As the suona sounded, crimson copper coins and wedding paper suddenly covered the sky.
The bride wore a bright red wedding gown trimmed with gold thread, a wedding veil on her head, and held a red silk scarf in her hand. Her biological mother, Kuai Zhenzhu, led her out of the room, holding the other end. She bowed every three steps and every five steps until she reached the sedan chair at the door. The total number of steps was one hundred, no more and no less, otherwise it would be disrespectful to the gods.
The Kuai family's eyes were on both sides of the red carpet. Kuai Zhenzhu was afraid that she would make a mistake, so she kept reminding her in a low voice when to walk and when to bow. Finally, she safely sent the bride to the big red sedan chair with auspicious dragon and phoenix decorations.
The two red lanterns at the front of the sedan chair were still inscribed with the word "葬" (die in Chinese).
At Kuai Weitian's order, the bridal sedan set off, with thirty-three people in the front and ninety-nine in the back. The scene was so grand that only women who were destined to marry in heaven could enjoy such treatment.
The bridal sedan was carried very steadily by the well-trained bearers. Amidst the sky filled with wedding paper, a team of a hundred people set out towards the underground palace. It was so quiet that only the sounds of footsteps and breathing could be heard.
It is exactly the same as a funeral procession.
The entrance to the Kuai family's underground palace is very secretive. At first glance, it looks like a wasteland. Only by looking carefully at the lines on the ground can you discover that there are many strange runes.
Kuai Weitian was seen walking in the front. With a loud bang of his cane, the thirty-three people walking in front of the sedan chair suddenly quickened their pace. As they had done repeatedly before, they dispersed in an orderly manner and formed a perfect circle in a few minutes.
As they walked, the sedan chair was also moving, but it was moving in a different route from theirs, heading straight towards where Kuai Weitian was.
Bang! The second crack of the cane caused the ground to vibrate slightly, as if some secret mechanism had been activated. The circle surrounded by the crowd slowly sank, leaving only the sedan bearers and Kuai Weitian standing on top. When it had sunk about ten meters, a very hidden cave entrance appeared before their eyes.
If they didn't come with the wedding procession, outsiders would never be able to find them.
Kuai Weitian held his head high and chest out, leaning on his crutches with both hands, and waved to the sedan bearers behind him. The bearers immediately carried the sedan chair and followed his footsteps in.
Nearly a hundred people on the ground strictly guarded this entrance and built a human wall at the edge.
After passing through a corridor of several meters, the view suddenly opens up.
The towering and majestic statue suddenly appeared. Because they did not dare to stand shoulder to shoulder with the god, the circular corridor they stood in was slightly lower than the chest of the statue. Looking up, the stone statue of the venerable with lowered brows and eyes was right in front of them, with his hands holding flowers above his head, his posture graceful and majestic.
Slowly descending the stairs from the circular corridor, you can spiral from the statue's chest all the way to the statue's feet. The further you go down, the more oppressive the huge statue becomes, as if it will collapse at any moment.
As they reached deeper underground, Kuai Weitian felt increasingly short of breath. He quickly took out the oxygen cylinder hanging on the wall and took a few breaths of oxygen before continuing walking.
Only when the bride reaches the altar, can the bridal sedan chair with the auspicious image of dragon and phoenix touch the ground.
The stone statue was so tall that Kuai Weitian looked as small as an ant when standing in front of it.
Soon after the sedan chair landed, some of the Kuai family's attendants, dressed in wedding attire, slowly descended the spiral staircase. Kuai Weitian knelt reverently before the main deity statue, waiting until the women and children, old and young, who had accompanied the bride, arrived at the foot of the statue before he consulted the deity, asking for divination and the time for the bride to disembark.
Once the snake bone is found, the bride will get out of the sedan chair immediately and kneel where she should.
"God bless you with wine!"
After the matron raised her voice and shouted, Kuai Weitian, as the master of the family and the oldest son of the gods, served a glass of wine to the bride on behalf of the gods.
The bride lowered her head and took it.
"Wait." Kuai Weitian's eyes flashed, and his gaze fell on the bride's ten bare fingers.
No nails.
Kuai Weitian stood up suddenly, his face grim as he pointed at the woman in front of him: "You, how could it be you? Where is the bride, where is the bride of the gods?!"
