Chapter 175: Spirit Exploration Live Room
The sky outside was still bright. The sun set over the distant mountains, leaving only sunset glow in the sky.
Standing up with the help of the coffin, Xu Zhiyan looked around.
This is a solemn and expensive mourning hall, with black and white silk cloths hanging all around, some white flowers piled on the wall at the back, and a big word "祭" embroidered in white on the black cloth in the middle.
In front of the black cloth was a long table covered with a white cloth. The table was filled with offerings. The copper incense burner was filled with ashes but was now empty, suggesting that someone should light some incense.
In the center of the long table was a black and white portrait.
Although the person in the photo has a familiar face, it is Bai Jin with a frown and unhappy expression, but unlike the one in the bedroom, Bai Jin in the portrait is wearing rather old-fashioned clothes, neither Chinese nor Western, making it difficult to tell whether it is from the modern era or the Republic of China period.
Xu Zhiyan smacked his lips, hesitant.
From previous conversations with the audience, he only knew that the story of "Ghost Marriage" took place in a wealthy mountain village that was quite old, but he was not sure about the exact year.
“…It should be modern times, right?”
He looked around and didn't see any electrical appliances, so he sounded a little uncertain.
On the cover of the videotape, the heroine was wearing a red skirt and the hero was wearing a police uniform, so Xu Zhiyan subconsciously judged that the story took place in modern times.
As if he thought of something, Xu Zhiyan looked down at himself.
Different from the dead guy in the photo.
He was wearing a well-tailored suit, his leather shoes were polished to a shine, and he had a watch on his wrist. This outfit was almost as good as the conscientious businessman suit that Tianluo Butler had prepared for him.
After confirming that the background was not ancient, Xu Zhiyan breathed a sigh of relief.
Damn, after he entered the videotape, all the contents were different from what he expected. He thought he had a pirated disc that entered the wrong place!
At this moment, there was only Xu Zhiyan, a living person, and a dead body in the mourning hall.
With his hands on the edge of the coffin, he stared at Bai Jin's face for a while, looking confused.
Who is he? Is Bai Jin the dead person?
God knows that when Xu Zhiyan saw the dead face just now, his heart shuddered and he almost thought he was a thief who came to steal the corpse!
I called up the system panel and found that there were indeed update prompts for the side quests.
[Tip: It is detected that you have entered the death video tape. To ensure your personal safety, please be sure to follow the following rules. ]
[When in front of NPCs, please try to keep consistent with your character settings and do not do anything that is inconsistent with your current character settings. ]
[If a violation is detected, the player will start over. ]
【After trying, you will get the snippet content. 】
[You have countless chances to start over, don't worry, I wish you a happy time. ]
"Start over again? Countless chances?"
Xu Zhiyan could understand the previous requirement to keep it consistent with the character.
The reason why he wanted to let the audience know the specific story content in advance was because he had already guessed that since they had entered the movie, the rules must be related to "acting".
The story of "Ghost Marriage" is very simple.
The heroine is a kind-hearted college student who worked hard to get out of her small mountain village. After graduation, she wanted to go back to build her hometown, but she was tricked by her vicious relatives and sold to a very wealthy village for a few hundred yuan to be the wife of the richest young master in the village.
The heroine's boyfriend is a policeman. After discovering that the heroine had lost contact, he keenly realized that something must have happened to her, so he bought a ticket and went to the village overnight, and followed the clues to the village where the heroine was sold.
After secretly reuniting with the heroine, the hero exchanged clothes with her on the night of the ghost marriage and performed a ghost marriage for his girlfriend. At the last moment, he killed the mastermind and fled the mountain village with the heroine.
Because it is a horror film against feudal superstition, the male protagonist, as the righteous side, suffered a lot, but in the end he brought all the bad guys involved in the buying and selling of living people to justice and threw them into jail without leaving a single one alive.
Throughout the entire drama, the hero was starving, hiding in the water, and beaten several times by the guards of the rich family in the village. In the end, he faced the dead ghost, was haunted by evil spirits, and was almost killed. He was definitely the most unlucky person in the whole show, no doubt about it.
On the contrary, the heroine has been eating and drinking well. Although she was a little frightened, she was generally fine.
Xu Zhiyan was puzzled.
"So, why am I not the most unlucky male protagonist?"
