191 Incense

◎Strange scene◎

As expected of an S-level difficulty dungeon, the enemies they faced this time were thousands of villagers from Chigu Village.

Until now, players have not figured out their purpose, the true identities of the villagers, whether they are human or ghosts, and why they appear in two different forms?

——And what kind of secrets are hidden behind this village?

As time goes by, the night becomes increasingly hot.

Qi Qiuxue raised her hand and pushed open the window. A strong hot wind still blew in her face, like a roar, like a scream, and very much like the painful wails of humans. She closed her eyes and felt as if she was at the crime scene in person.

Qi Qiuxue recorded the sound of the wind as usual, then closed the window and placed the form in her hand on the table.

"Axue, should we fill out the form now?" Wu Shanyue asked.

"Wait a little longer. This form won't be collected until seven days later anyway." Qi Qiuxue shook her head. "No rush."

"But speaking of seven days..." She seemed to have thought of something and suddenly asked the system, "Is there a time limit for this instance?"

Generally speaking, when faced with rule-related questions raised by players, there is a certain chance that the system will respond.

Of course, if the answer is related to the main quest and may have a decisive impact on the player's quest progress, it will often turn a deaf ear and ignore it.

But this time, Qi Qiuxue was lucky enough to get the answer——

The system's voice quickly rang out: [There is no time limit for this dungeon. Players have ample time to explore until all tasks are completed, or if they fail, they will die and remain in the dungeon permanently.]

No time limit?

Rules like these really don't seem like what an S-level copy should have.

"...This isn't the Lord God's style." After the system left, Li Yiqing said in a deep voice, "Based on my understanding of her, she would never be so tolerant. In the dungeon, all the rules she sets are not in the players' favor."

"There must be something behind this, but we have too few clues right now to figure it out."

"Indeed, I agree with what Ah Qing said." Qi Qiuxue agreed with her point of view. "So, regardless of whether there is a time limit for this dungeon or not, we must collect clues as quickly as possible and complete all the tasks."

She lowered her eyes and thought for a moment, then shared her idea with everyone: "Tomorrow we will split into three groups and act separately. We will go around the village as much as possible and record all the places worth exploring."

"So far, the villagers in the village can be roughly divided into three types: ordinary villagers with relatively normal appearance and behavior, special villagers with strange and terrifying appearances, and returnees who were summoned back after receiving anonymous emails."

"Different people may hold different clues. We must ensure we communicate and interact with all three types of villagers, digging deep into each other's hidden secrets. But remember, no matter which type you face, don't take it lightly."

"By the way, there are two more things worth paying attention to." Qi Qiuxue paused here.

"The man who came back from the dead, right?" Bai Shien continued.

"Yes, this is one." Qi Qiuxue nodded in response. "There are too many suspicious points about him. He is the one we need to focus on investigating. It would be best if we could meet him in the village tomorrow. If not, I will go find him myself."

"As for the other one, just let me handle it." Qi Qiuxue glanced out the window. It was already late at night, and there was no one outside. Only the cold wind was howling. "Tomorrow I will try different ways to leave the village at different times."

"I wonder if the villagers would deliberately try to stop me if I asked to leave, and how they would try to stop me?"

“…”

The next day.

The players were woken up by the sound of a horn early in the morning. One of the NPCs who lost his phone yesterday found the village committee and hoped to get the phone back through broadcasting.

The village committee cooperated very well and broadcast the matter, but Qi Qiuxue knew that it was all just a pretense. As long as they stayed in Chigu Village, the mobile phone would not be returned to them.

When I got up to wash, it was still dark outside. Although the temperature in Chigu Village was relatively high, not like it should be in winter, the time when the sky got brighter was in line with the laws of nature and was relatively late.

Su Wen was too hot to sleep last night and only fell into a drowsy sleep in the early morning. However, he was awakened by the noise outside the window less than half an hour after falling asleep.

