clue - Calendar, activate the reminder."
"All players, please note that the dungeon "Crazy Love Season" is likely to be upgraded in two days. After this upgrade, this dungeon will become a permanent dungeon. Each time different players enter this dungeon, they will have a unique and wonderful journey."
“After the upgrade, the dungeon function experience details have been optimized, and three special maps have been added, including [Nanshan Highway Retrospective Journey] and [Dry Well Ghost].”
"All players, please note that after successfully upgrading, the difficulty of the dungeon will be adjusted to 2S."
“I wish the first batch of players a happy experience.”
"… "
Wen Shi felt that if he swore at this time, it would be understandable.
The camera successfully captured his change in expression this time, and the cameraman said with a smile: "In order to thank the audience for their support, the program team will invite some of the audience to come to the scene to participate in the recording in person later."
It’s not about watching the recording, it’s about participating.
Wen Shi was silent for a moment, put down the kitchen knife and walked out of the house. The sky outside was dark and the rolling clouds made the distance between heaven and earth infinitely close, making it hard to breathe.
After staring at it for a few seconds, Wen Shi suddenly rushed back into the room and slammed the table: "You, hand over the umbrella!"
Two minutes later, amid the old lady's yelling and cursing, Wen Shi walked contentedly towards the red-coat girl's house with a big black umbrella.
"It's a waste to keep an umbrella at home."
It will be much more useful in his hands.
The cameraman who was expecting to see his terrified expression was thinking in his heart: Bandit, no, gangster!
The big house of the red jacket girl was very deserted at this moment.
Clearly, a team of people were busy running back and forth yesterday. Wen Shi found the manager, Lao Li, and said, "Your young lady asked me to go to her room to get something."
Regardless of whether the copy will be upgraded or not, you have to finish the task at hand as soon as possible to earn more money.
Lao Li cooperated very well and led the way.
Wen Shi mentioned casually, "There are many fewer people in the house."
Old Li raised the corner of his mouth and said meaningfully: "They went to help the young lady."
"Where is your master?" The father of the girl in red coat might be even more powerful. If both father and daughter went, Wen Shi would immediately activate the home function to ensure A Sang's safety.
"The master is old, so all engineering matters are left to the young lady to handle."
Wen Shi thought of Li Xiaoluo's story and smiled sarcastically, "I thought such a remote village would favor boys over girls."
Old Li did not deny: "It was true a long time ago, but later people's mindsets changed and they thought it was the same whether they had a boy or a girl. In order to better promote the economic development of the village, we also actively sent young people to study abroad and followed the example of others to build roads."
The highlighted areas on the map, apart from the cemetery in the north, were the half-finished road in the south. Wen Shi asked knowingly, "Is the road finished?"
"It was only half a year after it was repaired when a landslide occurred." Old Li sighed, "But I believe it will be repaired soon."
As they were talking, Doorman Li led him into the third courtyard and to a small room behind the main house with a more hidden door: "The young lady's boudoir is here."
Wen Shi used the key given by the woman in the red coat to open the door. A mixture of good and bad smells emanated from the quaint old house.
The cabinet door was not locked. When it was opened, there was a pile of miscellaneous items inside: perfume, a knife, an abacus, etc., and even a few tattered books.
The woman in the red coat only said there was one thing, but did not specify which one it was, which was obviously intentional.
Wen Shi stretched out his hand, hoping to get away with it by relying on the game's identification system.
"Miss doesn't like others touching her things. Tell me what you want and I'll get it for you."
There were even a few incense sticks stuffed in the middle door of the sundries. Wen Shi took a quick look and saw that there were at least a dozen things, placed in three layers. He could barely see what each thing was.
While Wen Shi was hesitating, Lao Li urged him impatiently: "I still have a lot of things to do. You only have one minute to choose a time door."
If you choose the wrong one, you might be mistaken for a thief and killed.
Wen Shi narrowed his eyes and looked carefully at the rows of things.
As if to deliberately make him restless, Lao Li kept talking: "The lady has asked you to take it, just take it as she says. Hurry up, there is only half a minute left!"
At the same time, the door of the house was shut heavily, and the room, which was already dim, became even darker. Lao Li bent down, and the mirror in the cabinet reflected a pale face. Lao Li said in a cold tone: "The last ten seconds."
"I want this." Wen Shi suddenly pointed to a small bronze lamp in the shape of a wine glass, "Is this an eternal lamp? I want to take it away."
The whites in Lao Li's eyes grew wildly, almost covering his pupils. "Are you sure? What do you want a lamp for?"
This time it was Wen Shi's turn to urge him: "Yes, hurry up."
