Chapter 3
The lights on the boat were bright. An old man with a hunched back stuck his head out of the cabin and shouted:
"You are the guests I invited to visit Mengjia Village, right? I am Meng Yitian, the village chief of Mengjia Village."
"Hurry up and get on the boat. I'll take you into the village."
For several seconds after the old man finished speaking, no one on the shore dared to move.
Zhao Haichuan took out his ID card from his pocket and looked down at it.
"It should be safe, get on board." He put the card back and was the first to get on board.
Yitu had just glanced at his cards, but couldn't see them clearly.
It’s not that his eyesight is bad or he didn’t see clearly, but Zhao Haichuan’s ID card was deliberately blurred by the system.
No one except the card holder can see the player's privacy.
With his lead, others followed suit and boarded the boat.
Nine people squeezed into the narrow cabin, and the cold air was dispelled a lot.
The village chief of Mengjia Village placed a kerosene lamp on the table in front of everyone and said with a smile:
"I'm so sorry, I got the time wrong. I thought you wouldn't arrive until tomorrow morning."
"If I hadn't been old and couldn't sleep, I'd always like to wander around, and I wouldn't have noticed someone on the other side of the river."
The village chief continued, "Thank you all for taking the time to come all the way to visit my remote little place. The village is becoming deserted, and fewer and fewer people come here..."
"So I have to pay outsiders to come and promote our village. It would be even better if we could develop it into a tourist attraction!"
"Grandpa, the publicity is easy. It's just the reward you promised us before..." Yitu started familiarly.
He wanted to get more information out of Meng Yitian, so he could only continue talking along the lines of what this person was saying.
The village chief was slightly stunned, then quickly said, "Is it too little? Never mind, I can give each of you... 30,000!"
When this price was announced, everyone was shocked.
You have to know that the annual expenditure of each household in such a remote village will not exceed a thousand, but the village chief quoted them 30,000.
This 30,000 is not 30,000 for everyone, but 30,000 for each person, which means that excluding the two who died, they can get a total of 270,000.
Where does so much money come from in a village that has no reputation and even has a serious shortage of labor?
Yitu and Zhang Queshan looked at each other, a strange feeling on the tip of their tongue but they couldn't say it.
The village chief quickly put forward his conditions, "As long as you are willing to stay in Mengjia Village for three days, our village will hold a village festival the day after tomorrow. After you worship the gods, you can get the money."
He had already learned this information in advance from the Queen of Hearts' task board, but what Yi Tu didn't expect was that these three days were not complete three days at all.
But the day they arrived was also taken into account because time was too tight.
The other players also noticed this quickly. Duan Zixi, who had a pigtail, couldn't help but frown:
"Why is the mission time so short?"
Fu Xue, who was sitting next to him, thought for a moment and then asked:
"Village Chief, excuse me for asking, why do we have to go to worship the gods?"
The question she asked involved the main plot of the game, which was exactly what everyone wanted to know.
The village chief said: "Because our village god likes a lot of people, the more people the better, the more the better."
"It's a pity that there haven't been any new people in the village for a long time."
As soon as he said this, all the players' expressions became subtle.
The village chief pretended not to notice and asked, "Aren't there eleven of you? How come there are only nine left?"
The players looked at each other, and finally Zhao Haichuan said:
"The two were on a boat that capsized, and the villagers on the boat and they all died in the river."
The village chief was stunned. "A capsized boat? Impossible! This hasn't happened in our village for a long time."
"This stopped happening thirteen years ago."
"That's absolutely impossible. Everyone in our village is safe and sound at home," the village chief insisted.
"You must have seen it wrongly. What can you see in such a dark night?"
Although the village chief denied it, Yitu still grasped a key point.
"You mean there was a boat capsizing thirteen years ago?"
The village chief nodded, but was unwilling to say more:
"It was just an accident. We in the village haven't mentioned it anymore. It's best if you don't mention it either."
"Why can't I mention it? What's going on?" Lin Fei, whose stomach hurt from being beaten, still couldn't help but speak more.
The village chief didn't answer, but his eyes suddenly became deep and terrifying. Lin Fei was startled and quickly promised that he would never ask again. Only then did he return to normal:
"I'm going out to check the road."
After the village chief left the cabin for a while, Duan Zixi spoke first:
"Are we seeing things, or is he lying?"
There was no doubt that Liu Dashan and the obese middle-aged man had indeed disappeared before their eyes.
