Chapter 555 [(*^▽^*)]

Guo Xia hesitated, but Rong Yuwen raised his hand and said, "We have no choice. We can only stay in the safe house and see who wins between the thing in the ancestral hall and the vengeful ghost. In the end, we will fight the winner in the final battle."

Guo Xia, “Indeed…”

He and Guo Chengzheng have no way to get to the ancestral hall right now. The villagers near the ancestral hall are all going crazy. Although the players are nominally villagers, the villagers don't really accept them.

Especially after that incident.

"We can only leave them... Hopefully, they will both suffer heavy losses, and the winner will also win a Pyrrhic victory, which will give us a better chance."

Rong Yuwen muttered something under his breath.

Guo Xia glanced at him secretly. He guessed that all the players were thinking the same thing. Although they didn't say it, they were definitely not the only ones secretly paying attention to the situation at the ancestral hall.

The other players each had their own methods, and they all knew more or less what had happened at the ancestral hall.

As dawn broke and a little light appeared, the villagers near the ancestral hall were finally able to roughly see the people around them, and only then did they begin to look for familiar faces.

But they soon discovered that the original three hundred and several dozen people had now dwindled to just over one hundred.

Suddenly, someone asked timidly, "Where are the others?"

Yes, where are the others? They're gone, but what about the bodies? They must have killed a lot of people last night, but the bodies are all gone. The living are still here, but the dead have disappeared.

Only then did everyone belatedly realize that something seemed amiss.

"Could the body have been taken away by a ghost?"

"Impossible... If ghosts could get close, they would have killed us all long ago."

"Then...then we..."

"Where's my husband? He's nowhere to be found..."

"My daughter is missing too... Where did she go? Did you kill her?"

"They're all damned! They're all gone, all dead! Only the two of us old folks are left. How are we supposed to live?"

Some villagers who had not lost any family members were still analyzing where the bodies had gone, but others couldn't stay calm. Their parents, children, brothers and sisters were all gone.

More and more people were asking these questions, and everyone was wiping away tears and crying out.

The villagers, who knew he had killed someone the night before, not only didn't see anything wrong with it, but also impatiently yelled, "What are you yelling about? What are you crying about? You're so annoying!"

"Shut up right now, or I'll kill you too!"

Several menacing-looking men, their eyes blazing with murderous intent, held bloodstained weapons in their hands. The others were so frightened that they lowered their voices, and some who didn't care had their mouths covered.

"Hmph! What time is it? Fewer people means less food. What's with the crying? We're lucky to have survived this long!"

"Isn't this quieter now? Okay, come over and continue discussing, now..."

Those who clashed with these people last night were mostly the breadwinners of their families. Not many survived, and the families left behind after their deaths were mostly the elderly, women, and children.

No matter how angry they were, there was nothing they could do, because they couldn't win.

Lin Leyou counted carefully, "There are still 168 villagers left."

Xue Rui: "This number is already very small."

Lin Leyou said, "They can kill themselves, but their bodies are all taken away by the things in the ancestral hall after they die. I don't know... when they will come out."

Xue Rui, "The villagers will probably be able to come out once they've eaten everything?"

Lin Leyou: "Qin Xingyu is still inside."

Xue Rui looked at that familiar figure in the crowd, someone he couldn't possibly deal with. He didn't care about anything happening around him, as if it were none of his business, and huddled in a corner.

Qin Xingyu stayed alone in a corner, looking at the ancestral hall with great interest, as if there was something interesting inside.

He noticed Lin Leyou's gaze and looked over. After their eyes met, Qin Xingyu made a hand gesture to them.

Lin Leyou paused for a moment, then gave him a no-questions-asked gesture.

Xue Rui, "What did he discover?"

Lin Leyou shook his head. "I don't know, but... he seems to be somewhat familiar with this thing. Maybe he's encountered it before, after all, he's been to the most dungeons."

Xue Rui, "The most?"

Lin Leyou said, "Teacher Qin is the strongest and most experienced resident in our area. His combat strength is top-notch and unfathomable."

Xue Rui felt a little jealous and grabbed Lin Leyou's hand, asking very seriously, "Do you like him?"

Lin Leyou was taken aback, unsure what Xue Rui had asked, and turned to look at him, "Huh?"

Xue Rui seemed to realize at this moment that he had asked a rather inappropriate question, "It's nothing."

After saying that, he tried to change the subject, but Lin Leyou became interested. He grabbed Xue Rui's wrist and leaned close to him with a smile, "What's wrong? Are you jealous?"

