Strange Tales from the Deep Mountains (Part 10)

"Open your legs."

Li Su instinctively pressed down on his cold hand, her pale skin instantly flushing with embarrassment. She looked up, only to find that there was no hint of joking in his eyes.

"It's really clean now..."

Completely absorbed in the fear of being discovered, Li Su failed to notice the increasingly intense look in Qi Wuyi's eyes.

What if this NPC finds out he's not a woman...

Li Su didn't dare to think about what might happen; she just hoped that Doctor Qi would let him go quickly and stop worrying about the liquid on his body.

After a moment of silence, a soft piece of cloth was suddenly placed in my palm.

"Wipe it yourself." The man relented, and Li Su looked up at him.

Half of Doctor Qi's face was illuminated by the kerosene lamp, while the other half was hidden in shadow, and he seemed somewhat sullen because of his refusal.

"Wait, wait a minute." Seeing him get up, Li Su subconsciously grabbed his hand, but the icy temperature made her shiver involuntarily, and she silently let go of the man's hand. "When will they wake up?"

"First thing tomorrow morning." The warmth still lingered on his fingertips as Doctor Qi gently stroked them.

His gaze swept over the sleeping person on the bed, and Qi the witch doctor took out several bracelet-like objects from his sleeve. Li Su took them and realized that they were rough bracelets made of dried grass tied into knots, with no smell.

"If they don't want to sleep tomorrow night, let them carry all these things with them." Doctor Qi said this and turned to leave indifferently.

Li Su stared blankly at his back, lost in thought, before being pulled back to reality by the tightness of the dried fluid on her inner thighs. She placed the bracelet on the table, lifted her skirt, and carefully cleaned her thighs.

The strong, fishy smell made him frown.

This is actually...

[Task 1 progress 20%, please keep up the good work.]

The sudden notification sound startled Li Su at first, but he quickly realized what it meant. His lips curled into a thin line, revealing his dissatisfaction. "So you're still here."

The system seemed to know it was in the wrong and remained silent.

Li Su didn't dwell on the fact that the system hadn't appeared earlier, and asked again, "So the truth about the witch village is with that snake from earlier, right?"

Players are encouraged to explore on their own.

"......"never mind.

Let's go check it out tomorrow.

but......

As if knowing what he was thinking, the system spoke up to remind him at the right time.

[Player Jiang Yue has died. There are five players remaining in Dungeon 2. There are five days left in Dungeon 2.]

It was already the second day. Li Su lay on the table, half asleep, thinking. After finally relaxing, the fatigue and fear of the day slowly crept in, and Li Su felt her eyelids getting heavier and heavier.

That night, even in his dreams, he couldn't rest well. One moment he saw a sticky, cold snake, the next he saw Jiang Yue's face, accompanied by the indistinct cries of a baby, all of which kept circulating in his mind.

When she was woken up, Li Su rubbed her shoulders wearily.

Sure enough, everyone in the room became fully awake.

After discovering that Jiang Yue was missing last night, everyone's expressions changed drastically. They all lowered their heads and remained silent, seemingly lost in thought.

"It seems that keeping watch is completely useless." Xia Liqiao frowned, her face turning pale.

"You two were supposed to keep watch, how come you were sleeping? Why didn't you wake us up!" Lin Ran stared at the two of them, her whole body breaking down because of Jiang Yue's situation.

Jiang Yue was in a group with me. Now that Jiang Yue is dead, who will be next?

Li Xue's eyes were red and her tone became very harsh, "Lin Ran, don't go too far. Nobody knows how we fell asleep, so you can't blame it on the two of us, can you? Why don't you keep watch and see what's going on?"

Xia Liqiao spoke up, "Now is not the time to argue. Everyone, calm down. The key is that we don't know what happened last night." She sighed and continued, "If this continues, one player will disappear every night. By the sixth night, the dungeon will be over, and none of us will be alive."

As soon as Xia Liqiao finished speaking, the tense atmosphere suddenly fell silent.

This instance is different from the previous ones. There are no hints about the mission, so they can only take it one step at a time. However, everyone falls asleep without exception on the night when they might find out the truth. At this rate, it is impossible to find a breakthrough in the mission.

All that awaits them is death.

The countdown to the night and the dungeon is like a sharp knife hanging over everyone's heads, ready to fall at any moment.

"Actually, I didn't fall asleep at first last night." Li Su pursed her lips and took out the bracelet that Doctor Qi had given her yesterday. "Everyone should wear this tonight, so you shouldn't fall asleep again."

"Then why didn't you give it to us sooner?" Lin Ran's expression turned somewhat ferocious. "Were you doing this on purpose?! Finding someone to be a scapegoat so you could take the opportunity to complete your mission?"

Before Li Su could speak, Xia Liqiao shouted to stop her: "Lin Ran!"

Seeing that Lin Ran was no longer so impulsive, she lowered her voice and said, "Don't be so impulsive, okay? Let's hear what Li Su has to say first."

