Chapter 56 Happy Event in the Mountain Village 16 "Are you crazy?!" An Rao stared at...
Today's lunch was quite silent. The unhappy breakfast completely tore apart the surface of peaceful cooperation maintained by the players before, and it seemed that everyone at the table had their own agenda. An Rao didn't care what clues other players had obtained. Although he was unwilling to admit it, he didn't know why. He was not a person who would trust others casually, but he always trusted Baichuan for no reason - even though he was the person he needed to stay away from the most.
So is all this really an illusion? The food on the table is steaming, and a gentle breeze is blowing, causing a plastic bag thrown by someone in the yard to fly into the air. Several big yellow dogs are leisurely wandering under each table, looking for meat bones that diners accidentally dropped on the ground. The men at the table next to them are clamoring to play finger-guessing games after a few beers, while the fat Aunt Li and the taciturn Ajun are serving food to each table of guests skillfully... Everything is so lively, just like an ordinary and lively farm banquet scene.
"Hello, everyone! Are you satisfied with the food?" Sister Wang appeared from nowhere, with an unchanging smile on her face as stiff as a puppet. If this was an illusion, why were Sister Wang and Lao Zheng's faces so stiff? Why couldn't they be as vivid as the others?
"Thank you, Sister Wang, for your hospitality." Facing this important NPC, everyone did not dare to slack off and stood up to greet her.
"I need your help with something this afternoon," Sister Wang began to distribute tasks. "You need to prepare four kinds of dried fruits: red dates, peanuts, longans, and lotus seeds. You will sprinkle them on the bride's wedding bed to symbolize early birth of a son. However, some of these four kinds of dried fruits are good and some are bad. We need someone to pick out the best and most beautiful ones."
"Okay, then how about we two be responsible for one kind of dried fruit?" Gao Zhifei asked hurriedly on behalf of An Rao this time.
"No need," Sister Wang said cheerfully and generously under her wooden smile. She shook her neck and scanned the nine players in front of her. "There aren't many dried fruits scattered on the bed. We just need a guest to help us!"
Who to choose? The players looked at each other, holding their breath and not daring to move, for fear of being spotted by Sister Wang.
Sister Wang's dark eyes finally fell on Shi Yirou: "This little girl is very thoughtful. Please help the bride choose dried fruits this afternoon!"
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, leaving Shi Yirou standing there in a daze, the red dot between her eyebrows so bright that it was blinding.
An Rao stared at Sister Wang who was about to turn around and leave, and his mind began to think quickly. Article 5 of the haunted house rules requires players to obey the staff's instructions throughout the whole process. The instructions must be obeyed, but it does not say that they cannot be changed.
The dried fruits prepared for the bride must be of the best quality and naturally, must also be of the cleanest quality.
"Yirou, open your mouth and breathe in." As he said that, An Rao picked up the dry saucer of chili powder used to dip lamb chops and blew it hard towards Shi Yirou.
"Ah - cough cough cough cough!" Shi Yirou's eyes, nose and mouth were all covered with the sauce that was blown up in an instant. She started coughing frantically. Soon her entire face was covered with snot and tears. She coughed so hard that she couldn't even straighten her back.
“Cough, cough, cough—!”
Shi Yirou's breathless cough successfully attracted Sister Wang's attention. She looked at Shi Yirou with great disdain as she burst into tears. She said "tsk" in disgust, then turned her head to Wang Quanmin and said, "I see it's not very convenient for you to walk, so please choose some dried fruits."
Wang Quanmin was immediately horrified and said incoherently: "I'm not, I'm not, I..."
The stiff smile on Sister Wang's face disappeared instantly. She turned her expressionless puppet face to Wang Quanmin and said in a strange tone, "What? You don't want to?"
Even if they couldn't remember the rules of the haunted house, players always knew that if they wanted to save their lives in the game, the first priority was not to disobey the NPC's orders. Wang Quanmin opened his mouth, but could not find any excuses, so he could only look at An Rao with resentment.
An Rao patted Shi Yirou's back apologetically, then handed her a glass of water to wash her eyes and rinse her mouth: "Sorry, it's urgent."
Shi Yirou was coughing so hard that she couldn't speak, and she clasped her fists weakly to express her gratitude.
The rest of the meal was eaten in even greater silence. There was a dead silence at the table and no one spoke, for fear that speaking would bring about some misfortune or reveal some clues they had obtained.
An Rao had no intention of caring about others, not even Su Ming and Shi Yirou. He just sat there in silence, eating white rice.
"Let's go out in the afternoon?" After dinner, An Rao suddenly asked Bai Chuan.
"Boss, where are you going? Can I go too?" Su Ming didn't want to stay in this yard that might be full of dead bodies.
"no."
"You and Yirou stay here and don't go anywhere." An Rao and Baichuan said in unison again.
Although according to the village annals, the area outside the wall still belongs to Xingfu Village, but no one knows whether the scope of this village is based on the administrative division or the ideas of Xingfu Village residents or even Aunt Li. If it is really based on the wall, then this trip will definitely be dangerous. However, An Rao did not expect that Baichuan would care about the safety of Su Ming and Shi Yirou as much as he did.
