CH 104

(Zhou Ah Ying)

The detective was paying close attention to what was going on when something extremely cold was shoved into his hand. He thought it was a ghost attack and leaped up in place. 

As a result, when he jumped up, he discovered that it was simply a gold bracelet.

“Hey, what are you doing?” the detective inquired, baffled.

To his surprise, this question caused the doctor to crumple. She covered her face and kept shaking her head: “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it, I don’t want to do this either…”

The detective: ? 

Didn’t she just hand him a gold bracelet? Why was she acting as if she was murdering his entire family?

Doctor: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

“What’s wrong with you?” the detective was worried for the doctor.

The doctor was a newbie, and her psychological strength was lacking. So, as soon as she was asked, she confessed everything: “I don’t want to die, I’m cursed, I don’t want to die!”

“Cursed?” The detective appeared to realize something and hauled the doctor to question, “What curse?

The doctor raised her sleeve to reveal the sarcoma sequence on her wrist, then shook her head frantically: “I didn’t mean it. It was all her! Yes, she told me!”

Maybe the doctor would feel better if someone took the blame, so she placed all of the guilt on Su Xiaoying’s shoulders: “She informed me that the curse could be transferred. I didn’t want to, believe me!”

The detective felt a chill and subconsciously proceeded to find Su Xiaoying. 

Su Xiaoying had not expected the doctor to be both stupid and malicious, suddenly exposing her. She gave an awkward smile before turning around and fleeing without hesitation.

It’s simply that she took two steps before being whacked on the knee by a stone. She threw herself on the ground after falling on her knees as a conditioned reflex.

Zhou Wenyan hurled the stone in his hand, “accidentally” landing it near her.

The detective rushed up and subdued her: “How could it be you? It’s obvious that we saved you. You’re ungrateful!” 

The doctor, who was crying, said, “In any case, the person has been rescued. Why don’t we get out of here quickly, I don’t want to stay…”

The natives on the ground continued to groan.

The scene was rather chaotic for a while.

Shen Dongqing picked up a wooden stick from the ground, walked over to Su Xiaoying, lightly brushed and pushed it on her heart, then jabbed it on the ground. 

Su Xiaoying could have perished on the spot if there had been a slight change in distance.

“Let’s Persuade,” Shen Dongqing stated, holding the wooden stick.

It was more Intimidation than Persuasion.

The game reminded him: [This is a key NPC, highly important…] 

Shen Dongqing blinked innocently: “That’s why I’m persuading her.”

Otherwise, he would have started beating her up by now.

The game was silent for a moment: [… Carrying out Persuasion check.]

[In Su Xiaoying’s eyes, your face is really kind, and with the stick stabbed next to the heart, she is entirely convinced by you and willing to say anything.] 

Shen Dongqing nodded in satisfaction and asked: “What’s the deal with this offering sacrifice?”

Su Xiaoying: “I, I don’t know, I’m also a victim…”

Shen Dongqing: “Then I’ll change the question. What’s this curse all about?”

Su Xiaoying couldn’t say she didn’t know this time. After all, she was the one who told the doctor that the sarcomas on her body were the result of a curse. She could only tell the truth: “I also heard it from other locals.” 

The original ancient town was calm and serene, and the people who lived there were warm and welcoming. They were harmless even if they believed in some feudal superstition. After all, it was only temple worship and incense burning; nothing bad would happen.

Until one day, that is.

The Miaozhu who served the Girls’ Temple stated that he had a dream in which he predicted that the ancient town will be hit by torrential rain and mountain flash floods straight away. They could take temporary refuge in a cave behind the Girls’ Temple. They couldn’t, however, stay in the cave for long. They had to leave immediately if the disaster was finished; they couldn’t stay for another second.

The townspeople retreated to this hidden cave as advised, but after the mountain torrent passed, they were unwilling to depart in accordance with the Miaozhu’s arrangement. 

Because the cave had gold.

Who can remain calm in the face of gleaming gold?

Who made the first move is unknown. The Miaozhu had been beaten to death by the time they came to their senses, but it didn’t matter at all because they had gold.

The entire mountain’s hinterland was rich in gold. 

