On a blood-stained path, Miss Shen stood with her head bowed in the deadly silent environment. Her usual elegance was gone, and an uncontrollable ferocity made the lines of her monkey-like face appear sinister.
This was more in line with Zhou Qi’an’s stereotype of wild monkeys.
“The system prompt has been gone for so long, we can go back now,” he stretched. “I still need to go to the police station to bail out my mom.”
The air suddenly fell silent.
After a while, the young girl whispered, “What did Auntie do? I know a pretty good lawyer.”
Zhou Qi’an: “Minor thing, tomb raiding.”
He didn’t directly mention the ancient corpse incident; otherwise, it would make his mom seem too abnormal.
“…”
Miss Shen turned around without a word. She didn’t even look at the players, probably afraid of losing control and breaking the rules.
Not long ago, Miss Shen had gone through an unspeakable ordeal.
After she stopped the female ghost, a small ghost suddenly appeared and started wreaking havoc. Just as she managed to stabilize the situation, the priest arrived and went on a killing spree, the entire process seamlessly connected. This wasn’t even the main point. According to another scenario, if either the priest or the Saintess had survived, she could have upgraded the instance.
But the priest actually self-destructed with the Saintess’s remains.
One minute before Zhou Qi’an and the others arrived, Miss Shen had just finished cleaning the bloodstains off herself, her gloomy expression completely contrasting with the weather.
“These damn players,” Miss Shen’s eyes were splitting with rage as she turned her back and walked away.
She was so afraid that one more glance at these people would make her unable to resist killing them.
The car was still in the old spot, and they still had to go through a mountain road to get back.
After walking about two-thirds of the way, Miss Shen’s ganoderma-shaped ears twitched. She keenly noticed that the footsteps behind them were wrong.
The footsteps were too heavy, occasionally accompanied by clanking sounds. She suddenly turned around and saw Zhou Qi’an and Ying Yu carrying a large red wooden box.
Before leaving the village, these two hadn’t forgotten to move things.
Actually, the players were even more curious than Miss Shen.
Apart from Kou Tuo who couldn’t help but have that old suspicion again, everyone else looked puzzled.
Sometimes items could be taken out of an instance, but they were all useless. They hadn’t considered the Hidden House Laboratory, after all, the laboratory had a large excavation team, and they always formed teams to go into instances. Ordinary players rarely encountered them in daily life.
Perhaps they were selling them to the official organization? It wasn’t as if no association had done that.
“Where’s Shen Zhiyi?” Zhou Qi’an occasionally looked back. Before leaving the village, they went to carry the box, and when they came out, Shen Zhiyi was gone.
Xu Gui: “Probably went to the restroom.”
That man was stranger than expected; they hadn’t even noticed someone missing from the team.
Anyway, they still had a section of mountain road to walk, so he would definitely catch up.
No sooner said than done, a commotion suddenly came from behind.
The moment they saw Shen Zhiyi, everyone’s expressions changed, especially Miss Shen’s, whose face almost cracked.
Numerous clotheslines were twisted into sturdy ropes. Shen Zhiyi was very strong, and it could be said that all evolved players had considerable strength, but that wasn’t the point. The point was…
He was dragging the exploded altar along!
X! This was too explosive!
“You left something behind.”
The altar dragged a deep furrow in the ground. The players instinctively quickly made way for him. Shen Zhiyi arrived in front of Zhou Qi’an.
A hint of surprise also appeared on Ying Yu’s face. He pushed up his glasses and said, “Is that feasible?”
Shen Zhiyi said blandly: “I have it under control.”
After the Saintess and the priest were gone, the altar was far less mysterious than before. Shen Zhiyi understood the game’s bottom line better than anyone; without the nourishment of resentment and having been blasted once, the altar was 90% useless.
However, the remaining 10% was enough for Ying Yu’s laboratory to digest.
Miss Shen rebuked: “Put that down, you…”
Shen Zhiyi didn’t even look at her: “What are you?”
Zhou Qi’an softly reminded him: “Be polite.”
Completely unaware that he himself was carrying a large red wooden box.
In the suffocating atmosphere, the players shivered violently and quickly walked forward. After ensuring that the staff couldn’t see their expressions, a hint of schadenfreude was hidden in their eyes.