He felt that with the operation of the main system, he would definitely be given a very difficult role, but after thinking about it, he really couldn't think of any character in this drama who was more unlucky than the male protagonist.
In the live broadcast room, the audience who were originally a little frightened by the gloomy funeral hall, suddenly laughed out loud because of this sentence.
[He is a very self-aware little millionaire! ]
[I am dying of laughter, hahahahahaha]
[I fell into self-doubt because I didn’t get the most unlucky role, hahaha]
[Okay, okay, Xiao Baiwan has really figured out his luck, and he doesn't even have any hope of getting an easy role.]
[There must be something wrong when things are out of the ordinary. After all, I am lucky F. There must be something wrong with not getting the most unlucky role! ]
Leaning against the coffin, Xu Zhiyan touched his chin and felt that something was wrong.
"I'm not the heroine who is forced into a ghost marriage, nor am I the hero who has to fight a ghost head-on. Then who am I? Will the main system give me the identity of a passerby?"
No! Impossible!
Xu Zhiyan almost laughed when he guessed the answer to the end.
He stared at the corpse again and again, and finally reached out and patted the other person's face.
"Hey, can you hear me?"
The pale and bloodless face was shaking in the coffin. Bai Jin, who was not breathing, could not answer Xu Zhiyan's questions.
In fact, when Xu Zhiyan saw the portrait just now, he thought it was an unknown person who followed him.
However, because the slicing process was complicated, he couldn't tell whether the slice in the coffin was a new slice or the one he was familiar with.
His eyes fell on the black gown-like shroud that the corpse was wearing. For a moment, Xu Zhiyan almost thought that the dead ghost in front of him, Bai Jin, was not the dead ghost in the movie who was going to have a ghost marriage.
But the content of the videotape was only about a family performing a ghost marriage.
Considering that the funeral hall is decorated very luxuriously, there is a 99% chance that the rich young master who died is this guy.
After walking around the mourning hall for a few times, Xu Zhiyan didn't find any clues. He didn't know if it was because it was broad daylight, but the white ashes in the coffin didn't react at all.
He planned to go out and ask passers-by to see if he could get his identity information.
Anyway, according to the prompts, he has countless chances.
At worst, if your character fails, you can just start over.
The mourning hall was set up in the main hall. A few steps out of the hall, Xu Zhiyan met a fifty-year-old man wearing a long gown and glasses, followed by a few servant-like figures in gray short clothes.
Perhaps his luck had rebounded, as soon as the old man opened his mouth, Xu Zhiyan knew his new identity.
"Uncle, I just sent away today's guests. Please go back to your room and rest. I will ask the kitchen to prepare dinner for you!"
The old man pushed his glasses, his face wrinkled up and he smiled obsequiously.
As he spoke, he called over a passing little girl and quickly instructed her, "Go and tell the kitchen to prepare more delicious food for my uncle... no, for Master Xu. However, there may be guests coming tomorrow, so the wine will not be served for now."
"Okay, Butler Zhang."
The little girl agreed timidly, lowered her head, and disappeared in a flash.
Butler Zhang stroked his carefully groomed beard, turned to face Xu Zhiyan, and gave him flattering advice.
"There is no such thing as an uncle keeping vigil for his nephew in this world. You should go and take a rest. If you really keep vigil for seven days, you will collapse!"
Listening to Butler Zhang's exaggerated persuasion, Xu Zhiyan stood there in a daze.
What the hell? Uncle? Uncle?
Shit! This is a fucking super generation increase!
His mind was a little confused, and he was trying to recall the background of the story that an audience member had mentioned.
...Yes, there are indeed characters who are more unlucky than the male protagonist.
It's just that this role is unlucky because of his own fault, and he doesn't have many scenes, so Xu Zhiyan never thought from the beginning that he would get such a strange identity.
Rumor has it that Sigui was the only child in the family, the last member, and had a huge family business. More than half of the land in the entire village belonged to Sigui's family, and his death was also related to the family business.
The dead man's mother was a lady from a prominent family. He had an adopted uncle who was not related to him by blood but had studied abroad. When the uncle learned that his nephew was going to inherit this huge family business alone, he set his sights on the family property.
At that time, the only child left in his nephew's family was his only relative.