Astonished by these words, all the old and young, women and children who were accompanying the wedding stretched their necks to look.
The bride casually threw the wine glass in her hand and chuckled twice. When she lifted her veil, her thin face suddenly became gloomy. She curled her lips into a smile and said without any emotion: "Am I not the bride of the gods?"
She giggled twice, tore off her veil and threw it on the ground, and the entire empty space echoed with her shrill laughter.
So desolate, helpless, yet somewhat refreshing.
The crowd of people who were celebrating the event immediately went wild:
"How could it be her?"
“It’s actually Kuai Yun!”
"Oh my god, this crazy woman, what if the gods blame her?"
When Kuai Zhenzhu saw that this was not her biological daughter, she hurried forward and said, "You crazy girl! Where is my daughter? Where is my daughter Kuai Alua?!"
Xiaoyun tilted her head, seemingly unable to understand what she was saying: "Who is Kuai Alua? I don't know her!"
Kuai Zhenzhu was so anxious that she was about to explode. After stamping her feet twice, she simply sat on the ground and rolled around, throwing a tantrum: "Oh my, why is my life so miserable? My daughter is about to marry a god, and where did this crazy girl come from to ruin my life?"
For a moment, there was a lot of noise, crying and laughing, and everything was in a lively atmosphere.
Xiaoyun pointed at these people and laughed so hard that her shoulders trembled. "What should I do? I disturbed your wedding ceremony. I wonder if the gods will blame me? Hahahaha!"
"You evil creature! Beast--!!!" Kuai Weitian shouted with his veins stretched out. He was so angry that he kept hitting the ground with his crutch. He only avoided fainting with the support of two people.
Now the auspicious time predicted by divination has passed, and all the previous rituals and kneeling have been done. All we need to do is drink one more glass of wine and the wedding gift will be complete. I didn’t expect that the last step would be disrupted by such a crazy woman!
Unexpectedly, Xiaoyun was not angry at all after hearing this. Instead, she laughed even brighter: "I am from the Kuai family. If I am a beast, then what are you? An old beast?! Hahahaha——"
Kuai Weitian glared with bloodshot eyes: "Beat this crazy woman to death right here with a stick! Don't leave even a piece of her skin!"
"yes!"
After receiving the order, the two men who were accompanying the wedding suddenly pushed Xiaoyun to the ground. Xiaoyun did not struggle, but let them hold her down, just giggling non-stop: "I ruined your most important wedding, I'm so happy! I've never felt so happy before!"
"Smash her mouth for me first!"
The big man received the order and raised his palm high. Suddenly, a force grabbed his wrist. It was invisible and intangible but it existed. He could even feel a chill condensing around him.
Qi Mi, who was hiding in the barrier, tightly grasped the big man's wrist, causing him to scream in pain.
Lang Yu leaned against the statue, stared at a few snake bones on the ground, and kicked them twice.
Kuai Weitian turned around and found that the snake bones on the ground had changed shape again at some point, just like the gods descending to the earth a few days ago, conveying two meanings: mercy and pity for the world.
"Don't touch her first!" Kuai Weitian obeyed the oracle and hurriedly stopped the two thugs.
Qi Mi let go of the big man and stood aside with his arms folded.
Kuai Weitian took a deep breath to calm himself down, then knelt before the statue again. He put away the snake bone and made another divination: "I wonder if the Lord God likes this bride?"
Wow, the snake bones fell to the ground, showing consent.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Kuai Weitian regained his confidence as the head of the family, stood up with the help of his cane, and waved to the crowd: "Lord God, please be merciful and leave this woman here. Let's go."
"yes."
"Wait a minute, Master, what should I do with my A-luan?" Seeing that her position was about to be lost, Kuai Zhenzhu knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Kuai Weitian again and again, "My A-luan must have been fooled by this crazy woman! She is obsessed with marrying a god. You can't just ignore my A-luan! By the way, this woman, this woman is married. A woman who has lost her virginity cannot marry a god!"
This sentence reminded Kuai Weitian. He gave a wink to the lady next to him. The lady understood and called a few women to go over and surround Xiaoyun. They started to pull down her pants without saying anything.
"What are you doing? Don't touch me! Don't!" Xiaoyun screamed.
