Meng Xiang almost couldn't get up after the all-night revelry last night. He quietly came to the main god space without disturbing the others who were still sleeping. Anyway, no matter how long he entered the plot world, it was only one day in the main god space. As long as he came back alive, he could naturally meet his companions.
"Lord God, enter "The Ring", time: 10 days."
Meng Xiang's consciousness immediately became blurred. When he regained consciousness, he found himself in a dense forest. Not far away, there were the sounds of birds and people talking.
This was the small mountain village where the Nameless Team had taken shelter. Meng Xiang had lived here for a few days, and now that he was back here, he couldn't help but think of Yuan Zhi and Nice. The Nameless Team still existed, but he was the only one left from the team.
He rushed out of the jungle. It was early morning and most of the young people were out farming. In the mountain villages, many old people were strolling with their children, looking very happy.
Meng Xiang thought of the lonely old woman. Since there was still a lot of time, he was not in a hurry to go to Ikoma Mountain. So he relied on his memory to come to the small room where he was staying at that time.
The mother-in-law was feeding her chickens in front of the door. The surroundings had not changed much, except that the small house next to the mother-in-law's main house was now smoking. The mother-in-law had mentioned that she had no children and had been alone since her husband passed away several years ago. Why was there someone living in the small house next to her now? He walked straight up to her and said with a smile on his face, "Mother-in-law, I'm here to bother you again. How are you doing?"
The mother-in-law slowly raised her head, squinted her eyes and looked at Meng Xiang for a while before saying, "Young man, who are you? Do I know you? No, you look familiar. What's your name?"
Meng Xiang was stunned for a moment, but when he saw that the wrinkles on his mother-in-law's face had deepened a lot, and she looked older than the last time he saw her, he came to his senses. Maybe for Meng Xiang, only a few months had passed, but the time in the plot world was different from that in the main god space. Maybe several years had passed in the plot world of "Midnight Ring". He hurriedly said: "My name is Meng Xiang. A long time ago, I stayed at your place with several friends. Remember? At that time, we rented the *bungalow next to yours for 10,000 yen a night."
"It's Meng Xiang. Oh, I remember now. You gave me a lot of money later. It's been three years. I can hardly recognize your face, but I can still remember someone as generous as you. Are you traveling this time? Where are your companions?" The mother-in-law quickly put down the rice in her hand and pulled Meng Xiang into the house.
Three years have passed in the plot world. The furniture in the house is a little old compared to last time. Meng Xiang sat down and said, "I'm here alone this time. By the way, mother-in-law, have you rented the *bungalow next to you to someone else?"
The mother-in-law nodded and replied with a smile: "During this period, many outsiders have come to the neighborhood, so of course we villagers have to earn some rent." She sighed and said with a sigh: "People like me can't earn enough money to support our lives. Renting a *bungalow can be regarded as helping to supplement our lives."
Meng Xiang naturally understood this. He had already prepared for it. He took out a pound of gold cut into pieces from his ring and handed it all to his mother-in-law, saying, "These are your rent. I will stay here for a few days. Is that okay?"
"This is... gold?" Grandma wiped her eyes, almost unable to believe it.
Meng Xiang smiled bitterly and said, "My family owns a gold mine, so we only have gold. I told you the truth, my family forced me to work in the gold mine, but I refused, so I escaped to relax. If you don't have money to exchange, just take a small piece and exchange it."
"This... the rent is too much." The mother-in-law was a little embarrassed, but seeing Meng Xiang's insistence, she accepted it and smiled, "Then I won't be polite. You can live here for as many days as you want."
After some polite conversation, Meng Xiang went straight to the point and asked about Mt. Ikoma. The mother-in-law looked a little strange, and said hesitantly, "Mt. Ikoma is a holy place. Anyone who gets close to it will be unlucky. You'd better not get close."
Meng Xiang discerned the words and knew that his mother-in-law was hiding something, so he pretended to be interested and said, "I just want to know. Ikoma Mountain is where Master Ye practices. Who dares to go there and make trouble?"
