Chapter 705 [(*^▽^*)]
Lin Leyou didn't talk to him much, but instead led Xue Rui inside to choose cakes, bread, and even milk tea—there were many kinds.
The two picked out some desserts and snacks. Of course, if they wanted to eat main dishes, they would have to see what was in Lin Leyou's backpack. There were plenty of main dishes, enough for them to eat for several months.
After paying, the two left the store. The clerk watched their retreating figures from inside until they disappeared from sight before turning away. "These two... have such a good relationship. They even smell of each other and are wearing matching rings. I'm so envious."
Then he muttered to himself, "Should I go find one too?"
After leaving the cake shop, the two of them returned from the other side of the square. When they walked across the square, they found that the number of players had increased from more than twenty to thirty.
Normally, they would stay in secret for a while to observe the players' movements, but Lin Leyou was in a hurry and wanted to get back quickly to ask Xue Rui about the things he hadn't said before.
That's the most important thing.
Xue Rui wanted to stay and listen, but Lin Leyou forcefully dragged him away. In the end, he could only settle for leaving a mechanical spider nearby to see if it could capture anything useful.
When they returned home, Lin Leyou couldn't wait to use the plants he had forced to grow to cover the entire house, at least to isolate some traces of the ghosts that had previously lived there.
The two placed all the cakes, bread, and other items they had bought on the table in the living room. This table was also woven by Lin Leyou from tree branches and vines. Although it didn't look very impressive, it was very sturdy.
Lin Leyou sat down beside him. "Can you tell me now? When you're turned into a statue, you can't sense what's happening outside, and you can't hear my voice either."
"What would happen if I hadn't held your hand and woken you up?"
Xue Rui was silent for a moment, "After the dungeon ends..."
Lin Leyou: "When will the dungeon end?"
Xue Rui, "You know?"
Lin Leyou frowned slightly. "I'm not stupid. Of course I'll notice that every ghost in this village can actively hunt an ordinary person at night, but the total number of people in the village remains unchanged."
"This means that people in this instance can be killed by monsters at any time, and other people can be added to replace them at any time. These people can be players, residents, or even ordinary background NPCs."
Lin Leyou was clearly angry at this point, "In other words, this instance is always running and will never end. If I don't wake you up, you might be sealed inside the sculpture forever!"
Xue Rui took his hand and wrapped it in his own. "Brother Lin, don't be angry."
Lin Leyou took a deep breath, suppressing the pain in her heart, "Why would I be angry with you? It's not your fault. This dungeon is really powerful. I didn't expect it to be so ruthless to you."
Xue Rui: "It's not that serious."
Lin Leyou blinked. "I mean... you're actually saying good things about this instance?"
Xue Rui shook his head. "That's not what I meant. I meant that even if I'm sealed inside the sculpture, I'm still wearing the ring on my finger. The sculpture is so obvious, you'll definitely see it when you come to the instance and the village."
"Then you who saw the ring will definitely do something, which means that my awakening is inevitable and I won't be sealed in the dungeon forever. We belong to the same camp."
Lin Leyou's mood eased slightly after hearing what he said. He had to admit that Xue Rui was right. After failing to contact Xue Rui in every way, he would definitely search frantically in the dungeon.
She wouldn't overlook any clue, let alone such an obvious statue inside the fountain and that ring, so sooner or later, Xue Rui would definitely be awakened by herself.
He just didn't like it. Xue Rui was just being schemed against. He didn't know if there was any way to make this instance pay a price. He'd look for an opportunity; maybe there was.
Xue Rui touched his cheek, then leaned in and kissed him gently. "Don't worry, I know you'll definitely find me and wake me up. After all... I'm a player, and I always use faction badges to be in your faction, and I've become an NPC in dungeons multiple times. That might have already annoyed the dungeons or the system."
Lin Leyou said confidently, "Why should I be dissatisfied? If I were dissatisfied, the faction badges wouldn't be put up for sale. Since I got my hands on the faction badges, it means they are absolutely usable."
Xue Rui: "So I was just unlucky this time. Don't think too much about it, okay?"
Hearing him speak in such a gentle tone, Lin Leyou felt something was off. "You..."
Xue Rui, "Hmm?"
Lin Leyou looked at Xue Rui's gaze and said, "It's nothing."
He felt that if he said what he had said before, something bad might happen, so he decided not to say it. It wouldn't matter if he didn't say it.
Xue Rui brought his face close to Lin Leyou's and stared at him for a long time until Lin Leyou raised an eyebrow and looked back before he looked away. "It's good that you're alright."
