Chapter 35 Returning Home 5: Wind Orange Village
The rain hitting her face caused a slight pain. Wu Wangwang's eyes were wide open, looking like she was dying with her eyes open. She wasn't really dead, so it was really hard for her to act like a corpse. She decided to just wait and see what Lei Fu was going to do next.
Lei Fu took a long time to recover. He peeked at Wu Wangwang and made eye contact with her for a moment, but he quickly hid back. Then he climbed back to his room from the balcony. He lived on the fifth floor, which had only two rooms. The room closer to the street had a large terrace.
Players who can clear the level multiple times are all skilled. Lei Fu quickly climbed back to the terrace, ignoring the mess on the fourth floor.
The referee then emerged from the rain, lit his cigarette with a lighter, and the surrounding scene changed. Wu Wangwang was now lying on the bed, completely unharmed, without any wounds or bloodstains. Before she could sit up, the referee placed a new blue sundress beside the bed.
"Here you are, your new dress." The referee had gotten used to delivering new dresses every day, but he still missed the simple operation of ghosts being able to revert to their original state.
Wu Wangwang got out of bed and opened the bag: "Do I have to wear the same thing every day? It's so inconvenient."
The referee, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, said, “Comfortable clothes are for people with strong inner strength. Mei Su is insecure, and with the pressure from her parents, she can’t shake this habit of being presentable in front of others. Even if she wears leather shoes to climb mountains and her feet bleed, she can grit her teeth and say it’s okay.”
So, this dress was her first step towards freedom, a manifestation of her subconscious desire to wear the beautiful short dress she bought for the first time, and to travel with dignity. Wu Wangwang touched the dress: "How pitiful. She died just wanting to complete a trip, but why did the people traveling with her kill her?"
Killing Mei Su was clearly not the player's doing. Lei Fu had been acting strangely all day. He probably obtained information that belonged to him, and the information was to kill Mei Su. But they had no grudges against each other, and players would not target another player arbitrarily.
Even though Wei Dong was thinking of using Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang as substitutes, he didn't make a move directly.
The referee waved his hand: "Think about it yourself. I'm leaving. Remember to lock the doors and windows tonight."
Judging from how lively it was at the entrance last night, I'm afraid I won't get a good night's sleep tonight either. The referee is right, you still need to keep the doors and windows closed at night. Who knows how many people might want to kill you at night?
But tonight was unexpectedly peaceful, and no one else came over. Wu Wangwang lay in bed until dawn. It seemed that dawn was coming later and later in the village. She waited until it was light before getting up. When she checked her phone, it was already 6:30 in the morning.
Wu Wangwang quickly changed into a new blue dress. Her old leather shoes from yesterday had also been taken away by the referee. She ran to the bathroom and tried to curl her hair, trying to look as similar as she did on the first day.
Just as he finished, he heard a knock on the door. Wu looked over and opened it: "Young Master."
Ling Yuanshan was taken aback: "Are you feeling unwell today? There's almost no breakfast left downstairs."
The hotel meals were served at specific times. Ling Yuanshan didn't have a phone alarm clock, and the weather was bad today, so he woke up late. He thought he would go downstairs to get two breakfasts first, but he didn't see Wu Wangwang in the restaurant, so he went upstairs to look for her.
Wu Wangwang came out complaining: "No, I'm not used to using an alarm clock. Plus, when I was doing farm work, I always got up based on the time of day, but I was much later today."
Because the referee said that Mei Su could only appear at dawn, she waited until it got light, but it was already too late.
Ling Yuanshan frowned and glanced out the window: "Weather and day/night cycles are very important indicators in the dungeon. If they are not right, it means that something has happened to one of the players, or that a rule we are unaware of has been triggered."
The other players were acting mysteriously, refusing to utter a single useful word, leaving the two of them completely baffled.
Upon reaching the third floor, Wu Wangwang remembered the list and grabbed Ling Yuanshan's arm: "Young Master, Qing—"
Before she could speak, Ling Yuanshan made a shushing gesture, then shook his head, indicating that they shouldn't talk about it in the hotel. Wu Wangwang then stuffed the list back into her pocket.
When we arrived at the restaurant, everyone else had almost finished eating. It was almost closing time, but the owner didn't rush us. He just sat behind the counter, lost in thought.
As soon as the two of them walked down the stairs, a loud noise came from the restaurant. Wu Wangwang looked out and saw that Lei Fu had fallen to the ground. He was so frightened that he was trembling all over, his eyes were wide open as if they were about to pop out, and he was making bubbly noises like a ghost had appeared.