The natives dug deeper and deeper, gaining more and more gold.

It’s just that they hadn’t been happy for too long when they discovered that something strange had occurred in town.

There were no new babies born, for example. For instance, everyone was sick.

It was a lethal sickness that was simply disgusting. People who had been into contact with the gold had sarcomas on every inch of their skin, which were as heavy as a cluster of full grapes. 

The locals were also unable to extract more gold because a creature, also covered in sarcomas, emerged from the cave.

The natives went to beg at the Girls’ Temple, but the Girls’ Temple did not respond. The Girl stone statue had degenerated into a piece of stone devoid of divinity and was mute.

So they went crazy and came up with the idea of offering sacrifices, throwing members of the Miaozhu clan into the cave to placate the creature that emerged from it.

Surprisingly, this idea worked. Moreover, that creature liked women. 

As a result, instead of serving the Girls’ Temple, the Miaozhu clan became the monster’s brides. A monster’s bride would dedicate herself to the residents of the entire ancient town every eighteen years.

Thus, the locals thought she was a “good girl.”

Of course, it made no difference if she wasn’t a good girl. Individual will was inconsequential in the face of community power. She would be flung into the monster’s clutches whether she was a good girl or not.

The natives then restored to normal, and the sarcomas vanished, but they were unable to leave the ancient settlement. Every day, they had to sip water from the small pool linked to the cave. 

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Su Xiaoying: …

Why don’t you feel the slightest sympathy after hearing it?

Shen Dongqing: “If you court disaster, no one can save you. Is that right, Zhou Ah Ying?” 

Su Xiaoying tensed for a second, then stared blankly at Shen Dongqing: “I’m Su Xiaoying.”

Shen Dongqing: “You’re not.”

Su Xiaoying: “I…”

Her words stopped under the deterrence of the stick. 

Shen Dongqing urged seriously: “You’d better think it over carefully.”

Su Xiaoying: “I’m Su Xiaoying, do I still need to think about it?”

Shen Dongqing reached into his pocket and pulled out the half-torn photograph. The girl with the braided hair in the picture had lowered her head, but the familiar countenance could be seen.

“It’s you, right?” 

Su Xiaoying nodded: “This is me, but why are you using a photo to confirm who I am?”

Shen Dongqing: “Ah! To make a guess. Anyway, guess one of two names and you’ll always be right.”

Su Xiaoying: ?

Shen Dongqing had yet to offer any proof, which she would subsequently refute, but this did not occur. How was she supposed to refute anything if everyone just guessed it? 

The detective made a timely appearance to lift the siege: “Perform Psychology check.”

[Psychology check is successful.]

[Su Xiaoying’s face is expressionless. She clearly has no idea why you asked this question. Do you require her to prove that she is ‘Su Xiaoying’? It’s tough to prove “I am me” without an ID card.]

The detective was extremely confused: “The game says she is Su Xiaoying. The game is unlikely to be wrong, isn’t it?” 

After going through so many Checks, he was already confident in the game; without any doubt.

Shen Dongqing: “I can’t be wrong either.”

Detective: “Uh…”

He wasn’t sure which side he should believe. 

Su Xiaoying: “I’m really not Zhou Ah Ying. What nonsense are you on about?”

Shen Dongqing looked down at Su Xiaoying for a long time before saying, “At first, I was unsure. But based on your reaction, I’m convinced you’re Zhou Ah Ying.”

Su Xiaoying, oh no, Zhou Ah Ying’s face sank as she realized she’d been discovered and stopped pretending: “How did you uncover my flaws?”

“I’ve tricked you,” Shen Dongqing remarked calmly. 

Zhou Ah Ying’s head was filled with question marks.

Shen Dongqing: “I didn’t expect you to be scared and admit it at once.”

Zhou Ah Ying only felt stuffy in her chest and nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

What the hell was going on here? He’d cheated and guessed in order to figure out her long-hidden identity. 

The detective looked at Zhou Ah Ying and then at Shen Dongqing: “What?! She’s really fake? Doesn’t that mean the game is lying to us?”

Shen Dongqing: “Yes.”