Old Li's face gradually returned to normal, mixed with deep regret, and he helped him take out the items that were asked for.
The moment Wen Shi's hand touched the lamp wall, the identification of the game automatically popped up in his mind.
[Eternal Lantern: Have you heard of the story of lighting a sky lantern? The smell emitted by the burning lantern may help you deceive the eyes of some things. Note that this lantern can only be used in this instance.]
When studying history, Wen Shi had seen the story of using corpse oil to light sky lanterns. This kind of torture had been inflicted on emperors and had also harmed innocent people.
A Sang said that the rainwater in Fengguan Village is corpse oil, and collecting rainwater should be able to light up this lamp. This is currently the only item that can be related to Fengguan Village.
Wen Shi put away the lights and returned to the program recording location.
He was the first to arrive. The host kept talking, introducing the original scenery to the camera, making sure that no matter which lens the audience switched to, there would be no dull moment. The host was talking excitedly, and it seemed that he really loved this job.
"Come join us! Let's experience a colorful love journey together!"
After knowing what happened on July 15th, hearing these words is really chilling.
After Wen Shi, the second person to come back was Liu Yun.
Her entire arm showed signs of excessive varicose veins, but overall she didn't seem to have suffered any serious injuries.
Liu Yun didn't look at the paired guest again. She walked to Wen Shi's side and leaned against the mountain wall as if exhausted. "During the worship, I burned some paper and was almost dragged into the coffin." After a pause, she suddenly said, "There is an empty coffin there, and there are a lot of wet bloodstains around it."
"Yes, it's mine." Wen Shi's blood-stained shirt was the best proof.
Liu Yun really admired him. Although she didn't know what the other party relied on, there was probably no other player in the game who could be so cruel and treat himself like a sieve.
"Did you find anything?" Wen Shi asked her.
"When the corpse revived, it told some stories. He died in a landslide during road construction. It was said that there were two different opinions at the time. The young people who had gone to school thought that it would be fine to just repair the road, but the older generation of villagers in Fengjian Village thought that the old method should be used."
Pretend to be dead? Wen Shi seemed to have found a new way to use the skill of pretending to be dead, and asked: "What's the old method?"
"Driving living stakes." Liu Yun said coldly: "When some people are doing projects, they will bury boys and girls alive or fill them with cement to sacrifice to the gods."
Wen Shi's mind flashed with the impatience of the woman in the red coat, and his face darkened.
"The young people were eager to achieve results and decided to build the road without considering the weather. As a result, landslides occurred during the rainy season and many people died. The villagers said it was a punishment from the gods, and eventually the young people began to believe it."
Fengguan Village is an extremely feudal place, but with the passage of time, it has tried to integrate with the outside civilization. Under the impact of fierce conflicts, most villagers are still unable to abandon the old ideas in their bones.
"By the way," Liu Yun said, with goose bumps forming on her purple arms. "The notification just said that the dungeon might be upgraded in the next two days."
Wen Shi lowered his voice and said, "I saw on the calendar at the villagers' house that it will be the 15th day of July in two days."
Liu Yun's eyes suddenly widened, and when she wanted to confirm it again, Ji Yuanzhi just came back. The three of them got together, and Wen Shi brought up the matter of the Ghost Gate again.
Ji Yuanzhi was not too surprised: "The Yin energy in Fengguan Village is more dense than imagined, and the frequency of ghost activities during the day is very high."
This is absolutely abnormal in any copy.
Almost all the players came back within the next ten minutes. The mortality rate in this link was much lower than that in the first game. The only one who did not come back was the girl in the red coat.
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. After playing for so long, the first paired guest was gone.
The host knew exactly where the child was taken and what kind of ceremony was to be performed, which would inevitably take some time, so he continued to wait with a smile on his face.
On the other hand, Wen Shi was not in a hurry either. The old man was very smart. If there was any danger, he would have retreated long ago. The fact that he did not come to report the news meant that A Sang's safety was guaranteed.
Nanshan, in front of the half-built road.
The woman in the red coat and a group of project workers were fleeing frantically. The cameraman who was following them didn't know what to do. In the end, he mechanically used a drone to shoot and stood there with weak legs.
No one present was human. The woman in red coat was killed by rocks in the morning. It had just rained and it was very cold in the morning. She was wrapped in her coat to supervise the road construction, but she encountered a landslide. Blood and flesh mud dyed the clothes again. After the woman in red coat turned into a monster, the red coat was mixed with her endless resentment and hatred. She kept absorbing the flesh and blood of those young lives, trying to borrow her life to stay in the human world forever.
But today, this invincible red coat suffered a Waterloo.
