Chapter 700 [(*^▽^*)]
He paused for a moment after he finished speaking, his hands still moving, but his eyes were fixed on Xue Rui.
Xue Rui gave him a strange look. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
The shop assistant smiled and said, "It's nothing. I just thought this customer is so handsome, he must have a girlfriend, right?"
Xue Ruigang wanted to say no, but for some reason, he couldn't say those two words that he usually said so fluently.
"What's wrong with the guest? Is that a difficult question to answer? I'm so sorry, I asked too many questions!"
Xue Rui, "What if I had one?"
The shop assistant smiled and said, "If you have it, then congratulations on finding the love of your life."
Xue Rui nodded calmly, "Then I'll thank you in advance."
The shop assistant then handed him the packaged cake, saying, "Okay, sir, one thousand."
After paying, Xue Rui suddenly said as he was leaving, "See you tonight."
The shop assistant glanced at him instinctively and saw Xue Rui give him a slight smile, but then he realized that the man hadn't actually smiled, which was strange...
"See you tonight?" he muttered, his thoughts unreadable.
After leaving, Xue Rui returned to the fountain and met up with the other players. They hadn't gotten anything either, and when they looked at Xue Rui...
Xue Rui: "It's the same on my end, I haven't seen them either."
"Nobody has ever seen it, how are we supposed to find the statue?"
"Wait! Is this statue alive? Can only certain people see it? Ordinary people can't see it normally, but given our identities..."
Their identities were players. Xue Rui also thought of the shop assistant from earlier. That shop assistant's identity must also be special, but he was definitely not a player, so it could only be... something else.
Xue Rui: "If it's alive, does that mean the statue isn't a statue, but a ghost?"
The players felt that Xue Rui's words made sense, and in fact, they thought the same thing.
One of the players whispered, "I just looked around and found that the villa numbers start from 2. I couldn't find house number 1. What do you think this number 1 is?"
They all instinctively looked at the beautiful fountain behind them.
Someone asked uncertainly, "Could this villa number 1 be the fountain behind us?"
"So... the statues in the fountain are the ghosts that live there? The ghosts can't appear during the day, so they look like statues, but at night they can freely transform into ghosts?"
"That doesn't make sense. It's daytime, but there are no statues inside."
"So they were killed?"
Upon hearing this, not only the others, but even Xue Rui fell silent. Yes, if he hadn't been killed, why didn't he come back?
The shop assistant just mentioned that the statue was taken away by someone else, but he didn't say who took it, and I doubt he would tell you even if you asked.
For some reason, Xue Rui suddenly thought of the villa number sixteen that he had passed by many times, and the wooden sign with the character "Lin" on it.
Xue Rui found it strange that he kept thinking about that villa. Was his subconscious telling him to explore Villa No. 16?
"If he had been killed, there should have been a new member taking his place at number 1 today, but there's nothing else in the fountain today."
"Then let's wait another day and see if anything new appears in the fountain tomorrow. If it does, then it means it's dead; if not..."
"If not, then it can only mean that the ghost living in Fountain No. 1 can not only turn into a statue during the day, but also turn into a person and wander around, and can even live in other people's homes."
"So...should we come here tonight to confirm?"
"Nighttime is when ghosts and monsters are active. If we go out casually, we'll easily be targeted by them. Let's forget it. Aren't there surveillance cameras? We can just use those."
Xue Rui stood to one side, staring blankly at the fountain. Without the statue, the fountain held no appeal for him.
"Hey bro, what are you planning to do?"
Xue Rui turned to look at him. "Me? Since everything is planned, let's wait until tonight to investigate, and then meet up at the fountain tomorrow. It's still early today, I'll go check out other places."
They didn't stop Xue Rui. "That's what we were planning too. Although the whole village only has 10,000 people, there are many houses and a large area. We haven't really explored it all before, but now we have the time."
After saying goodbye to them, Xue Rui did not head towards Villa No. 16, but instead walked around the village once again. The layout of the entire village was very simple. He walked out of the village and came to a distant hillside. Looking down at the village from above, he suddenly realized that apart from the square in the middle, all the other houses in the village were residential.
Even if there are shops, they are located in the big houses in the middle of the village. The further out you go, the more desolate it becomes. At the very edge, weeds grow on both sides of the road, and there are even cracks in the road, from which weeds sprout.
The closer to the center, the cleaner it was, with no weeds. The roadside greenery was also very well done, with flowers and plants planted. However... he had never seen anyone in charge of the greenery.
He subconsciously touched the fingers of his left hand, and when he realized what he was doing, he was stunned. Why was he touching his own fingers again? Could it be that the ring on the statue was his?
He smiled and shook his head, then started walking around the village. He figured it would take a long time to walk the whole thing, and it would be evening by then…
But it's alright. Being outside at night might not be too dangerous. Didn't I go outside last night? I even killed a mud monster and survived in Villa No. 15.
Perhaps tonight you'll encounter other ghosts or monsters, and you might even kill them and gain a portion of their memories.
Xue Rui carefully reviewed the memories he had gained after killing the Mud Monster. Apart from those related to the villa, the rest were related to other ghosts and monsters.
In the mud monster's memory, all the houses in the first twenty-five villas of the village were inhabited by ghosts and monsters.
But now he has replaced number 15, so the number of the twenty-five... no, number one is not quite certain yet, so it should be said that the number of these twenty-four ghosts is now uncertain.
Ghosts also hunt each other. Ordinary people in the village, that is, normal people, are hunted by the top 25 ghosts every night, but they can only choose one each night.
If the hunt is unsuccessful, then you have to give up and wait until the next night to have someone else hunt. If the hunt is successful, then you also have to wait until the next night to hunt again.