“Serves them right.”
Miss Shen, holding the position of team leader, had not been shy about stirring up trouble. If it weren’t for a series of unforeseen events, they wouldn’t dare to imagine how badly they would have been screwed over by this staff member who held a certain amount of authority.
Even when the mission progress reached the end, the other party still insisted that the reason for the altar’s destruction was an incorrect kneeling posture.
Seemingly walking forward with a tense expression, but inwardly: Hahahaha.
Finally reaching the bus, Miss Shen jumped into the driver’s seat and looked straight ahead, out of sight, out of mind.
“One, two.”
“One, two, come on!”
The monkey ears, like radar, were incredibly sensitive, able to catch even the sounds of breathing.
The massive altar was difficult to squeeze in, getting stuck at the front door. Zhou Qi’an was pushing hard; luckily, it had been blasted once, and a lot of its edges were missing.
It was finally pushed on board.
Miss Shen almost crushed the steering wheel.
Who would have thought they’d have to do physical labor just before leaving the instance? Zhou Qi’an gasped for breath: “Master Shen, could you please open the back door?”
To make it easier for them to get on, and then drag the shattered altar in from the inside.
Miss Shen’s smooth fur stood on end: Let it all be destroyed.
If she weren’t certain that the game rules would eliminate her before she could act, she might genuinely sacrifice these bastards with blood. Zhou Qi’an also seemed to have grasped the rules precisely. He leaned against the door, his whole person exuding a rogue-like aura, staring intently at her.
The back door was opened after all, and Zhou Qi’an ran to the back.
At least Miss Shen achieved her initial wish: out of sight, out of mind.
Zhou Qi’an went to great lengths to set the altar upright. Dragging it from the narrow aisle to the back was even more troublesome, a step that Shen Zhiyi almost completely took over.
After everything was settled, they rested in the back seats. Whenever a player curiously turned their head, they would meet Shen Zhiyi’s cold, warning gaze. After a few times, they simply stopped paying attention. Getting out of the instance alive was the main priority.
As the car drove further and further, a few items in the box gradually disappeared.
Ying Yu briefly explained: “If the radiation energy exceeds a certain threshold, it cannot be taken out.”
He was quite satisfied with the gains from this trip. Zhou Qi’an was indeed like a key, making it easier to open instances that could drop useful materials.
Upon hearing Ying Yu mention that he would apply for an item as his reward for this trip as promised, Zhou Qi’an almost wanted to kill two birds with one stone and ask the other party to help keep his mother locked up for two more days.
Ultimately, Zhou Qi’an managed to hold back.
Knowing when to quit was a virtue, just as he no longer provoked Miss Shen at this moment.
“We’ve taken everything we can. From now on, let’s play it safe.”
Along the way, Zhou Qi’an intently watched the scenery outside the car window. The dense black dots in mid-air were still there.
Suddenly, his gaze tightened.
He saw countless monsters running outside, not chasing the bus, but moving in twisted postures towards the center of the rift.
What was an extremely terrifying wormhole for humans was, to them, more like a fatal temptation.
“What’s going on?”
Liangye Manor had become a mobile ghost manor, so encountering the mistress was unexpected yet reasonable. But now, it seemed these monsters were actively pursuing the spatial rift.
In the seat next to him, Shen Zhiyi’s gaze casually swept outside the window, and he quickly lost interest: “Perhaps the rift caused some special energy to erupt when the instance ended, and some monsters in the passage felt the energy and wanted to come and devour it.”
His speculative words, spoken calmly, inexplicably carried a sense of certainty.
Zhou Qi’an glanced out of the corner of his eye at Ying Yu and noticed that the latter’s gaze was a little off, constantly staring at one of the figures.
After watching for a few seconds, Ying Yu opened the window without warning.
This startled the other players. Fearing that a monster might jump in, they quickly moved to other seats.
They were almost out; now was not the time to cause trouble.
“Mr. Ying, calm down,” Zhou Qi’an immediately reminded him.
Ying Yu’s self-control was very strong. He merely opened the window, his slightly narrowed eyes seemingly confirming something.
Zhou Qi’an followed his gaze, finally settling on one of the more conspicuous monsters.
