CH 62.2

August 18, 2023 by Wyrd

When they entered this instance, they were dressed in the attire of flower servants, and after that, when they became flower attendants of the Yenan family, they were also wearing the same attire. Regardless of which one, their arms were tightly concealed in long sleeves.

They didn’t know the specific features of Jiang Ying’s arms.

The hands connected to the arms were also extensively decayed, making it difficult to discern.

“Is it really Jiang Ying’s?” Su Wangsheng asked Zhu Shuangshuang, who had the most contact with Jiang Ying apart from Dai Dong.

Zhu Shuangshuang stared blankly and said, “I can’t tell either.”

Whether it was or not, they all knew the immense impact it would have on Dai Dong if he truly believed these were Jiang Ying’s arms.

For the past two days, he had been having nightmares, dreaming that Jiang Ying came back to him, saying how much pain she was in, how cold she was, and he was tormented to the point of losing his human form.

Just when he had finally improved a bit and thought he might be able to sleep well tonight, he saw Jiang Ying’s decaying arms emerging from the flowers.

The nauseating and terrifying flowers.

He was completely broken now.

“It’s my cowardice. It really was me who let go at that moment, allowing them to take you to the Dark Swamp.”

“It’s my fault. I’m a selfish and timid person!”

“No, please, I’m begging you.”

That decaying, muddy hand touched Dai Dong’s foot.

Dai Dong, who had been constantly retreating, trembled all over, feeling the cold and muddy touch, and burst into tears immediately.

However, he no longer screamed hysterically, just crying in sorrow.

He didn’t avoid moving back anymore, instead, he leaned forward and held onto that hand, tears dropping onto it one by one.

“I’ll take you away,” he said.

“I know, you came to find me. I’ll go with you.”

Dai Dong’s hand was marked with several scratches from that hand. He didn’t seem to feel any pain. He stood up, carrying the hand along with the flowerpot, and walked barefoot outside.

Su Wangsheng asked, “Dai Dong, where are you going?”

Dai Dong replied hoarsely, “To the Dark Swamp.”

“Take her deep into the Dark Swamp.”

Going to the Dark Swamp in the middle of the night, one could hardly anticipate what they would experience.

Just as Su Wangsheng and Zhu Shuangshuang were about to stop him, the gate of their courtyard was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

Yenan Wang entered with the Holy Maiden, excitedly pointing at Dai Dong and saying, “Holy Maiden, look, can he try tending to the flowers?”

At midnight, a man held a decaying arm in his embrace, and one of the hand’s fingers had pierced through his chest. Yet, he seemed oblivious to it.

Tears streaked his face, but the signs of his breakdown did not stem from the pain.

The Holy Maiden said, “Give it a try.”

Yenan Wang was especially delighted.

In the middle of the night, the people in white robes took Dai Dong to the Flower God’s temple.

The players were bewildered.

Zhu Shuangshuang asked, “How could he tend to the flowers?”

Su Wangsheng’s voice grew heavy as he said, “Do you all remember what Dai Dong said when we first arrived at this courtyard during room allocation?”

They were all puzzled for a moment, recalling his words.

Back then, during the room allocation, people who knew each other well were grouped together. Everyone wondered how the old woman in charge of room allocation knew.

Dai Dong, calm and analytical, a high-ranking member of the Hongyu Guild, had said that this instance might need to begin by examining the relationship between two people in each room.

He had also said that terror and pain were at least one of the elements within the instance.

Thinking like this, this time it indeed originated from the relationship between him and Jiang Ying, and he indeed felt tormented.

At that time, he certainly didn’t expect that he would be the first, and he probably didn’t expect it to be such a life-and-death relationship.

It wasn’t the confrontational situation they initially thought of.

Zhu Shuangshuang: “But how could anyone have foreseen that all this would happen?”

This sentence of hers did not include the entity that could have made this happen; it could be the system, the Flower God, the Holy Maiden, or perhaps the Holy Maiden and the group of major families.