Xu Zhiyan didn’t know exactly how it happened, but according to the comments in the barrage, it was said that the uncle killed his nephew for the family property. As a result, when he was keeping vigil, he encountered the revenge of the deceased. He was so scared that he invited an expert overnight.
The solution finally found was to arrange a ghost marriage for the dead nephew to appease the resentment.
"...How did I get such a crappy identity?" Xu Zhiyan muttered to himself, with a hundred curse words stuck in his heart and unable to relieve them.
In the live broadcast room, the audience was laughing like crazy.
【Hahahahahahaha I can’t take it anymore, I’m really going to die of laughter here.】
[Yes, I can face my dead nephew and seek revenge from him.]
[As expected of a little millionaire! Even for a videotape about a dark subject like ghost marriage, he was unlucky enough to get such a weird role as the unlucky villain! ]
[This is truly a story of love between a human and a ghost. ]
"What did you say?" The butler didn't hear clearly and stepped forward to ask.
"No, I want to ask, how many days will it take for the young master to be buried?"
Xu Zhiyan shook his head and sighed.
Judging from what the housekeeper said, it should still be in the funeral stage, but I don’t know how many days it has been.
"Master, there are still five days left. I would like you to stop guarding the eldest young master. You have already been guarding for two days. Take a rest! There are no outsiders at home." The butler's tone was full of heartache.
It was obvious that this butler, who was over fifty years old, had long been in cahoots with the young uncle, and he probably also had some contribution in the murder of the eldest young master.
Xu Zhiyan’s eyes went dark.
Are you going to keep pestering this dead man for another five days? What a joke! You should bury him and fix things right away!
"Can you get off quickly--"
Xu Zhiyan suddenly stopped talking halfway.
Just as he was about to say the last word, a bad feeling came over him. He could feel that his mental strength dropped a lot after this sentence appeared, and his head was splitting.
He pulled up his personal panel, took a look, and immediately stopped talking despite the headache. He clenched his hands hanging at both sides into fists, his nails digging into the flesh.
[Name: Xu Zhiyan]
[Status: On the verge of mental breakdown]
[Spiritual Threshold: 0-71]
[Current Spirit: 9]
Just one unfinished sentence caused my spirit value to drop by more than 60 points?
"Hurry up and ask the kitchen to get some food." He took a deep breath and tried to finish his words in a calm voice.
Xu Zhiyan had a premonition that if he finished saying that sentence just now, his mental strength would instantly return to zero.
...will die?
No, maybe he won’t die?
Thinking about the content of the side quest, Xu Zhiyan finally understood how the system determined that the character had deviated from his personality.
If he said something that was not in line with his status as an uncle, his mental strength would drop instantly, but considering the many opportunities mentioned in the prompts, he would most likely have to go through the current plot point again.
Although he was extremely confident that he would not die even if his mental power dropped to zero, Xu Zhiyan did not dare to take the risk. While he could still be rescued, he still chose to try his best to save himself.
After figuring it out, he raised his hand and pinched his solar plexus.
He couldn't break away from his character setting, and he couldn't replenish his mental strength in front of the housekeeper yet...
Thinking of this, before he could urge the butler to leave, he felt his head hurt even more, as if someone had pierced his temples with a steel needle.
[Current Spirit: 8]
Glancing at the contents on his personal dashboard, Xu Zhiyan couldn't believe his eyes.
Why? Didn't he already explain what he just said?
My consciousness is a little fuzzy and my brain seems to be rusty.
[Current mental strength: 7]
Xu Zhiyan looked at the slowly decreasing mental power on the panel and forced himself to recall the conversation just now.
Since his mental strength is declining, it means that there must be something in the previous conversation that does not fit with his character as an uncle.
[Current mental strength: 6]
Looking at the butler's wrinkled face, Xu Zhiyan suddenly realized that something was wrong with his character.
The uncle's purpose was to seize the family wealth, but he did not have a legitimate reason after all, so he chose to keep vigil for his nephew himself. According to the housekeeper, he had already been keeping vigil for two days.
Xu Zhiyan almost immediately guessed why his uncle really wanted to go to the wake.
Looking at this luxurious mourning hall and connecting the past and the present, it will be clear why a ghost marriage is arranged for the nephew to resolve the resentment instead of directly asking a master to suppress it.
This guy is greedy.
He wants both money and fame.