“But why?” the detective couldn’t comprehend.

The game did not dare to make a sound this time. 

“There is no new mode at all,” Zhou Wenyan stated abruptly.

The detective was shocked: “Huh?”

Zhou Wenyan: “In other words, this new mode is also a part of this game instance. Even if it is not a so-called ‘TRPG,’ it could be something else.”

In the past, this deceptive method was to play word games at the beginning, but the game system was more advanced now and interacted in real time, with the ultimate goal of killing players. 

The game appeared to hate the two of them very much. It’s a pity it couldn’t tamper with the instance’s content and could only deceive players with dirty tricks.

It was indeed a brilliant setup.

Whatever you wanted to do, you had to roll the dice.

At the start of the instance, the game’s responses were all correct, and the players would unwittingly rely on and trust the game. However, these responses were purely superficial and would not involve anything life-threatening. 

However, at a later critical point in time, the game’s responses were incorrect. A single false answer was enough to kill all of the players.

The detective broke out in a cold sweat as he realized what Zhou Wenyan had said.

Fuck, this was virtual murder!

“How did you find out?” 

“Just think about the habit of this stupid game,” Zhou Wenyan replied lazily.

Allowing them to be unaware of their surroundings and hit the wall everywhere due to not understanding the game’s rules. This was what the game was capable of.

The reason a rookie player who knew the rules of the new mode was purposefully placed here was to allow them to grasp the rules, become accustomed to them, and be 100% certain of them.

The detective exploded into obscenities: “Fuck!” 

It turned out Zhou Wenyan did not believe the game’s words from the start.

Shen Dongqing saw this new mode as a toy. Even if he played with it, he couldn’t become dependent on it. He liked making the game vomit blood out of rage rather than asking the game for assistance.

The voice that had always had a strong sense of presence silently shut up after the players saw through the game’s ruse.

Then Zhou Ah Ying began to cause further confusion. She continued repeating, terrified, “She’s here, she’s here—” 

The players followed her to the location she indicated and went to investigate.

At the time, they were standing on the edge of an overhanging cliff, and the direction Zhou Ah Ying pointed was below the precipice.

Shen Dongqing walked over and peered down.

This precipice was not particularly high, and beneath it was the small pool. 

The formerly tranquil water surface churned, and a vortex formed in the center, rolling up the seaweed, sand, and gold at the pool’s bottom, until a tentacle erupted from it and landed on the cliff’s edge.

It’s difficult to put into words what kind of creature it was.

It resembled a humanoid, but the flesh on the torso had changed into tentacle strips, which were covered with “purple grapes.” The layers were piled on top of one other, creating a colossal figure.

It slowly crawled up the cliff, leaning against one of the strips for support to prop its huge body. 

The natives’ sacrificial offering appeared to be successful, and even if the offering fled, the monster still came to the invitation.

Even though the players saw through the game’s deception, the game had to bite the bullet and come out to broadcast the real-time situation, according to the settings of this game instance: [Entering battle round…]

Shen Dongqing stomped on the tentacle swiftly, taking advantage of the fact that the game hadn’t completed spewing nonsense.

Facts demonstrated that even the tentacles hurt, thus it unconsciously let go of its grip. 

Splash—

That thing went back to where it came from.

The game’s words suddenly came to a halt.

What battle? The monster had fallen into the water, and they appeared to be able to be rescued. 

Shen Dongqing poked his head out and remarked that the water splash was rather large.

Zhou Ah Ying’s expression froze.

She had intended to divert the subject and focus everyone’s attention on the monster, but that stupid creature haaad to fall off and put her back in an embarrassing situation, didn’t it?

Shen Dongqing rubbed his chin and commented: “Oh! Its combat power doesn’t appear to be strong.” 

[Requesting that all players pass the Luck Test.]

[Luck Test failed.]

[The creature will ascend the cliff and slaughter you three minutes later. Please be ready to enter the battle round and defend yourself against the monster’s attacks.]

Shen Dongqing blinked: “Slaughter? Are you sure?” 

He thought this monster was a weak chicken.