The players were still unable to make sense of it all. There had been too much information on this day, and they didn’t know how to process it.

When it’s time for everyone to return to their rooms, several people glance at the room where Hua Feng was.

After such a commotion just now, he still hadn’t come out of his room.

Late at night was when the flowers were most active. Arms had grown out of Dai Dong’s flower, but Hua Feng’s room was very quiet.

It’s unclear if it’s truly quiet or if he’s clenching the towel in his teeth again.

Ning Su followed everyone to finish watching this event together and went back with his own flower.

When he returned, both of the little kids were awake, standing on a small stool and peering out the window.

As soon as Ning Su entered the room, Manman said to him, “Mom, I dislike that Holy Maiden.”

Ning Su: “...”

“Why is Ah Fei talking about her?”

“Just because I don’t like her.”

Ning Su couldn’t help but suspect that this Holy Maiden was actually a ghost master, or perhaps a demon master?

One dungeon world couldn’t accommodate two ghost masters, unless it’s Manman and Gui Sheng.

Otherwise, he couldn’t think of any other reason to dislike her.

On that night, the lily flower didn’t attack him, and Ning Su slept especially soundly.

Ning Su returned, and the two children were sleeping soundly.

After Dai Dong and his flower were taken away, their courtyard was left with only the uncontaminated flowers, aside from the one with Hua Feng. There would be no more incidents, and so the other players could sleep peacefully.

In the quietest moment of the yard, the lily flower vine slowly grew longer and wider, gradually taking on a humanoid shape.

It was a rough humanoid shape, lacking distinct facial features. The leaves on the black humanoid vine stretched slowly, as if breathing.

The humanoid vine stood silently beside Ning Su, its head slightly lowered, as if assessing.

The young man turned over, his feet hanging down from the wooden pallet. The pale soles of his feet touched the humanoid vine.

Coolness with a faint warmth spread onto the humanoid vine, causing it to tremble and dissipate in the room.

Ning Su made a sound, half asleep, and opened his eyes drowsily.

The four-petaled blood flower was quietly bathed in moonlight.

“I really want to eat.”

He said and fell asleep again.

A peaceful midnight.

After breakfast the next morning, Zhu Shuangshuang and Su Wangsheng went to Boss Qi’s place to see Fang Qi.

Now they were both Flower Attendants of the Yenan family, no longer fearing Boss Qi’s dark warehouse. Boss Qi was also very respectful to them, answering whatever they asked.

“What? Flower God’s temple? Why go there?” Zhu Shuangshuang asked in surprise when she heard Boss Qi say Fang Qi was at the Flower God’s Temple.

Boss Qi laughed and said, “Naturally, he’s going to the Flower God’s Temple to become a Flower Attendant.”

Now there were two players who were directly sent to the Flower God’s Temple.

After they came back, they learned that not only the two, but the courtyard where Jia Chensheng was also had two people taken to the Flower God’s Temple.

Su Wangsheng asked about the two people from Jia Chengsheng’s courtyard who were sent to the Flower God’s Temple, “What’s their situation? Did they suffer?”

“No,” Jia Chensheng said, “They were very happy.”

“They did indeed know each other before entering the instance, so they were assigned to the same room.”

Jia Chensheng elaborated on the information he knew, “To be precise, before entering the instance, they had mutual unspoken affection, neither of them knowing the other’s feelings for a long time. Being assigned to the same room was an opportunity. They became aware of each other and should have just gotten together.”

Finding out that the person one had secretly admired actually had feelings for them as well was truly one of the happiest and sweetest things in life.

Zhu Shuangshuang and Su Wangsheng were stunned. This was different from what they had speculated.

They couldn’t quite figure out what was going on anymore, nor did they know what to do.

Su Wangsheng said, “Let’s first pay our respects to the Flower God.”

As soon as this was mentioned, Zhu Shuangshuang felt even more distressed.

