"You must hand over the money within today!"
"Otherwise, none of you from Gangan Village will be able to escape!"
There are obviously more people coming to the village to collect debts today than last time.
A group of strong and burly men, holding wooden sticks and steel pipes, had a fierce attitude and would resort to violence if they couldn't get the money.
Several villagers who were in debt had no money at home and were beaten severely. They covered their heads and broke down emotionally.
"Money, money, money! All you want is money!"
"If it weren't for the fact that all the money we earned had disappeared, we would have paid off the debt we owed you eight hundred years ago!"
"I don't have much to live for anyway, so just hit me, just beat me to death!"
As the saying goes, those who dare to hit others are afraid of those who dare to kill, and those who kill are afraid of those who don't care about their lives.
The debt collector had heard rumors about Gangan Village and was afraid that if he pushed the people too hard, he would have to leave the village sideways.
Helpless, the big man gritted his teeth, said a few harsh words, and left cursing.
The few deadbeats who had been crying and shouting just now quickly got up and walked into Grandma Li's house as if nothing had happened.
"Hey, village chief," Lao Lai said shamelessly, "We've eaten all the pigs we killed before the New Year. Can you bring us some more food?"
Hearing the word "pig", Lu Shufan instinctively covered his stomach and squatted in the corner, retching in pain.
——Help, the memory of the dead suddenly attacked him.
Grandma Li acted as if she was used to it and replied, "Okay, I'll go back to my parents' home at noon and prepare some meat and vegetables for you."
Yu Qimiao patted Lu Shufan on the back and asked Su Qiong in a low voice, "What are we going to do today?"
The secret inside Gangan Village has been discovered. Clues can only be found in Yinyang River tonight, and the bus to the city will arrive tomorrow.
During the day, the three of them had nothing to do.
Su Jian poked his bracelet and said slowly, "Maybe I'm being too suspicious, but there are only two days left in the dungeon, and there's one thing we have no clue about."
"What's up?"
Su Jian: "Instance NPC."
Yu Qimiao frowned, "Is the dungeon NPC important?"
"It's extremely important." Su Qi nodded. "Remember? When you entered the dungeon, the system prompted: There's more than one way to clear it."
Shi Yuntian clenched his fists. "Yeah, so I want to try to kill all the other players and the mimic NPCs. Does that count as clearing the level?"
"Not really." Su Qiong said to him calmly, "According to the system definition, there are three essential ways to clear a level: 1. Gain the favorability of the dungeon NPC, 2. Complete the task and gain the dungeon NPC's recognition, 3. Defeate the dungeon NPC."
Lu Shufan wiped his mouth and breathed weakly, "The definition is quite interesting."
In just one sentence, the essence of all copy games is summarized.
Su Qiong: "This definition is a summary I made based on the information recorded by the main system. The biggest difference between "IF" and other games is that NPCs have self-awareness and are divided into red names and white names."
"So what?"
Su Qi raised his head, "But I have no idea about it."
Su Jing's level is too low, and the conditions provided to him by the system are very limited.
However, since Su Jian's own analytical ability is strong enough, he can make judgments based on limited information and guide the players.
The only thing he had was the dungeon NPC, and he had no direction to explore.
Lu Shufan: "That's normal. The villain boss is hiding very deep. Based on my experience playing puzzle games frequently, the NPC will definitely appear at the end of the dungeon."
Su Jing shook his head and said with certainty, "He won't show up on his own initiative."
The other three slowly typed out a question mark.
"Why?"
Su Qiong said seriously, "Because I am still alive."
"There's another difference between IF and regular games: NPCs are divided into red-named and white-named. In your eyes, both red-named and white-named NPCs are system NPCs. In reality, white-named NPCs are their natural enemies. Usually, at the start of a dungeon, red-named NPCs will look for an opportunity to kill white-named NPCs." Su Qiong said calmly, paused, and covered his chest. "Have I ever told you I don't have eyes?"
"Ah?!" Three people were confused.
It was the fourth day I spent with Su Jian, and I didn’t realize he was blind.
"I don't have a body, so of course I don't have eyes." Su Jing said righteously.
“…”
——It makes so much sense that we can’t refute it.
"I can intuitively sense players and NPCs through fluctuations in their physiological characteristics. Your good intentions and bad intentions are very obvious to me."
Su Jian: "After entering the dungeon, I felt a lot of hostility from the players, but not from the NPCs."
Shi Yuntian touched his nose guiltily and pretended to look at the scenery in the distance.
"The dungeon NPC didn't even come out to kill me." So Su Jing deduced that the dungeon NPC would not show up on its own initiative.
Yu Qimiao suddenly realized, "So, we can only take the initiative to find him?"
Su Qiong: "Hmm. I presume the dungeon NPC should be in the village. There are no arrangements for today. You can observe the villagers individually and perhaps you can find the dungeon NPC."
After Su Jing finished speaking, he heard the voices of Grandma Li and Li Ting.
"I'm taking my granddaughter back to her parents' house to get something today. Who's willing to lend a hand?"
Several people looked at each other, and Shi Yuntian slowly raised his hand, "Let me do it, I'm stronger."
In fact, when they looked at each other just now, the two teammates said with their eyes: Go away, you have no brains, and it is useless for you to stay in the village.