"Just now when I was having dinner, I listened to other villagers talking and found that most of them have the surname Zheng. There are very few people with other surnames. The only one is Uncle Guo who has hemostatic herbs drying at home." An Rao said.
"Yeah, I noticed that too. Either there are really few people from other families, or they are so xenophobic that they don't invite people from other families to dinner." Baichuan agreed.
"Aunt Li and Uncle Wang are servants in Village Chief Zheng's home, which can explain it, but what about Uncle Guo?"
"From what they said, Uncle Guo should be the doctor in their village. Moreover, he is the one who feeds the blood statue. Of course, his status is different from other villagers with other surnames." Bai Chuan stared at the front. "Be careful, we are at the wall."
This was the first time that An Rao and Bai Chuan walked to the wall of Xingfu Village. The wall made of rammed earth and stones was as thick and tall as a city wall. If it was used to defend against wild beasts in the mountains, it was indeed a waste of resources.
There were several villagers squatting in the corner of the wall, basking in the sun and chatting. They were muttering about something, but when they saw strangers approaching, they all stopped and stared at An Rao and Bai Chuan intently.
An Rao tiptoed. The ancestral hall with an ancient shape was just outside the wall to the north. The red door painted with gold was closed tightly. Who knew what secrets were hidden inside.
"We are being targeted." Baichuan whispered to the villagers, but walked towards a gap in the wall without stopping.
"Are you the distinguished guests of the Zheng family?" One of the villagers who had been staring at them suddenly spoke.
"Do you want to get out of the wall?" asked another villager.
Kashiwa walked faster.
"You are not allowed to go out of the wall!" Suddenly, there were more villagers, and they raised their hands and swarmed towards them like zombies.
"Run!" Baichuan grabbed An Rao's wrist and pulled him towards the gap in the wall.
Baichuan ran very fast and Anrao followed with difficulty. Amid the whistling wind, Anrao could hear the shouts of the villagers trying to catch them, and the dull sounds of Baichuan's fists landing on people.
The gap in the wall in the distance began to collapse, and rocks rolled down. The villagers seemed to have received some instructions. They stood still in unison and stared at the two people running towards the wall that was like a landslide.
Cheng Lin's figure flashed before An Rao's eyes. This man had actually been following them secretly?
"No, we can't go any further!" An Rao shouted loudly. A stone mixed with sand fell at the feet of the two men, creating a big hole in the ground.
"Don't stop, believe me!" Baichuan had no intention of stopping and continued to run towards the gap in the wall.
"If you come any closer, we will die!" An Rao was unable to break free from Bai Chuan's hand.
"Believe me!" Baichuan shouted loudly, which was rare.
"Clatter--" Several huge stones rolled down from the top of the wall along with a large amount of yellow sand. The hard and sharp stone tips were like the tips of knives.
"Baichuan!" An Rao instinctively wanted to hug Baichuan's head, but was hugged tightly by Baichuan instead. His whole body was wrapped in Baichuan's arms. The sound of Baichuan's strong heartbeat was in his ears, and his broad chest had a warmth that was different from his temperament.
Amid the loud noise of flying sand and rocks and the rhythmic heartbeat, An Rao heard Bai Chuan's voice: "Don't be afraid."
Cheng Lin hid far away, watching these two brave and careful players being driven directly into the violently collapsing wall by the zombie wave. He had no other choice but to secretly follow the two to get some clues of how to leave, but he never expected to see such a thrilling and horrifying scene.
There was no hope. He brushed off the dust that splashed on his body and left.
The loud noise stopped, and the expected pain from being hit by the boulder did not come. An Rao broke free from Baichuan's arms and found that they were already standing outside the wall.
The wall did show signs of collapse, but it was not serious. An Rao looked at Bai Chuan and found thin bloodstains on his handsome face. He was indeed injured by falling rocks.
"Are you crazy?!" An Rao yelled, staring at the bloodstains on Bai Chuan's face.
"They are all hallucinations," Baichuan shook off the dust on his clothes, "but hallucinations are based on reality, and they are just exaggerations of reality."
"Then how can you be 100% sure?!" An Rao's chest heaved with anger, "What if it's true?!"
"The villagers' obstruction proves that the boss subconsciously doesn't want us to leave the wall. Otherwise, if we go out, we will die because of triggering the death rule, and there is no need for them to stop us. So we can go out of the wall, which means that going out does not violate the rules mentioned by the staff member Aunt Li, so they can't really stop us. The collapse of the wall can only be a deceptive trick." Baichuan was still very calm, even too calm.
"But you are injured." Seeing Baichuan's blood dripping onto the beautiful white feather on the side of his neck, An Rao's heart seemed to be pierced by a nail, and a sharp pain came over him. No one had ever treated him like this before, so he would rather get hurt than not protect himself.
Never.
"It's okay, let's go to the ancestral hall quickly. I don't know if those villagers will chase us." Baichuan strode straight towards the ancestral hall.
An Rao: ...
The quaint and old ancestral hall stands at the end of the avenue. Under the eaves, a plaque with the four characters "Zheng Family Ancestral Hall" written in a flamboyant style is erected. The two tall vermilion lacquered doors of the ancestral hall are tightly closed, like a silent but dangerous dormant beast.
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