It was conspicuous simply because it looked more human-like.
The black shadow was covered in a tattered black hoodie, its face unclear. It acted extremely domineeringly, even directly giving a black-handed gut punch to a monster blocking its way in front.
It was then that Zhou Qi’an saw the strange color and shape of its hand. It could even split down the middle, like octopus tentacles sucking bone marrow.
“…”
Despite the players sitting far away, they kept an eye on the developing situation.
Except for the severely myopic female teacher, everyone else felt nauseous from this disgusting scene. The monster seemed to sense that someone was watching it. It turned slightly and, from a distance, its gaze met Ying Yu’s directly.
Everyone was worried that the monster would charge in, but unexpectedly, the moment their gazes met, the monster suddenly turned its head and instead sped up, rushing forward.
Zhou Qi’an could clearly distinguish the emotions in the monster’s eyes: fear, disgust… and hatred.
He was sure he hadn’t seen wrong, because many NPCs had looked at him with such eyes.
A moment later, Ying Yu closed the car window again.
The fishy smell of the ominous wind was blocked by the glass, and silence returned to the car.
The car was definitely not the place to talk, so Zhou Qi’an didn’t ask anything immediately. Instead, he closed his eyes to rest.
After an unknown amount of time, a rapid beeping sound rang out, the broadcast volume turned up to maximum. Each button press was accompanied by a flashing red light.
“Exit, arrived at destination, exit!”
Miss Shen’s tail was frantically poking the red button, almost sparking.
Moving the altar down was another troublesome task. Zhou Qi’an was the last to get off the bus. The bus sped away, and he was almost run over by the wheels: “Watch out!”
Doesn’t she know that stability is poor when people are moving things?
Shen Zhiyi frowned: “Next time you encounter her, drive her car away.”
Zhou Qi’an’s mouth twitched. He didn’t want a “next time” like that.
They had brought back quite a few things from Fengshui Village, piled up in a miscellaneous fashion, and could only temporarily leave them there.
The other players were already impatient to leave this foggy, haunted place.
Xu Gui extended his beautiful hand, smiling and waving goodbye to Zhou Qi’an, his voice returning to its initial coolness: “In the vast sea of humanity, I look forward to fate guiding our next encounter.”
Zhou Qi’an chuckled dryly and nodded.
Some “next times” really weren’t necessary.
Amidst the vast world, the players’ figures began to disappear one by one, until only the three of them remained.
A special car would pick up Ying Yu, and Zhou Qi’an shamelessly prepared to hitch a ride.
After all, who would want to take a crowded bus when there’s a luxury car available?
About ten minutes later, a magnificent modified car drove into the mist. A few people got out and greeted Ying Yu, then began to move things.
Ying Yu stood aside, looking at Zhou Qi’an and the others: “If you have time, come to the laboratory with me first to fill out the prop application form.”
Zhou Qi’an nodded in satisfaction. He liked transactions that didn’t involve empty promises.
They got into the car and sat on the soft seats, arriving smoothly at the laboratory.
Since Ying Yu had already called ahead, shortly after entering, someone immediately brought two forms and a non-disclosure agreement.
Zhou Qi’an looked at it: Prop Application Approval Form.
Ying Yu: “The approval process is quite troublesome. After filling out the form, you’ll also need to record a video with me.”
Who important items were given to, who approved them, and the holder’s physical characteristics—all of these needed to be accurately recorded.
The process was strict, and Zhou Qi’an was quite accepting of it. After all, the benefits were tangible.
While filling out the form, he casually asked, “Was that monster we met on the road someone you used to know?”
Ying Yu did not answer.
Zhou Qi’an was just making small talk. He was about to put the pen cap back on when he heard a sentence from Ying Yu, and his finger suddenly paused.
Shen Zhiyi also looked over.
“He was one of the culprits behind the 821 tragedy.”
The 821 tragedy, the most devastating incident in Anyang District to date, both in terms of deaths and injuries.
Three years ago, a massive fog covered the entire city, and some citizens were infected by an unknown entity. It was said that it took an entire week just to clear the remnants from every nook and cranny of the city afterwards.
Zhou Qi’an’s expression was colder than ever.