Shi Yuntian was helpless and furious, so he had no choice but to follow Grandma Li out of Gan Gan Village. By the way, he took Su Jian to unlock a new map, which might trigger a system prompt.
Grandma Li’s parents’ home is only five minutes away from Gangan Village, but Su Jing cannot accurately judge the distance.
You know, it’s only a five-minute drive from Gangan Village to the city, so it may be a unified setting.
Grandma Li: "I married close to home, only two miles away. When I get there, it's the tiled house in front."
Su Jing followed the direction she pointed and saw a prominent three-story villa, which stood out among the surrounding bungalows.
"Your family is quite rich!" Shi Yuntian was straightforward and expressed his thoughts directly.
Grandma Li corrected, "It's not my home, it's my mother's home."
Shi Yuntian: "Is there any difference?"
The introverted Li Ting spoke softly, "Grandma said that after a woman gets married, she has no home."
"Huh?" Shi Yuntian showed a black question mark face.
Grandma Li took out the key from her waist, aimed it at the lock of the door, and turned it three or four times before it opened the lock.
The inside of the villa was more spacious than the outside, and there was a vegetable garden in the yard where they grew the vegetables they had eaten a few days ago.
Grandma Li left her granddaughter outside to pick vegetables and went straight to the backyard with two helpers.
There are two ways to get to the backyard, either through the middle of the house or around the side of the room.
Grandma Li chose to go around it. Su Jing followed her and felt it was strange, but he couldn't tell what was strange.
"Something's wrong." The brainless Shi Yuntian actually started to analyze, "It's too quiet here."
Indeed, Su Jian did not hear any human voice, but the "silence" was not what he found strange.
Shi Yuntian: "Also, she only came home after such a long time, why didn't she say hello to her family?"
"That's it." The code, which didn't understand the ways of the world, finally understood what was strange.
Grandma Li had no intention of greeting her family, but instead deliberately walked around the house.
"We..." He tried.
Su Jing had just said two words when Shi Yuntian asked in a loud voice, "Village Chief, where are the rest of your family?"
Su Jian: ...
You are so reckless.
Grandma Li went straight to the backyard and replied casually, "They're away on a long trip."
Shi Yuntian: "You don't have a phone, how do you know they're away?"
“Every time I come over, they’re away on a trip.”
"You..." Shi Yuntian was about to get to the bottom of the matter, but was stopped by Su Jing, who signaled him to say less.
Some NPCs are moody and easily go berserk.
Grandma Li pushed open the pigpen door and drove out two fat pigs.
"There are a lot more mouths to feed in the village lately. Take two pigs back with you."
Shi Yuntian was more excited to see the lively pig than to see his own ancestors. "Village Chief, it turns out that what we ate two days ago was real pork, not..."
Su Jing was afraid that he would reveal the word "human flesh", so he covered Shi Yuntian's mouth tightly with a bandage.
At this moment, he missed Lu Shufan very much.
Sometimes, the difference in language talent between people is greater than the difference between people and code.
"Of course it's pork, what else could it be?" Grandma Li glanced at him suspiciously. "The food, pork, and vegetables that the village eats are all brought over from my mother's family."
Su Jian praised calmly, "So that's how it is. You are really a good village chief."
The players were "too good at talking", so Su Qiong was forced to close the business.
"Alas, how can I, a woman from a wealthy family, be qualified to be the village chief?" Grandma Li sighed. "The original village chief was my husband."
"How is your husband now..." Su Jing imitated human communication skills and spoke with discretion.
"He passed away early. He died on the third day after I got married."
"The third day?!"
No wonder Grandma Li married into Gangan Village and is still able to live safely until now.
When Su Jing crossed the Yin Yang River, he heard them say: They thought that by marrying a husband, they would have someone to rely on.
What's the result?
"Dependence" pointed the sharp blade at them, but those who had no one to rely on were able to survive safely until now.
Irony, so ironic.
"If that's the case, why have you stayed in Gangan Village?" Shi Yuntian estimated that considering Grandma Li's age, she had stayed in Gangan Village for at least thirty years.
Compared with the poor mountains, bad waters and broken caves of Gangan Village, her original family's conditions were obviously much richer.
Is it worth it to spend thirty years of your life for a husband who only existed for three days?
"If I don't stay in Gangan Village, where else can I go?" Grandma Li said numbly, having already accepted her fate. "Tingting and I are from Gangan Village. Here, the day a daughter gets married, she has no home."
"Bah! What kind of feudal custom is that?" Shi Yuntian told her gruffly, "In the world I live in, women can study and work. They can be bosses, celebrities, presidents, and they can support a family on their own!"
Su Qiong: "Indeed. Marriage is just an optional accessory to a woman's social status."
When Grandma Li heard what they said, her old eyes flickered twice and a faint light appeared.
"Really? There is such a wonderful place in the world."
Shi Yuntian wanted to say something else, but he opened and closed his mouth and forced himself to hold it back.
Grandma Li is just an ordinary NPC who can't get out of the dungeon. No matter how much he talks, he can't invite her to visit his world.
Shi Yuntian was in a trance, and Su Jing poked him with his finger.
"We just found a new clue and triggered two new hints."
Shi Yuntian: What’s the hint?
Su Jing moved the bracelet closer.
[System prompt: This instance is an existential instance, and the main plot is adapted from a true story.]
[System prompt: Instance NPC favorability +0.5 (percentage points).]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