Qi Mi clicked his tongue lightly, raised his hand and slapped the women's dirty hands hard.
Li Po and several other women were shocked. They covered their hands and stepped back. They didn't know who hit them, but they could only confirm that there was a burning pain on the back of their hands.
Kuai Weitian thought that the gods were angry, so he quickly ordered everyone to kneel down and kowtow three times, and then quickly leave along the spiral staircase.
After everyone left, the huge space finally became quiet.
Since ancient times, both gods and ghosts have been shrouded in an unfathomable fog, which is awe-inspiring. Now, dim eternal lights surround this huge statue, stretching as far as the eye can see, adding an indescribable fear to the silence.
Under the statue, in the dim light, Xiaoyun's red wedding dress was extremely bright and eye-catching.
The forced smile she had just put on seemed to have drained all her strength. Now she just curled up and looked at the ground expressionlessly.
Qi Mi stared at her for two seconds, then turned and walked towards the incense stand next to the statue.
The cauldron on the incense stand was empty, without a trace of ash.
The two looked at each other and dispelled the barrier.
Xiaoyun slowly raised her head, as if she had calmed down after the previous farce. Even the sudden appearance of the two people did not frighten her. She looked Qi Mi up and down, and curled her lips. "You are the girl from another family that A Luan mentioned. You are really beautiful. There is a feeling that the women of the Kuai family have never had... You must be an ordinary person?"
Qi Mi smiled faintly, agreeing as he did, then slowly squatted in front of her, looking her straight in the eye: "Why are you here?"
"Because revenge is more satisfying this way." Xiaoyun gritted her teeth and squeezed out these words. Tears were the only light in her eyes at this moment. She choked and laughed twice, and stretched out ten fingers.
The ugly blood scabs on her fingertips made her delicate hands look hideous.
"What did I do wrong? Why did they pull out my nails? I have never even said a bad word about the gods. I even told Alua not to say it, but the Kuai family didn't let me go..." She ground her back teeth until they creaked, letting the tears as big as beans fall.
Qi Mi turned his head away reluctantly, but unfortunately he didn't have any skills to heal his wounds.
Xiaoyun sniffed and wiped her tears with her sleeve. "The Kuai family doesn't take this marriage very seriously, but I'm determined to disappoint them! Do you know? When I saw the master's expression when he found out it was me, I felt so happy! Anyway, the Kuai family is a hell, and it's fine for me to stay in the underground palace alone."
She was laughing and crying at the same time.
Qi Mi was silent for two seconds, then asked tentatively, "What about Kuai Alua..."
Xiaoyun was startled, then her expression suddenly became very calm. She turned to look at her and said, "I've killed her."
"Killed?"
"Yes, kill him."
Xiaoyun looked at her hands coldly and said word by word, "It was her words that caused me to lose ten nails. If I want revenge, she would be the first one to take revenge."
His tone was matter-of-fact, and his expression showed no emotion at all.
Qi Mi stared at her without moving. After a moment, he slowly stood up and did not continue the heavy topic. Instead, he walked to the incense stand.
"When do people usually burn incense here?" she asked.
Xiaoyun said expressionlessly: "Tomorrow, the Kuai family will come over to burn incense and pray for blessings."
"Tomorrow..."
Qi Mi muttered to himself and looked up at the statue in front of him that was dozens of meters tall.
It was so high that the face of the statue was almost hidden in the darkness. In a trance, people standing at its feet felt powerless like ants, as if they would be crushed to death if a finger of the statue pressed down.
The spiral staircase next to the statue was embedded in the wall, with no extra exit. If one did not return the same way, it would take a while to get out.
Qi Mi walked around the statue and found a relatively flat stone platform to sit on. Seeing Lang Yu leaning against the stone seat without moving, she patted the empty space beside her and said, "Take a break. We still have to wait here all night."
Lang Yu understood and walked over: "Not going back?"
"I can't get out unless I break through the ground above the statue, which is too much effort." As she spoke, she leaned back leisurely, leaning against the railing of the stairs. "Since we're here, we might as well make the best of it. Let's wait."
Lang Yu stared at her for two seconds, then curled his lips slightly: "This is not like Teacher Qi's style. Aren't you worried about them?"
"Now that Teacher Zheng and Teacher Du both have skills, it's not bad." Qi Mi closed his eyes and patted the empty space next to him. "Take a break. Maybe there will be something to do in the evening."