But... ghosts also have the right not to hunt ordinary people. They can go if they want and not go if they don't want to. They are very free. Xue Rui nodded to himself. These memories were indeed quite important to him.
It's a bit of a shame that I didn't see any fountain sculptures.
Wait a minute! Xue Rui suddenly thought of something. Killing a monster can grant some memories, so if he wanted to gain more memories related to the village, wouldn't he just need to keep hunting ghosts and monsters?
The more ghosts you kill, the more memories you acquire. From these memories, you can deduce the main quest content and even the conditions for clearing the game.
Xue Rui thought the plan was feasible. He squinted at the village not far away. The village looked like a circle from the outside, with a circular square in the middle. The houses were built around the square, one circle after another, looking like concentric circles.
He had been outside long enough, and as the sun began to set, he prepared to return. But just as he was about to enter the village, he suddenly saw people on his right who were near the village.
He looked somewhat puzzled, and his gaze towards the village was unfamiliar and wary. Xue Rui immediately thought of himself when he first entered the instance, so this person was a player who had just entered the instance.
The other person also saw Xue Rui, and the two stood there staring at each other. After Xue Rui checked the time, as he was about to leave, he couldn't help but say, "You should know where you live. Get back to your place before dark, and don't go out at night. We can talk about it when it's light."
He turned and left quickly after he finished speaking, but he felt something was wrong as soon as he finished speaking. When did he become so kind-hearted?
Normally, he would never say such nonsense. The person just now looked somewhat familiar, but that face... he definitely had never seen before.
Wait, this face is useless. His current face is completely different from his original one. It feels familiar. Could it be because there's someone he knows behind that unfamiliar face?
He stopped and turned to look at him, only to find that the man was following him toward the village. He noticed Xue Rui's gaze, blinked, and then said, "Hello, I'm Lin Le."
Xue Rui was stunned for a moment. Lin Le? Was that name real or fake?
“I am Zheng…” No, the sign on the villa gate says Xue, but the sign on the house at the beginning says Rui. If I lie, he will be suspicious if he sees it later.
"I am Xue Rui, hello Lin Le."
Lin Leyou blinked. "That name sounds familiar. Oh, right, thank you for reminding me earlier. Don't misunderstand, my house is around here. I wasn't following you on purpose."
Xue Rui nodded, "Then let's go, it gets dark pretty quickly in this village."
The moment Jia finished speaking, the setting sun, which had been hanging in the sky just moments before, was gone in the blink of an eye!
Not to mention the newcomer Lin Le, even Xue Rui was caught off guard by the sudden darkness. What was going on?
The two stared at each other, wide-eyed.
Lin Le: "Um, shall we go back to our place first?"
Xue Rui was about to nod, but then he remembered that he was waiting for ghosts to come that night, so he simply refused, saying, "I have something to do. You should go back to your place first."
Lin Leyou said, "I have a place to stay, but it's already dark. Even if we go quickly, it's probably too late. Why don't we go together?"
Xue Rui wanted to refuse, since having someone around when he was hunting ghosts would be a bit of a hindrance.
However... since this person didn't turn into a ghost at night, he must be a human. In that case, it wouldn't hurt to be together. Besides, he told the shop assistant during the day that he'd see him tonight, so he might be coming to find him now.
"If you stay here, you'll attract the attention of ghosts and monsters."
Lin Leyou, "Why?"
Xue Rui: "Because I just offended a ghost who turned into a normal person during the day, what do you think?"
Lin Leyou waved his hand, "I'm not afraid. When the ghosts come, remember to get out of the way and let me deal with them. That way, I can move to a better house."
Xue Rui raised an eyebrow. "You seem quite confident. Fine, whatever you want."
Lin Leyou smiled and nodded. He looked around. Although it was pitch black, practically impossible to see anything, their night vision was quite good, and they could see clearly.
When will that ghost you mentioned arrive?
Xue Rui was about to say he didn't know, but soon both of them sensed a cloud of black mist rushing straight towards them from a distance. It was approaching at high speed, and the rolling black mist behind it looked like a very long tail.
When the black mist reached them, Xue Rui had already taken out his evil-repelling bracelet. It was an inconspicuous but very useful item.
Lin Leyou also produced an inconspicuous branch in his hand, which looked very fragile and easily broken. However, it was only when this branch was taken out that the black mist that was rushing towards them stopped.
The black mist lingered and circled in the air a short distance ahead before settling on the ground, transforming into a figure made of black mist with two inconspicuous red eyeballs where the eyes should be.
After looking at it carefully, Xue Rui said, "Good evening, you came quite quickly."
Those red eyes, appearing and disappearing in the black mist, were staring intently at Xue Rui. If he could, he would rush over right now, envelop Xue Rui in the thick fog, and slowly devour him.
But now… his gaze turned warily to the man standing near Xue Rui. The branch in the man's hand gave him a great sense of danger; if that thing touched him, he would definitely be injured.
He spoke in a hoarse voice, "Good evening, my food."
Lin Leyou glanced at it knowingly, not expecting that what this person said was true, that ghosts really would come to kill him. "Didn't they say that ghosts are just like normal people during the day? How did you find out?"
Xue Rui: "It's nothing, he just gave himself away during our conversation. I was really careless..."
Lin Leyou: "Then why did they kill you after you were exposed? Is that considered leverage?"
Xue Rui was stunned for a moment. Not only him, but even Lin Leyou, who said those words, was stunned, because at that moment, a memory appeared in their minds.
If you find any ghosts in the village, you can go to house number 66 and report it. Someone will then take care of the ghost and give you a reward. However, this is only possible during the day.
The two looked at each other in surprise, never expecting such a thing to happen.
Lin Leyou: "Do I need to hold out until daytime to submit a report? There's a reward, maybe points and items."
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