Chapter 36 Returning Home 6 Fengju Village
As Lei Fu went downstairs, Jing Jiang screamed and hid behind Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan. She said in a trembling voice, "It's a ghost! He's the ghost! People don't walk like that!"
In just a short while, Lei Fu had climbed over the lobby and was heading towards the restaurant. Ling Yuanshan immediately took out his long knife and blocked Lei Fu's path: "What's going on with you?"
Lei Fu was practically lying on the ground, having to crane his neck to see Ling Yuanshan's face clearly: "I want to eat..."
After saying that, Lei Fu ignored Ling Yuanshan, walked past him, climbed onto the nearest chair, and continued to eat the food on the table with his head down.
The leftovers from last night were not cleared away. Although the weather was not hot and the remaining juices had not gone bad, Lei Fu had already eaten a round of food, and all that was left were skewers and bones.
Unaware of his surroundings, Lei Fu grabbed the skewers and bones and stuffed them back into his mouth, chewing them greedily. Soon his mouth was full of blood, but he didn't stop and continued to eat with relish.
After Lei Fu crawled over, Jing Jiang dared not make a sound. She tremblingly hid behind Wu Wangwang, tugged at Wu Wangwang's skirt and whispered, "You must be a ghost too. Go kill him, okay? If you kill him, I'll help you hide your identity."
Wu Wangwang turned around and looked at her strangely: "What are your criteria for judging ghosts? Lei Fu didn't do anything out of line, he just wanted to eat."
After hearing this, Jing Jiang suddenly attacked, giving Wu Wangwang a hard shove. Behind her were various bottles of liquor. Ling Yuanshan was on his guard and managed to catch Wu Wangwang in time to prevent her from falling. Otherwise, if the bottles had broken and pierced her vital parts, she would have been crippled even if she didn't die.
Jing Jiang clutched her head: "Ghost! You're a ghost too! Look at him! Is he normal? He's clearly not normal! Anyone who's not normal is a ghost, you all are!"
Then Jing Jiang kept repeating similar words, looking nervous and trying to escape. She knocked over tables, chairs, and various other items before running upstairs.
Lei Fu, who went crazy yesterday, ran out, but eventually came back on his own, though he acted very strangely. Jing Jiang also seems a bit off today, actually running to her hotel room.
Lei Fu was still eating, the skewers had pierced his face and lips into a net-like pattern, and blood was flowing everywhere, but he didn't stop.
Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan exchanged a glance, sensing that the rules of this instance were taking effect, but they didn't know what the specific rules were. So far, both of them have gone mad.
"Take a look at the list, see if it's been updated," Ling Yuanshan suddenly said.
There was no activity on the list last night; she and Ling Yuanshan had been playing chess since after midnight and hadn't paid any attention.
Wu Wangwang quickly took it out and found that it had indeed been updated. The latest post read: "August 9th. The travel guides all say that the third day of a trip will be very tiring, so let's rest at the hotel today."
After reading it, Ling Yuanshan said with a smile, "This plan is quite reasonable. If you go hiking, your muscles will be sore the next day and you won't be able to get out of bed. If you drink all night and don't sleep the next day, you'll probably die suddenly."
“We’ve been busy for days, let’s take a good rest today and see how things go tomorrow,” Wu Wangwang said, putting away the list, then looking at Lei Fu who was still eating, “What about him? To be honest, I think he…”
Before she could finish speaking, Ling Yuanshan gently shook his head, stopping Wu Wangwang from continuing, and instead led her back to 502.
Wu Wangwang's room was quite large; it wasn't crowded for two people to enter, and they could relax and talk.
Ling Yuanshan said cautiously, "I once encountered a dungeon where everyone was surviving in the wilderness. But later I discovered that there were ghosts in the team. They had died long ago, but they followed us forward. They behaved much more normally than Lei Fu, but some players still couldn't stand it and planned to exorcise the ghosts."
"And then what?" Wu Wangwang asked, very curious.
"Later, we were almost wiped out. When we finally got out of the forest and were about to clear the level, we realized that if we didn't let the ghosts realize that we were ghosts, we could all leave the forest safely. Although these rules don't apply to every instance, it's always better to be careful," Ling Yuanshan sighed and replied.
Wu Wangwang thought it made sense. She nodded and then paused, "Ah, but Jing Jiang just said that Lei Fu and I are both ghosts. Shouldn't that be considered an identification?"