[……]

Three minutes elapsed during this discourse, and the tentacle monster climbed back up. This time it was smart and crawled up with two tentacles and hauled itself up with considerable effort.

The tentacle monster’s tentacles squirmed, leaving mucus trails on the ground. A gap in its head opened up, displaying the fine teeth growing inside. 

It appeared to be looking for something.

Zhou Ah Ying kept retreating and finally hid behind the doctor to avoid the tentacle monster’s gaze, shouting anxiously, “She’s here, she’s here, kill her quickly, or we’ll all die—”

The tentacle monster was utterly grotesque in appearance. All it had to do was stand there to be a horror film.

“Why don’t we get rid of this monster first?” The detective was terrified. 

“We won’t be able to leave if we dispose of her,” Shen Dongqing observed after a while.

The detective: “…What do you mean?”

Zhou Wenyan: “This is Su Xiaoying.”

The detective almost sprayed out a mouthful of water: “Wh… what? Su Xiaoying?” 

He girded his loins and looked at the tentacle monster, wondering: Do I really need to bring this thing back? No way!

Zhou Ah Ying screeched: “What are you waiting for? If you don’t kill her, none of you will be able to get out of this place!”

The monster stood there quietly, its tentacles writhing incessantly, which was extremely frightening.

“Take a look at her! She’s no longer human!” 

The tentacle monster remained motionless, just raising a tentacle and pointing it.

The doctor was stunned: “Me? No, no!” She hurriedly dodged away, only to discover that the tentacle was not following her, but was still pointing to where Zhou Ah Ying was standing.

Tentacle Monster most likely meant “give her to me.”

Zhou Ah Ying: “No, don’t! You are my family, and you must save me, save me!” 

During the time she spent with the players, she had worked out Zhou Wenyan’s identity, and now she was playing the family card.

“I’ll tell you how to get out of here! Save me! Please save me!”

Zhou Wenyan expressed that you should handle your own business.

The doctor took it a step further. She grabbed Zhou Ah Ying and shoved her forward to demonstrate her attitude, claiming that none of this had anything to do with her. 

Zhou Ah Ying was vulnerable after losing all her devious plots and intrigues, and she was captured by the tentacle monster, powerless to resist. The tentacles rolled around and slowly wrapped themselves over Zhou Ah Ying, showing only a pair of terrified eyes.

Moments later, a flood of mucus poured all over the ground from the spaces in the tentacles. The tentacles appeared to have eaten their fill and burrowed into the body. When the last tentacle went in, the tentacle monster disappeared. Instead, there was an eighteen-year-old girl standing there.

It was Su Xiaoying.

Su Xiaoying said: “Thank you…people have been here before, but they chose to believe her.” 

Those players clearly didn’t choose to believe Zhou Ah Ying, but rather the game.

After all, they’d been led about by the game and had complete faith in Zhou Ah Ying’s false persona. She must have seen the tentacle monster as hostile, and they eventually fought to the death.

Perhaps because her utter hatred had been avenged, Su Xiaoying looked very calm: “You must be curious about the past, right? What Zhou Ah Ying told you is very close to the truth.”

The Girls’ Temple suppressed a monster and was previously indifferent to the world. Later, a small town formed here, and the residents believed in the Girls’ Temple, which they sanctified with incense. 

As the expression goes, accepting anything obligates you to make a concession to the other party. The Girls’ Temple would naturally shelter these locals. As the time for the mountain flash flood approached, the Girls’ Temple did not hesitate to admit the locals to the safest place.

It didn’t matter if there was a monster deep in that area as long as the residents left when the flash flood receded.

It did not, however, predict the avarice in people’s hearts. The natives were lured by gold and refused to depart empty-handed, releasing the evil within. As a result of revealing the will of heaven, the Girls’ Temple lost its divinity and was unable to subdue the monster again.

The monster corroded the indigenous people, turning them neither human nor ghost. 

As a result, successive groups of players had speculated whether the people here were human or not, while Shen Dongqing could only respond that they were not ghosts because they were in a peculiar state, neither human nor ghost.

Su Xiaoying was merely a small part of this tragedy.

Her brief gesture of kindness turned her into a tribute to the monster.