She frowned and yawned, then reluctantly got up from the bed and walked out of the room, scratching her head and complaining, "What time is it?"

Qi Qiuxue glanced at the clock on the wall: "Six ten."

"It's only six o'clock?!" Su Wen's eyes widened. "What are these people doing? They're making a fuss so early. Don't they need to sleep? They're so energetic!"

Liu Ge came out a little later and patted her shoulder: "We still have things to do today, hurry up and wash up, and stop complaining."

"Oh." Su Wen walked into the bathroom speechlessly, raised his hand to scoop up a few handfuls of water and splashed it on his face. Only then did he feel a little better.

The six of them ate some bread as quickly as possible. When they left their residence, Qi Qiuxue looked at the clock on the wall again. It was 7:05 and the sky was almost completely bright.

When they opened the door, they saw villagers coming and going outside, it was very lively. As soon as they saw them, smiles immediately appeared on their faces.

"Good morning!"

"How did you sleep last night?"

"You haven't been back for a long time. Are you used to living here?"

There was a light mist in the early morning air, and the sunlight was not sufficient. When they looked at the faces of the villagers, they always felt that their faces were also covered with a layer of hazy mist. Even their voices and smiles seemed unreal, like a beautiful painting that was slightly blurred by water vapor. It did not hinder their appreciation in general, but the subtle details always seemed strange.

As they had said yesterday, the six of them quickly split into three groups. While strolling around the village, they also tried their best to communicate with various villagers. A few minutes later, the sky brightened, the haze just now disappeared, and everything seemed particularly beautiful under the sun.

——If you ignore the paper figures standing around the village.

From the beginning to the end, Qi Qiuxue always felt that many eyes were staring at her, including those of the villagers and even the paper people. But when she followed those eyes, all the strange feelings disappeared in an instant. The paper people were still standing quietly in the same place, and the villagers were busy with their work, managing their own lives like ordinary people.

The first people Qi Qiuxue found were the ordinary villagers—

Through countless communications and observations, it was found that these villagers were optimistic, talkative, and each had their own characteristics. The topics they talked about most with the players were about the resort and the property they were about to acquire. They expressed temptation and retention to the players in both explicit and implicit ways, telling them that as long as they stayed a little longer, they would transform themselves into the rich people they had longed for.

These people subconsciously believe that the power of money is infinite, and for the sake of the money that is about to come, Qi Qiuxue and the others will definitely stay.

"Actually, I'm not interested in money." Every time at this moment, Qi Qiuxue would use this sentence with a sincere expression to test the villagers.

"Ah?" As soon as these words came out, the villagers all expressed disbelief to some extent, "Ah, is this true?"

So Li Yiqing decided to add fuel to the fire: "Actually, I feel the same way."

"Money is just material possessions. Too much of it only adds to my worries." She looked disillusioned with the world and shook her head in anguish. "The village secretary specifically summoned us back. I thought it was something important, but it turns out it was just for this. I skipped more important things to do."

"If it really doesn't work out, I don't want the money. How about I just do a good deed and share it with everyone?"

"What..." The villagers had never seen such a person before. They were stunned and paused for a long time before asking, "Then, what about you?"

"Of course I'm going home." Qi Qiuxue replied.

Hearing this, the villagers' smiles disappeared and their expressions turned serious in an instant: "It's a rare trip back home, so stay a few days longer and change your mood."

"Especially you, Xiao Li. Your family members are not in good health. You finally got home. It's only natural that you should spend more time with them."

"Don't be an unfilial child, or the whole village will blame you."

After he finished speaking, Li Yiqing was silent for a while.

During this time, the villagers kept looking at her with expectant and nervous eyes. After a moment, Li Yiqing slowly nodded: "That's right."

"Nothing is more important than family, so I'll stay a few more days."

"That's right!" The villagers nodded in agreement and patted her shoulders. "What about Xiaoqi?"