Lin Leyou laughed and said, "Shall we eat something? The quests in this instance are really hard to find. It seems we can only receive a system notification after completing the quest and then leave the instance. Otherwise... we might have to stay here forever, or get killed by other players."
Xue Rui: "You're right, but... the mission is definitely not to kill all the players."
Lin Leyou nodded, "When someone dies, another player will come to replace them. There will never be an end to the players. The missions are definitely something else, related to the players, but they may also be unrelated to the players."
Xue Rui: "Could it be the opposite?"
Lin Leyou, "The opposite? You mean... kill all the ghosts and monsters?"
Xue Rui: "Okay."
Lin Leyou said, "I think that's impossible. If we kill all the ghosts and monsters, then we're ghosts and monsters now, so wouldn't we have to kill ourselves? As NPCs, our mission is definitely not to kill ourselves."
Xue Rui: "If it's not killing players, and it's not killing ghosts, then it must be something else."
Lin Leyou said, "Perhaps it's related to the whole village. So far, we haven't heard of the village chief."
Xue Rui: "No village chief... yeah, no village chief. I never thought of that before."
Lin Leyou said, "It's not just the village chief; we don't know where all the supplies in this village come from. After all, we've never seen any trucks delivering supplies come to the village, and the surrounding area is just endless grassland."
Xue Rui: "There's a river nearby, shall we go check it out? Maybe there's a dock nearby?"
Lin Leyou thought of the river. "That river isn't very big, so it probably can't accommodate very large boats, and small boats can't carry too much stuff."
Xue Rui said, "Let's go take a look."
Lin Leyou did not refuse, "No problem, we'll go after we finish eating. We'll go upstream along the river first, and if we still can't find it, we'll go back the way we came and go downstream to take a look."
Xue Rui, "Are you looking for a second village?"
Lin Leyou said, "Let's just give it a try. If it works, maybe we'll have a clue about our mission."
Xue Rui looked outside. "There are a lot of players outside now. If we go out at night disguised as ghosts, we're likely to be seen by them."
Lin Leyou looked at the sky and said, "It's not dark yet. After we finish eating, we'll go out and leave the village so we won't run into other players tonight."
Xue Rui: "Many players are now searching for the mysteriously disappeared statue in the fountain, and some players have even noticed the ring."
Lin Leyou subconsciously glanced at the ring on his finger. "Should we cover it up? If the players see it, our identities will definitely be exposed."
Xue Rui: "Actually, it's already been exposed."
Lin Leyou was stunned for a moment, then realized, "Indeed... villas... those who can live in villas are basically ghosts and monsters, unless they are killed by players..."
Xue Rui said, "We probably can't pretend to be players; we'll turn into ghosts and monsters at night."
Lin Leyou sighed, "It's okay, if we can't pretend, we won't. We'll go out tonight. Our villa has residual energy from the karmic fire, and even if players touch it, they'll be ignited."
Xue Rui picked up a small cake and held it to Lin Leyou's lips. Lin Leyou opened his mouth wide and gulped it down in one go, saying, "Delicious."
"What about this one?" Xue Rui picked up another flavor and handed it to Lin Leyou, who then ate it.
The two of them... didn't finish all the cake. During this time, Lin Leyou took out some food from her backpack, which was still piping hot.
Lin Leyou said, "These cakes can't be put in our backpacks, they won't fit. We'll just have to pack them up and take them with us later so we can eat them on the way."
Xue Rui had no objection. They had bought too much and couldn't finish it all. They could only take it with them and eat it on the way. Lin Leyou didn't look for a backpack. Instead, she used her own abilities to weave a backpack on the spot with some thin vines and put all the unfinished cakes inside, while holding a milk tea in her hand.
He then cleaned up all the trash in the house before leaving.
After they left Villa No. 16, they crossed the square and headed out of the village. Just as they walked away, the door of Villa No. 15 opened, and two people with familiar demeanors but unfamiliar appearances came out.
"Are you really going to go back and live alone? This instance is very dangerous. It will be much safer if the two of us live together. After all, monsters will definitely attack at night, especially..."
Lin Leyou, who wanted to return to Villa No. 22 to live by herself, asked curiously, "Especially what?"
Xue Rui said, "Especially... I suspect that besides ghosts and monsters, the only other humans in these villas are the two of us. Living alone would be dangerous, as all the ghosts and monsters are watching us."
Lin Leyou thought what he said made a lot of sense, but wasn't it inappropriate to keep living in someone else's house? Especially... especially what was it again?
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