"What's up?"
Qi Mi lifted one eyelid and raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you curious about how gods and humans give birth to children?"
She really couldn't figure out how a cold, tall stone statue and a living, flesh-and-blood woman could have a child.
Curious, I wanted to see it for myself.
That night, the two of them disappeared and sat side by side on the stairs, closing their eyes to rest.
After an unknown amount of time, Lang Yu suddenly broke the silence with a low voice: "There's a scent that makes you fascinated."
Qi Mi subconsciously covered his mouth and nose with his hands, and looked around. The entire space was suddenly filled with hazy smoke visible to the naked eye.
If there was no barrier blocking her, she might not be able to resist the fragrance.
Xiaoyun, who had been tossing and turning just now, had fallen asleep without realizing it, lying there with her clothes on.
Half an hour later, there was a noise from above.
A stealthy dark figure tiptoed down from the top of the spiral staircase and ran straight to Xiaoyun on the altar. He gently covered her face with a veil, put his crutches on the ground, and began to unbutton her clothes without saying a word.
The blood-red phoenix flew out at high speed, flashed past the man, then spread its wings and circled upwards, instantly blasting away the hazy fog and making the surroundings clear again.
The man was so frightened that he covered his head and ran away. "I'm sorry, Master Spirit, I was just following orders. Don't blame me! Please don't blame me!"
"Oh? On whose orders?" Qi Mi walked over slowly.
Hearing a cold female voice coming from behind him, the man turned his head tentatively. Before he could see the appearance of the person coming, a hand grabbed his throat and pressed him to the ground with great force.
Qi Mi looked down at him and asked again in a deep voice: "Tell me, whose orders are you following?!"
The man struggled to squeeze out his lips and teeth: "Yes, it's the master of the house."
Sure enough, it was all that old guy's fault.
Qi Mi scoffed lightly and then increased his strength, "Did he only let you come this time, or every day?"
The man hesitated for a moment and stammered, "Old Patriarch, let me come every night until the bride is pregnant."
"Don't you, the Kuai family, learn the law? Don't you know that this kind of behavior will lead to jail?" She could no longer tolerate it.
"Eat, what kind of prison food?" the man looked confused.
Qi Mi paused, feeling amused. "So you, the Kuai family, haven't learned anything you should have learned. Let me ask you, what did the master of the main family tell you specifically?"
Man: "He, he gave me a pill and told me to press a button on it before coming in. I could wait half an hour and then come back to do what I was supposed to do."
"So this is how the divine son of your Kuai family came about?"
"Yes, the master of the main family asked me to take on the responsibility of the gods..."
"You're the one who's supposed to carry out the gods' responsibilities?!" Qi Mi's eyes suddenly turned cold as he interrupted him, "You, the Kuai family, claim to be pious while offering sacrifices to the gods, yet you do such filthy things in front of the statues. You're lucky the gods didn't strike you down with a thunderbolt!"
She pushed the man away with such force that he rolled on the ground before he could barely get up.
Qi Mi stepped forward and looked at him disdainfully: "Listen, you are going to go back and report to the master that your task has been completed. Don't say a single word more than necessary. Do you understand?"
"Now?" The man glanced at Xiaoyun awkwardly. "Isn't that too soon?"
Qi Mi folded his hands and said, "You're too fast, are you afraid that the master of the house will say you're not capable? Then how about I beat you up before I leave?"
"No, don't bother! I'll leave now!"
The man fled in panic.
At this moment, Qi Mi seemed to have thought of something and called him: "Wait, I'll take you out."
The man paused, and under the sharp gaze behind him, he showed her where the switch to release the smoke was and how to open the door to the underground palace. Thanks to him, Qi Mi knew how to leave tomorrow.
After walking halfway around the spiral staircase, about ten meters above the ground, she put her hands on the railing and jumped down, falling from the waist of the statue to its feet.
Easily and unharmed.
Lang Yu looked at Xiao Yun lying on the ground and asked, "Should we tell her?"
"Let's talk about it tomorrow. Let her have a good sleep."
Qi Mi came over, bent down to tie the two holes on Xiaoyun's chest, and gently put the red veil covering her face on her body. When his eyes moved to Xiaoyun's slightly childish face, he suddenly realized that she was just a teenager, but she had tied her hair into a bun early, which added a bit of discordant maturity.