Ling Yuanshan pondered for a moment and said, "Then we'll see how Jing Jiang is doing. Do you want to sleep? I'm not leaving today. I'll stay with you until you wake up, then it'll be my turn."
The planned rest on the third day was definitely not a peaceful time; on the contrary, there was a possibility of encountering other unexpected events. Ling Yuanshan dared not separate from Wu Wangwang, and thus made a decision.
Knowing that Ling Yuanshan was worried about her, Wu Wangwang agreed even though she didn't need to sleep, and decided to get up and relieve Ling Yuanshan after sleeping for three or four hours.
Nothing unexpected happened in the morning. Wu Wangwang got up on time. She said she was too tired to sleep, so she urged Ling Yuanshan to go to bed. Ling Yuanshan was human, and he didn't stay in bed for long before falling asleep. The surroundings remained quiet.
Wu Wangwang took out her phone, intending to find something to look at to pass the time.
Mei Su had deleted all the information from her phone, leaving no useful data. Apart from the past information the referee had provided, just looking at her phone, one would only think she was an independent, strong, and capable girl.
Since there weren't any games on her phone, Wu Wangwang simply downloaded a match-3 puzzle game. It's very simple, and you can stop playing it anytime, making it perfect for killing time in dungeons.
While they were playing, there was a knock on the door around noon. Afraid of waking Ling Yuanshan, Wu Wangwang rushed over and opened the door after only one knock.
Tian Ji was outside the door; he had come to deliver something again.
Tian Ji forced a friendly smile onto his fleshy face. He carried a tray with lean meat porridge and side dishes. He said, "Mei Su, it's a bit messy downstairs. Didn't you eat breakfast this morning? I brought you some."
Last time, the ginger soup that Tian Ji brought was poisoned, and it was the referee who dealt with it. Today, with Ling Yuanshan in the house, the referee probably wouldn't show up, and Wu Wangwang looked hesitant.
Seeing this, Tian Ji said, "Oh, your husband is in your room, right? But you can take this. It's from a dungeon quest. You can eat it or not, we're all players, we should help each other out, right?"
Wu Wangwang then fully opened the door, took the tray, and couldn't help but ask, "Is your job just to keep bringing me things?"
Tian Ji chuckled dryly: "Actually, it's not that I've been sending you things all the time. It's just that Tian Ji seems to want to pursue you, but you brought your husband into the instance, which makes things really difficult."
In any game, once players become lovers, it becomes very troublesome. If they pursue each other according to the rules, they might get stabbed to death by the other person's husband. If they don't pursue each other, they might be killed by the rules. Caught between two dilemmas, Tian Ji only occasionally sent some food and drinks when he had no other choice.
Wu Wangwang was even more puzzled. If it was a pursuit, why use drugs?
But after Tian Ji finished speaking, he quickly left, looking genuinely afraid of being slashed by Ling Yuanshan.
After closing the door, Wu Wangwang turned around and found that Ling Yuanshan had been woken up. He was sitting on the bed, holding his usual knife in his hand.
“You heard everything,” Wu Wangwang said with certainty.
Ling Yuanshan rubbed his head, put the knife away, and lay down again: "Hmm, I thought we were going to fight. Let's not eat anything. I need to take a nap. I'm too sleepy. Don't eat it because you're tempted."
She must have been really sleepy. Ling Yuanshan kept reminding Wu Wangwang not to eat, and she was talking incoherently.
Wu Wangwang didn't intend to eat it, so she put it aside and continued playing her game.
At 12:30, Guan Lian knocked on the door and brought a tray of food, including some for Ling Yuanshan. She said that things were not safe downstairs, and everyone had gone down except for Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan. They were probably tired from staying up all night, so she brought the food over.
The lunch menu was the same as usual, neither good nor bad, but it included soup and meat, and was a standard set meal provided by the hotel.
Wu Wangwang took it and asked, "Did Jing Jiang go down too? She was terrified this morning."
Guan Lian smiled and said, "They went down, but they don't seem quite right. This is how it is in these kinds of dungeons. When the mental pressure is too high, you can't tell who the ghost is."
After saying that, Guan Lian went straight upstairs, presumably to return to her room.
Ling Yuanshan was woken up again. He glanced at the food on the table and said, "If you're hungry, I'll go with you to eat something first. I don't trust the things they give me anymore."
