CH 5.2

The road up the mountain was a small man-made trampled dirt path. It was rugged and narrow and could only accommodate one person.

Xia Chi opened the way in front while Bai Lixin opened the task panel.

[Clearance mission: Survive 72 hours. (22:05:03/72:00:00)]

[Additional Task: Find the truth about the River God’s Curse. (Progress 2%/100%)]

Twenty-two hours had passed.

Bai Lixin found out that game friends could only be added face-to-face, so he added Liang Xi and Zhou Guang’s as friends separately before he left.

Through the information Xia Chi gave him, he learned that players were required to do mandatory tasks during the day.

Once the rooster crowed, NPCs would come and find them no matter where they were.

From then on, it was mandatory work time for all players until the sun hung over the dome.

During this time, some of the NPCs need their land ploughed, some need help stroking iron, some need to see a doctor…

It was not until noon, when the players were all tired and exhausted, that the NPCs would leave them alone. Then in the afternoon and evening were free time for the players to move around.

One player had tried to refuse, and the next moment, he was thrown into a small dark room by the NPCs.

By the time he was let out at noon, the player had been beaten to a pulp and would have died if it weren’t for Liang Xi’s treatment.

Most of the players drew villager roles whose job was to farm the land.

Xia Chi and Zhou Guang both drew this as well.

Bai Lixin was suddenly curious. He had overslept today without participating in the work and wondered what the Saint’s job was.

They say that NPCs can find players wherever they are, so why didn’t they find him this morning? Was it because the back mountain was inaccessible to NPCs or had they lost his position?

The two walked for a few more minutes when Xia Chi suddenly dragged Bai Lixin behind a boulder and then made a “shhh” gesture towards him.

A private chat prompt sounded in the friends column.

Xia Chi pointed in a direction: [Brother, there are people there.]

Bai Lixin looked over and saw several dark figures with their backs hunched over as they slowly moved in one direction.

Xia Chi: [What do we do?]

Bai Lixin: [Secretly follow and have a look.]

Xia Chi: [Okay.]

This back mountain wasn’t really high, and it would only take two hours to go up and down the mountain. There were still nearly two hours before yesterday’s evening descent, which was plenty of time.

The two men merged themselves into the trees, one after the other, and carefully followed the few dark figures in front of them.

After following for about ten minutes, the figures stopped in front of a small earthen bale with a gravestone in front of it. The place was dim and it was a little far away, so the two men could not read the writing on it.

The figures bent over and rustled around for a while before kneeling in front of the tombstone as if paying their respects.

Villager 1: “It’s been 30 years. You’ve been dead for 30 years, and we’ve all been duly punished. Are you still not sparing us?”

Villager 2: “Forgive us, this village is finished. Please, we know we were wrong. Let us go.”

Villager 3: “We have always taken good care of your family. Grandma Sang is still in good health. Bao’er, forgive us!”

Bao’er?

Xia Chi and Bai Lixin looked at each other and both saw surprise in each other’s eyes.

The “Grandma Sang” these villagers were talking about should have been the old woman they had seen earlier.

The “Bao’er” that Grandma Sang had been looking for was already dead, and had been dead for 30 years.

[Ding!]

A system tone sounded in their minds.

[Congratulations to the players for finding a clue to the River God’s curse. Each has been added at 5% progress.]

The sun moved a little more to the west.

One of the villagers looked at the sky and stood up anxiously, “Let’s get going, it’s getting dark.”

The other two villagers shivered at the words and hurriedly stood up as well, “Yes, yes, let’s go, let’s go, those monsters are coming out.”

As the three villagers spoke, their feet were like they had wheels planted on them, and they disappeared from Bai Lixin and Xia Chi’s sight in just a few seconds.

Only when they were sure that the villagers had left did the two come out from behind the tree and walk to the tombstone.

They glanced at the gravestone and saw five large letters written on it: Tomb of Sang Bao’er. There was also a black and white photograph on the tombstone that had yellowed. The girl in the photograph looked only 16 or 17 years old, with an oval face and almond eyes curved up. She looked pure and lovely.