First, the attempt to drive the stake failed. When the child was buried alive, he directly broke the worker's shovel. Then the red coat flew out and covered him. The child did not dodge or avoid, but the red coat did not have any life left.
After sensing something was wrong, the red-coated girl ran for her life. She kept looking back to see if she was being caught up. The next moment, a shadow flashed over her head, and a pale-faced child stood in front of her, "Big sister, I'm here."
What kind of little monster is this?!
"Go to hell!" The woman in the red coat gritted her teeth and tried to break free from his entanglement.
The speeds of both parties were not at the same level. The thin legs could climb and jump easily. In the blink of an eye, the woman in the red coat had the child jump onto her shoulders.
The red-coated woman tried to strangle the man's neck with her sharp nails, cursing angrily, "Get lost, you little bastard."
A Sang's eyes are bottomless.
He slapped his small palm on the top of his head, and the residual soul, resentment, and hatred were all concentrated here, condensing into a small crystal. Ah Sang tapped it gently with the bowl again, and the solid skull was smashed through, and the almost rigid brain and blood slowly flowed down.
Ah Sang took out the crystal expressionlessly and absorbed it directly. The brutal scene frightened several workers so much that they fell down, but even so, they were still trying their best to crawl forward.
The woman in the red jacket stood there blankly, her bright red jacket gradually fading. After a moment, her whole body fell heavily backwards.
Ah Sang never wastes any grain of food. On the deep and narrow mountain road, he starts to hunt like a ghost. The small broken bowl in Ah Sang's hand is comparable to the strongest hammer in the world. The monster's head is pried open by him like a watermelon, and the rancid black juice flows out. The only soul and resentment that have not deteriorated become the most perfect rations.
While A Sang was showing off his fandom crazily, a group of players were still waiting for the return of the Red Coat Girl in the valley.
Thinking about the story of the life stake, Liu Yun asked worriedly, "Will the child be in trouble?"
The child looked no ordinary person, but the woman in the red coat looked even more terrifying.
The host estimated that the ceremony was almost finished, so he called the cameraman, but no one answered the phone.
The red-coated girl didn't come back at the appointed time, so it was obvious who was unlucky. Wen Shi didn't want the production team to go into the mountains to look for her right now, so he pretended to be sad: "Why hasn't she come back yet? Did something happen? My poor child..."
This sentence successfully attracted the attention of the host, who immediately came over to interview him with a smile: "Some viewers said before that they saw the brilliance of humanity in you, Mr. Aaron. You are so humane, why do you easily give children as gifts to others?"
Wen Shi covered half of his mask of pain with his hands.
Seeing this, the host became even more excited: "Dear audience members, I wonder if what we are seeing now is the confession of a father or the crocodile tears of a hypocritical soul."
He originally wanted to read out a few messages from the audience, but unexpectedly found that the number of messages from the audience began to drop sharply since ten minutes ago. Not only that, the number of people who signed up for the joint recording was also on a downward trend.
"?"
"!"
These are almost all consecutive symbols.
Before the host could even think of asking a question, he was interrupted by Wen Shi's sad cry: "My child, he's still so young..."
Anyone can feel his sadness from his slightly trembling shoulders and drooping hair.
The host gloated: "Don't worry too much, maybe he just got lost."
Ji Yuanzhi patted Wen Shi's shoulder to comfort him, his eyes flashing with a gleam behind his glasses, "Stop pretending."
Everyone knows that cat doctors bleed but don’t shed tears.
"This is an S-rank copy," Wen Shi said with tears in his eyes, "You don't understand, a mother is always worried about her son even when he is thousands of miles away... Bah, a father is always worried."
The superb acting skills did not fool Ji Yuanzhi, but Liu Yun felt sympathy for him. "That's right, an S-level copy, a little kid..."
Before he could finish his words, the system's cold reminder tone suddenly sounded—
"Attention all players, attention all players—"
"Due to the collective death of fourteen key NPCs, Nanshan Highway has been officially classified as a safe area. In addition, due to the salvation of the soul of a key NPC, the Dry Well map has been downgraded to a Class C dangerous area, and the upgrade of the "Crazy Love Season" dungeon has failed."
Wen Shi had previously handed over the location of Li Xiaoluo's body to Ji Yuanzhi, and it was obvious that the other party had exceeded the task.
"From this moment on, the difficulty of this instance will be adjusted from S to A."
In just a few sentences, every word sounded like it was spoken with gritted teeth.
“…” Difficulty decreased
Wen Shi was so scared that he almost shed a crocodile tear.
My baby, are you so promising?!
(End of this chapter)