After hearing what Meng Xiang said, the mother-in-law was relieved. She closed the door and said mysteriously, "In fact, it is said that outsiders from nearby villages are all planning to go to Ikoma Mountain to rob tombs. It is rumored that in the tomb of Master Yakuma on Ikoma Mountain, there is a priceless exorcism treasure called the Sealing Bracelet among the burial objects. The black market price is as high as 1 billion yen. Of course, this is just a rumor. Ikoma Mountain was cursed by Master Yakuma. Anyone who dares to offend Master Yakuma's tomb will be cursed to death. The village chief was afraid of rebellion, so he secretly called the police, but in the end nothing happened. Those who went up the mountain without permission, didn't even see the tomb, and ran back with festering bodies, and died soon after."
"Trigger the side story. The timer starts now. Within 5 days, obtain the sealed bracelet in the tomb of Yi Xiaojiao. Complete the task and you will be rewarded with 6,000 points and 1 B-level side story. If the task fails, 6,000 points will be deducted. The words of the B-level side story god rang in Meng Xiang's ears.
"6000 points, what a generous reward." Meng Xiang thought to himself. He had already guessed the reward for triggering the side story this time, because the difficulty of the plot of "Midnight Ring" is level B, and the reward is at least in line with this difficulty. However, the punishment after the mission failed was beyond his expectations. He originally thought that he would be wiped out by the Lord God if the mission failed, but now he feels much more at ease. He has accumulated nearly 10,000 points now. Even if he fails to complete the side story and is deducted points by the Lord God, his points are still positive.
Of course, from Meng Xiang's current standpoint, deducting 6,000 points is no different from killing him. Now that he has realized the truth and entered the plot world, he cannot have the mentality of escaping, like Ding Jie, who triggered the plot but chose to escape before the end. Such a person is destined to fail all his life.
Of course Meng Xiang would not be such a person. His goal from beginning to end was to complete the task.
Seeing Meng Xiang in a daze, the grandmother thought he didn't understand, so she continued, "In fact, there are two great shikigami under Master Yi, namely the former ghost and the latter ghost. The former ghost is extremely vicious, and no one can cure him except Master Yi's 'Magic King of Peacocks', so the former ghost has been sealed; while the latter ghost protects the sealed former ghost and Master Yi's golden body, and through reincarnation, has been guarding Ikoma Mountain for thousands of years."
"What is a Shikigami?" Meng Xiang was a little curious.
"Shikigami are supernatural creatures controlled by humans. Some shikigami with high spiritual power are passed down from generation to generation." The mother-in-law seemed reluctant to talk about this topic anymore. She changed the subject and said, "You can take a good walk around. The scenery here is nice. I'll go prepare food and make you a delicious meal at noon."
"Then I'll be looking forward to it." Meng Xiang returned his mother-in-law's courtesy with a smile. After watching her leave the house, Meng Xiang couldn't help but chuckled and muttered to himself, "It seems that things are getting interesting. This trip is worth it."
After a hearty lunch, my mother-in-law took a nap, so Meng Xiang used the excuse of going out for a walk to walk out of the small house and stroll around the village. In order to avoid being nagging by my mother-in-law, Meng Xiang did not ask the location of Ikoma Mountain, but took a walk around the village and found out that Ikoma Mountain was less than 10 kilometers away from the village. After asking for the direction, he ran at high speed and headed towards Ikoma Mountain.
Although the road is relatively secluded, there are still some people wandering around the roadside from time to time. I believe they are the tomb robbers that my mother-in-law mentioned. Meng Xiang was very moved. The reward for this branch plot is as high as 6,000 points. It is tantamount to sending death for ordinary tomb robbers to sneak into the tomb of the little character. There are precedents, but these people still don't give up. It can be seen that people die for money. For money, these people don't even care about their lives.
Meng Xiang didn't want to cause trouble, so he went into the jungle and continued to move forward. The 10-kilometer journey was nothing to Meng Xiang, who had gone through the hellish training of Huanhai. He only ran 7 or 8 kilometers before he felt a strong and strange aura ahead, just like the Demonic Forest. Anyone with a slightly sensitive sixth sense would feel that the hill ahead was unusual.
This aroused Meng Xiang's strong interest. He couldn't help but quicken his pace and ran forward to see what was going on.
Meng Xiang's trip was like a journey, but he could not imagine the hidden dangers. This side storyline almost cost him his life.
...