“I want to ask you guys for a favor,” Su Xiaoying continued. 

“Kill me.”

The detective was the first to disagree: “I was entrusted by your family to come find you, and I must take you back.”

“Actually, I’m already dead, and I can’t leave this town, just like them,” Su Xiaoying smiled, pointing to the neither-human-nor-ghost freaks lying on the ground. “Of course, so are you guys,” she added.

Detective: “We?” 

Su Xiaoying said, “You two touched gold.”

The doctor had picked up the gold bracelet out of momentary greed, but the detective was a complete victim. Both of them had now fallen into the same situation, which was simply bad luck.

Su Xiaoying: “That’s not actually gold, but a monster’s eggs, which parasitize on people’s bodies to reproduce offspring.”

The doctor retched for a while. 

The detective’s expression had ashened even further.

Seeing that the atmosphere was almost ready, Su Xiaoying turned to face Zhou Wenyan: “But… leaving is not impossible.”

“Oh?” said Zhou Wenyan, raising his brows.

Su Xiaoying: “The natives in the ancient town are all cursed, and there have been no newborns since then, but you are an exception.” 

Zhou Wenyan clicked his tongue in disgust.

He knew it! The game had arranged such a role for him with evil intentions.

“You were born under the aegis of the Girls’ Temple.” Su Xiaoying added, “In other words, you are the child of the Girl’s stone statue, but you were entrusted to be born in the Miaozhu clan.”

If this was true, it meant Zhou Ah Ying was… 

Su Xiaoying elaborated: “The previous generation of the Miaozhu clan included a male in addition to Zhou Ah Ying. He prayed to the Girl’s stone statue to help him defeat the monster, and the Girl’s stone statue bestowed upon him a child.”

That’s why Zhou Ah Ying went to buy the abortion medicine in secret.

Detective: “…Male?”

“Can males produce children?” Shen Dongqing asked in distrust, his head cocked. “You can, too?” he leaned in and squeezed Zhou Wenyan’s arm. 

“It’s only a character card,” Zhou Wenyan remarked helplessly.

Shen Dongqing’s eyes showed a hint of disappointment.

Su Xiaoying: …Wait a minute! Isn’t the point you’re focusing on too wrong?

“So you can suppress the monster again,” Su Xiaoying strove hard to smooth out the crooked plot. “Everyone of us will be curse-free in this way.” 

The doctor’s and detective’s expressions changed in an instant, looking hopefully at Zhou Wenyan.

Zhou Wenyan, however, was not so easily deceived. He threw out two words lightly: “The price?”

Su Xiaoying was silent for a moment before saying, “…You were born with a destiny, and you must naturally die with it.”

Without a doubt, this death implied that the individual represented by this character card would be dead and buried in the game instance. 

“Do you look like a Holy Mother?” Shen Dongqing asked, turning his head and staring at Zhou Wenyan for a minute while stroking his chin.

“Of course not,” Zhou Wenyan laughed.

Su Xiaoying realized she couldn’t fool this group of players and instantly changed her approach, threatening, “If you don’t suppress the monster, you won’t be able to get out of here, and you will gradually be assimilated to become like this.”

Perhaps because Su Xiaoying was overstimulated, she couldn’t maintain her human form. Her visage twisted slightly, moving back and forth between human and Tentacle Monster as if it were jammed. 

She eventually transformed into a half-human, half-tentacle monstrosity. Despite this, she kept saying, “You should save us—”

At this point, the game popped out again to speed up the progress since it wanted to watch the show: [Requesting that all players perform an Investigation Check.]

After feigning to roll the dice, it declared: [Investigation Check is a huge success.]

[You notice that the ground beneath you is continually trembling, as if something is ready to drill out of it. With a ‘bang—,’ numerous stones shoot out, followed by a deep crack in the ground. A tentacle bores through it, as tall as a person and constantly swaying in mid-air like…] 

“Like a squid about to be made into a skewer,” Shen Dongqing finished the second half of the statement.

Game: …

Other players: …

This plot seems to be not quite right? 

In one sentence, it had gone from a life-or-death conflict between humans and monster to a midnight snack seafood shop with BBQ!