Tian Ji, who was standing nearby, was startled and hurriedly went to help him: "Hey? Lei Fu, what's wrong? The chair isn't broken."
Only Wu Wangwang knew what had happened, but she was not actually dead. Not only would she not be killed, but the referee was also protecting her life at all times, so what she showed was the eerie feeling that she had never died.
In Lei Fu's eyes, the person he stabbed to death last night had returned today. She was wearing the same blue dress as yesterday, brand new, smooth, and without a speck of dirt, completely different from how she looked yesterday when she fell into the mud.
How can the dead come back?
Lei Fu was very tall, while Tian Ji was short and fat. He couldn't lift Lei Fu up no matter what he did, and ended up exhausting himself.
Ling Yuanshan refused to go over. He raised his hand to protect Wu Wangwang, his gaze sharp and wary of Lei Fu.
After a long standoff, Lei Fu finally struggled to find his voice amidst his fear: "She...she's a ghost! She's the extra one!"
Wu Wangwang pointed to herself: "Me?"
Ling Yuanshan glared coldly at Lei Fu: "If you're sick, go get treatment. You're the only one acting crazy here. I think you're more like a ghost."
Lei Fu ignored him and grabbed Tian Ji next to him, even pulling at Wei Dong's pants: "You guys believe me, she really is a ghost, she's the one who came out of the group, and, and, she came later, all six of us met the referee together, she's the player who came later!"
Other doubts can be ignored. It is true that Wu Wangwang did not arrive with them, which is quite unusual in the game. How could a player not listen to the referee announce the rules of the game?
Even in "Our Agreement," the two bosses listened to the rules together, making Wu Wangwang's appearance seem very strange.
The players had different thoughts; they neither said they believed nor disbelieved, but were simply weighing the pros and cons.
Seeing that they didn't believe him, Lei Fu glanced at Ling Yuanshan's gloomy face and hurriedly said, "We don't know, but Ling Yuanshan, you're Wu Wangwang's boyfriend, right? Can't you tell if she's real or fake? Would you really want a ghost to pretend to be your boyfriend?"
Ling Yuanshan was also a little hesitant, but he felt that there was nothing strange about Wu Wangwang. Others might not know, but Wu Wangwang had just passed a test with him, and he knew very well that Wu Wangwang's personality was very special.
Just like now, the way Wu Wangwang looked at Lei Fu was so calm yet with a hint of pity, as if a god were observing the fragile humans on earth with indifference. Such a look is something that no ordinary ghost could fake.
Catching Ling Yuanshan's gaze, Wu Wangwang didn't argue and raised the scissors in a gesture familiar to Ling Yuanshan.
Ling Yuanshan instantly declared firmly: "She is my wife! You're lying!"
This unwavering determination stunned all the players. Lei Fu was so frightened that he fell to the ground again, his shocked gaze like that of someone hopelessly infatuated with love.
Wei Dong looked at him suspiciously: "Are you crazy? She just took out a pair of scissors, and they were red, and you believe she's Wu Wangwang? Even with the props in hand, I wouldn't dare say she is. What if she's a fake stand-in? We'd all be dead here."
Ling Yuanshan glanced at him coldly and didn't say anything. He took Wu Wangwang to the next table and got breakfast in the last ten minutes.
Lei Fu glanced at the indifferent players, then at Wu Wangwang who had already sat down to drink porridge, and suddenly screamed before rushing out and disappearing into the rain.
Wu Wangwang watched Lei Fu's figure disappear: "Will he come back for lunch?"
The players fell silent. People were pointing their fingers at her and calling her a ghost, and she was clearly terrified. She even asked him if he was coming back for lunch. Her thought process was quite bizarre.
Ling Yuanshan actually replied to Wu Wangwang seriously: "He probably won't be coming back. He doesn't look hungry."
Jing Jiang couldn't stand this bizarre couple any longer: "Are you two sick?"
"I'm just making a reasonable deduction. I went to a hungry ghost instance where there was no food, and everyone was so hungry that they even wanted to eat ghosts. When I cleared the instance, I realized that there were no ghosts at all. Every hungry ghost was a player who started eating people because they were so hungry," Ling Yuanshan explained coldly.
Raymond's fear stemmed from the fact that he wasn't in an extreme environment; his fear also came from the unknown. But in a replica of that extreme environment, the known fears truly became ever-present, and no one could escape them.
After all, people can face all their fears, but they can't stop being hungry.