"We can't be wrong. There is something wrong with this old man," said Zhang Queshan.
"I suspect Liu Dashan and his group boarded the ghost ship that capsized thirteen years ago." Huang Tianfang pondered.
"It's not impossible." Fu Xue nodded, and she suddenly raised her head to look at Zhao Haichuan who was sitting opposite her.
"Mr. Zhao, how do you know this ship is safe?"
After all, women are very attentive. She remembered clearly the expressions and actions of everyone when they got on the boat, including Zhao Haichuan looking at the cards.
Zhao Haichuan was stunned when his name was suddenly called out, and tried to cover it up:
"The first one was a ghost ship, so the second one probably won't be the same. Card games generally don't use the same tricks to trick players."
Fu Xue smiled, "That's right."
She was very considerate and did not ask any further questions, but at this moment everyone knew very well that there might be something fishy in Zhao Haichuan's hand.
Yitu glanced at Zhao Haichuan, who looked relatively calm, and then looked at Fu Xue, who had clearly aroused suspicion but acted as if nothing had happened. She was chatting aimlessly with Huang Tianfang.
Except for Lin Fei and the high school student, all the players present are tough guys.
During this time, Zhao Haichuan stepped out of the cabin to take a look, and came back to tell them that the water ghosts in the river had disappeared.
Yitu was not surprised. It seemed that there was something on the ship that they were afraid of.
Just then, the card in his pocket vibrated.
Yitu subconsciously took it out. At this time, the Queen of Hearts on the card was sitting on a chair, holding a teacup in her hand, looking leisurely and contented.
Yitu was stunned for a moment. Why did he always feel that he was the servant?
The Queen of Hearts looked at Yi Tu with a smile, her thin lips slightly parted:
[Dear Master, the player rankings for this card game have been updated. Please click to view details~]
You're ranked 7th in this game. You truly deserve to be the dumbest master of my Queen of Hearts, Judith. You've squeezed into the bottom three thanks to your own strength.
[I definitely don't care about high school girls and assholes, but everyone else...]
[It's okay, it's just a small problem~ As long as you're not the last one, those scary monsters won't attack you~]
Yi Tu, who inexplicably accepted a wave of strong taunts from his own servant: ...
He clicked on the ranking details and realized that the game ranking of players in the card room was a preliminary ranking based on a comprehensive evaluation of the players' own strength level, points and props.
The list was refreshed every two hours, and now, among the nine of them, the one ranked first was Duan Zixi, who had pigtails and spoke very little.
Fu Xue and A Niu are spouses, so their data will be combined and evaluated as one person.
But they will still occupy two positions in the ranking and rank second.
Then Zhao Haichuan, Huang Tianfang and Zhang Queshan ranked fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
Only after that was it Yitu's turn, and unsurprisingly the three newcomers came in last.
Although he didn't know what the benefits of ranking high were, the player ranked last would become the priority target of NPC monsters.
This undoubtedly puts their deaths in order.
And now the card clearly says last place.
No. 9, Ruan Mengmeng.
It turns out that the players have never been companions, but competitors.
So the old friends he saw were not very close to each other, and were even a little wary of each other.
Just as Yitu lowered his head to think for a while, the Queen of Hearts spoke again:
[Judith's friendly reminder to dear master:
The owner of the card room will enter the viewing area for this game in six hours. Please play hard and win the precious recommendation ticket from the owner of the card room!
Note: The card room owner's recommendation vote will change the player ranking, please pay attention to it.
Viewing area? Yitu was stunned. He hadn't expected that the games in the card room would be broadcast to the public.
If something unexpected happens in the game, wouldn't that be like live broadcast of death?
Yitu's heart sank. When he clicked the "Close game viewing area" option at the bottom, a prompt popped up.
[The viewing area for this card game can be closed by card room owners with a level higher than 5. You do not have permission at this time! ]
Seeing this, Yi Tu had no choice but to put away his ID card. He looked up at the others and found that only the three of them were checking the information.
The other veteran players fell silent and stopped communicating with each other, each with their own thoughts.
After a while, the boat docked and the village chief invited them to get off the boat and enter the village.
Yitu followed the others off the boat, and what came into view was a village with no lights on and a very quiet atmosphere.
The houses here are very close to each other, and the neighbors are only separated by a wall.
In a village like this, any gossip would spread everywhere without a single word.
Everyone followed the village chief and walked inside. They didn't see many houses with lights on. It was as if they were walking in a dead and empty village.