Wu Wangwang shook her head: "I'm not hungry yet. You should continue sleeping. Who knows who might come later."
"Ugh... a battle of attrition." Ling Yuanshan clutched his head in pain and collapsed. He never imagined he would experience something like this in a dungeon.
Sure enough, Ling Yuanshan didn't sleep for long. Wu Wangwang looked at the time. It was 2:30 in the afternoon when someone knocked on the door again. She opened the door with practiced ease. This time it was Jing Jiang who brought two cups of coffee.
Jing Jiang was originally a pretty and petite girl, but after the severe injury she suffered this morning, she now looks even more like a female ghost than Wu Wangwang. Her eyes are downcast, her eye sockets are dark, her eyes are bloodshot, and her long bangs are unkempt, hanging down to cover her eyes.
Wu Wangwang didn't ask any more questions. She took the tray, said thank you, and then closed the door.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, Wei Dong brought over two cakes, saying that he had gone out to buy them specially because the hotel didn't make them. It was raining outside, and he wasn't having an easy time, so he told Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan to finish them.
At 5:30, after it got dark, it was Lei Fu's turn. He lay on the floor and waited for Wu Wangwang to open the door. He then placed a piece of paper at Wu Wangwang's feet and slowly crawled away.
The paper was covered in mud and blood, and it was wet. Wu Wangwang carefully picked it up, opened it, and saw that the printed words on it hadn't spread even when wet.
The paper contained a contract stating that Lei Fu would receive 30,000 yuan in return for helping to kill a woman named Mei Su. Unfortunately, the signature was blurred by bloodstains and could not be read.
Ling Yuanshan, who had no peace and quiet today, got up exhausted. If he had known that so many people would come today, he would have preferred not to sleep at all. Being disturbed all the time made him feel more and more uncomfortable.
Ling Yuanshan got up and walked to Wu Wangwang's side. When he saw the contract, he was stunned: "Who sent this?"
Since the doorway and the bed are not directly visible to each other, Ling Yuanshan didn't know who had knocked on the door, as they hadn't spoken.
Wu Wangwang handed him the contract: "It was Lei Fu who delivered it after knocking on the door. The others just delivered food."
Ling Yuanshan frowned: "What does Lei Fu mean by sending this over? I think he's no longer human. This behavior... doesn't make sense."
“Let’s go over this,” Wu Wangwang said, pulling out her travel list. “First, from Mei Su’s perspective, she’s traveling with her friends, but Tian Ji came to pursue Mei Su, Lei Fu came to kill her, and the remaining three… could they also have their own reasons?”
“There are four people, including me,” Ling Yuanshan said in a deep voice.
The other three players may already know what roles they are playing in this trip, but Ling Yuanshan is like an outsider. He has no information, no mission, and only a body full of gradually healing wounds. It is very abrupt, so he does not know the reason for his trip.
They've been in the instance for three days, and apart from information shared by other players, they haven't found anything useful.
Wu Wangwang thought of what the referee had said: Mei Su's trip was for rebirth, to say goodbye to the past, and for the past to disappear. She wanted to look forward and go home when the trip was over.
"The referee's words can be trusted," Wu Wangwang pondered for a moment, "Including you, what does this situation have to do with what the referee said about traveling and then returning home?"
In each previous instance, players could complete the instance by combining the first-hand information they received with the referee's words, provided that they truly believed it and were not misled by other information along the way.
Ling Yuanshan thought for a moment and said, "As I understand it, we've already embarked on this journey. No matter how many unexpected events occur, it doesn't matter. What matters is that we've all gotten the answers we wanted on this journey, and then we can return to our safest place and get some sleep."
Wu Wangwang was stunned: "Huh? Does that mean going home?"
Isn't the human concept of "returning home" simply interpreted as "going home"?
Ling Yuanshan paused, then looked enlightened: "I forgot, your family isn't well-off, so going home is a terrifying and incomprehensible thing for you. For modern young people, going home doesn't mean going back to the house where their parents, relatives, or spouses live, but rather going back to their own house, or more precisely, a place that belongs solely to them and makes them feel at ease."
"So, this home has to be a place that I approve of, a place where I don't feel dangerous or tense?" Wu Wangwang asked tentatively.
“Yes, that’s how I understand it,” Ling Yuanshan replied with certainty.