An uncle who was not related by blood wanted to seize his nephew's wealth without being told, so he not only held a grand funeral for his nephew, but also personally kept vigil over the body. In the end, he even spent a lot of money to buy a living person, just to give his unmarried nephew a companion in the afterlife...
“…”
After thinking it through, Xu Zhiyan was speechless.
He was a little unsure whether it was the main system's intention or the attraction of his characteristics that led him to get the character of a treacherous and hypocritical villain.
Considering his declining mental strength, Xu Zhiyan stopped hesitating and immediately spoke to establish his character.
"Don't call me master, I'm just managing it on your behalf."
As expected, his mental state stabilized after he said this.
"Yes, yes, yes. My uncle is such a bright and handsome man. I was just guessing blindly."
Butler Zhang was a shrewd man. He immediately patted his cheek to apologize, and then continued to flatter the boss.
"Mr. Bai is lucky to have an uncle like you!"
Xu Zhiyan pretended to be calm and shook his head.
God damn, this butler is so good at confusing right and wrong.
"I was told to stay for seven days, how can I go back to rest? Let someone send food to the mourning hall."
My uncle-in-law is a hypocrite. Since he wants fame and seems to be planning to swallow up the entire Bai family's assets, it means that there is a high possibility that the other party will do this to the end.
Compared with this huge fortune, what is the seven-day vigil?
After saying this, Xu Zhiyan saw that his spirit value had not dropped, and suddenly felt something was wrong.
Just from the clues, he could almost infer that his uncle would behave, which was much easier than a completely new stranger character... Damn it, why could he know so clearly what this greedy hypocrite would do? He was obviously a very conscientious businessman!
He didn't communicate any more with Butler Zhang, asked the people around him to stay away, and immediately returned to the empty mourning hall.
He once slapped the dead Bai Jin's face in the mourning hall, but this behavior that was inconsistent with his character did not result in any mental points being deducted.
That is to say, when there are no other NPCs present, there is nothing wrong with him doing some extraordinary things, as being alone is the safest.
The mourning hall remains the same.
It only took the time to find out the identity when it was completely dark outside.
The light cast by the flickering candles also had a gloomy feeling, indicating that this place was not suitable for staying overnight.
The coffin was open and the lid was placed on one side.
After going around in circles, the most familiar person in the entire videotape is the one lying inside.
The servant brought a bowl of noodles.
Xu Zhiyan put a handful of sugar cubes into the noodle soup and ate it.
After replenishing his mental strength, he couldn't find a stool, so he could only sit cross-legged on the cushion in front of the coffin, supporting his chin with one hand and poking at the panel continuously.
Once you get the identity, relevant plot clips will appear on the panel.
[Uncle Xu bribed the housekeeper to murder his nephew for the sake of his family fortune, and was worried about being gossiped about behind his back, so he volunteered to keep vigil for his nephew in order to gain a good reputation and to be recognized by the servants of the Bai family.]
The content of hindsight.
After closing the panel, Xu Zhiyan rolled his eyes. If this content had appeared earlier, he wouldn't have almost lost all his mental strength.
But at least with this hint, you can be sure that as long as you go through the relevant plot, you can get the specific clip content. If there are other content that violates the character settings later, it should be much easier.
Just as he was thinking about it, the air around him became a little colder.
Completely different from the cold that slowly drops after nightfall, this is the kind of cold that occurs when the temperature drops suddenly, making people shiver uncontrollably.
Before Xu Zhiyan could sit up straight, the candles around him began to shake violently.
Even though there was no wind, the flames seemed to be swaying in a whirlpool and went out one after another!
Something appeared.
A dull and cold feeling enveloped the entire mourning hall.
Xu Zhiyan sat there without moving. He took a deep breath and told himself that according to the script, no matter if the damn guy was sliced or not, he might be beaten up, but he would not be killed.
...If the beating stage can be reached soon, then the plot should be able to unfold soon!
Thinking this in his mind, he actually felt a little bit of anticipation.
Compared with physical attacks, the mental damage caused by the failure to maintain the character just now is more terrifying.
Suddenly, a cold arm hugged him from behind.
Xu Zhiyan let out a long sigh.
He stretched out his hand and pinched the muscles on Transparent's arm, and asked, "Little Transparent? Is that you?"
So familiar! He had touched these two arms carefully in the cinema.
No answer.
The little transparent one just held the human quietly for a while before letting go of the human in his arms.