In particular, Yitu noticed that weeds were growing in front of several houses, and when the night wind blew, they looked like ghosts wandering in the world.
Will weeds grow in an inhabited portal?
Yitu withdrew his gaze subtly. This village was filled with weirdness.
Several people followed the village chief in silence, and soon a building that looked like a temple appeared.
It was built right in the middle of the entire village, so that all the gates were facing it, creating a situation where all the stars were worshipping the moon.
At this moment, the temple door was closed, and a huge iron lock was fastened to the door, as if locking something important in the temple.
Fu Xue stood at the door and watched for a while with great interest. The village chief urged from the front:
"Walk faster, it's cold at night."
Huang Tianfang, who was following behind the village chief, couldn't help but ask:
"Village chief, why is the temple door locked?"
The village chief glanced at her and said, "The stone tablet in the temple is broken. The villagers are worried that ghosts will take the opportunity to sneak in and occupy the temple, so the temple door must be locked."
Lin Fei heard this and asked bravely, "How come the stone tablet is broken? What did you do?"
When the village chief heard his words, he suddenly stopped walking.
Lin Fei was so frightened that he dared not move. The hunched old man had a horrified look on his face. He said:
"It's broken, it's broken, there's no reason why!"
"Okay, okay, I'll do whatever you say!" Lin Fei nodded without saying anything.
"Don't get excited, don't get excited..."
Seeing that the village chief finally turned around and led the way, Lin Fei wiped his face. It seems that he still has to be timid when it is time to be timid.
Yitu thought this guy was quite funny, but his brain wasn't very useful.
It was obvious that Zhang Queshan agreed very much, and the two looked at each other and smiled.
The village chief took them to the only house with lights on. Since the village had a small population, each household could meet their housing needs by building a two-story building, and the same was true for the village chief's house.
He led everyone into the house. The old furniture looked very poor. The backrest cover of the floral sofa had several patches on it, not to mention the iron basin that had been dented by it for a long time.
The village chief extinguished the kerosene lamp. There was already one in the house, so he tried to save as much as possible.
Yitu really couldn't imagine that someone with such family conditions could come up with more than 200,000 yuan. It was obviously a huge sum of money for the villagers.
"There are several empty rooms on the second floor. Divide them among yourselves," said the village chief. "It's getting late. You should all go and get some rest."
"It's cold at night, so it's best not to go out."
After saying this, the village chief ignored them and went straight back to his house.
"The toilets in this kind of village...are all outside the yard, right?" The female high school student suddenly spoke with a frightened look on her face.
Her grandmother's home is also in such a rural area. Since indoor toilets require a good water supply and drainage system, most rural areas do not have the conditions, so toilets are built outdoors.
It is indeed a fatal problem, and they cannot control people's three urgent needs.
"Try to hold back. If you really can't, go together." Huang Tianfang said, "Just don't be alone."
"Let's divide the room now."
There are not many rooms on the second floor, a total of four. Fu Xue and Aniu live in one, and Zhao Haichuan and Duan Zixi also occupy one.
The five of them had to squeeze into the remaining two rooms.
Huang Tianfang used the excuse of gender differences to ask for a room with a female high school student.
Now, only Yitu, Zhang Queshan and the annoying Lin Fei can share one room.
Who knew that Lin Fei insisted on staying in the same room with Zhao Haichuan and followed him stubbornly, and no matter what anyone said, it was useless.
Zhao Haichuan was so angry that he pushed his glasses frame again and again. He had no choice but to let him in. Otherwise, who could stand the knocking on the door all night long?
"That guy isn't stupid. He knows Zhao Haichuan is capable and knows how to protect himself."
After entering the room, Zhang Queshan took off his coat and said.
Yitu thought of the ID card Zhao Haichuan took out when he boarded the ship. Although there was no information on it, this action was not ordinary.
"Yes, he is a little bit stupid, but at least he still has brains." Yitu nodded.
The room on the second floor was not very big. Apart from a 1.5-meter-wide bed, there was only a tattered table and no chairs.
The two of them lay down together. Yitu looked out the window at the gloomy night without a trace of moonlight and subconsciously touched the card in his pocket.
At this time, he was still ranked seventh. Not only did he not know when he could move up, but he was even more afraid of falling in the rankings.
The author has something to say:
See you tomorrow morning! I'll update as soon as you wake up! Isn't that diligent? (cowboy with arms akimbo.jpg)
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