A gust of wind blew the paper money that the villagers had just scattered, landing on the girl’s photo and leaving only a smiling corner of her mouth.

Xia Chi suddenly felt a chill run through his body, and goose bumps sprang up uncontrollably.

He crossed his arms and rubbed the goose bumps on his arms. The more he looked at the exposed corner of the mouth, the more creepy he felt.

Bai Lixin, “Do you have your phone with you?”

Xia Chi, “Yes.”

Bai Lixin pointed to the tombstone, “Take a picture.”

“Xin… brother Xin.” Xia Chi stammered as he took the picture, “Let’s go quickly. Why do I feel that it’s gradually getting darker?”

Bai Lixin frowned and looked up at the sky, then at the time on the mission.

[22:28:45 /72:00:00]

Suddenly, a bad premonition appeared in Bai Lixin’s mind.

He immediately pulled up Xia Chi and desperately ran through the woods, “Run!”

Although Xia Chi did not know what was happening, he immediately followed Bai Lixin’s footsteps and shouted as he ran, “What’s going on, brother?”

Bai Lixin, “The time is wrong!”

Xia Chi, “What?”

Bai Lixin, “The sun is setting too fast. This copy doesn’t have 24 hours in a day! Dusk is coming soon!”

Xia Chi’s scalp tingled as he once again looked at the sun in the distance.

The sun, which had been slowly descending half an hour ago, had now surprisingly run behind the mountains in the distance. The last bit of dusk had tinted the mountains with a halo of orange, and that halo was disappearing silently at a speed visible to the naked eye!

He opened the quest bar and looked at the time.

[22:29:59 /72:00:00]

As the time in front of them jumped again, an ear-piercing alarm sounded in both of their minds at the same time.

[Warning! Dusk is falling. The monster “Red Spider” is coming out to capture people. Please leave the back mountain as soon as possible!]

With a few loud bangs, four or five monsters suddenly landed in front of them, roaring and looking down at them!

One monster slowly sank its head down and opened its jaws wide, exposing its bloody mouth towards them, as if waiting for the lamb to enter the tiger’s den.

When the two of them were about to crash into the monster’s mouth, Bai Lixin threw the crutch in his hand, and it firmly kept the monster’s mouth open, causing the monster to roar in pain.

The next moment, Bai Lixin grabbed at a nearby tree and, in a heavy tail swing at the limit of the pull, dragged Xia Chi to run in the other direction.

The monster behind him roared and immediately followed.

Xia Chi screamed, putting all his strength under his feet, “Mom, help!”

Bai Lixin, “It’s not good to call mom now; call brother!”

Xia Chi, “Mom! Save brother!”

Bai Lixin, “….”

You’d better shut up!

The more Bai Lixin ran, the more he felt that the scene around him was somewhat familiar.

This was near yesterday’s cave! The puddle of blood from the monster exposed to the sun today might still be there, and using that blood might be able to help them conceal their scent.

Bai Lixin followed yesterday’s flight through the forest. The monster was about to bite them on several occasions, only to be thrown off by one of Bai Lixin’s great turns again. Gradually, Bai Lixin realized that although these monsters were extremely good at jumping and running, they had very poor agility.

With that, he began to pull Xia Chi through the woods in a snake-like manner.

It didn’t take long for the monsters to be thrown off by a few meters. He found the cave and the pool of blood.

Without hesitation, Bai Lixin hurriedly pulled Xia Chi to the blood puddle.

Just as he was about to wipe a handful of blood on Xia Chi to cover up the smell, his hand suddenly stopped.

The red spiders that were chasing them had stopped in their tracks.

They stopped a few meters away from the cave, rubbing the soles of their feet in annoyance but not daring to come any closer.

Bai Lixin’s heart stirred, suddenly remembering that it seemed to be like this during the day.

The monster exposed to the sun could have hidden in the cave, but it instead desperately crawled in the opposite direction.

Were these monsters afraid of this cave?

What was it in this cave that they were afraid of?

It was too late to think about it; the herbs needed to save people were inside, so Bai Lixin decisively pulled up Xia Chi, “Come on!”