Xue Rui shook his head. "He's a teacher, there's nothing to be jealous of."

Lin Leyou continued teasingly, "Really? Really?"

Xue Rui: "Don't overthink it. Focus on the ancestral hall. It looks like something's about to happen."

Lin Leyou wasn't buying it. "What is it? I think nothing's happened for the time being. How about we talk about what's going on between us?"

Xue Rui pointed to the ancestral hall, "Look, the door is open."

Lin Leyou was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously looked over, "Huh? It's really open..."

Xue Rui wasn't changing the subject; the door to the ancestral hall had actually opened. What was going on?

The villagers were overjoyed to see the door open, and everyone who could move rushed inside, afraid that if they were even a second too slow, they would be locked out again.

Even so, many villagers who were unable to walk naturally for a short period of time were left behind. The ancestral hall door was not always open; after some people went in, the door slammed shut on its own.

Despite the people who hadn't made it in time pounding on the door and crying, the door remained firmly shut.

Lin Leyou: "There are only 102 villagers left outside, including Teacher Qin."

They were floating high up, so even though they were a bit far away, they could still see what was happening inside the ancestral hall. The people who entered the ancestral hall were laughing heartily at first, their faces beaming with joy and relief.

But they soon discovered that the ancestral hall was empty; the village chief and his family, who had previously entered the hall and refused to open the door, had vanished.

I clearly saw people inside before, so why is there no one here now?

"Have they gone into hiding? Find them quickly! I won't be satisfied until I've chopped them to pieces!"

“They’ve been occupying the ancestral hall and preventing us from entering; they deserve to die. They probably saw us coming and hid beforehand.”

"Find them quickly, I want to smash their heads open with my own hands! Hahahaha..."

But they searched the entire ancestral hall from top to bottom and couldn't find anyone except themselves. "What happened? Did they just slip out?"

"Impossible. When we ran in, the entire door was blocked. No one could have gotten out, especially not so many people. Could there be a tunnel or basement inside the ancestral hall?"

"Don't talk nonsense. Didn't we come here a few years ago when the ancestral hall was being renovated? Do you think we didn't know that the ancestral hall had a basement or tunnel?"

"What happened...?"

Everyone was confused, but they soon realized something.

"Wait a minute, didn't the bodies of those who died last night disappear? Could the village chief's family also be dead?"

"How could that be? Didn't we look inside from a high place before? They're not dead inside, they're alive and well, full of energy and vitality!"

"Shall we go out and look for it?"

"Okay... wait! Why is there no sound at all?"

What was that sound?

"Who closed the door after we came in? Didn't the people outside who weren't coming in knock on the door and make a scene?"

Upon hearing this, the ancestral hall fell silent; only now did they realize the matter.

"I...I'll go try to open the door, you guys wait here!"

When he tried to open the door, he found that he couldn't open it at all, and he couldn't hear any sound from outside even when he put his ear to the door.

"Something's not right, how could this be?"

“We’re inside the ancestral hall. It’s so warm inside… not a breath of wind can get in. We should be safe now, so why do I feel a little scared?”

"No...something's not right! We've been tricked! The ancestral hall isn't a good place! We've been tricked!"

"The village chief's family is long dead. They've all died long ago. They've been eaten long ago. What we saw before was all an illusion, a deception to lure us in. There are ghosts in this ancestral hall too!"

"Is it Fu Qingqiu? Is it him? If it is him, why doesn't he just take action directly instead of torturing us like this?"

"No...don't kill me! I didn't do it! None of this has anything to do with me!"

They cried and begged for mercy, admitting their mistakes as if they had truly suffered a great injustice, but... they were still carrying various weapons stained with blood.

Last night, they all took action; each of them has at least one life on their hands, so it's only natural that they were chosen.

Lin Leyou watched as the villagers in the ancestral hall quietly packed their things, then sat together in twos and threes, chatting and laughing, which he found very strange.

"How could this happen? Where is the village chief's family? They were just here a moment ago..."

Xue Rui, "disappeared, disappeared the instant they went in."

Lin Leyou was silent for a while before saying, "Goodness... we've been fooled too."

Xue Rui said, “These people all thought that the village chief’s family wouldn’t open the door, and that they had blood on their hands and had killed people last night. Now they are excited and the first thing they would do when they enter the ancestral hall is probably to find the village chief’s family to vent their anger. But they are just sitting together in twos and threes, chatting and laughing leisurely.”

To be continued... Please click on the next chapter, "Reborn as a Permanent NPC in an Infinite World (Part 2)"