She had no idea how to devoutly believe in the Flower God.

“And Su Su?”

“He went to stake out a spot in front of the Flower God’s temple early this morning.”

“...”

Why on earth was he suddenly so devout?

If he wanted to secure a spot close to the statue, even coming by noon would be too late. He had to come early in the morning.

In the morning, it was the time for the people of Furen County to offer their gifts to the Flower God. If he came in the morning, he would have to kneel along with those offering gifts.

The young man didn’t find it bothersome at all. His eyes gazed through the crowd of gift-givers and settled on the statue inside the hall. His gaze was intense, his eyes clear as water.

Inside him was the purest form of belief and joy.

Every person who saw him felt like he was directly looking at the god.

As a devout believer.

Every time his forehead touched his palms, it was an expression of faith and admiration for the god.

Following that, a strange silence would envelop the surroundings.

In the afternoon, whether one believed the flower god or not, all the players and flower attendants gathered in front of the Flower God’s temple to participate in the worship ceremony.

Ning Su gave Su Wangsheng and Zhu Shuangshuang two cushions, so they weren’t squeezed to the outermost circle.

As the noon break for the Holy Maiden came to an end, she knelt on the cushion inside the hall. Today’s worship ceremony officially began.

In front of the Flower God’s temple, tens of thousands of people clasped their hands over their chests, then placed them on the ground, touching their foreheads to their palms.

“Little Taoist priest, did you notice?” Zhu Shuangshuang whispered to Su Wangsheng.

Her voice was so low, but Su Wangsheng could still hear the tremble within it.

When he heard himself speak, he also felt that breathless tremble. “I noticed.”

He said, “I can’t look at the god’s statue directly again.”

Zhu Shuangshuang stiffly pressed her head against her palms, burying it underneath. “When, when I saw Ning Su’s flower, that feeling of panic was very similar.”

At this moment, their hearts were pounding rapidly, surpassing the speed of a human heartbeat. It felt like their hearts would burst in the next second from the rapid pulsing.

This gave rise to an indescribable terror and palpitations.

All because they glanced at the god’s statue before bowing.

They thought that this heart-exploding panic would slowly ease, but it didn’t.

Su Wangsheng was right. They could no longer look directly at the god’s statue.

The fear from that one glance sharply pierced into the depths of their hearts, causing more cracks with every beat.

Zhu Shuangshuang trembled all over. Her voice not only trembled but also had a sobbing quality. “What should we do, Little Taoist Priest? How can we believe after this?”

“Don’t rush.” Beads of sweat dripped from Su Wangsheng’s forehead. He forced himself to calm down and said to Zhu Shuangshuang, “Look closely, it’s not just us.”

After about two minutes of kneeling, as the hymn of the Flower God was sung, everyone would stand up.

After two consecutive visits, Zhu Shuangshuang discovered something strange.

The players who came to worship for the first time were trembling all over, their faces pale, and sweat pouring down like rain.

Among the tens of thousands of people kneeling here, not a single person dared to look directly at the statue of the Flower God.

The last time they came to the Flower God’s temple, there were people passing by the front of the hall, offering gifts to the Flower God one after another. They didn’t notice any issues then.

But now, with no obstructions in front of them, facing the statue of the god directly, this fact became clear.

Zhu Shuangshuang looked at every person, and none of them had their gaze on the statue of the god.

The multitude of believers knelt before the Flower God’s temple, fanatically devoted to the god, yet they dared not cast even a glance at the statue.

How absurd and terrifying it was.

Zhu Shuangshuang didn’t even see the Holy Maiden look directly at the statue of the god.

Except for one exception.

When he stood up, the young man’s long hair fell over his shoulders. Despite his slender and straight back, he looked straight at his god.

As the wind blew, his long hair swayed lightly against his red robe, and his eyelashes guarded a focused and serene light.

His eyes were clear and pure, conveying his faith and adoration for the god in the most direct manner.