Li Su understood and didn't take her attitude to heart. She told them the general outline of what happened last night.

"So you mean that the witch doctor is a good person?" Xia Liqiao frowned as she examined the straw rope bracelet on her hand.

After a moment's consideration, Li Su said, "I can't be completely sure, but he shouldn't be the one who wants to harm us."

Lin Ran refused to take the bracelet Li Su offered, coldly staring at him: "Why should we believe what you say? No one here has ever seen that witch doctor except you!"

Believe it or not.

Not wanting to waste any more words, Li Su simply placed the last bracelet on the table and then put it on her left wrist.

"I trust Su Su." Seeing Li Su put on the bracelet, Li Xue quickly put on the bracelet as well.

"But why would he help us? I've never encountered a game NPC who would help people on their own initiative before. Could there be something wrong with him?" Xia Liqiao looked at the bracelet in her hand with some hesitation, but no matter how she looked at it, the bracelet was just made of a few ordinary straw ropes.

Li Su didn't know how to explain the several times Doctor Qi had helped him, but subconsciously chose to believe him.

“Let’s take a gamble.” Li Su looked down at the bracelet on her hand. “The dungeon won’t give us no hints, otherwise we’ll just die. So this might be the hint that the dungeon is giving us.”

Xia Liqiao hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded and put on the bracelet.

Lin Ran was surprised that everyone trusted Li Su so much. She then looked at Gu Qingyan, who had been silent, and saw that she was also wearing the bracelet. She couldn't help but speak up, "You guys..."

Meeting Li Su's indifferent gaze, she swallowed the rest of her words.

Throughout the day, footsteps could be heard coming and going outside, but no one opened the door to their room. None of them had eaten, yet none of them felt hungry or thirsty.

Night fell as expected.

Keeping watch was useless, so after discussing it, everyone decided to go to bed together, pretend to be asleep, and see what would happen next.

Just like last night, shortly after everyone lay down, the door was quietly opened again, and after a rustling sound, the room returned to its original state.

After the footsteps faded away, Li Su got up to check and found that Xia Liqiao had disappeared.

After Li Su got up, everyone gradually got out of bed.

Li Xue stammered, "This time it was Xia Liqiao who was taken away..."

Seeing Li Su's gaze sweep over the bracelet on her wrist, Lin Ran awkwardly moved her hand back.

Gu Qingyan had already begun to sob softly.

Li Xue's hand, gripping his arm, trembled uncontrollably. The feeling of witnessing a companion being taken away while fully conscious is completely different from knowing that a companion has been taken away while unaware.

Li Su silently prayed in her heart that Xia Liqiao would not give herself away.

"Let's go quickly."

Having learned from last night's experience, Li Su took the kerosene lamp and walked at the front.

Halfway there, the female ghosts who were afraid of him last night couldn't help but float out from all corners and surround them.

However, he hesitated to move forward because of his companion's injury last night.

The female ghosts surrounded him in circles, each with a hideous face, and they occasionally let out sharp screams.

"Are they going to kill us?" Gu Qingyan's legs slid down weakly. Li Su quickly stuffed the kerosene lamp into Li Xue's hands and then helped Gu Qingyan up.

Almost instantly, the female ghosts took two steps forward.

Li Su clearly heard their sobbing, resentful words: "Man, die, you hurt me... pay with your life, die..."

The female ghosts' encirclement was constantly shrinking, and Li Su helped Gu Qingyan, who was frowning in thought.

Last night, none of the female ghosts dared to approach him, so why is it different tonight? Did his necklace malfunction? Is it only meant to be used once?

Suddenly, someone shoved her from behind, and before Li Su could react, she was pushed away by a force.

"He! He's a man! Go and kill him!"

Lin Ran's voice sounded from behind, completely different from the voice she had deliberately kept low before. Her voice was now hoarse and deep, as if she had let go of her disguise.

"I really!!! What kind of person am I!!!"

"How shameless! Die, you bitch!"

"Push me, Su Bao'er??? Huh?! Are you kidding me?"

"Just look at yourself and see who gave you that bracelet!"

"Damn, what an ingrate!"

"I've never seen anything like this before. There are all sorts of people in games."

"This voice doesn't sound like a girl at all?? Oh my god, I have a terrible feeling... Could this Lin Ran be like my wife...?"

"Ah—" A sharp, piercing sound suddenly rang out.

The moment Li Su was pushed out, all the female ghosts rushed over as if they had no more scruples.

Li Su's heart leaped into her throat for a moment, but in the next instant, the female ghosts bypassed her and pounced on Lin Ran.

She completely ignored Li Xue and Gu Qingyan beside her, as if she couldn't see that there were two girls next to Lin Ran.

Lin Ran had been waiting to see the female ghosts pounce on Li Su, but before he could even catch his breath, they attacked him. Lin Ran ran while screaming, "Why! Li Su is a man too! You...go...find him—"

"ah----"