There are about forty or fifty households in the village. Apart from the village chief and the shaman, most of the other villagers' houses are clustered together, and without exception, they are all surrounded by thick walls.
Xiao Cheng and his group walked all the way to the village entrance, starting from the house furthest from the ancestral hall.
The gate was ajar, with a pair of bronze bells hanging at the entrance. The bells were decorated with exquisite patterns and had a faint patina of verdigris around the edges, giving them a rather antique look.
"It seems like no one's inside." Number 7 peered through the crack in the door into the yard.
“Most of the villagers should be at the ancestral hall. Let’s be polite and ask.” Xiao Cheng pulled him aside and gently knocked on the door. “Is anyone home?”
No one responded.
A gentle breeze suddenly blew by, causing the bells to sway softly without making a sound. The door creaked open automatically, revealing a coffin placed in the center of the courtyard.
The peach tree was at the corner of the yard, near the wall, its leaves sparse and rustling softly in the wind.
"I'll go break off some branches," Xu Chu offered.
He stood under the tree, picked a branch that was neither too high nor too low, measured it to about halfway down, and then broke it off.
He only says half of it, which is quite precise.
The others watched their surroundings with bated breath, prepared for a sudden attack, but nothing happened.
"That's it? The task given by the NPC is this simple?" Xiao Cheng found it a bit unbelievable.
She had a feeling that something was wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
"It's already strange enough that this kind of quest appears in a survival-type dungeon, let alone make it even more difficult for us," Player #4 analyzed.
“That’s right, and there are so many more companies behind us, shouldn’t we just stop wasting our time?” Number 7 clearly agreed with her.
Xiao Cheng thought about it for a moment and realized that what they said made some sense, so she turned to Fang He and asked, "What do you think?"
"Me?" Fang He paused slightly. "I just have a question: are peach wood and peach branches the same thing?"
Another gust of wind blew silently by, making people feel a little chilly.
The group exchanged bewildered glances. Xiao Cheng looked at the peach tree, which was about the size of a bowl, and belatedly said, "This... shouldn't count, right?"
So breaking tree branches suddenly escalated into cutting down a tree.
"But we don't have an axe," Number 7 said, somewhat dejectedly after searching the yard. "Are we just going to break it by hand?"
“I once owned a chainsaw that could cut through iron like mud, but I didn’t cherish it.” Xiao Cheng sighed softly. “Go look inside their house; there’s no way they wouldn’t even have a kitchen knife.”
However, Xu Chu and Number 4 had already gone to check, and the door to the inner room was locked, so they couldn't get in at all. The only place they could move around was in the yard.
"What do you think the chances are that if we go back to the village chief, he will offer us help?" Xiao Cheng asked Fang He earnestly.
Fang He thought about it seriously for a moment, then pointed to his fingertips and answered her, "It's about this big."
Xiao Cheng: "..." I knew it would be like this.
"How about we check out the next one?" Player #4 suggested. "Waiting here is a waste of time; maybe we'll find another way to break through."
There was no other way at the moment, so the group left the courtyard one after another.
Xiao Cheng was walking at the back when, just as she was about to leave, someone suddenly tugged at the hem of her clothes.
She was startled and looked back blankly. She saw a pale little boy with a kitchen knife on his head sitting on the ground, staring blankly up at her with a silly grin.
It really is a cleaver on someone's head.
The blade was deeply embedded in his skull, the flesh at the cut was turned inside out, and the blood had already drained and congealed on his scalp, forming a dark red patch.
"Don't go!" the little boy tugged at her clothes. "If you leave, you'll never be able to come back in."
Xiao Cheng thought to himself, "Damn it!" He turned to look at the others, but apart from Fang He, they had all already walked away.
As for Fang He, his wrist was being pulled by the red rope, so he could only stop helplessly: "What's wrong? You're quite reluctant to leave this courtyard?"
"No, can't you see it?" Xiao Cheng looked like she'd seen a ghost, pointing at the boy at her feet and desperately trying to signal with her eyes, "There's someone here, there's someone here."
“He can’t see me.” The little boy tugged at her clothes again. “Only you can see me. It seems we’ll soon be the same kind of people, hee hee.”
Xiao Cheng's pupils were practically trembling.
What nonsense are you spouting? What do you mean by "soon becoming one of you"?!
"What's wrong with you?" Fang He noticed something was wrong, frowned slightly, and turned to walk towards her.
Xiao Cheng watched helplessly as he stood on the little boy's lap.
“He’s so rude.” The little boy moved aside a bit. “But I’ll forgive him for your sake.”
Xiao Cheng: "..." Then I really have a lot of face.
“You can tell him, after all, I need your help.” The little boy stopped tugging at Xiao Cheng’s clothes, changed his sitting position several times, and finally patted his bottom and stood up. “Tell him, anyway, only you guys can help me now.”
"Xiao Cheng?" Fang He waved his hand in front of her eyes, seeing her staring blankly. "Are you possessed?"
"No!" Xiao Cheng said with a straight face, staring at him seriously. "I have something to tell you: I saw a ghost."
Fang He looked her up and down, then casually uttered, "Oh."
Xiao Cheng asked in confusion, "Oh?"
What kind of reaction is this?
“I know, I saw it too.” Fang He glanced at the little boy with a look of disgust. “But I don’t want to admit that I can see how ugly a ghost is.”
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