Chapter 65 was actually a plot device!
Jiang Liyue blinked slowly twice to make sure there was nothing in the darkness outside the door before closing it.
Just as the door was closed, a wisp of black mist slipped in through the crack, wrapped around her wrist, and intimately caressed her skin.
Jiang Liyue was completely unaware of this, happily carrying her takeout home while eating and watching the live stream replay.
After lying in the villa for several days, she was finally pulled into a new instance.
[Dungeon Name: Paper Doll Village]
Dungeon Difficulty: B
Mission Objective: Find the secret of the Paper Festival / Escape the Paper Doll Village
[During your travels, an unexpected event occurs, and you stumble upon a paper doll village. The villagers warmly invite you to participate in the village's annual paper festival.]
It is said that during the paper offering festival, the souls of the deceased can reunite with their living relatives through paper effigies.
But before the paper offering day even arrived, something terrible happened...
[Note that there may be no difference between the human and the paper figure.]
The familiar blackness dissipated, and when Jiang Liyue opened her eyes again, she found herself on a swaying bus.
The bus was probably traveling on a mountain road, which was bumpy and extremely swaying. Some people seemed to be gagging because they couldn't stand it.
The carriage reeked of a nauseating, stuffy stench.
Jiang Liyue sat in the last row, rolled down the car window, and a cool breeze blew in, making her chest feel much more comfortable.
Nobody can stand the smell in a long-distance bus!
It's nighttime now, and it's pitch black outside the car window.
The mountain road was narrow, and only a few sparse tree shadows could be vaguely seen.
The sounds of the wind and a few monotonous calls of unknown birds were all I could hear, especially clear in the dark and silent night.
According to the system's settings, they are a tour group and seem to be on their way to a scenic spot.
There were about thirty people on the bus. Jiang Liyue was sitting in the last row and could clearly see some people dozing off, while others were looking around. They were obviously players from this instance.
Gradually, rustling voices could be heard in the carriage.
Jiang Liyue withdrew her gaze, not intending to interact with the players any further.
She rested her chin on her hand, gazing listlessly out the window, when suddenly her eyes sharpened.
Ahead on the road, a red light seemed to appear, and a black coffin floated eerily in mid-air, passing through the middle of the road.
Jiang Liyue realized something was wrong, and the introduction at the very beginning of the dungeon suddenly flashed through her mind—
[Unexpected accident during travel]
Good grief, it was a plot-driven death!
Jiang Liyue immediately unbuckled her seatbelt and stood up.
At the same time, the bus started swaying, and a shout of "Holy crap!" came from the front, causing the bus to veer sharply to the left.
Jiang Liyue placed her hands on either side of the car window and her feet on the window frame.
He leaped out!
In the live stream, her long black hair was blown by the wind and scattered behind her head. Her fair profile looked particularly delicate in the moonlight, and the hem of her clothes fluttered in the wind.
The moment she landed, the bus behind her overturned uncontrollably to the left, eliciting gasps of alarm.
[My wife was so cool when she first appeared, I'm so excited!]
[I'll just say hi to Yueyue, my wife!]
My wife reacted so quickly!
[As expected of a B-rank dungeon, it starts with a scripted death. Most players would subconsciously assume the beginning is just a safe time for introductions.]
[Starting the game with players already injured, this dungeon is no easy feat.]
Jiang Liyue dusted herself off after jumping out of the car before looking at the scene of the accident.
The bus rolled twice on the mountain road. Fortunately, there was no cliff on the left, and the bus overturned on the spot without making a sound.
It was as if all life had vanished into darkness in an instant.
This is not right. Logically speaking, a car accident of this magnitude should not have resulted in the deaths of all thirty-odd people in the car.
What's more, there were screams of alarm when the car overturned.
As Jiang Liyue was pondering, she saw a man and a woman walking towards her from the front of the car. They froze on the spot the moment they saw her.
Their eyes met, and the other person, clearly not expecting anyone else to be standing there, froze for a moment.
The man and woman both looked to be in their forties, wearing strange, dusty gray long gowns.
Before they could speak, Jiang Liyue showed an anxious expression.
She stepped forward, grabbed the middle-aged woman's hand, and pleaded pitifully, "Sister, are you villagers from around here? Our car overturned, what should we do? Can you find someone to rescue us?"
Jiang Liyue felt the woman's hand was unusually cold, but her expression remained unchanged.
[Did Yueyue's good older sister actually show up so early this time?]
Hahaha, she still hasn't broken the habit of calling everyone "sister"
This permeates my sister's world.
The middle-aged woman's expression seemed to freeze for a moment, but the next second, her gaze towards Jiang Liyue softened considerably.
"Don't worry, we've already sent some people to find villagers to help. Our village is nearby, would you like to go check it out?"
Jiang Liyue tentatively asked her, "What's the name of your village?"
As expected, the middle-aged woman gave the answer she had anticipated: "Paper Doll Village."
"Then I'll have to trouble you, sister." Jiang Liyue looked at her with affection and gratitude.
"Alright, the coffin-sending ceremony isn't over yet, we need to hurry over there." At this moment, the middle-aged man who hadn't spoken until now whispered.
His eyes lingered on Jiang Liyue, not with lewd intent, but they still sent chills down one's spine.
After a moment, he seemed to show some satisfaction.
"Sister, what is the coffin-sending ceremony?" Jiang Liyue asked innocently, recalling the black coffin she had seen floating in the air in the car earlier.
"Sending paper figures to the coffin is our local custom." The middle-aged woman didn't explain much, but seeing her curious look, she pointed ahead, "Want to go take a look together?"
Jiang Liyue blinked in surprise: "I'm not from the village, is that alright?"
"It's alright." The woman patted her hand.
The man beside him smiled meaningfully: "We welcome people to learn more about our customs."
As they spoke, they led Jiang Liyue toward the front of the car, and introduced themselves as they did so.
The middle-aged woman's name is Wang Cuifen, and the man's name is Liu Yueshan; both are villagers from the Paper Doll Village.
When she reached the front of the vehicle, she could finally see the scene that was blocked by the bus.
A black coffin stood in the middle of the road.
She saw a coffin floating in the air from the car. It turned out that there were eight paper figures lifting the coffin from below.
The red light comes from the red lanterns hanging on both sides of the coffin.
The coffin paired with red lanterns was a strange combination that Jiang Liyue had never seen before.
Seeing Jiang Liyue staring at the coffin, Wang Cuifen assumed she was frightened and explained somewhat embarrassedly, "The driver in your car must have been frightened by the paper figures carrying the coffin."
"Speaking of which, this is also our problem. We didn't expect there would be cars passing by on the mountain road so late at night."
"Hurry up, they're still waiting for us," Liu Yueshan urged again.
Wang Cuifen smiled at Jiang Liyue, "Sister, come a little closer."
She pulled Jiang Liyue aside, while Liu Yueshan walked to the black coffin and seemed to be pulling a rope, causing the paper figures and coffin behind him to move forward together.
Jiang Liyue noticed that the paper figures seemed to have stiff steps, very light steps, and their toes barely touched the ground.
"Let's go," Wang Cuifen's voice rang out softly.
Jiang Liyue casually withdrew her gaze and followed behind the seemingly floating black coffin.
She didn't look at the other people on the bus.
Ultimately, at the very beginning of a dungeon, it's impossible to kill all the players.
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