With Ling Yuanshan's words of support and Mei Su's past experiences, Wu Wangwang understood the rules for clearing the level. The referee hadn't played any word games; it was a decluttering challenge. During her travels, she was to give up things that were cumbersome to her, find a place that made her feel at ease, and start a new life.
Ignoring the other players whose identities are still unclear, and focusing solely on Tian Ji and Lei Fu, they represent unfamiliar individuals. Tian Ji's pursuit is marriage, while Lei Fu's accidental appearance represents a new friendship that happens to arise when someone has a need.
But none of them were Mei Su's lifeline. They had their own selfish motives for participating in Mei Su's travel plans and accompanying her. Mei Su had to realize during the trip that they couldn't save her, and only by saving herself could she be reborn.
The remaining four players must also hold additional symbolic meaning for Meisu, but these symbolic meanings will eventually crumble unless they, like Meisu, simply come to enjoy the trip and, at the end, return home peacefully.
The first piece of information the copy provides is actually what needs to be discarded and absolutely cannot be used. That information is very important, but it's precisely what needs to be discarded most. If you understand it the wrong way...
Wu Wangwang suddenly grabbed Ling Yuanshan's hand: "Young Master, listen to me from now on. I've figured it out. This instance... is a tourist instance."
Ling Yuanshan looked completely bewildered: "Are you possessed by the referee?"
"No, no, no..." Wu Wangwang wanted to explain, but the referee's warning was still ringing in her ears, so she could only say, "Don't worry about it. In short, let's just treat this as a game. Don't get involved in anything else. Forget about those bitter, bloody, and violent game rules. We only have one goal: to go home."
Wu Wangwang was worried that Ling Yuanshan would press for details, but to her surprise, Ling Yuanshan agreed directly. Judging from his reaction, Wu Wangwang felt that he seemed to know something, but since he didn't say anything, she pretended not to know either. With one more person in this instance, the only way to clear the instance was to keep it a secret.
They didn't dare eat anything on the table. Ling Yuanshan called room service to clean up. After that, he and Wu Wangwang discussed going downstairs to find something else to eat. They had been sleeping all day and couldn't go without eating.
Every player who came today said that it was noisy downstairs, but when Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang went down to the first floor, they found that everything was normal. Even the bloodstains created by Lei Fu had been cleaned up, and the empty wine bottles were gone.
Dinner was served at six o'clock, and it was still a little early, so Wu Wangwang went to the convenience store and bought two boxes of ice cream. She gave one box to Ling Yuanshan, and the two sat in the restaurant watching the rain.
Ling Yuanshan doesn't like sweets, but he hadn't eaten all day and needed to eat something to replenish his sugar: "With this constant rain, we can't leave the village, so the project is going to be very difficult."
Meisu's list of plans isn't always accurate. She knows what to do when it rains and what to do when it doesn't. Besides, it's been raining for so many days. Even if it stops raining tomorrow, the village will need to repair the mountain roads before we can go out to play.
Wu Wangwang poked at her ice cream, trying to scoop out a big spoonful: "I was thinking, maybe a substitute would work too. Last night, the two of us stayed up until dawn and nothing happened. Maybe as long as Mei Su holds on, it'll be fine?"
"Let's try it tomorrow and see if it counts if the two of us finish it alone," Ling Yuanshan suggested.
The players are currently scattered, and it will probably be difficult for them to get together. They should make plans as soon as possible.
At six o'clock, hot meals were served in the kitchen. Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan arrived early, which was unusual for them. They had a wider selection of food and were able to choose what they liked. However, after they finished eating, no one else came down.
Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang discussed that everything would proceed as usual tonight, and they would check on the other players' status tomorrow before going back to their rooms to rest.
The players came once during the day, and they all felt they probably wouldn't come again.
After Wu Wangwang returned to her room and took a shower, she heard a knock on the door again. After thinking about how the story would unfold, she decided to go and open it.
Tian Ji was outside the door, carrying milk. He was still trying to smile: "You've finally separated from your husband. This is goodnight milk. You didn't sleep all night yesterday. Maybe your sleep schedule was suddenly messed up and you couldn't sleep. Drink some milk and you'll sleep better."
"Thank you." Wu Wangwang took the milk and was about to close the door when the other person stopped her.
Tian Ji rubbed her hands together and asked cautiously, "By the way, could you talk to your husband about letting me play the role of someone pursuing someone successfully? I'm not afraid you'll know that the information I've received is that Tian Ji wants to marry you."