"I'll stay and accompany her too." Qi Qiuxue smiled very understandingly.

"That's great, that's great." It was obvious that the villagers in front of him breathed a sigh of relief.

Qi Qiuxue said goodbye to a few people and walked forward with Li Yiqing. This time their target was those special villagers. Soon, Qi Qiuxue found that apart from their strange appearance and slightly slow speech and movements, they were no different from ordinary villagers.

Of course, in addition to these people, those who returned home were also easy to identify. Even though some of them came back a few days ago and Qi Qiuxue was unable to see them all, she recognized them at a glance through their clothes, accents and some expressions.

Most people are angry about losing their mobile phones. Some of those poor phones were lost when they were out, some were accidentally damaged for various reasons, and some couldn't even figure out when they lost them. When they asked the villagers, they knew nothing about anything. They said they didn't know what happened and that they lost their phones too.

"It's so annoying! Didn't they say our village has been getting better and better over the years? How come we don't even have a decent car? I have to beg everyone if I want to buy a cell phone, and no one wants to lend me a car."

"Wang Shan, too. He had previously told us to look for him if we needed anything. Who knew he'd been away from the village for days? He's finally home today, and his car has a flat tire. What bad luck!"

"I can only bear it. If it weren't for the money, ah..."

"You haven't been back for a long time. Are you used to getting along with your family?" Qi Qiuxue waited until the other party had vented all his resentment before speaking again.

"That's all." Everyone shrugged. "It's impossible to say it's not awkward. After all, we usually just call and text each other at most. We haven't seen each other face to face in years."

Qi Qiuxue: "Has anything happened that you find strange?"

"Something strange..." someone paused, then said, "If I have to say it, it's that my family suddenly started to believe in Buddhism. Not only do they offer strange things as offerings, but they also burn incense and worship every day, morning, noon, and evening. I haven't seen them stop."

"Oh, your family has started to believe in Buddhism too?" another person said hurriedly, "My family does too. I don't know what they have as an offering, but they worship three times a day. The house is filled with smoke and stench all day long. It's awful."

“It’s the same at my house!”

“Us too!”

"I specifically asked my family members, and they said this was a custom that became popular in the village a few years ago. It can bless the family with good health and abundant wealth. At first, they didn't believe it, until a great immortal came and gave several lectures. He also listed many cases in a very professional way, and analyzed the five elements, feng shui, time, place, and people. Gradually, they were infected by it and thought it was okay to do it. There was no harm anyway. After a while, it became popular."

"What happened next?" Qi Qiuxue asked again, "Does it really work?"

"How would I know? Anyway, my family said it works, including this time with the resort. They also said it was a gift from the gods."

The man grumbled, "I can't stand this. I said we don't need this thing at home. My family members were acting very strangely at the time. They seemed angry but not angry at the same time. They were half-smiling and talking nonsense for no apparent reason."

"What nonsense?" Qi Qiuxue and Li Yiqing looked at each other and said in unison.

"They said I'd need it in the future, too." The man sighed and continued, "They also said it was the only way I could survive. Then they started burning incense right in front of me, their expressions and movements revealing a deep obsession."

"I was almost scared to death." Even now, the man still breaks out in a cold sweat when he recalls the scene. "What the hell? It's so depressing."

"After you got home that night, have you seen that thing at home?" Qi Qiuxue leaned close to Li Yiqing and asked softly in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

"I saw the incense burner and the altar," Li Yiqing replied softly. "But I don't know whether they actually offer sacrifices three times a day, or if there are any other oddities."

She gently stroked Qi Qiuxue's palm with her fingertips and whispered to her lover, "I'll go back and take a look tonight."

【Author’s words】

Here it comes! I didn't update yesterday, so I'll update more today~ There's a small red envelope in this chapter, which will be sent before the next chapter is updated~

Thank you for your tickets and nutrient solution, thank you for leaving comments and reading, dear!