Chapter 72 The Prey

But when Jiang Liyue blinked, she realized that the moment just now seemed to be just her imagination.

Xiao Yi still looked adorable, staring at her curiously.

[Hmm, is there something wrong with this kid?]

[What's the question? Isn't it just a very well-behaved, cute, and sensible child? Where else can you find such a well-behaved child besides in a dungeon?]

[I agree with the previous comment. Last time I went out, I ran into a little bear who was playing with his dad's head like a ball, hitting me with it and knocking my hand off. His dad even praised him for being strong.]

[I'm so filial, that's why every little bear has a weird bear parent.]

As the comments section was filled with chatter, it suddenly turned into a roast session.

But in the live stream, Xiao Yi was still waiting for Jiang Liyue to speak.

Jiang Liyue didn't lie to the child this time. She just looked up and glanced at the lanterns on the tree again, and replied, "I just saw that it looked like there was something written on the lanterns."

“That one,” Xiao Yi blinked, “that’s the name of a relative who passed away in our village.”

Xiao Le quickly chimed in to assert her presence: "I know, I know. My grandfather said that each lantern represents a family member."

"On the day of the paper offering ceremony, lanterns are lit. The lanterns are the guiding lights for their souls, and the deceased relatives can temporarily come to the world and reunite with their living relatives."

"This is the significance of the paper offering day."

His story sounded like people's heartfelt wishes and hopes for the holiday.

It's similar to a time like the Ghost Festival in the real world.

However, in the bizarre game instance, Jiang Liyue preferred to believe that those monsters would really appear on the day of the paper offering.

After all, this is not a scientific world.

Jiang Liyue seemed to understand something, then her face showed a look of sudden realization: "So that's how it is. You two know so much."

The two children immediately showed shy yet slightly smug expressions.

At that moment, the big yellow dog suddenly barked a few times at the back.

The group turned around and realized that there were actually six people in total.

One of them was an elderly woman dressed in local clothing, while the others were dressed similarly to Jiang Liyue and were, unsurprisingly, passengers on the same train as her.

“I told you, I’m going on this trip to meet up with my family. How can you expect me to stay in this wretched village for three days?” a man who looked to be in his thirties roared angrily.

The elderly man in local clothes quickly dissuaded him, saying, "The mountains are shrouded in thick fog these days for the paper offering festival. Even locals can't tell which way to go. It's very dangerous outside."

“What’s so dangerous? We saw it from the car yesterday. It’s just a broken mountain.” The man continued to complain.

He then looked at the old man with suspicion and said, "They say that bad people come from poor and remote areas. I think it's your village that wants us to live here so you can make money off us, right?"

As soon as he said that, the others realized what he meant. "That's right. First of all, for a place like yours, charging 100 yuan a night is already a lot. It can't compare to a proper guesthouse at all."

"No wonder there's no signal in this crappy place; they probably don't want us to call for help from outside."

"We really don't charge you any money." The old man looked somewhat helpless. "It's all for your safety."

But those people clearly didn't believe him, and they started arguing back and forth, leaving the old man no chance to get a word in edgewise.

He could only sigh and say, "Then you two can discuss it yourselves. It's really dangerous outside."

[Oh no, my aversion to stupidity is about to flare up.]

[So why do dungeons always seem to design these kinds of not-so-smart NPCs?]

Is it possible that this is a classic setup in horror movies? How can anyone test the rules if no one is willing to risk their life?

Oh, this is truly a hellish joke!

Jiang Liyue kept a close eye on the old man's expression.

Although he portrayed an exceptionally simple and honest old man, Jiang Liyue was, after all, a professional in terms of acting skills.

On several occasions, the other person's eyes revealed a hint of malice and greed.

It was quickly suppressed.

The only genuine emotion she felt was the regret on their faces as they left, though she couldn't see it clearly from the distance.

Therefore, it's not entirely unreasonable for these people who were making a fuss about leaving not to trust the old man.

Unfortunately, the old man was indeed untrustworthy, and the dangers outside the village were real.

These people, at least the man who was causing the most trouble, were definitely not players, but ordinary dungeon NPCs.

Otherwise, they wouldn't be unaware that one cannot freely go outside the village.

"Grandpa Village Chief, what are you talking about?" Xiao Le and Xiao Yi, having watched the commotion for a while, happily approached and asked, "Are they also outsiders who just arrived in the village?"

Jiang Liyue followed behind and realized that the old man was actually the village chief of the Paper Doll Village.

The village chief patted the children's heads, his eyes now genuinely filled with affection: "Yes, Xiao Le and Xiao Yi, what are you two doing here?"

“We came to play with Sister Yueyue,” Xiaole and Xiaoyi answered in unison.

The village chief seemed to only then notice Jiang Liyue following behind: "Good, good, good child, have fun in the village."

Jiang Liyue could even sense that the village chief treated her better than he treated the two children, Xiao Le and Xiao Yi.

Something's not right.

After completing two instances, Jiang Liyue roughly understood the function of the "Strange Encounter and Strange Love" aura surrounding her.

While it's described as a strange encounter and a strange love, the degree of "love" is rather exaggerated.

At most, it will make the monsters have a slightly higher initial impression of her, so that they won't want to eat her as soon as they see her.

However, the reason why Jiang Liyue's favorability rating was particularly high was mainly due to her own gradual efforts to cultivate it.

Therefore, Jiang Liyue's first reaction to the village chief's inexplicably high level of favorability was that something was wrong.

She blinked innocently and naively: "Do you know me?"

“Cuifen and Yueshan have both mentioned you to me.” The village chief smiled kindly. “You’re a good child.”

He then said "good" several more times.

It was obvious that the two men had said something to the village chief.

Jiang Liyue understood, but on the surface she looked a little embarrassed by the praise.

The five people on the other side seemed to have already discussed it. "We're leaving now. By the way, old man, are you sure you don't want to charge us for our lodging last night?"

"No, we won't accept it," the village chief quickly said.

"That's good." The five people, carrying their backpacks, resolutely walked towards the village entrance.

Judging from their conversation, they seemed to be discussing demanding compensation from the driver after they got back.

The village chief looked in the direction they had left and sighed softly.

Jiang Liyue clearly saw the regret in his eyes this time.

It's like the deep regret of seeing prey escape.