Wu Wangwang was stunned: "Your information is like this?"
Seeing that Wu Wangwang didn't believe him, Tian Ji directly opened his phone and showed her the chat page, which contained a family group chat.
Tian Ji's parents are urging him to get married, saying they hope he finds a very good girl, preferably from a good family, smart and beautiful, well-educated, hardworking, filial, and capable... The list of qualities they put forward doesn't sound like they're looking for a wife, but rather a high-quality nanny.
Wu Wangwang had only seen such requirements on the job posting written by the Ling family's butler; the monthly salary was 50,000 yuan, plus five social insurances and one housing fund.
But it seems that Tian Ji can have a wife by getting married, and he doesn't plan to pay a bride price.
Tian Ji took a liking to Mei Su, who worked in the same office building. He thought Mei Su was rich, able to spend 200,000 yuan to buy a job, and hardworking. She could also give small gifts to her colleagues and superiors, and was very obedient to her parents. She was simply the ideal type.
This time, Tian Ji planned to win over Mei Su and marry her as soon as they got back.
The conversation was extremely lewd, but Tian Ji, the player, didn't find anything wrong with it. He confidently said, "I know you have a husband, but we're just in a game. Helping each other out will help you finish the game sooner, right? It's not like we're really getting married, it's just going through the motions."
Wu Wangwang advised him, "The referee didn't say that you need to do these things to pass the level. I think you shouldn't be influenced by this kind of past information—"
Before she could finish speaking, Tian Ji interrupted impatiently: "You're just afraid your husband won't agree, aren't you? Call your husband out, I'll talk to him."
He told Wu Wangwang to call Ling Yuanshan out, but Tian Ji didn't wait for her to speak. Instead, he pushed her aside and rushed into the room. Tian Ji looked around but couldn't find Ling Yuanshan, so he rushed to the bathroom, which was filled with smoke. He assumed Ling Yuanshan was taking a shower inside.
Wu Wangwang followed helplessly and stood at the bathroom door, saying, "Don't bother looking for him. He's not here, and both he and I believe that the information in this copy is misleading. The referee's words are the correct rules."
Tian Ji turned his back to Wu Wangwang and remained silent for a long time: "...Referee, referee, referee, you make it sound so nice, but aren't you just looking down on me? You just think I'm not as good-looking or as tall as your husband. He's just a pretty boy, yet you're still so devoted to him. Do you think he enjoys sleeping with you so much?"
"Don't you think you—" Before Wu Wangwang could finish speaking, Tian Ji suddenly grabbed her by the neck, preventing her from saying anything more.
"What? I'm ugly? I'm a toad trying to eat swan meat? What do you think you are? You lowly bitch! It's all your fault, it's all your fault, it's all your fault!" Tian Ji kept cursing, slamming Wu Wangwang's head against the sink, and blood flowed all over the sink.
Wu Wangwang didn't feel any pain; it was just a change in perspective. Mei Su's body died quickly. Tian Ji suddenly woke up after she stopped breathing and realized that he seemed to have killed someone. He turned on the tap and frantically washed his hands, saying it was impossible, but he didn't help Wu Wangwang on the ground at all.
After washing his hands, he ran out, making sure to close the door behind him.
The referee returned, wearing a new dress. He snapped his fingers, and Wu Wangwang went back to bed, and everything returned to normal.
The process was too familiar for the two to communicate, and the following night was very peaceful. The next day, Ling Yuanshan came to find Wu Wangwang. When he knocked on the door, he felt that there were people watching him from behind the doors of several rooms on the same floor.
The door opened quickly, and Wu Wangwang, wearing her familiar navy blue sundress and brand-new white leather shoes, greeted Ling Yuanshan as usual: "Young Master."
The air on the entire floor instantly became heavy. Only Ling Yuanshan seemed oblivious, raising his hand to touch Mo Wu Wangwang's head and softly asking, "Were you alright last night?"
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Author's Note: [End of Chapter]
Wu Wangwang: Actually, if I could, I'd still like to get a new dress. [Laughing]
Ling Yuanshan: My wife is so cute today too! [heart emoji]
Other players: Get lost, you two! Are you crazy?!
If the game had a complaint channel, this instance would have been filled with a message after it ended: Mentally ill patients and couples are not allowed to enter the Night of the Dead!
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