CH 6.2

Bai Lixin had already exited the cave entrance.

His legs were slender and straight, his forehead was slightly raised, and there were stars shining in his eyes. “I know how to get rid of them. Send me a private message when you get off the mountain and I will find a way to get down.”

Before Xia Chi could say anything else, Bai Lixin had already taken a few steps forward.

Xia Chi stared at the herbs in his hand with red eyes. His teeth creaked as he gritted them, and the hand that wasn’t holding the herbs was already white with clenching.

He gritted his teeth and finally lifted his head, only to find Bai Lixin looking at him with a subtle expression.

Xia Chi almost bit his tongue, “Brother, you haven’t left yet?”

Bai Lixin, “Uh, it seems like there’s no need to lure them away.”

Xia Chi, “???”

Bai Lixin, “They’re afraid of us, but I don’t know why.”

Xia Chi suddenly looked up and saw the monsters that had been leering at him earlier had taken several steps backwards and had a bit of fear in their blood-red eyes. Then they let out a low howl and left with a few rises and falls of their feet.

They ran away so fast that they were almost flying, as if something terrifying was chasing them.

Bai Lixin was quick with his hands. He picked up a head-sized stone from the ground and threw it heavily.

One of the monsters swayed a few times and unwillingly fell to the ground.

Xia Chi stammered, “No, brother, what are you doing?”

Bai Lixin took the rope from Xia Chi’s shoulder and said, “We are already here; let’s just take one back and study it.”

Xia Chi: “??!”

…

The sun had just set and all the villager NPCs had closed their doors tightly. Even the animals were silent.

This small, remote village was soon completely engulfed in darkness.

“It’s so quiet, it’s really fucking evil.” It was the same ward where the meeting had taken place during the day and at the same beds.

Night had fallen and there were people sleeping in the beds at the moment. On the ground were four men sleeping on the makeshift beds on the ground.

This was how they spent the previous night. The village was eerie and abnormal. Every villager was as good as dead, and it was surprising that such a small village could have people remaining in it, leave alone the monsters on the mountain.

The players didn’t dare to sleep, even if they were beaten to death.

A kerosene lamp was still lit in the room because they were afraid of the dark.

Liang Xi and Zhou Guang didn’t come back and had been taking care of the female players with fever in the next room.

The fact that there were only 22.5 hours in a day’s cycle made these four players overwhelmed, and they had no desire to sleep at the moment. In the dim light, the air was unusually heavy with the sound of ragged breathing.

One of them, Huang Mao, spoke nervously, “What should we do? The last hour before the river god’s curse is at night, so we can’t go up the mountain. Boss, is there any other way?”

Blacksmith, “There is another way. Let’s see if those two can get the herbs back first.”

Suddenly, a simultaneous ring rang out in their heads.

[Ding! 1x Players dead, 14 players currently remaining.]

The dim kerosene lamp swayed in the darkness, casting the furnishings and the figures on the walls in a dappled mess.

Huang Mao’s voice heaved a little, “Brother, is that waste beauty dead?”

A bald man spat, “Let them play hero and die, right? Don’t they know you die quickly when you play the hero? It’s fine that they went and couldn’t come back.”

The blacksmith did not speak, however. His breathing stopped for two seconds, and his eyes were a little hollow.

“Liang Xi and Zhou Guang are still taking care of those female players?”

Everyone was used to going to bed at eleven or twelve, and with so many people gathered together, they all wanted to chat to lighten the mood.

“Yeah, they seem to be dying.”

“They seem to have come out of a warm-up game and are quite close.”

“Did these guys know each other before? The warmup game is only 24 hours. How can they have such a deep bond?”

“Either they are holy mothers and fathers, or they are just putting on a show. I remember that the player named Li Cancan doesn’t look bad.”

The comment seemed to resonate with the males, and a few comprehensible laughs rang out in the darkness.

After just one day, everyone seemed to have become numb to death, and the death alert just now didn’t stir much in their hearts.

“Don’t you guys think the NPCs in this village are really stupid too?  Since they know there is a river god curse, why don’t they leave the village?”

“How can you call them NPCs if they’re not stupid. It’s all just a game setting. This copy wouldn’t be there if they left.”

There was a rustle of a quilt turning, and a player got up from under the covers and crept outside.

“Where are you going?”

The player smiled awkwardly, “I’m a bit anxious to pee. I’m going to the yard to find a place to pee.”

“Ugh, don’t go, bear with it until tomorrow at dawn, who knows what’s out there.”

“Isn’t the village safe? Is he going to pee in the house if he doesn’t go? Go, go, hurry back.”

The player laughed awkwardly and tiptoed out the door, craning his neck to quickly find a corner to pee.

The village, which had seemed somewhat lively during the day, was now dead silent.

There was a heavy ‘tap’ of his shoes on the ground.

He gulped and could hear the sound of saliva rolling down his throat and sliding into his esophagus.

Scientists had once conducted experiments to test human tolerance for silence by placing subjects in enclosed rooms of varying decibels.

Absolute 0 decibels, 10 decibels, 20 decibels… all the way up to noise decibels.

It was expected that the decibels of noise would be the most unacceptable to humans, but the test subjects in the absolutely silent 0 decibel room were the first to break down.

The test subjects in the noise decibels experienced anxiety and irritability. While the high decibels tormented humans physically, the silence tormented them psychologically.

In the deadly silence, the test subjects’ breathing and heartbeats were amplified to an infinite extent, and they suffered from varying degrees of hallucinations, tinnitus, fear, and even psychosis.

A cold breeze hit the player and blew into the back of his neck. He shrank his neck and slowed his pace even more.

When he finished peeing and lifted his trousers to leave, he looked up only to see a person in front of him.

The player was startled at first and a closer look revealed that the person was standing motionless.

The figure was short and only about five meters high. It was hunched over and wrapped in dark clothing.

He shouted boldly, “Who are you?”

The man in front of him seemed startled, and his shoulders shook visibly.

Seeing that the person in front of him was frightened, the player strengthened his courage and took two more steps forward. He was almost behind the figure when he asked again, “What are you doing here?”

Under the repeated questioning of the player, the figure slowly turned back…

[Ding! 1x Players dead, 13 players currently remaining.]