The players were shocked. With just a few words, the most brutal aspect of the dungeon was revealed. They couldn't help but wonder how they would break through in that environment.
Ling Yuanshan, who survived, is definitely not simple. Even though he is already hanging by Wei Dong's props, he should not be offended easily. Who knows if he has any tricks up his sleeve?
Contrary to what the players thought, only Wu Wangwang was curious about how Ling Yuanshan survived. She thought Ling Yuanshan must be human, since humans die if they don't eat.
Ling Yuanshan didn't refuse to answer: "The rule of that level is that you can pass the level if you don't turn into a ghost within seven days. Starving ghosts are all transformed from players, so as long as you persevere, don't eat people, and don't even touch the players' blood, you can just tough it out."
“But a person will die if they don’t drink water for three days,” Wu Wangwang said, puzzled.
"Players who have completed the game cannot eat people, but it doesn't say they can't eat ghosts," Ling Yuanshan replied calmly.
This is a gamble between them, betting on who will give up first and become a ghost. Once you become a ghost, you can kill people, but people can also kill ghosts without restraint.
The other players felt very uncomfortable upon hearing this answer and silently got up and left. They didn't want to share a room with this neurotic couple anymore. Even though they had been playing around all day in this instance, they still couldn't let their guard down.
Wu Wangwang didn't seem to care about the answer; she simply said, "Thank you for your hard work."
Ling Yuanshan was stunned, then smiled silently and said nothing.
After dinner, Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan went out again. They walked a distance until they could no longer see the hotel before taking out the bill.
Last night, Wu Wangwang updated his posthumous list: August 8th, if it doesn't rain, go hiking; if it rains, drink with friends, have barbecue, and chat until dawn.
The list gives them room to implement it, but it's not a good event for players right now.
Wu Wangwang looked up at Ling Yuanshan, wanting to hear what he had to say, mainly because it would be difficult to invite Lei Fu over again.
Ling Yuanshan was silent for a moment: "...It's okay, I can bring the person here by tying them up, it's the same, there's no rule against tying them up."
This method was a bit too simple and crude, but Wu Wangwang couldn't think of a better way for the time being, so she agreed: "Then you go find Lei Fu, and I'll go back to the inn and invite the other players to take a look. But what if they don't want to?"
“They will agree. As long as they have any sense, they should have realized that we have a daily plan. Otherwise, it would be unnecessary for the two of us to run around every day.” Ling Yuanshan said with great certainty.
So they parted ways near the village market. Ling Yuanshan searched the whole village for someone, while Wu Wangwang returned to the inn.
The incident happened this morning, so the players stopped playing in the lounge area. Fortunately, Ling Yuanshan had already told several players where they were staying.
Remove Ling Yuanshan from apartment 302, Wu Wangwang from apartment 503, Lei Fu from apartment 602 on the top floor, Wei Dong from apartment 204, Tian Ji from apartment 501, Guan Lian from apartment 601, and Jing Jiang from apartment 202.
Wu Wangwang started knocking on the door from the second floor. Wei Dong agreed to everything. He was fearless about this instance, so he was neither picky nor cautious.
Jing Jiang, hiding behind the door, said, "The information you have doesn't mean there's an extra player among you, does it? You're so eager to go on trips with Ling Yuanshan every day; you must have a travel itinerary in your hand."
"The travel itinerary and the number of people don't conflict," Wu Wangwang replied softly.
Upon hearing this, Jing Jiang was taken aback: "You mean... Mei Su organized this trip? She has the original script?"
Wu Wangwang shook her head: "No, she doesn't know anything. She's just really looking forward to this trip. According to the plan, if it doesn't rain, we should go hiking today."
Jing Jiang didn't believe Wu Wangwang's words. Holding the travel list in her hand, it was impossible for her to know nothing. It must be crucial information, which was why she was unwilling to talk about it.
But it doesn't matter. Wu Wangwang's actions correspond to the rules provided by the referee to some extent, so it's fine to play along with her act.
This scene unfolded on different floors. Tian Ji and Guan Lian had the same question. After learning that Wu Wangwang really had the travel itinerary, they agreed. However, they were both very cautious, distrusting both Wu Wangwang and the copy.
After notifying all the players, it was time to prepare for the barbecue. Since the tour itinerary didn't say that they had to grill it themselves, Wu Wangwang went downstairs to find the owner and said that he wanted to hold a party at the restaurant that night, just the seven of them, and hoped that the owner would provide enough barbecue and drinks.