There were many unexplained aspects to that massive fog. Even if the game had opened a large number of instance entrances in Anyang three years ago, monsters shouldn’t have been able to infiltrate the real world and go on a killing spree.
Similarly covered by thick fog for several days, Gongji experienced almost nothing.
His voice was a little dry: “That bloodbath was… man-made?”
“Objectively speaking, no.”
“We study games, but we must also resist the temptations they bring,” Ying Yu said. “Countless people have tried to obtain power beyond the essence of life from monsters.”
Zhou Qi’an had heard about this from the Red Hood before.
In some of the first overseas regions to open, there were some human experiments. By the time it was their turn to open servers, because the time wasn’t too early, the official authorities strongly supported the Hidden House project, avoiding this wrong path.
Now it seemed that the path to the new world was not at all straightforward.
“Three years ago, the lab’s monster compendium added a new species, the Xùn Beast. This monster is extremely good at camouflage, can create illusions, and has more common traits with humans… Eventually, a researcher had a twisted idea.”
The end of the story wasn’t hard to guess, culminating in a bloody price paid by all sides.
Zhou Qi’an was only confused about one thing: “Then why did it become a monster? Could it be…”
Although he thought it impossible, he still said: “These people were experimenting on themselves?”
“That’s putting it too nobly… Ordinary people would die due to rejection reactions, and finding suitable monster organs is even harder. At that time, this experimenter gathered about twenty people, and they could only use each other as samples.”
Ying Yu’s gaze sharpened: “The Xùn Beast was these people’s first choice for transplantation. They yearned to use the monster’s power to completely elevate their life level, but it went out of control.”
Monsters killing was instinct; humans couldn’t control this instinct.
Beside him, Shen Zhiyi’s gaze was cold, and for a moment, the smile that formed on his lips was chilling: “Life level?”
The instigator of that disaster actually survived. At that time, he was busy saving Zhou Qi’an and the people around him. Afterwards, he confirmed that there were no more monsters in this area, but it turned out they were hidden in the instance channel.
Shen Zhiyi’s hand unconsciously moved like a conductor’s, the bending motion inexplicably making Zhou Qi’an hallucinate the children of Fengshui Village.
Those children always made such gestures when they said they were going to cut pigweed.
Ying Yu: “If the game hadn’t definitively classified these traitors as monsters, perhaps they could have returned to the real world.”
Zhou Qi’an understood why Ying Yu was only telling him now. If he had known everything in the car, then it would have been Ying Yu telling him to calm down.
Without staff to guide them, jumping out of the car to kill monsters would lead to getting lost on the vast map.
Shen Zhiyi smiled meaningfully: “Come back?”
Living by consuming residual power in the cracks until now, the taste must be absolutely unbearable. Three years was already the limit.
If they really came back, he would make them regret not having died three years ago.
Information input regarding faces and other aspects needed to be done sequentially.
Ying Yu first led Zhou Qi’an into the database. As he was about to open the camera, he caught a glimpse of the latter’s wandering eyes.
“No need to worry, your mother’s situation is different from that group of traitors.”
After Zhou’s mother was apprehended, Ying Yu specifically had someone investigate. Zhou’s mother had no record of harming anyone, and ordinary monsters couldn’t possess such self-control. There was no mention of Zhou’s mother on the list of transplants during the interrogation that year.
If there was one similarity between them, it was that they both devoured.
During the tomb raiding, Zhou’s mother had devoured a large amount of yin qi from it, causing some leaked ancient corpses to become mere bones before they could even be moved.
Ying Yu classified Zhou’s mother as an [Aberrant Human], referring to a third-party player who, not chosen by the game, could possess special powers and enter instances.
Zhou Qi’an barely managed a strained smile: “I wonder if my mom… can still return to normal.”
“She has always been relatively normal.”
Ying Yu even rigorously provided him with a reference: Shen Zhiyi.
Someone who could control the children of Fengshui Village in a group, and was intimately familiar with much of the instance’s knowledge, that was abnormal.
Zhou Qi’an: “…”
Thanks, you don’t need to recommend such a reference. I already have one on hand… that damn vampire boss.
Author’s Note:
Altar: Am I not worthy of being spoken for?