She looked at the statue thoughtfully again, turned around and sat back at the stairs, continuing to take a nap with her eyes closed.
Lang Yu took off his black windbreaker and gently put it on her.
The next morning, there was movement from above.
The master of the house, Kuai Weitian, brought in a group of men, women, old and young to offer sacrifices to the gods. Xiaoyun, who had just woken up in a daze, heard the noise and sat up in shock, then quietly retreated to the back.
The men, women, young and old in the entire team walked to their positions and knelt down without even looking at her, as if she had completed her mission and was no longer useful.
The sacrificial ceremony began, and two younger generations held yellow paper with runes for the sacrifice and threw it into the furnace in front.
Then, a small gust of wind suddenly stirred up within the furnace, picking up the yellow paper and turning it several times inside. The two men in charge of lighting the fire looked at each other, hesitating whether to report it, when they saw that the yellow paper in the furnace had returned to calm. Reassured, they silently cast their candlelight into the furnace.
The furnace cauldron blazed with light, and the rich aroma of incense, mixed with people's low, rising and falling incantations, lingered in the vast underground palace.
Inside the barrier, Qi Mi held the three passes he had just found, frowning.
It is obvious that it is going to be burned if it is placed in this pile of yellow paper. I don’t know who it belongs to, but it must be someone from the Kuai family.
She looked at the people who were chanting devoutly, observing the expressions of each of them. She walked over and touched their hands one by one. Suddenly, she found a [near-human] girl in the crowd and pulled her into the barrier.
Doomsday players are different from humans because of their own skills, and this can be detected by using skills.
The girl was startled when she saw Qi Mi and Lang Yu. After two seconds of reaction, she roughly guessed their identities and pulled her hand back: "Apocalypse players?"
Qi Mi hummed, handed over three passes, and asked directly: "Why do you want to burn them?"
The girl was silent for two seconds, then grinned a little sadly: "Because it's useless, why keep it." As she spoke, she raised her finger and pointed at the bun on her head, which was a sign of being married.
"This game design is too tricky. I can only pray to the gods to get a pass. But in order to kneel down and worship this statue, I must become a member of the Kuai family. So there is no other way. I can only choose this..."
The girl sighed, looking at the huge, cold statue before her. She whispered, "Actually, my goal was very clear at the beginning. It was just to get a pass. I thought I'd marry here, get the pass, and then leave. But gradually, I realized... I couldn't leave. I'm becoming more and more familiar with this place, and even more afraid to leave. Every time I see this thing, I feel very conflicted. I know I should leave, but I don't dare."
Qi Mi was suspicious: "Don't dare?"
"Yes, I don't dare. I feel like there are a pair of eyes... no, there are hundreds of eyes staring at me. I can't leave, and I dare not leave." The girl's face became uglier as she spoke. She clutched the clothes on her chest tightly with her hands, and looked like she was almost suffocating. She took a deep breath and then calmed down a little.
She continued, "But fortunately, life here is pretty good. I don't have to work or worry about saving money. I can eat and buy whatever I want every day. I'm quite content with that... So, keeping this thing around will only make me miserable. I might as well take this opportunity to burn it. Then I can stay here peacefully."
"But what you eat is not for human consumption at all." Qi Mi told the girl about the food turning into insects.
But it was as if the girl's reverse scale was touched, and she suddenly became ferocious: "Impossible! This is the blessing of our ancestors, and it is food given by the gods! How could there be a problem?!" She didn't believe Qi Mi's words at all, snatched the pass, walked around the group of people who were kneeling in front of her, and threw the paper into the furnace.
The three passes floating above the bright flames looked so out of place.
"Please open the barrier!" the girl requested sternly.
Lang Yu frowned slightly, raised his fingertips, and the next second the flames devoured the three pieces of paper in one bite like a hungry beast.
Qi Mi watched the girl walk back, knowing that she had completely become a member of the Kuai family, so he said nothing more. It was just a pity that the pass was the key to returning home for players in the apocalypse. There was only one chance to obtain it per game, and if you lost it, you would never be able to leave.
These people were even able to burn their keys to their homes. They must have been terribly bewitched.
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