The boss assured Wu Wangwang that there was no problem and that she would provide excellent service for the extra cost.
Then it was time to wait for Ling Yuanshan to come back after kidnapping the person. The boss even went to buy materials to prepare for the barbecue after noon, but Ling Yuanshan didn't come back until four o'clock in the afternoon. He was soaking wet and all alone.
Wu Wangwang was already waiting at the inn entrance. When she saw him return, she hurriedly opened her umbrella and went to greet him: "Young Master, did you not find him?"
Ling Yuanshan dodged away: "Don't get too close to me, I'm covered in mud and you'll get your dress dirty. I couldn't find anyone, I even tried climbing up the mountain, but I still couldn't find anyone."
This village is tiny. Logically, if an NPC has seen it, they should be able to find the person. Ling Yuanshan chased after him for a whole day but found nothing. Lei Fu didn't drop any items for him to pick up either, as if he had vanished into thin air from the dungeon.
While hiking, Ling Yuanshan got covered in mud and water. After briefly explaining the situation, he went back to his room to take a shower, where Wu Wangwang waited for him.
The rain outside grew heavier and heavier, and in just a short while, it got dark again. It was pitch black outside, and you could only see a little bit of the village when there was thunder.
Boys shower quickly, and Ling Yuanshan came out in an old T-shirt a short while later. The scars on his arms had faded somewhat, but they were still very noticeable, indicating that the identity he was impersonating was that of a living person. Only the living can heal slowly; the wounds of the dead remain unchanged, or they never appeared in the first place.
Ling Yuanshan came out drying his hair and saw Wu Wangwang sitting obediently by the window watching the rain. Suddenly, a question arose in his mind: "Wu Wangwang, Mei Su, do you wear this dress every day?"
In the previous instance, Ling Yuanshan noticed that Wu Wangwang didn't mind wearing the same clothes every day, nor did she comb her hair. Mainly because she didn't know how to take care of herself, but she loved cleanliness. However, no matter how clean she was, Mei Su's blue dress was always wet from the rain. How could she make it look the same every day?
Even Ling Yuanshan, who learned various beauty, hairdressing, food, and sewing skills in the dungeon, couldn't guarantee that she could make it look brand new, unless the dress itself was new.
Wu Wangwang looked at Yu with a clear look in his eyes: "Yes, she has many of the same dresses."
There are indeed many; I'll probably have to replace one with a new one tonight.
After listening, Ling Yuanshan lowered his gaze, pondered for a while, then raised his head and said seriously, "Wu Wangwang, it's almost time, let's go to the party."
The owner even decorated the restaurant to create a party atmosphere, with plenty of drinks and barbecue. However, the village lacked karaoke equipment, and there was no TV in the hotel lobby, making their gathering rather dull.
Wu Wangwang didn't know what modern humans usually did at their gatherings. When she went downstairs, she quietly asked Ling Yuanshan if they only ate. On her mountain, the mountain gods usually just chatted and watched the human sacrificial performances when they gathered, which was quite interesting.
Ling Yuanshan assumed that Wu Wangwang had grown up in the mountains and had never seen anything like this, so he quickly explained to her: "It's just eating, drinking, chatting, and playing some games, but the hotel probably can't prepare that much stuff. If we can't stay up any longer, we can ask the owner for a set of mahjong tiles. That way, it'll be easier to drag it out until dawn."
After saying that, Ling Yuanshan asked with a hint of worry, "You know how to play mahjong, right?"
"I know how to play mahjong, I know all kinds of mahjong!" Wu Wangwang patted her chest and confidently promised.
They were chatting as they went downstairs, preparing to greet the players below, when they saw that all the players were sitting in their chairs with deathly pale faces, their expressions unusually unpleasant. But when Wu Wangwang informed them, it wasn't like this.
Wu Wangwang glanced around and noticed there was one more person: "Lei Fu is back."
Ling Yuanshan's expression was grave. He slowly walked up to Wu Wangwang and assumed a defensive stance.
Lei Fu sat in the restaurant with his back to the stairs, his tall body bent like a shrimp, his head close to the table. He was wearing the black windbreaker he had run out in that morning, and he was soaking wet, still dripping water, and covered in mud that was impossible to ignore.
This disheveled appearance is somewhat similar to when Ling Yuanshan came back in the afternoon, covered in mud and water. If you didn't know better, you would think that the two of them had a fight in the mud before returning separately.
For Wu Wangwang, it was simply that the person she hadn't found had suddenly returned; for the other players, it was that someone whose fate was unknown had run away and returned rather strangely, and Lei Fu didn't seem like a normal person at all.