In the dim mourning hall, nothing is clear.
Xu Zhiyan stood up and grabbed the other person's wrist, wanting to communicate more, but the little transparent person did not stop after being caught, but walked straight towards the coffin.
"You don't mean to..."
As Xu Zhiyan questioned, the wooden boards on both sides of the coffin made a creaking sound as if they were being squeezed heavily.
The next second, Bai Jin, who had been dead for a long time in the coffin, opened his eyes.
"!"
Xu Zhiyan was extremely shocked. He immediately leaned over the side of the coffin and watched Bai Jin coming back to life.
He waved his hand in front of the shrouded body.
Pale face, no breathing, stupid eyes... cough, clear, it's definitely the unknown one.
"Little transparent? Can you speak now? Why did you follow me in?" Xu Zhiyan tried to ask. He was really shocked that the other party followed him in.
However, there were already many things in this videotape that shocked him, so this one was not the least.
Bai Jin tilted his head and opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
"It's okay, it's not a big problem... It seems like you will have to play the role of the dead ghost next." The two men, one sitting in the coffin and the other sitting outside the coffin, waited for a long time, but nothing happened.
Xu Zhiyan touched his chin and called up the panel.
After the dead ghost Bai Jin sat up, new plot fragments appeared.
[Young Master Bai's ghost lingered. On the third night of the wake, a servant learned that Young Master Bai had returned and attacked my uncle...]
Looking at the new fragments, Xu Zhiyan frowned slightly.
“It’s a bit troublesome.”
Someone had to see him being attacked by the resurrected Bai Jin.
Facing Bai Jin's innocent gaze, Xu Zhiyan began to explain to him what he was going to do next.
"I'm going to make some noise in a while. When someone comes here, you hit me a few times, or grab my neck, so that others can see. Do you understand?"
When facing the slices with low intelligence, he was like a teacher and very patient.
Seeing Bai Jin nod, Xu Zhiyan repeatedly emphasized that he must take action, and felt confident that he could pass it in one go.
Standing up and walking to the altar, he picked up the fruit plate and returned to the door, then slammed the fruit plate to the ground outside the door to attract the NPC.
"Bang!"
“Crash——”
The sound of porcelain breaking echoed throughout the house. Round and plump fruits rolled all over the floor. Without shouting, hurried footsteps could be heard coming from all directions.
Here they come! Xu Zhiyan quickly returned to the coffin and whispered.
"Hit me hard a few times when they come in!"
He had to do the whole act; he didn't want to experience the horror of a sudden drop in mental strength again.
"Uncle! What's wrong~!"
"what happens?"
"how……"
The housekeeper and his men rushed over.
Everything is going according to plan.
Xu Zhiyan grabbed the edge of the coffin, raised his neck and confidently waited for the attack from the unknown person. Since they were all his own people, he was sure that the other party would not be too cruel.
The cessation of footsteps indicates that the NPC has arrived.
But for some reason, the mourning hall fell into an eerie silence.
After a long while, Xu Zhiyan didn't wait for the attack, so he could only open his eyes and signal Bai Jin to act quickly with his eyes.
The next second, he was responded by a cold hand caressing his face.
Zero strength, extremely gentle.
The little transparent one seemed afraid of hurting him.
Looking around, the NPCs were standing still as if time had stopped.
"……you."
Xu Zhiyan was shocked, but before he could say anything, a panel suddenly popped up.
[NPC noticed something was wrong with the character.]
The tremendous pain brought by the rapid decline of mental strength arrived as expected.
"Bang!"
With a loud bang, blood splattered everywhere.
The face of Bai Jin in front of him gradually became blurred and his head exploded!
Xu Zhiyan had an extreme headache and had no time to think. He just felt a black screen in front of his eyes and then fainted.
…
Are there countless chances to be reborn after your mental strength reaches zero?
But he had to admit that the feeling of dying was too horrible, and he never wanted to experience it again!
An unknown amount of time had passed, but when Xu Zhiyan opened his eyes again, he found himself sitting in the mourning hall, facing Bai Jin who had just sat up.
After reacting, he suddenly grabbed the dead ghost Bai Jin by the collar and said viciously.
"Why are you afraid of doing it if I ask you to do it?"
"Hit me harder, damn!"
He never expected that the difficulty of this mission would lie with the unknown person!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
