At 1:47 a.m., Xiao Jin pressed the tip of his knife against the door, and the cold metal vibrated slightly.
The footsteps lingered in front of her door for a full three minutes.
Xiao Jin held her breath, not daring to even tremble her eyelashes, until she heard a series of rustling sounds gradually fade away, and then she let out a soft breath.
What the hell is this thing?
Xiao Jin had listened carefully just now, and there was no sound at all, not even breathing or heartbeat, just like a dead object.
Having realized that the danger had temporarily passed, Xiao Jin slowly bent down, almost lying on the ground.
She pressed her right eye close to the crack in the door—but what she saw shocked Xiao Jin.
Moonlight poured down the corridor like mercury, illuminating a pair of pale, paper-mache feet. The ankles were painted with cinnabar joint lines, and the soles were covered in damp grave soil.
Hehehehe~
Just then, a "hee hee hee" sound suddenly came from behind Xiao Jin, like an eerie whisper carried on the night wind, instantly breaking the dull and oppressive silence around them.
Xiao Jin's heart skipped a beat. Her posture, which was pressed against the crack in the door, stiffened at the sudden sound. She quickly turned her head, her sharp gaze shooting toward the source of the sound.
Upon closer inspection, a rag doll had miraculously appeared on the previously empty windowsill.
It sat quietly by the window, out of place with the gloomy atmosphere around it, yet strangely eye-catching.
Xiao Jin was very familiar with that doll.
It was the little girl she met when she first arrived in Guxing Village, the one she was holding tightly in her arms.
At that moment, its eyes, sewn with black thread, began to flicker eerily. Then, a disproportionately large mouth suddenly split open, bursting out bursts of shrill and mournful laughter.
Hehehehe~
Laughter echoed in the deathly silent room, like countless vengeful spirits screaming in one's ears, sending chills down one's spine.
Xiao Jin felt a chill run down her spine, realizing something was wrong.
Without a second thought, she sprang to her feet almost instinctively, her movements as swift as lightning, instantly reaching the windowsill. A flash of cold light appeared in the long knife she gripped tightly in her hand, and she stabbed precisely at the eerie rag doll.
With a "ripping" sound, the rag doll's body was easily torn apart by the sharp tip of the knife, and fragments flew everywhere.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
At the end of the corridor, the paper figure suddenly stopped moving, and then its toes curled up strangely.
Xiao Jin first heard a series of crackling sounds, coming from afar and getting closer.
Immediately afterwards—
"Thump!"
The sudden knocking made the door frame rustle with dust.
The paper figure banged its forehead against the door, and the fragile paper head cracked open with spiderweb-like fissures, revealing the black hair tangled inside. Those strands of hair, as if alive, emerged from the cracks and meandered into the doorway.
The shattered shadows hummed as Xiao Jin swiftly cut off the strands of hair that had climbed onto her shoes.
The severed hair fell to the ground and turned to ashes, but a blurry face emerged from the ashes. Xiao Jin could see clearly that this person was one of the players who had stayed at the village chief's house.
This discovery made her heart clench—those players who went to the village chief's house were probably in grave danger.
However, the paper figure in front of her was easier to deal with than Xiao Jin had imagined.
She took out the ghost lamp that she hadn't used in a long time, and then opened the door.
The light illuminated the surrounding darkness, and the paper figure seemed to avoid the light of the ghost lamp, even starting to back away.
Xiao Jin took a step forward, then took a step back upon seeing the paper figure.
"I see..." Xiao Jin raised an eyebrow slightly.
Too lazy to argue with the paper figure, she retreated back into the room, closed the door, and hung the ghost lamp on the doorknob.
In this way, the paper figure cannot touch the door.
Xiao Jin clapped her hands and lay back down on the bed.
"Sigh, it's so late, I should go to sleep!"
The paper figure outside the door looked completely bewildered.
Sleeping? What am I then? A watchdog?
……………………
Xiao Jin didn't know when the paper figure left; she didn't see it when she went to collect the props.
Daylight broke; today is the fourth day of the game.
Xiao Jin and his group sat downstairs having breakfast.
"Huh? They haven't come back yet?" Sui Ying took a bite of the xiaolongbao, her cheeks twitching.
"Yeah." Sui Feng snatched half a roasted sweet potato from Feng Hao's hand: "I think it's hopeless. They might all have died at the village chief's house."
"Hey, you've already eaten so much, why are you still eating?" Feng Hao glared at Sui Feng, annoyed, and picked up the pineapple bun next to him. "Also, can you think of something nicer?"
They're all dead. Maybe they just encountered some hidden quest and left the instance early!
Sui Feng, with dead fish eyes: "Congratulations, haha~"
The others ignored the bickering between the two and focused on the breakfast on the table.
"Hmm, this seafood porridge is amazing, do you want to try some?" Sui Ying asked Shao Siyuan.
"Okay, then have some." Shao Siyuan said, holding up the bowl.
Just then, Xiao Jin saw Wang Zixuan's disheveled figure through the crack in the window, with two male players following behind her.
One of them was missing his right little finger, and the strip of cloth wrapped around the severed end was soaked with dark red blood.
"This is... the recovery items are all used up?" Feng Hao, who also saw it, came over and said in a very surprised tone.
"That's probably the case, otherwise it doesn't make sense for him to bleed like that for nothing." Shao Siyuan's eyes were full of contemplation.
Sui Feng grinned, "That's terrible!"
"Every time players log into the game, they have tons of items, especially recovery items. How can they possibly use them all up? I really don't know what they went through last night?"
The group shook their heads.
Clearly, gathering materials is just the simplest step; the real trouble is yet to come!
Soon, Wang Zixuan and her two companions entered the guesthouse and were greeted by Xiao Jin and his group of five, who were leisurely having breakfast.
Upon seeing this, Wang Zixuan's face contorted in shock.
Compared to them, who were covered in stench and bloodstains and had been up all night with sallow complexions, weren't these people going too far?
Seemingly noticing the slight anger in Wang Zixuan's eyes, Feng Hao quickly lowered his head: "Eat quickly, eat quickly, it will get cold." This only drew an even stronger stare.
Xiao Jin had already eaten her fill.
Ignoring the eerie atmosphere around her, she focused her gaze on the three women, Wang Zixuan and Wang Zixuan, who were holding a lantern about half an arm's length long.
Is this the Soul-Guiding Lamp?
Xiao Jin narrowed his eyes.
The appearance is unremarkable, just a white lamp that wasn't lit, so you can't see anything else.
Upon closer inspection, a piece of furry skin is stuck to the lampshade, and it rises and falls slightly with the rhythm of breathing, making it look almost alive.
Don't touch my light!
Xiao Jin was still observing when the player with the severed finger suddenly screamed, startling Sui Feng and the others who were eating.
"Wow, what's wrong with you?"
The player with the severed finger abruptly shook off the person supporting him and rushed upstairs.
The remaining male player with the earring completely ignored the player with the severed finger, even throwing two heavy punches at the air: "Get out of the way! This was all done according to the rules..."
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