If Wu Wangwang hadn't said she had a travel list, which the players guessed was a hard rule for clearing the game, they would have run away long ago after seeing Lei Fu like this. Why would they have waited here for Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan to come downstairs?
The hotel was eerily silent for a moment, so quiet that you could hear your own breathing. Lei Fu's breathing was very heavy; he was panting heavily, not from exhaustion from running, but from the kind of rapid breathing that seemed to be caused by a lack of oxygen. Each breath he took didn't get enough air, so he could only open his mouth wide and breathe for a longer time.
However, it didn't seem to be getting better; his breathing became increasingly rapid.
Lei Fu suddenly turned around and looked at Wu Wangwang, his eyes bloodshot and his face pale and bluish, with a grayish tinge on his forehead: "Weren't we supposed to have a gathering? Aren't you coming?"
His voice was not as steady as it was on the first day of the game; the forceful sound was like a blade scraping across the surface, hoarse and cracking.
The last group of people still managed to sit down. The six players were unusually united and sat closely together on one side. Lei Fu was left alone, but he didn't care. He opened a bottle of beer and started chugging it down his throat. He was also eating barbecue in big gulps. He looked like a rough human being with nothing particularly special about him.
While others dared not touch it, Wu Wangwang still wanted to eat. She secretly reached out and grabbed two skewers of grilled beef, then quietly began to gnaw on them.
While they were eating, Lei Fu suddenly said, "How dare you still eat? Aren't you afraid of being poisoned?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the players looked at Wu Wangwang. Ling Yuanshan quickly took the beef skewers from Wu Wangwang's hand and asked, "Are you alright? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"
The beef she had just put in her mouth was snatched away. Wu Wangwang took a deep breath: "This dish was prepared by the hotel owner. If she wanted to poison us, we would have all died on the first day. Why would we have to wait until now?"
Just as the players were about to breathe a sigh of relief, Lei Fu said again, "If the boss wouldn't poison it, wouldn't the other players sitting with him also poison it?"
Jing Jiang couldn't take it anymore, so she stood up and said, "You guys can play by yourselves, I'm not doing this anymore. This person is just trying to kill us."
Once there was a first, there was a second. Even Wei Dong left. It wasn't even 7 p.m., and only the somewhat erratic Lei Fu, Wu Wangwang, and Ling Yuanshan, who dared not eat anymore, remained in the restaurant.
Despite not being able to eat, the party couldn't stop. Lei Fu swept everything off the table, got up, and went upstairs. He walked in a strange way, hunched over with his hands hanging down on the ground, like a gorilla, climbing the stairs one hand and one foot at a time, and quickly disappeared around the corner.
The owner went to close the door, so there won't be any customers today.
Ling Yuanshan sighed and said, "I'll go to the convenience store and buy some instant noodles. Let's grab something to eat and see how we can make it to dawn."
Wu Wangwang nodded: "Okay, here's your wallet, I want the spicy flavor."
The night was very peaceful; even the unexpected events that Mei Su might have encountered did not occur. Wu Wangwang and Ling Yuanshan asked the shopkeeper for a chess set and played all night without drinking any alcohol. According to their ID cards, they were still children and not at an age where they liked to drink.
As dawn broke, Jing Jiang was the first to come downstairs. She was surprised to see the two of them playing chess at the dining table: "You two really stayed up all night?"
Wu Wangwang nodded, rubbing the chess pieces together: "Yes, playing chess is quite interesting."
Jing Jiang glanced at the leftover food on the table and suddenly asked, "Did you finish eating last night?"
Ling Yuanshan threw down his chess piece and conceded defeat: "I lost. The food wasn't meant for us. Lei Fu ate everything last night, so my wife and I had nothing to eat and had to buy instant noodles."
"Lei Fu ate?" Jing Jiang frowned, then turned to go upstairs, but as if she saw something, she suddenly screamed. Her legs went weak and she could only crawl to the dining room, shouting incoherently.
Wu Wangwang followed her gaze and saw Lei Fu crawling down the stairs. Compared to the gorilla's posture last night, Lei Fu seemed to have lost control of his limbs today. He was drooping his head and bending over as he crawled down little by little. He was still wearing the same clothes, and the stairs were covered in mud.
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Author's Note: [End of Chapter]
Wu Wangwang: I've seen this scene before, in horror movies! [Starry-eyed]
Ling Yuanshan: Honey, your tastes are really peculiar! [frightened]
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